Jim Price
Moderator
Joined: 07 Dec 2002
Posts: 4817
Location: Altoona, PA
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 Posted: Monday Jan 06, 2003 |
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WEEKEND RECAP 1/6/03:
TUESDAY NIGHT 12/31; NEW YEAR’S EVE – It’s pretty much a given any more, that unless something else really major draws my attention on New Year’s Eve, I’m usually going to usher in the New Year at City Limits. Main reason, it’s the safe option for me; the venue is only about 3 blocks and 2 minutes from my house, and I can walk home if I overdo the New Year’s Eve cheer! And City Limits always has the midnight food spread and a good band to ring in the New Year with; this year Stept On provided the honors. I kidded Chuck from Stept On before the show, because the past two years the band learned an entire album to perform on New Year’s Eve (two years ago it was Alice In Chains’ “Dirt;” last year it was Pantera’s “Vulgar Display of Power”); I asked him what album they were learning this year, perhaps Tool’s “Aenima” or “Lateralus?” But Stept On has been busy with recording, shooting videos and touring lately, so they passed on learning any albums for this New Year’s Eve. But the show still smoked…The final 2001 festivities onstage included some new Stept On originals, plus powerful takes on Tool’s “Stinkfist,” Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality,” tunes from Korn, System of a Down and more. Plus bassist Adam was wrapping up his birthday celebration. As midnight drew nearer, the noisemakers came to life, especially the horns. One of my cheap thrill highlights this New Year’s Eve was discovering all of the obnoxious sounds I could make on one of those plastic/paper horns. I had some pretty convincing wounded animal impersonations going on my horns, but eventually blew out three of the things (once the plastic reeds go, the horns made a high-pitched whistle that probably had dogs howling three blocks away). Anyway, midnight came, the ball dropped, the confetti flew, the poppers popped, more horns sounded, people were getting “lei’d,” and the City Limits food spread, prepared throughout the day by Claudio’s mom, was served! After gorging ourselves, it was back to music with Stept On, and the first live music moments on City Limits’ stage in 2003 included more Stept On original tunage, including the new song “Thick As Water,” plus tunes from Disturbed, Union Underground, Red Hot Chili Peppers, House of Pain and more. The music got heavier as the night neared its end, with Stept On finishing with their trademark powerful takes on Pantera’s “This Love,” Deftones’ “My Own Summer (Shove It),” and Rage’s “Killing in the Name.” A rocking good time was had by all, and everyone appeared to be well-behaved with no unusual incidents. Bottom line, a good hard-rocking start to 2003!
Danette behind the back bar gearing up for the arrival of the New Year.
Hey, wanna hear my wounded moose impersonation?
Matt Day of Stept On
Josh Hetrick of Stept On
 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Chuck from Stept On belts out the first notes of 2003.
Stept On rocks 2003 off on the right foot.
THURSDAY NIGHT 1/2 – After putting in a long day and evening at the work place, I headed down the street to Peter C’s to check in with Not Them Guys unplugged. (Felix & the Hurricanes are taking a month off to recharge, they won’t be back to doing Thursdays at Pete’s until February). While the attendance was light, this was a laid-back good time, complete with good tunes, humor, some unexpected female nudity and more. Steve Shiffler, Jerry Naugle and Jim High kept it lighthearted the whole night, mixing acoustic favorites from REM, Neil Young, Seven Mary Three, Willie Nelson, Rolling Stones and more. The group also provided lots of humor throughout the evening, particularly when they decided to take on songs they hadn’t practiced or done before. Before Tom Petty’s “Breakdown,” Steve forwarned the audience, “This is gonna be a major Horseshoe Curve train wreck, I can feel it!” (It actually sounded respectable.) The trio also did requests from the audience, including a stab at Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz,” REM’s “Man on the Moon,” Live’s “Lightning Crashes,” and for the encore, “Plastic Jesus.” Not Them Guys had fun with the folks who were in attendance, and that ultimately is what any show should be about. A relaxing, laid-back, fun time.
Yes, folks, he uses a cheat sheet...Steve Shiffler of Not Them Guys.
Jim High of Not Them Guys.
FRIDAY NIGHT 1/3 – The snowstorm earlier in the day wiped out a number of shows this night, particularly those involving out-of-town bands. The main roads in the ‘Toona were passable, so I made my way to Aldo’s to check out a local double-bill. Xpendable was advertised to open for Pneumatic, but since the whole Xpendable lineup couldn’t make it, singer Matt and some of the Broken Neck guys assembled a quick makeshift band for the occasion called Last Minute Idea. Matt, plus Broken Neck’s Phil, Joe, Dave and former Broken Neck voice Kurt, did a selection of current rocking favorites from Godsmack, Incubus, Nirvana and more, plus a few deeper cuts and other tunes you don’t hear these guys do with their respective bands. In an outward display of romantic bliss not normally observed with his usual band, Matt sent “Santeria” out to his better half. These guys did a good job with this one-time band collaboration, everything sounded tight and on target. Pneumatic then delivered two interesting and impressive sets. Their first set featured generous dosages of Pink Floyd, including their fusing of “Pigs On The Wing” and “Wish You Were Here,” also “Time” and several songs from “The Wall,” including an excellent version of “Comfortably Numb,” with guitarist Colton going full tilt with his guitar solo during the song’s homestretch. Pneumatic also mixed in some original songs and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.” The group’s nightcap set started out with the Nine Inch Nails double-shot of “March of the Pigs” into “Closer,” before shifting into Tool mode for much of the remainder of the set. Matt from Xpendable/Last Minute Idea made a cameo throat appearance near the end of the night. Clearly Tool is Pneumatic’s forte, these guys and gal did incredible work on “Sober,” “Aenima” and “Eulogy.” Frontman Cramer comes as close to emulating Maynard James Keenan as anyone I’ve heard in recent months, he’s got the voice and the demeanor down pat! And on the instrumental front, this band was nails; especially Woo, who is quickly surfacing as one of this area’s future force drummers – it takes some major skill to execute those Danny Carey beats, Woo has it down! Through Aldo’s house sound system, Pneumatic sounded much better and balanced this night than two weeks ago when I saw them at the G-Man. And despite the dicey roads, at least a few folks were in the house this night to take it all in. For me, this night served notice that Pneumatic will indeed be one of the bands to watch out for in 2003! If you haven’t seen them yet, make a point to do so soon!
