It’s springtime. Soon the grass will be green and the trees will have leaves. Hopefully life will be as wonderful as the mildly warm weather.

It’s no wonder that the music department is having their 2004 Spring Festival of Music; what a perfect time to share the good vibrations of spring with the beautiful gift of music.

This year’s Spring Music Festival kicks off on Sun. April 4, at 4 p.m. with the Spring Choral Concert. The concert will feature Concert Choir, Statesmen and University Women’s Ensemble.

The concert Choir will perform 19th century works from Germany and England. SDSU’s own composers, Michael Yenny and Brian Schmidt, will have works featured also.

The university Women’s Ensemble, a group of 80 female students, will perform Patriquin’s Songs from Early Canada, Elanor Daly’s Rise up, my Love and Gweyneth Walker’s To Sing is to Fly.

Opening up the show will be the SDSU Statesmen, who will perform sea songs, folk songs from Ireland and acapella arrangements.

Other upcoming events in the Spring Festival of Music include the Spring Jazz Ensembles concert on Mon. April 19 at 8p.m., the Civic Symphony Spring Concert, Sat. April 24 at 4p.m. and the spring Band concert, Sun. April 25 at 4 p.m.

All concerts will be held in the Performing Arts Center on campus and tickets are $4 for students and $6 for adults. SDSU students get in free with a student I.D. The tickets are good for all concerts in the series. All proceeds go to benefit SDSU music department scholarships.

For more information call the music department at 688-5187.

What can I say about Doug Sahm that hasn’t already been said? Not much, other that he has a new CD of two of his finest “best of” collection.

Titled He’s About a Groover, An Essential Collection from the Texas Tornado, the name pretty much sums up the CD. The two-disc collection features the best of Sahm’s early rock ‘n’ roll work with groups like the Markays, Pharaohs, Dell-Kings and his own solo monikers on disc one. Disc two is a Sir Douglas Quintet “best of.”

Sahm, a prolific songwriter, performer, guitarist, pianist, saxophonist and violinist, was a child prodigy who sat in with the late, great Hank Williams in Sahm’s home of San Antonio, Texas. Williams was so impressed with Sahm’s abilities he gave him this advice, “Don’t ever quit.”"

Sahm never did quit until his death in 1999 at age 58 from a congenital heart aliment.

Over the course of his vast career he covered everything from country, blues, pop, Tex-Mex, rock ‘n’ roll, psychedelia, folk, polka, western swing, new wave, Cajun and more. His only rule was “It’s gotta be a groove, man.”

While studying at the feet of greats like T-Bone Walker and whoever else graced the Texas nightclub stages a young Sahm would haunt. With his inspired guitar work, Sahm cut many excellent rock ‘n’ roll and R&B singles all while he was still a teenager. Disc one is dedicated to these recordings. If you like raw, roots-inspired music, this is for you.

Disc two is all Sir Douglas Quintet material. Sahm was christened “Sir Douglas” under the pressure of his management in order to sound more British. Remember, these were the days of Beatlemania and the British invasion. While the name was an obvious attempt to cash in on a fad, the music was as far from it as possible. While groups like the Beetles and the Rolling Stones regurgitated American rock ‘n’ roll and Blues they heard on record, Sahm had witnessed and taken part in the real deal.

The Sir Douglas Quintet combined a unique mixture of Mexican music, R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, Cajun and hippie psychedelia in package distinctly American and undeniably Texan.

Some of the Quintet’s finest moments came when the band was in exile in San Francisco during the late ’60s; Texas had unjustly harsh drug laws back then, and being of the drug-soaked ’60s rock music scene, the Quintet got into a little trouble with the law. Songs like “Mendicino,” “Nuevo Laredo” and “Texas Me” all find Sahm singing about his longing for his home, Texas. This two-disc collection is a must for anyone who’s a fan of American music. Check it out and see what you’ve been missing. And if you are scared to listen to something you’ve never heard, chances are you’ve hummed along with the Quintet’s oldies radio gem, “She’s About a Mover,’ the groups biggest hit. Chances are you never knew what band performed it.

4.5 stars (out of 5)

Ouch, my ears hurt! And it’s a DVD’s fault.

That’s how it’s supposed to be with Iggy and the Stooges. Original Stooges Iggy Pop, brothers Ron and Scott Ashton and bassist extrodinaire Mike Watt kick out a sound that hasn’t changed one bit in the 30-plus years since they last played together.

This disk, Live in Detroit, is from the Stooges homecoming show in the Motor City. I can’t believe how good this concert sounds. Scott Ashton pounds the drums with explosive force and never misses a beat; Ron Ashton’s guitar work splits eardrums in two; Mike Watt plays the bass so well that an uninformed fan would think he’s the original bassist; and Iggy, looking like he’s weathered a decade or two stuck in the desert with no shelter, still hasn’t lost any energy or charisma since the ’60s.

