"Softer Side" - Erica Blinn's New Single

It would be tempting to call Erica Blinn the "little sister" act of the Colin Gawel-galaxy of bands: Watershed, The League Bowlers, Colin Gawel & the Lonely Bones.   It would be tempting, but it would be wrong, because little sister is too demeaning & limiting a term for the gigantic talent that Erica Blinn represents.  There's a lot more we here at Pencilstorm could say about Erica - and we WILL at some point in the future - but for right now, let's just kick back and enjoy Erica's new single, released today, "Softer Side."  

Erica Blinn / "Softer Side"

 

for more info, please visit:

Website: www.ericablinn.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/erica-blinn

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ericablinn?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericablinn

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ericablinnmusic/playlists

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ericablinn

 

 

 

I Need Your Help With This Kickstarter Project - by Colin Gawel

Please take one minute to check out the pre-order for the original Watershed side-band, The League Bowlers. I love playing in this band and I'm really proud of this record. However, time is short. One of our members has serious health issues. We need your help to get this CD finished ASAP. But this is no charity case. Any fan of Watershed is going to love this record. And it will be yours this September. 

I would really appreciate you checking out our Kickstarter campaign to learn more about the project. I hope you can help us. Thank you. - Colin 

Click here for League Bowlers Kickstarter Campaign and CD pre-order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben Galli Hosts an Un-Edited Kyrie E-Mail Thread

I'll get us started...

Ben Galli:  This upset and blindsided me.  The hardest part is coming to terms with this being who Kyrie is.  I'm not one of those, "well the greats back in my day..." guys but this seems very immature, selfish, and short-sighted.  I can think of players considered superstars exhibiting this type of behavior but no one really considered a great.

I guess Irving didn't think the news would go public but if the reports are true about LeBron's camp releasing it, (classic LBJ passive-aggressiveness), it just makes things worse.  The team's two best players want to throw down and Kevin Love is mocking it all on social media.

James Baumann: This story won't go away for 2 reasons. One is ESPN's desire to broadcast prima donna soap operas 24 hours a day and this fits them to a T. 

The second is that this actually has basketball ramifications. I don't know where kyrie realistically goes that either makes them locks for the East and definitely not to beat Golden State. At the same time, i can't think of who the Cavs could get that would push them past GS. 

The Cavs may get building pieces, but NBA playoff games generally come down to who has the best players -- best Plan B, Plan C, etc -- on the court in the 4th quarter. And Kyrie leaving does not help that in the least.

Colin Gawel:  I'm just really surprised by the whole situation. I just assumed Kyrie was thinking "I can't believe how lucky I am to play along side Lebron James. This is so fun." Instead he felt like he wasn't getting his due. I've lost all respect for him. Plus, when we were on good terms, I turned a blind eye to some of Kyrie's faults. Now that the gloves are off, it all adds up, he is a selfish player and a selfish person. He is just another spoiled AAU punk who was hiding behind a winning franchise. I know I come from a different generation, but playing with one of the greats isn't a bad gig. I recently saw Tom Petty and thought the same thing of his band. Does Tom Campbell always get the spotlight he deserves? Maybe not, but he plays sold out arenas every night and is part of a great band. I wonder if he ever looks across the stage and thinks, "I'm just as good as Tom. Why do they cheer him so much? I've got to get out from his shadow so I can solo more". No, Tom Campbell doesn't think that because he isn't an idiot. 

* Since I just called Mike Campbell "Tom" I guess Kyrie has a point. 

Brian Phillips : Doesn't Kyrie believe the earth is flat? He's a dope. He'll end up in Sacramento where he can fulfill his dream of being "The King Of Kings." 

