Tommy James comes to Westbury!

He is a living legend. His name is synonymous with hit songs from the late 1960s. In 1968-69, Tommy James and the Shondells sold more singles records (45's) than any artist in the world including the Beatles. His life has been one great roller coaster ride as he details in his new best selling book "Me, the Mob and the Music" . Today, Tommy James's star continues to blaze a celestral trail across the musical sky and will shine even brighter in the very near future! I had a real nice conversation with Tommy this week when he called me from his New Jersey home...

MICK: Your new book came out in February of this year. How is it doing so far?
TOMMY: It's doing great! It's in its sixth printing and I am frankly amazed at the response to this from the media and the fans. I've never been an author before so, this is really amazing to me. It's being turned into a movie and a Broadway show! I am flabbergasted by the whole thing!

MICK: How's that going with the play and the movie?
TOMMY: We are right on schedule. It's going to be brought to Broadway through the Nederlander family who owns 9 Broadway theaters and about 1000 theaters throughout the country. They are one of the oldest theatrical families. I just flipped out when I heard they were producing the show themselves. The Broadway show and the movie are being developed simultaneous. My guess is that the play will be out just ahead of the movie because of the time involved in each project. The movie is being produced by Barry Rosen and Mary Gleason. We will be making an announcement very shortly about the directors as we are talking to three directors right now.

MICK: Do you have anybody in mind that you would like to play you in the film?
TOMMY: Yes, I get asked this a lot. There's probably going to be two actors needed because of the amount of time involved. One of the actors being seriously looked at as the older Tommy James is Val Kilmer. He is a great actor and a good friend. He did a great job a few years ago as Jim Morrison. I'd be very honored for him to do it.

MICK: This is all very thrilling to say the least!
TOMMY: This is a project that's been a long time in the works. It was very therapeutic to get this out of my system. I've been wanting to tell this story for many years now. The book is called 'Me, The Mob and the Music" and it's really an autobiography with about two thirds of it devoted to my crazy, tumultuous and very dangerous at times relationship with Roulette Records. The reason why it was so dangerous was because Roulette Records, in addition to being a functioning record company (and a good one), was also a front for the Genovese crime family in New York. Of course none of us knew that at the time. We found out incrementally. It's quite a story. We started this project eight years ago, Martin Fitzpatrick and I. We were going to call it "Crimson and Clover" and we were going to write a nice music book abouts hits and writing songs. After we got about a third of the way into it, we realized that if didn't tell the whole Roulette story which really was the story, that we were cheating ourselves and everybody else. I was very uncomfortable writing it back then because some of these guys walking around. So we put it on the shelf for a couple years and got involved with other things. Finally, when the last of the Roulette regulars passed away, I felt is was safe to finish the book. It took us three more years to finish entirely and we got the deal from Simon and Schuster, which was very flattering as they are usually doing Presidential memoirs and things like that. Almost immediately after that came offers for the movie. The third thing was the Broadway show. I am very thankful for the response from the public and the media.

MICK: Are you still involved with the Democratic Party?
TOMMY: No, that was 1968 you are talking about. We were out on the road for almost the entire Presidential campaign with Hubert Humphrey. That was quite an experience. He [Humphrey} ended up doing the liner notes for the Crimson and Clover album! A lot happened out on that campaign that had to do with the music business. When we went out on the Humphrey campaign in August of 1968, it was all singles acts on the radio. There was us, the Rascals, The Association, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, etc... When we got back 90 days later, it was all albums! There was Blood Sweat and Tears, Led Zeppelin, Crosby Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker. The whole industry had turned upside down! This was as a result of the "Sgt Pepper" album a few months before that made so much money for Capital Records. All of the record companies suddenly went for albums. We knew that if we were to continue, it would have to be albums and that was something Roulette had never done. They weren't an album label and we weren't either! We were basically a creation of top 40 radio. So we knew we were going to have to produce or own product, write our own songs completely, do album design and all the rest. Thankfully, we were working on a tune called "Crimson and Clover". That record allowed us to make the jump from AM top 40 singles to FM progressive album rock. I don't think there was another single that we worked on that would have done that in one shot. So that happened on the Humphrey campaign and he got involved in the album and doing the liner notes!

MICK: Are there any more plans to record again with the original Shondells? I know you did reunite once in 2007.
TOMMY: Yes, we did the last track on our Christmas album! The touring group I've been playing with now have been together for 25 years. I feel like Captain Kirk with two generations of Shondells! The original Shondells are from Pittsburgh so we are back in the studio doing music for the movie! We will probably do an album. The first track we did is going to be used in the closing credits for the movie. It's a very new, kind of different version of "I Think We're Alone Now". It's done acoustically with no drums, very surreal and slow. Totally different from the original record. The last scene in the movie is when Morris Levy dies, the head of the record company. "I Think We're Alone Now" completely changes the meaning of the lyrics in the film.

MICK: Do you still enjoy touring?
TOMMY: Oh yeah! We are out on the road probably eight months out of the year. If anybody would like to come to our website tommyjames.com, you can see where we are. We are winding things down now this year. Right now, we are doing the book tour which is basically going out to selected cities and talking bout the book in bookstores and so forth. At the same time we are doing the music dates so it's been a very hectic year. The next couple of years are going to be even more hectic.

