That Lucky Old Sun

Well, I got my first Christmas present early this year. Brian Wilson and the band were at the Keswick in November, and I got to see the entire show. I also got Brian to sign my guitar along with Jeff, and now the entire band as well as B B KING are on one guitar that is hanging in the music room. I cannot begin to explain my feelings as I listened to the live versions of songs I had been listening to for the last few months after buying the album from Brian's webpage. It brought me back to the years when I was learning how to play guitar in my basement with the BEACH BOYS records on the record player. The songs all remind me of a time when Dennis and Carl along with Al and Mike were at Capitol studios. The harmonies and music are spot on ringers of future days gone past.This album is to me so reminiscent of the old surf sounds put out by the Beach Boys of Brian's youth. I always appreciate the perfection that is displayed in the band that Brian has assembled over the years. It is an honor for me to be in the presence of one of the few musical geniuses in the world today. I have and always will love the music that Brian has given us and will always attempt to see him when he is in the area, as it is for him and him alone, that I began an interest in music all those years ago. I can only hope that I will be able to touch 1/1000th the amount of lives that Brian has. I have posted a photo of the Guitar hanging in the music room

Ken Kewder

Well it was a sad day indeed, when Dawn and I went to see the FINAL ROCK SHOW performance of our friend KEN KEWDER. Done at the TIN ANGEL in center city Phila, it was, as it should have been, a complete sell out show. So much so that they were forced to add a second also sold out show. Ken has been on the local music scene for over 30 yrs. Dawn and I cannot believe that he never made it nationally, but we are learning more about that being of his choice recently. Back to the review. Ken is a consummate performer. He grabs the audience into the palm of his hands and then holds them there by the nap of their necks until he wants to discharge them. He has total control over them and we the audience seem to not only allow it, we beg for more. Ken's satirical humor is best when it is a standard of his that the crowd knows and loves, and will interact with the song during the performance. Attached is a sample of this used with Kens permission. He will be sorely missed on the local front, and would have made a great national performer, that would be recognized in the Hall of Fame, in the likes of Warren Zevon. Dawn and I hope to connect with Ken in the coming weeks for a more in depth interview style meeting, and I will attempt to get more info on this great local musician that will be sorely missed for his energetic performances on the local front.

Will Lee

On Sun, since I had to leave the show Sat nite early, I went back to the Keswick to meet up with Will Lee of the Fab Faux. I met up with my friend T Life and his wife Rene, and together we met up with Will after the show. First on the show, from the Cavern to the Rooftop. This show topped, if possible, the previous nights White Album show. The band is just so meticulous in reproducing perfect sounds for each song. As someone who never saw the Beatles live, to me, this is the next best thing. But I Digress. Meeting up with Will I had the chance to ask a few questions for this blog and here they are. When asked who Will had wished he had had a chance to work with FRANK ZAPPA was the reply even before the question had finished being asked. Then when asked who living he would have like to work with, both Stevie Wonder and Bill Withers names came up. Again for those who don't know Will, not only is he David Letterman's bass player, but quite possibly the only living human to have worked with all four of the original Beatles, along with countless other performers,(Jimi Hendrix, Steve Miller, The Rascals, Motown, Sly & the Family Stone) too many to list here. Will is a consummate bassist and multi instrument player. Guitar, Harmonica, piano, violin, trumpet, and French horn are among his talents. It is nice to know that someone who has basically been "to the top" of the music profession is such a down to earth approachable individual. I hope to someday be included in his list of friends, for he surely is one of mine.

Chili Stu

Tonight in seeing the Absolute Zero's there was this opening act called Chili Stu, that Dawn and I had to wait to finish before our host band, the Zero's, came on. What a pleasant surprise. This trio of Keyboard, bass and drums, was all over the place, in a great way, in their music style. I personally think they are of a jazz fusion blend, but it can be seen in so many other genre's. A little bit soul, funk, reggae, rock, and r&b all thrown in a pot and stirred. We never knew what the next songs style was going to be, which we found to be invigorating. Andrew on drums and Luke on keyboard are classically jazz trained and it shows. Jeff on the 5string bass is the funkmister that blends with the others to produce great melodic mixtures of music. Plus Jeff's vocals are spot on. All together a great mix for a trio that will be hard to top in the coming months to the top of the Philly music scene.

