Mas Musica ...........

FINALLY - The Black Crowes play tonight at the outdoor stage of the Hard Rock Casino in downtown Cincinnati.

It won’t exactly be pretty - temps in the low 60’s with rain from Hurricane Helene still lingering in the area.

We had on-stage seats to see them in 2021, but that show was canceled due to Covid.

Then they were scheduled to play with Aerosmith in 2023, but that show was canceled due to Steven Tyler’s vocal cord surgery.

It was then rescheduled for later this year and we had pit SRO right next to the stage & runway as well as a backstage tour & lots of other goodies.

That got canceled when Tyler decided he simply couldn’t sing anymore and the band stopped all touring.

Hopefully, the fourth time is the charm!

FIRE DAISY ROBERTS!!!

So last Saturday night we concluded our 2024 concert schedule at our favourite venue up near the University of Cincinnati - The Ludlow Garage. A hall so infamous, The Allman Brothers actually recorded one of their better known live albums there. The place is small and intimate and seats only 250, but the sound and closeness you get to the bands is unsurpassed.

This was a banner year for us as far as concerts go. I pretty much lost count, however, I'm fairly certain they numbered in double digits. No bad for an old dude of 62, especially since most of them included standing for the better part of three hours.

Not so the case at the Ludlow, or at least not until the final few songs and encore.

Now I'm not much of a fan of "cover bands", even though my entire musical career consisted of playing in such. In my case, however, we played a wide variety of tunes by dozens of groups that we admired and could pull off or come close to duplicating. A good deal of which included my ability to alter my voice from AC / DC to ZZ Top and dozens in between, including Journey, Styx, Kansas, Bad Company, Metallica, Queen, UFO to name a few.

While we were at another show at this venue, we saw an advertisement for a group called Lotus Land, A Rush Tribute. Since I've been a huge fan of theirs since they started in the 70's and they discontinued touring following the death of Neil Peart, we figured, what the hell - this could be interesting and purchased our usual front row seats.

Now I understand Rush isn't everybody's cup of tea. I have a number of musician friends as well as family members who simply cannot tolerate Geddy Lee's voice and I get it. His IS an acquired taste. But the songs and musicianship of not only him but also Alex Lifeson and Peart cannot be denied as it is some of the most complex ever arranged and put to tape by any band, let alone a trio. And I cannot imagine any of their songs being sung by anyone BUT Lee.

From their first note and Chris Nelson's vocals on "Limelight", I knew we were in for quite a treat. It was like being transformed back to the late 80's / early 90's, which was the last time I saw the original trio live.

Backed by Bob Chartrand on guitar, keyboards and vocals as well as Mark Dalton on drums and percussion, they played two one hour plus sets that included a wide variety of Rush "hits" as well as deeper cuts from nearly every album in the vast Rush catalogue.

Particularly impressive were when both Chris and Bob donned their double neck guitars (a solid black Rickenbacher 4 string bass & 6 string guitar for Chris, a pearl white Gibson SG 12 and 6 string for Bob) and played all 11 plus minutes of "Xanadu" as it was originally done on those same guitars four plus decades ago by Geddy, Alex & Neil.

Both Chris and Bob covered most of the keys via foot pedals ala Geddy & Alex and when Chris went strictly to keyboards, his bass lines were covered by Bob (just like Alex would do for Geddy).

There were some programmed effects and backing vocals (Aimee Mann on "Time Stand Still"), but for the most part, these three guys pulled off an amazing duplication of the Rush I remembered the same way Rush used to.

It's difficult to imagine the time and practice it takes to be as polished as these guys are in duplicating such a distinct and different sound as Rush used to produce with only three members covering so many parts and instruments. And I don't imagine at 70 plus Geddy could still pull off some of the high falsettos that Chris is still able to hit.

But unlike some groups, Rush knew after Neil's passing it was time to go out on a high after their R40 tour and not continue to try to perform songs that were written over 50 years ago when they were all young Canadians with a long and distinguished career in front of them.

If you are a Rush fan and Lotus Land is ever in your area, I highly recommend seeing them as we will be the next time they come around Cin City.

FIRE DAISY & FRAUDY!!!

The other founding member, Roy Wood left after only two years, so they were pretty much always Jeff Lynne’s band.

They were the second concert I ever went to in 1976 or 1977 - I was only 14 or 15 at the time.

I remember being enthralled seeing a rock band with a violinist and two cellists. It was something new and different from all of the other bands.

Probably why I always been a huge Chicago fan.

Nothing like a trombone (which I played in marching band), trumpet (which I also played for awhile) and sax / flute jamming with a killer guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and drummer and three of the best, yet most different voiced singers.

We used to have field trips to see the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra each year going back to grade school.

Pretty sure that’s what piqued my curiosity and interest in music at such an early age.

I started singing in grade school as well and when we would have to pair up, everyone always wanted me as even back then I was starting to develop a voice.

If truth be told, I actually learned how to sing in several different octaves as well as falsetto by listening to and singing along with, of all people, Barry Manilow.

He also taught me how and when to breathe, how to sing from the gut and how to hit and hold that note for 10 - 15 seconds.

I’ve always been a big ham when it comes to playing in front of twelve or twelve thousand.

Can’t ever remember being nervous, even when we were playing bars up in Clifton around UC before we were even old enough to be in them. Fake ID’s RULED!!

GO DODGERS!!!