Grammy-Winning Blues-Rock Guitarist MICKI FREE Unleashes Incendiary New Album, “Turquoise Blue”

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Set for February 4, 2022, Release on Dark Idol Music Label

Heralded by Carlos Santana and Billy Gibbons, among many others, Grammy-winning blues-rock guitarist Micki Free announces a February 4, 2022, release date for his new album, “Turquoise Blue“, on the Dark Idol Music label, distributed by Burnside Distribution / The Orchard / Sony. Free’s mastery of tone is showcased on the new disc’s 13 originals, plus a scintillating cover of Jimi Hendrix’s classic “All Along the Watchtower.” The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Ken Riley at Rio Grande Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Special guests on Turquoise Blue include Gary Clark Jr., Steve Stevens, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Cindy Blackman Santana. Free teases the album’s release with his debut single, “Bye 2020,” on November 12, featuring additional guitar pyrotechnics from long-time Billy Idol six-stringer Steve Stevens.

“I wrote Turquoise Blue over the period of time when Covid first broke out and we were advised to remain at home,” Free recalls. “Interacting with my peers was just not an option. The songs are a direct testament of how I felt during that crazy time. Take my song, ‘Bye 2020;’ it tells exactly how I felt that year, with the dying, the masks, the quarantine, the protests, the fake news, the misinformation…. I just wanted to say, ‘Bye 2020!’ I enlisted my good buddy Steve Stevens from Billy Idol to lay down the first guitar solo and I did the second solo.

“I get my mojo from the classic greats—the masters of blues-rock and even classic rock,” Micki Free declares, “but everything I play comes from my own heart, and with Turquoise Blue, I feel like I’m really getting to the core of what I do in a way I hope people will connect with, because making music is about a connection so strong that it transcends language.”

Tracks:
1. Bye 2020- Steve Stevens 1st guitar solo / Micki Free 2nd guitar solo
2. Low Ridin’420
3.World on Fire – Cindy Blackman-Santana drums; Andy Vargas lead vocal; Karl Perazzo percussions; Micki Free all guitars
4. Heavy Mercy
5.Judicator Blues – Christone “Kingfish” Ingram 1st guitar solo / Micki Free 2nd guitar solo
6.Spring Fever
7.Come Home Big Mama
8.Invitation Love
9. Woman – Gary Clark Jr. 1st guitar solo / Micki Free 2nd guitar solo
10. All Along the Watchtower – Micki Free – all guitars
11. My Big Regret – Steve Stevens nylon guitar solo
12.Heaven or Heroin
13.Ring of Fire
14. Blue Memories

Free’s resume reads like an almost-mythical backstory to a movie: a protégé and guitar-slinging peer of KISS’s Gene Simmons, Prince, Billy Gibbons, Carlos Santana, and Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilson; glorified in a popular Chappelle’s Show episode of “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories,” as part of Prince’s team in a now-legendary basketball game. A featured member of R&B hitmakers Shalamar, he scored a top 20 hit with “Dancin’ in the Streets” and won a Grammy in 1985 for the song, “Don’t Get Stopped in Beverly Hills,” from the Beverly Hills Cop film soundtrack.

Free was born in West Texas of mixed blood Cherokee/Comanche Native American and Irish descent. Soon after, his family relocated to Germany, where his father was stationed as a sergeant in the Army. It was there at age 12 that an older sister took him to see Jimi Hendrix. “Jimi just blew my mind,” Free recalls. “He came out dressed like a gypsy with scarves and a flowing, psychedelic shirt, and his guitar was the most incredible thing I’d ever heard. From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”

After his family moved to Illinois, Free formed his first rock band, Smokehouse. When Smokehouse opened a concert bill that included the group KISS, Gene Simmons, himself, walked up to Free as his band was coming offstage and declared him “a star.” By that time, Free, had already developed a flair for rock ‘n’ roll fashion and the dynamic stage presence that’s one of his trademarks. Free was 19 years old when Simmons became his first manager. Since then, he’s been in the whirlwind of the music business, having recorded, written songs, and played with Simmons, the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, Prince, Little Steven, Sam Moore, Cheap Trick, Billy Gibbons, Carlos Santana, and Jean Beauvior of The Plasmatics.

