PORTER-JONES ENTERTAINMENT, Inc.

This article appeared in the Arkansas Times on the occasion of the Rockets being voted “Best Band” in the Arkansas Times Readers’ Poll for the 6th year in a row.

Rockets aren't just about golden oldies anymore
June 14, 2002 by Jim Harris

Have you caught Arkansas's favorite cover band lately? Is that really modern rock coming out of the Rockets' amplifiers?

Yes, says the band's business manager and one of two keyboardists, Phillip Wallace. The Rockets, who regularly win Arkansas Times readers' vote as best band in Arkansas, aren't just playing the oldies anymore.

"That's our mainstay, classic rock, but we do stuff from today - Dave Matthews Band, Smash Mouth, Barenaked Ladies," Wallace says. "Especially with the horn section, with the addition of them, that's allowed us to go out and do a lot of R&B and funk -Earth Wind and Fire, Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang, James Brown."

When Johnny Roberts fronted the Rockets, you could count on mostly classic rock songs. When Roberts left the band in 2000, the Rockets added the horns - Keni Reed, Charles McCollum and Clifford Hawkins - and added a new dimension. Hawkins even steps out and impersonates James Brown, dance moves and all. And any of seven Rockets will be the lead singer on a given song.

Davis Hendricks, who fronted the KSSN Bandits, joined the Rockets when Roberts left. The other members are guitarists Bill Ramsey and Jim Johnson, keyboardists Wallace and Joe Marchese, Lynn Fitzgerald on bass and Chuck Robertson on drums. All are professional businessmen by day, musicians at night.

"It's a fun, multitalented group," Wallace said. "Those guys have so many years of experience. Most of them have played with every major band this state has ever had."

The Rockets mostly play private functions, weddings and large charity events, but you can catch them every so often at Anderson's Cajun's Wharf. "We like to step out every now and then and have a good time for ourselves like at Cajun's. That's what it comes down to is having a good time."

All Right Now (Free) • Addicted to Love (Robert Palmer) • Ain’t Too Proud to
Beg (Temptations) • All Star (Smashmouth) • Amie (Pure Prairie League) •
Babe (Styx) • Birthday (Beatles) • Brick House (Commodores) • Brown Eyed
Girl (Van Morrison) • Celebration (Kool & the Gang) • China Grove (Doobie
Brothers) • Come Together (Beatles) • Cousin Dupree (Steely Dan) • Crazy
Love (Aaron Neville) • Devil With the Blue Dress (Mitch Ryder) • Dock of The
Bay (Otis Redding) • Don’t Change Horses (in the Middle of the Stream)
(Tower of Power) • Easy To Be Hard (Three Dog Night) • Fire (Ohio Players) •
Gimme Some Lovin’ (Spencer Davis Group) • Great Balls Of Fire (Jerry Lee
Lewis) • Hard Day’s Night, A (Beatles) • Help (Beatles) • Here, There &
Everywhere (Beatles) • Hold On, I’m Comin’ (Wilson Pickett) • Honky Tonk
Women (Rolling Stones) • Hurts So Good (John Mellencamp) • I Can’t Tell You
Why (The Eagles) • I Got Love (Exile) • I Saw the Light (Todd Rundgren) • I
Wish (Stevie Wonder) • Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry) • Kansas City (Wilbert
Harrison) • Keep Your Hands to Yourself (Georgia Satellites) • Layla (Eric
Clapton) • Let It Be (Beatles) • Let’s Dance (David Bowie) • Let’s Stay
Together (Al Green) • Long Train Runnin’ (Doobie Brothers) • Louie Louie
(The Kingsmen) • Love Roller Coaster (Ohio Players) • Lowdown (Boz Skaggs) •
Magical Mystery Tour (Beatles) • Mama Told Me Not to Come (Three Dog Night)
• Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul McCartney) • Mony Mony (Tommy James & The
Shondells) • Moondance (Van Morrison) • Mustang Sally (Wilson Pickett) • My
Girl (Temptations) • My Love (Paul McCartney) • My Old School (Steely Dan) •
Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison) • Old Time Rock & Roll (Bob Seeger) • One
Week (Bare Naked Ladies) • Reelin’ in the Years (Steely Dan) • Rockin’ the
Paradise (Styx) • Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) • Satisfaction (Rolling
Stones) • Shaky Ground (Delbert McClinton) • She Blinded Me With Science
(Thomas Dolby) • Shining Star (Earth, Wind & Fire) • Sick and Tired (Fats
Domino) • Signed, Sealed Delivered (Stevie Wonder) • Sledgehammer (Peter
Gabriel) • Smooth (Carlos Santana) • Soul Man (Sam & Dave) • Superstition
(Stevie Wonder) • To Love Somebody (The Bee Gees) • Too Much (Dave Matthews
Band) • Twist And Shout (The Isley Brothers) • Wang Chung Tonight (Wang
Chung) • Way of the World (Earth, Wind & Fire) • Way You Look Tonight, The
(Frank Sinatra) • What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) • When A Man
Loves A Woman (Percy Sledge) • Whiter Shade Of Pale, A (Procol Harum) •
Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton) • You Are the Sunshine of My Life (Stevie
Wonder) • You Can’t Do That (Beatles)
…and many, many more by request