March 4th-Rock-n-Roll Mardi Gras at the Roche Bar in Port Huron

It's party time with Wheels On Fire (from Athens, Ohio), blues stomper Dale Beavers and local trouble makers the Riverside Shakes.

For all the details check out the link at BlueWaterBeat.org

HUE BLANC'S JOYLESS ONES "LIVE" at the Roche Bar in Port Huron Tuesday Oct 26th

Twisted and gnarled sound blasts of two guitars and two drummers from Algoma, Wisconsin (population 3,357).

Check this interview with them
http://smashintransistors.homestead.com/midwest_gentlemen.html

Read a review of their album from a couple years back on Victim Of Time
http://www.victimoftime.com/articles/breaking-sounds-hue-blancs-joyless-ones-arriere-ga/

Listen to some of their music here
http://www.myspace.com/hueblancsjoylessones

(((SUNDAY SONANCE)))
FIRST Sunday of every month
6P-9P (sometimes longer)

NEXT NIGHT SUNDAY OCTOBER 3

Dale & Franck on the turntables spinning soul, funk, reggae, dub, downtempo, minimal, ambient, indie, psych, noise, fuzz and other groovy treats, obscure sounds and twanged-up rarities.......

@ the Raven Cafe
932 Military Street
Downtown Port Huron
810-984-4330
www.ravencafeph.com

Thursday July 29th-The Sugar Stems LIVE at the Roche bar in Port Huron

The Sugar Stems feature Drew of the LegHounds/Jetty Boys fame, Betsy and Stephanie of the Flips and JonE from bands such as the Catholic Boys, Teenage Rejects, Tuff Bananas etc. Check out more about them at their Myspace page.

Sort of a last minute show announcement here but it'll be a good one. Many thanks to Johnny and Suzie of the Roche Bar for always providing a place where band's doing their own music can play in this otherwise podunk town called Port Huron.

Some LIVE Rock-n-Roll Fun at the Roche Bar in July

Gorevette: Featuring the legendary Nikki Corvette and Amy of the Gore Gore Girls
http://www.myspace.com/gorevette

From sunny California The Pleasure Kills play New Wave/Power Pop. Good times and dancing will happen!
http://www.myspace.com/thepleasurekills

Also on the bill-the Blue Water Area's best at "1!2!3!4! Fun Punk" The McFlys.
http://www.myspace.com/themcflys

Rock-n-Roll Show at the Roche this weekend

Saturday October 10th go check out Drum Kit (Lafayette, Ind) and Mellows (Ann Arbor)
at the Roche Bar in Downtown Port Huron, Michigan

Every year about this time

he celebrates it with a rhyme

Keep the Bells Ringing

Since we've been heavy on the long time ago, sometimes forgotten and maybe never known bands and their Christmas songs...Here's another. A few years ago it was thought they'd be the next big thing.



Where are they now?

Power Pop Santa

The Pointed Sticks were formed in 1978 by vocalist Nick Jones, guitarist Bill Napier-Hemy, bassist Tony Bardach and drummer Ian Tiles; keyboard player Gord Nicholl joined later. After releasing several singles and undergoing a number of personnel changes, the band released their debut album, Perfect Youth, in 1980. They disbanded the following year.

The band reformed after a hiatus of twenty-five years to play shows in Japan. They recently played a sold out performance in their hometown of Vancouver, B.C. More shows and recording are planned.


This year they released a Christmas song



You can get a free download of this song and much more info over at the Pointed Sticks website.

Christmas Day 3

By the time the Kinks released this song on 1977 punk rock was in full swing. The band proved they could be contemporary with "Father Christmas" with it's loud guitars and cynical, pessimistic attitude that was rampant at the time thanks to unemployment and unrest.



The song wasn't a hit at the time but has become a standard for those into Rock-n-Roll Christmas songs since.

On the second day of Christmas

Slade never hit it really big in the US but this song is a standard in many other parts of the world.

"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a single by the English glam-rock band Slade. Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler, it was the band's sixth and final number one single in the UK. It held the coveted UK Christmas Number One slot in December 1973, beating Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" into fourth place, and was still number one in mid-January. In fact, it did not leave the top 40 until after Valentine's Day. It is affectionately held in similar regard by UK residents as Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is by Americans.[1] The song is particularly memorable for frontman Noddy Holder's typically screeching delivery of the line “It's Chriiiiiiist-maaaaaaaaaaas" towards the song's close.

