With hits like "How Much I Feel," "You're The Only Woman," and "Biggest Part of Me," Ambrosia attracted the K-Tel crowd and more Wednesday night at its River Rhythms show in Pere Marquette Park.
Swaying was the move of choice as the crowd enjoyed the perfect weather and adult contemporary classics that today are only found on late night FM radio, in Kasey Kasem 8-track player and, thankfully, in downtown Milwaukee.
Ambrosia was and is really no different than several other bands that you've probably forgotten like Poco, Firefall and America. The music is always accessible and melodic. You know, middle-of-the-road, vanilla rock. Nice songs that local dancers "Red and Fred" enjoyed moving to all night long.
The kitsch factor and large pockets of rabid fans with Ambrosia albums in hand helped the five-piece incarnation of the band bust a move on the River Rhythms stages. Lead singer and bass player Joe Puerta, who has been living in Milwaukee for more than 10 years, felt at home with his old band mates. He and second front man Shem spun stories in between tunes and recalled their hay day.
Puerta, who has worked with Bruce Hornsby and Burt Bacharach and now does a lot of production work, has a charming demeanor that makes him the perfect leader of the band.
Tunes like "Holdin' on to Yesterday," "Biggest Part of Me," and the encore cover of the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" made the crowd collectively gasp "oh yeah, I remember that one" and for a brief moment, long for the old 8-track or cassette player.
River Rhythms, downtown's fasting growing music festival, continues next Wed., July 23 with locals Stephanie Dosen and Goran Kralj of The Gufs. The free show begins at 6:30 p.m.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
