Jethro Tull at 50 Rocks The Rose

by

Mike Scinto

The year was 1968. I was a sophomore at Carroll High School in Dayton, Ohio. I was also the singer in a startup garage band. The drummer in that band, a student of jazz-style drums, was one of my best friends. While my preferred genre of music was classic rock I decided to check out two jazz-style albums that he thought would be break-through releases. The albums were “This Was” and “Stand Up” by a “guy” named Jethro Tull. I was an instant convert and besides loving the music, I also learned quickly that Jethro Tull wasn’t a man, but the band.

          Let’s fast-forward to last evening at The Rose Music Center at The Heights in Huber Heights, Ohio. Kathy and I experienced what might have been one of the final live performances of the current line-up, from the more than 36 players over the past 50 years, carrying the Jethro Tull name. The one constant in that select group has been Ian Anderson, the founder and consummate leader. Many who, like me, thought he WAS Jethro Tull, are only half wrong; without his leadership, flute and vocals there would be no Jethro Tull.

The current tour, “Ian Anderson Presents the 50^th Anniversary of Jethro Tull” (50 years and 50 dates) was a definite trip down memory lane. From the opening song, “My Sunday Feeling” which was the first Tull song I ever heard up to the hugely successful classic “Aqualung” and the encore of “Locomotive Breath”, the tunes took us on a journey from the “country jazz” roots to the hard-driven rock and roll that makes this band, and leader true classics!

The show was completely sold out and there wasn’t a vacant seat in the center, except for a brief intermission allowing attendees to catch their breath between performances and grab a cold beverage on this warm summer night. Anderson has said this would be his final tour; although I remember the same warning on the 20^th anniversary tour. By the way, several folks sitting around us had on the t-shirts from that 1988 tour. If that’s the case, Kathy and I were privileged to hear Anderson offer up these classic pieces of music history. If the band continues on we’ll take our seats for the 60^th anniversary tour a decade down the road. This was another feather in the cap of The Rose bringing current stars and seasoned legends to our region and putting Huber Heights on the performance map.

One congratulatory comment to The Rose Music Center at the Heights; we actually got to see the show! When I was 20 years old, I was standing right down front at concerts rocking out to the music. I realize now, in my seasoned years, how annoying it can be to pay for seats and the person in front of you stands up from the opening note to the encore. You either don’t see anything or have to stand the entire time. For venues it’s almost impossible to enforce a “stay in your seats” rule. The Rose DID IT! It’s the first time I’ve seen it announce and successfully enforce a stay seated rule! Hats off to The Rose! We all stood for “Aqualung” and “Locomotive Breath” but those are the classics and at the end of the show. It made for an even more enjoyable night!

The season is winding down but Yes, American Idol Live, Ziggy Marley and REO Speedwagon are yet to appear this season. For great seats and a fantastic evening, grab your tickets and your memories now at http://rosemusiccenter.com.

Daughtry Owns the Stage at The Rose Music Center at The Heights

By

Mike Scinto

When Kathy and I attend a concert, we have several observational gauges. One of those is watching how long attendees are on their feet for the show when they have perfectly good seats they purchased. We’ve attended a number of shows of different musical styles, with the players bringing the crowd to its feet for performing their classic hits, or songs with driving beats that simply prevent the audience from being able to stay seated. The longer the crowd is up, the better the performance. Using that criteria alone, Daughtry, the leader and the band that carries the singer’s name, was a runaway hit this week at The Rose Music Center at The Heights in Huber Heights, Ohio.

As an attendee, and a reviewer, I hope for a great concert. But as a guy with more than a few miles on his body, those seats can feel mighty comfortable! From the first glimpse of the group coming on stage for the show, until the final “Thank you Huber Heights, we love you” every person in The Rose was on their feet; for driving rock songs, to slower tunes, to the set breaks. Those seats were never occupied.

