Issue date: 9/8/06 Section: Entertainment

At 9:30 p.m. tonight, Easy Street will take the stage at Bulldog Bash. The band caters to many tastes and intends to give Bulldog Bash attendees a fun and memorable performance.

"We play a wide variety of music," rhythm guitarist Marcus Ladner said. "Everything from Southern rock to classic rock to oldies. A lot of party music and dance. Basically songs from Van Morrison to Lynyrd Skynyrd."

Easy Street was formed, according to their Web site, "deep in the backwoods of south Mississippi" in Hancock County. The band is made up of Marcus Ladner on rhythm guitar, Ashton Burge on lead guitar, Trevin Burge on drums, Philman Ladner on bass and MSU student Matt Ladner on keyboard. All five share the vocals. They range from 21 to 27 years old. Despite the shared last names, none of the members are related.

"Nobody believes us," Matt said, laughing.

The core of Easy Street came together four years ago, and despite a recent setback of losing a band member, they are now very much back in business.

"We took a little setback, but we've really kind of recuperated the last year and a half and [Easy Street has] really kind of taken off in the South."

Easy Street is focused entirely on every band's major goal: providing entertainment. This is best described in the their motto: "A band of good times and sweet sounds."

"We cater to the crowds." Marcus said. "We do a wide variety of shows. We recently played after Tim McGraw at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel in Tunica for the Brett Favre Forward Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament for Charity. We're just mainly focused on bringing the good times and sweet sounds all across the South, from Texas and North Mississippi to Florida."

Easy Street has recorded a demo CD before, and intends to begin recording a self-titled debut album in December of this year.

Easy Street wants to bring quite a show to Starkville on Friday night.

"We're looking for pure entertainment," Matt said. "To interact with the crowd and show all of the students a good time. We can kind of relate in a way, with me being a student. I'm just pretty much looking to entertain the heck out of everybody. Get their mind off of school and work and let them check out the sounds of Easy Street. I really think if anybody wanted to come out and hang out with us, they'll be entertained, and if they don't, we've failed to do our part."

For more information on Easy Street and to check out their sound, visit their Web site at www.easystreetsounds.com and their MySpace at www.myspace.com/easystreetsounds.

Easystreet.tif: Easy Street will bring its Mississippi sound to Starkville tonight.

 

Issue date: 9/12/06 Section: News

Southern rockers Sister Hazel performed old hits and new tracks on the main stage at the seventh annual Bulldog Bash Friday [Click to enlarge]

Thousands of people gathered in the Cotton District Friday night for the food, music and festivities of MSU's seventh annual Bulldog Bash.

Sponsored by the Student Association, Bulldog Bash featured three stages set up throughout the Cotton District on which various musical artists performed. In The Street Productions helped bring in the line-up of artists, including Christian rock band Big Daddy Weave, up-and-coming r&b artist Cheri Dennis, and nationally-known alternative/Southern rock group Sister Hazel.

SA external events committee member Lindsey Parker said the planning process for the event began in the spring.

"We had a lot of meetings and consulted with In The Street Productions. A lot of planning went into Bulldog Bash," Parker said.

In The Street Productions co-creator Cliff Jones said the main interest of the company is to communicate with students to determine the types of artists to hire.

Lead singer and keyboardist for Easy Street Matt Ladner said his favorite part of the night was getting the chance to entertain and interact with so many people.

"A friend of ours hooked us up with this show," Ladner said. "She wanted to give us the opportunity to come to Starkville and get exposed to the people."

The other members of Easy Street, rhythm guitar player Marcus Ladner, bassist Philman Ladner, lead guitarist Ashton Burge and drummer Trevin Burge are all from the Bay St. Louis area. Special guest saxophone player Jason Tarfait accompanied the band at Bulldog Bash.

Ladner said Easy Streetï's music can be described as fun, high-energy, and entertaining. The band incorporates many types of musical genres in its performances including Motown, funk, light alternative and classic '80s rock.

"We will possibly be playing at Rick�s in the near future and are planning for a legitimate album to be released in spring 2007," Ladner said.

Bulldog Bash hospitality chairman Kirbi Dendy said Friday night went relatively well, and the crowds were energetic and fun. Dendyï's committee provided anything the artists needed before, during and after their performances.

"When working a concert, the best feeling in the world is to look over the crowd at everyone with their hands in the air, dancing and singing," Dendy said.

The only setbacks she experienced were having to shut down a party above Bin612, and the amount of trash littering the streets when Bulldog Bash was over, she said.

"Starkville was trashed Friday night. We filled up over 200 bags of trash and it took us four hours to clean up," Dendy said.

Bulldog Deli assistant manager Jennifer Barnette said business definitely increased during Bulldog Bash.

"We had extra management to help us with the lines. Of course there was some chaos, but everything ran smoothly for the most part," Barnette said.

She also said the cooks made extra food earlier in the day to prepare for the busy night.

Shaherazadï's co-owner Lisa Dakhlalla said the restaurant experienced more business than normal, but not as much as the places that serve alcohol.

"We set up a shawerma machine outside to sell meat and pita sandwiches, so that probably brought in the most business for us," Dakhlalla said.

Dakhlalla said the only negative part of Bulldog Bash was the trash in the streets and the amount of time it took to clean up.

---