DES MOINES, IA (04/10/2013)(readMedia)-- Carly Rae Jepsen will perform at the Iowa State Fair Grandstand on Saturday, August 17, with special guest The Wanted. The show completes this year's Grandstand line-up. Tickets for all shows will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, through all Ticketmaster outlets. The 2013 line-up is presented by U.S. Cellular.

With 9.1 million singles sold and a record-breaking nine consecutive weeks at number-one, Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" catapulted the Canadian singer's success and made her an over-night viral sensation. The multi-platinum song earned two Teen Choice Awards and two Grammy Award nominations as well as over four hundred million hits on YouTube. British pop artists The Wanted will open the August 17 show.

Grammy Award-winning rock artists Train will perform hit songs like "Drops of Jupiter," "Calling All Angels" and "Marry Me" on August 16. They will be joined by double-platinum contemporary artist Matt Nathanson.

Country superstars Alan Jackson and Gary Allan will take the stage August 18. Jackson's authentic lyrics and connection to traditional country roots helped him produce anthems like "Chattahoochie," "It's Five O'clock Somewhere" and "Small Town Southern Man." Allan's ten studio albums have produced hit song after hit song including "Nothing on but the Radio," "Watching Airplanes" and "Every Storm."

Shows featuring Dierks Bentley and Toby Keith round out this year's country selections. Bentley will perform with special guest Justin Moore on August 11. Kip Moore will open for Keith's August 15 performance.

Contemporary Christian artists Casting Crowns will bring their soulful tunes to the stage opening night, August 8. They will be joined by special guest Jeremy Camp.

Launched into stardom with her hit show on Nickelodeon, Victoria Justice has quickly made her mark on the music scene. She will be joined by The Sing Off's season three champions, Pentatonix, on August 13.

Former Saturday Night Live stars Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon and Dennis Miller will offer their own unique flavor of comedy in a stand-up routine that's sure to have Fairgoers laughing on August 10.

The Grandstand will be filled with hits from the 60s and 70s on August 9 with the Happy Together Tour 2013 starring The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Chuck Negron, Mark Lindsay and Gary Lewis.

Motor sports action kicks into high gear August 12 with the Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models. The Grand Outlaw National Tractor and Truck Pull roars into the Grandstand August 14. The Demolition Derby and Figure Eight will tear up the track for a morning session on August 17.

Tickets for all concert and track events will go on sale Saturday, May 4, at 10 a.m. through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800/745-3000. All concert events are reserved seating. All track events are general admission. Beginning July 8, the Fair's Ticket Office will be open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to Noon on Saturday for walk-up orders only (no mail, phone or fax orders). Convenience charges will apply to all tickets. Grandstand tickets do not include admission to the Fair. Gate admission must be purchased separately.

A complete listing of event dates, times and ticket prices follows:

2013 Iowa State Fair Grandstand Line-up

presented by U.S. Cellular

Thursday, August 8 Casting Crowns with special guest Jeremy Camp, 8 p.m., $30

Friday, August 9 Happy Together Tour 2013 starring The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, Chuck Negron, Mark Lindsay and Gary Lewis, 8 p.m., $25

Saturday, August 10 Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller and Kevin Nealon from SNL, 8 p.m., $38

Sunday, August 11 Dierks Bentley with special guest Justin Moore, 8 p.m., $39

Monday, August 12 Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models, IMCA Sport Mods, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Hobby Stocks and Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks, 5:30 p.m. Hot Laps, 6 p.m. Races, $17 adults, $5 children ages 6-11, free for ages 5 and under

Tuesday, August 13 Victoria Justice with special guest Pentatonix, 8 p.m., $29

Wednesday, August 14 Grand Outlaw National Tractor and Truck Pull sponsored by Iowa Farmer Today, 2 p.m., $20 Adults, $10 children ages 6-11, free for ages 5 and under

Thursday, August 15 Toby Keith's Hammer Down Tour presented by Ford F-Series with special guest Kip Moore, 8 p.m., $49

Friday, August 16 Train with special guest Matt Nathanson, 8 p.m., $39

Saturday, August 17 Demolition Derby: Modified Weld, Stock Weld and Compact Weld; Figure Eight: Front Wheel Drive and Rear Wheel Drive, 11:30 a.m., $15 adults, $5 children ages 6-11, free for ages 5 and under

Saturday, August 17 Carly Rae Jepsen with special guest The Wanted, 8 p.m., $35

Sunday, August 18 Alan Jackson and Gary Allan, 8 p.m., $39

"Nothing Compares" to the 2013 Iowa State Fair, August 8-18. For more information, call 800/545-FAIR or visit www.iowastatefair.org.

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MVBS presents its last Blues in the Schools artist-in-residence for the 2012-2013 school year, Gary Allegretto, the week of April 22 to 26.  The founding director of Harmonikids (a humanitarian organization that gives music therapy with harmonicas to special needs kids worldwide), and recipient of the Blues Foundation's 2011 Keeping the Blues Alive Award in Education, Gary will be teaching harmonica classes in area schools.  He will also present two open-to-the-public performances:

• Tuesday April 23, 7:00 p.m.?Moline Public Library, 3210 41^st Street, Moline IL
• Friday April 26, 9:00 p.m.?The Muddy Waters, 1708 State Street, Bettendorf IA

Gary Allegretto's resume reads like a men's adventure wish-list: back-country forest ranger, forest firefighter on a "Hotshot" crew, LA city firefighter, bouncer in a couple rough honky-tonks and a blues bar, cowboy and ranch hand, beach lifeguard, white-water rafting guide, and traveling bluesman. He's a summa cum laude college graduate of Northern Arizona University, and the recipient of multiple awards for his outreach to children. He started playing upon receiving his first harmonica at age 5 from his woodsman grandfather. Soon after, while attending a cultural festival, he carelessly wandered away from his family following an irresistible sound:   a Big Walter Horton performance. As the loudspeakers blared something about a lost child, he knew he'd found his calling.