The Absolute Zeros

Well busy busy busy was I on Sat. After the Fab Faux show, I went down to center city and saw a Local band called the Absolute Zeros. They had requested to be my friend on myspace and had asked me to come see them and give them a review, and after a few months of playing tag, the nite finally came. The band consists of the following: Kelvin Cochrane - Vocals, Guitar: Sabu Rex - Bongos, Percussion; Steve La Monica - Bass; "Wild" Bill Rose - Drums: Austin - Lead Guitar. Tonight however there were only 4 members, Sabu was not there. Now I had heard of this band from another local performer, Laura Cheadle (who by the way has been previously written about, check her blog out). Well, Dawn and I were pleasantly surprised, not knowing what we were in for. In my opinion, Kevin's voice is a cross between, Joe Cocker and Jonnie Lang. Steve is a fret running bassist, Austin is a great guitarist, and Bill on drums is a sold essential metronome for the band. Their music is a cross between 60's rock like Joe Cocker, to New Orleans style funk like Jon Cleary. It was well worth the wait to see this band and it is great to have become their friends. I will be catching more of them in the future and I am sure, enjoying watching them grow into a major force to promote the "Philly Sound" of today along with other great up and coming local acts.

The Fab Faux

Sat Nite was a great show at the Keswick, the Fab Faux were in town. Now for those who are not familiar with them, They are quite possibly the best Beatles tribute band (in my opinion) around. They don't try to impersonate the Fab Four in looks or clothing, or even instruments, but what is lacking in appearance is more than made up for in sound. They are perfect recreations of the best music by the best ever band that you will find. Dawn and I have heard them several times here at the Keswick, and just closing your eyes, you would think it was 1970 all over again and John Paul George and Ringo were on stage in front of you performing. The Fab Faux performed the ground breaking WHITE ALBUM in its entirety. They had the Creme Tangerine Strings and The Hogshead Horns along with ERIN HILL and ANDY YORK, and as stated above it was performed perfectly. I will have more on the Fab Faux after seeing the second show tomorrow, as they perform from the Cavern to the Rooftop show.

This coming Weekend

This coming weekend I get to see The Fab Faux and The Absolute Zeros. Getting to see Will Lee again is always a pleasure as he is such a great person and not unreachable to the fan. The band is by far the best Beatles tribute going. I have seen others and they can not compare to Will and the gang in the Fab Faux. They recreate the Beatles to a T. If you closed your eyes, you would think that John Paul George and Ringo were really in front of you performing. As for the Absolute Zeros, It has been a while in the making, but Dawn and I will be seeing them at the Tin Angle Sat night after seeing Will and the Gang at the Keswick. I am looking forward to the show as I have heard their music on their MySpace page and enjoy what I have heard. More to come in the next few weeks up to the great one and only Brian Wilson show, that I have been looking forward to for 2 months.

Lindsey Buckingham

Well, Sat night at the Keswick was a night I was looking forward to since I slept thru the Crosby/Nash show eariler in the week. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was in the quality of the show. I had to leave after the 3rd song as the music was just so loud that it was uncomfortable to stay and enjoy the music. I was told that there had been no sound check, and it bothered me that the people working with the band was more concerened about covering the glass partions in the lobby to prevent anyone from looking to the stage (what was that all about) then making the audience happy and acutally lowering the volumn of the music to an acceptable level to prevent a mass exodus. I wish I could have stayed, but I just could not take the assualt on my ears. Very dissapointing night.

