NEWSLETTERS 

The May 2002 Issue

Hello everyone! Well after four months off the band has FINALLY returned to the stage! For this I had to make the trek to Chicago to see them in their own backyard and Chicago itself for the first time. 

While I've seen them play in clubs since 1991 across the east coast I never had the opportunity to see them in the Midwest where the people are laid back and always friendly and the food is great!

After 750 miles of driving that started on Thursday night we arrived on Friday morning only an hour before noon. I have to say my home state of Pennsylvania is one long BORING ride down route 80. It was nearly half the trip! They don't call it Penn's woods for nothing! Once we got to Ohio the landscape was flat all the way which was a nice change of pace and Indiana was pretty much the same except for solar powered radar detectors EVERYWHERE and not a home in site for about 80 miles. Then when we did see a couple of homes there was a sign saying, "This is a quiet zone". We had to laugh at that one! Anyway… once we got out of Indiana, Chicago was just 15 minutes away and we both wanted to check into our hotel to get some sleep before the show that night after 14 hours on the road and a time zone change. Thanks for reading my little preamble and now to my show review…

The Shack: Friday April 12th:

First off I have to thank Amanda for posting directions to the message board because without them I'm not sure we would have found the place! The club is unmarked and behind a restaurant in a brick building right near a neighborhood. I asked the club owner why he had no sign and he said he has been doing fine without one for three years and wants to be unassuming. Okay, whatever! (haha)

The bar itself was mostly a concrete structure inside as well and was "L' shaped. It had a couple of pool tables off to one corner of the club and the bar at the back with the stage in the corner up front. I would have thought that this would have been a recipe for disaster as far as sound would go but it was not the case!

The opening band was called, "Dragonfly Halo". While I didn't know what to expect they were quite good and a young alternative band that cited Enuff Z'nuff as one of their influences as other bands such as Fuzzbubble and Supermint have previously at other shows I attended in Ohio and New Jersey. The crowd was a pretty fair size one (for a place with no name) and full of energy and response to both bands, which was nice to see.

After the opening bands set ended I first saw Johnny and talked to him for a bit and I found out from others that I had missed a KILLER set by his band the previous night and that they pretty much stole the show. He was in high spirits Friday and with good reason! Soon the rest of the gang arrived and we headed back to the dressing room to say hello to everyone. This was the first time I had the opportunity to meet Donnie's beautiful bride aside from emailing each other. I have to say that Joni is a great lady and Donnie is as happy as I've ever seen him! Amazing what a good woman can do for a guy! And vice a versa to be fair. (haha) Then I got to meet Kate "the great" who with all the times I had seen the band I had never met. She is Ricky's longtime girlfriend and now they are "officially" engaged said the two to me. Congrats to you both! Chip's lovely wife Michelle was quite talkative that night and we had fun and I said my hellos to the rest of the gang and chatted for a bit. Their main tour man Mike from the Glam Slam Tour will be a roadie for Poison this spring and summer along with Cinderella, Winger and Faster Pussycat this time around with Mark Bonjovi (no relation) taking up the band duties for Enuff Z'nuff locally. Tom "NFL" Feeley made the trip for the shows as well from New Jersey and it was the first time I saw him since last summer. He was manning the merchandise table and doing what he does best… manage and cheering on the band!

While I scribbled my set list out for the night furiously backstage on a piece of paper Traci had to think fast and got some pizza boxes to write out the list for the guys or there would have been nothing for them to go by. Quick thinking Traci! What happened to all that pizza by the way? (haha) 

Show time arrived and Donnie kept popping his head back in the dressing room as if he'd forgotten something. It was late already and the band was going to have to cut it's set short by 20 to 25 minutes but still managed to get in 16 tunes. They opened with Z-Overture, which will be on their 11th release this summer if all goes as planned. They followed with Rock 'N' World, Ain't It Funny from Paraphernalia and then Takin' A Ride. Then Day by Day and a song I had never seen them do live, Vacant Love from Peachfuzz. The song REALLY comes alive when played with loud guitars and Donnie's definitive vocal characteristics! Then came Wheels which they don't play live that often followed by If I Can't Have You, We're All Alright and You Got a Hold On Me. They then skipped over Stoned and played It's No Good and then skipped In My Life and went into Time To Let You Go. Then it was time for Ricky to shine a bit with an extended drum solo that rocked and then into what else but Baby Loves You! Then another tune I had not heard them play live before was One Step Closer which sounded AWESOME and into How Am I Supposed To Write A Love Song. Skipping over their trademark hits Fly High and New Thing the band ended with a rockin' version of Come Together with Johnny letting it rip in the end of the song with a long solo and trading licks with Donnie. Just like that and the show was over too soon. For not having played together for 4 months the band did a tremendous job and Chip remarked to me it was the first time he had even seen John since the beginning of the year! Just like riding a bicycle for these veteran rockers! Back to the dressing room for some after show chatting and I had the chance to meet my main man Jeff "Sidetracked" Overstreet and his lovely wife Lisa. Didn't recognize me with my blonde hair did you Jeff as I introduced myself? (haha) I also met Jennifer and Sue and some pretty funny friends of the band backstage and got a huge long hug from a good friend of mine. You know who you are! 

