Foghat (“Slow Ride”), The Jets (“Crush on You”) and Mitch Ryder (“Devil with a Blue Dress On”) will round out five Friday performances in July by legendary bands during Seminole Casino Coconut Creek’s “Biggest Party Month of the Century.”
As previously announced, Otis Day & The Knights (“Shout”) and John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band (“On The Darkside”) are also scheduled to appear in the casino’s Nectar lounge at 10 p.m. with mash up DJs beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30, standing room only, available through www.brownpapertickets.com and the casino’s cashier’s cage.
July 1 Otis Day & The Knights
July 8 John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band
July 15 Foghat
July 22 The Jets
July 29 Mitch Ryder
All month long the party will be sponsored by Coors Light and Tito’s Vodka. Twenty four-ounce Coors Light beers will be $2 and Tito’s Vodka doubles will be served for $5.
But the partying won’t stop on Friday nights in July. Every Saturday night (remember, that’s five nights in July) in Nectar the best local bands will play for free from 9:30 – 12 a.m. in-between DJs playing your favorite music at 7 p.m. and 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. The Nectar lounge VIP area will offer an open bar and unlimited hors d’oeuvres from 9 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. on Saturdays for only $50.
Otis Day & The Knights was formed as a fictional band for the movie National Lampoon’s Animal House. In honor of the famous “Toga, Toga, Toga” scene, anyone wearing a toga from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. in Nectar lounge will receive free drinks (purchase of concert ticket required.) They’ve been performing ever since, living up to their claim of being “the number one party band in America,” that inspires dancing and good times with their treatment of late ’50s and early ’60s R&B and rock. Songs for which they are best known are their versions of “Shout” and “Shama Lama Ding Dong.” 2011 is the 30th anniversary of Animal House and the band is touring extensively throughout the country in support of their latest album, Shout!
Originally named Beaver Brown in the early 1970s, John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band achieved their greatest success with Cafferty’s contribution as the writer, performer and recording artist for the 1983 movie Eddie and the Cruisers soundtrack. The album reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart and produced a number seven single: “On the Dark Side” on the Billboard Hot 100 charts; it also hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for five full weeks. Their subsequent 1985 album Tough All Over made the top 50. Songwriter and band leader Cafferty’s “Heart’s on Fire” was featured in the Rocky IV movie. Just a few other songs they are well-known for include “Tender Years” (1984), “C.I.T.Y.,” “Small Town Girl,” (1985), and “Pride and Passion: (1989).
The British blues/boogie/hard rock band, Foghat, an offshoot of Savoy Brown, had numerous gold albums and two platinum records displaying straight-ahead three-chord electric guitar and slide guitar romps led by gutsy singing. The group has continued touring since the 1970s. Their first album, Foghat, released in the summer of 1972, became an album rock hit; a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You” making it to the singles charts. For their next album, they stayed with their formula and didn’t even change the album title. It was distinguished by a picture of a rock and a roll on the cover and it earned them their first gold record. Their next six albums – Energized (1974), Rock and Roll Outlaws (1974), Fool for the City (1975), Night Shift (1976), Foghat Live (1977), and Stone Blue (1978) – were best-sellers with all going at least gold. “Slow Ride,” taken from Fool for the City, was their biggest single, peaking at number 20. Foghat Live was their biggest album, selling over two million copies.
The Jets formed in 1985 as a Mormon family band from Minneapolis, recording Latin freestyle, pop rock, dance pop, R&B, and in more recent years, gospel music. Their first album, The Jets, went platinum and their 1987 album, Magic, went gold. They had a number of Billboard Hot 100 hits, including the five top 10 singles, “Crush on You,” You Got it All,” “Cross My Broken Heart,” Rocket 2 U” and “Make It Real.” “You Got it All” and “Make it Real” were number one hits on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, and the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Rocket 2 U” in 1988. They also appeared on numerous movie soundtracks. In April
2010, all except one brother reunited at the State Theatre in Minneapolis in what was billed as their 25th Anniversary Reunion Show.
Mitch Ryder is a legendary Michigan singer who fronted The Detroit Wheels in the mid-to-late 1960s with soul music-influenced top 10 hits like “Devil with a Blue Dress On,” “Sock it to Me Baby,” and “Jenny Take a Ride.” Born William S. Levise, Jr, Ryder influenced blue collar rock artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, and Ted Nugent. Recording six albums from 1966 through 1968, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005, and the singer was inducted again in 2009 in recognition of his long (more than 20 albums) subsequent career as a solo artist.
Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Seminole Casino Coconut Creek offers more than 1,700 gaming machines including Las Vegas-style slots: Playboy, Carnival of Mystery, Golden Monkey, Millionaire Sevens, Mayan Riches and Lion Dance, wide area progressive slot machines: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Dirty Harry, Time Machine, and Monopoly, and new theme games: Star Trek, Dean Martin, Hot Hot Penny, and Reel ‘Em In.
The casino also features non-stop action in its smoke-free Poker Room upstairs for separate gaming pleasure, with a wide array of tournaments for all types of players. Live games include Texas Hold ’em, 7-Card Stud, and Omaha tournaments from $85 to $1,050. In December 2010, the casino added The Site, its newest building offering 400-plus gaming positions, 70 new blackjack seats, a non-smoking gambling area, a new restaurant, The Whistle Stop and the Wrecking Bar. The Site derives its name from the facility’s overall theme – that of a construction site – complete with an actual lunch wagon in its restaurant. In 2007, Seminole Casino Coconut Creek went under a $32 million expansion which included the addition of a valet porte cochere entrance offering direct access to the new 6,000 square foot Fresh Harvest restaurant, Nectar ultra-lounge, a new Players Club, and additional casino space. The casino also offers the Sunset Grill, located in an outdoor traditional chickee.
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is located just east of State Road 7 (U.S. 441) and north of Sample Road at 5550 NW 40th Street. For more information call 954-977-6700. Visit www.seminolecoconutcreekcasino.com