FELIX & THE HURRICANES @ PETER C’S, ALTOONA 3/25/04
Since I was leaving for vacation in two days, I logged another late night at the office this night to prepare for my departure, and thus got a late start on the night. I eventually headed down the street to Peter C’s for what I thought would be some routine Thursday night Hurricaning.
More often than not, though, Hurricaning is never “routine,” and it wasn’t this night. Several esteemed guests were in the house and on the stage this night, including Dick Kos, and two drummers who have logged time behind the Hurricanes’ drum kit over the years, Kevin Siegel and – John McKnight.
As you may recall, John is the former Hurricanes drummer/vocalist and Altoona area resident who relocated to Atlanta to further his musical career. John quickly became one of the most in-demand drummers on the Atlanta scene, and has played drums for a variety of studio and live situations, including Barry Richman, Forrest McDonald, Delta Moon and more. In the process, John achieved the goal of being able to earn his living by doing what he loved, making music.
But John’s luck turned bad last November, when he had to undergo emergency surgery for a serious digestive disorder before Thanksgiving. The malady nearly cost John his life. In the aftermath, John has had to undergo additional operations, rendering him unable to earn his living behind his drum kit for at least another six months. Monies from the recent Rockpage Benefit Jam in January were donated to help John with his medical expenses (like many career musicians, John was uninsured).
In between surgeries, John was back in the Altoona area this week to visit family and friends; and he was at Peter C’s this night to touch base with his former bandmates.
And perform with them. As I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see John onstage with Felix, Dick, Jeff and Bob; crooning the vocals to “Sweet Melissa” and “One Way Out.” A good-sized crowd was on hand and marveling at John’s still-excellent blue-eyed soulful voice. The Hurricanes continued to play out the set with tunes from ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Rick Derringer and their original blues number, “Free.”
The last set of the night turned into a John McKnight showcase of sorts. With Kevin Siegel sitting in behind the Hurricanes’ drum kit, John took the lead microphone to belt out voice on the Allman Brothers’ “Back Where It All Begins.” Then it was a favorite from John’s former stint with the Hurricanes, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Tin Pan Alley.” And then the finale – John replaced Kevin behind the Hurricanes’ drum kit, supplying the beat behind Felix, Dick and Jeff on the Allman Brothers’ “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” John’s drumming was exemplary, and combined with the two Kos brothers’ fluid guitar harmonies and Jeff Clapper’s busy and full bass lines, ended the evening on a high.
The house cheered their unanimous approval, both in appreciation of John’s talent, and that his health had improved enough to enable him to be able to perform. John still has a long road ahead to full recovery, but he was in good spirits this night, even telling new jokes to everybody. It was good to see John back in action again, and here’s hoping the road to recovery is short, so that music fans in both Atlanta and Altoona will soon be able to enjoy this man’s talents on a full time basis again.
The Hurricanes, with Dick Kos and John McKnight.
Lead Hurricane Felix Kos.
John McKnight.
Again, Dick Kos, John McKnight and the Hurricanes.
The Kos brothers, Dick and Felix.
Once again, John McKnight.
The Hurricanes with Dick Kos, John McKnight and Kevin Siegel behind the drum kit.
The Hurricanes, now with John McKnight behind the kit.
Peter C’s Jodie K and Tina celebrate the musical magic onstage.
Once again, the Hurricanes with John McKnight playing the drums.
TRAUMATIC/THE GRIMM @ THE ANCHOR INN, PATTON 3/26/04
Live music has returned to the Prince Gallitzin State Park area. Formerly the Tim Buck 2 and Rippers, The Anchor Inn is now hosting bands again. This night, metal-geared rock would visit the Anchor Inn as The Grimm and Traumatic performed.
Day-job duties prohibited me from arriving at the Anchor Inn until around midnight. The parking lot was full and I had to park up along the road; but this was a good thing, as it showed people were supporting live music at the Anchor Inn this night. Sidestepping a brawl in the parking lot (obviously somebody wasn’t having a good time), I went inside to see what the bands were up to.
