I was asked to host the DVD release party for Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls last night. I've worked with these guys (and gal) for - geez, I don't know how long it's been. We joked that we've worked events together for 27 years, but it's more along the lines of five years now.
The event was held at Rookies in Davenport and there was a pretty good sized crowd on hand for the evening. Dan Videtich and Ryan Koning from Jim the Mule were on hand to support their friends. There was an interesting age mix at Rookies, too. Of course, there were the 20-something's who were out partying on a Saturday night, the 30 year-olds and friends of the band, plus there was a pretty good sized crowd of middle aged people - 40 and 50 year olds - on hand, too. There was a contingent of people down from Dubuque, some people from Cedar Rapids, it was a pretty diverse crowd. And that's the hallmark of the band - they appeal to such a wide variance of people.
The band had a unveiling of their DVD, "Live at Circa 21", as part of a free beer and free pizza party before they took the stage. It's pretty regular that a band has a CD release party, but this has to be the first DVD release that a local Quad City band has ever done.
Actually, Dale Fisher of Jettson came back to the Quad Cities from his home in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles and opened for the band. He and his buddy, Tim, played some of Dale's songs for about an hour. Dale told me that Jettson's CD "Fast Food" was just named the runner up independent rock album at the L.A. Music Awards held recently in Los Angeles.
Leo, Bob and Greg took the stage around 10:15 and jumped right into "Bellyswirl" off of their first CD. Now, about a month ago, I was listening to a sports talk radio show in Chicago and one of the songs they played as a "bumper" coming out of the commercial was "Bellyswirl". Except, at the time, I couldn't remember who did the song or where I heard it before (I'd probably heard it 15 times in the past, not to mention on the CD). So after the first break, I went up to Leo and I said, "Leo, who wrote the first song you guys did?"
He said, "Bellyswirl? That's one of ours."
I proceeded to tell him that I'd heard it as bumper music on a sports talk show in Chicago - couldn't remember if it was the Score or on ESPN 1000. He was blown away. I said, "Man, I KNEW I'd heard that song a bunch before, but I couldn't, for the life of me, remember where I'd heard it. When you hit the opening riff, I thought, 'Holy shit! That's the SONG!!' "
Of course, I can't forget to say that Liz was her usual charming self with complete command of the stage and the crowd. Her voice sounded great, as always. Her husband, Brad, was on hand, too and it's always good to shoot the shit with him.
It was a fun night and it's always good to see these guys play.
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