Friday 31 October 2014

Got My Costume At Goodwill

Hallowe'en - properly spelled with the apostrophe - is always a fun night for kids. For adults, it can be a great time as well if you have a great costume or at a party or both. I'll be spending my evening handing out candy to kids, so I'm hoping that I see one or two hockey-esque costumes. Knowing kids today, there will be a lot of Frozen costumes on girls while boys will vary from the scary to cute. In any case, here are some more musicians who have dressed up in a jersey while visiting hockey cities.

We'll start off with a musician whose hockey roots may not be apparent. DJ and music producer Tiësto hails from Breda, Netherlands, but the Netherlands don't have a deep history of hockey success on any stage. However, it appears that Tiësto has adopted some North American teams as he travels across the globe. He was spotted in Madison Square Garden sporting a Rangers jersey, and here he is on-stage at MTS Centre in Winnipeg sporting his own Winnipeg Jets jersey. Not bad for a kid from Holland, right?

One band that seemingly has transcended time despite writing no new songs is KISS. We saw them at the Stadium Series game in Los Angeles last year, and they were out touring the country once more in their newest iteration without Ace Frehley. I'm not going to get into why Ace isn't touring with the band, but KISS made a stop in Toronto where the entire band received personalized Maple Leafs jerseys! Not surprisingly, Dave Nonis tried to trade Singer twice during the show.

If you haven't heard of Chromeo, that's ok. I hadn't either before I found out they were a Canadian electro-funk/disco duo hailing from Montreal! Comprised of Dave 1 and P-Thugg, they play all over Quebec and have started producing music in English. Dave 1 was born in Montreal while P-Thugg was born in Lebanon and moved to Canada at age 8. Being that they grew up in Montreal, you know who they cheer for in the NHL, and P-Thugg was more than happy to wear the bleu-blanc-et-rouge. Vive les Canadiens!

Twisted Sister was once a highly-followed, hard-rocking hair band from the 1980s. Since that time, the band has seen several reunions happen with great success. Dee Snider is probably the most recognizable member of Twister Sister, and he was recently in Chicago to participate in their intermission puck-shooting promotion. The Blackhawks didn't miss a beat in putting Snider into a Blackhawks jersey! He actually looks pretty good in hockey apparel!

If there is one band who routinely seems to "stick it to the man" and trend away from the established order, Pearl Jam might be it. Pearl Jam emerged during the grunge rock era in the early-1990s, and Eddie Vedder, the group's lead singer, has been extremely influential outside of rock-and-roll as well. As it stands, you'd never expect to see Vedder in an NHL uniform, but he took to the stage in Minnesota recently while clad in Minnesota Wild colors! Great choice, Mr. Vedder!

I have little knowledge in the way of country music or musicians, but Eric Church is apparently a pretty big deal. He won the 2011 American Country Music Award for Top New Solo Vocalist, so the guy probably has a set of chops and can write some music. Again, I know little about the guy. What I do know is that his Outsiders tour took him through St. Louis recently, and Eric received his own personalized Blues jersey!

Kent Nagano might not be a name familiar to you, but he's a pretty big deal in the classical music and opera scenes. He's the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera, so the man knows his music. He was born in Berkeley, California, so you'd think he'd be more of a Kings, Ducks, or Sharks fan, but he's certainly come to enjoy his new adopted city. Mr. Nagano recently took to the stage wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey! Vive les Canadiens!

Wait a second there, Canadiens. We have an update. Notice the title of this article - "Got My Costume At Goodwill"? Well, we have an update. The Canadiens gave Cee-Lo Green a jersey when he traveled through the city and performed a concert at the Bell Centre. I just assumed that most of these musicians toss the jersey in the back of their closets or give them to charity, but it appears that Cee-Lo doesn't do that. Ready for this shocker?

I received an email from Darren L. about a week ago asking if I was interested in purchasing a XXL Cee-Lo Green Montreal Canadiens jersey as he had seen it on HBIC. Initially, I thought it would be cool, but I declined as I have a Canadiens jersey in my collection. It then dawned on me to ask where Darren acquired this jersey since Cee-Lo Green would be the only person in the world (presumably) that would have a CEELO #1 Canadiens jersey. Darren's response? "Got it at a thrift store by Hollywood hills about 5 miles from his house". Nice, Cee-Lo. At least he didn't eBay it.

So there are your musicians in hockey costumes for Hallowe'en! I'm still shaking my head over the Cee-Lo jersey, but I guess hockey just isn't in Cee-Lo's wardrobe. In any case, I'm always looking for more so if you have a photo or two from a musician wearing a jersey as they perform at your local arena, please send them through! You will be credited for the find! And you want to see the full list, click here to see all the compiled musicians in jerseys!

Until next time, Happy Hallowe'en!

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