The Quarrymen

Well It's been a while but I have a great one for you today. Last week I got to see 3 original members of the Quarrymen. I have a picture of them with a very young John and Paul that I had signed along with the Beatles themed guitar. I have some pics of them and here is one. They sounded great, considering their ages. They played some skiffle and some old rock songs like That will be the Day, Come go with me and Elvis songs along with some of their old original songs done with John and Paul. Enjoy the photo, and remember to support your local venue for classic rock shows.

Peter Tork and the Shoe Suede Blues

This past Fri I had the sad duty to visit with Peter and bassist Arnold Jacks(far right next to the new guys) at a local venue in Philly and relay my condolences for the loss of their band mate and great friend Richard Mikuls. His loss was a great shock to me having just talked with him not long ago on Myspace. I had taken photos and videos of the band in Reading last year and never got around to giving the disk to them. I had emailed Peter and told him I would be visiting them when they came back to town and express my regrets for their loss and also to provide them with the disk of great photos and some video clips for them to watch. I hope they enjoy the effort I put into making the visuals intimate. I was surprised to find that the band had changed up a bit and there is now of course a replacement for Richard on guitar, but also a new drummer. I have taken a photo of them (minus Peter) and will post it later. I hope they continue to make some great music and continue to keep Richards spirit alive with them where ever they go.

Breakfast with the Beatles

Sunday morning Dawn and I went to one of our favorite events, Andre Gardner's remote broadcast of his show Breakfast with the Beatles on the Spirit of Philadelphia. We both look forward to seeing our friend Andre and the remotes are always such a good time. I will say now however, I am a bit disappointed that there was no special guest, as I look forward to getting another Beatles related autograph on the Beatles themed guitar. In the past Andre has always had someone that is somehow related to the Best Band that ever Lived, like May Pang, Pauline Sutcliffe, Denny Laine, and others. But be that as it may the consolation was a limited edition CD filled with interviews Andre has had in the past with guests like Patty Boyd and Olivia Harrison among others. And this time even the food was fantastic. In past cruises, the food left something to desire, but this time it was really good. We brought with us a limited Ringo poster(see Picture) Andre had given us that we had framed and he said he would like to see it. He was giving out more of them on this cruise and wanted to show what it looked like framed. It is always a good time to be with the friends we have made by attending these remotes with Andre and we cant wait till the next one. The only down side of this day was that I received an email from Andre's myspace page the following day that some idiot with no respect for Andre's generosity, actually had placed their free CD up for auction on Ebay. Really no class was used in this cheap action. To think that they had been given a gift and then turned around to try to profit off of it is shameful. We always thought there was a better "class" of people in the crowd the remotes always draws but I guess there is always at least one in every crowd. Hope this is not a sign of the things to come, and that it does not prevent Andre from gracing all the true fans of his work from rewarding us all with more great things in the future. Also see a picture of my long lost brother? that actually sat next to us for the whole cruise.

Robert Cray and Keb-Mo show

Tonight was the Blues show that we had been waiting to see. We have seen both Robert and Keb in the past as opening acts for Buddy Guy and Bonnie Raitt, but never saw them as headliners. We were not disappointed. Both had an hour and a half set that just cooked. Both artists are Grammy winners and neither one let the audience down. There was a duet early in the Robert Cray set that just blew me away. Wish I knew the name of the song. Then later in his set Bob did a song called Twenty which is an anti-war song reminiscent of the protest songs of the 60's. Brought back all the Vietnam memories, but in a good way( as far as protests go ). It struck me half way thru his set, and I told Dawn, Bob at times sounds to me exactly like Marvin Gaye. What a talent. Then Keb came on and sorry to say I missed the first half as I had to take Dawn home, she was not feeling good. I came back and heard great band members join together and make fabulous music for the next hour. All in all, a great night, just wish I could have gotten Bob's autograph, but I did get Keb on the Buddy Guy guitar. This was a great show and I hope they work together again in the near future so we can see them again.

