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News

Here you will find information and updates on the various activities that I am involved with. The page will scroll down in order of the most recent activities so, if you want to know what I did last summer (I know, cheap play on words!) you'll have to scroll down a bit. I've tried to keep things pretty concise though so it shouldn't be too bad!! Thanks for you interest and support!

Here is the 2006 tour schedule for the Gregg Rolie Band. As you can see, we're just starting to piece it together so check back often for updates as more shows are added!

Date

City

Venue 

Appearing With

March 11 Las Vegas, NV Sam's Town Official NASCAR after race party with special guest appearances by NASCAR Busch Drivers.

April 23

Stockton, CA

Asparagus Festival

TBA

April 28

Manila, Philippines

Araneta Coliseum

TBA

April 29

Angeles City, Philippines

Expo Center

TBA

April 30

Iloilo, Philippines

SM City Center

TBA

May 20

Dallas, TX

Wildflower Arts & Music Festival

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts / Loverboy / Swan Song / Texas Gypsies / Zack King / Howard Starling & the Groove Yard Band

June 3

Sonora, CA

Sierra Hope Ride

TBA

July 1 Beauce, Ontario, Canada Woodstock en Beauce Cheap Trick

July 7

Ionia, MI

Harley Hog Fest

Alice Cooper

July 8

Traverse City, MI

National Cherry Festival

TBA

July 12 Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada Festival International de Blues TBA
July 13 Walker, MN Moondance Jam Alice Cooper / Ted Nugent / Starship (w/Mickey Thomas) / Mountain Ash
July 16 Comstock, NE Comstock Rock Festival Styx / Kansas / ISM
July 19 Charlevoix, MI Charlevoix Venetian Festival Mojo & The Boogieman
July 20 Oshkosh, WI Waterfest Road Trip / Buzz Meade

July 22

Cadott, WI

Rock Fest

Motley Crue / Papa Roach / 10 Years After / Tesla / Cross Canadian Ragweed

August 7

Sturgis, SD

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Steve Miller Band / Cheap Trick / The Fabulous Thunderbirds

August 18

Monterey, CA

Monterey County Fair

TBA
August 19 Las Vegas, NV Cannery Casino TBA

August 25

Elizabeth, IN

Caesar's Indiana

Family Stone Experience

September 28

Culver, IN

Eppley Auditorium

TBA

September 30

Folsom, CA

Folsom Live

TBA

November 4

Seattle, WA

Hope Heart Institute - On The Wings of Hope Gala Fundraiser

Auction & Fundraiser for Hope Heart Institute

Here is the recently completed 2005 tour schedule for the Gregg Rolie Band.

Date

City

Venue 

Appearing With

January 3 - 10

Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Showboat Cruises

Michael McDonald / Tom Scott / Eddie Money / Dom Irrera & many more!

January 16

Las Vegas, NV

Aladdin Hotel & Casino

Styx

January 29 Tampa, FL Gasparilla Pirate Fest  
April 9 Mazatlan, Mexico Private Event  

April 30

Palm Beach, FL

Sunfest

 

May 6, 7 & 8

Orlando, FL

Walt Disney World - Epcot Center

 

May 20

Mesquite, NV

Casablanca Resort

 

May 21

San Jose, CA

Avalon

 

June 9 Oshkosh, WI Waterfest  

June 25

Waukesha, WI

Taste of Summer

Family Stone Experience / Ambrosia / Roger Hodgson (of Supertramp)

June 26

Bottineau, ND

Rockin' The Hills

Gypsy / Head East / Pat Travers / Jesse Lang
July 3 Minneapolis, MN A Taste of Minnesota Gypsy / Kubla Khan / The Owls

July 4

La Crosse, WI

Riverfest

 

July 9

Traverse City, MI

National Cherry Festival

 

July 17 Comstock, NE Comstock Rock Festival Grand Funk Railroad / .38 Special / Walter Trout & The Radicals / Jerry Neeman Blues Band
July 22 New Haven (Hamden), CT Meadowbrook Park  
July 23 Bridgeview, IL (Chicago) Oak Lawn Family Days Infinity / Wild Crue
July 29 Grand Beach, Manitoba, Canada Manitoba Summer Fest Cheap Trick / The Romantics
July 30 Las Vegas, NV Cannery Casino Asia
August 6 Port Falls, ID Greyhound Park - Roar in the Core Festival Ted Nugent
August 7 Darrington, WA Whitehorse Mountain Rock Fest Ted Nugent / Ronnie Montrose / Night Ranger / The Fixx / Family Stone Experience / Bridge
August 10 Fairbanks, AK Tanana Valley State Fair  
August 20 Coucil Bluffs, IA Mid-America Ribfest  
August 21 Mexico, ME Day In The Park  

