80s Bands Reunion: Rock Out with Glen Crimson

Poster excerpt for the upcoming AZ All-Star Band ReunionPhoto byGlen Crimson

Make sure to mark your calendars on February 18 to rock out with Glen Crimson and his AZ All-Star Band Reunion! For one afternoon only, Glenn brings his bands The Spiffs 1980, Box of Cherries 1990, and The Einsteins 1995 back to the stage. The event will take place at Copper Blues Live, 21001 N Tatum Blvd, inside Desert Ridge Marketplace, from 1 pm to 5 pm.

Collage of the bands featured of the upcoming showPhoto byGlen Crimson

Special guests and performers expected are:

• Lucy Lamode of Killer Pussy singing Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage.\
• The Palomas
• A Bob Welch tribute with bassist Kevin Ichrist, who played with Welch and Dr. Ruth.
• Gary Brazzese, drummer for Glen Campbell for 15 years
• Brad Buxer, played keyboard for Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson for 20 years
• Multi-platinum producer Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat & Jason Mraz)
• Winston Watson, drummer for Bob Dylan for 10 years and member of the iconic Arizona band Gentlemen Afterdark
• Dwain Miller, drummer for Keel
• Jim Keeler, charismatic frontman for Surgical Steel
• Dan Wexler of Icon
• Otto D'Agnolo, star of The Recording Artist on Amazon Prime
• David Dion, Dean Nelson, and more
• Announcers will be DJ Johnny D, Donny Johnson, Fervor records and Franco Gugliano of the famous Mason Jar.

Show Organizer Glen Crimson

Musician, Organizer, Promoter, Game Inventor...Rock Star...Glen CrimsonPhoto byGlen Crimson

Also known as Glenn De Jongh, Crimson is one of the veterans of the Phoenix rock scene. In a 1995 Phoenix New Times Article, long-time Phoenix journalist and current host of the PBS show Horizons Ted Simons quoted Crimson on his career goals: "I don't like being one of the crowd, I need to be a star."

By the time Simons interviewed Crimson in 1995, Glen had been doggedly pursuing that dream for fifteen years. His approach to the pursuit of fame included leading his band Box of Cherries and a group of fans in a picket line outside three major Los Angeles record companies in 1993. Those companies were Capitol Records, Warner Brothers, and Geffen Records. The tactic worked – their audacity inspired a listen by the President of Geffen.

Throughout his career, Crimson has worked with and become friends with many interesting people, including his idol, guitar player Bob Welch. Welch was living in Phoenix when he called Crimson “out of the clear blue.” Crimson says he almost passed out when he received the call to audition. He got the gig over twenty other bass players, and worked with Welch to write and record ten songs. One of those songs ended up on the Best of Bob Welch CD . They toured across the country for several months in 1989. From that time until Welch died in 2012, Crimson counted Welch as his best friend.

Crimson became friends with the late Geordie Hormel, who was well-known for his philanthropic activities. According to Glen, Hormel bought the band two vans, helped Crimson to get his guitars out of the pawn shop, and gave the band members employment painting his newly acquired Wrigley Mansion. After all that, says Crimson, Hormel gifted him with free studio time for two years.

Box of Cherries recorded many songs at the Hormel Mansion, where the late Geordie Hormel had installed a 96-track digital studio The recordings were engineered by Jeff Harris, who worked on Supertramp's album Breakfast in America.

Multi-platinum producer Mikal Blue is a friend of Crimsons, who has worked with him periodically for years. Blue produced an Einstein CD in 1996, which got college airplay around the world. On the strength of that, Crismon and the Einsteins were signed to Mellencamp Records and record in Nashville in 1998. Sadly, the record was never released.

In 2000 Crimson had a punk/techno band of all original music, The Exees, which didn’t last long. Since then, Glen had a band called the Crimsons. The Crimsons played bubblegum 60s music at every casino in Arizona. While playing out with the Crimsons, Glen was noticed by a booking agent for cruise ships. Soon after, Crimson was offered a job as a solo act on a cruise ship, where he lived with 1,100 crew members from sixty different countries. He says he learned a lot about different cultures at the once-a-month theme nights in the crew disco.

In 2013, Glen Crimson organized a Mason Jar reunion. The Mason Jar was one of the most popular rock clubs in Phoenix during the 1980s and 90s. Many local and touring bands played the Jar, often going on to become well-known. In 2013, the Mason Jar building was a gay bar. Crimson says he had to beg the owners to let him use it for one night. They set up temporary fencing, two stages, and extra privies outside. Ted Simons, who had moved on to hosting Horizon on Channel 8, interviewed both Crimson and local promoter Danny Zelisko. Nine Mason Jar favorites from the 80s and 90s played: Killer Pussy, Blue Shoes, the School Boys, the Urge, Raven Payne, Box of Cherries/Einstein's, Zazu Pits/Egomaniacs and Scott Rowe. The show was enjoyed by 400 rock-n-roll fans.

Crimson attended Scottsdale Community College and Phoenix College, where he studied music and business. In 2012, he invented and copyrighted Songo, a bingo game with music, which he hosts weekly. Songo is his main source of income. Glenn De Jongh AKA Glen Crimson has lived an adventurous life in pursuit of fun and fame. However, of all the things he’s done and the people he’s met, he says, “the coolest things about me probably are that I always lived in van houses until I lived on cruise ships for eight years! I never paid rent because the band paid rent!”

The event at Copper Blues Live on February 18 promises to be great fun.

DON’T FORGET TO PLAN!

WHAT: Reunion of The Spiffs 1980, Box of Cherries 1990, and The Einsteins 1995, plus many special guests

WHEN: February 18, from 1 pm to 5 pm.

WHERE: Copper Blues Life, 21001 N Tatum Blvd, inside Desert Ridge Marketplace, Phoenix, AZ 85050

Another collage of the bands featured in the upcoming showPhoto byGlen Crimson