3 concerts cancel

Last week brought a series of bad news for Billings music lovers. Slipknot, Trampled By Turtles and Pat Benatar all pulled the plug on their performances in Billings.

Both Slipknot and Trampled By Turtles canceled their performances due to illness. Slipknot was to perform at the Rimrock Auto Arena Aug. 26, and Trampled By Turtles was slated for a Railyard Ale House performance Aug. 29.

This is the second cancelation by Trampled By Turtles, the Duluth, Minn., folk and bluegrass band. The first came in March, when a band member’s wife had to undergo surgery. No rescheduled date was set as of press time.

Slipknot canceled all remaining tour dates and there is no word if they’ll be making up the dates anytime soon. Joey Jordinson, the band’s drummer, was hospitalized Aug. 22 for undisclosed health concerns.

The ’80s pop rock icon Pat Benatar, who was scheduled to perform in Billings on Tuesday, canceled her concert due to a scheduling conflict, according to the event promoter Silvertag Live productions. Benatar was to perform with Neil Giraldo (lead guitarist and musical arranger for Benatar’s band) at the Shrine Auditorium.

New promoter in town

Slivertag Live is a northwestern concert promotions company formed by Paul Thornton, former owner/operator of Bravo Entertainment. Thornton sold Bravo, a concert promotions company that brought musical acts into Bozeman and Billings in the 1990s through 2006, to the concert promotions business the Knitting Factory, which has locations in Spokane, Boise, New York City and Hollywood.

Thornton began Silvertag Live in early January after the non-competition clause that was part of the Bravo sale expired on Jan. 22. Nothing is currently scheduled for Billings, though Silvertag Live is bringing pop music star Jason Mraz to Bozeman Sept. 23.

Get your refunds

Refunds for the Pat Benatar concert will be automatically processed for those patrons who purchased tickets at www.ticketswest.com or through a TicketsWest call center, and all returns should have posted by Aug. 28. Tickets purchased at ticket outlets should return to point of purchase for a refund.
Those with purchased tickets for Slipknot will be issued refunds at the MetraPark Box Office. Refunds must be conducted by the end of the business day on Sept. 23, and ticket fees are nonrefundable, according to event promoter Jade Presents. Tickets may be returned by including a self-addressed stamped envelope mailed to Slipknot Ticket Refunds, METRAPARK, P.O. Box 2514, Billings, MT 59103.

Ernie November, a record store located at 919 Grand Ave. in Billings, is issuing refunds for Trampled By Turtles, and online purchases have already been refunded, according to event promoter 1111 Presents.

For the latest in Billings entertainment news, log onto www.penandpaige.com/blog.

Billings native Brian Powers was in it for the music. Yet recording with and inspiring mainstream icon Ben Folds was definitely an added perk.

It all started with The Leading Tones, an a cappella group that Powers, an ’04 graduate of West High, started as a freshman at Ohio University.

“It wasn’t all that serious,” Powers said. “We were set to have fun. But eventually, it evolved into a more serious group that started making CDs and traveling around the region to go to different competitions, venues, schools – just to kind of get our name out.”

Powers wrote many arrangements for the group, one of which was of Ben Folds’ song “Brick.”

“Ben Folds, I guess, was You Tubing his own songs that a cappella groups covered and eventually came across our song that we did,” Powers said. After receiving a You Tube message from someone claiming to be Ben Folds, Powers initially shrugged it off as a joke. Yet further correspondence proved it was not a stunt.

“In an interview with A Cappella Magazine, it was our song, and I think somebody from Columbia, that inspired him to do this whole CD project.”

The CD project includes a 16-track a cappella album of Ben Folds’ “greatest hits,” 14 of which are performed by different university ensembles from around the country and two of which are performed by Folds himself. The proceeds from “Ben Folds Presents: A Cappella University!” go to the Save the Music Foundation, an institution that, among other things, provides funding for school districts that would otherwise have to close down their music departments.

In a two-week span, Folds, his wife and producer traveled to these 12 universities, practicing and recording with the students. In search of a sound outside of the studio setting, most of the songs were recorded in nontraditional locations, including living rooms, recital halls, rehearsal and common rooms as well as chapels.

To promote the album and project, Folds toured nationally this past year, and The Leading Tones met up with Folds one last time to open for him in their home state.

The Foghorns

The Foghorns is a band with a deep history, all of which revolves around the founder and only original band member, Bart Cameron. Cameron formed the band in Wisconsin, created a new variation in Brooklyn and again during his travels to Iceland on a Fulbright. Now settled in Seattle, The Foghorns, in its current form, is releasing its debut album, “A Diamond as Big as the Motel Six” on Beefy Beef Records. Technically speaking, however, it is The Foghorns fifth album.

This band brings to life Cameron’s original music with a tuba, organ, guitar, harmonica and complementing vocals.
“We often call it folk music written by a group listening to punk music,” said vocalist Katie Quigley.

The title of the new album was taken from a favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald story that was written as America was heading into the Great Depression. Written while the United States hit its latest economic downturn, the album reflects Cameron’s collection of stories and thoughts on what it means to be from America during these hard times.

“It seems surprisingly relevant,” said Cameron. “I was only talking about the U.S. when I was writing it, and then Iceland’s economy crashed. It’s almost as relevant or more important to my Icelandic friends – the lyrics and the message of the album – than my American friends.”

Asked if he planned on changing up the band again, Cameron said, “I’m not a big forever kind of person. I’m amazed at what The Foghorns right now is doing, and I’m very happy with it. But I don’t know.”

The Railyard Ale House will host The Foghorns 8 p.m. this Tuesday, as they tour to promote “A Diamond as Big as the Motel Six.”