Twenty Years Ago Today...

[Jim Price]

...One of my favorite local music concert events in my 25+ years of area music coverage took place. The 3rd annual Mountain Of Rock concert took place on July 4, 1992 at the Osceola Concert Grounds (translation: the Socoski Farm in suburban Osceola Mills). That day, six area hard-hitting bands - Roadkill, Thunder Alley, Fatal Maim, Beyond Reason, Endzone and Hitchcock - came, kicked butt and conquered a good-sized, festive crowd.

Roadkill kicked it off. This was frontman/bassist Greg Majewsky at his craziest, further cementing his growing reputation as the Don Rickles of the area music scene with self-depreciating insults and humor about himself and his bandmates, before his unforgettable flop-like-a-fish display on the stagefront lawn during Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

Thunder Alley then delivered a powerful set of '70s, '80s and early '90s hard rock and metal. Nick Socoski's voice was in good form, and the group kicked it with hearty, crunchy rhythms. The crazy mood of the day escalated when members of Roadkill sprayed silly string on Thunder Alley while passing in front of the stage.

Next was the beast that was Fatal Maim. Troy and Jody Earnest, Rich Piccerillo, John Scarfone and Bob Watters hammered out power-metal originals and select covers, including Judas Priest's "Victim of Changes" where Troy achieved the heavens with his voice. One of the best Maim performances I got to witness, they killed it!

Todd Giornesto and his New York-based project Beyond Reason continued the intensity with their brand of power-meets-progressive metal. Todd confidently barked out his words, and his bandmates backed him with detailed rhythms, scorching guitar work and more.

Allentown's Endzone then introduced their original brand of funk-laced heavy rock. Their singer, Jody, started off the performance by tossing random pieces of stage gear off the stage and onto the lawn. Mic stands, cables and other objects went flying.

And capping the day, Hitchcock with their mixture of classic and dance-friendly rock. This was during the period when Hitchcock was packing in crowds at the 4D's and other area dance-rock venues, and their set provided a fitting cooldown to close the show.

This show was also memorable for me because it was the first time I ever videotaped a rock show, and I still have the video from that day! (John Scarfone recorded it onto DVD for me a year or two ago.) I may have to play that vid and relive that fun day!

For anybody else who was there and remembers this show, feel free to weigh in with your Mountain Of Rock memories below...

[lonewolf]

32 years ago today, I saw Rush at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. They parachuted out of a helicopter! At least it was supposed to be them...maybe smoke & mirrors, idk.

Alpine Valley is an ampitheatre in Elkhorn, WI that generally has the bands stay in Chicago and shuttles them via helicopter. This is the venue where Stevie Ray Vaughan played his last concert and then his shuttle helicopter crashed on the way back to Chicago.

[songsmith]

Twenty years ago today, I was at the Mountain of Rock show. Funny, but what I remember was large numbers of VERY drunk people peeing in the weeds, and the CD player was skipping, playing the same Aerosmith song for a very long time, and nobody seemed to notice. But the bands were awesome!

[CHICKSINGA]

30 years ago today my fiance', Dan Farabaugh was, at 25, killed in a dune buggy accident close to Southfork Ranch outside of Dallas. I'm not posting this to bum anyone out or look for pity.

Dan was a musician. He played bass, acoustic guitar and sang with a big powerful voice. He taught me an amazing amount of things in the 5 years we had together, Most of all, the sheer LOVE of Music.

He played in the bands "Stealin" with Mike Knopp & in "Mirabeau" with Matt Bopp. His specialty was bellowing like Danny Joe Brown on Molly Hatchet. But he also taught me a lot of songs on the guitar and we would play together at parties. Our famous song was "The Wizard" by Uriah Heep.

When he died it was one month from our wedding back home here in Loretto. It was a very hard thing to live through, but Dan gave me an invaluable gift - Courage. I moved backed to Texas and followed my dreams all over the country & across the Atlantic.

I miss you to this day Dan & still think of you often when I am onstage or just sitting quietly with my guitar. I hope you have been leading the best damn band in heaven or the next realm with Donnie Ruzzi, Jeff Showalter, John Baker & all our musician friends who have left the world.

And I hope I'm making you proud.

[HurricaneBob]

...One of my favorite local music concert events in my 25+ years of area music coverage took place. The 3rd annual Mountain Of Rock concert took place on July 4, 1992 at the Osceola Concert Grounds (translation: the Socoski Farm in suburban Osceola Mills). That day, six area hard-hitting bands - Roadkill, Thunder Alley, Fatal Maim, Beyond Reason, Endzone and Hitchcock - came, kicked butt and conquered a good-sized, festive crowd.

Roadkill kicked it off. This was frontman/bassist Greg Majewsky at his craziest, further cementing his growing reputation as the Don Rickles of the area music scene with self-depreciating insults and humor about himself and his bandmates, before his unforgettable flop-like-a-fish display on the stagefront lawn during Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

Thunder Alley then delivered a powerful set of '70s, '80s and early '90s hard rock and metal. Nick Socoski's voice was in good form, and the group kicked it with hearty, crunchy rhythms. The crazy mood of the day escalated when members of Roadkill sprayed silly string on Thunder Alley while passing in front of the stage.

Next was the beast that was Fatal Maim. Troy and Jody Earnest, Rich Piccerillo, John Scarfone and Bob Watters hammered out power-metal originals and select covers, including Judas Priest's "Victim of Changes" where Troy achieved the heavens with his voice. One of the best Maim performances I got to witness, they killed it!

Todd Giornesto and his New York-based project Beyond Reason continued the intensity with their brand of power-meets-progressive metal. Todd confidently barked out his words, and his bandmates backed him with detailed rhythms, scorching guitar work and more.

Allentown's Endzone then introduced their original brand of funk-laced heavy rock. Their singer, Jody, started off the performance by tossing random pieces of stage gear off the stage and onto the lawn. Mic stands, cables and other objects went flying.

And capping the day, Hitchcock with their mixture of classic and dance-friendly rock. This was during the period when Hitchcock was packing in crowds at the 4D's and other area dance-rock venues, and their set provided a fitting cooldown to close the show.

This show was also memorable for me because it was the first time I ever videotaped a rock show, and I still have the video from that day! (John Scarfone recorded it onto DVD for me a year or two ago.) I may have to play that vid and relive that fun day!

For anybody else who was there and remembers this show, feel free to weigh in with your Mountain Of Rock memories below...

Ahh yes Jim, what a show it was, 20 years ago, wow time flies, i saw the Youtube vids that John put up also. Thanks for capturing the memories!

[PanzerFaust]

Love to see some of the video from that.....

What's Scars account under Bobber???