Grateful Dead’s classic “American Beauty” has aged well over the years.
November 1st marks the anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s classic album “American Beauty”, a masterpiece fusion of rock, folk, country and bluegrass music. This recording was the companion piece of the band’s “Workingman’s Dead”, also released in 1970. The Dead’s fifth studio album was hailed as its best album to date, primarily due to the band using more folk harmonies and major-key melodies. At that time, critics said the album was heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
And the album still stands the test of time, with gems like “Friend of the Devil”, “Ripple”, “Sugar Magnolia”, “Truckin;” and “Box of Rain”. One would be hard-pressed to find a Dead tribute band that didn’t play some of these classic cuts during their set.
To celebrate the album’s half-century mark, below are some interesting things about the album that you may be unaware of–unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Deadhead. To wit:
–After a chance encounter at a baseball game, mandolinist David Grisman was asked by vocalist/guitarist Jerry Garcia to play on the album.
–While recording the album, other musicians would drop by the studio including Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, Santana, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young.
–New Riders of the Purple Sage had a prominent presence on the album: band members David Nelson and Dave Torbert played on “Box of Rain” and vocalist/guitarist John “Marmaduke” Dawson was given a songwriting credit for “Friend of the Devil”. Garcia, bassist Phil Lesh and drummer Mickey Hart returned the favor by playing on NRPS’ debut album. Garcia also briefly toured with NRPS before giving up this side project to focus more on the Dead.
–The title of the album was created as a text ambigram that can also be read as “American Reality”.
–The album was produced after Hart’s father, who was the band’s manager, renewed the band’s contract with its record label without their knowledge and disappeared with “a sizeable chunk of the band’s wealth.”
–Eight of the album’s 10 songs were part of the band’s live setlists thoughout its history.
Concert ticket prices continue to spiral out of control
In the Academy Award-winning movie “Network”, one of the main characters, a frustrated network anchor, cajoles viewers to shout out their windows, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
As the Great Live Concert Machine begins to awaken from its pandemic-induced slumber, concertgoers must declare they’re “mad as hell” about escalating ticket prices and rebel against an industry of self-serving greedheads who are ready, once again, to take fans to the cleaners.
Already, record companies, concert promoters, artists and others in the business are salivating at the prospect of higher ticket prices for shows in 2021, a year when the global COVID-19 pandemic is predicted to be whipped into submission and everyone can return to their normal routines, including attending events like live concerts. They got it all figured out: live music-starved fans will be trampling over each other to see their favorite acts, and the cost of a ticket be damned. Don’t think that will ever happen? Then consider this: the industry is controlled by large corporations, all with shareholders and other investors who demand to recoup staggering losses from darkened stages during the pause. And the best, and easiest, way to quickly dig out of that revenue hole is to charge higher prices for their product.
Don’t forget this is an industry that has used bullying tactics to get its way. Case in point: the Justice Department reached a settlement last year with Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter, following the fed’s investigation that Live Nation allegedly violated a 2010 antitrust agreement that allowed it to merge with ticketing powerhouse Ticketmaster. Under the 2010 agreement, called a consent decree, Live Nation was prohibited from forcing music venues that wanted to book its tours to use Ticketmaster. The Justice Department probe was looking into allegations that Live Nation was involved in several incidents of potential misconduct. One doesn’t need to use much imagination to know what the department was looking into.
Muligo has heard and seen all of the endless arguments of why sky-high concert ticket prices are justified. Higher overhead and taxes, supply and demand, inflation, artists need tour revenue to compensate for dwindling sales of recorded music, and so on. The music industry has taken a page out of the playbook of the healthcare industry: all involved parties blame each other for jacking up costs. Lawmakers don’t know who are the responsible parties, so nothing is done to solve the problem. But unlike healthcare, going to concerts is hardly an essential need to sustain human life.
The industry’s incessant appetite in making tons of money every year comes at the expense of fans who don’t have a choice if they want to see the likes of Taylor Swift or U2 in person–even if it’s in the nosebleed section. Despite the fact that millions of people are unemployed or underemployed due to the economic calamity caused by the pandemic, the music industry is tone-deaf to their predicament. Who cares about them? There’s plenty of fans with fat bank accounts who will gladly shell out whatever the live entertainment industry demands. But let’s put aside the haves versus the have-nots for a moment. Why would anyone in their right mind pay a small fortune to see some aging rock star fly around like Peter Pan or a rap star mumble undecipherable words into a microphone?
Perhaps industry bigwigs can argue their case that they’re simply giving concertgoers what they want — and it doesn’t come cheap. Or, maybe, it’s nothing more than what one critic compares to milking “a big, fat cow.” Well, folks, it’s time to take Bossy to slaughter by boycotting shows charging hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of dollars for major acts. There have been attempts by top artists like Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews to put a stop to this madness, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Muligo is not advocating that concert ticket prices be rolled back to the levels seen in the ’60s and ’70s, where fans could see their favorite act for about the same amount paid to see a movie today at your neighborhood multiplex. Understandably, the business has changed dramatically, as the costs for staging live major acts come with a higher price tag. But is it really worth an entry-level ticket of a couple of hundred bucks to see them? Perhaps if they shed the army of caterers, lawyers, accountants, publicists, hairstylists, costume and set designers or other ancillary services, tickets could be priced at a reasonable level, where a 16-year-old kid doesn’t have to blow his weekly paycheck from McDonald’s to see one of his favorite artists perform.
Earlier, Muligo posted a blog that lamented a summer without live music due to pandemic. As it turned out, there was plenty of live music-and most of it was free or charged a nominal fee. Of course, those shows weren’t the major acts but mostly tribute bands or local artists. But they more than fulfilled a need for live entertainment; they brought in revenue for struggling businesses like bars, restaurants and wineries that had the foresight to use parking lots, cornfields and other unconventional venues to host concerts. Muligo wishes to extend its appreciation for all of those businesses, and some municipalities like Woodbridge and Somerville, NJ, for making it possible to bring live entertainment to the public, as well as all of those bands and solo artists who played their asses off without expecting a big payday for their work.
Hopefully, this trend will continue when the pandemic becomes a distant memory, and perhaps fans will start questioning whether it still makes sense to fork over hundreds of dollars to see some diva make a dozen costume changes in a football stadium.
