LIVE FROM JACKSONVILLE! with Amadeus
99.9 Gator Country morning show host Amadeus shares stories that did not make it on the air, and he takes a deeper dive into those that did make the cut. Fans of Your Hometown Morning Show will enjoy a more behind the scenes look at what goes into the making of a country radio morning show. Listen daily for this PG-13 version of the top stories making pop culture headlines, artist interviews, and much , much more.
LIVE FROM JACKSONVILLE! with Amadeus
Your July Entertainment Options Include The Pure Prairie League Returns and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Fresh from a whirlwind June that included working a country music festival, coordinating a car giveaway, and catching Broadway shows in New York, Amadeus returns with a packed lineup of Jacksonville's hottest entertainment options for July and beyond.
Despite the traditional summer slowdown, Jacksonville's venues are delivering quality events across genres. Tribute band lovers can catch Van Halen and Led Zeppelin experiences at FIVE in Riverside, while the St. Augustine Amphitheater welcomes Counting Crows and the Goo Goo Dolls. Daily's Place hosts Big Time Rush followed by two consecutive nights of Shania Twain, offering country fans a chance to see a legendary performer. Looking ahead to August, William Shatner's appearance at the Thrasher Horn Center combines a screening of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" with live commentary from Captain Kirk himself.
The highlight of this episode comes through an exclusive conversation with Mike Reilly of Pure Prairie League, who shares fascinating stories about the band's history – including how he personally invited a 17-year-old Vince Gill to join after seeing him perform as an opening act. Reilly reveals the origin story behind their iconic "Sad Luke" album cover artwork and drops exciting news about potentially recording a live album at Jacksonville's Florida Theatre. The band appears at that very venue on July 20th as part of the Yacht Rock Summer Tour alongside Firefall and Pablo Cruz.
Theater enthusiasts won't want to miss "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Alhambra Theater and Dining, running through August 17th. Director Shain Stroff describes the production's unique immersive approach, transforming the venue into Willy Wonka's factory and casting actual children (rather than young adults) as the golden ticket winners, bringing authentic youthful energy to this beloved story.
Subscribe now to stay connected with Jacksonville's entertainment scene and be the first to hear exclusive artist interviews and performance updates throughout the summer!
Welcome to another episode of Live from Jacksonville. I'm your host, amadeus. It's been so long I feel like I have to reintroduce myself. I haven't put out a podcast since June 5th.
Speaker 1:June was incredibly busy for me at work. We had this country music fest at the Jacksonville Beach Seawalk Pavilion, we had this car giveaway with the radio stations that I work with, and then I flew to New York for five days to see a show. I actually went to see Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club with Orville Peck. You may know the country singer and I was super excited to see him live, because I've never seen him and he wears a mask on stage, but he wasn't wearing it for Cabaret. I get up there. I'm having a great time. It's the last night that I'm in New York and we go to the show and as we're standing in line, an usher comes out to let us know that Orville Peck will not be in the show tonight. So I'm a little bitter right now. Orville, I will still see you, I'm still a fan, but I really wanted to see Orville in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. I did get to see Bernadette Peters, though, this legendary Broadway star. We went and saw Old Friends, which is a show she's been in for a couple of years, and when I was up there it was the last weekend of that show's run, so I'm really thankful that I went up and got to see Old Friends, and the cabaret was really really good. It starred in Orville's Place someone from RuPaul's Drag Race, which I don't watch, but it's someone called Marsha, marsha Marsha. If you know who that person is, they were really really great.
Speaker 1:But anyway, let's get on to what's happening in July here in Jacksonville. It's kind of a slow month. As I was looking at everything coming in, here's a quick rundown. If you're a fan of tribute bands, like I am, five in Riverside has a couple of cool shows coming in July that you may want to check out. 84 is a Van Halen tribute band, obviously named their album 1984. They'll be at Five on Friday, july 11th. The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience will be at Five on Thursday, july 24th. It's weird.
Speaker 1:I met this guy at the airport in Jacksonville on my way out of town. A little bit older than me but he's like oh, I've seen you at the Florida Theater before and we got to talking about concerts and he said he's not a fan of tribute bands, where I am especially of an artist that is no longer with us, just to celebrate that artist's music. It's kind of fun with fellow fans. So those shows are coming to 5 in Riverside 5jackscom. For details and to get tickets let's go down to the St Augustine Amphitheater. They have the Counting Crows the Complete Suites Tour coming on Saturday, july 19th. Counting Crows is one of my all-time favorite bands. I've seen them so many times. They're never a letdown. If you're a fan, don't miss them. If you've never seen them before, I'd say definitely go check them out.
