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Change in 2015 KI Live Shows?


GamesAndRides
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I remember reading a post that Don posted saying the one of the 2015 season`s new shows was Playlist Live: In Concert (May Have gotten the name wrong) But as I was looking at KI`s website and noticed that Playlist Live: In Concert was gone and seems to have been replaced by Off The Charts. I know that nothing is "official" But I really liked Playlist Live the past few years. Does anyone know more?

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Great topic, GamesAndRides! That show is one of the best I've seen and heard at Kings Island, no matter what name they land on!

Terpy's right about musical revues. To his point, I've always been fascinated in the changing names of music. Some examples:

  • An Irish band called "The Hype" moved a couple people around, changed its name, but stayed virtually the same in its musical stylings. We know them now as U2.
  • There was an Artist Formerly Known as Prince, then known as an unpronouncable symbol, then, in 2000 zero-zero, oops, out of time, changed his name back to Prince.
  • The Pectoralz went through a couple of lineup changes, as well as name changes (Starfish), but we appreciate them just as much under the moniker of Coldplay. (or not).
  • Yours truly once opened for Starship, who was once the Jefferson Starship; who was once the Jefferson Airplane...
  • I don't think we would have surfed the USA any less had the Pendletones not re-christened themselves The Beach Boys.
  • The New Yard Birds are, arguably, one of -- if not the best Rock Bands of all time, despite The Who (once "The Detours") drummer Keith Moon's prediction that they'd go over like a Led Zeppelin, as the legend (confirmed by Rolling Stone Magazine) goes.
  • We could be friends, who know the Low Rider, whether W-1-18 was W-1-18 or War.
  • Mammoth added another syllable before breaking out globally as Van Halen.
  • To avoid confusion (and stepping on the toes of another band with the same name), The Trade Winds shed two syllables to become Styx.
  • Cherilyn Sarkisian shed six syllables -- the last six.
  • Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem didn't seem to care too much about syllables, reducing down to just Red Hot Chili Peppers.
  • The Salty Peppers, after taking on some depth in its lineup, changed the course of music history with the elemental forces of Earth, Wind and Fire.
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:)

Alright. It was the beautiful, sunny August of 1990 (about the week Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait). I was the drummer in a band made up of Air Force members, who did various gigs during our off-time. We were known as "AA Bottom," a pun on "ZZ Top." Starship (they had dropped the "Jefferson" part, as well as Grace Slick by this time), was one of the acts performing at the Montana State Fair in Great Falls. They were nearing the end of their "Love Among the Cannibals" tour, and consisted of Mickey Thomas, Craig Chaquico, Brett Bloomfield, Mark Morgan, and Donny Baldwin.

Our band consisted of lead guitar player and male lead vocalist Don Schreck of California . Our rhythm guitarist was Steve Decker of Seattle, Washington. Our bassist was Albert Val Verde from Corpus Christi, Texas, and our lead singer/keyboardist was Marcy Sailor (stage name "Lea Steele"), and I was the drummer.

We auditioned at the Malmstrom Air Force Base Recreation Center before the State Fair Entertainment Committee, and won the right to perform on the pavillion directly outside the fairgrounds' Four Seasons Arena, where the crowds awaited the opening of the doors. We were tasked with "warming up the crowd" prior to that and the other shows scheduled during the fair.

Our setlist included "Call of the Wild" by a Company of Wolves, "Coming of Age" by The Darnn Yankees, "I'll Talk To Ya Later" by The Tubes, "Flirtin' With Disaster" by Molly Hatchet (whom I opened for directly - an even cooler story - 4 years later at a different venue), "One Way or Another" by Blondie, and some others, including some of our original stuff.

The late Tiny Tim, who performed on another day of the fair, watched us practice, and Albert ran down off the stage to shake hands and chat with the legend for a few minutes. It was an amazing time!

Later, as a member of "LongShot," I also had the pleasure of opening for Foghat (1991 Screaming Buffalo Benefit Concert, Great Falls Civic Center, September 13, 1991), The Edgar Winter Group featuring Carmine Appice (Not A Kid Anymore Tour, July, 1994 - I performed using Mr. Appice's kit!), Molly Hatchet (JD's Nite Club, Great Falls, MT, June, 1994 - Drummer Kenny Holton had to borrow my snare drum as a back up to his due to a robbery of their trailer the night before in Idaho!), and Nashville session artist Anthony Crawford (studio backup singer for Vince Gill, Neil Young, many others). Our band at that time was bassist Tim Chounard (now of Updog), guitarist Don Schreck, Vocalist and 12-string guitarrist Dennis Wilson (Not the dead Beach Boy), Keyboard and Saxophone Player Bill Keathley of Colorado, and me.