CLARKE - MILLER - WOOTEN

Tonight was the S-M-V Thunder tour of Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten. What a fantastic trio!!! Their musical lineage alone is worth the price of admission. Combined they have worked with the best in the Music Arena like, Sinatra, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, George Duke, Dave Mathews, Prince, Luther Vandross, Grover Washington, and so many more. They all played together in 2006 at the Bass Player Live concert. and saw that there was enough room for them to work together and not as rivals. Their first album together features them along with George Duke and Chick Corea and all three bassists contribute new work to the album. The album is getting rave reviews and some say it is the Jazz record of the year. We can only hope that come Grammy time, these 3 outstanding musicians get what is rightfully theirs.

This past Friday RipChords and Wink Keziah

Dawn and I went to one of our new favorite places, PUCK in Doylestown and saw our friends the Rip Chords. We were unaware of there being an opening act and were completely surprised to see Wink Keziah and Delux Motel open. They are so dichoticly different from the Rip Chords in musical style that the combination of Honkey Tonk/Southern Rock and Surf Music actually worked really well. We were seated up front in Puck which holds about 100 people, and had clear view of both bands. Wink and his crew, were gracious and friendly to the crowd with a lot of interaction. The band is very talented made up of Ken Keicher on bass, Arda Bagcioglu on lead, and Jason Donaldson on drums, this 4 piece band can tear up a bar with good feelings and great music. Then after their set, they cleared out for The Rip Chords. This is the ++ time we have seen them and they just get better with each appearance. Mitch and Richie were constantly hawkin their new CD and it was comical. They welcomed back Freddy Brog on Guitar and it was good to see him back. They sounded fantastic and their harmonies were right on. Bob and Tony round out the band on bass and drums. The big surprise of the night was when our friend Amy (keyboards and vocals) took the lead on White Rabbit. She just nailed it and blew us away. And after the show we hung with the band for a bit, more on that later - an interview with Richie, we both told Amy that she has nothing to be shy about with her voice. It was great to see our friends again and we look forward to seeing them again soon.


There will be more shows this week not previously announced, but keep coming back to check for new posts.

Coming up

Well I have been a little lax lately (too much work) and so I am just letting everyone know that comin up will be reviews of Peter Tork and his band, Stanley Clark/Marcus MIller/Victor Wooten, Keb Mo and Robert Cray. I am still hoping to get in to see the Absolute Zeros as I have promised them to see them and write a review. It is just that my full time job schedule is so bizarre and its on 3rd shift so I cant get out that much during the week. I will however, be posting some new reviews in the upcoming weeks so keep coming back to see. Also check out BiCoastal Affair on MySpace. Sorry its a cheap plug, I know, but its my sons new band and they are pretty good. Go have a listen and let me know what you think.

Ill Be Back

Been a While

Well, it has been 2 weeks since I blogged, and I am sorry for that, just busy. This week, Friday Dawn and I will be going back to PUCK in Doylestown to see our friends, THE Rip Chords. I will be interviewing them after the show and posting some more info about them along with a review of the show next week. Then Next week we see Keb Mo and Robert Cray. A great blues night. That will be followed with a Breakfast with the Beatles cruise for 2 hours of great Beatles music and trivia. I will also be tring to get over to see Stanley Clarke/Victor Wooten/Marcus Miller for more autographs. So, have no fear,there will be more blogs to come in the next week, its just been slow and I have been busy.

Comedy Show

Well, this week, Dawn took me to Atlantic City for my birthday. We stayed at the Brogata for two days. She even got tickets to the comedy shown the night of our arrival. That is what this post is about. It was one of the best comedy shows I have ever seen. The talent in the 3 performers was amazing. The first act was Chipps Cooney. His "msgic" act was the best spoof I have ever seen. He did not do one single magic trick, but that did not matter. He had the audience in the palm of his "slight of hand." The second act was Rob Magnotti. This young performer was by in large the best impersonator I have seen since the days of Rich Little and Frank Gorshin. Robs impersonatiions were dead one down to the mannerisms of the likes of John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, Kramer, and Jerry Sienfeld. Then the headliner came on and that was Richie Minervini. Richie was on "The King of Queens", and his act was outrageous. His comments on the movies in the elevator, Jersey Tolls, the women leaving for the rest room, and the couple pawing each other in the front row were great. This was the best show I have seen and would gladly see it again if given the chance. I will be looking for the three of them to be coming by the Phila area, and if they do I will be first in line for the tickets, although I would hope that this blog would help me to get free tickets. I strongly recommend all who read this to be on the look out for these three to come to your area..

