The Ben Maynard Program
"Tell Your Story". Everyone has a story. Not just the famous. This is a guest driven program but when we are "guest free", It's just YOU and ME! I love music and we will talk a lot about it. Enjoy the ride!
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 40 Live Riffs with Tom Keifer and LA Guns, Plus Ben Maynard's Streaming Escapades
Ever found yourself belly-laughing at the misadventures of live streaming, while simultaneously getting swept away by the sheer electricity of a rock concert? That's exactly what went down at the Saban Theater as the Tom Keifer Band and LA Guns took the stage, and I, Ben Maynard, am here to regale you with every thrilling chord and comical mishap. The energy was palpable, the music was pounding, and my Facebook Live antics provided some unintended humor— because who doesn't love a bit of a tech flub?
Strap in for a ride through rock history as I recount the stellar performance of LA Guns, whose reunion and recent album "Missing Piece" have solidified the band's legendary status. The ageless Phil Lewis, alongside Tracy and the gang, served up a setlist loaded with classics, yet I found myself craving a taste of their new flavors. And for the Cinderella fans, Tom Keifer's gravelly voice and guitar mastery, backed by his wife Savannah and a band of rock virtuosos, did not disappoint. Join me as I share a special concert moment that'll have you longing for the spotlight's glare and the echo of live music in your ears.
Wrapping up this sonic adventure, I extend an invitation to let your curiosity lead you to the next live show. My near-perfect rating of this night is something I'm itching to debate with fellow enthusiasts on the Ben Maynard Program. So, share this with that buddy of yours who lives for the roar of the crowd and the heart of rock and roll. Let's keep celebrating the music that brings us together, note by unforgettable note.#tellyourstory #familymatters #thebenmaynardprogram #spotify #classicrock #cinderellaband #tomkeifer #laguns #traciiguns #phillewis
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Hey there, everyone. Welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, a little reminder. This program is always available on multiple podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, amazon Music and Spotify, or if you just search the Ben Maynard program, you'll have plenty of options to choose from. But I ask that you please steer your way towards Buzzsprout, because that's where my website is. However, if you cannot resist all of this loveliness here and you're watching on YouTube, then please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. Comments are great, especially for today's episode. Okay, last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply, ben Maynard Program. All right With that.
Speaker 1:There are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And so happy Monday. This is Monday, april 8th. I never give the date, but I did just now, I guess, for a specific reason. What I'm going to do is give you my review of the Tom Kiefer Band LA Gun Show. They just played this past Saturday here in Beverly Hills at the Saban Theater, and I kind of wanted to go over that with you guys and give you my take on it.
Speaker 1:Some of you may have seen my Facebook live video that I sent out just before. Uh, yeah, I told Catherine. Catherine and I went to the show together and on the way I told Catherine I said, hey, you know, I'm going. I think it'll be a good idea to put out a Facebook Live video before the show starts and send it out and kind of plug the show and then kind of maybe steer everybody to the podcast as well. So that was what I did, not knowing how to use Facebook Live at all. All I knew is okay, go on here to my profile, boom, hit you know live video, and there you go, and I posted it to, or I whatever shared it, posted it, hooked it up whatever, whatever the lingo is, yes, whatever the lingo is, yes, I'm old, all right, and I'm not great with social media and technology and all that stuff. I'm just not. Catherine handles all that stuff for me.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, so I hit record on it and I don't have my glasses on either, so I can't see a darn thing and I record and okay, I mean I thought the recording part of it not that I shouldn't say the recording, my speaking part of it I thought it came out pretty decent. It was then when I thought I hit stop on it and didn't see the little button down to the right. There was a little circle kind of in the middle, at the bottom of the screen, but I didn't see to the right of that. That said finish. It's a little dark. It's in the theater. I don't have glasses on. So there you go, and it's so funny. I look like a dope and I'm sure you all were thinking the same thing too, and that's okay. You all were thinking the same thing too, and that's okay. I don't know. It was at least 30 seconds where I'm definitely squinting, looking at my phone, trying to figure things out, thinking that I'd already stopped recording. And of course I didn't. And I don't know how I did it, but I ended up sharing it with about six different Facebook groups that I'm a part of, and some people have either commented or reacted did it, but I ended up sharing it with about six different Facebook groups that I'm a part of and some people have either commented or reacted to it. So I want to thank all of you for that.
