[Jim Price]

WEEK/WEEKEND RECAP 6/7/04

RONNY D, ADAM D & BIG JIM @ BELMAR HOTEL, ALTOONA 6/1/04

Although workplace duties kept me relatively late this evening, I still had time to stop by the Belmar and catch the latter stages of the weekly Tuesday acoustic jam featuring Ron Dalansky, Adam D and “Big Jim” Ricotta.

The trio was again entertaining a light-sized Belmar crowd with classic rock favorites and requests. I only got to see the last three songs, Adam’s keyboard lounge take on Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero,” Guns’n’Roses’ “Patience,” and for the encore, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

The trio was pondering possible names this night. The leading contender was D’s Three Nuts. Only time will tell if they stick to that monicker.

In any case, it was still fun and laid-back; and the Belmar observers clapped approval. It appears that this Tuesday night live music get-together is now a regular feature that will be happening for a while to come. If you haven’t checked it out yet, give this show a shot; and if you are a musician bored on a Tuesday, bring along an acoustic guitar and come out, guests are welcome to come jam!

STRUMMER ACOUSTIC SHOW @ THE HITCHING POST, ALTOONA 6/3/04

For the last time I saw John Stevens performing as a solo act, it was some time in the mid-90’s during some sort of showcase event at Altoona’s Station Mall. (A local talent showcase emceed by Dennie Huber perhaps? My memory isn’t sure…) Since then, I’ve seen John as part of the country-rock band Bradley Junction, also during two different Thin Ice reunions, and blowing harmonica onstage with Felix & the Hurricanes and others.

Last year, John was inspired to strap the acoustic guitar back on and return to the stage as a solo act, called Strummer Acoustic Show. My first opportunity to check out John’s latest venture happened this night at The Hitching Post.

The Hitching Post was only lightly populated this night as I first arrived. John was in the midst of a set, strumming out acoustic rock, folk, country favorites and a few original tunes. He had some fun with Jimmy Buffett’s ever-popular “Margaritaville,” attempting to sing it backwards; before breaking out a version of Kiss’ “Hard Luck Woman.” John then introduced an original song, “Erma Jean,” and finished out the set with versions of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” Hank Williams Jr.’s “Bocephus” and Gordon Lightfoot’s 1974 hit “Sundown.”

John’s presentation was friendly and low-key. He playfully bantered with the audience between songs, and solicited requests from the small Hitching Post audience. John’s voice was in good form, and his acoustic guitar work was steady.

John’s final set of the night featured a wide range of material, spanning classic rock, folk, country, hits and originals. He resumed the music with Pink Floyd’s “Mother,” continued with Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine, a request for Sammy Johns’ “Chevy Van,” plus tunes from the Eagles, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Steve Miller Band, CCR, R.E.M., Queen, America, Dr. Hook, Beatles, Bob Dylan and more. John also performed another original composition entitled “Later Is Sooner Than You Think.”

Given the light crowd, John’s performance remained laid-back and relaxing, with no real sense of urgency or haste. John appeared at ease and relaxed, having fun playing his repertoire and bantering more with the audience. Although the audience was small, they were supportive, and seemed to appreciate his efforts. Tim Kelly of the Trace Moran Band and Johnny Alamprese both showed up at different points during the evening; and although John welcomed any guest musicians who wanted to get up with him, nobody did this night.

Strummer Acoustic Show, in essence, is a reflection of John Stevens and his calm, laid-back musical persona these days. John seemingly has reached that point in his musical life, when music is an extension of his personality, and his performance this night was natural and heartfelt. He was making music this night for the purpose of kicking back, relaxing and having fun. That easygoing warmth and persona kept the Hitching Post crowd at ease, and made for a friendly, loose and tranquil evening.

A moment of intensity (or excruciating pain) during Strummer Acoustic Show’s performance at The Hitching Post.

And in a more tranquil moment, John Stevens, a.k.a. Strummer Acoustic Show.

RETROACTIVE (FINAL SHOW) @ CASTLE PUB, EBENSBURG 6/4/04

“Thanks for making bowing out so hard to do.” – from RetroActive’s ad in June 2004 issue of Pennsylvania Musician.

Farewells aren’t supposed to be this much fun!

After a six-year run that saw them evolve into one of this region’s top onstage party forces, RetroActive was calling it a day, as various members embark on new career and musical endeavors. But RetroActive wasn’t exiting the stage without one last blowout, happening this night at the group’s longtime home base, Ebensburg’s Castle Pub.

