The Buckinghams in Concert

On the first day of a new year and a new decade, friends and family of Marty Grebb read a post on his Facebook page that sparked instant concern. The composition he shared had required much thought, and in it, Marty shared his love, regard, concern, and caring for virtually every person he’d worked with professionally, loved in his lifetime, and showed how deep his feelings ran for an earlier day and time when his body and mind were not wracked in pain by the five types of cancer he said he’d battled over time. The outpouring of love and support, expressions of concern, reminders of so many who had friended him on Facebook and felt as though they’d really known him, were nothing short of amazing. Offers of “please call me” or “we are worried about you” or “hang on, brother, we are here” filled the comments section. If there were a point in time when he was wavering in his attitude about what his plan was, everyone did whatever they could yesterday, New Year’s Day, to show their supp

And as the summer rolls on, The Happy Together Tour continues to generate excitement and press buzz for the shows ahead. Just today we see the Happy Together Tour "In the News" in New London, Connecticut! In today's publication, "The Day," Rick Koster's story carries this headline: "Happy Together’ package tour brings stars to the Garde Friday" As one description of what you'll see, "these events feature short, hit-clustered performances by the acts — with other '60s familiars Gary Puckett, the Buckinghams, the Classics IV and the Cowsills also showing up..." For tickets: "Happy Together Tour," 8 p.m. Friday, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $49-$69; (860) 444-7373, gardearts.org. And The Westerly Sun has the concert in its Picks of the Week Shows: Happy Together Tour 2019 8 p.m.; Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London. "Garde Arts Center will host the Happy Together Tour 2019, featur

Entertainment & Life Classic rockers, fans happy ... together On Tuesday, June 25, the Happy Together Tour performed at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts, and journalist Cynthia McCormick had this to say about the evening in the Cape Cod Times : "The lineup included The Buckinghams, the Classics IV, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, Chuck Negron (formerly of Three Dog Night) and the Cowsills – all singing and playing to a packed house ..." " Nick Fortuna and Carl Giammarese of the Buckinghams delivered lively renditions of “Don’t You Care” and “Kind of a Drag” and reminded the audience they were Italians from the west side of Chicago – not Brits." To read the entire review visit this link ( click here )

After last night's concert in the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, we were rewarded for all the miles we'd covered in just one day to get here early. If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. At least that's the case in the music business. The Buckinghams were so appreciative of a capacity crowd and the enthusiasm shown by everyone who stood on their feet for so much of the evening. Tour promoter, Ron Hausfeld, decided to throw an outdoor grill for the entire tour this afternoon on the one day we didn't have to be on the road this week. Really thoughtful of Ron, just his way of keeping the tour keeping. Here's a couple photos from the day. Tomorrow, the tour heads to Hyannis, MA, for the Cape Cod Melody Tent.

It's always a nice surprise when you have fellow musicians drop by backstage after the show to say hello and catch up for a few minutes. After the Happy Together concert at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey, multitalented musician Paul Shaffer came by to visit many of his friends. It's always great to see Paul. What an amazing collection of music he is responsible for! Of course you watched him for years every night on the "Late Show with David Letterman" as he conducted his "World's Most Dangerous Band." His book, "We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives," is, as he subtitled it, "A Swingin' Show-biz Saga Book." He talks about his years leading the Saturday Night Live Band, leading the Blues Brothers Band, and then the Late Show band and TV personality. Get the book here . Do you have a CD of their cover songs? (Find one here: https://theshaffershop.bigcartel.com/ ). Here's a photo of Nick

Looking at the set list of the Happy Together Tour, it's easy to see all the titles and immediately know the artists who brought these songs to life on the radio and, if you were lucky enough to see them, in concert. Yet, for so many of the hits of the Happy Together Tour, none of the artists really are responsible for writing any of the songs that they made iconic. It is true, though, that the versions that American teenagers fell in love to hearing on the radio were not the versions recorded by the composers who wrote them. Imagine the joy of having written an amazing hit song, but never being the one to take it to the top of the charts? But when someone else breathes new life into your song, the product can be simply amazing. Sometimes you just have to know when to let go of a song so that someone else can make you a hit songwriter. Twenty years ago, when Hoyt Axton passed away in 1999 at the age of 61, in an interview for the Los Angeles Times , it was written "Chuck Negr

As of this date, there are 53 Happy Together Concert performances for the 2019. First up is State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on Wednesday, May 29th, but before the tour begins, you're looking at six different musical acts, a single backing band to keep up with all their songs, and then introductions of each group plus the evening's finale where everyone is on stage to sing. And you need the show producer who puts all these details together bringing the shows to your hometown. The producers are formally known as Flower Power Concerts, Inc., but that's actually the brainchild of Toby Ludwig and Ron Hausfeld. They're the same fellas who are behind several nationally popular tours, including "Hippiefest," "Rock the Yacht" Tour, "Happy Together" Tour and the soon-to-launch "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today" Tour. Although many of these artists have been on tour together before in previous tour configurations, the magic just do