Amos Lee's life story reads like a bio pic waiting to happen. In the early aughts, Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro) was working as a second grade teacher and bartender in his native Philadelphia when, thanks to some noteworthy appearances at open mic nights, he was discovered and hired to open for the likes of B.B. King and Mose Allison.
Lee began honing his guitar skills in college as part of the band, Hot Lava Monster. Now he's one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed acts on the American singer-songwriter circuit. His self-titled debut was produced by Norah Jones bassist Lee ... Read more

The Embassy Theatre calls their Here Come the Mummies performance a "Fright Night tradition."
As it happens, an eight-piece funk rock band dressed as ancient Egyptian mummies is just as bizarre as it sounds. Nonetheless, after witnessing Here Come the Mummies' skilled musicality, playful charisma and Freudian wit, one thing is clear to their audience: these mummies like to party.
These mysteriously cunning mummies may be best known for their dynamic, theatrical performances. Since the release of their 2000 debut album, Terrifying Funk from Beyond the Grave, the band has hypnoti... Read more

For decades Hollywood movies and romance novels have leaned on consumers' unwavering desire to be entertained without the nuisance of actually thinking. They apply formulaic plot lines and rarely add little more than a short-term distraction with no real substance. Conversely, live theater audiences flock to their seats because they expect to be entertained while also gaining perspective. If you prefer the latter of these two groups, you will not be disappointed if you see Faith Healer, currently running in the lower-level theater of First Presbyterian Church.
At some point in life, ma... Read more

You probably know him by his trademark blond mane and bandana, but there's a lot more to Bret Michaels than his headgear. The former Poison frontman, who will perform at the Embassy Theater Sunday, October 22 at 7:30 p.m. as part of his The Party Starts Now tour, is an active philanthropist, a television star and a prolific songwriter in addition to being, according to Hit Parader, one of the top heavy metal singers of all time.
Michaels, a native of Pennsylvania, founded Poison in 1983 with drummer Rikki Rockett. The dudes moved to Los Angeles shortly after, hoping to become the next ... Read more

You don't expect to find yourself waist-deep in a swamp in the middle of downtown Kendallville. But on a recent Monday evening that's exactly where I found myself.
To clarify (if it's possible to clarify a swamp) the bog I was standing in wasn't real. It was a creative illusion of murky green light and machine-made fog. And it was in the middle of a former car dealership, on Main Street, in Kendallville.
The aptly-named Nightmare on Main Street is the brainchild of Jamie Collins, an auto mechanic-turned-fright master. Aided by his wife Amanda and his youngest son, Jonah, Collins... Read more

It's overwhelming, sometimes, isn't it? The way we are pummeled with opinions devoid of facts and good people afraid to speak up in fear of the right wing and left wing retaliation. You see the injustice, the hate, the fear-mongering, and you wonder, "what can one person do?" How can we battle the cowardice that is present on social media and rise above it? Listen carefully, my dear reader, and Deimos will show you the way.
I have touched on this subject before. Indeed, if you check the archives of this very magazine online in October of your year 2012, you'll see I wrote similar prose... Read more

Youth can afford a level of optimism that sometimes age and experience sadly don't allow. There's an abandon and sheer will that accompanies us when we're younger. It pushes us to succeed. Succeed at what? Sports, academics and the arts come to mind. Within those realms, being young and open-hearted to new possibilities allows a level of "try" that is hard to come by once you've got a mortgage and bank payment book. When you're young and talented, with the right support group, possibilities are endless.
Addison Agen is still in high school, yet she's already released her debut album on... Read more

Good old-fashioned rock 'n roll is hard to come by in the local music scene sometimes. It's usually being deluged with a variety of sounds like pop, punk, metal, etc. Nowadays it's almost impossible to go the straightforward rock route without something extra popping in. Omaha, Alaska get as close to it as possible though; if anything they are enough of an indie-rock band, and therefore get away with the moniker of rock. Think Twin Peaks (the band from Chicago, not the newly-rebirthed Showtime television show) meets Bob Seger.
The band labels itself as an "alternative" band on their Ba... Read more

