Big Tyme Presents
At The Famed Willowbrook Ballroom - Saturday, March 30
(Willow Springs, Illinois) - Big Tyme presents The Swingers Ball 16 - The Masquerade Ball, featuring live swing music and ballroom dancing (with Detroit's dynamic Swing Shift Orchestra) along with one of Chicago's finest blues groups (blues-rock heavies Head Honchos'),
at the Willowbrook Ballroom, 8900 S. Archer Ave., Willow Springs,
Saturday, March 30. The evening also features a Best Masquerade Mask
contest. Doors open 7 p.m. $25. (purchase tickets at the door) Info: http://www.swingersballinfo.com/.
The Swing Shift Orchestra started in 1993 as a result of a stage
band comprised of members belonging to The Grosse Pointe Community
Concert Band. While the band has had changes in membership, leaders,
and rehearsal sites, saxophonist Lynne Henry continues to own and
manage the band. Venues include concerts, parties, balls, weddings, and
theme shows. Over the years, the band's bookings have increased
dramatically. The focus of The Swing Shift Orchestra has always been to
keep the nostalgic sounds of the Big Bands alive. The dedicated
musicians attend weekly rehearsals to keep improving and recreating the
ensemble sound of the Big Band legends. The goal of the band is to
bring the joy, harmonies, and fullness of this wonderful music to
people of all ages. The Swing Shift Orchestra aims to make every event
happy and fun with live, authentic performances of Big Band music. swingshiftorchestra.org/.
In a time when American music is too often characterized by
emasculated melodies, narcissistic lyrics, and hyped mediocrity-- Head
Honchos' offer up intense body-moving
rhythms and emotionally-charged guitar expressions on their debut
seven-song, self-titled CD. Grounded on the foundations of American
blues, rock, soul, and funk, Head Honchos' launch their improvisational
excursions with an irresistible invitation to kick back, let go, and
enthusiastically ENJOY!!! Head Honchos' CD contains some
quickly-memorable originals ("Lucky's Train," "Whiskey Devil," "Good
Love," "That Driving Beat") as well as sizzling interpretations of
classics such as Albert King's "Going Down," "Fire On The Bayou" by
Aaron Neville, and Wilson Pickett's "99 1/2 Won't Do." Front person
Rocco Calipari's Detroit-schooled vocals will leave no doubt of the
unapologetic American identity we all experience. In an artistic
celebration of our shared pride and joy, Head Honchos' cover some of our
most loved standards, while introducing to an appreciative audience
"roots-inspired" new tunes. www.headhonchosband.com.
"There's
a scene in Ghost World where Steve Buscemi ventures to see an acoustic
bluesman at a sports bar, and he brushes off a girl hitting on him
because she's more into the headliner, Blues Hammer. Head Honchos are
like Blues Hammer: as subtle as an uppercut and making Stevie Ray
Vaughan sound like Skip James. The band's self-titled debut cannons
chunky guitar riffs and cymbal crashes, and turns train songs into party
anthems. Buscemi's Seymour would have cringed at how frontman Rocco
Calipari Sr. enunciates The Meters' "Fire On The Bayou," but then again
Seymour didn't like to have fun and Head Honchos certainly do." ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER
