Jack’s Third Show with Billy Idol, Blondie, Devo, The Psychedelic Furs, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister

Saturday, September 27, 2008 - Billy Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X. He then embarked on a successful solo career, aided by a series of stylish music videos, making him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens and has a fan base all around the world. Along with Duran Duran, Billy Idol was one the first pop/rock artists to achieve massive success in the early ’80s due to a then brand-new U.S. television network, MTV. Mixing his bad-boy good looks with an appealing blend of pop hooks, punk attitude, and a dance beats, Idol quickly rocketed to stardom, before hard living derailed his career and almost proved fatal.

Blondie was the most commercially successful band to emerge from the much vaunted punk/new wave movement of the late ’70s. The group was formed in New York City in August 1974 by singer Deborah Harry (b. July 1, 1945, Miami), formerly of Wind in the Willows, and guitarist Chris Stein (b. Jan. 5, 1950, Brooklyn) out of the remnants of Harry’s previous group, the Stilettos.  In August, Chrysalis Records bought their contract from Private Stock and in October reissued Blondie and released the second album, Plastic Letters. Blondie expanded to a sextet in November with the addition of bassist Nigel Harrison (born Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, England), as Infante switched to guitar. Blondie broke commercially in the U.K. in March 1978, when their cover of Randy and the Rainbows’ 1963 hit “Denise,” renamed “Denis,” became a Top Ten hit, as did Plastic Letters, followed by a second U.K. Top Ten, “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear.” Blondie turned to U.K. producer/songwriter Mike Chapman for their third album, Parallel Lines, which was released in September 1978 and eventually broke them worldwide. “Picture This” became a U.K. Top 40 hit, and “Hanging on the Telephone” made the U.K. Top Ten, but it was the album’s third single, the disco-influenced “Heart of Glass,” that took Blondie to #1 in both the U.K. and the U.S. “Sunday Girl” hit #1 in the U.K. in May, and “One Way or Another” hit the U.S. Top 40 in August. Blondie followed with their fourth album, Eat to the Beat, in October. Its first single, “Dreaming,” went Top Ten in the U.K., Top 40 in the U.S. The second U.K. single, “Union City Blue,” went Top 40. In March 1980, the third U.K. single from Eat to the Beat, “Atomic,” became the group’s third British #1. (It later made the U.S. Top 40.) Meanwhile, Harry was collaborating with German disco producer Giorgio Moroder on “Call Me,” the theme from the movie American Gigolo. It became Blondie’s second transatlantic chart topper. Blondie’s fifth album, Autoamerican, was released in November 1980, and its first single was the reggaeish tune “The Tide Is High,” which went to #1 in the U.S. and U.K. The second single was the rap-oriented “Rapture,” which topped the U.S. pop charts and went Top Ten in the U.K. But the band’s eclectic style reflected a diminished participation by its members - Infante sued, charging that he wasn’t being used on the records, though he settled and stayed in the lineup. But in 1981, the members of Blondie worked on individual projects, notably Harry’s gold-selling solo album, KooKoo. The Best of Blondie was released in the fall of the year. The Hunter, Blondie’s sixth and last new album, was released in July 1982, preceded by the single “Island of Lost Souls,” a Top 40 hit in the U.S. and U.K. “War Child” also became a Top 40 hit in the U.K., but The Hunter was a commercial disappointment. At the same time, Stein became seriously ill with the genetic disease pemphigus. As a result, Blondie broke up in October 1982, with Deborah Harry launching a part-time solo career while caring for Stein, who eventually recovered. In 1998, the original line-up of Harry, Stein, Destri and Burke reunited to tour Europe, their first series of dates in 16 years; a new LP, No Exit, followed early the next year. 

Devo (pronounced DEE-vo or dee-VO, often spelled “DEVO” or “DEV-O”) is an American New Wave music group formed in Akron, Ohio in 1973. They are best known for their 1980 hit “Whip It”, which made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their style has been variously classified as punk, art rock and post-punk, but they are most often remembered for their late 1970s and early 1980s New Wave sound which, along with others (such as Gary Numan, Peter Gabriel, and The B-52’s) ushered in the synth pop sound of the 1980s.

