Tom Keifer “The Way Life Goes” !

I knew pretty quickly that moving to the land of music and sunshine was one of the best decisions I had ever made.  This thought was further cemented when I learned that the legendary Tom Keifer, lead singer and multi instrumentalist  of 80’s rock band Cinderella was scheduled to perform on my birthday, Saturday night April 14, at the world famous Whisky A Go Go, my new home away from home!  Most of you know how passionate I am about this wonderful genre we call Rock&Roll. Well, what you don’t know, and let me be the first to tell you, is that Tom Keifer now joins the coveted ranks of Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones to comprise the Rock&Roll Gymnast’s Top Five!

As I scanned the November 29, 2017 email newsletter from the ‘Whisky’, my eyes stopped dead in their tracks as I read “APR 14 Cinderella’s Tom Keifer”.  How could that not catch your attention?  I instantly bought a ticket and started to think about all those epic classics from the 80’s like “Nobody’s Fool”, “Don’t Know What You Got”, “Gypsy Road” and so many others.  The list of hits is long! And if you pay close attention, you will see that of the forty-three tracks Cinderella released across four albums (two of which earned 3X platinum certification and one platinum), you will see that not only is Tom Keifer the sole songwriter for all the single hit tracks, but he is the sole songwriter for all but four of all forty-three tracks, and for those four, he is a co-writer.  Do you have any idea how incredible that is?  It’s one thing to have presence on stage and extraordinary musical ability. It’s quite another to also have the gift of creating lyric and song to fill a person’s soul!  Of course this trend marches on in his new solo project release, where he is a writer or co-writer on all fourteen tracks.  

Following my concert ticket purchase, I immediately started following Tom Keifer on Twitter and set out to learn his new solo material from the “The Way Life Goes” album.  I went into iTunes and started listening to a few tracks. I immediately downloaded the entire album and proceeded to TomKeifer.com, where I purchased the Deluxe Edition “The Way Life Goes” fanpack.   Yes it was that great out of the gate, and of course devoted Rock&Roll fans simply cherish fanpacks!  In addition to the CD loaded with some riveting new material we’ll get to in a minute, there is a bonus DVD with a 30 minute documentary that brings you into the studio for an up close view of the actual production of the bonus tracks, produced by 3 time Grammy Award winning producer Vance Powell!  This includes a masterful cover performance of the Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends”.  And then to really knock it out of the park, Tom Keifer, in his infinite wisdom, brings in the incredibly talented Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, whose main musical influence is Keifer, to perform a simply epic duet of “Nobody’s Fool” that will bring you to your knees!

Now I was at a fever pitch and couldn’t wait for my birthday night to arrive!  Huge thank you to the Whisky owner for the lovely VIP booth and for all my friends who came to celebrate and watch this Rock&Roll legend, still rockin’ the stage at a very fit and young 57 years of age!  We were treated to a terrific mix of Cinderella classics including back to back “Don’t Know What You Got” right into “Nobody’s Fool”, with tears streaming down my face; to new releases “Solid Ground”, “It’s Not Enough”, and title cut “The Way Life Goes”. It was a full on rock explosion to a “packed to the rafters” sold out Whisky A Go Go!  I hope as Tom Keifer and his band continue to tour, we will be treated to live performances of the many more hit tracks on this epic new release, including “Ain’t That a Bitch”, “Ask Me Yesterday”, “Fool’s Paradise”, and “The Flower Song”.   “Yes of all the pretty flowers, baby I picked you!”

So there is one more point of “incredible” I need to share.  How many times have I used that word now?  I’m sure not enough!  In the lead up to this concert, I was trying to figure out how I had lost track of this multi platinum selling artist.  I did a little research and learned that in the early 90’s, Tom Keifer lost his voice. He went to many doctors over multiple years and finally learned that he had a vocal cord paresis, in layman’s terms, a partially paralyzed vocal cord.  This is a neurological condition for which there is no cure and he was told he would never sing again.  Determined to prove them wrong, he forged on in relentless pursuit of better options.  His determination paid off, thank goodness, and to this day, Tom Keifer has to do lengthy vocal exercises daily to train this partially paralyzed chord.  This is in addition to practicing piano and many different versions of guitars, writing songs, and raising a teenage son with musician wife and bandmate Savannah Snow!

Now you get a clear picture of  why Tom Keifer had made my “Top Five”.  Further, you should know that his performance Saturday night April 14 at the Whisky A Go Go was damn impressive!  And if that wasn’t enough, the performance this past Friday night, July 13 at the Pacific Amphitheatre was even better, accentuating with brilliant clarity, all those fine vocal curves he crafted back in the day.  There is no force on this planet that will tame the beast that lies inside of the incredible musical talent of Mr. Tom Keifer.  Bring it on baby and don’t ever look back !

I’ll leave you with this epic masterpiece.  Enjoy!

Tom Keifer Lzzy Hale Duet Nobody’s Fool

Cover Photo Credits: Tom Keifer VIP Meet&Greet and Soundcheck The Rose, Pasadena April 13, 2018