Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Writer's Block

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Friday September 30, 2005

The Greenville Inn

16362 Arch Street

Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Like A Rolling Stone

Like The Stones after Bill Wyman's exit, The BackUp Band has decided on a similar approach to the bass spot now that Craig Clasen has left the band. The BackUp Band, as an established entity, feels that it can have the luxury to pick and choose from an available pool of freelance bass players for any given gig.

We have recently played with some awesome bass players including Dave Huddleston, James Gatewood and Joe Russo, but my personal preference would be to take the approach of say, Weather Report who replaced Alphonse Johnson with Jaco Pastorius; or The Sex Pistols, who replaced Glenn Matlock with Sid Vicious; in other words, hire a permanent replacement (although one could argue that neither Jaco nor Vicious were exactly "permanent").
Anyway, I am outnumbered, and in The BackUp Band, the majority rules (on occasion), so freelance a la The Stones is the decision for now. This month on Friday, September 30 at The Greenville Inn, it will be the talented James Gatewood handling bass duties and we are all looking forward to it.
Later!
Keith
Lowly Keyboardist and assistant to the Assistant Marketing Director
The BackUp Band of Cleveland, Ohio LLC (c) 2005

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Tom Shaper & The Mature Individuals

Last Friday, September 2nd, BackUp Band guitarist Tom Shaper opened the show for Chicago Bluesman, Carey Bell at The Beachland Ballroom. The band, Tom Shaper and the Mature Individuals, was made up of Tom on guitar and vocals along with myself on keyboards, Joe Alessandro on drums, James Gatewood on bass, and a last minute unexpected but welcome addition of Neon Don Buchanan on guitar.

Tom did a great job leading the band through a short but energetic set mixing traditional New Orleans music and blues. Tom has visited New Orleans countless times and feels a close affinity with the city. The damage and destruction has had an effect on us all, and especially Tom. The music was a tribute to the City.

Special thanks to Gail, Loralai (sorry for the spelling), Ann Marie, Lauren and the gang for coming out and supporting us.


Headliner, Carey Bell and his band, The King Bees, played a couple of great sets of harmonica inflected Chicago style blues. Overall, it was a great night at The Beachland. For those of you who have not been there, it is a great venue for both national and local live music.

As usual, The BackUp Band will be at The Greenville Inn, Chagrin Falls on Friday, September 30th.
PS: Anyone with digital photos of the Beachland Show, please email them to me at thebackupband@aol.com for posting on this site.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

In Memory of Darrell Campbell

I know this is supposed to be a blog about The BackUp Band, but today I awoke to the news that my good friend, Darrell Campbell, had passed away at the age of 50 after a long battle with various health issues.

Darrell was kind and loving. He cared most about his wife Virginia, his family and his friends. He was a great lead singer and charismatic frontman of our band, Northstar, back in college at Kent State University in 1977 and 1978.

After college, I had lost contact with members of Northstar until my drummer, Mike Conwell, located me on the internet in the late 90's. Thanks to Mike, I have enjoyed great friendships that at one time seemed lost.

I hadn't seen or spoken to Northstar trumpeter, arranger and band leader, Dan McCarthy in 15 years. This morning he called to reminisce about the great memories of Darrell and the band. It was great talking to Dan; its just a shame that it took the loss of a friend to bring us back in touch. Darrell was always good at bringing people together.

Even with his declining health, his attitude was great. Darrell was always coming up with ideas for future musical projects and shows.

I was lucky to know Darrell. I will hold on to all the great memories. I can barely think to write this, and my words don't even come close to doing him justice. I already miss you, Darrell.