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REVIEW:  PORT CHUCK,
THE PERFORMANCE

I had heard that four guys from the soap “General Hospital” had formed a music group, calling themselves “Port Chuck”. This is a nickname of the fictitious town GH takes place in (“Port Charles”). So  Sunday night I found myself watching their show for the first time as they performed at Pickwick & Frolic/Hilarities in Cleveland.  When the venue emailed ahead of time to make sure we knew our tickets included the sound check and to be
there by 5pm, I knew it’d be a good night…

A few weeks back I was asking about the upcoming Port Chuck tour on their facebook page. They have a great facebook admin named Kathy who got right back to me, answering my questions. She said all shows are great but the Platinum tickets also gets you a meet & greet and a sound check as well. Not to mention the best seats in the house. So that’s the direction I went.  As I watched the show pretty much three feet from Steve Burton my first thought was “MUST. THANK. KATHY!” Actually, that was my 2^nd thought. If I’m honest, my first hought was “Holy crap I’m three feet from the piercing blue eyes of Steve Burton”! But I digress…

Steve Burton, Brandon Barash, Bradford Anderson and Scott Reeves and a fantastic band make up Port Chuck’s show.  Two of the guys I had met on the Cancun trip with Rick Springfield. (To see exclusive footage see the RS Cancun recap video at the end of this review.)  On that trip I got to hear the voices of Bradford Anderson and Brandon Barash (pronounced “Bar-AH-sh” I found that out only AFTER mis-pronouncing it in the recap video narration). I was so impressed! Hmm…I wondered about the other two! Maybe there was more to “Port Chuck” than I thought?

Steve Burton, who now plays “Dylan McAvoy” on “The Young & The Restless” is most famous for his role on General Hospital as “Jason Morgan”.  Let’s first go over the fact that he is an actor. Actors act. In different roles. Okay, glad we got that out of the way because there has been a lot of controversy involving his leaving GH and arrival at Y & R. (If you click “previous posts” on this page you will soon come to my blog about this & see my take on it). ANYWAY – what I didn’t know - not only can the guy act but he has great stage presence, can sing AND
rap! It also looked to me like he is the one who keeps the show on track with timing etc… So basically in a few hours’ time I learned that there is WAY more to this guy than just those “Burton blues”.  

Scott Reeves who is actually leaving GH and the role of “Dr. Steven Lars Webber” ALSO has huge talent. He acts of course but also plays guitar, and writes music. Perhaps you’ve heard a Toby Keith song called “Made in America”? Well that Number 1 hit was co-written by Scott! Not only does HE sing (he can cover BonJovi like no one I have ever heard) but he also has a
talented family including his actress wife Melissa and daughter Emily. Emily has just released new music herself available on itunes. You can also find Miss Reeves on youtube and I encourage it! She writes, sings and is cute as a button too.  I see BIG things for her future.

Ok lets go back to… Brandon Barash (BarAHsh BarAHHHHSH!!) He was hilarious on the Cancun trip. He plays a mean harmonica (again, see the cancun video) and I already knew he could sing because of the Cancun trip. But I gotta say that Sunday he sang his bottom off!!  He did a version of “House of the Rising Sun” that blew everyone away. I don’t even like that song and I’d go buy the single immediately if Brandon were to record one. Seriously.  He’s also a master of voices. Should he ever want to, he could certainly do a Vegas show. In fact, in Cancun he and Rick Springfield were kind of doing an improv acoustic set and he breaks out a Louis Armstrong voice that was PERFECT. SO perfect in fact, that as soon as he sang the words that he did, (I won’t spoil it) I immediately knew that when producing the Cancun recap video THAT was my closing scene. PERFECT.

Bradford Anderson. During the Cancun trip Bradford was the acting coach in a class I took.
He also was on a panel of celebs (with Bar-AH-sh) that I had to sing in front of and made me freak right out the first time. There’s no arguing that Bradford is a great actor. But I soon learned that he makes one heck of a Director as well! He could easily be a future Spielberg.  But what about his voice? It’s Angelic. He sings really difficult high songs with ease with this natural vibrato that makes everyone melt. When I heard he and Brandon sing the Scorpions’ “No one like you” in Cancun, I. WAS. FLOORED. Aside from the obvious talent I found Bradford to be sweet, focused and personable. Believe it or not, when I saw him in Cleveland, he remembered me- BY NAME -from the Cancun Trip! What a guy!

