Memphis was an amazing tribute to Jimi. It was held at Central Church in Memphis - I was expecting more of a chapel, but it ended up being more like a concert venue, which was perfect. One of Jimis friends brought in a wall of Marshall amps, and there was a big banner of Jimi throughout his career behind the drum kit, and big video screens on either side. I thought the production was handled very well by Joe Mulherin, along with Scott Innes and others. Jimi would have been impressed. The turnout was incredible, and on stage were both friends, family, and musicians that had played with Jimi through the years including the guys from his very first band, who played one of this favorite songs to sing back then, Good Lovin. One of the highlights for me was to see Mike Reno and his wife Cathy up there singing Almost Paradise, which was very poignant especially with the line Knocking on Heavens door…. I had my moment and I got to sing Streets of Heaven, a song I had written for Jimi when his stepfather passed away in 2009, but now it applied to Jimi just as much. It was a challenge to get through it without breaking down, but I did it, remembered every word with some help from above. The video montage that Scott Innes put together to go with Heaven Passes The Torch was wonderful - I was very happy with how it turned out. One of the big surprises was as I was backstage in the green room warming up when through the door burst Marc Droubay, Survivors former drummer. You could have knocked me over with a feather! We hugged, and talked for a while catching up a little. In fact we sat together in the pew along with Kevin Chalfant and John Cafferty to watch the memorial. It was great to reconnect with Marc, a fantastic drummer who, as I say in my book, helped to define the sound of Survivor. It was a great reunion. Some other highlights - Jimis two daughters both sang. Lacy, his younger daughter, sang a song that Im not familiar with. But she stepped up to the mic and, for a short time, everyone was kinda sweating it out as she was tentatively finding her notes. Suddenly, she found her confidence and opened up and amazed us all. Her older sister, Amy, closed the evening with a touching rendition of the Beatles In My Life, a song that Jimi had sent to her shortly before he passed and told her that she should learn to sing it. The whole evening was sad but happy at the same time, and I think that everyone left with a good feeling. The Ides played an epic show later that week - it was an epic way to celebrate our 50th anniversary, so we decided to call it The Ides of March and the Cornerstones of Chicago Rock. Our special guests were Ronnie Rice of The New Colony Six, Tom Doody of The Cryan Shames, Jimy Sohns of The Shadows of Knight and Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams. The first set was all Ides, including a lot of songs that everyones come to expect from us, but we were really eager to present three new songs that are coming out. First one was the one I co-wrote with Mike Borch, Last Band Standing (the one on the album has Steve Cropper on guitar). Its a chronology of everything thats happened to us throughout our career, like the president of our record company coming to see us at The Whiskey, slapping us on our backs and saying, Youre going to be big hits, boys. Big stars! and then not doing anything about it. Jamming with the Allman Brothers - things like that. We practiced our butts off - we wanted everything to be perfect. The next one is called Who I Am, which is a testimony to standing up and shouting, This is who I am! No excuses! and the horn chart is intense - one part reflects on the style of the group Chase. After an official presentation by State Senator Mike Connolly (who, I was surprised to learn was a former neighbor of mine) of a proclamation recognizing the Ides 50th Anniversary, the second set opened with You Wouldnt Listen to give the feeling of Chicago in the 60s. Our first guest was Ronnie Rice of The New Colony Six, and he did great with several songs including Things Id LIke To Say, a song which he said had been written by Tony Orlando, something I didnt know. Next we brought out Tom Doody, and he sounded just like the Irish tenor I fell in love when I was 15 years old and The Cryan Shames were playing the Blue Village. The medley was Sugar and Spice, Up On The Roof, and It Could Be Were In Love. Jimy Sohns came out next, and hes a wildman. I forgot what a great performer he was - he was all over the stage like an Arlington Heights version of Mick Jagger. He even put purple in his hair in tribute to me - he asked me, Are you OK with this? and I told him I thought it was hilarious and I loved it. He stated with Oh, Yeah, into Shake and he couldnt close with anything else but Gloria with the Ides brass. We brought the section to a close with Carl Giammarese of the Buckinghams. It was hard to pick three songs, but we put our heads together and came up with Mercy Mercy, Dont You Care, and ended with Kind Of A Drag. Just brought down the house. The whole second set was underscored by legendary disc jockeys Bob Sirott and Dick Biondi, who sat at the side of the stage behind vintage microphones and introduced everybody as if they were still on WLS back in 1967. Everyone came back out for the Eye Of The Tiger all-skate, which brought the whole evening to a wonderful close. Afterwards, at the merch table, we got nothing but positive response from everyone who came through. I want to thank everyone who came, and all of our crew - Gregg Bizarro and Jon Bizzaro who put together all of the wonderful video that ran during the show featuring all of our careers plus the beautiful tribute to Jimi Jamison (you can find the video from The Search Is Over on the World Stage YouTube channel); Frank Pappalardo on sound; my assistant Chris May; Toby Bermann, Ray Gerlich, and Ed Tillrock; Paul Braun, Michael Bush and Roy Ferrer for photographing the event; John Dykas and Mark Voss for additional video work; my friend Rich Brom for many things, and everyone on the staff of College of DuPage for making this a night to remember. I had an amazing week in New York City - it was kind of the book launch week for me. Started at The Book Store in Glen Ellyn - the people really turned up for this signing and the store was packed to the gills. I told stories, played a few songs, and signed a ton of books. Chris May was there to help take photos for anyone who wanted one. And then it was on to New York for what was really a book-launch party at a new venue called The Cutting Room, which is kinda like a House of Blues - real ornate, colorful - just a great club. There was a lot of press there, a lot of music people. My publicist Carol Kaye is friends with drummer Carmine Appice, who lists Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, Cactus, Beck Bogart & Appice; and Peppy Castro of the Blues Magoos and Gene Cornish of The Rascals were there as well and we got to hang out afterwards. It was a blast! I need to thank Carol Kaye and David Chackler for putting this trip together, and photographer Lynne Peters who followed me around with her camera and documented the trip. All around the party was a lot of press - I did interviews with VH-1, Sirius XM, ABC Radio Network, Guitar World, many others - I was busy! One of the highlights was getting to eat at what may be the best steakhouse in New York - The Old Homestead Steakhouse in the old meatpacking district. Not really fancy, but just effing great. I also want to thank my friend Jeremy Holiday for helping me find my way around NYC - we had a great time. After that, I came back to Holland, Michigan for a book signing at Readers World. Phew. Keep Rocking! Jimbo.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 03:01:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015