MICK: Out of all your songs, do you have a favorite?
TOMMY: A lot of the hits probably. I think I'd have to say "Crystal Blue Persuasion". That is probably my favorite out of all the hits we've had. There's lots of other songs that were on albums that I really love but of the singles, I'd have to say "Crystal
Blue Persuasion". It was one of the hardest records we ever made. It doesn't sound like it but it was. When we went into the studio, it was that magic summer of 1969. It went number one right around the weekend of Woodstock. It's deeply ingrained in my mind. What happened was we went into the studio and completely over produced it. We had a full set of drums, three guitars, etc... The production smothered the song. When we got done with it, we said "this isn't the song that we wrote". So we started taking things out. Over the next four to five weeks, we unproduced the record by pulling things out. When we were done, we had a bongo drum, a conga, a flamenco guitar and an organ. That was it! That became "Crystal Blue Persuasion". I know that if we left it the original way, it wouldn't have fit. Plus, the song was all about us becoming Christians at that time.
There was no talk of being politically correct at that time because the phrase did not exist! Each song we did was sort of snap shots of where we were at that time.

MICK: Do you have any new music coming out soon?
TOMMY: Yes we do as a matter of fact! We have just released, first in Europe and imported here, the latest studio album called "Hold The Fire" and that includes our DVD in one package. Two discs in one package. We have our own label
We just put together a beautiful international deal together. we are also releasing here on our label in the United States which is independently distributed. We also have our 40 year package out which is all of the singles from 1966 through 2006. It's 40 years of consecutive singles. Our last album "Hold The Fire" had three top five adult contemporary hits. One of them actually went to number one called "Love Words", forty years to the week that "Hanky Panky" went to number one. I really feel like a complete circle has been made!
I didn't mean to get heavily into the music, I wanted to tell you the Roulette story which is a totally true story. We weren't able to tell it until now. Virtually none of the fans knew what Roulette was. Our first hit record was "Hanky Panky" and it sort of exploded out of Pittsburgh as a bootleg two years after we made the original record. When we first came to New York, we were thrilled because we got a yes from everybody. Got a yes from Columbia, got a yes from Epic, RCA, Atlantic, Kama Sutra Records. The last place we took the record to was Roulette. We weren't expecting much from them and didn't know much about them. The next morning, the phone started ringing at the hotel we were staying at in midtown Manhattan. One by one, all of the record labels that had said yes the day before suddenly said they would have to pass. I said "What do you mean? I thought we had a deal!" Jerry Wexler at Atlantic leveled with us. He told us that Morris Levy, the head of Roulette Records, had called all of the record companies and scared them off. He said "This is my record! Back off!!" They did! So we apparently were going to be with Roulette Records. Gradually we learned who we were dealing with. The head of the Genovese family was Tommy Eboli, who was Morris Levy's partner. He was up in Morris's office all the time. Roulette was used for everything from a social club to illegal bank accounts, money laundering and God knows what else was going on. There were some very scary moments up there. But I'll tell you one thing, they actually needed us. If we had gone to one of the corporate labels, like Columbia or RCA, especially with a record like "Hanky Panky", we would have been handed to an in house producer and got lost in the numbers. We would have been a one hit wonder. Roulette hadn't had a hit in about three years so they gave us everything we wanted except royalty money. Getting paid was impossible. We were making money from other directions like BMI, the road, commercials. We were going to be making mechanical royalties. That's the way is was at Roulette. It was like making a deal with the devil...do we interrupt all of the success and take them to court and place our lives in their hands or do we just go along. We decided to go along. But I will say this...the fact that we didn't go to a corporate label and went to Roulette, from a creative standpoint was the best thing we could have done. They left us alone and allowed us to morph into whatever we could become. There's no way we would have got an education like that with any other record company. It was a real trade off there and I feel we made the right decision.

MICK: When you were with Roulette, Morris Levy kept all of your gold records in his office. Do you have them all now?
TOMMY: Yes I do!! I had to steal them off his wall, that's how cheap he was. That is a true story.

MICK: Is organized crime still involved in the music industry that you know of?
TOMMY: Roulette was kind of the ground zero for all that stuff. It's not like it used to be. It's like Las Vegas, mobsters aren't really running it anymore. They were involved heavily in all aspects of the entertainment business. Roulette was financed and put together by Morris and his buddies. There were several other labels that were heavily involved with mob stuff. There's not nearly as much today as there once was.

MICK: Who do you listen to now?
TOMMY: I listen to a lot of smooth jazz to be perfectly honest! I don't listen to a lot of rock and roll anymore although I love to play rock and roll. For example, I will listen to Lady Gaga. She's made some great records! The problem today is radio. Chart active radio doesn't exist anymore. There's never been more hunger for music but there's almost no way, other tan the internet, to get new music in front of the fans. The problem is there's so many more fans than there are ways on the internet to do it. It's almost by chance that you hear something new that you like. Although that's growing, it certainly has not taken the place of what used to be normal radio and retail. That's changing but not as fast as it would have needed to save the industry. It's a brave new world we are into! I feel that once high definition TV is really a part of our life, which is the combination of computer technology and television technology, the whole industry will turn to television or what's left of it. Not like MTV; there will probably be a Sony channel, a Warner channel. Your TV will be like your Ipod. We will probably have video radio, networks of them. Trade papers will come back online and on TV. There will probably be charts based on the music you download on television.

MICK: This is a question I usually ask songwriters. For you, what comes first..the words or the music?

TOMMY: I've actually done it both ways. A lot of times I will see a title, something that just catches my eye. I've taken titles off of matchbook covers! "Mony Mony" was a sign Mutual Of New York! That's true! Sometime I'll come up with a riff on guitar that I like, three, four chords that I really like to repeat over and over. It gets into my mind and I will write the lyrics around the music, winding the song around the music. All of my methods have changed. You have to do it when you are really awake. There's a window for me from about 10am until around 2pm when I'm really alive and awake. When I start writing, the song tells me where it wants to go. You sort of get like that when you write a lot by yourself. If you have to think too hard, chances are when you play it for somebody, it's going to come out like a grind. Sometimes a beautiful thought will evoke a song. I have to be perceptive all the time because you never know when that next song is going to hit you!

MICK: Do you still live in New York?