Speaker 1:The ones that saw the video actually there were two. I did put out another one during the show. It was what was it? Coming Home, that's right, coming Home by Tom Kiefer. During the set, I decided, well, it worked once, let's try it again. So I did so and there were some folks from the various groups that either liked it, reacted, commented. So, if you're one of those out there, thank you so much. I greatly appreciate it. Okay, even though I don't know what I'm doing and I'm just a dope, but thank you. So what I tried to do today and me, mr Now, I got it figured out.
Speaker 1:While I was at work, I tried to put out another Facebook live video and I was going to promote this concert review I'm about to get into, which is taking me forever to do so, but so I recorded it. And what was just so different is the groups that I had posted to on Saturday, or shared it with, whatever you want to call it they didn't pop up. Because they just popped up on Saturday, I didn't do anything. They didn't pop up. I couldn't figure out how to get to these groups to send the video and uh, or to to tag them, you know, uh, for the video. So ultimately, I just deleted the video. I just I just deleted it and, um, yeah, I still don't know what I'm doing. I still couldn't figure it out because I wanted to do this live.
Speaker 1:I thought, okay, I'll don't know what I'm doing. I still couldn't figure it out Because I wanted to do this live. I thought, okay, I'll do a Facebook live video promoting the review and just kind of get some people to mosey on over to this little old podcast here and check out the review live. I'm sorry, people, I'm sorry. I just I don't know. I'll get it figured out one of these times. I know, look, you can leave all the comments you want. Okay, you can leave all the comments you want on YouTube. I'm a dummy, don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:What would really be good is if you could try to help me out, figure out Facebook live and how I can tag my groups again and and um, and let me see what groups were they. I don't even that's right, I'm not even going to get into them. Except there was, there was definitely one that I will share because it has to do with this review, and that was the and I won't get the name right, but it's a Tom Kiefer Band Facebook group and it's a great group. And well, all the groups that I'm a part of are great, otherwise I wouldn't be part of them. How's that? But no, I had some people comment from that group and so thank you for all that. But yeah, so if somebody can help me out with this, I'd be indebted to you. Yeah, uh-huh, so all right.
Speaker 1:So let's get started with this, because we don't need to be here all day and night. All right, this is a concert review and that's it really pretty much anyway. So Saturday, saturday evening, we go to see the Tom Kiefer LA Guns show, got tickets that day we hadn't really planned on, I had wanted to go as soon as the show was announced and I won't get into it all. But Catherine says to me in the afternoon I think she was feeling bad cause she knew I wanted to go and she kept telling me no, no, no, she's so mean. And and she says to me if you really want to go to the LA Gun Show, then go ahead and get tickets and we'll go. That's all you have to tell me. So that's what we did and we had good seats.
Speaker 1:For those of you who are not familiar with the Saban Theater, it's an old theater in beverly hills. It's probably I think it's a like a 1900 seater, so it's it's a good size theater and um, it's got, uh, you know, it's got the the the floor section and then it's got a mezzanine up above and then even up above that it's got they call it, you know the balcony. So then it's got a mezzanine up above and then even up above that it's got they call it, you know the balcony. So really it's got like two balconies. Um, beautiful theater, great sound.
Speaker 1:But uh, I don't know if it was a sellout because I didn't check the balcony and the mezzanine. I know there were people there, I just didn't check it out. The floor area was pretty packed. It was pretty packed. So I know it was a pretty good turnout. Yeah, definitely was a good turnout and that's a great theater or it's a great venue, I should say size-wise for these acts. It really is, from what they're doing now. So it's good to see them in a larger theater and not a club that maybe would be between 500 and 1,000. It's good to see them out there in a larger venue.
