Pier Six

Poor ticket sales led to the cancellation of last night's "A Night on the Town" jazz concert at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion. Approximately 800 tickets for the event, which was to have featured James Ingram, Patti Austin and George Howard, had been sold, according to Pier Six spokesman Kevin Brown. At least 3,000 needed to be sold for the show to break even.The renovated pavilion opened less than two weeks ago with a new capacity of more than 4,300. Concerts by Hall & Oates, John Denver and Howie Mandel/Dennis Miller have drawn well, Mr. Brown said, while one of the two Patti LaBelle concerts last weekend was "disappointing," drawing less than half of capacity.

I am going to have to apologize because I do not have a setlist and I don't really know the names of the songs but does that matter? ZZ Top is the longest running rock 'n' roll band with its original lineup in history and they certainly wouldn't fault me or you or anyone for not knowing what their songs were titled. I feel that I could guarantee that if you cornered guitarist Billy Gibbons and asked him very specific questions about very specific songs he would be bored out of his beard and possibly, politely, move on to another conversation.

SOMETHING NEW under the, ah, stars? The Baltimore Cente for the Performing Arts Inc., which had originally planned a festive "Gala Under the Stars" at $200 a head to celebrate the opening of the new Pier Six Concert Pavilion on July 25, has nixed the idea in favor of opening it up to the masses -- and what a great idea.Featured entertainer will be Benny King, whose songs "Stand By Me" and "Save the Last Dance for Me" were megahits. The best news is that tickets for the grand opening concert will be just $6. A nice way of saying "thank you" to Baltimoreans for their support, we say.Tickets will be available through Telecharge, Mechanic Theatre box office and Ticket Center Outlets.

At this month's BET Awards, the Viewers' Choice award seemed like a battle of front-runners. Nominees Beyonce, Jay-Z and Kanye West were seated in the front row, a skip away from the podium. Chris Brown and Lil Wayne were also nominated. They all lost to four teenage boys. Mindless Behavior, the Los Angeles boy band of Prodigy, Princeton, Ray Ray and Roc Royal, bounced up to the stage to accept the night's only award decided on by fans. After catching his breath, Princeton ended his speech with a declaration.

Linda Ronstadt's appearance at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion Aug. 30 has been canceled due to "unavoidable changes in the artist's touring schedule creating an irreconcilable conflict," according to a spokeswoman for Ms. Ronstadt's agent at the William Morris Agency. She declined to elaborate further, saying that the cancellation was of a "personal" nature.The show, which also was to feature Los Camperos de Nati Cano, is the second concert this month to be canceled at Pier Six. A package featuring Patti Austin, James Ingram, George Howard and others was pulled on Aug. 6 because of poor ticket sales.

A photo caption in yesterday's editions of The Sun incorrectl described the size of the new Pier Six Concert Pavilion and its opening date. The new pavilion will have a seating capacity of about 4,200 -- approximately 1,200 more than the old pavilion. It will open with a special celebration July 25.

In a deal that will cost state and city taxpayers $3 million, Baltimore is taking over the white-peaked Pier Six Concert Pavilion from the financially troubled nonprofit group that has been running it.The takeover does not immediately threaten shows at the Inner Harbor summer venue, which has staged concerts ranging from children's singer Raffi to rhythm and blues act Maze to country star Kathy Mattea. The city will stage concerts through its cultural or tourism offices, or hire an independent contractor to do the job, officials said.

Fans attending the Michael Feinstein and Rosemary Clooney show tomorrow night at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion will get up-close-and-personal views of the performers thanks to 9-by-12-foot video screens installed on either side of the stage.The screens will also be in place for the Robert Palmer concert on Thursday, the second half of a brief trial run; if they work well at this week's concerts, Pier Six will seek a sponsor to pay for the screens next year, according to facility manager John Wright.

TODAY is the day that all summer concert-goers anxiously await.Pier Six Concert Pavilion and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia have announced their summer concert schedules, but there aren't many surprises.Merriweather opens its 24th season on May 24 with Styx, which will be making its first local appearance since June 1983.The Pier Six season will begin unusually late, on July 25, with a gala fund-raiser for the Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts. The major act has yet to be announced.

