Local Musicians to Promote First CD on WGN Friday

Notable Oswegoan musician Ron Stark will be gracing the airwaves Friday, as he and members of his band appear on WGN News at Noon to promote their first CD.

Stark, director, plays guitar for Callaloo, which members say is a steel-pan combo that incorporates world music from the Caribbean, Brazil, Cuba, the Middle East and Africa along with Latin jazz, progressive rock and Jamaican styles.

Their CD is called Global Impressions. Callaloo has performed at a variety of Chicago-area festivals and venues, including Taste of Chicago and the Montrose Room at the Intercontinental O’Hare.

According to the group, “Callaloo” for Trinidadians, means “a mixed dish.” The steel drums, the group’s main melodic instrument, originated from Trinidad.

Scott Johnson of Chicago writes all the music for the band, and has performed on both steel pans and drum set at clubs such as Metro, Double Door, and Martyr's, as well as festivals such as Taste of Chicago, conventions at McCormick Place, lounges such as Windsor's Lounge at the Palmer House Hilton, and private parties.

Other members of Callaloo include percussionists Tony Erazmus of Bourbonais, Lucas Gillan of Chicago, and Terry Peeples of Joliet, and bassist Bob Ferraris of Joliet.

Peeples is currently an adjunct assistant music professor at Lewis University where he teaches all the percussion classes, History of American Music, History of American Pop Music and a music appreciation class called Music for the Listener, and is also freelance musician in Chicagoland playing jazz, rock, blues, hand drum and steel drum gigs.

Erazmus teaches percussion in Bradley, Illinois, and is a freelance percussionist throughout the Chicagoland area.

Gillan teaches drums at the Fox River Academy and is program director for the Internet jazz radio station AccuJazz.com. He also maintains an active freelance drumming career in the Chicago area.

Ferraris teaches bass at the Fox River Academy and has more than 40 years of experience on acoustic and electric bass. He is also a freelance musician in Chicagoland playing jazz, rock, blues, hand drum and steel drum gigs.

Callaloo will also be hosting their CD release party at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Montrose Room at the Intercontinental O’Hare Hotel. Attendees can hear live tracks from the Global Impressions CD, and purchase copies of the new album.

For more information, visit www.callaloochicago.com.