On April 24, 1977, a young shaggy-haired, bearded man sat on a bed in a Dayton, Ohio, hotel room, strumming his guitar, oblivious to the raucous caused by his bandmates, roadies, groupies, and other hangers-on that sun-dappled afternoon. A visitor approached him and inquired about his guitar, a beat-up Fender Stratocaster. No response. The guitarist just kept his head down and continued to strum while softly singing a familiar song. The visitor persisted, asking how did one of his band’s songs replicate the guitar tone that sounded like the one used on Eric Clapton’s classic “Let it Rain”.
The guitarist abruptly stopped playing, slowly turned his head, smiled, and his eyes widened like a kid tearing through presents on Christmas morning. He told the visitor: “Sure, man, I love how Clapton plays. I’ll show you how he gets that tone.” After a quick demonstration, the guitarist and the visitor chatted for a while, even shared a few jokes about the hedonistic craziness in the crowded hotel room. Then a voice called out: “Hey, man, we gotta go. Soundcheck.”
The guitarist quickly stood up and said, “See you later, man. Good talking with you. Maybe, we’ll meet again sometime.”
Never happened. Six months later, the guitarist was dead.
His name was Steve Gaines, a Missouri-raised rocker who rose to fame as one of the guitarists for Southern-rock sensation Lynyrd Skynyrd. Forty-three years ago today (October 20th) marks the day when the tall, lanky guitarist perished in a plane crash, along with the band’s lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, his sister and one of the band’s back-up singers Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, the plane’s pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. Twenty others survived the crash of the Covair CV-240, en-route to a gig at a Louisiana college before it ran out of fuel and shattered into pieces as it plowed through trees in a heavily-wooded Mississippi swamp. Gary Rossington, one of the band’s guitarists, recalled that it sounded as though “hundreds of baseball bats” were striking the plane’s fuselage.
One of the biggest rock acts on the planet, Lynyrd Skynyrd was riding the crest of the latest wave in ’70s rock ‘n roll: Southern rock. At that time, rock bands who had a mailing address south of the Mason-Dixie line were creating a special blend of rock music that, unfortunately, no longer appears on today’s popular music charts. It was heavily guitar-driven rock with some country flavor added. Bands like the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, Wet Willie, Dixie Dregs, Blackfoot and others gleefully assaulted the FM airwaves in the ’70s. But it was Lynyrd Skynyrd who truly captured the true essence of Southern rock: hard-driving, boozing, brawling and just having a good ol’ time playing music in a country still licking its wounds from the Vietnam conflict and Watergate.
Lynyrd Skynyrd had finished its latest album “Street Survivor” (released about a week before the crash) which yielded hits like “I Know a Little”, “That Smell”, and “You Got That Right”. Prior to that album, Lynyrd Skynyrd had a string of hits ( the air-guitar epic “Freebird”, “Sweet Home Alabama” (the band’s middle-finger retort to Neil Young’s “Southern Man”), “Gimme Three-Steps”, and the J.J. Cale-penned “Call Me The Breeze”) that cemented their standing as major global rock artists. The band’s sound comprised a three-guitar attack, boogie-woogie piano, driving bass and drum section, and Van Zant’s distinctive vocals that ranged from a rebel yell to soulful, down-home blues.
Today, it’s hard to tell if the band’s current lineup is a rock band or a country band. Some would be as so kind to say that Lynyrd Skynyrd is presently a cross-over band. Perhaps they are leaning that way because Southern rock’s popularity went, well, south as the ’70s came to a close. Even when Southern rock reached its zenith, many of the bands stuck to a comfortable but tired formula of a crescendo of trading guitar licks. There were attempts to expand this genre’s sound, such as .38 Special, but was eventually left in the dust by new wave/punk, and emerging hair bands and synth-pop artists. In fact, the endless Southern-fried guitar jams gave rise to the formation of new wavish Rockpile. According to lead singer/bassist Nick Lowe, who played in an early ’70s country-rock band and is Johnny Cash’s ex-son-in-law, the band was formed because it felt that it was the time that the rock scene needed a break from the bloated excess of Southern rock.
But on that spring day in 1977, Gaines proudly told the visitor that Lynyrd Skynyrd was one helluva of a rock bank and that he was anxiously looking forward to making music that he and his bandmates loved. The band still plays the music that the late guitarist raved about. But former bandmate Artimus Pyle has claimed that there was only one Lynyrd Skynyrd, the one which ceased to exist after the doomed flight.
Southern rock bands, of course, still do exist, and some are quite good at what they do (Widespread Panic, Blackberry Smoke, to name a few). But they dwell outside the margins of today’s music scene, dominated by many artists who probably were too young or not yet born to see the first wave of Southern rock bands kick out those booze-soaked jams.
While Gaines, Van Zant and many of their ’70s Southern rock contemporaries have departed this life a long time ago or have called it quits, perhaps one day we’ll see another Southern rock uprising, or as the late Charlie Daniels once sang: “The South is going to do it again.”
Guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen dies after lengthy battle with cancer
Eddie Van Halen, co-founder and guitarist of hard rock band Van Halen, died today at the age of 65 following a long battle with cancer. Van Halen, who launched a thousand guitar shredders, and his band rose to fame with a string of hits including “Dance the Night Away”, “Jump”, “Panama,” and an explosive cover of the Kink’s hit “You Really Got Me.”
Eddie Van Halen was revered among other musical artists and fans alike during the five decades the band, with different lineups, recorded studio albums and toured the world. The iconic guitarist earned the reputation of transforming the sound of rock guitar, as did Jimi Hendrix, with his two-handed tapping technique. Van Halen’s soaring guitar solos were unmistakeably his own, even the one he recorded on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It (which he purportedly was never paid).
Despite his image as a flash guitarist, Van Halen didn’t want to be associated with other guitarists who were all about speed rather than emotion. In a Rolling Stone interview, Van Halen said: “I just want my guitar playing to make people feel something: happy, sad, even horny.”
Steve Miller hitched a ride to the country music capital of the world for his fifth studio album released in 1970.
1970 was a watershed moment in the history of rock music. So much so that Sirius XM satellite radio recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of some of the top rock albums that year. Led Zeppelin, which took the #1 spot, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, James Taylor, and The Grateful Dead were among the 50 albums that made the list. While I agreed with most of the choices, there was one glaring omission: Steve “Space Cowboy” Miller’s fifth studio album, which was aptly titled “Steve Miller Band-Number 5”.