September 23

Uncasville, CT

Mohegan Sun Casino

 

October 23

Peoria, IL

Peoria Civic Center

Styx

November 13

St. Petersburg, FL

Vinoy Park Ribfest

Foreigner

November 28

Las Vegas, NV

House of Blues

 

July 2004

Well, it's been crazy in the studio the last couple of months! I recently recorded 12 tracks for Jesse Harms (Sammy Hagar, REO Speedwagon etc.) for his upcoming solo record, including his versions of "Walk On Water" (which he wrote for Eddie Money) and "Make Me A Believer" (which he wrote for Patty Smythe).

I've also been doing tracks for Dean Douglas, Art Vance, Loren Gold (keyboard player with Hilary Duff - the record will also feature Mindi Abair and others), Charley Langer, Gary Brandon (for his band Fast Machine), Greg Benner and more! 

In addition to the drum tracks, I've been recording/producing guitar, bass and keyboard tracks for several of the aforementioned artists, with such accomplished players as Alphonso Johnson (Bass - Weather Report, Santana, Gregg Rolie Band, George Duke etc.), Wally Minko (Keyboards - Jean Luc Ponty, Tom Jones, En Vogue, Pink, Toni Braxton, Gregg Rolie Band etc.), Lance Morrison (Bass - Don Henley, Alanis Morrisette, Rick Springfield etc.), Kurt Griffey (Guitar - Gregg Rolie Band, Randy Meisner, Denny Laine etc.) and more!

Of course, my work with Mr. Wizard is continuing full bore too! Check out www.mrwizardstudios.com to see the latest updates on that site and learn more about the "magic and mystery of science"...as he would say!

We're also continuing to add more and more dates to the Gregg Rolie Band touring schedule. Scroll down this page to see the table of dates I've got here. I'm always updating them so keep checking back to see if there are any new shows in your area!

June 2004

Here's a new logo that Tom Nikosey did for me recently. As soon as I have some time, I'll be redesigning this site and incorporating this logo into the new look of the site. I'm not sure exactly how yet but it should be a fresh and cool change...I hope you like it!!

For more of Tom's work (he's done some amazing things - including 4 Super Bowl Logos, Stamps for the US Postal Service, Uniforms and Logos for professional sports teams such as the San Diego Padres, Seattle Supersonics, LA Dodgers etc., Album Covers and so much more) visit his site at www.tomnikosey.com.

Another cool site to check out it is the Mr. Wizard Studios Official site at www.mrwizardstudios.com. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Wizard was a pioneer in the history of television with his show "Watch Mr. Wizard" that appeared nationally for 15 years on NBC beginning in 1951. Among many other things, he also had a show on Nickelodeon in the 1980's called "Mr. Wizard's World".

Some of the things that I have been involved in putting together for Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert) is all of the DVD products (video editing - DVD authoring - writing, editing, recording and performing voiceovers for various promotional videos etc.) and in building the website (which is still very much a work in progress but which has a lot of cool stuff on there already). 

The information on the DVD's that are available there is very cool, very well presented and really interesting to watch. It's also very educational, particularly for kids and people studying various science related subjects as well as people who are interested in the early days of television. Check it out and let me know what you think!!

Spring 2004

OK so I haven't exactly been on top of posting updates on this page. Hey, I've been really busy...what can I tell you?!! Anyway, here are a few...

For those of you who like cruise ships, you might find this interesting. The Gregg Rolie Band will be playing 3 shows on a cruise to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico in January of 2005. The cruise leaves San Diego on January 3 and returns there on January 10.

Also appearing on the ship so far are Michael McDonald, Eddie Money, Tom Scott (great jazz sax player whose band will feature guitar great Robben Ford, Ellis Hall, LA session bass player Neil Stubenhaus, world renowned drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and Katrina Nuvo), comedian Dom Irrera (along with several other comedians) and a variety of other acts.

If you're interested in going on the cruise with us, visit www.showboatcruises.com for more information and to make your reservation. If you put GRB in the Artists code you will receive a discount on the cost of the trip. 

