THURSDAY NIGHT 12/26 - Of course, the big show this night was "Wish Jam 3" at Peter C's, with proceeds going to the Make A Wish Foundation of Weatern PA. Once again, "Wish Jam" turned out being a fun evening with some very good performances. Not Them Guys kicked things off in acoustic fashion, mixing unplugged favorites from CSNY, Lynyrd Skynyrd, REM, Neil Young, Live, Collective Soul and more. Steve, Jim and Jerry sounded very on target the whole set, and I especially liked the versions of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" and Live's "Lightning Crashes," plus Jim's nice slide guitar work on several songs. A good start to the night. Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys plugged in and picked up the energy level with their set of boisterous blues and blues rock. With Mark Panek now back behind the Wiseguys' kit (actually the Feight drum kit this night), Fat Vinny & co. let it rip with original tunes like "2 to 4," "Picked the Wrong Day" and the new "Like A Mule" (which kicks ass, pun not intended!); plus rowdy bluesy versions of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," "ZZ Top's "Tush" (with Fat Vin and Randy "Dawg" ZZ-two-steppin' it), George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone," AC/DC's "The Jack" and more. This was the best response the Wiseguys have received at Peter C's yet, good to see these guys getting a warm reception in their hometown! Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys have hit their stride once again, good set! Feight picked up the ball and ran with it, delivering the best set I've seen from this band yet! Frontman Rob was in his glory, taking the show to the audience and to the Q94 Calendar Girls (at least he got a phone number from one of them, better than any of us here at the station have been able to do so far, lol!). Rob's backing corps of Jeremiah, Dylan and Dave were fired up as well, and Feight sounded good on tunes from Megadeth, Cars, Weezer, Wheatus, Puddle of Mudd, Godsmack, Nirvana and more. Additional highlights included cameo appearances by Phil and Peen of Broken Neck and Matt of Xpendable on several songs, helping to increase the excitement level. As I said before, Rob seems to have found the right pieces to the Feight puzzle, and the future for this band appears bright for 2003! After a slightly lengthy intermission, Broken Neck slammed the lid on the night with their set of volatile, combustible modern metal. Broken Neck likes to run the smack on stage, but they back it up with a lot of intensity, energy, spit and vinegar! These guys were jumping all around and unleashing the fury, but were very tight and crisp on the instrumental front and sounded good as a unit. Tunes like "Here It Is," "The Gat Song," "Slut," Death Polka" and especially "Drive by" are starting to reconnect with crowds who might have forgotten about Broken Neck over their two-year layoff. If these guys can stay focused and deliver this type of energy every time they hit the stage, this incarnation of Broken Neck has the potential to go places! Only drawbacks were a few technical problems (one which led to guitarist Phil picking a fight with his equipment after the set, lol!). Steve and Jim from Not Them Guys ended the night with a little bit of musical levity onstage, nice touch! In all, a good night - between $500 and $1,000 was raised for Make A Wish, and the crowd was festive and well-behaved (except for that stupid hissy-fit attempt at a catfight at the very end of the night, fortunately after most of the crowd had left.MEOW! MEOW! FSSST! FSSST!). Thanks to all four bands, Rich behind the sound board, Big John, Jodie K, Theresa and the staff at Pete's, Q94 Calendar Girls Billie Jo and Sarah for their continuous efforts throughout the evening to raise money for Make A Wish, and everybody who attended and supported the cause!
Not Them Guys kick off "Wish Jam."
Not Them Guys, from a different angle.
Randy "Dawg" Ketner of Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys.
Back behind the kit...Mark Panek of Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys.
Fat Vinny and "Dawg," ZZ two-steppin' it and 'just lookin' for some Tush..."
Fat Vinny, breaking out the slide...
Rob from Feight, helping Q94 Calendar Girls Billie Jo and Sarah fill that Make A Wish jar up...
Rob Carolus of Feight.
Dylan Hooper of Feight.
Jeremiah Shafer of Feight.