TOMMY: I live in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. I lived in New York for almost ten years. I needed a squirrel and trees real bad. Here, you are close enough to New York where you can kind of treat it like a theme park and far enough away to have a squirrel in your yard! I' m close to the airports.

MICK: Are there any musicians you would like to work with or collaborate with?

TOMMY: There's lots of people I'd love to work with. I spend a lot of time with my players. We are very tight musically and personally. I love writing with my guys. One of the fellows, Jimmy Wizner, has been with me since 'I Think We're Alone Now" as an arranger. He's also a great producer and orchestrator. I'm still making music with the original Shondells! I dig meeting new people and making music with them because it takes you to another place. I'm a big experimenter. I love putting jazz in pop! Over the last few years. I've become very bored with the normal rock and roll chords on guitar. It's hard to explain. So many songs have been written on the same chord. I start sticking in a jazz chord or an inverted chord, chords and grooves I've never used before. I love playing around with drum machines. You constantly have to update yourself.

MICK: Do you still get lots of fan mail?

TOMMY: Yes I do! A lot of it is email now. The website is so great for communicating with people worldwide. It's just as easy now to have fans in Germany as it is to have fans in California! The book is being released overseas. The sales over there are astounding just off of Amazon alone!

MICK: Do you have any regrets?

TOMMY: Lots of them! I wrote about a lot of them in the book. One of the things about writing an autobiography is that you have to tell on yourself or it boring real quick. I would have loved to have had a bigger family. But you can only be in one place at a time. I would have liked to have spent more time with my son. I would have been a much better business man if I could do it over again. We were kind of floundering from one record to the next. But with all the craziness that went on, we ended up with 23 gold singles and around 110 million records sold. The good Lord has been very good to me in spite of a lot of failings and things I'm not proud of. I am very thankful!

You can see Tommy James and the Shondells on Saturday, Oct. 16th at the Capital One Theater at Westbury, Long Island, NY. Showtime is 8pm.

Learn more about Tommy at https://www.tommyjames.com/

'Me, The Mob and The Music" can be bought on Amazon, Tommy's website or most book stores. It is truly a great book that will keep you spellbound!

LEGEND TERRY REID COMES TO MIRELLE"S!

He is one of rock and roll's most unheralded superstars despite a career that has rivaled some the greatest rockers of all time. In 1968, Aretha Franklin said "The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Terry Reid are the best England had to offer".
Terry Reid, affectionately known as Superlungs, is without a doubt one of the greatest voices to come out of Great Britain. He turned down the lead singer job for Led Zeppelin and referred a friend Robert Plant. He opened tours for The Rolling Stones and Cream, including their farewell tour, played the Isle of White Festival in 1969 and Glastonbury in 1970. His songs have been covered by Cheap Trick, Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Hollies, and Marianne Faithful. A True legend to say the least. Terry is playing Mirelle's in Westbury this Friday evening. I had the great pleasure to speak with Terry as he arrived on Long Island...



MICK: Is this a long tour that your on now?
TERRY: It really has been, We haven't stopped for like four or five weeks now. We just came back from England two days ago and we were all over the place..Liverpool, Sheffield, Scotland. We played at Ronnie Scott's for 3 nights in London. It was fantastic! The band was really kicking. We finished that leg of the tour and now we're back to do BB Kings on 9/22, Mirelle's this Friday 9/24, Union Hall in Brooklyn on 9/25 and The Turning Point in Piermont NY on 9/26.

MICK: You're playing MIRELLE'S in Westbury, Long Island this Friday evening. Did you ever play Long Island earlier in your career?
TERRY: Yes, we did The Action House in Island Park. We did a bunch of different things out there on the Island.

MICK: What's one of your favorite venues that you played in?
TERRY: That's hard to say. Madison Square Garden was a bit of a dousy! It's not the favorite necessarily, it's just awe inspiring. Ronnie Scott's in London has become a favorite lately. I've been doing that venue for five years now. It's such a nice, warm room. We've had some great shows there. The last three we did there were totally sold out.

MICK: Are there any artists you would like to play with or collaborate with?
TERRY: I'm not really sure! I keep bumping into different people. We're doing a gig at The Turning Point and at the early show, a good friend of mine, JD Souther, is opening the show. He's one of my favorite writers and we are really good friends. Thats going to be interesting! Maybe we will get together on something! There's a couple of his things that I do and one in particular I do in my set. He played it for me one time and I turned it around into an R&B Otis Redding thing from a country thing. JD said "I never quite thought of it that way!" So we have two versions now!

MICK: Are there plans for a new album?
TERRY: Oh yes! I've been working on it for the last several months on and off. I keep going out and doing some gigs and now I have to get back to it. I've got some really good things that we've put down so far! One thing I've been working on quite a lot is 'Seed of Memory" which is based in the second World War. It's a story about the Phoenix from ashes. I wrote this years ago and some friends of mine including Dr. Dre and some people out on the west coast picked up on it . So I've re-recorded it in a whole funk fashion, hip hop thing . There's Bishop Lamont doing a whole talking blues on top of it. It's like a rap or poetic thing about Afghanistan and Iraq and whats going on. We're going to do this for the USO and our boys out there. I streamed it to them and we got like 5000 hits. They loved it. We are trying to put a whole group of us together to get out to our troops.

MICK: You mentioned World War II. Is it true you have a keen interest in the war?
TERRY: Yes, a big interest. I have a lot of memorabilia, books, videos, etc... My mother's brother was in 46 missions as a tail gunner. I think you'll find most English guys from my era had somebody in it. We were all born just after the war. I've met numerous people here in the United states that were in the WW II theater too.

MICK: Do you have any hobbies besides music?
TERRY: Yes cooking and all sorts of stuff. No real big hobbies just working on this new album!

