Published:
CANTON, OH (June 26, 2012) – The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival and WHBC/MIX 94.1 are pleased to announce that mega-hit, post grunge pop rock band the Gin Blossoms will perform at the Ribs Burnoff. The Gin Blossoms are scheduled to perform on the Emergency Medicine Physicians stage at the Stark County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, Aug. 1, at approximately 8:30 p.m. Free, standing room only space will be permitted on the track, but chairs or seating of any kind on the track is not permitted. Seats are available in the grandstands for very affordable prices. New in 2012: General Admission seating in the grandstands (bleacher style) will be offered at only $5 per ticket and Reserved Admission seating (seats with backs) will be offered at $9 per ticket. Concert tickets will be available for walk-in purchase beginning Tuesday, June 26, at the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce in downtown Canton, 222 Market Avenue North from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each weekday. Phone orders will be accepted beginning Wednesday, June 27, by calling (330) 458-2088. Other acts already announced are country artist Jason Michael Carroll on Thursday, Aug. 2, and rock ‘n roll band Saving Abel on Friday, Aug. 3. In addition to the national musical acts in the evenings on the main stage at 8:30 p.m., attendees can enjoy activities all day including free musical entertainment on the daytime stage. Other family activities include an expansive children’s entertainment area with face painting, caricaturists, balloon twisters, Fantasy Football Zone of interactive inflatables, master sand sculptor, Lowe’s Build & Grow, and much more. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Ribs Burnoff will run Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Aug. 1, 2 and 3, beginning at 11 a.m., and concluding at 10:30 p.m. each day. In addition to fantastic ribs, a wide variety of other food will be showcased, including home-made ice cream, gyros, hummus, turkey legs, buffalo wings, funnel cakes, apple dumplings, bloomin’ onions, Italian sausage, and other delicious midway fare! Admission to the Ribs Burnoff is free. Onsite parking at the fairgrounds will be free each day until 4 p.m., after which time a fee of $5 per vehicle will be charged. For more information, contact Laura Perry, event manager, at (330) 458-2054, or visit www.profootballhofef.com.

About the Gin Blossoms

Temptation is a crazy and curious feeling, but some things are just cool and decadent enough to warrant our indulgence. Over the years, the Gin Blossoms created the whimsical “no chocolate cake” rule for crew members who tried to hit on the band’s considerable female fanbase on their tours. As it’s the title of their highly anticipated 429 Records debut, No Chocolate Cake is more a playful warning. Those who dare to dig in will find that the musical desserts provided by Robin Wilson (lead vocals), Jesse Valenzuela (guitar), Bill Leen (bass) and Scott Johnson (guitar), are just as sweet, high spirited and infectious as ever. A decade and a half since defining that era’s post grunge pop rock experience with “Hey Jealousy,” “Found Out About You,” and the Top Ten Billboard pop hits “Till I Hear It From You” and “Follow You Down”—and four years since the release of a Major Lodge Victory,an album Billboard called “an effortless triumph of melodic perfection”—the Gin Blossoms are at the top of their seamless harmonic songwriting game with No Chocolate Cake.Because the band members no longer live in the same city—Wilson divides his time between Tempe and New York, Valenzuela is in Los Angeles--putting the sonic pieces ofNo Chocolate Cake together presented an exciting new challenge for the Gin Blossoms. While Wilson contributes a handful of songs, the bulk of the material chosen for the 11 track set was written by Valenzuela either solo or with different collaborators, including Danny Wilde of The Rembrandts (the Blossoms guitarist first worked with Wilde on The Rembrandts’ song “Long Walk Home”). Wilson recorded his tracks, “Wave Bye Bye,” “Go Cry Baby” and “Something Real” at his studio, Uranus Recording of Tempe. The other members of the band including Danny Wilde produced the mid-tempo drive tune “Goin’ To California.” Valenzuela and Wilde produced the rest at Wilde’s Pueblo Studios in Thousand Oaks—the jangling, inspirational “Don’t Change For Me,” the optimistic “I Don’t Want To Lose You Now,” the high spirited “Miss Disarray,” the heartfelt yet hard rockin’ “I’m Ready,” “Somewhere Tonight,” “If You’ll Be Mine” and the summer-y, brass-tinged “Dead Or Alive on the 405.” Typical of today’s modern recording process, lead vocal (Wilson), vocal harmony (Valenzuela) and instrumental parts were exchanged back and forth electronically—with no single session where the band was in the same studio at the same time. The Gin Blossoms have always benefited from that innate sense of chemistry and inspiration. From the band's birth in their hometown of Tempe, Arizona, their fanbase grew quickly as they earned a great reputation as a live act. Readers of the Phoenix New Times chose them as the city's best rock band, qualifying them to play at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 1989. Later that year, CMJ dubbed them the “Best Unsigned Band in America” and invited them to play MTV's New Music Awards in New York City. Major label interest quickly followed—a mixed blessing reflected in the title of their 1992 full length debut New Miserable Experience, which followed their 1991 EP Up and Crumbling. Gin Blossom’s trademark first hit “Hey Jealousy,” which peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100, was penned by founding member Doug Hopkins, who later committed suicide. Miserable spawned four more singles: “Mrs. Rita,” “Found Out About You,” “Allison Road,” and “Until I Fall Away.” Between album releases, Gin Blossoms scored a major hit with “Till I Hear From You” from the soundtrack to the film “Empire Records,” which went Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and Top 5 on the Mainstream Rock, Modern Rock and AC Top 40 Charts.Congratulations I'm Sorry, the Blossom's final original album of the decade, hit #10 on the Billboard Top 200 and included two more hits: “Follow You Down” which spent ten weeks in the Top Ten and “As Long As It Matters.” Gin Blossoms then took a lengthy hiatus, during which time some of the members pursued outside band endeavors—Wilson launched Gas Giants, Valenzuela fronted Low Watts and released a solo album, and Johnson joined Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. In 2002, the band reunited for an 80 date U.S. tour and released the critically acclaimed Major Lodge Victory in 2006. The song “Learning The Hard Way” was a hit at AC Radio. The Gin Blossoms’ roller coaster ride of massive success, personal tragedy, a lengthy breakup, solo projects and reconciliation makes the deep emotional impact and overall optimistic nature of No Chocolate Cake all the more remarkable. ###