Rockers

All things considered, the Blast couldn't have scripted a better home opener than last Friday's 21-20, roller-coaster win over the Kansas City Attack. Featured was a gut-check fourth quarter that had four lead-changes, two in the last 53 seconds that displayed the team's character and had the 8,103 in attendance on the edges of their seats. Lee Tschantret's deciding two-pointer with 30 seconds left helped give the Blast the all-important first win, and at 7:35 tonight, when the Detroit Rockers visit the Baltimore Arena, the team will look to build on that.

Kiss rocker Gene Simmons and actress/model wife Shannon Tweed caused quite a stir at Preakness 2013 when the two stopped by the Christine A. Moore Millinery tent in the corporate village of Pimlico Race Track. Dozens of onlookers watched and snapped photos as the two combed through Moore's collection of colorful creations. After Tweed tried on a number of hats from the New York-based designer, she settled on the Thrill hat, a wide-brim sheer pink hat topped with a long feather. The hat cost a pretty penny: $900.

The Detroit Rockers' Dennis Brose, the NPSL's leading scorer, upheld his reputation as a sharpshooter by winning the All-Star Skills Challenge yesterday at the Baltimore Arena.Brose scored 80 points in the five events for the $750 first prize. The Cleveland Crunch's Zoran Karic was second, followed by the Cincinnati Silverbacks' Franklin McIntosh , Cleveland's Nikola Vignjevic and the Spirit's Bo Vuckovic.The event winners:Shooting for accuracy (eight shots from 35 feet at six targets in the goal)

Of all the cities Chris Tomlin plays, Baltimore is one of his favorites. "I don't know what it is, but it seems like there's nights where you feel really connected to the people immediately," Tomlin said. "There's other nights where you have to work at it. At Baltimore, you never have to work at it. " Tomlin, 40, is returning to Baltimore on Friday, to perform at 1st Mariner Arena . It's the third stop of his Burning Lights tour, promoting the album of the same name that topped the Billboard 200 chart - only the fourth Christian rock album to do so. "It's pretty crazy," Tomlin said.

All the Spirit's streaks disintegrated in one night.Before a national ESPN2 audience and a Baltimore Arena gathering of 7,344, the Detroit Rockers ended the Spirit's winning streak at 10 with a 12-8 victory. It was the Spirit's largest crowd of the season and its lowest point total.Defender Rusty Troy wasted few words in assessing the Spirit's shortcomings."Defensive lapses," he said. "Didn't stay with their runners. Didn't hit the target. Didn't play well. That about sums it up."The Spirit was stopped three shy of the National Professional Soccer League record of 13 straight season-opening victories by the 1989-90 Canton Invaders.

DETROIT -- The Baltimore Spirit rallied from a three-goal second-half deficit but fell to the Detroit Rockers, the defending National Professional Soccer League champions, 11-9, last night at Cobo Arena.Rockers forward Sean Bowers notched the game-winner at 5:26 of the final quarter on a free kick to the right of Spirit goalkeeper Cris Vaccaro. It was the Rockers' second straight victory."I thought we were doing really well, and we held on and shut them out with their man-advantage," Bowers said.

DETROIT -- The Spirit came not only to avenge, but to play well. At least it completed one objective. Despite yesterday's 16-13 loss to the Detroit Rockers, coach Kenny Cooper thought his team sent a message."

Billy Ronson, out of indoor soccer since the Blast decided not to re-sign him last June, agreed to a one-year contract yesterday with the Detroit Rockers of the National Professional Soccer League.Ronson, who lives in Cockeysville, joined the Rockers in Detroit yesterday and is expected to play tomorrow night against the Buffalo Stallions in Buffalo.Ronson's attorney, Ben Neil, said yesterday: "We've come to terms with Detroit, and it's just a matter of Billy signing the contract when he gets out there and meets with general manager Stuart Mayor.

If the Spirit was going to unravel, last night was the time. But it didn't.Twenty-four hours after clinching the National Professional Soccer League's American Division championship, the Spirit fell behind the Detroit Rockers 24-13 early in the fourth period. Baltimore then ran off five straight goals to tie it with 40 seconds left and won in overtime, 26-24, on Joe Koziol's goal 2:57 into sudden death.The third-largest crowd of the season, 7,110, watched the Spirit's stunning comeback. The victory stretched the Spirit's home winning streak to seven and raised its home record to 17-2.

When coach Kenny Cooper was looking for the Spirit to bounce back, he didn't envision anything quite so overwhelming.Stung by its first defeat of the season Friday in Wichita, Kan., the Spirit came home to crush the Detroit Rockers, 22-4, last night before 4,062 at the Baltimore Arena.The 22 points were a Spirit season high and Goran Hunjak became the first to score five goals. Rusty Troy had four assists. Tim Wittman marked his return to the lineup after missing three games with a sprained ankle by scoring the game's first goal.

