Dick Wagner Rock & Roll Barbecue 2003 @ White's Bar

 

The photo is from a Dick Wagner performance @ White’s Bar. This was the third and final installment of the rock & roll barbecue format that Dick and I developed. It dates back to around 2003. Dick Wagner is on the left; Donny Hartman is in the middle and Brian Bennett (from the Cherry Slush) is on the far right. I had it recorded and I still have a disc or two of the un-mastered tapes. Jim Schmidtke and East Side Mike Smith recorded the show and it was phenomenal.  Wagner focused on his later solo recordings as well as his version of songs he wrote Air Supply and Alice Cooper. He included songs from his Frost and Ursa Major period. The setlist included;  Jerusalem, I Might as Well Be on Mars, Just As I Am (for Katie Szabo), If 4^th Street Could Talk, Donny’s Blues, Ain’t That A Shame, Don’t Go Messin’ (with another man’s woman) My Darkest Hour and Misery Train. Wagner was on his game that night and his guitar work was simply stunning. He sang well and was relaxed and talking with the crowd like he was sitting in the kitchen, with old friends telling stories and trading off riffs. Dick would never quite sound like this again. Soon after his final barbecue show health problems left him unable to perform. He feared he would never return to the stage; never play his guitar again, that is, until he made a miraculous recovery from a series of strokes and coronary problems. Wagner began the process of re-learning his chops and composing new music.  In 2011 Wagner made a courageous return to performing with a brief club tour in Michigan and he continues to perform in select clubs to this day.  Hail to the mystery man.

 

Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues

Live In Concert

State Theatre Bay City

September 8^th, 2012

 

Peter Tork took the stage shortly after 8pm and proceeded to give the audience a rousing rootsy performance that was bluesy, jazzed up and rockin’. Tork was in fine form. He was slender, energetic and in good voice. This old blues engine was firing on all cylinders with Tork serving as a musicologist teaching his class about where all this great music came from. It was like John Hammond bringing in Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and boogie-woogie pianist Meade Lux Lewis @ the Spirituals to Swing concert @ Carnegie Hall in 1938 but playing Robert Johnson records first. He couldn’t help himself neither could Tork. He oozed the blues. He was animated, funny and energetic.  He was in good humor, crackin’ jokes and straight-faced goofin’. His energy was infectious and the audience was a sea of smiles playing off the good vibes of Tork and his band

 Their version of Saved by the Blues was tight as a vice with Tork singing his ass off and the band chiming in with some tasty harmonies -   great energy. Albert King’s 1966 version of the bawdy/naughty Cross Cut Saw became an essential feature in the modern blues pantheon and Tork was able to recreate it with great facility flattening and gradually bending the notes (minor 3^rd to major 3^rd). Peter’s lead guitar work on this tune is understated and exceptional. He plays big fat notes, opting for tone instead of speed. Good interplay between Tork and guitarist Joe Boyle. A bit of feedback at the beginning prompts Peter to make a John Cage reference, some of the crowd caught it. Great spontaneity – don’t worry, be happy.

The next song I’m a Believer was a mega-hit for the Monkees… because it’s a great pop song. Peter takes the lead vocals (it was originally a Mickey Dolenz tour-de-force) and makes it his own. The arrangement is faithful to the original. Tork is on the keys and the rhythm section lays out perfect time with just the right enough space. The next song is a boogie-woogie masterpiece written by Frankie Ford and Huey “Piano” Smith. Tork is in good voice and the band is rocking hard – a great version of an old chestnut. The high energy level of the performance keeps this song on course.

Later on Tork begins a rap about Louis Jordan, understanding the blues and the existential meaninglessness of everything; the crowd seemed puzzled but when the band unleashed Jordan’s Slender, Tender and Tall, they got the message – big time. Tork became a musical historian who is willing to stick his neck out and go back in time and unleash a catalog of Americana that still exists in small pockets across the globe. Tork understands – deeply - the intellectual and sensuous appeal of those ancient rhythms whether its blues, country jazz or be-bop, boogie and jive.  It informs his craft and results in a performance that is simply spectacular in its scope and range. His rousing version of Hoochie Coochie Man is a tribute to a song that helped usher in a new kind of music. It brought us to the beginning, the very genesis of rock & roll - amazing!

At this point in the show the bass player Arnold Jacks starts to goof with Peter, calling him a” funky little white boy” -  a loving compliment to the leader of the band. This segued nicely to a faithful version of a Monkees standard A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You. Peter sings lead - though it was a vehicle for the late and great Davy Jones. Peter’s piano trill on the bridge is simply scrumptious. The band stomps back with a rockin’ boogie woogie masterpiece Wine/Texas Barbecue, a variation of Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee written by Sticks McGhee, with a little help from his brother Brownie McGhee…just to clean it up a bit. Joe Boyle hits it outta the park with his exceptional full bodied guitar work. The next song Molecular Structure is a great song from the Mose Allison Archives. It is a brief soiree on sexual politics and has a form of kidding on the square underneath the lyrical playfulness. Mose played my club and I loved him dearly. We were all snapping photos of him as he played when he suddenly stopped, looked me right in the in the eye and said quietly, “I’m not a model so stop taking pictures.” Anyway, Tork did this brief ditty some moral justice, great version! The first huge Monkees hit, Last Train to Clarksville was re-imagined as a slowed down 12 bar blues. Nice. Clarksville was one of the best anti-war anthems ever written in a pop format. It was released in 1966. Take a closer listen.

Tork fashions some tasty slide guitar on an obscure bossa nova tune. It has some delicious jazz notations that are irresistible. The next song is another obscurity in which the protagonist learns about love the hard way. The lyrics tell the story;

She’s too hot to handle for a country boy like me

She’s a crash course in the blues

Tork rolls out another great Monkees hit, Pleasant Valley Sunday. At the time it was a courageous effort that revealed the bands emerging social consciousness. The song is an incredible statement about the false promises of a consumer culture and bourgeois pretensions. Plus it had a good beat and hooks galore. I believe its boldness was underappreciated back in 1967.

Play with your Poodle is a Tampa Red song from the forties. It’s salacious blues at its metaphoric best. The title tells the story. Tork and his band are in a groove at this point. The slow blues format is a perfect backdrop for some tasty guitar licks. Tork & Boyle are up for the challenge. They play some sweet licks with tonal perfection. They are so good it reminds me of Junior Watson’s guitar work with the Mighty Flyers, Canned Heat and as a solo artist. Boyle even looks like Junior Watson. After a spectacular jam with Boyle and Tork trading off fat bodied licks like ringing a bell, Tork turns to the audience and exclaims, “The blues are not funny”!!!!

Tork shifted to another great Monkees song, Daydream Believer complete with the piano riff he created for the song. It was Davy Jones in his finest hour. The song, written by John Stewart, was a wistful remembrance of young love. There is a hint of longing and regret. They don’t have much money and they are struggling but the chorus is upbeat and provides a sense of hope. It seemed to be Tork’s bittersweet tribute to his dear friend. Peter led a sing-a-long with just him, the piano and the audience. Very touching.

Tork follows with Sometimes Even White Boys Get the Blues. It is a sorrowful tale of the down and out blues of the bourgeoisie. It recounts the protagonist’s woes in chilling detail e.g., getting arrested for drunk driving, flunking out of Harvard, divorcing his wife in order to pay the mortgage etc etc etc - whew, a nightmare indeed. I can barely breathe. Oh, the horror.

The show ended with the old blues warhorse I Got My Mojo Working. I first heard it played by British Invasion stars Manfred Mann in 1964. It is written by Preston Foster and made famous by Muddy Waters. Tork uses a different arrangement that incorporates a shuffle beat and some delicate and tasty slide guitar. Tork sings from his center and the band provides a stellar sepia-toned backdrop that gives the song additional warmth and energy.

The show ended on a high note and the audience gave Peter and his band a well-deserved standing ovation. It was a great show.

