Last night All Music Magazine extended the weekend coverage of Central Florida’s talented local bands. On Friday, October 30, 2020, Mark Horan of MarkHoran.Pictures LLC was sent out to Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida to report on the cover band, Occasional Astronauts. Old Town’s covered stage is located outdoors in the center of the complex. It was a perfect night with clear skies, one day before a full moon, and temperatures in the mid 70’s. Old Town was alive, and people were out in groves.
I arrived at around 7:45pm, a bit late as an accident on the main roadway caused me to take an alternate route. The show started at 7:00pm, and when I arrived, the band was on break and a dance company was performing “Triller” by Michael Jackson in front of the stage. It seemed weird, but it was actually a night before All Hallows Eve. The dancers finished. The band resumed for three songs before taking their scheduled break at around 8:15pm. The dancers came back at 9:05pm for their 10 minute program, and the band resumed the show at 9:15pm.
Old Town is a conglomeration of shops, restaurants, rollercoasters, carnival rides, and live performances. This Friday night they also hosted a car show with a rolling car parade. As you can surmise, there is a lot happening every minute. The crowd is fluid and hard to keep in one location. I felt sorry for the band as the audience was there one minute and gone the next. The Occasional Astronauts were troopers and played on amidst the stop and go schedule and a disappearing crowd.
Occasional Astronauts play a mix of rock-n-roll classics from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cheap Trick, and The J Geils Band. Their set is great dance music, I personally feel the dance floor would have been filled in other circumstances. The Occasional Astronauts are seasoned musicians as Billy Ashbaugh, percussionist was actually the drummer on stage when The Moody Blues were entered into The Rock-N-Roll Hall Of Fame. He also toured with Pat Benatar. Kirk McKim was also in The Pat Travers Band for 10 years and is currently in Billy Bob Thornton‘s band The Box Masters!
Get out and support this band if they are at a venue near you. To check their schedule visit https://allmusicmagazine.com/shows/
Band:
Rick Jorgensen – Bass Guitar/Vocals
Kenny Martin – Vocals/Guitar
Billy Ashbaugh – Drums/Percussion
Kirk McKim – Guitar/Vocals
Set 1:
- Rebel Yell
- 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
- Wagon Wheel
- Sharp Dressed Man
- Jet Airliner
- Easy
- Summer of 69
- Midnight Rider
- Santeria
- I Don’t Wanna Be
- I Want You To Want Me
- Thriller (5 min break)
- Hard to Handle
- Rocket Man
- I Know A Little
- Crazy Little Bohemian
Set 2:
- Panama
- Rocking into The Night
- Chicken Fried
- Folsom Prison Blues
- All the Small Things
- Let’s Stay Together
- Fly Like an Eagle/Wayward Son
- Thriller (5 min break)
- Centerfold
- Funky Medley
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Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
