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Erie Beat

May 17, 2012 | Volume 9 Issue 8

Party in the Country
By Jenna Croyle

Over the years, the continuation of country music has taken several directions, from the glitz to the camp to the spectacular Rock-style performance.
 

Each weekend in small towns throughout the land, the pure country sound, whether it be a single voice, a duo with Guitars or a full band that just wants to entertain their audiences with the most power driven, high intensity shows this side of Nashville, is kept alive and reinvigorated each night. This weeks featured band, Small Town Revolution keeps the Country Rock’n as they assert themselves as one of the powerhouses of local Country Rock music, offering their fans a true party all night, Country Rock revolution. In the span of only a few hours, this band takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride of sarcastic, angry, in love, out of love, pensive, aggressive, subtle, and raw with a diversity and delivery that you do not typically see these days.

Each song, feels like a part of the band pouring out before your eyes, revealing a genuine authenticity of Small Town Revolution's talent and passion.

This six-piece sensation features Paul Bryson on Lead Guitar, Matthew Bennett on Keyboard and Vocals, Ben DiGilio on Bass, Clark Ellsworth on Drums with Selleena Ellsworth on Lead Vocals and Andy Mullen on Guitar and Lead Vocals.

Small Town Revolution covers a wide Varity of music from Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Toby Keith, to CCR, Joan Jett, and Van Halen along with many more hard-hitting hits, all served up with an extra large, supersized helping of good times.

Always entertaining, never boring, Small Town Revolution roars right out of the gate with a full throttle stage show that gets your toes tapping, your blood pumping and keeps you on the dance floor all night.

With a soulful and empowered voice that has a bit of a Joplin edge to it, Selleena Ellsworth blasts out every line in her own style, revving you up for the next tune.

Andy Mullen not only picks a mean Guitar, but also offers a distinctive sound of authentic Country with his voice along with lyrical delivery that is certainly high-energy and heartfelt, giving his audiences a real treat.

The very talented and energetic finger work of Paul Bryson is rich in rhythms that energize the music, while his expressiveness saturates each song with out of this world style.

Matthew Bennett’s spitfire action on the Keyboard truly lends the soul to this band’s music as he consistently demonstrates flexibility while oozing musical charisma, delivering true Keyboard genius every show.

The hard pounding baselines of Ben DiGilio, along with the manically rhythmic chops of Clark Ellsworth are the underlying fuel that powers this supercharged racecar of a band.

Small Town Revolution brings the noise and puts the party in the Country, the Rock in the roll, firing up the stage and burning down the house, creating a rock till you drop experience every time. Small Town Revolution is a must see band.

For more information on Small Town Revolution, their show dates and booking information, please visit their Facebook Page.

Warhol 'Elvis' Fetches $37 Million at New York Auction

Andy Warhol's "Double Elvis" sold for $37 million and works by Roy Lichtenstein and Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei broke their own records at Sotheby's contemporary art sale on Wednesday.

Lichtenstein's "Sleeping Girl," depicting a woman with closed eyes and flowing blond hair, fetched $44,882,500; Weiwei's 1-ton, handmade porcelain "Sunflower Seeds" brought $782,500.

Another major work on the auction block — Francis Bacon's "Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror" — sold for $44,882,500. The buyers' names for each of the four pieces were not released.

The sale came on the heels of art auction history. Last week, the auction house sold Edvard Munch's "The Scream" for $119.9 million, making it the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

"The reason for these record-breaking sales is, quite simply, the quality of material on show," said Michael Frahm, a contemporary art adviser at the London-based Frahm Ltd. "The key is quality."

Warhol's "Double Elvis (Ferus Type)," a silver silkscreen image of Elvis Presley depicted as a cowboy, fetched $37,042,500. It had been expected to sell for $30 million to $50 million. The auction house said it was the first "Double Elvis" to appear on the market since 1995. Warhol produced a series of 22 images of Elvis. Nine are in museum collections.

The rock and roll heartthrob is shown armed and shooting from the hip, a shadowy Elvis figure faintly visible in the background. It was offered for sale by a private American collector, who acquired it in 1977.

The record for a Warhol is $71.7 million for his "Green Car Crash — Green Burning Car I," sold at Christie's in 2007.

Lichtenstein's "Sleeping Girl," was one of a series of sexy comic book-inspired images created by the artist in the 1960s, the work was exhibited only once — at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 1989-90. It was sold by the estate of Los Angeles collectors and philanthropists Beatrice and Phillip Gersh, who were the founding members of MOCA.

His "I Can See the Whole Room! ... and There's Nobody in it!" held the previous auction record for the artist. It sold for $43.2 million at Christie's in November.

Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds" is one of an edition of 10 and was accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist. The ceramic seeds, which can be arranged in a myriad of shapes, were the subject of a Tate Modern exhibit in 2010. The previous Weiwei auction record was $657,000 for his "Chandelier," set at Sotheby's in 2007.

The work is fraught with symbolism. Sunflowers are at once a Chinese street snack and also an emblem adopted by Mao Zedong.

"The works by Ai Weiwei and Francis Bacon are hot for different reasons," said Lisa Fischman, director of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. "One is electrified by the artist's political provocations, and the other by the frisson of sexual mystery."

Bacon's "Figure Writing," which depicts the artist and his partner, George Dyer, writing at a table, was included in a 1977 Paris exhibition alongside "Triptych," a 1976 work by the artist that sold for $86.2 million at Sotheby's in 2008. It held the record for any contemporary artwork at auction until Tuesday night when Mark Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow" claimed that title when it sold at Christie's for $86.8 million.

It had been in the same private collection for more than 30 years.

The "Elvis" silkscreen was exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1963, the year it was created. The auction catalog described the work, based on a movie publicity photo, as "the deification of a contemporary warrior-saint, the towering, pre-eminent idol bearing a deadly weapon as if protecting the mythical world of celebrity itself."

Queen and Robert de Niro Make Surprise Appearance at 'We Will Rock You' Anniversary Show

Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor joined the cast of We Will Rock You onstage Monday night (May 14), marking the 10th anniversary of the hit musical based on the band's music. Actor Robert De Niro also made a brief curtain call.

The finale of the show saw May emerge from a trapdoor in the stage, shrouded in smoke, to play the guitar solo to 'Bohemian Rhapsody' - scroll down to watch fan footage. As the song finished, a projection of late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was seen mouthing the final line to the song, "Anyway the wind blows". Drummer Roger Taylor then joined May and the cast on stage to perform set-closer 'The Show Must Go On'.

At the curtain call, We Will Rock You's writer and director Ben Elton said a few words before being joined on stage by the original producers of the show, including Robert De Niro and Jim Beach (Queen's manager). After the show, De Niro chatted and posed for pictures with the cast. Also in the audience was a random bunch of celebrities, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, DJ Chris Tarrant, Antony Costa of the boyband Blue, and TV presenter Bill Oddie.

We Will Rock You opened at the Dominion on May 14, 2002, and initially attracted hostile reviews. The Daily Mirror wrote that "Ben Elton should be shot for this risible story." However, despite never winning critical acclaim, the show has earned itself a place in the top ten of the West End’s longest running musicals.

May has joined the cast on stage a number of times during the show’s decade-long run, though Taylor has appeared only rarely. The last time both members performed in We Will Rock You was for its eighth anniversary show in 2010.

Queen will play two London shows with American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert in July. The stadium rockers were due to headline this summer's Sonisphere Festival with Lambert, but have been forced to schedule the new dates after the festival was cancelled earlier this month.