Thorogood's got no time to reflect on 40 years
Courtesy QCTimes.com
David Burke
"I'm under orders from the government not to divulge my location," George Thorogood deadpans when asked where he's calling from in a phone interview earlier this week.
The 64-year-old Delaware native is in his 40th anniversary year of recording, playing the blues onstage and even entertaining reporters.
As the headliner for this year's Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in downtown Davenport late on the Fourth of July, he talked about his influences and history.
You're here for a blues festival. Do you get to play blues festivals very often?
A few, but not lately. We've played a couple of blues festivals in Canada, California, various places. Europe, Finland. We've done jazz festivals.
I wanna play a rock festival. That's one thing I don't have the chance to do. I don't play jazz, I don't play blues. I don't get it.
But obviously the blues has had a lot of influence on you.
Pretty much anybody who's recorded before 1975, the blues must have touched them in one way or another. We started out as a blues band because there was no rock 'n' roll. Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry started the whole thing, and that's what we listened to.
Getting started with a little help from George Thorogood
Thorogood introductions started early in life
The Mankato Free Press
By Robb Murray
Don’t you just love a fresh start?
I do. Which is why I’m happy to be coming to you from a different section of the paper this week.
If you hate my columns, please take this opportunity to make a mental note — heck, even write it down somewhere if that’ll help — that I’ve switched up beats a little bit.
Tanner Kent, our former Currents and Mankato Magazine editor who did an absolutely fabulous job on the beat and will be sorely missed, has moved on. I have taken his place. After nearly 20 years covering news — cops and courts, higher education, health care and nonprofits — I’ve decided to accept a new challenge. So to avoid my column about whatever cute thing my kids said yesterday, please note that it’ll be in this section most Thursdays. Bottom of the page.
My first day on this new venture was Monday, which is the same day one of the best emails I’ve ever gotten landed in my inbox. It asked a simple question: “Would you be interested in interviewing George?”
Who is George, you ask?
I’ll get to that in a minute.
First, some background ...
When I was a kid, my parents had a little cabin in the woods in northern Wisconsin. My childhood summer weekends were spent there, Lake DesMoines, a short hike from the “bustling” downtown of Webb Lake.
Read more: Getting started with a little help from George Thorogood
Congratulations to Jason & Alexandra!
Jason and Alexandra are the lucky winners of the Albany Union Times Contest! Their entry was chosen from thousands to receive an autographed set list and a meet and greet with George at the show in Albany, NY. #40YearsStrong!
Congratulations and thank you for sharing your very sweet story!
"My favorite George Thorogood song is “I’ll Change My Style.” Me and my wife went to a George Thorogood show in Montreal for our first date. Needless to say, we didn’t see much of the show because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. However, after that show, we haven’t missed a show in the last 14 years. I love this song because I used to be “bad to the bone,” but after falling in love with her, I am now a “steady rollin’ man.” We have built a wonderful life and a great family together. Only a woman like her could make me change my style and I’ll love her forever because of it. Her birthday is June 26th, so winning this contest would certainly be icing on the cake!!"
Happy Birthday, Alexandra!
George Thorogood extends 40th Anniversary Tour schedule through summer with RCF
George Thorogood has announced the extension of his 40th Anniversary tour through the end of July.
As a house system Thorogood is touring with, he has chosen the RCF HDL20-A line arrays coupled with RCF SUB-8006AS subwoofers. RCF has entered into a strategic alliance with Hendersonville, Tennessee-based tour audio provided 242 Concepts on the 2014 George Thorogood and The Destroyers 40th Anniversary Tour.
For the tour, 242 Concepts is taking 24 HDL20-A along with 12 SUB-8006AS subwoofers for use dependent on size of venue. The RCF HDL20-A is a 1,400-watt two-way line array cabinet with two 10” low frequency/mid frequency transducers coupled with a 3” high frequency compression driver capable of achieving 135 dB max SPL. The SUB-8006AS is a 5,000-watt dual 18” subwoofer able to achieve 141 dB max SPL.
As they have been on the road since February, 242 Concepts has been utlizing the system extensively. They have been amazed at the performance. On the first leg of the tour, “The system has performed flawlessly,” notes Production Manager/FOH Engineer Jeff Pitt comments. “It is super easy to rig, and the aiming software has been an excellent tool for preparing the system for implementation into the wide array of venues we encounter. We chose the HDL products due to the plug and play nature of the design. We’ve been able to hang more boxes than in previous tours due lightweight design of the box. The system has fit quite nicely into the truck pack taking up a mere 12’ of truck space.”
242 Concepts Engineer Brian Belcher concurs, “there is so much headroom in these boxes, we’ve never clipped in any way,” he says. “That’s refreshing.” Belcher goes on to provide power usage readings demonstrating that a 24 box HDL20-A rig with 12 SUB8006-AS subwoofers drawing less than 13 amps total. “I don’t think anyone else out there can say they can do that!”
Read more: George Thorogood extends 40th Anniversary Tour schedule through summer with RCF