At that time, rock critics quickly dismissed Miller’s latest work, which was released in July. Rolling Stone magazine basically called it a summertime flop. However, what the critics failed to realize was this album represented an essential bridge from Miller’s earlier work of San Francisco-based psychedelic blues-rock to his future contributions of FM radio chart-toppers like “The Joker”, “Jet Airliner”, and “Fly Like an Eagle”. “Number 5” was created more for artistic purposes rather than making the suits happy at his record label, Capitol Records. The album was the next logical step in the evolution of Miller’s long and illustrious career.
And don’t forget, 1970 was a period when artists still heavily experimented with various musical idioms–unlike much of today’s overproduced, underwhelming derivative mush. Miller, however, didn’t completely abandon his past on the album, often featuring his trademark fiery guitar work on “Good Morning” and “Going To Mexico” or his social-injustice-on-acid rants on “Industrial Military Complex” and “Jackson-Kent (State) Blues.”
To make the album, Miller and his band, drummer Tim Davis and bassist Lonnie Turner, packed their bags and hit the road for Nashville, the country music capital of the world, to expand into new musical horizons. Miller must have figured that if he wanted this album to be authentic, then Nashville was the place to go, the home of this genre’s royalty (Hank Williams, Conway Twitty, George Jones and Tammy Wynette) and its rebels (Johhny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard). It was there they found crack session musicians like harmonica player Charlie McCoy, fiddler Buddy Spicher, banjo player Bobby Thompson and guitarist Wayne Moss to help complete the band’s foray into country-rock. It should be noted that other then-big names in rock music joined Miller including keyboardist Ben Sidran, organist Lee Michaels and pianist Nicky Hopkins, who tickled the ivories for The Rolling Stones, The Jeff Beck Group and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
The idea of a rock band going country was not uncommon at that time. In fact, 1970 was the year country was declared cool: country-rock band Poco came out with their debut album; Crosby Stills Nash & Young recorded a couple of countrified songs on “Deja Vu” (which included “Teach Your Children Well” with the Dead’s Jerry Garcia on steel pedal); The Dead’s country-and bluegrass-inspired 1970 beloved works (“Workingman’s Dead and “American Beauty”) and James Taylor crooned country with “Country Road” and “Sweet Baby James”. Incidentally, all of these albums were on the Sirius XM list.
Miller followed his contemporaries’ fondness for Americana music with the album’s “Going to the Country”, “Tokin’s” (a knee-slapping nod to Willie Nelson’s favorite past-time), and the sweet acoustic number “I Love You” during his trip to Music City. For the record, Miller did include a couple of other songs that made you wonder about his musical direction, such as the Mexican hat dance “Hot Chili” (complete with a brass section and Flamenco guitar licks): “Steve Miller’s Midnight Tango”, a dark holdover from his late ’60s repertoire; and the lush piano and string arrangement of “Never Kill Another Man.”
Perhaps, Miller never intended for “Number 5” to go to Number 1 on the rock charts. But this album was indeed among those that defined a long-forgotten era in popular music, and for Miller, it set the stage for another super star-studded career in the annals of rock history.
Fans are the only losers in the live performance biz
The great vampire squid of the live concert business, Live Nation, recently cranked up its PR machine to announce its plans on how to respond to the COVID-19’s impact on its business: impose a drastic cut in payments for artists. According to the statement, the concert promoter/venue operator “must adequately account for the shift in market demand (due to the viral outbreak), the exponential rise of certain costs, and the overall increase of uncertainty that materially affects our mission. In order for us to move forward, we must make certain changes to our agreements with the artists.”
What that means is that artists working with Live Nation receive one-quarter of a predetermined guarantee if a show is canceled due to abysmal ticket sales. In the pre-pandemic days, artists received the entire guarantee if the shows were shelved. On top of that, Live Nation also now requires that artists canceling shows for any reason–including illness- will be in breach of contract and will have to fork over twice their artists’ fee.
Now before you grab pitchforks and torches and storm the gates of Live Nation’s corporate headquarters, let’s look at how we got here in the first place. While I’m not defending Scumbag Nation for slashing payouts for artists, its recent action brings the whole concert business into a clearer focus. It’s true that fans have been getting ripped off for years by Live Nation and its evil twin Ticketmaster for charging outrageous concert ticket prices.
Through the years, the robber barons of the live entertainment biz have come up with ingenious ways to make fans go into debt to hear and see their favorite artists for a couple of hours. Their latest money-grab scheme is offering packages, like meet-and-greets with artists, premium parking spaces, reserved VIP seating, concert merchandise, and so on. These companies have made a bundle on these add-ons. The problem has been compounded by the reseller market, which buys tickets and then sells them higher prices than the face value of the ticket, many times exponentially higher. They used to call this scalping and was illegal. Now, I guess it’s called free enterprise, entrepreneurship, or by some other name. But the concert promoters and resellers shouldn’t take all of the blame for the money machine that the concert business has evolved into. The artists themselves also play an integral part in ballooning ticket prices.
Don’t believe me then read what one rocker said why artists have contributed to skyrocketing tixs. In a recent issue of Reflix magazine, former Talking Head member Jerry Harrison was asked a question about why the price of admission to see bands has become an expensive proposition these days. He said part of the reason was that if one band was making $100 a night at some club, other bands figured that must be the going rate and they charged accordingly. And when the band that originally charged $100 per night decided their performance was worth $300, other bands followed suit. Soon, ticket prices started their ascent, powered by greedy artists, concert promotion companies, record companies, and others in the supply chain taking their piece of the pie.
Below is a chart of what some of the top acts charge for tickets and what they are raking in (apologies that this chart is 3 years old. It’s the only one I could find. Also, the great Tom Petty is on this list but he has since passed away).
As you can see, there are no starving artists here. Look at U2. The Irish rock band pulled in more than $8 million per show with an average ticket price of $148, netting them more than $400 million in 2017. Not too shabby for a former Rolling Stones cover band. And for the record, this band ripped off the sound of Echo & The Bunnymen, which don’t command anywhere near the ticket prices.
What the numbers don’t show is what fans get for spending $100 or more to attend these concerts. Sure, you’ll get in the venue, like a 50,000-seat sports arena, but you’ll be sitting so far away that the performers will look like the size of ants. So, how did they fix that problem: broadcast the performances on big screens. But for a nominal fee, you can enjoy many of these concerts in the comfort of your home with streaming technology. So why would anyone pay big bucks to stand or be crammed into uncomfortable seats for hours to watch their artists’ performances on screens?