Rob of Feight, joined by Phil of Broken Neck.
Rob and Phil, joined by the ladies of Peter C's...
And Matt Watson from Xpendable just had to get his two cents in...
Scott Russell of Broken Neck.
Dave Russell of Broken Neck.
Peen and Bill from Broken Neck.
The chair dancing in the back of the room was getting hot and heavy...
And the dance and groove action from the stairs was getting hot as well...
And Mary from Peter C's just takes it all in...
Jim and Steve from Not Them Guys end the show on a humorous note...
FRIDAY NIGHT 12/27 - I headed to Aldo's this night to check in with The Flame Sky. Since all the holiday stuff had me behind schedule, I spent all of my non-Q94 hours on Friday trying to get my January article finished for PA Musician. This resulted in my getting a late start, and subsequently missing openers Even As We Speak. I had seen this band kick major ass at the G-Man the week before, and according to Aldo's eyewitness accounts, they did likewise this night, and won a bunch of new fans in the 'Toona. But I did get to witness the Flame Sky and their fireworks this night, which were plenty. The big highlight this night was special guest, veteran area frontman Steve Oswalt of Rapidfire/Shattered China/Bottoms Up fame, burning the oxides off his vocal cords on tunes like Robin Trower's "Day of the Eagle," The Allmans' "Whipping Post," Black Sabbath's "Symptom of the Universe," Metallica's "Fade to Black," and my favorite highlight, the Iron Maiden double-shot of "Transylvania" into "Remember Tomorrow!" The man still has the throat! The Flame Sky sounded good without Steve, too, doing nice work on the Allmans' "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" (drummer Nate Woods' solo sounded very good here), Metallica's "Call of Ktulu," and several impressive new original song compositions (the titles which I didn't catch). The Flame Sky are still instrumental wizards who catch fire on their instruments as they get deeper into the heart of each song. I for one am looking forward to hearing some of The Flame Sky's newer original stuff on CD; hopefully a new recording will be on the group's list of resolutions for 2003.
Jason Feathers of The Flame Sky.
Steve Oswalt and Jason Feathers of The Flame Sky.
Steve Oswalt...The man STILL has the voice!
Nate Woods of The Flame Sky.
Ed Brinkel of The Flame Sky.
AND NOW A LITTLE BLAST FROM THE PAST FOR YOU KIDS...
To celebrate his stepping out of retirement for one night with The Flame Sky, I thought I would share this photo from the archives...Steve Oswalt singing with Rapidfire, during the infamous "lawn chair" performance at Old Sebastiano's, August 11, 1989.
SATURDAY NIGHT 12/28 - This night turned into a doubleheader for me. First, it was one of those occasions where my day job and night job collided. I had to do a live remote broadcast on Q94 at the Blue Knob Clubhouse Bar & Grill at Blue Knob Ski Resort, and there was a band performing there, Bedford's Insult to Injury. I'm always nervous about driving up to Blue Knob in the winter (I hear even people who live up the hill in Cresson are terrified to drive to Blue Knob in winter, what's that tell you?), and the forecast was for light snow this night...lovely! But fortunately, I was driving the company Jeep instead of my own wheels, and the roads up to Blue Knob were slick in a few places but passable (at least coming up from the Puzzletown side). So I arrived in one piece, although aged about ten years from the drive up the hill, and a healthy crowd of skiers and revelers was on hand for both the remote and the band. Bassist Tom apologized to me in advance, saying Insult To Injury hadn't played out since October and might sound rusty...but when they got up and played their first set, damn, these guys sounded good! Insult To Injury mixed upbeat current and classic rock favorites from Lenny Kravitz, Lit, Skynyrd, U2, Steppenwolf, Goo Goo Dolls, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cult, 3 Doors Down and more. I particularly liked their versions of Cracker's "What The World Needs Now" and Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning." The group kept it tight and uptempo, and their vocals were on target. An unexpected highlight then happened during the night's first intermission, when Q94 Calendar Girl Anne stepped to the mic and belted out a full-voiced solo version of Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz." This lady has a voice! Anne sounded good, and even suggested to me that she might like to front a band sometime (anyone looking for a lady lead singer let me know, perhaps I can hook you up). Insult To Injury then returned to the stage and resumed their party, as some of the festive ski crowd began to get up and dance. A few songs in to their second set, I decided to head back down the hill to Altoona before Old Man Winter got any more ideas about laying down more snow for me to drive through. I liked what I heard from Insult To Injury; a good solid straightforward rock'n'roll party band worth checking out.