I had already missed Traumatic’s set, but eyewitness accounts gave rave reviews of Traumatic’s effort. The Grimm was in the early stages of their set, and were doing Alice In Chains’ “Man In The Box.” A special guest, Smoke Run Band drummer Kenny “Moon” Slovikosky, then stepped in behind the kit to supply the beat to Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” After a momentary pause to choose some winners of a door prize raffle, The Grimm launched into their Metallica medley, which segued together portions of “Master Of Puppets,” “Four Horsemen” and “Am I Evil.” Frontman Bob Lee then introduced a brand new Grimm original song called “Behind Closed Doors.” On first listen, this song seemed to take a slower, sterner direction, and blended spoken and sung passages in the vein of an earlier Grimm original. “Enough.” The group then proceeded to mix original songs with select cover material, imbedding songs from Chevelle, A Perfect Circle, Staind, Tool, and others among originals from throughout the group’s discography. Among the highlights the rest of the way were Bob Lee’s improvised “Mary Had a Little Lamb” midsection during the Resurruption original “Fade;” the group’s fiery treatment of Tool’s “Aenima;” and the strong-finishing original song double-shot of “Black Sheep” and “Angry and Shirtless.” The Anchor Inn stagefront crowd, which included a number of off-duty musicians this night, demanded an encore, which The Grimm answered with Motley Crue’s “Looks That Kill.”
As expected, The Grimm sounded sharp this night, firing on all cylinders with technical tightness and power. Playing in front of what amounted to a hometown audience (Bob, Kent and Kirk Tonkin all live near Prince Gallitzin State Park), The Grimm seemed to perform with a little extra swagger and spark this night. Bob Lee was improvising more on the vocal end, and the group was more open to venturing on the occasional side journey.
The Grimm was clearly happy to be playing close to home; and happy to be playing to a number of their musical peers as well. Members of Traumatic, Frayed, Infused, Dafunkt, The Smoke Run Band and solo performer Andy Roddy (who played earlier in the evening) were all on hand to cheer on The Grimm.
My last local show before I embarked on a week of vacation down South, The Grimm made it well worth my hike up the mountain to check out, and provided a good hard-rocking send-off for my journey.
An additional Grimm onstage guest this night…
Dom Peruso of The Grimm.
Bob Lee of The Grimm.
The Tonkin brothers, Kent and Kirk, of The Grimm.
Again, Dom Peruso of The Grimm.
Big Bad Bob of The Grimm unleashes the voice.
Full-kit view, Dom Peruso of The Grimm.
VACATION RECAP 3/27 – 4/3/04
It had been a long, hard winter. It had been a long, hard week, both on the work and domestic fronts. It had been a year and a half since my last journey to Florida. I was never so ready for a vacation in my life!
The itinerary was set…The dynamic duo of Sparky D’Engineer and yours truly would embark on a week of R & R, destination Orlando, with stopovers in Hamilton, North Carolina and Hilton Head, South Carolina on the trips to and from, respectively.
DAY ONE: SATURDAY 3/27
Sparky’s pathfinder hit the road at approximately 4 PM, en route to our overnight stay in North Carolina, where Sparky’s friend, Music Box Recording Studio proprietor/engineer Ted Etheridge, was putting us up for the night.
This leg of the trip wasn’t too eventful. We hooked up with Sparky’s engineering accomplice, Matt Da Hick (from the booming metropolis of Queen, PA, thus the nickname), who himself was en route to North Carolina to work on rebuilding a group of radio stations in the Rocky Mount area. Matt brought along two 2-way radios so we could stay in touch in our respective vehicles on the trip down. We did supper at the Winchester, Virginia Cracker Barrel, where we encountered an over-apologetic waitress who never did bring Matt his extra iced tea. We got a good laugh while listening to a local Richmond FM station broadcasting a “live” rhythm track from a local dance club (I guess listeners could crank up the dance track at home and dance in their living room, and pretend they were at the club!).