Now, more about why my ears hurt: Live in Detroit sounds like you were there. The bass pounds on the listener’s chest and the upper guitar frequencies make your eardrums feel uncomfortable, even at low volumes.

Effects like hearing damage are exactly what the Stooges set out to do in the first place.

With a raw and violent sound, they sold few records in their day, but have gone on to continually influence future musicians and draw new fans.

This swirling silver disk of raw power is as perfect for someone who’s never heard the Stooges as it is for longtime fans.

Unlike other reunion projects, all members of the Stooges have kept an active schedule. Of course, everyone knows about Iggy’s solo career.

The Ashton brothers, despite lacking the notoriety and fame of Iggy, have always been working on new bands – Dark Carnival, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and Destroy all Monsters, to name a few. So unlike big rock stars who lay around their mansions on a diet of expensive drugs not playing their instruments, all Stooge members have kept their chops up.

And it pays off. With a bare bones four-piece band, the Stooges sound big, loud and full.

No need for them to bring countless back-up musicians along like many of their peers who still go out on the road.

The only extra is saxophonist Steve MacKay wailing through the songs “1970″ and “Funhouse.”

And MacKay has a reason to be there: he played sax on those numbers on the masterpiece album Funhouse.

The disk features a bonus NYC in-store performance with just Iggy and the Ashtons.

Ron plays electric guitar through a little amp and Scott plays a drum set made out of a suitcase and cardboard boxes, and it still sounds great, andIggy is never as good as he is with the Stooges.

5 stars (out of 5)

The South Dakota Art Museum is hosting Lloyd Menard and his Printmaking Alumni, a printmaking exhibition starting March 24.

“I have always been extremely impressed with the quality of work of students from this part of the United States,” says Menard, a 33-year veteran printmaking professor at the University of South Dakota.

Menard was involved with establishing a graduate printmaking program at USD.

He’s currently the director of Frogman’s Print and Paper Workshops, an artist/printmaker program that he created.

“I want to thank the USD printmaking alumni for spreading the beauty of the print medium and for their influence on me and my work as both a professional artist and an educator,” he says.

For more information, call South Dakota Art Museum curator of education, David Merhib, at (605) 688-4313.

The South Dakota Art Museum is located at Medary Avenue and Harvey Dunn Street. Admission is free to the public and museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Lloyd Menard has a webpage featuring his Frogman’s gallery, www.frogmans.net.

Can’t make up your mind on what type of music you like? Well, jazz-guitarist/vocalist /songwriter Joyce Cooling can’t either.

Her large record collection includes music ranging from Ornette Colman to James Brown to Aerosmith.

“I like R&B; I like folk; I like heavy metal and headbanger stuff; I like punk; I like rap,” she says. “I just like good music. There are no boundaries with me.”

Cooling will be performing at the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux Falls this coming Saturday. For the past decade she’s been one of the biggest jazz acts in the San Francisco area. Her debut album, Playing it Cool, charted at number one for five weeks on Gavin Report and R&R’s NAC/ smooth jazz charts. On top her impressive albums sales for a jazz artist, she’s also won a Female Jazz Guitarist of the Year Award from Gibson Guitar Awards. With a resume like this, she’s a good act to see.

Cooling, a self-taught guitarist, has a individual sound. During her unorthodox training she developed a unique guitar sound courtesy of her finger-picked style. The jazz guitar great, Wes Montgomery, provided Cooling with the inspiration to the guitar as her main instrument.

“Everything crystallized when I heard Wes Montgomery’s solo on ‘If You Could See Me Now,’”she says. “From then on, it was as if guitar had chosen me.”

Her first big break came with playing Brazilian jazz keyboardist Jay Wagner. He gave direction to Cooling’s arsenal of self-taught chops. She stared appearing with Wagner at big jazz festivals and toured Central and South America.

Cooling’s 2001 release, Third Wish, featured duet performances with jazz heavyweights Al Jarreau and Lee Ritenour.

Besides her prowess as a guitarist, Cooling spends a great amount of effort on songwriting, a craft that escapes many virtuoso musicians.

“Writing has always been an integral part of who I am as a musician,” she says.

Cooling is touring in support of her new album, The Girl’s Got to Play. This album is deeply personal to guitarist/vocalist. After the events on Sept. 11, 2001, she began to ponder on what’s important in life.

“I asked myself, ‘Is what I’m doing as a musician meaningful?’,” she says. When asked by a musical partner about a potential life without music she quickly replied, “I don’t know about you, but this girl’s got to play.”

Her life is driven by music. When asked what she does when she takes time off from music, she says, “Even if I’m grocery shopping I’m thinking about stuff.

Some people don’t know when to quit.

Imagine being a 50-plus-year-old hard rocker still playing loud music and wearing leather pants in a group that’s missing its most famous member. Sounds like something out of a Spinal Tap movie, huh.

UFO is still at it. Started in London in 1969, UFO was named after a legendary London club. Founding members Phil Mogg (vocals) and Pete Way (bass) found little success in their native England and the rest of the world other that Germany and Japan, where they were loved. When the original guitarist Mick Bolton went missing on tour in Germany, UFO had a 17 year old guitarist from the opening band, the Scorpions, fill in for the missing member.

That teenager, Michael Schenker, was so impressive that Mogg and Way immediately snapped him away from the Scorpions. With Schenker, UFO went on to record six of the finest hard rock albums of the ’70s including Strangers in the Night, possibly the finest live album ever. Then Schenker left the group.

UFO continued on without its prodigy. The albums released after Schenker’s departure lacked the melody and punch the German guitar-whiz provided.

During the mid ’90s, UFO reunited with Schenker and produced three fine hard rock records. Needless to say, I was surprised to see UFO release a new album without Schenker.

UFO’s newest, You Are Here, is far better than I thought it would be. It surprised me. Replacing Schenker is guitar shred-master Vinnie Moore. The biggest surprise is the new drummer, Jason Bonham – son of Led Zepplin drum god John Bonham.

These two combined with the founding two members Mogg and Way, and longtime UFO keyboard veteran Paul Raymond, make a great band. Mogg, Way and Chapman sound as good as ever and Bonham can pound those drums well enough to wonder why Zepplin hasn’t reformed with Jason filling his father’s shoes. The biggest surprise is Vinnie Moore’s playing. No longer the young “I can play faster than you” guitar star he was in the ’80s, Moore now has some very tasteful chops to match his impressive technique. Tracks like “When Daylight Comes to Town,” “Black Cold Coffee” and the Hendrix inspired “Jello Man” will be right at home with UFO’s classic numbers when played live.

Unfortunately, the entire 12 tracks from the album aren’t perfect. But seven of songs are pretty darn good. If this was still the days of vinyl lps, the clunkers would have been scrapped for other use. Damn CD technology allowing for really long albums.

Will you like UFO and You Are Here? I don’t know. It’s not what kids listen to these days. But if you’re tired of bands who can’t play and write good melodic songs that still rock, then You are Here is a fine album indeed. .

5 stars (out of 5)

The Ritz Gallery in Grove Hall is featuring senior exhibits for four students this week.

Anna Binger, James Grar, Adam Robinson and Dave Neimic all will have works displayed.

The exhibit is titled Kerblam and will run through Friday.

The showing includes prints and extensions.

All four students are graphic design majors.

On Friday, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Ritz Gallery will host a open house for the artists.

The Ritz Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is closed weekends and holidays.

For more information call the art department at 688 – 4103.

For all you music fans, there are a couple of major concerts within driving distance of Brookings coming up.

The pop princess with a love for vintage Americana, Jewel, and gravel-voiced ragtime star, Leon Redbone, both will be performing at the in Sioux Falls in the near future.

Redbone is scheduled to appear on Fri. March 14 at the Orpheum Theatre. His music is a mixture of pre-WW11 ragtime, jazz and blues. His voice is heard in countless television commercials for everyone from Budweiser to Mazda.

Despite being one of the most recognized figures in music thanks to his fedora hat, unimitatable baritone voice and Groucho Marx mustache, Redbone is a secretive man.

He’s so private that during the height of his career he refused to even sign his real phone number on contacts. Instead, he would leave a ‘Dial a Joke” number.

Redbone was a regular on Saturday Night Live during its 1970s heyday. He’s released 16 albums since his major label debut, On the Track, debuted in 1975.

Tickets for Leon Redbone are $22 and available through www.ticketmaster.com.

If you don’t know who Jewel is you must live under a rock. The platinum selling superstar has sold over 25 million albums to date and appeared in major motion pictures like 1999′s Ride with the Devil. Not bad, for someone who’s still in her twenties.

Tickets for Jewel are $45.75 and $55.75 and are available through the Washington Pavilion Box Office at (605) 367-6000, toll-free at (877) WASHPAV or online at www.washingtonpavilion.org.

In order to secure tickets for either show, act fast.

This DVD came out a short while back and caused a good amount of controversy.

You see, this disk, Four Flicks, by the Rolling Stones caused boycotts of all Stones albums at record stores across the nation; it was limited to sale only at Best Buy stores. How can you still be a rebellious rocker and jip the independent record stores that carry the music that really matters out of money.

