Rush Excellent Night One Of Fifty Something Tour in Toronto
8/7/2026 - Toronto, Canada - Today, we celebrated Deb's birthday by taking a ride North of the Border to Toronto's Scotiabank Arena to see Rush perform on the first of four soldout nights on their Fifty Something Tour. We left midday from Hilton driving across the busier than usual Lewiston-Queenston Bridge into Canada and ran into lots of traffic, finally making it to Kipling Station to pickup the train to take us to Union Station. We were early enough to have a pretty good preshow birthday dinner at Hoops Sports Bar, Deb enjoyed the Salmon. We managed to get a cheap shirt outside from the locals and we then headed into the show. Our seats were pretty good lower level about twenty rows up in the far corner, a good vantage point for tonights three hour show. The band came out about fifteen minutes late to the fully packed Scotiabank crowd. The concert is highly anticipated with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson bringing along Anika Nilles on the drums to replace Neil Peart and also adding Loren Gold on keyboards. They would play two great sets and a couple encores. They opened set one with a nice jam on Xanadu and played hit after hit including classics like Freewill, La Villa Strangiato and closing the set with crowd pleasing The Spirit of Radio. The set also included a video tribute to Neil Peart. The band was very tight, Anike Nilles on drums literally did not miss a beat, Lifeson's guitar work was excellent and Geddy's voice was surprisingly good. They really looked like they were having fun jamming for their hometown crowd. The nixie tubes counted down to 2112 at intermission and the band came out and opened set two by ripping thru 2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx/Grand Finale. They played more classics including Red Barchetta, Time Stand Still and another crowd pleaser jam on YYZ. They included another Neal video tribute and closed the set with South Park intro to Tom Sawyer. They came out for a two song encore of By-Tor & The Snow Dog and closing the show with Working Man. This show was well received by the sellout crowd who were definitely entertained and vocal throughout this entire excellent show. Another great road trip to Toronto, a Happy Birthday was definitely had!!!!!!!Slideshow[]
Gov't Mule & JJ Grey & Mofro Jam On Nice Evening At Artpark
8/6/2026 - Lewiston, New York - In a last minute decision, I decided to head to my favorite outdoor venue, Artpark, in lovely downtown Lewiston to see Warren Hayne's band Gov't Mule perform along with openers JJ Grey & Mofro. I picked up my General Admission ticket the day of the show and hopped in my car and headed West down Route 18 and South down the Niagara Scenic Parkway arriving to small crowds awaiting entry. It was an excellent day for a show rain free and hot. I entered as the doors opened and got my usual spot right behind the reserved seats, sitting next to some nice Canadian guests. The show started promptly at 6:30PM with JJ Grey & Mofro, from Florida, opening the show with a decent set of Southern Rock. After a short intermission, Gov't Mule hit the stage as part of their Kicking In Your Stall - 2026 Summer Tour and played a great set. They opened with with a jam filled Mule and played good versions of Captured and Sco-Mule. Warren Haynes was excellent on lead guitar and vocals and the band was pretty tight with Matt Abts on drums, Danny Louis on keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals and Kevin Scott anchoring on bass. Although not a sellout, the crowd filled in nicely for this good show on a lovely August evening. They invited JJ Grey and his band to join them for a nice cover of Van Morrison's Tupelo Honey. They closed the show with Mr. Man and Bring On The Music. A good show at one of my favorite venues which sadly will probably be the only show I see at Artpark this season.Slideshow[]
Rochester Jazzfest Brings Gladys Knight To Eastman Theatre
Robert Cray Band Entertains At Free Rochester Jazzfest Show
Triumph's Rock & Roll Machine Reloaded At Scotiabank Arena
Sabres Rally To Win 1st Playoff Game In 15 Years At KeyBank
