WMGK proves every time that Southeastern Pennsylvania's Got Talent

My ears were ringing judging this year's 102.9 WMGK House Band Competition. However they were also treated to some high quality live bands in the quest to see who gets selected to represent Philadelphia's classic rock radio station during major events such as the Big Bad Bonfire, Brew Blast and opening for classic rock acts during their annual summer concert. The official house band also gets the coveted prizes of $1,000 of new gear and two days of recording studio time.
So far, advancing to the finals are Taggart, Green Machine, and a band I personally got to witness rise to the cream of the crop, Kategory 5 (Obviously spelling doesn't count).
It's a challenge coming up with a score for vocals, stage presence, crowd reaction (Full disclosure: stupidly over the top fans hurt your score!), musicianship and adherence to/understanding of MGK's playlist.
Each band must play the same assigned song by MGK. That night's was "Desire" by U2. Since I was in a cover band for 6 and a half years, and that was one of our go-to tunes, I paid close attention to each band's reading. I was impressed that all four showed their attention to detail by having a harmonica for the solos at the end.

Party Hat was quite fun, with a set that featured "Back in Black" (AC/DC), a well-executed "Jump" (Van Halen), an inspired version of The Doors' "Break on Through" with the Jim Morrison spoken word "Dead Cats, Dead Rats" -- which unfortunately was spoiled by a drum hardware malfunction --and a song rarely done anywhere -- "One Thing Leads to Another" by The Fixx. They stood out because of their keyboards-forward approach. Would like to know they sequenced The Who's "Baba O'Riley!"

For the record, I LOVED AM Radio. I want their clothes! What ultimately hurt their chances was they leaned classic pop, rather than classic rock.

Before you send hate mail, it's because that I know the difference that MGK keeps asking me to judge. I was in the radio biz 15 years; I know what I'm talking about.

Chester County's Exit Strategy had the unenviable task of following Kategory 5. Here's their rendition of .38 Special's "Hold on Loosely."

My favorite part of their set was a spirited performance of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
Upcoming semi-final rounds are taking place Aug. 11 at Havana in New Hope, and Aug. 18 at Chickies and Pete's near the sports complex in South Philly. The finals are scheduled for Parx Casino the 25th. 8 p.m. is the start time, 7:30 for the finals.

Catching up with former WYSP and WMMR DJ Anita

Once upon a time, radio personalities not only lived in the same metro area that you did (Ahem - Howard Stern, Mario Lopez, Ryan Seacrest, Elvis Duran, Steve Harvey; the list goes on forever), but they were also given the room to have a personality. In Philly, you don't have to go all the way back to Jerry Blavat to find those DJs. In the '80s you had DJs like Anita Gevinson, who did an advice call-in show during her mid-day on-air shift on the old 94 WYSP. "Ask Anita" was such a hit that the station had a promo spoof song about her set to The Cars' "Just What I Needed."


 "I guess I'll just ask Anita/just ask Anita ..." LOL

 Anita has since retired from the radio business, but was tapped by WMGK (where several of her former colleagues are still on the air) to be a judge for their 2014 Houseband Competition. To my surprise, there I was sitting right next to this person that I listened to on the radio in my teens, and thought was the coolest. Working with event emcee Andre "Mr. Beatles" Gardner was an honor, but this was a bonus.

 The above three photos, courtesy of wmgk.com. Andre Gardner took the photo above. Our striking-a-pose judge is long-time Philadelphia concert photographer Tom Collins (not his real name).

Anita's outgoing, bubbly persona has not changed at all in 30 years. She still lives in the area and is working on a screenplay of her 2012 autobiography "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio ... My Wild Rock 'N' Roll Life" (Oooh, nice Joni Mitchell reference).
The cover features Anita's infamous racy photo, where she appears to be naked underneath a bunch of scattered LP records. Presumably it includes her observations about working with rocker Billy Squier as one of the backup singers on his song "Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You."



 "He was so Spinal Tap," said Anita of an episode when somebody caught an angry earful from Squier after bringing him a Tab instead of a Diet Coke. I didn't know they even still made Tab in the '80s, did you?
She mused that Billy Squier never seemed to be enjoying his success, which rapidly dried up after 1984.
She also raved about how great the Espy Awards were going to be because of Drake, made some hysterical observations about the fans of one of the Houseband Competition bands, confessed that Googling herself is sometimes embarrassingly unpleasant, and made me crack up laughing a lot.
Well hopefully this sort of changes that part about Google searching her name.
Can't wait to see what a movie version of the book will look like, Anita ... and who plays Warren Zevon.