Free’s resume reads like an almost-mythical backstory to a movie: a protégé and guitar-slinging peer of KISS’s Gene Simmons, Prince, Billy Gibbons, Carlos Santana, and Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilson; glorified in a popular Chappelle’s Show episode of “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories,” as part of Prince’s team in a now-legendary basketball game. A featured member of R&B hitmakers Shalamar, he scored a top 20 hit with “Dancin’ in the Streets” and won a Grammy in 1985 for the song, “Don’t Get Stopped in Beverly Hills,” from the Beverly Hills Cop film soundtrack.

Free was born in West Texas of mixed blood Cherokee/Comanche Native American and Irish descent. Soon after, his family relocated to Germany, where his father was stationed as a sergeant in the Army. It was there at age 12 that an older sister took him to see Jimi Hendrix. “Jimi just blew my mind,” Free recalls. “He came out dressed like a gypsy with scarves and a flowing, psychedelic shirt, and his guitar was the most incredible thing I’d ever heard. From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”

After his family moved to Illinois, Free formed his first rock band, Smokehouse. When Smokehouse opened a concert bill that included the group KISS, Gene Simmons, himself, walked up to Free as his band was coming offstage and declared him “a star.” By that time, Free, had already developed a flair for rock ‘n’ roll fashion and the dynamic stage presence that’s one of his trademarks. Free was 19 years old when Simmons became his first manager. Since then, he’s been in the whirlwind of the music business, having recorded, written songs, and played with Simmons, the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, Prince, Little Steven, Sam Moore, Cheap Trick, Billy Gibbons, Carlos Santana, and Jean Beauvior of The Plasmatics.

Original article can be found here.

Prince Tribute Show - Marshall Charloff & Purple Xperience

Tribute band Purple Xperience honors Prince’s legacy

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By Rodney Ho, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Prince’s final public concerts in 2016 were at the Fox Theatre. For Prince fans in Atlanta, the poignancy of his unforeseen death still runs deep five years later.

That history and legacy will weigh on the Prince tribute band Purple Xperience when they arrive Friday at Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center.

“There’s a certain Prince army that will be there,” said lead singer Marshall Charloff, a Minneapolis native himself who has been performing Prince hits both with his five-piece band and in solo shows. “We bleed purple together. There’s this sense of community. And people bring their kids. They feel an obligation because their kids will never see this amazing performer ever.”

In 2011, he started the group with Dr. Fink, Prince’s original keyboard player. Before Prince died, Charloff met with the legendary artist at Paisley Park and Prince watched Purple Xperience perform. “He was cool with it,” Charloff said. “He knew musicians need to work. He saw we could do his songs at an extremely high level.”

Not that it was an easy sell early on for hardcore fans, he said. “We had to prove ourselves,” he said. “It took time to earn our stripes.”

In his mind, the concert “isn’t forced or phony in any way. We are real musicians playing real music honoring the greatest musician ever. Nobody can touch Prince. It’s uncontested. I’m as close as you’re going to get.”

Charloff said he performed in Chicago the day after Prince died on April 21, 2016, with great reluctance.

“I had to almost be dragged on the stage,” he said. “I felt so stupid. But I put on the outfit, the wig and the heels. I walked on the stage and this is going to sound corny, but it felt spiritual. I felt this sense that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. What felt wrong a few seconds earlier suddenly felt right.”

He opened with the solemn song “The Cross,” then said “it quickly turned into a celebration.” He said on stage, he felt joyous, not sad. He was able to keep it together from beginning to end. Of course, “Purple Rain” had many fans in tears, he recalled.

Before Prince’s death, Charloff got to talk to the artist a few times one on one.

“I don’t feel loss now,” he said. “But I will reflect on things he said to me, moments we had together. That happens.”

Of course, Prince’s death has fueled demand for Purple Xperience and Charloff’s own work. “I’ve fronted 30 symphony orchestras,” he said. “We’ve headlined Red Rocks and toured Europe. I wrote with Prince’s sister. We did a concert for the Dubai state department. As far as the tribute world goes, you can’t get much higher.”

Charloff, for more niche audiences, will do shows as himself performing original jazz. And when he does his Prince piano solo shows, he gets to change the song arrangements around more than when working with the entire band.

He knows there will always be a stigma attached to doing what he does but Charloff’s goal is to gain respect one listener at a time.

“When we walk into a venue for the first time, the sound guys, the lighting guys, they don’t give us the time of day,” Charloff said. “They just worked with Eric Clapton the day before. So that’s understandable. But when they hear us play, they’ll come up afterwards and say we blew their minds.”
The original article can be found here!