MICK: Are any of your children musically inclined?
TERRY: I have four daughters and one of my daughters, Holly, sings very well. She's gone into modeling and she's doing very well with that. You never push people to do what you do yourself. But she can really sing! At some point, she may turn around and pursue it!

MICK: Are you still living in California?
TERRY: Yes, I live out in Palm Dessert which is near Indian Wells. It's down near the Mexican border. It's very pretty out there!

MICK: Out of all the songs you've written, do you have a favorite?
TERRY: Well it changes. You revisit tunes. "Seed of Memory" has become a big thing I've been working on. There was another tune called "Rogue Wave" and I started playing the song again on this tour. You never know if a tune is going to stand up. But this one I'm starting to really like again.

MICK: When you're writing a song, what comes first..the words or the music?
TERRY: It's the emotion basically in a sense that I have a feeling for something. The emotion transmits itself into your hands. Thematically, a chord sequence will emerge. If the emotion feels right, then the words come naturally. There's a lot of songs where I will have a phrase and those ones seem to take forever to do because the emotion is not exactly honest with the phrase. So the music comes first and then everything else rolls.

MICK: What advise would you give to an up and coming singer today?
TERRY: I do this on a regular basis. It goes along with all the years of warnings and watch out for this and that. This is not what it says on the paper! It looks like that but don't believe it! And never try to sue somebody for an amount of money thats going to cost you five times as much and that you will never get. And it will drive you crazy! Just stick to your guns and play what you want to play yourself.

Don't miss Terry Reid this Friday, Sept. 24, appearing at MIRELLE'S, 170 Post Ave Westbury NY 11590 516.404.6490
Show starts at 9pm with opening act Frank Latorre w/The Kingbees

www.terryreid.com

STEELY DAN'S DENNY DIAS at ROCK CON this weekend!

Many years ago, a young Long Island musician placed an ad in the Village Voice looking for a keyboard player and a bass player to join his band. Among those who responded was Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. They went to to become meticulous, edgy and ultimate cool band Steely Dan. And the rest is history! Denny Dias was that young Long Island musician who went on to become a world class guitarist and founding member of Steely Dan. This weekend, Denny will be appearing at "ROCK CON: Weekend of 100 Rock Stars" at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel and Conference Center in East Rutherford, NJ.
I had the great pleasure to speak to Denny from his California home just days before his trip back east...

MICK: What was it like for you growing up on Long Island?
DENNY: I grew up in Hicksville. I went to junior high school and high school there. We had some good people. Actually played in a battle of the bands opposite another Hicksville musician Billy Joel. A few other guys I graduated with were in a band that included drummer Mitch Mitchell who plyed with Jimi Hendrix.

MICK: Do you still have relatives on Long Island?
DENNY: No, my family is from Philadelphia. I have one cousin who lives in Manhattan. I haven't been back to the New York City area since 2000.

MICK: When Steely Dan first started out, did you guys play any clubs on Long Island?
DENNY: No we never played any Long Island clubs. We did rehearse in my living room in Hicksville.

MICK: It's been documented that you met Donald Fagan and Walter Becker through an ad in The Village Voice. How did you meet Jeff "Skunk" Baxter [another original Steely Dan member]?
DENNY: They [Fagan and Becker] found him. They got together with Gary Katz and called me from California so I drove across country to join them. They already had a record released "Dallas". So I didn't meet Baxter until I went to California.

MICK: Do you keep in touch with Jeff Baxter?
DENNY: I run into him every once in a while. It's not often though.

MICK: Donald Fagan and Walter Becker seemed like they were perfectionists with there music. Did you think it was hard for some musicians to work for them?
DENNY: It's hard for every musician to work for them.

MICK: I always thought that "Aja" was one of the best albums I ever heard, even to this day. What was it like to work on this masterpiece?
DENNY: You got your little piece, learned it well and go in to perform it. You don't hear the whole thing until it's done.

MICK: This weekend, you are appearing at ROCK CON, the first annual Weekend Of 100 Rock Stars" set to take place at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center in East Rutherford, NJ on July 30 – August 1 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Is this the first time you've done something like this?
DENNY: Yes and I'm very excited about it. I know that I will be playing on Sunday at 5:00pm with some of the other guests appearing. Monday I head into Manhattan to play at BB Kings with Spanky and Our Gang.

MICK: Do you have a favorite Steely Dan song that you worked on?
DENNY: It's hard to say. I have some favorite songs that I didn't work on! I guess my favorite solo would be the one on "Green Earrings".

MICK: Do you keep in touch with Fagan and Becker?
DENNY: I haven't seen them sinse the 90's. They played in Los Angeles and I joined them on stage for a few songs. That was fun.

MICK: Who were your heroes when you were growing up?
DENNY: I was always partial to Miles Davis. I thought he was the coolest! There's some good players today but there's nobody of the stature of Miles Davis. Him and John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk were the best. When I saw Thelonious Monk at Queens College, that was really something quite amazing!

MICK: Are you working on any musical projects now?
DENNY: No, not really. I work a full time job. I program computers for a living now. Been doing that for around twenty years.

MICK: What are your future plans?
DENNY: Well, I'm just trying to keep my job!

MICK: Are you ever going to do anything more as far as music goes?
DENNY: It depends. I have a lot of songs that I've written. If we can do something with Spanky, get some songs on a record, maybe something will eventually happen. In the meantime, doing a thing like this is more of an expense than anything else. We are all paying our own way to get there. It's not like the gig is going to support the trip. You can only do that a couple of times a year. So who knows, maybe we will record some music and see what happens.

