Todd Rundgren Live @ The Masonic Auditorium 1974

                                                           

Todd Rundgren

Live & Alone

March 24^th 1975

 

I was ecstatic about finally seeing Todd Rundgren doing a solo gig that was billed as a career retrospective. I became interested in him when he had a hit with the tongue in cheek adolescent anthem We Gotta Get You a Woman. It was politically incorrect for the times and a guilty pleasure to be sure. I recall Rundgren defending it in an early interview but it didn’t really matter. We loved him anyway – his sense of humor, his wavering tenor and his incredible craft as a songwriter and producer. His fans learned early on that Rundgren something special. His halcyon days with Nazz resulted in three LPs and two great songs Open My Eyes and Hello Its Me. Stardom proved elusive and he left the band before the release of their last LP.

Rundgren wrote and produced two promising solo LPs entitled Runt (1970) and Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971). He was developing an eclectic style from blues based rock of Broke Down & Busted to the piano pop of Baby Let’s Swing and Long Flowing Robe to the straight up rock & roll of Who’s That Man.  In ’72 he hit his stride with an overly ambitious double album that he recorded primarily as a one man show with an elite crew of guest musicians such as Hunt (drums) and Tony Sales (bass), Rick Derringer (guitar), Mark Klingman (keys), the Brecker Brothers (horns), Rick Vito (guitar) and several backing vocalists including Richard Corey, Hope Ruff, Dennis Cooley and Vicki Robinson. It was a near masterpiece and it prompted the music industry to sit up and take notice of this wunderkind talent. He was a child prodigy who could sing, play multiple instruments, produce and record his own music.  He was ahead of the learning curve and embraced recording technology like a new lover reaching multiple orgasms.

 I bought every LP he released leading up to his incredible 1973 LP, the  incredible A Wizard; A True Star and the iconic 1974 double LP Todd. In my mind these discs were the perfect soundtrack of the years I lived in Ann Arbor. All my deep personal changes occurred on the back streets within and beyond   campus life. I began to see another way of being. I never perfectly held it and I would lapse, lie and steal hearts and not give a damn. It took years to reconcile that which was true and loving with my profound fear and distrust of the world. It was the beginning of my internal work. Todd Rundgren’s music helped me reflect what a real man could be. It was a revelation.

 I was confused by Rundgren’s sonic experimentation that began in 1973 but I was intrigued with his musical evolution through the Utopia project. I knew about his facility for irreverence and irony and the intelligent design he created as he pushed musical boundaries into the cosmos. These were traits that served him well as a balance to his obsessive perfectionism.

In this 1974 concert at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, I was goofing with a few friends, smoking some weed to balance the effects of alcohol, or so I thought. Rundgren wasted no time in getting to the point. He was doing a solo performance with a tape deck providing the musical backdrop. Rundgren would sing and play live to this accompaniment, guitar for the heavier songs and piano for his more contemplative moments. He joked around in-between songs and proved to be a likeable and compelling presence throughout the show . He had a distinct quality of not taking himself too seriously and would laugh or comment when his voice would crack or go off sharp or flat. It happens to the best popmeister rockers. He opened the show with the majestic International Feel followed in quick succession by Never Never Land  a nod to his Peter Pan  youthfulness) and Zen Archer. The taped loops acted up a bit during this triad of songs as the backing vocals, instrumental segments would screech and claw and make a mess of some the parts. Todd was in good voice during this part of the show, not too many cracks and groans.  He stays on key with the softer piano based songs but has trouble singing and playing the guitar especially the heavier rock sounds. Rundgren was actually in pretty good form. It seemed that nothing could ruffle his feathers. He just smiled and laughed it off, further endearing himself to his loyal fans. He would talk between songs like he was on the back porch goofing with old friends. In the intro to It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference he references Something/Anything his stoned solo masterpiece. He’s right in the pocket with this bittersweet ballad. He stays within his vocal range and is comfortable just holding the microphone. This is one of his more contemplative “love’s gone bad” songs. Rundgren starts a rap about commercial music…”I’m Todd Rundgren from K-Tel Records. See if you remember this one” is the lead-in to his 1972 hit I Saw the Light. His vocal is spot on as he accompanies himself on piano. He follows with another great ballad A Dream Goes on Forever. It has a wistful essence that evokes both hope and sadness. Perfect!

