Here Come The Mummies
Councilman Dave Trinkle has made his position clear that creating what he calls a vibe in Roanoke is an essential missing element in our quest to attract young professionals to the valley. With this in mind, he has been an active proponent of numerous cultural and recreational initiatives. He may be best known for his support of a commercial amphitheater, but he has also helped to organize a variety of musical performances in smaller venues around the city.
This month Trinkle is working with a number of Valley Forward members on a fundraising performance by Here Come The Mummies, a funk band out of Nashville with a sound best described as a cross between Barry White and George Clinton. The program is intended to raise money for the Roanoke City Schools music program, with the specific goal of buying pianos for the two new high schools.
The event takes place on October 24th at the Towers Mall location of Awful Arthur’s. Tickets are available at area Awful Arthur’s locations, Fork In The Alley, Q99/K92 studios on Electric Road or the downtown StellarOne Bank branch on Market Street. For more information or to purchase tickets online, visit mummiesfundraiser.com.
Hmmm. It’s safe to say here comes another Big Fat Momma’s Booty Band fiasco and once again shows the ideas are there, but the execution is not (music on the market = horrendous lineup)… Granted I hope it brings a crowd for the children(thanks to K92) but is nothing more than another Roanoke night/bar band and what you get every night of the week here.
Anyone ever thought to consult with the powers at the Jefferson Center that draws the Keller Williams, Medeski Martin & Woods, David Grismans, Bela Flecks, etc that the college crowds and “young professionals” line up to buy tickets for? How great that would be to have on the market as a show. Not even huge national acts either. Hell Keller is from Virginia (bet you had to look him up).
Or are young professionals being described as below 56?
I guess my disappointment (and I apologize however) comes from the leadership, management and promotion in this city. Living in Asheville for five years everything is so well orchestrated and they bring in the bands (all the time)that the music fans from miles and MILES around come to see. Roanoke? Big Fat Booty Band and The Mummies? being paraded around. Let’s next time get with the music promoters in town and utilize them. You know, the professionals. Not a city councilman and a scrutinized political club.
Great cause. Wrong idea. Horrible execution. Out of touch leadership or the wrong people managing. Might as well have all the bars downtown involved and say hey come see our band like any normal night and the proceeds will be donated to music programs at schools. I guarantee you’ll get the same results and Trinkle and the clubs can get their resume points.
Can Roanoke ever do better? Please I’m praying.
Christina,
I am confused. A group of people get together and volunteer their time and energy to try and do something positive for the community, and you launch into a diatribe about out of touch leadership. How can you possibly criticize the execution of an event before it takes place?
My apologies for the diatribe. I guess myself, along with many other “YPs” in the Valley, are just fed up with the lack luster product we try to present as Roanoke ESPECIALLY when it comes to the music scene as a catalyst to attracting young professionals…
Reading your response and re-reading my post, I guess my problem comes from the way the article was written and the way you prefaced the event. Especially when you talk about the amphitheater and his helping to organize performances in the city???
Maybe that’s the problem with the vibe in Roanoke . It just immediately left the worst taste in my mouth.
This is my opinion so please don’t be confused. But let me give credit where credit is due. YAY! to the volunteers. Thank you for all your time and energy. I would also like to thank every downtown bar and restaurant that offers music as well and the bands that come and play. Let’s not go overboard here and into those talking point stances.
To address the confusion: The article comes out with Trinkle (not an ideal front person at all IMHO) and politics. Then gets us excited something cool is coming. And then…… Wait for it… Wait for it…. offers us the same ole crap we see every night downtown. Here Comes the Mummies? Seriously? They want me to come out for that? I would rather just write the schools a check, set up a website, give me the address and I will gladly contribute. Being a young professional (28 years of age who really is just a professional, I’m comfortable with my age) who gets energized and passionate about how music can fit into the overall puzzle of economic development, attract professionals to the area and boost tourism, I got a little perturbed when I saw this post and information. Again especially the way its prefaced.
Off of my diatribe for a moment, I feel at least I should offer a solution or idea moving forward… Get four or five bars in downtown involved (Blue 5, Martins, Awful, 202, Metro etc) and create a mini-festival so people aren’t pigeon holed listening to the same ole and can head to different “venues” catching more of the same ole but at least people can come and go freely and be involved.
You’re reaching a larger audience, raising more awareness of the program(s), creating a sense of “regionalism” or at least cooperation in downtown, getting more businesses involved, giving people a reason to check out and move about our wonderful downtown and making the bar flys, drunks and socialites feel like they’re contributing and getting involved. Everyone wins, everyone gets a trophy, everyone gets the much desired pat on the back.
It would take a person all around the downtown scene listening to a variety of acts or they can stay at their favorite for the night with the cover charges or drink proceeds benefiting whatever. Granted there will be restaurant issues involved but it’s a quick and dirty throw out there scenario that can be massaged into a larger more productive picture more geared toward the vibe and attraction of Roanoke.
Concerts on the Market: Great Idea. So far horrendous execution. It could be huge but needs people that know what the heck they are doing and aren’t looking for kudos throwing it together with the lastest junk that played at 202 the night before that is only a tad better than The Seed. Use Buffalo ’s Thursday in the Square as an example. TREMEDOUS LINE UPS YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR! But again, I digress.
Again I apologize for offensiveness but it’s hard to not criticize a project that doesn’t differ from anything else attempted and is the same ole same ole shenanigans with another local yocal type band headlining plus its presented to me with a political skew.
Sure it’s a great cause but but when prefaced as a hot topic subject of the young professionals, music in the Valley and increasing Roanoke ’s Vibe that you approached, I immediately went on the tangent towards the big picture we are trying to accomplish.
I want to drink all these flavors of kool-aid the City and these groups (which I am a part of a few) keep pouring but it tastes like crap and has been sitting out for years.
I am in the process of writing a story for Performer Magazine (The nation’s lagest independent musician magazine) on the band “Here Come The Mummies”.
I have news for you…Roanoke is in for a big surprise. “Here Come The Mummies” put on one of the best musical shows I have ever seen or heard. An incredibly talented group of musicians with several Grammy’s between them, these guys use the mummy outfits for one reason – to conceal their true identies. They are signed studio and record label musicians that are selling out venues everywhere they play. I would guess that Roanoke venues will be clamoring for more Mummies shows once the fols there see them in person. Absolutely incredible music talent!
Christina:
Are you involved at all with any of the YP groups, or do you just complain about how you want things to be different and how it was better in Asheville, but not do anything to create the change you want to see?
If you’re so enamored of other cities, perhaps you should live in one of them.
I thought the mummies were awesome Friday night!!! I actually felt like I was back in one of the jazz clubs in Chicago and NYC. After the show several of us had a chance to meet some of the mummies without the mummy garb. They area a great group of guys that said they loved the energy the people from Roanoke brought to the show. They are more than willing to come back for another show and I hope more people will come out and see them the next time they are in town. Christina, were you there?