Sgt. Pepper's... Revisited June 28, 2008

Returning to the Hollywood Bowl in a reprisal of last season’s wildly successful sold-out concerts saluting the 40TH anniversary of the Beatles' seminal Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, American pop group Cheap Trick, accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and joined again by guest vocalists Ian Ball, of the famed British rock band Gomez and Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Rob Laufer, celebrate the rock ‘n’ roll masterpiece at the Hollywood Bowl, Saturday, June 28, at 8 p.m. Newly added special guests, jazz and R&B singer and daughter of Nina Simone, Simone, and Smashing Pumpkins’ lead singer and guitarist Billy Corgan, join in the celebration. The tribute concert, on the same stage where the Lads from Liverpool – John, Paul, George and Ringo – played in the ‘60s, opens this year with Beatles fans’ favorites such as “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The second half of the concert features a complete re-creation of the album that changed music history including the Indian instrumental accompaniment on “Within You Without You.” Also returning is guest conductor Edwin Outwater to lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Performing with Cheap Trick are Nashville-based singer/songwriter/performer Bill Lloyd on guitar and Gov’t Mule’s multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis on keyboards.

Best known for classic singles "I Want You to Want Me" and "The Flame,” legendary American band Cheap Trick released their most recent CD, Rockford, in 2006 to widespread critical acclaim. Known for their infectious brand of Beatle-esque power pop, the group recorded the album All Shook Up in 1980 with Sir George Martin and Geoff Emerick, producer and engineer of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles' eighth album, is considered the band's greatest artistic achievement and the most influential album, ranking No. 1 on Rolling Stone's 2003 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Recorded over a four-month period from late 1966 into the next year, the album was released in June 1967, and became an immediate critical and popular sensation. From its structure to its recording techniques to the cover artwork, it was hailed as innovative in every sense, and it has been credited as having influenced many other artists over the years.

EDWIN OUTWATER is the newly appointed Music Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Ontario, Canada. He served as Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony from 2001 to 2006 and held the post of Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2001 to 2005. In both capacities, he worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanying the Orchestra on tour and conducting numerous concerts each season. Outwater made his subscription concert debut with the San Francisco Symphony in October 2002, and led that orchestra in many unique subscription concert programs featuring the American premiere of Robin Holloway’s Viola Concerto, the West Coast premiere of Chen Yi’s Percussion Concerto with soloist Evelyn Glennie, and HK Gruber’s Frankenstein! with Mr. Gruber as narrator and soloist. He has also conducted the orchestra with cellist Yo-Yo Ma as soloist. As Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Outwater led the orchestra in all of their concerts as well as on tour to Europe in the summer of 2004. Internationally, he as appeared with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Adelaide Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of New Zealand. For the 2007/08 season, Outwater returned to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for several appearances and made his Civic Orchestra of Chicago debut in addition to first performances with the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, the San Antonio Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, the Virginia Symphony and the Malmo Symphony of Sweden. In 2004, his education programs were given the Leonard Bernstein award for excellence in educational programming, and his Chinese New Year Program was given the MET LIFE award for community outreach. At the San Francisco Symphony, he conducts Family Concerts, Adventures in Music performances, which are heard by more than 25,000 students from San Francisco schools each year, and Concerts for Kids, which serve students from throughout Northern California. In Florida, Outwater designed the Florida Philharmonic Family Series and its Music for Youth program, which was heard annually by more than 40,000 fifth-grade students in South Florida. He appears frequently with youth orchestras throughout the United States and across the world. Outwater has served as music director of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and has been on the faculties of the University of Tulsa, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Outwater, a Southern California native, attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude in 1993 with a degree in English literature. He received his master's degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Heiichiro Ohyama, and Paul Polivnick.

CHEAP TRICK formed in the 1970s, and between 1974 and the band's first album in 1977, the group toured constantly, playing over 200 concerts a year, including opening slots for Queen, The Kinks, Kiss, and Santana. The group's successful run has continued into the new millenium, and their 2006 album, Rockford, was released via Cheap Trick Unlimited/Big 3 Records. Cheap Trick features the original lineup of ROBIN ZANDER (vocals and guitar), RICK NIELSEN (guitar and back-up vocals), BUN E CARLOS (drums and back-up vocals) and TOM PETERSSON (bass and back-up vocals).

As one of the principal singer/songwriters in the acclaimed British rock band Gomez, IAN BALL has shared in great success during the last decade, including the UK's prestigious Mercury Music Prize for the band's 1998 debut album. Most recently, Gomez earned their biggest U.S. commercial and critical success yet with their latest album, How We Operate, which the Wall Street Journal declared "the best rock album of the year." Songs from How We Operate have been featured in numerous television shows and films, including the ABC dramas "Grey's Anatomy" and "What About Brian." Both "See The World" and the album's title track were U.S. radio hits, with "See The World" topping the Adult Album chart for eight weeks. In October 2007, Ian released his solo debut “Who Goes There” and then hit the road for a nationwide tour. Ball is currently back in the studio with his bandmates in Gomez working on their next full-length release.

