Anyone who’s worked retail or shopped in any mall during the holiday season has heard Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on repeat. It’s a good song that perfectly embodies the festive energy that the end of the year brings for the first twenty plays. After that, though, it just becomes a […]

As Halloween approaches, pumpkin spice everything returns to stores and twelve-foot skeletons take center stage on decorated lawns. There’s no better way to establish the mood of the time than with a playlist that fits your scary vibes. Most people have heard The Monster Mash, I Put A Spell On You, and Thriller, all these […]

Do you love bikes? Do you like helping those in need? Then we have the perfect place for you to visit, and to help.  Cola Town Bike Collective (CTBC) is a community bike shop whose mission is “to educate and empower the community by providing a welcoming space to learn about bicycle repair, engage in […]

Over the weekend, on August 19th, Charleston-based band Homemade Haircuts released their debut album Sun Showers. They celebrated its release—and the coinciding birthday of drummer and Freeway teacher Blake Hunter—by performing downtown in Columbia’s New Brookland Tavern, with three opening bands who absolutely knocked it out of the park, keeping the energy high the entire […]

Every musician loves overcoming a challenge, and with drumming, a challenge is more than a sore throat or blisters from plucking strings. It takes a toll on your entire body—legs for the kick and hi hat, arms for the snare, cymbals, and toms, neck for headbanging—which means a challenge is as broad as music genres.  […]

Drumming takes many skills. Not only do you use both hands and feet on a kit, but they’re all most likely going to be doing different things at once. It takes practice to build the skill of rhythmic multitasking, which most drummers won’t have developed when they decide to pick up sticks for the first […]

I If you love Jack Black and everything musical, then you’ll love School of Rock.  Based on the 2003 cult classic by the same name, this musical is coming to the main stage, with all new music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who you might recognize as the man who composed Phantom of the Opera, Cats, […]

With the release of Lin Manuel Miranda’s first film as director, this eccentric take on Jonathon Larson’s autobiographical musical Tick Tick Boom, there has come a revival of interest in his Larson’s other successful musical, Rent. The film follows Jonathon Larson, a musical writer in the 80’s struggling to get his science-fiction musical to take […]

The New Year’s Song: “Auld Lang Syne” Written by Robert Burns “Auld Lang Syne” is the iconic tune likely to be the first song most of the world sings every year at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Robert Burns’s poem “Auld Lang Syne” is a version of an old Scottish song and […]

By Elvin Boone What’s Better Than Motivation? You just finished your first big show, showcase, private event etc., and it was a roaring success. Everyone has stopped you and told you how amazing you were. Some folks have even been specific, “when you played that solo…” and the show afterglow is all around you. Then […]