Big E Talent Buyer John Juliano is literally counting down the days ’til New England’s Great State Fair opens its multiple gates to the masses. Sure, Sept. 12 will mark the culmination of his year-long effort to fill the Fair’s Xfinity Arena and Court of Honor Stages with more musical options than there are deep-fried items along the Avenue, but it’s also a chance for him to enjoy the sonic fruits of his labor.
Kicking things off at the free-with-admission Court of Honor are Count’s 77, featuring Danny Koker from the A&E Channel’s Counting Cars on Friday, Sept. 12.
“I got the chance to both meet Danny and hear his band out in Vegas,” Juliano told the Crawler. “He’s the real deal both on and off the stage and camera, and I know folks are just going to have a great time with him.”
Others holding Court after The Count include “Sailing” star Christopher Cross (performing two shows daily, Sept. 13-15), Cuba Gooding Sr. & The Main Ingredient (yes, the father of the Cuba Gooding, performing two shows daily, Sept. 21-24) and New Odyssey, promoted from the Storrowtown Green last year to two shows daily throughout the entire Fair run this year.
And who better than the “Money Man” himself, Eddie Money, to grace the neighboring, paid admission Xfinity Arena Sept. 20? Well, if you’re into barbecue-basted Texas boogie-woogie, then definitely ZZ Top, of course, appearing Sept. 26.
For his part, the Crawler is particularly excited to see Michael Delguidice and his Big Shot Billy Joel tribute band get bumped up to the big stage Sunday, Sept. 21. While that will be a free show, there is a $25 reserved seat option that includes admission to the fair.
Delguidice recently got a big shot when the “Piano Man,” Billy Joel himself, called Delguidice and asked him to be in his band. In fact, he’ll be playing with Joel at Madison Square Garden just five days prior to his Big E engagement.
To purchase tickets, see full entertainment schedules and more, kindly point your browser to thebigE.com.
In other news, the Valley’s first family of rock, The Stone Coyotes, celebrate the recent release of their 13th studio effort—Rock Another Day—at Noho’s Iron Horse on, appropriately, Sept. 13.
For the uninitiated, the Coyotes come with an impressive entertainment resume that includes having their music on movie soundtracks and on Dog The Bounty Hunter. Elmore Leonard used them as the model for his sequel to Get Shorty.
Singer/wife Barbara Keith’s songs have been covered by Tanya Tucker and Barbara Streisand and husband/drummer Doug Tibbles was a former TV writer for such shows as The Munsters, Bewitched and Andy Griffith. Son/bassist John Tibbles’ standing quote is that he’ll never get over the fact that he gets to be in a rock band with his parents.
Tix for this show are available at iheg.com and are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Singer-songwriter Santina King gets the opening nod on this one.
Last but not least, a combination of career-long admiration and unbridled curiosity led the Crawler to the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den Aug. 29 to see ex-Stone Temple Pilot frontman Scott Weiland. Careening through a freewheeling 14-tune set that included equal parts STP, Velvet Revolver, and new tunes that hinted at the reasons STP kicked him out as well as traces of his former glory, the wily Weiland fell short of wowing, but far from embarrassing himself.
Rather, like a veteran boxer running on instincts (or in this case… auto-Pilot?), he didn’t miss a beat when he realized he’d missed the entire pre-chorus to the Velvet Revolver hit “Slither.”
Rather, while dancing around as the band played on, he made a circle in the air with his index finger. Catching the cue, the band looped around to play the same eight measures again and he caught up with them on the rebound.•
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.