MATTHEW BROWN: A must-see act come the fall

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 6, 2024

There are multiple topics to cover as we get deep into the hot, hot summer. Enough to have another raffle drawing. Get your tickets out … wait, this is more like a lottery than a raffle, but unlike these professional sports draft lotteries everything has an equal chance. So get your tickets out … no, again, not that kind of lottery, more like random drawing to make picking the first topic easier.

And the first topic will have nothing to do with sports. But when you have a great experience you want to comment on, you write about it. And this is my regular platform, so there.

Bold statement: Scott Stapp needs to perform at the Deep Roots Festival. This year, next year, some year. Blues Traveler, no doubt a well known act nationwide, was great last year in front of a great crowd. I just saw somebody who would build on that momentum.

In case the name alone doesn’t ring bells, Scott Stapp is/was (depending on the day) the lead singer of the alternative/hard rock band Creed, which started in 1994 and made it big in 2000 thanks to a song called “Arms Wide Open.” Creed disbanded in 2004 and got back together on two occasions.

Stapp, meanwhile, who will turn 51 in August, has put out four solo albums, the fourth coming earlier this year.

I won’t go through an entire career wrap-up, but many may know that Stapp was one of three acts scheduled to perform last summer at the Independence Day Celebration in Warner Robins. Held outdoors at the McConnell-Talbert Stadium parking lot, The Dazz Band did its funky set during which the skies looked more and more threatening as time moved on. A ‘weather delay’ turned into a major rain and lightning storm ruining the rest of the night. No Jefferson Starship. No Scott Stapp.

But those two acts agreed to return in 2024. The rain also returned last Saturday – but no lightning – and got out of the way before the gates opened. No more weather issues, and the night rocked on. Did I mention admission was free? And if you get their early, the better chance for a great close-up spot?

Stapp concluded the show, performing mostly solo material and then getting into Creed standards like “My Sacrifice.” Oh, those who were there will remember his little microphone issue about four songs in. He handled it very well, as did the audience, and on the fourth try got through the song and the rest of the concert uninterrupted.

Surely nothing like that would happen on the Deep Roots stage.

And I believe Stapp is sincere when he openly expresses his Christian faith during his show. Some of his songs aren’t so much songs as they are, his word, prayers. He will tell you where the greatest love comes from, the “Higher Power,” which is the title of that fourth album. The man has had issues in his life, but watching him, again, patiently wait for the microphone malfunction to work out without any negative vibes showed character as much as anything else he did or said.

Jefferson Starship was great too. The only original member in the set, David Frieberg, was up there on guitar and singing at age 85 (turns 86 in August). That beats Mike Love of The Beach Boys. He was 82 at last year’s show at Valdosta’s Wild Adventures.

Can’t you say something about sports to justify the position in the newspaper and website? O.K. Here’s something of Lake Country interest:

According to 247sports and Rivals, Greene County High rising senior defensive tackle, all 320 pounds of him, Kevin Wynn committed to Florida State on June 24 after making an official visit to Tallahassee on June 21.

The sites say the FSU visit capped off a string of four visits on four consecutive weekends. It started with the place some might have wished it would end, the University of Georgia. It continued at South Carolina, then went to Texas, Longhorn country that is. The offers were there too from Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Tennessee, LSU, Miami, North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, just to name a few.

To whet your appetite for next week, the subject will be sizzling on the skillet.

(If at all possible, give pet adoption a try through the Animal Rescue Foundation in Milledgeville. Donations of any kind are also in great need. ARF is a little red building at 711 S. Wilkinson St., and more information is available at animalrescuefoundation.org.)