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One
Guy’s Rambling Thoughts… |
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BACK HOME ON
Those “old schoolers”
of the region who have been on this rock ‘n’ roll journey with me for
these last 20-odd years, may remember that the old frequency for Night Rock Radio (where I got my start in local music) was 103.9fm.
That frequency is now
home to classic rock station, X-ROCK,
and later this month it will be home for me as well once again.
Thanks to its program director, Scott
Rosenberg.
Scott –– who oddly
enough grew up listening to Night
Rock Radio back in the day –– rang me up a couple weeks ago with
the offer to have Midwest
BEAT sponsor a weekend concert update.
By the time our
conversation ended, I was not only sponsoring, but also being allowed to
come down to the station to cut the actual voice-overs for the spot.
And the concert/event updates were no longer limited to airing just
a couple of times on Friday, but airing in various edits throughout the
week.
The spots (which will start airing the week of May 19-24) will include news of
notable regional, local and national artists who are performing shows that
coming weekend. This not only
keeps you up on what major artists and shows are in Chicagoland, but it
also allows me to give local music another shot in the arm.
My thanks to Scott for
this opportunity to “come home again.”
And to think... I owe it all to Horslips.
Awwww...don’t ask!
ROCKIN’ & REMEMBERIN’ :
Givin’ Props To Paul!
 I
want to take a moment to thank some folks who helped to make our April 19 “Paul Callaway Memorial
Concert” a tremendous success in every possible way.
Thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of music fans who showed up!
The room was bursting with bodies all night –– what a
magnificent turn out!
Thanks to the numerous
regional businesses who donated products and gift certificates to for the
raffle and the tip board fundraisers. And to the many wonderful musicians,
most of whom were personal friends of Paul’s, for doing such an extra
special job! You all totally rocked!
To Kristen Nowick, you
amazed us! To Steve
Sparks, you need to get out and play more often...you have so much to
offer area music fans. To 5 Star
Deluxe, great first gig! To
Felix... What??? No
“Shimmy”!
I got goose bumps
hearing so many great singers breathing life into Paul’s songs on stage
that night.
And that
clusterf*ck jam at the end of the night on Paul’s old Alison’s
Mailbox song, “Just Askin’”
was the most beautiful example of organized chaos I have ever seen/heard.
We were awful and wonderful at the same time...Paul must’ve been
laughing at us all during that one.
Hearing Jim
Mauck, the original singer of History’s
End, doing those old History’s End songs from when they were an all
original band, brought back a lot of great memories.
You’ve still got the pipes Jim.
Thanks also to Dave at
Baxter Printing for the
posters/flyers, to Kelli at Kelli
Graphics for the t-shirts (please see page 18), to Dave Grove Graphic Design for handling all the artwork needs, to Brian
Gallas and the fine staff of 2nd
Dimensions for use of their facility and for doing such a fine job, to
Mike “Church” Upchurch and Kristen
Nowick for hustling those tip boards and to all the band members who
hustled raffle tickets. Big thanks to the wives and girlfriends of all of
us involved. The ladies ran
the front door (way to go Julie H.!) and the merchandise booth!
Thanks to Bill
Hayden and the super crew from the “Regional
Music
Underground” cable television show for filming the event (to be
broadcast to 2.5 million viewers in July) and for the R.M.U.’s hostess, Cori
Stout, for helping emcee the raffle portion of the show and for
looking so good that people actually paid attention to us.
Also thanks to Joe
Rega, Mike Sheffield, Tony Troncozo, Marc Cooper and Greg
“Mahoney” Bruks for sharing sound duties and making sure
everything was dialed in all night.
A big shout out goes
to Jimmy “Bon” Hillegonds
for carrying a majority of the work load on this event. We pulled it off
buddy! And to Pat O’Donnell
and Billy Mayer for running
interference and getting things done when it needed to get done. (Hey Pat,
I never got any of that special vodka...wassup with that?)
 Thank
you to Paul’s parents (Paul
and Vicki Callaway) and his
family, for letting us do this event.
Doing this memorial helped us to mourn and ease our own pain of
loss, because it helped us focus our emotions and energies into something
positive.
Lastly, thank you to
Paul, who touched so many lives so intensely during his short time here,
that he brought so many of us back together again and made us realize the
value and depth of our friendships.
Rest in peace my
brother! Keep the harps
tuned and the angels on key...we’ll see you on the other side and have
another throw down in due time.
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