4/24/2026 - Toronto, Canada - Today, I headed North of the Border to Downtown Toronto to see a double dose of classic Canadian Rock with the return of one of my favorite bands, Triumph on their Rock & Roll Machine Reloaded Tour along with opening act April Wine at the near soldout Scotiabank Arena. It was a sunny cold April day and I drove to Kipling and picked up the TTC to take me right down to the front door of Scotiabank Arena. A busy evening in downtown Toronto tonight with the Bluejays also hosting an evening game against the Guardians. I enjoyed a nice preshow dinner and drinks at the packed Hoops Sports Bar. I managed to negotiate a couple cheap concert shirts outside the venue. I entered and headed to my seat right stage eleven rows up at just inside center ice, very good seats. April Wine came out and did a good set that was well received by the Scotiabank crowd. They played classics like Say Hello, I Like To Rock and Sign of the Gypsy Queen. They were anchored by original guitarist Brian Greenway, Jean Lanthier on bass, Roy Nichol on drums and newest member Marc Parent on lead vocals and guitar. They closed the set with Roller. An excellent opener for Triumph. Triumph hit the stage soon after and played a great two hour plus set. The lineup for tonights show included originals Rik Emmett on guitar and vocals and Gil Moore on drums and vocals and new additions Phil X helping on guitar and vocals, Brent Fitz on drums and Todd Kerns on bass playing for an absent Mike Levine on this evening. They opened the show with When The Lights Go Down and played classics like Hold On, Blinding Light Show and Rock & Roll Machine. They sounded great and Rik and Gil were helped by the young guys hitting the high notes and still delivering a good performance on songs like Lay It On The Line and Never Surrender. Rik proved he can still jam and provided excellent vocals but again he did share some lead guitar and vocals with Phil. They closed the set with Magic Power. They came out for a two song encore that included I Live For The Weekend with Gil coming out from behind the drum kit and providing good lead vocals and they closed the show with Fight The Good Fight. An excellent show that was very well received by the near sellout crowd. I was a short walk to the TTC and back at Kipling driving back to the Roc, another excellent Toronto mission accomplished..Slideshow[]
4/19/2026 - Buffalo, New York - The excitement was real today with Dom and I heading to downtown Buffalo, New York to KeyBank Center to watch our Buffalo Sabres play in their first playoff game in 15 years against their rival the Boston Bruins. This playoff round one game one ends one of the longest playoff droughts in pro sports. The Sabres last played in the playoffs in April of 2011. Tonight, we headed down early on this very cold April evening. The crowds were large and loud and you could feel the excitement in the air. We headed into the arena early and climbed up to our free tickets way up top of the arena dead center ice, actually pretty nice seats and they were free, Thanks to Dom's buddy Gade! The crowd was very loud, waving their free towels and Sandra Jeanneret, the wife of late beloved Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret, banged the drum to start Game 1. Lindy Ruff's Sabres would find themselves down to Marco Sturm's Boston Bruins, 2-0, going into the third period on goals from Geekie and Lindholm. The Sabres would rally later in the period with Tage Thompson, playing in his first ever playoff game, scoring the next two goals tying the game. Mattias Samuelsson would add one and Alex Tuch with the empty netter giving Buffalo a two goal lead. Dave Pastrnak would get a very late talley but the Sabres closed the game giving goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen the win, 4-3. The sellout KeyBank crowd went crazy watching our Sabres comeback from a two goal defecit scoring 4 goals in the third period to win the game. This game felt alot like the old Aud playoff days for sure with the loud chants and intensity in the stands and on the ice. Thanks Gade for the freebie and Go Sabres......Slideshow[]
Hanging In The Big Apple And Night Two of TTB At The Beacon
Big Apple Weekend Getaway For Tedeschi Trucks At The Beacon
3/21/2026 - New York, New York - I started my day in the Big Apple early with a stop at Tim Hortons only steps from my hotel the nice Courtyard by Marriott New York Manhattan / Central Park. I hopped on the Downtown A train from Penn Station to the Brooklyn Bridge. I decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge on this nice cool NYC morning. It allowed me to get a few miles in and offered nice views of the Manhattan skyline, Statue of Liberty and surrounding city. I headed back to Manhattan uptown to 86th Street via the subway and walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum was fantastic with vast amounts of classic works from the likes of Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt and Renoir to name a few and there was also a great musical instrument exhibit. After the museum, I decided to walk thru