Some may argue that it’s “the experience” of being there to watch a live performance of your favorite solo artist or band. Understood, but why does it have to cost an arm and a leg to do so? It wasn’t that way in the beginning when fans spent $10 or $20 to see a major act or multiple acts on the same bill. And current ticket prices don’t even remotely reflect the inflation of goods and services between now and then. Others will also contend that today’s ticket prices are simply the result of supply and demand. You want to see The Weekend. Pay up. You want to see Eric Clapton. Ka-ching. But why can’t they perform without a multi-million dollar payday for each concert? The reasons: greed and the fact that many major artists, especially the older acts, are touring to compensate for the fact that their new stuff isn’t making the cash registers ring.
Here’s another big problem with ticket prices: many of these artists aren’t worth it. I’m mainly referring to those classic rock acts whose expiration dates have long since passed (hello, Rod Stewart). There are more of these acts that fit in this category than not. Perhaps fans are ready to shell out the amount of a monthly car payment for nostalgic reasons. Some acts have been able to escape the ravages of time and excessive lifestyles, but it’s been my experience that fans will either be sorely disappointed or have lowered the bar to new depths on expectations when seeing others phone in their performance. Many of these bands were great when their members were younger and explored fresh musical ground. But as they got older, their vocals got creaky, their ability to excite fans with their musicianship became less so, their songs sounded dated and irrelevant, and they basically got tired and lazy–and very rich.
A case in point: Guns ‘n Roses, one of the top ’80s hard-rock bands. nabbed more than $370 million for their 2017 tour. GnR, which made more money that year than the GDP of some small countries, hasn’t had a hit single or album for three decades. The Rolling Stones only did 14 shows in 2017, walking away with nearly $11 million per show. It seems the older that the Glimmer Twins get, the more money they make. I still think the Stones are entertaining, but c’mon guys, give us a break.
And former Beatle Paul McCartney charged an average of $186 per show in 2017–near the top of the list. I’ve never seen McCartney perform live but some fans think his best days are behind him. I remember when I was riding a train in London several years ago, two women climbed aboard and talked about a McCartney concert they had seen a few days earlier. One of the women shook her head and said McCartney’s vocals cracked as he tried to hit high notes in some of his songs. It wasn’t because he had a cold, ingested a cloud of pot smoke or didn’t properly warm up his pipes prior to the show. It’s because this rock legend is way past his prime and is struggling to recapture his youth. Some of the more contemporary pop/rock acts like Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Beiber and Ariana Grande are also part of the over-$100 a ticket club. Are they worth it? Meh. Also, I wish to point out that many of today’s Big Names in the music industry, like the aforementioned, are more like a combination of elaborate Broadway/Las Vegas shows and big-top circus shows: a lot of glitz but it ain’t rock ‘n roll.
So guess what will happen when the pandemic is no longer seen as a public health threat? Concert promoters like Live Nation are going to gouge fans to recoup lost revenues in 2020 and will revert to the old ways of paying artists to perform. That means concert promoters and touring major acts will get richer while digging deeper into fans’ pockets. As crooner Nick Lowe once sang: so it goes.
Acclaimed rock guitarist and singerEric Clapton posing at one of the studios where he recorded his first solo album in 1970.
This day, August 16th, marks a half-century since the album was first released, a compilation of rock, blues, R&B, country, and a tinge of gospel. The album charted #17 in the US and #14 in the UK. Clapton’s solo debut, recorded between late 1969 and early 1970, was the result of a relationship that Clapton struck with American husband-and-wife songwriting team Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett, whose infectious rock/R&B/country music paved the way for ‘many late ’60s rock musicians splintering off in other musical directions. It was a relationship that would forever change the course of Clapton’s career.
Prior to his involvement with Delaney & Bonnie, Clapton was hailed as one of the greatest rock guitarists on the planet. Several years ago, Rolling Stone published its greatest 100 rock guitarists of all time, with Clapton taking the #2 spot, right behind Jimi Hendrix. The piece featured other notable guitarists who wrote reviews of their honored ax mates and their impact on the rock music scene.
In Clapton’s case, it was ’80s guitar shredder Eddie Van Halen who gave his perspective on Clapton’s contribution. In the review, Van Halen lauded Clapton’s guitar prowess before hitching his wagon with Delaney & Bonnie, who Van Halen implicitly blamed for transforming Clapton from a reigning guitar virtuoso into a shadow of his former self. Fans of his former bands Cream, Blind Faith, the Bluesbreakers, and the Yardbirds were probably wondering, like Van Halen, why Clapton would undergo a complete metamorphosis. But Clapton has continually changed his musical style, and physical appearances, throughout much of his career, so it’s not all that surprising that he had chosen a new direction, one that allowed him to explore other musical genres and to avoid a one-dimensional classification that has doomed many artists then and now.
It should be noted that Clapton was facing an identity crisis during this period, and he needed folks like Delaney & Bonnie for inspiration and, maybe, a bit of therapy. The relationship with Delaney & Bonnie couldn’t have come at a better time, as Clapton was musically adrift after the failed outing of the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith and the rancorous breakup of rock power trio Cream.
At that time, Clapton joined Delaney & Bonnie’s worldwide tour which featured the likes of his next band called Derek & The Dominos ( Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon). Other members of the entourage included former Traffic guitarist Dave Mason (another Brit who became a successful solo artist), singer Rita Coolidge, saxophonist Bobby Keys, who later became “the sixth member” of the Rolling Stones, and former Beatle George Harrison, who used a pseudonym during his stint with the band. During the tour, Clapton preferred to take the role of a sideman rather than being the center of attention, though other people thought differently. For example, the record company that issued an album of the D&B tour was called “Delaney & Bonnie featuring Eric Clapton”. I guess the record company’s suits thought highlighting Clapton’s name on the album would ring up more sales.
At the urging of Delaney, Clapton went into the studio and recorded his first solo album with all of the musicians listed above — except Harrison — and few others, including pianist/songwriter Leon Russell and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Stills, who just formed a band with David Crosby and Graham Nash (check out Clapton’s scorching solo on “Go Back Home” on Stills’ first solo album, which also featured Hendrix on another album cut).
Clapton was greatly influenced by Delaney, who restored Clapton’s already fragile confidence that was totally shattered from the demise of his last band. In his autobiography “Clapton”, he wrote: “I was lost in Blind Faith. I was the man in the hallway who has closed the door behind him while another one is opening.” Delaney & Bonnie not only swung that door wide open for Clapton, but they found a new home for him that laid the foundation of a long and fruitful musical journey.
If you listen closely to Clapton’s solo album, you’ll hear his vocals closely mimicking Delaney’s down-home, mountain-man singing style. In an interview years later, Clapton said he was happy with the album but thought his voice sounded too young and high.