Speaker 1:So of A Guns opened the show and look, let me just say this before I get into LA Guns, okay, and they're set. Let me just say this, the great part about the night there were two bands that just bring it straight up, all real, all live, raw rock and roll, just straight up and in your face. No tricks, no gadgets, no fakery, none of that stuff. All real, all live. And for music lovers like you are out there, I'm sure, because you wouldn't be watching this if you weren't that's what we really want. I'm tired of hearing about or seeing. Actually, I'll be honest, I don't think I've seen anybody faking it, not, to my knowledge, nothing that I could tell. So if that's the case, good. But we know that there are so many bands out there that are faking it, whether it's fake backing tracks, fake lead tracks, fake instrumentation. And it's okay if you don't normally have keyboards in your music and you have a keyboard track on a song or two songs. That's not what is important, that's not what we're talking about here. We're just talking about faking stuff that you don't need to fake, like the vocals, like maybe a baseline, a lead track, something along those lines. Okay, that's what I'm talking about. So these two bands there is no, there is no fakery at all. It's just, like I said, straight up, raw in your face, live music, all right. So LA Guns what can be? You know? Well, I don't know, these guys man. Something else Ever since Phil Lewis and Tracy Guns reunited back I want to say it was around October 2016, something like that Ever since then, this band has been on fire and they have been pretty prolific.
Speaker 1:I think they've released four albums since then, starting with their Missing Piece album, and that's a great album. That is a great album. Look, I know they just released well, uh, well, let me see, they released an album last year, so right about a year ago. I think that was with diamonds or black diamond or something like that. I don't recall, I don't own it, but that missing piece album, it's just something else. It uh, I I honestly think it ranks up there with anything from early on in their career. Their first two or three albums, debut Cocked and Loaded Hollywood Vampires. I think it's every bit as good. Look, and, in my estimation, maybe better, because on Missing Peace, I like every single song. I think there's like 11 tracks on there and I like them all. All right, so enough of that, let's get to the show. So these guys, like I said, ever since Tracy and Phil reunited, they're on fire and this might be like the fourth time I've seen them since then Didn't disappoint at all.
Speaker 1:Same thing, just in your face and on fire. Just it was just dynamite, absolutely killer. And one thing I want to say about Phil Lewis. I think Phil Lewis is like 65, 66 years old and he sounds amazing. He still sounds so good. It's crazy. But you know, as a music lover, a concert goer, I so appreciate it. I don't know what he does for his voice. I don't know if he has warm up, a warm up routine, warm down routine. I don't, I have no idea. Maybe he just takes, maybe he just takes a shot of tequila or something before he hits the stage and lubricates those vocal cords and goes. I have no idea, but man, he still sounds killer.
Speaker 1:And if you're not familiar with the lineup and there's been like 72 members of LA Guns throughout their career, and that's no joke, that is no joke. Okay, I may not have the number exactly right, but I know I'm not far off, so check it, check me on that, all right, but this lineup, the one, well, the one spot of the lineup that just seems to keep rotating is the drummer. Why, I don't know, but they have Sean Duncan on drums now and I think he's been there for a couple years. But you know the other four guys. You got Phil Tracy on guitar and he is so underrated. He is such an underrated guitarist. You never hear his name mentioned on any list. You'll never see his name on any list of great guitar players, anything like that. But man, he kills it on guitar. Then you have Ace Von Johnson playing rhythm, A little bit of lead from time to time, so good and his addition to the band. I think he came into the band in 2018, I think it was and sorry, I got an eyelash in my eye and I love his energy. He brings good energy to the show and he really gets into it with the crowd. Him and Johnny Martin, who plays bass. They have their thing going back and forth with each other on stage and it just adds to it. It's very entertaining.
Speaker 1:And I mean I'm not going to run down the entire set list, but I can say this that they leaned really heavily on the first three albums that would be the debut Cocked and Loaded and Hollywood Vampires. They leaned heavily on those three albums. They played 15 songs and I think let me see Two, three, I think three songs yeah, I think three songs out of the set were not off of the first three albums. And the one thing that was disappointing for me it was great and disappointing at the same time is they played their single from Missing Piece Speed. That was their first release off of that album when they released it several years ago. It's such a great song and I was so happy that they played it and I kind of had an idea that they would, and I kind of had an idea that they would.
