The sounds of summer: Free Darlington concerts return from May through September
The crowd at an earlier summer concert event. Contributed photo.
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Can you hear it?
The Darlington Downtown Revitalization Association is launching another series of free summer concerts.
The concerts, the fourth series since 2016, will run from May to September on the fourth Thursday of the month from 7-10 p.m. The location is Liberty Lane Walk of Fame and Pearl Street.
Food and beverages will be available for purchase, including beer and wine. (There’s one exception to the schedule: The August event will take place on a Friday during race week.)
“It’s a thing that you grow” from year to year, said DDRA director Lisa Chalian-Rock. She said planners settled on Thursdays as the primary concert day because it seemed to work best, and it avoided having the concerts compete with residents’ weekend plans.
Rock said the city’s concerts were patterned on Florence’s concert series “because they were making money. … We have sort of a limited budget for our music. We made the whole schedule in, like, January. These bands fill up their calendars (fast).”
All the bands playing in this year’s concerts have a connection of some sort to Darlington, Rock said. A local connection tends to help draw audiences, she said.
Here’s the schedule:
THURSDAY, MAY 23: The Bout Time Band
THURSDAY, JUNE 27: RadioVibe of Darlington
THURSDAY, JULY 25: The Rick Strickland Band’s 10th Anniversary Tour
FRIDAY, AUG. 30: The Bonding Company
THURSDAY, SEPT. 26: Community Karaoke Party
Here are the bands in order of appearance:
THE BOUT TIME BAND
Their Facebook page sums it up: “We are a cover band that plays a variety of rock, pop and country songs, from ’70s classic to modern-day hits.”
Their hometown is Darlington. The members are Paul Pappas (rhythm guitarist and singer), Mike Rogers (lead guitar), Melissa Schwier (singer), Lee Richardson (drums) and Bill Moore Jr. (bass). The band has played in the DDRA concert series before, Rock said.
“We always have a good time,” says Pappas, who runs a carpet-cleaning business. “We always try to do something for the town.” He said the band tries to play two or three times a month. The “day jobs” of other band members include insurance agent and elementary-school teacher, Pappas said.
RADIOVIBE OF DARLINGTON
Their Facebook page is pretty concise: “Classic rock, ’70s-’90s hits.”
The members are area residents Wade Fryer (bass), Scott Fryer (drums) and Brian Rhodes (guitar). “And we all sing,” says Wade Fryer, a driver for Blue Rhino propane and Scott Fryer’s brother. Scott works for Blue Cross/Blue Shield; Rhodes manages M&M Printing and Graphics in Florence.
Wade Fryer says the group has been together for four or five years; this will be their third time playing at the city’s summer concerts. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says, adding that usually, hits from the 1980s go over best at the city concerts.
THE RICK STRICKLAND BAND’S 10th ANNIVERSARY TOUR
Their website is loaded with info. Here’s some of it: “Well known for excellence in songwriting, singing, musical artistry, originality and high-energy performances, The Rick Strickland Band captivates audiences of all ages with feel-good music that speaks to the heart. In fact, their most loyal fans say the reason they love RSB is because the music and the band members are ‘real.’”
“The heartbeat of RSB features the award-winning music and showmanship of Myrtle Beach-based singers, songwriters and entertainers Rick Strickland and Lesa Hudson and their arsenal of No. 1 beach and shag music radio hits. … But RSB is far from the typical ‘beach band.’ Their impressive original song playlist covers the gamut in musical styles including classic R&B, soul, classic rock, old-school funk and a splash of country.”
The members are Strickland, Hudson, Art Benton, Debbie Anderson and Tony Torre. Hudson is from Darlington, according to Rock.
THE BONDING COMPANY
From their website: “A group of disparate individuals coming together to form close-knit relationships over a shared love of music: That’s a Bonding Company. Music that frees the soul and spirit from imprisonment and bondage: That’s a Bonding Company. Come join us in this adventure. All are welcome.”
The members are lead guitarist Joe Mehaffey, singer Mal Weatherly, keyboardist Alan Lane, drummer C.B. Averitt, bassist Jon Baltzell and rhythm guitarist Rusty Strings (yes, that’s a pseudonym).
Strings says he used to live in Darlington. “Our members live in Florence, Timmonsville and Sardis,” he says.
He describes the band as “a new band filled with old guys that plays mostly classic rock music, anything from Van Morrison to Cream to Steely Dan and anything you could hear on your better FM radio stations back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
“Up to now, our music has only been shared with several herds of cows near our practice studio on a farm in the Sardis community, but that will change this summer.”