Daryl Hall

Tonight, Dawn and I went to see one of her idol's, Daryl Hall. To see him in a small venue like the Keswick Theater is just about as good as it gets. There were fans waiting for his arrival in the parking lot, when we pulled in. As we got into the theater, the crowd was mostly female, go figure, and many couples. Daryl's music is so soulful it makes me wonder where he got so much soul from. It must be from the fact that Phila. is such a gigantic part of the music business, with so many great acts along with Gamble and Huff, that as a native of the area, it just grew into him.

The band led by T-bone on guitar was note for note perfect. Harmonies were so good I was looking for the females to be hiding in the wings, only to realize there were no female singers on stage. The interaction between Daryl and his audience was to be expected for a native of the area. Personal accounts of growing up in the area, attending Temple and even joking about not doing any "John songs".

I will have to admit though, that I was disappointed in the precision of the "escape plan" for the entire bands departure. It ran like clockwork, and there was absolutely no chance for any contact with any member of the band. I would think that as a home grown boy, There would have been some interaction with the fans for pictures, autographs, but that was not happening at all. It was executed like a presidential arrival, with the band van running interference for the SUV that would carry Daryl.

I was hoping for an autograph on the guitar, but more I was hoping that Dawn would be able to meet and get a picture with Daryl. Too bad it didnt happen.

Widespread Panic

Last night I had the pleasure of doing my first job for Electric Factory Concerts by attending the Widespread Panic show. Having never heard of them in the past, I was unsure of what awaited me. Upon my arrival, I noticed many in the audience looking similar to a Greatful Dead crowd. I was able to see the guitarist Jimmy Herring, in the backstage area before the show. Long hair reminecent of Haight-Asbury days gone by. I was expecting an opening act, but at 805pm 5 min after scheduled opening time, they walked out on stage. I am not aware of the names of any of their music, so I will just list them as song number 1, 2 ,etc. Song number one made me wonder what I had gotten into. It was so very similar to the Dead, Phil Lesh, and other jam bands in that it went on and on for almost a half hour. I thought I was back in the 60's. The crowd was very receptive of the music, and I must admit, I was tapping my foot.

Musically, the band is extra tight. The guitar solos of Jimmy, the running bass lines from the 6 string bass in Dave's hands, the almost Santana sounding percussion coming from Domingo, all blended in to make even a critic like me of jam bands bop his head or tap his foot. After the first song, they broke into what I can only describe as a regular set with a series of songs that were no more than 7 minutes long. That to me is normal.

I was impressed with their harmonies, and by all accounts all of their musical talents. Combined it all led me to hear an almost unforgettable version of Warren Zevon's Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Having never heard of them I now understand why they are in the Pollster top 50 live acts. The crowd was so into the music, they became an extension of the band, reverberating the sound received from the band, back to them in the form of action and movement.

This Weekend

This weekend I will be very busy. Starting Friday night with a review of Widespread Panic for the Electric Factory Concerts people. They were looking for writers and I signed up. 2 tickets to the show and I need to have a review in within 2 days. Pretty Cool. Maybe my luck will be good and this can turn into a paying job with them Then possibly seeing also the Absolute Zero's friday night. Saturday night it is Daryl Hall. Dawn will be with me for that one as he is one of her most favorite artists. Hopefully we will get to meet him after the show and get the guitar signed, and Dawn can finally say she met him. This weekend is also the Great American Guitar show with Rick Derringer appearing. Not too sure if I can make that though as we have a movie date with the granddaughters on Sun and they live in another state. So stay posted by Monday there will be some new posts and pics up on the site to reflect the running around coming up this weekend.