More Concert Updates!

It seems that 2012 will a banner year to see some great concerts....


Just announced this morning that Aerosmith with special guest Cheap Trick will make an appearance at Summerfest's Marcus Amphitheater on Saturday July 7, 2012. Show be a good one considering that Aerosmith hasn't been around for awhile due injuries to Steven Tyler and Joey Kramer and Tyler's involvement in American Idol as a judge. Internal frictions within the band didn't help matters either. After having toured Central and South America over the winter, the band is ready to hit the States this summer.

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail that was sent to me...

Bassist Tom Hamilton says, "After touring Japan and South America last year we're psyched about bringing it all back for the hometown fans. We're going to break out the classics, the hits and maybe even some of the new ones we've been banging out in the studio."

I've seen Aerosmith before back in 1990 at Alpine Valley during the Pump tour. That was back in their comeback prime. 7th row seats! Couldn't get a better seat in the house! It was a real trip to see Tyler dancing and jumping around in his signature red outfit, singing his ass off.

My girlfriend has never seen Aerosmith and is really keen on seeing this show. Only one problem, I've got Iron Maiden tickets.

KISS along with Motley Crue are making their appearance at Alpine Valley on Saturday, September 8, 2012. KISS shows we all know about, are among the most extravagant concerts to see. The pyrotechnics, the make up and the whole nine yards. Being a huge KISS fan back in their heyday, I'm kinda piqued about going, With no Ace Frehley nor Peter Criss in band has made me reluctant to go all these years. As for Motley Crue,,,,eh... I only like a few tracks off of their Dr. Feelgood album. My girlfriend's son is a huge fan of both and has talked about going to the show with them. We'll see....

Clintonville Booms!

Clintonville is a small north eastern Wisconsin town dealing with a very strange situation. The town has been plagued by a series of mysterious underground booms. On Sunday and Monday night strange seismic activity was recorded. On the evening of Sunday, March 18, five loud, mysterious booms thundered through the town at approximately two-hour intervals starting at around 8 p.m. They occurred again the following night, and, much to the sleepless residents’ relief, finally stopped Tuesday night. The town thought it was over, but then it started again Wednesday night. Accompanying the sounds are vibrations that have shaken homes and household objects in the northeast corner of town.

After receiving hundreds concerned calls about the sounds, police investigated and found nothing. There were no known gas or sewer explosions, no landslides, no military exercises, nor mining explosions. Some think it might be related to sonic booms, groundwater, or earth settling – though no earthquakes have been recorded. The U.S. Geological Survey confirms it recorded a low-level, 1.5-magnitude earthquake at 12:15 Tuesday morning at depth of 5 km. (3.1 miles)

Clintonville City Administrator Lisa Kuss states that the underground activity has been confirmed and is not an earthquake. Even though a 1.5 magnitude quake isn’t typically felt, Kuss says the granite 3 miles under Clintonville may have intensified the vibrations. One possible explanation is gas explosively escaping from underground rock formations. Another is a rock burst, which can happen when mining or quarrying uncovers long-buried rock, suddenly relieving stress and resulting in “locally loud, explosive reports.” Though it has quieted down a bit, it still remains a mystery....

So what does this means to me in the terms of interest? Well, not only I've passed through this town numerous times, my folks lived up there. My dad worked at the Walker Forge plant there. My sister got married there. Later she bought my folks' house after they retired. I've spent a couple of nights at the Landmark there. My girlfriend is from the nearby town of Shawano. It is a cute little town with about 4,743 residents. Someplace I wouldn't mind living at...

I've Got the Tickets!

The tickets finally arrived in the mail a couple of days ago. After some considerable thinking, it was decided-you've guessed it, Iron Maiden with special guest Alice Cooper. The show will be at the Marcus Amphitheater on Summerfest grounds on July 4th. Rod Stewart and Stevie Nick's show at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee was considered, but ticket prices going for $150 to $600 a piece was just too damn expensive. Phish was practically sold out.

This will my first heavy metal show since 1991's disaster with Guns n' Roses and Skid Row at Alpine Valley. Rowdy fans tore up the sod in the lawn seats and chucked them into the reserved seats where I was standing/sitting. It literally rained dirt at the show! Fights broke out. It was near riot. Of course, singer Axl Rose didn't help matters by egging the crowd on... My ex-wife and I left the show before it ended. I swore I never attend another metal concert after that one. Until now. I'm hoping for a wiser, older and more mature audience this time around.

Anyways, Iron Maiden plans on bringing back some of their older classic tunes for this tour, culling mostly their 1988's synth heavy Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album. It's not a bad album, not their greatest either. I'm hoping to hear some stuff off their Powerslave album like their 13 minute epic masterpiece "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Hallowed be Thy Name". Any rate, it should be a good show.

The tickets I've got are decent. I've been to the Marcus Amphitheater quite a few times. There really isn't a bad seat in the house. My seats are in the rear reserved (yellow), section 8, aisle K seats 39 and 40. For $70 a piece, these are not too shabby.


