This Weekend! TGIF!!!!!!

Well the Fantasy Band rolls on but we have some major news to cover today. A little confused we haven't heard from anymore Clapton fans (Israel) or the David Gilmore followers (David) but I'm sure that we will...especially since I just called them out. lol

But onto the pressing news of the day. Tomorrow night the Mega Networking Event in Lansing has been cancelled so we should expect "even more" people at our show at InSights. And why not? It's going to be a GREAT show. Not only are the Partly Brothers going to be here, but Lauren Alm is warming up for them.

Now, with the cancellation of the Mega Networking Event, seats may be at a premium AND we have a special start time of 7:30! Doors will be open at 7pm, Lauren will start shortly after 7:30 and then the Partly Brothers will start at 8:30.

Tickets will be $10 for adults, $5 for children or students with a valid ID.

For those of you that have followed our Open Mic Nights since last June, we are close to Nirvana on this one---and no, not Kurt's band! Look up Nirvana and you'll know what I mean and then know this is a show you should NOT miss!

Got to run now, enjoy the day. Hope to see you all tomorrow and above all else, stay tuned.

Rock & Roll Fantasy con.

Well after much thought we came up with out 2 Lead Guitarists for our Fantasy Band. It was tough and I hope we gave you a lot to think about and consider. Every time I thought we had reached a decision, a certain song would remind of someone special from the past and the grey cells would work overtime again! Cruising through town and "Stairway to Heaven" or "That Smell" would come on stirring up memories for instance.

We hope we gave you a lot to think about, here is what we went through...for one thing there were some "greats" there were taken from us too soon, James Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Duane Allman, Marc Bolin, Tommy Bolin etc. Some of this group, especially the first two mentioned still are and always will be the best Lead Guitarists of all time, shorten career or not! Some greats we feel were hampered by doing dual duty as singers in their groups---seems like a small detail but how else can you explain that Ted Nugent, Alvin Lee and Robin Trower are usually forgotten "at first" in such a discussion? Other guitarists may have had a personality that prohibited them from connecting with a wider audience, Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore come to mind. They belong in the discussion as do countless others. It comes down to who YOU think should be the best, and we've allowed you to pick 2!

Now we could go on for hours and mention hundreds of ax-men and still miss somebody, so please don't feel slighted, just let us know who you would choose. But let me say this right now, I feel blessed that I was able see Stevie Ray and Frank Zappa before they passed on. But we went back with out "gut" feeling, the emotional pull from within. So for the Lamocu Productions Rock and Roll Fantasy Band, our 2 Lead Guitarists are...Gary Richrath from R.E.O. Speedwagon and Pete Townsend from The Who.

I know a lot of you are saying "REO? They're too pop." but hey, if you saw them before HI-Infidelity you'd know what I'm talking about. After that album Kevin took over with one mushy ballad after another and it was tough for Gary to even get a solo in. A couple albums after HI-Infidelity Gary even left the band he helped create. But "Guitar Player" magazine once called Gary the "purest" guitarist there was and if you could ever see him play you would agree. Gary's fingers (like Beck's and Blackmore's) were in constant motion and the emotion in his face brought you into the music. To experience Gary Richrath check out "You Get What You Play For" and "You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish".

As for Pete, many of you know the Who is my favorite band of all time, but it has always been Pete's attitude towards playing that has captivated me. He plays with abandonment until his fingers bleed and jumps, runs, dances around the stage as the emotional leader of the band. Sometimes he sings as well but not enough to hinder him from his other duties. Pete has written almost everything the Who has ever performed and has been the direction and inspiration for one of the greatest rock acts of all time! Again, Pete is an emotional choice, but one we are very proud to have.

Now let's hear from you. I know we rambled here so thanks for following along, stay tuned for more postings this week.

The Lamocu Fantasy Band

Joe Bouchard, Bass from Blue Oyster Cult

Keith Emerson, Keyboardist from Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Neil Peart, Drummer from Rush

Gary Richrath, Lead Guitarist from R.E.O. Speedwagon

Pete Townsend, Lead Guitarist from the Who

Two Big Remniders!

Two big reminders...first the obvious one, that you can choose two Lead Guitarists for your Fantasy Band.

The second is the IMPORTANT one, we have a very special show this Saturday at InSights, Ms. Charlene Berry in concert with her dulcimer. Opening for Ms. Berry will be David Haslem. Don't miss this one!

Tickets $10 for adults and $ for children and students w/ valid ID.

Our two Lead Guitarists will be unveiled tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Fantasy Band, Pick 2 Lead Guitarists!

Jimmy Page and Stevie Ray Vaughn, just two examples of two Lead Guitarists that could front your Fantasy Band. Are they our two choices? Well that remains to be seen. But keep using your imagination on this one. Think of all the styles of music you like, think of the great riffs that you couldn't live without...come to think of it, THESE two DO inspire quite a bit of "imagination".