Big $ from the North Coast Posse: Kyrie provided me with the happiest 5 seconds of my life (I know I could of prefaced this with "besides my wedding/kids births etc, but I didn't sue me) so regardless of where he ends up, and how he gets there, he will hold a special spot in my heart. It's also important to remember that only a few short summers ago, Kyrie made a commitment to stay in Cleveland and be the man and the organization was ready to honor that commitment. Next thing he knows this demigod who walked out on Cleveland, comes waltzing back through the door and wam bam kyrie is a distant 2nd fiddle. To make it worse he's a second fiddle to a fella that is no stranger to reprimanding him in public. The ring is nice, but it may not be enough to fully cleanse your palette of being "sonned" publicly. I'm not all together sure that Kyrie can put a team on his back for a season, but I do believe he has mad star power and charisma and is probably sick of losing regional shoe sales to his "Chet from weird science" esque basketball big bro.
      With all that said, I'm also ready for a little shake up in Cavs land. Lbj thrives off new challenges and proving KI dead wrong may be all he needs to turn it to 11 this season. I am also head over heels for Josh Jackson and feel that Bledsoe/Rose is superior to lrving/Deron Williams. Let Lbj call in one of the 8000 favors (new Suns front office exec.) James Jones owes him and make that trade happen. I'll have the popcorn ready.

Ben Galli:  The media aspect is interesting.  Nowadays with social media, posts and 'likes' and actions at weddings are analyzed non stop while players use the media to make their passive aggressive power plays.  Now a "Source" says LeBron has been actively shopping Kyrie for the last 4 months.   It's hard to know what to believe and it's probably just best to stay away from the drama and pettiness of it all.  Or maybe drama, pettiness, and over-analyzation on social media is the theme of 2017.  And we wonder why LaVar Ball continues to get attention. 

The rumored Bledsoe and Josh Jackson deal probably works best for Cleveland's future.  Another much bandied about trade would bring Bledsoe and Carmelo Anthony to Cleveland with Kyrie going to New York.  That would work best for the Cavs' chances this year, which increasingly seems like LBJ's last there.  This prospect seems less and less likely as more reports are coming out saying Melo really wants to go to Houston, one going as far as to say he's threatened to block a Kyrie to New York deal.  

And if LeBron leaves, Kyrie would have Cleveland to himself, no?  Which begs another question, does anyone want to play in Cleveland? 

James Baumann: I would not be surprised to see the Cavs still finish 1 or 2 in the East even with a Kyrie trade - but who knows with the moves the Celtics and others made. But to do so would (most likely) burn out James by playoff time and definitely finals time. But, by then, the NBA and TNT and ESPN may change the rules so there are 5 days off in between all finals games.  

Colin Gawel: Despite my harsh words, I was prepared to keep a fond view of Kyrie for the reasons Big $ mentioned. He helped get the title and it's pretty much all gravy after that. But I have to admit, seeing him ham it up at Lebron's expense with arch rival Steph Curry turned my stomach. Steph is right to mock Cleveland and Lebron. We are enemies. But geez Kyrie, that dude just beat YOU less than six weeks ago and you cheer him on as he clowns a team mate? I don't care if it was Lebron or Channing Frye,  where is your pride?  Be like watching Eddie George cheer on Charles Woodson goofing on Terry Glenn as at Christmas party in 1995. Bad look Kyrie. 

Having said all that, if we don't get value - DO NOT TRADE HIM. He signed the deal. We can move him or sit him or whatever, but we need to get something in return. 

OK....what trade ideas are floating around?

James Baumann: The trade challenge is do you try to make a 1-1 type trade that has instant results or do you make a 1-3 (or picks) that is more of the long game. And, of course, that is entirely about whether you think James is coming back. 


Whoa! Just had a thought. James convinces the Cavs to trade Kyrie to the Lakers for Ball and a pick or something. Then, next year, James takes his free agent talents TO THE LAKERS ALSO!!!!! James and

Colin G: That's a good thought. My idea was Lebron calls Porzingis and has him tell the Knicks there is no chance he will ever re-sign in NYC. Make the deal with the Cavs or lose me for nothing.

Ben Galli:  Funny you mention the psyche out cause The Ringer and Bill Simmons are saying the exact same thing (LeBron and Kyrie play for the Lakers next year and this is all carefully staged).

