By: Jim Price As Spring officially arrives later this month, symbolic of rebirth, hope and new beginnings as green leaves return and flowers begin blooming, an epiphany came to me based on things I observed in recent days. The night before writing this, I attended the Skid Row concert at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre (full recap in next month’s article). During the event, members of Skid Row took moments to express their heartfelt appreciation to the sold-out house for s

By Jim Price And into another year we go…Welcome to 2022! The beginning of the New Year is always a good opportunity to look forward, refocus and set new goals and objectives. Here’s hoping all of our readers are able to reach their goals and prosper in the 12 months ahead! I experienced several musical highlights before 2021 reached its end…One of them was a road trip to the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center just before Thanksgiving to witness Swedish guitar legend Yngwie Ma

By Jim Price With indoor live music venues still under COVID-related capacity and other restrictions that largely prevent them from hosting bands and performers, outdoor situations have again provided most of the live music I have witnessed in recent weeks. But with cold weather bringing an end to those outdoor situations soon, and a vague new Facebook policy possibly slamming the door on live-streaming music events on that platform, musicians may face stiffer challenges for

By: Jim Price Just a kid aged in the single digits when the 1960s (and especially 1968) happened, I was too young to fully grasp the craziness happening in the United States and the world at that time. But as I began listening to rock’n’roll music when my teenage years arrived in the 1970s, I grew up hearing the songs that addressed what was happening, as famous musicians like Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, CSNY, Edwin Starr, The Beatles, CCR, Black Sabbath and numerous others docum

By Jim Price Maybe the rodent was right…That glowing sphere reappeared in the sky, and temperatures hit the mid-50s as the March article deadline arrived last month. Perhaps Phil the groundhog was correct, and we are getting an early spring (after what has been a comparatively tame winter). The pre-spring sunshine and warmth graced one Saturday late last month, resulting in ideal conditions for soup and chili sampling in downtown Bedford. Postponed from January due to bad wea

MISS MELANIE & THE VALLEY RATS – MISS MELANIE & THE VALLEY RATS (no label) For their fifth CD, Happy Valley blues, soul and groove favorites Miss Melanie & the Valley Rats have gone for broke and made a 23-track, 75-minute-plus self-titled album. The group mixes it up between old and new songs, and live and studio tracks, along the way introducing a few new original numbers plus live takes and updated arrangements on many established tunes from their prior albums. Front and c