Carnival of Soul

Blues Traveler, the legendary rock band with 13 hit albums to its credit, will play a free concert on March 16, 2020, on the eve of the First Ever 17th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Visit Hot Springs said in a news release.

The concert will take place at 8 p.m. on the St. Patrick’s Day Stage at the intersection of Bridge Street, Broadway and Convention Boulevard. It will be free and open to the public.

“We ask that fans arrive early,” Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said in the release. “No chairs or coolers will be allowed at the concert.”

Blues Traveler has sold more than 10 million combined units worldwide, played over 2,000 live shows in front of more than 30 million people, and, with “Run-Around,” had the longest-charting radio single in Billboard history, which earned them a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, according to a biography provided by Visit Hot Springs.

Their movie credits include “Blues Brothers 2000,” “Kingpin,” and “Wildflowers.” A television favorite, they have been featured on “Saturday Night Live,” “Austin City Limits,” VH1’s “Behind the Music” and they hold the record for the most appearances of any artist on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” the release said.

“We started this whole adventure as a team,” Brendan Hill said in the release. “We’ve taken every step of this as a group together, from the basement to moving to New York, getting signed, hiring a manager, to achieving all our goals.”

“I’m a firm believer that rock ‘n’ roll keeps you young,” cofounding member Chan Kinchla said in the release. “Because I don’t feel any different than I did when we started, even though I’ve got a wife, two kids and all kind of life in between. We still go back to that mentality we had as kids, smoking pot and learning to jam. We had our first epiphanies about music together. This is a real family affair.”

“The way the songs have held up moves me,” legendary frontman John Popper, said in the release, who has gotten down to a svelte 280 from a high of 436 after a gastric bypass 10 years ago, which he admits saved his life. “We’ve really got nothing but love from our audience. If something has quality, it’s constantly reconsidered through the ages. And that’s what we’re doing this for … posterity. We’ve never been 25 before, so having this kind of retrospective, as songwriters, it’s an opportunity for long-forgotten songs to get their day in court.”

It previously was announced that actor Danny Trejo will be the official starter for the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Hot Springs on March 17, 2020.

According to the release, Trejo is the world-famous bad man of countless movies and television shows as well as the character known as “Machete,” avenging good-guy star of the “Machete” series of hit movies.

Local on 07/28/2019