Russell also encouraged Clapton to sing more and to tighten up his guitar solos. During his tenure with Cream, Clapton was renowned for playing extended face-melting, distortion-filled guitar solos with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker laying down a driving rhythm section. Later on, however, Clapton grew tired of just being a guitar god. He pined to be a singer-songwriter following in the steps of Bob Dylan, The Band, Delaney & Bonnie, George Harrison, and other rock singer contemporaries.
In reviewing this album, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Slowhand’s guitar style or tone. During the D&B era, Clapton traded in his trusty Gibson for a Fender Stratocaster, which Jeff Beck once described as “a workingman’s guitar.” Since then, the Strat has been Clapton’s instrument of choice. In many of the songs on his solo album, Clapton set the toggle switch on an out-of-phase position, giving the guitar’s sound a bright, clear-as-a-bell tone, allowing listeners to hear almost every note. Clapton used this style again on his Derek & The Dominoes’ Layla masterpiece and, sparingly, on his ’74 comeback album “461 Ocean Boulevard.”
Other rock guitarists have copied that sound, most notably the late Lynyrd Skynard guitarist Ed King on the band’s smash hit “Sweet Home Alabama”. Listen carefully to both the lead solo on that song and Clapton’s solo on “Let It Rain” and you’ll hear a distinct similarity. Speaking of “Let It Rain”, let’s get on with a review of that tune and the other songs Clapton recorded in his first outing as a solo artist (Note: songs listed below are not in chronological order that appeared on the album):
“Slunky”— This instrumental jam opens up with a blaring saxophone with Clapton accompanying it with short but incendiary fills. Then the sax goes quiet and Clapton blasts off with an echo-enhanced guitar solo that’s part blues, part rock, and part otherwordly. The only time that I’ve heard him use this same effect was on the spacey jam “Out of the Blue” recorded on George Harrison’s first solo album “All Thing Must Pass”. It was indeed a memorable time for guitar-driven rock songs.
“Bad Boy” — “I’m just a bad boy a long, long way from home. But I ain’t got nobody to bury me when I’m dead and gone., ” sang Clapton on this cut. Was Clapton singing about having a devilish good time with his new home and friends in America, but feeling a sense of remorse about leaving his old life back in his native England? Who knows, but its funky beat with Clapton using a toned-down, fuzz-free wah-wah pedal makes this D&B-influenced song a special treat.
“Lonesome and Long Way From Home” –– Clapton, once again, is telling a story about being miles away from his UK home, and perhaps, of an unwanted reputation that was bestowed upon him as part of the UK’s holy rock guitar trinity (Beck/Clapton/Page). This tune is probably the best rendition of one of Delaney & Bonnie’s songs, complete with a rousing horn section (kudos to Keys and trumpeter Jim Price), second-to-none backup vocals and cracker-jack accompaniment from his future Dominoes. Clapton breaks in the middle of a song with a screeching but melodic guitar solo. Years later, Grateful Dead co-founder, singer, guitarist Jerry Garcia recorded his own version of this song with his spinoff band, JGB (check it out). Garcia, in fact, recorded other Clapton gems like “Lay Down Sally”, The Dominoes “It’s Too Late”, and a slower version of Clapton’s take on “After Midnight”.
“Lovin’ You and Lovin Me”/I’ve Told You For The Last Time” — I lumped these two songs together because they clearly represent the first time that Clapton veered into country rock music, which would be prevalent in his other ’70s album releases. These songs also show that Clapton was into recording love songs before he laid down any tracks for his classic “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs”.
“Easy Now” — What can I say about this song other than Clapton nailed it. Just him, an acoustic guitar, and Bonnie Bramlett joining him on the refrains. Other than Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home”, Clapton’s recorded music was plugged in for his studio and live performances. This is a hauntingly beautiful love song, perhaps directed at Layla (aka George Harrison’s then-wife and UK model Patti Boyd). During one of the performances for his ’74 comeback tour, he opened with this song. When he finished, the audience gave him a standing ovation.
“After Midnight“–Clapton turned J.J. Cale’s slow bluesy song into a funky uptempo rocker. The song opens with Whitlock’s majestic organ intro and then goes into overdrive with Clapton’s vocals reaching into a higher register, accompanied by Delaney & Bonnie and others on backup vocals. On the guitar, Clapton whips into short bursts of stinging lead lines. This song and others on this album mark an important progression in his career, where he becomes economical with his guitar playing or using the guitar to complement his voice instead of the opposite. In Cream, he played second banana to Jack Bruce on lead vocals (although Clapton’s pipes did shine on “Crossroads” and “Badge”) and the lead vocal duties were left to Steve Winwood in Blind Faith. “After Midnight” was a big hit for Clapton back then which received a fair amount of FM airplay. It was also the beginning of moving beyond an extraordinary guitarist to being a damn good singer who still could blow people away with his guitar work.
“I Don’t Know Why” — Another D&B-influenced tune, a slow, gospel-inspired song that builds to a crescendo with The Rev. Slowhand leading his rock version of a church choir. Check out You Tube, and watch the old video of Clapton and the entire D&B entourage perform this song. Interestingly, Clapton dons a pair of dark shades while singing this song. Not sure if it was because of the bright stage lights or a confidence issue, but he did a star-turn for this performance. There’s an alternative version of this song on a reissue of the album, with Delaney Bramlett singing the lead with Clapton on guitar. Personally, I like the original version better, but the alternative one has Clapton jamming away that will almost certainly bring a smile.
“Bottle of Red Wine”--A drinking song if there ever was one. Clapton’s vocals perfectly compliment this loose and bouncy tune about drinking heavily and waking up with a head-crushing hangover. When he’s not singing, Clapton’s fluid guitar riffs fill in quite nicely
“Blues Power”–This song is representative of Clapton at his best-powerful and confident vocals and guitar work that reinforces his legendary status in the pantheons of rock ‘n roll. But let’s not neglect Leon Russell’s piano that helps take the song to a whole different level.
