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At thirdstage.ca we have always strived to bring you the latest news about Boston and those who are/have been involved with the band. Typically that meant visitors having to come and check the site for any updates. Back in 2005, we launched our first RSS feed, allowing you to get the latest postings through any RSS reader. Now we're on Twitter.
For those who are not familiar with Twitter, it is a social media site millions of people use to create short posts (140 characters or less -- similar to SMS). I have thought about launching a Twitter page for some time now and feel it's the right time to do it. The Twitter page will allow you to not only keep track of the latest news posted on this site, it will also be used to keep you posted on additions or changes to the site, Boston related stuff of interest and even the odd random post for your enjoyment and information.
I encourage you to check out the Twitter feed and if you have a Twitter account to follow us. If you'd rather, you can subscribe to the RSS feed located on the Twitter page. You can also see the latest postings embedded on the thirdstage.ca home page.
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Tommy DeCarlo will be performing at Glen Burtnik's 19th Xmas Xtravaganza, according to Tommy's official site.
Glen Burtnik's XMAS XTRAVAGANZA is an annual holiday concert which benefits area food banks and other worthwhile charities. The show has grown larger each year, evolving into a New York-New Jersey area tradition not to be missed.
It features a colorful cast of characters which changes from year to year, but in the past has included such luminaries as Patty Smyth, John McEnroe, Phoebe Snow, Marshall Crenshaw, The Patti Smith Band, Fred Schneider (B-52's), Jill Sobule, Idina Menzel, Jeffrey Gaines, Freedy Johnston, Dan Bern, John Waite, Curtis Stigers, STYX, Mary Lee Kortes, and Willie Nile, among others. Last year's show featured over 100 performers.
Glen Burtnik's 19th Xmas Xtravaganza
Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 7:30 PM
Count Basie Theatre
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
732-842-9000
More Info: xmasxtravaganza.org
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For a limited time, you can download the latest single by Stryper for free.
Stryper, which is led by Boston vocalist Michael Sweet, is giving away their latest single for free on their official site. Between December 03 and 13 at 9pm EST, you can download the song Alive, which is from their latest album Murder By Pride. To get the song, go to www.stryper.com/alive/index.htm
It will ask for an email address and access code (the code is 777).
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Well Christmas is around the corner and Tommy DeCarlo has recorded a song for the holidays.
I Can't Wait Till Christmas Day! is an original recording by Tommy DeCarlo and The M Players. You can hear this tune by playing the YouTube video.
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If you're a regular visitor to this site, you may have noticed some changes. This site has undergone many changes over the years, some good and some I'd rather forget. While the most obvious change is the appearance, there is much more than that that has changed.
The navigation has not changed too much. The general layout has been kept the same as it has been for a long time, but more of the content has been grouped together to make it easier to get to what you want. The links to pages are now easier to understand. Instead of a bunch of numbers, you can actually see by looking at the link what the page is about. While the links have changed, if you follow an older style link (ie /content/view/348/54/) it will take you to the updated link. The notable exception is the RSS feed. If you currently subscribe to the News Feed via RSS you will need to use the updated link. Just click on the "RSS News Feed" link on the main page.
Commenting is now enabled (again). If you recall when this site was relaunched in June 2007, commenting was enabled, however due to some issues, I disabled it. The commenting system is now powered by Disqus. This service also allows commenters to manage comments posted across many sites (any site that uses this service).
The videos have undergone a change as well. I've spent many hours going through the archives and reprocessing all the videos. The videos, which were previously offered as Windows Media, are now in the Flash Video format. This means that anybody who has the Flash plugin on Windows, Mac or Linux can watch the videos. The videos are now available with two options -- "Normal Quality" and "High Quality". The normal quality is similar to what was offered in Windows Media format, while the high quality has a higher resolution and bitrate. The audio section has also been changed. The audio is higher quality and as with the video, now uses Flash.
Hope you like the changes.