The Summer's most anticipated festival for music fans and collectors is expected to draw thousands of attendees who will meet, enjoy concerts by, listen to interviews with, and actually hang out with musicians, singers, pop personalities and rock icons from all eras of rock & roll. Along with the live concert performances, meet & greets, and question & answer sessions, there will be panel discussions, rare film screenings, photo ops, a music & memorabliia marketplace, and much more.

The seemingly endless guest list represents 50 years of great music and memories, with such names as Denny Dias, Johnny Winter, Little Anthony, Beach Boys Founding Member Al Jardine, Tommy James, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Randy Jones of The Village People, Marty Balin of Jefferson Starship, Gene Cornish of The Rascals, Paul Cotton of Poco, Andy Kim, Billy Hinsche of Dino Desi & Billy, Walter Egan, Phil "Fang" Volk of Paul Revere & The Raiders, Spanky & Our Gang, Paul Petersen, Ron Dante of The Archies and many more.

Although most of the guest artists will be present the entire weekend, there is a different schedule of events planned for all three days. The highlight of each evening is expected to be the last two hours of the event, when all the stars get to sing or play their hits - and jam on the songs of their fellow singers and musicians - in the hotel's Grand Ballroom Main Stage. Additionally, Friday night will feature the National Rock Icon Awards Ceremony Presentations (the RCIA's), which will not only honor the legends, acknowledge music accomplishments, but also recognize fan favorites.
Themes for the Weekend include "LENNON LEGACY," with special guests from The Beatles' history, "ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAMERS," "THE GREAT GIRL GROUPS REUNION," "HORROR ROCKERS REUNION" and the "BUBBLEGUM REUNION."
A rock event like this is long-overdue. Celebrate 50 years of rock history live.
Complete info is online at www.RockFanFest.com, and the complete list of guests is available at: http://www.nationalrockcon.com/Artists.htm.
Tickets are $20-$40 with special "Gold," "Silver" and "Platinum" weekend packages available.
For any further info, call (203) 795-4737.
What: ROCK CON: Weekend of 100 Rock Stars
Where: Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center, 2 Meadowlands Plaza, East Rutherford, NJ
Hours: Friday, July 30 2010 5pm-11pm, Saturday, July 31 2010 Noon-10pm, Sunday, August 1 2010 Noon-9pm

Talking With Jim Faith- Promoter of The Great South Bay Music Festival

This weekend, The Great South Bay Music Festival returns for the 4th year with a dazzling lineup for everybody's taste of music. It will take place at Shorefront Park in Patchogue from Friday July 9th until Sunday July 11th featuring 47 performers on three stages! This event is the brainchild of Long Island's favorite promoter Jim Faith, who spoke to me during a rare break days before the big show....



MICK: It's quite a lineup you have this year for the Festival. How do you choose the bands that are coming?
JIM: I try to book a little of each genre of American music. I want to get some folk, some funk, some blues, definitely contemporary and classic rock, some gospel, a little bit of everything. Initially it was more of a blues thing mixed with American music but I decided I wanted to be different and not just have one type of music. Besides headliners, I try to bring in new bands and give them an opportunity to play. They usually go on early. There's a few local bands, a few very young bands and then there's the headliners. We were very proud to bring in Odetta, a legendary gospel singer, a few years ago right before she passed away. It was one of the last shows she did.
This year we have John Gorka, Aztec Two Step, and we also have James Maddock who is new on the scene. We really try to mix it up ans I think it works very well.

MICK: Are there any last minute additions?
JIM: Not at this point. We were changing and adding up till last week. Some people had to pull out. Susan Cowsill had to pull out because of her tour schedule. Other than that, we aimed at a certain group of people. We actually we were looking to bring in Greg Allman and thank God we didn't because he just had a liver transplant and we would have lost our main headliner. We also try not to do commercial music. The acts we bring in are very high quality and cultural. Brother Joscephus is a New Orleans gospel group; Sarah Psalm is a really true gospel singer; War is classic R&B; The New Deal is very big in the jam band world and they are creating a whole new genre of dance jam music.


MICK: How many people do you expect to attend this year?
JIM: We are hoping for 25,000 to 30,000.

MICK: What's happening with the Brookhaven Amphitheater concerts this year?
JIM: All I can say at this point is there's nothing happening this year. It's truly a political thing. This is something I'd like to talk about after the Festival.

MICK: I know the Long Island Music Hall of Fame acquired the old bank on Main Street in Port Jefferson as it's new home. Has there been any progress with that?
JIM: No, that's also a town situation. The village is very excited about us coming there. We didn't purchase the building, the village passed a resolution that said we could use the building for the Hall of Fame and Museum. It's just taking a long time, not moving fast at all. It's a perfect location and great for the village. There's going to be a resource room. We envision school buses coming here all day from all over the Island and the city and using the resource room to learn about Long Island musical history.

MICK: Is there going to be an induction show this year?
JIM: Yes there is! We are looking at the Oheka Castle possibly for the end of October or early November. It's a wonderful location. We were suppose to go to the Tilles Center but we just couldn't get it together.

MICK: What other events are you promoting this year?
JIM: I just confirmed August 29Th in the back of the Blue Point Brewery the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and BILL Kreutzman . There's only going to be 1500 seats. We are probably going to sell all of the tickets on Facebook and word of mouth. You can also get them at the Festival this weekend. It's going to be a very intimate kind of thing. They will be with the Rhythm Devils. It will be an amazing show for sure!

Purchase tickets online at the Great South Bay Music Festival until July 8Th (online tickets sales end that day at 6 p.m.) or on the days of the festival. Ticket prices range from free for children 10 and under to $15.50 for Patchogue residents (if tickets purchased online) to $18.50 general admission for one day. There are also Three-Day General Admission passes for $44.50 to $50 and VIP passes are also available. Visit the Great South Bay Music Festival tickets page for more ticket info.

