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Hall of Famers to play Chevy
Ruth Porter of the Pointer Sisters, Peter Tork of the Monkees and the Chi-Lites are set to perform, among others.
YOUNGSTOWN — It’s all about the Harmony.
That’s the name of the award given to inductees in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The Harmy, as it’s affectionately called, will be given to 48 new members today, representing the classes of 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The private ceremony will be held this afternoon at Chevrolet Centre. Some of the more popular names include Tony Orlando and Dawn, Sly and the Family Stone, the Monkees, Kool and the Gang, Sam and Dave, America, Bread, the Byrds, the Moody Blues, Queen, the Shangri-Las, Simon & Garfunkel, the Chi-Lites, Fleetwood Mac, the Pointer Sisters and the Righteous Brothers.
Four straight days of concerts at the Chevy will follow the ceremony, beginning tonight. At least 10 acts will perform each night, including past and new inductees.
It is an event that has the potential to be a tourism windfall for the Mahoning Valley.
But Bob Crosby, president of the VGHF, is hoping for a late surge of ticket sales to ensure the concerts look as good as they sound.
Regardless of attendance, the concerts have already had an economic impact.
“The talent and crew alone are taking 1,500 hotel room nights in the area. Three hundred rooms a night for five nights,” said Crosby. “And that’s not counting people coming from out of town just to go to the shows.”
Tickets have been purchased by people in many states, including California, Minnesota, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Missouri, said Crosby.
The VGHF is also providing catered lunches and dinner for hundreds of people over the five days.
The musical acts perform for free, but Crosby said a good turnout is needed from local residents for the events to be a financial success.
“It really is a tourism project,” he said. “We need local support, but ultimately it will benefit the community.”
According to Crosby, the inductees are quite excited. “The Angels came in Tuesday, and they began rehearsing,” he said. “They haven’t performed together in 42 years.” Most of the inductees arrived Wednesday.
Each group will sing one song at the concerts, with some doing two. The musical lineups are impressive, but will appeal mainly to older audiences, admitted Crosby. “This is like Woodstock for some people,” he said.
The success of the concerts will go a long way toward helping the VGHF achieve its goals of renovating and reopening the 1,700-seat Columbia Theater in downtown Sharon, Pa., and the adjacent museum-restaurant-piano bar. DVDs and CDs of the concerts will be made and sold.
Even though the four concerts are in Youngstown, funding came from the state of Pennsylvania and Mercer County’s tourism bureau. “It was a tough sell for me to get that money,” said Crosby.
He was unsuccessful in getting local and state money from the Ohio side of the border. “Pennsylvania would like to see Ohio help, too,” he said.
The reason the VGHF is installing three classes this year is its Sharon properties have been undergoing renovations. The last induction concert was in 2005 in Wildwood, N.J., and the state of New Jersey helped fund it.
The hall did get good news recently from the state of Pennsylvania. More than $5 million in state money was earmarked for the VGHF, but was awaiting a match from private sources. Pennsylvania recently agreed to accept in-kind services donated to the hall from entertainers and others as a match, and the $5 million should be granted to the VGHF soon, said Crosby.