Everyone should have a chance to learn an instrument, right? But with school budget cuts often targeting arts programs, it's not as easy as it used to be for young students to get their hands on, say, a flugelhorn. That's where "b instrumental" comes in. "b instrumental" is a local initiative that pays instrument costs for seventh graders and keeps on paying through high school. But these instruments don't pay for themselves, which is why Wooden Nickel, 96.3XKE and Sweetwater have teamed up to create Covers For A Cause '17, the proceeds of which will go to "b instrumental." With the 50th anni... Read more

Those who attend Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown regularly will be happy to know that there's a new kid on the block this year. With the downtown portion of its campus opening last fall, the University of St. Francis has now settled into the new home for its music technology program and can provide tours for those who have never seen the beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. With a couple of recording studios, mastering studios and a dozen mix and edit suites for students in the music technology program (not to mention ensemble rooms and seven practice rooms), the facility is an exciting ... Read more

When you first hear Belle & The Strange, you hear a lot coming at you. You hear the alt-country tinge of singer Lyndsy Porter's voice, the beefy guitar riffs from her husband Ben Porter, Tyler Berggren's deep, smooth bass lines, the essentially powerful drums of Colin Boyd and the unmistakably sweet sound of a violin being strung to life by Hope Royce. When all this comes together, you get an alt-country, blues-inspired, rock n' roll spectacle.
Belle & The Strange formed in 2015 after the Porters (now married, then dating) began writing music together when they met in 2012. At first t... Read more

As a teacher with Fort Wayne Community Schools, Tammy Robertson spent most of her days reading to children and helping them build friendships while dealing with many of life's challenges. Her career led her to teach for a few years in Indianapolis before returning to her hometown of Fort Wayne and teaching for several local schools, including Bloomingdale (which had been her own elementary school) and Price (where she spent the most years of her teaching life). With so many years spent with children and so much time spent reading books, it's not surprising that Robertson would try her own ha... Read more

Somehow, despite receiving numerous recommendations from friends to try it, Salud! never hit my radar. I have been to Salsa Grille many times, even the one located in the same building as Salud!, and still, it never occurred to me to give it a try. A few weeks ago, a friend posted some photos from her recent trip for a birthday celebration and it finally sunk in: Salud! is a must-try, and now I wholeheartedly agree.
The restaurant occupies one half of the building it shares with Salsa Grille on Falls Drive (off U.S. 24 in the Village of Coventry) and serves a variety of Spanish tapas-i... Read more

Coming off their spectacular 60th anniversary season, Fort Wayne Ballet has a lot to be proud of. Having staged Swan Lake for the first time and continuing their fall tradition of an eclectic mix of dance forms along with their holiday offering of The Nutcracker, the ballet gave the community not only their large-scale main stage productions but also more intimate fare with their black box performances and their Youth Company-performed Family Series. Their anniversary provided yet another season of what the ballet has been providing Fort Wayne for six decades.
Their 61st season will be... Read more

Growing up in Cleveland, Mark Minnick was in the heart of what many consider to be the birthplace of rock n' roll. That status has been somewhat confirmed by the arrival of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but even before that structure was established Minnick was in the perfect place to instill an appreciation for music.
"I played guitar when I was growing up and was in bands in high school," says Minnick. "Cleveland is a really great city for music. It didn't have that reputation as much nationally, but certainly does now with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a very open place, ... Read more

The first glance at Gregg Coffey's work elicits almost too many thoughts to handle. There are bright colors, geometric lines, abstract shapes, political undertones, earthy, ancient figures and the list goes on. Stare longer at the pieces, and these details begin to make a little more sense, though they remain well shrouded in mystery.
"I continue to rework the themes of nature, quantum physics, Asian and Celtic themes, as well as work inspired by some of my favorite writers like H.P. Lovecraft," said Coffey in an email interview.
Coffey, a former law clerk, spent many years st... Read more

