AeroVan ReImagined
Photo courtesy of History Channel
When the daily grind of political news gets to us , we retreat to the History Channel ' s American Pickers featuring Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz as they scour the country treasure hunting for vintage relics for their resale business . After nine years of " picking " on their cable TV show , Mike and Frank seem well beyond hawking antiques for a living , but when they " picked " Aerosmith ' s original tour van on a Season 19 episode , Wolfe and Fritz ' s preservation of music history hit a new level of dedication .
American Pickers has featured episodes with Cheap Trick ' s Rick Nielsen , and The Black Keys ' Dan Auerbach discussing and re-selling stage gear , but preserving the tour van goes beyond dabbling in the rehab of a musical instrument . “ It was almost like that [ Aersomith ] van was in the woods waiting for us to rescue it ," Wolfe said .
According to Jolopnik . com , " not much was initially known about the rusted , 1964 International Harvester Metro van , buried in the woods , said the property ’ s owner , identified only as Phil , who told Wolfe and Fritz the vehicle was there when he bought the land .”
After two hours of verifying the whereabouts of the van through a series of calls and mobile photos sent to Auerbach and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry , original band member ( circa 1970 ) Ray Tabano confirmed the authenticity of what appears to be a milk delivery truck in a former life . Tabano recalled the band ’ s early days where “ we ’ d drive from Boston up to New Hampshire for $ 125 ,” he said , referring to the pay for the band ’ s gigs at the time . “ Then after the gas , the tolls , and the food and back , we ’ d all make like $ 3 apiece .”
After some haggling , Wolfe and Tabano agreed on a sale price of $ 25,000 . Once some preservation and repairs go into the vehicle , it wouldn ’ t be surprising to see the van parked at the Rock N ’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland , or at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas one day . The episode can be seen on YouTube , the History Channel ' s website or on your local cable or satellite provider .
09 • 2018
Chvrches in Motion
Photo Curt Baran
We ’ re living in a time where John Lennon and Yoko Ono ’ s late ' 60s message of “ Give Peace a Chance ” resonates more than ever . Now Lennon ’ s musical and life partner Ono has decided to re-release their 1972 Utopian themed film again .
Imagine has been restored frame-by-frame , from the original reels with the audio remix by triple Grammy Award-winning engineer , Paul Hicks . It is accompanied by 15 minutes of never-before-seen extras including studio footage of John and his band ( including George Harrison , Nicky Hopkins from the Rolling Stones , Alan White from Yes and Klaus Voormann ) performing " How Do You Sleep ?" and " Oh My Love " in a specially created Dolby Atmos surround sound " raw studio " mix that puts you in the center of the recording studio while the band play live ."
The album , originally recorded by Phil Spector , is also getting a new life . Geffen and UMe announced an extensive new reissue of John Lennon ‘ s iconic 1971 album , Imagine , set to release on October 5th . The new Imagine box set will include 140 tracks spread over four CDs and two Blu-rays including rare outtake recordings , previously unreleased demos , isolated recording track elements , and much more . In addition to the deluxe box set ’ s audio element , Imagine — The Ultimate Collection will include a lengthy book about the making of the album .
Engineer Paul Hicks explains . " Yoko was very keen that these Ultimate Mixes should achieve three things – to be totally faithful and respectful to the originals , be generally sonically clearer overall and should increase the clarity of John ’ s vocals . It ’ s about John ’ she said . And she was right . His voice brings the biggest emotional impact to the album ."
A film screening is planned at Chicago ' s Music Box Theatre , date TBD .
Old Friends
John Lennon
Vinnie Vincent
L to R : Chvrches sponsored Whitburn Football Club and Lauren Mayberry
One of the surprisingly good sets at Lollapalooza 2018 featured Scottish electro-rockers Chvrches . We never cared much for their records , but the band ’ s late afternoon set proved what a formidable live band they ’ ve become . Even more surprising is that the band has chosen to sponsor a Scottish Junior football ( soccer ) club ’ s away jersey .
The team hooked up with the band through the father of band member Iain Cook . Whitburn Football Club secretary Ann Haddow told the Scottish Sun : “ One of our supporters , Robert Cook , does an awful lot for the club . His son Iain is in the band , and he had asked him if they were interested in sponsoring us ."
According to the newspaper , “ Now supporters of the band are clamoring to get their hands on the East Superleague team ’ s kit [ uniform ] after singer Lauren Mayberry ’ s fan club tweeted about their link to the club . The West Lothian team have now had inquiries from new supporters around the world including South America ."
British bands have a long history of supporting their soccer teams , including New Order , whose “ World In Motion ” single famously powered England ’ s World Cup team in 1989 . Now Chvrches is taking their support to a hometown grassroots level .
Photo courtesy of Backstage Axxess
Middle period Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent is scheduled to play his first live shows in 30 years at Graceland in Memphis . The shows will start with an acoustic set , followed by an intermission , and then a full shred electric set . In addition to special guest Robert Fleischman , original vocalist for the Vinnie Vincent Invasion , who will be joining Vinnie for several songs including " Back On The Streets ," there will be more special guests , to be announced soon , according to Blabbermouth . net .
Early MTV video star and ' 80s rocker Aldo Nova is releasing new music for the first time in 20 years . His new record , 2.0 ., offers re-recordings of six tracks from his debut album ( including his biggest hit “ Fantasy ,“) and one new song , “ I ’ m a Survivor .” The new album is Aldo ’ s first since Nova ’ s Dream , according to ultimateclassicrock . com . Nova ’ s personal tragedy inspired the album . “ During the time that I was working on 2.0 , my wife was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer ,” Nova explained in a press release . “ I managed to finish the album right before she passed away on Christmas Day . I still was able to take care of every doctor ’ s appointment , every chemo treatment . I was cooking and cleaning , and at night I worked on my album .”
6 illinoisentertainer . com september 2018