The 4th Annual “Ride For Ronnie” Motorcycle Ride and Concert
Los Encinos Park State Historic Park , Encino, CA – 5/6/18
“STAND UP AND SHOUT”
Sunday, May 6th, The Spirit of the Late, Great, Ronnie James Dio once again made a stop at Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino CA. The throngs descended on the sleepy little neighborhood, that for one day each year is woken up to the sounds of rolling thunder through their streets and the echo of METAL!
(It reminds me of the joke: My Neighbors were listening to Metallica this morning… Whether they liked it or not!)
Unlike last years event, the weather this Sunday couldn’t have been better! The sun was out and so were the crowds who showed up to see Steven Adler’s All-Stars, Dio Disciples, Beastö Blancö, One More From The Road, Classless Act and Railgun.
The park was outlined by food and drink booths as well as event merch. and a few stalls dedicated to the auctions that took place through out the day. These auctions included some great items, including pictures of Ronnie as well as instruments and other items that had been signed and donated by a variety of bands.
Before all the action kicked off, the Motorcycle Riders that began their day at Harley Davidson of Glendale began to arrive. The steady rumble of riders slowly poured into the surrounding neighborhood like water filling a dry creek. As always, the focal point of the ride was the arrival of Ronnie’s wife, Wendy Dio; adorned in her customary pink leather jacket and pink “Dio” helmet.
The event was co-hosted by 95.5 KLOS DJ Melissa Maxx, who at one point was joined by station mate, Frank Kramer (The Heidi, Frosty and Frank show) and the Sirius XM guy who has never been asked the question, “When is That Metal Show coming back?“, Eddie Trunk.
“IF YOU LISTEN TO FOOLS, THE MOB RULES”
Video: Ann Sunde
While the Bikers were arriving, any remaining silence was broken and beaten as Long Beach Thrashers, RAILGUN, hit the stage. They didn’t allow anyone time to ease into their day… Boom! They were straight in your face and set the tone for a day of hard rockin’ goodness!
Railgun are:
Cole Jones – Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
Luke Man – Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals
Brice Snyder – Bass and Backing Vocals
Paul Gehlhar – Drums
“YOU’RE A PICTURE JUST AN IMAGE CAUGHT IN TIME. WE’RE A LIE YOU AND I. WE’RE WORDS WITHOUT A RHYME”
Next up was the much talked about debut of CLASSLESS ACT; the band featuring drummer, London Hudson (Son of Guns N’ Roses guitar legend, Slash).
They clearly have a lot of fans who were eager to finally see them live. There were even quite a few “Classless Act” t-shirts seen in the crowd. Though the buzz around the band centers around their drummer, these are some talented lads who bring a raw, rock energy to their songs. Amazing guitarist, Derek Day (Vocals) is taking a break from his six string in this band and proved to be just as dynamic without it.
Classless Act are:
Derek Day – Vocals
Nico Tsangaris – Lead Guitar
Dane Pieper – Rhythm Guitar
Franco Gravante – Bass
London Hudson – Drums
“DON’T WRITE IN STARLIGHT ‘CAUSE THE WORDS MAY COME OUT REAL”
ONE MORE FROM THE ROAD, A Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, brought some authentic Southern Style to California. This 10 piece band didn’t leave an ounce of the stage uncovered. They did the Southern Rock Legends proud and finally got some of the crowd out of their lawn chairs and up shakin’ their hips.
One More For The Road are:
Loyd Tonsing – Lead vocals
Bob Vitti – Keyboards
Rick Hunter – Guitars
Gary Lenk– Bass
Darryl Parker – Drums
Armand John Lizzy – Guitars
Ryan Williams – Guitars
Kammarie McClain – Backing vocals
Lauren Simpson – Backing Vocals
Millena Hicks – Backing Vocals
“SLEEP WITH THE DEVIL AND THEN YOU MUST PAY. SLEEP WITH THE DEVIL AND THE DEVIL WILL TAKE YOU AWAY”
BEASTÖ BLANCÖ were the band of the day for me. No discredit to anyone else that played, they were all really great…But Beastö Blancö were greasy, sleazy, Rawk n Roll.
Created from the brain of long time Alice Cooper bassist, Chuck Garric, with Brother (Chris) Latham, Beastö are the evil little Chucky doll of music. Gritty, raw and mischievous, the band are growing a loyal fan beast (sorry, base). They’ve got killer tunes combined with an apocalyptic, Mad Max look and they have Calico Cooper; daughter of Alice and a constant, stomping, screaming, focal point of their stage show.
