Wikipedia
Americade is a week-long motorcycle rally that is held during the first full week of June. The headquarters and location of many rally activities are in Lake George village, New York. The event is open to all motorcyclists and brand and type of motorcycles, and in the late 1990s attracted around 50,000 people annually, which grew to over 60,000 by 2007. Americade is billed by its organizer as the "World's Largest Motorcycle Touring Rally", and is distinguished from events such as Daytona Bike Week by its emphasis on motorcycle touring and by its organization and peacefulness.
Attendees participate in demo rides from all of the major manufacturers, boat cruises, motorcycle judging, and group rides called "MiniTours" to various destinations in New York and Vermont.
Americade also offers a large motorcycle trade show, TourExpo, located in two locations in Lake George: Million Dollar Beach and The Forum.
Americade was an American rock band formed by the de Marigny brothers, in Brooklyn, New York, in the summer of 1979. There were various lineups of the band including a pre-1981 rock fusion 5-piece unit; a 1981-1984 (most well-known) heavy metal 4-piece unit; a 1988-1990 4-piece unit; and a 1995 4-piece lineup that only performed live once.
Though the band never reached superstar band status on its own, several of its members went on to achieve great success with bands such as White Lion, Black Sabbath, The Scream, and Ted Nugent. Americade also had a profound impact on one of the founders of Anthrax, Dan Spitz. Dan Spitz, the younger brother of Americade's bassist in 1983-1984, Dave Spitz, accredits Americade as the band he wanted to model his new band Anthrax around. He told Gerard de Marigny on a taped interview in 2014, for a possible memoir on Dan's life that de Marigny might pen, "I wanted us (Anthrax) to come out with as large a setup as Americade had … a large, loud show."
In total, Americade recorded three albums, an EP, music for a movie that was never released, a four-song demo, and a video of the Grand Funk Railroad hit, " We're an American Band". In 1983, the video went on to win "Best Video: Heavy Metal" on MTV. The band received the award on July 4, 1983, announced and accepted by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac on the band's behalf. Only the first Americade album, recorded in 1982, titled, American Metal, was ever released on their own Adem Records label, until 2013 when Retrospect Records released a box set titled, Americadence: 1980-1995 that included almost all of their recordings.
Because of the band's notoriety in the heavy metal genre, combined with the relatively low-volume of authorized releases, Americade recordings have been traded and bootlegged many thousands of times all over the world. The band's music can still be found on a number of heavy metal internet sites, as well as on eBay.
The band reached its pinnacle of acclaim in 1983. According to Billboard magazine, "Americade (is) a howling heavy metal band … they cover the bases well." Hit Parader magazine wrote of the band, "Mixing such influences as Van Halen, Judas Priest, and the aforementioned Grand Funk, Americade has emerged as a bright new face on the hard rock scene." Americade's first album received local New York-New Jersey attention. Of the album, Good Times newspaper reported, "Their first album, American Metal, was self-produced, self-financed and, to hear them tell it, self-descriptive."
Even with their rocky history, as a result of their impact on the hard rock and heavy metal genre, Americade was included in The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.
Americade disbanded for the final time in 1995. Since then, two members of their various lineups have died: Drummer Walt Woodward III died on June 8, 2010 from alcohol poisoning, and keyboardist Frank Antico died on February 24, 2013 from an apparent heart attack.