Central Park on this gorgeous March day and I headed to Times Square and grabbed and early seafood feast at Red Lobster. I then headed back for night two of Tedeschi Trucks Band at the soldout Beacon Theatre. I headed in tonight to my seat in the first row of the balcony, an excellent seat, and was greated by several ushers who remembered me from the night prior, they provided great customer service. The band came out a little after the 7:30 start time and played two epic sets. They opened with Crazy Cryin' from their new album Future Soul and played some nice covers including Derek and the Dominoes' Bell Bottom Blues and Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad? and Sly & The Family Stone's Everyday People. Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi provided plenty of excellent guitar work. They closed set one with Bound for Glory. The band sounded tight again on this night and included Gabe Dixon on keys, Mike Mattison on vocals and guitar, Brandon Boone on bass, Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady on drums and a horn section with Kebbi Williams on sax, Emmanual Echem on trumpet and Elizabeth Lea on trombone. I thought the sound mix could have been better but it was still very good. The second set opened with Derek & Susan being joined by a surprising special guest, Cindy Lauper, on a nice cover of the Hambone Willie Newbern's Roll and Tumble Blues. They did a nice cover of CSNY's Ohio and played their classic Midnight In Harlem and closed the set with a cover of Dr John's I Walk On Guilded Splinters. They came out for a single encore of Show Me. Another great show and I headed down to Times Square post show to see the crazies one more time. Next day, I grabbed some lunch and hit Penn Station taking the Amtrak train back to the Roc, another successful NYC mission...Slideshow[]
3/20/2026 - New York, New York - I took the day off work to head out for a weekend getaway to the Big Apple, New York City to catch one of my favorite bands, Tedeschi Trucks Band, perform at the lovely Beacon Theatre. I was up early and Liv provided me with a ride into downtown Rochester to catch the train from the ROC to Penn Station. The train ride was comfy a little bumpier than I remember and a complete sellout but still a good way to get into the city for the weekend. The train arrived on time mid afternoon and I walked 1.1 miles on this nice March day from Penn Station to my hotel the Courtyard by Marriott New York Manhattan / Central Park. Checkin took a few minutes but I was in my nice city view room without any issues. The hotel had an excellent location close to Times Square, Central Park and the subway. I had a little time before the first show at the Beacon tonight and decided to take a walk in Central Park. I stopped at Strawberry Fields for a nice photo op and then headed to the Beacon. I met some nice people who had traveled from California and Colarado for the show. I entered the venue and was escorted by a plethora of ushers who were very friendly and helpful. I made my way to the balcony and was a couple rows up left center stage. Good seats in this lovely small venue that seats around 2900. Tedeschi Trucks Band were in the middle of their residency at the Beacon promoting their new album released today, called Future Soul. They came out a little late but played two excellent sets. The first set was almost entirely tracks from their new album Future Soul, opening with Crazy Cryin', Future Soul and live debut of Ride On. They closed the first set with a nice cover of Santana's Soul Sacrifice. The second set would open with an awesome jam on the mandatory Derek & The Dominos cover of Keep On Growing with Derek and Susan being joined by Julian Lage. They played a nice jam on Outside Woman Blues and their staple Anyhow. They were then joined by special guest, Warren Haynes, who came out and jammed with the band on a great cover of Little Feat's Spanish Moon and a crazy jam on the Allman Brothers' In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. They closed the set with Made Up Mind. The band was pretty tight on this night although I thougt the sound mix could have been better. Warren Haynes joined again for the single encore of Let's Go Get Stoned. An excellent show at a gorgeous venue and I get to do it again tomorrow! I walked back to my hotel stopping at Times Square to take in the late night crazies. A good first day was had in the Big Apple.Slideshow[]
Celebrating George's and My Bday At All You Need Is George
Robert Cray Jams At Intimate Center for the Arts of Homer