“Let it Rain”– This classic still receives a fair amount of radio airplay, and Clapton will occasionally play it on tour. And for good reason: it has held up nicely against the test of time. There’s a little mystery about the first lead guitar part in the song. I’ve read how Clapton used a different guitar and configured his amp settings in a certain way that achieved the soft, fluid-like tone. But I’ve also heard it was Stephen Stills who contributed this leadwork. And, if you listen closely, it does bear some semblance to Stills’ work with Buffalo Springfield. But it’s the second lead guitar part that is pure Clapton. As soon as Russell finishes his hand sweep of the piano keys, Clapton clears the deck with a fiery burst of notes up and down the fretboard. At times, it sounds as if Clapton is using bluegrass-style picking –with each note given rich and powerful clarity. This is very similar to the lead lines on “Sweet Home Alabama” (see above). On a side note, the song was originally entitled “She Rides” which appears on the reissued album. That version is pretty much the same musically but it does have different lyrics in parts of the song. It’s not clear why Clapton changed it to the “Let it Rain” version but he (or his producer) made the right decision.
In retrospect, Clapton’s debut solo album set the stage for greater things to come in this legendary rocker’s career. But, more importantly, the album’s success made all the difference in the world for Clapton, giving him the strength and conviction to grow as an artist after undergoing a period of disillusionment with his former bands. For Clapton, he embraced the closing lyric in “Blues Power” to move forward and never look back: just keep on keeping on.
On deck: Muligo looks back at Eric Clapton’s solo debut which featured hits “After Midnight”, “Let It Rain” and “Blues Power. The column will appear on Aug.16, the same date that the album was released in 1970.
Watkins Glen Summer Jam ’73 Watkins Glen International racetrack (Aug. 1, 2020)
July 28, 2020 marked the 47th anniversary of Watkins Glen Summer Jam, the largest rock concert in history with more than 600,000 packed inside and outside the Watkins Glen International racetrack. Prior to that time, Woodstock had laid claim to that title. But since those wild two days on a scorching late July, the racetrack has never drawn that kind of a crowd-and probably will never again, based on a recent trip to Watkins Glen.
Wondering what all the fuss was about, Muligo headed to this farming community-turned-tourist trap this past weekend. Besides hosting some of the biggest rock bands at that time (Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and The Band), it was one of the most spectacular rock concerts ever. Rock fans came from all over, clogging the roads of the town and surrounding communities. It’s also one of the major rock festivals that most people don’t talk about or even remember. Unlike Woodstock, the Watkins Glen festival didn’t even merit an album or a movie. There’s an Allman Brothers’ song or two performed at the festival floating around on one of their albums and the Dead’s contribution was an hours-long song check. Perhaps, as Muligo understands it, the bands weren’t at the top of their game, mainly as a result of being too stoned or drunk, or a combination.
In talks with some of the townsfolk, people remember the event in two ways: it was either a peaceful, groovy time or an unmitigated disaster. One of the townspeople (let’s call him Mike to protect his identity), who has lived in Watkins Glen most of this life, was working in a nearby psychiatric hospital after a tour of duty during the Vietnam conflict. He told Muligo that he remembered young fans being transported to the hospital for treatment of ingesting too much acid or other illicit drugs. Mike also recalled the festivalgoers left much damage in their wake to the speedway property and neighboring farms, bought or stole food that left the locals’ pantries bare, and abandoned their babies and kids when the festival was over (this allegation is probably the stuff made of urban, or rural, legends).
Muligo also spoke with Joe, not his real name, and he had a totally different perspective of this renowned rock fest. Back then, Joe was a teenager working at a gas station about a half-hour north of Watkins Glen. Joe didn’t go to the concert but he remembers scores of people driving their cars into the station enroute to the festival. And unlike some gas stations where they might offer you a free car wash for every fill-up, Joe’s station had set up hookas filled with pot for any customer who wanted to get primed before they descended into the hills of Watkins Glen. Joe admits that some farms got their crops eaten by hungry fans, but there were no major disturbances at the event.
Muligo wanted to check out the racetrack over the weekend, just to catch a glimpse of how this structure could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. But, alas, that was not meant to be. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there isn’t much going on there these days, with the exception of some racecar drivers making practice runs. But the racetrack has figured out one way to help its depleted revenue stream: open the racetrack for a day or two each week and let wanna-be NASCAR drivers take their car around a lap for about $40 per car.
Muligo tried to gain entry, but a security guard stopped us at the gate and growled: “No spectators, thanks to the governor.”
Headed down a road to another gate in hopes of sneaking on the racetrack proved fruitless. This place is secure as a military base-with towering double fences (one with barbed wire), metal-detection devices, and security guards patrolling the perimeter in golf carts. Snapped a few picks of one of the grandstands but wasn’t enough to capture the true essence of this fabled former rock festival site. Muligo also did check nearby woods to see if it could spot any abandoned cars from that era (legend has it that some fans ditched their cars on the road and in the woods and walked to the festival site because of traffic clogging the roads0.
Like it is for a lot of things, there may be a good reason why we may never see an event like Watkins Glen Summer Jam ’73. The promoter for last year’s failed 50th anniversary of Woodstock tried to hold it at the racetrack. But the memory of the ’73 festival held by the town’s ruling elite most likely was the reason why a 2019 Woodstock at the racetrack was never seriously entertained. However, even in this pandemic, we still want to hear and see live music, and there’s no good reason why the powers-that-be at the racetrack can’t hold limited seating (or standing) for a rock concert there. And that goes for a lot of other venues with vast open space.
Muligo recently dedicated a post to the late Grateful Dead keyboardist and vocalist Brett Mydland. Now, we pay tribute to his bandmate and the band’s co-founder Jerry Garcia, who died on August 9, 1995-four years after Mydland’s untimely demise.
Garcia had a larger-than-life presence during his decades-long tenure with the Dead, and today he still remains fondly embraced by generations of fans. Garcia, like other musical geniuses, left the world when it still needed him. But years of incessant touring, copious amounts of drugs, bad food, and other factors led to the end of his trip on a long and often lonesome road.
There will be many articles–like this one–written about a man who had and will continue to have a special influence on the rock idiom. Without Garcia, there would have been no Dead. And without the Dead, there would have been a gaping hole in rock music. So to pay a fitting tribute to Garcia, Muligo dug up some little-known facts about him.
Bugs and Space Rocks–A taxonomist discovered a new species of cockroach and named it after Jerry–cryptocecus garciai. A few months after Garcia’s death, an asteroid was named after him.
Broadway Jerry–Garcia was named after famous Broadway performer Jerome Kern, who wrote more than 700 songs including ‘Ol’ Man River’.
An Electrifying Experience – Garcia was hardly disappointed that the Dead was not included in the movie “Woodstock” after the band’s lackluster performance at the late ’60s rock festival. He attributed part of the poor showing to wet weather causing some of the bandmembers to get electrical shocks when they touched their instruments. Garcia recalled that blue sparks were flying off his guitar.
