The details
Who: LFO with Rookie Of The Year, GoCrash Audio and Kiernan McMulan
When: 8 p.m. Saturday (doors open 7 p.m.)
Where: House of Blues at Downtown Disney, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Orlando
Admission: $23.25 to $100
More information: Call 407-934-2583 or visit www.myspace.com/richcronin or www.orangefreeze.com.
Ten years ago, Boston-based pop trio LFO was all the rage, having chart-topping hits such as “Summer Girls” and “Girl on TV” from the CD “LFO.” Who can forget the catchy riff from “Summer Girls”: “New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits, Chinese food makes me sick. And I think it’s fly when girls stop by for the summer, for the summer.”
The band’s original members — lead songwriter/singer Rich Cronin, Devin Lima and Brad Fischetti — parted ways in 2002, each with independent projects. For Lima, it was a new band named Cadbury Diesel, and for Fischetti and Cronin, solo careers followed. Plans for a possible return to prominence were thwarted when Cronin suffered from a series of painful migraine headaches and sought medical attention. Diagnosed in 2005 with acute myelogenous leukemia, Cronin is in remission, and his bandmates are determined to return to the stage and make LFO relevant again. They play House of Blues in Orlando on Saturday night. I spoke with Cronin about his comeback and his opinions of music today. So let’s “Shake, Rattle & Know”: Rich Cronin of LFO.
SRK: Why did you choose now for a comeback?
Cronin: I have been dealing with leukemia for the past five years, and it is one of the worst kinds. For the first time, I am starting to feel better, and I am able to do the things I want to do. I’m still not well; I would say I am at about 40 percent. All of us are at the same place in our lives musically and feel now is the time we want to do it. If I had been feeling well, we probably would have done it sooner.
SRK: How much have you grown as an artist since the early days of LFO?
Cronin: I’m older now, and I have learned more and have a different outlook on life than when I was younger. How you see life at age 19 is very different than how you see it at age 31. I have always liked to rap. Then I went through a phase where I liked singing. Now I want to do both again.
SRK: What is your take on hip-hop music today?
Cronin: Everything I loved about hip-hop and rap was pulled out of it. Now, most people are doing it for the money. There are no real rappers anymore. There are a few like Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z, Ludacris and a few others but, for the most part, everyone else is a big fake. You’ve got guys like Lil’ John and Soulja Boy putting out crap, and I think, “Is this the best you got?”
SRK: Tell me a little about the Rich Cronin Foundation.
Cronin: We focus on donors and donors unrelated to the patient. In many cases, as with mine, the sibling isn’t a bone marrow match. There is such a low percentage of finding a match we want to increase the national registry of available donors. I may not have lived another eight weeks had I not had a transplant. I was nervous waiting to see if a match would be found and not knowing if I would live another day. We want to get people to register and educate donors. People are scared, but there is so much people don’t understand, or they are afraid it’s going to be painful. They don’t realize with stem cells and new technology, it’s not that bad.
If you have an artist/band you’d like to recommend for review, contact Nunez at www.myspace.com/shakerattleandknow or fantasyforecaster2005@yahoo.