For more information, including a detailed list of the musicians who will be playing, please go to Great South Bay Music Festival.
http://www.greatsouthbaymusicfestival.com/index_2.html

SLAP SHOT's Hanson Brother Steve Carlson

It's been 33 years since one of the best hockey movies of all time was released. "Slap Shot" was a big hit for superstar Paul Newman and it also introduced to the public the very likable, violent goons "The Hanson Brothers", three fictional brothers who all wore black glasses, had long hair and terrorized oposing teams. Their popularity has grown in pop culture throughout the years and they still make appearances to meet their legion of fans. I had the great pleasure to speak with Steve Carlson, AKA Steve Hanson, the other day about his life and the making of "Slap Shot".....


MICK: In the movie "Slap Shot", what was it like to work with Paul Newman?
STEVE: I think you got it wrong. He worked with us! You have to understand that Newman was on the verge of becoming a superstar and Universal Studios said "ok, how are we going to get him over the top". They decided to bring in the Hanson Brothers and teach him. You will notice he won the Academy Award after "Slap Shot"! Let me tell you he was a classic man! From day one when I first met him right until the end, he was all class. What a wonderful gentleman! His passing was a huge loss, not only to the acting world but also in the sporting world and charity world. A truly great man!

MICK: "Slap Shot" came out in 1977. In 1978, you were with the Edmonton Oilers and your room mate was Wayne Gretsky. You were a star at that time. How did you get along with him?
STEVE: There it is again! He was the number one draft pick. They said "He can't skate, he can't shoot that well. We will move him with Steve and teach him how to play the game the way it's suppose to be played". I get no credit for that! In all seriousness, he was only 17 years old and you just knew he was going to be a superstar. It was a lot of fun playing with him. I was told, but I can't confirm this, that I was the only player in NHL history to play with both Wayne Gretsky and Gordie Howe!

MICK: How were you treated around the league after you made the film?
STEVE: If you watch the movie and you think this is real life, a lot of the stuff is actually the way it really was and we just re-enacted this way we played. The bosses of the hockey world didn't like it because it promoted fighting, but every player and every general manager liked it because it was entertaining and funny. It had everything a man wants..vulgar language, nudity and fighting! What else could you ask for? It was fun after we got done filming to go into arenas and everyone was wearing the nose and glasses. We had a good time with that!

MICK: How did you and your brother get the parts of the Hanson Brothers?
STEVE: In real life, the Hanson Brothers played together as a line. My brother Jack, my brother Jeff and myself. We had long hair, we wore black glasses. Jeff and Jack were the ones who were the fighters. Dave Hanson, who was a defenseman on our team at that time, was known as "Killer Hanson". He was a fighter. They tried to find actors to play our parts in the movie and couldn't find actors good enough to skate and play the parts. So they came to us and asked us if we wanted to play the roles. The three Carlson Brothers were going to be the Hanson Brothers in the movie and Dave Hanson was going to be Killer Carlson. Unfortunately, Jack got called up and couldn't do the film so they brought Dave in to be Killer Hanson and Jerry Houser became Killer Carlson.

MICK: Do you still run the power skating school in Wisconsin?
STEVE: Yes I do!
MICK: Do you live on Long Island?
STEVE: I do live on Long Island but I am moving on Monday. I've been here for exactly one year. Moving to California with my fiance who was born and raised in Sacramento. No more snow shoveling for me!

MICK: How many appearances do the Hanson Brothers make a year?
STEVE: Two years ago, we got 385 requests that year. Since Jeff and Dave have normal jobs, we do between 25 and 40 a year. Jeff works as an electrician and Dave manages a multi surface ice arena.

MICK: Do you have any hobbies besides hockey?
STEVE: I listen to music, enjoy myself, watch sports, love gardening. I used to fish a lot but haven't done that in a while. I plan on getting back into that again. I also like working around the house.

MICK: What are you future plans?
STEVE: The Hanson Brothers are actually getting larger and larger! We just did a show in Hershey, PA where we played in a charity hockey game and signed autographs for over two hours! It's not stopping! It keeps getting bigger and bigger!

MICK: What are the details about your appearance this Sunday in Massapequa?
STEVE: We are going to meet and great at Long Island Picture Frame. Fans have a chance to have photos taken with us and we will sign pretty much anything except the McFarlane Dolls. The Picture Frame has put together a bunch of great products of the Hanson Brothers that will be for sale on Sunday. We just love meeting people and having a good time with them!

You can meet the Hanson Brothers this Sunday, May 16th, at the Long Island Picture Frame, 4780 Sunrise Hwy., Massapequa Park, NY (516-798-8400 from 12 noon until 6:00pm. Autographs for all three brothers is $60.

www. LIPF.com

Fab Faux's Rich Pagano and his new CD

Rich Pagano is a musician's musician and one of the busiest in the business. Not only is he the co-founder and drummer of "Fab Faux", he is a much in demand session drummer, owner of New Calcutta recording Studio in Midtown NYC, devoted husband and father, and he has just released a new solo cd "Rich Pagano and The SugarCane Cups" to rave reviews!
“Among the best albums that you’ll hear in 2009”
- Rev. Keith A. Gordon, Blurt Magazine

"Laced in pop, straight arrangements and Pagano’s hearty vocals,
it is bolstered by some fine writing...which goes to prove that yes
indeed, great drummers can also produce rock solid solo albums"
- Kevin O'Hare, Masslive.com

“An original and creatively exciting work”
“Timeless, well-constructed rock”
- Kay Cordtz, Elmore Magazine

In betweeen his busy schedule, I had the pleasure to speak with Rich about his new cd and his upcoming gigs...

