RomBox.com

Kewick Theater, Glenside, PA — Playing For Change performed a concert to an enthusiastic crowd at the Keswick Theater. The concept was created by producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, a Philadelphia native, whose parents were in attendance.

“Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.”

The project was started in 2004. In 2005, they approached a New Orleans musician, Grandpa Eliott, to record his version of “Stand By Me”. Then, other musicians from around the world were asked to add tracks to the recording. It became an Internet and YouTube hit. Of course, this was the song most of the audience was waiting for, and it did not disappoint. The entire crowd was dancing in the aisles. However, the song that was even more moving was the cover of the Four Non Blondes, “What’s Up”.

“And I try, oh my God do I try
I try all the time
in this institution
And I pray, oh my God do I pray
I pray every single day
for a revolution”

Playing For Change Videos

Philadelphia, PA — One of the largest concert venues, The Spectrum, is slated for demolition. Before it goes, there have been a few final concerts to celebrate its history (including Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam.)

Friday, October, 23, was the “Last Call” concert featuring Philadelphia bands, Daryl Hall and John Oates with special guests the Hooters and Todd Rundgren.

Tickets were available starting at $4.00.

Charlotte, NC

Where Did You Go?
Safe To Say
Holiday
Be Prepared
All At Once
The Space Between

Exciting news – The new album, “Tonight Let’s Pretend” is ready to be released unto the world! Mark your calendars:

Friday, October 23
Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Avenue
Philadelphia
8 pm doors / music at 8:30

More details to come, but may include such things as gourds, brews, peacocks, leaves, horns, hot ciders, fingerpaints, sunglasses, goats, digeridoos, strobe lights and much much more.

In other news:
Please request “I Can See Forever Up Here” on WXPN in Philadelphia!

DISCLAIMER
“This is not our official “press release”, but it is kind of funny, so let’s run with it for now.”

Philadelphia, PA — Collective Soul brought their tour to the Theater Of The Living Arts (TLA) in Center City Philly. For those who have not been, South Street is a world unto its own. Make sure you visit in this lifetime and if you can see a concert it’s an extra bonus.

There are not that many bands that I want to see, yet have not seen. Collective Soul was one of those bands. I am not sure why it never worked out. After I fell in love with “Shine”, they were a band I longed to see on stage. Then, the years past, and I figured it was too late. Even if they came around, they would probably be past their prime?

As destiny would have it, I saw they were playing at a local venue. The beauty of it was they were playing at a small theater. Maybe their decline in popularity would work to my benefit? Wait! Not so fast. I refresh the webpage on my web browser, and it says the show is sold out. What? So, I call the box office. Yes. They tell me the show is sold out. Dag-nab-it! I can not accept this situation and drive down to see with my own two eyes. Indeed, it is sold out. There are a couple guys from 93.3 WMMR there doing a promo. Why not ask them if they can get me a ticket? No dice. How about a scalper? No tickets to be found. While I am standing by the line to get in, a fellow comes over and asks if it is the line for Collective Soul. After verifying that it was, I ask if he might have an extra ticket. YeeHa! He does… but, at what price? Ahhhh… he tells me a reasonable price. He had been stuck with an extra ticket by a friend who backed out. Perfect!

I explained that I was a writer and had wanted to review the show. He was an avid fan and told me how good of a show they put on. I explained how sometimes I interview bands, sometimes I review bands, and sometimes I do not write anything. He said, “because there is nothing to write.” Exactly. Nevertheless, he peeked my interest in how the show would rate. The adrenaline was pumped, now. First, I thought I was going home in disappointment. Next, I was thrilled at getting a pass through the door. Plus, I met a father and son that were just as excited to see the show.

It was with much pleasure that the “warm-up” band turned me on with an instant music fix. Black Stone Cherry rocked the house. Black Stone Cherry rocked my world. (See the
Black Stone Cherry Review and Photo Gallery)

Luckily, the next band, Safety Suit, was not that hot. If they were, I do not know how Collective Soul could have followed them.

When Collective Soul took the stage, the crowd was primed and pumped. It seemed fitting that they started off with “Welcome All Again”. They played a couple more new songs in the middle of the set. Before “You”, Ed Roland related that it was the first song they ever wrote as a band. There was quite a bit of interaction and audience participation throughout the show. Introducing “Gel”, Ed shared that he and his brother/guitarist Dean were the sons of a preacher. “Gel” is about what they grew up with on Sunday mornings:

Color me any color.
Speak to me in tongues and share.
Tell me how you’d love to hate me.
Tell me how you’d love to care.
Well I just want to shake us up.