Speaker 1:And Goo Goo Dolls Summer Anthem Tours hits the Amp on Wednesday July 23rd. The website for tickets for both those shows, theampcom. Daily's Place, has Big Time Rush on Tuesday July 15th and Shania Twain will be at Daily's for two shows, tuesday July 29th and Wednesday July 30th. Tickets for Big Time Rush and both those Shania shows are available at dailiesplacecom. Hey, also, don't forget, william Shatner will be live on stage at the Thrasher Horn Center on Sunday August 3rd. I know that's not July, but I want to let you know because tickets are starting to pick up. There'll be a screening of Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan, and then William Shatner will be talking about that movie and, I think, picking questions too. Select seats are still available THCenterorg. I cannot wait for that. I hope I'm able to make that show.
Speaker 1:The Florida Theater they are busy as always in July. Among some of the other shows and events coming is Landslide, a tribute to Fleetwood Mac, performed by the Jacksonville Rock Orchestra. That show's on Friday, july 11th. Gladys Knight is at the Florida Theater on Tuesday, july 15th. Classic Albums Live perform Leonard Skinnerd, pronounced Leonard Skinnerd. That's Friday, july 18th. If you know that album, you know what I'm talking about. Dave Coz and Friends Summer Horns 2025 comes to the Florida Theater on Saturday, july 19th. I got to be honest, I didn't know. Dave toured in the summer. I've only seen him around the holidays, and the Yacht Rock Summer Tour hits the Florida Theater on Sunday, july 20th, featuring Fireball. I had a chance to speak with Mike Riley from the Pure Prairie League a couple of weeks ago. Here's a little bit of our conversation. Pure Prairie League's coming to the Florida Theater on July 20th. Have you played this venue before?
Speaker 2:Every year almost for the last 15 years.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed that I asked that question. I did not know that. But the Yacht Rock Tour, though, is not like a yearly thing, is it?
Speaker 2:No, it's not. It's not. It's funny thing is that we've played like the last few years with Firefall and with Atlanta Rhythm Section or Orleans. We used to do it with Poco, so you know it's. But now that I think Orleans is on the bill, I think they're calling it Yacht Rock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Pablo Cruz as well.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right. That's right, that's going to be fun.
Speaker 1:It's funny because growing up listening to well, like Pure Prairie League or some of these other artists, yacht Rock, wasn't even a thing yet. But now, looking at these groups together, it's so much fun to go to these shows.
Speaker 2:Somebody needed to, you know, come up with a term to fit today's lexicon. And you know, country Rock wasn't ever a thing until you know it took hold in the early 70s. I think it's interesting because you know I mean Pablo Cruz is, I consider him basically an R&B band. Sort of it's funny because in the early that's me and I'm old school, so you know.
Speaker 1:I'm the same way and when I think about Pure Prairie League as a kid listening to that music, I kind of lump it in there with the Eagles. It was just this kind of rock slash, country Americana storytelling, just great music.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think country rock was Americana before somebody came up with that term.
Speaker 1:I agree. There's this new kid on the scene named Max McNown. I'm not sure if you've heard of him. I saw him in concert. I think he's like 24 years old. On Sunday night I saw him and I'm like this is like watching like the 70s Americana, like all over again. This kid's kind of like reviving that sound for what I would call a young country audience right now. But country is so spread out right now.
Speaker 2:Well, I think whoever came up with the term Americana, you know, wanted to make sure that he could include, or they could include, you know, a broader audience, not just young country fans, but also the old school, you know, hat country, and you know, in the bro country it's once again, it's one of those catch all phrases that seem to, you know, fit a whole bunch of categories, and so I think it's, you know, as far as I'm concerned, it's a matter of convenience, but hey, I wish I'd come up with it.
Speaker 1:Exactly so in one of the interviews I was watching you do. Is it true that you're the one that invited Vince Gill to be a part of the band back in the day?
