CALIFORNIA ROCK NEWSCalifornia MUSIC FEST – 3 Days of Music and Madness

NAMM, News, TOP 2015(CS)

California MUSIC FEST – 3 Days of Music and Madness — Scoob’s “Going to California”

Most second graders visit Disneyland when they are traveling to the OC. We noticed second-grader “Scoob” and his father Ken throughout the CALIFORNIA MUSIC FEST at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA and saw them there over the course of the entire 3 night festival for BONZO BASH, RANDY RHOADS REMEMBERED and the OX AND…

californiarocknews

January 28, 2015

12 minutes

Most second graders visit Disneyland when they are traveling to the OC. We noticed second-grader “Scoob” and his father Ken throughout the CALIFORNIA MUSIC FEST at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA and saw them there over the course of the entire 3 night festival for BONZO BASH, RANDY RHOADS REMEMBERED and the OX AND THE LOON. After seeing his school essay posted upon his return to school, we asked for their overall experience at the show. Here’s what they sent:

Scoob needed to complete his 2nd grade teacher’s homework assignment to write a paragraph about his favorite part of our trip.

Scoob (aka Ryan Aiden Jaslow — yes, Dad is a huge Iron Maiden fan) is a 2nd Grade student in New York. Mind you, he isn’t your normal 7 year old, as he loves rocking out at concerts. He attended his first concert a few months prior to his 5th birthday when he traveled up to Buffalo, NY with his brother Ian and Dad to see Van Halen. Since then, the shows haven’t stopped with Scoob seeing Alice Cooper, Autograph, Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Black Sabbath, Candlebox, Charm City Devils, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Deep Purple, Devour the Day, Gundriver, Hinder, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, Kristen Cappellino, Lacuna Coil, Lita Ford, Live, Michael Schenker Group, Megadeth, Motley Crue, Poison, Queenryche, Rob Zombie, Skid Row, Slash and Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Slaughter, Tesla, The Treatment, The Winery Dogs and Zebra. Scoob has also been to the East Coast Invasions of Bonzo Bash and Randy Rhoads Remembered in 2013 and 2014.

But Wednesday, January 21st, 2014 was different from all of Scoob’s other concerts. This time, Dad was picking him up early from school and they were boarding a plane to fly to California. They were both excited to see Bonzo Bash and Randy Rhoads Remembered in California but were wondering what the Entwistle / Moon The Ox & The Loon show would hold since they would be seeing it for the very first time. An added bonus for the trip was a visit to Disneyland.

Thursday morning came and Dad was so excited we visited The Observatory OC early to make certain we knew where it was located since he didn’t want us to miss anything. We entered the parking lot and noticed the doors were open and met several nice employees who were nice enough to let us look inside. To our surprise, the stage was empty with no drums to be found. Not to be disappointed, Dad took my picture in the Bonzo Basher shirt my Mom had custom made for this special day. The picture on my shirt was taken in May 2013 at the Bonzo Bash East Coast Invasion concert at the Bergen Performing Art Center. Thank you AJ Pero for helping Scoob up on stage for the final celebration!

We went back to our hotel because Dad said sleep will be key during our fun-filled trip.

BONZO BASH

Dad woke me up and said it was 3pm and time to head over to the Bonzo Bash sound check. We didn’t know what to expect, but when we arrived we were allowed inside and discovered Brian Tichy, Brent Woods, Chas West, Michael Devin, Stephen LeBlanc and Charlie Benante jamming on stage. After sound check, everyone took time from their busy day to say hello to Scoob. An added bonus was Dad took a picture of Scoob and Charlie Benante in the parking lot.

In between the rehearsal and the show, we were able to spend time getting to know the musicians and crew that work hard to put on the concerts. Scoob took a liking to crew members Ingo, Phil and Lee who all went the extra mile to look after us.

At 6PM, the doors were opening and Dad hurried us down to the front of the stage since that’s where Scoob gets the best view.

After securing our spot on the rail, Scoob’s new best friend Noelle Kim (pictured on his Bonzo Basher shirt) said front row isn’t for me and proceeded to give me a wrist band to stand in the photo pit.

The crowd rolled in, The Observatory OC was packed and we were ready for Bonzo Bash. The band took the stage, the crowd went nuts, and we were so excited to be there and were ready to rock!
The show was hosted by Joe Sutton, Dean Delray and Brian Tichy. Dean had Scoob join him on stage since he wondered how old Scoob was and why he was at the show. He questioned Dad’s sanity on naming me “Scooby Dooby Doo”.

We loved each song and few shows can compare to the Bonzo Bash. Band mates get changed almost every song, which means we enjoyed an all-star jam all night long. Dad didn’t know who all the musicians were, but the talent they bring always has us yearning for more. Some of our special moments from the show were:

Seeing so many special guests including bassists Tony Franklin and Phil Soussan, guitarist Mike Orlando, Phil X, Mitch Perry and Ali Handal.

• Bill Ward presenting the Bonzo Bash Legend Award to Dave Lombardo and Charlie Benante
• Meeting and taking a picture with Cortney DeAugustine, who played the drums and sang No Quarter (one of Dad’s favorite songs).

• Meeting Roy Mayorga in a hallway, talking with him about his family and taking a picture with him.

• Rocking with Noelle Kim at Bonzo Bash! She loved my shirt and was on it too! • Staying until the end to see the grand finale with confetti and all to end an excellent night.

Bonzo Bash and Ludwig Drums gave me a snare drum!!! After all, Bonzo Bash is a tribute to John Henry Bonham
We had Del Taco at 3AM back at the hotel after the concert was over! Yes! you read that right, the concert didn’t end until 2:30AM, so we got to see over 6 hours of an all-star tribute to John Bonham!

