The opening act for Miss Clarkson was the Graham Colton Band at the Cricket Arena in Charlotte, NC, July 24, 2005. Nothing special about GCB honestly and I think that a lot of the audience saw them as a lot different than Kelly Clarkson’s music. Both are rock-oriented though. GCB were fine, but nothing spectacular. They came right on at 7:30 and were off right at 8:00, which is perfect for an opening act.

Then Kelly came right out at 8:30. The set was pretty cool. There was a little part of the stage that jutted out into the middle of the audience. Several horizontal light bars that could change colors (kind of like those new Aqueous TVs) werea ll over the stage. The main lights spanned vertically up the stage on four diagonal towers covered with curtains. Then above that, were two flat panel screens that off and on showed Kelly’s eyes blinking, looking up, down, left and right. That was kind of weird.

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One of the so-called benefits of writing for NandoNext is the fact that we get to keep the CDs that we review. This is great if you are reviewing a band you already know about.

But NandoNext also gets its share of discs from record companies to check out. The companies are looking for some publicity for their unknowns. The only publicity they’ve gotten from me is negative — up until now.

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Few guitarists can claim such a vast catalog as Eric Clapton. Even fewer can boast an audience that spans generations. And fewer yet can claim to still have the skill and voice to play their classic tunes and make them still sound like classics.

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All I can say is wow! For the umpteenth time this summer, I’ve been blown away by a live performance. This time, it was the V-Jam, the benefit concert for the Jimmy V cancer foundation that featured Edwin McCain, Athanaeum, and members of Cravin’ Melon and Hootie and the Blowfish.

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It’s been five years since No Doubt’s “Tragic Kingdom” hit stores, offering a unique blend of rock, pop and ska. Although No Doubt’s third major release, “Return of Saturn,” is a bit lighter on the rock and ska elements, it’s still a worthy purchase.

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It’s pretty rare to go to a concert and like both the opening act and the main performer, and even less likely when there are three bands. But the September 21, 1999 B.B. King Blues Festival at the Greensboro Coliseum showcased three top-notch blues acts, spanning generations of blues.

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Sept. 9 was really hyped, with the date being 9-9-99 and with two big events in the entertainment industry — the release of Sega’s new video game system, Dreamcast, and the 1999 MTV Music Awards. I have yet to see the Dreamcast system, except in commercials, but if it’s anything like the MTV Music Awards or the uneventful date of 9s, it will be a huge disappointment and a complete waste of time.

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I thought that picking my top 10 albums of 1998 was going to be a breeze. But as I perused my CD purchases of the past year, I realized 1998 wasn’t a great year for music. A lot of songs were out there, but not a lot of good albums.

I ended up narrowing it to the top eight of ‘98, and even that was tough. This past year wasn’t the best for the music industry. It seems there were a lot of decent songs, but few decent albums.

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