Rock with Michael Jackson tribute show in Aurora, Waukegan

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At least for a night, Michael Jackson lives onstage again.

Las Vegas performer Michael Firestone stars as pop icon Michael Jackson in “I Am King: the Michael Jackson Experience.” He will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at The Piazza in Aurora and at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan.

“I love that area — Southern California, Japan and the Chicago area are probably my top three places because the crowds are off the charts,” Firestone said.

He’ll have the look, the sound, the dancing, the live band and professional dancers with him. Audiences will hear songs like “Billie Jean,” “Thriller,” “Beat It,” “Smooth Criminal,” “ABC,” “Black or White” and “Human Nature.”

This show has been rescheduled a couple of times thanks to COVID-19. A treat for the audience, Firestone will have Michael Jackson’s former touring guitarist, Jennifer Batten, on board.

Michael Jackson with Jennifer Batten

“She’s amazing,” Firestone said. “She jumps on gigs here and there with me and I happened to get her on this one. I don’t get all fan crazy — I met Michael and I was surprisingly calm until he walked away and then I passed out. But it’s still cool to get onstage with people I watched on TV growing up. I’ll be in rare form that night.”

Firestone said audiences will be treated to amazing dancers and a phenomenal band.

“I’ve got a girl that plays guitar for Cirque (Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil), Shani Kimelman; she’ll be at that show with Jennifer Batten,” he said. “The guitarists are all female in the show and they’re so solid. I won’t even look at a guitar around them. I’ve been playing guitar longer than Shani’s been alive and I still won’t touch a guitar around her.”

The multimedia show will span almost the entirety of Jackson’s career from The Jackson 5 and on, he said.

“We’re taking it in an hour and a half through 30 years,” he said. “It will remind people of why it’s called ‘I Am King.’ Because he really was. Nobody’s ever going to come close to that guy. Ever. We will give the fans what they’re familiar with and make it fresh and also try to suck in (new fans).”

Ron Tuttle

Firestone grew up in the 1980s and was listening to Jackson for as long as he could remember, thanks to his mom, who was a fan.

“Then ‘Thriller’ hit and I was obsessed,” he said. “I knew I was going to do something with music but I never thought I was going to turn into him.”

He got attention growing up with his dancing and singing like Jackson. It was on a visit to Las Vegas that made him see he could maybe do this for a living. That was in 1997, when he was just 18 years old.

“It was my backup plan next to my own music. Then I started getting paid pretty well and I thought, well, I guess my own music can wait a minute. It’s been waiting for 25 years now,” he said, laughing.

“I couldn’t imagine life without it. It’s been a real fun ride. His fans are completely amazing. They’re not there to see me and I am very aware of that but I’m so happy they do come and support me and the band. We work hard to make this as legit as possible.”

While the singing and dancing came naturally, the makeup didn’t.

“I looked like crap for like the first three years. I looked like Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister but without the yellow hair,” he said. “I don’t look like (Jackson) at all. Drag queens are big in Vegas and they … were brutally honest about my makeup. I figured out you have to white your face out and start over. I have to paint his face onto my face.”

When he’s not performing as Michael Jackson, he’s a normal suburban dad who has to cut the grass and change diapers. He never got to see Jackson live, even though he had tickets to one of the shows of the This Is It concert residency in London in 2009. Jackson died on June 25, 2009.

“Dead center second row, which I was super excited about. I positioned myself to catch the hat,” he said. “That sucked, that I never got to see him. But I did get to meet him and he did call me. He almost looked like a superhero or something. Like if Superman actually touched down in front of you.”

People won’t be bored at his show, he said.

Not too many people other than my father tell me it’s boring. He’s so honest, I love him,” he said. “We try to get as many lightning strikes as we can in an hour and a half. Especially with the addition of Jennifer Batten, you get a pretty legit look at what he did for 30 years while he was entertaining.”

I Am King: the Michael Jackson Experience

When: 7 p.m. Oct. 16

Where: The Piazza, 85 Executive Drive, Aurora

Tickets: $22-$45[Most read] Former Eric Ferguson co-host Melissa McGurren files suit, alleging ‘sham investigation’ into misconduct complaints at WTMX »

Information: 630-978-2088; piazzaaurora.com

When: 7 p.m. Oct. 24

Where: Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee St., Waukegan

Tickets: $25-$99

Information: 847-263-6300; geneseetheatre.com

Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.