Until next time, stay tuned.

Catching our breath!

Recovering from Ladies Night at InSights on Friday the 13th AND Open Mic on Saturday the 14th! Whew! Intense weekend but well worth it. Ladies Night had over 200 participants, not counting vendors which topped 40. These functions just seem to keep getting better and better every time. But as the saying goes, "no rest for the wicked" we had to jump right back into the fire with our biggest Open Mic yet, 8 bands and one comedian. A phenominal night of entertaiment.

But we must bring closure to those events and focus on the future. And the future is here NOW! This Saturday Ms. Charlene Berry will be here first to give backround music to David Haslem's presentation on the Apollo 9 space mission; then she will grace us with a full fledge concert with her dulcimer. Ms. Berry has played all over North America including Carnegie Hall and hosts Dulcimer World on WPON AM 1460 every Friday evening from 7-8pm. For more informaton on Ms. Berry, please consult her web site www.dulcimerworld.com/

This evening promises to be a unique experience for the entire family so please join us. Tickets will be $10 for adults, $5 for children and students w/ a valid ID.

That's all for now, look for more postings this week as we prepare for the Partly Brothers on March 28th www.myspace.com/partlybrothers with special guest Lauren Alm. And we remind everyone that the Fantasy Band heads into Lead Guitarist week. And remember folks, you can pick 2 Lead Guitarists!

Take care, stay warm, keep your stick on the ice and above all, stay tuned!

Final Lineup For Tomorrow's Open Mic!

The Line Up and Estimated Performance Times:

Surronded Is The Prey-5:30-6:00
Channels Red-6:10-6:40
Premonitions of a Burial-6:50-7:20
Leviathan-7:30-8:00
Our Endeavor-8:10-8:40
The Path We Tread-8:50-9:20
Siren The Escape-9:30-10:00
Algore-10:10-10:40

Then our finale...Susie 2295! We've heard some her routine and it will be worth the wait. We're even keeping the place open past 11pm for her!

Door open at 5pm, tickets are $10. Be there to see the future of music and comedy!
More later so STAY TUNED...

Fantasy Band - Quick Stop!

With all that's happening here at Lamocu and InSights we didn't want to forget about rock and roll heaven and our---and your Fantasy Band. So we'll be brief. The next category is going to be Lead Guitarist. Now whether you have ever experienced a band with TWO Lead Guitarist or not, let me tell you something, it's something to behold.

Growing up I can remember hearing constantly the debate between Page & Clapton, Page & Clapton...and it became a "given". Almost everyone accepted that, almost to the point that if one of them "was" your favorite, you got accused of not having much imagination. Still, it was hard to argue one's loyalty to either Page or Clapton, so very few did. Instead one would make the case for THEIR favorite and that's the way it should be. We could write pages on this subject, and we may in the upcoming days. But the fact remains if someone could not choose between Page and Clapton, how could someone choose who's favorite band had TWO Lead Guitarists? They couldn't and it wouldn't be fair. Case in point almost everyone knows a Lynard Skynard fan, which is why Gary Rossington and Allen Collins are pictured in this posting. Now there are other bands that had two Lead Guitarists (City Limit comes to mind as Joe and Garret share duties) and we don't mean to slight anybody. But it is our respect to our Skynard friends that we are allowing the choice of TWO Lead Guitarists for your Fantasy Band.

More to come, stay tuned!

Biggest Open Mic Ever This Saturday!

Big evening this Saturday night for our Open Mic Night! For the first time we have 6 bands and one comedian coming to our stage. Word has gotten out on what we're doing here at the InSights group which is excellent! Performers have heard of the Dream Team and the "one stop" shopping we are providing to assist them reach the next level. For this night only we are beginning our show at an earlier time of 5pm and all tickets will be $10.

The lineup, many of who are already veterans of performing in public, is as follows:
Premonitions Of A Burial
Leviathon
Our Endeavor
The Path We Tread
Siren The Escape &
Algore
then when the music ends around 10 pm that night, Susie 2295 will take the stage with her own brand of humor! It will be Susie's stage debut and she is already drawing a lot of attention within our community.

It goes without saying that we at Lamocu Productions and The InSights Group are very excited about this event. We always knew there was an abundance of talent within our area, we just never had the opportunity to showcase show much of it at one time! It all has the makings of a truly special evening, one that proves our point and one that we hope to repeat many many times again.

Got to go now, more to come later. We also have a special announcement about our Fantasy Band exercise...but that will be another posting. Thanks for following along---stay tuned.

Revised Lineup for Sat. Open Mic Night!

