Pete Bennett with John Lennon

Ok, so Pete Bennett knows how to sell. As a top promoter in the entertainment industry with a long career representing stars such as Nat King Cole, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, discovering starlets from Elizabeth Taylor to Brooke Shields to LeeAnn Rimes, and catapulting supergroups like Aerosmith, the Beatles, the Stones and the Who, he’s got to be a very convincing fellow. So convincing, in fact, that he’s next in line for his own reality TV show, which will peek at the music man’s magic touch and attempt to discover the latest diamond in the rough to add to his impressive repertoire of clients (both past and present).

Kim Monroe

Bennett has been in Buffalo to shoot the pilot episode for The Pete Bennett Show, to be produced for national television, and has already found his next protegee right here. Her name is Kim Monroe, and she’s a 20-year-old small town girl whose eyes widened—a lot—when she first discovered show business. She recorded her first EP at 17 and was nominated for two Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMY) before taking home an award in 2005 for Best R&B Recording, and has already been recognized by Billboard several times with honorable mentions for songwriting. Singing the naïve troubles of a once-sheltered existence with a voice Bennett has compared to Sheryl Crow, Monroe will find herself with plenty more material to fuel her songwriting. She will be featured on The Pete Bennett Show and then continue on with the TV crew to New York City, which—if Bennett has any say in the matter—should catapult her right into the spotlight. To see all of this in action, head over to the Riviera Theatre this weekend (May 25 & 26) for a glimpse into the world of reality TV and for a fun classic rock concert. Three acts will take the stage: a conglomeration of music vets called the New Rascals, made up of Grammy winners and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Dino Danelli and Gene Cornish (original Rascals members), Bill Pascali (Vanilla Fudge), and Charlie Souza (formerly with Tom Petty), will join together to perform Rascals’ hits “Good Lovin’,” “Groovin,” “People Got To Be Free,” “Beautiful Morning,” “Lonely Too Long” and more. Also playing at the concert will be multi-Platinum artist Terry Sylvester, the former lead singer/guitarist for the Hollies, whose band will be performing Hollies’ hits “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” “The Air That I Breathe” and “Carrie Ann.” Opening this throw-back extravaganza will be Bennett himself, who will tell stories and show photos that highlight his career before he introduces the Pete Bennett Tribute Band, composed of WNY musicians Rich and Deb Derwald, Joyce Wilson Nixon, Joe Diggs, Van Taylor, the IFS and a few others who will toast Bennett with covers and medleys of some of the songs he’s made famous throughout the years, including classics from the early Motown scene and the British Invasion. Tickets for the show range between $19 and $26, depending on your seat in the house, and the lights will hit the stage at 8pm.

Pete Bennett Show & concert @ Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, Fri May 25 & Sat May 26, 8pm, tix $19-26