Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Arquette, Adam Carolla, James Denton, Jon Lovitz and many more to play in 50th Annual Hollywood Stars Game this Saturday

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LOS ANGELES -- Top celebrities in film, television, music, and sports will come together at Dodger Stadium this Saturday, June 21, to play in the 50th annual Hollywood Stars Game. The celebrity softball game will begin shortly after the conclusion of the Los Angeles Dodgers-Cleveland Indians game that day, which starts at 12:55 p.m. Approximately 40 celebrities will comprise the two teams, led by honorary captains Russell Martin and James Loney.

The full roster of stars scheduled to appear in the game includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA Hall of Famer), Jon Lovitz ("Saturday Night Live"), James Denton ("Desperate Housewives"), David Arquette ("Scream" trilogy), Sean Astin ("Lord of the Rings," "Rudy"), James Van Der Beek ("Dawson's Creek," "Varsity Blues"), Adam Carolla ("The Adam Carolla Show"), Tom Arnold ("True Lies," "Roseanne"), Camryn Manheim ("The Practice," "Ghost Whisperer"), Cristian de la Fuente ("Dancing with the Stars," "In Plain Sight"), Garry Marshall ("Happy Days" creator, "Pretty Woman" director), George Thorogood (George Thorogood and the Destroyers), Carlos Mencia ("Mind of Mencia"), Kendra Wilkinson ("The Girls Next Door"), Zac Levi ("Chuck"), Neal McDonough ("Band of Brothers"), Yvonne Strahovski ("Chuck"), Tobin Bell ("Saw" movies), Wallace Langham ("CSI"), Kenny Johnson ("Saving Grace"), Bailey Chase ("Saving Grace"), Michael Rosenbaum ("Smallville"), Kevin Frazier ("Entertainment Tonight"), Chris Rose ("Best Damn Sports Show Period"), Mike Bunin ("My Boys"), D.B. Sweeney ("Eight Men Out," "The Cutting Edge"), Patricia Kara ("Deal or No Deal"), David Berman ("CSI"), Jon Wellner ("CSI"), Samm Levine ("Freaks and Geeks"), Josh Gomez ("Chuck"), Vida Guerra ("Livin' The Low Life"), Peter Ishkhans ("Peter Perfect"), Adam Sessler ("X-Play"), Morgan Webb ("X-Play), Tony Todd ("One Tree Hill"), Kristin Holt ("American Idol," "Cheat"), Layla Kayleigh ("America's Best Dance Crew," "Attack of the Show"), Osvaldo Rios (""El Juramento"), and Yasmin Deliz ("Vivo," "The Chicas Project").

Popular on-air personalities from E! Entertainment, including E! News' Jason Kennedy and Ashlan Gorse and The Daily 10's Catt Sadler and Ben Lyons, will announce the celebrity players as they come to bat, offer play-by-play commentary and conduct on the spot interviews throughout the game, giving fans a chance to hear from their favorite stars. The game will also feature special performances by the Blue Man Group.

All fans with tickets to the Dodgers-Indians game will be invited to stay for the Hollywood Stars Game as well, including the opportunity to watch from Dodger Stadium's outfield grass and warning track. Additional auction winners will take part in pre-game and in-game festivities, with proceeds benefiting the Dodgers Dream Foundation. Those fans will act as an honorary photographer, an honorary coach, or an official Hollywood Stars batkid. Other auction winners will read the celebrity team lineups or take the field with a celebrity at the start of the game and receive their autograph.

Thorogood honours Bo Diddley's legacy

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Legend shaped rock and roll, rocker says
DEAN LISK, METRO HALIFAX
June 05, 2008 05:00

Knowing his friend was in ailing health, George Thorogood had been thinking about Bo Diddley’s death for some time.

“He was bedridden, right. You are never prepared but you know it is going to happen,” said Thorogood. “I just didn’t think that the state of his body could handle a stroke and a heart attack and be able to bounce back.”

Diddley, a rock ’n’ roll pioneer and guitar-playing inspiration, died of heart failure on Monday at the age of 79. He had been in ill health for a number of months.

“I guess I was as close to him as any person could be,” said Thorogood, who covered Diddley’s song Who Do I Love, and had the legend appear in his Bad To The Bone music video.

“We had a great relationship, let’s put it that way,” added Thorogood on a break from his current Canadian tour with The Destroyers. “We always lead with a Chuck Berry-type song to get the band loose, and we follow with a Bo Diddley song.”

Thorogood said he starts his shows this way because both artists pretty much created rock and roll with their blues backgrounds.

“As great as some lead singers are, and drums and saxes, guitars will always be the number one dude when it comes to rock and roll,” he said.

It is essential to listen to both men, added the musician, if you want to get a grasp on rock and roll and what the music is all about. They represent a lineage that stretches back to some of the best blues musicians of the last century — and continues into rock today.

“Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley got John Lennon and Keith Richards’ attention, who are the two highest profile rock musicians ever, right up there with Hendrix.”

If you don’t take the time to listen to the blues, you’ll never get a real understanding or appreciation of rock, he said.

“It is like an actor who never heard of Tennessee Williams,” he said. “Or a director who says, ‘I don’t know who Cecil B. DeMille is.’”

Billy Gibbons, Buddy Guy and George Thorogood Remember Bo Diddley

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According to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, the influence that Bo Diddley’s records have had is immeasurable, but that’s not the most amazing part of his legacy. “But how heavy is it that a person has a beat named after him?” he asks. Indeed, the “Bo Diddley Beat” has left an indelible mark on the rock landscape, and according to Gibbons it will be immortal. “You can play Bo Diddley for three year olds who can’t speak and yet they start gyrating,” he says. I think we must be wired to respond to it and he just happened to tap into it and deliver it in such a masterful way. And it still works.”

George Thorogood would agree, as one of his biggest hits was a cover of Diddley’s “Who Do You Love.” Thorogood also counted Diddley as a friend. “When I first met him he was kind of standoffish. Once we got going we had a very wonderful relationship,” Thorogood says. “He was very moved by the fact that I was so into his music and I seemed to have a grip on it. I did a concert with him in Australia in 2005, and he played before I did. As he was coming up he stairs I said goodbye to him, he hugged me and grabbed my hand and he whispered, ‘I’m done, George. It’s yours now.’”

Buddy Guy was never close to Diddley, but he was an admirer. “I say he was one of the best guys that ever played the music,” says Guy. “I’m a very religious man and I think we all was put here for a reason. And when Bo came along and came up with that beat he was at the right time at the right place. You gotta give credit where credit is due. He is one that should never be forgotten.”

George Thorogood speaks about Diddley's impact

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Guitarist remembers his friend and influence

Jun 3, 2008
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George Thorogood remembered Bo Diddley, his friend and influence who died of heart failure today (June 2).

The singer/guitarist, who covered Diddley's 'Who Do You Love' and name-checks him in one of his songs, told NME.COM that he was turned on to Diddley by The Rolling Stones.

“I first heard Bo Diddley in 1966," said Thorogood. "I knew The Rolling Stones were big on this guy and I got a copy of Bo Diddley’s '16 All-Time Greatest Hits' and flipped over it, and played it constantly."

Thorogood said that he still performs his cover of 'Who Do You Love', as well as 'Ride On Josephine', which was heavily influenced by the 'Bo Diddley beat'.

"I first met him in 1979, and as years went on we got closer and closer," he said. "It’s an honour to be associated with his great music. I just had ‘Hand Jive’ on last night. It goes, ’A doctor, a lawyer and an indian chief/They all dig that Diddley beat.’ That says it all.”

Bo Diddley, Rock Innovator, Influence on Stones, Dies

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June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bo Diddley, the rock 'n' roll originator with the rectangular guitar whose signature beat influenced musicians from Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen, has died. He was 79.

Diddley died at his home in Archer, Florida, early today, according to his publicist, Susan Clary. The cause was heart failure. In May 2007, he suffered a stroke during a performance in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

He scored only a few hits in more than 40 years of recording, yet Diddley's impact on the development of rock 'n' roll places him in a pantheon with Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The maracas-fueled sound he introduced in 1955 on the song ``Bo Diddley'' evolved into what Rolling Stone magazine called ``the most plagiarized rhythm of the 20th century.''

The beat -- bomp a-bomp a-bomp bomp bomp -- became the driving force on songs such as Holly's ``Not Fade Away'' (1957), which the Stones recorded and the Grateful Dead used in live shows for years; Johnny Otis's ``Willie and the Hand Jive'' (1958); the Strangeloves' ``I Want Candy''(1965); The Who's ``Magic Bus'' (1968); the Stooges' ``1969'' (1969), Springsteen's ``She's the One'' (1975); and U2's ``Desire'' (1988).

The Stones' version of ``Not Fade Away'' in 1964 became their first top-10 hit in the U.K. and first U.S. release. In its early days, the band often opened its shows with the number.

``We did it with a Bo Diddley beat, which at the time was very avant garde for a white band to be playing Bo Diddley's stuff,'' said Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. ``It was a very popular rhythm for us in clubs.''

Guitar Sound

The distorted tremolo sound Diddley achieved on his guitar, which was souped up with electronic gadgets, expanded the instrument's range and influenced a generation of musicians such as Jeff Beck of the Yardbirds -- which made Diddley's ``I'm a Man'' one of its show-stoppers -- Keith Richards of the Stones, Jimi Hendrix and a legion of 1960s fuzz-tone garage rockers.

Diddley's ego was legendary. Who else but Bo Diddley would name his first recording after himself? His boasting and sexual bravado on songs like ``I'm a Man'' presaged American rap music by decades. Diddley, who spent years complaining that he had been overlooked by the public and the media, remained bitter about all the attention given to Elvis Presley.

``Elvis was not the first,'' Diddley told Neil Strauss of Rolling Stone magazine in 2005. ``I was the first son-of-a-gun out there. Me and Chuck Berry. And I'm very sick of the lie. You know, we're over that black-and-white crap, and that was all the reason Elvis got the appreciation that he did. I'm the dude that he copied, and I'm not even mentioned.''

Born in Mississippi

The man who would become Bo Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Mississippi. His mother, who was about 15, asked her first cousin, Gussie McDaniel, to raise the child. Diddley never knew his father.

After Gussie McDaniel moved her family to Chicago during the Great Depression in 1935, she changed the child's last name to Bates McDaniel. Ellas McDaniel attended public school, where he learned how to box. At one point, he dreamed of becoming a prizefighter.

Like B.B. King and other great blues and rhythm-and-blues artists, Diddley's first exposure to music came from church, in this case the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side. He learned to play the violin and the trombone. At age 12, Diddley took up the guitar after hearing John Lee Hooker's 1949 rhythm-and-blues hit, ``Boogie Chillen.''

``Diddley claimed that playing the violin influenced his muted-string, choke-neck style of rhythm -- an early forerunner of funk that can be heard on songs like `Pretty Thing,''' the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame says in its official Bo Diddley biography.

Origin of Name

Diddley formed a band called the Hipsters, which played on street corners before landing a regular spot at a South Side juke joint called the 708 Club. He electrified his guitar using old radio parts and other gadgets, which created the famous vibrating tone. He gave bandmate Jerome Green maracas that he jerry-built from the floating rubber balls found inside toilets, and black- eyed peas. Diddley's thick black glasses completed the look.

The derivation of his stage name is the subject of debate. Some say it came from his days as a boxer; others say it's based on the one-string folk instrument called the diddley bow. Chess Records found that another Bo Diddley had been performing in Chicago in 1935. There are about a dozen versions of the story.

``I would love to know where the sucker came from,'' Diddley said in a 1995 interview, when asked about the name.

First Release

In 1955, Diddley signed with Checkers, a subsidiary of Chess, the label that featured Berry.

``Bo Diddley and I were signed to Chess records at the same time,'' Berry said today in a statement. ``He was a great artist and will be missed.''

