Only months ago, a guy in his 40's by the name of Tommy DeCarlo was stocking shelves at a Home Depot in North Carolina. A big fan of the band Boston, he was devastated by the news that Boston's lead singer Brad Delp had taken his own life. After some urging from his daughter, Tommy (who had never even been in a band in his life he told me during his chat with me on the air) posted a tribute to Brad on MySpace. The wife of Tom Scholz of Boston stumbled across it and excitedly summoned her husband. Tom had to be convinced that it was not some fan posting bootleg recordings of Brad Delp online. Once convinced by his wife, he immediately contacted Tommy and invited him to be a part of the tribute show Tom was planning for Brad. After seeing Tommy sing live at the tribute, Tom Scholz was so impressed he asked Tommy to join the band on lead vocals, sitting in for his hero Brad Delp for the upcoming tour! Fast forward several months and the Boston/Tommy DeCarlo cinderella story pulled into the Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island in a double-bill with Styx this past week. The place was packed and Tommy (along with some help from Michael Sweet of Stryper) proceeded to blow away the now slack-jawed audience with his eery ability to replicate Brad Delp's vocals, just as he had done with Tom Scholz previously. Tommy doesn't have the self-confident swagger of a rock star quite yet, but his gleeful "can you believe this?!?" delivery was exceptionally charming and endearing. Who couldn't imagine themselves in his place thinking and feeling exactly the same way? What a story!

(Check out Tommy DeCarlo's MySpace page for yourself here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=150718048)

(See Tommy DeCarlo perform "More Than A Feeling" with Boston live at Charter One Pavilion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF4y30hhsSQ)

As for Styx? What can you say, other than there's a very good reason why they are Chicago's best (and best selling) rock export ever. Never anything short of stellar, this show easily lived up to their legend.

(See Styx perform "Lorelei" live at Charter One pavilion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcBgKhNDGgs)

(See Styx perform "Suite Madame Blue" live at Charter One Pavilion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh6NOwzIatE)

Special thanks to all the Loyal Loopers who attended and once again came by to say hello and participate in the live broadcast of my show from the venue. Don't forget to share your pictures from the Boston/Styx show at www.wlup.com for all to see.