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Showing posts with the label England big beats

Si Cranstoun brings Jackie Wilson to life during Viva Las Vegas 15, 2012

Stew Pannaman and Si Cranstoun at Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, Las Vegas, 2013. Before Viva Las Vegas 15 (Rockabilly Weekend held April 5-8, 2012 in Vegas), I had never heard of Si Cranstoun (Si is short for his birth name Simone). It turns out I had heard of a 50's style singer from the UK who worked with a Portland, Oregon area Pin-up a few years back, though I never new there was a connection. I stumbled into the Bienville Room for the first set that Si Cranstoun played at Viva Las Vegas, and to my pleasant surprise I found a man with the ability to belt out tunes with utter style and control, backed up by a masterful band. Oh, and the man can dance. He played his voice like the instrument so many 50's Rock N' Roll stars used to do. Vocals weren't auto-corrected by top-notch producers in a studio, back then they were laid down clean.  By Sunday of his visit to Viva Las Vegas at the Orleans Hotel, a mass amount of people had heard about Si Cr