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Celebrating Our Nick Fortuna Through The Years – Happy Birthday!

When Nick Fortuna was in high school in Chicago, life in the 1960s was pretty much standard. Guys wore blue jeans and t-shirts and worked about 30 minutes to get their hair just right. Shades of “Happy Days,” right? Well, not exactly. You were known by what side of town you were from, what your neighborhood was, where you went to high school, and what kind of music you liked. So, looking at the 1963 photo above, how long did it take you to find Nick Fortuna? Not too much has changed, except the biceps, from back in the day at Niles West High School. In the early 1960s, you’d find a little of everything on the airwaves of WLS-AM and WCFL-AM Radio stations and on WGN-TV. And, in February 1964, when The Beatles landed in America, everything changed. Every teenage guy wanted to play in a band, or have a band, or be seen in a band—one of those—that was having just as much fun making music as The Beatles were having back then. Here's Nick in his first band, The Centuries, ha

The Buckinghams Are Back On the Road! Are You Ready?

The Buckinghams are back in concert, starting in as few as 8 weeks from now. After months of agency strategic planning, innovative booking effort, and lots of patience from you the fans, Carl and Nick have released their concert dates that are as set in stone as much as can be. Concerts begin in July 2021, in Petoskey, Michigan, at the Odawa Casino and Resort and continue through the rest of the year. Not all concerts have live ticket links posted to purchase right now. Others are starting to show live dates ticket links and The Buckinghams have two 2022 shows listed, again with more to be revealed soon. All concert dates are still subject to change, but at this point in the scheduling year, here's what they are packing up and heading out for. Looking at just some of the 2021 and even a few 2022 concert dates set for The Buckinghams, it's great to see this strong regional coverage, but in the month ahead, more dates will be posted around the country on

The Heart and Soul of Chicago Native James Holvay; "Sweet Soul Song" EP Drops Today

From Chicago to LA and back again, There’s magic in the air tonight and it’s thanks to a story, some 50+ years in the making, of how a group of talented musicians, many of them undiscovered, would come together, in a story of reaching the top of the charts on Billboard , Cashbox , and Record World , fueled by determination to carve out each leg of a journey that would take his songs all over the world. One man would stay the course over 50 years in between paths that kept him far from the stage and spotlights in between each foray into music. But still the music kept calling his name. When it comes to The Buckinghams, it just so happened that the body of work he wrote solo or with Gary Beisbier made possible a #1 hit record for The Buckinghams and the devotion to their music that comes from being named by Billboard Magazine as "The Most Listened to Band in America." Am I talking of the music of The Buckinghams, the five-man band from Chicago who found fame and acclaim

Join Jim Peterik and Carl Giammarese for Live Music! Safe Socially Distant Evening Sharing Memories

Are you ready to go back, back, back in time to when two Chicago native singer-songwriters, vocal champs, and guitar fanatics began building their repertoire of songs (and guitar collections) that would become iconic? Whether Billboard Chart toppers or deep tracks that so many Chicagoans and Midwest music lovers know by heart, these two anchors of their bands “The Ides of March” and “The Buckinghams” bring you the excitement of their respective “Cornerstones of Rock” collective show that you’ll enjoy later this year. “And as I board my plane Something inside my brain Hates to wave L.A. goodbye, aye L.A. goodbye, aye, aye" ~~Jim Peterik “Music everywhere Music fills the air Feeling it running down your spine Feel it taking over your mind Celebrate with a bottle of wine And some music everywhere.” ~~Carl Giammarese “…Then I touched your hand I could hear you whisper The search is over Love was right before my eyes” ~~Frank Sullivan and Jim Peterik Indeed, as Jim has written:

Music Surprises Await You on Digital Downloads!

Carl Giammarese has been back down in his Twenty-Four Seven Studio and having fun reviewing some of the songs he's written over the past 10-12 years. As he went through them, he rediscovered several of them that were really special to him. Next he thought about how best to get these songs out, so he decided on digital streaming across all the platforms. His first release is "Geographical Breakup" and in this video he adds a personal message. Find and listen to Carl Giammarese as well as to The Buckinghams on all streaming media. Search for them by name. Or, just click the following ilnks: Carl Giammarese's "Geographical Breakup" on Spotify Carl Giammarese on Pandora Carl Giammarese on Deezer Carl Giammarese on iTunes While you're there, please consider "Following" Carl as an artist and putting a "Heart" on the songs you enjoy!

Remembering Peter Shelton —Colleague, Talent, and Friend

May 11, 1937 – October 3, 2020 In recent years when the phone would ring, a bright and ebullient voice would ring out, “Hello Carl, ol’ mate, how’s it going?” And that would begin a chat of at least 30 minutes between two old friends with mutual respect, a lot of history, and miles of laughter in between. On Saturday, we received the sad news that longtime friend and former tour manager Peter Shelton had died today. A native of England, Peter grew up with a devotion to football. It was an early passion of his life and he rooted, as well as scouted, for both Blackpool Football and Manchester City Football Club. Early in his career, he was highly respected as a scouting talent and football clubs often called on him to advise them. His collective knowledge of the sport and friendships across multiple teams would ultimately lead him to his first publication, “My Name is Len Davies, I’m a Football Scout.” The book co-authored with Davies, was “an account of almost 50

Catching Up with Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams -- Interview by Tom Prestopnik

Before COVID-19 hit the entertainment world and brought live concerts, and seagoing cruises with classic rock favorites to a screeching halt, The Buckinghams had been enjoying traveling the United States and then out of country with the 2020 Flower Power Cruise in the Caribbean. On August 24, 2020, rock collectors' magazine Goldmine published a lengthy, informative interview with Carl. They talked about fun trivia only true Buckinghams' fans would know, like the 13th cut on certain copies of the "Kind of a Drag" album released by USA Records, a small label in Chicago. They also discussed recording at the iconic Chess Studios where Bo Diddley, Howling Wolf, and Muddy Waters once created historic tracks there. Included in the interview was the talent of songwriter James Holvay, who wrote or co-wrote most of the hits by The Buckinghams. Also of interest were Tom and Carl discussing that funky psychedelic break in the song "Susan" and it's fun to see it