Get Arbouretum frontman Dave Heumann started on certain topics - such as maximizing the sound quality of vinyl, fictitious narrators in songwriting, photography - and expect long-winding exchanges full of ideas and anecdotes. But ask the 40-year-old Roland Park musician why he started playing music in the first place and the answer is uncharacteristically succinct. "You start a band and you get to play guitar solos for as long as you want," Heumann said from a corner of a coffeeshop late last month.

Guys, it's election season - obvious, I know, right? But this is important when it comes to “The Voice” because tonight's show was cut short because of the third and final presidential debate. Now, this is a space free of any politics (a safe place, if you will) but I have to hammer this home: IT IS SO IMPORTANT YOU VOTE…for your favorite singers on “The Voice.”  But, right now we're still wrapping up the battles, and audience votes won't count just yet, but they will.

When Alabama Shakes take the Virgin Mobile FreeFest stage on Saturday, the quartet - all from Athens, Alabama - will likely play its biggest hit, "Hold On," within the first few songs. This is a deliberate move, and also a sort of challenge to the audience: With our most popular song out of the way early on, will you stick around? "'Hold On' is still the one," said guitarist Heath Fogg. "The iPhones come out when we play that one. We play it first, second [or] third. We get it over with.

Most weeks for the past year, Rachel Taft has headed to the Canton Safeway or Middle River Costco to pick up several pounds of steak or tofu for dinner. Unlike most bulk shoppers, Taft wasn't cooking for several children - she was feeding a loose-knit family of punk-rock bands at her Highlandtown home. Last year, Taft founded Feed the Scene, a "band and breakfast" which provides room and board to artists with small (or no) budgets. Since then, she's cooked for ska punks Less Than Jake, punk-rocker Joey Cape from Lagwagon and more than 170 other groups.

For Towson rock musician Mike Ruocco, there's only one thing to do when your next list of upcoming tour dates is announced: You see when you're coming home. "When you tour as extensively as I've done over the past 10 or so years, and you see the particular tour you're jumping on stops in Baltimore, everyone gets super excited," said Ruocco, 29. "There's nothing better than getting to come home, see your friends and family, and play a show for the community that's supported you from the very beginning.

As a Baltimore City resident, I have enjoyed attending the Artscape Festival every year. Each year it's been a wonderful and fun family event where I can take my children and they can enjoy the food, craft booths, kids' activities and music. This year, however, something has come up that concerns me and threatens my ability to enjoy this event with my children. Recently it was announced that Brian McKnight, a popular R&B artist, would headline this year's festival, performing on the main stage July 20. I have to imagine that the event's organizers and those responsible for booking musical talent were aware of the recent controversy over Mr. McKnight's disgusting music, which makes me wonder all the more why anyone would think he is appropriate as a headliner for a family event.

DETROIT -- The outcome of yesterday's National Professional Soccer League game at Cobo Arena between the Baltimore Spirit and the Detroit Rockers was evident by what individuals from each team said after the game:Of his squad, Baltimore coach Kenny Cooper said: "We just try to get better every game. We have a very hard-working team, a very honest team."But Detroit's Sean Bowers said: "We have a lot of people who want to win. But we also have some guys who don't care whether they win or lose, as long as they're getting paid."

Players on one team went into the locker room at halftime hugging and slapping high-fives. The others -- the visiting Detroit Rockers -- went in shaking their heads. Not because of the scoreboard, which showed a modest 7-4 Blast lead. But for the manner in which the last two points were recorded by the Blast, with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. That just about did it for the Rockers, who exited the field after a 13-4 loss in front of 4,752 at the Baltimore Arena last night in much the same manner they did at halftime.

"It looks like a big, sweaty, sexy mess of people out there," said Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine to the Preakness InfieldFEST crowd. His eyes did not deceive him. The Los Angeles pop-rock group proved to be an excellent choice for the InfieldFEST crowd, with its handsome TV-judge frontman (Levine is on NBC's "The Voice") and earworm pop. Throughout its 80-minute set, Maroon 5 kept reminding the large crowd how surprisingly deep its 10-year catalog runs. There were old favorites ("This Love" and "Sunday Morning")

Who knew rocker Tommy Lee was such a softie? The creators of Baltimore's Show Your Soft Side campaign, apparently, since they convinced the founding member of Motley Crue to join their movement pushing for the humane treatment of animals. Lee's ad was just unveiled. It shows the drummer, with a tattoo of lipsticked lips visible on his neck, leaning in to plant a wet one in the same spot on a small, honey-colored pup. The copy with it reads, "This bad boy has added a new four-letter word to his vocabulary.