From tonysounds@yahoo.com Thu Aug 05 20:40:54 2004
Subject:Re: Styx

I had just quit the band I was in for 7 years when that Styx Behind the Music came out, and I laughed my butt off. I kept saying that was my band...except ours didn't have any hits!!! lmao!!!

Dennis is quite a .... character. I mentioned his "notice me, notice me, notice ME!" attire at the mall. I have first hand knowledge that Dennis blew a total gasket when one of the Styx crew, someone with them from DAY ONE, who actually needed the job, went to work with Styx when they called him. Now Dennis had been working all along with his solo tour, as well as working on his opera Rumplestilts....I'm sorry, The Hunchback (yes, the Dennis DeYoung opera of The Hunchback). Anyway, this crew member got a phone call basically threatening to be cut off from all future employment if he took the job. The fact that he needed the employment didn't sway Dennis, or move him enough to offer employment.

I guess there must be something REALLY wrong with the Styx lights, because soon as Styx hit the road and were making money, Dennis most have found some hypo-allergenic lights or something cuz he went on the road himself. (I also knew John Curlewski, the guitarist before Tommy Shaw: he owned a studio in Chicago for many years, was a really sweet man...and he got a royal shafting when he left; kinda makes you think there really IS karma.)

Anyways...its fun knowing that no matter how much money is on the table, some folks just can't put their egos aside.

T

mate_stubb wrote:
Well, some folks just can't get past Dennis DeYoung's "wanna be Barry
Manilow writing for Broadway" thing.

For every "Light Up" or "Come Sail Away" or "Renegade" there's a
"Babe" or "Kilroy".

The VH1 "Behind the Music" shows pretty much stink these days,
showcasing rappers and others that I would contend don't actually
produce music at all, but that's another debate...

Anyway, if you ever get a chance to catch the one about Styx, drop
everything and watch it. Utter hilarity ensues. The conversation with
Tommy Shaw about having to play Kilroy in front of 10,000 drunk pissed
Texans is priceless, as well as the video footage of Ted Nugent and
Tommy mocking "Babe" onstage while in "Damn Yankees", Dennis's wife
boohooing about the disrespect he got from the others, and the band's
versus Dennis's take on his mysterious light allergy. Hee hee hee ...

Moe