Mark Ballas at the City of Hope benefit concert, 2008

Back on September 14, 2008, Almost Amy acted as hosts for Disney's "Concert for Hope" at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, CA, that benefited City of Hope Cancer Center.  Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and The Jonas Brothers were the main acts.  I found a few photos from the event of Mark, Derek, and Almost Amy. Enjoy! :)

First, here is a write-up about the show, which includes a photo, "Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato perform to sell-out crowd at City of Hope benefit" by Roya Alt

photo copyright Lester Cohen, 2008

Mark on the red carpet:

photo copyright Chris Hatcher/PR Photos, 2008

Lots more photos after the cut:

Retro videos: BHB on tour

Updates from the band on their tour bus. They had a small tour in the winter of 2008/2009 (they played gigs after a lot of the DWTS tour shows). It's a playlist of 3 (very funny) videos:



And in this one, Emily, Sam, and Harry take us on a tour of the tour bus:

Old BHB videos :)

A couple of videos posted to YouTube today. Thanks to Taylor9888 for uploading them! They are old BHB videos.

Mark playing electric guitar :D


BHB at the Grove (back in early 2009) - La Bamba. Lots of people show up in this one. enjoy!

Retro videos :)

Here are some more videos from the past.

Mark, Derek & Emily sing Do You Love Me with Emily. Cute exchange at the end where they 'spell' Ballas Hough Band for the radio listeners.


Another radio interview with Mark, Derek and Emily. This time Emily and Mark sing "Longing For":


Mark giving a Salsa demonstration for the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, with Salsa dancer Jo Quiñones:

Ballas Hough Band

Since the band members didn't really make an official announcement, there seems to still be some confusion about the future of the Ballas Hough Band.

Sam Marder (the bass player) posted a blog on his MySpace and stated rather vaguely that the band is no more and the members have gone on to other projects.  They all remain friends though and Mark has mentioned in interviews that they still jam together from time to time (when they are in the same country, I'm sure LOL).

So, there you have it.  Ballas Hough Band is no more.  As a fan, I'm disappointed that there has been no announcement or response from the other band members, but what can you do? :)

My theory? And, keep in mind it is only a THEORY...

The first record deal went south. Bad direction, bad management...this was all stated by the band members.  They were supposed to tour in the summer of 2009, but that tour did not happen - not the fault of the band.  Then, they find new management and try for a second album, but it seems that the record just didn't take off.  Not sure what happened...it's never been talked about, but my guess is that MOVE just didn't do as well as the record company wanted and they scrapped the album...or perhaps the band decided they didn't want to compromise in any way.  Often in the music industry, new artists are forced to compromise their vision a little at first to get 'in' the business...then, after they make a name for themselves, they can get back to what they really want to be doing.  You hear artists all the time talking about how their follow up albums were more 'them' than their debut albums. ;)  But, like I said, I have no idea why the album fell through, but it did.

We won't be having any Ballas Hough Band music in the future, but the band members are going on to do lots of other projects. :)

Now, before people start going on about the band 'breaking up', let's remember that this was a project with five friends.  The project is over (at least for now - who knows about the future), but the friendships are still intact.  Plus, there is no reason to believe that they won't ever play music together again.  It just didn't work out right now.

I'm not disappointed the band won't be releasing an album as much as I'm disappointed that I didn't get an BHB gear.  I tried.  I really, really tried...but my order got lost in the shuffle somehow and now the gear is all gone.  :( sadness.

So, BHB fans, while we won't be getting any more music from the five of them together, we will be getting music and projects from them separately ... which is 5x the goodness!  haha!

Mark will have an album out soon ("Waiting for Patience"), but if you need a fix now...check out Sam Marder's new band: Keywest.  Harry is also playing in a band called Vadoinmessico. Enjoy!