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Thursday, November 16, 2017

Win a George Thorogood signed guitar

Sturgis, SD (November 16, 2017) — Rock the Holidays Sweepstakes winner to receive “Bad to the Bone” prize: a George Thorogood-autographed guitar and a $200 Hot Leathers shopping spree!

The Sturgis Buffalo Chip has teamed up with one of the biggest names in music and the hottest name in apparel to offer fans the chance to win a unique holiday prize.

Rock the Holidays Sweepstakes

The winner of the 2017 Buffalo Chip Rock the Holidays Sweepstakes will receive a sleek Epiphone Les Paul Special II guitar signed by none other than the legendary George Thorogood, and a $200 Hot Leathers shopping spree. 

The guitar features a solid mahogany body with gloss black finish, a slim taper mahogany neck and a smooth rosewood fingerboard with dot overlays. George Thorogood signed the guitar while performing at the Chip last August, instantly turning it into a highly sought-after collectible.

“This is the chance for someone to own a piece of rock history,” said Rod Woodruff, president of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip. “This guitar should hang in a museum, but we are excited to offer it to one lucky fan for the holidays instead.

And the bonus $200 Hot Leathers shopping spree it comes with will ensure the winner looks just as cool as George Thorogood did when he played on our stage last August!”

Registration closes Dec. 14, 2017 at 5 p.m. MST. 

The winner will be announced Dec. 15. The participating partners who made the Sturgis Buffalo Chip’s Rock the Holidays Sweepstakes possible include George Thorogood, Rock 106.7 in Salt Lake City and Hot Leathers.

Fans may enter to win at: RockTheHoliday.com

SOURCE:  Sturgis Buffalo Chip – – Rock The Holiday

Friday, October 20, 2017

40 years ago today: Lynyrd Skynyrd's Plane Crashed

JACKSONVILLE, FL. (October 20, 1977) —  Three days after Lynyrd Skynyrd released its its fifth album, "Street Survivors," lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, their assistant tour manager and two pilots died and dozens of others were hurt when their twin-engine plane went down in a wooded area in Gillsburg, Mississippi.

The Jacksonville-based band that named itself as a mocking tribute to Robert E. Lee High School physical education teacher Leonard Skinnerd, who hassled guitarist Gary Rossington about his long hair, is widely credited as the first band to bring Southern rock music to an international audience.

Skynyrd was on the most ambitious headlining tour of their career, traveling between concert dates in Greenville, South Carolina, and a date at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when their Convair CV-300 ran out of fuel, clipped some trees and went down in a remote forest.

Lynyrd Skynyrd in happier times

According to reports, drummer Artimus Pyle and two crew members crawled from the wreckage and hiked through swampy woods until they finally flagged down a local farmer, who sent for help.

Band members Rossington, Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson and Billy Powell were hospitalized with serious injuries. Skynyrd disbanded after the accident, leaving the survivors to try to make their own way with varying degrees of success and failure.

News Cast of Crash 

Remaining members of the band reunited in 1987 for a tour. Rossington, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson, Artimus Pyle and guitarist Ed King, who had left the band two years before the crash, were joined by Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, as their new lead singer. The band stayed together and has produced nine more albums. In March 2006, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Despite the deaths of Collins in 1990, Wilkeson in 2001, Powell in 2009, and the band's first drummer, Robert Burns Jr. in 2015, Skynyrd continues to tour extensively, performing last Friday at the St. Augustine Amphitheater.

SOURCE: News4Jax


Saturday, May 27, 2017

Southern Rock Legend Gregg Allman Dead

Allman Brothers Band Great Gregg Allman Dead at 69

Savannah GA, (May 27, 2017) — There’s sad news to report as Gregg Allman, longtime vocalist, keyboardist and a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, has passed away at the age of 69.

A statement on his website and social media (LINK) reveals that Allman passed away peacefully at his home in Savannah, Ga., on Saturday (May 27). The singer had struggled with several health issues in recent years. An official cause of death was not revealed.

According to the statement, “Gregg considered being on the road playing music with his brothers and solo band for his beloved fans, essential medicine for his soul. Playing music lifted him up and kept him going during the toughest of times.”

Gregg Allman in his younger days

Gregg’s longtime manager and close friend, Michael Lehman said, “I have lost a dear friend and the world has lost a brilliant pioneer in music. He was a kind and gentle soul with the best laugh I ever heard. His love for his family and bandmates was passionate as was the love he had for his extraordinary fans. Gregg was an incredible partner and an even better friend. We will all miss him.”

