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Still to come on the stages of Elmwood UFO Days are a tribute to Buddy Holly and Beyond and starting the decades early, and groups that fitting for this region, strum all kinds of country and beyond, Patsy and Pink, lots of leads and even include a really cool bass keys player! —– But the party over in Hudson might not get started if the power goes out, and I’ve gotta go now because the thunder is again rumbling, but check out the most recent tale in the Notes From The Beat department.

These are the days, as in Elmwood UFO Days, and this four day and night summer fest continues to boast a quality and diverse lineup of sounds and musicians, featuring four bands, going through Sunday.
The show of impersonator Johnny Rogers, A History of Rock and Roll, is framed as Buddy (Holly) and Beyond. Songs are from the 1950s through 1980s, and the list is longer than a held note, of prominent venues and testimonials from those who knew and played with Holly.
His father was a radio personality in the late ’40s and early ’50s, who crossed paths with some of music’s biggest legends: Elvis, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr., George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty and more. His young son had no interest in playing, until he heard Holly for the first time.
The song was Rave On. He said it was like someone or something turned a switch on inside of him.
While Johnny was in high school, finding kids his own age with the same taste in music seemed impossible, so he began to look for older guys that grew up on the tunes, sneaking into the honky tonks with his father’s help and a fake ID, but being there only to learn the job of being an entertainer.
Johnny’s father was good friends with a Chicago honky tonk legend named Jimmy Nichols, and had given Nichols his start in the late ’50s. Now the favor was given back. Johnny started playing lead guitar for Nichols at the age of 15. He was self-taught and learned all musical styles, which he now brings to his show, making a debut on stage at the Off Broadway Lounge as an immediate big draw. People would come from miles around to see the kid with horn-rim glasses and lightning guitar licks, who continued playing guitar for the Chicago legend until age 21, fittingly, and it was time to start his own band and show.​
Marshall Star Band offers three strong vocalists, steel/fiddle, piano and lead guitar, self-contained with sound/lighting and a sound engineer for most occasions, and they play a variety of them. The set lists range from classic to top forty country, classic rock favorites and originals.
They are known for singing and dancing with members of the audience, especially those with challenges and making the heart melt, as one fan said, and giving a feeling of family.
Voted as one of the Chippewa Valley’s top three bands for six consecutive years and a five-time WAMI nominee, The Bear Creek Band hails as an “extreme variety” entertainment group performing a huge variety of musical styles, from Hank Williams to ZZ Top, from Patsy Cline to Pink, in a fast-paced show for all musical tastes and full lighting and sound production teams available. The BCB are: Paige Lee, lead and harmony vocals; Emmalia Kay “Emm K,” lead and harmony vocals and acoustic guitar; Owen Smith, lead and acoustic guitars and lead and harmony vocals all the way from Phoenix, AZ; Dan Callan, keyboards and bass keys and lead and harmony vocals, and also really cool older long hair; Randy Bartlett, drums and percussion and lead and harmony vocals; and Glenn Tollefson to boot, also on drums and percussion.
These are concert details: Johnny Roger’s History of Rock and Roll in a Friday street dance at 7 p.m., Marshall Star in a street dance on Saturday at 8 p.m., and the Bear Creek Band at Kern’s Kurbside on Sunday from 3-7 p.m.

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