Needless to say, Day 1 of our trip was a success, so off to sleep we went to get our rest!

RANDY RHOADS REMEMBERED

We woke up late on Friday morning, ate lunch and relaxed and headed out to Randy Rhoads Remembered sound check at 4pm. We were excited for this one since the show would include Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot’s music. Sound check was fun, we watched Brian Tichy, Brent Woods, Michael Devin, Stephen LeBlanc and Mike Orlando rocking the stage. After sound check, we spent time with the crew and the musicians.
Scoob has met Mike Orlando several times and Mike always takes the time for his fans. Dad was jealous that Mike rented a Camaro and we rented an Impala. One more reason Scoob wants to be a Rock Star when he grows up!

That’s Brent Woods, who is also in the picture on Scoob’s Bonzo Basher shirt, was a student of Randy Rhoads. We look forward to seeing him play when Sebastian Bach tours in New York.
Rudy Sarzo – Rudy was Ozzy’s bassist when Randy was in the band and is “Rock and Roll Royalty”

Joel Hoekstra used to play in Night Ranger, but now is with Whitesnake. Dad promised we will see Whitesnake next time they tour the United States. The green things in Scoob’s ears are ear plugs — Dad won’t allow attending any concerts without them!

With sound check complete, it was time for the show. Since Randy Rhoads played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot, tonight gave Scoob an opportunity to put up his rock horns frequently. The show was great, guests galore but one of the biggest treats was the inclusion of our Black Sabbath favorites Paranoid and Iron Man. Some of our special moments from the show were Scoob getting high fives on stage from Sebastian Bach, Dewey Bragg, Tony and Chas West.

Marzi Montazeri’s playing guitar on Mr. Crowley was a highlight. Marzi came into the crowd after being on stage to to find Scoob and spend a few minutes with us. So COOL! After the show, we met Marzi again and he shared that Dimebag Darrell once told him when he went on stage he found one person in the crowd to play to. Marzi told Scoob that he was Marzi’s inspiration tonight and that Marzi played his best because he saw how much fun Scoob was having. Even more flattering was Marzi asked if we could take another picture with Scoob using Marzi’s cell phone, how COOL is that?
The confetti finale concluded with a “Dad and Scoob selfie”, an acoustic version of Dee, and getting to go backstage after the show and taking a pictures on the Randy Rhoads drum kit with the California Music Fest creator Brian Tichy.

Here’s Scoob meeting and taking pictures with Dewey Bragg, Mitch Perry and Tony West:

Day 2’s tribute to Randy Rhoads was complete and we had such a good time. Then it was off to bed we went, as tomorrow night would bring our third show in three nights.

THE OX AND THE LOON

We were a bit worn down by Day 3, but there was no way we would miss our final show — Entwistle / Moon The Ox & The Loon.

The sound check was epic. Baba O’Riley sounded great with Roy Mayorga on drums, Stephen LeBlanc on keys, Brian Tichy on guitar and James LoMenzo on bass/vocals. We met Brian Tichy’s Dad, Ted Tichy, who shared stories about Brian’s childhood and history. It was really a pleasure to share our experiences about raising our sons and drumming.

With our final sound check complete, this was the last show of our trip — a night of The Who at Entwistle / Moon The Ox & The Loon. We wondered what lunacy would await on our final night and how much energy was left after back to back nights of Bonzo Bash and Randy Rhoads Remembered.

The show kicked off with a spectacular version of The Real Me and right from the start we knew we were set for a wild night. We heard many Who classics throughout the night and were entertained by artists that we had never seen.

Here are a few of our special moments from this iconic night:

• Seeing the legendary Phil Chen play the bass and tell stories about the bands he played with during his career. We were surprised to hear Phil was born in Jamaica and played bass with Rod Stewart, Bob Marley and The Doors!

Both Phil and Mike Portnoy received Ox & Loon legend awards.

Getting to go up on stage with Joe Sutton to pick out tickets for the raffle winners. Joe joked around with Scoob about him being a man of few words to which Scoob replied, “Yep”. Thanks to Natalia Britt for the great picture.

Watching the epic finale when all the drummers went crazy and destroyed the drums. Phil Chen even smashed his bass in half! Earlier in the show, Corky Laing of cowbell fame shared a story about how Keith Moon destroyed his drum kit at The Who’s first show in Canada.
Chas West stopped over picked Scoob up and gave him a big hug!

Standing on the stage with Ingo Marte after the show. Ingo is the best and we hope to see him when Living Colour tours.
Here is a picture with Alphonse Mouzon. Alphonse played the drums on Misty Mountain Hop at Bonzo Bash and attended The Ox & The Loon. He told Scoob that he will be a great drummer when he grows up. He has never heard Scoob play – but told Scoob he could tell when he placed his hand on Scoob’s head. Alphonse told Scoob he blessed him by transferring some of his drumming power to him!! Dad is keeping his fingers crossed that Scoob grows up to be talented like Alphonse…..

After the show we had the pleasure of meeting Matt Star, Les Warner and taking our picture on the Red Carpet. Dad couldn’t resist a chance to represent the Buffalo Bills at the show, it was amazing how many people commented on his Fred Jackson jersey.

As we were walking out, we bumped into Mike Orlando again. Mike asked if we got a picture with Mike Portnoy? We told him we did but he said that we needed to get another one — a group shot.

The shows were complete and it was time to head home. California MUSIC FEST was a glowing success from the eyes of a 7 year old and his Dad. We were promised 3 Days of Music and Madness but received much more, a weekend of memories that will last a lifetime for sure.
Scoob and I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the artists and crew for taking the time to make this a special trip!

Our trip home from California was a success. Scoob caught up on his sleep and we reminisced about the weekend and talked about our favorite moments and the friends we had made.