The Psychedelic Furs, whose name belies their punk-influenced music, were formed in England in 1977 by brothers Richard Butler (vocals) and Tim Butler (bass), along with saxophone player Duncan Kilburn and guitarist Roger Morris. By the time they released their self-titled debut album in 1980, the group had become a sextet, adding guitarist John Ashton and drummer Vince Ely. That album, featuring Butler’s hoarse voice (the tone of which suggested John Lydon without the sneer) was a bigger hit in England, where it reached the Top 20, than in the U.S.
Talk Talk Talk (1981) did better, reaching the U.S. Top 100 and producing two British singles chart entries, one of which was “Pretty in Pink,” later also a hit in the U.S. when a new version was used as the title song of a film. Forever Now (1982) saw the band reduced to a quartet with the departure of Kilburn and Morris. The rest moved to the U.S., turned to producer Todd Rundgren, and scored a U.S. Top 50 hit with “Love My Way.” Ely then left, and the remaining trio of the two Butlers and Ashton made Mirror Moves (1984), the biggest Psychedelic Furs hit yet.

REO Speedwagon took its name from the REO Speed Wagon, a flatbed truck, manufactured by the REO Motor Car Company. (”R.E.O.” are initials of the company’s founder, Ransom Eli Olds, who also founded Oldsmobile, once a division of General Motors.)REO Speedwagon was formed by students attending the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois in the fall of 1967 to play cover songs in campus bars.

Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from New York City. Their work fuses the shock tactics of Alice Cooper, the rebellious mood of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and the extravagant image of glam rock bands such as New York Dolls and Kiss, notably the makeup. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands. The band is generally categorized as glam metal for their earlier work, although that is a somewhat derogatory label to those in the genre so the band does not consider itself “glam metal”.  Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, CA 92618, Contact: 949.855.8095.

The Mauli Ola Foundation Golf Tournament - “Let’s Get the Kids with CF Surfing”

Mauli Ola Foundation Presents: A day on the links at Monarch Beach Golf Course in beautiful Dana Point, CA, September 3rd (Wednesday), Event Time: 1:00 PM (check in time 12:00 PM).
Thank you for participating in the Mauli Ola Golf Tournament. Our goal is to raise funds to take kids surfing who have cystic fibrosis. The ocean water and air facilitate clearance of mucus from the lungs so people with cystic fibrosis do not need to go to the hospital as much, medication and treatments are reduced and medical costs go down.
Information about the event will be provided on the link below (adobe PDF reader required). If you have any questions about the event, please call 714-369-5464 or email info@mauli-ola.org , Single Entry $250,      Foursome Entry $900, Event Sponsorship $250. 

The Mauli Ola Foundation (MOF) was organized to promote education, awareness of genetic diseases and to increase research for genetic disorders. The MOF raises funds to support programs for kids and adults with life-threatening illnesses and disabilities through social events such as music concerts, sports tournaments, galas, and other great events. We want to provide a direct and immediate option for children with genetic disorders an enjoyable and healthy way of life through natural treatments.

Surf Experience Days For The Kids: Surf Experience Days were created to get kids who have cystic fibrosis out into the ocean water (which is high in saline) and experience what natural therapies can do for their lungs. The exercise and fun they get from these events is truly fantastic. What is even more amazing, kids who have cystic fibrosis respond very well to the salt water environment. The saline in the air and water breaks down the congestion that is in their lungs. This congestion is what causes them to go to hospitals constantly and leads them to have to take lots of medication on daily basis. With salt water treatments, their hospital visits are cut down in half, leading to a healthier and more fulfilling life with fun activities. For more information visit http://www.mauliola.org  

