Alive After Five will celebrate its 11th year this summer. It's a long tradition of bringing mediocre cover bands to Uptown stages on Thursday evenings where guys in business suits and girls in their finest summer dresses can hang out, get drunk and listen to what amounts to a glorified top-40 radio station.

Of course, people will complain about the above comment and say, "No one goes to listen to the music." To which I reply, "Then there's no reason not to give local, original bands the chance to play." Sadly, the only original band I noticed on the long list is Simplified.

Once again, I call on the organizers of Alive After Five to support the music scene and give Charlotte bands a chance to play at their weekly event. Offer local, original acts a 20- or 30-minute spot before or after one of the cover bands. Allow them to sell their merchandise on site. Perhaps you could give them a bit of money, too, but most of all, give them the opportunity. Don't wait until next year. You can still add them on to the shows listed below.

Oh, and it's now called AT&T Alive After Five. A sponsor means they can afford to get better quality bands out on the stage, right? You would think...

Here's the 2012 lineup (the event starts at 5 p.m.):
WELLS FARGO PLAZA
April 5 - Hot Sauce
April 12 - Right On
April 19 - Sol Fusion
April 26 - Zoso

EPICENTER ROOFTOP STAGE
May 3 - Maxx
May 10 - Rubberband
May 24 - The Boomers
June 7 - Funky Monks
June 14 - Girlz, Girlz, Girlz
June 21 - Frontiers
June 28 - Groovetown
July 5 - Mo Money
July 12 - Liquid Pleasure
July 19 - The Dickens
July 26 - Who's Bad
Aug. 2 - Early Ray
Aug. 9 - Breakfast Club
Aug. 16 - Voltage Brothers
Aug. 23 - Swingin' Richards
Aug. 30 - Slippery When Wet
Sept. 13 - Simplified

EPICENTRE COURTYARD STAGE
May 3 - Alternate Take
May 10 - Coconut Groove
May 17 - Skate Rink Jukebox
May 24 - Rockstar
June 7 - White Chocolate
June 14 - The Buchanan Boys
June 21 - Suckerpunch
June 28 - The Business