Diddley's debut single was the two-sided ``Bo Diddley'' backed with ``I'm a Man.'' The A side featured the nursery school rhyme-like verse ``Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, have you heard?'' while the B side had Diddley boasting ``All you pretty women, stand in line, I can make love to you baby, in an hour's time.''

The beat used on the A side, now known as the Bo Diddley beat, has been traced to West African drumming, the rhumba, the novelty rhythm ``shave and haircut -- two bits'' and a 1950s body-slapping street craze among black teenagers called the hambone.

The record, which topped the R&B charts for two weeks, is cited as one of the cornerstones of rock music and one of the most influential two-sided singles ever. A string of groundbreaking songs that combined rhythm-and-blues and rock 'n' roll followed, including ``Road Runner;'' ``Pretty Thing;'' ``Mona,'' also covered by the Stones; ``Who Do You Love?'' and ``You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover.''

TV Appearance

His appearance on the Ed Sullivan's ``Toast of the Town'' on CBS in 1955 is now regarded as one of the first rock 'n' roll performances on television.

A novelty song, ``Say Man,'' which featured verbal sparring between Diddley and Green, became a crossover hit in 1959.

In 1963, he toured the U.K., playing with the Stones, Little Richard and the Everly Brothers. A teenage Robert Plant, who would become the singer and co-songwriter for Led Zeppelin, attended one of the shows.

``Although the Stones were great, they were really crap compared with Diddley,'' Plant said in a 1990 interview with Q magazine. ``All his rhythms were so sexual, just oozing, even in a 20-minute spot.''

British Invasion

After the Beatles led the British invasion, Diddley's popularity waned, though he continued to tour relentlessly for the next four decades. In 1966, he released ``The Originator,'' an album where he staked his claim as one of rock 'n' roll's founding fathers. In 1967, after moving to California, Diddley made his debut at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, bringing his electrifying sound to the Summer of Love crowd.

Even though rock music changed, Diddley's influence never subsided. The Clash, the seminal British punk band, asked Diddley to open for the group on its first major U.S. tour in 1979. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer called Diddley his hero.

In 1982, Diddley was introduced to the MTV generation through the video of ``Bad to the Bone'' by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Thorogood and Diddley play a game of pool while billiards legend Willie Mosconi looks on. In the end, Thorogood wins when he flicks his cigar ash, making the eight ball fall into the pocket. Three years later, the two artists appeared together at the Live Aid benefit concert in Philadelphia.

In 1987, Diddley was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame at the Cleveland museum's second annual ceremony. The members of ZZ Top were his presenters. Two years later he appeared in a Nike commercial, telling baseball and football star Bo Jackson, ``Bo, You Don't Know Diddley.''

Speaking Out

Diddley continued to speak out against what he called the exploitation of early rock 'n' rollers, including himself, by record companies, promoters and music publishers.

He was married four times, most recently in 1992 to Sylvia Paiz, according to the Internet Movie Database Web site. Three prior marriages ended in divorce. He also had four children.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards in Los Angeles in 1996. The same year he released ``A Man Amongst Men,'' his first on a major label in years. It featured Richards and Ron Wood of the Stones. He also was honored with a lifetime Grammy Award.

``Age ain't nothing but a number,'' Diddley told the Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 2006, when he was 77. He said that disc pain in back had forced him to play while seated. The stage strutting and karate kicks were no more. ``But, he said, ``I'm just as dangerous sitting down.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Schoifet in New York at mschoifet@bloomberg.net.

Thorogood has earned respect

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Erin Harde , Special to The Leader-Post
Published: Thursday, May 22, 2008

It may surprise George Thorogood fans that the b-b-b-b-bad to the bone singer does not, in fact, appreciate or condone audience members getting completely loaded at his shows.

The self-described "boogie blues master" who, with his band The Destroyers, released such hits as "I Drink Alone" and the perennial barroom favourite "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" says his catalogue has a lot more to offer than just the alcohol-infused radio favourites.

"I don't want to play for a bunch of drunks," says Thorogood.

"It's like writing a book and someone puking during the third chapter and passing out before the book is halfway done. You work for the live stage act and put songs together and want people to see the show."

Over the years, his audiences have become more respectful, particularly the younger generation.

"Every year, it gets more enjoyable because I get older, the band gets better, a lot of people in the audience get younger and look at me different," he says. "It's not just a bunch of roaring drunks just cutting loose and using me as an excuse to get drunk."

Thorogood audiences today are more diverse than 20 years ago. Young people show up with their parents and sometimes grandparents.

"I prefer people under 20 and people over 60 because once they get older, they think 'this could be it -- I'm gonna have a good time tonight.' People under 20 have yet to form an opinion about anything. It's us people in between who are (expletives)," he laughs.

Now 58, Thorogood rightly deserves a little respect. With dozens of albums to his credit, hit songs like "Gear Jammer," "Get A Haircut," "Move It On Over," and "Bad To The Bone" and former tour mates that range from the Rolling Stones to Howlin' Wolf, Thorogood has become a blues rock legend in his own right, though it's just now that Thorogood says The Destroyers are hitting their stride.

"There's much more satisfaction in it. When you're building the house, when you're almost completed, you enjoy putting the final touches on it as opposed to when you get started," he says. "Building any kind of business or any kind of career is painstaking. It has been for me. Things didn't just explode for me like an Elvis Presley. It's been an ongoing process. Some people call it a labour of love, I just call it a labour."

The work has paid off for Thorogood as he continues to see fans fighting for tickets -- the Casino Regina show sold out in less than an hour. Thorogood coyly avoids naming any tunes from the set list.

"I met Joe DiMaggio and he told me one thing. He said 'George, you only owe your fans one thing,' and I said, 'What's that?' and he said, 'Your best.' "

The best of which album or era, Thorogood won't say, but he promises not to disappoint.

"I'm a boogie blues master with a lot of energy who, with all due respect to Dennis Leary, is probably the most obnoxious man in show business, in which I have that field completely to my own," says Thorogood. "I will not disappoint in that fashion. Ever."

Thorogood raises the roof

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By: Rob Williams

Updated: May 24 at 12:32 AM CDT

George Thorogood's feel-good blues-rock has always been the perfect soundtrack to sitting outside and having a few cold ones.

So on one of the first beautiful Fridays of the season in Winnipeg there were moments during the lengthy three-act show at the MTS Centre it would have been nice if the roof would have retracted to let in some of that sunshine, making it an even better experience for the 4,100 fans who gave up their patio seats for a chance to hang out with the Delaware Destroyer, acoustic blues legend Taj Mahal and gospel stalwarts the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Thorogood was the headliner and took to the bare stage with his arms in the air, wearing a bandana and sunglasses, greeting the crowd with a yell of "How sweet it is!" before he and his long-serving band The Destroyers ripped into the boogie-shaker Rock Party, setting the tone for the night.

Three decades of hits and covers followed with the radio staple Who Do You Love second on the set list, which got the crowd on its feet, where many of them stayed for the remainder of the 100-minute set for favourites like Get a Haircut, Bad to the Bone, Move It On Over and You Talk Too Much.

"Welcome to the rock party ladies and gentlemen. We're going to do some dirty things tonight. We're going to do some nasty things and we're going to do some very bad things. I will do everything in my power to get arrested tonight. If somebody's going to go to jail tonight it may as well be me," he announced before the groove-heavy jam The Fixer.

At 58, the Delaware-born guitar slinger shows no signs of slowing down: he strutted around the stage like his mentor Chuck Berry, pulled off some synchronized moves with his long serving four-piece band and ripped off solos effortlessly.

With more than 30 years stage experience Thorogood knows how to please his beer-drinking party-ready fans, and even better, it's not just some phony crowd-pleasing shtick -- he is genuinely honest and passionate about the music he loves and is enthusiastic about sharing it with the masses.

The wonderfully scuzzy I Drink Alone led into the iconic One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer, a John Lee Hooker cover he has made his own, even adding a don't drink and drive message to the 10-minute version Friday.

Where Thorogood injects a good deal of rock 'n' roll into his blues stew, Taj Mahal showed off his more traditional side during a slow-rolling 50-minute set that drew on Delta, Chicago and country blues.

The setlist was an abbreviated version of his trio's show at the Burton Cummings Theatre in 2006 with Checkin' up on My Baby, Annie Mae, Fishing Blues and Queen Bee all making it back two years later.

He even told the same anecdotes and used the same lines, most notably his dedication of Blues with a Feelin' to "the ladies that have critical mass in the back."

The talented and good-natured 66-year-old was in fine shape as he switched off between electric and acoustic guitars with the occasional stint on the keyboard; he even managed to engage the crowd in some call and response for the Blues is All Right.

The Blind Boys of Alabama started the night with a collection of joyful spirituals that made believers of the crowd who showed up early.

Making their third appearance in the city since 2005, the seven member vocal ensemble, led by septuagenarian founding member Jimmy Carter, put on an uplifting show, mixing contemporary funky gospel numbers with reworked versions traditional songs like the rousing Free At Last, which moved Carter to get off the stage and wander onto the arena floor guided by his guitarist.

They even managed to find some common ground with the classic rock lovers in the room with their version of Amazing Grace done in the style of House of the Rising Son.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

Stephanie Netherton's In: George Thorogood, Gin Blossoms concerts bring back fond memories

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March 21, 2008
By Stephanie Netherton
snetherton@gannett.com

I'm a fan of anyone who wears a tuxedo T-shirt, and last Friday night that meant I was going to love George Thorogood.

As the singer strolled out on stage, wearing his tux tee, he was as cool as they come. With a bandana tied around his forehead and large circular sunglasses to shade his eyes, he greeted hundreds of adoring fans at the Riverdome at Horseshoe Casino and Hotel.

"How sweet it is," Thorogood said in his ragged, rough voice.

The crowd voiced its agreement with a loud roar.

But I have to admit, I wasn't one of the people roaring. I hadn't been exactly thrilled going into the evening. It's not because I don't like George Thorogood. But when I walk out of the office Friday, I have a hard time willing myself to even leave the house until Saturday. I want to hibernate, spend some time recovering from the work week and refueling for the one ahead.

Plus, my greatest memory of George Thorogood comes from when I would ride to elementary school in the back seat of my dad's car. Between Dad's rendition of "Bad to the Bone" and Mike and the Mechanics' "In the Living Years," it was enough to turn anyone off to the songs for good. (Sorry, Dad, it's true).

But Friday night, it didn't take long for all of that to change. I realize Thorogood has played more than 30 years with his band, the Destroyers, but his live performances make him relevant even today. He was a solid entertainer who knew exactly how to tease his crowd.

"We're going to do nasty things, dirty things and, most importantly, bad things."

Once again the crowd cheered, anticipating when Thorogood would play his biggest hit. The rocker played through other hit songs like "You Talk Too Much" and "Get A Haircut," but he didn't keep fans waiting on their favorite Thorogood song.

"How bad do you want it?" Thorogood said.

The question was met with applause before one of the most famous openings in rock music echoed through the Riverdome.

"Alright, then you got it," Thorogood said as people flew out of their seats to dance in the aisles, regardless of age.

Fans may have known what to expect from George Thorogood and the Destroyers that night, but he still surpassed everyone's expectations.

I went to the Gin Blossoms' concert at Harrah's Louisiana Downs the next night. Their music also strikes up fond memories for me, but from a later stage in my life than George Thorogood.

My high school friends and I would listen to the Gin Blossoms on the way to our weeknight softball games. We weren't serious Gin Blossom fans, much like we weren't serious ball players, but the music remains interwoven with my memories of those spring softball games.

The band was huge in the '90s. Songs like "Hey Jealousy," "Allison Road," "Found Out About You," "Til I Hear It From You" and "Until I Fall Away," were fun to hear again and both of the concerts reminded me that sometimes we like to hear music from our past just to jog our memory.

Thoroughly George Thorogood: Blues-rocker is blunt, funny and all about the music

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Posted by Mary Colurso March 16, 2008 5:00 AM

George Thorogood conducts interviews much as he performs in concert -- bluntly and aggressively, with deceptively casual skill and a self-deprecating sense of humor.

