Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 91

Asheville Citizen-Times Books6L Travel 7L Television 8L Sunday, Sept. 4, 1988 1 1 Chicago Keeps Hits Coming After 20 Years fx By TONY KISS Staff Writer What makes Chicago run? After 20 years on the road, 19 major label albums, the death of one key member and the departure of another, Chicago remains a seven-man hit squad, cranking out chartbusters for old fans and new. While other acts change lineup with breakneck speed or simply vanish with the latest trend the brassy Chicago still carries five originals on board since 1968: Robert Lamm (keyboards), Walt Para-zaider (woodwinds), Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone) and Danny Seraphine (drums). Rounding out the act are seven-year vet Bill Champlin (keyboards, vocals) and newest addition, bassist Jason Scheff. The band which plays Asheville Civic Center at 8 p.m.

Tuesday has remained hot by finding "good songs" and constantly touring, the Grammy-winning Champlin said in a phone interview last week. "If we don't write them ourselves, we find them. Obviously, there's a lot of luck involved with anybody getting hits. And we're relatively available. We go out (on tour) quite often, about every year.

We just keep going. "Actually, I kind of prefer the smaller venues, rather than the larger ones. You play in Los Angeles and New York and Chicago, and those markets are almost a little jaded, to me. I'm sure there's better money in the bigger towns, but seems like you get to meet real people in the smaller venues." That Chicago has remained popular 20 years even with the death of founding member Terry Kath and the recent departure of lead singerbassist Peter Cetera doesn't really surprise Champlin. "With this band, we've got enough talent to carry it for a long period of time.

If one guy tends to slow down a little bit, the next guy will pick up the ball. It's like a relay race here man, give me the baton, I'll carry it a while." The band "tries to keep up with the times, in what kind of sounds, what kind of equipment is used to record. Technology has grown leaps and bounds in the last 20 years. Actually, the last five years. And we try to keep up and learn in new ways.

"On Chicago 1, the CTA album, it was mostly just acoustic instruments, maybe it had an organ on it. Now we use synthesizers. With the amount of computerized mixdowns, it would seem it saves time, but it ends up taking longer, you know? "You get so far into what functions are really possible out of the new stuff. Keyboards alone have gone through the roof. There are so many possibilities, Tony Kiss Goombay Shows Promise To Shine Among Festivals Going Goombay Of all the street festivals In Western North Carolina, and there are plenty of 'em, Asheville's recently staged Goombay gathering may be the most unusual.

It's a festival with 'plenty of potential, and with needed improvements, could develop into one of city's top entertainment gems. Organized by the YMI Cultural Center, Goombay is a salute to the black and Caribbean lifestyles. This year's schedule included a Friday street dance and all-night pig roast, with Saturday entertainment by the jazzy Eve Cornelious and Chip Crawford, the Charlotte Steel Drum Symphonette and the ever-popular Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble. Events were centered in the heart of the black community, at Market and Eagle Streets, outside the newly renovated, historic YMI headquarters. Unlike 1987 when rain washed out the event, last Saturday's skies were brilliant blue perfect festival weather and hundreds of blacks and whites huddled around the small stage or sampled exotic island foods served at the YMI.

Having finished its sixth year, Goombay has the right idea saluting a culture and neighborhood that many Asheville residents never see. But, like all festivals, there's room for growth and improvement. Some have suggested moving Goombay somewhere else, maybe up to nearby City-County Plaza or Pack Square, where more visitors would likely attend. There's some logic there, but remember, this is a neighborhood festival, and another location would lack the flavor and history of the MarketEagle area. Security is not a factor here, since the Asheville Police and Buncombe County Sheriff Departments are See GOOMBAY, Page 2L In The City Veteran rock band Chicago, which plays Asheville Civic Center 8 p.m.

Tuesday, credits "good songs" and constant touring for its long popularity. The 20-year-old band still carries five members on board since 1968. for groovin' ourselves." A strong producer is especially important with a band of Chicago's size, he said. "You need somebody in there to make decisions. This band is so prolific that there are 6,400 ideas per note.

So somebody has got to say 'Let's go with this Otherwise, you'll be making an album for ten years. Chicago will play Asheville Civic Center 8 p.m. Tuesday in a bill that opens with Indiana rocker Henry Lee Summer. Tickets are $16 reserved and available at the box office, Boomer's in Marion and Morganton, the Furniture Shoppe in Hendersonville, Franklin Chamber of Commerce, WWIT-AM, Canton and the Stage Door in Waynesville and Pisgah Forest. For charge by phone orders, ring 259-5748.

For information, ring 259-5771. where before you would sit down at a piano, put a microphone on it and bang it off." For its latest release, "Chicago 19" on Reprise-Warner records, the band used two producers, Ron Nevison of Heart fame and Chas Sanford, who's worked with Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks. The two-producer concept was a first for the band. "A lot of groups are doing it now," he said. "A lot of the major producers right now don't have time to do a whole album.

They want to get a piece of everybody's action. "Ron produced the first four tunes, and Chas produced the rest of 'em. We wanted to get a little different sound. Ron has a definite technique, and he kind of goes after singles. Chas is a very band-oriented kind of producer.

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