Saturday we walked around the town to see the The House Of Blues, The Hard Rock Café, and The Rain Forest Café and to sample some of the food and other sights but I chickened out on going to the top of the Sears Tower I'm afraid. They just gave the go ahead THAT DAY for certain types of planes to use Chicago's airspace once again and I was having none of it…


I have a small bit of info for you that I thought you might like to hear. One of Donnie's good friends, Richie Scarlet who was a former guitarist in Ace Frehley's Comet was at the Kiss Convention in Hackensack New Jersey. His band Tang played at the convention and one of the tunes they did was Fly High Michelle mentioning Donnie as the writer and a good friend in the process as Bill Aucoin (not EZN's manager as formerly rumored in the past) started up a Harley Davidson Kiss motorcycle. I just wanted to mention this because it's amazing how many people throughout the music business recognize EZN for their work even if the big record companies haven't. 

Also… Jeff took pictures at all of the recent shows and will be sending them to me on floppy disc and I will have them up as soon as I can under the "fan photo" section. I will make a post when they are up and available to leer at.

From here I'll turn it over to Jeff for the show in Indiana…

Chris

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McCool's Saturday, April 27th, 2002: 

The show at McCool's was pretty good. Lisa (my wife) & I actually met up with Chip & Donnie & Michelle & Joni and followed them to the venue. We got lost a couple of times, but eventually made it to the show. 

There was a pretty good size crowd there, I'd say between 100 to 150 people. 
There was a couple of opening bands warming up the crowd that were not too bad. 

There is a second floor to McCool's that overlooks the stage area, which is a 
great place to watch the band from. We stayed up on the second floor until EZN actually went on. The band room was upstairs and the EZN crew was hanging out up there. 

I saw a few regulars from the EZN.com fan board, but not as many as the last 3 shows. Of course, Chip & Donnie and Ricky & Monaco showed up all around the same time. 

Jim Bob Dwarf from Metal-Sludge.com was there too. I helped him get interviews with Chip & Donnie...only Donnie was interviewed Saturday night (there was just too much going on to get both of them). Chip said he would let Jim Bob get his interview soon though. There was a bit of a problem with the sound equipment before EZN took the stage. It seemed like a long time before they got on, but I was enjoying talking with the guys & girls of EZN. 

Once they went on, somewhere around midnight, they played a pretty cool set. It is as follows: 

Ain't It Funny 
Day By Day 
We're All Alright 
Takin' A Ride 
Rock N World 
Kiss The Clown 
Stoned 
Ticket To Ride 
It's No Good 
In My Life 
Time To Let You Go (The Wildhearts Version) 
Ricky Drum Solo> 
Donnie loses his pick...but finally gets one> 
Baby Loves You (very short version)> 
Ain't That A Shame 
Vacant Love 
For Now 
Heaven Or Hell 
Fly High Michelle 
New Thing 

The crowd seemed very positive, which is always good. 

The one weird spot in the night was this tech that worked for McCool's. This guy looked like Joe Dirt (from the David Spade movie). This guy was running back and forth all night across the stage like a moron. Monaco asked that the guy be removed from the stage, but he never was. He was actually standing behind Ricky Parent DURING the show with a pair of drumsticks, trying to emulate Ricky! 

After the show ended we got out of there pretty quick because the bar was 
closing. 

All in all...a pretty good show! 

I've attached a couple of pictures from the show too! (The pictures for the show will be on the fan photo site of the Express site). 

Jeff Overstreet 
EZN Express

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More on: How I found Enuff Z'nuff…

It all started back in 1989, or so when the debut album came out. I wasn't sure 
who they were, but saw a picture of them in a Metal Edge magazine. The glam look caught my attention since at the time I was into Poison. But once, I got the debut it snowballed and I'm a full-fledged fan since. Couldn't wait for the new ones to release. Chip's booming bass grooves with Derek's meticulous and ingenious shredding hooks were tops along with Donnie's awesome vocals. Vikki's impeccable drumming also got my attention and I'd crank my stereo up and learned from him how to play the songs. Ricky plays well also, don't get me wrong. I'd sing with Donnie to and from college when I was going. Whenever I go anywhere for a long distance drive, you can bet I have a couple, if not all, the CDs with me. Ever since I still do, and sound quite like Donnie. The harmonies between he and Chip were and still are awesome. His piano and guitar playing are awesome. They are the top secular band in my book and the only one I listen to. His songwriting not to mention writing the solos are priceless. Those solos are awesome and cut to the heart. His lyrics are awesome. On some songs like Strength, I felt they should have boosted the volume on Chip's vocals and his harmonies with Donnie. The recording quality of the CD's are awesome. They (EZN) are awesome and I'd like to meet them someday. Perhaps sing with them on stage. I could do harmonies with Chip. 

