REO Speedwagon: REO-gate

REO Speedwagon in happier times (cliché, I know!) at Red Rocks, CO Capital Region, 2010

Sjgkfe, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 Seems that it's never too late for a band to have problems. Just as oasis come back, other bands fall apart, particularly ones from before thirty years ago I grew up seeing in the charts and on MTV & VH1. It's like a marriage that ran its course, A trite comparison but it's true. REO Speedwagon are no stranger to this, and now they're on the way out because of a row over bass player Bruce Halls medical recovery and frontman Kevin Cronin. A similar situation occurred twice in the late '90s with their friends Styx and contemporaries Journey, as well as Yes less than a decade later, so it's not uncommon, especially as one gets on in age. The jury are out on this one. We've just seen Hall & Oates and Janes Addiction become Behind the Music material (now on Paramount+, sister streamer to MTV and VH1).

 Remaining founding member Neal Doughty stopped touring in 2022 and I saw the band for the last time and without him last year, and it wasn't the same. I also learned co-founder and original drummer Alan Gratzer is originally from Syracuse. I didn't go the year before because I couldn't afford to go to that and Elton John, who was wrapping up his life on the road, and his bass guitarist Matt Bissonette (Greggs brother) has just taken over for Hall to boot. I just didn't go this year also because I had to cut back on shows like a lot of people are on less essential activities in this economy. Perhaps the spirits of Gary Richrath and the more recently departed Gregg Philbin told me not to go this time as they turn in their graves over this. I might have even skipped Cronins birthday this year because of how he allegedly stabbed his longtime colleague in the back or I'm focussed on other bands and priorities right now. We're riding a real (two in the south at the time of this writing) and proverbial storm out here. It'd be too easy to throw in some Gene Shalit-style puns to what is a sad end to a nearly six decade legacy that started in the Champaign-Urbana area at uni in the bar scene and became an AOR-corporate rock punchline to many. We're all experienced at being human and life is one big Pandoras box. Terry Luttrell from the 1971 début (later of Starcastle) and would-be vocalist Greg X. Volz (who joined Petra instead, who I once liked, while Cronin returned after the Mike Murphy period in 1976) found the Lord.

  It's a right shame to see a band I've known for over forty years' time since I was very young get to this stage so far along, but let's hope they can sort out their differences so they can end the band with some integrity and dignity for the sake of the fans.

UPDATE: The final lineup will now tour under Cronins name. They will tour with Styx and Don Felder (late of Eagles) in summer 2025, including Syracuse (Styx were in the same boat on a river, while Felder had left, but says never checked out of his old band).

The last REO proper show I attended at the NYS Fair

Downsizing in desperate times

Just some of what's left (some empty space)

 Like many people these days, I'm struggling to make ends meet, and have too much at home I don't need anymore. Between bills and taxes, it's hard to keep up on a limited income. I hired a solicitor to look into the tax situation. I don't typically discuss my personal life like this, although one can relate. It's after reading some clickbait article that hit home is when it was time to take stock and decide which of it can go to the shop. What they didn't take went to Atlanta-based app decluttr via ups, even though they pay twopence since I've used them several times. There are so many CDs I just don't listen to anymore. They are taken off my collection on Discogs of course and it shows how much I've spent over the years. The first two goes barely add up to $100, but it's better than nothing. Also, recent events brought family to town for the time being, and the social are coming over soon to boot, so I have to tidy up, even though I started to before the unexpected occurred. Usually I bring things in for store credit, but I need the cash to whittle down debt. I had been filling up boxes and crates with dozens of titles. Had to channel my inner Suze Orman and Marie Kondo sacrificing what had been sitting around for a year or so. Racks have been filling up the wardrobes. They're obviously not made for that. Trying to break a cycle. Who I have extra of that can go are tagged (even the boys). If I have the LP, then I might not need the CD unless it has bonus material or is rare. I spent a right fortune over the years, but changes in the past few years meant having to transition what I like to do. If I ever have to move house again, I really would have to cull since I would most likely go to a flat or somewhere smaller. Just not how I pictured my life, but no one does having to face challenges everyday. I'll be lucky to get $100 from all of it, since vinyl is a bigger priority now, and I only have so much of that to give up. I may be getting something in the post, but I'm not too sure. We all know there's no such thing as overnight.

You can also support me here. The ones who paved the way for that are also tagged. In any case, I know this won't last forever, but you think it will when you're in the middle of it. My grandparents' generation survived the Depression and WWII, so we'll get through this too. Life and the economy has hills and plateaux like anything. I just need to be better with priorities during this midlife crisis of mine.