SPECIAL
George Thorogood returns to Birmingham tonight for a concert at the Alabama Theatre. The "blooze and boogie" musician last performed here in 1999 at Five Points South Music Hall. Ask the veteran blues-rocker a question about his career and he usually responds with a joke, or a snarky quip that seems designed to throw the listener off balance.
Is he nasty? Nice? Or as his famous song says, "Bad to the Bone"? Let's just say no one can take the measure of a man from one 20-minute conversation.

Thorogood, who'll perform tonight in Birmingham, certainly has earned his reputation as a hard-working singer and guitarist. His credits include several radio hits ("Move It On Over," "Who Do You Love," "Get a Haircut," "I Drink Alone," "You Talk Too Much") and more than 30 years of consistent touring.

Q: Do you care about your image as a hard-rocking guy, maybe one who'd break a beer bottle over somebody's head?

A: Who thinks that? I'm a peaceful man. Violence is old-fashioned. You can't get any chicks that way.

Q: Well, do you think rock musicians need a certain attitude, along with musical skills?

A: Sure, I've got an attitude, that I'm the greatest rock 'n' roll player on the planet. People don't step on stage and be humble. The audience doesn't want that. They don't want you to be arrogant, either.

Q: People don't usually think of you as a family man. Does your 9-year-old daughter, Rio, think you're a cool dad?

A: She thinks I'm about the coolest guy she's ever known. She has a shirt that says, "My dad rocks." You can't make your children dig you. It's like a bonus to me that my daughter thinks I'm groovy. I just want her to be healthy.

Q: You've had great success with your cover of Hank Williams' "Move it On Over." Ever think about doing an entire of album of Hank Williams songs?

A: I don't know if that would be appropriate. I may do one more (Hank Williams cover). But I really don't like going to the studio. If I'm going to the studio, it's 100 percent for professional reasons. Eric Clapton did an album of all Robert Johnson stuff; that was personal. I think Hank's songs are too painful. I share pleasure, not pain.

Q: You don't write many songs, but have said you like to cover material written by others, especially obscure blues. How do you know if a song is right for you?

A: I like the funny ones. I like to make 'em laugh and make 'em dance at the same time. Usually, I pick something that's not difficult to sing and has a good piece of humor in it, a tongue-in-cheek machismo. It's like an actor taking the right part. Woody Allen does not make Westerns.

Q: People say you're a big Bob Dylan fan. How do you feel about performing his songs?

A: My style is a little bit rough when it comes to bad Bob. He's the king, as far as I'm concerned. I don't have the right touch. It takes a unique artist to take Dylan's stuff and do it justice. Jimi Hendrix did it with one song ("All Along the Watchtower"). Isn't that enough?

Q: Don't you have a good story about a Dylan encounter backstage?

A: When I met him, I kept calling him "bad Bob." I said, "I have one word; you have many words." I told him, "You are the baddest." And he said, "You're the worst." So I've been dubbed the worst by the best.

Q: Rumor has it that you've been working on an acoustic album. Is that true?

A: I've been working on that since 1971.

Q: You recently had a birthday. How do you feel about being 58?

A: I'm not 58. I'm 28. I've got no time to know how old I am. I'm out there layin' it down. Ask Little Richard how old he is, and he doesn't know. He's too busy being Little Richard, you know?

Q: Before you hang up, can you talk about your memories of playing in Birmingham?

A: All of them good.

A conversation with George Thorogood

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By PETE TATTERSALL
ptattersall@sunherald.com

Through the years, blues rocker George Thorogood and his band, The Destroyers, have gained a loyal following of like-minded individuals. To whit, folks who like their music simple, witty and, well, rockin'. Thorogood, a minor-league baseball player who devoted himself to music full time in 1970, has cranked out enduring hit songs with titles like "Bad To The Bone," "One Bourbon, One Shot, One Beer" and "Move It On Over."

Rollingstone.com describes him as "one of the preeminent jukebox heroes," while allmusic.com reports that "Thorogood's music was always loud, simple and direct - his riffs and licks were taken straight out of '50s Chicago blues and rock & roll - but his formulaic approach helped him gain a rather large audience in the '80s, when his albums regularly went gold."

Thorogood, who performs 8 p.m. Saturday with the Destroyers at Hard Rock Live in Biloxi, spoke recently with the Sun Herald by telephone. The following excerpts of that conversation:

George Thorogood:

"Pete, how's my favorite newspaperman?"

PT:

Hey Mr. Thorogood, how you doing?

GT:

"Bad."

PT:

Bad to the bone, huh? Thank you for taking a few minutes.

GT:

"I just saw a really great movie the other day, called 'Deadline U.S.A.' You ever seen it?"

PT:

I have not, actually.

GT:

"It's one of Bogart's best. Although I don't know him personally, I think Ronnie Howard made a movie, 'The Paper'?"

PT:

I know it well.

GT:

"And I think he watched this movie 'Deadline U.S.A.' quite a few times. If you ever get the chance, see 'Deadline U.S.A.' with Humphrey Bogart."

PT:

I will, because I'm kind of interested in that older stuff. Used to watch a lot with my grandfather.

GT:

"Yeah! Great picture, made in the early or mid-'50s. Fantastic piece of work."

PT:

That's cool. Thanks for the heads up.

GT:

"Yeah, it's heavy."

PT:

What would you like to talk about?

GT:

"Gee, I'm a very, uh, as long as we stay out of the American League."

PT:

What have you been up to lately?

GT:

"Well, just minding my own business, Pete."

PT:

There you go.

GT:

"Well, you know, I've been doing just what I've been doing for the last 30 years. Just try to keep the weight down and the keep the chops up, and stay out of the joint. You know what I'm saying?"

PT:

I do.

GT:

"Yeah. Trying to stay out of the hospital, stay out of the joint. You know, just trying to keep my head above water. Like most people."

PT:

Who did you grow up listening to? Who would you describe as your important musical influences?

GT:

"Well, it was one guy from England, and I never got his name straight. Maybe you can help me out. His name was either Mick Richards or Keith Jaggar. Whoever that guy is. I'm talking about 1965, '66, around that time, I was very, very heavy into Bob Dylan. Like the whole rest of the world, I really got turned on by the Beatles. But the Rolling Stones were somebody that offered me hope. Because Dylan represented the truth, the Beatles represented freedom, but the Stones represented hope. Because, well, first of all look at them. I mean, they don't have anybody in the band exactly is going to blow away, you know, Warren Beatty. You know what I'm saying?"

PT:

Yeah.

GT:

"And as far as their singing goes, well, you know, Mick Jaggar is a very clever rhythm and blues singer. And they were doing covers of very unique, and catchy, blues tunes at the time when I was turned on by them. So I put that in my head and said, 'There's a chance for you. A slim chance, but nevertheless a chance.' When Zeppelin came out, and Jimi Hendrix, I thought my chances were absolutely gone. I just said, 'Well that's it, I'm never going to break the scene.' Then I went to see John Hammond play, and I said, 'There it is. Don't set you sights up so high. Look what he's doing. He's making a living, he's got a record deal, you know, he's doing it.' If you can't hit a home run, bunt. You know what I'm saying?"

PT:

You're still in the game.

GT:

"Yes, you got it. And I said 'There it is. There it is. Now go to work. Pick up that guitar, play the slide and pick some very funny, rockin' tunes and you'll make it.' I had no doubt then."

PT:

Well, that formula seems to have worked well for you, for a long time.

GT:

"Well, I've stuck with it. You know what I mean, Pete? I didn't want, you know when I first went to EMI and they said, 'Well, you know, George is just coming in to his thing.' I said, 'No, this is it.' What I did with Rounder on those first two records, that's the real George. The songs that I've written are just, what you call a reflection on that. Some people can't tell our originals from the masters, you know what I'm saying? I wrote in that form, because that's pretty much all I know.

"You know, what's his name? Dennis Leary, a man I really admire, he created a bag and he stuck with it. That's his bag. I said, 'I'm going to catch Dennis Leary, and (we'll) be the two most obnoxious men in show business.' For better or for worse, that's what I'm going to be. And, if I hadn't of done it, I'd have never got the chance to talk to you."

PT:

Flattery aside, that's interesting. Because Dennis Leary has kind of had a real resurgence with the show he's on, with huge critical praise ("Rescue Me").

GT:

"I'm talking about prior to that."

PT:

I know, but what I mean is, in 2005 you were named Billboard Blues Musician of the Year. So both you guys have been doing your thing for a long time, and yet you're both, now, as you were then, getting critical and popular praise. So obviously you guys are doing something right.

GT:

"You know, I went to a ball game one time, and Pete Rose came to bat. It was about the 17th year of his career, and he came to the plate and everybody in the park booed him. And then he got a base hit, a meaningless base hit. He didn't break any records. And all of a sudden everybody, me too, just started to stand up and applaud the guy. Then I realized why. I said, 'For 17 years this guy will not quit. He's in your face.' You know what I mean? For better or for worse. You got to hand it to the guy. Even though I didn't really like him, I said you got to give it to him. He's done it his way, and nothing's going to deter him from being Pete Rose. And I admired that. So did everybody in the stadium. It was like, 'We don't like you but we respect you.'

PT:

That's almost more important.

GT:

"Yeah. And the next time he came up, everybody booed him again. Then he got another hit."

PT:

Was it always the blues for you. Or did you dabble, or were tempted, by other forms of music?

GT:

"I went after the blues because I knew it was a foundation. Someone comes up to me and says, 'Oh, you stuck to your guns, you stuck to the blues.' I would like nothing more than have the success of Led Zeppelin. I would love nothing more than to have the success of a Jimi Hendrix. But I can't sing like Plant. I can't play like Jimmy Page or Hendrix. I can't write like Tom Petty or Jackson Browne or Joni Mitchell. So I do what I can do...

PT:

A true working musician. I guess what you're saying is we can't all be superstars, even if some people would describe you as borderline.

GT:

"Like one of these guys who's one of the top leaders in one-base percentage. You never see him at the All-Star Game, he doesn't break any records, but he's in the line-up. He's doing the job, day in and day out, day in and day out. And the promoters don't hire you back because you're a nice guy. They hire you back because you make money. Let's face it, that's what they do. As much as they might like you and say you're great and a nice person and all that, but that's what they do. And years ago I knew I was limited. So that was my strength. See what I'm saying?"

PT:

How would you describe your music?

GT:

"Loud. It's dirty. It's dirty. That's us."

PT:

It works.

GT:

"Some people like loud and dirty. You know, some people like that. Some people like champagne, some people like Budweiser."

PT:

Or, you know, one shot, one bourbon, one beer.

GT:

"Yeah, you know. But it's a quality shot. It's a shot of single barrel Jack Daniels. The guy that discovered ketchup, Heinz Ketchup. Mr. Heinz? He had a saying that I learned at a very early age, and I'll lay it on you, Pete. He said, 'Take something ordinary, and make it the best of something ordinary, and you'll go far.' Hear what I'm saying?"

PT:

That's pretty profound, actually.

GT:

"That's us, man, in a nutshell."

PT:

If the music career hadn't panned out, did you have a safety net. Something else you wanted to do?

GT:

"That's why it panned out. I had no safety net, that's why it panned out."

PT:

It was that or bust, huh?

GT:

"It was that or bust. But I do remember, when I was about 18, I was out of high school and my mother of all people came to me with an ad in the paper that said this, if you can believe this, 'A young man wanted for a job, that has a high school diploma and can talk baseball 24 hours a day.' And my mother and I look at each other, and we say, 'I wonder what would happen if I went down and applied for that job.' And I have fun because whenever I run into Bobby Costas, who's a friend of mine, you know Bob?"

PT:

I do.

GT:

"I'd say, 'Bob, I can do what you do, but you could never do what I do.'

PT:

Where did you grow up?

GT:

"Northern Delaware."

