Make-A-Wish sends me to the Greek for a great weekend of music
I am proud to be a volunteer for The Make-A-Wish Foundation. Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy! I encourage any readers to donate money or your time to making a dream come true.
Music is my passion so when Jon at Make-A-Wish offered the volunteers tickets to the Greek Theater, I jumped on the opportunity to fill a couple of seats for Friday with The Emotions, Keith Sweat and The Gap Band featuring Charlie Wilson. I was also given the opportunity to attend Sunday night's concert with Phil Lesh and Friends (Phil Lesh was the Bass player for the Grateful Dead). Vermont's Grace Potter and the Nocturnals opened for Phil. Grace is from Vermont and rocked it, especially since the sun was still up at 5:30pm when her set began.
Friday night I met up with DJ and Actor 'World Wide' Webb mid-way through the show to witness The Gap Band in action. Hot, flashy dancers, the showmanship of Charlie Wilson and MANY hits including 'Outstanding' and 'Early in the Morning' made for an enjoyable evening on a cool California night. The stage antics reminded me of Morris Day and The Time and the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. My guess is The Gap Band pulled from JB and The Time may very well have pulled from The Gap Band.
Charlie Wilson's good friend, Snoop Dogg, took the stage toward the end of the song "I don't Believe You Wanna Get Up and Dance (oops upside)" while they all sang "Snoops upside your head"... They continued with Snoop's new single: "Sensual Seduction" and ended the show with "What's My Name? (Snoop Doggy Dogg). It was fun but I found it a bit strange that The Gap Band did not close their set with "You Dropped A Bomb" or the wedding favorite "Party Train". Charlie was looking at his watch and I know the Greek management is very strict about their noise curfew so perhaps they simply ran out of time?
It was great to catch up with Webb and hear about all the movie and music projects he has cooking! Watch out for him... he's gonna blow up!
Keith Sweat did a great job and reminded me how many R&B hits ("Make It Last Forever", "I Want Her" and "Nobody") I used to play back in the day. Bobby Brown made a brief appearance to sing some back-up vocals with Keith. He let the audience know that they shared a friendly rivalry in the early 90's as each were appearing on the Billboard Charts frequently.
Sunday at the Greek found me meeting up with DJ/Drummer Keith for a night of 'jam rock'. Shows featuring ex-Grateful Dead musicians and 'Jam' artists are probably the most fun you will ever have at a concert. You just let yourself go and dance all night! Great vibes and of course, a lot of Grateful Dead favorites. Keith currently plays in two rock bands: Watson 66 and The Harbingers. He also has a jazz trio available for private events.
Thank you, Jon at Make-A-Wish for a great weekend of classic music and a re-education for DJ Peace.
Music is my passion so when Jon at Make-A-Wish offered the volunteers tickets to the Greek Theater, I jumped on the opportunity to fill a couple of seats for Friday with The Emotions, Keith Sweat and The Gap Band featuring Charlie Wilson. I was also given the opportunity to attend Sunday night's concert with Phil Lesh and Friends (Phil Lesh was the Bass player for the Grateful Dead). Vermont's Grace Potter and the Nocturnals opened for Phil. Grace is from Vermont and rocked it, especially since the sun was still up at 5:30pm when her set began.
Friday night I met up with DJ and Actor 'World Wide' Webb mid-way through the show to witness The Gap Band in action. Hot, flashy dancers, the showmanship of Charlie Wilson and MANY hits including 'Outstanding' and 'Early in the Morning' made for an enjoyable evening on a cool California night. The stage antics reminded me of Morris Day and The Time and the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. My guess is The Gap Band pulled from JB and The Time may very well have pulled from The Gap Band.
Charlie Wilson's good friend, Snoop Dogg, took the stage toward the end of the song "I don't Believe You Wanna Get Up and Dance (oops upside)" while they all sang "Snoops upside your head"... They continued with Snoop's new single: "Sensual Seduction" and ended the show with "What's My Name? (Snoop Doggy Dogg). It was fun but I found it a bit strange that The Gap Band did not close their set with "You Dropped A Bomb" or the wedding favorite "Party Train". Charlie was looking at his watch and I know the Greek management is very strict about their noise curfew so perhaps they simply ran out of time?
It was great to catch up with Webb and hear about all the movie and music projects he has cooking! Watch out for him... he's gonna blow up!
Keith Sweat did a great job and reminded me how many R&B hits ("Make It Last Forever", "I Want Her" and "Nobody") I used to play back in the day. Bobby Brown made a brief appearance to sing some back-up vocals with Keith. He let the audience know that they shared a friendly rivalry in the early 90's as each were appearing on the Billboard Charts frequently.
Sunday at the Greek found me meeting up with DJ/Drummer Keith for a night of 'jam rock'. Shows featuring ex-Grateful Dead musicians and 'Jam' artists are probably the most fun you will ever have at a concert. You just let yourself go and dance all night! Great vibes and of course, a lot of Grateful Dead favorites. Keith currently plays in two rock bands: Watson 66 and The Harbingers. He also has a jazz trio available for private events.
Thank you, Jon at Make-A-Wish for a great weekend of classic music and a re-education for DJ Peace.
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