Melinda Haines sometimes hears from people who say IPFW's Community Arts Academy is one of Fort Wayne's "best kept secrets."
They mean it as a compliment. But she thinks the program, which was established in 1998, shouldn't be that much of a secret anymore.
"I think we're getting the word out a little bit better," said Haines, director of the IPFW Community Arts Academy and assistant to the dean for community engagement. "I have been here a little over five years, so I really can only speak to what's happened during my tenure. We have done a lot more regular marketing and advoc... Read more

Morgan Spencer is a small town girl who dreamed beyond her upbringing. She grew up in Woodburn, "where everyone knows everyone," and although she says it was a nice place to grow up, she wishes she had been exposed to more culture at a younger age.
Her parents divorced when she was in kindergarten, but her mother made sure her childhood was as normal as possible. That included playing sports.
"That's just what you did in Woodburn," she says. She played T-ball, lob ball and softball and then became a cheerleader for her older brother's PAL football team and for her middle schoo... Read more

In mid-April, the Fort Wayne City Council provided the last piece of the Clyde Theatre renovation puzzle.
It approved a $1 million Legacy Fund loan for the refurbishment of the historic but long-shuttered Fort Wayne entertainment venue.
Even Keel Productions president Rick Kinney, who bought the theater in a tax-delinquent properties sale for $500 in 2012, said three funding components combined to make his Clyde Theatre dream a reality: the Legacy Fund loan, a sizeable investment from Sweetwater Sound founder and president Chuck Surack and a $1 million grant from the state's Re... Read more

One would be hard pressed to find a band that's as solid as Fort Wayne garage rock quartet Slug Love. They've got the typical line-up - guitarist and main singer Alex DeNicolo, guitarist/vocals David Yanes, bassist/vocals Josh Wenning and drummer Derek Schweizer - but some characteristics about them say a lot more than your typical band. Their sound, for one, is solid yet hard to pin down. The widest blanket you can cast is good ol' rock n' roll, and maybe that's enough.
"We want you to know you're listening to rock n' roll of some sort, but we sort of like the idea of you not being s... Read more

Fort Wayne's Horizon Arcs seem to be tapping into the alternative 90s on their debut record, Anybody Listening. Within the tracks on this CD is a musical smorgasbord of alternative rock's past, present and what's to come. Listening to the 12 tracks, I'm taken back to mid 90s, driving around in my little Nissan pickup with Fort Wayne's 96.3 blasting through my Pioneer speakers. Working on tinnitus, I'd blast Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Bush, Garbage and did I mention Foo Fighters? Anybody Listening captures the spirit of those 90s summer jams quite nicely.
Horizon Arcs are Brody ... Read more

Omaha, Alaska dropped their debut self-titled LP a mere nine months ago. It was a pop-inflected, singer/songwriter confessional affair about endings and new beginnings. C. Ray Harvey's new musical project seemed to be the baroque musical adventure we knew (or at least hoped) he'd follow up his Heaven's Gateway Drugs tenure with.
With not even a year under that debut album's belt and Omaha, Alaska have returned with a follow-up called Visitor Center & Gift Shop. Where that debut sounded like Harvey laying out some pretty heavy personal stuff with talented friends helping him bring those... Read more

Recently, I said goodbye to the neighborhood near downtown where I had lived for 15 years and moved to the north side of Fort Wayne off Carroll Road. With this move comes a lot of change, both good and bad: a longer commute, but a bigger and newer house; fewer trees, but nicer roads and sidewalks; it's farther from downtown, but a quieter atmosphere and friendly neighbors. Perhaps the biggest change is the local restaurant scene. I had to say goodbye to my usual haunts, but I get to search for new ones. First on my list was pizza. Everyone needs a go-to pizza joint, and we found ours!
... Read more

The Figure-Ground Illusion

Nothing is only one thing. Nothing.
An egg is both a womb and a prison,
A screech owl a hunter and a hawks' prey.
Funerals are gatherings and parting,
A thought both an act and a vision.
The sun is the start and the end of day.
In this shadowed bark we see a face,
Stern, discerning, a bit oblivious,
Contemptuous of all that's obvious,
Stupid, loveless, cruel in the human race.
I see a bat fleeing a predator,
A cat or weasel nipping at its tail
(The eye being a restless editor)... Read more