I really think Kyrie is jealous of LeBron and James never saw it coming that he embarrassed Uncle Drew.  I think the rift is real but I also think there's a chance that if the right deal isn't offered, in a couple weeks we'll hear of a heart to heart (father-son?) talk where they decided to let bygones be bygones, put out a music video (wedding theme?), and lead the Cavs back to the Finals.  I think they're holding out for Melo and I think that's Kyrie's preferred destination (he's from New Jersey).  Getting Josh Jackson would be nice but what impact can he make in the Finals as a rookie?

Big $: I really think that a multi team deal that yields Melo and Bledsoe is going to happen, regardless of the rumors suggesting otherwise

James Baumann: Oh crud. I normally do read the Ringer, but hadn't seen that. Don't want people to think I'm plagiarizing. 

I still believe the whole LeBron goes to Miami / Cavs stock up #1 picks / he comes back was a long con. I don't know if dummy Dan Gilbert knew about it, but I still think it was real

 

Concert Review: Night Ranger 7/14/2017 - by Jeremy Porter

Concert Review

Night Ranger - Detroit Riverfront

July 14, 2017   by Jeremy Porter

 

Photos by Jeremy Porter

Photos by Jeremy Porter

I first saw Night Ranger some 30 years ago, in August of 1987, at the Upper Peninsula State Fair in Escanaba, Michigan. Concerts were few and far between in the U.P., so we didn’t miss them when they came, even if they weren’t our A-list bands. I was 2 months out of high school, and still reeling from missing Cheap Trick on the same stage a year earlier as a punishment for wrapping my parent’s Monza around an elm tree in downtown Marquette with an open Old Milwaukee in my hand. Great White opened, who I initially liked with their heavy metal debut EP, but quickly tired of as they started butchering the blues as only white dudes with poofed out peroxide hair can do. Brad Gillis, Night Ranger’s guitarist who replaced Randy Rhoads in Ozzy’s band and played on the live “Speak of the Devil” album, handed me his guitar pick after the solo in (You Can Still) Rock In America. They were great. It was a cool night, and sort of a symbolic end to my high school years.  

I loved (and still love) Don’t Tell Me You Love Me and (You Can Still) Rock In America, but, I didn’t hold their biggest hit Sister Christian in the same regard, preferring power ballads by slightly heavier bands like Scorpions, Ozzy and Cinderella. By the time I first saw Night Ranger I was listening to The Clash and Black Flag and driving to Milwaukee to see The Replacements, REM, and Hüsker Dü, but I never abandoned them. They were over-polished, but they had a certain power-pop element with ahead-of-the-beat energy and easy hooks that provided some salvage to the MTV onslaught of Tears for Fears, A-Ha, and other, less engaging drivel. Jack Blades was a cool rock star. I liked the way his bass hung low and sat on his leg, like a short, blonde Nikki Sixx with cleaner hair. And the harmonies, melody and lyrics of When You Close Your Eyes had me the same way some of the better indie songs of the time did, though I knew it wouldn’t make it into those conversations. I liked the line about “a hard night of drinking” which seemed like something other bands wouldn’t touch so blatantly in their radio hits. I wasn’t a fan of the Miami Vice look that they adopted, and I couldn’t put them on at a party with my friends, but It seemed to me like Night Ranger weren’t trying as hard as the other bands to be cool, and that made them even cooler.

[Now that I’ve spent 2 paragraphs justifying my appreciation for Night Ranger…..]  

So it’s 2017 and here I am again, at a Night Ranger concert. No one would go with me - my friends, band-mates and co-workers chuckled, as if I wasn’t even serious about it. My wife probably would have enjoyed it, but she was out of town. I spent the 48 hours before the concert talking myself in and out of going, but 6pm Friday night came and I was in my car with the Detroit skyline and it’s centerpiece - the Renaissance Center - looming in the distance. What the hell was I getting myself into? And really, this is what it’s come to? I am going to Night Ranger concerts by myself now?  Time to re-evaluate?  I stopped into the Checker Bar for a shot of courage and walked into the crowd.