As I entered the Castle during RetroActive’s first set, it was virtual mob madness! The crowd of people was wall-to-wall craziness; an ocean of dancing, happy bodies getting down to RetroActive’s celebration of 80’s hits. Singer Dean Gittings, guitarists John Solinski, bassist Ken Karlheim, guitarist/keyboardist Keith Little and drummer Red “Redawg” Solinski charged through Blondie’s “Call Me,” the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian,” and Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” segueing directly into the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” to end the set. It was party pandemonium, with John being carried through the crowd on a stage hand’s shoulders, inflatable mallets and other toys being circulated throughout the crowd, abundant smiles and more.

RetroActive’s second set was more of the same. With ladies dancing atop the speaker bins, RetroActive fired through more 80’s favorites, including tunes from Journey, the Outfield, Bon Jovi, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Devo, more Billy Idol, Men Without Hats, J. Geils Band and more. During Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” the group was joined by two members of another area band that celebrates the 80’s in their own unique way, as Hair Force One singer Victor Synn and guitarist Jimi Hatt made cameo appearances on stage. This wild party continued with Prince’s “Kiss,” Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” and Dead Or Alive’s “You Spin Me (Like a Record)” to end the set.

During the intermission, raffle tickets were handed out to audience members. The prize: John Solinski’s trademark Retro silver Kiss space boot slippers! In spite of the packed house crowd, I still managed to work my way to the bar for another brew, and proceeded back towards the front of the stage, procuring a good vantage point to watch RetroActive’s final chapter.

Introducing the final set, Dean welcomed two more esteemed musical guests onstage – two founding members of RetroActive, those Grimm siblings, Kent and Kirk Tonkin. Kent sang lead voice on the set-opening rendition of the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” and the brotherly duo remained onstage to help out with After The Fire’s “Der Kommissar.” There was more crazy 80’s the rest of the way, as RetroActive broke out versions of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses At Night,” the Soft Cell double-shot of “Tainted Love” and “Where Did Our Love Go,” and Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell.” With the Hair Force One contingent still in the house, RetroActive did their own tribute to the “Decade of Decadence,” firing off renditions of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” and Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Going to Take It;” the latter with Red Dawg singing lead and Jimi Hatt helping on guitar. The party approached its ultimate crescendo with the Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right (to Party),” after which the group finally gave away John’s slippers. RetroActive had reached that point of the night, the final song of their swan song. They selected a tune that sent a message to the Castle Pub crowd, Simple Minds’ “(Don’t You) Forget About Me.” Castle Pub was into a dancing frenzy at this point, and in one final climactic moment, John Solinski trashed an old junk guitar Pete Townshend-style on the stage. Retro’s final chapter had ended.

The Castle Pub excitement level was at a constant high peak throughout the night. Dancing and grooving never subsided, and RetroActive never paused long enough to give any reason for the festivities to subside. This show was a pure adrenaline rush from start to end; obviously this band’s huge legion of fans loved this group, and were there to wrench every last ounce of sweat and energy from their bodies to give their band the ultimate send-off.

Although the musical party had concluded, the party itself was still far from over. Fans spilled into the street outside the Castle Pub as closing time approached, to have numerous photos shot with the band. It was almost like being at a major concert! Ebensburg police have probably not witnessed so many happy people outside a bar at 2:30 in the morning before!

Where do they go from here? Dean’s family business, Gittings Investigations, is expanding and just opened a Harrisburg branch; Dean also plans to expand his family and the Castle Pub as well. Keith is embarking on creating music for video games. John and Kenny will continue their popular acoustic duo, and are also proceeding with their original rock project, Right Side Thief. And Redawg will continue to deejay and run sound at the Castle Pub, and looks to get back behind the drum kit with another band as soon as possible.

This night was nonstop excitement, and probably the best send-off a band could ever have. Thanks to RetroActive for making a lot of people happy with a lot of cool musical memories. And as Dean hinted at the end of the night – watch for the eventual reunion tour!

John Solinski of RetroActive.

Keith Little of RetroActive.

With a little help from his fans, John Solinski of RetroActive.

Redawg of RetroActive with his biggest fan.

Dean Gittings of RetroActive.

Pounding the bass strings, Redawg of RetroActive.

Once again, Dean Gittings of RetroActive.

It was wall to wall people during RetroActive’s swan song performance at the Castle Pub.

Once again, Dean Gittings of RetroActive.

Dean Gittings and Keith Little of RetroActive.

Again, mob scene mayhem during RetroActive’s last stand at the Castle Pub.

Again, John Solinski of RetroActive.

Making a cameo appearance on vocals, founding member of RetroActive (and now Grimm bassist) Kent Tonkin.

Once again, John Solinski of RetroActive.

