By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
Corbin Main Street’s “Meet Me Downtown” free summer concert series continues this Friday with the second of three concerts. This week’s features Lexington jazz-fusion band SDQ, who will be performing at 7 p.m. Friday at the corner of Main and Monroe streets. (In case of bad weather, cancellation announcements will be made 24 hours prior to the event.)
SDQ is Sam Flowers (vocals, trumpet, keyboard) of Lexington; Brad Grable (sax, electric guitar, bass guitar) of Hopkinsville; Ross Whitaker (electric guitar) of Lexington; Danny Williams (bass guitar, electric baritone five-string mandolin) of Winchester; and Tyler Little (drums) of Lexington.
Want to know a little more about the band? Turn to page 3 for a conversation with guitarist Ross Whitaker.
Q: You seem to have a pretty strong following in the Lexington area. How long have you been together?
A: The band has been around for about five years. We’ve had the current lineup for maybe two or two and a half years. We should really keep a band timeline, because we never have an accurate answer for these questions!
Q: A friend of mine saw you playing at a club in Lexington — you performed the entirety of Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue.” What can the Corbin audience expect from Friday’s show? Will it be original music, or do you have something else special in mind?
A: On Friday, we’ll probably do a mix of our original material and songs by other artists. To give you an idea, we’ve performed material by (among others) the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Black Crowes, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Al Green, Sly and the Family Stone, etc.
Q: So here’s the lame “describe your style of music” question. I know, it’s “jazz, rock, funk and soul.” I guess, if you had to pick one of the four — jazz, rock, funk or soul — which is most important to your music and why?
A: They’re all important. If we excised any one of those four elements, or any of the others that are in there, it wouldn’t be SDQ.
Q: Is this music you can dance to or sway to? Or both?
A: You can move to our music in any way you see fit.
Q: Corbin’s in a fairly small, rural area and the idea of “jazz” might seem intimidating or off-putting to some folks. What would you say to convince people to come out to Friday’s concert?
A: Firstly, I wouldn’t call it jazz, and I have two reasons for that. For one, people think jazz is the boring stuff they hear during the local forecast, and that’s not jazz. (That stuff is usually called smooth jazz, or, lately, urban adult contempory. From the outside that might seem picky, but to us the two styles are as different as, say, Toby Keith and Metallica.)
Secondly, I wouldn’t call it jazz because it’s not jazz.
The two styles we draw on the most are things like funk/soul/R&B; (think James Brown, Stevie Wonder, etc.) and rock music (think Led Zeppelin, Gov’t Mule, etc.). When I personally think about what we do, I just think “American music.”
So I would tell people if they like funky grooves and rocking riffs, they will like what we do.
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Meet Me Downtown
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About 12:30 p.m. the right side of the front of an apartment building in Artemus that had been built 99 years ago began to fall in after fire began in the building at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
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Apartment building burns to the ground
At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, a 99-year-old building at Artemus began to burn. Residents in the nine apartments were able to leave the building safely, with only one having been sent to the University of Kentucky Medical Center.
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Apartment building burns to the ground
- Local News
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Sawyers named Times-Tribune publisher
Longtime Sentinel-Echo Publisher Willie Sawyers has been named regional publisher with oversight of both the London paper and the Times-Tribune in Corbin.
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Sawyers named Times-Tribune publisher
- Local Sports
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Six in a row
South Laurel coach Konnie Snyder didn’t know what to expect when her injury-plagued South Laurel Lady Cardinals traveled to play upstart Knox Central Thursday.
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North Laurel picks up 71-64 win over McCreary Central
The North Laurel Lady Jaguars were without their head coach, but that didn’t stop them from picking up a 71-64 win at home over McCreary Central.
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Jackets hold on
No. 5 stepped up again as Williamsburg’s Skylar Griffith knocked down four big three-pointers to help his team hold off a much-improved Lynn Camp team, 57-45, at home on Thursday.
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The shot heard 'round the Commonwealth
March 27, 2012 will mark the 30-year anniversary of ‘The shot heard ‘round the Commonwealth.’
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- Letters
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A thank you to Rep. Jim Stewart
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What good could possibly come from alcohol sales?
I want to start by saying that I was born and raised in Knox County. If you would have told me 15 years ago that legalizing alcohol in Barbourville and/or Corbin would be an issue, I would have told you that you were crazy.
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A chaser for the booze debate
Why not sell alcohol in Corbin? Here’s the straight and cordial rundown of the answers served by some readers: the Bible says don’t do it; minors will drink; more accidents, crime, “tragedy;” we banned smoking (Whaa?!); and economic analysis favors prohibition. Frankly, the debate has fermented past its prime. Have we not already heard the argument as it hops from one side to the other?
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A thank you to Rep. Jim Stewart
- Features
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Ladies in Red dinner held at The Arena
On Thursday night at The Arena in Corbin, the color of big blue took a back seat to a sea of big bright red.
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- Entertainment
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Get ready for Ladies in Red Thursday at The Arena
Ladies in Red will be spread out at The Arena in Corbin Thursday as Baptist Regional Medical Center presents a free community educational seminar.
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Get ready for Ladies in Red Thursday at The Arena