       You’d never know Chris Daughtry came in 3^rd in 2006 on American Idol. You’d think with his showmanship and command of the stage he must have been the stand-alone winner. He finished just behind winner Taylor Hicks (who?) and Katherine McPhee, now known for her acting and not her singing. Chris Daughtry never slowed down and immediately after the finale, turned down lucrative offers to front established bands in favor of staying with his existing band members and making his music, his way and collecting a truly dedicated army of fans along the way.

There are bands that turn out hit after hit for years and that’s the basis for their success. That’s not why the packed house was there that night. Daughtry hasn’t had a slew of radio hits. In fact, the best known tune the band performed that night was “Home”, one of their earliest songs. No, the crowd wanted to see the man, the performer and the owner of the stage do his music, with his band and his people out in the house. And that he did. It was a superb show start to finish.

One side observation, from all we’ve seen and heard Chris Daughtry is a good man. In an age when performers trade in girlfriends, boyfriends, and spouses, like they trade in cars, Daughtry has been married to the same lady since 2000 and is a proud Daddy too. Those qualities, at least in my view, round out the package that is Daughtry.

School may be back in session but it’s not too late for you to catch some fresh air concerts at The Rose. A few of the remaining shows this season; Dee Snider, Alice Cooper, Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull at 50, American Idol Tour and REO Speedwagon. For tickets or information about the venue or the shows, simply go to www.rosemusiccenter.com

       We’ll see you at The Rose!

The Rose; A Treasure Blooming in The Heights

By

Mike Scinto

The greater Dayton, Ohio community has suffered, as other cities across the nation have, since the economic downturn on the early and mid-2000s. To be quite honest I had, in this column and on the air, written off the “Gem City” as being on its last legs.

We interrupt this eulogy for fantastic news! There are two main venues that have generated a massive rebirth of the Dayton area and have injected the excitement of a growing and thriving entertainment experience; and all that goes along with it.

Eighteen seasons after bringing professional baseball to this area, the Dayton Dragons and 5/3 Field have breathed new life into a blighted section of downtown Dayton along the river. Along with baseball in those nearly 20 years has come the demolition of abandoned buildings and the conversion of many of those same sites into condominiums, restaurants, shops and breweries.

To be certain the Schuster Center for the Performing Arts has been a shot in the arm for downtown, but nothing like the boom with the Dragons.

Heading up a little north of Dayton, you arrive in Huber Heights. I, as a product of the ‘60s and ‘70s age of massive rock concerts and outdoor festivals, exciting music of all genres and fans wanting to feel like they’re a part of that movement, have been amazed at how The Rose Music Center at the Heights has recaptured that passion and excitement, and made it accessible to those who want to recapture memories and make new ones moving forward.

The Rose broke ground in 2013 and the first act took the stage in 2015. The 2018 season, about half way along, is the most exciting to date. Bands and individuals who command (past and present) huge dollars and much larger venues truly enjoy the uniqueness and relative intimacy of The Rose.

Kathy and I have seen The Doobie Brothers, The Monkees (at 50), ZZ Top, Blues Traveler, the cast of “Nashville” in Concert, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and the list goes on. We have yet to see a bad show, had a bad seat or bad experience of any kind. From parking, to entering, to post show souvenir-buying it’s how attending a show was meant to be. It’s truly an activity where you’ll know you got your money’s worth.

Huber Heights needed a shot in the arm and The Rose was just what the doctor ordered. The outdoor venue, with about 4200 seat capacity, is big enough to attract the new and seasoned acts but open and airy enough so you don’t feel like you’re suffocating. There is literally not a bad seat in The Rose. We’ve shared seats with avid fans of bands who travel nationwide to catch shows. One couple who have traveled thousands of miles over decades to see The Doobies commented The Rose was, hands down, the best place to enjoy the concert of any they had visited; and the most affordable too! And the dining, lodging and amenities in the area are icing on the cake.

            You still have plenty of opportunities for some fantastic concerts this season. In July alone Ted Nugent, Kansas and the legendary Hank Williams, Jr. In August the Rose welcomes George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Daughtry. And in September taking the stage will be Alice Cooper, Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull 50^th Anniversary Tour, Yes and the American Idol Live Tour. And that’s just a partial list!