It was by no means a march through the 'Shoe, but I still wouldn't trade it. The experience was very ... educational!

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I'm still waiting for FLASHBACK: 40's, Big Band Swing, now THAT will be the show that I would actually sit down and watch.

Other than that, I am not really a big person on the shows, I just don't do that.

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Good point. The big band era must have been amazing!

I understand there was a "Foolin' With The 40's" show in the place where Playlist Live had been, sometime back in the 70's. It would be equivalent to an 80s show this decade... which there was (or is). How very interesting! Still, though, a Landau Eugene Murphy show would be cool (more 50's Sinatra, Dean Martin Swing than the Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller Swing of the decade before, but still a very powerful sound, nonetheless!)

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A musical revue by any other name is still a musical revue.

Wake me up when it's over.

I'd rather watch dogs sing. (And DID, at NJFTP-- Paw and Disorder, 2014--truly one of the funniest and best shows I've ever seen in a park--with birds, dogs, pigs, rats, peoples,...)

I'll join you Terpy

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Rick Dees! Epic. :lol: Fred Berry had some moves, didn't he?

Thanks for sharing! I saw this in first run when I was, like 8 (I had an enormous crush on Susan Olsen). She was my diamond in the... cheese (seriously, even in the 70's, this variety show was hard to watch!) It is fun to look back on it though. Pure TV innocence.

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I spent years (decades?) spending all my time at Kings Island standing in line for rides, not wanting to go inside or miss time riding rides to listen to a show. Then I discovered some of the shows. I enjoyed the ice show a few years ago in the Kings Island Theater, and also enjoyed listening to the shows in Festhaus while I ate. The last couple seasons, however, I've spent most of my time...standing in line for rides...especially this year, with Banshee. Full circle (or loop...Banshee really threw me for one!)?

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Get thee to Cirque this year.

I literally drove round trip from DC to be sure I didn't miss it. It was worth every mile, minute and dollar. And then some.

Then I got pleasantly surprised to see Trevor and his bike and friends in Rochester, New York at Seabreeze.

Cirque with Trevor is EASILY one of the five best theme park shows in the USA.

You missed out on Ed Alonzo, too....

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The only way I like music reviews is if they're performed well. I know I have a big bias towards this, but I like the live instrumentation over the recorded stuff. It just sounds better. Also, the singers at Kings Island outside of Playlist Live! leave a lot to be desired. They don't seem to be able to fall into the all the styles of music they have to cover. Either that or they stylize music in ways it wasn't meant to (ex- growling notes on a Madonna number? Really?) Some numbers were also taken way too fast. I didn't feel as much energy from the performers of the others shows as I did Playlist Live! They were really engaged with the audience. It looked a lot more of a chore for the other casts. To me, showmanship is as important as any other aspect of a live performance.

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In the beginning....oh lets say about 1972....the performances were very, very polished. As I recall ( I could be wrong so please don't flame), they had A, B and C teams. The early day performances were the best dancers and singers (A Team) and the least polished were the late afternoon (C team) players. The performances were broadway-esque, stylish and nearly perfect in nature. I'm sorry to say that the performances today tend to seem mostly unfinished. I'm from the old school in that I believe that if you look like you are having fun and enjoying what you are doing on stage, the excitement will flow into the audience. A lot of the performers don't look like they really want to perform.

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There are also times they try to compensate by turning up the volume on the sound equipment. You can't hear the lyrics, or even at times, what song is playing, when they do that. The guys running the sound boards also need some work.

One little thing about music- volume does not equal energy.

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I've never seen a Kings Island performer not give it a world-class go. You can have a lot of top-notch, professional talent performing together, but if that sound technician isn't on top of their game (and it's not as easy as it looks), it can start to sound unprofessional quite fast. Sometimes dynamics shift between lead and backing vocals, especially in high-energy numbers blending song and dance talents, and a backing vocalist's part might momentarily overpower the lead, causing the audience to hear something they might not expect. The shows here, at least from the perspective of this guest, always seem to have a depth of quality that reveals great care taken by those who hire the talent, both on-and-off stage. Kudos.

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