Beatles tribute band to open concert series Stars in Park

[Forum Lord]

Beatles tribute band to open concert series Stars in Park 2014

By Kyp Shillam

POSTED: 03/26/2014 01:27:01 PM CDT

The stars (or their impersonators) really will be in Bicentennial park in April.

The City of Crowley Spring Concert Series is kicking off April 4 with four free concerts at Bicentennial Park.

“It's just something the city provides for its residents to encourage them to come to the park enjoy time together,” said Community Services Administrator Julie Hepler of the family event. “Bring your lawn chairs and blankets, and get there early for a good seat.”

Hepler said a different food truck will be on hand each week for those wishing dinner or a snack and that liquor is not allowed in Bicentennial Park.

Back by popular demand is Me & My Monkey, a Beatles tribute band which takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. April 4.

Performing as the Beatles for over 15 years, the band has played to screaming fans from Dallas to Liverpool, England. Striving to recreate a real Beatles concert, Me & My Monkey work hard to mirror the fab four with George Jara as George Harrison, Rod Bollinger as John Lennon, Paul Sacco as Paul McCartney and Michael Daniel as Ringo Starr, said press statements. Sacco, naturally right-handed, learned to play bass with his left hand to mimic McCartney.

“There were here a couple of years ago and people really liked them,” said Hepler.

Landon Dodd and the Dancehall Drifters will be the featured act Friday, April 11.

Dodd and band travel Texas playing traditional country music and western swing. Dodd said he had the honor of being a part of a country music festival in Caithness, Scotland and also a show in Liverpool, England. Dodd's music is heard on many radio stations in Texas as well as nationally on Willie's Roadhouse on Sirius/XM satellite radio, said a press release.

According to press reports, the Dancehall Drifters are just that, a dance band, that keeps its fans on the dance floor all night. They were named Pure Country Band of the year in 2009 by the Academy of Western Artists (AWA.) In 2011, Dodd was named Male Vocalist of the Year by the AWA.
Also returning to the Stars in the Park stage is the Time Warp Band, on the docket for April 18.

Playing hits from the 70s and 80s, this group of hand picked seasoned artists from an array of musical backgrounds and experiences, is one of DFW's most popular special event party bands, says the band's press report. The concert should be impressive as every show features Time Warp's own full-time sound and lighting engineers combined with professional audio and lighting equipment.

Inviting all to release their inner Free Bird, Little Skynyrd, an authentic Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band, will close out the concert series April 25.

Based in North Texas, the band is comprised of seasoned musicians who grew up playing Skynyrd, love playing their music, and strive to keep their music alive. Little Skynyrd strives to play classic hits as close to the original as possible, said the band's press release.

"Our goal is to make you feel like you are back in the 70's at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. With a double guitar assault, rock solid vocals, honky tonk piano, and a thumping rhythm section Little Skynyrd delivers all the passion and energy of the originals, cranking out all the Skynyrd classics," said the press release.

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. Hepler said the food trucks will arrive in late afternoon to cater to park-goers and early birds to the concert series.

[BlueMonday]

Sacco, naturally right-handed, learned to play bass with his left hand to mimic McCartney.

OMG that must have been so hard to do! That is really pushing the tribute thing quite far.

Pretty much all the major bands from the 60s and the 70s seem to have spawned any number of tribute bands. They go from the ridiculous to the sublime, with everything in-between.

In some cases, good tribute bands is as close as we'll ever get to seeing the real thing.

[ozpata]

part of it has to do in my view with very little impressive or memorable(original) music released in quite a while, when we get releases of old stuff, boxes, there is instantly a new generation of fans for the old stuff, from there, there is a higher demand for older music, tribute bands, whatever that can bring the old music back into circulation, tribute bands are difficult things to accomplish, always have to recognized the limitations, it doesn't matter how hard you try, no two players play alike, move their fingers alike and so on, is nice to be strictly perfect or close to, but is not about what they played but how, attitude, hours of work but mainly, the tone comes from the fingers not from the way you held your instrument, there are quite a few out there that do a great job and even do better shows just because they have respect for the music, some of the "original" acts , sound so distorted, muddy and look pretty much boring on stage, like just doing the time to collect another check, tribute bands have another plus, they play on a much looser setting which makes them sound and look more real most of the time.