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Today was a good day. I woke up to the sound of my 9 yr-old son, Ryan, playing Steve Miller’s “The Joker” on Guitar Hero. He’s been playing the new GH, at a friend’s house, (we have the Aerosmith edition) but we didn’t get the latest version until yesterday. It was great hearing him sing along to the song… knowing every word by heart! A little rock star in-training!
Listeners (and readers) know by now that I am a big fan of the Allman Brothers Band. The AOR radio stations of my youth, and even AM stations like 66WNBC and 77WABC before that, provided a steady dose of ABB hits like “Ramblin’ Man”, “Blue Sky” and “Melissa”. I was a fan of their music from when I was (as Gregg would probably say) “a youngin” but didn’t get to experience them “live” until several years (and personnel changes) later. That was at Jones Beach, when it was just called the Jones Beach Theatre… Read the rest of this entry »
I was listening to some of my albums the other day… yeah that’s right, I said albums! Those antiquated things that my 9 yr-old son, Ryan, called “big black CD’s” when he was about 4 or 5! Anyway… as I listened to my 33 1/3 of The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street (on the London label) I realized that by going digital and cleaning up all of the hisses and pops… we’re removing Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to my inaugural BLOG on wrcn.com! If you thought it was going to be about the Blues… you were wrong. 
Last Saturday night I had the pleasure and privilege to introduce the New Riders of the Purple Sage to the Boulton Theater stage in Bay Shore. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of NRPS growing up… I do remember the hits like “Glendale Train” and “Panama Red.” On stage, I related the personal story of taking the bus, from North Massapequa to Jones Beach with my friends when we were 14 or 15, and listening to the New Riders on the boom box! I left out the part about getting off the bus near our homes and seeing several Nassau County police cars at the Photomat booth. It turned out that there had just been a robbery there and we walked home singing “…somebody robbed the Photomat (instead of Glendale Train) this morning at half past nine… .” Yeah, yeah… I know. Of course I know the history of the band, with their ties to the Bay area music scene and their link to Jerry Garcia and other Grateful Dead members (that were former NRPS members)… but I didn’t realize the scope of their music or the excellence in their musicianship… until the other night. The band, with original member, David Nelson on lead guitar, Buddy Cage on the pedal-steel, my good friend and guitarist Michael Falzarano (formerly of Hot Tuna), bass player Ronnie Penque and drummer Johnny Markowski (both formerly of Stir Fried)… brought their “A game” to Bay Shore! The “Riders” kicked it off with a fantastic version of “Take a Letter Maria”, played the hits and old favorites, mixed in a few new tunes (that really sounded good) and ripped through a great version of “Friend of the Devil!” The crowd was genuinely excited and they were on their feet at the end of the band’s 90 minute set! While there may have been monsoon conditions outside… inside the Boulton Theater… it was magical! And there may have even been a Full Moon at Midnight!
See ya…