We arrived at Hamilton, North Carolina after midnight, hung around Music Box studio with Ted before retiring and resting up for the remainder of our journey to Orlando the following day.
DAY TWO: SUNDAY 3/28
After getting a full night’s rest (the first of those I’ve had in quite a while), and awakening to the sound of a Southern gospel music program playing on a radio in the next room (a nice regional touch; obviously we weren’t in PA any more), we were ready by noon to proceed on our journey southward to Orlando.
Before we did, though, we headed 25 minutes away to Rocky Mount to check in with Matt Da Hick. Matt was doing work at the radio stations he was rebuilding; and since all of the stations were automated this day, and nobody else was around, he gave us a grand tour of the facility. This was interesting and amusing, as Matt showed us not only the work he was doing, but some of the blunders made by the incompetent contractors handling the building remodeling. In one case, they installed ceiling paneling in a telephone closet, in the process covering over the room’s only light bulb!
After the tour, we dined at a Rocky Mount Mexican restaurant called Chico’s. This was an interesting place, housed inside a former power plant turned into a plaza. Matt then showed us a hotel with a collapsed satellite dish in front of it; and Sparky and I were then off to Orlando. We left around 4 PM, arriving around 2 AM. Nothing very eventful happened during this leg of the trip, either; except perhaps listening to Jacksonville, Florida’s 24-hour “home-shopping” FM radio station, and watching some of the freakazoid drivers on Interstate 95.
Anybody who works in radio can appreciate the humor in this, a generic 98.5 van. Maybe this station switches formats so often they don’t bother to paint call letters on it!
Facing the trials and tribulations of working amidst incompetent contracting work, Matt Da Hick finds solace and inspiration in a statuette of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream”…of fixing this radio station rat’s nest!
The hotel with the broken satellite dish in front of it…we don’t know, maybe the signal comes in better in North Carolina if the antenna is collapsed?
DAY THREE: MONDAY 3/29
After two days of traveling, Monday was “rest up” day, with nothing particularly organized on the schedule. So after we woke up after noon, we sauntered downstairs for breakfast/lunch. As the Holiday inn where we were staying also housed the largest TGIFridays in America, we chose Fridays to start off our Monday.
We then went riding through the Disney attractions area to re-orient ourselves with the whole Disney theme park complex. We decided to park and explore Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Since there were no major sporting activities or events happening this day, the gatekeepers handed us free passes to check out the facilities. Disney’s Wide World of Sports is a huge multi-sports facility, featuring numerous fields, tracks, and structures playing host to a variety of sporting and fitness events. Local and regional college and school teams use the facilities for their sporting events; we witnessed a scholastic men’s lacrosse game in progress. The Atlanta Braves also use Disney’s Wide World of Sports for spring training; they would be playing a spring training contest against the Los Angeles Dodgers the day after we were there. We checked out the ballpark facility where the Braves play – nice stadium! We also checked out the Milk House, an indoor facility used for basketball and other indoor-geared sports. We then did the facility’s souvenir shop and left.
Next destination was the Disney Boardwalk, a combination hotel/boardwalk/shop complex. A huge boardwalk area lined with shops, stands and kiosks surrounded a large pond area. We walked the circumference of the boardwalk and took in the sights and sounds, while avoiding getting run over by the numerous multi-person cycling carts cascading around the premises (you could rent these and pedal around the facility). At one spot along the Boardwalk is an entry way to Epcot; people staying at the Boardwalk hotels could walk from their hotel rooms to Epcot through this entrance.
After checking out Disney Boardwalk, we did supper at Chillies, and then searched for a supermarket to buy in some supplies for our hotel room. Simple task, right? WRONG! For as big, vast and populated a resort area as the Orlando/Disney/attractions area is, it is nearly devoid of decent supermarkets, except for the small foreign-owned Seven-Elevens and Walgreens. We had to drive all the way to the Kissimmee/St. Cloud area (about ten miles from our hotel room) before finally locating a Walmart Supercenter with some decent groceries available. We then retired to the hotel room for the evening, with bigger plans on the itinerary for the next day.
