matusiak weblog

Imagine if Axl Rose had some musical talent. Actually, imagine if Axl Rose had a lot of musical talent and could play all the instruments in his band by himself.

Then imagine that his songbook went well beyond November Rain and Sweet Child O’ Mine. Like, into the realm of rap, funk, country, oldies, and 70’s rock. It’s almost too much to imagine isn’t it?

With that picture in mind, I give you McRorie. This dude wails.

To a large portion of folks who see this link/artist, it will be a joke. “Oh, look at that buffoon, totally out of style and out of touch. Aren’t we so much more interesting.” And I’ve got to admit, on first look, his act can be pretty funny. But the more time you spend with McRorie, the more you realize how much of a screaming success this guy is. Sure, he may be ignored by a portion of the NYC/LAX promoter crowd, but this guy gets out there on stage every night (okay, I don’t know that he performs every night) and rocks his soul and those of his audience members for hours.

McRorie covers musical territory unlike many artists I’ve heard of. He can cover rap hits like “In Da Club” and “Bust A Move.” His range spans Old School (”The Message”) and New School (”Hey Ya”). He knows old time rock and roll, like Elvis’ “All Shook Up” and can swing right into a Kylie Minogue pop hit. McRorie ain’t afraid to perform moving ballads like “Imagine” or “What A Wonderful World,” yet can rock you to St. Louis and back with tunes from Judas Priest, The Doors and KISS. He has also built up a repertoire of original classics.

So, basically we’re all sitting around tapping on keyboards and laughing while this guy is out there living his dream. He gets to schedule the gigs he wants, play the music he wants and have rad personal style. Try pulling that off with your elastic waistband pants and Treo 650. McRorie is amazing and I’d love to see him perform live someday.

For those about to rock, McRorie, we salute you.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 16th, 2005 at 4:17 pm and is filed under characters, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.