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Home , Burn Halo, Escape the Fate, Jacoby Shaddix, Jerry Horton, Jon Reep, Papa Roach

------Feature • Jon Reep------The Naked Truth By Deborah Kennedy Comic Standing.” Known for his bits on the many splendors of life in the country Do you like your martinis made and his sage advice on how to survive with moonshine? Perhaps you’re a fan these crazy times, Reep recently created of both 50 Cent and Conway Twitty. Nakediquette, rules for how to conduct Are you cool with wax- ing your backside be- fore heading out to the county fair? Do you do a little yoga on your bass boat? ------Feature • ------If you’ve answered yes to any of the above questions, you just might be a Metro Jethro. According to the official definition on comedian Jon Reep’s Hearts on Sleeves website, a Metro Jethro is (1) anyone who was By Deborah Kennedy Ben Luther, and together they entered their high born and raised in a school talent show where they performed their small, rural area and Imagine a full-on audio assault, basically the own version of ’ “Fire.” now has to function in a equivalent of a kick in the pants, only for the ears. They lost the contest, but you could safely say big urban area (or vice At the risk of mixing a few too many metaphors, they won the war. Having gone through a couple versa); (2) anyone who we’re talking about a no holds barred cage fight lineup changes (they ditched the trombone player understands and appre- between rock n’ roll in one corner and the heavi- after only three months; Buckner left, came back, ciates both small town est of heavy metals in the other. left again; James left and stayed gone) Papa life and big city life; or Obviously, we’re talking about the Raid Roach soon had a fan following to match their (3) Jon Reep. the Nation Tour, which will be hitting Piere’s own drive to tour and create. In 1999, under the There’s even an Wednesday, May 18 for an evening sure to punch DreamWorks Records label, they released their artist’s rendering of a you right in the face, in a good way. Headliners full-length debut, Infest. It sold 30,000 copies in p r o t o t y p e Papa Roach will be joined on the million-dollar its first week and made Papa Roach (named for Metro Jethro stage by and . Shaddix’ step-grandfather William Roatch, who above the JON REEP And “raid” is right. Papa Roach haven’t sold committed suicide in 1996) an almost overnight definition to w/Scott Dunn yourself when 10 million copies worldwide by being success. Soon the guys were hopping on the Vans clear up any Saturday, May 21 • 7:30 p.m. nude in a locker shrinking violets. This and playing confusion. room. (Ladies, quartet from Vacaville, PAPA ROACH with the likes of Limp The rather The Honeywell Center these only apply California has a sound Bizkit, and Lu- c o m e l y 275 W. Market St., Wabash to men; women, w/Escape the Fate & Pop Evil gentleman Reep says, can that pounds and drives dacris. Tix: $12-$25, 260-563-1102 and takes no prisoners. Wednesday, May 18 • 8 p.m. They followed is decked do whatever All it takes is a few short Infest with Lovehatet- out in a crisp they want na- listens to some of their Piere’s Entertainment Center ragedy, which, while not white shirt, tie and black jacket on top ked, as long as he gets to watch.) highest-charting hits – 5629 St. Joe Rd., Fort Wayne selling quite as quickly and cutoffs and flip-flops on bottom. The guiding principles of Nakedi- “Kick in the Teeth,” for Tix: $30 adv., $33 d.o.s. thru as Infest, did chart high- At his feet is a jug of moonshine; in his quette include: you only get five min- instance, and “Burn” – er and marked the band’s hand, a martini. utes to be naked; no nude talking; and to understand that this Ticketmaster or Piere’s box office, transition from This gentleman, minus the mullet, do not blow dry your butt. -fronted 260-486-1979 rap (that’s right – these represents Reep, who was born and So far, so solid. What about his act likes to make a big white boys can rhyme) to raised in Hickory, North Carolina but take on the country pastime of tubing? impression. These songs cover the gamut of - a more traditional . It also introduced now spends much of his time in Los “I like it because I can drink and pee in tion from anger to fury to broiling resentment. the world to one of their most beloved tunes – Angeles, where, since 2000, he’s doing the same spot.” His ideas on marriage? Actually there’s a lot of love in there too, and “She Loves Me Not” – and got them into a Pepsi the whole standup comedy thing. It’s “Me and my wife are trying to make even though it’s often of the unrequited variety