Speaker 1:But I so would like to have heard two or three other songs off of that album. And I know that they have to play stuff from those first three albums. There's just no doubt about it. They have to do it, otherwise they're going to hear about it. They have to do it, otherwise they're going to hear about it. But man, there's so many other great songs off of Missing Peace Sticky Fingers, oh gosh, such a great song, gosh.
Speaker 1:Whenever I hear that song, I always picture it being played live, being played live, the lead track off of Missing Peace all the same to me. Oh man, that's so good. Just, I mean, that's just three of them right there. What's the other one? Oh, the Flood is the Fault of the Rain. Yeah, that's a really good one. I've seen that one performed live once and they did such a great job on that song. Like I said, phil Lewis just kills it. So anyway, it was a great show, a great set.
Speaker 1:I think LA Guns had. They got about 55 minutes, which is good for an opening band. Yeah, they put 15 songs, like I said, about 55 minutes, which is good for an opening band. Yeah, they went 15 songs, like I said, about 55 minutes. There was none of this. There weren't big breaks in between the songs, it was just boom, boom, boom, boom, one right after the other. So that was good. That's why they were able to get so much material in that time.
Speaker 1:And of course, they have to play Ballad of Jane. They have to do that, okay, otherwise they probably won't get out of the theater alive. And they did, they did. That was, that was the next to last song. But yeah, so good, so good. It was just good to see those guys again and just hear that great music.
Speaker 1:Just kind of I've used the term before kind of dirgy, it's just it's dirty. It's dirty, and I don't mean it in a nasty way, it's just dirty. You know it's good stuff, good stuff. So if you have an opportunity to see LA Guns, yeah, definitely Don't miss out on it. I mean, they're all over the place, even when they're not on a, you know, on this tour with the Kiefer Band. So then of course Tom Kiefer band comes out and and and closes the show or closes the evening.
Speaker 1:And look what else can be said about Tom keeper that hasn't already been said. This guy is absolutely amazing, going all the way back to Cinderella, um, um, and then not being able to sing for quite some time. And if you're not aware, sometimes my timeline is not great, so I can't give you dates necessarily. Sometimes it is sometimes good, sometimes I'm spot on, but not all the time. But Tom had problems with his vocal cords. At one point he actually had a paralyzed vocal cord and I even think that it was hemorrhaging as well. So at one point there was doubt that he would ever sing again and so through a lot of therapy, a lot of training and retraining, he's been able to come back.
Speaker 1:And you know, cinderella reunited in the early 2000s and they had a good run for quite a while, but then of course the band just kind of ended. They never really broke up. Band just kind of ended. They never really broke up, they just kind of ended. And Tom wanted to do his own thing. And look, if you're a Cinderella lover, then go see the Tom Kiefer band, because Tom wrote All the songs, he sang all the songs, plays lead guitar on most of the songs, so you're going to get in the set. You're probably going to get. In fact, let me put my glasses on really quick, because I did mark it down Tom played. Oh, you know what I didn't get? I didn't write down the encore. I think Tom played. Actually he didn't have an encore, he just went straight through. Also, I think they played 15 songs and let's see four of them were not Cinderella songs, so you're going to hear a ton of Cinderella. So if you are a Cinderella fan and you've been holding out, were not Cinderella songs, so you're going to hear a ton of Cinderella. So if you are a Cinderella fan and you've been holding out because you're waiting for Cinderella to get back together, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 1:Go see the Tom Kiefer Band. This is such a great band I'm going to shout them all out. You've got, of course, tom on vocals and lead guitar. I mean he leads the band. I'm going to shout them all out. You've got, of course, tom on vocals and lead guitar. I mean he leads the band. You've got Tony Higbee on rhythm guitar and Tony gets his share of lead as well. Tony's been in the band forever, since Tom started this thing. Billy Mercer he's been in the band forever. He's on bass and vocals. Jared Pope I believe he's been in the band forever. He's on bass and vocals. Jared Pope I believe he's been in the band since the beginning as well. He's on drums. And then you've got Corey Myers on keyboards. I think that he's also been in the band since the beginning.
