By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
The Sixties Show
If you grew up with the music and the vibes of the 1960s or if you’re a later day fan of that era, there is a show coming to the Colonial Theater (227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, thecolonialtheatre.com/events) on September 30 that you don’t want to miss — The Sixties Show.
The Sixties Show is a high energy trip back in time that reminds the audience how uniquely inspirational, entertaining, and historically significant were the music and events of the 1960’s.
The band features Craig O’Keefe (Co-Founder, Producer, Musical Director, Bass, Lead and Backing Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards), Jim Boggia (Guitar, Lead and Backing Vocals, Piano), Tom Licameli (Co-Founder, Producer, Multimedia Director, Guitar, Lead and Backing Vocals, Piano), Scott Devours (Drums), Peter Chiusano (Keyboards, Orchestration) and John Cardone (Bass, Backing Vocals).
“We play Beatles, Stones, Who, Motown, poppy stuff like the Monkees, Buffalo Springfield, Burt Bachrach and classics like ‘Wichita Lineman’ and ‘Everybody’s Talking,’” said Boggia, during a phone interview Monday from his home in Philadelphia’s Powelton area.
The band is widely celebrated and known for playing note-for-note recreations of the hits, B-sides and deep album cuts from the greatest songs of the 1960’s. All of the music is performed live, with no samples, backing tracks or prerecorded music of any kind.
“I joined the band in 2014,” said Boggia, who is a highly regarded veteran in the Philadelphia music scene. “They had been going four-to-five years prior.
“This is a group of musicians who love that music. We were musicians informed by that music. Now, we’re playing the music that we love and bringing it to the people.”
Boggia performs with the well-known New York City-based Beatles tribute band, the Fab Faux, as well as Mad Dogs & Dominos, an 18-piece collective headed by a heavyweight roster that includes Blues Brothers alum Lou Marini and producer John Leventhal.
“I was born in 1964 on the day that ‘Can’t Buy Me love’ came out,” said Boggia. “I was destined to have a Beatles influence in my life. ‘Hey Jude’ in 1968 confirmed it.”
In addition to the concert experience, The Sixties Show is full multi-media Broadway type production that is powerfully dramatized by a combination of time travel special effects, narration, 60’s archival audio and newsreel footage, and a light show.
“If it’s 60’s, we like it,” said Boggia. “There’s a lot of news footage and clips and promotional films. It’s a really nice contextualization. It takes you back to the 60’s. In 1964, everything changed here after changing in England in 1963.
“In this show, we play two sets with an intermission. It’s not chronological. We do it to make the show flow based on the pacing of the set.
“For the set list, Craig and the whole band make the choices. The show keeps evolving. Every four months we shuffle three or four songs in and three or four out.”
The members of The Sixties Show have performed and recorded with Paul McCartney, The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, The Bee Gees, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and other legends.
O’Keefe honed his musical prowess on the L.A. scene — writing, touring and recording with several L.A. bands, most notably Hal Lovejoy Circus and Annapurna. He was also the co-founder of Echoback.
Licameli is the guitarist and songwriter of Knockout Drops from New York City. He is also involved with Mad Staggers, Turbo Tribeca Music Community, New York Roots Music Association and is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music.
Devours played drums for The Who in 2013 which included their celebrated 2013 Quadrophenia Tour in the U.S. and Europe. He has also been the drummer for the Who’s Roger Daltrey since 2009. He has also performed and/or recorded with Oleander and the Eagles’ Don Felder.
Chiusano studied classical piano at Stony Brook University and continued his education studying jazz with Andy Laverne.
Because of his understanding of 1960’s period music and arrangements, the Mellotrons and Moogs, the Hammond B3, Vox Continental and Farfisa organs, the Hohner, Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos are all faithfully reproduced with state-of-the-art gear and performed with the most accurate authenticity.
Cardone, in addition to playing bass in The Sixties Show, also plays in several different projects to keep his musical appetite satisfied, most notably with John Ford, a founding member of the English rock group The Strawbs.
Parker has spent time as Bob Dylan’s drummer and was the Saturday Night Live Band Drummer from 1986-1992. C He has also toured and performed with Paul Simon, James Brown, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Todd Rundgren, Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, Judy Collins, Peter Paul and Mary and Cher – to name just a few.
Boggia has released three solo studio albums – “Fidelity Is the Enemy” (2001), “Safe in Sound” (2205) and “Misadventures in Stereo” (2008). The list of artists with whom he has worked includes Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Bernadette Peters, David Poe, Big Al Anderson, Tony Asher, Wayne Kramer, Emitt Rhodes, and Amanda Marshall.
