The Reluctants

Ever since my early teen years, I've wished that I could play guitar in a rock band. That dream became a reality for me when The Reluctants were formed early last year. I play rhythm guitar, and even sing on one song. I never thought that would happen when I was playing my air guitar as a young buck back where I grew up in Berkeley Heights, NJ .

When I was about 15 years old, a friend named Jeff Mason was the first person I knew who listed to album oriented rock (AOR) radio. He convinced me to shift my radio dial from AM77 WABC (top 40) to FM95.5 WPLJ (AOR). It seems that since then, I have been hooked on the likes of The Guess Who, The Who, Deep Purple, Bad Company, and Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO). That's the music I "rocked out" to and exactly the kind of music I wanted to be able to play.

The Reluctants play exactly that kind of stuff, mostly classic rock (music of the 1970's mostly). We do a few originals that were written by our lead guitar player, Glenn Shipp.

We get together once per week for a rehearsal. Presently we have about 40 songs "down pat" and are adding more each month.

This summer will be busy. We play some local bars & clubs in Phoenixville and Royersford, as well as two local towns' music series.

Please check out our website www.myspace.com/reluctantsmusic for more info.

John Eddie & Kenny Aaronson

I saw John Eddie's performance at the Steel City Coffee House in Phoenixville, PA last Saturday. John is one of those guys who came up around Bruce Springsteen and the other Asbury Park (NJ) area musicians from the 70's and 80's. John has put out some great music, and in the last couple years he came back on the scene real strong with a CD called "Who the Hell is John Eddie". One of his songs (Low Life) was picked up by Kid Rock on Kid Rock's current CD. John's strength is his live performance though. I have seen him several times now, and he consistently gives a great show. This show was one of the best. He has great musicians playing with him too.

The bass player in John's band is Kenny Aaronson. Kenny is a heck of a bass player, I can tell you. His bass is the engine upon which John's songs are riding. And he is a real professional entertainer and musician in his own right. One of the things most impressive about Kenny is his list of past accomplishments and gigs. He has played in big name touring bands such as Foghat, Hall & Oates, Leslie West, Billy Idol, Rick Derringer, Bob Dylan, Sammy Hagar, and he was one of Joan Jett's original Blackhearts. In the early 70's he performed with the band "The Stories" who were best known for their hit "Brother Louie". If you haven't guessed, I think Kenny is a real cool musician.

I also highly recommend John Eddie if you see him and his band (with Kenny Aaronson) coming to your town- go see them.

Southside Johnny at Frankfurt airport

I met a real class act early one morning last week while passing through Frankfurt airport in Germany. Sitting among all his Asbury Jukes bandmates at a Starbucks coffeee shop was none other than Southside Johnny. I am a fan since the 1970's and I have been to two of his shows in the past couple years, and thoroughly enjoyed them by the way. Johnny is noted for being one of the big acts to come out of Asbury Park, NJ (the other big one was Bruce Springsteen - also John Eddie is one). Southside and co. have had a number of hits, among them are "the Fever", "Talk to Me" and "I don't want to go Home". I could tell you all about him but you are better off to visit his website if you want to know more (www.southsidejohnny.com).

When I noticed him he saw me looking so I said "Hi Johnny" and he shook my hand and said "What are YOU doing here?" which cracked me up. Then he invited me to sit down and we talked for 10 minutes or so before agreeing to have a picture or two taken with me for my collection.
MY advice to you: If you get the chance to see a Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes concert anytime- don't pass it up - they put on a great show, and it also turns out they are nice people too.