2/25/2026 - Rochester, New York - Today, I was celebrating my birthday with a delicious steak & lobster dinner prepared by Deb and then it was off to celebrate George Harrison's birthday at the Temple Theater in downtown Rochester, New York going to see All You Need Is George Tour perform. A nice way to celebrate mine and George's birthday listening to all of his classics being performed on our birthdate. We arrived just in time and grabbed our seats in the balcony right stage a couple rows up, good seats in this little venue. The band included Steve Kimock on guitar, Jackie Greene on vocals and guitar, Peter Lavezzoli on drums and vocals, Gil Assayas on keyboards and Berry Duane Oakley on bass guitar. They simply jammed for the next couple hours on nothing but classic George Harrison. They opened the first set with Happy Birthday in honor of today being George's and my birthday. They then jammed on Wah Wah and played nice versions of I'd Have You Anytime and Isn't It A Pity. They closed set one with Beware of Darkness and an up beat What Is Life. Set two opened with Taxman and included Something, Any Road and set closing It Don't Come Easy and Badge. They played two encores Handle With Care and closing the show with While My Guitar Gently Weeps. A great way to spend a birthday evening listened to George being performed by a good group of musicians in a nice little downtown venue. Nicely timed show indeed, Happy Birthday George.Slideshow[]
2/22/2026 - Homer, New York - Today, we headed down NYS Thruway I90 East towards the Cuse then headed down 81 South to the small town of Homer, New York to see one of our favorite blues guys perform, the Robert Cray Band, at the intimate Center for the Arts of Homer. We left early enough to eat excellent subs at Dibella's and then made the two hour plus drive thru some snow and fog but we made it without issue. We entered the very cool venue and hour early and were greated by the neon 'This Must Be The Place' sign. We entered the bar area where live music was playing and the beer flowing. We had a cold one and then were able to enter the small venue and pick our seats using a post it note with our name to secure our excellent third and fourth row center and left stage seats. This venue, Center for the Arts of Homer, was a church now used as a very cool music venue with a posted seating capacity of 319 people. I sat next too a couple of nice members of the Center and they told me of all the great shows they had seen here. For me my first show at this nice venue was show number 25 seeing the tremendous Robert Cray Band. This small venue allowed easy access to the setlist preshow and Robert and his band including shoeless Richard Cousins on bass, Dover Weinberg on keyboards and Les Falconer on drums hit the stage promptly at 8PM and played a great set. They opened with Anything You Want and jammed a couple tunes and ran into some amplifiers issues that had to be manually rectified throughout the show. Robert and band were still very tight and did not let the issues impact the jams that included a good Poor Johnny and Bad Influence. They did a long jam on Right Next Door (Because of Me) and closed the set with Time Makes Two. They came out for a two song encore opening with Phone Booth and closing the show with This Man. Another great Cray show and a newly discovered excellent venue that we will definitely return to in the near future for sure !Slideshow[]
Travel Log - Providenciales, Turks & Caicos
Albert Lee Tears It Up At Buffalo's Sportsmens Tavern
2/15/2026 - Providenciales, Turks & Caicos - Our trip to Turks & Caicos started two days prior on Friday the 13th, driving from Hilton to Toronto's Pearson Airport (aka YYZ) to stay overnight to catch a Valentine's Day direct WestJet flight to Turks & Caicos. We stayed at the Alt Hotel right next to the ValuePark Parking Garage a good but pricey spot. I took Deb to her favorite place Swiss Chalet for dinner. We crashed at the nice hotel and were awoken at 3AM via a text alert saying our flight was cancelled. We were rebooked for the next day losing a full day of our trip but managed to get a comped hotel the Hampton Inn and food vouchers. Today we left our comped hotel, parked and barely made our flight being stuck in a WestJet customer service line for over 90 minutes and rushing to another security checkpoint at the other end of the airport to make it in time. We made the flight with only a handful of minutes to spare and this flight left on time and we finally arrived early at lovely Turks & Caicos but still a day late ! We exited the plane from stairs on the runway and had a literal rubber stamp on the passport to welcome us to Turks. We grabbed our luggage that we