Brian Dugger
The Toledo Blade
Nashville, TN, United States
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Past articles by Brian:
Easton Corbin brings ProMedica Summer Concert Series to a close
By 7:15 p.m. Friday night, fans were still spilling into Promenade Park in anticipation of country singer Easton Corbin taking the stage as the headliner for the final event of the ProMedica Concert Series. Fans crowd in ahead of Easton Corbin's performance during the ProMedica Summer Concert Series at Promenade Park in Toledo on Friday. The Blade/Kurt Steiss Enlarge | Buy This Image While… → Read More
Country artist Ben Gallaher takes stage Friday at Stranahan
Ben Gallaher is traveling through the desert, somewhere in Arizona, watching as the odometer on his band’s 15-person van adds another mile to its tally. There have been more than 4,500 miles added on this leg of the Pennsylvania native’s tour. “We were in Huntington Beach, Calif., last night, and we’re off today, so we drove through the night to see the Grand Canyon. There are five of us in… → Read More
Journey is finally over for World War II veteran
Toledoan Frank Lee Moses was not a stranger to the sound of machinery drowning out the world around him. As a crew member of the USS Kidd during World War II, he was involved in some of the largest battles in the Pacific Theater, with the cacophony of attacking Japanese Zeros a constant presence in the skies over his destroyer. Saturday morning, the thunder returned as the roar of hundreds of… → Read More
Miranda Sings off-key, comically, to legions of fans
Colleen Ballinger had a secret when she called The Blade late last month. The creator of the wildly popular Miranda Sings character canceled an interview, then apologized the next day when she called back. “It was just a quick bug that decided to pass through my system. I will definitely not give you the details and hopefully nothing passes through the phone call, because you don’t want it,”… → Read More
Jerry Eicher is an ambassador of local bluegrass
DELTA, Ohio — A canoe, lying on its side, dips into the reeds of a pond stocked with trout and bass. The wind barely whispers through the nearby pine trees. Empty chairs encircle a fire pit nearby. The idyllic scene in the northwest Ohio countryside could be on a postcard. Inside one of the homes on the property, Jerry Eicher slips on a pair of white sunglasses and slides behind a microphone.… → Read More
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are a dynamite duo
Interestingly, when Tim McGraw and Faith Hill took the stage Friday night at the Huntington Center, country music’s power couple opened with Aretha Franklin’s “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).” Toledo has been waiting for more than seven years for McGraw to return to the city. He appeared at the Huntington Center in May, 2011, but he has never headlined a show in Toledo with his wife. The wait… → Read More
Sylvania festival showcases city's breweries
It would be natural to think that Nick Dallas, the founder of Upside Brewing in Sylvania, would be disappointed that a new brewery has moved into town. If you do think that, you would be wrong. Nick Dallas, left, owner of Sylvania's Upside Brewing, and Brandon Fields, co-owner of Inside the Five Brewing Co., will have their beer featured at 'Local Fest - Bands, Bites and Brews.' THE BLADE/BRIAN… → Read More
Caitlyn Smith's telling stories from the heart
Caitlyn Smith was checking things off her to-do list recently as she called The Blade to discuss opening for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw in Toledo on Friday and Saturday nights. At the top of the list was one very important task: “I’m trying to find clothes to fit over my baby bump,” she says, chuckling. Baby No. 2 will be along in November to join big brother Thomas, who was born on Aug. 7, 2016.… → Read More
Check this out: Local library offerings go far beyond books
Lucie Malczewski, 7, models a GoPro Friday, May 4, 2018, at the King Road Library in Toledo. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Buy This Image Going to the library used to be a simple affair. A membership card allowed you to troll the stacks for a book or books you wanted to read. These days things are more complicated — in a good way. Library patrons in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan… → Read More
Chris Young delights crowd at sold-out Huntington Center
Chris Young prides himself on being a writer and a poet. He told The Blade that one of the most satisfying aspects of his job is crafting a song from nothing, then having fans sing it back to him at a concert. Country music artist Chris Young performs Friday, May 4, 2018, at the Huntington Center in Toledo. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Buy This Image There was a whole lot of singing… → Read More