Armed with soaker, John Solinski of RetroActive.

Wearing his “sunglasses at night,” John Solinski of RetroActive.

Again, Keith Little of RetroActive.

Ken Karlheim and Keith Little of RetroActive.

A stagefront view of Dean and RetroActive’s swan song at the Castle Pub.

Immersed in a sea of fans, John Solinski of RetroActive.

Yet another gratuitous shot of John Solinski of RetroActive.

And another…

Behind the kit, Redawg of RetroActive.

Dean and John of RetroActive.

At show’s end, John Solinski of RetroActive makes his sacrifice to the rock gods.

Celebrating the utter destruction of his cursed axe, John Solinski of RetroActive.

Brandishing a piece of the sacrificed instrument, John Solinski of RetroActive.

After the show outside the Castle Pub, a happy lady shows off her new slippers.

Keith Little and Kirk “Otto” Tonkin.

”Otto” gives John Solinski a lift.

”Otto” demonstrates to Dean that he is in one of those smooching moods.

A sinister-looking group of individuals: (left to right) Dean Gittings (Retro), Victor Synn (Hair Force One), John Solinski and Keith Little (Retro), Jimi Hatt (Hair Force One), Ken Karlheim (Retro) and Kirk “Otto” Tonkin (founding Retro member, now former Grimm guy).

NO DICE @ “TEEN FEST,” RAILROADERS MEMORIAL MUSEUM, ALTOONA 6/5/04

Hopefully this won’t be an omen for weather for other outdoor live music events this summer. For it being the first Saturday in June, it was cloudy, cold, damp and windy! But it didn’t deter the organizers of the annual Teen Fest event, and the Railroaders Memorial Museum area was alive and kicking with teens and teen-geared events. There was a BMX bicycle riding area, a small skateboard area, facepainting, and on the Museum’s lowbody industrial flatcar stage, several live bands. I arrived late, and missed performances from the first three bands, The Syrins, The Vicars and Day’s End. But I did arrive in time to see the final band of the day, Altoona’s No Dice.

No Dice performed for about half an hour, firing off uptempo pop-meets-punk original songs from their latest CD, Once, In a World…. Opening with “Delorean,” singer/guitarist Jimmy Skinny, guitarist Jonny Elle, bassist Ricky Haze and drummer Mikey Millions fired through a number of selections off the album, including “Homesick,” the song the group did a video for, “35 Minutes” and more. Along the way, the group tossed T-shirts, stickers and other freebies to the stagefront audience, sprayed silly string from the ends of their guitars, and more.

Although not a huge audience, about 25-30 kids cheered No Dice from in front of the stage, and many of them called for an encore at the end of the group’s set. After resolving some tuning difficulties, Jimmy Skinny and the group answered the encore requests, first with Mikey Millions unleashing a drum solo, and the group digging back to their first album, High Rollers, for “Turn Away.”

No Dice’s execution was fairly tight overall, and sounded crisp. Jimmy Skinny was having some tuning issues with his guitar (probably affected by the cool and damp air), but was on target more often than not. Adam Cruse and Slim Studios did a nice job on the sound, giving No Dice ample thunder and kick.

In all, a good set, and No Dice likely won at least a few new young fans this day at Teen Fest.

No Dice entertains at Teen Fest.

With more young fans assembled, No Dice at Teen Fest.

RENNIS @ DOUGHERTY’S “TERRA” TORY, JOHNSTOWN 6/5/04

I was up for a road trip this night, and I hadn’t been in the Johnstown vicinity for several months. So I decided to head over the mountain and see what the revised lineup of Rennis was up to at Dougherty’s “Terra” Tory.

Crowdwise, Dougherty’s was dead when I first arrived, with only a handful of metal fans in the house to see what Rennis was up to. This was my first time seeing Rennis after their recent line-up shuffling; singer/guitarist Craig Stiles, lead guitarist Bob Rozsi, bassist Steve Stull and drummer Darren Byer fired off a mixture of modern metal covers and originals. The group was doing Korn’s “Got the Life” as I arrived, and proceeded with Staind’s “Mudshovel.” The group then introduced two originals, the aggressive and groove-oriented “Drowning Me” and the trickier and more progressive “Isolation.” The group finished out the set with Smile Empty Soul’s “Bottom of a Bottle,” two System Of A Down numbers and two other songs.

Rennis sounded solid thus far, and seemed to have it together. Back in the helm as Rennis’ frontman, Craig seemed comfortable back in this setting, and confidently sang and barked his words. The group was instrumentally on target, delivering ample crunch. Bob delivered the crushing chords and brief solos through the night, and Steve and Darren anchored the sound with hefty thunder.