            You feel like you’re at a neighborhood cookout where they just happen to have some of the greatest performers on tour to entertain you. And every season is bigger and better than the previous year. Be a part of this explosion in The Heights. For a complete list of dates and information visit  http://www.rosemusiccenter.com/. We’ll see you at The Rose!

Root Cause of a Scary Problem

by 

Mike Scinto 

Talk Show Host/Columnist 

How do we control one of the most emotional, maddening, frightening, life-changing issues that challenges the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; children taking guns to school to harm or kill other students and/or teachers? Is there an easy answer to that question? Is the answer stronger gun laws as it relates to ownership and background checks? Should we ban guns altogether? Should the age of those buying and owning weapons be raised?

The truth is there’s no easy answer but with each school shooting the battle lines are drawn again, tempers flare and fingers are pointed. I don’t know a single conservative or liberal who isn’t moved to tears with each occurrence of this horrendous new reality in America today.

I’m offering, for your consideration, a point that will also be controversial but one that I feel goes to the very core of the problem. It is also a point that I don’t hear discussed much as a cause, or fix for the ever-increasing frequency of these tragedies.

I believe the problem has its root in the nuclear family. Of course there are some few exceptions but if you look at these cases going back to Columbine, that most would agree was the beginning, these young shooters (or would be shooters) had stockpiles of weapons in their homes, right under the noses of their parents or guardians. Their behavior, questionable Internet activity, gathering of explosives and guns happened right in their homes. When questioned, family members scratch their heads and say their children had isolated themselves, they had been either loners or hanging out with questionable friends and while given curfews and rules, ignored or bent those rules more and more often before launching the attacks.

In the interest of full disclosure I will confess up front that I could best have been categorized as a helicopter parent. Our son didn’t like it. My wife understood but thought I went a bit overboard, but looking at him today I wouldn’t change a thing!

If he said he was going to a friend’s house, I made sure he did. If he was going to the mall or a movie, he’d better be there. If he said he was taking the car and running to the store, the mileage had better check out. I tried to do my monitoring in an inconspicuous way. I’d occasionally be spotted but generally went undetected.

One legitimate argument against my practice was that it didn’t let him develop the understanding of right and wrong on his own. It wasn’t teaching him responsibility. There’s merit to both of those statements. But as I said, I have no regrets. He’s a responsible working man on the same job long-term now and is respected and liked by coworkers and management.

I can tell you without any question he would never have stockpiled weapons, planned attacks or had such critical personality swings that would have gone unnoticed or unchallenged by his mother or me.

I’ve heard folks say they can’t watch their children 24 hours a day or be an around-the-clock nanny for them. I say that’s the very attitude that has brought us to this point today! Besides being a good husband, God put me here to parent, guide, correct and raise our children. It’s not when my job allows, when my golf foursome didn’t have a tee time or as soon as hunting season was over. My job as a parent was 24/7/365 no exceptions.

If more parents had that attitude and goal I believe the frequency of these massacres by children on children would come to a grinding halt, or at least appreciably slow down.

A couple of disclaimers; despite how I may have sounded, we were far from the perfect parents and our son had his share of issues and challenges. And I also understand that what I’m suggesting will likely not happen in America. But I felt like I had to put it out there for consideration.

You see, I believe you can ban all the weapons you want, pass all the stronger gun laws you can create and drill and educate students, teachers and first responders but until parenting becomes our first and foremost priority in life, nothing is going to change.

Please let me know if you agree or disagree at mikescintocolumns@gmail.com.

Winter Olympics; All the Excitement of Watching a Turtle Race

by

Mike Scinto

Allow me to reinforce my macho image before I begin this column. I love sports. I played sports in school, played in adult leagues as I got older, coached our son for 13 years in soccer and baseball and never passed on a chance to compete. Now that I’ve established that I’m a man’s-man, on to my message. I am feeling a bit strange right now. I’m feeling like the ugly American. At the very least

I’m feeling guilty by my total lack of interest in what my fellow planetary citizens all appear to find fascinating. I have no interest whatsoever in the Winter Olympics!