PT:

And where do you live now?

GT:

"Well, I swore under oath with the government not to reveal the whereabouts of my location. You understand?"

PT:

I do. Which might render this next question moot. Are you married, kids, anything like that?

GT:

"Well, there's certain things that they say, 'Keep your politics, how much money you make and your sex life to yourself. And you won't get in trouble.'

PT:

Put like that, how can I argue.

GT:

"There you go."

PT:

Well, maybe this leads to the answer to those questions, but how did you get the nickname "Lonesome George"?

GT:

"There was a cat in our neighborhood. He was a couple of years younger than me, and he had all sorts of girls around him all the time. And I never did. And he'd half tease me and call me that for some reason. I don't know why, he just always had girlfriends, and girls interested in him. He'd have two or three of them, and he'd say, 'Why don't you go over there and be with Lonesome George.' And of course, none of them ever would. And I think to this day, that's probably why I got somewhere in music and he didn't."

PT:

That's right. no distractions.

GT:

"Exactly."

Well it works for a blues musician. Blues music, what do you think is the allure of the blues. It's endured, and appealed to so many people around the world. Why do you think that is?

GT:

"Well, I think it's, everybody in the world, Pete, every person that ever walked on the planet has known pain at some time. Am I wrong?"

PT:

No.

GT:

"But you can't say every person in the world has known joy, at one time. Sadness will always, unfortunately, prevail. There's many, many people in the world that say, 'I know what it's like to be sad. I know what it's like to be hurt. I know what the blues is.' But there's not that many people who can all say, 'I've been happy every day of my life.' Now, you can say I've been happy, considering. But you can't say there hasn't been one time when you were sad about something, you had the blues. That's something everybody's got in common...

.Look at all the great comics in the world. Most of them talk about how miserable their life has been. And everybody laughs. Sam Kennison, Rodney Dangerfield, Henny Youngman, all of them...So the blues is always going to be with us, in some way, shape of form.

"Some things, you know, people would say to me, when I put out a record that had mediocre or conservative distribution, and then say, 'Aren't you worried about that.' And I'd say, 'No, the people that are supposed to hear it will hear it. It will get to the people who need it, or want it.' Some way, shape or form, it'll get there. If it's any good. If it's meant to be."

PT:

Do you have hobbies, things that you enjoy doing?

GT:

"I have no hobbies. No, my time is limited. I'm only on this planet for a short period of time, and my time goes into my wife, my daughter and my guitar. There's nothing else that means anything else to me... ."

PT:

So you get your pleasure from your work.

GT:

"That's where I apply them. When I'm not doing that, I'm either in the bathroom or sleeping or running on a treadmill or going to the doctor. If I'm not playing my music, I'm with my wife or my daughter or both. And if I'm not with them, I'm on the road with the band."

Thorogood still a heavy hitter

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The guitarist and former baseball player has been rocking the music world for four decades.
BY KEVIN SHEEDY
The Wichita Eagle
Julio Franco.

Not Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols.

No, rock guitar icon and baseball addict George Thorogood compares himself to Franco, the borderline Hall of Fame player who was still playing ball last season at the age of 48, rather than to the two future baseball Hall of Famers.

"Julio has what you call quiet dignity, perseverance, and he's got respect for people," says Thorogood, who will bring his Destroyers to the Cotillion on Thursday. "Jose Canseco cannot figure why he can't get a job and everybody hires Julio Franco."

He tells a revealing story about Franco:

"Two years ago Julio's playing with Atlanta, he comes up to bat and it's a right-handed pitcher, Bobby Cox bats him cleanup. (For you non-baseball types, the cleanup position is regarded as a team's best hitter.) Here's a guy, 46 years old, batting cleanup.

"He comes through with a single, knocks in two runs and he steals second base," Thorogood says with an exclamation. "And you've got some 23-year-old sitting on the bench complaining that he's got a headache and he doesn't want to play that day."

The analogy makes sense. Thorogood has been rockin' the music world for four decades with tunes such as "Bad to the Bone," "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" and "I Drink Alone" on two dozen albums, including numerous ones that went gold. And he doesn't cancel concerts because of headaches.

Most of his hits came in the '70s and '80s, but Thorogood's hard-driving music can be heard in most self-respecting bars, on TV, in movies and on classic rock radio.

Thorogood has had to work hard with relentless touring and recording to get to this level and stay there. The former minor-league baseball player offers another baseball analogy.

"Al Kaline, now here's a guy who won the batting title when he was 20. Youngest guy to win the batting title, and he never won another one."

Despite that, Kaline's career was so long and consistently outstanding that he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

"When Kaline went to the Hall of Fame, he gets up to the podium, he takes his hand and he wipes it across his forehead and he says in the microphone, 'Whew, boy, was that tough.' It never was easy for him. He said, 'I never enjoyed a day in the big leagues. I had to scrap for everything,' " Thorogood recalls with obvious empathy.

Thorogood's scrapping has paid off even if his profile isn't as high as a Bruce Springsteen or a Mick Jagger.

"I've had people come up to me who haven't seen me for years, and they look at me and go, 'Are you still playing?' And I go, 'Yeah.' Then they go, 'Oh, where are you playing?' And I'm thinking, I live in Beverly Hills, and I got two BMWs paid for in cash," he says in a disdainful tone.

So when will Thorogood decide to hang up his guitar and leave the game?

"When we'll play a gig and a reviewer comes with his son, and the next day the reviewer will say he told his son: 'Yeah, you should have seen him 15 years ago.'

"I'm gonna call the guy up and say, 'Thank you very much, sir, you just retired the great George Thorogood.' "

But like Julio Franco, that day may not be coming very soon.

George Thorogood re-energizes electric blues

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By Bill Locey
Sunday, March 2, 2008

The greatest band from Delaware made a rare stop at the venerable Majestic Ventura Theatre, and the locals loved it. George Thorogood & the Destroyers has been re-energizing the electric blues from those old blues guys and then some, ripping through his nearly three decades of rockers, and leaving the joint hooting and dancing.

Born in Wilmington on New Year's Eve 1950, the former semi-pro second baseman opted for a more lucrative career as a rock star, and seems to hit a homer every time he takes the stage. His breakthrough album, "Move It On Over,'' came out in 1978, and an opening slot on a Rolling Stones tour and a well-publicized 50 gigs in 50 days in 50 states tour back in '81 didn't hurt, either.

Gathered to hear what's advertised as the "World's Greatest Bar Band," the fans, many imitating the world's greatest barflies, were elbow-bending sufficiently Monday night to keep four bartenders and several barmaids busy. This was a sit-down dinner show, and the balcony was fairly packed as well.

The turnaround time between the opener and the headliner was mercifully brief and as the stage was bathed in blue light, the crowd became impatient; some actually stood up. In the balcony, it was whistlehead night as people took turns scaring each other with shrill whistles, hoping that would make George move it on over to the stage. The whistling turned to cheers when Barry McGuire's protest classic, "Eve of Destruction,'' came blasting over the sound system. But since Thorogood is as about as apolitical as Ward Cleaver, the choice of the song made little sense unless the "Eve of Destruction'' alluded to the impending appearance of the Destroyers. Yeah, that must be it. Anyway, the blue backdrop turned into a rainstorm with all sorts of lightning — if there was a bit of automatic weapons fire, it would've been a Ted Nugent intro.

Instead, it was Thorogood with Republican short hair, a headband and giant white guitar and the four Destroyers, who have probably done this a few times before. Right away, the die was cast — a massive guitar solo, the occasional duck walk and cheers from the crowd. While it's true that Thorogood basically re-invented all the classic blues guys like Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker, many of his familiar songs are his own originals, but any George song without a guitar solo would be like a Twinkie without the white stuff.

And the crowd was primed — cheering at all the appropriate moments, such as whenever George mentioned "Southern California'' or "any Destroyer fans?'' or "How does it feel to be 17 years old again?'' or even when the lights came on as bright as the sun, blinding us all temporarily.

The Dedicated knew the words, too, helping out with the chorus of "One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.'' Good job.

No surprises — Thorogood gave them what they wanted — all those rockin' blues songs off all those albums over all those years. The end of destruction featured his two signature tunes, "Bad to the Bone'' and "Move It on Over,'' which was an appropriate cue to take a few steps up the street to Dargan's, where the Corsican Brothers were unleashing their melodic take on the history of power pop.

George Thorogood Preparing For A New Album And Tour

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Posted by Mitch Michaels on 02.29.2008

Thorogood says he ain't stopping till he's run over or left for dead...

George Thorogood & The Destroywers are hitting the road for a four week US tour that will bring them to Hard Rock Café in Orlando, FL on March 18th.

2008 is shaping up to be a busy year for the brash, iconic and outspoken George Thorogood, with plans for a new album and non-stop touring.

"We're hitting the ground running and not going to stop until we're run over or left for dead," laughs Thorogood. "Remember, rock and roll doesn't sleep, it just passes out."

In 2007, the rocker and his band did over 70 shows in the U.S. including headlining concerts, a dozen dates with Bryan Adams, key performances at prestigious gigs like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Memphis' Beale Street Festival, Red Rocks in Colorado with Buddy Guy and Montreal's International Jazz Festival, plus a tour of Europe. He was also inducted into Guitar Center's "Rock Walk" by KLOS radio's Jim Ladd. "It was a good year," says Lonesome George. "What's next?"

Thorogood's last studio set was 2006's The Hard Stuff Last year was the 25th anniversary of his landmark album, Bad To The Bone.

Celebrities tell us who they'd most like to spend a day with

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George's answer: "Living, I'd like to spend one day with Hillary Clinton. Because at one time in her life, she was the most powerful person and I'd like to talk to that person. From the past, the one person I'd like to spend a day with is Jesus Christ, and I'll tell you why. He's arguably the most famous person in history, and as a history buff I'd be interested in meeting him. But I'd also like to say to him, "Take some advice. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself."

Music Review: George Thorogood & the Destroyers - Bad to the Bone - 25th Anniversary Edition

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What makes a great rockin' blues song? That is a mystery that I have been trying to understand for years. I could give you examples of great, classic, enduring rock/blues tunes like "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer", "Who do You Love?" or "Move it on Over" without truly understanding what exactly made those songs so great. One man though, who clearly always understood the question is George Thorogood. His answer in 1982 was Bad to the Bone!

The release of Bad to the Bone, the 25th Anniversary Edition on Capital Records is more than a bit nostalgic for me. I am, in every which way a rockin' blues girl of the 80�s and when I received my copy in the mail, (It�s good to be a critic.) I was both childishly ecstatic and a wee bit nervous. I suddenly felt worried that maybe, just maybe, I was remembering George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers (yes I know they dropped the Delaware from the name, but it was so cool!) and this particular album through rosy colored nostalgic glasses. What if by thoroughly dissecting this much beloved record I found that it wasn�t everything I once believed it was cracked up to be? There was a time after all in my prepubescent years that I thought Three�s Company and The A-Team were darned good TV shows. What if, God forbid, that was also the case with my youthful taste in music?

Thank the Lord almighty and Hallelujah, turns out I did have great taste in music in the eighties. I ran through all of the original 11 tracks and they are still as fabulous and amazingly unabashed as ever. In fact, from track one "Back to Wentzville" through 10 "Wanted Man", I came to realize one of my big regrets is that I�ve never seen George Thorogood and the Destroyers perform live. How ultimately cool that would be?

I wouldn�t want to see them at a large venue like a stadium or arena though. No, no, George and the boys truly are what they�ve always maintained themselves to be �an unpretentious bar band� . This is one partying bunch, and listening to this CD I found myself dancing like a fool around my living room as I was transported to some dark smoky, crowded and rowdy kinda joint. (Oh by the way, I apologize to my neighbors who must have thought I was having some kind of fit. I�ll try to remember to close the curtains next time I rock out.)

The bonus track, "That Philly Thing", is a fantastic instrumental blues tune with a bit of a jazz feel and beat to it. It�s a great listen that made me think, yeah, that�s what Philly must be like, even though I�ve never actually been there� and I really should go there someday.

