#gregory finsley | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hsj-chronicle · 3 years

Photo

HHT ANNOUNCES RETURN OF QUEEN NATION FOR 100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY The Historic Hemet Theatre has announced a special encore performance of the nation’s #1 tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen – to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Hemet’s vintage movie house. Queen Nation performed their wildly popular tribute here in 2017 and 2018, with sold out audiences and rave reviews. Since then, the band’s popularity has grown so high that concert dates have become increasingly difficult to get – and expensive. On Saturday November 20th, HHT will use the occasion of its 100th anniversary to host a special return engagement of Queen Nation. Tickets for this special event will be $35 per person and are expected to sell out quickly (the first night tickets were available, over 50 were sold). No one captures the energy and showmanship of Freddy Mercury like Gregory Finsley, lead singer for Queen Nation. Finsley and the band recreate the image, sound, and stage persona of vintage Queen. Fans will be taken on a retrospective journey… We Will Rock You… Bohemian Rhapsody… We Are The Champions… Crazy Little Thing Called Love… You’re My Best Friend… Another One Bites The Dust… and so many more classic hits. This show is one that will be talked about for a long time... Read more by clicking the link in the bio and search for (RETURN OF QUEEN) — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3klTeUo

#Instagram #IFTTT

0 notes

dankusner · 6 years

Photo

life+style music

KING OF QUEEN

Gregory Finsley keeps Freddie Mercury’s spirit alive and well with Queen for a Day. But the phenomenal Dallas tribute band is calling it quits

By Daniel A. Kusner — Life+Style Editor

Dallas is losing a remarkable cultural asset, since Saturday marks Queen for a Day’s last performance.

And apparently, our gay community missed out.

A lack of quality-paying gigs, differences about the group’s direction and other career commitments has led singer Gregory Finsley to call it quits.

It was a bitter decision.

“We could have done much more damage, made a lot more money and played a lot of other places. Unfortunately, because everyone else is so tied down with families and other career commitments. There’s no way we could have done it. It really pisses me off,” Finsley says.

When it comes to the tribute band genre, Queen for a Day is arguably one of the best. There was no room for mediocrity in Freddie Mercury’s super-group. And to emulate the band’s magic is no easy task.

Queen was pompous. Cheesily overdriven. Faux-operatic. Full of hot air. And that’s why they were so magnificent.

Finsley’s lifelong dream was to be just like Freddie Mercury.

At 12, he attended Queen’s “News of the World” tour on Dec. 10, 1977 at the Tarrant County Convention Center.

His world took shape as he watched Mercury from the lower balcony off stage left.

“It blew my mind — my first concert ever. I had already been playing drums. I looked at Freddie and Roger [Taylor, drummer] and decided that’s exactly what I want to do,” Finsley remembers.

Through high school, Finsley stuck with drums. He even dabbled in bisexuality. But he was a full-on Queen addict and constantly sang his heart out to Mercury’s compositions. The flamboyant rock god had a profound influence.

“I think Freddie caused me to be a little braver, livelier, more daring. Eventually people would say, ‘You sound just like that dude from Queen,”’ he explains. “By listening to all the songs over and over, it was like brainwashing. I emulated all those inflections that Freddie gave off.”

Finsley learned piano and became an accomplished signer, performer and drum teacher. He formed with various groups, but didn’t delve into the Queen catalog until fairly recently.

A few years ago, while living in New Orleans and playing with a band on Bourbon Street, Finsley rocked the house with a cover version of “Tie Your Mother Down,” a spot-on crowd pleaser.

In December 2001. he returned to Dallas and was working as a salesman at Brook Mays Music Co. Co-worker Brian Harris overheard Finsley at the piano performing a rendition of “Somebody to Love.”

A light bulb went off. Queen for a Day was born.

It takes a lot of work to nail Queen’s over-reaching pastiche rock. Finsley and Harris (a supreme guitarist) rounded up a tight rhythm section — drummer Alan Mouradian and bassist Jimmy Cleaver. This talented foursome could handle the complex arrangements and intricate hooks.

You can’t have Queen without the charisma of Freddie Mercury. And you can’t be Freddie “the entertainer” (who had an easily forgettable career as a solo artist) without the balls-to-the-wall musicianship of Queen.

Seb Hunter, author of “Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addicf ’ (Harper Collins, 2004), brilliantly summed up Queen’s essence in a recent e-mail.

“The usual rock star ‘credibility trappings’ didn’t apply.

“Freddie didn’t care what people thought of him. So he was free to take his vaudeville vision as far as he could — which ended up being rather a long way!

“He was also lucky in that the rest of the band were able to act as his ‘foil.’

“They supplied the traditional meat and potatoes while Freddie whirled and danced over the top of it.

“The po-faced seriousness of the rest of the band served as both a counterweight to Freddie’s outrageousness as well as a solid musical platform.

“Their ‘straightness’ was also handy in that it deflected a significant amount of Freddie’s natural ‘gayness,’ making it acceptable for your average homophobic rock fan to like the band.”

Like contact sports, rock music is astoundingly conservative. In their day, Queen earned its stripes as a respected rock group. And anti-gay fans simply overlooked Mercury’s macho flamboyance.

Finsley confirms that only Freddie Mercury can get away with his brand of absurd, high camp in the face of serious rock.

When Queen for a Day started to take shape, “I got ecstatic. Ideas started flowing about songs we could play. But a lot of those got turned down by Brian [Harris] because he thought they were ‘too gay,”’ Finsley explains. “And of course that was head-butt city right there.”

Harris’ vision was to only cull songs from a portion of group’s catalog: 1973-1981.

“But Queen is not just one period. There’s 25 years of material,” Finsley says.

So a dream come true is coming to an end.

Finsley is moving back to New Orleans in less than two weeks.

Queen for a Day’s rare performances are usually packed with area musicians who have memorized every hardcore note in the Queen catalog.

Finsley says the gay community never embraced Queen for a Day. Saturday will probably be the last time to do so.

Sept. 4. at 10:30p.m. Club Dad, 2720 Elm St. 214-744-3232.

PAGE 32 dallasvoice.com 9.03.04

#freddie mercury #seb hunter #gregory finsley #dankusner #news of the world

0 notes