Upcoming 2004 Gregg Rolie Band shows include:

Date City Venue  Appearing With
May 1 Thousand Oaks, CA Conejo Valley Days  
May 5 Columbus, OH Brewmasters Gate  
May 22 Waikoloa Village, HI Hilton Waikoloa Village  
June 12 Piercy, CA Redwood Run BTO / Elvin Bishop
June 24 Albany, NY Alive At Five  
June 25 Amagansett, NY The Stephen Talkhouse  
June 26 Farmingdale, NY The Downtown  
July 2 Bottineau, ND Rockin' The Hills Styx / Live / Foghat / Tesla
July 3 Hollister, CA Independence Rally  
July 9 Traverse City, MI National Cherry Festival Guitar Shorty
July 10 Lansing, MI Common Ground Festival Johnny Winter
July 16 Walker, MN Moondance Jam John Fogerty / Pat Benatar / Edgar Winter
August 27 Trempealeau, WI Trempealeau Hotel  
August 28 Urbana, IL Sweet Corn Festival  
September 11 Pompano Beach, FL Pompano Park Racetrack  
September 13 Miami, FL Private Event  
October 2 Sonoma, CA Bruce Cohn Charity Golf Classic and Fall Music Festival  @ B.R. Cohn Winery The Doobie Brothers / Robben Ford / Dave Mason & various surprise special guests
October 23 Phoenix, AZ KYOT Jazz Festival Richard Elliott, The Rippingtons, Rite of Strings (featuring Al Dimeola, Stanley Clarke & Jean Luc Ponty), Tom Scott, Brian Culbertson and Mindi Abair
October 28 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Hotel Halloween Party hosted by Ed McMahon. Opening act is Tone Loc.
October 30 McAllen, TX McAllen Center  
November 12 Miami, FL Private Event  
November 13 St. Petersburg, FL Vinoy Park Ribfest Lou Gramm (Original Foreigner Lead Singer) and Jefferson Starship
November 20 Redwood City, CA The Fox Theater Malo and Safari

Of course, this list of dates is subject to change and we are actively booking a lot more dates so I will update the 2004 schedule as we go.

We also did quite a few shows with the Gregg Rolie Band last summer/fall (2003) including:

Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA (with Sammy Hagar, Y&T and Creedence Clearwater Revisited)

Jacksonville Spring Music Festival in Jacksonville, FL (with Kenny Loggins & America)

Pensacola Springfest in Pensacola, FL (with the Neville Brothers and Gov't. Mule)

Burlington Steamboat Days in Burlington, IA (with Survivor)

Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT

Crestwood Diamond Festival in Crestwood, IL (with Asia)

Redwood Run Biker Rally in Piercy, CA (with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)

The Water Festival in Oshkosh, WI

Rock Fest in Grand Junction, CO (with Sammy Hagar, Kansas, Night Ranger and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad)

Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, NV (this was supposed to be a 2 night engagement with John Kay & Steppenwolf but they cancelled at the last minute and so we did both nights by ourselves!)

Vinoy Park Ribfest in St. Petersburg, FL (with Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Mountain).

I've also been very busy working in the studio on various things including recording sessions for Art Edstrom, Arno Verstappen, Greg Benner, Mr. Wizard Studios, Corey Eubanks, New World Dance Studios, Sulphur Springs School and more. That work has ranged from playing drums to producing guitar/bass/keyboard tracks to music edits to recording voice-overs and has also included a lot of video editing and production.

Another project I've been working on is the website for Mr. Wizard Studios. I will post a link for that on this page when it is nearer to completion.

Lastly, I've been actively putting together a new company called Total Control Audio Loops which will feature multitrack audio loops for use in recording projects. I will post a link for that site when we are ready to go live with it.

Winter/Spring 2003

I just remembered that I forgot to post the info about my recording sessions with country/pop singer, Ty Herndon a couple of months ago. I went into Sound Image Studios in Van Nuys, CA and did 3 tracks with Ty. One of them was mentioned as a possible duet with his friend, Lee Ann Rimes, so we'll see if anything comes of that. There may be some future recording with him too so I'll keep you posted!

I also had the privilege of recording a voice over session with Bob Coburn, who is the voice of the syndicated radio show, Rockline, for the new Gregg Rolie Band promotional video that I've recently finished writing, producing and editing. I'll try and post that video here soon!