Sparky D’Engineer at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.
DAY FOUR: TUESDAY 3/30
First order of the day: Epcot!
In my previous visits to Orlando, Epcot has emerged as my favorite Disney attraction, probably because it is the most adult-geared of the theme parks. Sparky and I were determined to arrive there early enough to take in the world showcase, and even had reservations for a meal there before the daily day-ending fireworks extravaganza.
There were several humorous highlights before we reached the world showcase area, though. Inside Innoventions: The Road to Tomorrow, where various companies and corporations display and demonstrate their latest technologies and inventions, one company (I forget who) was demonstrating a robotic dog that could obey voice commands…in theory. The problem was, a Middle-Eastern gentleman with a heavy accent was wearing the headset and giving the commands, and the robot dog wasn’t responding. Like most of the audience, the robot apparently couldn’t understand a word the guy was saying, either! Then there was my almost getting run over by a double-decker bus carrying Mickey Mouse and the Disney characters; I was taking a photo of the bus as it approached, but apparently the security contingent walking alongside the bus thought I was too close and instructed me to back up out of the way (Damn, I wanted the bus to hit me so I could fake an injury and sue for millions!).
We also went through Coca Cola’s attraction, Ice Station Cool. We entered through a passageway in which we walked in and encountered snow (didn’t we come down to Florida from Pennsylvania to get away from this stuff?). At the end of the passageway, we entered a Coca Cola tasting center and souvenir shop, featuring various dispensers where we could sample new experimental soft drinks – some international – that Coca Cola was developing for possible use. (Some of the exotic fruit drinks were good; I don’t think the asparagus and potato flavored soft drinks will fly, though!)
We eventually did make it to the world showcase, and checked out the various international pavilions, especially Norway and China. We checked out some live music, including Mo’ Rockin’ at the Morocco pavilion (doing Middle-Eastern-styled music with guitars and a rock beat); and The British Invasion at the U.K. pavilion (doing Beatles and other British invasion era rock’n’roll; this would be a cool gig for local Rolling Stones tribute band Jumpin’ Jack Flash to hook up with, if they could find the right connections to get in the door). We then did English fish and chips at the U.K.’s Rose and Crown Dining Room, an authentic British-style corner restaurant.
When we finished with dinner, it was time for the day’s finale, “IllumiNations; Reflections of Earth.” This is Epcot’s excellent fireworks extravaganza, coordinating fireworks with an original music score; plus the “Earth Globe,” which floats across the lagoon to reveal wonders of the seven continents on its curved LED screens. This is always the climax of the day at Epcot, and once again it was very impressive.
After leaving Epcot, we headed to Downtown Disney to check out what was new there. As it turns out, quite a lot! We checked out the usual favorites like House Of Blues and the huge Virgin Records store; and then checked out the new Downtown Disney West Side, a whole new area of shops, stores, eateries and the Pleasure Island nightclub area (admission to Pleasure Island was $12; we passed on it this night).
We did a marathon’s worth of walking this day between Epcot and Downtown Disney, so we headed back to the hotel room to recharge for the next day.
The Disney character double-decker bus that didn’t hit me.
Yours truly at Epcot.
Mo Rockin’ at the Epcot Morocco Pavilion.
DAY FIVE: THURSDAY 3/31
Our initial game plan this day was to take in Busch Gardens near Tampa. But checking their website, we discovered that Busch Gardens raised their admission, and was now as expensive to visit as the Disney theme parks. Knowing we were doing another Disney park the following day (Animal Kingdom), we decided to bypass Busch Gardens to save some coin; and instead decided just to roadtrip over to check out the Tampa/St. Petersburg area in general.