Mike
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Wolfgang's Vault has made some classic Boston shows available for purchase online. The shows can be purchased as mp3 or FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). There are currently three shows available, all from the King Buscuit Flower Hour recordings:
Live @ Spectrum - Philadelphia, CA (Dec 18, 1976)
Live @ Long Beach Arena - Long Beach, CA (Mar 16, 1977) - Early Show
Live @ Long Beach Arena - Long Beach, CA (Mar 16, 1977) - Late Show
The FLAC versions cost more, but will give you better quality than mp3. If you don't have the ability to play FLAC files, you can get the CODEC at flac.sourceforge.net
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Tom Scholz appeared as a guest host on Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock on October 19th. You can listen to the podcast at http://paulshaffersdayinrock.com/blog/?p=782
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musicradar.com has compiled a list of 29 music legends who use Les Paul guitars. Tom Scholz was featured in the second part of this list:
www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/29-les-paul-legends-part-2-221943/3#content
Tom Scholz was just your average MIT graduate and senior product design engineer for Polaroid when he recorded some demos in his basement with a little band he called Boston.
That group (and their self-titled album) would enjoy one of the biggest debuts in music history. Key to their sound is a 1957 Les Paul goldtop Scholz bought for $300.
While Scholz also became famous for inventions such as the Rockman and Power Soak, his dense, multi-tracked rhythms and soaring solos would be unthinkable without his goldtop (which sports a Mighty Mouse decal) and a '68 model he purchased as a backup.
Scholz keeps P-90s in the neck position of his Les Pauls, but he installed DiMarzio Super Distortion humbuckers at the bridge to minimize RF interference from stage lights. In addition, the bridges are outfitted with "gang tuning wheels" to allow for accurate pitch during outdoor shows.
Once a tinkerer, always a tinkerer.
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Tom Scholz & Gary Pihl of BOSTON will be featured on television spots promotion the New Bostonians Community Day Sept. 23rd.
If you're not able to watch these PSAs on Ch. 7 and Fox locally, here's a clip to enjoy. Tom and Gary appear at the end.
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Melodic Rock Concerts, a site that features concert reviews, photos and interviews, is having their first contest. You can enter to win a T-shirt autographed by BOSTON member Tommy DeCarlo. For details on how to enter, head on over to their site.
Deadline to enter is August 31, so don't wait!
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If you missed the extensive interview with Tom Scholz on Lost 45s, you can catch it in on the Interviews page.
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From the Boston Herald:
'Honest' talk from Boston's Tom Scholz
By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa
Boston mastermind Tom Scholz gives props to his late bandmate Brad Delp and dishes about the ol' days of rock 'n' roll during a two-hour phoner with "Lost 45s" jock Barry Scott that airs Sunday.
"Boy, was he talkative," said Barry, who had More Than A Feeling that he was going to devote his entire July 5 show on Oldies 103 to Tom's interview and Boston's playlist when he hung up from Scholz's call.
"But he was probably the most honest person I ever interviewed, and I've done 650 of these," he said.
Scott said after listening to Tom talk about Delp - Boston's former frontman who committed suicide in 2007 - he didn't think there was "any bad blood" between Tom and Brad.
"It was totally honest stuff that only a person could say who had best friends with him for 35 years," he said. "I think the rift was caused by other people. But I'm just the host. I let him talk and I didn't take a side."
In the interview teaser on Barry's lost45s.com Web site, Tom paid tribute to his old friend by saying Brad was "one of the best singers and probably one of the nicest people in rock 'n' roll history."
But it was the tease about lawsuits that fired up other members of the Boston family to contact Scott and give him an earful.
"I got royally screwed by everybody involved," Tom told Barry. "I made a lot of people rich with the work I had done."
Laughed Scott, "Oh, yes, I have heard from the wives."
Catch the full interview with Tom Scholz on "The Lost 45s with Barry Scott" on Oldies 103.3 Sunday from 7 p.m. to midnight.