To borrow a Grimm song title..."Angry & Shirtless," Matt Watson of one-time collaboration Last Minute Idea.
Going full Maynard, Cramer from Penumatic.
Laying down on the job, Cramer from Pneumatic.
Behind the drum kit, Woo of Pneumatic.
Cramer and Colton of Pneumatic.
Once again, Woo from Pneumatic.
Colton of Pneumatic.
Cramer of Pneumatic, in your face.
Making a cameo appearance, Matt Watson of Xpendable and Last Minute Idea joins Cramer of Pneumatic.
Once again, Colton from Pneumatic.
SATURDAY NIGHT 1/4 – This was a night of discovery for me, as I saw a new band in a new room (new for me, that is…). My official story line, and I’m sticking to it, was that three wild Tyrone women abducted me and drove me up to the Wildwood Inn in Grampian to see Control. (I resisted at first, but gave up 10 seconds into the trip; I was enjoying it too much!) My first time at the Wildwood, nice room, and cool people running it! And Control – damned good band! Featuring singer Dan Staples, bassist Paul Cavaliere and drummer Todd Swatsworth all of Rude Dawg fame, veteran guitarist Chris Kane of Tugger and Thunder Alley fame, and Gregg Cowan on keys; Control specializes in 80’s and early 90’s rock from Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Winger, Judas Priest, Queensryche, AC/DC and more, plus a few current favorites from Nickelback, Creed and Disturbed. Control in a way reminds me of Mount Union’s Scream in that these guys aren’t doing 80’s rock to be “retro,” they cut their teeth on this vein of rock and love doing it! These music scene vets are still very talented, Dan still has an excellent and rangeful voice, and Chris remains one of the area’s most underrated guitar players, his leads were rapidfire and precise on everything he did, from AC/DC to Ozzy to Whitesnake! Lots of highlights this night, including several tunes I haven’t heard anyone cover in a while like Deep Purple’s “Knocking At Your Back Door,” Rainbow’s “Since You’ve Been Gone,” Whitesnake’s “Love Ain’t No Stranger,” Queensryche’s “Jet City Woman” and Judas Priest’s “Turbo Lover;” plus Paul belting out the Brian Johnson howl on the AC/DC medley! I was very impressed with my first look at Control, this band rocks! Good crowd in the house despite snow-covered roads , it was also great to run into a lot of Clearfield area music scene folks I haven’t seen in a while, including former Soul Kitchen frontlady Mary Beth Geppert (now with her master’s degree and teaching music at several colleges and universities, excellent!), Jim Force (another Rude Dawg alumnus), Nick Socoski and more. Thanks to my “abductors;” I had a great time!
Dan Staples of Control.
Chris Kane of Control.
Dan, Paul & Gregg of Control.
Dan Staples, in total Control...
Gregg Cowan of Control.
Paul Cavaliere of Control.
Chris and Dan of Control.
Todd Swatsworth of Control.
SUNDAY NIGHT 1/5 – I finished up the weekend catching another show from Crush at Pellegrine’s. This time, I was able to get to Pelly’s sooner and see more of Crush’s show. I enjoyed this band’s varied setlist, as the group lent their own style and flare to tunes spanning late-60’s to present, this night including Simon & Garfunkel’s “Cecilia,” Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With;” 80’s gems like Katrina & the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine” and Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen;” also tunes from Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rusted Root, Sublime, Goo Goo Dolls and more. Again this band showed some nice talent, I took particular notice of drummer Joe Dennis’ abilities on the Rusted Root numbers, the man knows his way around the kit! Good crowd in attendance, although it took them until the third set to get into the dancing mood. Also good to see other musicians in the house, including representatives of Nevermoure and Flight 19. FROM THE RUMOR MILL…The newest reunion rumor, following recent onstage reunions of Bashful, Thin Ice, Defiance, the forthcoming Front reunion show in April, and now…I heard the words “Five Nations” and “reunion” spoken in close proximity to each other this night. We’ll wait and see…
Eric and Kristin of Crush.
Crush caps the weekend at Pellegrine's.
Joe Dennis of Crush.
Mike Levin of Crush.
Kristin of Crush. |
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