I approached the new recordings of "Blue Highway", "New Boogie Chillem", "No Particular Place to Go", "As the Years Go Passing By", "Bad to the Bone" and "Wanted Man" with a personal bias to overcome. I generally really dislike artist�s remakes of their own songs. Not that I�m some kind of purist. There are a lot of song remakes that are even better than the original. Heck, Mr. Thorogood�s version of "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer" is the perfect case in point.

No, what I�m usually adverse to is when the original artist remakes his/her own song. For example, and I know many will disagree with me, I just loathe Eric Clapton�s unplugged version of "Layla". What is that anyway? Now there was a classic adrenaline rush of a rock and roll song and Clapton shoved Valium down its throat and sent it on its dodgy old way. Eric how could you? But again, I digress.

With a few butterflies I turned to track 12, "Blue Highway" and tried to keep both my ears and my mind open.

Perhaps it was due to my expectation of a disaster, but I was very pleasantly surprised! The new recording of "Blue Highway" was quite good. It was great, in fact. While it�s more of an acoustic version, the country twang gives it an even greater mournful edge. Phew� that was a relief, now on to track 13.

"New Boogie Chillum" is a bit more smooth but still pretty brash, high speed, and quite pleased with itself, which is exactly as it should be. Definitely set the toes a tapping on that track. The same held true for the fast and funny "No Particular Place to Go". I still can�t help but jump up and dance to that tune (curtains closed this time to protect the innocent.)

I�m equally fond of the new recordings of "As the Years Go Passing By" and "Wanted Man". Both new versions offer slightly altered versions on tempo and vocal arrangements, but the souls of George�s original recordings are more or less in tact (if not a little too cleaned up for my taste). Though it must be said, the extended guitar solo on "As the Years Go Passing By" quite simply kicks butt and takes names.

I saved listening to the new recording of "Bad to the Bone" for last. After all that is the song isn�t it? It�s not just the title track to the album, it�s the title track to my misspent youth. "Bad to the Bone" was and still remains the ultimate anthem of rebellion and freedom. There have been other classic rock and blues songs that have withstood the test of time; think "Crossroads", think "Rebel Rebel", think "Layla" (the real version of "Layla" that is). But there have been precious few that have so captured the imagination of the world like "Bad to the Bone".

Even if you have never heard of George Thorogood and the Destroyers, you most certainly know that song. I would hard pressed to find a single person on the entire planet that does not instantly recognize that riff. You don�t even have to speak the language to understand what that song means just from that famous guitar riff.

So with slightly calmer nerves I turned to track 16, the new recording of "Bad to the Bone". After all, the previous 5 new recordings held pleasant surprises, even though they are in fact, remakes of remakes. Nonetheless I felt hopeful.

Folks, it�s like this. From the first riff, nay the first note, my heart immediately sank! I hated it! What have they done to my anthem? What has become of the absolute perfectly imperfect wild untamable song? It�s� it�s� been tamed!

For all intense and purpose, I should love the new recording. The distortion was obviously done with the latest and greatest state of the art technology and the arrangements and vocals have been updated and polished. This new version is slick.

Yet, it�s because of this perfect precision that the song completely loses its groove, to say nothing of its edge. This new version is just too smooth, too clean shaven. It�s just not the unpretentious bar band rockin� out with all its soul. This new recording was done by a much more mature and polished band, a take it home to meet your parents band; (as opposed to the �every young girl�s dream, every mother�s nightmare' image that I�ve always associated with George Thorogood and that wonderfully wild song!) But perhaps that�s just me.

The irony here is that because of my disappointment with this new version of one of my all time favorites, I finally understand the enigma of what makes a great rockin� blues song! It�s that tension built by a song that is always balancing on the razor�s edge; that sounds like it�s always in danger of unraveling. That's what made "Bad to the Bone" so wild, so free, so absolutely perfect in its chaos. Now that it�s been tamed, now that it�s beautiful and polished and so perfectly clean. It�s� well� it�s just not "Bad to the Bone"!

So, in spite of this minor stab to my wild heart of old, do I recommend this CD? Yes, I absolutely and unequivocally recommend this CD for anyone new to the Destroyers or long time devoted fans alike. This extended anniversary edition is as amazing today as it was 25 years ago, and the new tracks are a great addition to any rock/blues collection.

I�m also certain that most people will like the new, heavier, cleaner, more perfectly distorted guitar sound of the latest recording of the title track. As for myself, I�ll keep enjoying the rest of a great album. I�ll just generally skip track 16 and turn back to track 6, the original, the true version of George at his wild best; thoroughly good, untamed, and Bad to the Bone!

included strictly for personal reasons...

Ween signs to Rounder for new album

Writer: Rebecca Bowen
News, Published online on 30 Aug 2007

"I always wanted to be on the same label that put out all those early George Thorogood records and now I am!"

So stated Dean Ween about his band's new allegiance to Rounder Records, which will release its ninth studio album, La Cucaracha, on Oct. 23. Produced by longtime Ween associate Andrew Weiss, this album - Ween insists - is its most ambitious since 1994's under-cleavage celebrating Chocolate and Cheese.

This much can be said, at least: only for Ween would a publicist think it wise to promote a new LP by using descriptors like "redneck scat boogie" and "blistering porn rock" in the same breath.

Ween's website states that the band has already booked an American tour of "pretty much every major city in the U.S.A" Dates to be announced.

Just a musician on the road

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BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
When George Thorogood comes to the phone, you don't expect him to be singing. Or, at least not singing "Beautiful Girls," the ubiquitous reggae hit from Sean Kingston.

"I can't get that thing out of my head, man. That's a hit," Thorogood exclaims when his musical choice is jokingly questioned.

It's quickly apparent that Thorogood, the tough-playing blues rocker, is a straight shooter with a deadpan sense of humor.

Now 56, he has built a three-decade career on ferocious barroom stompers, usually layered with fluid slide guitar and his growling rumble of a voice.

"The Hard Stuff," Thorogood's most recent album with his legendary band, The Destroyers, retained his tradition of combining original songs with well-chosen covers -- this time Bob Dylan's "Drifter's Escape" and John Lee Hooker's "Huckle Up Baby."

But those who come to see Thorogood live are usually hankering for the one-two punch of "Bad to the Bone" (the album was released earlier this summer in deluxe anniversary form) and "I Drink Alone."

Calling before a show last week in New England, Thorogood talked about that reissued album and why he and The Destroyers aren't the World's Greatest Bar Band after all.

Your Richmond show is just you, but you've done -- and are doing some more -- dates with Bryan Adams. That's an interesting combo. I know you guys have known each other awhile, but how did the tour come about now?

We met in the'80s but reunited for these dates. But let me set you straight on something first: A rock star goes on tour. A musician goes on the road. This band goes on the road.

OK, so what's it like going on the road with Bryan?

He's such a great writer. The tears always come when I hear "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman." What Bryan wants to do is play rock, like Jimi Hendrix.

Bryan's expertise lies in doing very tasteful ballad things. His rock statements are OK, but he outshines himself on his other things.

Are you a road hound or has it gotten tiring over the years, being on the road for months at a time?

I've never been out eight or nine months at a time. I do enjoy it because I balance it. I'm home five or six months, I'll go out for a month, then home three or four weeks.

I enjoy playing new material for new people. The only [artists] who are out there 10 months a year are the people who need the money. I'm a live performer. I make a record so I can perform.

Does it feel like it's been 25 years since "Bad to the Bone"?

Never look back, just keep moving.

What goes through your mind when you're singing that song live for the 10,000th time? Is it more of an obligation, or with it and "I Drink Alone" do you genuinely feed off the audience's excitement?

Both. It is an obligation, because that's what people paid to hear. When you go to see the Stones, don't you expect to hear "Jumpin' Jack Flash"?

I like the song myself, but of course I'm feeding off the audience. If it's a great audience, it's a great show.

How involved were you in the 25th anniversary edition of "Bad to the Bone" that came out this summer?

We rerecorded half the songs on there. The original recordings sounded terrible. We didn't have another guitar player, and the cat recording us didn't know jack about what we were doing. That was far and away not our best record.

They wanted us to rerecord three; I said let's do five. This is the way those songs should have been done. The original ones, they're the outtakes! What you have now is the real deal.

You bill yourself and The Destroyers as the World's Greatest Bar Band, but I think a lot of people might say you're selling yourself short because you're such a good blues player.

No, we're the World's Greatest Live Band.

OK, but all of your logos say Bar Band.

It sells T-shirts.

You've covered everyone from Bob Dylan to Nick Lowe. What are you looking for when it comes time to decide what you're going to cover for an album?

A good song. It's not rocket science. But there's a difference -- Linda Ronstadt and Joe Cocker do covers, I do obscure material. If it weren't for The Beatles, what kind of career would Cocker have?

Once in a while, we'll be stuck on a record and we don't have enough material so I'll write a song, or the record company will press me to do a popular song, like "Hand Jive" or "Johnny B. Goode." It comes back to business.

Richmond is the last date on this leg of the tour. Have any plans for your month off?

Minding my own business! OK, I gotta go. Adios!

George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Bad To The Bone: 25th Anniversary Edition Review

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B-b-b-b-b-b-bad�.

My Story
George Thorogood is one of those rockers who never seems to get his due. He�s never tried to make his music about more than it was: good time, bar room, dirty rock �n� roll. And I appreciate that. It�s not really hard to believe that the band�s commercial peak is celebrating its 25th anniversary, because, in a way, it�s had to remember a time when George Thorogood & The Destroyers weren�t touring the country, bringing blues infused guitar rock to America one concert hall at a time. Maybe that�s as much a testament to the power of the band as any awards or critical acclaim would be.

Their Story
George Thorogood left a burgeoning career as a minor league baseball player in 1970, after seeing famed bluesman John Paul Hammond play live. In 1973, Thorogood formed the Delaware Destroyers, who later shortened their name to The Destroyers. At the time, the band consisted of drummer Jeff Simon, bassist Michael Lenn and guitarist Ron Smith. The group, influenced by blues and early rock �n� roll, toured the northeastern US for several years, earning their stripes and a dedicated fan base in the process. They recorded a demo tape which they shopped around in the mid-70�s called Better Than The Rest. The raw set of rockers found its way to Rounder Records, who signed George Thorogood & The Destroyers to their first record contract in 1976. As the band entered the studio for the first time, Michael Lenn dropped out and Billy Blough stepped in on bass.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers, the band�s debut, hit shelves in 1977. The set, a smoking tour of electric blues that included covers of greats like John Lee Hooker (�One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer�), Elmore James, Bo Diddley and Robert Johnson, didn�t exactly change the world, but it did show fans what Thorogood and his band were all about. The follow-up, 1978�s Move It On Over, reached #33 on the Billboard pop charts, thanks to covers of Hank Williams� �Move It On Over� and Bo Diddley�s �Who Do You Love�, two singles that received a good deal of airplay at radio.

Move It On Over eventually went gold, and Rounder capitalized by giving an official release to the demo set Better Than The Rest in 1979. The band wasn�t particularly fond of this move, as they felt they�d grown as musicians since their early days. Nevertheless, the set reached a respectable #78.

As the 80�s dawned, several changes occurred in the Destroyers camp. Guitarist Ron Smith left and saxophonist Hank Carter came onboard. This line-up only released one album on Rounder, 1980�s modest hit More George Thorogood & The Destroyers, before jumping to major label EMI. The jump to a major label couldn�t have happened at a better time for Thorogood. Blues-rock was gaining steam in the US (and about to blow even wider open, thanks to folsk like Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble), and with a promotional team like EMI behind him, Thorogood was poised to break out big time. For their part, Thorogood & The Destroyers (with help from pianist Ian Stuart) hit hard with their EMI debut, 1982�s Bad To The Bone. The set reached #43 on the Billboard charts, but more importantly, truly ignited The Destroyers on radio and MTV with the title track. With the title track and �Nobody But Me�, Bad To The Bone yielded the band their first true hit singles.