Tampa/St. Petersburg wasn’t far away, just over an hour’s drive away along Interstate 4 (probably even less than that once all the highway construction is completed). We hit Tampa in mid-afternoon, and experienced some traffic congestion. We passed Tropicana Field, the home field for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Eventually we crossed the bay into St. Petersburg, ate breakfast at a Waffle House (yep, breakfast at 3 in the afternoon!), and did some beach time hanging out at St. Petersburg Beach. Now we could say we’ve been to the Gulf of Mexico!
We then drove back to Orlando, arriving back at around sunset. After resting briefly at our hotel room, we took advantage of the fact that our hotel was located across the street from the entrance to Universal Orlando; and we walked over to check out Universal’s CityWalk.
For our evening meal, we went to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. Although disappointed that Rock & Rye wasn’t booked there that night (something about their “A la carte, no Buffett” musical policy, I guess), we did get to check out some live music while and after we dined. While we ate in the outdoors rear café, we watched an acoustic performer, whose name I didn’t catch. (I emailed Margaritaville to find out who he was, but the name they sent back didn’t match up with his photo, so I’m still not sure who he was.) Inside the main club, it was Margaritaville’s regular house band, Blue Stone Circle, performing a variety of classic rock and roll.
I’ve seen this band twice before at Margaritaville, and they did a good job again this night, playing numbers from Steve Miller Band, Van Morrison, Wilson Pickett, Doobie Brothers, a disco mini-medley and more. Although the Margaritaville house band, none of the band’s five members are actually from Florida (it seems most of the people you run into in Orlando aren’t from originally from Florida); hailing instead from Connecticut, Wisconsin, Alabama and South Dakota. Blue Stone Circle kept the music and tempo upbeat, and had people up on the dance floor and having a good time.
After leaving Margaritaville, we walked about the CityWalk complex and checked out the sights and sounds. It was relatively quiet this night, with just a few folks walking around. Eventually we walked back to the hotel and got recharged for the next day.
St. Petersburg Beach.
The acoustic performer at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.
Blue Stone Circle entertains at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.
Sparky, wasting away in Margaritaville.
Yours truly, awaiting a cheeseburger in paradise in Margaritaville.
Sparky at Universal’s Citywalk.
Yours truly, sporting a Fat Vinny T-shirt, at Universal’s Citywalk.
Yours truly, at the entrance of Universal Orlando.
Sparky D’Engineer at the entrance of Universal Orlando.
DAY SIX: THURSDAY, 4/1
On this, our last full day in Orlando before starting our return trip home, we checked out a Disney theme park we hadn’t done before, Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
This park turned out to be pretty cool. Although smaller in overall size than Magic Kingdom or Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom delivered as advertised, animals. A lot of exotic animals from around the world were on display in natural settings. Highlights for me were the Wildlife Express Train, the Kilimanjaro Safari; and the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, which included an exotic bird aviary, large-scale fish ponds and aquariums, a gorilla area and more. The park promoted ecological and conservation themes, and featured numerous educational exhibits and demonstrations as well. And we pretty much got to see and do everything we wanted at Animal Kingdom in the course of the nearly six hours we were there. Based on this initial visit, Animal Kingdom has emerged as my second favorite Disney park next to Epcot; and I definitely wouldn’t mind checking it out again someday.
The rest of the evening was uneventful for the most part. Attempting to choose a restaurant for our evening meal, we first tried to enter an Italian restaurant. Entering the front lobby, we stood behind this large group of college-aged women, flabbergasted over the high-priced menu. They turned around and walked out; their complaints drew our attention to the restaurant’s high prices as well, so we turned and followed them out the door (we would up doing the el cheapo buffet at Western Sizzlin’ a few doors down the sidewalk). We then hit a few souvenir shops before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the next day’s part one of the journey back home.
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, this treehugger takes things to extremes.
Caught on still frame, the video of us surviving the Dinosaur ride…
With the “Tree of Life” in the background, yours truly at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
With same “Tree of Life” in background, Sparky D’Engineer.
DAY SEVEN: FRIDAY, 4/2
It had been a grand and glorious week in Orlando. Letter-perfect weather, fun in the sun, rest and relaxation. You knew it had to pass too quickly, and it did; it was already time to leave.