commercial. paid off. After sweating it out in audi- marriage gansta. You got the Bloods, (see their incredibly popular single “Forever”), You might think that selling one of the coun- tion after audition, dank, smoky club the Crips. We’re the whips.” Shaddix and his mates – on lead try’s top cola brands is the pinnacle for many after dank, smoky club, Reep eventu- Their gang colors? Butterscotch guitar, Tobin Esperance on bass and Tony Paler- rock bands, but Papa Roach had more tricks up ally landed the part of the pot-smoking and taupe. mo on drums – know quite bit about the subject. their collective sleeve. The year 2003 saw them farmer, Raymus, in the comedy Harold If Reep’s blend of big city fun and This is evident when you consider that Shaddix, release Getting Away With Murder, and, boy, did and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo down-home humor appeals to you, a very inked-up guy, has the Chinese character they. The single from that album, “Scars,” sent Bay. You can also see his pale mug on mark your calendar for Saturday, May for “love” tattooed on his neck and the English the Getting Away With Murder straight to Plati- the ABC sitcom “Rodney,” where he 21 when he’ll be at the Honeywell Cen- characters for “love” on his right hand. And while num, and while fans whined about what they con- plays the dimwitted cop, Gerald Bob. ter with “Bob and Tom” favorite Scott I’ve got you going all mushy on the guy, he mar- sidered the softer side of Shaddix and company Perhaps his biggest claim to fame, Dunn. ried his high school sweetheart, Kelly, in 1996, displayed on the release, it propelled the band according to his website anyway, is his It’s your chance to, as Reep so and the lovebirds have matching star tattoos by onwards and upwards and road-wards. In other work as the redhead hillbilly “Hemi humbly put it, see the “best comedian their right eyes. I know, right? Awwww ... words, the dudes hit the tour bus for pretty much Guy” on the Dodge Ram commercials. in the world.” Papa Roach got their start way back in Shad- all of 2005, hanging out with Slipknot, Dead Po- He had one line, but it was a big one: “For one year I was the best co- dix’ high school days when he met drummer etic and , among others. “That thing gotta Hemi?” median in the world, according to the Dave Buckner during a football game and the The next year they went right back to the If you don’t recognize him yet, show [“”]. It’s not two started talking music. Shaddix and Buckner Continued on page 6 you will when I tell you he was the top my fault that Jerry Seinfeld and Chris recruited bassist Will James and trombone player finisher in season five of NBC’s “Last Rock did not enter the contest.” May 12, ’11------www.whatzup.com------5 ------Feature • B.J. Thomas------Still Hooked on That Feeling By Mark Hunter “Hooked on a Feeling,” over and over until In his teens he sang in the church choir and the needle wore out. The guy even sang a then joined the Houston-based group The Sometimes you just have to wonder few verse at the service. Triumphs. The first record The Triumphs re- ON about things. Like what if the lyricist Hal When I mentioned the funeral story and leased was a cover of Hank Williams’s “I’m TV David had been able to excise the word another about the recent National Record So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and it was a hit. “raindrops” from his head when writing the Store Day where the reporter invoked his Thomas left The Triumphs and signed song “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” name, he seemed surprised “That’s unbe- with Scepter Records. His first big solo hit with Burt Bacharach? What if, say, he de- lievable, I can’t explain that.” was “Hooked on a Feeling.” Then came cided on “kumquats” or “anvils?” And what “Your music seems to touch people in a “Raindrops,” which had tremendously broad on NBC if Bob Dylan had agreed to sing the song powerful way,” I said. appeal and brought him not only equally after Ray Stevens turned broad fame but a load of after SNL it down? Hmmm. Would money too. Sudden stardom Paul Newman and Robert did to Thomas what it does Redford have been able to to a lot of people, and after follow Butch Cassidy and a struggle with drugs in the the Sundance Kid with The early 70s he dropped off the Sting? Would Dylan have Top 10 lists for a few years. called Blood on the Tracks Then in 1975 he came Raindrops on Anvils? roaring back with the smash Would the bicycle have be- “(Hey Won’t You Play) come, as Butch predicted, Another Somebody Done the future? Kind of makes Somebody Wrong Song” the brain numb to ponder which, in