HOMEGROWN ROCKER 6/22/14 (COVER SONG SPECIAL)

[Jim Price]

Hello Everyone,

Here is the recap of the June 22 edition of Rocky 104.9 and Rocky 99's weekly local music program, "The Homegrown Rocker," which airs every Sunday night from 8 to 10 PM on WRKY-FM (www.rocky1049.com) and WRKW-FM (www.rocky99.com). The show can also be streamed via either Rocky website, www.rocky1049.com or www.rocky99.com.

This week, we broke out the 2014 installment of the “Homegrown Rocker Cover Song Special.” We explored how local and regional bands and artists treat songs written by other people, and again this year, we heard some interesting results. We heard an all-star cast of Philadelphia musicians tackle a Nazz 1960s classic, a cigar box guitar delta blues treatment of a Rush classic, an accordion-underscored take on a Divinyls hit, a Kiss-styled rendition of a Motown classic, and much more! We dug into the archive for a 2000 sendup of Madonna by Backstreet Law for this week’s “Local Music Flashback,” and updated “Local Music News.”

Here is this week's playlist (spotlighted family members are in parentheses):

HOUR ONE:

DAVID UOSIKKINEN’S IN THE POCKET – “Open My Eyes” (Nazz)
HALESTORM – “Slave to the Grind” (Skid Row)
THE HAWKS BLUES BAND (MAHONEY B. & THE BLACKSNAKES) – “Born Under a Bad Sign” (live) (Albert King)
SHANE SPEAL – “Working Man” (Rush)
XANDER DEMOS – “Boys of Summer” (Don Henley)
COINMONSTER – “Sara Smile” (Hall & Oates)
MONSTER TRACK SUPERGROUP – “Day After Day” (Badfinger)
WHITE WITCH – “Paranoid” (live) (Black Sabbath)
BISCUIT JAM – “Friend of the Devil” (live) (Grateful Dead)
MAMA CORN – “Cumberland Blues” (Grateful Dead)
STRAIT & MILLER – “Ain’t No Sunshine” (Bill Withers)

HOUR TWO:

RETRO ROCKET – “You Don’t Know How It Feels” (Tom Petty)
THE STRAYERS – “I Touch Myself” (Divinyls)
PURE CANE SUGAR – “For What It’s Worth” (live) (Buffalo Springfield)
FULL KILT – “Fat Bottom Girls” (Queen)
GHOST OF WAR – “Fire” (Crazy World of Arthur Brown)
BACKSTREET LAW – “Like A Virgin” (Madonna) (2000, Local Music Flashback)
THE JIVE TURKEYS – “Trudy” (Charlie Daniels Band)
MISS MELANIE AND THE VALLEY RATS – “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (James Brown)
THUNDER VEST – “Riot on the Rocks” (The Hellacopters)
STARCHILD – “Get Ready” (Smokey Robinson/Temptations)
GANISTER – “Pissed Off and Mad About It” (Texas Hippie Coalition)

On our next program, our guest will be Jarrod Bartok. Known as the singer for Indiana County heavy rockers Solegion, Jarrod presently is embarking on an acoustic solo direction while Solegion is on the backburner. Jarrod recently won the 5th annual “Battle of the Acoustics” competition at Northern Cambria’s City Hotel, and won his appearance on the “Homegrown Rocker” as part of the prize package! We will hear new songs by Jarrod, plus updates and insight on Solegion and their time out on the west coast. Along the way, we will update “Local Music News,” dig a song by a past area band from the archive for a “Local Music Flashback,” and review Pure Cane Sugar’s Live at the State Theatre CD in “The Professor’s CD Corner!” Jarrod Bartok joins us on the “Homegrown Rocker,” next Sunday night!

Upcoming guests and specials include:

JULY 13 – AFTER THE FALL
JULY 20 – CATS IN CONGRESS
JULY 27 – THE DAILY GRIND
AUG. 3 – LOCAL MUSICIANS THEN AND NOW SPECIAL
AUG. 10 – RON GALLUCCI

Bands and artists wanting to submit news items for “Local Music News” may email their news to homegrownrocker@gmail.com (new email address). Indicate “MUSIC NEWS” in the subject heading!

The “Homegrown Rocker” is available for digital download off either Rocky website after each and every show. Just check on either (www.rocky1049.com) or (www.rocky99.com) and download your copy of the show! If you live beyond the signal range of Rocky 104.9 and Rocky 99, you can now download west-central PA’s longest-running local music show!

Also, bands and artists are welcome to add their upcoming shows to the “Homegrown Rocker” event calendar! Go to the “Homegrown Rocker” section of either Rocky website and click on “Events,” and add your shows for free!

For regular updates on what is happening on the area music scene, pay a visit to Rockpage (www.rockpage.net). Rockpage features band links, a message board, "Homegrown Rocker" updates, live show and CD reviews in “JP’s Corner," and other local music scene information.

Bands and artists interested in having music aired on "The Homegrown Rocker" are invited to send their broadcast-quality recordings to: WRKY Radio, One Forever Drive, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648; ATTN: Jim Price. Or drop the recordings off at the station during regular business hours, Monday-Friday 9 AM – 5 PM. You can also email me with inquiries about the show at profjp@rocky1049.com.

Jim Price

In Local Music News…

The date has been announced for the 23rd annual Kids Come First Benefit concert. That annual event will take place on Sunday, August 24 from 1 to 10 p.m. at the Cresson Sportsmen’s Club. Proceeds from Kids Come First will again benefit Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The band line-up is currently being worked on for that event, including both electric and acoustic acts. We’ll have details about the performance line-up soon on the “Homegrown Rocker.”

We recently reported the upcoming Women of Metal Fest, which will take place on Saturday, July 12 at the Rex Theater in Pittsburgh. Partial proceeds from that event will now benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; that announcement just made in the past week. The all-day event will begin at 2 p.m. on July 12, and feature performances from the bands A Sound of Thunder, Beyond Eden, Leeja Stark, Lies Inc., Midnight Eternal, MindMaze, Theatrum Mundi, Writing Off Tomorrow and more. That show is all ages, and tickets are $10 in advance, and $12 day of show. For more details about the event, visit the website www.womenofmetalfest.com.

(Bands and musicians with local music-related news to report on the “Homegrown Rocker” may submit their news items by emailing homegrownrocker@gmail.com.)