Their chosen setlist today included “Grind“, “Death Rattle“, “Machine Girl“, “Freak“, “I Rise” and a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Feed My Frankenstein“.
Today’s show saw drummer Sean Sellers (Good Riddance) and “Oirish” bass queen, Tanya O’Callaghan (Dee Snider) filling in for Tim Husung and Jan LeGrow respectively. A killer set and a treat to see all that Beastö darkness performed in the light of day.
“BETWEEN THE VELVET LIES. THERE’S A TRUTH THAT’S HARD AS STEEL. THE VISION NEVER DIES. LIFE’S A NEVER ENDING WHEEL”
Between bands, there were auctions for such items as a “Heaven and Hell” Tour jacket, several programs and laminates from classic Iron Maiden tours. Tim “Ripper” Owens donated his RJD “cut” to the auction, and Wendy Dio even donated her Pink leather jacket to the cause.
Wendy Dio, and Ronnie’s Doctor, Sandeep Kapoor donated a check for $25,000 to Dr. David Wong (Director for UCLA Center for Oral/Head & Neck Oncology Research). Who surprised Wendy and the crowd with the news that it may be possible before the end of the year to finally detect certain type’s of cancer via Saliva testing, instead of the more traditional, intrusive way.
“LOOKING INSIDE OF YOURSELF YOU MIGHT SEE SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW. MAYBE IT’S JUST WHAT YOU NEED LETTING THE RIVER IN YOU FLOW”
It was now turn for DIO DISCIPLES to come pay tribute to the event’s namesake. They ran through some of the best songs from Ronnie’s catalog including opener, “Holy Diver“, “Egypt (The Chains Are On)“; Rainbow tunes, “Long Live Rock n Roll” and “Man On The Silver Mountain” and of course the Sabbath anthem, “Heaven and Hell“.
The band are of course made up of a group of amazing musicians who all played with Ronnie at different stages, including Drummer, Simon Wright, Bassist, Bjorn Englen, Keyboardist, Scott Warren and Guitarist, Craig Goldy.
The vocal duties are split up between Oni Logan (ex-Lynch Mob) and the amazing, Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest).
“THE WORLD IS FULL OF KINGS AND QUEENS. WHO BLIND YOUR EYES AND STEAL YOUR DREAMS. IT’S HEAVEN AND HELL…”
The headliner(s) of the day were Steven Adler’s All-Stars. Ironically, Steven wasn’t behind the kit for the first half of the set. The revolving stage of stars kicked off with Joe Retta (Heaven & Earth) on vocals, Ira Black (I Am Morbid) and Ronnie’s cousin, David “Rock” Feinstein (Elf) on guitars, Robbie Crane (Black Star Riders) on bass and Mike Dupke (ex-W.A.S.P) on drums. They burned through two of Ronnie’s Sabbath tunes, “Mob Rules” and “Neon Knights“
Ricky Warwick (Black Star Riders, Warwick/Johnson) took to the stage along with Ira and the Lizzy Borden rhythm section of Marten Andersson (bass) and Joey Scott (drums) to blast into Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades” followed by Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak“.
After Budderside’s Patrick Stone (Vocals) joined for “Born To Be Wild”, it was time for the GnR drummer to make his appearance as Steven Adler finally took his place behind the kit. Joined by Adler guitarist, Michael Thomas as well as guitarist Carl Restivo (Tom Morello, Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party) and, returning to the stage, bassist Tanya O’Callaghan, the band ripped into GnR’s “Rocket Queen“.
It was after that we got the debut of Adler’s new singer and American Idol alumni, Constantine Maroulis who kicked off with Guns’ “Anything Goes” and then into the Adler song, “Good To Be Bad“. He and the band were well received and he handled the rest of the set which consisted of Guns N’ Roses songs with ease.
The crowds for this event just get bigger each year. It’s a testament to the role that Ronnie played in everybody’s lives. It’s a also an indicator that way too many people in some shape or form are somehow effected by this vicious disease.
Always STAND UP AND SHOUT against Cancer!
Related Links:
Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund
Official Site Facebook Instagram Twitter
Steven Adler
Dio Disciples
Beastö Blancö
Official Site Facebook Instagram Twitter
One More From The Road
Official Site Facebook Instagram
Classless Act
Official Site Facebook Instagram Twitter
Railgun
Official Site Facebook Instagram
