Let the Curtain Drop, It's Showtime

By Cory Allen, Mix 96.5

The band is ready. They got into town just three short hours ago from a show in Anytown, USA, and are ready for a big show on campus at a great university. There's still tension, the kind that any true performer feels every time they go on stage. After all, if those butterflies were not there, how could one truly call himself a performer?

It's time. The band mates take the slow walk up the stairs, maybe taking time for a quick prayer, and head towards the stage entrance. It has taken the hard work and effort of many to make this performance happen. Anybody listening?

Perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm Cory Allen, Mix 96.5 nighttime personality. I'm still the preverbal new guy in town. At least I still double check my zip code when I send out my bills. And that is only after I check the spelling of Giraudeau.

Girardeau, sorry.

So I hear a lot of music. I hear new music, old music, bad and good, from near and far. I've been a addict of music since I was four, when my mother bought me my first record, Quiet Riot, then promptly took it away after hearing it. Eventually I found out where she hid it, and was "feeling the noize" once again.

It's that "noize" that makes us who we are. I have a very diverse personality, so my music is diverse. I'll kick the top down on William blaring Prince's Purple Rain as loud as Cape Girardeau's finest will let me. Tomorrow that same little red, I wish it was a Corvette could be pumping out Nelly, Nickelback, Dylan, Coltrane or Smashmouth. The latter of which brings me to my next point, or at least the one I'm heading to.

I come here from Edwardsville, Illinois. To most people around here that is the site of the "other" Southern Illinois University, or a big question mark altogether. To me, it was home for 24 great years, and many memories. Music however is not one of them.

Sure, SIUE hosted Nelly once, when he first dropped "Country Grammar" on us all. I saw St. Louis's own The Urge play in a room about the size of the lobby of the Show Me Center. They Might Be Giants once goofed around at a bar in Edwardsville (I hesitate to call what they do playing or performing). That's about it.

So naturally, I headed over the river and under The Arch for most of my musical entertainment. I've seen everybody, including a sold out Live concert at a 20,000 seat venue. I paid twenty bucks and got a great show from a great band. Then I read in the

Southeast Missourian that Live had to cancel a show here last year, due to lack of ticket sales.

Something is not right. I know from my nightly ritual of jammed request lines that this town loves music. Granted a lot of those are six year olds asking to hear Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back," a song that easily outdates most it's hopeful listeners by at least three years. But hey, I've called classic rock stations hoping for Zeppelin, Who and Doors music, although somehow that seems slightly more understandable.

So as summer nears, more and more shows should come to the area. At least if people come to the shows they will. Make no mistake about it. Musicians talk. If the crowd at Poplar Bluff didn't please Nelly recently, he's probably on the horn with Smashmouth now telling them what to expect from fans around here, amid talks of the "I'm a Believer," St. Lunatic remix of course.

So if you've ever listened to a Smashmouth album, if you've ever asked for "How You Remind Me" for my Interactive Eight at Eight, if you've ever rocked out to Puddle of Mudd on MTV, I urge you to come out and support some of these shows coming to the area. It will be a great time and will tell the music world just how much fun this area is to perform in and attract acts in the future.

In addition, check out local talent at every opportunity. I haven't had the chance to yet, but the next Linkin Park or Ja Rule could be right under our ears. Besides, if Sir Mix a Lot didn't see some booty in the seats when he performed, he may never have written "Baby Got Back."

And really, isn't the world a better place because of that?