The setting was a thin patch of concrete and stone between the Ren-Cen and the Detroit River in the center of the city. Somehow I managed to quietly and stealthily weasel my way into the “friends of the band” section (I am not a friend of the band and had no business in there) which offered a great vantage point. The 2 openers were local cover bands delivering largely predictable and generic-at-best classic rock staples. The first band’s version of Say What You Will by Fastway had me entertained for a minute, but the Bryan Adams, Billy Idol and multiple Led Zeppelin covers had me still questioning my decision to come. I almost left about every 3rd song, to be honest, but I stuck it out.  

Brad Gillis Rocking in America / Detroit.

Brad Gillis Rocking in America / Detroit.

At 9pm sharp Night Ranger came out with the 1-2 punch of Touch of Madness into Four in the Morning. “I get hiiiiggghhh when I want to” Blades crooned to the revved up Detroit crowd. This was their 35th anniversary tour and he didn’t let us forget it, incorporating the fact into virtually all between-song banter. They did a couple Damn Yankees songs, his band with Tommy Shaw from Styx and the Motor City Madman, thinking that the crowd would be more into hearing Ted Nugent’s name hollered out than they actually were. They also covered Alice Cooper (guitarist Keri Kelli did a stint with Alice) and Ozzy (noting Brad Gillis’ tenure in his band) and the energy level stayed pretty high throughout. Things really picked up towards the end. When You Close Your Eyes isn’t a full-blown rocker, but as I said, I’ve always had a spot for that tune. Don’t Tell Me You Love Me is arguably their finest moment - it pretty much kicks ass and stands up with most stuff from that genre, though I could have done without the transition into Hotel California and Highway Star in the breakdown, and (You Can Still) Rock In America holds it’s own as an anthem despite the easy and obvious patriotic plug. Sister Christian was in there too, giving drummer and second vocalist Kelly Keagy another opportunity to come out from behind the drums (set up stage left, at a right angle rather than center back) and croon to the ladies. Eric Levy even adopted the beard-n-beret look that original keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald had back in the day, rounding out the complete experience.        

The band was tight and energetic, looking fit and running around like dudes half their age, while still hitting the changes right on beat. The harmonies, often 5-ways, were impressive as hell.  The sound was surprisingly good, though I think at one point one of the mains blew, causing some cackling in parts. There was certainly a nostalgia-act aspect to the show, but it was ultimately better than that - the band was on fire, having a blast, and at least putting on like they believed every minute of it. The songs hold up surprisingly well, and even the deep cuts had some teeth. They could have skipped the covers and the Damn Yankees songs, but at the same time most that stuff is a part of this band’s past, so it wasn’t as frivolous as it might appear on the surface. I knew everything they played except the new one, and stayed easily engaged until the end.  

I can sure think of a few worse ways to spend a Friday night in Detroit with the wife out of town. I doubt I’ll head back down to the Riverfront to see .38 Special or Everclear, but I’d go see Night Ranger again. After all, there’s some comfort in knowing that (You Can Still) Rock in America.            

Touch of Madness, Four in the Morning, Sing Me Away, Somehow Someway, Coming of Age (Damn Yankees cover), Sentimental Street, The Secret of My Success, School's Out (Alice Cooper cover), Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne cover), Eddie's Comin' Out Tonight, High Enough (Damn Yankees cover), Goodbye, When You Close Your Eyes, Don't Tell Me You Love Me / Hotel California / Highway Star, Sister Christian, (You Can Still) Rock in America

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road-blog chronicling their adventures and see his photo series documenting the disgusting bathrooms in the dives they play. He's a whiskey snob, an unapologetic fan of "good" metal, and couldn't really care less about the UofM - OSU rivalry since he once saw The Stones at the Horseshoe. Still, go blue.     
www.thetucos.com
www.facebook.com/jeremyportermusic  
@jeremyportermi
www.rockandrollrestrooms.com