MICK: Your new cd "Rich Pagano and the SugarCane Cups" sounds fantastic. How long did it take you to record?
RICH: I closed my studio down for a year to finish, arranging and recording. It's my place so I'm able to get in whenever I want and makes it a bit easy to work long hours.
MICK: The SugarCane Cups are quite an ensemble of musicians. When you play out, who is in the band?
RICH: The ensemble comes mainly from people who passed through my studio if not everybody! I would just ask people and friends who were renting my place or people I was producing. If I felt they could lend something to a particular track, I'd ask them to stay and sing on a track or play on it. It always worked out, some got paid a little bit, some people I bartered by doing some drum tracks for them. It's a cool little studio. Of course I had to turn it back into a commercial venture when I was done but it was nice to lock it out for myself and get my thing done. For live shows, I'm going to have John Conte (Rosanne Cash) on bass, Andy York (John Mellencamp) on guitar, Rob Bailey (Gavin DeGraw) on guitar, Kevin Bents(Donald Fagen) on keyboards/acoustic guitar and myself on drums. Steve Conte (New York Dolls) may be doing a few shows with me this summer. Guitar is bit of a revolving chair for those who are not on tour.
MICK: I can definitely hear Beatles influences in your songs.
RICH: The cd is selling well. At Fab Faux gigs it's flying off the display! I also try to go out before the show and sign it for the fans who purchase it. It is a limited edition in cd form as most sales have been from I-Tunes. When they ask me what it sounds like I tell them the approach was solo Lennon, solo Townsend and Levon Helm sensibilities.
MICK: Did anyone else influence you on your songs?
RICH: When I started the sessions, I was going through a Led Zeppelin stage "Houses Of The Holy" period so I'd say "Nine Lives has a John Bonham/ Jimmy Page production value, sonically. As the recording process went along, I got the gig as Levon Helm's second drummer. I've always been a huge fan of Levon Helm's, a bit of a template for me being a great singing drummer. I did some work with him at his Ramble [Levon's live show's at his Woodstock NY barn] and some other festival shows. He would go up and play mandolin/sing and I would jump on drums. His influence is more predominant on some of my later sessions like, "Grand Central Station" and maybe, " Rear View St. Jude".. I'm also a big Nigel Olsson fan, and of course Ringo and that certainly shows up.. I was also listening to a lot of Lou Reed at that point as far as lyrics/minimalism through words. Solo Lennon was great for that too.
MICK: Is this your first solo cd?
RICH:Yes! I've been a co-writer with people for years. I built my studio almost ten years ago to record my own music but it somehow became a commercial venture. I started producing and writing with other artists and then my wife and I had a kid, the Fab Faux took off, I went on the road with Rosanne Cash and other artists for a while and never got back to my own stuff. Now that our son is in school full time, I promised myself that i would get this out there. At first, the way the music business is, I thought that it would be very tough to get rock and roll heard and then sell it. I had a lot of fans within the Fab Faux that kept asking me if I will put something out since I sing a lot of leads in that band. So I thought I'd do something that would cater to the Fab Faux fans, not particularly Beatle-ish, but along the classic rock lines. It eventually evolved into this and The Fab Faux fans are really digging it plus, there's a nice new audience out there too!
With my new cd, I've been doing an acoustic tour for the last four months on and off. Now we are doing an official electric show with the full band at The City Winery in New York City on April 30th at 7:30.
MICK: What's the future plans for more appearances with the SugarCane Cups?
RICH: We will be doing some East Coast dates to be announced; We are definitely doing Maplewoodstock which is a great music festival in Maplewood New Jersey on July 10th.
MICK: The Fab Faux have been together since 1998! That's a long time now! How did this all come about?
RICH:Will [Lee] and I were on tour in Germany and France with the late Hiram Bullock and Will noticed that during sound check, whenever I would test the drums there was sort of a Ringo/ Nigel Olsson swing coming out of me, so he would ask me questions about the Beatles. We talked backstage and we both geeked out on our collection of bootlegs and what we knew. He said "I'd love to start the greatest Beatles band ever!." He said that he always wanted to do that and felt comfortable with me. I thought that was great but I was making my living, and sort of still do, as a session drummer who is called on for Ringo/Keltner type sessions. I thought it would be a parody of myself if I joined a Beatles band. He was really persistent and would call me every month saying, "I got this guy interested, that guy...." After a while I said lets do it! Then he got Jimmy [Vivino] involved. I knew of him but did not know him. I was working with Joan Osborne at the time and so I got Jack [Petruzzelli] on board. I was also doing some acoustic duo gigs with Frank [Agnello] in Staten Island. Frank has tons of knowledge on some of the deeper chords and Will liked him and his soul. We got together and found that we sang so well together. We started with just the five of us. Then we added a cellist and one trumpeter. Now we have a full horn section and string section.
MICK: Has Paul McCartney or Ringo ever heard the Fab Faux play?
RICH: No but they've heard of the Fab Faux. Will had a conversation with Paul about the intricacies of "Tomorrow Never Knows". Will also offered Ringo a Fab Faux pin at one point when he was on the show {Letterman].
MICK: The benefit on April 10th for the West Babylon High is coming up. Are there still tickets available?
RICH: It is selling real well. There are still some tickets left. It's a small theater so every seat is good.
MICK: You are originally from West Babylon. I didn't know that.
RICH: I was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. We moved out to Long Island when I was three.
MICK: What was it like for you growing up on Long Island?
RICH: It was great for me because I had a real supportive family. We had a basement full of instruments. Friends would come over to the house and my parents were very cool and welcoming. West Babylon High School had an incredible music wing with rooms put aside for orchestra, piano classes, guitar classes and choir. Back then we were told it was a nationally award winning school for high school music - it had great teachers too. We also had a 'Teen Club' in the town church basement when I was in junior high school. Battle of the bands was an important event! My friends and I didn't get caught up in hanging out and drinking. We learned how to play instruments and traded records. In my case, I learned to play an instrument and also started drawing. I actually went to art school (School of Visual Arts in New York). It was a toss up between music school and art school. When my high school gave me a partial scholarship to art school, I decided to give that a shot. I was an illustrator for about five years while I was playing blues gigs in NYC. Eventually I went back to music full time.
MICK: So I guess art would be your other hobby besides music!
RICH: Now it is because I have a nine year old kid and all we do is draw mythological creatures and go to MOMA!
MICK: Who is someone that you would love to meet?
RICH: I don't know if that would be a musician. I'd like to sit and watch Jimmy Page produce guitar tracks. The way he set up guitar tracks made it seem like he was a painter with each guitar being a different color. That's how I'm feeling this week. Next week it could be someone totally different.
MICK: Which of today's artists do you like?
RICH: I like Joss Stone a lot. She has soul sensibilities. Alicia keys is great too! Better live than on record, IMO

