Bill Forman
Posted inMusic

Living in the Light Tour

Grammy-winning acoustic guitarist Tommy Emmanuel is coming to the Tower Theatre
by Bill Forman

Tommy Emmanuel is not kind to his guitars. The Grammy-winning Australian musician beats out rhythms on their soundboards, scrapes the top of them with pliers, and sands off finishes so he has yet another surface to punish. On average, Emmanuel’s guitars survive five years of this before they become unplayable. Sometimes that happens onstage, at […]

Posted inMusic

The Sky’s the Limit Tour

Umphrey’s McGee takes a page from the Grateful Dead playbook
by Bill Forman

Over the course of their 25-year career, Umphrey’s McGee’s praises have been sung by countless critics and musicians. But few have been as dear to the Indiana improv-rock group’s heart as those of Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead cofounder who took the band under his wing early on. “I’m not so much paternalistic,” Lesh once […]

Posted inMusic

‘Stop Making Sense’ is Landing at the Tower Theatre

The Talking Heads 1984 concert film will be followed with a live Q&A with co-star Jerry Harrison
by Bill Forman

The opening of the Talking Heads 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense” — a new and improved version of which is currently touring theaters and making a stop at the Tower Theatre on Jan. 14, along with a live Q&A with cofounder Jerry Harrison — finds David Byrne on a bare stage performing “Psycho Killer” […]

Posted inMusic

“I Hear Thunder”

Tab Benoit coming to the Tower Theatre
by Bill Forman

It’s the kind of music industry story that dates back to the earliest days of regional rock ‘n’ roll — but with a twist. In the early ’90s, aspiring Cajun roots-rock musician Tab Benoit signed his first music industry contract. Barely out of his teens, he had no idea he was locking himself into a […]

Posted inMusic

Ranch Hand Makes Music

Riddy Armand has been compared to everyone from Neko Case to Johnny Cash. Compare her sound yourself this Friday at Volcanic.
by Bill Forman

Riddy Arman did write a song about a horse once, a long time ago, but no one has ever heard it and she doubts anyone will. And while there are few mentions of horses on her self-titled debut album, she does imagine herself riding one whenever she sings “Old Maid’s Draw,” her high-lonesome ode to working as […]

Posted inNews

Artists Tackle Climate Change

As they return to touring, some musical acts are making moves to sound the alarm, and even make their tours more sustainable
by Bill Forman

In the current climate of political and corporate greenwashing, it’s hard to gauge the sincerity, let alone feasibility, of the Music Climate Pact. Announced recently with considerable fanfare, the MCP is a declaration of intent by the Big Three major labels (Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group) to reach net-zero greenhouse gas […]

Posted inMusic

Bad Religion in Bend

The iconic pop-punk band is touring in support of its first collection of new music in six years
by Bill Forman

Thomas Paine, the 18th-century author of “The Age of Reason,” once claimed that arguing with someone who’d renounced the use of reason is as effective as “administering medicine to the dead or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”  Bad Religion, as the name suggests, has no interest in converting atheists. But on its current album, […]

Posted inMusic

Fighting for Their Rights

Songwriters battle for royalties, sometimes clashing with the artists who sing their songs
by Bill Forman

“I write the songs that make the whole world sing I write the songs of love and special things I write the songs that make the young girls cry I write the songs, I write the songs.” — Barry Manilow “I write the b-sides That make a small portion of the world cry I like […]

Posted inMusic

The Concert Refund Shuffle

You bought a ticket pre-pandemic. Now what?
by Bill Forman

Imagine, for a moment, that it’s the spring of 2019. You’re sitting in a cafe, not a mask in sight, reading about the pros and cons of Bitcoin, when your best friend walks in and tells you that tickets to see one of your favorite bands have just gone on sale. Without hesitation, you go […]

Posted inMusic

Musicians Say “No” to Trump

From “YMCA” to “Happy,” songs don’t always land well on the campaign trail
by Bill Forman

With its Wagnerian orchestral soundtrack, exceptionally low camera angles, and sweeping shots of white marble columns reaching up toward the heavens, the recent Republican National Convention served as an answer to the question, “What would happen if the producers of “The Apprentice” did a remake of Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will?” Which makes sense, given that two […]

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