Following the success of Bad To The Bone, Thorogood & The Destroyers toured heavily for a couple of years, eventually adding Steve Chrismar as a second guitarist to beef up their live sound. They finally returned in 1985 with Maverick, an album that quickly went gold. Bad To The Bone was certified gold two days later. Reaching a career best #32 on the charts, Maverick was more of the same from the consistent Destroyers: amped up blues rock with covers and bar room energy to spare. The inevitable live album, (titled simply Live) appeared in 1986, as did a reissue of Thorogood demos on MCA titled Nadine. Live was certified gold that year and yielded another minor rock hit with �Reelin� & Rockin��.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers ended the 80�s with Born To Be Bad, the band�s fifth gold record. The set tied their best charting effort at #32 and yielded some of their highest charting hits: �You Talk Too Much�, �Treat Her Right� and the title track.

The 90�s weren�t as kind to Thorogood as the 80�s, unfortunately. The band�s style of music was seeing an overall decline. Undeterred, the band continued to record and tour heavily throughout the decade. Sales for 1991�s Boogie People were soft, though it yielded rock hits with �If You Don�t Start Drinkin� (I�m Gonna Leave)� and �Hello Little Girl�. 1993�s Haircut faltered even more, even though it yielded three more rock hits, including the #2 �Get A Haircut�. Following that album, guitarist Steve Chrismar ended his short tenure in the group.

There was still interest in Thorogood�s back catalog, though. The mid-90�s saw the band�s self-titled debut certified gold over fifteen years after its release, as well as Live and a 90�s hits compilation called The Baddest Of George Thorogood & The Destroyers certified platinum. In 1995, the band released a second live set, Live: Let�s Work Together. It was their final record with EMI.

Since leaving EMI, Thorogood & The Destroyers have toured and recorded for various labels, though they haven�t reached the commercial success they saw in the 80�s. They�ve released four studio albums (most of which have done well on the Blues charts) and several live sets and compilations, including 2004�s 30 Years Of Rock: Greatest Hits, which reached #55 on the Billboard charts and certified gold. Jim Suhler joined on as second guitarist in 1999 and in 2003 longtime saxophonist Hank Carter was replaced by Buddy Leach.

In 2007, though the band is currently releasing records with Eagle, Capitol/EMI celebrated the 25th anniversary of Thorogood & The Destroyers� Bad To The Bone with an expanded rerelease, which includes a B-side and several new versions of the original tracks. The band has supporting dates scheduled throughout August and September, which can be found at their official website.

The Album
On August 14, 2007, Capitol and EMI Records released Bad To The Bone: 25th Anniversary Edition, an expanded version of George Thorogood & The Destroyers� 1982 album. The set features an extra B-side from the era and six newly recorded versions of the album tracks.

The Band: 8.0
George Thorogood: vocals, guitar
Jeff Simon: drums
Billy Blough: bass
Hank Carter: sax (1982)
Jim Suhler: lead & rhythm guitar (2007)
Buddy Leach: sax (2007)

What can you say about George Thorogood & The Destroyers that hasn�t already been said? They�re one of the best pure bar bands in America, it�s true, but they�re also the unsung heroes of blues-rock, keeping the genre alive on the radio in the 80�s with a longer string of singles than perhaps any other band in their genre.

The remastered version of the original album sounds great. It�s vital, alive and exciting, all these years later. No one can boogie on guitar like Thorogood, and his plain spoke, beer soaked delivery matches the music perfectly. The Destroyers are an explosive backing band, powering through covers and originals like the foremost white authorities on electric blues.

The new material is problematic here, as the older Destroyers play these tunes as well-worn, road tested bar tunes. Sure, this is how you would here the music now if you were to see them live, but it�s missing both the energy of youth and the excitement of something new, not to mention it�s not LIVE, anyway. Not that present-day Thorogood doesn�t have the chops, it�s just, after such a definitive look at the band via 1982, there�s no need to retread. This expanded set would�ve been better serviced by more unreleased material or just all new songs altogether.

The Songs: 7.5
1. Back To Wentzville
2. Blue Highway
3. Nobody But Me
4. It�s A Sin
5. New Boogie Chillun
6. Bad To The Bone
7. Miss Luann
8. As The Years Go Passing By
9. No Particular Place To Go
10. Wanted Man
11. That Philly Thing (Instrumental B-Side)
12. Blue highway (New Recording)
13. New Boogie Chillun (New Recording)
14. No Particular Place To Go (New Recording)
15. As The Years Go Passing By (New Recording)
16. Bad To The Bone (New Recording)
17. Wanted Man (New Recording)

George Thorogood & The Destroyers have done little to change their formula in the past three decades, so any hits package should satiate the casual fan. If you want an album, though, this should be where you start. It�s gritty (�New Boogie Chillun�), it�s catchy (�Bad to The Bone�) and it�s just flat-out rock �n� roll (�It�s A Sin�). The songs prove that rock �n� roll was alive and well, even back when synthesizers were gearing up to take it out. Every song here is a classic, literally, from �No Particular Place To Go� to the awesome take on Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan�s �Wanted Man�.

�That Philly Thing� is a blazing B-side from 1982�s �Nobody But Me� single and it really rocks. The new recordings are decent, but I could take or leave them. It�s interesting to here the band�s take on them now (especially since 3/4s of the original band is still actively there), but there�s nothing widely different about their versions except that they�re a bit more live. The new stuff ranges from fun (�Wanted Man�, �Blue Highway�) to �What The Hell?� (the less than inspired version of �Bad To The Bone�). Still, if you don�t have this record, it�s worth getting the new version if just for the extra B-Side.

The 411: The 25th Anniversary Edition of Bad To The Bone is awesome. The remastered tracks sound crisp and vital and fans will enjoy the newly available �That Philly Thing�. The original tracks here are crammed with classics, which is reason enough to get it, as there�s stuff you won�t find on Thorogood�s many compilations. The newly recorded tracks are a good idea in theory, but don�t add much value. Still, if you don�t have this album, it�s one of those blues-rock essentials that should be bolstered by a bit of added incentive. Support Delaware�s favorite bar band and pick this set up.
Final Score: 8.0 [ Very Good ]

Adams, Thorogood should have switched spots

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The difference between Bryan Adams and George Thorogood is a matter of about six beers.

Adams� earnest, straightforward rock is the way you feel at the beginning of your night, when you�ve downed your first two. You�re a little heady, but still reserved and in control.

Thorogood is the way you feel when you�re nearing the end of the last can of your sixpack � loose, uninhibited and ready for some mischief.

It�s a shame those two feelings were all out of order Saturday night, when George Thorogood and The Destroyers opened a split bill with Bryan Adams at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.

It�s not a knock against Adams. His set was solid and his performance dead-on. It�s more of a testament to how hard it is for a pop star to follow a rock legend.

Thorogood took the stage when the sun was still up. Just like the group�s sound, the stage was a Spartan affair, with Thorogood alone at center stage and his band shrouded in the background. But that�s all Thorogood needs.

The man � clad in black pants, a black cutoff T-shirt and white sneakers � is such a presence he rarely needed to wander from center stage, letting his attitude and music to carry the show.

That simplicity is exactly how Thorogood avoids the nostalgia that causes stars like Adams to wax and wane. Yes, his rock is �classic,� but it�s so damn fun everyone from 40-ish biker chicks are dancing with air guitar- strumming kids in backward baseball caps.

�Bad to the Bone� and �One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer� are songs everyone has grown up on � when first released, on 97 Rock or even in (sell-out alert!) car commercials.

Adams� stage set was rather simple, but a bigger light show and the myriad amps arrayed around the band seemed to overcompensate for something. And while Adams� music can be fun, it�s predictable.

That said, the performer definitely did his own songs justice.

The opener, �One Night Love Affair,� set a tame tone for the set, but �Life Is an Open Road� and �18 til I Die� brought the crowd to its feet. Even with the popularity of his set, the crowd didn�t sing along with Thorogood-inspired bravado until the opening of �Summer of �69.�

His ballads were pitch perfect. �Everything I Do� had couples swooning and lighters swaying.

Adams� romantic appeal might have been the most charming aspect of his show. His best moment with the crowd was when he selected a woman � shaking with excitement � to come onstage and sing with him.

Adams, a Canadian, owes much of his success to the Western New York region, and he paid tribute to that in his onstage banter.

�This is where it all started for me,� he said. �Radio stations in Rochester, Buffalo and Albany started playing me, and the rest . . .� and he segued into his next song.

Thorogood�s �Bad to the Bone� gets digitally remastered for 25th anniversary

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By M&C News Aug 1, 2007, 13:17 GMT

In 1982, George Thorogood and The Destroyers first hit the rock charts with their major label debut, �Bad To The Bone.� On August 14, 2007, Capitol/EMI will release �Bad To The Bone: 25th Anniversary Edition,� an expanded single-disc collection featuring the original gold-certified album, digitally remastered from the original master tapes for the first time, as well as six newly-recorded versions of album tracks and a rare B-side.

By the time �Bad To The Bone� became Thorogood's EMI debut, he and the Destroyers had already toured with the Rolling Stones and demonstrated their mettle by playing a tour in which they performed 50 shows in all 50 states in 50 days. Bad To The Bone helped to catapult George Thorogood and the Destroyers (featuring drummer Jeff Simon and bassist Billy Blough) to a new level of popularity, achieving Gold sales status and spending nearly a year on the charts.

The title track became Thorogood's first major crossover hit, fueled by heavy music video rotation on MTV. It has maintained a remarkably durable shelf life in the years since, remaining a staple of classic-rock radio, while continuing to be a popular choice for film soundtracks and TV commercials.

Of the album�s iconic title track, Thorogood says, �Billy, Jeff and I had been playing that �Bad to the Bone� riff for a long time, waiting for me to write some words, so that song plays fast and that�s why everybody likes it. That song carries the album.�

Beyond the title anthem, the songs span the range of Thorogood�s influences, from the Berryesque workout "Back to Wentzville" to the playful rocker "Miss Luann" to the soulful road ode "Blue Highway" to the uncharacteristically introspective blues ballad "It's A Sin." He also delivers high-energy readings of the Chuck Berry classic "No Particular Place to Go" and the Isley Brothers/Human Beinz chestnut "Nobody But Me."

�Bad To The Bone: 25h Anniversary Edition� augments the original album with the non-LP instrumental "That Philly Thing," originally released as the B-side to the "Nobody But Me" single, plus six newly-recorded tracks on which Thorogood and The Destroyers offer updated versions of songs from the original album.

�Bad To The Bone� remains a treasured cornerstone of the Thorogood catalog. In the years since the album�s release, Thorogood has continued to rock on his own terms, while maintaining a large and devoted fanbase. His body of recorded work encompasses a dozen studio albums and several concert recordings, and he and The Destroyers continue to actively tour to major music venues around the world.

George Thorogood Tickets are now available at M&C�s Ticket Database. George Thorogood and The Destroyers confirmed tour dates include:

08/01/07 Alexandria, VA - Birchmere
08/02/07 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Music Center
08/03/07 Boston, MA - Bank one Pavilion
08/04/07 Homdel, NJ - PNC Bank Art Center
08/05/07 Pittsburgh, PA - Sand Castle Ampitheater
08/07/07 Toledo, OH - Zoo Ampitheater
08/08/07 Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre Pine Knob
08/09/07 Indianapolis, IN - White River Park
08/10/07 Cleveland, OH - Tower City Ampitheatre
08/11/07 Buffalo, NY - Darien Lakes
08/14/07 Johnson City, NY - Magic City Music Hall
08/15/07 Hyannis, MA - Cape Cod Melody Tent
08/16/07 Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Casino
08/17/07 Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino
08/18/07 Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino
08/19/07 Block Island, RI - Spring House Hotel
08/22/07 Westbury, NY - Music Fair
08/23/07 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
08/24/07 Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
08/25/07 DuBois, PA - Treasure Lake Resort
08/26/07 Richmond, VA - Toads Place
09/21/07 Reno, NV - Silver Legacy Casino
09/22/07 Reno, NV - Silver Legacy Casino
10/05/07 Murphys, CA - Ironstone Vineyards

Ex-Destroyers member sues over royalties

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By SEAN O'SULLIVAN, The News Journal
Posted Tuesday, July 3, 2007

WILMINGTON -- A former member of George Thorogood's band, the Delaware Destroyers, claims he is not getting his fair share of royalties in a federal suit.