The Fab Faux with The Hogshead Horns and The Creme Tangerine Strings will be performing a benefit concert for West Babylon's South Bay Elementary School on Long Island. Last month, the school was destroyed in a chemical fire and has to be rebuilt from the ground up. As of right now, the children have been relocated to the town church for studies until further notice. West Babylon is the hometown of Fab Faux drummer/singer Rich Pagano. For details, see the link:
URL: http://www.thefabfaux.com/guests/FabFauxNews/index_SB.html


You can catch Rich Pagano + The SugarCane Cups Electric Band record release performance with Natalie Mishell & special guests at The City Winery on April 30th.
http://www.citywinery.com/events/62702

More dates and special appearances will be announced soon.
See the first video from the CD rich pagano + the sugarCane cups ("Change Your Mind")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giEJf49Y9Cg

Visit www.richpagano.com for the latest news.



Rich Pagano
richpagano.com

Change Your Mind video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giEJf49Y9Cg

rich pagano and the sugarCane cups debut CD
Get yours at richpagano.com

Celebrity"s New Year's Resolutions

Along with the toasts of champagne, watching the ball drop in Times Square and drinking yourself into the night, a new year's resolution is usually at the top of many people's agendas on New Year's Eve. It is said that 52% of participants are sure of succeeding but only 12% actually achieve their goals. I asked some celebrities what their New Year's resolutions are and got some great answers!
Donna Feducia, former anchor on Good Day New York and Good Day Sunday: "To become a sharpshooter! Actually to become very good with our .357 Magnum"
Bebe Buell, American fashion model and singer: "To play Berlin! I know resolutions are suppose to be about self improvement but my goal is my work in 2010."
Peppy Castro, guitarist with The Blues Magoos and Barnaby Bye: "To see my pop opera musical "X-star", that took me 5 years to write, up on it's feet! I finished it in 2000 so it's ten years later!"
Charles Oakley, New Yorks Knicks legend: "To stop eating potato chips, more support for President Barack Obama (we need universal healthcare and more jobs), that the US digs itself out of the financial slump we’re currently in, continued health for my family and that you really enjoy my upcoming cooking show!"
Carline Doctorow, Long Island's favorite folk singer: "My New Years resolution is...
"to always leave 'em wanting more"
Paul Peterson, child star from "the Donna Reed Show": "I am resolved to finally
get national legislation for kids in the media so that the laws will be the same everywhere."
Dennis Elsas, legendary DJ currently on WFUV FM: "In the early 70's (shortly after I started at WNEW-FM) when Carly Simon first released "Anticipation" (long before it was a ketchup commercial) I played it as my New Year's Resolution (72 or73?).
I still play it (in my head or on-the-air) and resolve to try and enjoy the moments
as they happen, instead of always worrying about what might be - "cause these are the good ole days."
For some memories you might enjoy checking out my audio/video archives at
www.denniselsas.com
Ian Lloyd, lead singer from "Stories" (Brother Louie #1 hit): "My New Years resolution is simple. I want IAN LLOYD's STORIES and SOCIALHERO to take our act on the road and rock the hell out of every town and city we play in! That and legalization of the "O-de-PO"
Liberty DeVitto, drummer extraordinaire (Billy Joel): "I already have what I want
and I will be feeding my dog and be taking up smoking this new year LOL"
Cheryl Bentyne, from the jazz group The Manhattan Transfer: "To be more generous, more loving and more forgiving....to others and to me..."
Candy Clark, American film and television actress best known from "American Graffiti: "I resolve to quit eating candies, cookies and cakes which is a bit hard,
because with my name being Candy, I am constantly reminded. I have to cut
back on my sugar intake and with a lot of will power and resolve, hopefully
I can keep this promise to myself."
Donald Fagan, from Steely Dan: "I would say my new year's resolution is to tackle all the works of Dostoevsky in the upcoming year"
Linda Purl, actress and singer: "To do a better job at recycling and learn tango!"
Larry Thomas, the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld: "Well, I'm not really into rules and resolutions. I just take life as it comes. Maybe to just keep on keeping on!"
Jimmy Fink, New York Radio personality: "Do I have a New Year's resolution??....Yeah... my New Year's resolution is to vote out incumbent democrats!"
Glenn Scarpelli, former child actor and singer: "In addition to sustaining a new gym workout (kind of typical) I am setting an intention this new years to live deeper in my own truth. To be in closer touch with what makes me tick and what makes me happy. Life is soooo short.... I am living it to the fullest.... as best as I know!!!! That is my New Year wish."

Good luck to all of our celebrities who shared their wishes for 2010! My wish is that we all find peace and love in our lives, to make this world a better place to live in, to build rather than break, to smile rather than cry, and to believe that God will triumph over any evil that exists in this world.




















"Do I have a New Year's resolution??....Yeah... my New Year's resolution is to vote out incumbent democrats!"