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Recently the web site Melodic Rock Concerts did an extensive interview with Tommy DeCarlo. You can listen to it at melodicrockconcerts.com
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The interview will feature Tom talking about many subjects, including the demos that landed the band's record deal, the band name, logo, vinyl vs. CD, and more. You can listen to the interview between 7pm-12am EDT online at www.lost45.com. You can check out the site for a sneak peak at the interview.
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It's been a long road and this site has seen many changes. When I first launched it, it was called "Third Stage: A New World" and was hosted on a free web host. The site moved to another free web host until I moved it to a real host and set it up with the domain name thirdstage.ca -- giving the site a permanent address and new identity. When I started this site, I had no idea that it would still be around 10 years later -- after all, it all started as a little project to see if I could create an entire website in 2 weeks (which I did).
Those who have known of this site for a long time may know that it hasn't been up for the whole 10 years; I had shut it down in 2003 when I just didn't have time to devote to it, until 2005 when I decided it was time to bring it back. So yes technically you could say that the site isn't 10 years old, but whatever!
The site has also seen a lot of design changes (most of which were between awful and not-so-awful) and structural changes, most notably the change to a content management system that launched June 01, 2007. This change involved a lot more work than you might think, considering I had decided to archive all news postings since 1999. There's also been a lot of growth in the content. I am most proud of the video section, which has over 50 BOSTON and BOSTON related clips.
Thanks to everyone who has supported this site over the years in all its incarnations, from passing along news to sending emails of support and especially thanks to those who have provided some financial support to help cover the cost of running this site. And of course thanks to present and past members of BOSTON for the music, which is the reason why this site is here in the first place.
I hope 10 years is just the beginning of this site.
Mike
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Kimberley Dahme recently released her latest solo CD titled You Make Me Believe. BOSTON members Gary Pihl and Jeff Neal contributed to this album. Also featured on the albums is the song With You, which appeared on the 2002 BOSTON release Corporate America.The album can be purchased on Amazon and CD Baby as CD or MP3.
Track Listing:
01. Can't a Girl Change Her Mind
02. Rock You Like a Baby
03. Lighthouse
04. You Make Me Believe
05. Something We Do
06. No Question
07. Jet Lag City
08. The Only Man
09. Love Don't Leave Me Now
10. It Takes Two to Fall
11. With You
Kimberley's Official Site: www.kdsongs.com
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BOSTON shows, myths, and truths
by Tom Scholz
In spite of recent misleading ads claiming BOSTON appearances and even reunions of original members, BOSTON is not touring or performing this year. While we're off this summer, several of our members are involved with other projects that are worth catching if you can:
Kimberley Dahme is releasing her new CD "You Make Me Believe" this month and has many solo appearances scheduled. Gary Pihl contributed writing, performing and production help to her effort, and Jeff Neal and I also did a little playing on the album. Gary will be joining Kimberley at several of her performances ... check out her tour page:
www.kdsongs.com
Michael Sweet is touring with Stryper this fall in support of Stryper's new album "Murder by Pride." The tour marks their 25th Anniversary. Gary Pihl and I hope to catch up with them to sit in at some point.
www.michaelsweet.com.
Also, Gary Pihl is compiling a series of good quality video clips from live shows soon to be available here on bandboston.com, watch for it!
We are hoping to embark on another major BOSTON tour next year. Meanwhile, I am finally back working to complete the next BOSTON studio album with some help from the gang, and I think you are really going to like it!
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While this isn't exactly what you call "news", as a reader of the humor site cracked.com, I was stoked to see Boston referenced in one of their articles "6 Inspiring Rags to Riches Stories (That Are Bulls***)". If you scroll down to #4 (Jewel), you'll see that they reference Rock & Roll Band.
Click here to see the article (warning, language not suitable for all younger or sensitive readers; discretion is advised).
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Tom Scholz was recently interviewed for a PBS special "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives", hosted by Sir George Martin, which is due to be broadcast in 2010. The documentary is an 8-hour special about the history of recorded music. The camera crew took many shots in Tom's studio Hideaway II.
