Rocking the Fourth

I'm confident that the Fourth of July activities today, Saturday and Sunday have been covered extensively.

I debated devoting this column to the three-day event for fear of overkill, but after careful consideration I realized the U.S.A. Veterans Independence Day celebration really is the most exciting thing going on this weekend. It's got racing, music and "Redneck Games." What's more American than that?

Other than today being First Friday and the art galleries giving folks a chance to get out on the town and see the new art, the action in Cape Girardeau will be in Arena Park for the weekend. Aside from the immensely patriotic Darryl Worley concert at 7 p.m. today, the members of U.S.A. Veterans have planned some exciting and rare events -- chief among them is a free, five-band concert.

This concert, at the chronological center of the weekend, rests at the top of my list of Arena Park activities to attend.

Timexx Nasty, frontman for Drivin' Rain, organized the event, which will rock in the Arena Building -- sans cover charge -- from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday Nasty's band will close the show, but the four sets preceding his five-guy metal group fall nothing short of headliner material.

Surtsey plays the type of wandering indie-folk rock that lands artists on "American Routes" or on a folk festival stage. The music puts an indie blip on the rock lineup for Saturday.

Rockface Barband plays polished rock songs with heart, power and confidence. It's the kind of band that puts on an awesome rock concert not because the members are in costumes and jumping around wildly but because they play awesome rock songs.

The foursome What We Call Sanity won a battle of the bands in Memphis, Tenn., and has played shows at the Mississippi Mud House and Arena Building. With influences like Kiss, it fits right in with its older counterparts in the lineup for Saturday. All of the members still boast an age that ends in teen, but each of them possesses a love for music rivaling that of any veteran rocker.

Distorted Perfection is another young band. This group, out of Charleston, Mo., blend rhythmic strumming with hard rock hooks that sometimes surprise the listener into paying more attention. Each song is a journey to metal and back.

None of these bands are weekend regulars in the area. In my talks with Nasty, he said their truancy influenced his decision to include them in the show, knowing full well that just because people haven't heard them doesn't mean they shouldn't.