BILLY CORGAN is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Smashing Pumpkins, which broke up in 2000 and then reformed in 2006. The band released a series of successful albums including the seven-Grammy nominated 1995 release Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The band’s post-reunion album, Zeitgeist, was released in 2007 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Corgan and the band have toured extensively in support of the album. A sought-after collaborator, Corgan has produced, written songs, or appeared as a guest vocalist for artists such as Ric Ocasek, Hole and New Order.

ROB LAUFER has played on albums by Frank Black, Fiona Apple and many others. He released two critically acclaimed CDs in the mid ‘90's, and his latest CD, The Iron Age (2006), contains the song "In the Frame," which was recently used in HP's award winning "Frames" television campaign. He has written songs featured in commercials sung by Johnny Cash, Shawn Colvin, BB King, Peter Noone and Veruca Salt. His song "Reactionary Girl" was the leadoff track on Robin Zander's (Cheap Trick) 1993 solo effort (Interscope). Laufer’s songs have been featured in films and TV, including Georgia Rule, American Wedding, Max Keeble's Big Move, Scrubs, Felicity.Melrose Place, American Dreams, Young and the Restless and many others. He has also written and produced commercial music for clients such as Sears, Chevrolet. Ford, Honda, Del Taco, Acura, Quaker Foods and Jet Blue. Additionally, Lauer was the featured vocalist at the 1999 Hollywood Bowl Tribute to the Beatles with Sir George Martin and also performed in the 2007 40th anniversary celebration of the Sgt. Pepper’s album at the Bowl.

SIMONE is her own woman, a singer, songwriter and performer whose ability to transcend genres echoes the tradition of her mother, musical icon and pioneer Nina Simone. Blessed with a rich vocal range, an innate skill for lyrical interpretation and a soul-deep understanding of music as a means of healing, empowerment and celebration, Simone, very much her mother’s daughter, is most assuredly a multi-talented artist in her own right. A highly-praised live performer whose impressive resume includes starring roles on Broadway in such acclaimed musicals as Rent and Aida, Simone has developed an exciting and diverse repertoire of pop, soul, jazz, rock and funk, expressed in shows she’s done throughout the U.S. and in the UK, Ireland, Holland, Finland, Spain and France. The February 2008 release of her first full-length album, Simone On Simone (a big band tribute to her mother produced by famed jazz musician and arranger Bob Belden), music lovers worldwide have discovered the vocal dynamism that live audiences have witnessed for over a decade. Choosing a big band setting for the project, Simone approached the recording of Simone On Simone with a commitment to putting her own distinctive stamp on the songs she chose. She succeeds admirably turning in tour-de-force performances on little-known gems from her mother’s recorded repertoire such as “Keeper Of The Flame,” “I Hold No Grudge” and “Don’t You Pay Them No Mind” as well as reworkings of such classics as “Feeling Good,” “Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair,” “Work Song,” the spirited “(You’ll) Go To Hell” and swinging versions of “Love Me Or Leave Me” and Duke Ellington’s “Gal From Joe’s.” Rounding out her first of many future albums: “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” (the Billy Taylor tune closely identified with her mother as one of the potent message songs which were so much a part of Nina Simone’s catalog of music with themes of freedom, self-empowerment and justice for all) and “How Long Must I Wander,” a plaintive song that speaks to Simone’s own formative years traveling across the globe with her mother. With a rich heritage to draw from, a wealth of accomplishments and accolades as a Broadway star and live performer and a finely-developed sense of her own unique artistry, Simone is ready to establish herself as a successful recording artist of the first order.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 40th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2008, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the fourth year in a row at the 19th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. The Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2008, at 8 PM

Sgt. Pepper’s … Revisited

HOLLYWOOD BOWL ORCHESTRA
EDWIN OUTWATER, conductor
CHEAP TRICK, special guests
ROBIN ZANDER, vocals and guitar
RICK NIELSEN, guitar and back-up vocals
BUN E CARLOS, drums and back-up vocals
TOM PETERSSON, bass and back-up vocals
with DANNY LOUIS, keyboards and BILL LLOYD, guitars

IAN BALL, ROB LAUFER, SIMONE and BILLY CORGAN, special guests

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS
ALOKE DASGUPTA, sitar
SATNAM SINGH RAMGOTRA, tabla
GINGGER SHANKAR, double violin
CHRISTOPHER SMITH, bass tanpura
MOHIUDDIN AHMED, swar-mandal & sitar
MARK POWER, treble tanpura