MB ROAD TRIP!
Coming up at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach: Opeth grind their chops with some Scandi-metal on Wed. Nov. 9; the latest version of Journey performs classics, anthems, and new tunes on Fri. Nov. 11 (see below); Welsh crooner ‘n’ mover Tom Jones shakes some action on Sat. Nov. 19; Shinedown plug in on Fri. Nov. 25; cooler-than-thou rëggäe-röckers 311 come original on Sat. Nov. 26. Check the full season’s schedule at www.hob.com/venues/clubvenues/myrtlebeach. —T. Ballard Lesemann
THE REAL JOURNEY?
Journey borrowed a page from Prince on tour last summer by giving away a copy of the their new album, Generations, to each person who bought a ticket to one of their shows. Prince used a similar strategy on his most recent tour, giving ticket-buyers a copy of his Musicology studio CD. Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain said he and his bandmates — singer Steve “Not Steve Perry” Augeri, guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Ross Valory, and drummer Deen Castronovo — did the CD giveaway to reward loyal fans. But the move also makes sense in light of the difficulties the band has faced in selling new records. In fact, the band recently parted ways with long-time label, the Sony-owned Columbia Records, after the 2001 studio CD, Arrival, flopped commercially. The group has since signed with Sanctuary Records, which released Generations. Cain was open in voicing his frustration with Columbia Records over how the label promoted that record. “Our old record company certainly didn’t have a clue how to market us. That’s why we left Sony,” Cain says. With Generations, the band tried to strike a balance between the pop sound of ’80s hits like “Open Arms,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” and rockier tracks like “Wheel In The Sky.” “There’s a little bit of Infinity on it,” Cain says. “I think there’s a little bit of Escape on it. We have elements of Frontiers there. Then there are some other places we go that you haven’t heard yet.” —Alan Sculley
COOL
Local jazz cat Ian Wheeler intends to inform and excite Charleston about its healthy jazz scene via a revitalized website at www.charlestonjazz.net. “What we seek to do is serve as more of an intermediary between local jazz artists and local fans of the scene,” says Wheeler. “The first step in this process is collecting the contact information of all local players in the jazz scene. We plan to launch a weekly page linked from our website that will be a comprehensive schedule of jazz performances in the Charleston area.” —TBL
Do you have your finger on the Pulse of the Charleston music scene? Call 577-5304, ext. 118 or drop an e-mail to musicboard@charlestoncitypaper.com.
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