Rock Music

Baltimore loves rock music. And few Baltimore bands have the work ethic of alt-rock/metal outfit Anamide. It has opened for Powerman 5000, Staind, Papa Roach and a host of other nationally renowned groups. The band's CD release party for its new album, Lesson in Control, is tomorrow at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place in Power Plant Live. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $9. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com.

For all of the surreal, left-field and at-times difficult music Baltimore produces, it's nice to be reminded there are local musicians doing meat-and-potatoes rock music. Enter Bryson Dudley, whose band (the no-nonsense titled Bryson Dudley Band) headlines the Metro Gallery on Friday. The guitars on Dudley's 2011 EP "Cold Summer Brew" ( download it for free here ) have the right amount of fuzz, a nice change of pace from bands drowning in their own walls of sound. These are straight-forward tales of "girls laying out in the sun" ("Swimming Pool")

An announcement that bands of debatable genius Black Sabbath and Blondie are among the latest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave us reason to explore the wide world of rock-related Web sites. rockhall.com: Introduced with a Buddy Holly quote honoring the eternal supremacy of rock's king, Elvis, the Web site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a "Today in rock history" feature, an animated music time line, and a schedule of the museum's traveling exhibitions. When we checked in, the site was in search of people who attended an Elvis Presley performance at Cleveland's Brooklyn High School in October 1955.

When Jordan Page was a boy of 11 with a yen for acting, his greatest thrill was playing the Crown Prince in '"The King and I" onstage. Two decades later, in the middle of an odyssey that began on Maryland's Eastern Shore, he's starring in a real-life rock tour with lyrics a lot more volatile than "Shall We Dance" or "Getting to Know You. " As a singer and writer of protest songs that decry big government, big business and the military-industrial complex,...

Somehow, it's not hard to imagine Richie Fields at 16, driving a van down Coastal Highway at 3 a.m. to deliver fresh doughnuts from his parents' Ocean City bakery to a chain of convenience stores. With his contagious grin and friendly personality, he's always been something of a natural salesman. But picture the future country music singer negotiating a side deal to navigate his doughnut-shop-on-wheels around the streets of a trailer park at 8 a.m. each weekday, honking his horn and calling out, "Doughnuts, pastries!"

TODAY BOB DYLAN turns 50, which makes it as good a time as any to assess his place in popular culture. Because his studied impenetrability and musical nonconformity have made him less important than he once was, it is sometimes easy to forget that Dylan, as much as anyone else, is responsible for enabling rock music to influence our culture to the degree it has.Today, the media are regularly filled with discussions about the artistic influence of Madonna, or...

For all of the surreal, left-field and at-times difficult music Baltimore produces, it's nice to be reminded there are local musicians doing meat-and-potatoes rock music. Enter Bryson Dudley, whose band (the no-nonsense titled Bryson Dudley Band) headlines the Metro Gallery on Friday. The guitars on Dudley's 2011 EP "Cold Summer Brew" ( download it for free here ) have the right amount of fuzz, a nice change of pace from bands drowning in their own walls of sound. These are straight-forward tales of "girls laying out in the sun" ("Swimming Pool")

When Jordan Page was a boy of 11 with a yen for acting, his greatest thrill was playing the Crown Prince in '"The King and I" onstage. Two decades later, in the middle of an odyssey that began on Maryland's Eastern Shore, he's starring in a real-life rock tour with lyrics a lot more volatile than "Shall We Dance" or "Getting to Know You. " As a singer and writer of protest songs that decry big government, big business and the military-industrial complex,...

Influence is a funny thing. Spend some time with Frank Black's new album, "The Cult of Ray," and it's easy to hear echoes of the Beach Boys in the music. It's not as if Black is trying to duplicate the close-harmony surf rock sound that powered the Beach Boys' biggest hits, but the songs "The Last Stand of Shazeb Andleeb" and the bittersweet "I Don't Want To Hurt You (Every Single Time)" definitely owe a debt to the meticulous craft and melodic invention that marked Brian Wilson's mid-'60s work with the band.

Q: Recently, my teen-age son bought a couple of CDs with lyrics that contain a lot of objectionable references to sex and violence. We're afraid that letting him have this kind of music will suggest that we condone the songs' messages. Should we let him buy more of these in the future?A: Rock music and its lyrics have always caused disagreements between parents and teen-agers. Since such music carries an important symbolism for teen-agers, setting them apart from their parents, it must, to varying degrees, invite disapproval from adults.

