Daddy’s Blog

Boy did we have fun last night at Daddy’s Portland, ME for the DigiTruck stop!  Our new pals, local rockers HIGHWAY JACKSON rocked the DigiTech DigiTruck stage!  They were fantastic!  And it appeared by the growing crowd that showed up there (close to 100 last I counted), I apparently am the last to know how good these guys are.  Hell, even the police showed up! 

Again, thanks to the guys in Highway Jackson and to the Daddy’s Portland staff and apologies to the nursing home across the street from the store….ooops

Tonight we will be over at Daddy’s Junky Music, Nashua, NH for the last and final stop of the DigiTech DigiTruck tour - if you haven’t seen this massive truck yet - here’s your last chance!  Tonight’s guests will be The Dave Clark Band who hit the DigiTruck stage at 7pm sharp!  See you tonight! 

And please don’t forget there is only 2 days left to get your bid in on the autographed Brad Delp Tribute guitar!  Go to the home page of www.daddys.com and click on the link to bid!  Please remember that 100% of the proceeds are going to the Brad Delp Foundation so bid HIGH! 

Hopefully, those of you in the CT and RI areas made it out this past weekend to Daddy’s Waterbury and Daddy’s Warwick to check out the massive, 53ft DigiTech DigiTruck!  This thing is VERY cool!

The inside of this monster features a room FULL of guitar effects and modeling - all ready for you to noodle with and of course, there is a product specialist on the inside as well should you have any questions.

The back end of the truck is a drop down stage - completely equipped with full backline and PA!  A HUGE thanks to the band Frantic City from CT for a stellar performance on the DigiTruck stage, Saturday at Daddy’s Waterbury!

If you are in the Maine and NH area and want to check out this truck - we will be at Daddy’s Junky Music Portland, ME tonight (8/27) from 4p - 8p.  Local rockers “HighWay Jackson” will be hitting the DigiTruck stage at 7pm sharp!

And tomorrow night (Tues, 8/28) we will be at our last stop on the Daddy’s DigiTruck Tour at Daddy’s Junky Muisc, Nashua, NH from 4p - 8p with the “Dave Clark Band” hitting the stage at 7pm sharp!

I hope to see all of you over the next couple of days!

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Speaking of Daddy’s Waterbury, CT - you folks out there really put our product specialists to work on Saturday during “Recording Day!”  Hopefully you got all of your recording/gear questions answered by the industry’s leading manufacturer product specialists that were on hand.

Big thanks to Tascam, Shure, Monster, Audio Technica, Line 6, Presonus, Alesis, M-Audio and the Auralex folks for taking the time to help out our new friends at Daddy’s Waterbury.

Hope to see you guys tonight!

Candi

Well, if you are Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner and your band is doing a last minute video shoot in Boston and you are in need of a drum kit for the video - you call Daddy’s!

Thanks for the shout out guys! http://blog.myspace.com/shadowsfall

Don’t forget to check out Shadows Fall on tour this fall - you can get all the tour dates here www.myspace.com/shadowsfall

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And if you are Kenny Aronoff and you have a session with Michael Sweet at the legendary Long View Farms Studios, you call Daddy’s

Our resident drum guru, Mike Tocker at Daddy’s Boston location really put some work into getting the Kenny the exact kit that he needed for this session.  And as you can see from the below email we got from Kenny after the session - he was pleased!

“Mike,
  I wanted to let you know that you are amazing and thanks for all your help and getting excellent drums for my recording session. They have worked out great… amazing.. Thank you for being so professional and perfect….
Anyone would be fortunate to have some one like you working for them.
Kenny Aronoff”

A HUGE thanks to Mike and Hirsh at Daddy’s Junky Music Boston for taking such good care of these guys! We’re not worthy! (i am now attempting to do bow doing my best Wayne and Garth)

Nobody does it like Portnoy!  HOLY SH*T! We just finished up our 2 days worth of in-stores with the incomparable Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater and you people came out by the hundreds! We’ve done a million, well, maybe not a million, but alot of in-stores, clinics etc. with Mike over the years and we certainly know he can draw a crowd, but this go round was incredible!  Thanks to all of you who took time out of your day to come visit us, especially our newest Daddy’s Junky Music store in Waterbury, CT - hope you all enjoyed it!