But I didn't let the glam look early on, like some, let me think they were a 
flash in the pan. They really had good quality music, and still do, but some people still listen with their eyes and that has tainted their impression of EZN ever since. Nevertheless, I am still a true fan. I could write a novel on why I like them so much but this covers a lot. I saw them on Jennie Jones but almost missed it. Wish Letterman or Leno would have them back. Can't wait for CD # 11. 

Gene Vasseur (Genuff Z'nuff!!!) ha ha

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EZN was a name and a sound that had not fallen on my ears until about 2 years ago. It still surprises me to this day that I had not heard of or seen these guys before that time, but I hadn't. An e-mail buddy, who is a huge fan of the band, asked me if I had ever heard of them. Figuring I lived fairly close to the 'home base' of Chicago, I most certainly would have. But our paths had never 
crossed, even accidentally. 

Upon her insistence, I checked out their website, and even intended to download and listen to a few clips. I never got around to it, but I remember, after seeing the first group picture, telling her, "I think that Chip guy looks pretty cool". She eventually sent me a compilation tape, including a few songs from each of the albums she had. I put the tape in, and I believe the first song on it was New Thing. I must confess, I wasn't immediately impressed, and just listened along, reading the enclosed lyrics, until I heard a piano intro that made me stop and REALLY tune in... Turns out it was "Loser Of The World", and from that moment on, I was hooked! 

I then listened over and over to this little tape of about 15 songs, and began to love each and every one of them. I remember at about that time, being in a record store and out of curiosity, looking in the "E" section. I found the band's bin card, but the only EZN offering was Paraphernalia, and for reasons I can't exactly rationalize, I didn't buy it! I looked, and I wondered, and I pondered, and then I thought I'd better wait and find out if this was a "good" one. (HA!--What little a rookie knows!! I still laugh about that one!) 

As a couple of months passed, I noticed on the band's schedule that they would be playing a favorite music festival that summer: Summerfest, in Milwaukee. Curiosity again caused me to want to see what my friend was raving about, so I made plans to try to get there to see them. In the meantime, I picked up my first EZN CD from CDNow.... That was Seven. This entire album amazed me, and I was so impressed by the fact that I loved every song on it, that I went ahead and ordered again... This time a 'duo' of Paraphernalia and Tweaked. WHOA! --It gets even BETTER! I traveled to Summerfest on July 1st, 2000, armed with a basic knowledge of what this band was all about, and a confidence that I 'should' enjoy the show, since I would know at least a few of their songs. That first show is what I really count as my 'initiation' into this wild, funky, friendly, downright cool little club called Enuff Z'nuff. I found myself, more than a few times, just standing there watching this group, with my mouth open in awe, shaking my head from side to side, wondering how I had missed all of this, and thanking GOD that I (better later than never) found it all. (*Thank You, Penny!!*) 

The one thing that amazed me the most about that first live show was that I was a relative 'newcomer' to this group's music, and was hearing about half of their set for the very first time... and I LOVED these songs, the first time I heard them. The very next day I began a quest of information... Scoured the web, reading and listening to MP3's and entire web casts, trying desperately to 'catch up' and learn as much as I could about this fascinating group of guys. That was the beginning.... 

I've evolved as a fan of this band in quite a short amount of time. This isn't just a group of immensely talented individuals, but it's also 4 guys (plus a group of 
'extended family') that I've gotten to know and love as brothers. I've seen them play live a relatively few times, compared to some of you 'long timers', but I've been lucky enuff to have caught their shows in several different types of venues, and had an opportunity most times, to tell them personally how much what they do really means (and make no mistake... they appreciate knowing that!). 

These days, a large portion of my time is spent promoting this band, and I couldn't be more thrilled to do that--on every level. It's funny how strong EZN fans' loyalties are, and how that transmits to the band. They really do 'feel the love'. I believe in perseverance and faith, and that all things happen in due time... 

Enuff Z'nuff's time will come. 

Peace~ 
Traci 

I'll get the rest of these in for the next issue… I hope! 

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I'd like to send out thanks to my good friends Joe and Sergio in this issue. Sergio, to you for getting me to Chicago to see the band in their hometown and the city for the first time! Joe for your contribution to this issue of the newsletter! Are you guys happy now? (haha)

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Till next time… Chris, Jeff and Mike at the Express.

The EZN Express
www.eznexpress.com

"One day can make your life. One day can ruin your life. All life is, is four or five big days that change everything.