Somehow, it's not hard to imagine Richie Fields at 16, driving a van down Coastal Highway at 3 a.m. to deliver fresh doughnuts from his parents' Ocean City bakery to a chain of convenience stores. With his contagious grin and friendly personality, he's always been something of a natural salesman. But picture the future country music singer negotiating a side deal to navigate his doughnut-shop-on-wheels around the streets of a trailer park at 8 a.m. each weekday, honking his horn and calling out, "Doughnuts, pastries!"

T he Anne Arundel Community Concert Association brought the Canadian Tenors, performers with wide appeal, to its first concert of 2010. Those who attended the Jan. 6 concert at Severna Park High School expecting a Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras-like tenor group might initially have been disappointed to hear this quartet, whose repertoire was more popular than operatic. But they were probably won over by the group's program of current international hits. The Canadian Tenors are Fraser Walters, Remigio Pereira, Clifton Murray and Victor Micallef.

Baltimore loves rock music. And few Baltimore bands have the work ethic of alt-rock/metal outfit Anamide. It has opened for Powerman 5000, Staind, Papa Roach and a host of other nationally renowned groups. The band's CD release party for its new album, Lesson in Control, is tomorrow at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place in Power Plant Live. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $9. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com.

In the shorthand version of rock 'n' roll history, one thing happened four decades ago - The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, forever changing the face of rock music. But, as important as Sgt. Pepper's was - and is - it was only one of numerous iconic albums released in 1967, a year that might be the most important in the history of this popular musical form. The music produced that year still reverberates 40 years later. Some of its albums sound as if they could have been made yesterday.

Rasputina, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based chamber-rock trio that fuses classical instruments with rock music, will rock The Ottobar on Wednesday night. "It's easier to think of what isn't unique about Rasputina. We're a group of musicians that perform and record," says founder Melora Creager. She says the power trio's music, appearance and ideas are what's unique. The group, which consists of two cellists and a drummer, has been touring since early July to promote its new CD, Oh, Perilous World, which came out in June.

The trio Milkshake will perform at The Other Barn, 5851 Robert Oliver Place in the Oakland Mills Village Center, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday. The trio specializes in high-energy rock music for children. Tickets are $10 for children ages 1 and older, and adults. Information: 410-730-4610. Workshop to teach baby-sitting skills The Columbia Teen Center, 5853 Robert Oliver Place, will offer its one-day "Babysitting Made Easy" workshop from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 19, June 30 and July 21. The program for ages 11-14 includes first aid, emergency procedures, safety precautions and other babysitting skills.

Not long ago at a U2 concert, a beered-up young man of about 20 staggered over to four men ranging in age from 35 to 40."Oh, wow," said the kid, surveying our group. "I didn't think people listened to rock music when they got . . . older."Then he held onto the railing for support and flashed possibly the dopiest grin ever seen on the Eastern Seaboard."Listen," I said to my friends, "I say we kill this guy right here. A sharp blow to the back of the head, snap his windpipe, it doesn't matter to me."

It's time for a show of hands on whether the new Oriole Park at Camden Yards should have a real, live organist playing campy ballpark music.To all those people who have said "Right on" to the idea since it was proffered in this column a couple of weeks ago, I say what Freddie Graziaplena, the walk-around whiz of Highlandtown, used to say to his friends and neighbors on Election Day: "I need you now!"If you really want it to happen, then do something about it. Go to the phone. Sit down and write a letter.

Alan S. Wingrove, who taught chemistry at Towson University for more than 30 years and whose interests ranged from growing exotic orchids to attending Grateful Dead concerts, died of cancer Friday at his Lutherville home. He was 67. Dr. Wingrove was born and raised in Hanford, Calif., and earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. In 1964, he earned a master's degree in organic chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Are you ready to rock?" the instructor asks. The kid says nothing. He doesn't need to. He's ready. Music director Bryan Ewald's invitation is a bit of a tease, though. This is just a one-on-one lesson. The real jamming won't happen until two days later when a bunch of students get together to play in a group. But at the new Paul Green School of Rock Music in North Baltimore, even private sessions sometimes thunder. Guitar in tow, Dane Filipczak, 12, joins Ewald in a practice room and starts riffing through a solo in Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II."