MASSIVE crowd outside Daddy’s Waterbury!

Here is the link to the Autographed Brad Delp Tribute Concert Guitar

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200144675992

Bid High and Often as 100% of the proceeds of this guitar will go to the Brad Delp Foundation

What an amazing time was had last night at the Bank Of America Pavilion in Boston for the Brad Delp Tribute show, “Come Together”, that his children, Jennifer and John Michael Delp, put together as a night of celebration and remembrance of their father, legendary Boston frontman, Brad Delp.

It was like a who’s who of Boston rock royalty performing last night - from Godsmack, Extreme, RTZ, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Ernie and the Automatics and Boston.  I know it’s cliche to say that its a shame that it takes a tragedy to bring all of these people together in one place, but it really was great to see everyone and catch up with some that I personally haven’t seen in years including Tom “TH” Hambridge, to former Aerosmith tech Tony Lentini, to Chachi from WBCN, to Jonny Lang tour manager Gregg Classen, to Gary Pihl of Boston, to Joey Kramer of Aerosmith and everyone in between!  It was crazy!  It was also great to meet Brad’s family last night too - Brad’s kids Jennifer and John Michael, Mickey Delp (Brad’s ex-wife), and his fiance Pamela.  Wonderful people.

Godsmack Acoustic

Gary Cherone, me, Charlie Farren, Franny Sheehan and Muzz

Charlie Farren, me, Lisa Guyer and Sully Erna (oddly enough, the 4 of us have known each other for almost 20 years!)

Everyone had there own Brad story to tell and all of the stories leave you with the same conclusion - Brad Delp was definitely the nicest guy you’d ever meet.  His daughter Jennifer, who works in the film industry in LA, had put a beautiful video together which included some never before seen photos and video footage of her dad - you could hear a pin drop in the venue while that video was rolling.  It was very moving.

Jennifer Delp, Micki Delp and John Delp

Daddy’s happily donated a boatload of the backline for last nights show and I brought two guitars with me and had them placed in the production office for all of the artists to sign, including Brad’s kids. (The guitar has been signed by ALL of the members of Extreme, ALL of Godsmack, Joey Kramer of Aerosmith, members of Boston including Barry Goudreau, Tom Scholtz, Fran Cosmo, & Fran Sheehan to name a few)  The first guitar will be going up on ebay within the next 48 hours with ALL of the proceeds going to the Brad Delp Foundation (info on the charity below).   Details of the ebay auction will be posted VERY soon. 

In the mean time….here’s what finished product looks like

The second guitar is also signed by everyone except Brad’s kids as I/We/Daddy’s, presented the guitar to the kids as a keepsake from the show.  They didn’t know I/We/Daddy’s was doing this for them - I LOVE surprising people! 

John Michael Delp, me and Jennifer Delp

Connie Goudreau (Barry’s wife & John and Jennifer’s Aunt) trying to run off the the kids guitar

Driving home last night I started to think back on the night - all of the local rockers who have made it, coming together, without hesitation for the amazing Brad Delp. There were some serious heavy hitters there.   And then I got a little teary combined with a big smile, thinking that these guys could call on anyone, and I mean anyone in the music products industry and get the backline they needed, get donated guitars, basically get whatever they need….and they called on Daddy’s.  I would personally like to thank the Delp and Goudreau family for including us in this amazing night.  It was truly our honor and pleasure.

All in all, a really great night - so much fun and a wonderful celebration of a man that we all wish was not gone.  We love and miss you Brad.  Rest in peace.