Andy Henson of Insult To Injury.
Insult To Injury, partying down Blue Knob.
Tom Jezeskie of Insult To Injury.
Q94 Calendar Girl Anne...Oh Lord, won't you buy her a Mercedes Benz?
Once back in the 'Toona, I headed to City Limits to catch my first look at Foundry Avenue during their last set of the night. From IUP territory, this young fivesome mixed current and classic rock favorites from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Crowes, Rage, Motley Crue, Weezer, Doors, original songs and more. This band was pretty solid all around, they were good on their instruments, and their vocals were respectable. On one of the original songs, the rap-flavored "What's My Name," two ladies from the audience stepped onstage and sang soulful backing vocals (and sounded good!). This band actually brought some fans with them this night, and while not packed, City Limits at least had some people in the house to cheer the band on. Foundry Avenue was also giving out CD's of their original tunes, cool! Based on the set I saw, Foundry Avenue is a solid up-and-coming band to keep an eye on. Not bad.
Ryan Suley of Foundry Avenue.
Tim McGinnis of Foundry Avenue.
Foundry Avenue, in the homestretch run of their show at City Limits.
SUNDAY NIGHT 12/29 - My weekend concluded with the Poptart Monkeys' party at Pelly's (try saying that ten times real fast!). This was a fun show all around! The Poptarts were clicking on all cylinders as they rocked the house with original songs, current rocking favorites from Creed, Bush, Drowning Pool, Weezer, Puddle of Mudd, Staind, Sublime and more; plus their 80's rock medley and other unexpected musical side-journeys along the way. This night was festive for a number of reasons - First, singer Paul broadcast the news that he wasn't just going to be a dad soon, but that the prognosis was twins (CONGRATULATIONS!)! Second, the Nevermoure contingent of Shawn and Big Dawg were in the house, and it was Shawn's 24th birthday! Third, avid Poptart fan Carla brought an extra guest along this night, her young son Gage, who was rocking at the front of the stage with his mom, and even got to air jam with the band onstage during the third set! And fourth, I saw a few friends in the audience this night I hadn't seen out in a while (including "Nikki Slice," who came out of retirement for a night, although without any swords or other cutlery). Highlights this night were numerous, including Shawn and Big Dawg from Nevermoure and Guido from UUU joining the Poptarts' Chris onstage for a rowdy version of Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy." Good-sized, festive crowd, and bottom line, another damn good Poptart Monkeys party! This band is making kickass rocking parties into a regular habit, not a bad thing!
The always amicable Chris Kurtz of Poptart Monkeys.
James from Poptart Monkeys, counting up to let some bodies hit the floor...
Stumping for votes, Guv'nor Jesse with Chris of Poptart Monkeys.
Another gratuitous James shot from Poptart Monkeys.
Guido from UUU joins Chris Kurtz and two Nevermoure guys onstage.
Birthday boy Shawn Hocherl of Nevermoure, monkeying around behind the Poptart drum kit.
Chris Kurtz of the Poptart Monkeys, once again...
Rob Hampton of Poptart Monkeys.
Soon-to-be-dad Paul Reddon of Poptart Monkeys, with special guest Gage.
Gage, demonstrating his guitar abilities with the Poptart Monkeys.
And Gage isn't half bad behind the drum kit, either...
A dangerous trio; Monday Night Wing Gang official therapeutic back massage specialist Sharon, Willie and JP D'Scribe, all celebrating after another kickass Poptart Monkeys party!