The four together put on one heck of a show!  We had seats up front but we never sat
down.  I go to Rick Springfield shows and stand like this all the time. But Rick Springfield has been rocking it out for over three decades! The Port Chuck show was quite honestly one of the MOST FUN shows I have ever been to.  You can tell these guys really like each other and that DOES MATTER when performing together.  The Banter between Steve Burton and Brandon Barash alone was entertaining as heck – making us all laugh while dancing to their performances. Scott Reeves' great voice & sweet personality was plain to see and doing “Made in America” was clearly from the heart. The ENERGY of Bradford Anderson was just infectious.  Put all of
those ingredients together and what do you get? A VERY talented group of guys called “Port Chuck”. Uh oh....I see more than just Rick Springfield concerts in my future...

You may be thinking “what kind of review is this?  It’s all GOOD”. Well that’s because it WAS
all good!  If I had to say anything on the negative I would say “BRING BACK THE SCORPIONS TUNE”!! That and “HungryLike the Wolf” in Cancun is what got my attention in the first place.  I will definitely be seeing this group again. Definitely.  My advice to anyone who might be on the fence about buying a ticket? Well most of the shows have sold out. But if you happen to live near a venue that isn't yet sold out or - next time Port Chuck is scheduled to play near you…BUY THE TICKETS. IMMEDIATELY.

OH, did I mention they closed the show with “Jessie’s Girl”?  PERFECT ;)

Here is the Recap video from Cancun with Brandon and Bradford in it. Enjoy:

Wow....a bride loses her Father before her wedding so her brother steps in and sets up a "Daddy-daughter" dance that no one could forget.

If you're at work, I suggest you not watch this until you are home!

Well it's going to be an exciting weekend for me! Saturday night I will be seeing Rick Springfield in MI (shocking I know LOL) and on Sunday I'm headed to Cleveland to see "Port Chuck". You may be asking yourself "Who is Port Chuck?"

Port Chuck is a band that was formed of four actors from General Hospital (not all are still on the soap) and I've heard that all four are extremely talented! 

Last November I got a taste of this group when two of the fellas (Bradford Anderson who plays "Damian Spinelli" on GH and Brandon Barash who plays "Johnny Zacchara") joined us for the Rick Springfield Cancun trip. We were treated to a show where Rick's band played and the two sang. I gotta tell ya, it was fantastic!  I'm really looking forward to seeing all four guys together and finally get to meet Scott Reaves and Steve Burton!

...although I worry about the eyes...I may look at those "Burton blues" and turn into a blithering idiot!  Wish me luck! ;)

Game shmame....who cares about football when the REAL big news is that Jack Wagner returns to General Hospital as "Frisco Jones" tomorrow??!!   ;)

The role that made me a forever Jack Wagner fan resumes on GH tomorrow as part of their 50th anniversary celebration. Many of the biggest stars will return in regular or cameo roles from what I'm reading. The following week another familiar face will be back in Port Charles as Genie Francis resumes her role as Laura Spencer. Yes, as in "Luke & Laura". Stay tuned! Could Dr. Noah Drake return as well? One can only hope ;) 

Speaking of 'that guy' (lol) I thought it would only be appropriate to celebrate Jack Wagner's GH return with a little trip down memory lane (2011) and my recap video of the Rick Springfield/Jack Wagner cruise. Wanna know what it's like to vacation with your favorite heart throbs of all time?  Watch below:

A Friend of mine (thanks Keith!) let us know that the folks at Saturday Night Live are taking suggestions for upcoming shows...who do YOU want to see as host and/or music guest(s)?  I know my own choices and I am pretty darn sure that NBC will never let Conan O'Brien host :(  But my main goal here is to see RICK SPRINGFIELD as host/music guest. He'd be great at both! 

Make YOUR suggestion at:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/backstage/snl-host-and-music-suggestions/

I've been asked to repost this up higher on my blog page so the RS fans could easily find it to watch again - twist my arm! LOL

 I'm pleased to offer you just a peek inside my Cancun trip with Rick Springfield & friends crunched into 11 minutes of video fun :)  Note:  This is only footage from MY personal experiences on the trip & it's just a small taste of all the fun we had.  The OFFICIAL RICK SPRINGFIELD CANCUN video will be available at the merch site off www.rickspringfield.com when it is finished.  They have a ton more footage, professional quality equipment (and frankly, quality producers too lol) so you'll be able to see a whole lot more when that one is finished.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this quick video recap of my trip with Rick Springfield & friends!

When I showed my friend Jenny the footage, I tried to express how super cool it was for your favorite rock star to be standing in your room talking with you.  I said "well picture it - what celebrity would you most like to hang out with?"  She said "Well NOW I want to hang out with Rick Springfield!!!"

*Mission accomplished* ;)

Information about next year's trip with Rick Springfield & friends will be listed soon at www.rosetours.com

I almost pee'd myself from happiness when I got this notification!

Now if team Rick Springfield starts following me I may just fall over dead. ;)