Wednesday, May 28, 2003
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Wednesday, May 28, 2003 |
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Listen to the Music Classic rock band comes to PTC By MICHAEL
BOYLAN The first two shows of the summer concert series at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater featured artists from the West Coast, specifically the Bay Area,: Eddie Money and The Pointer Sisters. The next concert featured the Village People, which formed in the Greenwich Village section of New York. This weekend, May 30 and 31, another Bay Area band, The Doobie Brothers, comes to "The Fred" bringing their mix of rock, rhythm and blues, country and jazz. The band formed in 1970 when Tom Johnson met Patrick Simmons. The two found that their musical styles were complimentary with each other but both men were in existing bands and went their separate ways. A week after their encounter, Simmons asked Johnson to join his band. Johnson agreed and The Doobie Brothers were born. After releasing their debut album, the band struck it big with their follow-up, 1972's "Toulouse Street," which featured the hits "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright." It was around this time that drummer Mike Hossack joined the band and the signature double drummer sound debuted. The band followed "Toulouse Street" with the albums "The Captain and Me," which featured "China Grove," "South City Midnight Lady," and "Long Train Running," which is their highest charting hit, and "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," which boasted the tracks "Black Water" and "You Just Can't Stop It." In 1975, the band released the album "Stampede" which had the hits "Music Man" and "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)." Michael McDonald joined the band in the following year when they released "Takin' It To The Streets." The album produced four hit singles - "Takin' It To The Streets" which reached number one and "It Keeps You Running." The Doobie Brothers went on their final tour in 1982 before going their separate ways. They reunited once a year though to play a benefit concert for The Children's Hospital at Stanford University. The group reunited in 1987 for an 11 city tour that raised over $1 million which went to a number of different charities. On July 4 of that year, The Doobie Brothers performed in Moscow. There was a renewed interest and excitement in the band and The Doobie Brothers capitalized on this by releasing the album "Cycles." Since then they have released a few more albums and toured consistently around the world. No one can deny that The Doobie Brothers have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success throughout a career that has spanned four decades. They have sold over 50 million records, won two Grammy Awards and had 16 top 40 hits, including two number one hits. They have 11 multi-platinum albums, 13 Gold Albums and a Diamond Award, which is awarded for the sale of 10 million units of a single title. The Doobie brothers earned their Diamond Award for their compilation album "Best of the Doobies." The current touring band is Johnson and Simmons on guitar and vocals, Michael Hossack on drums, Keith Knudson on drums and vocals, John McFee on guitar, strings and vocals, Marc Russo on saxophone and percussionist M.B. Gordy. After their shows this weekend, The Doobie Brothers head to Pensacola, Fla. for Florida Springfest. The Doobie Brothers will perform Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. A few tickets still remain for Friday night's show and standing room only tickets are available for both nights. They are $45 each and will go on sale at 6 p.m. each night. The opening act will be Justus.
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