In keeping with the holiday festivities, Michael Kleid hosted a Karaoke party at his personal lounge for his friends and neighbors the day after Thanksgiving. We had a blast jamming, playing music, coaching sing alongs, and hanging out together. Thank you Mike and Tracy!!
Michael and I spent many years onstage together in Lil Elmo and it is always a treat to spend time with him! We dusted off some of the old routines and shared a few memories.
Kevin made numerous trips to the microphone – nice voice!
If you happen to be in Las Vegas anytime soon, make sure you swing by Kahunaville in Treasure Island to catch Michael’s show. He’s always a fun time!
First of all, let me say that I haven’t seen Van Halen since the Starwood days. It was a fun show all in all. Eddie looks healthy and is playing as well as ever. David still does well with his game show host persona and Wink Martindale smile. Alex is as solid as ever. Wolfgang’s inexperience shows, but he plays well, sings well and proves he can hang with the big boys.
The show was all early DLR stuff of course. No Sammy tunes, but that’s not a surprise. I am a bigger fan of Sammy than Dave. Sammy’s just a better all around vocalist. On this night, David started out strong, but seemed to get weaker as the night went on. He relied heavily on the backup vocals of Eddie and Wolfgang, and he screws around the timing. End of the night – he can’t hit the notes in Jump.
The show is still about Eddie. Just an amazing guitarist. Astounding technique. Never makes a mistake. He broke a string on his Frankenstein Strat and made it through the song. For you non-players out there, when a string breaks on a tremolo-equipped guitar like Eddie’s, the guitar will go wildly out of tune. Solos and chord patterns suddenly have to be reinvented on the spot. Eddie made it through unscathed. I’m sure most of the crowd never noticed.
Alex is the anchorman he’s always been. A solid rock drummer with all the right chops in all the right places. Plus he has some sort of voodoo brother link to Eddie.
Wolfgang still seems a little stiff onstage. Chalk that up to inexperience. He’ll loosen up with time. The bass playing is right on – it could be easy to overplay. Wolfgang does it right. His backup vocals with Ed were right on. It’s tough holding a harmony over 4 bars behind “You Really Got Me” without wavering. They sound good together.
I’ve included a pic from the good old days, pre record deal. This photo was shot by my buddy Marvin Rinnig. You can see all of Marv’s rock and roll photography at www.Musikfoto.com
The setup is this – our drummer Jack had broken his wrist shortly before this string of gigs and we’re playing here with a sub who came in on short notice. We have to follow Blood Sweat and Tears with David Clayton Thomas who performed a kick-ass show. We are feeling totally under the gun heading to the stage to face about 12,000 people. This is our opening number…
This next clip is from the next night. We had played Hot August Nights since the beginning. I had written a song that had a heavy nostalgic vibe and it became a crowd favorite here. Steve sings his ass off…
Dig my hair. Remember this is before Dog the Bounty Hunter.
This last cut is also from Hot August Nights but it’s from 1994. This incident lives in Cosmo infamy and we were lucky enough to catch it on video. Keep your eye on Spike…
Another Collins Block Party! When we were kids and playing in a band we’d get the cops called on us for less than this! Lots of fun, friends, food, kids… it was a blast.
Chris, Craig Robbins and I played in bands when we were teenagers. Add my buddy Lou Ozonko, who I’ve been playing with for over thirty years. The Muddflaps gluing things together, along with guest vocalists Gretchen Bonaduce and Suzanne Collins.
Besides us old guys, the School of Rock brought in some players as well. The kids are definitely all right.
Shaw Blades at the Canyon Club in Agoura on Saturday night. More of an unplugged show to showcase their new cd Influence. Covered a bunch of material that was influential to them growing up.
The vocal blend between these two guys is just great. Tommy Shaw has an impossible range, and Jack’s is up there as well. Nice harmonies with a third buddy up on stage with them.
The stage had two couches against the back walls with family members and friends sitting onstage during the show, lending a very intimate atmosphere to the proceedings. Jack and Tommy shared stories with the audience as well. They seem like they are having a ball up there.
The set started with California Dreaming, and included songs by Simon and Garfunkel, Orleans, Yes, Steely Dan, Emerson Lake Palmer, and, of course, Styx and Nightranger. A superb treatment of the Zombies’ Time of the Season.
I had a good time watching these guys. They’re alot of fun.
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