RIDERS ON THE STORM (Doors Tribute) - Rock Log 120811

It was a fine week @ that Den.

Randall, Vick & I caught a good show on Thursday evening.  Vick's 2nd show for the week and the 3rd for Randall and I.  Thursday evening brought Riders on The Storm a Doors tribute band to the stage.  Musically  they were spot on.  The guitar, drums and keyboard were perfect.  Close your eyes and one is transformed back to when the Doors were in their prime.  Open them, that is when it gets a little rough.  You are transformed back to the Jim Morrison's" bloated like a tic/Grizzly Adams era".  The Vocalist we will call "Jim" sonically was perfect.  His voice was exact and it was evident it came natural to the guy. Having seen many Door's covers over the years, many singers over sing and have piss poor results, Jim had perfect pitch, never strained and let the mic do the work, he was simply outstanding.

The Den has had a good run of regulars in the crowd. Thursday's  worth mentioning is  first and foremost the lovely Sasquatch accompanied by Greg Allman. There was also a brief appearance from Troy D. We also had Charlie Manson sporting a newer look for him (Blond Dreads and a smoking hot brunette with fake ta ta's on his arm/cane).  Also distracting from the "bloated tic like" Jim was the plethora of hot hippy chic's. 

All and all a very  good show, I can think of  3 things that would have made it better.

1.       our being more familiar with the trippy side of the doors material.

2.       our being young enough to finish the marathon and see them do "LA Woman"

3.       An appearance from the Lumpy, four step, bearded Bill Parcells

          

Respectfully submitted,

Homework

WICKED PEACH - Rock Log 120711

Three days removed from recovering from my incredibly painful “Eye-Ache” after watching the crowd at The Beginnings (Chicago Tribute Band) I regrouped with NK & Homework to switch gears and watch Wicked Peach - self proclaimed New England’s Ultimate Rock Cover Band at the Wolf Den last night.

Contrary to Sunday night and much to our collective relief, it took exactly 20 seconds after entering the bar at our familiar front row standing spot that we saw several eye-pleasing patrons.  Mind you, this was no Dierks Bentley-type of crowd where you feel movement down below when you watch the ladies, but it definitely kept your interest as the evening wore on.  More to come on the crowd later...

On to the show – Wicked Peach played a vast array of tunes spanning the 80s and 90s during three sets lasting over 3 hours.  The 4 member band is solid and made up of 2 talented guitar players who both take lead vocals, a good but plain-looking bass player and a very skilled drummer.  Here’s the cliff note summary... First the good – they played many tunes and nailed most and got the small but animated crowd dancing.  The bad....they played so many tunes by so many artists that some weren’t so good - (as noted on many other Rock Logs, this is the main difference between a Tribute Band and a Cover Band).

There is a bad but common element to every cover band that I have seen – and it needs to be addressed.   STOP playing Journey songs!! You can’t sing like Steve Perry - so don’t attempt “Don’t Stop Believin” or “Any Way You Want It” – the audience will survive without those tunes.  Other sub-par Peach covers included Def Leppard & The Steve Miller Band – both musically fine, but vocally off.

Wicked Peach, however, did an excellent job with groups like Nirvana, Green Day, Sublime, Train, 3 Doors Down, Lincoln Park, Black Crows, and even a impressive version of Buck Cherry’s “Crazy Bitch”.  Also, the dance floor was loaded with ladies for many songs highlighted by Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”.  Some audience members were good dancers and enjoyable to watch – others probably would have been better served to boogie in their seats.

Last night we witnessed two guys who must have coconut sized cuhonas because they stepped up to the dance floor and fearlessly danced their own style without thought to what they looked like to the general public.  First off – was a blubbery bearded rollie-pollie dude whose non-stop solo-4step-square dance attracted much attention - and to our amazement he ended up scoring a dance or two with a half-tanked woman.  Next we saw the unceremonious return of Troy D – who, try as he might, couldn’t get one female to acknowledge him on the dance floor for the whole evening despite his ghetto-type hand gestures and Italian looking swagger.

We watched a good band last night and remained safely away from the dance floor – perhaps we are nutless, but we walked away satisfied and with our pride.

Randall

BEGINNINGS (Chicago Tribute Band) - Rock Log 120411



Tonight, for the second time in 2011, The Den welcomed Beginnings, the ultimate Chicago tribute band.  Billboard magazine states that Chicago is the second most successful American rock band of all time, second only to the Beach Boys.  Thus, it is fitting that there be a tribute band.

Conventional wisdom dictates that if you are going to pay tribute to a band, then you had better perfect the attributes of such tribute-worthy band.  In this case, that would be the horns.  If you are paying respect to Chicago, then get the horns right.  Beginnings does that and then some.  Close your eyes and instrumentally you would think that you are listening to the real deal.  This band is tight and dead on, with the exception of the guitar, which I would classify as average.  Otherwise, this was a most enjoyable show.

Based out of Long Island, Beginnings is comprised of four horns, a drummer, one keyboardist, guitarist and bassist.  The vocals are shared adequately between four members, the better of whom would be the drummer Adam Colombo, who single handedly answers the question “If Ray Romano and Steve Perry had a baby, what would it look like?”.   Not to be outdone, bassist Mason Swearingen, is clearly the love-child born to power-couple Tommy James and Richie Sambora.  Otherwise, this band’s strongest asset is the Funky in the Middle Horns.  They flat out stole the show.  Whether facing off front stage in a brass battle or driving the bus from the downstage, these guys were fantastic and well worth going to the show.  Highlight for me 25 or 6 to 4 and the lowlight would be Colour My World, classic romantic song, but just plain embarrassing if you are three dudes named Randall, Vick and Homework. 

approximation, but damn close

The song selection was acceptable, but did include two Christmas songs and a few too many Chicago ballads.  I understand that you have to do a lot of the Cetera love songs for the ladies in the house, but there were just a few too many of those.  Speaking of ladies in the house, this is the first show in my years of Denning where there was not one woman that I would consider attractive.  That being said, there was one full-figured woman who I could not take my eyes off.  I had last seen her at The Cowsills 2010 and at that moment all that I thought to be feminine was completely erased from my brain.  Well, she was there again tonight, escorted by her fella, Mr. Gregg Allman.  Same ridiculously tight dress, but this time black.  The timing was not right to get a picture of her, the one to the right is just about spot on.

To recap this show, (a) Beginnings is worth the listen if you like great horns, and (b)if your demographic status is adult female and your weight begins with a three, then form-fitting garments should be a part of your wardrobe.    I am Vick and tonight I took a trip to the Windy City and it rocked.