Joliet museum premieres ‘Illinois Heroes of Rock’

The Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 will present a one-man concert Saturday in Joliet highlighting Illinois rock musicians.

“The Illinois Heroes of Rock by the one-and-only Skip Griparis” will take place at the Clarion Hotel Joliet Banquet & Convention Center, 411 S. Larkin Ave., Building A, Joliet.

Cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Griparis said he will perform two 45- to 50-minute music sets with an intermission between them.

Griparis said the show will encapsulate Illinois rock music history in entertaining, comedic and informative ways along with “a lot of great songs.”

“This is just the whole history of rock and roll from Illinois people,” he said. “And it’ll be mostly people that lived here and got their start here.”

I think it helps us all appreciate the incredible wealth of talent that comes from Illinois.”

—  Skip Griparis, Joliet-area musician, member of the Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The show also will include artists who did much of their recording at the former Chess Records in Chicago, Griparis said. It will include a guest appearance by Paul Chamberlin, the brother of Jimmy Chamberlin of the Smashing Pumpkins.

“Paul actually taught Jimmy how to play,” Griparis said. “He’s a great drummer.”

Griparis, a Joliet-area singer, guitarist and impressionist, is a member of the Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He said he created this show years ago in conjunction with the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 and hopes to perform a modified version for tour groups at the museum.

He is the former lead singer and guitarist for Chicago’s New Colony Six, was part of Olivia Newton-John’s touring band from 1975 to 1978, and played Monte the broadcast color commentator in “Major League” and “Major League II.”

Griparis also has toured comedy clubs in the U.S. for more than 20 years, “headlining and doing satirical impressions,” he previously said.

A medley of Illinois music artists

His first impression for the show will be Nat King Cole, “who introduced the song ‘Route 66′ to the world,” Griparis said, and proceeds to include Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon, “the great blues songwriter.”

“There’s a lot of the great Black Migration north and the migration of blues players from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago,” Griparis said.

The show also will include songs from the “great Chicago bands from the late ‘60s,” including the New Colony Six (Griparis joined the band in 1972), The Buckinghams, The Cryan’ Shames, The American Breed and The Ides of March, he said.

Moving into the 1970s, Griparis will highlight Chicago, The Staple Singers, Steve Goodman, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Earth Wind & Fire, Cheap Trick and Dan Fogelberg, he said.

The show will give attendees a glimpse of Trilogy (a 1970s band from Joliet that included Griparis as a member) and Buckacre, an Illinois Valley band that recorded some of the songs Griparis composed, he said.

And it will include impressions of disc jockey Dick Bionde and Ral Donner, a little-known performer from Norwood Park in Chicago who “sounded almost exactly like Elvis Presley,” Griparis said.

Donner had one solid hit – “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until You Lose It)” and narrated the documentary “This is Elvis,” Griparis said.

“He’s generally forgotten, but he had some really good records and a few national hits,” he said.

Griparis said the amount of hours he’s invested into this new show is “just staggering.”

He said he worked hard to select a wide representation of Illinois rock artists while telling the story of Illinois rock in chronological order and choosing the right songs with various mixes of styles.

“I have 15 songs in the show that I’ve never done before,” Griparis said. “And then some songs I haven’t done in a long time. It was incredibly challenging. But I’m incredibly gratified because it turned out so well. I think it helps us all appreciate the incredible wealth of talent that comes from Illinois.”

Tickets for the show cost $15 and are available at roadtorock.org.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “The Illinois Heroes of Rock by the one-and-only Skip Griparis”

WHEN: Cocktails at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2

WHERE: Clarion Hotel Joliet Banquet & Convention Center, 411 S. Larkin Ave., Building A, Joliet

TICKETS: $15. Available at roadtorock.org.

INFORMATION: Visit roadtorock.org and skipgriparis.com.