Tag: live

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

No, I am not a Foreigner in NYC, I mean the Rock Group FOREIGNER played in NYC last night at Gotham Hall..well, it wasn't open to the public, it was a private show and luckily for me the band invited me and my girlfriend Brooke to come and watch. The night BEFORE was also AMAZING. I don't even know where to start anymore, I have so much to write I am feeling rather swamped. I still haven't even finished my France, Rome and Florence blog yet! YIKES!!!!!!  Freaking out here!!

Let me jump back to this past December to my first Foreigner blog (click  HERE to read it) so you can get a feel of how much this band has been growing on me. Some of my friends wind me up telling me "enough with the FOREIGNER already!!!". ha ha. But I surely don't have to remind anyone that good old fashioned rock and roll bands are far and few in between and this band is not only amazing in concert, they are also fun as FUCK to hang out with; even the managers and crew are a blast to be around. Sigh. I have had NO sleep at all since Monday; since Foreigner rolled into town. Ha ha. 

 

My pal Tom Gimbel , rythm guitarist, sax player and backing vocals had some free time, as did the drummer, Brian Tichy and their tour manager assistant Eric so we all went to Arlene's Groceries for some LIVE karaoke. It was so surreal, I am still smirking about it right now as I type. I signed up to sing Back in Black and Brian  stepped in and took to the drums (you see, this is live karaoke, as in you don't sing to a tiny TV, you actually sing lead vocals with a KICK ASS band. They have this every Monday night at Arlene's ).

The guitarist ^  of the karaoke band is out of this world good. He's from Northern Ireland and has a very charming accent by the way (not that it matters, I'm just sayin')

 

I was kinda nervous about having a stand in drummer, I mean, did he even KNOW Back in Black? There were no rehearsals or anything but what the hell, he seemed overly confident, so we went for it. HOLY FUCKING SHIT can this guy play drums. Sigh. It sounded like we had all jammed together for years. He beats the shit out of the drums and the MC even said "that is the loudest fucking drummer I have ever heard in my life" heh heh. It was PERFECT.

Then Tom came on stage, took the mic (audience was now aware of the fact the Foreigner was in the HOUSE) and Tom sang "Hot Blooded" with Brian on drums again. The crowd was creaming their jeans. It was fantastic. I have videos of all this, and will post them ASAP. Again, I am swamped as FUCK. The house drummer was "not amused" at Brian playing two songs, but things got even worse after Brian chugged a few drinks and got antsy, like musicians do (the want to be on stage playing, NOT watching) so Brian went on stage again (without an invite ha ha) with some Mexican dude he made friends with and the dude sang "living on a prayer" by Bon Jovi and Brian, once again, tore it UP! He was PERFECT. I was swooning over his ability to just jump in on any song and NAIL IT. Improv at it's BEST! 

Tour manager/assistant Eric acts as baby sitter/buddy while out with the band ^ 

 

 

;

 Tom and Brooke ^

The band were all impressed that Brooke is an Opera singer. She is also a karaoke DJ on the side. When she sings rock and roll, it's like butter. The girl has amazing PIPES! (her "lungs" are pretty impressive too 😉

Mick ^ founder of the band, is really polite, friendly, calm…great guy!

Tom told us we had to dress REALLY nice as it was a Black Tie affair. He saw us and said "oh Lord! Lay low until the band starts and the lights are low, so all the wives (not wives of the band, wives of the rich business men there) don't freak out. Most of them were wearing what appeared to be prom dresses. ugh.

 

Jeff the Bass player is SUPER cool and is usually the one needing massage the most. 

Info about Jeff:

Jeff Pilson (born in Lake Forest, Illinois, USA) is an American bass guitarist specializing in the heavy metal music genre.

He was a member of popular 1980s heavy metal bands Dokken and Dio. He currently has his own progressive metal group called War and Peace, which was formed in 1993, releasing two albums: 1993's War and Peace and 2004's The Walls Have Eyes. He also works with his ex-Dokken bandmate, guitarist George Lynch in a two-member group called Lynch/Pilson.