Minimum Wage Rock ‘n Roll– Garcia’s first paid gig was with the Dead’s longtime lyricist Robert Hunter, calling themselves (what else?) “Bob and Jerry.” For their efforts, they were paid a measly sum of $5. They took the bill and framed it, but a few days later decided to use it to buy cigarettes.
Today marks the passing of Grateful Dead keyboardist/vocalist Brett Mydland, who succumbed to an accidental drug overdose 30 years ago. Mydland, who had the longest stint as the band’s keyboardist (1979-1990), was the third Dead keyboardist to die. The others were Ron “Pigpen” McKernan in 1973 and Keith Godchaux in 1980.
Mydland was known for his gravelly vocal harmonies that added a new dimension to the Band’s sound. One published report said that his vocals were “a cross between Gregg Allman and Howlin’ Wolf.” The band’s vocalist/rhythm guitarist Bob Weir reputedly said that playing with Mydland was his favorite time with the band. Mydland also penned or co-penned several Dead songs, some that were never recorded but played in concert.
Here are few perhaps little known facts of the late Dead keyboardist:
–In 1982, he recorded and mastered a solo studio album but was never released.
–Mydland was a motorcycle enthusiast, particularly Harley Davidson motorcycles. In fact, one of his motorcycles was featured in a 2013 episode of Pawn Stars.
–He played trumpet in his high-school’s marching band but was booted because he refused to cut his long hair.
–He was a member of Bob Weir’s side project Bobby and the Midnights (1980-81) which later led to his induction in The Dead.
–Current keyboardist Jeff Chimenti uses one of Mydland’s B-3 Hammond organs that was covered with stickers. Outlines from where the stickers were once are said to be still visible on the back of the organ.
Mydland died of acute cocaine and narcotic intoxication after the completion of the band’s summer tour in1990. A toxicology report found “lethal levels of morphine and cocaine” in Mydland’s blood, also known as a “speedball.” The same deadly dug mixture that killed Deep Purple and James Gang guitarist Tommy Bolin years earlier. During his last show with the Dead (July 23 in Tinley, Park, Illinois), Mydland’s last song on that date was The Band’s “The Weight.” His last solo verse of the song ended with: “I’ve got to go, but my friend can stick around.”
This Old Engine taking a spin with The Dead at a Somerville parking lot on a hot and hazy summer afternoon. The event, hope to be one of many, was sponsored by The Village Brewery.
Just when live rock ‘n roll this summer seemed hopeless because of the ongoing coronavirus quarantine rules, Grateful Dead tribute band This Old Engine fired up the crowd with a nearly 3 1/2 hour performance (with no breaks) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in downtown Somerville. Muligo wishes to extend mucho gracias to the band and its sponsor Village Brewery for reviving live outdoor entertainment in an otherwise jamless summer. The band played many of the top Dead hits and a few deep tracks while many of the parking lot patrons danced the day away. I don’t know if rock ‘n roll will cure the coronavirus summertime blues, but it’s a step in the right direction. Hmmm, is Somerville the New Asbury Park? Not sure, but I always thought parking lots were made for rock ‘n roll.
Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore is credited with making the group “the loudest rock ‘n roll band in the world”
This blog’s headline is quite apt since that’s all we have when it comes to live music concerts in the coronavirus era. And “live” streaming is no substitute for standing in a chemically induced crowd for hours and listening to one of your favorite artists play their asses off. I’m dedicating this blog to an old friend who requested that I write something about the rock concerts that we paid homage to long ago. I should point out, however, my recollection of those concerts are a bit fuzzy, so I may take some literary license as I recall the days of my misspent youth.
Where It All Began
My first rock concert was in a cavernous arena called Cincinnati Gardens. Back then, it was mainly used for professional basketball games and, later on, hockey. But when it wasn’t used for sporting events, it was the only place that could hold large crowds for big-time rock concerts. The building’s acoustics were lousy, but no one really cared. Concert-goers just wanted to be part of a moment in time when some of the biggest and, at times, wildest rock bands performed. Even before I stepped into that concert venue, I recalled when my older sister took me to the arena several years earlier. We stood outside with others hoping to catch a glimpse of four guys from England called the Beatles. We didn’t see them, nor did I care because I was too young to like rock music. That all changed as the years passed, and now I was going to see my first rock concert (it was actually a 12-hour indoor rock festival). My mom even packed a lunch for me.
The year was 1969, and I think it was after Woodstock. But like I said, my memory of those days is sketchy. There were a lot of bands there–and a lot of hippies. I was 12 years old and walking around with my lunch in a big paper sack. Not cool. However, the hippies were very friendly to even an unhip pre-adolescent like me. I don’t remember the names of most of the bands. I do recall them playing loud-at times, ear-splitting loud. One of the bands was called Mountain. I remember them because the concrete steps beneath my feet were shaking when they played, almost 5.0 on the Richter scale. No matter. I just ate my lunch and smiled.
The band that contributed to my friend’s hearing loss
A few years later, my friend and I went to see Deep Purple at the Gardens. They were one of the more popular rock bands at that time and were tagged with the label as “the loudest rock band in the world.” They didn’t disappoint. My ears were ringing for three days after hearing this heavy-metal band blast away with hits like “Smoke on the Water”.
My friend, however, was not content with just standing and watching the band with the rest of the audience. Somehow, and I have no idea how or why he did it, he crawled into one of the PA speakers and hung out there for the better part of the concert. I recently heard from him and asked if he remembered what he did at the concert. He did, and he believes it may have affected his hearing. You think?
Stay Humble
Rock on, Mr. Marriott
Back at the Gardens, this time ’73 or ’74. I saw what personified ’70s hard rock, a UK band called Humble Pie. I first heard this band when it released the classic “Humble Pie Performance-Rockin’ The Fillmore”. The one song that stands out is its cover of Ray Charles’ “I Don’t Need No Doctor”. I think I wore out my the needle on my turntable from playing that song so many times. And to this day, I still love that song. The interplay between vocalist and guitarist Steve Marriott, former frontman for the Small Faces, and lead guitarist Peter Frampton, who left the band to become a hit-making solo artist, was the stuff made in rock ‘n roll heaven. Critics accused the band of being nothing more than a Rolling Stones ripoff. Who cares? They were fucking great. Marriott had this distinct vocal delivery that you knew immediately who it was, a delicious mix of raw Delta blues and silky-smooth Motown soul.