I’ve tried. Oh, I’ve tried hard! I crank on the fireplace, kick back in my lounger with my favorite snacks and adult beverage, my dog Oreo on my lap and my remote control nearby. Within a few minutes I realize I’d dozed off; and I hadn’t even opened my adult beverage yet. I tried to watch the opening ceremonies. Surely THAT would hold my interest. Shortly into it some dude from somewhere had taken his shirt off, oiled his body up and was carrying the flag in the sub-freezing South Korean night. Again, was it just me that I can’t get into it?

I decided to get a good night’s sleep. I read some manly car customizing magazines, watched the highlights of Super Bowl LII and caught up on my past episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful. I should be ready for action on night number two of the Olympics; WRONG! It was another snore fest for me.

I decided I could either do some self-evaluation or pay some over-educated shrink, up to his eyeballs in student loans, to diagnose me. I chose the first option. Why don’t I like the Winter Olympics?

I think it’s the whole package that has me turned off. I never have liked the cold weather. I’m a warm weather outdoor guy and always have been. As the years go by, the cold weather appeals to me even less. That includes sitting for several hours watching other people freezing their buns off skating, skiing, sliding and whatever else they do while the air is colder than my deep-freeze here at home.

I think I’m a bit ADHD as well; tough to concentrate sometimes. When the games are half-way around the world and the stuff I’m watching happened last night or early this morning, I get lost analyzing the technology.

It’s on NBC the most boring sports network possible. I can‘t even make fun of Bob Costas who didn’t get to go to the games or the Super Bowl after saying something about the NFL being a dead sport; not the wisest way to get to cover the networks two hottest sports events.

No, I have no interest in the Winter Olympics at all and I’m hoping it’s NOT because I need testosterone shots. But it’ll help me fall asleep at night if I’m having trouble. Guys, email me and tell me you aren’t into it either and ladies, reassure me at least some of you have a significant other who isn’t watching either; and you’re okay with that.

I suppose it’ll all be finished soon. Then I’ll be complaining about the rebirth of “professional” football in the XFL. It’s like they’re just trying to make me mad! Okay, the 5000 meters speed skating is on now. Good night!

Let me know how you feel at mikescintocolumns@gmail.com

Let Good Samaritan Go With Dignity

by 

Mike Scinto 

It never ceases to amaze me how citizens in the city of Dayton, and most of its liberal and progressive leaders, never like it when a business decides it’s not profitable to continue operating in the city. It happens with shopping centers, grocery stores, nearly empty school buildings and most recently Good Samaritan Hospital. City and community leaders believe they somehow have the unique power to make better decisions than the owners and operators of those businesses.

Premier Health made the difficult decision to close the Good Sam campus by the end of 2018. Dayton, per capita, is above the national average in the number of hospitals servicing this community; even without Good Sam. Some buildings on the hospital campus are over 60 years old. Sources told me that studies show it would cost close to $100 million just to bring the infrastructure up to code. That’s not including the huge amount to make the care facility competitive through ongoing updates.

Another interesting, and relevant fact discovered is that a large percentage of the population living around Good Samaritan Hospital actually choose Miami Valley Hospital for their care even with Good Sam in their back yard. And while we’re addressing distance to a facility, Dayton does not have a massive footprint. You’re minutes from any hospital wherever you live in Dayton. The trend of the future is away from the hospital anyway and to area urgent care facilities, then home.

It just astounds me how people will tell, or attempt to tell, private businesses when and where they can operate. The Mayor of Dayton, as is the case with most things with which she interferes, needs to stay out of it. Let the free market take its course and dictate when, and where hospitals can and will locate or cease operations.

Unfortunately Dayton is not a thriving, growing community. In fact at best its population is flat, which isn’t a good thing for growth in any business. Under the governance of the current short-sighted city leadership that isn’t likely to change. The progressives in Gem City government are swimming upstream against a strong current. Our country is in a healing mode. An important part of that gives wealth back to the people rather than a government that squeezes out as much as it can from the population. It’s also an era when government allows business to flourish, or fail, on its own without outside interference and regulation acting as an anchor.