The song is still a regular feature at UK nightclubs around the Christmas season, especially on Christmas Eve where midnight is signalled by Noddy's screeching finale. The song re-entered the UK Top 40 singles chart a further four times - 1981, 1983, 2006, and 2007 - it eventually sold one million copies. There was also a dance remix made by Swedish dance duo Flush that was a UK top 30 entry in 1998. However, the ubiquitity of the song is also the largest source of criticism for the single. In December 2008, the Holiday Inn hotel in Kensington removed Merry Xmas Everybody from the lobby's playlists following "overwhelming" customer feedback that the song was "too irritating".

Slade's frontman Noddy Holden once said of the tune

"I wanted it to be a working-class British Christmas song. And it fitted right with the political and social things going on at the time. It was very grim: there was the Three-Day Week, power cuts at 10 o'clock at night, television finished early because there was no electricity, there was a miners' strike... the whole country was in turmoil. That's why I came up with the line 'Look to the future now It's only just begun.' That's what everybody had to do. The country couldn't have been at a lower ebb. In times like that, people always turn to showbiz."

Fitting for times like now.



Here's Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" (the other Christmas song in the UK charts that year).

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a popular Christmas song in the UK, first released in 1973 by Wizzard, when it reached #4 in the singles chart, famously beaten to #1 by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" which remained there for five consecutive weeks. As with all Wizzard songs, it was penned and produced by Roy Wood, who played most (if not all) of the instruments too.

The song features the lead vocals of frontman Roy Wood but also contains backing vocals by The Suedettes as well as The Stockland Green Bilateral School First Year, with additional noises being produced by "Miss Snob and Class 3C", as credited on the sleeve.

Many children actually thought that Roy Wood was indeed Santa Claus as he had the white hair and beard in the music video.



A year later Mud topped the UK charts with this song (which also has somehow escaped the US shopping mania psyche)

Written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, "Lonely This Christmas" was Mud's second number one single in the UK, spending four weeks at the top in December 1974 and January 1975. It was the third number one single that year for the ChinniChap writing and production team, and was performed in the style of Elvis Presley's slower songs from his later career.

Join us for an evening of music and good times in downtown Port Huron. Burn off some of those calories the night before you get a heavy dose of tryptophan, sweets and spirits. More info go to bluewaterbeat.org

WSGR 91.3fm Status Update

New tower installed and transmitter back up to full power. New equipment installed in the actual studio over the next week or so. The station will be back on the air asap. Can't say exactly when but soon (hopefully sometime in the next two weeks if not before). Sit tight and get ready.

wanna comment?

Band from Italy and more this weekend in the Port Huron area

Also, On Saturday the 16th Miss Chain and the Broken Heels are playing the Painted Lady in Hamtramck with the Smith Westerns

...and...



Live music starts around 4pm.

http://www.myspace.com/misschainandthebrokenheels
http://www.myspace.com/smithwesterns
http://www.myspace.com/themcflys
http://www.myspace.com/subourbonson

Please repost and spread the word.

August 16th in Port Huron: Green Gathering 2008

Cultivating a Responsible Community
Pine Grove Park
Noon-7pm

Gather to celebrate our Earth and find ways to live in better balance with it.

By educating ourselves and engaging in civil discussion of real issues, we gain the tools necessary to affect positive change. There will be vendors, informational displays, educational speakers and live entertainment. This is an organic event. That is to say, a handful of concerned individuals and organizations come together to plant a seed, and we need you to make it grow. If you would like to register to have a display or to volunteer to help send a message to green@bluewaterbeat.org

Click here for more info

From this past Saturday

The Readies and the Magic Shop played the Roche bar in Port Huron this past Saturday. It was pretty bad ass. The Readies are Dan Kroha (the Gories, Demolition Dollrods) new rock-n-roll trio and the Magic Shop are a loud bit of jangle that includes Steve Nawara of Rocket 455 and Detroit Cobras fame on guitar and vocals. Bunch of pics Dale Merrill took and commentary over at Smashin' Transistors. Go check it out! And yes...these were all shot on actual film.

8/17 - Italian Sweetness mix with Chicago sourness

more info

Miss Chain & the Broken Heels, the McFlys and Subourbon Son 8/15 at the Roche.

for more info click here

BOAT WEEK @ the Quay St. Brewing Co.

While on the Pub Crawl...

Dale, Frank and Kevin will be spinning tunes at Catch 22 in Port Huron on Saturday March 15th as part of the town's annual pub crawl. All kinds of rhythms to get your feet a' tappin' and your hips a' shakin'. Also Bell's Hop Slam on tap. If you're in the area-stop in for the fun. It's a pretty class joint-bring a date!