Let’s mingle
And make it well.
Come together now.
Yeah let’s gel.

All in all, the lights, the sound, the audience, the songs and the band added up to a spectacular performance. On the way out the door, the fellow who had sold me the ticket caught up to me and said, “Write something good.” I replied, “Oh, yeah. I will.” For this was one show worth writing about. Make sure they are not always one of those bands you wished you had seen!

THE BAND
Ed Roland – vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards
Dean Roland – rhythm guitar, vocals
Will Turpin – bass guitar, vocals
Joel Kosche – lead guitar
Cheney Brannon – drums, percussion

THE SETLIST
Welcome All Again
Heavy
Listen
Tremble
Why Part 2
Needs
Dig
You
December
Shine
Hollywood
World I Know
Anymore Friends
Gel
Better Now

ENCORE
Staring Down
River Flows
Run

Collective Soul Concert Photo Gallery

Philadelphia, PA — The Collective Soul tour came to the Theater Of The Living Arts (TLA) in Philly. They brought with them two other bands, Safety Suit and Black Stone Cherry. Safety Suit did nothing for me; however, Black Stone Cherry rocked my world.

Not having heard of Black Stone Cherry before, they were a surprise attack of sound and movement. Black Stone Cherry has a heavy southern rock band sound coming from Edmonton, Kentucky. The band members are:
Chris Robertson — lead vocals, guitar
Ben Wells — guitar, backing vocals
John Lawhon — bass guitar, backing vocals
John Fred Young (son of The Kentucky Headhunters’ rhythm guitarist Richard Young) — drums, backing vocals

Their music is clean and hard. The band’s energy is through the roof with jumping and head banging. They are one of those bands you have to see live as their is no way to capture their sensual stimuli. The set included “Please Come In”, “Soul Creek”, “Lonely Train”, “We Are the Kings”.

Black Stone Cherry Photo Gallery

G. Love Photo Gallery

Philadelphia, PA — G. Love, on tour with Jason Mraz, played to his hometown crowd at Penn’s Landing’s Festival Pier. A severe thunderstorm delayed the start of his show but clear skies soon gave way to a beautiful evening.

During the storm, the crowd was advised to go into the enclosed area for their own safety. All of a sudden, Bushwalla got up on a chair and started playing. Bushwalla is a good friend of Jason Mraz. For quite some time, they were roommates. Besides MC’ing the show, Bushwalla is an accomplished singer and songwriter. It was nice to see his enthusiasm and spunk up-close and in-your-face. By the end of his impromptu set, the whole crowd was singing along to “Ghetto Blaster”.

After the storm passed, the crowd went back outside. It was not long before G. Love to the stage. G. Love (Garrett Dutton III) has a contemporary Bob Dylan sort-of presence on stage wearing a harmonica on a wire rack and playing the guitar while he sings. Originally from Society Hill in Philly, the local crowd sang along knowing every word to every song. Not only were they great songs to sing to, but the audience couldn’t help but to dance and move about.

The jam-packed jam set included: “Can’t Go Back To Jersey”, “Crumble”, “Peace, Love and Happiness”, “Hot Cookin’”, “Booty Call”, “Baby’s Got Sauce”, “Cold Beverage” and “I-76″.

“I-76″ was a real crowd pleaser and featured Katman on vocals.

But if you gotta get down real quick
The only way to go is I-76

Unless of course you wanna take the scenic view
Then East or West River Drive is right for you
But if you ain’t got time to lose
Put the pedal to the metal for the that voyage cruise
So get on down to I-76
Because in 1996 there ain’t no
Tricks in the mix

Get along 76ers
Charles Barkley dissed Larry Bird
Get along 76ers
Dr. J! Moses Malone
Get along 76ers
Jerry Stackhouse and Iverson

After the show, G. Love held a meet-and-greet for autographs. There I met Katman who indulged me with an autograph. Now a teacher for special needs children, Katman still continues to perform with The Burned Out Allstars. Back in the day, he co-wrote and performed I-76. These days he is pursuing a post-grad degree at Temple.

Philadelphia, PA — K’naan made a surprise appearance on the Festival Pier stage at Penn’s Landing. The Jason Mraz tour was suppose to open with G Love and Special Sauce at 7:00. But, at 6:30, K’naan and his band took the stage.