The musician is survived by his wife, Shannon Allman, his children, Devon, Elijah Blue, Delilah Island Kurtom and Layla Brooklyn Allman; 3 grandchildren, his niece, Galadrielle Allman, lifelong friend Chank Middleton, and a large extended family. The family will release an additional statement soon, but for now ask for privacy during this very difficult time.

Allman founded the Allman Brothers band with his older brother, guitarist Duane Allman. The group also featured guitarist Dickey Betts, bassist Berry Oakley, and drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson. They were known for their blues and country-infused improvisational jam style and their band became one of the leaders in what many coined “Southern Rock.”

The Allman Brothers Band in 1969

With the Allman Brothers Band, Allman and his bandmates churned out such classic songs as “Ramblin’ Man,” “Melissa,” “Whipping Post” and “Midnight Rider.” The group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. And as a solo artist, Allman went on to release multiple albums, with the songs “I’m No Angel” and “Anything Goes” achieving his biggest successes.

Our condolences to the extended Allman family, his friends and peers.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Chuck Berry Dies at 90

He could play a guitar just like ringing a bell.

St. Louis, MO (March 18, 2017) – Chuck Berry, the dazzling guitarist and rock and roll legend who wrote Johnny B. Goode, Maybelline, Roll Over Beethoven, Memphis, Sweet Little Sixteen and many other classic tunes, died Saturday, police said he died in a residence outside St. Louis, MO.

His music transcended race, fused genres and has passed the test of time.

Berry, who was 29 when he had his first hit, has been called "the father of rock-and-roll." John Lennon famously made the case that Berry had more influence on the genre than any other musician.

"If you tried to give rock ‘n' roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry,'' Lennon said, adding that without Berry there would have been no Beatles.


Berry came from a middle-class family, born the fourth of six children on Oct. 18, 1926 in St. Louis. He lived on Goode Avenue – which may have provided the name of his most famous song, Johnny B. Goode.

The archetypal character of the song may not have learned to read and write too well, but Berry could read and write just fine.

His mother, Martha, was a college graduate, very rare for an African American woman in that time. His father, Henry, was a carpenter and a deacon at the Antioch Baptist Church.

He learned to play the guitar from a neighborhood jazz guitarist named Ira Harris and first performed on stage at a high school assembly, performing Confessing the Blues at the age of 15. He got into trouble for the inappropriateness of the tune.

Berry got into trouble a lot, consistent with his rock-and-roll persona. Scandals and run-ins with the law spotted his career.

When he was a teenager he and a couple of friends dropped out of high school and left town for an impulsive trip to California. They got in trouble before they hit the state line.


They found a gun in a Kansas City parking lot and decided to use it rob three businesses; they stole a car before the state police caught them.

Berry and his friends were convicted and received a maximum sentence of 10 years. He served three years at the Intermediate Reform School for Young Men in Jefferson, MO. He was released on his 21st birthday.

After that, he held a series of odd jobs, picking up the guitar again and marrying Themetta Suggs. The couple eventually had four children together.

Berry played in local St. Louis bands, developing his electrifying stage presence and a sound like no other. In 1952, local musician Johnny Johnson invited him to join his band and perform at the Cosmopolitan Club, an all-black nightclub. Berry's blend of country, blues and R&B attracted a bi-racial crowd in a sharply segregated city. Berry always said that the character Johnny B. Goode was based on Johnny Johnson.

He started making road trips to Chicago, looking for a break. There he met blues legend Muddy Waters, who introduced him to Chess Records.

Berry wrote Maybelline and played it for the record company, which signed him on the spot. The song, with hillbilly roots and blues licks, made it to No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 5 on the usually white pop charts.

Berry went on to write a string of classics in the late 1950s and 1960s. He introduced his signature "duck-walk," kneeling, holding his right foot straight out and kicking his way across the stage while playing the guitar, during a concert in New York in 1956.

Berry's life got complicated after his sudden stardom. He and his record company clashed, and he lost royalties from many of his early songs. A teenage girl who worked in a club he owned in St. Louis accused him of having an affair with her, and he spent two years in prison after he was convicted of a morals charge.

He served another prison term for tax evasion in 1979, and sex tapes stolen from his home ignited another scandal. Police raided his home in 1990 looking for cocaine – charges were later dropped. He was also sued by women who claimed they had been videotaped in bathrooms without their consent.

Berry received a lifetime achievement from the 1985 Grammy Awards and was in the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 1986. He was the subject of a 1987 documentary called Hail, Hail Rock and Roll, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Berry continued performing onstage well into his 80s – reportedly insisting to be paid up front, accepting no less than $10,000 and playing for no more than 45 minutes.

SOURCE: WISTV
CHUCK BERRY'S WEBSITE: ChuckBerry.com