Well, Best Buy’s price-per-share has probably gone through the roof because the Stones sell. No matter how crappy their latest album is, they always sells millions. But how about Four Flicks? Do Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie still have the stuff to be out on the stage rockin’ away?

I was a little skeptical about this DVD. I love the Stones. They kicked ass back in the ’60s through the early ’80s with the only exception being the album Black and Blue.

As for much of their material in the last 20 years, it’s been spotty at best. Perhaps original bassist Bill Wyman had the right idea in 1992 when he left the group.

But do the Stones still have what it takes to be “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world?” That depends on your opinion of what makes a band great.

Four Flicks contains three full length concerts by the Stones from their last tour. The films captures the group in all the types of venues they’ve haunted over the years: clubs; arenas and stadiums. All the concerts are beautifully filmed and the sound quality is excellent.

The fourth film is a documentary of the Stones’ last tour. It was my favorite of the four films. It would even appeal to those who aren’t necessarily interested in the Stones. Keith Richards is an entertaining guy with a witty sense of humor. The film also looks at Richards’ and Jagger’s sometimes tense relationship over the last 40 years. The film also shows an older stones with, god forbid, a now sober Ronnie Wood. The half-naked groupies and mounds of cocaine on their private jet has now been replaced by wives and kids. Oh well, at least Richards still drinks a lot.

As for the concert films, the stones put on about the same show in all three venues. The performances are all pretty good, but nothing amazing. Both Richards’ and Wood’s are mixed a tad too clean, failing to capture the the Stones’ life blood – dirty guitars.

At least their ticker, drummer Charlie Watts, is still in tip-top shape, keeping the blood flowing despite a few clogged arteries. The man is as rock solid as drummers come and add an effect that very few rock drummers can do: he makes the group swing. Most rock drummers provide a tense thud-bash-pow feel. Watts’ stick-work lets the songs flow with ease and a sense of precision. God bless the man.

Jagger is still Jagger; he struts around the stage keeping the audience entertained. Despite being the butt of most all non-drug related Stones joke, the man is one hell of performer.

The biggest disappointment with Four Flicks is the onstage appearance by AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young. It’s excellent, what you get to see of it. The segment is limited to a DVD extra that’s way too short and mostly filled with interviews. The few brief scenes where Angus is duck-walking alongside Jagger’s famous strut and the Young brothers fiery guitar-work light up the Stones is by far the highlights. I want to see more.

So, are the Stones still great? No, but there still pretty good. Overall Four Flicks is mediocre. It’s not terrible by any means, but it’s in no way close to the Rolling Stones that were captured in the 1969 tour documentary, Gimme Shelter.

2.5 stars (out of 5)

What’s so great about an album that’s 26-years-old and that no one ever bought in the first place?

It’s good.

DMZ was Boston’s answer to the New York Dolls. They’re credited with starting an exciting new music scene in Boston in the late ’70s. They produced a couple of notable music figures. First is one-time drummer David Robinson, who went on to achieve fame and fortune with platinum-selling the Cars. The other is DMZ and Lyres vocalist Jeff Conolly, better known as “Monoman,” due to his collection of mono vintage rock records.

DMZ is a band that most music historians pass by. Never mind that the fact they played CBGB’s as much as the more written about ’70s punk rock bands; they weren’t from New York so they’re not as cool. And that’s sad.

Finally the group’s one and only major label (Sire) album has been re-released.

In interviews, DMZ members, especially Monoman, a perfectionist and lo-fi purist, have complained about the sound of the DMZ album. I can see why Monoman doesn’t like it: the album sounds like it was recorded in a modern recording studio in the late ’70s, not in 1965.

The album, produced by Flo and Eddie of the Turtles and Mothers of Invention fame, is a great example of pumped up early punk ROCK. I emphasize the word rock because the band whips through covers from the ’60s punk bands the Sonics and the Wailers. Much of the original material isn’t that original, and that’s what Monoman is known for. His relentless dedication to recreating the authentic sound of ’60s garage. Just look at the band’s history tree at side of the page; it’s proof of his difficult nature.

The band went through so many line-up changes they changed the name to the Lyres. The strange thing is the Lyres changed line-ups more times than DMZ, not to mention certain line-ups of the Lyres containing members of DMZ.

Strangley enough, DMZ is back together today. Although they have yet to release new material, they regularly play at festival events throughout the U.S. and Europe. Perhaps their new found attention for being ahead of the times is why this album has been re-released.

Although the self-titled DMZ album isn’t up to Monoman’s standards, it’s still quite good. Songs like ‘Mighty Idy,” and “Do Not Enter,” and “From Home” have stood the test of time. It’s about time you hear them. Go pick up a copy of DMZ today. It’s about time they get the credit they deserve..

5 stars (out of 5)