 

Peter Tork; Scenes From A Lifescape

 

It’s been quite a ride for Peter from leading the charge in those halcyon days in Laurel Canyon. He was friends with future superstars such as Steven Stills, Van Dyke Parks, and Neil Young. They were just kids on the move and nobody thought of fame and fortune as much as making music and pursuing alternatives to the life and values of their parents. It was a time of free love and experimentation. The Hippie movement was created in Laurel Canyon and Peter was the guru. Tork was the first to make it big when he landed a role on the new television sitcom entitled the Monkees. The show was a mixed blessing for Peter and he would carry his ambivalence for the rest of his life.

Now on the eve of his gig @ the State Theatre, Peter is looking back in time. He finds that he is always looking back even as he is coaxing out a plan for the future; when all he really wants is to be in the moment.

This is his vision quest. He is becoming more reflexively aware and understands the pointlessness of figuring things out. Theories and dogmas now sound empty. There are times he wonders how much time he has left. He knows it’s the end of his capacity to reproduce and the beginning of thinking about life’s end. Though he doesn’t trust easily he is more connected to others and less alienated. Peter feels a tension between a universal consciousness and being an animal and has a sense of “I don’t know who I am.” Sometimes he despairs about his need to fill the shoes he wears and walks in the shadows of his spiritual longing. The mundane is a comfort especially when he grouses about his own limitations, “I don’t like my voice. I can’t keep pitch.” In truth, Peter is beginning to let go and find his awakened self.

 

Peace

Bo White

 

 

 

 

Bonnaroo 2012

Living, Learning and Letting Go

Roaming Free within the Vibrant Cage of Bonnaroo

This was my third straight year communing with the masses, over 80,000 brave souls enduring long hot days and cold spring-like nights. I would wake up each morning at 5am, stiff yet ready to move. I’d walk a mile down the road and get a 12oz coffee for two bucks, walk back to the tent with an empty cup. It was fine with me. I would read quietly under our awning as the sun rose in the sweet azure skies above. This could be two hours before my daughter and her husband would awaken. They had their own rhythmic patterns and would set in motion a more leisurely pace instead of my get up-and-go. They would rise up quietly, yawn and stretch with just a hint of a shiver to shake off the damp morning air.  The anticipation of the next four days of music is imagined like a clean breath…ahh. The lineup is spectacular but secretly I wondered if I could do it again, just one last time. The next 96 hours would prove to be my gauntlet, my test of endurance. It’s like I’m a tree that grows a new branch and my energy changes course . I can reach up and touch the sky or just become another psychic knothole. I was uncertain.

The first day started like a wimpering dog in a briar patch. I was tired and sore, my feet hurt and my bones ached. I cursed myself for being so wimpy and for not remembering my cherry concentrate. I was moaning like Rose Morton when she didn’t get paid for godsakes. It’s like I wasn’t ready for the fun fest and I was thinking like a curmudgeon - that Bonnaroo was built on musical Ponzi scheme that sucked all the love and integrity into a musical black hole. But it didn’t happen that way at all. I joined the legion of young zenist warriors who truly believed in a communal sharing of good vibes, honest commerce and great music. The game is on!

Thursday June 7^th

Dr. Dre protégé YELAWOLF performed with all the gusto and bravado of a man with nothing to lose. He sampled the Doors’ Riders on the Storm and Folsom Prison Blues, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sweet Home Alabama) and Metallica. This cat rocks even when his set turns political. At one point Yelawolf does a tribute to Adam Yauch and sings the Beastie Boys hit You Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party). YELAWOLF has a great stage presence and incredible energy – lots of movement, jumpin’ and dancing. He is a charming contrast of the profane and sublime. He got real with a dramatic reading of Pop the Trunk and Marijuana, a tribute to his mother. His Crystal Meth song reflects real human misery up close and personal – both feet in hell. Great set.

Soja is a 5 piece reggae band based in Arlington Virgina. They just released their 4^th CD Strength to Survive and the show focused on their new material as well as songs from their Get Wiser DVD. This band can rock steady with danceable grooves and supple riffs. The singer has an excellent voice but doesn’t sing with the passion of Bob Marley or Peter Tosh. All told this is music that puts a smile on your face and gets your legs moving and your toes tapping. Mass popularity will probably elude them.

Friday June 8^th

Shahidah Omar did her set at the tiny Great Taste Lounge (by Miller Lite). First of all Omar is knock down gorgeous. She has a beautiful smile and she’s sexy - every man’s dream girl. After you get beyond the window dressing she just sings her ass off. She has a strong voice but is able to whisper and mold lyrics with an incredibly limber delivery. The music is atmospheric, psychedelic disco. Her dream-like wordless intonations create an ancient prehistoric vibe that communicates without language. She is a new-age Donna Summer. Her song Stop the War was simply stunning. She exudes integrity that colors songs like What About the Living and People of the World with her own brand of social consciousness. She is a rising star.

 The Kooks, performed on the Which Stage, one of the largest platforms at Bonnaroo. As British imports they are a bit less known than their American counterparts. The Kooks are a throwback to the great power pop movement of the seventies led by Badfinger, The Raspberries and Big Star. It’s hook-laden music that has wonderful harmonies and a fabulous lead singer who sounds a bit like the Small Faces, especially Ronnie Lane. The timing is impeccable, stops and starts and acapella interludes. The band performed several songs from their latest LP Junk of the Heart including the title songs as well as Killing Me, Runaway, Rosie, and Is it Me.? This is upbeat pop music that would fit nicely in Herman’s Hermits stage show. The music is powerful yet melodic. The guitarist allows the music to breathe without having to solo through every bridge and chorus. The riffs are catchy like a jingle on the radio. British charm and Beatle haircuts give this set a major retro vibe. Keep the music alive.

I eagerly anticipated the appearance of Colin Hay @ the Sonic Stage, it’s up close and personal with a minimum of standing room and zero space for seating. So I hung out by the cool breeze of the Garnier Fructis tent where they were giving away free hair shampoos that were heavenly and restorative. Hay is the leader of the Australian jazz rockers Men at Work and his years on the road with his band or his solo excursions has refined his skills. He is a quiet and unassuming master of his art. He was relaxed and talkative during his set and pulled out The Land Down Under, and Who Can it Be Now, two of the greatest songs exported by the Aussies to America, right up there with AC/DC,  the Easybeats and the Little River Band. It was a thrill to see and hear a master work his craft. His hair has thinned but he’s aged gracefully. He performs his later compositions that are more reflective, quiet and contemplative. He sings about brewing tea and driving his car. He sings about the simple pleasures of life like coming home early, swimming in the sea and watching sunsets. I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You is lyrically brilliant with a knowing ambivalence, He sings with the conviction of a modern spiritual;

He sleeps with Marie

She doesn’t love him

But likes his company

Waiting for My Real Life to Begin is a righteous plea…

Send Somebody

I’ll Leave the light on

Show me the way to Freedom

You must make the choice

Laura Marling is a British singer who made a big splash in the London folk scene, no wonder, she is magnificent. She sings with a three octave range, writes great contemplative songs and is movie star beautiful. She has the nuance of Debbie Harry and the power and range of Nora Jones. She sang six songs from her 2011 release A Creature I Don’t Know and dis a superb cover of the Allman Brothers masterpiece Whipping Post. She is a great singer but when she talks like an insatiable earth mother she sets my soul free. When she sings, “You know what I want why don’t you give it to me and leave,” she erects all my smoldering fantasies. Her songs contain threads to deeper issues about death, despair, triumph, recovery and a fear of living. On Muse Marling’s elliptical lyrics speak volumes;

God’s Work is plans

I stand here with a man that talked to me so candidly

More than you need to

My lips once roosed

I feel again the blues of longing, ever longing to be confused

She does a modern country waltz on Hope in the Air. It’s dirge like tempo inform the lyrics;

No hope in the air

No hope in the water

Not even for me

Your last serving daughter

Radiohead is not a rock & roll band. They are progressive with a capital “P”. It seems as if the no longer create music in a song format. It’s all synths, odd minor keys, tempo changes and wordless vocals creating an otherworldly soundtrack that seems somewhat inhuman. Thom Yorke is a great singer but is underutilized in this melange of electronic noodlings.  Since they no longer perform songs with standard structure of verse, chorus, verse, bridge, I was unable to tell one song from another though I was able (with help) to discern where Kid A started and left off and was able to identify Morning Mr. Magpie, Karma Police and Idioteque. Yorke dedicated Supercollider to Jack White and did a Tom Waits (True Love) intro to Everything In Its Right Place. Don’t get me wrong Radiohead is a great band that defies genres – are they rock. progressive, electronic or none of the above. I like them as I do Jethro Tull. True Genius…but sometimes I just like to hear Creep.