Isaac Hayes - When It All Changed… by Cisco

  I saw “Shaft” when it first came out, in New York, in the winter of ‘71. I didn’t know what it was, other than a private eye movie. In those days, so long as it was a Western or a private eye movie, I’d go see it.
Right from the opening credits, I was hooked. There it was, New York in the winter, just like right outside the door of the Times Square movie house I was slumped in.
And here he came up the subway steps: John Shaft, all cool and Bogie-esque, only now the trench coat was leather. He stalked the mean streets of Manhattan like he owned them.
And pulsing beneath, that ultra-cool, driving, dangerous, soaring, funky-hunky MUSIC.
This was no typical film noir. This was NOW.
Have a look and a listen… Now, truth be known, “Shaft” isn’t really a great film. Richard Roundtree was not - yet - enough of an actor to pull off “cool.” The coolest actors - Mitchum, McQueen, Poitier, Denzel, Sam Jackson - know that, in order to project “cool,” the character has to have an inner-story, something churning under the surface, that they just don’t share with the audience.
Roundtree didn’t know that yet, and while Gordon Parks was one of the greatest photographers who ever lived, that didn’t make him film director enough to get the performance needed from Roundtree.
So Roundtree tried to “act” cool, and cool can’t be acted.
But he was something else that Sidney Poitier hadn’t been during the 60s: Roundtree’s Shaft was angry. One angry black man, and that fitted the temper of the times.
There’s a scene in “Shaft” that nails it. Shaft’s just hoodwinked a couple Mafia thugs in a bar, and turned them over to the cops. One the goom-bahs spits in his face.
Poitier might have glared, or slapped him (see “In The Heat Of The Night”).
Roundtree doesn’t blink. He swings a whiskey bottle and shatters it over the thug’s head.
There was a new bad muthfucka in town, and his name was John Shaft. John Shaft kicked off and locked in an era of black action films that found an audience, white AND black, and in their wake came some fine dramas and film biographies (”Sounder” and “Lady Sings The Blues,” to name but two).
From that era came a flood of films and stars that have, right up to today, given us Sam Jackson and Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Morgan Freeman, Spike Lee and John Singleton, Theresa Rusell and Wesley Snipes and Queen Latifa, among many many others.
And our world and our popular culture is a better place for it.
But I’m here to tell ya, without the music in “Shaft,” the movie might have sunk like a rock.
The music was all Isaac Hayes.
That theme from “Shaft” is nothing short of brilliant. It is THE damnedest combination of old Hollywood, late 60s early-70s funk, and “new” jazz (listen to Miles Davis’s 1969 classic “Bitches Brew,” and you’ll hear the same echoes Isaac adapted to “Shaft”).
Yeah, the lyrics are kinda dumb, but that was part of the fun back then - and still is.
Then came the Academy Awards. Isaac Hayes was nominated for “Best Song” for the theme from “Shaft.”
No way in hell, I thought. The song was a major hit, far too popular, I thought, for Oscar to give it a nod. And besides, the movie wasn’t much.
And dare we say it? Isaac was black.
Then, man, he came rolling out on the stage at the Oscars, behind that funky keyboard, shrouded in a fog of dry ice, with his bullet head, muscles draped in gold chains like Othello ready to rock, those fine lady back-up singers all slinky and set to throw down.
And Isaac Hayes tore the place up - and copped the Oscar.
Isaac Hayes never had a bigger hit than “Shaft.” Doesn’t matter. In an inspired explosion of creativity, with one piece of music, he changed our culture, and it changed our world.
We’ll be listening to his work for a long time.
It don’t get better than that.  RIP, brother.

For more information in Cisco vsiit: http://www.myspace.com/ciscowrites  

Keep LA Running!! TRACK LEGEND MARY DECKER SLANEY NAMED SPOKESPERSON FOR 15TH ANNUAL KEEP LA RUNNING CHARITY 5K RUN/WALK, 10 K RUN

Mary Decker Slaney, America’s greatest middle distance ever, will be the honorary spokesperson and starter of the 15th annual Keep LA Running Charity 5K Run / Walk, 10K Run, Kids Dash, Coastal Bike Ride, and

Mayor’s Mile, Sunday, July 13, at Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey.   Mary will also run the 5K at the event.

The only athlete ever to hold every American record from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, Mary Decker Slaney continues to own the U.S. women’s records in the 1500 (3:57.12, set in 1983), mile (4:16.71 in 1985) and 3000 (8:25.83 in 1985.).

