I took this photo from the 2nd row. As many of you know, there is a living legend and rock and roll God who lives near me in the western suburbs of Chicago. He is Jim Peterik. Known mostly as founding and current member of the (still intact) Ides of March (Vehicle), and Survivor - the eighties band he formed that put out Eye of the Tiger for the Rocky III movie. But Jim is so much more than just that. He is a prolific hit-making song-writer. He penned most of the .38 Special canon, and has co-written hits with and for Sammy Hagar, REO Speedwagon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brian Wilson, and many others. Jim hosts an annual concert in January at a nearby community college theater. For the past 11 years, at that he dubs World Stage, Jim assembles some of his very good friends in the bands he used to tour with back with Survivor. I'd call the concert, all 4 hours of it, a Revue, with Jim as MC, host, and guitarist vocalist. He assembles a band made up of some great, local talent like guitarist Mike Acquino and others. Jim did an old Ides gem called LA Goodbye. Fast rising vocalist Lisa McClowerly joins in. Jim's son Sijay too. And a guy who really should be more well-known, the energetic guitar thrasher Anthony Gomes. Then, as the concert unfolded after the intermission, Jim started to bring out the big guns. Jim "turns loose" Mike Reno from Lover Boy, to start the "weekend." Lisa takes Ann Wilson's role in the classic lover's duet Almost Paradise. And Rik Emmett gives us the finest 3-song Triumph mini set imaginable: Lay it on the Line, Fight the Good Fight, and the ultimate '80's uplifter - Magic Power. Just when it can't get any better, Night Ranger's Kelly Keagy does Sister Christian. And the whole assemblage comes out for Eye of the Tiger.
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