SCENE

By Eric Denby

A moment of loudness
At the Edge Birthday Bash morning man Mojo changed the way I thought about the attacks in New York. Instead of kicking off the show with a moment of silence, he asked for a "moment of loudness." Mojo wanted everyone in Heaven to hear us. Now, whenever I hear music for the next couple of months, I will be thinking about the victims with my own "moment of loudness."

8 years with no end in sight
It was a who’s who of the local scene when The Dollar Nightclub opened its doors for the Edge Birthday Bash this past Friday. When I arrived at 6p.m. there were already hundreds of Edge listeners waiting to get in. Local rockers Exit To Windsor and Molly entertained the crowd outside, while the rest of us (media that is) attempted to get access to the somewhat smelly, but free food-laden backstage area (all I wanted was some cold cuts from the deli tray but they weren’t having any of that).
19 Wheels kicked the show off with their hyped up excitement and energy . Next up was Detroit’s very own Bliss 66, who used to play the old Small Planet a few years back. Joydrop was the only band that evening not having some direct connection to Lansing, but they didn’t seem to care, nor did the crowd. Finally after hours of waiting and rocking hometown hero’s, The Verve Pipe, took the stage. AJ Dunning, guitarist for the Pipe, made it clear "out of Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and all the other cities that lay claim to this band, this is really where we are from."
Bob Olsen, with the Edge, said "We’ve had a lot of different people come in and out of the door and it’s about time we do something for those who have helped and supported us for eight years."
Chris Johnson, with 19 Wheels, was just pleased to see so many familiar faces. "The best part of tonight was hanging around and seeing just about every single Lansing Rock & Roll band here," Johnson said. Some notables in attendance included the whole Edge Crew plus Kevin Conrad, Jennifer Hunter & Shaffee from sister station Q106, Jam Sardar with News 10, Mark from Fat Amy, Members of Studiotone & Last Girl on Earth, AC and Adam from Element, and Dave from Setritual.
The best part of the entire evening was the band’s camaraderie with the fans. There were no egos. Everyone wanted to rock the "hometown" crowd, and there was absolutely nothing going to stop that. Be on the lookout for more quality shows (just like the one coming up next).

We Want More Rock
Pop-punk rockers American Hi Fi are set to invade the campus of MSU on Oct. 9. It’s just one of many planned concerts sponsored by POP! Entertainment. The show will be at the Fairchild Theater, with tickets available at CD Warehouse, Flat Black & Circular and the Lower Level. Make sure to support cool events so they’ll keep coming back. For more information, call 355-7733.

ESI Festival
Due to situations beyond my control, I was unable to attend the ESI Festival this past weekend. Old Town hosted the event, once again proving it is the coolest part of Lansing. My "assistant SCENE-ster," Joe Ross, provided me the goods, "With the river on my right and techno on my left, the ESI festival brought Lansing’s level of cool up a couple of notches," Joe said. "A couple of highlights were the three stages of entertainment, a group discussion with the DJs and the Otherwise Gallery had a Techno documentary playing all day, I can’t wait til the next one."

Quick Hits
Chili Walker and Suzie join the crazed staff of 92.1 The Edge (my advice is to practice yoga) … The Common Grounds Coffee House is having a Poetry Slam on Friday … A few local bands are looking for bass players, and instead of listing them all here, interested people can contact me at DenbyCP@lansing.com …Q106’s Homegrown Vol. 1 will be released in the next couple of weeks, so beware.

(Send items to Eric Denby at DenbyCP@lansing.com.)