Grammy nominated, platinum-selling Five for Fighting (aka John Ondrasik) recently capped a series of special string quartet shows with a tour that ended locally. He recently played the penultimate date of his string quartet tour at Rams Head on Stage, and Steve Satzberg was there to photograph the show.
Ben Folds recently swept through our region on his 2025 Orchestral Tour, visiting Merriweather Post Pavilion. In a delightful twist, the orchestra backing Mr. Folds was the local Howard County Youth Orchestra, comprised of students assembled from the school system in Howard County, Maryland, home to Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Steve Satzberg was there to photograph the show.
I see a lot of shows; most of them rock. The majority of them are also in a club or venue where I’ll be standing all night (when I’m not shooting photos). Occasionally, I get to cover something totally different. That’s what Stella Cole’s recent show at The Birchmere was. This show was her second time around in about six months. You can read my first review here.
Since I saw her first show, I knew what I was in store for and I was not disappointed. There is no opener. It’s simply an evening with Stella and The Great American Songbook! You can watch the video of here version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” if you’re not already familiar with Stella.
While the baseball game wasn’t one of the Nationals finest performances this year (10-0 loss to the Cardinals), a large crowd stayed to the end for the post-game OAR concert. On a beautifully cool baseball weather night, hometown favorites, OAR kicked of the Summer Concert Series with a great on-field concert on May 9.
Night Ranger at Hollywood Casino, Charles Town, West Virginia
“When the Sun Goes Down, the Real Ones Come Out”
Words and photos by Michael Sprouse/Odd Rocker Photography
Some shows you go to out of curiosity. Others for nostalgia. And then there’s that rare breed of night where the music grabs you by the collar, smirks like an old friend, and says: “C’mon, let’s go raise some hell.” That was Night Ranger at the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town on May 16 — a Friday night in 2025 that felt more like 1987.
If you were to design a musician in a lab to appeal to me, you’d be hard pressed to do better than MJ Lenderman. One of the most interesting figures to emerge in the last several years from the indie rock scene, his music combines the elements of much of the music I love: the alt-country of Jason Molina and the Drive-By Truckers (he covered Patterson Hood’s “Uncle Disney”), the roots rock of the Counting Crows, and the songcraft of Warren Zevon and Bob Dylan (his encore included a deep cut, “Something There Is About You”). He even has a song about professional wrestling (“TLC Cage Match”) that made into his recent set, the first of two nights at the 9:30 Club.
Fresh from her 50 for 50 Tour celebrating her musical career and birthday milestone, Cara Luft came to Bellingham’s New Prospect Theatre (NPT) on a recent evening with a diverse bunch of songs, a delightful and raucous sense of humor, and a seemingly endless supply of banjo jokes.
The daughter of Canadian folk-singing parents, the Calgary-born, Winnipeg-based Juno award winning singer-songwriter started playing dulcimer and autoharp as a child, eventually taking up guitar and clawhammer banjo. Starting her music career in British Columbia, Cara released her first EP, Tragedy of the Commons in 1997. Luft moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1999 to pursue more opportunities as her writing and performing styles developed. In 2000, she released her debut album, Tempting the Storm, to positive reviews (“Cara Luft combines thoughtful lyrics and complex and charged musical arrangements to produce her own unique sound.” Lissa Millar – Editor, Mosaic Arts Magazine).
Nicotine Dolls thrilled the audience at Union Stage recently on their An Attempt at Romantic Tour. I was there to witness the entire thing. But it wasn’t my first encounter with the Dolls. In fact, I covered their last show in DC, at Union Stage, almost 11 months ago! You can check that review out right here. But this was anything but a repeat.
Parliament-Funkadelic featuring George Clinton at 9:30 Club
Words by Rahsaan “Wordslave” Eldridge
Photos by Steve Satzberg
Cause a P-Funk Party Don’t Stop
Red, White, Black and Blue
One nation under a groove
Funkin’ at the 9:30 Club
‘round tha corner from the capital
Al Jourgensen finally made peace with the past. After the incredible reception to Ministry’s With Sympathy and Twitch-heavy set at Cruel World 2024, Jourgensen decided to reexamine his dormant synthpop hits and give them a fresh polish 40 years later. The result was The Squirrely Years Revisited, a new album that resurfaced these songs via Cleopatra Records.
The Squirrely Years Tour recently landed at Franklin Music Hall in Philadelphia, and Ben Eisendrath was there to photograph the show.