Speaker 1:What's really cool is Tom's wife Savannah. She provides background vocals. Her and what is it? Tanya, tanya Davis, I believe it is. They both have their own spot on the stage and they do a lot of a little bit of percussion and it adds so much. Again, all real, all live, no funny business. And you've got what? Six people, seven people on the stage there. You don't need to fake anything. They can all sing and they can all play and it's so, so good.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've been a Cinderella fan for years, and when Tom decided to take the solo act out on the road. I was right there supporting it and, like I said, most of this set is Cinderella. I think they opened up with Life Was here from the Rise album. They played two songs from the Rise album Life Was here and the Death of Me, and then bummer, only one song from the Way Life Goes. That was Tom's first solo release and that was the lead track on that, solid Ground. And that's, man, such a good song, that is so good. But I was really hoping he'd get in, you know, one or two more from that album, cause it's just such a solid album, just full of just just great music. Um, but then again got to play all that Cinderella stuff too. Uh, the one thing that I I was trying, I was kind of taking note on Tom.
Speaker 1:Look, I think that Tom Kiefer is one of the hardest working guys in music. I honestly do believe that when he went out on his own gosh, what was it? When did he release solid ground? Is that like 2014, 15, somewhere around there? Again, I, I can't recall everything. Come on, but he worked that album and he worked it and he worked it and he worked it and toured it and toured it and toured it to get exposure on it, and I think he did that for about four, almost five years, really, right up to the time that he released the Rise album. I think that was 2019. And so he was out all the time just working it, and rightfully so, because it's a great album and you want to get it out to your fans. You want to get it out to not only your fans, you want to get it out to the masses, and so that's what Tom was doing. But this show Saturday Night man, he is just such a hard worker. But this show Saturday Night man, he is just such a hard worker.
Speaker 1:I think that he was even a little more animated than I've seen him in the past. Certainly, I think he even engaged with the crowd a lot more, as far as you want to call them stage raps or whatever. Generally, he kind of keeps that to a minimum, but he was a little more into it with the crowd. Maybe that's just something that he's decided he was going to add into his set, I don't know, but he sounded amazing, amazing. I couldn't believe that Well, I actually I could, because I've seen the band so many times but still, everything that he's been through. He sounds awesome and the band is so tight. Like I said, they've been around.
Speaker 1:That band has been together since the since the beginning, and you can see it when they're on stage, you can see it during the show. They look like a family. They look like a family on stage. It's amazing to see. I can't describe it or I can't do it justice trying to describe it. You have to see it. If you get a chance to see the Tom Kiefer Band live, take advantage of it, do it, because it's so worth your time. They're so good.
Speaker 1:There was one point in the show, one point in the show, and if you've seen you know, if you've seen the band before, you know that when it comes to what is it, don't know what you got till it's gone. Yeah, then they roll out. They roll out the piano on stage and usually Tom. Well, from what I've seen in the past, tom will you know he plays the piano and he kind of does a little bit of acapella for the first, I guess, going into the first chorus. I remember the last time I saw him, I saw the band and when they did this song, savannah did not perform with the band that night.
Speaker 1:He, um, he said that she was back at home with their son. He'd had like knee surgery or something like that, and so she was nursing their son. So Tom got on his cell phone and made a phone call to Savannah, got her on the phone while they did that song. So that that was really kind of cool. But Saturday night Savannah got her on the phone while they did that song, so that was really kind of cool. But Saturday night Savannah gets a stool, sits right next to the piano, right across from Tom, and they kind of duet the first half of the song and she's just amazing. It just sounds so, so good. It's just, I mean, that's such a great song to begin with and they both just nailed it, it was great.
Speaker 1:I just can't say what they closed with, but they did do oh, they did. Actually I'm sorry they did three songs from Rise because there's a cover. There's a cover of Joe Cocker's cover of Little Help From my Friends. Yeah, and that was really good, because that really kind of I mean that just brought the whole entire theater together all at once, entire theater together all at once, and it was very communal and it was just a really, really good rendition. Might be my favorite version of that song now, and we know how legendary Joe's version of that song is.
