Forget American Idol -- airhead judge Paula Abdul, mediocre singers, awful music (Neil Diamond -- barf!!!), popularity contest not TALENT competition -- and let's talk about a truly cool story about music.
"I never could have dreamed this," says Tommy DeCarlo, 43, Boston's new Brad Delp-channeling frontman, who is taking leave from his credit manager job at a Charlotte Home Depot to perform with the band. "That first gig is going to be something."[...]
"My wife was at her computer playing our tunes, and I asked her whether it was us playing live," [Boston founder Tom] Scholz says. "She said, 'It's some guy in North Carolina singing your songs.' I said, 'I know Brad [Delp]'s voice, and that's Brad.' She turned it up, and only when I heard the backing track did I know it wasn't us."
Scholz flew DeCarlo and his family up for an audition, which led to a Delp tribute show and the tour invite. DeCarlo and the band's other new member, Stryper frontman Michael Sweet, will appear on Boston's next album in early 2009.
So, does Tommy DeCarlo really sound like Brad Delp (who committed suicide last year) or what? Check this out and decide for yourself. As a huge Boston fan growing up, I've got to say, "not bad, Tommy, not bad at all!"
has been played to death on oldies radio
Uh....so where does that leave "More Than A Feeling"? >;)
What hasn't been played to death on oldies radio.
So we see why now the format has, over recent years, split into several offshoots, like classic rock, classic hits, and "adult hits" (think, "Jack"). They're moving away from calling any format "oldies" anymore.
A lot of those songs that were oldies mainstays when I first got started in the format (oh, so long ago) have now migrated to the "stardust" stations. (Think the Platters, Chordettes, "Mr.Sandman, bring me a dream...", Johnny Mathis singing, "Chances Are", Frank and Nancy singing, "Somethin' Stupid", etc.
Anyway......
There's a new-ish take on the format in Charlottesville, a friend of mine does mornings there. It's something the Zapoleon people are pushing as the latest adult "format-in-a-box".
Streaming at www.Generations1023.com.
Santana's "Smooth" was a number one adult contemporary song for an ungodly long period of time, at the same time that Matchbox 20 was hot. GAWD I got sick of that poor guy's voice. It wasn't really his fault, you know......:)
Uh....so where does that leave "More Than A Feeling"?
I just can't listen to it anymore. Maybe it is because I'm not falling into and out of love every other weekend.
He's not as close to Delp as the guy Styx got to front the band is to dennis DeYoung,
THAT guy is downright SPOOKY. Almost indistinguishable.
When it was time for JOURNEY to look for a new lead singer, the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After finding Arnel singing "Faithfully," he knew he had found the perfect frontman."I was frustrated about not having a singer," explains guitarist Neal Schon, "so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, 'he can't be that good.' But he is that good, he's the real deal and so tremendously talented.
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