Voices Rocking and Rolling in "Rolling Stone"

"The Voices" and Rockforever.com have now been included in their second feature in "Rolling Stone" Magazine in the past month. The news coverage comes as the website and its member Artists prepare to announce a variety of strategic alliances and first quarter tour dates.

The first "Rolling Stone" reference appeared in the December 14 - 21, 2000 issue in a piece entitled "Rock's Million Dollar Bash." The premise of the story is the emerging popularity of major rock acts as entertainment at corporate meetings and events. What was once perceived as a "hack's" gig by contemporary performers, "corporate gigs" are now eagerly sought by stars as diverse as Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart according to "Rolling Stone."

Author Fred Goodman noted that there is "no downside to these gigs, pointing out that the performers are treated extremely well... the gigs are not meant as endorsements... some artists are making corporate gigs an integral part of their business plan."

Enter the "Voices" and Rockforever, according to Goodman. He writes that "one has even gone further. The Voices of Classic Rock... .was assembled two years ago... and it will play fifty to sixty corporate shows this year."

"Our guys interact," says Charlie Schmitt who put together the group, "We have a standard policy of opening the dressing room after shows. You can come back and take all of the pictures you want. Additionally many of the musicians, including (Mickey) Thomas and (John) Cafferty are avid golfers and are more than happy to play foursomes with the clients or their guests."

"I always thought that these gigs would somehow be different," noted John Cafferty in the piece, "but I look out and it's the same people who came to hear us in the bars in the seventies and in concert halls in the Eighties. These are company outings, but it's still a chance to get out, and the audience is just like it always was. They're out there dancing."

"Schmitt is also using the corporate gigs to launch the group as a recording act," the piece continued. "The band raised venture capital and started it's own digital label, Rockforever.com."

Indeed, it was Rockforever's digital offerings that generated the site's second mention in the current issue of "Rolling Stone" (February 1, 2001), in its "Downloads... The Best Music That's Only on the Web" column.

In fact, Richard Abowitz concludes his column with a reference to Rockforever: "Classic Rock site rockforever.com has a number of free downloads from The Voices of Classic Rock touring ensemble, mostly including the likes of Mickey Thomas and Joe Lynn Turner. But one track worth hearing features Benjamin Orr onstage in Paris doing 'Just What I Needed' during one of his final performances before his death on October 3."

According to Rockforever GM Schmitt, "together these two stories in 'Rolling Stone' provide a unique window into the future of our site and The Voices. Live Performances give us a special opportunity to record and merchandise the great sounds of these wonderful talents - both their hits and their new works. And the Rockforever.com, gives us the opportunity to translate the excitement of that music and the live show experience to fans across the world."

"But perhaps JC (John Cafferty) put it best in the December "Rolling Stone" story, continued Schmitt. "We were playing golf at this beautiful course overlooking the ocean in Hawaii," says Cafferty, "and I said to Mickey Thomas 'You know, when we had songs in the Top Ten, I don't remember it being any better than this.'"