Speaker 1:So you just won't be disappointed seeing real music performed by real musicians playing their instruments. No tapes, no computers. All vocals are real. You just, you can't ask for anything better than that. And to see two bands doing it on the same night, it's just absolutely awesome. And doing it so well, so long into their careers, it's just absolutely great.
Speaker 1:And I'm glad that I went and saw this show because for some time I've been wanting to do an episode involving LA Guns, involving Cinderella or the Tom Kiefer Band, because I love those bands so much and others within this particular genre, which I guess you can consider it 80s hard rock. Of course they get labeled something else. I really honestly don't want to say it because I can't stand the label, I hate it. But just, I guess for this purpose here, I don't like that label like hair metal or hair band or something like that. It's just nasty and it's not a compliment, it's a negative connotation, that's for sure. But I've been wanting to do an episode on this genre of music and, of course, featuring LA Guns and, like I said, cinderella and the Tom Kiefer band and I couldn't really figure out how to do it or what I wanted to do, but this is a great opportunity to do it.
Speaker 1:These bands are out there just killing it, knocking it out of the park, and I hope that they're finally earning some respect, because you don't hear this music on the radio unless it's like some kind of late night show on a Friday night or Saturday night when no one's really listening to the radio anyway. But yeah, it's just. These bands deserve a lot more than what they get, but at this point in their career, I'm sure they're just happy with what they have and happy to be out there doing what it is that they're doing, being able to play for the fans and play the music that we enjoy. Yeah, it's just so good, so good, so good. Well, I think, before I continue to ramble on, I think that'll be it. I think we'll wrap this one up.
Speaker 1:As I said, you won't be wasting your money going to see Whether you see these bands on the same bill. I don't know. This tour just started. Okay, this tour just started, I want to say about 10 days ago, two weeks ago, I don't know how long it's out. And I know that LA Guns is on most of the dates. I don't believe they're on all of them, but I know they're on most of them. So it's a great double bill. Believe they're on all of them, but I know they're on most of them. So it's a great double bill. And uh, even if you see either of these bands just by themselves somewhere, check it out because they're great. And you, if you like this genre of music or if you like these bands, period, and you're just a casual fan, dive deeper, dive deeper. Okay, good stuff. I would love to see this show again.
Speaker 1:The Tom Kiefer Band doesn't get out to the West Coast very often. Why, I don't know. Well, I think I have an idea why. They certainly have a better draw in the middle of the country towards the East Coast. They have great draw out there, their draw. I don't know why, but their draw isn't as good as it is in that part of the country, I'm sure of it. So there's been times that Tom's been on tour and completely skipped the West Coast. But it was good to see him out here over the weekend and I hope they come back again real soon because I'm going to be there and you should too. All right, again, we're going to wrap it.
Speaker 1:So just to remind you all that this program is available on multiple podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, amazon Music and Spotify, or just search the Ben Maynard Program and choose your option. There's a bunch of other podcast platforms out there, too many to mention. If you're watching on YouTube, please leave a comment, give me a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel too. Yeah, I forgot that one. Please subscribe to the channel Starting to pick up a few more subscribers. Okay, it's not where I'd like it to be, but we're picking up a few more. So just hit the subscribe button. That's all you got to do, okay, and you'll get notifications of when we're doing the podcast. What else? What else? What else? Yes, follow me on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Ben Maynard Program. All right, I hope I was able to. I didn't want to spoil the show. I don't want to give you all the songs that these bands are performing. I want to leave it up to you to go to the show. I don't want to give you all the songs that these bands are performing. I want to leave it up to you to go to the show and find out for yourself. So I just I don't want to run down all these set lists, but I hope that this was informative. I hope it makes you want to go out and see these bands. Okay, that's the point of it all. It's a great show. If I got to rank it on a scale of one to 10, I'm giving it nine and a half, maybe 10. Honestly, I'm just saying it. All right, I thought I was closing this thing up, all right. Anyway, thanks a lot for being here. This is the Ben Maynard Program and you tell a friend.