Fortunately, more people started arriving at Dougherty’s during the set, and by this intermission, the venue had a decent mid-sized crowd. These people were ready for action, too, as they immediately flocked back to the stagefront as Rennis launched into their next set. Rennis quickly had these folks headbanging and grooving with tunes from Korn, System Of A Down, Disturbed, Slipknot, Tool, Drowning Pool and more. Highlights for me during this set were Rennis renditions of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bullet In Your Head” and Type O Negative’s “Black No. 1.”

During the second intermission, I met a guest in the house, Craig’s former Ozone bandmate, Joe Lombard. Joe these days is playing guitar with national death-metalists Incantation, who recently toured Europe, Australia and New Zealand. According to Joe, Incantation releases a new album this summer on Century Media Records. It’s cool to see another area musician making good in the national arena!

Rennis’ final set of the night was equally heavy, featuring songs from Coal Chamber, Sevendust, Korn, Sepultura, Slayer, Fear Factory, Hatebreed and more. The group went old-school and broke out Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave,” and also did another original song, the aggressive and fiery “G.F.Y.” (“Go @#&$ Yourself”). Other highlights included their torrid renditions of Sepultura’s “Roots” and Fear Factory’s “Edgecrusher.”

Although the night started slow, by the time it was over a decent crowd did show up for Rennis’ assault this night. With their roster now seemingly stable, work is again proceeding towards a Rennis full-length CD, possibly by year’s end. This night reassured me that these Johnstown heavy-hitters are still heavy and hitting well.

Bob Roszi of Rennis.

Rennis puts pedal to the metal at Dougherty’s “Terra” Tory.

Again, Bob Rozsi of Rennis.

Craig Stiles of Rennis.

From a different angle, Rennis.

Steve Stull of Rennis.

Darren Byer of Rennis.

Bob Rozsi and Craig Stiles of Rennis.

Again, Bob Rozsi of Rennis.

Again, Darren Byer of Rennis.

BOOST @ PELLEGRINE’S, ALTOONA 6/6/04

Recently, I expounded on the triumphant homecoming success story of Boost, who paid their dues on the ‘Toona music scene several years ago and recently returned to play before a packed 4D’s Lounge. The Dees now conquered, Boost set their sights on Pellegrine’s this night, a show that came through for them after the originally-scheduled band cancelled earlier in the week.

Boost made the most of it, and was triumphant once again.

It wasn’t quite as easy this night, though. First, Pelly’s wasn’t particularly packed for Boost early on, and this particular crowd required more patience to break the ice with; they didn’t touch the dance floor for most of Boost’s first two sets.

Boost was sounding sharp on their mix of new and old rock favorites. They were doing the Beatles/Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout” as I first arrived, and did songs by Rick Springfield, The Darkness, Poison, Violent Femmes, Soft Cell, James, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the disco/funk double-shot of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and Ohio Players’ “Love Rollercoaster” to finish their set.

By the end of the set, the ice was beginning to crack, and a few participants hit the dance floor. As the third set began, Pelly’s dance floor quickly filled up as Boost launched into tunes from Cheap Trick, Georgia Satellites, Bryan Adams, Beatles, Fountains Of Wayne, Sublime, Bad Company, Wheatus, Gin Blossoms and more. Boost continued to build momentum as they went along, culminating in a version of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” employing a reggae-ish Merilee Rush/Juice Newton “Angel of the Morning” midsection; and the finale rendition of Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.”

Boost again put on a strong show this night. Singer/guitarist Bart Hipp, singer/bassist Keith Niedermeier, lead guitarist Matt Seno and drummer Jim Logrando were tight and crisp on their instruments, vocals and vocal harmonies. And like before, this band was very fan-friendly, playfully bantering with the audience to break the ice and lure them ever-so-subtly into the heat of the show.

Although perhaps not the overwhelming victory scored several weeks before at the 4D’s, Boost still won the night here at Pellegrine’s, pleasing both crowd and management. It is very likely you will see more Boost Sunday sightings at Pellegrine’s in the near future.

Matt Seno of Boost.

With fans starting to join them onstage, Boost.

Keith Niedermeier of Boost.

Again, Matt Seno of Boost.

Boost, partying down at Pellegrine’s.

Bart Hipp of Boost.

Once again, Matt Seno of Boost.

With help from a few ladies, Keith Niedermeier of Boost.

With more ladies in front of the stage, Boost.

And now with more ladies on the stage with them, Boost.

Boost’s Pellegrine’s debut becomes wilder and crazier by the minute.

And a few of those happy ladies want their picture taken…no problem!
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