K’naan was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and spent grew up in Wardhiigleey “The River of Blood” during the Somali Civil War. His aunt, Magool, is a famous Somalian singer. His grandfather, Haji Mohamed, was a poet. Youssou N’Dour saw K’naan give a speech in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and was so moved by the spoken word piece that he asked K’naan to appear on his 2001 album Building Bridges. His touring led him to collaborate with Bob Marley’s youngest son Damian Marley.

The name, K’naan, means “traveler” in the Somali language. He brought his traveling stage show to Philly delighting the unsuspecting crowd.

K’naan’s musical style is hard to put your finger on. It blends reggae and hip-hop with other worldbeat styles, which was perfect for the audience to dance along with on a summer day. K’naan says that he makes “urgent music with a message”, That is how his set started… with a “freedom song”. Next, he went into a song from Troubadour (his latest album) called “Take A Minute”.

How did Mandela get the will to surpass the everyday,
When injustice had him caged and trapped in every way,
How did Gandhi ever withstand the hunger strikes and all,
Didn’t do it to gain power or money if I recall,
It’s to give; I guess I’ll pass it on,

After performing another dancable tune, the band finished with their anthem “Wavin’ Flag”.

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that’s what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn’t hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

As soon as they finished, the skies opened up, rain poured and lightening filled the sky — a fitting end to an electrifying concert.

Photo Gallery

Philadelphia, PA (Upper Darby, Pennsylvania) — Dream Theater put together and is headlining the Progressive Nation Tour featuring three other progressive rock bands — Scale The Summit, Bigelf and Zappa Plays Zappa. The Tower Theatre offered a perfect venue for both sound quality and atmosphere.

Dream Theater took the stage behind a giant black curtain. As the curtain dropped, a striking light show and stage setup was reveled. It is hard to say how many pieces were in Mike Portnoy’s drum set but more than could be counted. Just the 3 bass drums were hard enough to comprehend.

They started with two songs from the most recent album Black Clouds and Silver Linings. A Nightmare To Remember opened the show followed by Rite Of Passage.
Perhaps the biggest crowd pleaser was Prophets Of War from their last album Systematic Chaos with the entire audience singing along and throwing their fist into the air.

With the amazing abilities of all the players, it was difficult to not get hypnotized into watching any one of their performances. John Myung plays the bass as though he were a lead guitar virtuoso. John Petrucci guitar work is considered by many to be the best in the world. Watching Mike Portnoy, you are not sure whether he is man or machine… until you see him spit. Not only does James Labrie offer soaring vocals, he also brings plenty of heart and soul to the stage. Jordan Rudess is both fun and interesting to watch. As a performer, he is a joy to behold. As a musician, he offers complex playing and obscure synthesizers. Because he is such a keyboard wizard, he is portrayed in a wizard costume on the animation that plays on a screen beside him.

Not only does Dream Theater present great eye candy with their light show, they also have two on-stage screens. One is next to Jordan, and the other is a large screen that hangs above the band. Sometimes the large screen is used to show live shots of the musicians playing, but more often than not, it is used to show the story line of the song. On Prophets Of War, animation of an ant colony carrying bullets relayed the message. Whether it was a wheelchair or drops of rain, the video portion would complement the live performance. It is really one of those shows that you have to see (and hear) to believe.

Setlist
A Nightmare To Remember
Rite Of Passage
Hollow Years
Erotomania
Voices
Prophets Of War
Count Of Tuscany

Encore
Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper

Dream Theater Photo Gallery

Scale The Summit Photo Gallery
Bigelf Photo Gallery
Zappa Plays Zappa Photo Gallery

Upper Darby, PA (Philadelphia Area / Southeastern Pennsylvania) — Bigelf is a band a Los Angeles quartet playing progressive rock together since 1991. Now, they are part of the Progressive Nation Tour with Scale The Summit, Zappa Plays Zappa and Dream Theater.

The Tower Theatre was a perfect setting for their “heroic bombast so brilliant, you can’t help but be swept adrift by the doomed mist of infectious melodies and chilling harmonies.” The frontman, Damon Fox, does vocals and often plays organs and keyboards on both sides of him at the same time.

Though many in the audience had never heard them before, the crowd immediately embraced the music.

Setlist
The Evils Of Rock And Roll
Neuropsychopathic Eye
?
Blackball
Disappear
Hydra

Bigelf Photo Gallery

Scale The Summit Photo Gallery
Zappa Plays Zappa Photo Gallery
Dream Theater Photo Gallery