The next tune changes the mood in a dramatic fashion. Entitled the Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song, it is a rap about love, nightmare like love. Love that is unrequited and “robs me of me sleep.” It’s a hoot and a lot of fun as Rundgren breathlessly chants the verses at optimal speed , simple chords and an unrelenting 4/4 organ pattern…an updated 17^th century opera. Hello It’s Me follows. This was a B-side with his first band The Nazz (1968) and it is simply stunning. Rundgren’s singing is nuanced and his piano playing provides the perfect backdrop for this ode to a former lover and evokes a sense of sadness and unfinished business. He had trouble hitting the high falsetto on the bridge.  I remember really getting into the “think of me” refrain in the extended coda. It evoked memories of a former girlfriend. The next tune was Piss Aaron that seemed to drag on forever. This Rundgren clunker referenced nit-wits we knew in high school from the above mentioned Aaron to Dumb Larry and Chuck Biscuit. Rundgren plays around with some props like a big pile of fake puke. The crowd loved it. I did not. It proved to be the nadir (for me) of an otherwise great performance. He finished with a metal anthem Heavy Metal Kids (from the Todd LP). It was a hard hitting rocker, a wall of sound. The pre-recorded music hit a glitch and squealed and distorted the sounds, something messed up and Rundgren’s vocal was buried in the mix though his live guitar playing was incredible with a rapid fire machine gun blast of notes. He hit the e-string like he was possessed by the spirit of Jimi Hendrix . This wall of sound segues to International Feel Pt 2. Rundgren’s voice is shredded by this point in the show but his guitar playing is electrifying. It ends suddenly. The silence is deafening, the crowd roars its approval. I loved it and I’ve never experienced another rock & roll show that was so humble yet transcendent.

 

After a brief intermission, Rundgrem introduced Utopia, his new band. I didn’t really listen. By this time I smoked some refer and had a swig or two of liquor. I was almost annoyed by Utopia’s cacophonous songs. I wanted more Something/Anything or the Ballad of Todd Rundgren. But not this! After listening to a few of these new songs, it seemed that the music settled into a comfortable groove. I didn’t understand it but I began to like it. I recall the song Utopia: City in My Head and thinking Rundgren said he was going to do it (change) and he did. Some of the audience appeared enraptured, others seemed confused or angry. The music was complex but not always beautiful. Toward the end of the show, Rundgren performed Black Maria and Everybody’s Going to Heaven/King Kong Reggae bringing it all back around to the pre-Utopia foundations of Rundgren’s most complex music. I’ve been a huge fan ever since.

A special thanks to Roger Linder and Doug Moiles

Peace

Bo White

Michael Nesmith Live @ the Magic Bag

  

                                                            

 

 

Michael Nesmith

Live @ the Magic Bag

April 7^th, 2013

Michael Nesmith carries his albatross like a well-worn coat of many colors, the sleeves are frayed and the colors have faded but his history with the pre-fab four will always be linked to his media image. Nesmith was with the Monkees from 1965 to early 1970. He performed with them on television, concerts, recordings and one legendary movie Head, an avant-garde slice of psychedelia and anti-war sentiments that also included some incredible music. It was a bumpy ride that bucked, stalled and lurched ahead despite the unwarranted sneering derision. Nesmith along with Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were hired by Screen Gems to portray a rock band in a television sitcom format. It was a parody of mid-sixties rock & roll that was based loosely on the Beatles.

Once Nesmith was cast and signed on the dotted line, Screen Gems purchased his songs to be used on the weekly Monkees show. He wrote several pop gems including Mary, Mary, The Girl I Knew Somewhere, Good Clean Fun and Listen to the Band. One of my favorites, You Just May Be the One is in a mixed meter interspersing 5/4 bars into an otherwise 4/4 structure…cool. I was captivated by the humor and charm of the band but I was also playing close attention to the music, preferring the LPs from Headquarters (their first self-directed body of music) through to their masterpiece Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD  to Head, their magnum opus.. By 1970 the warp speed roller coaster ride careened out of control and ran out of gas. The Monkees farewell TV Special 33 1/3 was roundly ignored despite the fact that was a rock & roll apocalypse featuring such iconoclastic artists as Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Buddy Miles Express. Alas, the public didn’t care and the Monkees franchise was doomed to be forever misunderstood and inaccurately labeled despite several well received reunion tours through the eighties, nineties and the new millennium.

Nesmith did not waste anytime forging a new identity. He formed Michael Nesmith & the First National Band in 1970 and recorded three LPs in quick succession for RCA Records.  Magnetic South, Loose Salute and Nevada Fighter was a highly acclaimed trilogy of the old west, an ephemeral slice of surrealistic country rock that was scaffolded by Nesmith’s psychedelic vision and Red Rhodes incredible craft on the pedal steel. This series of LPs included such acclaimed songs as Joanne, Silver Moon, Grand Ennui, Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds and Rainmaker. All told Nesmith has released fourteen studio albums and two great live in concert albums. Nesmith  also enjoyed a modicum of success with his singles Propinquity, Rio and Cruisin’. Nesmith was never an artist with substantial sales figures - one critic stated that Nesmith couldn’t buy a hit. He preferred to follow is own muse and despite his lapses into stilted verbosity (his fans may need to pick up a dictionary), he can be forgiven. I’ll take Ennui and Propinquity any way or any time he sings. Nesmith has been widely credited for being one of the pioneers of country rock along with Gram Parsons.