were glad made it after a debacle at YYZ having baggage handling issues. We went to the rental car booth for Budget and the guy was literally passed out on the counter, after he woke he directed us to the shuttle to the cars. My car was a tiny old school Chevy Spark that barely fit us and our bags. I was off driving on the left side of the road for the first time and made it easily to our nice resort the Ports of Call Resort. We had a nice king room with a sitting area and balcony view of the pool. The resort was nice and had breakfast included and was literally one block from gorgeous Grace Bay Beach the first very nice beach we hit. In the next week, we would explore the island a bit driving all over hitting as many beaches as our little car could get us to. We stopped at Long Bay and explored a bit and it was there I broke my toe the first day. We stopped at the beautiful Taylor Bay Beach a couple times and enjoyed the calm crystal clear waters and shallow sandy bottom allowing you to walk way out and we also explored the Chalk Sound National Park. Another favorite for me was Leeward Beach with it's soft sand and big waves. We spent some time at Casablanca Casino winning some cash on video poker, roulette and penny slots. We had some nice dinners at various spots, a good Mahi Mahi at the Ocean front da Conch Shack, all you can eat lobster and steak at Pelican Bay and we ate several times at Osteria Pizza E Cucina right next to the resort with a good variety at decent prices serving a good wood fired pizza. The island was very nice and the people and staff were all good including the bartender who helped us win bingo and ring game competitions with the workers was a blast. The prices for most stuff was pretty outrageous including seven dollar plus a gallon for gas. Leaving the island, we went to the airport early and it became full quickly, very small for the amount of people it was servicing. Our flight was on time and we made it back to Toronto early and made it thru Canadian customs just filling out the automated forms and walked right to our bags and we were on our way home without issue.Slideshow[]
1/24/2026 - Buffalo, New York - On this frigid January Saturday evening, I headed West down I90 to Route 33 West finally onto Route 198 West into the heart of downtown Buffalo to see the guitar virtuoso Albert Lee perform at the Sportsmens Tavern. I arrived about an hour early to the venue and checked in at the door having my name verified as a ticket holder for the show tonight. This was my first time at this venue which was general admission and I was able to sit at a front row table with a couple of local guys and took in the sound check for Albert Lee and his band who sounded great with a sneak preview of Setting Me Up. The venue was small but had capacity for a couple hundred with tables and chairs on the first floor and a second story bar and viewing area. A pretty cool little venue/bar, I would say. Tonight the small crowd would be entertained by the eighty-two year old Lee and his band featuring J.T. Thomas on keyboards, David Chamberlain on bass and Jason Smith on drums. Albert and band would play two sets on this evening opening the show with one of my personal favorites, Setting Me Up from his album Lay It Down that he is still promoting that was released in 2024. He played a couple more songs from that album including Lay It Down and Too Young To Die. Albert's vocals and fretboard work were brilliant showing off his blend of country, rock & roll and rockabilly along side his band that were pretty tight on this night. We were sent on a journey through his legendary career with songs and stories from being fired from Clapton's band, to playing with Emmylou Harris and stepping in for his hero James Burton who joined Elvis's band and playing with the Everly Brothers. He jammed on classic tunes like Luxury Liner and an excellent cover of Ray Charle's Leave My Woman Alone. He closed the set with his hit Country Boy telling how he wrote it and it ended up being a hit for Ricky Skaggs in 1985. Albert and band did a two song encore that included Albert behind the keyboard with another great cover of Glenn Campbell's A Better Place. They closed the show with a rockin jam on Tear It Up. This was a great show and Albert Lee showed at the young age of eighty-two he continues to bring it. After the show I thanked Albert and commended him on a good set. I asked if I would see him in Austin later this year for the next potential Crossroads, he said he has not heard of it yet but I if it happens I hope to see him there.Slideshow[]
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