Here is the latest lineup for Saturday! Times are approximations but we plan to stay pretty close to schedule.
Surronded Is The Prey-5:30-6:00
Channels Red-6:10-6:40
Premonitions of a Burial-6:50-7:20
Leviathan-7:30-8:00
Our Endeavor-8:10-8:40
The Path We Tread-8:50-9:20
Siren The Escape-9:30-10:00
Algore-10:10-10:40

We will be as efficient as possible for tear downs and set up and may gain some time as the evening wears on. This pushes Susie 2295 back a little more but we assure you she will be worth the wait! We've heard some of her act already and it's killer stuff!

That's all for now, more postings coming. Stay tuned.

Charlene Berry @ InSights on 3/21!

March 21st Lamocu Productions is proud to present nationally renowned dulcimer artist Charlene Berry. Charlene most recently appeared at the InSights Group when we ran our first ever Variety Show on February 28th and overwhelmed our crowd that night. This artist has appeared at Carnegie Hall and throughout North America. In addition to her travels Charlene has hosted the radio program The Dulcimer World Radio Show on WPON-AM 1460 Fridays 7-8 pm. To learn more about Charlene and her music please visit her at www.dulcimerworld.com/cberry.html

Press Release:

Charlene Berry has been playing and teaching the Solo Hammered Dulcimer for many years. She is not only experienced at both playing and teaching, but also writes a lot of her own music. Having Charlene play for your special event or wedding is a unique and wonderful experience.

Charlene Helen Berry won a silver medal as a semifinalist at Connection 2006, as mentioned in Thursday, June 22, 2006, Plymouth Observer Newspaper & House of Representatives, Congratulations letter.

This is a special evening of entertainment separate from our Open Mic's that take place on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. This third Saturday is a very special evening of cultural music so please attend. Don't miss this chance to catch this local treasure from Plymouth, Michigan.

Tickets for this event will be $10 adults and $5 for students. More to come, stay tuned.

Partly Brothers Come to InSights!

On March 28th, Lamocu Productions has a very special Open Mic Night at the InSights Group. On that evening our stage will be graced with the one and only Partly Brothers! Proven performers in their own right, this dynamic duo is coming to Open Mic because A) Being professionals they know the value of an Open Mic Night and B) They are interested in the services we are providing here with the Dream Team of Lamocu Productions. There will be more on this special night of entertainment soon, in the meantime please check out their My Space site at www.myspace.com/partlybrothers.

Press Release:

Luti Erbeznik (from the former Yugoslavia) and Brian Wood (a Michigan native) unify elements from two distant worlds into an eclectic musical one. With rich vocal harmonies, beautiful tunes and acoustic guitar blend, Partly Brothers have created songs of hope, love and dreams — fulfilled or not — with thought-provoking lyrics. Their music, now available on their debut album From the Start, has been referred to as "upbeat and sophisticated" as well as "rich and hypnotic" and their performances exude passion, humor and joy.

Don't miss this concert, put it on your calenders NOW! Tickets will be $10 for adults, $5 for students. Thanks for reading along, more to come, stay tuned!

March, Coming In Like A Lion!

Recovering from our first full blown Variety Show, the feedback has been phenomenal, in more ways than one. Saline Cable is finishing a pilot show of the evening for showing to potential sponsors and this looks very much like it will be a monthly event for Lamocu here at InSights. Our belief that there is tons of talented artists, of all genres, who are starving for stage time and exposure was confirmed. And this talent needs to be promoted, its that simple. And in the words of one of our hero's Bluto Blutarsky from Animal House, "we're just the guys to do it!"

But we must address the March calender! So here goes on what will the first of several postings in the next few days, so hold on. There is so much we cannot possibly give each event/performer the attention they deserve in just one posting, so here is an overview.

When the Dream Team made it's debut at the Valentine's Day Concert, which featured Pick Your Poison and City Limit, the presentation had it's desired effect. Everyone on the team from audio producer Billy Paul to Dan the T-shirt Man left quite impressed with the level of commitment and professionalism we saw from these young musicians that night. Our perception proved to be quite accurate because word got out on what we are doing here and now, thanks to a young man named Chris Nemitz, there are 5-6 high school bands coming to perform here on March 14th! So many performers that this Open Mic is not only booked full, it is starting 3 hours earlier at 5pm!

This startling turn of events has forced the original March 14th to be moved to March 21st (not normally an Open Mic night) and this show, though another whole genre is big in it's own right. International speaker David Haslem will be doing his latest installment of talks on the famed Apollo missions and he will have doing background music for him ...(wait for it) acclaimed dulcimer performer Charlene Helen Berry. Ms. Berry will be performing her own concert after David's talk and is worth the price of admission all by herself! No matter what genre of music you enjoy you will be amazed by Charlene. She was one of the many highlights of our Variety Show and we're very excited about her gracing our stage. Again, this is an overdue overview, so more on this show later as well. In the mean time you may visit Charlene at www.dulcimerworld.com .

