Football back on tv, cooler weather, leaves falling, and hopefully just one more mow for the yard…welcome to October! September proved to be a good month for music and October’s looking pretty great as well (not that I had any doubt!).
Wendy and I headed up to Sunbury for a benefit concert at Spyglass Ridge Winery. The entire evening was put together to benefit Magical Memories, a local nonprofit that’s been around since 2007 with the goal of making magical moments and forever memories for children battling life-threatening illnesses as well as those experiencing adverse life events. Playing to an almost sold-out crowd (which is a substantial number of people at this venue!), South Jersey based Whiskey Grin kicked the night off with their signature brand of hard rock that really got the crowd amped up. This trio plays with a lot of power and energy that really shows their lifelong friendship together on stage. They currently have one album out and are rumored to be heading back to the studio in the near future to begin work on their second which I’m very much looking forward to! While waiting for the headlining act to come out, Magical Memories staff came out and auctioned off a 1 of 2 in the world hat made for and signed by Bret Michaels, bringing in an additional $1500 for the organization which was just awesome. Bret also donated an extra $5000 himself during the evening. Bret Michaels then took the stage with an immediate energy and power that had the entire crowd moving. Cranking out classic hits like Unskinny Bop, Look What The Cat Dragged In, Fallen Angel, and more…he kept the energy going for the entire set and constantly interacted with the huge crowd. About half way through the show, Bret brought out The River 97.3’s Glen Hamilton as well as the crew in Van Wirsing – Van Halen Tribute, to blast out Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”. I had a bit of a heads up prior to the show that this was going to happen…but that heads up really didn’t prepare me for how awesome it would be to see these guys up on stage with Bret putting on an incredible performance! If you like Van Halen, make sure to give the Van Wirsing page a follow and keep your eyes open for future shows…you won’t be disappointed!
The following weekend, I made the long, long trip (like, 2 miles LOL) down the road to Big Bottom Brewery in Dillsburg to catch the Vertical Vultures Acoustic Trio playing out back in the parking lot. I definitely need to catch their full band show sometime, as their acoustic covers of songs like Can’t Always Get What You Want, Ring Of Fire, Locomotive Breath, and more had a smooth and chill vibe for what turned out to be a great crowd on a beautiful evening. Also: if you like IPA’s, give their Lazy Hazy a try…it’s pretty delicious!
The next night I ended up making a trip down to a “new to me” place: Big Hill Ciderworks in Gardners. This is a really cool little place surrounded by orchards in a quiet area with a nice stage, great friendly staff and tasty drinks. Opening up the evening was Groove Rebels, led by Any Simpson’s powerful and sultry voice ripping a bunch of tunes like Take Me To The River, Too Much Woman, Spinning Wheel, and more for a great crowd. Headlining the evening was a great bunch of guys that I always have a great time hanging out with: The Jellybricks. These guys have been together almost 30 years (maybe some sweet anniversary shows & such coming for us next year?) and still hit the stage with infectious energy. With songs like All About You, Dreaming In Stereo, Monday Never and even a few great covers; it closed out a beautiful evening surrounded by great people and great music.
My last trip out was for a benefit that I’d mentioned last month: TaTaPalooza. I headed down for my first visit to Jen Jen’s Rhythm N Brews to catch a few of the bands playing yesterday all to benefit Pink Hands Of Hope: a local charity supporting breast cancer patients. With production provided by Ed Allison, and all bands donating their time and energy to support a great cause, it really was a nice benefit that’s been going now for eight years. I got to catch Paul Minnich, Russian Collusion, Dustin Muller, and Aces while they played their sets for a great crowd. A ton of great music was played, and certainly more as the evening went on. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what they put together for next year’s event!
October’s looking to be great for music…with the 6th Annual Children’s Miracle Network Music Festival fundraiser in Mechanicsburg, 3rd Annual Horns For Hearts benefit show at HMAC raising money for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the grand opening of Capital City Music Hall on 2nd Street in Harrisburg with an impressive list of shows already scheduled, as well as tons of shows at pretty much any other venue around the Central PA area. There is literally something for everyone around here!
So there it is, my month of music through my eyes and ears. I want to once again thank all the bands, venues, and everyone else involved in our incredible local music scene for everything they do. Just a reminder: if you’ve got a show coming up that I should see; make sure to send me an invite, shoot me an email or a message, let me know about it. Venues: please don’t hesitate to reach out to me as well. The majority of the shows that I go and shoot I find out about through invites from all of you or your friends. Hit me up on facebook: @chrisriderphotography or email: chrisriderphotography@gmail.com, stop me if you see me out & around and say hi. Until next month…go find some live music and give them and the venue your support, they truly need it more now than they ever did.
