Midterms are quickly approaching. With that in mind, it is important to remember we are in the city of rock and roll.  This is a city where live music can be found on virtually every corner on any given night.  In years to come, students will not remember the hours spent studying fruitlessly for the coming exams, but the experiences they had. Concerts are a great way to escape from the stress and to let loose.
Here are a few concerts that may be worth going to in the weeks to come in the greater Cleveland area:

13th Annual Benefit for Roots of American Music with Guy Forsyth
Saturday, October 6
Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Road, contact 216-383-1124 for tickets)
The local organization, Roots of American Music, is a local non-profit trying to “preserve the past, enrich the present, and inspire the future” through American music. One way they do this is by visiting classrooms in the greater Cleveland area.   Attending this concert is a great way to support them. Guy Forsyth, the founder of Alysum Streek Spankers, will be playing across genre lines, including folk, jazz, punk, reggae and Tin Pan Alley tunes. The Beachland is not reachable using public transportation, but is easy to find with a car.

Coheed and Cambria/ The Dear Hunter/ 3
Tuesday, October 16
House of Blues (visit livenation.com for more information)
With a discography full of concept albums, Coheed and Cambria have a lot of talented lyrical writing under their belt. Not only that, but the comic books and novel based on their albums show the support of fans and professionals alike for their post-hardcore, progressive genius.  The Dear Hunter, hailing from Providence, R.I. blares indie rock with much instrumentation.  Although the band has had a high member turnover rate, the quartet is sure to put on a great show showing their varied talents.

Dinosaur Jr./Shearwater
Tuesday, October 23
Beachland Ballroom
Dinosaur Jr. is widely regarded as an amazing band that puts on an amazing show. Originally formed in 1984 and re-formed in 2005, the trio blasts through amplifiers with distortion-filled hardcore punk that might help get the anger out after that last biochem exam. Shearwater will be a more calming experience, though, as members of Okkervil River Will Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg formed this quintet to make folk music.  A fun fact for the anthropologists: many of the songs from their album Palo Santowere written in the Galapagos Islands following Charles Darwin, as Meiburg is a biological researcher who has spent time there.