Sorry for the lack of updates - again! - but there's lots of cool stuff going on and I never seem to find the time to take care of everything that needs taking care of! I'm sure you all know what that's like1 Anyway, since my last posting, I've been doing lots of gigs and recording sessions...here's the update...

On the gig front, I've been to Las Vegas (NV) twice, Atlanta (GA), Ft. Lauderdale (FL), Phoenix (AZ) and Palm Springs (CA). This week (first week of May) I'm off to Las Vegas again and then on to Santa Rosa and Mountain View (CA), followed by Chicago (IL), Victorville (CA), Jacksonville (FL), Phoenix (AZ), Pensacola (FL), Burlington (IA), Uncasville (CT), Chicago (IL) again, Piercy (CA, Vancouver (BC) twice, Oshkosh (WI) and several other places over the next few months. If I can ever find the time, I'm going to re-do this website and one of the things I'll add is a schedule that I can update more easily!!

There are some really cool things happening with the Gregg Rolie Band. Among them are: we're playing at Shoreline Amphitheater with Sammy Hagar, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Y&T and El Tri on May 4 in Mountain View, CA. After that, we're playing with Kenny Loggins in Jacksonville, FL on May 24, there's a festival date in Pensacola, FL on May 31 with lots of bands, we're playing with Survivor on June 21 in Burlington, IA and we're with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts on July 18 in Piercy, CA. There are a lot more things being booked so I'll really try to keep things updated as I learn about them.

In the studio, I've just finished 15 tracks for Corey Eubanks and tracks for Derek Trone, Greg Benner, Arno Verstappen and several other people. I've also recorded and edited some voice over stuff with Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert) for his website and I've done quite a bit of audio editing for New World Dance Studios (including a couple of edits for Star Search). Also, the new Firefly CD was released in February on MTM Records.

I've recently expanded my studio capabilities with the addition of video editing (using either Adobe Premiere 6.5 or Vegas 4 + DVD, as well as Adobe After Effects 5.5). The first project that I'm almost finished with is a new promotional video for the Gregg Rolie Band. It's basically a 3 1/2 minute video that showcases the band and gives the viewer a history lesson on Gregg and his accomplishments. It's pretty cool! I'll post it here when it's done. 

I'm also continuing to work on websites for Mr. Wizard Studios, Nikosey Design & Illustration, Jim Wikso Photography, Arab P&I Pool Ship Insurance and several others (that's one reason why I rarely update my own site!!).

Also, check the Gregg Rolie site for additional updates on what's going on with the band. We're going to have an announcement very soon about one of the songs from "Roots" that is very cool. I'll post it here too.

Lastly, while I'm continuing to do dates that I've committed to with WCR, I will probably not be in that band any longer once I've fulfilled my obligations. Kurt Griffey (guitarist) and I have decided to commit our priorities to the Gregg Rolie Band so that we can grow that and we don't want our commitment there to get in the way of what WCR is doing. It's possible that we may be asked to do some isolated dates in the future but not terribly likely.

That's it for now...stay tuned!!

Summer/Fall 2002

So, this whole year has gone by and I've barely posted any news here. I guess that can be interpreted as good though, because it means it's been a really busy year!!

On the studio front, I've done tracks for Tomi Ohtake, Arno Verstappen, Corey Eubanks, Esther Valentine, WCR and several others. I've also upgraded the computer system that I use in my studio. Click here to check out what I'm using. 

On the gig front, I've been to Pebble Beach (CA), Del Mar (CA), Las Vegas 4 or 5 times, Cadott (Wisconsin), Laughlin twice, Fremont (CA), San Francisco, Blackhawk (CA), Tracy (CA), Chico (CA), Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Thousand Oaks (CA), Bakersfield (CA), Hollister (CA), New York twice, Holland (Enschede, Maasluis & Heerlen), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Minneapolis twice, Clearlake (Iowa), Kansas City, Ft. Lauderdale and Uncasville (Connecticut). There are also lots of shows being planned for the coming year, starting with a New Year's gig in Hawaii (on the big island)!!

I've also been continuing with some web design projects for Mr. Wizard Studios, Tom Nikosey Design & Illustration, Jim Wikso Photography, The Arab P&I Pool Shipping Insurance company, Hi Fi Media Replicators, Wally Minko and others.