League Bowlers (featuring Guitar Slinger Mike Parks) @ The Fair, July 26th

The League Bowlers will be appearing at the Ohio State Fair Wednesday July 26th with Erica Blinn and McGuffey Lane. The show is free and runs from 7-9 pm. (Details here)  Also, the new League Bowlers CD Some Balls Deluxe will be available for pre-order any day now.  With so much Bowling going on, we thought it would be a good time to revisit this piece about the finest guitar player I've ever stood next to onstage, Mike Parks. - Colin G. 

-----------------------------------

(I'm having trouble coming up with anything new & coherent to say about Mike Parks right now, so I'm gonna harken back to a piece I penned for Pencilstorm in earlier, better days, January 27th, 2014 to be exact.

 I mean it all now as much as I did at that time, and then some.  I love ya, Mike. - Ricki C.) 

 

MIKE PARKS / GUITAR SLINGER / JANUARY 27TH, 2014

Today is Mike Parks’ birthday.  I’m not sure exactly how old he is, but he’s older than Mumford & Sons and too young for Social Security & Medicare.

I thought I first met Mike when I joined the road crew of Willie Phoenix & The True Soul Rockers in 1990, but after Mike and I got to talking one night at a gig and discovered our shared West Side roots, it turned out we had actually met – though fleetingly – 20 years earlier when I was a senior at Bishop Ready High School.  

The band Mike was in at that point – The Tree (which later went through various permutations and ended up as Pure Prairie League of “Amie” fame) – played a dance at Bishop Ready and my Catholic school nerd rock & roll friends and I put together a “light show” to accompany the appearance.  (Said light show was cobbled together from oils made with colored Jell-O and overhead projectors from the Bishop Ready audio-visual lab.  I think Life Magazine had run an article on “hippie culture” that week and provided a tutorial.)

The members of The Tree – including, I believe, longtime Parks friend & bandmate Phil Stokes – were drawn from that most dangerous of 1960’s subcultures: Greasers Who Took Acid.  Laid-back run-of-the-mill hippie types who did acid were problematic enough when bad trips got into the mix, but Mike’s particular band of brethren – working-class toughs who had formerly beaten up on longhairs before they discovered the pharmaceutical joys & benefits of the late 60’s – were a particularly volatile mix.  (Think, those clearly whacked-out-of-their-skulls bikers at the side of and ON the stage in the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter.”)

Anyway, The Tree sauntered into our Bishop Ready high-school gym like gunslingers: arrayed in a mix of boots, blue jeans & black leather jackets, topped off with the longest hair we had ever seen close up.  They looked, and moved, more like a gang than they did a band.  My friends and I were afraid to even speak to them.  After the dance, Mike came up to us in the gym at our pathetic little audio-visual station and said, “Hey, cool lights.”  We couldn’t have been prouder, but were struck so dumb by Mike’s acknowledgment of our existence that I think only one of us managed to stammer out, “Th-th-thanks.”  Mike just turned and walked off in a haze of badass guitarslinger cool.  (Somewhere around that time, Mike lived in the house The MC5 maintained at 1510 Hill Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, FOR TWO WEEKS before the communal-living residents figured out that no one in the house knew Mike and that he didn’t belong there.)

By time we met up again 20 years later, Mike had become one of the five best lead guitarists I have ever seen in Columbus, Ohio.  (Actually, we later discovered I had seen him one other time in the intervening years, when I was writing for Focus magazine and reviewed Brownsville Station in 1978, a show Mike’s then-current band – Shakedown - opened.)  (Right around there Mike also served time in The Godz, see photo below.)  Mike’s white-hot guitar style was especially cool when he played alongside Willie Phoenix – no slouch of a lead player himself – in The True Soul Rockers.  Mike’s straight-ahead solid-rock lead guitar attack contrasted and dovetailed with Willie’s more idiosyncratic playing to killer effect in The Rockers: having Mike & Willie onstage together was like employing Duane Allman & Richard Thompson in the same band, no small musical feat and treat.  (Sadly, there is not one bit of recorded evidence of the dual-lead guitar fireworks Mike & Willie deployed nightly.  Tragic.)  (2017 editor's note: We have lately come into possession of a KILLER live show from the High Beck Tavern in 1992 that it would be great to release as an "approved bootleg" if we could get Willie Phoenix's permission.)  