Artist for The Simpsons gave each band member a BOSTONized Simpsons Cartoon with the following note:
To the members of Boston-
I grew up in Chelmsford, Mass, attended the Rhode Island School of Design, and landed the dream job of designing the Simpsons immediately following graduation in 1990. Boston has always by far been one of my favorite bands, and has literally helped me through 1000's of hours while sitting at the old drawing board over the years.
I had the privilege of meeting Brad Delp back in the spring of 2000 and many times after that through his band Beatlejuice. The last time I saw Brad, we discussed my doing a funny-cool Simpsons/Boston piece. He laughed and said, "Oh man, that'd be great - everybody in the band would love that." I hope you like it! It's the least I can do for all the great music over the years and I hope for many years to come! God bless you, your families and all your future endeavors!
Your Fan - Lance Wilder
and all the Boston Fans here on the Simpsons
The site also mentions the release of the Greatest Hits Remaster, which has been previously reported here.
Also, as some are aware, Michael Sweet's wife Kyle has been battling ovarian cancer. I'm sure you will join me in wishing Kyle the strength to beat this cancer.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Website
(Thanks to Melissa for the info)
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Earlier in the year, we heard that there would be a remaster of Greatest Hits, which has been remastered by Tom Scholz. The CD was supposed to be released during the summer to coincide with the summer tour. Well the tour has come and gone with no sight of the remastered album -- or any word of the release for that matter. Well it looks like we may actually see the remaster released!According to billboard.com, the Greatest Hits remaster is due to be released Tuesday, January 27, 2009. The remaster will have some changes to the lineup, most notably Tell Me, which was a new track sung by David Sikes, is being replaced with I Had a Good Time, which was the lead-in to the 2003 release Corporate America. As well Livin' For You will be replaced with I Need Your Love. The CD also excludes the Kalodner Edit of Higher Power.
Track Listing:
01. I Had A Good Time
02. Higher Power
03. More Than A Feeling
04. Peace Of Mind
05. Don't Look Back
06. I Need Your Love
07. Cool The Engines
08. Party
09. Feelin' Satisfied
10. Foreplay/Longtime
11. Amanda
12. Rock & Roll Band
13. Smokin'
14. Man I'll Never Be, A
15. The Star Spangled Banner/4th of July Reprise
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Tom Scholz tied 41st place with Robby Krieger. You can see the full list at Chop Shop Radio.
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It's been over a year since the Come Together tribute show for Brad was performed -- and recorded with a full multi-camera production. Many people wondered if the show would ever see the light of day, well it's finally being made available on DVD.The August 19, 2007 show featured performances by a number of artists, including Godsmack, RTZ, Beatlejuice, Ernie and the Automatics and Boston. Also featured was a documentary created by Brad Delp's daugher Jenna. The show was recorded at the expense of Ernie Boch Jr, frontman of Ernie and the Automatics and auto magnate.
You can pre-order the show now, which will be released December 19, 2008 on the Ernie and the Automatics website. The cost is $25 USD with proceeds going to music charities.
Note that the Boston performance is not included on the DVD.
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Tom Scholz was interviewed by Rock 102 (WAQY Springfield) as part of Mayflower Marathon 2008. The Mayflower Marathon is a 52-hour annual marathon to raise food donations for those in need for Thanksgiving; Tom also was kind enough to help out for this cause.
The interview is available through the Rock 102 website. as well as the audio section.
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The coolest critters to ever rock celluloid also have great taste in music. Fans of the band BOSTON were excited to learn that their favorite rock band is also popular with those cool as cucumber Penguins: Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico.Watch and listen carefully until you see those wacky penguins pop an 8-Track into the dashboard of their jeep. Suddenly, the multi-platinum recording, “More Than A Feeling,” written and recorded by guitar wizard Tom Scholz for his band BOSTON fills the theater.
Product Information:
Audio CD (November 4, 2008)
Number of Discs: 1
Format: Enhanced, Soundtrack
Label: Interscope Records
ASIN: B001H3KMNO
www.bandboston.com
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