There's also been some news with the family...we're in the process of adopting a 2 year old boy, JC, who's awesome! We're also remodeling the kitchen and, of course, supporting our other kids' (Sean & Jordyn) activities.

Check out this review of a show we did with The Gregg Rolie Band on May 4, 2002!

Winter 2001 - 2002/Spring 2002

Sorry for the lack of updates recently...it's been nuts around here! Anyway, I'll recap some of what's been going on and let you know what's coming up over the next few months.

I've been busy in the studio doing tracks for Firefly, Dennis Poore, Frank Mason, Henry Romatowski (LS Audio) and Kenton Stiles and am scheduled to do some more tracks coming up for several people, including Peter Beckett, Tomitoshi Ohtake and Pamela Logan.

On the gig front, I've done shows in Chicago, San Antonio, Palo Alto, Petaluma, San Francisco, Modesto, Sacramento, New Orleans, Anaheim, Miami, Phoenix, Orlando (twice), Scottsdale, Manila (the Philippines) and Los Angeles. I've also got shows coming up this spring in Palo Alto, Sacramento, Jamestown, Petaluma, Santa Cruz, Orlando, Nevis (West Indies - the Caribbean), Maui (Hawaii), Fresno, San Diego and Dallas, with several others in the works.

There's a new 4 minute video sampler from one of the Gregg Rolie Band live shows available for viewing on Gregg's site at http://www.greggrolie.com/live-video.html. Check it out!

I'm also still working away on some website stuff for Mr. Wizard Studios, Tom Nikosey Design & Illustration, my brother's photography site and Hi Fi Media Replicators. I'll keep you updated as to their progress.

October 10, 2001

For those of you that are in areas of the country where you are able to receive the Mark & Brian Radio Program every morning, I'll be appearing on their show this Friday, October 12, with The Gregg Rolie Band. We'll have the whole band in there and we'll be playing 4 or 5 songs as well as talking with them about the new "Roots" CD. To find out where and on what stations the show is broadcast (it originates from 95.5 KLOS in Los Angeles), you can visit their website at www.955klos.com

Another recent development regarding The Gregg Rolie Band is the booking of several dates at the end of November and the beginning of December. As of right now, it looks like we'll be doing shows in Northern California in cities such as San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Modesto, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, Petaluma etc. Nothing has been completely confirmed as of yet and I don't know if all of the above mentioned cities will be included in the itinerary but I'll keep you posted on the dates as they are confirmed. They will probably happen sometime between November 29 and December 10.

In some recent news regarding The Storm, one of our songs will be featured on a new CD called "The Day America Cried". This is a song called "Waiting For The World To Change", which I co-wrote with Gregg Rolie and Kevin Chalfant. 

All of the artist royalties from the sale of this CD will be donated to the relief efforts that are ongoing as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11 in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. Some of the other artists that are featured on this compilation CD are Jim Peterik (Survivor), Johnny Van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Don Barnes (.38 Special), Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) and several others. I'll let you know when it is officially released. Click on the thumbnail below to check out some info about the CD.

dayamericacried.jpg (119160 bytes)

In WCR news, the terrorist attacks have caused the postponement of several shows that we were to be doing (in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Anaheim and New York) but we will still be traveling to San Antonio and Chicago this month, Orlando, FL next month and New Orleans and Anaheim in December. We hope to be able to reschedule the postponed dates as soon as possible.

In other news, I'm doing some drum tracks in my studio for David Kelly & Julie Morrow, I've begun working on the next Firefly CD and I'm designing several new web sites, which I will let you know about when they are ready for prime time!!

August 10, 2001

Here's the latest on the Gregg Rolie front! 

We'll be doing an in store appearance at the Tower Records store in Brea, CA on August 19 at 2 PM. We'll probably play about 5 or 6 songs in an up close kind of environment...almost like a concert in your living room! We'll also do a bit of a question and answer session and sign some CD's. Should be a lot of fun!

On August 22, we'll be appearing on the nationally syndicated television show "Rockline". Here are some links where you can find out about listening to it over the internet, listening to the archives of past shows and listings of the stations that carry the show in various parts of the country.

http://www.arrowfm.com/rockline/rockline.shtml 
http://www.arrowfm.com/rockline/rockline-audio.shtml 
http://www.drchuck.net/rockline/stations.html

On September 12, 13, 14, 21 & 22, we'll be participating in shows in San Francisco (12, 13 & 14) & Los Angeles (21 & 22) that are being put on by Elizabeth Taylor and Macy's. It's called Macy's Passport 2001 and from what I understand,  the shows will also feature performances by Macy Gray and Reba McEntire. There is also a fashion show and a huge lineup of major celebrities scheduled to be in attendance so it should be a lot of fun!