Saturday June 9^th

The Ford Tent proved to be the place to go for great obscure bands that are a little odd and off-kilter with the current zeitgeist. Bubblegum hooks, pop satire and soaring harmonies are the call of the day. It’s like Weird Al meets the Beach Boys. I saw a band named Oberhofer that was a throw back to the days of 2 minute pop songs, little gems with good singing, soaring harmonies, and hooks galore. Get it in & out quick and make sure the lead singer has a teenage voice. These cats were all around odd, even did a xylophone solo. I loved ‘em.

But the next band really shook me up. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is a Detroit fixture with Wheezer-like whimsy, great singing and bratty songs that are so good that you’re not sure if they are kidding or serious, offensive or just plain funny. They are great players and the synth accents went along way to coloring the musical landscape. They are spontaneous and dead-pan outrageous. The audience loved the sardonic humor, “We’re glad to be in this little Persian orgy tent with you – need any grapes?” They did a Whitney Houston Tribute (I will Always Love You) followed with a whistled intro to the dead serious  satire of a Simple Girl. She doesn’t need you to meet her family (even though your boinking her). These cats are hilarious without being pushy about it. At one point they shifted to straight renditions of the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows and Gil Scott Heron’s We Almost Lost Detroit.  It was stunning performance in a small space kind of like having a sing-a-long with a few friends in your kitchen. Great Band!

Flogging Molly was inspired by the punk bands in Los Angeles – The Dead Kennedys and Black Flag. Celtic meets Punk is sometimes a rocky marriage of but when it works, the humor bites, political statements are brash and bold and the music is transcendent. Flogging Molly music is energetic and tongue in cheek – a good mix of punk, Gaelic (Irish, Scottish) blarney, and social consciousness. Their 24 song setlist included six rebel yell anthems from their new LP Speed of Darkness. Highlights included The Powers Out, A Prayer for Me in Silence and Oliver Boy. They rock hard yet still retain core Celtic folk instruments such as accordion, fiddle and banjo. Amnesty International had commissioned leader Dave King to sing These Times Are a Changing, a Dylan song written back in 1963. King gives it a straight acoustic reading with his wife on the pennywhistle. The rest of the band joined in on the second verse. Incredible! They performed If I Ever Leave This World Alive is one of the most poignant and tender songs I’ve ever heard. Flogging Molly has integrity. They are a band that talks the walk and takes a courageous stand to embrace civil liberties and human rights while railing against war, corruption and greed in America. This was one of the best shows @ Bonnaroo 2012.

The genre hopping Punch Brothers performed a tight set that included unusual covers for a progressive bluegrass band. Leader Chris Thile plays mandolin while the rest of the cast fills up the sonic landscape with violin/fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. They have close harmonies, unison and falsetto vocals. Their music ranges from the popish This girl, the rock oriented Heart in a Cage (The Strokes cover) to Flippen, a straight up bluegrass gem. This is a band that has something bubbling up to the surface. Their talent is apparent but they need to corral the right mix of energy and virtuosity. When they get it right, they just might rocket into the upper echelon of national touring acts. Their covers of Radiohead (Kid A) and Beck (Sexx Laws) show that they are able to take risks and expand the parameters of bluegrass music.

Ludacris just may be the highlight to Bonnarroo 2012. He tours with a full band that includes lead guitar,  bass, keys, drums, percussion, and a deejay. He has a big full sound and incredible energy and he does all his hits like area Code, Southern Hospitality, Rollout, Stand Up, How Low and Move bitch. It was hard to keep track of it all with his rapid fire delivery and his crowd pleasing F-bombs and Mother-F bombs. It was less profane than it was a greeting or a call to arms for the counter culture to express itself. Ludacris sounded tough at times but his message was love and acceptance. He did several cool covers including; Break Your Heart (Taio Cruz), Tonight I’m Loving You (Enrique Iglesias), Glamorous (Fergie). It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ludacris enjoys weed. He instructs the audience “Let’s get high” and dedicates a song to all the weed smokers. Ludacris tells the huge crowd that he’s been on a never ending tour across the United States and the world. He’s always been a trend setter and a risk taker. He hasn’t had a big hit in a few years but he’s still a star. When he raps I wanna lick you from your head to your toes, the girls scream orgasmically. He marches to his own industrial beats and his music is a harsh mistress to the heavy sounds of the street. Love is like a beacon of light on a dark night but violence is the promise. Ludacris speaks in a language that is common and profane. It is how people communicate today, it’s real.  Ludacris combines samples with his own sounds and his band is up to the task. He rocks a cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. It was a brilliant! He pulls songs from Chicken & Beer – “for all the alcoholics in the house”.

When I call, you call.

When I move, you move

C’mon DJ

Bring it on back

Ludacris shouts out, “Bonnaroo, I love you.”

I believed it, brother

.Ludacris put on a perfect show with well-conceived sampling, a great band, positive energy and a message of love. Ludacris is Back!

Foster the People made it to Bonnaroo on the power of Pumped Up Kicks – the sleeper mega-hit of 2011. Everyone was talking about this catchy little sing-a-long ditty about school shootings. The jingle jangle nursery rhyme beat and whistled chorus gave it an adolescent vibe that belied the darkness of the lyrics – “run baby run faster than my bullet.” I liked the song and wondered if Mark Foster intentionally created an improbable dialectic between words and sounds to lighten it up like an irresistible commercial jingle. This was a surprisingly well-crafted performance from song selection, top-notch players and a great light show. Foster proved to be a master showman/shaman who won over a doubting crowd with his great singing and ability to play several different instruments. His use of falsetto was over-done yet he still delivered a great show. Welcome to the big leagues.

Red Hot Chili Peppers are a great rock band and they know it, from Flea mugging for the cameras to Kiedis walking across the stage on his hands for the encore. Ok, they’re showboats and peripatetic actors repeating the same role in a never-ending loop of sameness that forbids any semblance of spontaneity and exacts a worshipful cackle of fans whose only worry is the barometer of cool and who brought the reds and windowpane. The band performed Dani Califonia and Californication as well as Scar Tissue, Snow and Suck My Kiss. Kiedis’ bold expressive tenor hasn’t lost a bit of its power and he never once lost pitch. The band is mostly shirtless and they bound over and through every nook and cranny of the large stage. The show is well timed melodrama with a lot of excitement and a peripatetic level of energy. They celebrated Motown soul with Higher Ground, an erstwhile tribute to Stevie Wonder and the finale was an all-out, no-holds barred, muscle-flexin’ rock & roll jam (like always). That’s it. The Chili Peppers should be several years past their prime. But they aren’t. They are the hard rock equivalent to Bruce Springsteen – aging like a fine wine.

Sun June 10^th

Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds helps me greet the new day, my last day @ Bonnaroo. I’m was tired and sore from the hard living that consisted of  sleeping on the ground with my trusty sleeping bag, eating less due to the heat, walking more and drinking water willingly and really enjoying the taste. I started each day with a reassuring cup of coffee.