He also says the band's refusal to release him from a 2002 recording contract has prevented him from earning a living as a musician.

The suit, filed by Delaware resident Henry G. "Hurricane" Carter, is similar to a lawsuit he filed, and subsequently dropped, last year in federal court.

Carter's attorneys refused to comment and Thorogood and his representatives could not be located for comment. Thorogood is a Wilmington native and a Brandywine High School graduate.

The lawsuit says Carter joined the band, which later dropped "Delaware" from its name, in 1979 and played saxophone, keyboards, guitar, trumpet, mandolin and was "involuntarily released" in 2003 for unspecified reasons.

"The fortunes of the band changed dramatically during Carter's tenure and the band enjoyed significant commercial success," according to the lawsuit.

One of the band's biggest hits, "Bad to the Bone," was released in 1982 and featured in the 1991 film "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

The lawsuit said despite Carter's departure, he was "entitled to be compensated for the good will he helped create for the band during his two-decade tenure."

This apparently includes revenue from albums recorded since his departure and tours that have taken place without him.

Carter alleges that since his departure, his 20 percent share of the royalties of record sales has been subjected to an unexplained "17 percent management fee."

The suit also alleges that he only received "11/16ths of his agreed 20 percent"of the royalties on a recent greatest-hits album, where his work appears on 11 of 16 tracks "and was charged again for phantom 'management fees.' "

The lawsuit charges breach of contract and demands an accurate accounting of royalty payments and restoration of his full royalties from recording, touring and merchandising revenues.

A March announcement indicated that Carter recently joined the certified public accounting firm of Belfint, Lyons & Shuman P.A. in Wilmington as a staff accountant in the small-business department.

Thorogood simply bad to the bone

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By ANN MARIE McQUEEN - Sun Media

George Thorogood is thoroughly committed to being George Thorogood.

For example, when answering the simple question "How are you?" he has this response: "I'm bad."

I groan. But at the same time, what I really want to say is, "Bad to the Bone," Mr. Thorogood?"

I reckon he wouldn't mind. This is the sort of performer who perpetuates his reputation for a particular sort of mainstream mediocrity, the cleverly constructed kind. Who, when asked about his shrewd tendency to self-deprecation, says quickly, "Self-deprecation. Is that when you wet your pants?"

The 56-year-old Thorogood, who is set to play the Ottawa Bluesfest mainstage tonight, knows exactly what self-deprecating means.

A quote on his website bio sums it up: "My biggest thrill is when someone says I've got George's new CD and it sounds exactly like the last."

The blues-rock mainstay from Wilmington, Del., has clearly figured the game out to achieve a steady, reliable sort of success. Mostly that has happened by giving rock fans exactly what they want, something that was evident when he played the Bluesfest in 2004.

"The reason you guys bring me to Ottawa is 'cause you need a rock band," he said. "You need a rock band and we're one you can afford. You can't afford Tom Petty. You can't afford Bruce Springsteen."

Thorogood has ridden his waves of popularity out, first assembling his band The Destroyers, releasing his debut album in 1974 and peaking with hits and three gold records in the 1980s.

And unlike some of his peers, Thorogood isn't about to complain about the current paralytic state of the music industry.

"Things change all the time," he says. "You have to adapt to the changes that go on or you don't stay in the business."

One thing of the changes he's witnessed slowly, over a 30-year career, is the state of the crowds that come to see him.

"They're much more behaved now. The ticket prices change all that ... someone pays $2 to get in you're taking your chances. Somebody pays $50 to get in, they are going to be on their best behaviour."

Thorogood says not only are his original fans grandparents now, there are often kids in his crowd. That means these days, when it comes to being "bad," he has to have just the right balance.

"There are people who are nine, 10, 11 years old out there, and then there are grandparents out there," he said. "I have to keep my rough-and-rowdy image going, but at the same time, I can't be vulgar or anything and be crude.

"There's children here."

The soft side of rock's wisecracking rebel

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Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, July 06, 2007
If there's one thing about the music business George Thorogood would like to change, it's the expectation that an album/disc/record must contain a dozen or more tracks.

"That's a concept I'd love to change in the music industry," says the veteran singer-guitarist, who headlines Bluesfest's main stage tonight.

With his latest disc, Hard Stuff, he found it a challenge to gather enough obscure blues songs that he could rework to suit his down 'n' dirty, rock 'n' roll style.

"The Hard Stuff is not a bad record," Thorogood said during a recent phone interview, his demeanour alternating between disruptive wisecracks and surprisingly sensitive insight. "But there's nothing obscure anymore."

"I don't know if you've noticed but they have a thing called the Internet now, and you can get anything you want," he cracks.

"You can find out anything. That's why to find obscure material, like I used to base my career on, is a thing of the past.

"And I've been playing a certain way for so long that I really can't play anything different. When we did Ride Til I Die (his previous studio disc), the songs were falling out of the sky. Something was just going right for me then -- there was material that I'd never heard, material that I could play, material that I enjoyed playing, material I could introduce in live concerts. But the last one was tough, very, very tough to pull that thing together."

Thorogood established his career with a string of hard-edged, testosterone-dripping blues-rock anthems, including One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, Bad to the Bone and I Drink Alone. His bluesy bluster about drinking and leaving conjured a rebellious image that holds great appeal with many of my biker friends.

They might be surprised to hear that their swaggering hero went through a period of self-doubt, and that he makes no secret of the fact that he's a sensitive guy. As a boy, he liked poetry and would get emotional over spotting the first robin of spring.

"You know how sensitive I am," he says. "I think that's the key to being an artist, whatever type of artist you are. I'm a performing artist, that's what I do. There has to be a level of sensitivity here. I'm not a bricklayer, I'm not a policeman. Policemen can't afford to be sensitive."

Thorogood eventually found enough material to fill Hard Stuff, including a couple of his own songs, as well as covers of tunes by Fats Domino and John Lee Hooker. There's even a sweet, soulful take on Dylan's Drifter's Escape that proves the sensitivity theory. But the Holland K. Smith track, Rock Party, makes a fun, upbeat song for Thorogood, and earns my vote as the Bluesfest song of the day. Sample lyric: "Come on everybody, there's a rock party tonight, everybody's dancing, everybody feels alright."

That's what it's all about for Thorogood -- the live show. In these days of endless entertainment options, he wants those who attend his concert to feel they've made the right choice.

"These people are paying money," he says. "There's other things to do. You gotta be aware of that. Basically you want everybody to leave saying 'I'm really glad I did that tonight.'"

He's just as adamant about getting them home safely.

"I think the most important issue of the night is that everybody goes home safely. No injuries, no auto accidents, safety first."

So if you can't resist hoisting a cold one when George growls the words bourbon, scotch or beer, leave the car (or motorcycle) at home. There's no parking anyway.

George Thorogood plays the MBNA stage at 9:30 p.m. Tickets & times, www.ottawabluesfest.ca

Red Rocks Review

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By John Wenzel
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 06/20/2007 01:39:19 PM MDT

The beauty of Red Rocks Amphitheatre is the way it stirs both audience and performer, encouraging extended solos, wild dancing and gleeful interaction between the stage and crowd.

Buddy Guy clearly felt the venue's energy Tuesday night, playing a lengthy set that wavered between inspired and rambling. Of course, it was an endearing sort of rambling, as the Chicago blues legend fashioned medleys from artists he has helped inspire (Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix) and standards from the blues canon (mentor Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf).

Guy looked ready for a Hawaiian cruise in a blue floral shirt, straw hat and crisp white pants, strolling leisurely through the higher rows of the venue and imploring his five-piece band to "play it so funky you can smell it." His solos hit like lightning bolts, unpredictable and lacerating with thunder in their wake.

Of course, when he played guitar with his teeth or the occasional drum stick (as he's wont to do), it sounded more like Marty McFly's ill-timed solo at the end of "Back to the Future" or Hendrix at his most explosive and skull-splitting. More than a few people could be seen covering their ears throughout the venue.

Even as the adoring crowd and natural beauty of Red Rocks buoyed Guy, he toyed with the crowd's attention and pushed back headliner George Thorogood later than most. He meant it when he said, "I could play all night," because he nearly did.

By late Tuesday, Thorogood was barely halfway through his set, the crowd's vigor remaining strong for his sharp, toe-tapping blues-rock. But after Guy's set, the shiny saxophone work and by-the-numbers solos of Thorogood's Destroyers felt a bit polished and predictable, even as they maintained the rabid energy Guy had built.

Thorogood reigns over classic rock radio with songs like "Bad to the Bone" and "Who Do You Love" (which were played note-perfect), and it's doubtful the majority of the crowd was looking for surprises. Still, both Thorogood, 57, and Guy, 70, proved they can make as much roiling noise as musicians one-third their age, and do it convincingly.

Sumlin, Thorogood and Keb' Mo' Next RockWalk Inductees

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On Saturday, June 16, 2007, Hubert Sumlin (see photo), George Thorogood & The Destroyers, and Keb' Mo' will be inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk at Los Angeles nightspot The Music Box @ Fonda. Following the RockWalk Induction ceremony, Guitar Center's The King of the Blues Grand Finals Event, hosted by Cheech Marin, will feature The Black Crowes, Hubert Sumlin, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, plus the top four undiscovered blues guitar players in the country performing with Grammy Award winner Pete Anderson.

Hollywood's RockWalk, the only sidewalk gallery dedicated to honoring those artists who have made a significant impact and lasting contribution to the growth and evolution of Rock 'n' Roll. George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Keb' Mo' and Hubert Sumlin will join other equally accomplished musicians and innovators who have been inducted into RockWalk such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Johnny Cash, Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, The Ramones, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, John Lee Hooker and Earth Wind & Fire.

About Hubert Sumlin
Born on November 16, 1931 in Greenwood, Mississippi and raised in Hughes, Arkansas, Hubert Sumlin was taken by the great Blues players he heard including Charlie Patton, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. Destined to take the place of these masters, Sumlin received his first guitar from his mother, who spent her entire $5, weekly paycheck to purchase it. He had his first encounter with the legendary Howlin Wolf, at the age of 10 when he sneaked out to a local juke joint and stood on a pile of crates to see through a window. Drawn in by the music, Sumlin fell through the window and right onto the stage where Wolf insisted that the under aged Sumlin stay and watch as he played. A few years later, Wolf brought Sumlin to Chicago where he contributed to some of the most powerful Blues the world has known. After Wolf's passing in 1976, Sumlin continued to play with Wolf's band for four years before leaving for a solo career in 1980. Sumlin has gone on to record as both a leader and a sideman sharing the stage with everyone from The Rolling Stones, to Elvis Costello and Santana. His 2005 release About Them Shoes was conceived by Keith Richards, produced by Rob Fraboni and garnered a 2006 GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album. Sumlin continues to tour bringing his original and personal blues feeling to music lovers across the U.S.

Formed in the '70s by George Thorogood, Jeff Simon and Billy Blough, George Thorogood & the Destroyers are a high energy group whose slide guitar and blues rock takes on songs by the likes of Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker landed them a record deal with Rounder Records. After paying their dues in the blues scene of Boston, they recorded their second album Move It On Over, and struck a big hit with the title track, which was a cover of a Hank Williams song. In the '80s the band signed with EMI and released a series of gold records including, 1982's Bad to the Bone whose title track spawned Thorogood's best known single to date, and its accompanying video was a staple on MTV. They continued their hit-making success into the '90s with such hits as "Get a Haircut" and many additional albums followed into the new millennium. These included a compilation released in 2004, Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock, which went gold and was #1 on Billboard's blues charts for 60 weeks. George Thorogood & the Destroyers are currently crisscrossing the US on a spring/summer tour which includes a nine date run of co-headlining dates with Bryan Adams.

