Cory Vaillancourt

Wine. Cheese. Politics. Friday.

So Mitt Romney was in the news again.

You could call it folk rock, but if CSN is wine, Falling Hollywood is whiskey. You could call it pop punk, but if Green Day is menthol, Falling Hollywood is reds. You could call it cow punk, but if Jason and the Scorchers is bathtub gin, Falling Hollywood is PBR. You could call it rogue folk, but if the Pogues are a Guinness, Falling Hollywood is, well, still a PBR.

So here it is 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012, and my face hurts so damn much from smiling that I?m thinking about slamming my fingers in a car door just to even things out. You see, I, like thousands of you, spent the entire weekend at the Erie Art Museum?s 20th Annual Blues and Jazz Festival.

Buckinghams not your bag? Not feeling Frehley? Like many, we?ve openly criticized this festival in the past; however, we would be remiss to ignore the fact that there are a lot of live, loud, and local musicians playing in the festival.

Curious about the acts taking the stage at this year's Blues and Jazz Festival? Luckily Cory Vaillancourt offers some insight to each group in preparation for Erie's big weekend.

Once again, Erie Art Museum director John Vanco has cobbled together a strong lineup culled from several genres and sub-genres of Blues and Jazz. I recently sat with him to discuss the lineup for this, the 20th Annual Erie Art Museum Blues and Jazz Festival.

I don?t speak Albanian. Ferki Ferati does, though. Born in the small village of Bare, Kosovo in 1983, it?s his native language.

This is the 63rd week in a row that I?ve had the pleasure of addressing you, dear Reader readers. That?s roughly 63,000 words I?ve pushed out of this bully pulpit called ?Upfront,? the equivalent of a short novel. If you were to go back and read them all, just like a novel, you?d find recurring themes that permeate that novel as well as permeate our city, our region, and our culture. You?d also creep me out just a little bit, because, come on, who would do that?

Although Erie apparently loves Kansas, and the Buckinghams, and Vanilla Ice, Erie knows music, and Erie?s got soul, which is why she loves Blues and Jazz. She loves being outside, on the grass, listening to these distinctly American art forms at the summer?s best fest ? so you know she?ll be at the 20th Annual Erie Art Museum Blues and Jazz Festival in Frontier Park August 4 and 5.

Iraq, Swedes, and the bottom of the ocean. Upfront is making some unsubstantiated generalizations.

And the winners are...

Over the past 20 years, Rob Van Winkle - a.k.a. Vanilla Ice - has seen more ups and downs than an elevator, yet, he's still here - at peace with himself, and moving forward.

Although the FBI reports that violent crime has dropped nationwide and overall crime has decreased in Erie by a whopping 12 percent over the same period of time, the 50 or so shooting victims from last year report that violent crime has increased at least 100 percent in their world. So why has Erie not been able to realize the gains that cities across the nation have been able to realize?

Erie's most explosive band to headline weekend show.