addition to being such things, doesn’t it? one of the longest But the more pertinent song titles in history, question is whether B.J. B.J. THOMAS crossed the adult con- Thomas would be the cul- Saturday, May 21 • 8 p.m. temporary boundary tural touchstone and be- Foellinger Theatre where it rose to No. loved tugger of nostalgic 1. It also became a heartstrings he is now had 3411 Sherman Blvd., Fort Wayne No.1 country hit at he not been the man who Tix: $15, 260-427-6000 the same time. Thom- eventually got the “Rain- as’ subsequent coun- drops” gig. Would people try hits included “Whatever still be buying tickets to his shows, including “I get that a lot about my gospel music,” Happened to Old-Fashioned Love,” “New his May 21 concert at Foellinger Theater? Thomas said, “but it’s mostly ‘Raindrops.’ I Looks From an Old Lover” and “Two Car The answer, of course, is yes. think I would have been okay without it, but Garage.” In 1988 he recorded “As Long as At least that’s what Thomas thinks. And every couple of years when I run into Ray on We Got Each Other,” the theme song to the he’s had 40 years and countless hours rid- the road I thank him for turning it down. We family-based sitcom “Growing Pains.” ing in a tour bus and waiting in airports to laugh about it.” It’s those songs and many others that think about it. In fact, he’s thought about it What made Thomas the star he was, and keep Thomas in demand He and his longtime so much I didn’t even have to ask the ques- remains, is his unmistakable voice – a warm band just wrapped up a 29-day tour in Aus- tion when he called me from a hotel room tenor imbued with assured emotion. He has tralia and they’re back on the road again. in Nashville, where he was waiting for his credited his style to Jackie Wilson and the “This year is going to be our busiest in midnight bus to whisk him and his band off other great Motown and R&B singers of the four or five years,” he said. “We’ll be doing on yet another swing through the country. late 60s, many of whom he toured with. It about 100 dates.” I had been searching recent news was his voice that enabled him to sell 70 Even after all these years, Thomas is still items for mention of his performances and million records over his career. He’s had 15 hooked on the feeling he gets while perform- what kept popping up were not reviews Top 40 hits, won five Grammys, two Dove ing. or schedules but things like obituaries and Awards and 10 Top 40 country hits. In 1981 “As long as I feel I’m doing it to a cer- columns. There was a story about a funeral became the 60th member of the Grand Ole tain standard I’ll keep it up. I still have a in South Carolina in April where a friend Opry. burning desire to do it. I’m very fortunate of the deceased talked about how the two Billy Joe Thomas was born in Hugo, to have worked with great composers and to played Thomas’s second Top 10 hit, 1968’s Oklahoma in 1942 and raised in Houston. have had great audiences.”

PAPA ROACH - From Page 5 studio, only the studio was a mansion, to mind.” The plan now, following the Raid the record . The album Luckily for Papa Roach and their now ra- Nation tour, is to head back to the studio had roughly 45 different titles – Days of bid fans, stepped up to the kit, or mansion or whatever to work on a new War, Nights of Love was one of the rejects, and the guys, tireless, always writing, put out album that will explore “new electronic as was Forever, after the single – but the Metamorphosis in 2008. Again almost titled sounds.” band eventually settled on the homage to the Days of War, Nights of Love, Metamorphosis One thing is for sure. Papa Roach aren’t historic home in L.A. where they laid down was so christened to acknowledge the many going anywhere, unless you count the Soni- the tracks. changes the band had gone through during sphere Festival in Finland where they’ll It was right around this time when Buck- their 10 years with the DreamWorks label. headline with Slipknot this summer. ner left the band for good. According to After more tours with brothers in arms Nick- As Shaddix said to a writer with the Dal- 323 W. Baker St., FtW Shaddix, Buckner’s departure was necessary elback, , and las Music Guide, “We’re a band that tries to www.C2Gmusichall.com for everyone involved. Shaddix told Launch , they put out Time for Annihila- walk that line between metal, hardcore, punk facebook @ C2G Music Hall Radio that Buckner had to go to rehab “to tion, which includes revenge tunes “Kick in rock and , and we do our best at clean up his act ’cause he was out of his the Teeth” and “Burn.” trying to make it all cool.” 6------www.whatzup.com------May 12, ’11