Rock of Ages: Bret Michaels to rock Gonzales in October

The inaugural Gonzales Thunder Rally, a three-day rock festival and bike rally Oct. 10-12 at J.B. Wells Park, will feature special guest Bret Michaels of the band "Poison" and VH-1's "Rock of Love" fame.

The festival has also booked the rock bands Great White, AXE and Tokyo Rose. Coordinators are busy booking others for the weekend of performances.

The Gonzales Thunder Rally was recently added to Michaels' "VH-1 Presents Rock of Love Tour 2008" - he's headlining Saturday, Oct. 11. The Texas Band Electric Ocean will open the show.

"When I talked to Bret about our plans for the Gonzales Thunder Rally, I got the feeling he was just as pumped and excited about the event as we were," said Ben Pigott, Gonzales Thunder Rally brainchild. "People have no idea what's in store for them. This show will be awesome!"

General Admission tickets: $45 for all 3 days Backstage VIP tickets: $295 - 3-day event pass includes VIP parking, VIP section near the main stage, private restroom and bar, complimentary food and event T-shirt. VIP tickets are automatically entered to win autographed merchandise and artist meet-and-greet drawings. A portion of festival proceeds will benefit Norma's House in Gonzales.

Gonzales Thunder Rally organizers, Rock Festival Productions, expect at least 20,000 bikers and concertgoers from central and south Texas to make the trip to Gonzales in October, a month known for its great riding weather.

"This event is going to transform Gonzales and the region into a live music mecca. The citizens of Gonzales are extremely enthusiastic that an event of this size is being held in their city," Pigott said. "Gonzales is central to Austin, San Antonio and Houston so it's a super location for music events."

"I think this is going to be a huge event, and I want the vendors and business owners in Gonzales to plan to set up for this," said Roger Owens, Vice President of Rock Festival Productions and Owner of Roger's Downtown. "Local Gonzales band 'Taylor Davis,' whose style is Texas Country/Rock Alternative, will also be performing."

More about Norma's House: Norma's House (The Gonzales Regional Children's Advocacy Center) is one of 61 child advocacy centers in the state of Texas. Norma's House helps children that are victims of abuse and/or neglect by offering a safe, child-friendly environment where children may tell of their abuse.

Rock Festival Productions is currently looking for national and Texas-based corporate advertising sponsors. Several packages at a variety of dollar levels are available, including sponsorship of Bret Michaels. Michaels' new CD "Rock My World" is in stores now. Poison has sold 25 million records and had 15 Top 40 singles.

Michaels is a survivor in many facets of his life

Bret Michaels is, if nothing else, a true survivor. He has survived a life long battle as an insulin dependent diabetic, a well publicized near fatal car crash in 1994 and the countless musical trends and fads of the last two decades.

"As soon as I ever start to just go through the motions I'll quit," confessed the 44 year old singer, songwriter, producer, director and actor in a recent interview.

But there's little chance he'll even slow down let alone quit anytime soon. In fact, after more than 20 years in the business this award winning, multi platinum superstar's career continues to move at warp speed.

As front man for the legendary rock band Poison, Michaels has sold 25 million records and scored an amazing 15 chartbusting Top 40 singles including "Talk Dirty to Me," "Something to Believe In," "Nothing But a Good Time" and the timeless No. 1 smash "Every Rose Has its Thorn."

And in the new millennium Poison's music has been featured in such big screen flicks as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Grandma's Boy" and "Deuce Bigelow-European Gigolo." They continue to be one of the industry's top grossing concert attractions and their 2006 "20 Years of Rock" CD was a bona fide Top 20 gold smash. Their current single, a remake of the 1974 Grand Funk Railroad classic "We're an American Band" was produced by Don Was (The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt).

Michaels has also produced and written material for other artists including Stevie Nicks. He wrote and produced the song "Love's a Hard Game to Play" which appeared on Nicks' platinum album "Timespace: The Best Of Stevie Nicks." More recently Michaels could be heard providing background vocals along with Phil Vassar on the Kenny Chesney/Uncle Kracker duet single "Last Night Again."

In the mid-90s Michaels formed a film production company with actor Charlie Sheen. The partnership ultimately led to Michaels writing, directing and starring in several films including "A Letter From Death Row" which he executive co-produced with Sheen.

As an actor, Michaels has made regular appearances on such hit television shows as "Yes Dear," "Martial Law," and "The Chris Isaak Show." And he has also co-hosted "Access Hollywood" and been a judge on the wildly popular "Nashville Star" program.

Setting his musical sights beyond Poison, Michaels released his debut solo album "Songs of Life" in 2003 followed by the rootsy, Americana flavored sophomore record "Freedom of Sound" in 2005.

"I would play music whether I made it or not," Michaels told a journalist in 2002 and it's that commitment to his art that continues to keep him at the forefront of the entertainment industry.