Nesmith was not one to tour extensively. He toured for several years with the Monkees from 67-70 and he toured with them again in 1997 to support the release of Justus their new CD. In 2012 he reunited with Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz for a 12 date concert tour. In a recent interview about the tour Nesmith said, “I never really left. It is a part of my youth that is always active in my thoughts and part of my overall work as an artist. It stays in a special place.” Nesmith did a short tour of England in advance of the aforementioned Monkees reunion. Before that Nesmith did a nine day tour in 1992. You could say he was due…

The Magic Bag has a hang dog cool, it’s worn and just a little shabby but its darkness can hide a lot of blemishes. It has a lot of nooks and crannies where you can squeeze this way or that way to buy a soda and some popcorn or even schmooze with the vendors at the merchandise table. “if I buy all four CDs will you give me a break, hmm, maybe after the show?” It was a mixed crowd of all ages. I was part of the white haired fogies taking a chance by going out on a Sunday wondering what will Monday feel like. I met a girl who was obsessed with the Monkees. She even brought a toy Monkee Mobile to the show. It was a collector’s item for sure. It was already signed by Peter Tork and Davy Jones so she bought a meet and greet ticket to get Nesmith’s autograph and already had plans to corner Micky Dolenz at a show next month. She seemed embarrassed by her obsession but she couldn’t let it go. It’s like an old pair of jeans, worn and torn with holes in the knees but it is so comfortable. There’s a pleasant vibe amongst the 300 or more Nesmith fans, no arguments, fights or major intoxication.

The band strolled onto the smallish stage @ 9:01pm -four players, drums, guitar rack, pedal steel, two keyboards, synthesizer.  A few minutes later Nesmith strides front and center and opens with Papa Genes Blues. He slowed down the tempo from the original Monkees version and it gives it a more soulful flavor. He’s in good voice and the band provides some nice harmonies on the chorus. The crowd goes wild. It was the perfect opener. Nesmith asks about the Monkee Mobile out in front of the venue and teases, “We’ll always have Paris.”

 

Nesmith wastes no time in introducing his phenomenal band: Boh Cooper – keys; Chris Scruggs – guitar; Paul Leim – drums; Joe Chemay – bass.

 

He outlines his vision for the night. A series of vignettes wrapped around songs he wrote in the past 50 years...

 

Propinquity

Nesmith narrates. The setting: a quiet mid-western city. There is a Deli downstairs. He sees her often and brings her a gift. She will cook dinner. They are lovers. He sits a long time in silence and then he says this to her…

(Nez begins to sing)

 I've known for a long time
The kind of girl you are
Of a smile that covers tear drops
The way your head yields to your heart
Of things you've kept inside
That most girls couldn't bear
I've known you for a long time
But I've just begun to care

The piano trill on the bridge is simply stunning and Nesmith’s wistful understated vocal is sui generis – a unique connection between the band and the audience.

Tomorrow and Me

Nesmith narrates:

It’s a 1930 film noire. The moonlight peeks through a stormy night. She sits in her yellow convertible and then pulls away in the night. Her smile was only a mask for the assumptions she makes. He turns out of the lot only he turns then other way…

The monolithic wash of the synthesizer creates a melancholy mood, a diaspora leads him to move away from the only life he knew. Nesmith’s wordplay is fueled by a minor key, the meaning is unclear but doesn’t bode well. The band is excellent; each player is generous and confident enough to play without ear shattering volume that can sometimes hide mistakes. Nex has a little trouble reaching the high notes on this one.

 Different Drum

Nesmith narrates:

1950’s in Paris, walking down cobblestone streets. It’s the whole scene m- a boy and girl. She is modern and he’s a dashing young man. She wants to be a mother. He wants to be a lover – to love each other. But they don’t love the same things. This is a reimagined version of the country flavor of the original. The synth passage sounds like an accordion, a mandolin emerges from the ether and the drummer does a slow shuffle. This is a gutsy arrangement , at first disarming yet compelling like a century old painting by Renoir. Nesmith adlibs at the coda

You got to learn to live without me

We got to learn to live without each other

We just got to learn it

 

Joanne and Silver Moon (two vignettes)

Nesmith narrates:

The setting: A timeless ruin, rolling hills,  a weeping willow tree by a pond. The air is sweet with romance. She is youthful and is fascinated by him. He’s a little older and he remembers these young fascinations. He stands alone and must choose which way to go. Nesmith’s vocal is nuanced both pensive and loving, a memory mixed with longing and some regret. The muted beauty of Nesmith’s reading segues to Silver Moon, reconfigured with a bossa nova beat and a calypso drum, synth splashes followed by some cool pedal steel on the bridge. Nesmith’s scratchy tenor of the sixties has settled down to an expressive baritone.