Here are a couple of links to some nice reviews of "Roots" that I ran across while surfing the Internet!

http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A6adjvwrla92k 
http://134.96.65.17/~rage/roliereview.htm

In studio news, I've been doing tracks for Dennis Poore, David Kelly & Julie Morrow, Phil Hennessy & Common People, Zach Collier, Savannah and Rick Phillips among others.

July 16, 2001

OK, The Gregg Rolie CD "Roots" is out tomorrow in Europe, South America and Australia. Check it out!!

Also, the new WCR CD "Rock The World" is now available. E-mail me for more details or visit the WCR website. Here's a thumbnail of the new CD cover...click on it to enlarge it.

Summer 2001

This summer is looking great! June 26 saw the release, in North America, of the new Gregg Rolie CD "Roots", on 33rd Street Records. I helped to produce the record, did a lot of the work on it at my studio and played drums on it. I hope you'll check it out because I think it's really cool! Check out the Gregg Rolie pages on this site for more info and if you want to buy it, here's a link to Tower Records Online. For those of you outside North America, the CD will be released by The Sanctuary Group in Europe, South America & Australia on July 17.

I have also undertaken my first job as a 'graphic designer' by doing the all of the layout and graphic design work for the new WCR CD "Rock The World". That CD should be available in mid-July. I'll keep you posted on this site so check back.

I've also taken a fairly serious interest in web design and I am in the midst of designing a new website for Nikosey Design & Illustration. Tom Nikosey is one of the world's premier artists and illustrators who's done logos for things like The Super Bowl, The United States Post Office, The Grammy Awards and many other things. If you want to see some stunning graphics, you can check the Nikosey Design & Illustration site out at www.tomnikosey.com. I've still got a lot to learn about web design but I'm getting there!

I'm also staying busy with lots of gigs! This summer I'll be in Phoenix, Pleasanton, Santa Clarita, Ventura, Montgomery City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Napa, San Mateo and Wendover. There are also gigs on hold in Washington DC, Brooklyn and Europe.

On the studio front, I've done tracks recently for David Kelly & Julie Morrow, Steve Trill, Frank Mason and several others. More to come...

Spring 2001

This spring is shaping up to be another busy one on the travel front. I've just finished doing shows in San Antonio, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and 2 in Tucson. I've got several more coming up in Maui, Vancouver BC, 2 in San Antonio, Las Vegas, Queen Creek, Phoenix, King City and Seattle along with a possible European trip in June. 

I've also got some good news to report concerning the release of the new Gregg Rolie CD. It will be out in America around the second or third week of June and we have a tentative release date of July 2 for Europe, Australia and New Zealand. There is also a Japanese deal in the works that we hope to have ironed out soon, with a possible July release date there.

In other CD news, I've just finished mastering the new WCR Live CD that I produced with Michael Monarch. There will also be a promotional video featuring parts of several songs that will utilize the music that we produced. The video is just about done and the CD is now done. All that's left is the artwork for the CD and it'll be ready for public consumption! Stay tuned for more details...

I've also been doing some tracks in my own 2 Guyz & A Fader Studios for Brett Tuggle and Mike Higham. More to come...

March 7, 2001

Just a quick bit of news here to let everyone know about how great the new Gregg Rolie tracks are doing on mp3.com! As of today, these are the songs, the charts they are on and their chart positions:

Top 40 Chart (this chart encompasses every song on mp3.com!):
"Give It To Me" #2 with a bullet
"Breakin' My Heart" #16 with 2 bullets
"Love Is Everything" #34 with 2 bullets

Pop & Rock Chart (this chart encompasses all of the songs in each of the sub-genres of Pop & Rock):
"Give It To Me" #2
"Breakin' My Heart" #4
"Love Is Everything" #6 with a bullet
"In My Skin" #9 with 2 bullets
"Going Home" #11 with 2 bullets

Rock Chart:
"Give It To Me" #1
"Love Is Everything" #3 with a bullet

Classic Rock Chart:
"In My Skin" #1 with a bullet
"Going Home" #2 with a bullet

Pop Chart:
"Breakin' My Heart" #3

Easy Listening Chart (this chart encompasses all of the songs in each of the sub-genres of Easy Listening):
"
Domingo" #3 with 2 bullets

Soft Rock Chart:
"
Domingo" #1

We have had close to 36,000 plays to date and have been voluntarily added to about 25 mp3 'stations'.

