A rock 'n' roll void

This month there are two bands I want to see, badly -- Wolfmother and My Morning Jacket.

In an ideal world I could jump in my car, drive for 30 minute, jump out, rush to claim my spot at the front of the arena floor and wait for my brains to be rocked out of my head.

But this isn't an ideal world. And if I want my brains blasted out by the Black Sabbath-esque assault of Wolfmother, or if I want to groove to the big sky indie sounds of My Morning Jacket, I'm going to have to go to St. Louis.

I'm well aware that my tastes in music are probably a bit more obscure than most people in the Southeast Missouri area. I wonder how many of you right now are asking yourselves who Wolfmother and My Morning Jacket are. They're really good bands, and that's all I'm going to say. Check them out if you like rock 'n' roll.

But I use these examples to illustrate a point.

Cape has a great venue for concerts in the Show Me Center -- a place that has hosted the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and contemporary rockers like Nickelback and 3 Doors Down (none of them are shows I'd pay to see, but that's because I don't like most big-time commercial rock bands). But something has been missing from the line-up this fall, and it's the rock 'n' roll. Cape is a rock 'n' roll void.

This season the SMC is booked up with country shows like the recent Brad Paisley "Time Well Wasted" tour and family entertainment like "Disney on Ice" and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Granted, TSO can get down and dirty with some heavy riffs, but those who like to rock will have to drive elsewhere this fall to get a taste of the live concert experience.

Granted, the people of Southeast Missouri scarf down country music and family entertainment like it's prime rib and they've been wasting away in a secret CIA prison for five years. But it's not as if rock shows can't be successful in this rural market.

Aerosmith and Poison each sold out the arena in 1988. Twelve years later ZZ Top did the same. In 2003 Matchbox Twenty played to about 3,500 people there. In 2003 Nickelback played in front of about 4,000 people. The next year 3 Doors Down played to a large crowd.

Since then, no rock band has come to the Show Me Center -- a drought that has lasted over two years. I guess you could consider Rick Springfield rock 'n' roll, but he's not a modern rock artist with hits on modern rock radio.

Where's the rock? I'll let SMC marketing director Shannon Buford explain.

Buford said it seems right now that country music tours are just hitting more cities, and smaller cities.

"The really well established groups, they don't hit as many cities as the same caliber of star in country music," Buford said.

Get rock acts to come to Cape Girardeau -- usually just a stop to fill in between dates in larger cities -- is just a difficult task at this point, Buford says. And from what I know of him, I think he's being honest. It's not like the Show Me Center doesn't try, the rock's just not there.

The venue has supported rock concerts in the past, and the artists kept coming until the last couple of years. Now don't get me wrong -- I wouldn't expect to see bands like the aforementioned Wolfmother and My Morning Jacket at the Show Me Center. But I'll take a Fall Out Boy, an Evanescence, a My Chemical Romance -- anything with loud distorted guitars and thumping kick drums -- to show that our biggest local concert venue isn't just for country music and family shows.

Of course, the key is, if rock shows do well here, more will come. And that's where it comes down to us. Sure, I can complain all I want, but if I don't back it up with my money, the gripes mean nothing. I won't be another squeaky wheel. I hope you're not either.

When rock comes back to the SMC, show them that Southeast Missouri still likes to rock.