Speaker 2:Yes, that's correct. Vince had opened up a show for us in Oklahoma City, which was his hometown, in 1976. I think he was 17 years old.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I was so impressed by his playing and his vocals that I asked him to come up and sit in with us. So he played three or four songs on fiddle and guitar and I think he even played mandolin on one song. And I asked him if he wanted to join the band. He said no man, I'm playing bluegrass. But two years later we were auditioning for lead guitar players, singers, songwriters in Los Angeles and Vince showed up with a buddy of his who didn't really cut the mustard, as they used to say. But you know, I asked Vince. I said hey, we're done for the evening. Do you want to stick around and jam?
Speaker 2:for a little, while he says I got my guitar in the car and I'll be right back. We played for four hours.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And then I said now, do you want to join the band? He said, yes, I do.
Speaker 1:That's a great story. I love that. I just saw him here in Jacksonville with the Eagles Gosh maybe it's been a year now, you know doing the Glenn Frey stuff. Sure, he's still as phenomenal as ever.
Speaker 2:Well, actually now I think he's finally doing the Vince Gill thing. I understand and I completely dig why Henley asked him to join the band, but you know, I mean, I don't think it would be the Eagles these days without Vince.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're absolutely right, Even though Glenn's son also tours with them and does some stuff with them. But Vince has such a great sound. Can you tell me a little bit about Sad Luke, the guy on the cover of the Pure Prairie League albums?
Speaker 2:That was Rockwell's first and most famous and most used model. His name was James Kevin Van Brunt and that first cover that we used from the Saturday Evening Post was an actual picture that Rockwell took of him at his house when he went out to visit him and you know he was sort of reminiscing about his wife who had passed away and so he had that Dreams of Long Ago record from Enrico Caruso and he was dressed up in his old cowboy regalia and just sort of reminiscing. And you know, when we came across that picture we said, well, there we go. I mean, you know, now we have a. You know we've got the name, now we need the logo. And we got it.
Speaker 1:It was just you know it was kismet we we were lucky it was branding, before that was ever a term. It's very, very cool, like I said when I was a kid, you know like my older cousins had like pure prairie league albums and I never really knew that character or the whole meaning behind it.
Speaker 2:But now, going back and looking back, it's very, very cool to discover and learn that tell us about the new album the album came out of an idea from our bass player and guitar player and keyboard player who wanted to do an LP I mean an EP because we hadn't had a product out since All in Good Time in 2005. And then I went to hell with that. Let's just do a full album, because I had some suggestions and Jeff the guitar player, jeff Z, got it out right before Christmas. You know, it's just one of those things. It's a pure Prairie League album from start to finish and cover to cover. Actually, to tell you the truth, without bragging, I couldn't be prouder.
Speaker 1:I love that you did one week a month for 12 months. That's a really interesting way to attack it.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a pretty strange way to go about things, but uh, but you know, we were on the road and we were working and, uh, you know, everybody else has, you know, families and things to do, and so that's just. It seemed to work out best for us and the studio that we worked in was very comfortable and the engineer is a friend of ours. So we just had, uh, you know, it was an actually an easy process. We were prepared when we went in was actually an easy process. We were prepared when we went in, you know, to do what we were going to do. And then, you know, there was a lot of improvisation going on in the studio and we got all that live. So it's a live feeling album, but it's a great sounding album.
Speaker 1:That's where you have the most fun, isn't it that improvisation?
Speaker 2:Well, absolutely, you know I mean that's. You know the studio is supposed to be a creative environment and that you know that gives everybody a chance to stretch. And so, even though we have an arrangement or a framework, you know you got to rely on your players to do what they do. And you know I just produced this album. I didn't play or sing on it, you know, it was just a joy to produce.
Speaker 1:Could there be another album in the works?
Speaker 2:Well, you should mention that. Yeah, we're thinking about it because we've got a bunch of new songs, but you know I'm thinking about doing a live record because it's been geez what almost 50 years since we did the last live record.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe a live record with a bunch of the old songs that we're doing, and you know some new songs and then some brand new songs. So I guess you could call this a leaked news item.
Speaker 1:First, I think Pure Prairie League live at the Florida Theater would be a great name for an album.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you what I'll talk to Mike and the guys down there and maybe in the springtime we can come down there and rent the place out and fill it with fans, have some dinner at BB's Bistro and then go out there and do a live record and chill it. You know Jacksonville, don't you? Oh yeah, oh yeah, it was one of our favorite towns and you know we're a fixture at Beebe's.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome. I love that. So you know what an amazing venue that would be for a live album.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. It's a gorgeous theater and the staff there and the folks there, I mean, and the audiences are just amazing. So I think it would be a perfect idea.