Thanks to everyone that has been so supportive by downloading and listening to the songs. For those of you who haven't yet heard the songs and would like to, go to www.mp3.com/greggrolie .

Winter 2000/2001

The winter of 2000 has been a bit hectic. Besides preparing for the holidays, I've been working on completion of the new WCR CD and readying some of those tracks to be used in a promotional video for the band.

I've been on gigs in Hawaii (the big Island), Orlando, Amelia Island, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Boca Raton, San Diego and Austin with either Player or WCR and I did a gig with 4 Lads from the Valley in Los Angeles. Upcoming shows include Dallas, Hawaii (Maui), 2 shows in Tucson, Las Vegas, San Diego, Vancouver BC and Orlando with some other possible dates in New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Acapulco, San Antonio and others.

On the 2 Guyz & A Fader Studios front, things have been busy too. I did some rough mixes for Ted Nugent from his New Year's Eve show and I've been doing drum tracks for Atomic Mint, Frank Mason, Marshall Byrd and Bruce Gowdy (for a singer he's producing named Mercedes). More to come...

January also saw the return to Anaheim of the Winter NAMM show, which I attend every year. It's always great to see people that I don't get a chance to see during the course of the year and check out all the new gear!

You can also now preview some of the tracks from Gregg Rolie's "Roots" CD. To read about Gregg, click here. To read about the CD (track listing, credits etc.), click here. To check out some audio samples, click here.

I also took a trip to New York to see my family between Christmas and New Year's Eve and am getting ready for a busy 2001.

Fall 2000

The fall of 2000 has been a pretty busy time too. I am currently in the midst of producing a "new & improved" version of WCR's live CD. We've got the tracks done and now we just have to go over everything and make sure it's good and then mix and master it. I will also be looking forward to the completion and release of the CD's that I've been involved with by Gregg Rolie, David Glen Eisley and Debrann.

The WCR travel schedule is starting to fill up as well. I'll be doing gigs in Birmingham (Alabama), San Diego, Austin (twice!), Amelia Island, Tampa & Boca Raton (Florida),  and Solana Beach. There are also several other dates in the works with possibilities such as Las Vegas, Laguna Beach, Malaysia and several others. 

I will also be doing another 'War Dogs' gig with Dave Eisley and the rest of the 'War Dogs' band (see the list below--Winter 2000), this time at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.

And, just for good measure, I'll be doing a gig with Player in Orlando, Florida on November 11 after not having played with them in quite awhile. 

Summer 2000

Work on Gregg Rolie's solo CD is coming to a close. We've done more recording with Alphonso Johnson, Michael Carabello and Adrian Areas and we've added some trumpet tracks by Tom Marino and a guest guitar tracks by Neal Schon. Tom Size has done the final mixes and we're about ready to master the record and get the artwork completed.

In early July, I did 2 more tracks for David Glen Eisley's solo CD and a couple of tracks for Frank Mason in addition to starting to mix the tracks for Debrann & Jeff King. Late July had me putting together another clinic at the LA Music Academy, this time with my friends Wally Minko on keyboards and Matt Bissonette on bass.

My travels with WCR have taken my to Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Chicago, Austin, Ventura, Anaheim, Odessa (Texas) Santa Clarita, Atlantic City, Toronto, New York and Scott's Bluff (Nebraska). 

Spring 2000

Still working on Gregg Rolie's solo CD. We've had Alphonso Johnson playing bass, Dave Amato playing guitar and doing some background vocals, Michael Carabello and Adrian Areas playing percussion and Brett Tuggle doing some background vocals. Tom Size has done preliminary mixes on the 1st six tracks.

In April, I did 9 tracks at my studio for David Glen Eisley's new solo CD.

My travels with WCR have taken me to Bermuda, San Diego (8 times), Kauai, Dallas, Detroit and The Bahamas. 

Winter 1999/2000

Winter has seen the release of the new Firefly CD "After The Fire" and the continuation of Gregg Rolie's solo CD in earnest. I've also done some more recording with Rocket Ritchotte & Rainey, Eric Peterson & Tormay Brown, Julie Morrow (Strawberry Blonde Productions) and Jeff King & Debrann.