“I’m starting to do my own shows again in December, including a show at the Living Room in Ardmore,” said Boggia. “I’m getting back to doing my own original stuff. And I’ll be recording with Joan Osborne.”
Boggia has been acclaimed for his ukulele playing – including his “Bruce Off-Broadway show in which he plays Springsteen songs on the ukulele.
Boggia developed his interest in ukulele almost by chance.
“I was dating a woman in New York and there was no guitar in her apartment,” said Boggia. “But she had a ukulele.
“When I held it, it reminded me of when I played classical guitar when I was five. I had small hands and could only do four of the strings. So, I started playing the ukulele and fell in love with it instantly.
“I’m playing fingerstyle uke. I treat it like a small classical four-string guitar. I’m playing rock tunes, pop tunes Bachrach tunes and show tunes. The ukulele has such a gentle tone.”
Boggia grew up in Michigan and moved to Philadelphia in the mid-1980s.
“I found a job with Ensoniq, a keyboard company,” said Boggia. “I worked there for nine years and then started making music full-time in 1996. I started out playing open mic nights. My first booked gig was at the Tin Angel opening for Kirsty McCool, a great British singer who tragically died a few years later.”
The Sixties Show band uses a state-of-the-art sound system but only plays authentic 1960’s period vintage and reissue vintage gear and instrumentation — just like original artist’s and original recordings. This combined with genuine 1960’s mod attire that the band wears only add to the meticulous detail and authenticity of this popular and powerful theater show.
“What we try to do is have a nice balance between hits of the 60’s and also those moments where people say – ‘I remember that.’” said Boggia.
Video link for The Sixties Show – https://youtu.be/FVxWsHj3sMk.
Video link for Jim Boggia — https://youtu.be/cXuT_WJveZU.
The show at the Colonial Theater will start at 8 p.m.
Ticket prices start at $25.
There are many tribute bands around – bands dedicated to a specific era and bands paying homage to music groups/artists.
There could very well be a tribute band for Grammy Award winner Blues Traveler.
Blues Traveler is a band that has been around since 1987. It is a band whose album, “four,” peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 charts and generated two Top 40 hits including “Run-Around” and “Hook” (which charted at #8 and #23 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100). “Run-Around” also earned the band their first Grammy Award in 1996 for “Best Rock Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group” and set a record upon its release as the longest-charting radio single in Billboard history.
But there is no need for a tribute band for Blues Traveler because the group is still going strong — making albums and touring. Impressively, three of the original four members are still in the band.
On September 30, Blues Traveler is headlining a show at Xcite Center at Parx Casino (2999 Street Road, Bensalem, https://www.parxcasino.com/bensalem/xcitecenter).
Blues Traveler’s 2022 line-up features original members John Popper – lead vocals, harmonica; Chan Kinchla – guitar; and Brendan Hill – drums. The group also includes Tad Kinchla on bass since 1999 and Ben Wilson, on keyboards since 2000.
“We’ve been together since 1987 and still have three of the original members,” said Chan Kinchla, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from a tour stop in Mystic, Connecticut.
“The other original – Bobby Sheehan – died in 1999 and my brother Tad took over on bass. Then, we added a keyboard player for the first time in 2000 – Ben Wilson. The current line-up is opur longest.
“We’ve been on tour since May with a few weeks off in September and we’ll be out until November. We’ve been happily at it.
“We packed a lot into 2022. It’s so much different than the year previous. My son – like so many Gen Z people – said the time went fast because nothing happened.”
For most of us, time went slowly because the pandemic shutdown eliminated live shows, caused venues to close and made normal living impossible.
“I enjoyed the pandemic because I got to sit around in my room playing guitar and practicing,” said Kinchla. “I hadn’t done that since I was 16.
“It sucked not being able to work for a year. It was the first year the Blues Traveler was off the road in over 30 years. It took a global pandemic for us to stop touring. But it did give us a chance to reset and come back stronger.
“When the pandemic hit, the tour for our ‘Hurry Up and Hang Around’ album was winding down. We didn’t do Livestream shows during the pandemic because shows like that really aren’t our thing. We did go and make a record.”
“Traveler’s Blues” was Released on July 30, 2021. The album features covers of classic blues songs and features Crystal Bowersox, Wendy Moten, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Rita Wilson, John Scofield, Warren Haynes, The War and Treaty, Mickey Raphael, and Keb’ Mo’.
According to Kinchla, “Blues Traveler is not just a band; it’s a lifestyle. Blues Traveler is our life’s work. It’s enabled us to do so many other things. This little tribe we built in New York during the late eighties has survived all the way through—plus or minus some dearly departed brothers and sisters.
“It’s empowered us to be creative, make people happy, and travel around spreading some good vibes. The longer we do it, the more we like it. Now, thanks to our latest album, people know we can actually play the blues too.”
