January 2019
Orlando Florida

Thirst Debuts at House of Blues Orlando


Friday night, newcomers, Thirst, made their much-awaited debut at the Orlando House of Blues to the excitement of eager fans.

The band, with firm roots in grunge, provided an exciting stage show with superior presence and musicianship. They more than made "good" on the promises that have been popping up on their Facebook page for a few months as of late in the form of 'teaser' music videos!

Thirst is comprised of Clayton Sturgeon & Ryan Salamone (also Known as Ryno Sally Sal), who are both already part of one of the most respected and widely known Nirvana tribute bands, Nirvanna. They have been members of many local Central Florida bands and Clayton has a successful solo acoustic act that is seen and followed at multiple venues in Volusia County. Rounding out the Thirst musical threesome is a well-known and extremely talented drummer, Will Hunt. He is currently drumming for the band Evanescence but has, and still does, lend his hard-hitting beats to multiple other bands as time allows. He has played for such powerhouses as Black Label Society, Staind, and Staic X.

We are excited to hear this new music hitting the scene and await airplay on the radio one day as they are due to release an album soon, details to come .......... Thirst and Nirvanna is excited to announce they will be headlining a 2-week tour of Italy in March! The band will have songs played on virgin radio in Italy in March as well.

Behind Daytona

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G3 2018 Tour made a stop at Orlando's
Hard Rock Live 1/30/18


The Hard Rock Live at Universal City Walk came alive with the sounds of screaming guitars and cheering music enthusiasts alike. This scene was backed up by the deep thumping of expertly played drums, bass guitars, quick fingers on keyboard, and the deep delta bluesy vocals of Delta Deep singer, Debbie Blackwell-Cook topping it all off. The Hard Rock Live had seating up to the front of the stage on the floor really allowing the audience to appreciate the talent exuding from the stage this night.

This year's G3 line up includes Joe Satriani, John Petrucci (Dream Theater), and Phil Collen (Def Leppard), and has something for everyone and even included a guitar driven jam session to finish out the show.

Phil Collen was first to the stage this evening. He has a huge love for blues which lead him to his current project, Delta Deep, which was formed in 2012. Although he is best known for his powerful guitar work with British band, Def Leppard, he has been quoted as saying that today's musicians basically don't know what real blues is. There is a 'style', but unless you listen to very old music, you don't hear the real "blues" anymore. 

Once he realized, after growing up listening to rock music, that it was all based on blues, he set out on his 'mission' to bring that sound back. Delta Deep's self titled album was released in 2015 and entered at #2 on the ITunes Blues chart. 

Taking to the stage secondly was John Petrucci. What can we say about John but that he's a guitar powerhouse. As one of the founding members of the also powerful band, Dream Theater, he has had unbelievable success. Dream Theater was never one of those bands to have massive radio play, but if you are a fan of music, you knew about Dream Theater and were anticipated each new album. The band released 13 studio albums & had multiple Top 10 chart debuts on the Billboard 200. John was also a founding member of Liquid Tension Experiment with much success on that project as well. He first joined G3 on tour back in 2001, which included, at that time, one of his influences, Steve Vai.

In his career, John has headed development of many signature guitars and gear with some of the biggest and most respected manufacturers in the world.

Joe Satriani's set included songs from their new release, 'What Happens Next', and favorites from the ever popular 'Surfing With the Alien', which, of course, still garners the loudest response from the crowd. Joe, who has 6 gold & platinum disks under his belt, he has said that Jimi Hendrix was his hero. He has taught some of the other guitar greats you might recognize. His students included Steve Vai, Alex Skolnick (Testament), & Kirk Hammett (Metallica). Joe was the last of the 3 guitar virtuosos to bring their project to the stage this night. Joe had some notoriety come from his first release in 1986 of ' Not Of This Earth', but, with the second release in 1987 of 'Surfing With the Alien', thing really took off. Personally this is still one of this writer/photographer's favorite CD to blast out of open car windows.

This tour is a perfect combination of bad-ass, phenomenally clean and precise players you will ever see on one stage together and should be a "must see" on your list of shows this year!

Article/Photos by: Karen Romano Adams ~ Stknthe80s Rock Pix Photography ~

Full photo album can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1972461126335789.1073742164.1437969839784923&type=1&l=d60dc1bc69

For more information regarding G3 2018 and the musicians, click here: http://www.satriani.com/G3/

Hard Rock Live Orlando calendar of events: http://www.hardrock.com/live/locations/orlando/calendar.aspx

By: Karen Romano Adams ~ Stknthe80s Rock Pix Photography
Additional photos by: Jeff Stolowitz
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NIRVANNA - A TRIBUTE TO NIRVANA
                       &
THE MARK, TOM, & TRAVIS SHOW:
       A TRIBUTE TO BLINK 182
AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES ORLANDO
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Fans squeezed into a packed house, once again, at the House of Blues Orlando when Nirvanna – A Tribute to Nirvana took to the stage. It was a scene of excited grunge fans singing at the top of their lungs and mosh pits breaking out to many songs. If you haven’t seen this band, you have been missing one of the BEST tributes to Nirvana out there.
The band is fronted by a super talented Daytona Beach local, Clayton Sturgeon. Why isn't he signed to a record label we have to ask when we see him again.  He brings the memory of Kurt Cobain to life right in front of your eyes. He’s got the look, the musical talent, and the moves that seem to “channel” Cobain to the stage.
On bass is another talented Orlando area musician, Ryan Salamone, lending his passion of Nirvana to this project. He is also the voice speaking to the audience asking such things as “…who thinks Courtney killed Kurt??!!...”, which brings a boisterous respond from any Nirvana fan and the audience this night was no exception.
Rounding out the members of the band is Keith Thomas on drums and accompanying them for a few choice songs is cellist, Stephanie Sandritter. Both of them established musicians in our local area.
Nirvanna has been touring regionally playing in other House of Blues locations as well as many other venues from Texas to Louisiana as well as North Carolina. The band will usually have another 1 or 2 grunge (or 90’s tribute bands) playing alongside them such as, Facelift (tribute to Alice in Chains), Wicked Revolver (tribute to Velvet Revolver), among others. This night we find the opening band to be The Mark, Tom, & Travis Show: A Tribute to Blink 182, who are an amazing tribute in their own right, and the cause of many of those spontaneous mosh pits breaking out early in the show.
Many times the tickets, which are very reasonably priced as it is, are given away by the bands playing so it is a “win – win” situation for the fans. With over 10,000 following the band’s Facebook page, these shows are at capacity on most dates, so arrive early!  Check out the links below to both bands’ Facebook pages as well as to full photo albums of the show.


Photos & article by: Karen Romano Adams ~ Stknthe80s Rock Pix Photography

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1970249243223644.1073742162.1437969839784923&type=1&l=0131b14ede

Additional photos by: Jeff Stolowitz
www.facebook.com/pg/BehindDaytona/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1554329404622294

Nirvanna - A Tribute to Nirvana
https://www.facebook.com/nirvannatributeband/

The Mark, Tom, & Travis Show: A Tribute to Blink 182
https://www.facebook.com/marktomandtravisshow/
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