Once again I turned to the small stages to hear the real down home talent. This time its Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds. They have a typical rock band formation except for the 4-piece horn section and amazing harp player who blew it like a B-3 Hammond organ. Sister Sparrow has a soulful tenor that sounds like she’s channeling Janis Joplin. She is just a wee pint of piss and she appears almost fragile but she sings like Big Mama Thorton. She does a rip-snortin’ version of Up On Cripple Creek. She captured Levon Helm’s understated sensual delivery. It was perfect. The band rocked like Chicago on several numbers my favorite, Too Much, ended the show with an exclamation! Sister Sparrow is an excellent band that deserved better coverage from the press.

The Comedy Tent

 Rhys Darby (Flight of The Concords) talked about training horses to bow and walk backwards but from the horses’ perspective. “yeah, I had to do some sideways walking and bowing…weird.”Rhys has a gift of taking everyday situations and making them larger like when a man misplaces his wallet. He looks left, he looks right. “it’s not here.” He retraces his steps at home – still can’t find it.  gets into his car and drives backwards to the last place he’s been. Nope, still can’t find it, goes home, wife found it on the nightstand.

Moshe Kasher started riffin’ as soon as he took the stage. “I’m a Jew, we blew our wad a long time go. We don’t have live births. We are reptilian. He explains transgender “to those folks in Tennessee” and then admits that he’s a trans, transgender, “I’m a man who felt he should be a woman but that woman really wants to be a man.” He states that he isn’t much of a fighter but he got into a fight once and thought, “Oh fuck, I’m fighting. I can’t just un-fight

Guitar slinging comedic outlaw Nick Thune was up nest. He introduces himself and then laughs – “just told myself a joke.”

He’s gifted at the one liners:

“I’m from Seattle so I want to talk about Nirvana…Nevermind.”

“Enough is enough is the exact same word”

“Can I have a Red Bull Decaf – no caffeine but it tastes like car keys.”

“I walked in on my roommate when I was masturbating”

 “I cc Stevie Wonder on all me emails.”

“In the beginning Google created earth, that’s what I’ll tell my kid.”

“What’s your favorite anti-drug campaign – Truth or Dare?”

Reggie Watts had a comedic mix of the physical and cerebral. He complains about girlfriends who squeeze toothpaste in the middle. He’ll hide his tube or buy her one of her own but it don’t matter because she still find his toothpaste and squeeze it in the middle - a test of love, to be sure. Reggie told a long story about his father, a bio-geneticist who experimented with children raising dinosaurs…many children died. He did an incredible rap about it with mix tapes and samples. Reggie is totally insane in a cool dead pan way. He spoofed Carol Burnett and her secret career as a space traveler and her unpopular belief that machines will take over the earth – like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator. Ok, you had to be there

Kenny Rogers – not my favorite cup of tea - though I did love all those early First Edition songs like Heed the Call, Tell it All Brother, Rueben James, But You Know I Love You, Something’s Burning, and Just Dropped In. I was familiar with his country catalog and I was never impressed by his soft middle of the road love songs - though it made him a wealthy man. Alas Roger’s fortunes tumbled in the last few years as his recording career stalled. And his stock plummeted following extensive plastic surgery that made him look noticeably in-elastic and quintessentially vain. In an unexpected twist of the knife Rogers’ show at Bonnaroo was a down home understated masterpiece. Rogers did all his hits and I found myself re-examining his extensive body of work, He sang one right after another and they were uniformly excellent - Daytime Friends, We’ve Got Tonight (Seger Cover), The Gambler, Lady, and She Believed in Me. I loved the folksy swagger of It’s a Beautiful Life that conjured up images of backyard barbecues and good times with friends and neighbors. He sang about.celebrating life where “we dance till we die ” and “Times that really matter.” His rendition of Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town) was perfect and I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition) was a blast from the past, a psychedelic relic of an ancient past. I loved every second of it. The Gambler was a sing-a-long favorite. No one coming of age in the seventies would forget the lines

you gotta know when to hold ‘em

know when to fold ‘em

Know when to walk away

Know when to  run

You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table

There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done

There were several surprises at this show. The Mayor of Manchester presented Kenny with the key to the city and after all that hub-bub quieted down Lionel Ritchie appeared onstage and proceeded to sing a duet with Kenny on the 1980 #1 hit Lady,  Ritchie then proceeded to tear the house down with a raucous version of his mega-hit All Night Long. The crowd was stunned then frenzied…everybody was shaking their groove thing. To top it off Rogers ended the show with Islands In the Stream, a huge hit he had with Dolly Parton. This was another unexpected highlight of Bonnaroo.

The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour rolled into Bonnaroo in mid-afternoon. A huge crowd greeted the band, their legendary status secured. But for me it was difficult to listen and pay witness to the fractured image of a dying band on its last legs. I recall their early to mid-seventies heyday when Carl Wilson was the musical director and he was singing those incredibly intricate and layered masterpieces such as Long Promised Road, Good Timing, Caroline No, Feel Flows, Surfs Up, Wild Honey, I Can Hear Music, God Only Knows. Al Jardine would sing Wouldn’t it Be Nice, Help Me Rhonda, Cottonfields, Heroes and Villains, and Sloop John B. Mike Love to a back seat during this time of ascendance and hippie cool. His primary role was reduced to the baritone back drops and a medley of early hits (I Get Around, Catch a Wave, Be True to Your School and Fun, Fun, Fun). But today is a decidedly pickled and canned affair with Mike Love singing lead on about eighteen songs. At 71, Love is unable to stay on pitch and his wavering baritone has lost its punch. It’s only when Al Jardine takes the lead vocals that the band sounds like the Beach Boys. He is provides the vocal power and finesse that gives Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Heroes and Villains that sunny west coast sound. Brian Wilson’s tenor has deepened and he can still sing well though his mush mouth delivery sounds a bit muffled. He’s never been able to regain that brilliant four octave range that powered Caroline No and Don’t Worry Baby. His mere presence is reassuring and it reminds of us the brilliance of Wilson’s pocket symphonies. But the brotherly togetherness appears stilted and inauthentic. After Carl Wilson’s death in 1998, Love began a series of lawsuits against his partners including Brian Wilson and Al Jardine.  Love was granted exclusive rights to perform at live concerts using the Beach Boys registered trademark by the parent corporation BRI. The three surviving members of the Beach Boys – Mike Love, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine each own a share of the Beach Boys Corporation. It’s messy, very messy.

Phish closed the Festival with a four hour marathon performance in the rain. I could only tolerate about an hour or so. I was squeezed into a tent with hundreds of other fans while thousands just wrapped themselves around the wetness like an old comfortable raincoat. I heard some righteous jams including Funky Bitch, The Moma Dance, Sample in a Jar, and Possum but my favorite was when Kenny Rogers guested with a high energy good time rendition of the Gambler. Phish sounded spectacular but I just couldn’t usher the gumption or the energy to stick it out.

We trekked back to our campsite. Earlier in the evening we knocked down the tent, folded it up and squeezed it into the back of the Dodge Caravan. The vehicle was already jam packed so we took our time walking back from the main stage. We kicked back, slept the night away and hit the road early the next morning tired but happy.

 Bonnaroo 2012 was the best!

