Mike_In_Lima
New member
Thought I'd share a little insiders perspective of the George Thorogood show, for those who may be interested. Sue probably wouldn't share most of this, for reasons I'll attempt to explain, but I thought I'd give you some of my take, for posterity.
The first thing that became apparent upon meeting Sue and Brian is that they wanted the Lima Rally to really succeed, and they wanted to get the music side of things hammered down. They had obviously had this in mind for awhile. Now mind you, she also wanted to have the other Rally elements really polished, too.
But she set her mind on the idea of offering a high profile act for the members to enjoy.
Getting deeper into discovering what was going on here, it emerged that her motivation was simply to give the event and the members something "more" this year, and her avenue for this was to bring in an enjoyable headliner, and also a strong slate of Beer Garden acts.
Sue won't blow her own horn here, which is why you wouldn't likely hear about this otherwise. It was a fair amount of work and sweat, though.
She and Brian developed a short list of suitable/desirable acts. I'll let her weigh in later if she wants to tell you who else was on the list. Some were unavailable due to routing or previous commitments for that date, others were astronomically high/economically unfeasible. George kept popping up on the radar screen. An offer was made and predictably scoffed at, and then weeks and months of phone calls and emails transpired.
After a fair amount of the usual standard-practice footdragging by his agency (Monterey Peninsula, hardly a small firm!), a deal was struck that she could live with.
The result should be a great evening to have a good time, to be continued in the Beer Garden afterward, and again, I commend her for wanting to return something special for the attendees. I suppose it won't be absolutely everybodys cup of tea, but anyone attending ought to show up and be part of a great party and a great show.
I will reiterate that on the regional slate, I think Stacy Mitchhart is a particulary strong act. He was already scheduled for the Friday night, and when George became available, Stacy was asked to do a short opener for George on the main stage, and then move into the Beer Garden for an extended show. Strap yourself to the seat, because his show is STRONG!
Have fun, and hope to see some of you at the Rally!
The first thing that became apparent upon meeting Sue and Brian is that they wanted the Lima Rally to really succeed, and they wanted to get the music side of things hammered down. They had obviously had this in mind for awhile. Now mind you, she also wanted to have the other Rally elements really polished, too.
But she set her mind on the idea of offering a high profile act for the members to enjoy.
Getting deeper into discovering what was going on here, it emerged that her motivation was simply to give the event and the members something "more" this year, and her avenue for this was to bring in an enjoyable headliner, and also a strong slate of Beer Garden acts.
Sue won't blow her own horn here, which is why you wouldn't likely hear about this otherwise. It was a fair amount of work and sweat, though.
She and Brian developed a short list of suitable/desirable acts. I'll let her weigh in later if she wants to tell you who else was on the list. Some were unavailable due to routing or previous commitments for that date, others were astronomically high/economically unfeasible. George kept popping up on the radar screen. An offer was made and predictably scoffed at, and then weeks and months of phone calls and emails transpired.
After a fair amount of the usual standard-practice footdragging by his agency (Monterey Peninsula, hardly a small firm!), a deal was struck that she could live with.
The result should be a great evening to have a good time, to be continued in the Beer Garden afterward, and again, I commend her for wanting to return something special for the attendees. I suppose it won't be absolutely everybodys cup of tea, but anyone attending ought to show up and be part of a great party and a great show.
I will reiterate that on the regional slate, I think Stacy Mitchhart is a particulary strong act. He was already scheduled for the Friday night, and when George became available, Stacy was asked to do a short opener for George on the main stage, and then move into the Beer Garden for an extended show. Strap yourself to the seat, because his show is STRONG!
Have fun, and hope to see some of you at the Rally!