Two Hall of Famers and an 80's pop rocker played in Cleveland over the past weekend and those shows kept me quite busy.  First, Gregg Allman started his new tour on Friday at the Hard Rock.  Since it was the first day of the new tour, I figured Gregg might be in the mood to sign.  My wife decided to go to the casino on Thursday and I heard that Gregg was there all week so I decided to tag along, just in case he happened to be there.  She heads to the casino and I head towards the tour bus.  I'm standing out there for a few minutes and suddenly up pulls security and 2 police cars.  The cop gets out and asks what I'm doing there.  I said that I was a fan and I just wanted to see if Gregg would sign his book for me.  He said, well he's been here all week and he may not even be in the venue.  I thought they were going to ask me to leave, but as soon as he said that, out walks the band.  The cop looks at me and smiled and said, let me see if I can talk to the tour manager since you are the only one here.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Out walks a guy and the officer starts talking to him and gives me the signal to wait a minute.  He then proceeds to wave me over and the manager asks how he could help me.  I said that I was a fan and that I was going to the show tomorrow and I just wanted to see if Gregg would sign his book.  He asked if I had a Sharpie, um yeah, I just happened to have one!  I then asked if he thought if he could also sign an album for me?  He looked at me and said give it here.  Score!  He comes back a few minutes later with both items signed beautifully.  He said that Gregg would be out in a few minutes if I wanted to say hi to him.  I said heck yeah!  Out walks Gregg, so I went up to him and said thanks for signing my items and that I was looking forward to the show the next day.  He said no problem.  I then asked if we could take a quick picture.  He said "man, I'm all bundled up and it's cold".  I said no problem, and let him go to the van.

The show was pretty good.  Gregg sounded great from my 5th row seat but his voice was low in the mix for the first 5 songs.  They did fix it later and my two favorite songs songs: Melissa and Midnight Rider were spot on.   At the end of the concert, Gregg pointed out that Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini was there.  After the show, I went to the front of the stage to try to get a guitar pick or something and Ray was right there.  He ended up taking a few pictures with some fans and was very friendly- too bad I had nothing for him to sign.  You never know who you might run into at a show!  I ended up snagging the set list as well.

We headed out back to try to get Gregg again, but it there was a slight rain which lessened our chances.  After about 35 minutes, Gregg walks out, gives us a wave and heads straight for the tour bus.  I was one of the lucky ones who got him while he was in town.

The next day, Howard Jones played a new venue in Cleveland- The Trinity Cathedral.  Kind of an odd setting for a concert, but I bet the acoustics are great!  I decided to not go to the show, but try for an autograph afterwards from this 1980's MTV icon.  We walked into the venue and I heard a manager say "Howard's signing line starts right here".  So we got right in line and proceeded to get our albums signed.  You could kind of tell that he really didn't want to be there, but he was gracious and signed everything and took pictures with everyone.  I have seen Howard a couple of times in the past and he always puts on a good show.  No one is to blame is one of my favorite 80's songs and Things can only get better is a fun pop song.  Oh, the 80's!

My weekend came to a conclusion with Mike and the Mechanics playing the Rocksino on Sunday.  I am a big Genesis fan and I was excited that I got to meet Steve Hackett this past December.  Now, Mike Rutherford was coming to town with some new Mechanics.  I was a little disappointed the Paul Carrack wasn't touring with them, but the two new guys Tim Hower and Andrew Roachford did a great job.  The show was better than I expected and I actually got chills when they played the excellent "The Living Years".  My front row seat allowed me to take some great shots and I also got to get the hand written lyrics to "Taken In".

Fortunately, the weather warmed up from Friday.  About 8 fans were waiting after the show for Mike and the band to come out.  We were not disappointed!  Every member came out and signed if you wanted it.  Mike was awesome!  He signed everything that anyone had!  One guy had at least 10 cd covers and Mike signed everyone.  He is truly an English Gentlemen.  Although, his autograph got sloppy, I've never seen anyone sign like that!   I ended up getting my Trick of the Tail lp and the mini guitar that was previously signed by Steve Hackett, a Mike and the Mechanics lp, Genesis flat, and my HOF poster signed by Mr. Rutherford.

Overall, it was a great weekend of music, friendship and autographs!