In 1985, while voluntarily performing blues concerts for children in the playroom of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital in New York City, Gary noticed how the kids were irresistibly drawn to his harmonica. Shortly thereafter he founded Harmonikids, his non-pro?t organization aimed to provide harmonica music therapy to special needs kids, and he incorporated his endorsement by Hohner to acquire harmonicas at an affordable price. Further, Gary developed a one-of-a-kind teaching method designed to ?rst captivate kids' fascination with a blues performance and then teach them to play in minutes.

Gary has provided aid to special needs children from the earthquake devastated Port Au Prince, Haiti, to the tsunami refugee camps of North Sumatra, Indonesia to the Katrina evacuee trailer villages of Louisiana and many points in between.  To date, Gary's humanitarian programs have served to keep the blues alive by using it to touch and make a difference in over 20,000 young lives around the globe. Indeed, it is his passion and purpose?he receives no salary or monetary compensation for his work. He has channeled the therapeutic healing power of music to kids with physical and/or emotional challenges ranging from traumatic stress, to learning disabilities, to abuse or abandonment, to health problems as grave as terminal illness. Gary's programs have reached facilities like children's hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses, burn recovery centers, juvenile detention homes, orphanages, and evacuee facilities such as a FEMA trailer village and refugee camps and beyond.

Recently Gary was chosen unanimously to be the first harmonica instructor at the Pinetop Perkins Foundation's Master Class 2012. Acclaimed for his versatile technique, he has taught thousands of kids worldwide to both learn about and actually play songs on the harmonica with lightning speed, elevating not only their knowledge but also confidence and self-esteem. Gary's Blues in The Schools program has been featured by many blues societies internationally and was hosted by the Blues Foundation in Memphis area schools as part of the 2008 and 2010 International Blues Challenges.

Gary's considerable merits as a blues artist lend even more credibility to his assets as a blues educator. He is self-taught, having learned from countless hours of spinning vinyl blues LP's of the masters from the '50s and '60s. Eager to share what he had learned with an audience, he hit his ?rst stage at age 15.

Gary says, "In my teens I had the unmatched thrill of witnessing the legendary Delta-born bluesman Muddy Waters perform with his legendary band. The experience changed my life and shaped my musical direction. I worked hard and imagined myself playing harp with them someday. Many years down the road, my dream was realized when I found myself performing on stages with two of these bluesmen?Bob  Margolin and Pinetop Perkins (whom I also recorded with)."  On his CD Many Shades of Blue, Gary was joined by friends including Ivan Neville, Janiva Magness, and Doug Macleod.   The CD also features duets of Gary with his dear now-departed friend, the National Heritage Award winning bluesman John Cephas.

Gary has also recorded with others, notably 2005 Grammy Life-time Achievement Award winner and blues legend Pinetop Perkins on Rich Del Grosso's Blues Music Award nominated CD release. At the conclusion of their CD release performance, Pinetop gave Gary the ultimate personal endorsement, exclaiming that he "can really blow that harp!" And then as he left the stage he turned and deliberately pointed directly to Gary, saying "You keep the business going."

In Gary's words, "This was from an idol of mine, a legendary man who played with Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, and many other legends of the blues. My heart stopped and I just said...'yes sir', realizing that this was not just another reason to keep playing the music I love and continue the work of Keeping the Blues Alive?this was direct orders from the last of the great Mississippi Bluesmen."

The MVBS Blues in the Schools program is made possible by a generous grant from the Riverboat Development Authority.  We also thank our other sponsors the Iowa Arts Council, the Moline Foundation, The Lodge Hotel, Alcoa, and KALA radio.

Peoria, IL-- The Happy Together Tour will stop at the SMG managed Peoria Civic Center Theater on Sunday, Aug. 11 at 7 pm. This year's lineup will feature THE TURTLES featuring FLO & EDDIE, CHUCK NEGRON formerly of THREE DOG NIGHT, GARY PUCKETT & THE UNION GAP, MARK LINDSAY former lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders and GARY LEWIS & THE PLAYBOYS. Tickets are $49.50, $42.50 and $35.50. Tickets go on sale Friday April 12th at 10:00AM at the Peoria Civic Center Box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com, and 1.800.745.3000.

The evening will take fans back to the cool rock of the '60s, complete with plenty of timeless classics and universal hits. For more information visit www.nitelite.com or www.PeoriaCivicCenter.com .

"I was very saddened to hear today that my good friend Roger Ebert has passed away. I - along with the people of Illinois - offer condolences to his wife Chaz, with whom I had the privilege of spending some time just last week.

"Even in recent years when illness robbed him of his ability to speak, the mere act of raising his thumb brought auditoriums full of people to their feet in applause. One of my best memories was getting a 'thumbs-up' from Roger in 2011 when I proclaimed "Roger Ebert Day" at Ebertfest in Champaign.

"Roger Ebert was Everyman with a cinematographer's eye and an artist's passion. His unique gift was the ability to communicate with everyday people about all kinds of movies and ultimately, the real values of life. He was one of our best-known and most respected journalists, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize as a Chicago Sun-Times film critic, and a proud and generous graduate of the University of Illinois where he began his journalism career at the Daily Illini.

"The whole state joins me in mourning his passing. Roger Ebert was a great man. No doubt Gene Siskel is saving him a seat in the balcony upstairs."

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