Speaker 1:I'm going to talk to Numa. You talk to your people. We'll make this happen.
Speaker 2:You got, it, you got it, I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:The Yacht Rock Summer Tour, featuring Firefall, pablo Cruz and, of course, pure Prairie League, will be at the Florida Theater on July 20th. We look so forward to seeing you. Tickets are on sale at floridatheatercom. Mike, thank you so much for your time today. It's really been a pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for having me on. I'm Adais Once again. We're, of course, looking forward to seeing all our friends in Jacksonville, and you know we can't wait to get there. It's going to be a barn burn. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1:If you see someone stalking you at BB's, that might or might not be me.
Speaker 2:Well, that's all right, Just stalk away pal.
Speaker 1:Thanks, mike. Have a great day. Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. Okay, so now the cat's out of the bag. We're going to work on a live album at the Florida Theater possibly. I hope that really happens Again. Floridatheatercom for all the information on those shows and more. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the new musical, is currently running at Alhambra Theater and Dining through August 17th. Before the show started a couple of weeks ago, director Shane Strauff took a few minutes during rehearsal to give us a call and talk about this family-friendly show. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is running through August 17th at Alhambra Theater and Dining. Tell us about the show.
Speaker 3:It's a great, great spin on the original tale. It's a lot like the original movie, the Gene Wilder movie. There are a few differences. Each contestant child contestant basically gets their own song to introduce their golden ticket kind of winning moment and then in the second act, as each contestant kind of gets eliminated, they also get their own Oompa Loompa version of their song. And so each kid has its kind of like its own genre of songs that they go out on. And it's just a really really fun, very imaginative new version of this show. It's very sweet, it's very funny and kind of a tearjerker as well. So it's got kind of everything in it. It's a really really great, fun family show for the summer.
Speaker 1:What's the age group of the kids that will be performing?
Speaker 3:I think our youngest is nine years old and our oldest is 16.
Speaker 1:Right in that pocket of what we remember as kids.
Speaker 3:Yes, the Broadway show and subsequent touring productions cast young adults in these roles and it just doesn't have the same bite as you want. You need the energy and you need all of that from the kids. You know real kids. Bring that to the show, which has been so much fun to work with them on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the reason I ask is I think I was seeing a performance that may have been on one of the Tony Awards or something and I remember thinking those look like adults, like little adults.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they cast the kids in the Broadway show and the national tours as young young adults because the music in the show show and the national tours as young young adults because the music in the show is very demanding.
Speaker 1:Very, very demanding.
Speaker 3:Now I was able to search the country and find kids who can sing the material and can sing it very well, so we brought them in for it.
Speaker 1:So it's not just local kids.
Speaker 3:It's a healthy mixture. There's a family from Tampa that's in the show brother and sister I've worked with them before and then the rest are local people.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's very cool.
Speaker 3:And then about half the cast is from New York and surrounding areas.
Speaker 1:I know I've seen some shows, like recently I saw the MJ Live show and the little boys that play Michael and the young Jackson 5s. You're right, you just can't replace that innocence of seeing those young kids perform like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so those two boys in that show were just phenomenal, weren't they? That whole show was amazing. I saw MJ as well. It was just really, really great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was great, it was awesome. Well, we're really looking forward. I've never seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory live and I'm really looking forward to seeing a cool stage production of that show and the Al Hammer Dinner Theater. Like, where else would you want to go?
Speaker 3:Right, and what I kind of do with my shows is I try to make them immersive. So what I've done with this show is I've basically created the inside of the theater as the factory in the second act. So as they're traveling through the factory, sometimes they will walk through the audience to a different location of the factory. So it's going to feel very immersive. It should be really, really fun for all of the audience, kids and adults alike.
Speaker 1:Oh, that sounds like a blast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And I'll tell you what the Oompa Loompas in this show, the way they've written in the Oompa Loompas and their part of the show in the second act is just so, so well done. It's so funny. It is so funny.
Speaker 1:Awesome, I can't wait. Tickets are available at alhambrajaxcom. Shane. Thank you so much for your time. I know how busy you are this week.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1:That's it for this episode. Thanks so much for tuning in. I promise not to go more than 30 days again without letting you know what's happening live from Jacksonville.