June 2019

Live Review- Collective Soul Returns

They are not to be missed !

Northfield, Ohio – The newly renamed MGM Northfield Park played host to one of the best bands to emerge from the 1990’s this last week , Collective Soul. I was fortunate to be around at the start of their career when they performed at Buzzard- Palooza in July 1994 along with Moist , Junk House and Green Day. Well sorta Green Day I saw their equipment on stage but a riot broke out and that ended the show .I still have yet to see Green Day perform live . Collective Soul performed and exciting set and gave a sampling of why they would be a band to admired for years to come.

Fast forward to 2019 and we are no longer in our twenties and the little band that could went out and proved they did and not only that, they outlasted many of their peers and are still as exciting as ever .The songs, the history, the pure love of music and performing comes thru in every melody and note . Ladies and gentleman Collective Soul is in the house .

Unlike some artists who save the hits for the last part of the show Collective Soul came out with both guitars a blazing and immediately hit the stage with a sound and fury not reserved for the faint of heart .

Tracks such as ” Observation of Thoughts ” ” Heavy “and ” Why Pt2 ” got the crowd on their feet and didn’t let up .

The mega-hit “Shine ” brought me back to my youth and made me feel energized albeit with out the long hair .

Never one to rest on their past accomplishments the band is releasing the a tenth studio album, Blood, and is scheduled to be released on June 21, 2019.

The band is E Roland (vocals / keyboards / guitar), Dean Roland (rhythm guitar), Will Turpin (bass), Jesse Triplett (lead guitar), Johnny Rabb (drums)

We highly recommend checking out a Collective Soul if they are anywhere in your area, They are not to be missed !

Live Review – LaureLive Music with A Mission Festival !

Geauga County, Ohio – The annual music festival known as LaureLive went on this past weekend to the delight of returning fans . The two day long festival brings both major name artists and up and coming performers on same stage to allow music fans to hear music of all genres .We had to cut out time there short due to sun poisoning but for what we did get to witness , was a well oiled machine where the fans , the artists and the vendors were all happy as one .

One of the shining stars on the rise we saw was Julia Thompson, her stage presence and emotional vocal delivery proves she is a stare in the making , look out for more of her .

JD Eicher opened the show and really showcased the amazing talent we would see all weekend .

The crowd favorite prize goes to Alec Benjamin ,whose female audience almost pierced your ears but the adoration was well deserved .This young man did a great job and I look forward to seeing him again .

On the instrumental side was the amazing guitar work of Rodrigo Y Gabriela and our main photo is The Blue Stones !

Awesome Vendors were on hand such as Roll House whose fun time establishments offer food, games and escape rooms !

All in all this is a fun festival for everyone and I cant wait for 2020 because it promises to be even bigger !!!

Live Review – Songs & Stories an Evening with Art Alexakis & Friends

I rate this show 10 out of 10 a true must see experience .

Cleveland, Ohio – The seminal music venue House of Blues was the perfect venue to play host to one one of the top ten musical events of my life and I have been to thousands . Art Alexakis of the multi platinum band Everclear brought an intimate evening to music fans and he was not alone . He brought Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne ( Stacy’s Mom) and John Wozniak of Marcy Playground ( Sex and Candy ) and Max Collins of Eve 6 ( Inside Out ) .

The evening had a great formula , all the guys would come out together and play a favorite cover song ( Dead Flowers and Eve of Destruction among others ) then one would remain and tell the story about some of their biggest hits and play a version of it .

John Wozniak was up first and to say this is one of the greatest song writers of a generation is not an understatement .His ability to tell a story with emotion and humor is a gift to the ears and manna for the soul .Do not miss him if he comes to your town !

Up next was Max Collins and to be honest I didn’t care for him from the start . Please read that I said from the start because by the end of the set I was a new fan . But that is what is music is about , trying new things and seeing if it was for you or not . His sincerity in in singing and writing needs to be heard . In addition to any Hollywood agents reading this , consider casting him in a punk based movie he would be perfect .

Chris Collingwood is not what I expected after watching Fountains of Wayne Stacy’s Moms video He was a fun show to watch and really talented in his humor. It was nice to see this performance because I usually only have seen Stacy’s Mom performed by Bowling For Soup and Thomas Ian Nicholas in their sets .

The man of the hour was none other then Art Alexakis of the megahit Everclear . I had to a chance to talk to to him a few years ago for about an hour on the phone even thou he may not remember it .We mostly talked about our duplicate history of growing up in the projects and our dads leaving us as kids and being ten years old wondering where our father has gone . He turned his history into the mega-hit ” Father of Mine ” which he played that night . It brought a tear to my eye and even thou he may not remember me I will never forget him and I thank him for that song . On a happy nope he played other songs including the well received ” Santa Monica ” for which he teased us all night with .

This was not a concert in the traditional sense of the word . More like some old friends coming over and just having fun and reconnecting .I rate this show 10 out of 10 a true must see experience .