My travels with WCR have taken me to gigs in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Lincoln (Nebraska), San Diego, San Francisco, Laguna Beach and a Millennium New Year's show in Kauai. 

In February, I did a great show for a dedication ceremony honoring the "War Dogs" and their handlers at March AFB in Riverside, CA. The band was put together by David Glen Eisley who wrote the music for the Discovery Channel documentary "War Dogs". When he was asked to play some of that music for the dedication ceremony, he put a band together that included him singing and playing guitar and keyboards, me playing drums, Dave Amato on guitar and vocals, Chuck Wright on bass, John Purdell on keyboards and vocals, Brie Howard-Darling on percussion and vocals and Eric Rigler on pipes.

Fall 1999

Extensive traveling with WCR and with Player has taken me to Connecticut, Guam, Virginia, Philadelphia, Baton Rouge, Las Vegas, Washington DC, New York, Memphis, Maui and several other places. The last 2 trips of the year will be to Las Vegas and Kauai (for New Year's Eve).

I have recently been involved in several recording projects as well. The Majic Ship CD is starting to do fairly well and I've just learned to build websites so I've done one for them. You can find it at www.majicship.com 

The Firefly CD is done and will be released shortly. 

In November, I started working on a new solo CD for my good friend, and partner in The Storm, Gregg Rolie. 

I've also been doing tracks on an ongoing basis for Rocket Ritchotte & Rainey, Eric Peterson & Tormay Brown, Julie Morrow (Strawberry Blonde Productions) and Jeff King & Debrann. 

Summer 1999

Lots of things have been happening over the last several months!

In July, I wrapped up production on a new CD for a band called Majic Ship. This is a record that I produced along with my good friend and guitarist extraordinaire, Dave Amato (REO Speedwagon, Richie Sambora, Cher, Ted Nugent, Jimmy Barnes). There are guest appearances from people like Cher, Mick Taylor (ex-Rolling Stones), Nicky Hopkins (ex-Rolling Stones), Bruce Hall (REO Speedwagon), Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon), Brett Tuggle (Fleetwood Mac, Rick Springfield, David Lee Roth, Chris Isaak, Steve Lukather, Stevie Nicks) and Pattie Darcy-Jones (Cher, Joe Cocker, Robert Plant) among others.

The CD is now available (you can order it by clicking here) and you can check out Majic Ship's website by clicking here.

In July, I completed drum tracks for a new CD from a band called Firefly. The CD should be released in late September and it features Ricky Phillips on bass, John Pratt on lead vocals, Bobby Gilles and John Thomas on guitars, Michael Alemania on keyboards and Susie Katayama as string arranger/composer/player! Kevin Valentine engineered the record.

This summer I have been doing a variety of live gigs with a few different bands. One of the bands is called World Classic Rockers. This is a kind of All Star band that features Randy Meisner (The Eagles), Denny Laine (Paul McCartney & Wings/The Moody Blues), Fergie Frederiksen (Toto), Spencer Davis (Spencer Davis Group), Michael Monarch and Nick St. Nicholas (Steppenwolf) and, of course, yours truly! We recently went to Monte Carlo for a week, did a gig outside Chicago, another in Washington D.C., another in Vancouver, Washington, another in Santa Barbara, another in L.A., several in Atlantic City, NJ, two in Connecticut and to top it all off, we played on the Regis & Kathie Lee Show! This band gets around!!

Another band that I play with occasionally is called Player. You may remember them for their hit song "Baby Come Back". The band features Ronn Moss, star of the CBS daytime show "The Bold and The Beautiful", and Peter Beckett. Some of the other people who play with the band at various times are Dave Amato, Steve Farris (Mr. Mister, Whitesnake), Tony Sciuto (Little River Band) and Ron Green (Kenny Loggins).  I recently played with them in L.A., Biloxi, MS, and New Jersey.

I also recently did a clinic at the Los Angeles Music Academy. This was done as a sort of 'band' clinic along with my friends Bob Birch (bass player with Elton John) and Wally Minko (keyboard player with Jean Luc Ponty, Tom Jones). We had a lot of fun doing that and we are talking about possibly doing more of them in the not too distant future.

Of course, I have continued to do drum tracks for a variety of artists in my studio.