You can try putting out an album but nobody’s selling a million copies anymore. Dennis was not happy on the road and the road is where it is right now. There’s chasm, a schism, that exists between where his happy place is and where my and Tommy’s happy place is. Dennis didn’t want to bow to the wisdom of the collective. “Dennis’ ballads were not my cup of tea,” he continued, “but you’ve got to find consensus in the middle, the wisdom of the collective.

He generally comes out with about five songs to go to bring it home.” It was too early to tell whether Panozzo will make it to Oroville. He comes out more and more, maybe 60 to 70 percent of the shows. You can never say that you’re cured but it’s very much under control. “He’s still on a few meds but it’s very much under control. “Chuck is looking amazing these days,” Young said.

Original bassist Chuck Panozzo announced in 2001 that he had contracted AIDS, which limits his time on the road. Young and guitarist and vocalist Tommy Shaw has recruited Todd Sucherman (drums), Lawrence Gowin (keyboards/vocals) and Ricky Philips (bass) to the group. Like almost all of their classic rock compadres, Styx is not the band of old. But on winter tours, we’ll go to 1,000-2000-seat venues, casinos or theaters in smaller communities and we’ll play there. “We still play arenas today, when we do group shows, with Journey or REO and Ted Nugent, who we toured with this summer, and we’ll play 7,000 to 20,000 seat arenas. “In our heyday, we were doing giant productions when we were selling out arenas and we had the budget to do it,” JY explained. Local fans will get just such an opportunity on Saturday when Styx plays at Gold Country Casino in Oroville.

Our female fans know they can come here and there’re armed guards and it’s safe and they’re protected from others - and themselves - if they want to relive their days from their misspent youth,” he slyly joked. And you know you’re going to see and hear a great show. “But the great thing is,” he continued, “you know there’ll be comfortable seating, there’s going be a great sound system, great lighting. Our fans are in their 40s and 50s and that’s the target audience for casinos.” “Certainly for classic rock bands, casinos have become a big venue. “We’ve become casino bait,” admitted Styx guitarist James “JY” Young with a laugh during a recent telephone interview before a show at a gambling house in Cherokee, North Carolina.

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