The Cryan' Shames - Lombard Crusin' Nite Concert
August 11, 2001

It was a great evening for an outdoor concert that was to take place in down town Lombard, IL. in the midst of classic cars set up along the Streets. Seeing the cars was like going back in time to our teen years, and The effect was compounded by the fact that The Cryan' Shames were going To perform tonight!. We arrived to catch the stage being set up, and the classic cars began crusin' into their parking spots with car hoods and doors opened for Everyone to see the pride that was taken in their restoration.

Rocky Penn, the Shames's drummer, was playing his new Fender Acoustic guitar that he recently acquired. Rocky explained how Jeff Rutter had helped him pick it out, and he was systematically learning all the songs in his Beatles song collection guitar book. We met Marlene and Joyce O'Malley, G.L.O.R.I.A. Knuth, and Jim Nudd at the stage who were followed shortly by Tim Rutter and Mike Ayers. Jim Pilster arrived with some more classic Cryan' Shames pictures from their 1967 Morton East High School concert in Cicero ,IL. which will be featured on their home page soon. Barb, Marlene and G.L.O.R.I.A. went beanie baby shopping among the many great stores that were just around the corner.

Ron Brandt talked with us about his new custom Strat, which is a real beauty! He has performed at a lot of concerts with it, and it has withstood the test of time. Paul Wood was in his element with the technical aspect of the band, aiding Jim Nudd on the equipment set up. Sue Patterson joined us next, which completed the Home Page Staff. Sue talked with many Shames fans that she had corresponded with prior to the concert. A lot of cars now lined the streets, which were complimented by the various food venders in preparation of the night's festivities.

The Cryan' Shames had a great turn out of 60's baby boomers, their children ,and grand children which turned into standing room only by the time the concert started. The stage was set up near a quaint little coffee house ("New Day") where local musicians performed at their "open mic", while the customers play chess. The growing crowd, which was the largest turn out for Lombard Crusin' Nite, mixed among the classic cars before setting up their chairs.

Welcome The Cryan' Shames!...

The Shames entered the stage and got an immediate reaction from their audience. Ron had his custom guitar when they opened with First Train to California. Jimmy Pilster was in rare form and was really enjoying the show. The Shames were especially tight on their opener, which was followed by If I Needed Someone. Ron's new guitar was really singing on his guitar licks, while Larry Coveny sang the main vocal. Jimmy had recently acquired a miniature conga drum from Sam Ash Music, a local music store in Lombard.
Tim Rutter did the main vocal on Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith and Jones, with Rocky on harmony. Paul Wood's synthesizer horn section was great, completing the sound from their Synthesis album. The Shames added a new addition from their "Red" album.. A Scratch in the Sky.. with Cobblestone Road which was nicely done with the Shames's legendary multiple part harmony. the song then transformed to Dennis Dupree from Danville (who incidentally is a real person, and a friend of the Shames from years past).

During their next song, Mr. Unreliable, Jim Pilster (J.C. Hooke) and Paul ( who had a transmitter on his guitar) mixed among the audience. The song had a great driving force and was well executed. At this point it was discovered that the Shames had a hidden upper deck audience which could be seen through the windows of the surrounding buildings. A train briefly interrupted their performance with Larry's commentary on "That's it!, The First Train to California, and we just missed it". They followed with a few of the popular cover songs, standing out among which was "Chicago Blues" with Jim P. on main vocal with great blues improvisations by Ron, Tim and Paul. Ron caught a real masterpiece with his new axe!.

I Wanna meet You was dedicated to the Shames's loyal fans which were present tonight, along with a few kind words to their web site staff. Jimmy and Mike did a conga duet on Feeling All right, with Paul on synthesized electric piano. A medley of Chicago band hits followed with Marlene, Joyce and G.L.O.R.I.A. hitting the dance floor, and they were quickly followed by other audience members. During GLORIA, a Shadows of Knight cover, Jimmy ad-libbed with a story about his 1960's Lotus car that he owned in their earlier days. Rocky's vocal on I Will Always Think About You, had us looking for The New Colony Six on stage. More great covers followed, and Jimmy, who had recovered from his earlier ankle injury was back to kicking the cymbals again . Jimmy joined Tim Rutter with his vocal on Beginnings, while circulating with maracas and ending with a great conga solo.

The band was introduced, followed by Up On The Roof which had a slow haunting guitar intro. by Paul . The main vocal was by Ron and he really excelled with his slow build up which culminated with cascading, a cappella harmony, and an intense reaction from their audience. The Night's finale came with It Could Be We're In Love, and Sugar and Spice, followed by a Santana encore. We finally got to check out Ron's new guitar close up. The craftsmanship is incredible, and it looks as good as it sounds. As no one remembered to bring a camera, Ron's wife Deb came to our rescue with tonight's pics.

The Afterglow Party

The Home Page Staff was invited to join the Shames for a party after their concert at Larry Coveny's house. Larry, a Lombard resident, and his wife were gracious hosts and they had gone all out for this one, which featured just about any type of pizza you could think of along with a variety of drinks.
We next heard a distant voice announcing that the music was to loud and we had to turn it down. At this point everyone turned around to discover that Jim Pilster had arrived. Jimmy and the other Shames members mixed among the crowd and later joined us for pizza. We got to visit with the band members, friends and family and had conversations ranging from Psychology to Music.
Tim Rutter, The Cryan' Shames Bassist, and normally our man of few words, led the Psychology 101 discussion . It involved the subjective creation of our world model simulation and it's relationship to Lucid Dreams (is it real, or is it Memorex?).

The party began to break up in the wee hours of the morning with everyone going their separate ways. Jimmy gave us pictures from their earlier Taste of Lombard Concert which were taken by a friend that are also featured on this page.
Till next time!
Sue, Marlene, Joyce, G.L.O.R.I.A., Barb, and Pat
The Cryan' Shames Home Page Staff

The Cryan' Shames -Taste Of Lombard Pics
July 8, 2001

Photos Courtesy Of Walt Halama





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