7th Annual Cornfield 500

Press Release The 7th Annual Cornfield 500TM Is About To Take Place Again! Sat., Sept. 1st 10:30 a.m. - ? This years event will be packed full of entertainment for the whole family. Our special guest, Floyd Finale, from Jamestown NY, will commence our opening ceremonies as the Grand Marshal around 10:45 a.m. Floyd is a former original Daytona Beach race car driver, that has been racing for over 53 years. The Cornfield 500TM is proud to have him here. It all starts with racers showing up from everywhere with 4, 6 and 8 cylinder cars, and 2 wd pickups and mini vans, racing for prize money, a 50 lap Enduro worth a $1,000 purse, and trophies. Then there is SCORR, the 4 x 4 off road trucks, racing side by side, for series points, prize money, and trophy's, and doing their exciting freestyle show. In between the regular racing, the Cornfield 500TM, provides various entertaining performances by Monster Trucks like Project X, Driven by Kevin Poore from Conklin MI, with his rider truck for the kids to catch a ride on, and Bad Habit, driven by Joe Sylvester from Boardman Ohio, which used to be the old Carolina Crusher, who will show you how high a monster truck can fly. If that's not enough, we have heart stopping performances from two of Erie's best motocross freestyle performers Gary Robertson, and Bryan Pringle. For your convenience, we have several different food vendors from everything from breakfast for the campers, to ice cream to cool down. We even have a few of the fun items that S & K rentals will have to keep the little ones busy if they don't want to watch the racing. Then at 7:00 p.m., one of Erie's favorite Classic Rock bands RIFT, will play until 1 a.m., and at about 9:45 p.m. we will have a spectacular fireworks show. There is free camping, no hook-ups, with your admission to the event, and you have to bring your own seating, but the price is only $12 -Adults, $10 -Seniors 60+, $7 Children (4-12). Emergency Media Inc., that has filmed for Speed Channel, and various hunting shows, from the Rochester NY area, along with on board camera's on various vehicles by Catch it Cam in Erie, will be putting a documentary together for the Cornfield 500TM this year, and this could be something to see for the television. We also donate a nice amount to the local Columbus Volunteer Fire Dept., and Fire Police for all their help and support during this event. Come out and see what the talk is all about. www.cornfield500.com Get your kicks on Route 6, Columbus PA.

Bands to Watch: Rift Published: Erie Daily Times Showcase Section, December 21. 2006 7:00AM They play songs older than they are. They prefer that to talking about their g-g-generation. The four members of Rift -- the oldest is 22 -- would rather play classic rock by artists they know and love such as Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Lynyrd Skynyrd than some of the material that passes as rock these days. What draws them to songs from a previous era? Guitarist Jesse Weston says the songs hold up because they're musically solid. "When you're in high school, you kind of change a lot," Weston said. "My perspective changed a lot when I picked up a guitar and started playing. I didn't want to play anything easy. "I felt like I had to dig deep and try to find something tougher, and that's why I like playing like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton and all that. It sounds good, and people connect to it." That's important, he said, if they're playing to older crowds. "If we're going to be playing in bars, there will always be an older crowd," he added. "They like hearing all that stuff from when they were young." Still, he says, Rift doesn't play note-for-note covers. "It sounds heavier with our spin to it," he said. "The good thing about it is, we never play the same thing twice. Like if I'm doing a solo, it won't be the same as the time we played before." He says classic-rock fans haven't teased them about playing songs that pre-date them. "We haven't heard anything negative. Instead of them saying, 'These kids are trying to play music older than they are,' it's more like they're amazed than mad or disgusted about it." Rift impressed Mound Grove enough for the club to book the band on all-important New Year's Eve. They also play Friday. Weston talked with Showcase about Rift. HOME BASE Erie, Wattsburg. BAND MEMBERS Jesse Weston, guitar; Josh Vallimont, drums; Adam Macrino, bass; Ian Hodapp, vocals. THE INSPIRATION Guitarist Jesse Weston and drummer Josh Vallimont began jamming together when they were sophomores at Seneca High School. They mostly played Metallica, their favorite band at the time. They've gone through a couple different bass players and singers, but the current lineup with Ian Hodapp and Adam Macrino -- who both attended Mercyhurst Prep -- has been together about a year. Weston attends Slippery Rock University, while Vallimont studied at Penn State Behrend. Macrino and Hodapp work full-time. SAMPLE SONGS "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Rift also plays songs by Tom Petty, Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin. FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER SAW "The first awesome concert was Metallica concert at Ohio State University," Weston said. "It was the Summer Sanitarium tour, I think. I was probably a junior or senior in high school. We had crappy seats but it was a football stadium, so everyone was on the field and could roam around. So I tried to get as close as possible. I went with Josh the drummer. We were really into Metallica, which we still are. But that was the first real awesome concert that blew me away." FIRST CD YOU PLAYED TO DEATH "It was 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica. I started listening to more rock when I started playing guitar. I was 14 or so. At that age, I just wanted to learn songs, so I'd find a band I liked and I attached myself to Metallica," Weston said. FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONG "I like Trans-Siberian Orchestra a lot. They are amazing, but I have not seen them. They've come to Erie, and I still haven't seen them. But I've heard it's like the awesome-est show." WHAT'S IN YOUR CD PLAYER? "I have Tom Petty's 'Greatest Hits' in my car right now," Weston said. "We like Tom Petty, too. Everyone likes Petty. We went and saw him this past summer at Darien Lake. We were really far away; we could barely see him, but they had a big screen. Even after 30 years, he still sounds amazing -- the whole band does. They are just dead-on, and his voice hasn't changed that much." DESERT-ISLAND CDS Can box sets count, wondered Weston? Hey, we're near Christmas, why not? Alone on an island, nary a 'Survivor' in sight, Weston couldn't live without Led Zeppelin's box set, as well as Metallica's "Master of Puppets," Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," "Best of Cream," "Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan," and Jimi Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland." WEB SITE Not yet. UPCOMING GIGS Friday at 9 p.m. and Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. at Mound Grove Club House, 10760 Donation Rd. -- Dave Richards