Forget the limericks St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and check out a more fast-paced and meaningful style of rhymes when regional hip-hop artists get the spotlight March 18 at a Beaver Falls show.
Rappers like Pe$o Pak, Stickman Slikk, D.F.R., J Money, Cigarillos, Splash Gang and Mane Morten will entertain at Frank’s Original Grill, 1111 Seventh Ave., Beaver Falls.
“We continue to push successful, fight- and drama-free events all around Beaver County and Pittsburgh,” promoter Antwan Carter from Hittemhardmusic said. “I am bringing the shows back to my hometown, Beaver Falls, for St Patty’s Day weekend.”
Carter last hosted a hip-hop show at Frank’s Original Grill for Leap Year 2020, a few weeks before the pandemic brought the live music scene to a standstill.
It’s time to gather for live music again, said Carter, who’s eager to prove hip-hop shows can succeed in the Beaver Valley.
“It means a great deal to each and every one of us, being how hip hop has developed such a bad name around it over the last few years,” Carter said.
The social media poster for the March 18 show touts “tight security.” Since the date falls on St. Patrick’s weekend, there’s also the obligatory green beer.
Showtime is 9 p.m. with a $10 cover.
There’s a follow-up show with many of the same artists on March 19 at the Everything on Us print design store in Washington, Pa.
Genevans spring into action
The Genevans, the Geneva College choir, performs its annual spring concerts at 7:30 p.m. March 18-19 in the John White Chapel on Geneva’s Beaver Falls campus.
Anticipating its quadrennial international tour in May, this year planned for Israel, The Genevans will perform songs themed around John 1:14 and the incarnation of Christ. Along these lines, the choir will feature “Verbum caro factum est” by Hans Leo Hassler, “The Light Shines in the Darkness” and “Salvation is Created” by two Russian composers, Konstantin Zhigulin and Pavel Chesnokov, and the excerpted Gordon Young anthem “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” plus a piece by Patrick Hawes, “The Pure in Heart” which comes from the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount.
The Genevans also bring back Philip Stopford’s “Jesus Christ is Lord” from the choir’s 2020 Philippians program, as well as the ensemble’s perennial favorite, “God So Loved the World” by Sir John Stainer.
The free concert winds down with several psalms of trust, followed by a rousing “Alleluja” fugue by J.S. Bach, ending with Christiansen’s arrangement of “Beautiful Savior” and Paul Manz’s “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come” performed in the choir’s signature surround-sound style.
The entire program will be sung a cappella, except for the offertory, “For the Mountains shall Depart” from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, sung by Geneva senior Austin Dye, from Walkersville, Md., accompanied on piano by freshman Sarabeth Schuck, of Franktown, Colo.
During intermission, concertgoers can enjoy performances by the Grace Notes, a women’s ensemble, and the Eight Bells, a double barbershop quartet.
For more details, visit geneva.edu/genevans
Fresh bands
•The Reloads band makes its debut March 12 at Kendrew’s Lounge in Aliquippa. “Be ready for an evening of Chicago- and modern blues guaranteed to make ya smile and wiggle yer butt,” band member Cliff Howell said on Facebook. Showtime is 7 p.m.
•With just three shows under its collective belt, Free Fall will headline three St. Patrick’s Day weekend parties; March 17 at the Tick Tock Cafe in Ambridge; March 18 at The New Brighton Eagles and March 19 at Paradise Pub in Center Township. Free Fall, a dance music/disco/R&B band, features Dena and Jimi Miller, the hardest-working musical spouses in the valley, who also are in the bands Us and Hat Trick, joined by guitarist Zack Harper of Dormont and keyboardist Ronnie Griglia of Hanover Township.
•The Dirty Truth, a new-ish quartet featuring Beaver County brothers Collin Farren (vocals/guitars) and Jesse Farren (guitars) opens a March 15 show for nationally known hard-rock band Adelitas Way at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale. Tickets are $22.50 at jergels.com. “We are a rock band consisting of three members of Dying Breed, and our bass player, Charlie Hughes, is from the band Glitz and also plays with the punk band Middle Finger,” drummer Dan Slide, says. “We play mostly cover songs now but have written our first two originals and will be recording them soon.” The Dirty Truth also will perform April 15 in a free, public show at the Beaver Valley Sportsmen’s Club in Center.
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Scott Tady is the local Entertainment Reporter for The Beaver County Times and Ellwood City Ledger. He’s easy to reach at stady@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @scotttady.