Her voice is often compared to the great Aretha Franklin, both for her range and for her emotion. Fantasia is marketed as an R&B artist, but also sings gospel, jazz and the blues. Randy Jackson called her rendition of Gershwin’s Summertime the best performance in the history of American Idol. It was later named to the Emmy Awards’s 2004 list of greatest television moments.

But if her career has been stellar, her life has often been troubled. Her autobiography, Life is Not a Fairy Tale, was made into a movie for Lifetime and attracted 19 million viewers on its debut weekend.

Fantasia has also made her mark on stage, television and film. Her role as Celie in the Broadway version of The Color Purple won praise from critics and was a huge success at the box office.

The 2010 Soul Picnic also includes  Foreign Exchange, Doug E. Fresh, Chuck Brown and Mixed Water & Friends.

Get tickets and more info at BoothAmphitheatre.com.

This article provided courtesy of Catering by Design - sponsor of the CaryCitizen Scavenger Hunt on Saturday July 24!

This isn’t your banjo-picking, old-school country. But they do come from Nashville.

The trio is composed of Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals), Dave Haywood (background vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin) and Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals).

Charles Kelly was working construction in Winston-Salem with his brother before before heading Tennessee and musical fame and fortune. He’s the brother of pop artist Josh Kelley. Hillary Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis.

The Academy of Country Music awarded Lady Antebellum best single of the Year in 2010. They were nominated for a Grammy in 2009.

Show Info

The show is Thursday September 23. Tickets went on sale on Friday.

The Crows hatched from an acoustic duo in Berkeley in 1991. They had their first big hit in 1994 with “Mr. Jones” off the ‘93 album “August and Everything.”  Other hits followed including “Hanginaround” and “Round Here.”

Counting Crows have always put a premium on live performance. They’ve toured with the Stones, Cracker, The Cranberries and Bob Dylan. They like to cover other people’s music and slip bits of other songs into their performances.

In short, it’ll be a great show for rock fans. And Koka Booth Amphitheatre will be a great place to see it. Get your tickets.

Photoshop by Jill Goodtree

Tickets go on sale on Friday May 14.

This clip is taken from Mason’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Not sure about the Sats? Fans on YouTube wonder “Why wasn’t this band bigger? They’re just as good as The Black Crowes and Guns ‘N’ Roses” and say “Fantastic song. You can’t go wrong with the Georgia Satellites. One of best real true rock n’ roll bands ever.”

Tough to be on the same bill with Cheap Trick, Dave Mason, Alan White and ARS, but the Satellites are a great band and sure to please on May 1.

The Benefit show is more like a festival – music starts at 3 PM and goes until 11. Get tickets before they sell out for this one of a kind event in Cary.

Here’s one of my favorite Atlanta Rhythm Section tunes from YouTube, harking back to their past with Denny Yost and the Classics IV.

FIRST TIME FOR JUMP ROPE

This is the first time a jump-rope team has competed on ABDC.

“Our whole crew is made up of world champion jump ropers and we just decided we wanted to bring our stuff to ABCD and show you want we’ve got,” said Saltare leader Tyler Perez.

All the crew members have more than a decade each of jump-roping experience. Some have dance training as well. “A lot of moves cross-over into the dance world,” said Lisa Brown, another team member. “So you’re gonna see some jump rope, you’re gona see some dance and you’re gonna see some stuff you’ve never seen before.”

The crew was interviewed by Pacific Rim Television prior to their performance on MTV.

SALTARE MEANS JUMP

Saltare comes the Latin “to jump.” In Spanish, it means “I will jump.”

The crew is representing the Raleigh region in the Eastern U.S. part of the competition. Tyler Perez is a coach and one of the founders of Tri Force Jump Rope in Morrisville. Teammate Brittany Fortier is also a local. The other team members are from Ohio, Idaho and Indiana.

FIRST CREW “SAVED”

Saturday morning, we read on the Saltare site that they are the first crew “saved” in this season’s competition. That means they move on to the next level of competition.

Stay tuned for further updates or become a fan of Saltare on Facebook.

Snack maker Doritos wants the fans to come up with the big commercial for the Superbowl. And this year, Cary filmmaker Nick Dimondi is in the finals. He needs your vote to crash the big game and get his spec commercial on the air.

$5 Million Dollars

Entitled “Kids These Days,” the film is shot entirely on location at the Waverly Shopping Center in Cary. Doritos issued this statement about the contest:

The Doritos brand has revealed six finalists selected from more than 4,000 entries in the fourth annual Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” challenge, where the stakes this year are bigger and bolder than ever. Contestants are not only competing to have their self-made Doritos commercials aired during the Super Bowl XLIV broadcast, they are shooting to make history by beating the ad pros and garnering the top three spots in USA TODAY’s annual Ad Meter. If they can do it, Doritos will award the winners a shared $5 million cash prize. Online consumer voting will determine which three of the six finalists will air as Doritos’ Super Bowl commercials during the big game on February 7, 2010.

Doritos Presents Crash the Super Bowl

Fans in the U.S. can now vote for their favorite finalist once a day at www.crashthesuperbowl.com between January 5 and 31, 2010. In addition, Doritos is giving online voters a chance to get in on the action by giving away a pair of Super Bowl tickets every day of the voting period.

Brilliant idea, well-executed. Vote for it right now.