Between Rock and a Soft Place
May 2008
Departments
If you’re interested in a rock band that will enhance rather than overwhelm your next event, Unplugged will be music to your ears.
Part of the San Francisco-based Innovative Entertainment group, which specializes in coordinating and producing live acts for functions and events, Unplugged features a bassist, two guitarists and a percussionist—and plays favorites from the ’60s and ’70s that Baby Boomers will love.“I’m always asked for ‘cool’ music, and I wanted to come up with something different,” says Peter Berliner, president of Innovative Entertainment, who put the group together. “There are a million jazz quartets out there, but Unplugged plays classic rock ranging from the Beatles to Van Morrison to the Stones...usually the stuff you don’t hear every day, like (The Beatles’) ‘Norwegian Wood,’ and the reaction we receive to them is incredible.”
The group, which formed about four years ago, has performed everywhere from Hawaii to the Caribbean and countless points in between, from a ski lodge in Colorado Springs to the House of Blues in Vegas for a Cisco function. “The group is easy to understand, deal with, and you don’t even need a stage,” Berliner says. “They are literally about the easiest act you can request.”
Unplugged is normally an instrumental group, but its members are also talented singers who are happy to add their voices to the music when requested. The seasoned Bay Area musicians have plenty of famous friends, so Berliner adds that it’s not un-usual for them to be joined by an established talent, such as renowned guitarist and vocalist David Jenkins of Pablo Cruise fame.
The melding of easy-listening acoustic and classic rock has resulted in a group with an appeal that is unique yet universal, perfect for an event that aims to be lively yet relatively low-key. Berliner puts it best, describing a future client he heard from who was planning a college graduation party for his son.
“He told me, ‘My kid’s into classic rock but I hate loud music,’” Berliner says with a laugh. “And I said, ‘Have I got the group for you!’” innovativeentertainment.com