Some of Shelly’s Blues

Nesmith narrates:

Present day working class family. A fantasy handed down. She  kisses him. He’s studying her. She looks down the street and sees all the homes are the same. She pauses and thinks about seeking out another and that may be what they need. Sometimes one loving thought can save a family.

This rendition is faithful to the original version. The band plays softly, sometimes soft is better. The keyboard player provides some B-3 shadings to give it a bluesy vibe

Rio and Casablanca Moonlight

Nesmith narrates:

Late 1920’s at the Grand Cinema Palace. He sits alone until the crowd leaves. Then new cinema evoked other desires. Should he act on it., could the blank white screen be his table rasa?

A prominent pedal steel anchors Rio and gives it an aural beauty. Piano trills give the song a sense of movement, synth inspired seagull sounds are a segue to Casablanca Moonlight. Nesmith’s range has narrowed through the years and he strains at the upper register. The crowd loves him anyway, just for doing it again, one more time. He mirrors our own frailties, our lost youth.

Grand Ennui

Nesmith Narrates:

It’s the late sixties. We are in a bright red Ferrari screaming down the highway at about a hundred and ten. She’s behind the wheel; she has bright red lipstick and is wearing a tight dress. He is frumpy – once the predator he’s now the prey.

A sweet slide guitar motif rocks it to the bone. It’s a great rockin’ version a bit harder edged than the recording. This is about Nesmith’s resolute boredom with the finer things in life. His wealth becomes a dreary repetition of things that don’t matter. Listen…

Well, I reached in my pocket and I pulled out the Omega
That was never one second behind
I knew the horse that I was running at the Southern Talladega
Had won for the twenty-second time

And then the countess I was with bent over with a kiss
And put a jeweled hand on my knee
I knew I'd lost the light
And I was moving through the night
Running from the grand ennui
Running from the grand ennui

 

Crusin’ (Lucy & Ramona and Sunset Sam)

Nesmith reveals that this was the second video he ever made. He knew Lucy and Ramona and found Sunset Sam in a bar, wearing a speedo. This was from Nesmith’s triumphant television series Elephant Parts. It was edgy and cool, a bit avant garde with just enough syncopation. The crowd went wild

 

Rays

Nesmith narrates:

He awakens and crawls in the observation pod that is in orbit above the planet. He can see out in space. The glory of the earth is in an arc around him. He is in a universe of thought. It has a funky organ and a 2/4 rock beat. The drummer gets a workout on this one, he pounds it out like the Dave Clark Five  getting pissed and ready to rumble

 

The Prison Suite

Nesmith narrates:

A guy is in prison and sees a break in the wall. He crawls out and sees that all the convicts are out in the field. He realizes that the prison is only in his imagination;  it’s not real, it’s an illusion. But his girlfriend only sees the prison.

This is from Nesmith’s 1975 double LP. It was an ambitious project that failed to capture the imagination of the public. It is difficult to take pieces out of context and place it into a concert format. This is Nesmith’s magnum opus. It’s about rebirth and renewal and though it is a bit elusive, it is an incredible moment in Nesmith’s canon. It was well received by Nesmith’s adoring fans!

Laugh Kills Lonesome

The last song is inspired by a painting Nesmith viewed in Helena Montana. Nesmith says that laughter is the sound of understanding; it is the divine voice. The mandolin and steel drum effects via the synthesizer give the song an upbeat vibe that you can dance to. The mandolin player does an incredible solo followed in turn by spotlight solos by each member of the band;  the drummer stretches out and signals a segue to the chorus. It ends with a bang.

The encore Thanx for the Ride includes a pre-recorded pedal steel workout by the late Red Rhodes. He was one of the best in the business and was Nesmith’s anchor in the First National Band

People
Keep believing
What they never saw
This time
When it comes again
I'll beat them to the draw
I'll be like it's my first time
I'm moving closer to clearer skies
I'll just mosey on
Thanks for the ride
Thanks for the ride
Thanks for the ride

The perfect ending for an historic concert. At seventy years of age Nesmith has mellowed into a loving and wise philosopher. He is a gem to be treasured.

Peace

Bo

 

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.