Mary’s greatest international achievement came at the 1983 inaugural World Championships in Helsinki, where she won the 1500 and 3000 meters — a feat that would become known as the “Decker Double” and that helped earn her the title of Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for 1983. A year earlier, she set world records in the mile (4:18.08), 2000m (5:32.7), 3000m indoors (8:47.3), 5000m (15:08.26) and 10,000m (31:35.3, in her first race at that distance), and won the AAU Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the country.

“Little Mary Decker” surprised the world in her 1973 international debut, when she won the 800 meters at a US-Soviet Union meet in Minsk as a pigtailed, 89-pound (40 kg) fourteen-year-old girl.  She became one of the most famous track and field competitors of her era, dominated by runners from Eastern European communist countries.  Over her career, Decker Slaney set 36 national records and 17 official and unofficial world records at various distances.

Clearly one of the greatest female runners in track history, Mary also was one of the unluckiest. She suffered many injuries, had to go through more than 20 surgeries, and never won an Olympic medal. She was favored to win the gold in the 3000 meters at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but collided with a young, inexperienced barefoot runner from South Africa, Zola Budd, who cut her off. Mary fell on the infield, injured her hip and could not resume the race, won by Romania’s Maricica Puica. (Mary was carried off the track by Richard Slaney, a British discus thrower who later became her husband. They live in Eugene and have one daughter, Ashley Lynn, 22.)

Mary came back with a vengeance in 1985. She started the season with        a world best at the Sunkist Invitational indoor meet, then went 14-0 against Budd, Puica & Co. on the European circuit.

For track fans there will never be another one like her – a runner with Jim Ryun’s talent and Steve Prefontaine’s heart.

Decker Slaney joins other track luminaries who have served as spokespersons for Keep LA Running – Carl Lewis, Billy Mills, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Steve Scott, Johnny Gray, Louie Zamperini.

Keep LA. Running, which has grown into one of the most popular distance running events in Southern California, has raised over $800,000 for its beneficiary charities. Keep LA Running is a very special event, benefiting children with cancer, premature born babies and other worthy causes. The event was initiated in 1994 by then SEIU Local 660 L.A. County/Special Districts Employees Emergency Disaster Relief Fund to provide a safety net for L.A. County employees. The Emergency Relief Fund is a 501 (c) (3) not for profit organization (EIN 95-4842244). As the event has grown in profile, popularity and funds generated, it has added new charities - the Pediatric Oncology Service, Women’s and Children’s Hospital of LAC + USC Medical Center; the Harbor UCLA Medical Center Neonatal Ward, and the American Cancer Society.

Keep L.A. Running races are open to everyone, from the serious runner to the first-time participant.  Runners, walkers and bike riders can register online at www.keeplarunning.com   Competitors  can also register by mail to: Keep L.A. Running, c/o Prime Time, PO Box 1009, Twin Peaks, CA 92391 by July 7. For registration information call race director Mike Ward at Village Runner, (310) 546-1888 or the race hotline at (626) 463-0483.

Major sponsors of Keep L.A. Running include co-title sponsors, PacifiCare, Colonial Supplemental Insurance, Kaiser Permanente and American Income Life.  Other top supporters include Trustmark, The Law Offices of Fensten & Gelber, Union Bank of California, Trustmark, Delta Dental, Benefit Vision, United Way, Aflac, Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton of Goldstein, Allstate, and Lewis, Marenstein, Wicke and Sherwin. Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable are media partners of Keep L.A. Running. 

Contact: Don Franken (310) 535-9230; (310) 962-3297; trackla@pacbell.net

Ronny•C Photography - dedicated professional photography services

Ronny•C Photography is dedicated to providing quality professional photography services. Whether it be for modeling, product shots, pictures of your favorite pet, your wedding or any other event, you can count on them to provide stunning images.  As a husband and wife team you get the benefit of two sets of eyes looking out for your best interests. This is great during modeling shoots when you need everything to be just right. During events you get the benefit of a second camera at no extra charge. More angles means more shots and a better chance at capturing those special moments.  They provide top-notch digital equipment, lenses and lighting. Shoots can be done in their studio, or on location. After the shooting is done they bring each shot in for digital post production to make every great shot even better.

Contact: Ronn & Susie Canzano - 626-201-7942 - ronn@ronny-c-photography.com