This Weekend: Cherry City Music Festival

For the past 5 years Ross Swartzendruber has been creating a common, yet seemingly (up until last year) ineffective and chaotic way to expose Salem's music scene dubbed, the Cherry City Music Festival. this year however, the festival is making huge strides in the right direction due largely to the DIY nature of modern music. Also, in part, due to the fact that Ross has had 5 years to fine tune this beast. This years line up is overflowing with talent like local favorites Typhoon, Y La Bamba, Loch Lomond and Norman. Starting Thursday the festival will be in full swing and the music will be pulsing through Salem until Saturday.

Y La Bamba - "Juniper" by terrorbird

In my opinion, Ross Swartzendruber is in need of positive recognition. considering the fact that this is entirely too big of an event to single handed take on yet, he pressed on and made it into something tangible something beautiful. the road was rough and there were a lot of moments where things seemed unrepairable, but this week/weekend we will be able to look at the final product and say "Wow, that is pretty awesome." So cheers, Ross you have made my list of Salem Essentials, coming to my blog 2011 ;)

I remain very optimistic about this week/weekend and look forward to watching things unfold first hand. Join me, wont you?

Cheers,
Alva

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"Band Buzzing" (a series)

First Installment:

When searching for bands to collaborate with and book shows with, I turn to the basics: the local papers, repeats at hot venues, word of mouth, good promotionals, etc. Very active bands are the ones to grab my attention. I want the band that's working hard to make themselves known.

Just by scratching at the surface of Salem I've uncovered these gems, thus far:

Symmetry/Symmetry

This is a band I discovered while booking with the Ike Box. Andrew does the booking there and also plays drums for Symmetry/Symmetry.

The Vicious Kisses

Sean and Nick, our lead singer and drummer, were asked to play acoustic guitar and keys for a few shows with this band. I caught their Ike Box show and really dug Mark, the lead singers, voice, and the overall energy of the band.

Norman

A friend invited me out to see Norman in Albany and I loved their set. They continue to put out great performances around town and are really keeping the momentum up.

Massive Moth

Doug Hoffman's band; they were the first band I caught wind of when I moved down to Salem.

Kopath Bear

I just recently heard the buzz about this band. They are working hard around town and drawing in quite the following even without any music available to listen to online.

This is by no means a review or a promo for these bands. I am only listing them because they have created enough of a buzz to reach my ear.

More to come.

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