Raised in Compton, singer-songwriter and guitarist Keb' Mo' grew up in a home filled with gospel music and records of the '50s and '60s. Born Kevin Moore, he began playing guitar as a child and blew the trumpet and French horn as a teenager. After playing with local cover groups, Moore went on to play back up on the first three albums for legendary roots violinist Papa John Creach. He followed that up with a staff position at A&M writing songs and contracting demo sessions before releasing his own solo album, Rainmaker. After gigging with the Whodunit Band and appearing in LATC's productions of Rabbit Foot and Spunk, the newly minted Keb' Mo released this blues heavy debut disc Keb' Mo' to immediate acclaim. His subsequent albums continue to demonstrate his depth and artistry, three of which, Just Like You, Slow Down, and Keep It Simple all took home GRAMMYs for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In 2006, Mo' was GRAMMY nominated for Country Song of the Year for "I Hope" which he co-wrote with the Dixie Chicks and appears on their GRAMMY award winning album Taking the Long Way. His latest album Suitcase is a diverse collection of songs that are his most personal to date. His vocals are honestly delivered and his mastery in acoustic and slide guitar shine through. From its storytelling and gritty country blues tunes to its ballads and fiery laments, Suitcase is soulful and authentic. Beyond his musical accomplishments, Keb' Mo' has also garnered a number of accomplishments in television and film and is committed to a number of charitable causes.

George Thorogood fortifies itinerary with Bryan Adams dates

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April 30, 2007 03:17 PM
by Tjames Madison
LiveDaily Contributor
Already busy with their long spring and summer tour, veteran blues-rockers George Thorogood & The Destroyers have announced a few dates with singer Bryan Adams.
Thorogood and his band, who are touring behind last year's "The Hard Stuff," are already well into a tour that kicked off April 6 and resumes Friday (4/27) in Fort Worth, TX. The new dates with Adams consist of nine shows in August sandwiched between the nearly 50 shows that the hard-working band will play this spring and summer. Full details are included below.

Thorogood said in a press release that he's been looking forward to touring with Adams since the two performed together during a 1985 jam session in Nashville with Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn. "We got along immediately, and it's great that we're finally able to get out and do some shows together," Thorogood said.

"The Hard Stuff" is Torogood & The Destroyers' first new studio set since 2003's "Ride 'til I Die." Released last May, the disc features a number of originals, as well as covers of several obscure blues tunes such as Jimmy Reed's "Little Rain," Hound Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig," Fats Domino's "Hello Josephine" and Johnny Shines' "Dynaflow Blues."

The group decided to make a blues-heavy album after its 2004 retrospective, "George Thorogood: 30 Years of Rock," spent 50 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart, and 90 weeks on the chart overall.

Thorogood and two other Destroyers--drummer Jeff Simon and bassist Billy Blough--remain from a group that was formed more than 30 years ago. Newer additions Jim Suhler (guitar) and Buddy Leach (saxophone) round out the current unit.

Canadian singer/songwriter Adams, who first achieved MTV fame with 1983's "Cuts Like a Knife," released his most recent studio album, "Room Service," in 2004.

Thorogood makes no bones about his signature song

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By WAYNE BLEDSOE, bledsoe@knews.com
April 13, 2007

It doesn't bother George Thorogood one bit that's known to most of the world by one song - "Bad to the Bone."
"One time a writer asked me how it felt to be a one-hit wonder," says Thorogood. "I told him, 'Well, it's better than being a NO-hit wonder!' "

Thorogood laughs, over the cell phone.

Of course, Thorogood was wowing crowds before "Bad to the Bone" became a hit in 1982, but the number became a signature song not only for Thorogood, but for the idea of a tough guy. It now makes regular appearances in movies and television shows.

"What makes it work is that it's a total fantasy," says Thorogood. "Remember James Bond or you see a Clint Eastwood movie? Everybody wants to be that guy. Women say, 'I want to be with that guy!' Even if it's just for an hour. Somebody gets on a motorcycle, and maybe they crash the motorcycle, but for maybe 45 minutes they thought they were that guy."

A native of Delaware, Thorogood and his band the Destroyers (at one time called the Delaware Destroyers) made a name for themselves in the 1970s as one of the hottest bar bands in the game.

Thorogood says he had a plan for success:

"I don't have the voice of Aretha Franklin or Dean Martin or Barbra Streisand. I'm not like Jeff Beck or Carlos Santana where I can just go out there and wow them for two hours with my guitar playing. When I started out, it was when Led Zeppelin was big. Well, nobody could sing like that guy. I had to just do what I can do."

He says his inspirations were John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley, because their music was simple and could communicate to a wide audience.

"Then you had the Allman Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Canned Heat and all those guys going strong. I said, 'Well, here's something I can get a piece of before it's too late. I can get a little attention with this slide-guitar thing.'"

The group first made a dent in 1978, with a rocked-up cover of Hank Williams' "Move It on Over."

Thorogood says he wanted a sound that could fit into as many situations as possible.

Thorogood knew he had something special when he wrote "Bad to the Bone," but his first picks to perform the song were legends.

"I wanted Muddy Waters to do it, and he refused," says Thorogood. "Then I wanted Bo Diddley to do it, but he didn't have a recording contract."

That turned out to be lucky for Thorogood. His recording of "Bad to the Bone" was buoyed by a video that received regular airplay on the recently launched MTV.

While he's continued to make new recordings through the years, none have matched the sales of his early material. He finds no shame at all in that.

"Did Johnny Cash or does B.B. King or Eric Clapton need to make another record? For bookings, to play, do they need to make more records? No."

He points out a time when he was recording a new album and a promoter was insistent that Thorogood perform for a festival.

"My manager told him, 'He can't talk about it right now because he's in the studio making a new record.' You know what the guy said? He said, 'Why?'

"Seventy-five to 80 percent of the people who come to my concerts just want to hear stuff off the first two records. I should've just stopped right there!"

He is a little bothered that so many people associate his music with drinking songs.

"We've done 11 studio records, each album has around 10 songs, that's 110 to 115 songs altogether, and only three of those songs have to do with drinking, and only one was written by me," says Thorogood.

He does have goals - acting jobs might be part of that, despite, he says, a lack of "talent or ability."

"I'm in a new movie," he says. "It's directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Elmore Leonard, stars Robert De Niro and Jon Voight. I play a bad guy. It's called 'The Ballad of Lonesome George."

Really?

"No, but I can dream."

STILL 'BAD' AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: Thorogood and the Destroyers to rock Sundown

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thanks for the hat tip, DMF

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff

For blues aficionados and casual music fans alike � at least, for those around when MTV was in its infancy � there's an iconic image of George Thorogood burned into the brain:

A fat cigar, a game of pool, a satisfied and shark-toothed grin as the 8-ball drops, giving him victory in a game of pool against blues guitar legend Bo Diddley.

It's a simple storyline, made for a music video at a time when there were few music videos period, much less ones stocked with special effects, dance moves and scantily clad, gyrating girls. It propelled the song for which it was made � "Bad to the Bone" � to the top of the charts, and established Thorogood as one of the early stars of MTV.

Thorogood, however, was around long before MTV hit the airwaves. And though he may not outlast it, he'll certainly be the sort of iconic rock star that's sorely lacking on the channel these days. "Bad to the Bone" may have been co-opted as the song to countless commercials and movie scenes, but it's still inextricably tied to Thorogood. It's who he is, and when he talks, it's with a confidence that the listener can't help but accept as fact.

"I'm the last one � I'm it, the last of the old school,"
Thorogood told The Daily Times in a recent interview. "Let's say I'm about 50
or 60 (the Web site Wikipedia lists his birthday as Dec. 31, 1951); I'm the
last of the card-carrying bunch that saw Muddy Waters play. I played with him. I opened for him. Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker � we're the last band of that time, and it's not the fault of the young people who came after me � those guys have just died and passed on.

"I think sometimes these younger people think I'm younger than I actually am, and that I only have two records out. Some of these young guys can really play, but unfortunately because of the time that they came along, they didn't get a chance to see the real deal. Seeing it, witnessing it, experiencing it � that's something you can't learn off of listening to a record.

"Granted, I heard Robert Johnson on a record, but I saw Muddy Water play a Robert Johnson song two feet in front of me," Thorogood added. "The whole time, I was saying, 'This is it, George; this is as close as you're going to get to the real thing.'"

George Thorogood and the Destroyers came blasting out of the 1970s with "Better Than the Rest," released in 1974. On the strength of powerhouse covers of songs by Chuck Berry, Elmore James, Hooker and Diddley, the group signed to Rounder Records after moving to Boston, releasing "Move It On Over" in 1978, the title track of which was a cover of the 1947 Hank Williams Sr. hit. In 1979, another cover followed � Diddley's "Who Do You Love," with Thorogood cranking up the electric guitar firepower to the boiling point and stirring the pot with his trademark growling, swaggering vocals.

In the 1980s, a combination of exposure and hard work helped the band earn a reputation as a workingman's blues-rock outfit that churned out the ideal soundtrack to Saturday nights spent drinking, fighting and loving at roadhouses along America's blue-collar backroads. In 1981, the band made several appearances opening for The Rolling Stones; and in the early part of that decade, the band undertook an ambitious, 50-states-in-50-nights gig run that kicked off with a show in Hawaii followed the next night by one in Alaska.

Almost 40 years later, Thorogood and the Destroyers are still doing what they've always done best � play hard, rock hard and work hard. It's something Thorogood said he never grows tired of, and while songs like "Who Do You Love," "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" and the aforementioned "Bad to the Bone" may have given many folks the impression that he's some sort of eternal hell-raiser who sleeps beneath the bar at places in which he plays and has spilled more liquor than today's young Turks will ever drink, he's very much a family man.

"That song ("Bad to the Bone") � half of it is reality and half is fantasy," he said. "You watch movies with James Bond and Sean Connery playing him, and you think, 'I'd like to be that guy,' but that's not reality. Certain songs of mine are reality, and certain ones are fantasies, and I guess I'm a little bit somewhere in between the two of them.

"Since my daughter has been born, I've been going to more parties than I ever have in my whole life � birthday parties, Halloween parties, you name it. It's a lot safer, though � all kids and no booze."

Not that Thorogood's pace these days is all play and no
work. According to his publicist, he's following up 2006's studio album "The
Hard Stuff" with his first-ever acoustic album (although Thorogood, when asked
about it, plays coy, feigning ignorance of such a project). In addition, his
greatest hits compilation, "30 Years of Rock," was named the No. 1 blues album
of 2005 and 2006 by Billboard magazine, meaning there's an ever-steady demand for his hits.

Despite the success, he remains grounded in the reality of his place in the grand scheme of things � a torchbearer, the last man standing at the fabled crossroads where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul. The ghosts of his predecessors are there to keep him company, and the young guns who have followed in his wake stop by to pay homage ... but in the end, it's Thorogood, standing tall, still smoking that fat cigar and grinning like a wolf.

"The music is bigger than me, and it'll go on long after I'm not here," he said. "The songs made me famous; I didn't make them famous. I know where I stand in this thing. I always say, I went to the same school as Keith Richard and Eric Clapton; the only difference is that they graduated.

"I'm the last person to go to that school before they shut the school down. I got the chance to see the best, and you can never replace those people. Sure, there are guys out there now that might sell as many records and become icons of their own generation, but they'll never do for music what somebody like Jimi Hendrix did.

"I'm so fortunate to have seen what I saw and got to be a part of," he added. "It was a gold mine of education, and it can never be replaced or duplicated."