Photo Diva: Going Off The Rails
Monday, September 6, 2010
Unauthorized Ozzy performs on the Sam's Town Live stage
Photo by Linda Evans.
I haven’t seen Ozzy impersonator Peter Marrino since I sort of bashed a show he was co-headlining in last year and I have to admit I was a little bit apprehensive about going to hang out with and shoot Unauthorized Ozzy at Sam’s Town but Bill was sitting in with the opening act so I put on my big girl pants and grabbed my camera.
For those of you who don’t know, Unauthorized Ozzy is a Las Vegas-based Ozzy Osbourne tribute band that was formed in 2002 by the very talented Marrino & monster guitarist Larry Hall. The great thing about this group is that not only does Peter look and sound so much like like Ozzy that you will have to remind yourself that you are not in the presence of the Prince of Darkness himself, but there are no slackers on this gig with Danny “Chief” Buss on Bass, Eddie Fluellen on Keys and Chas Stumbo on Drums.
Guitarist Larry Hall of Unauthorized Ozzy
as well as The Larry Hall Project.
Photo by Linda Evans.
Another great thing is that this phenomenal band doesn’t just do Ozzy’s Black Sabbath stuff: they also cover the Randy Rhodes Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wilde years with all the bells and whistles of a true rock concert performance, including state of the art audio and lighting to further enhance the experience. Seeing an Unauthorized Ozzy performance is just as good…if not better…than the real deal.
Bill, my hubby, was sitting in with the opening act, The Larry Hall Project, singing and playing guitar which was a real treat for me as well as for him as he generally plays and sings classic R&B and Soul tunes in his own band. Larry’s band consisting of the same monster rock players as Unauthorized Ozzy ripped through some great classic rock songs that really got the crowd inside Sam’s Town Live (the casino’s main showroom on the Eastside of town) rocking and properly warmed up for the main event.
From Left to Right: Danny TC and Larry
rocking out inside Sam's Town Live venue
Photo by Linda Evans.
There were other guests, too. TC Carter came in all the way from Florida to sing a few tunes. TC and Larry have been playing together since high school and you could sense the musical and personal connection even if you did not know that little tidbit. TC has a great voice in a kind of Hootie and the Blowfish style but has not continued to play as the years passed. But that may be changing. When the same bill played on Sat. night at the Blue Water Resort in Parker, AZ, TC took note of the pretty intense female attention he was getting after his set and decreed, “That’s it. I gotta get back in a band.” Yep, another eligible guy with a serious shot at actual adulthood lost to the lure of rock n’ roll. Oh wait, did I just say that out loud. Bad diva. Considering my mate is substantially older than Mr. Carter and still insists on putting most of his spare time and attention into playing music, that sentiment might not be welcome. Hmmmm. What I MEANT to say was, “Yea for TC!” Really.
After taking on a wide range of stuff from Black Crowes to Pink Floyd, from the Stones to Drivin’ and Cryin’ and from Kiss to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, they left the stage to make way for a local Mötley Crüe tribute. Actually it was two guys (whose names I didn’t get, sorry) for the tribute with Chas and Chief still laying it down as the rhythm section. Those two really earned their keep. Everyone else played some music and then got off stage but Chas and Danny were on all night.
By the time the Motley boys were done with “Smoking In the Boys’ Room,” The crowd was ready for an Ozzie fix. But first a little background. Chas is a monster. Besides a rock solid sense of time, drummers need three things: Heart, Chops and Balls. There are a ton of drummers in garages the world over with one of the three. Choose one. If you go see some of the better bands around town you will hear players with two of the three. But Chas is that rare combination of all four. In addition to Unauthorized Ozzie, his credits include a tour with the Lynch Mob a few years back.
Danny is the kind of bass player that other bass players look at and say, “how does he do that without a third hand?” The Chicago native who came to Las Vegas 13 years ago toured opening for Deep Purple at one point and plays in several good and busy tribute bands including a tribute the Heart that I gotta write about one of these days. With a super thin profile and long straight hair that goes all the way down his back, the Chief looks every inch the Rock God and has the chops to back it up.
Left to Right: Peter, Danny, Eddie and
Larry of Unauthorized Ozzy
Photo by Linda Evans.
Eddie Fluellen is a super talented keyboard player who has the rare ability to translate from the language spoken by rock guys into the language of musicians. He was a member of the Motown band Switch and you can find him around town regularly with a great dance band called Odyssey. He is also a pretty mean trombone player and we have been lucky enough to have him (and the Chief) play with the Rev. Bill band from time to time.
If you go to shows in Las Vegas you have probably seen Larry at some point because his production company does a lot of audio and lighting work around town. But if you did run into him you would have no idea that he was such a Metal Master because offstage he neither looks nor acts the part. But on the too-rare occasions when he slips into the rock star persona, the suit still fits very well. Personally, I am not a big metal fan but I do know that being a real metal lead guitar player means having insane playing ability and being able to look cool while ripping fast, complex parts and doing it very loudly. He does all of the above and is also an all around good guy who has been a great friend ever since we moved to Las Vegas more than five years ago.
Peter Marrino as Ozzy Osbourne in Unauthorized Ozzy
Photo by Linda Evans.
And then there is Peter. He was the voice of the acclaimed speed metal band Cacophony in the 80s, Did studio work, arranging and band management — including punk metal legends Flipper — in the ‘90s and continues to wreak musical havoc from his home base in California’s Bay Area. He has been doing the Ozzie thing since he and Larry were introduced in the parking lot of the old Emergency Room bar/club more than a decade ago.
Once Marrino hit the stage everyone in the audience were on their feet and the band delivered hits like, “Crazy Train,” “Bark at the Moon,” “Road to Nowhere” and “Mr. Crowley” with such skill and force that when they finished their nearly seamless show the crowd was begging for an encore. What an amazing show. So if you see on a club’s marquee that Unauthorized Ozzy or The Larry Hall Project are playing don’t hesitate and go see a phenomenal show.
Oh, and just to clarify the whole bashing thing I mentioned earlier: Marrino was co-headlining on the ill-fated and poorly produced RockStar: The Tribute show some fourteen months ago that opened and closed up within a couple of weeks inside the also now defunct Steve Wyrick theater (once located in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile Shops) among some other short-term stops at other venues in town. I still stand by my revue that RockStar was full of great talent but seriously lacked any production value…in fact, after seeing Unauthorized Ozzy perform inside a phenomenal venue with top-notch A-List headliner-worthy production it only solidified my impression of Marrino as a great, great talent and one of the best Ozzy impersonators I have ever seen and not to be missed.
(8 votes, average: 4.88 out of 5)
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