He also played in the band Wild Horses (not to be confused with the British band of the same name).

Although he is a renowned primarily for his work as a bass guitarist, Pilson also plays guitar and keyboards.

He played a member of the band Steel Dragon in the 2001 film Rock Star as well as playing on the film's soundtrack.

Pilson is currently the bass player for seventies rock band Foreigner.

 

Tom in action ^

 

As I said, Tom told us that since it was a DELL computer private corporate show, for 400 people tops, we should lay low and let the ol' corporate, rich wives shine. We did….for MOST of the night. During "I want to know what love is" we couldn't take it anymore and slinked onto the dance floor, slowly moving towards the stage. There was A LOT of lighting in the place and it was a small hall, so the band could see EVERYONE on the dance floor. Brooke and I slow danced, DIRECTLY in front of the stage, grinding into eachother, squeezing each others buttocks but never cracking a smile. We gazed into each others eyes and ignored the whole room on purpose just to wind the band up. It was so fucking funny distracting the band with our loving slow dance (have you seen the film The Wedding singer? When Drew Barrymore slow dances with the young boy who grabs her butt the whole time?) – well that's what we were doing. It was hysterical. The band naturally told us ALL about it after, saying how hard it was to concentrate lol. I thought they would be mad at us, but we were tired of behaving for so long. heh heh. 

 

 

Kelly ^ has a slight resemblance to Steven Tyler but I have never told him so. Rock stars hate being compared to other artist. 

Don't know why Brian has that look on his face. He must be tired from the night before- too much karaoke!

 Ahhhhhh, lovin' life 

 

Isn't Brooke cute? 

 

Uh, never seen a white bike like that before. Had to mount it.

After the show we all went to an Irish pub near their hotel as the Hotel Bar was lame as fuck and closed early. It's NYC, the place that "never sleeps"? I don't think so. Berlin never sleeps. NYC naps. 

Apparently Brooke makes me sweat ^

 

Eric got the karaoke bug too and sang some Chris Isaak for us. 

Brooke and Mike Bluestein Foreigner keyboardist ^  has a hell of a resume'

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 May 17th, 2008 (look how long it takes me to blog now a days)

Over the two days we hung with the band, they grew to LOVE my driving (and my JBL speakers/sound system) in my car. Some of them preferred to have me drive them to and from rather than hired vans. HEH! My stereo by the way, was louder than the gig. The band was tight as FUCK but the acoustics in that hall are crap. Lots of echo…so the band had to keep it down a bit. But I doubt they cared, corporate gigs (DELL) always pay well 😉

If the band is heading your way, you should try to catch their show. I have seen over 3,000 shows and they are one of the tightest bands live, ever. 

x

 

Thu 05/15/08 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre

Fri 05/16/08 Westbury, NY North Fork Theatre At Westbury

Thu 05/22/08 Visalia, CA Visalia Fox Theatre

Fri 05/23/08 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center For The Arts

Sat 05/24/08 Stateline, NV Harrah's Tahoe

Sun 05/25/08 Stateline, NV Harrah's Tahoe

Fri 05/30/08 Torrington, CT Warner Theatre appearing with Bryan Adams

Tue 07/15/08 Augusta, ME Augusta Civic Center

Fri 07/18/08 Portsmouth, VA Ntelos Wireless Pavilion

Sat 07/19/08 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Sun 07/20/08 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park

Tue 07/22/08 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Mem. Arena

Thu 07/24/08 Selma, TX Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Fri 07/25/08 The Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Sat 07/26/08 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Centre appearing at "Alhambra Summer Jubilee"

Sat 08/02/08 Alhambra, CA Downtown South Second Street 

Fri 08/22/08 Detroit, MI Renaissance Center

Fri 08/29/08 Woodstock, VA Shenandoah County Fair

Sat 08/30/08 Atlantic City, NJ Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort

Wed 09/17/08 Livermore, CA The Concerts At Wente Vineyards

Fri 09/19/08 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery

Sat 09/20/08 Primm, NV Star of the Desert Arena