One of the things I love about Mike is that he doesn’t just PLAY rock & roll, he actually THINKS about rock & roll, has IDEAS about rock & roll.  One of those ideas about rock & roll brought about his and my biggest dust-up ever.  By their natures, guitar heroes and roadies are gonna run into problems.  One night at Ruby Tuesday’s when Willie gave me the song list for the first set I had the bright idea that I would line the guitars up in the order Willie & Mike were going to use them, so it would be easier for me to hand them up to the stage between songs.  We didn’t have a guitar rack in the True Soul Rockers, just individual guitar stands.  More to the point, we had EIGHT OR NINE individual guitar stands between Willie and Mike, some with guitars in alternate tunings.    

As I was sorting out various Fenders & Gibsons, Mike walked up, watched for a minute and said, “What are you doing?”  “I’m arranging the guitars in the order you’re gonna use them,” I replied.  Mike was quiet for a coupla beats, then said, “You can’t do that.  It’s not very rock & roll.”  “I don’t care if it’s rock & roll or not,” I said, with an edge in my voice, “I’m juggling eight or nine guitars here and it makes things simpler.”  “It’s still not rock & roll, though,” Mike said, “I’m taking all my guitars onstage with me.  I don’t want you handling them anymore.”  I watched incredulously as Mike made six trips back & forth to haul all of his guitars up on the stage.  It was the one and only time in my roadie existence that I ever wished for a guitarist to break a string, so that I could refuse to help.

Mike and I got along ever so much better when I wrangled guitars for The League Bowlers – Colin’s offshoot covers band when Joe Oestreich first moved away and Watershed was on hiatus – and we could use Watershed’s guitar rack.  Again, Mike’s endlessly inventive lead guitar style – imagine Chuck Berry if Chuck had ever deigned to PRACTICE the guitar after 1957, or picture the bastard mutant offspring of Keith Richards & Wayne Kramer – was set off perfectly against Colin’s Cheap Trick-inspired stylings.  Mike’s playing in the Bowlers really was quite stunning.  He could play anything Colin tossed at him – from Gawel/Oestreich originals to Tom Petty to George Jones to Georgia Satellites to Dwight Yoakam – and, on top of that, Mike could play ALL NIGHT LONG without repeating a lick.  I’m pretty sure I saw, from my roadie station at the side of the stage, every show the latter-day incarnation of The League Bowlers played and I don’t think I ever saw Mike play the same solo twice.  (For a full eyewitness account of the last night of The League Bowlers when they imploded and broke up ONSTAGE at the old Thirsty Ear in 2008, check out Growing Old With Rock & Roll, The Friday Night Massacre, August 1st, 2012.)    

Happy birthday, Mike, it’d be great to see you on a stage again sometime.  – Ricki C. / January 25th, 2014

And now I will get to see him, this Wednesday at the Fair.  You oughta come, too. - Ricki C. / July 23rd, 2017

Mike (extreme left) in Shakedown, mid-1970's.

Mike (second from left) in The Godz, late 1970's.

Note: I am frankly amazed that Mike was not pistol-whipped by Eric Moore (extreme left)

for showing up at a Godz performance in this get-up.

Mike (extreme left) in The True Soul Rockers, 1992. Jim Johnson, extreme right, Koz & Willie in the middle.

 

Tags The League Bowlers, The Godz, Shakedown, Willie Phoenix & the true Soul Rockers, Columbus rock & roll, Willie Phoenix & the True Soul Rockers