The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour

                                                                           The Beach Boys

Postcards from California

Let’s Do it Again

The Beach Boys’ 50^th Anniversary Concert @ DTE proved to be a commercial and artistic triumph. After catching half their lackluster performance earlier this summer @ the Bonnaroo Music Festival, I was not expecting much from these scraggly long in-tooth septuagenarians. In fact I almost turned around en-route as I could not bear to see my aging heroes become such sell-out villains trading off their iconic status for crass commercialism. I hated Mike Love for suing Brian Wilson (several times) and Al Jardine over the rights to the Beach Boys name. And I detested the emphasis on the earlier 1963-66 Beach Boys catalog that focused on surf, hot rods and Mike Love’s wavering baritone. I wanted the Carl Wilson-led Beach Boys of the seventies when they were still creating magical musical scores with Carl and Al Jardine taking most of the vocal leads with help from Blondie Chaplin (Sail on Sailor, Wild Honey) and Ricky Fataar (We got Love) and Dennis Wilson (Do You Wanna Dance, You Are So Beautiful and Forever). By the mid-seventies Love was relegated to a secondary role singing a medley of oldies for the encore. The juxtaposition of progressive new music and the great surf hits proved irresistible and the band was received warmly by critics and fans alike. Mike Love proved to be a durable front man especially when he cracked jokes, honored the absent genius of Brian Wilson or satirized Merle Haggards anti-drug anthem Okie from Muskogee. This was the apotheosis, the peak of the Beach Boys powers as a touring band. When Carl Wilson passed away in 1998, the band imploded, Jardine opted out, Love sued Brian and gained control of the Beach Boys name for touring. The next 14 years was the creative nadir for the Beach Boys with a weakened lineup led by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston. Without the creative spark of Brian and Carl Wilson, the new millennium Beach Boys lineup could only tour behind the oldies. Some casual fans didn’t notice but the rock & roll cognoscenti did and they uniformly lambasted the touring version of the Beach Boys. It was like the Rolling Stones touring without Mick and Keith. However, help was on the way. By the late nineties, Brian Wilson returned with a renewed spirit and his creative juices were flowing with help from Don Was and his old pal Van Dyke Parks. Wilson toured extensively and recorded great solo records such as Imagination, Live @ the Roxy and Orange Crate Art. He revisited Pet Sounds and Smile and toured to support his legendary pop symphonies with a cracker-jack band with great singers and players.  In the meantime fans got the shaft by a weakened lineup of Beach Boys and the press all but ignored this once vibrant group of Southern Californian misfits while focusing on the exploits of the band’s tortured genius. This was the fortunate set of circumstances that led to this historic reunion of one of the most revered bands in rock & roll history. The aspects were right – a dialectic of declining fortunes, creative bursts and the healing old wounds.

They opened the show with Do it Again – a perfect start that reflected nostalgia and hope. Love was in great voice and the harmonies were just right. The drums and bass lines were funky and tight. The fuzz-tone riff motif is simple yet elegant. This was the last great collaboration between Mike Love and Brian Wilson dating back to 1969.

Al Jardine anchored the show with his incredibly soulful Southern California vocals. As the resident do-wop and folk historian, he performed the ancient street corner chestnut Come Go with Me and the folk classic Cottonfields. He was in superb form with a voice that was powerful yet expressive and he never lost pitch. He also sang, Then I Kissed Her, California Saga (with Mike Love), Wouldn’t it Be Nice, Help Me Rhonda. Jardine sounded so good that even Mike Love commented – “Al Jardine, what a voice – can you believe it?”

Brian Wilson was a little stiff and he relies too much on a teleprompter to remember the lyrics. He cannot hit the upper registers anymore but his now mid-level tenor is always on key though his pitch falters at times. The quality of Brian’s voice and the key in which he sings is now more reminiscent of his brother Carl.  He sang Sail On Sailor, Please Let Me Wonder (originally sung by Carl), Surfer Girl, I Wasn’t Made for These Times, Heroes & Villains – the resurrected and expanded Smile version with different lyrics and spoken asides such as “You’re under arrest! – it was simply glorious

Jeff Foskett, has been a long term member of Brian Wilson’s touring band and has performed on many of Brian’s solo projects. Foskett is a great singer and has a soaring tenor reminiscent of Brian in his prime. He took lead vocals on the Beach Boys classic hot-rod era ballad Don’t Worry Baby and replicated Brian’s soulful lead on Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ Why Do Fool Fall in Love. Foskett did a great job providing these leads as well as switching off vocals with Mike Love on When I Grow Up to Be a Man, and Good Vibrations.

Mike Love was simply stunning keeping everything balanced with his supple baritone, great nasal lead vocals and harmonic fills. Love supplies the vocal bottom that gives the heavenly harmonies their richness.  His singing was spot on the mark and he carried the lion’s share of lead vocals for two-thirds the show – I Get Around, Wendy, When I Grow Up (to Be a Man), 409, Shut Down, Little Deuce Coupe, Catch A Wave, Don’t Back Down, Surfin’ Sufari, Be True to Your School, Surfin’ USA, California Girls, Good Vibrations and Fun, Fun, Fun. Incredible stamina; a great vocalist

Brian Johnston resurrected Disney Girls, one of his greatest compositions. Johnston hit pay dirt early in his career with such great tunes as I Write the Songs (a hit for Barry Manilow), Summer Means Fun (with Terry Melcher), and My World Fell Down (with Gary Usher) He has a thin boyish tenor that is perfect for his sepia toned music and wistful lyrics that recall simpler times and ageless values. He even mentioned that he was a graduate of Interlochen Music Camp, class of ’55 – his Michigan connection!

David Marx was a Beach Boy from the ages of 13 years old to 17. He did several lead guitar lines and sang the lead vocals on Getcha Back and Don’t Back Down. He also did a fantastic job opening the second set with Pet Sounds. The music was brassy and elegant and Marx displayed some tasty licks on guitar. This was only the second instrumental the Beach Boys ever released (if you don’t include the 1968  Stack-O-Tracks LP) and it’s a psychedelic masterpiece.

One of the highlights of the show was when the other Beach Boys gathered around Brian at the piano and took turns singing the verses of Add Some Music from the underappreciated Sunflower LP from 1970. It was exquisite! But it was the tribute to the memories of Dennis and Carl Wilson that was truly touching. Each had a separate segment on video with the band providing live instrumental and vocal backing, Dennis sang Forever  (from Sunflower) and Carl sang God Only Knows (from Pet Sounds). There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

The show was a well-produced retrospective of the Beach Boys music that included photographs and videos from each phase of their glorious 50 year career. These extras created a backdrop for the Technicolor memories associated with our life and times. As fans of the Beach Boys, we’ve clung to their music as soundtrack to the stages of our lives. We have grown old with our heroes and we’ve aged like a fine Bordeaux.

 Lift a glass and drink to our health.

