Jeff Maynor Takes You Backstage at "It's Only Rock and Roll"

3's Weekend Morning Show--Exclusive Backstage Photos

Jeff Maynor and Kim Carnes--Superstar, Lovely Lady and Real Trouper!

Jeff Maynor, Rob Parissi of Wild Cherry, Patsy Maynor

What a night at Cleveland Public Hall! Saturday night the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame presented its annual benefit for its education programs, one of the most eclectic rock concerts ever, "It's Only Rock and Roll."

Nowhere else on the planet would you find Kim Carnes ("Bette Davis Eyes") sharing a stage with the original rap group, the Sugarhill Gang. Think Patty Smyth of Scandal ("Warrior", "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough") has ever followed Louis Prima, Jr. ("Just a Gigolo","Jump, Jive and Wail") before? And you can bet this was the first time Lou Gramm of Foreigner ("Cold as Ice", "Feels Like the First Time") has ever been on a bill with 60's white soul dynamo Roy Head ("Treat Her Right").

Rock Hall of Fame Director Terry Stewart welcomed the crowd seated at the $3000 tables on the floor at Public Hall. Terry introduced me and I introduced the story i did, with videographer Mike Greene and editor Sean Mulroy on the Rock Hall education programs which include "Toddler Rock", "Schoolhouse Rock" and distance learning programs that extend nationwide and around the world.

A few days before the show it was up in the air whether Kim Carnes would be able to make the date or not. She was ill, whatever it was was in her throat, and she considered cancelling. Backstage she was rather quiet, perhaps saving her voice, but told me she wouldn't have missed the event unless she was confined to bed.

Though she didn't write "Bette Davis Eyes", it always sounded to me like an inspired marriage of singer and song.

"How did you work out how you were going to sing it?" I asked.

"I just sang," she said. "That's how I sing."

On stage she was in great form and wowed the audience who clapped along with the 1-2-1 woodblock beat and some of the women used their hands to frame their "Bette Davis Eyes."

After her set I again brought up her idiosynchratic singing on that multi-million seller, and she said she'd send me her latest CD to convince me she "always" sings that way.

Rob Parissi, lead singer of Wild Cherry ("Play That Funky Music, White Boy") was on our show Saturday. I told him he looked more like an insurance salesman than a onetime rock star. He said, "Hey we only had that one hit. I can't afford the cost of upkeep on rock star hair all these years."

Rob and Wild Cherry were all from the Steubenville area. He now lives in Tampa, but told me after two hurricanes he's moved to the highest, driest area of Tampa to safeguard his home recording studio. Rob is working on a new solo soft jazz album.

I asked him how much rehersal time he'd had with the house band here. "One run through this afternoon," he said. "Each band member learned his part, on his own, and they came to Cleveland ready to play."

The backing band, led by Will Lee of the David Letterman Show band, was supertight, a real highlight of the show. Will's representatives had been trying for weeks to get him on our show, but it couldn't be worked out. He's returning to Cleveland June 14 at the Ohio Theater at Playhouse Square with his own band that plays the music of the Beatles. They're called the Fab Faux, and Matt Babb, our show director says he's heard them on the Howard Stern show and they are crazy good. I hope to have Will on our Weekend Show in the runup to June 14. The Ohio Theater is a great music venue. It only seats about a thousand so, if you're interested in Will Lee's Beatles show June 14, get your tickets in advance. Matt tells me the other members of Will's band are from the Conan O'Brien show.

The Sugarhill Gang filled the stage with audience members who hip-hopped along with them. I wonder how many people there remember the mother of one of the group members. In 1956 Micky and Sylvia recorded one of the most iconic songs in the rock canon, "Love is Strange." Sylvia Vanderpool Robinson would go on to found Sugar Hill Records which begat the Sugarhill Gang which begat rap music.

Rob Parissi closed the show with "Play That Funky Music". Before he went on I asked him how he got to close the show. "With your dark suit and crew cut, you look the least like a rock star of anyone here."

"I got the closing spot because, after the show I get to go out and work the crowd to see if I can sell some insurance policies," Rob said.

Regular viewers may know one of my favorite current music groups is Dale Watson and The Lonestars from Austin, Texas. Alt country. Dale's bass player, Gene Kurtz, who looks like a road warrior who may have been playing back in the 60's, once told me he co-wrote Roy Head's great hit, "Treat Her Right." Backstage I asked Roy if Gene had been his co-writer and he said "Yep, I was talkin' to Gene on the phone last night." They're both Texas boys. Roy has an 80-acre horse farm.

"It's Only Rock and Roll" raised $300-thousand dollars for the Rock Hall's education programs.

In the midst of the memorable concert was an auction. Top bid of the evening was $26-thousand dollars for dinner with LeBron James. Go Cavs!