We all have memories about friends, family, coworkers or even ourselves being served or saved by Good Samaritan. It’s never easy saying goodbye to an old friend, but sometimes by reluctantly cutting those ties, greater things arise; better health care, lower cost treatments and more state-of-the-art facilities.

I’m not an expert on what it costs to operate, promote, update and run a hospital. I’m guessing most of you aren’t either and I’m sure the person occupying the Dayton Mayor’s office, and offering jabs about the decision to close Good Samaritan, doesn’t have a clue. So Mayor, and other leaders in the community, let’s let the marketplace do what it does best on its own. It might not be what you like. It definitely will be an adjustment but attempting to interfere using emotional pleas will accomplish nothing.

Let’s take a long, hard look at what the Gem City used to be as the hub of the Miami Valley. Maybe it’s time to let go of the old “hands-on”, big government policies of the past and let the city breathe! Start by allowing Premier Health to streamline its hospital system and let Good Sam go with real dignity and not fruitless controversy and bickering.

Let me know how you feel at mikescintocolumns@gmail.com

The Doobies Still Going Strong

The Doobies Still Going Strong

By

Mike Scinto

                When my wife Kathy and I saw the Doobie Brothers in 1976 at Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio, Texas little did we know we’d be sitting on an early autumn evening at The Rose Music Center in Huber Heights, Ohio 41 years later enjoying many of the same classic tunes performed as well, or even better, by the band that seems as though it hasn’t missed a beat; The Doobie Brothers. Before I talk about the flawless, in fact nearly perfect show by the headliners, I want to tell you about the great pairing of the Doobies with the opening band for the night, J D and the Straight Shot.

                I’ve never been one to label a performer, or buy the labels attached to them. I know many of you choose what you listen to based on those labels so as best as I can do it the group is a mix of blues, classic/new rock and a dash of folk/storytelling thrown in. Kathy and I loved the show and both thought it was a perfect match and opening for the Doobie Brothers.  J D and the Straight Shot, new to both of us, featured some of their standards interspersed with new entries from their just-released album, “Good Luck and Good Night”.  Some of the tunes they shared from the new album were “The Ballad of Jacob Marley” (a different focus on the deceased business partner of Scrooge), “I know You Know I Know” and a revisit of the Three Dog Night classic “Shambala”. This band could easily be a headliner in a venue like The Rose. Because of my role as a talk show host I tend to listen to news on the radio in my travels and only occasionally to music. The greatest compliment I can pay J D and the Straight Shot: the next day I bought the new album and have lost myself in the music all the way through when I’m on the road!

                As we awaited the Doobie Brothers to take the stage we chatted with the couple sitting next to us. To say they were fans of the group would be quite an understatement. You see, they drove from St. Louis to catch the show and were turning around and heading back right after; and that’s quite a drive for one concert! And to make their story even more unique, this was the 35^th time they had taken in the Doobies! Oh, and of all they venues they had visited, they liked The Rose Music Center best.  The couple sitting directly in front of us overheard us sharing our 1976 San Antonio story and turned around and told us they saw the band on that same tour, same year, together right here in Dayton.

                There’s very little I can say here about the legendary band that hasn’t been seen, heard or experienced many times over its nearly half-century existence. As I’ve already noted the classics came one after the other all evening. The crowd was on its feet, singing along and moving to the beat. The shopping list of titles like “Jesus is Just Alright”, “Long Train Runnin”, “Takin’ It To The Streets”, “Take Me in Your Arms” and of course “China Grove” were followed by the encore of “Listen to The Music”. This wasn’t a concert, it was venturing into living history. On a side note, after the 1976 show we took a short drive “down around San Anton” and saw the real China Grove.

                How fortunate we are in the Miami Valley to have a venue like The Rose Music Center in which to fully enjoy historic shows like this as well as new artists who, in coming years, we can say that we saw them at The Rose “back when”. For any information about shows, tickets or directions visit http://www.rosemusiccenter.com/.