2011 The Year in Review

2011
The Year in Music
Mixed Bags and a Dormant Passion

The music scene in the Great Lakes Bay Region is struggling. Live original music is surviving and occasionally thriving in small pockets as clubs, theatres and bars struggle to stay afloat. It’s like a 9 moving rapidly to a 3 and then jumping back to a 10 - unpredictable. It appears that the shared experiences of venue owners and music fans are held in one symbolic memory. We are all feeling the pull of ennui and confusion sensing that we are living in a state of deficiency that is waiting to be saved. Music and the arts are like a child that’s not really valued and grows up with an innate association to…nothing? It brings us to that part of us that is small and frail. It is the doorway into passion, a sacred place where love and truth are possible. This is our musical vision quest, an integration of mind, body and spirit into a cohesive narrative of the here and now.
That said - 2011 was a great year for music in our local scene!
Andy Reed achieved astonishing success touring as a full-fledged member of the seminal alt-rock band The Verve Pipe. He recorded and toured the USA and Europe with the band and experienced the life of a middle-class rock and roll musician – few make it to that pinnacle of success. Reed was flying higher than eagles fly, drifting toward the canyons of greatness. He was also busy with Reed Recording Studio producing CD’s for such great acts as The Tosspints, Arthur Autumn and his own band American Underdog. The results were spectacular! This trifecta of superbly crafted music led the charge in the Great Lakes Bay region. Reed also helped with Bryan Rombalski’s Two Steps Closer to Zen, a more complicated musical format that incorporated West African, Brazilian, and Indian rhythmic structures. Reed has proved to be a musical chameleon that can bring the best in the artists allowing form to follow spontaneous expression. He records in analogue and produces rich warm sounds. The Tosspints loved the sound so much they released their masterpiece Cenosillicaphobia on vinyl – it’s like sipping on a cup of white chocolate mocha at the Red Eye on a cold winter’s day. Delicious.
Tim Avram released his iconoclastic roots inspired, autobiographical journey into a core wound and an existential reality. In Era of the angry Young Man, Avram opens himself up and welcomes in his own emotional experiences – even if it’s painful. He conveys a sense of “I don’t know who I am.” The songs sound like they were created in a time before the rot set in, a time when people cared about Danny O’ Dell, Avram’s alter ego and the protagonist in this remarkable disc. This is simply the best piece of music released in Mid-Michigan in 2011. It deserves a wider audience.
2011 brought an eagerly anticipated reunion of sixties Michigan rockers The Scott Richards Case (SRC). In the mid to late sixties they were wooed by the Who’s leader Pete Townsend to sign with London’s Track Records. Instead they signed with Capitol Records (home of The Beatles) and released three highly regarded LP’s but never achieved mass popularity. For better or worse SRC wore the mantel as the nation’s first psychedelic band. They performed an outdoor show this past summer and re-created their intricate sound. The sellout crowd roared their approval despite leader Scott Richardson’s diminished vocal power. SRC performed songs from their entire catalog including Black Sheep, Hall of The Mountain King/Bolero, and Checkmate. It was a glorious experience.
November brought the legendary Dick Wagner back to Saginaw after a long absence. He struggled with health problems and was unable to sing or play his guitar for over five years due to the damaging effects of several heart attacks and strokes. We all wondered how Wagner was going to pull it off…but he did – magnificently. The set list spanned his career and included Baby Boy (Bossmen), Sweet Jenny Lee/ Black As Night (Frost), Darkest Hour (Ursa Major), Sweet Jane (Lou Reed), and Only Women Bleed/ Welcome to My Nightmare (Alice Cooper). Wagner was in great voice. He hit the high notes and joked around with the crowd. It was the most significant musical moment in the Great Lakes Bay region in 2011.
Sometimes anatomy does not equal destiny as evidenced by wildly popular bands fronted by talented women; Melissa May/Thunderchickens; Shar Molina/Banana Convention; Calista Hecht/Vagabond Wheels; Ruthy Kwiatkowski/Temporary Limbs. These women lead the pack. Despite the phallocentricity of our society, these talented and daring women have succeeded to make brilliant music. There is no Cinderella Complex limiting their perspective only a coherent view of femininity. A woman who leads a rock & roll band is metaphorically preserving an ancient ritual by means of couvade, the custom whereby the male takes to his bed when the women is having a baby – daddy stays at home while mama rocks.
Local venues such as Bemos, The Vault, Spencers, White’s Bar and the Hamilton Street Pub deserve kudos for keeping music alive. The Red Eye Cafe and Dawning of a New Day also contribute mightily to the cause.
The Great Lakes Bay Region is home to several other great bands that create incredible and original music. Kudos to The Honky Tonk Zeros, Kyle Mayer/Thick as Thieves, Brett Mitchell, Tension Head, Silverspork , Sprout, Brody & the Busch Road Trio, Severe Head Drama, Round & a Distant Few , Laurie Middlebrook, Mandi Layne, Neighborhood Muscle, All For the Cause and Rustbucket. Thank you all for keeping music alive and following your creative impulses!

The National picture is much bleaker for reasons that are at least partially due to ascendance of technology, mass preference for downloading music and the decline and fall of rock radio. Sure the Foo Fighters are keeping the music alive in 2011 with a hard rockin’ disc entitled Wasting Light as well as a retrospective documentary of the band’s illustrious career. Grohl will forever be linked to his former Nirvana band mate Kurt Cobain – a welcome presence as we come to terms with the end of rock & roll as a popular idiom.
REM just released Part Lies Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011, an anthology that represents a coda to their career. It is magnificent. The highlights are all there; Man on the Moon, Everybody Hurts, Stand, Losing My Religion just to name a few. They also included three new songs that blend perfectly with the songs on Anthology: We All Go Back to Where We Belong; A Month of Saturdays; and Hallelujah. I remember taking my son and a few of his friends to see REM in Ann Arbor about 15 years ago. Patti Smith made a cameo appearance and danced her ass off. Radiohead opened and they were simply breathtaking. But REM was on top of their game and pulled of a coup d’état despite the brilliance of their supporting cast. I will miss them
Mirror Traffic is the most recent release by Steven Malkmus and the Jinks. It’s a must for any music fan who enjoys literate yet obscure lyrical references The former front man for Pavement has a brand new lease on life with this brilliant, caustic, and hybrid blend of rootsy yet progressive Americana. Beck produced this LP and created a soundscape that is easy to digest with the sing-a-long melodies but is equally frustrating (or compelling) is Malkmus’ tendency to change chord progressions, keys and tempo. I love it. Malkmus has a facility for composing ironic lyrics that reveal everything by saying very little - as in the song Senator in which he combines dioxin poisoning with entitlement:
I know what the senator wants
What the Senator wants is a blow job

Tom Waits released Bad As Me in 2011. It was his first studio album of new music since 2004. About time. Waits is in fine form, his voice is raggedy strong and soulful. He growls, moans, slurs and spits out lyrics like a demented Captain Beefheart. Waits has concocted his most accessible LP to date. The songs are mean and lean and contain a joyousness that comes from creating music with a perspective of a deep soulful truth, even if the songs are melancholy. As Waits tells it, “I’m a sticks and wires guy.” On this LP he does an edgy Eddie Cochran on “Get Lost” and croons like Sinatra on “Downbound Train.” Waits even brought in Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards to sing harmony on “Last Leaf” and play guitar (5 string with open tuning) on a blues rocker entitled “Satisfied.” This disc is a MUST!

Foster the People, an obscure Indie band from Los Angeles, have reached the stratosphere by concocting the biggest hit on the planet, Pumped Up Kicks. It was written and recorded by Mark Foster while working as a jingle writer at Mophonics Studio. The song sounds like a jingle. It has a metronome beat, a catchy upbeat rhythm and a heavy bass line. The sing song singing belie a more ominous meaning to the lyrics. Foster says, “It’s an FU to the hipsters.” Like it or not this is one of the biggest songs of 2011. It is almost irresistible. Take a peek at the lyrics.
Robert’s got a quick hand/He looks around the room/He won’t tell you his plan
He’s got a rolled cigarette/He’s a cowboy kid
Yeah he found a six-shooter gun in his dad’s closet/In the box of fun things
Don’t even know what/but he’s coming for you/Yeah he’s coming for you

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
Run, better run, out run my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet


There were several notable (and expensive) deluxe editions from various rock legends. The Kinks re-released a deluxe edition of Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). It was expanded from one to two discs with the addition of several obscure period 45’s. Arthur enjoyed almost unanimous acclaim upon its release in 1969 and became the Kinks calling card back to America. It was initially conceived as a soundtrack to a Granada Television play developed by Julian Mitchell. Alas, the project was never completed so leader Ray Davies simply released it as the next Kinks LP. Rolling stone raved that Arthur was the Kinks finest hour. Another reviewer claimed it was the best British LP of 1969. Unfortunately, Kinks music could never live up to such heavy praise despite its musical integrity. The Kinks were always outrageous, sloppy and spontaneous.

Then Beach Boys released a huge deluxe reissue of lost but not forgotten tapes of the legendary Smile LP - Brian Wilson’s psychedelic masterpiece. Many of the unissued versions of released songs (Good Vibrations, Heroes and Villains, Surfs Up) have been circulating in bootleg circles for the past thirty years or so. It includes vinyl, CD and video as well as a sixty page booklet. It is expensive. I’d love to spend some time with it but I’m convinced I would tire after listening to the 33rd take of Heroes and Villains or the 24th version of Good Vibrations. I might be tempted to do an Elvis all over it. Despite the herculean effort and the loving care of the Beach Boys archivists, it does not uncover the masterpiece amongst the roughage. This is only for the completest.