We checked out of our hotel room shortly after 11 AM, and proceeded to Daytona Beach, where we would hook up with another of Sparky’s friends, Doc Dave. Doc Dave has a yacht, and we would get to check it out upon our arrival. Because it was breezy in Daytona this day, Dave decided not to take the boat out for any sailing, but we did get to climb on board and check it out. Afterward, Dave treated us to dinner at a Daytona seafood restaurant (THANKS AGAIN!)
We then left Daytona and headed north to our overnight destination, Savannah, Georgia/Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Upon arriving in Savannah, we hooked up with another of Sparky’s friends, Mike D’News Director, who was putting us up for the night at his abode in Hilton Head. En route to our meeting point with Mike, we walked past one bar where a number of uniformed, military-looking guys were imbibing and having a good time. Except for one, who was rowfing his guts out on the sidewalk as we walked past. Obviously they know how to party in Savannah on a Friday night!
After meeting up with Mike, we all did dinner at a café at downtown Savannah’s City Market. City Market takes place at a plaza lined with cafés and eateries, and features live entertainment nightly. Providing the entertainment this night was The Six Million Dollar Band, a four-piece band playing a mix of early and classic rock and roll. We heard this group do a decent job on tunes from the Ventures, Van Morrison, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top and more.
After dinner, we left Savannah and traveled to Hilton Head Island, first touring the block of radio stations Mike works for, and then searching for more nightlife. Unfortunately, the main nightclub in Hilton Head was closed on a Friday night, at least by midnight when we arrived there. So in lieu of no nightlife, we crashed at Mike’s and rested up for the remainder of the roadtrip home.
A look inside Doc Dave’s yacht.
Sparky, standing alongside Doc Dave’s yacht.
DAY EIGHT: SATURDAY, 4/3
The last day of our sojourn was a travel day, as we did the roughly 12-hour journey from Hilton Head Island back home to Altoona. After Mike D’News Director gave us the send-off by treating us to breakfast at the local Hilton Head International House Of Pancakes (THANKS AGAIN!), we embarked on the long haul up I-95. I got a lot of Rockpage writing done during the daylight part of the journey, and we were entertained by tapes of the “Backyard Rocker” 6th Anniversary and Acoustic Jam Specials. Besides our dinner stop in North Carolina, nothing eventful happened on our trip home.
It was interesting to note, though…Throughout our entire trip, the weather was pretty much letter-perfect. In Florida, daytime highs were in the mid- to upper-70’s with lots of sunshine and little humidity. We didn’t see a single rain drop the entire week – until the moment we crossed the Mason-Dixon line back into Pennsylvania. We saw raindrops, and then drizzle; and observed the temperature indicator inside Sparky’s Pathfinder plunging through the 40’s and into the upper 30’s. (It was sunny and 70 when we left Hilton Head.) And then the icing on the cake; I woke up the following morning and looked out the window to find a coating of snow on the lawn. Welcome back to Pennsylvania!
POPTART MONKEYS @ PELLEGRINE’S, ALTOONA 4/4/04
Admittedly, I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to the band this night. My brain was still somewhere in central Florida, and I was updating friends and fellow Pellegrine’s Monday Night Wing-Eating Think Tank associates on my vacation. I didn’t even make it into the main band room to see the Poptart Monkeys this night; instead, I just took it easy and jotted down song titles from the rear room by the entrance.
But what I heard sounded good, as the Poptarts mixed favorites from Don Henley/The Ataris, Blink 182, Violent Femmes, Bad Company, James, Puddle of Mudd and more. I heard at least one original tune, “7:30,” and also was surprised to hear the Poptart Monkeys pull out Blues Travelers’ “Runaround.”
A good crowd was on hand, and it appeared to be another fun and upbeat Poptart Monkeys party. I should be recovered enough to pay closer attention by the next time the Poptart Monkeys visit.