Now on March 28th we are pleased to welcome the Partly Brothers. These gentlemen are true professionals and are gracing our stage because they know the value of an Open Mic Night and like Chris Nemitz (2 paragraphs above) have heard of what we are doing here with the Dream Team at InSights. Tonight in fact they are performing at the Jazz Cafe at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit at 7pm. They are not jazz but this is a true international event. Like the previous two announcements this duo deserve their own posting, and they will get it later today! In the mean time mapquest the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts at 350 Madison, Detroit and make plans to see these gentlemen tonight if possible. To check them out further go to www.musichall.org and www.myspace.com/partlybrothers Admission tonight is FREE and open to all ages.

So much good stuff and so little time! You're going to be tired of hearing from me by the end of the week---but it will all be worth it. So enjoy and stay tuned.

2nd Posting of 3/2/09, Fantasy Band # 3

Drummer. An essential part of any band, any genre. Jazz, Country, Folk whatever type music, it is essential. Some may have it under the heading of "percussionist" and that's fine, it is the backbone, the driving force of the music. In fact we believe a "true" drummer is not just someone who bangs on skins to create a sound. A true drummer is a Percussionist in the very sense of the word. There's the beat that sets the tempo but there is also the vast array of sounds that support, enhance and give the music it's soul. We believe that successful music is that in which the listener is whisked away on a journey, given a vision for which the lyrics provide a narrative. That is why it is with great admiration, love and respect that we have chosen for the Lamocu Fantasy Band...Neil Peart of Rush.

Roger Taylor of Queen was close and so was Carl Palmer, but it is Neil who we want playing for us in our Rock and Roll Heaven. Some of you may have thought Led Zeppelin's John Bonham was a lock---oooh, good choice. Others of you knowing my personal allegiance to the Who may have thought Keith Moon was a "slam dunk"---and we could live with that choice too. But it is Neil who has won us over after so many years and still reigns supreme.

Let us hear from you. Remember there is no wrong answer, we just ask that you justify your selection, tell us why you're so passionate about your Fantasy Drummer. For your review, here is the Lamocu Productions Fantasy Band as of now:

Bassist- Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult

Keyboardist- Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Drummer - Neil Peart of Rush

Thanks for reading along and stay tuned.

2 Major Postings Today!

Whew! What a day for Lamocu Productions and The InSights Group! Two major premieres created one unforgettable experience.

Starting with the debut of The Brighton Gallery "at InSights" at 4 and Ms. Tracey Vitkay did an a wonderful job. Attendance was what one might expect for a first time event but traffic picked up as we got closer to the concert. As roadies and entourages made their way into our facility, discussions about the works in the gallery became a common occurrence. Tracey was at her best not only talking about her own work but also outlining her program for aspiring artists. And here's the kicker, listen to this program...

YOU MUST SHARE THIS WITH EVERY ART TEACHER YOU KNOW.

From now until March 14th, we will be accepting portfolios from students to have their work displayed at the Brighton Gallery "at InSights". Ms. Vitkay will review the submissions, offer counsel to the students, and display the best of their work. How cool is this? Your answer "should be" very cool, extremely cool, awesome cool, astronomically cool or all of the above.

When the show began (which of course was Excellent. Thank you Tom Harris) we decided we would do little "brought to you by" segments throughout the show for sponsors. First "brought to you by" was ...(wait for it) The Gallery "at InSights" and Tracey did the announcement. After outlining her program the crowd of over a hundred (85 paid, performers, roadies & entourages included) gave her an enthusiastic ovation! There are not enough variations of "cool" and "excellent" to describe that scene, except to say it gave you goose bumps.

Then there was the show itself. The Saline Community Television Network was on hand capturing the event to do a pilot for proposed television show. It is our hope that this event will turn into a local variation of Prairie Home Companion or possibly a local version of Austin City Limits---or both! The working name for at least one of these projects will be The Guild of InSightful Sounds, coming to you from The InSights Group in Brighton. The producers of course will be us, I mean that "almost" goes without saying doesn't it?

Our audio producer Billy Paul, while accumulating release forms from the artist, also had them fill out an information sheet for our data base. All of the artists when learning what we were proposing to do expressed interest in returning. We had a wealth of talent here at InSights this past Saturday and all of them are interested in taking their careers to the next level. That's all for this installment I guess, as things develop we will keep you posted.

We have a lot to do this week so be on the look out for our third installment of Fantasy Band coming up next. Again we want to thank all the feedback we have received on this. Some great comments left on the blog, some spirited emails and even some threatening phone calls...but all in good fun! Remember we have done Bassists and Keyboardists already, this week...Drummers.