Bob Seger just released 2-disc retrospective entitled Ultimate Hits. Well, it’s not exactly… ultimate - but it does pack 26 songs on two discs. It touches on Seger’s mega hits from the seventies and eighties including such homegrown anthems as Night Moves, Rock & Roll Never Forgets and Mainstreet. He even included the original 1968 version of Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man. Sweet Justice Jesus. A complete Seger anthology should also include early gems such a Heavy Music, East Side Story,2+2=, Ivory, Lucifer, Back in 72, Rosalie, and Looking Back. This is for the casual fan.

Peace
Bo White

Dick Wagner Live in Saginaw

Dick Wagner
Live @ White’s Bar
November 19th, 2011

It seems that Dick Wagner is a cat with nine lives. He’s a rock & roll Stallone. Just about the time he’s down for the count, he lifts himself up, dusts himself off and puts his dukes up for another around. I hadn’t seen Dick for about 6 years or so and I was struck by his presence. He was confident but self-deprecating, and …well, funny. It was as if he underwent a magical transformation, a rebirthing of his original joy about the world, letting go of a lifetime of being pushed, pinched and driven…dissatisfied. Nowadays, Wagner seems to have accepted his true nature, warts and all. His flaws reveal his divine imperfection and he can now perceive the grace and beauty in the faces of family, friends and fans. Finally, the mystery man can face his demons and remain comfortable in his own skin Wagner’s newfound serenity has given him a true clearness of vision regarding his craft. His music has evolved. It is both grounded and spacious. In this concert performance Wagner casts fate to the wind and trusts his own natural gifts. He let go of his tattered mystery man image and restored himself through the music he created and then altered. The constriction gushed out and energy and harmony returned. Wagner is BACK!
The show started with a few squeals and squawks from an overburdened PA protesting the second night of hard rocking sounds from the exquisite band assembled by the maestro . Wagner was in no hurry and he seemed to enjoy the opportunity to goof around with the crowd and tell stories. A nearby fan was rabidly clicking off photos when Wagner turned around, lifted his lip into crooked Elvis smile and scolded, “You’re stealing my soul; it’s being sucked into the lens of your camera.” The hapless fan was stunned speechless for a brief moment, turned red as a beet, and then laughed, realizing Wagner was yanking his chain.
Wagner has noticeably aged. His hair is pure white and combed back elegantly. He has trimmed down a bit and moves minimally about the small stage. He raps about writing a song with Alice Cooper, sipping sweet nectar on a veranda overlooking a golden beach and the magnificent white-water swell of the ocean. Wagner said it best, “We just hung out on the beach, played golf every morning, and ate steamed clams in the afternoon. It was a stressful life.” He then introduced I Never Cry, “This is a song I wrote with Alice Cooper. It was our biggest hit.” This is spare rendition with just Dick’s voice and guitar. Wagner’s vocal is raspy and strained but he somehow reaches the notes; it is a voice of the ages. He is like Santiago in the Old Man & the Sea, a man who possesses an earthy but dignified wisdom and understands that there is honor in struggle. Wagner’s rugged intonation of the lyrics gives them poignancy, a deeper meaning informed by the years. He is more assured yet achingly vulnerable. Wagner found his voice:
Take away. Take away my eyes
Sometimes I’d rather be blind
Break a heart
Break a Heart of Stone
Open it up
But don’t you leave it alone
Sweet Jenny Lee is a rearranged version of the old Frost chestnut Sweet Jenny Lee that is also re-birthed as a heavy rocker, with a complex chord structure, tempo changes and masterful solos by Wagner and axe man Ray Goodman (SRC, Mitch Ryder). They play off each other like radar, expert timing with just enough space between the lead and the back-fills. This would fit nicely on the brilliant but obscure Ursa Major LP. This is a pop song re-imagined by the maestro as a truly dark, harder edged rocker about a woman that has no conscience. It is slowed down with a syncopated drum riff that drives home the anger that is folded into the lyrics.
Wagner introduced the band - a great band with some real history behind it. Wagner has known guitarist extraordinaire Ray Goodman since their Grande Ballroom days. Prakash John (Parliament/Funkadelics) was Wagner’s bass player on Lou Reed’s Live Animals and Alice Cooper’s Welcome to my Nightmare. Brian Bennett (Cherry Slush) and Al Bodnar have played piano and organ with Wagner for years. Jordan John (Prakash’s son) played drums and Robert Wagner (Dick’s son) sang lead and harmony parts.
It was a family affair.
Dick introduced Black As Night as “a Frost song – one of my favorite Frost songs. This is another re-conceived blast from the past. It follows the original chord structure but the tempo is slowed down and it rocked harder. The heavier arrangement mirrors the despair in the lyrics:
Cold as ice
Looking deep in to your soul
Wonder why we never made the grade
Something always standing in the way
Wagner and Goodman created a space for each other as they penetrate the dharma and build the architecture of the sound. They traded off guitar lines so comfortably, as if they are one unified mind. Wagner recreated the Hey Jude inspired ending of the original 1970 Frost version from the great but underrated LP Through the Eyes of Love.
Back to the Land is a heavy hitter from the Ursa Major catalog. Dick opened it up with a soft guitar line. Robert Wagner took over the lead vocal. His strong emotive tenor is the perfect vehicle to deliver the apocalyptic vision of the lyrics. The images are startling - soldiers fighting, dust settling and cities on fire. This is a heavy metal anti-war anthem that resonates to this day. As war decimates the cities, it is time to get back to the land. Wagner is on top of his game here. He’s playing big notes and fluid runs with perfect tone and execution. The song is complex with abrupt tempo changes, quiet and loud segments that take you around the block. This song is visionary and ahead of its time. It is a tribute to our veterans but was originally conceived as an ode to the Universal Soldier cloaked in respect for our soldiers sacrifice Its an obscure masterpiece. The clear-eyed lyrics tell the story
I Found an answer
I know we can journey from Darkness
Back to the land
Somewhere in the distant mountains
Men died for freedom; died for you and me
Soldiers of fortune empty your hands
Carry your families back to the land