Philly region bands competing to be WMGK Houseband

Had a great experience judging four cover bands competing for the honor of becoming 102.9 WMGK's next official Houseband. The opening round was held at Malvern's Twenty9 Restaurant.
If you haven't yet heard Mystery Guest, The Paper Shakers, The Tommy Froelich Trio, or Work Release -- who were the victors of Round One -- I recommend going to see all of these talented musicians!

Mystery Guest is from Downingtown. Lead singer Matt Stauffer's natural rasp was great on versions of "Vehicle" (Ides of March, anybody?) and Bob Seger's "Main Street."   




The Paper Shakers, a group of young 'uns from Philadelphia, brought tremendous energy and hipster cool. It hurt to have to judge them on their song selection. "I Fought the Law," "Build Me Up Buttercup, "I Only Want to be With You" and "Johnny B. Goode," are all terrific songs, but you won't hear any of them in MGK's classic rock format.  

 


Hailing from Coatesville, Tommy Froelich and his trio brought some tasty southern rock and blues. Big, powerful sound for just three guys.




And  I wish I could have seen more of Collegeville's Work Release. The enthusiasm of their posse was noteworthy, but distracting at times. Can't deny that the music was very well done though.

  But wait, there's more!!  Round Two is set for July 31 at Havana, 105 S. Main St., New Hope, with Fuzzy Side Up, Reaction, The Outlits and PixieDix. Performing Aug. 7 at the Craft House, 2310 W. Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, N.J., will be Strange brew, iCDC, The Whitewalls and The Pour Boys. Then on Aug. 14 at Big Heads, 1034 Second Street Pike, Richboro, it's Tangled, Some Assembly Required, Parmageddon and Cool With Me.  These are all Thursday nights, and the music happens with no cover charge from 8 to 11.  The finals will be Aug. 21 at Parx  Casino.
Good luck to all the semi-finalists, who will all be vying for $1,000 of new gear, two days of studio recording time and the opening slot of the Let Freedom Rock Festival.

Originator of rock journalism @ Montgomery Mall

Rolling Stone magazine's first chief photographer, Baron Wolman, was in the right place at the right time a lot during the classic rock era.
A story from my conversation with him is coming to The Reporter soon.
Wolman will be signing copies of his remarkable book "The Rolling Stone Years" from 1-5 p.m. Saturday March 31 and Sunday April 1 at the 102.9 WMGK Classic Rock Art Show & Sale at the Montgomery Mall, Routes 309 and 202, Montgomery Township. It's by the Sears lower level entrance, in the spot where Eastern Mountain Sports used to be.
The show opened March 23 and is on view free during mall hours through Sunday. Warning: it's a feast for the eyes, but the merchandise is (of course) pricy.
Here's a sample of how awesome Wolman's work is. There are prints of many of these images for sale.

AC/DC's Angus Young (COPYRIGHT Baron Wolman)

Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane/Starship ... in Girl Scout attire? (COPYRIGHT Baron Wolman)

Ike & Tina Turner (COPYRIGHT Baron Wolman)

Wow! Johnny and June Cash in a candid moment (COPYRIGHT Baron Wolman)

Miles Davis (COPYRIGHT Baron Wolman)

The Who's Pete Townshend in deep thought with a beer (COPYRIGHT Baron Wolman)

The greatest in this world, the next world ...

This image, taken by Linda McCartney, has shown up in the Beatles iTunes TV commercial.

Because I've been an ardent devotee of The Beatles for almost my whole life, the news that their songs are now on iTunes is rather ho-hum. I mean, if you already have "The White Album" on vinyl and CD (you can rip CDs to iTunes and Windows Media Player), what does it matter? Now if bootleg recordings that didn't show up on the Anthology series made it to iTunes -- like they did in the free for all days of Napster -- then they'd have my attention.

Here's something more significant than the iTunes announcement! WMGK-FM is bringing The Beatles -- well, their artwork anyway -- to the Montgomery Mall from Dec. 8-24. We're talking signed pieces, photos, animation, plus related Rolling Stones, Elvis and Bob Dylan memorabilia, and more. "The Art of the Beatles" is free to look at, and all for sale, on the lower level of the mall next to JC Penney from 10-9, 11-6 Sundays.

As my public relations friends Leah Rice and Scott Segelbaum pointed out, 2010 has been an active Beatle year, with Paul McCartney playing two sold out shows in Philadelphia and announcing an appearance on an episode of "Saturday Night Live"; Ringo's All Starr Band making tour stops in Easton and Atlantic City; a Ringo Starr star on the Walk of Fame; the remastering of John Lennon's sometimes maddeningly uneven solo catalog in honor of his 70th birth anniversary; the word that Martin Scorcese is making a film about George Harrison ...

The opening date, Dec. 8, is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder.