The fantastic (and maybe crazy?) Christian and Britton Picciolini opened their home to their musical family – people from JBTV, bands that Christian manages through Goldmill, and a random assortment of others that somehow fit into the mix (me included!).

They had one of these parties last summer, and we weren’t able to attend, so the second that Christian sent out the save-the-date email, I marked it on my calendar, swearing off all other activities for that date, no matter what. Luckily, it worked out, because it was a fantastic time. I mean, there was a 112 lb. roast pig, ladder ball/bags/badminton/volleyball, friends, campfires, sing alongs, smores, etc… what else could anyone possibly want?

As a side note, I know I haven’t been posting on this blog much lately… there will be blogs forthcoming. It’s wedding season right now, so my energy is devoted to that, but there are great things coming (Company of Thieves and Ludo come to mind…).

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Rev Theory is not necessarily my type of music, but I can’t deny that they put on a great show. Frontman Rich Luzzi was on the risers at the front of the stage the majority of the first three songs, with the rest of the band not far behind. They were both musicians and performers, which I think is so important, especially when you’re opening up for Halestorm and Shinedown. It would have been easy to get lost in a such a powerful line-up, but I thought that Rev Theory definitely held their own.

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You’ll be seeing a lot of The Frantic in upcoming posts. I’ve been crashing some of their recording sessions, shooting promos with them, and went to this JBTV taping. Sometimes it just works that way – lots of one band at one time. I like it.

More to come from this, obviously. I still have the digital shots.

And, as always, don’t forget to tune into JBTV – Wednesdays at 11 on WJYS 62 in Chicago. The episodes are also on iTunes the day after airing. There’s no excuse to miss one.

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Opening up for Foxy Shazam, The Young Veins are a throwback band. For a band that I had not heard of, I was impressed with the amount of fans there for them. A little phone Googling, and I discovered that vocalist Ryan Ross and guitarist Jon Walker were previous members of Panic! At The Disco. That explained it!

The Young Veins is released their first CD, Take A Vacation!, yesterday ( June 8, 2010).

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Cavalry was opening for Gilby Clarke (of Guns N’ Roses fame), so they needed pictures. Obviously. And, in addition to that, singer Collin Patrick’s brother Micah also joined the band (on bass and keys), with this being just his second show. It was definitely a picture-worthy night.

As always, they put on a great show. Really fantastic. You should check them out.

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