Wagner offered up Sweet Jane, the Rock & Roll Animal” version from his days with Lou Reed. Wagner and Goodman re-created the Wagner/Hunter collaboration with incredible skill, producing majestic full-bodied notes and cascading runs. The band is in the pocket and tight as a sailor’s knot that holds strong and let’s go easy. The incredible tandem guitar opening and superb harmonics introduce the melody line and Robert Wagner’s hip-talking bluesy Lou Reed vocal. Ray Goodman contributed some tasty funky guitar bits - he’s always been a soulful player. Wagner tore it up on the coda to a wildly ecstatic response. It took us back to 1973
Wagner introduced the next song as a “story about growing up in Detroit.” Motor City Showdown is taken from Wagner’s 1978 solo album on Atlantic Records. The LP was an underappreciated gem that was capsized by a meager budget and poor promotion. Wagner’s iconic guitar work is all over this deep-end song like a long dormant passion that is suddenly awakened. It’s a song about violence in the big city. Wagner’s fiery solos scaffold the restlessness and fear in the lyrics. But in the coda, Wagner’s playing is more contemplative and hopeful. His majestic major chord statements suggest that a better world is possible. Wagner is on fire!
The crowd begins chanting Wagner’s name as former Ursa Major bassist Grant West climbed up on the stage. West played with Wagner in the last year of Ursa Major’s reign when they toured the southern regions of the USA. Dick played the intro - that familiar melody line in My Darkest Hour. This is a ballad for the ages with universal themes that speak to our primal need to merge with others. It goes beyond love and loss to a deep existential need. It’s a struggle between hope and despair and a realization that emotions can signal something. Robert Wagner sang the lyrics like a prayer. Dick took the vocal on the second verse
I spend my nights sleeping in your arms
I’ll spend my days dreaming of your charms
You set my soul on Fire
Grant West adds a prolonged bass solo during an extended jam in which all the players get a chance to flex their musical might. Wagner takes up the vocal line, returning to the first verse and ending with an almost shouted erotic plea
Lady Lady you’re my hearts desire
Lady Lady you set my soul on fire
Wagner ends the show with Rock & Roll Music. Wagner intro…”I’m thinking, I’m thinking, I better stop thinking.” Jordan John recreates that simple but insistent 4/4 beat. Dick sings lead with Robert filling in the cracks and singing harmony. This is a concise literal reading of the original Frost version without any frills, jams or lyrical twists. It was perfect.
“Rock & Roll Music is all that you need to be free” – Dick Wagner 1969
Wagner created a perfect Trifecta of brilliant songs for an extended encore. Wagner is in a talkative mood and he introduces Only Women Bleed with another revealing Wagner rap.
“This was written by Alice Cooper and myself – based on music I wrote in 1968 for the Frost. But we didn’t record it…’cos the lyrics just didn’t make it. So, I presented it to Alice in 1975. He loved the music but hated the lyrics. It took about half an hour to write the song”
Dick began softly playing that famous guitar intro, then the keyboard came in and the cymbals swooned. Dick began singing…
Man's got his woman to take his seed
He's got the power - oh
She's got the need
She spends her life through pleasing up her man
She feeds him dinner or anything she can
She cries alone at night too often
He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all
Only women bleed
Wagner’s vocal is spare and a bit ragged. There is a sadness in his voice that comes from living, losing and letting go. He is no longer a thief of hearts nor is he life’s mistake. He has achieved hard-fought wisdom through surviving all the brutality that life and the music industry sent his way. This is what makes this particular version so powerful especially without the frills or pretension of the hit version. It is a stone masterpiece
Welcome To My Nightmare comes next. It is a brilliant rendition with the added punch of Tony High (T-Bone), an extraordinary musician. He blows a hot trombone on this jazzed up and funky remake. T-Bone’s incredible trombone solo was one of the musical highlights of the evening. He was blowing some serious jams when the music abrupt stopped; an air-tight pocket of silence signaled the music to start back up. T-Bone took it back for another go around – it was the most melodic trombone notations I’ve ever heard. He’s got the good Juju. And he had everyone under his spell.
The show ended with a rousing version of the Bossmen’s 1966 hit Baby Boy. It is a phenomenal version with the original drummer Pete (I love you man; I love you too, man) Woodman pounding the drums like a prize fighter and perfectly re-creating that incredible 8 beat/2 measure drum roll that connected the bridge to the next verse. Wagner changed the chorus in a small way to “Don’t cry so long (too hard) baby boy.” Robert sings the lead with Dick assisting on the chorus. The song holds up well 45 years after it was initially released. It was the Bossmen’s last and most popular 45 rpm. It was a perfect closer and a personal favorite of mine

“That’s the end of our show tonight. I love you”
- Dick Wagner

November 19th, 2011

Donny & Marie -Christmas in Detroit

Donny & Marie
Christmas in Detroit
Live @ The Fox Theatre
12/3/2011

Donny & Marie Osmond has been a fixture in our collective unconscious for over five decades now. They grew up in the biz. This is what they know; it is what they do. Without performance and applause, they would be left alone without honor or purpose. It would be like trying to breathe without air. They recently released an album that made a big splash in the country chart, reaching #7, while simultaneously charting #30 in the pop chart and #1 on the folk chart. It’s the highest charting album of their entire career. Currently Donny is busy working on his 60th album while Marie charted in 2010 with an inspirational album entitled I Can Do This. Lately Donny & Marie have experienced a renaissance that is in part a measure of their unflappable nature as well as a tribute to their undeniable deep pocket talent.

The Donny & Marie – Christmas in Detroit is as slick as skid marks on an icy road. Every quip is well rehearsed, every smile is practiced to perfection and the show must go on. Because…well, it HAS to, otherwise Donny & Marie would cease to exist except for the celluloid memories of when they were young and Andy Williams put Marie on his lap and she won our hearts, forever. Now Donny & Marie are middle aged. They have grandchildren and have experienced losses and regrets and the tyranny of a fan base that wants them to be forever young. As incredible as it sounds Donny & Marie ARE ageless. They are trim and athletic. They are beautiful…even still. They sing with voices pure and true and dance backing it up like Beyonce celebrating motherhood.

The 2 hour show is well conceived. There is a decorated Christmas tree stage left, wrapped gifts, dancing and caroling. Besides our heroes onstage, there are eight dancers who know how to shake their groove thing and nine professional musicians who never missed a beat or a cue. It’s peculiar to me that they all seemed to be having fun. I recall a trip to the New Grand Old Opry in Nashville back in 1976. Those Nashville cats sure knew how to make it sing and moan and the drummer kept the tempo like a heartbeat - but they looked so bored - uncomfortably numb - same old crap; just another day. Three massive video screens were mounted up on the stage that served up a tasty treat of past photo and video clips from the Osmond archives. It was like home movies that were really fun. It helped us remember a not so distant past when television was free and we invited our heroes into our living room by just a flick of a dial. In some odd way, I felt like I was growing up with them and as each year passed and the hair and clothing styles changed. I could see Donny & Marie reflecting those changes back to me as I continued my journey to the other side.

Donny & Marie are seasoned professionals that are as sleek and polished as a new Corvette. They know how to play and audience and they roamed the main floor of the Fox like the Calvary looking for Buffalo. They shook hands, patted backs and smooched just about everyone within the reach of their protruding lips. I got close to Donny as he sang and schmoosed his way back to the stage. When he turned the other way I spanked him hard, square on the ass and when he turned around his smile became a grimace. There was hate in his eyes. I just looked innocent, shrugged my shoulders, lifted my eyebrows and tilted my head to the woman standing next to me….well, that was my fantasy anyway. The show was a stoned immaculate Las Vegas Revue that covered Christmas songs, country hits, show tunes and even a bit of Motown soul. I don’t think Stevie would mind. The video screens were an integral part of the overall presentation. Donny & Marie excavated archival footage from each era from their television performances. Donny did “YoYo” as he and his onstage dancers mimicked each movement that his 1970-era brothers did on film. Very cool.
They did their old hits – Paper Roses, Go Away Little Girl, Puppy Love. It was a tongue in cheek yet an affectionate reading, poking fun at their long ago selves and hoping not to embarrass them. They sang along with their video images. It was a highlight out of many highlights during the show.
Donny poked fun at his teeny bopper image, pointing out that he had THAT haircut before Justin Bieber. He also tagged the early career comparisons between the Osmond Brothers and the Jackson 5. At one point Donny introduced “my” brothers – Tito, Marlin, Jackie, and Jermaine. The crowd got it immediately. A highlight included Donny singing liv with his brothers singing harmony via the magic of a well synchronized videotape.

The duo harmonized perfectly on their latest (and greatest) countrified single The Good Life and did a rocking Christmas medley that included “Little Saint Nick” and “What Christmas Means to Me. Marie did several show tunes from her Broadway days including Climb Every Mountain from The Sound of Music and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Pie Jesu – a vehicle that revealed Marie’s tremendous four octave range as a vocalist. She did a rousing version of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Donny countered with a high energy reading of Rock This Town by the Stray Cats. They sang Remember When as photos and video images of the famous artists they’ve worked with through the years including Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Bob Hope and others. It was an incredibly moving trip down memory lane.

The Donny & Marie - Christmas in Detroit was a touching remembrance of a time and place, a cultural zeitgeist that will be forever etched in the archives of the baby boomer generation. Our heroes may be just a musical footnote in the history of pop music but they sure made a splash during their triumphant residence in Detroit.

Peace
Bo White