We are honored to have legendary music PR man Dave Rudabaugh review our show from Wednesday night. Especially since he seemed to have liked it.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Tooners’ Rock & Roll Rehab at The Universal Bar & Grill
Sept. 14, 2011
Dave Rudabaugh
Last night saw the return engagement of L.A.’s multimedia band, The Tooners, performing their “live TV show”, Rock & Roll Rehab. Set at a meeting of a fictitious twelve step program for the control of Rock & Roll, former Eighties band, The Tooners, give testimony to their wasted lives of chasing the Rock & Roll dream for the past thirty years. With old video clips, animated music videos, illustrations and cartoon shorts they proved that they were indeed part of Los Angeles Rock & Roll history and through their music they indeed proved they deserved to be.
Lead singer, bassist and song co-writer Greg Piper serves as host and MC and shows he has the comic timing as well as the musical chops. Coming from a show biz family his easy going and confident manner must come naturally as he leads the audience through his life story and the history of his band as well as having verbal exchanges with the unseen “sound man” who interrupts the show repeatedly as the comic relief. The laughs are unexpected coming from what at first seems like a bar band performance but it soon becomes apparent that Rock & Roll Rehab is actually a show more suited to a theater setting than a club setting. The TV monitor suspended over the small stage at the Universal Bar & Grill was adequate considering the small stage and seating capacity of the bar but this show was surely designed for large screen visuals and theatrical lighting for which the Universal Bar & Grill simply was not equipped.
The musicianship was every bit of what might have been expected from musicians that have played together for over thirty years and started in playing in bands years before that. Guitarist Neal Warner combines rhythm guitar with lead fills and enough solos that he seems to be taking up the slack for the band’s former musicians that are no longer on the scene. They are not missed. Drummer Patrick Meehan is one of those drummers one rarely sees live in such an intimate venue as he is what is accurately described as a “monster”. Obviously a disciple of the Keith Moon / John Bonham school of percussion, he is able to maintain the energy and complexity while controlling the volume and force, never pushing the audience away but rather pulling them in. Piper, beyond being a seasoned showman, he is currently in the show Just Imagine at the Hayward Theater, is an accomplished musician and a confident and appealing vocalist who seamlessly carries his story from the spoken word to musical interludes.
Promotional materials for Rock & Roll Rehab describe the show as a “live pilot” for a new reality television series and I can certainly see the potential in that but as live Rock & Roll multimedia theater it is truly unique.
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Contact: David Rudabaugh
info@unsigned-records.com
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