Son in Black: John Carter Cash forges his own way
One of the last, enduring memories of Johnny Cash is his heart-wrenching video for “Hurt,” a remake of the Nine Inch Nails’ track from the industrial rock group’s iconic 1994 The Downward Spiral album. Cash’s critically acclaimed and award-winning video was cut three months before the death of his wife, June, who appears in the video, and seven months before Cash’s death in 2003. John Carter… → Read More
Some big acts are still waiting for Rock Hall glory
CLEVELAND — As fans pored over the new exhibits inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum last weekend for this year’s induction class, Rock Hall planners was already thinking about next year. An interactive screen beckoned visitors to vote on the 2019 class. On the day before this year’s ceremony at Public Hall in downtown Cleveland, the screen flashed up the week’s leaders: Def Leppard,… → Read More
Rockers roll into Cleveland for Hall of Fame induction
CLEVELAND — The New Jersey kids were back together for one more time Saturday night. It was an emotional night as Alec John Such, Richie Sambora, Tico Torres, David Bryan, and Jon Bon Jovi were reunited for the first time since 1994 in a four-song set after they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Public Hall. Also inducted were the Cars, Dire Straits, the… → Read More
Researchers: America has a sleeping problem
Day and night, technicians monitor small screens inside Toledo’s Regional Center for Sleep Medicine. The screens keep tabs on patients taking part in sleep studies in the five cozy, tastefully decorated bedrooms at the West Central Avenue facility. The center, affiliated with the University of Toledo College of Medicine, has been in existence since 2004, one of more than 3,000 sleep clinics that… → Read More
Which beer is best? Local event puts IPAs to the test
In the past four years, there has been an explosive growth of breweries across the nation. Northwest Ohio has mirrored that trend, with multiple breweries joining Toledo mainstay Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in the marketplace. March 11 brought a celebration of that growth when representatives from 10 area breweries gathered inside Toledo’s Black Cloister Brewing Co. for the inaugural Best IPA of… → Read More
Radio company iHeartMedia declares bankruptcy
iHeartMedia Inc., the nation’s largest radio station owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Wednesday night, a victim of changing radio listener habits and crushing debt. iHeart owns more than 850 radio stations and has close to 265 million monthly listeners in the United States. It has 17,000 employees. In the Toledo area, iHeartMedia owns seven stations: 92.5 KISS FM, 101.5 The… → Read More
Toledo attracting some of Nashville's biggest stars
The cowboy look was on full display when Little Big Town appeared at the Huntington Center on Feb. 17. Women, men, and children transformed the Toledo landscape into a scene from a Colorado dude ranch or an Alabama street. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have two shows at the Huntington Center in June. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Enlarge By the next morning, the western clothing and foot attire were… → Read More
Acoustics for Autism grows to feature more than 60 bands
Tom “Sully” Sullivan, the longtime doorman and jack-of-all-trades at Maumee’s Village Idiot, is ready, at least as ready as one can be days before the arrival of thousands of music lovers, many of them clamoring for beer and pizza. “I just got 50 cases of Bud Light this morning,” Sullivan says. “We usually sell them in bottles, but there is no way we could keep longneck bottles cold. We were… → Read More
Raising a glass: Wine, beer festivals on tap this weekend
The wine and craft beer industries have been enjoying unprecedented growth in Ohio in recent years. There are now 265 wineries in Ohio, compared to 175 in 2012, according to the Ohio Grape Industries Committee. The Ohio Craft Brewers Association reports there were 254 breweries in Ohio as of September. That number compares to just 92 in 2014. “The craft beer industry is still picking up, which… → Read More
Huntington Center GM says security levels fine for event
Huntington Center General Manager Steve Miller understands why some people may question security at the venue after an incident involving country music singer Kacey Musgraves Saturday night. He just doesn’t think the concerns are valid. “We monitor all of our events and we schedule staffing according to the size and type of show,” Mr. Miller said. “We had more than 60 private security officers… → Read More