No sooner did word get out that the Cordish Co., which revitalized the Power Plant, might also manage and operate the Pier Six Concert Pavilion, then there was talk of "bigger and better acts" being booked into the 18-year-old Inner Harbor venue.It's not surprising that local music fans believe the pier could be booking better-known bands than it has been. Last summer, for instance, the Merriweather Post Pavilion brought in Lilith Fair, the Backstreet Boys, Pearl Jam and Phish, while the Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge had the Spice Girls, Dave Matthews Band, Shania Twain and Ozzfest.

Mac Miller, the Pittsburgh rapper and social media powerhouse, is Pier Six Pavilion's first show of the season on April 26.  The concert was going to be announced next week, but Rams Head Live, which books the outdoor venue, gave Midnight Sun the heads up after Miller's upcoming concert at the Patriot Center was announced . The show will also be presented by Towson University. The sponsorship makes sense for the school as Miller, 19, owes his enormous success to a young fan base cultivated online.

In Baltimore in recent months, Bill Cosby's name has been associated more with politics than with comedy, or even Jell-O. In December, he was the marquee attraction at a $4,000-a-plate dinner to benefit Baltimore mayoral candidate Otis Rolley. But this Saturday, Cosby will be back to covering more familiar ground in a performance at Pier Six Pavilion, his first local appearance since the political fundraiser. Reluctant to discuss his endorsement, the comedic actor said there won't be politics at the show.

Emmylou Harris performed at Pier Six Pavilion Tuesday night. Baltimore Diner 's Richard Gorelick, a regular Harris, reviews the show. Emmylou Harris, touring with her Red Dirt Boys in support of "Hard Bargain," her first studio album in three years, played a tight, focused and seamless two-hour show at Pier Six Tuesday night. "Hard Bargain" is the third album in Harris's long career to include material mostly written by her. In interviews, she has talked about the autumnal nature of these late-life songs, which mark the passage of time and pause to reflect on exits - like that of the singer Kate McGarrigle - and entrances - a granddaughter, Prudence.

When I get tickets to a concert — as a fan, not on the clock — I typically only see artists I'm a big fan of, due to my own patience and bank account. Yesterday was different though. My friends convinced me to attend Pier Six's Sunday Funday, which featured many names I only knew in passing from working closely with WTMD : Bobby Long, Justin Jones, Mason Jennings, Josh Ritter, Eric Hutchinson and Amos Lee. All of the artists are classic singer-songwriters types, armed with their guitars and just enough accompanying pieces to give the harder songs an extra kick and to set the mood for the contemplative tracks.

The 1990s saw the ascent of a slew of great rock bands: Nirvana, Pavement, Pearl Jam, Phish, Rage Against the Machine and a few more you're probably naming in your head right now. Stone Temple Pilots was and is only a very good rock band, but if the weather and perennially troubled lead singer Scott Weiland cooperate at Pier Six on Tuesday , they'll do just fine. Without a doubt, this band can play. Along with the Seattle-ites, Dean DeLeo helped rock guitar get back to its meaty, blues-based roots in the '90s, following the limp, classically influenced shredder craze that ruled the '80s.

Train's career seemed all but stalled when, seemingly out of the blue, the band rebounded with the monster hit "Hey, Soul Sister. " Pop radio carpet-bombed the country with the upbeat acoustic single, and suddenly Train was back in the limelight. "Hey, Soul Sister" became the San Francisco band's highest-charting hit to date, making it all the way to the No. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. On Sunday, Train headlines Mixfest at Pier Six Pavilion, along with the Backstreet Boys and Hanson.

Heart: Led by the Wilson sisters, Heart has been a classic rock mainstay since the mid-'70s. Songs like "Crazy On You," "Barracuda" and "Magic Man" tore up FM radio, and though the band slipped in popularity in the late '70s, the self-titled '85 album launched Heart back into the mainstream. It was quite the comeback and turned a younger generation of fans on to Heart. Younger sister Nancy's the guitar-slinger, while Ann's the primary singer. Heart is still working on fresh material, and plans to release a new album, "Red Velvet Car," Aug. 31. On Sunday, Heart will be at Pier Six Pavilion, 731 Eastern Ave. Gates open at 5 p.m. Tickets are $30-$75.

The Baltimore Sun Every summer, when Pier Six Pavilion opens for its season, another annual tradition resurfaces: live music freeloading. Folks come with camping chairs, blankets and even portable grills and set up shop on Pier 5 and the western side of President Street to soak in the live music from the downtown amphitheater without having to buy a ticket. Some people go as far as to drift out into the harbor on rafts or anchor their boats near the pavilion's waterside edge.