Candi

Below is the information on the Brad Delp Foundation (www.braddelpfoundation.org)

(The Brad Delp Foundation was created by his children, family and friends for the purpose of “carrying on Bradley’s legacy of compassion, generosity, and kindness. Brad had an uncommon ability and desire to listen, understand, and care about people.” )

I am sorry to report that we have just been informed that, per Zakk’s management, all Zakk Wylde in-store appearances across the country have been cancelled - and that includes the one we were schedule to do.  Apologies to those of you who were hoping to attend.

Now, heading out on a “school night” (no, I don’t have kids…I’m just getting old :)) is not something I generally do, however last night was an exception.  I headed into Boston for a private party for the grand re-opening of the new Hard Rock Cafe.  It’s new location is the old “Rack” on Clinton St.  It’s HUGE and GORGEOUS! WOW! 

The first thing I noticed upon walking up to the Hard Rock was that there were fans by the hundreds lining the streets outside the venue hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite Boston rocker before they hit the red carpet (and there were plenty to look at - i’ll get to that in a minute).  It was very “Hollywood” and not something you generally see here in Boston.  Paparazzi, media frenzy craziness is something that the west coast seems to have accepted as part of daily life (and good for them - keep it there!), but its very weird to see it here. 

TOM HAMILTON OF AEROSMITH ON THE RED CARPET

BLUES MAN JAMES MONTGOMERY ON THE RED CARPET

 

Nonetheless, that was the first thing I noticed upon walking up to the venue, however the first thing I noticed once I walked IN the venue were the cymbals!  Oh my all the cymbals that covered the walls!  Not just any cymbals, Zildjian Cymbals - and not crappy, broken, “I made it wrong throw it away” Zildjian Cymbals - this was the  serious GOOD stuff!  Everywhere I looked - cymbals.  Waiters walking around with food served on what else - ZILDJIAN CYMBALS!  There were so many, that I had to ask, I needed at least an approximate amount of cymbals that adorned the walls - I didn’t get an approximate number.  I got the exact number - 909!  Ahhh…..a drummers dream.  Bring a Super 5B in there and see if they’ll let you hit the walls.  Just curious. :)  Kudos to the folks at Zildjian for stepping up - talk about product placement!

To the left when we walked in was the “green room” which was where most of the Boston rock scene memorabilia was.  You will recognize this room from the quote that hangs above the entry way to the room - VERY COOL!

 

Memorabilia from Godsmack, Extreme, The Cars, Staind, Belly, Boston, and everything Boston, MA band related in between.  However, the oddest piece in there was from none other than Aerosmith frontman, Steve Tyler himself.  Now, of ALL of the things that Steven would have to offer the Hard Rock, from scarves, to mics, to pieces from what I imagine to be a massive wardrobe…here is what he donated.

That’s right folks, Steve Tyler’s BJ’s card - OUTSTANDING!  Clearly he has a sense of humor and that’s one of the many reasons why he rocks!

So the food was incredible, the Hard Rock put out an amazing spread from Sushi, to Chinese food, chicken, veggies, guitar shaped bread, fruit, cheese and crackers etc.  The entertainment for the evening was provided by Staind frontman Aaron Lewis performing a full acoustic set!  He sounded great - however I am not quite sure how the Kermit The Frog song “Rainbow Connection” made it on to his set list, but I digress…

Also spotted last night was Extreme bassist/Alpaca farmer Pat Badger chillin’ with Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC….

BOSTON band members Barry Goudreau and Fran Sheehan

Extreme frontman Gary Cherone, members of Damone, Johnny A, car king Ernie Boch Jr, Gregg Hill and Mistress Carrie from WAAF, Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, Scott Ian from Anthrax (not sure what his Boston connection is, but…), David Hull from Farrenheit, and many many more.

All in all, it was a great time last night and the venue is beautiful - go check it out next time you are in Boston.  Thank you to Victoria Florea and everyone at the Boston Hard Rock for having me

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According to news reports…… 

Van Halen Plans Big Tour Announcement

The shows will be Van Halen’s first outing since 2004. The arena tour will begin in October.

**sigh**