This is something we do every year, around this time. A Gala event marking the awards ceremony for the best performers with Holiday Inn Resorts – every year the organizer, John Sutherland, outdoes himself!
This year we have:
Steve Smith (from the Nakeds)
Tavares
Jody Watley
Emerson Hart (Tonic)
Ed Roland (Collective Soul)
John Cafferty (Beaver Brown Band)
Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult)
Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind)
We WERE supposed to have John Rzeznik from the GooGoo Dolls, but he had to cancel at the last minute, due to Pneumonia. SO, our beloved Mark McGrath stepped in at the last minute!
We all fly in the night before, set up & sound check, before heading to the Palm for a huge cast & crew dinner.
Gig day itself starts really early. We have so much music to get through! This is a gig I go into training for. Quite seriously! By the time the day is over I will have basically played drums for over 9 hours! Sound check & rehearsal is 6 hours, head downstairs for a bite to eat then we dash back to the hotel, shower, change, and then it’s the 3 hour performance! I’m not sure where we all get the energy for the show itself. I must admit that I am pretty-much spent by showtime.
But each year it’s a huge success, and we somehow pull it off!