I will be doing a review on the show....

Another Rock and Roll Death....

Longtime Doobie Brothers drummer Michael Hossack, whose work is heard on the hits "Listen To The Music" and "China Grove," died of cancer at age 65, his manager said Tuesday.

Hossack died Monday at his home in Dubois, Wyo., manager Bruce Cohn said in a statement

Hossack played with the group from 1971 to 1973 and rejoined in 1987. He stopped performing with the band two years ago while struggling with his health,

"Mike has always been a part of my musical life and the life of the Doobie Brothers," said band co-founder Tom Johnston. "He was an incredible musician."

May he rest in peace....

My New Blog

Ok, so I have a new blog. After a year of laboring over DrewTube, posting daily from A-Z. I'm finding myself finishing off Cheap Trick. Having about 4,000 albums plus at least a dozen coming in every couple weeks, I'm thinking this getting to be way to long to finish. (After figuring out the math at least ten years). I needed another format, something quicker and more to the point, therefore I have come up with Drew's Collection of Songs to Dance to. I'm kinda hyped about this blog. Not only it will feature my albums and bootlegs, it will also feature songs that are on them (carefully written out by my speedy fingered girlfriend- gotta love her), album rankings and the format that I have them on.

At first glance, one would notice it's a little "backwards", meaning I'm starting from the end and working my way to the beginning. There is a reason for the madness. Images, as many people know are not exactly blogger friendly. It can be a pain in the ass to constantly drag down an image to get where it needs to be placed. To eliminate this issue, I figured why not start from the bottom and work my way to the top. I know it sounds Polish, but it is a effective answer to a tedious problem.

If you noticed the URL says something about day by day survival, ignore it. It's an old and depressing blog that I'd written from my personal needs. I have gotten past that stage of depression and I really don't need to be reminded of the shit anymore, so I hit the delete button. Anyways salvaging whats left of it, I created a new title and started my new blog. Saves me the hassle of creating a new account for a new blog.

Anyways it will still take me awhile to finish this. By posting about 25-30 albums a crack will save me years of time and make it a hell a lot easier to make more entries as new records keep coming in. Check it out! I hope you enjoy it. It has been much labor, love and passion that went into my music, feel free to leave any comments, questions or dialogues if you want. Thanks!

Upcoming Shows Announced!

It's early March and some interesting acts are coming up my way already, which is a surprise seeing about mid April tours start to fill up. Here are a few shows that have gotten my interest...

Coming July 1st the Beach Boys are having their 50th Anniversary Tour with a stop at Summerfest's Marcus Amphitheater. It was announced that Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks would reunite for a new album and tour. It ought to be a show, except for the fact that I am not die hard Beach Boy fan.

Jam band Phish is coming to Alpine Valley in East Troy ( that's about 45 minutes from here) for two dates, June 30th and July 1st. I can really get into Phish, I think Trey Anastasio has got some smoking guitar work and the rest of the band has got a vibe that I can really dig. With the exception of the Allman Brothers I have never seen a jam band perform in this grand of a scale. This should be an incredible experience.

As some of you may know already, Iron Maiden with special guest Alice Cooper is making an appearance at the Marcus at Summerfest on July 4th. I really, really dug the hell out of Iron Maiden back in the late 80's and early 90's. Bruce Dickinson has got some of the best pipes in the rock and roll biz. The searing ax threat of guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith combined with the thunder of bassist Steve Harris blew away many heavy metal acts back in the day. Reunited and reloaded, I hear they put out a good show. The only issue is my girlfriend isn't to keen on heavy metal, all though she does like Alice Cooper.

Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks have announced their Heart & Soul tour with a stop at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Should be interesting to see them two perform together. I really dig Rod Stewart's work in the Faces and Stevie Nicks stuff in Fleetwood Mac. On top of that my girlfriend is really keen on this show. The main issue is the ticket prices, ranging from $135-$600 a ticket! I say that is pretty steep.

How ever I did order for tickets for one of these shows and I am really stoked about it. Care to take a gander on which show that is? The answer will be revealed when the tickets arrive in the mail.

Ronnie Montrose Passes Away.

American rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose died Saturday, March 3, after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. He was 64.

The following message was posted on Montrose's official website Saturday:

"A few months ago, we held a surprise party for Ronnie Montrose's 64th birthday. He gave an impromptu speech, and told us that after a long life, filled with joy and hardship, he didn't take any of our love for granted. He passed today. He'd battled cancer, and staved off old age for long enough. And true to form, he chose his own exit the way he chose his own life. We miss him already, but we're glad to have shared with him while we could."

Known for working with Van Morrison' 1971's release of Tupelo Honey and Edgar Winter's Group's They Only Come Out at Night. Best known for working with the famous Red Rocker Sammy Hagar in the band Montrose. Tunes like "Rock Candy" and "Station No.5" received a far amount of airplay and favorites among many fans. The years that followed were the formation of Gamma and his lucrative solo career.

He will be missed....