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workwithcisco

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  • Favorite Dennis DeYoung Song
    Paradise

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  1. I wish I had about $4K on Saturday when they auctioned off the Guitar at KFC with Dennis signing it.
  2. I don't think he had his regular sound group running the show. There were a few times where I noticed he couldnt hear himself, once the Bass guitar was too loud, and during Come Sail Away his keyboards were turned off. I think part of it was due to it being a small set and part of a much larger venue being run by uncoordinated people. I was in the VIP section, so I was right up at the stage, Dennis liked my Roboto shirt too. Chubby Bald dude in a blue shirt flashing Dennis, yep that was me, and got a thumbs up for it too from him. I really think he was there just for supporting the charity and not to be the star of the thing, overall it was a fun night and that's what counts. OTOH, if you are going to tell people who purchased VIP passes that you can get your picture taken with Dennis, and find out that only those that donated $10,000 are able to, you really p1$$3d a few people off. I still got to have a nice chat with Suzanne, and got a few thumbs up from Dennis. One of he guys at my table brought his albums to get signed and he was steamed to find out we couldnt get to meet him, but he was able to after the VIP thing, he just asked Dennis as he left the room and Dennis obliged. If you noticed Dennis holding the Kilroy album during Mr Roboto, that was one of them. Funny, when I talked to Suzanne, she remembered me from when I met them at the Hunchback show, not right away, but when I mentioned my name, and that she replied to a few of my emails, it clicked. They are off to do the 101 Dalmatians show, so there wont be any updates on their site for a while. Hopefully they will post some of the pictures I took of the show that I will be sending them.
  3. Well if you have $80-150 per person, you can see, or actually meet Dennis on the 24th of this month. He will be performing a 1 hour show at the Kids fighting cancer benefit. I am waiting for my tickets to arrive. I splurged and got the $150 VIP tickets, so I get to meet the man again!
  4. Oct 24th, anyone here going? Should be an exciting evening and for a good cause. Kids Fight Cancer Concert
  5. wow if it wasnt for my two little ones I would go to that, but it is too far from me.
  6. AWW Man, you got to see him in a suit and tie, where I only got to see him in jeans. AND you got a picture too! Ahwell I saw the early performance when they were tweaking it and it was very good then, so I can only imagine how much better it was during the premier. Early review I sent them an email and got back a reply too, so I am very happy about the whole thing.
  7. 14 years old, raging hormones and a hot neighbor next door. Thats all I remember about 1977.
  8. Find the one word used the most in Styx songs(and, the, I etc. not included) Bonus point for how many times it is used and in how many songs.
  9. OK found one where the title isnt part of the chorus. What has come between us. Chorus is lovely lady tell me what you feel as a child were you mild does it make it so unreal? lovely lady feel so insecure when you give all yourself how can you be sure?
  10. Can it be done with Dennis and Kevin? Thats what I meant with this thread.
  11. I can do it, but it doesn't quite make it in under 6, or does it. 1. Met Dennis last week at hunchback 2. Met Norm Abrams who worked with Bob Vila 3. Bob villa, worked with Tim Allen on Home improvement 4. Tim Allen starred with Tom Hanks in Toy story 5. Tom Hanks starred with Kevin Bacon in Apollo 13.
  12. Here is my take on it, being a fan since Lady hit WLS. I lost track of the band after they went their ways in the 80's, sort of followed Dennis in his Solo career, didn't follow Tommy, but did grab onto Raised by Wolves when that came about, JY by himself can really rock, he is very good at it. Tommy OTOH, to me sounds like a whiny kid in most of his releases. When Styx played together, the harmony of Dennis and Tommy was the best, they complimented each other, Jy had his deep coarse voice for his songs, John who in my opinion was greatly overlooked as a drummer, when you sit there and listen to him play, it is like magic, to me he was that good. Chuck I believe to be a fairly good bassist, understandably why he never came to the forefront and really come out, he didn't want to "come out". Before TS albums were OK, not great, but OK, once they brought TS on, they really hit their stride, and there isn't a single song from any of the after TS albums that I don't like. When it comes to performing, they are truly spectacular, something I highly attribute to Dennis, especially after seeing the cover band play. Not only did you get to see a rock concert, you got to see a SHOW. I especially liked Caught in the Act, a rock opera. I don't care what anyone thinks of Kilroy, to me that was their best performance. The 90's rolled around and Edge of the Century came out. Tommy was still with Damn Yankees, and when he was with them, that group was good, very good, they worked well together. The Edge album was OK, not great, sort of fit the style of the Styx I knew, but lacked something, Tommy. Again, Dennis did his thing and put out a great song with Show me the way. They kind of faded away after that, then returned with the Return to Paradise tour. Styx was Back! They rocked the place, they put on a show, Yahoo!! Then they came back again with the Grand Illusion Tour (or whatever they called it), I missed that one, but heard it was even better. Rumors of a new album surfaced, I waited in anticipation. It came out, sadly I was disappointed, it sounded too much like a Tommy Shaw album and less of a Styx album. Of course the best songs on it were from Dennis, Goodbye to Roseland is one of my favorites. Then the news that Dennis was ill and wouldn't be touring, then the BS and the split. After that I lost all interest in the band using the name Styx. Before that time, whenever I heard Styx would be on something, I would make sure I set aside the time to watch and record it, but now, I could care less. When I found out Dennis would be performing with an orchestra, I made sure I got tickets to see it, and I was not disappointed!! I saw him perform at the Rosemont Theater and the Coronado in Rockford, in fact I was in the second row stage center orchestra pit. It was the best(until last Saturday) show for me. I then saw him with the music from Styx tour at the house of blues, He was good, the place itself sucked, I prefer to be seated at a concert, and stand when appropriate, that and their so called preferred head of the line if you have dinner there was anything but. We mostly got to see him on a tv screen since we couldnt see past the people in front of us. I got to see him perform again in Rockford when he played at the waterfront, again second row, right in front of the keyboard. It was great. He played to a packed crowd, and it was a great show. When Dennis performed with the Orchestra, it put the music of Styx to a whole new light, made the music come alive again and gave it something I feel it was always missing. Then I happened to be scanning through HDNet and saw Styx briefly. So I searched the website to see what it was about, and it happened to be a concert with a childrens orchestra (riding DDY coat tails?) so I programmed the Tivo and waited. When I had some time I sat there and watched it. I wasn't disappointed, it was exactly what I thought it would be, a TS/JY Cover band doing Styx songs. I don't know who the keyboardist is, or care, but he totally ruined the songs he sang, and thankfully didn't sing Lady. Todd is an OK drummer, but for me just not good enough to take over the sticks from John, he tends to favor one drum in particular and it doesn't fit the music. When John played, you didn't hear one particular drum all the time, you heard them all, and basically thats not what I get when Todd plays. So to sum it up, Dennis can carry on all by himself, JY can carry on by himself, to a point, but Tommy, I don't think he can without backup. Put the three of them together and they make a great band, TS and JY, make a decent cover of Styx, but without Dennis, it just isn't Styx anymore. From the May 10th performance of Hunchback, it was just further proof that Dennis can carry his own weight, cant say the same for the other two.
