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In the Media
Featured in Rolla, MO's
The Local Scene...
Hotbox to open show at 2008 Winter Blast
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Hotbox is one of the busiest music groups in the Midwest . The group played nearly 200 shows during 2007, and hopes to surpass that in 2008. One of their first 2008 gigs will be opening the Winter Blast of Blues in Mountain Home.
Winter Blast of Blues will be Jan. 19 at the Baxter County Fairgrounds Exhibition Building . Headlining the 2008 Winter Blast is Watermelon Slim & The Workers. Also in the lineup are The Uncivil Servants and Pauline York Band.
Doors open at 3 p.m., and the music starts at 4 p.m. with Hotbox.
According to Monte Lorts, who's organizing Winter Blast, Hotbox features "some of the finest young talents in the Midwest ." Guitarist Robert Scrivener "blisters audiences with his limitless talent and abilities."
"He is one of the area's finest young guitarists," according to Lorts.
Rick "Cool Poppa" Shortt handles vocals and saxophone. He's described as playing his sax "like a man possessed with passion and soul" and singing with sincerity and intensity.
Robert Smith plays bass. From San Diego , Calif. , he's played with many bands in Southern California . Steve Graham, who formerly toured with The Carltons, plays drums and sings. According to Lorts, he plays "one of the most exciting drum solos you will ever see."
This is Hotbox's first year as a group, and it has played throughout the Midwest . "Few groups can match the energy and showmanship displayed from Hotbox," according to Lorts.
Tickets for Winter Blast are $15 in advance, and they're available at Square One Music on the square in Mountain Home. Tickets will be $18 at the door. There will be an "after party" jam hosted by Pauline York at the Baxter Inn after Winter Blast.
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MySpace Maestro of the Week: HOTBOX
admin | 13 November, 2007 13:34
We like to think we give the blues as much love
as anyone in the Springfield media. We like to think this this because
the blues are very cool. See how it works?
Which is why we were thrilled to get an e-mail from Rick "Cool Poppa" Shortt, saxophonist and vocalist for HOTBOX, which has to be the hardest-working group in Springfield, if not the state. One look at the group's MySpace page schedule will tell you that. HOTBOX plays regular gigs at more than a half dozen Springfield venues, as well as gigs in Kansas City and Branson. They even scored a spot in the BSO's Jingle the Blues Away event at Cartoons on December 8.
How do they sound? Like a blues band should. HOTBOX is heavy on the guitar, heavy on the solos (which we say you can never have too many of, if the players are good) and can even slow it down a bit, as evidenced by the song "Coming Home." Shortt, guitarist Robbie Scrivener, bassist Robert Smith and drummer Steve Graham form a tight, danceable group—and the best could be yet to come, since they've only been together since February of this year. Of course, that could be why they still have the energy to play four nights a week, too.
For their tirelessness and contribution to the bluesy arts, HOTBOX is GO Magazine's MySpace Maestro of the Week!
Matt Lemmon, editor