Even though the band had ‘blues’ in its name, it never had made a blues album – until 2021.
“We had been talking about doing a blues record,” said Kinchla. “We all went to Nashville in September 2020 and holed up in a studio. We tested and stayed in a bubble.
“It shows on the record. We were all so happy to be able to play and hang out. We left all the spots for guests and then exchanged file via the internet. Kingfish did his parts in his kitchen at home.
“Everyone stepped up their on-line game. The foundation we did in the studio were all live takes. When we added the guest parts, it sounded like they were done in the studio.
“We’re going back in the studio in February and March in Nashville. This one will be R&B and soul re-interpretations – “Traveler’s Soul.’”
When Blues Traveler performs this weekend in Bensalem, the band will be performing just 29 miles from where they started 35 years ago – Princeton, New Jersey.
The genesis of Blues Traveler was as a high school garage band formed in Princeton in the mid-1980s. Popper and Hill formed a group they called The Establishment (later renamed Blues Band) with Hill’s brother on bass and a rotating roster of guitarists.
The group added guitarist and football player Chan Kinchla. Although he was a promising athlete, Kinchla decided to commit to playing music instead after a knee injury. Popper met Sheehan and the two became good friends, with Sheehan becoming the new bass player for Blues Band in 1987.
The quartet held a basement jam session (later christened The Black Cat Jam) which spawned the core grooves for several songs on their first album. A black cat happened to be nearby, and the group took this as a sign and adopted the Black Cat as their mascot figure.
The group changed the name to Blues Traveler, taking the latter part from the name of the primary demon in the film Ghostbusters, Gozer the Traveler.
“Princeton was a nice place to grow up,” said Kinchla, who lived in New York for 10 years after graduating from Princeton High School before relocating to the Studio City area of Los Angeles.
“The town was really nice. My dad was a professor at Princeton University. I played lacrosse and football at Princeton High. I still have my Little Tigers uniform.
“Princeton High had a great music department including a great music room. That’s where me and John and Brendan met every day to play.”
The band already toured in support of ‘Traveler’s Blues’ last fall.
“Last year, we played the new tracks constantly,” said Kinchla. “We’re still playing a lot of them. Different band members do the set list every night. Every tour, we bring a few covers. We play fan favorites like ‘Run-Around,’ ‘But Anyway,’ and ‘Hook.’ We like to span all 35 years.”
Video link for Blues Travelers – https://youtu.be/3FQRLpOSt6s.
The show on Friday night will begin at 8 p.m. Ticket prices start at $25.
Jamey’s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985,www.jameyshouseofmusic.com)
is the place to go to hear folk, jazz and blues music every Thursday through Sunday.
The “Thursday Night Jazz Jam” and the “Sunday Blues Brunch & Jam” are regular features on Jamey’s calendar while Friday and Saturday night shows feature national and regional acts.
The shows this weekend are Far Trio on September 29 and Neil McGettigan and the Eleventh Hour on October 1.
The shows at Jamey’s on Friday and Saturday will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
The “Thursday Night Jazz Jam” and the “Sunday Blues Brunch & Jam” are regular features on Jamey’s calendar while Friday and Saturday night shows feature national and regional acts.
On September 28, it will be time for the “Thursday Night Jazz Jam” featuring Geraldine Oliver. The Dave Reiter Trio lays down the backing for some out of this world jazz to happen from 8-10 p.m. every Thursday.
Geraldine Oliver
Geraldine (“Geri”) Oliver is a vocalist whose singing reaches deep down and touches your heart, taking you on a journey to a place inside your soul, called “reverie.”
With an uncanny ability to hold you captive, her instrument of voice weaves a lyrical and melodic story that colors the atmosphere with healing hues. Add the live, fluid, dynamism of jazz tones emanating from the band, and you become engulfed in a must hear and must feel, musical mosaic.
Reiter is a long-time jazz pro and is equally at home on the seven-string guitar, Nord keyboard or our top-of-the-line Hammond organ setup. Bill Marconi, whose name is known to jazz aficionados around the world, is on drums. Holding down the bottom on most nights is first-call Philly bassist, George Livanos.
Video link for Philly Blues Kings — https://youtu.be/bAnBVLc7Wsg.
The show at Jamey’s House of Music on October 2 will start at noon. Admission is free.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org) is presenting Better Than Bacon on September 30.
The Sound Bank (119 South Main Street, Phoenixville, www.soundbankphx.com) will have Kandi Jones, The Famous & Fallen and Little Arcana on September 30.
Phantom Power (121 West Frederick Street, Millersville, www.phantompower.net) will have Sponge on October 1 and John Caparulo on October 2.