  13. I haven't seen any recent posts since May 9th, so here goes possibly the first review since its preview opened. I wont go into great detail about the show, I want those who can to see it for themselves. I arrived early so I could get parking(Yeah Right), after driving around a few times I opted for Valet parking, so I got into the theatre early, got our tickets and waited for them to let us in to be seated. While I was waiting I happened to be looking int he right direction at the right time and got a shock to the system when out walks the man himself. At first I didn't quite recognize him, since every time I have seen him he is wearing a nice suit. He was in jeans and denim shirt. He turned as he walked out, and looked right at me, I think my jaw left a dent in the floor. Later I saw Suzanne walk out, and got a chance to say hello to her, she smiled and returned the greeting, so far my night is going better than expected. They line us up to be seated, and a few minutes later they let us in. The stage is small, basically the entire theater can fit on the stage of the Coronado in Rockford. We find some seats, it is my wife and my mom with me, we are all Dennis fans, we are about 4 row back, there are about 6 or 7 rows of seats across the middle with seating on either side of the two aisles. Like I said it isn't a very large theater. Seated two rows behind us is Suzanne, and behind that row of seats is the main lighting control board, Dennis was back there doing his thing. I was a bit surprised he didn't address the audience, but I guess he was a bit busy getting things together, these first few shows are warm ups before opening night, I didn't mind being a guinea pig. The show starts with a story teller coming out to get things started, then Jeremy Rill comes out playing the part of Frollo. His voice fits the music perfectly, he sings Who will love this child better than Dennis can, a deep, strong voice that fits the song well. The Play progresses to the Gypsy scene and the actors come out from behind the audience and down the aisles, bringing some of the audience members into the play as they offer to sell them trinkets. Michael Harnichar comes out playing the part of Gudule, His acting was fairly good through out, a few of the songs he was a bit lite on, his voice didnt carry quite well. Esmerelda, played by Dana Tretta, comes out singing and dancing, and performed very well. As a group the actors performed the songs and routines with style and perfection. The actor who plays Quasimodo, I am unsure which one actually performed, as there are two of them, they look similar and I only got to see his face when they took their bows, but whichever one it was, did an outstanding job, sang all the songs to perfection, made you feel for him with your heart. James Rank, who plays Phoebus, also does a fine performance, his voice fitting the songs quite well. The show ran at least 2 1/2 hours, but goes quickly, when the 10 minute intermission came up, it was after 9 PM, and we were like, its that time already? As the second half started, Quasimodo sings Beneath the moon, with some new lyrics. In fact quite a few of the songs had the lyrics changed from the CD songs, and there are a few more than are on the CD. Those of you who know pieces of Eight songs will get a kick out of this, All Hail to the Swords of the King! Those of you who know the story of Esmerelda and Quaimodo know she gets hung, well, Dana plays a very convincing dead woman at the end. Overall, the music is wonderful, the story fantastic and left us a bit emotional at the end, the acting was great, and finally people who can SING!!! The voices are in harmony, something I have always liked about Styx was the harmony between Dennis and Tommy, how their voices complimented each other, and here we have a whole ensemble of voices that are in perfect harmony. The only flaws, mind you this is a preview show to work out bugs, was the lighting was off a bit, and the timing of some scenes, specifically the bell ringing. This is a must see for all Dennis fans, and for anyone who enjoys musicals and plays. I hope some day that this show goes on to a bigger and better stage, or even to a movie screen, it is that good. Now for the best part of the night, as the place emptied out, Dennis was with his wife and some members of the production crew, I stopped by him, and said Mr. Deyoung?, he turned to me, smiled and said hello, I got to shake his hand and his wifes hand and tell him what a wonderful job he did, the show was awesome. Not only did I get to see a great show, put together the music to the story of a CD I have been listening to for years, I got to meet the man behind it and talk to him. Dennis has been an idol to me for 30 years, and last night it all came together. BTW, when we left, my car was parked right in front of the theater, how much better can it get!
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