The Buckinghams in Concert

After a 19-month hiatus from road trips Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna traveled to Greensburg, PA, to join the Happy Together Tour 2021 in progress for the first of four dates this summer. These concerts had been originally scheduled for 2020 but we all know what happened to live music last year. This year, audiences have been even more effusive, excited, and complimentary about the chance to see live performances again. The familiar lyric from Joni Mitchell rings true: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” (Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi”). The lineup for this concert included The Turtles (Mark Volman and Ron Dante), The Association, The Buckinghams, and The Cowsills. Because the tour had to cancel their entire 2020 year, the Happy Together Tour is now in their 12th anniversary year, as the first 25th anniversary of the first tour was in 2010. Featured here is a series of songs performed by Carl and Nick at the beautiful, historic Palace Theatre, b

Especially for fans of The Buckinghams as well as song stylist Lisa McClowry, we’re excited to share a sneak peek of their latest vocal collaboration. A unique rendition of the sultry duet by Sting and Melody Gardot, “Little Something” is the latest launch by Carl and Lisa. You’ll recall this duo recently released a new version of a signature Buckinghams’ song, “Don’t You Care.” Fans embraced it a powerful remake of the James Holvay and Gary Beisbier composition, noting it brought new excitement and life to a beloved Buckinghams’ standard hit. Both composers both offered high compliments to Lisa for her unique arrangement and the blending of Giammarese and McClowry voices. Buckinghams'fans have embraced hearing Carl Giammarese’s full vocal range on contemporary songs. It's easy to forget his career success in the 1970s singing as part of a duo (Tufano & Giammarese) and 1980s work as a successful Chicago-based jingle singer. Lisa McClowry has found success and

Don’t wait until “Later” to get your tickets for one of the best evenings of entertainment that’s perfect for date night. On Monday, August 16, hometown audiences will enjoy a great time with two of Chicago’s true gems in classic rock, Jim Peterik (Ides of March) and Carl Giammarese (The Buckinghams). Who better than these hometown boys to share music and memories from classic rock gems that Baby Boomers embrace still to this day? After a hectic weekend of trying to make everyone's summer vacation perfect, you deserve an evening out, just to kick back, take a deep breath, and restore yourself. Hit songs are Jim Peterik’s calling card, whether “You Wouldn’t Listen,” “Vehicle” and “LA Goodbye” by The Ides of March, cowriter of “Hold on Loosely,” “Caught up in You,” and “Rockin’ into the Night” (38 Special), “Eye of the Tiger” (Survivor), as well as collaborations with the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, among so many others. Carl Giammarese is the founding member of The Bu

Has it really been 16 months since you've seen The Buckinghams in concert? Yes, it has! On March 6, 2020, the band America invited The Buckinghams to join them for a sold-out crowd at the beautiful Genessee Theatre in Waukegan, IL. The acoustic evening proved to be a crowd pleaser, one that will be reprised next year. And then, the entertainment industry came to a fast halt as the nation battled COVID-19 and set forward to keeping people safe while vaccines were developed that helped us put the pieces of our worlds back together. The beauty of the healing power of music is that it is, finally, available wherever we look for it, beginning tomorrow, Friday, July 2, for fans of The Buckinghams, at the dynamic Odawa Casino in Petrosky, Michigan. Nestled in a beautiful resort area of the state, the beautiful Ovation Hall can accommodate a large crowd of music lovers safely. It's anticipated that people will be rushing to Petrosky to hear their favorite rock band i

Well, it’s just one of those things that happens in the world of classic rock concerts. The Buckinghams were originally scheduled to be on the 2020 Flower Power Cruise, but sadly, they’re not on the recently rescheduled 2022 Flower Power Cruise. Original 2020 ad. We’d all gotten excited in early 2020; the wonderful folks at Star Vista Cruises had their terrific promo set up and they’d even done an interview with Carl about what fun everyone would have again. Tragically COVID-19 hit our country and devastated many lives, which we still are lamenting today from our sincere losses of precious loved ones. Without a doubt, whether COVID impacted your home personally or you immediately quarantined voluntarily or otherwise, we can agree that our worlds as we once knew them, all froze for about 18 months while we waited for a cure via vaccines. Like just about every other business, the entertainment industry screeched to a halt, impacting everyone from the concertgoers

On August 31, Illinois music fans can be part of an exciting first in classic music history. At 7pm the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet will be the site of the inaugural Annual Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony sponsored by the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66. Twelve inaugural inductees include bands The Buckinghams, the band Chicago, Cheap Trick, The Ides of March, and REO Speedwagon, plus bluesmen Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. Also to be honored are radio station WLS-AM, popular deejay Larry Lujack and the iconic Dick Biondi (Lifetime Achievement Award) legendary Chess Records, and venue The Thirsty Whale. This is the group originally identified as the Class of 2020, but COVID delayed the opening of the museum and Hall of Fame inauguration. A concert on August 31 will feature live performances by REO Speedwagon, Ides of March, Jimy Sohns (Shadows of Knight), Muddy Waters’ son, Mud Morganfield, New Colony 6, and the Millenials. The band Chicago and The Buckinghams ar

/> In 1966, what are the chances that Carl Giammarese, Nick Fortuna, Dennis Tufano, Marty Grebb, and John Poulos would have ever thought that their names, faces, mementos, and music would be part of an historic exhibit housed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois? Known as “The State of Sound: A World of Music From Illinois,” it’s most prestigious for The Buckinghams to be included in this collective. It’s fair to say that no one saw this coming. Sadly, two of the five band members are no longer with us, but both John and Marty have daughters who can see and feel the adulation of their fathers’ respective musical legacies. From 1966–1967, in the course of a year’s time, several young men from Chicago’s north side and one from the south side came together to form two bands; ultimately three members of The Centuries would come and go into The Pulsations, whose first membership also experienced comings and goings in their band. Ultimately