“Burning Red: A Tribute to Taylor Swift" at the Rust Belt -- September 30.
Saturday, September 30, 8 p.m.
The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL
A celebration of one of the most popular and influential recording artists of all time coinciding with the artist's current, record-breaking "Eras" tour, Burning Red: A Tribute to Taylor Swift will take the stage at East Moline venue The Rust Belt on September 30, this exhilarating event "by Swifties and for Swifties" taking fans on a journey through all of Swift's own eras from her pop hits to folk, country, dance, and back again.
Gina CC provides lead vocals for Burning Red, also performing on guitar and piano, and like Swift herself, she began playing music professionally at a very young age. At just 18 years old, Gina became the lead singer and guitarist for the Chicago-based alt rock band Emil Muzz, who had already achieved notoriety with an appearance on MTV. At 21, Gina formed Rockit Girl, an all-female pop-punk band whose debut recording The Lift Off E.P. was produced by Louise Post of Veruca Salt. At 22, Louise recruited Gina to join Veruca Salt as the bassist and co-lead vocalist, and shortly afterward, the women joined up with Courtney Love and Patty Schemel from Hole to form the all-female supergroup Bastard. After touring with Veruca Salt, Gina returned to Chicago to write and record the second Rockit Girl album Bright Lights, and when the recording's tour ended, Gina -- having spent most of her young adult life as a professional musician -- took a long hiatus from music to start a family with fellow musician John, another Burning Red guitarist. Yet after a decade away from music, Gina felt the pull to sing and play music on stage again upon becoming an obsessive Taylor fan, and she started Burning Red with John as a way to pay tribute to and celebrate Taylor Swift and other Swifties.
Serving as Burning Red's backing vocalist and harmonica player, Lisa G also started singing at an early age and was heavily influenced by her musically talented mother who exposed her to a wide variety of genres and singing harmony. Lisa sang in numerous talent shows, at church, and participated in many musical productions, including playing Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. After college, she began a career as an elementary school teacher and ended each day at the piano leading her second-graders in song, teaching them how to read using song lyrics while experiencing the joys of music. Beyond continuing her teaching career, Lisa sang in The Ritz with Syl Legner and Ron Scott’s Orchestra, both big bands that traveled to local dance spots. Later, she started the variety duo Two for the Show and the solo act Girls’ Night Out, covering female artists of all genres. Currently, Lisa fronts a six-piece band covering hits of the '70s and '80s in central Illinois called Lisa G and the Good Reasons, while also following her dream of being a backup singer with Burning Red in Chicago, singing Taylor Swift’s intricate and thoughtfully-placed harmonies on her vast collection of storytelling songs.
Having sold in excess of 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, the most-streamed female artist on Spotify, and the only act to have five albums with first-week sales of over one million copies in the U.S. She has been featured in listicles such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists, the Time 100, and Forbes' Celebrity 100. Among her accolades are 12 Grammy Awards, including three Album of the Year wins; a Primetime Emmy Award; 40 American Music Awards; 29 Billboard Music Awards; 23 MTV Video Music Awards; three IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Awards; and 101 Guinness World Records.
Burning Red: A Tribute to Taylor Swift performs their East Moline engagement on September 30, admission to the 8 p.m. concert event is $15-20, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRustBeltQC.com.