So when I heard they were coming to town, I immediately bought a ticket which, back then, didn’t cost you the same as a monthly car payment. At the concert, the opening act was another hard rock band called Montrose (named after the guitarist) which featured a young singer named Sammy Hagar, who would replace Van Halen crooner David Lee Roth years later. When Humble Pie took to the stage, Marriott and Co. whipped into the foot-stomping, war-whooping “40 Days In the Hole”. At that point, HP owned the place. The audience was riveted to every song. For the encore, you guessed it, “I Don’t Need No Doctor”. The crowd went completely nuts –including yours truly–and you could see this big grin flash across Marriott’s sweaty face. Funny, how I can still see that image after nearly 50 years. R.I.P. Steve.
Mod Rod & Soccer Balls
Getting Faces time
Back in the ’70s, there were a helluva lot of British rock bands roaming the planet. One of them was a band called The Faces. Originally known as The Small Faces (see Humble Pie story), the quintet shortened their name to the Faces after vocalist Steve Marriott left and was replaced by Rod Stewart, formerly of The Jeff Beck Group. Legend has it that Stewart and bandmate guitarist Ronnie Wood joined the Faces after an argument with their former band leader Jeff Beck over whether the band would accept an invitation to play at Woodstock. Beck said no, and the rest is history.
The Faces struck gold with its Top 40 hit “Stay With Me” in the early ’70s, an ode to a rock star groupie. At that time, Stewart had his own solo career and as the Faces’ frontman. It was Stewart’s gravel-throated vocals that propelled the band to superstardom. Stewart was hailed as one of the greatest rock singers at that time before he devolved into an over-the-top, flamboyant pop star. When my friend and I went to see the band (again at the Gardens), our seats were quite a distance from the stage. So we got up and headed to the floor, where you could get a better look at the band. What I saw was a bunch of ugly Brit rockers, especially Stewart. He was this scrawny, big-nose, pale-faced character with a shag haircut that made him look like a human rooster. If MTV was on the air back then, the Faces’ music videos would have been banned because they would have failed miserably in the good-looks department. But the fans didn’t come to see their mugs, they wanted to hear raucous rock ‘n roll, and the band was happy to deliver. As an added attraction, Stewart began kicking soccer balls into the audience, with one sailing over my head. A stunt like that would never happen at a rock concert today for fear of a lawsuit being slapped against the band if a soccer ball smacked someone in the face. Those were the good ol’ days.
Eric Clapton-Master of the Stratocaster
Living on blues power
Eric Clapton was my favorite rocker back then and is still at the top of my list today. Clapton, like many of his British rock contemporaries during this time, was at the top of his game when it came to interpreting musical genres like blues, R&B, country, etc. Clapton took blues riffs and expertly fused them into the rock idiom, making him one of the world’s greatest blues-rock guitarists. Even today, Clapton, who now rarely tours, plays to sell-out crowds in the most prestigious venues. But he is no longer the guitar slinger that earned him the tagline: “Clapton is God”.
I had seen Clapton for the first time during his ’74 comeback tour. It was pure ear candy listening to Clapton and his band perform a setlist that included his stints with Delaney & Bonnie, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek & The Dominoes. He was in fine shape for someone who had recovered from a nasty heroin habit.
This time, my friend and I saw Slowhand (once again at the Gardens) a year later. We were sitting in seats located at the side of the stage. During his rendition of “Key to the Highway”, my friend shouted Clapton’s name at the top of his lungs (this was the same person who was camped out in a fetal position in one of Deep Purple’s speakers). We will both swear on a stack of Rolling Stone magazines that Clapton turned his head and stared directly at us and gave a slight smile. Some may say that it was merely a hallucination caused by the inhalation of a cloud of weed smoke that wafted in our section. Or was it? All that matters is that it’s an enduring memory that my friend and I will share forever. Happy Birthday, JB.
When I awoke from a long night of hard partying, I heard the distant sounds of drums and guitars accompanying someone who sounded like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler croaking out “sweeeeet emotion”. I was lying under a big, leafy oak tree in a dirt field somewhere in Kentucky when the music shattered the summer morning stillness. The year was 1977.
I slowly rose to my feet and remembered where I was: a custom van rally that featured round-the-clock live rock bands. In case you don’t know anything about custom vans (not the sneakers), they were adorned with pictures of sea ships, mountainscapes, sunny skies, mermaids, and just about anything that tickled the owner’s fancy. Sort of like how people plaster their bodies with tattoos nowadays but, in this case, sheet metal. This was my third custom van rally, where live rock music was a staple. For all intents and purposes, it was a rock festival, except, the music was the soundtrack to a swarm of drunken rednecks and bleary-eyed stoners proudly ticking off their vans’ features like slick-talking used-car salesmen.
The reason I’m telling this story is that outdoor music concerts are like custom vans: they just don’t plain exist anymore, at least, not in the pandemic era. Since COVID-19 swept furiously through this country, the days, and nights, of rock festivals, or any outdoor and indoor events, are strictly prohibited. Especially classic rock concerts. Just imagine hundreds or even thousands of high-risk, AARP-aged fans swigging alcohol, exchanging joints and vape pipes, and generally carrying on while scrunched together and swaying to the music of equally aged musicians. Fun, huh. You bet, until a couple of weeks later some of those same folks are in ICUs with tubes shoved down their throats after getting dosed with lethal microbes from their rock concert-loving neighbor.
Those rollicking summer rock festivals have since dried up like Keith Richard’s skin. Not even the jam band of all jam bands, Dead & Company, dare to go on tour this summer while the coronavirus is out there lurking — everywhere. Of course, bands don’t have much say in the matter, given the fact that the authorities have outlawed massive gatherings-whether it’s at an established concert venue or some pig farmer’s cornfield. So until, the virus is totally eradicated from a vaccine or a Clorox cure, the only way we’ll see and hear a rock fest is going virtual. On a more positive note, the virus-induced lockdown is putting the hurt on greedy concert venue companies and online ticket sellers who have been ripping off concert-goers for years. One can only hope they become a post-virus casualty.
So while you’re spending a few moments here, let’s go back in time and revisit some of those great summer rock festivals that came before, during, and after those van-band fests.
Monterey Pop Festival
The Dead get down in Monterey
In 1967, the granddaddy of all rock festivals was held in this California town. The three-day event featured the likes of Jimi Hendrix, who mesmerized the crowd with a literally smoking Stratocaster that he had set fire to with lighter fluid and a tossed lit match, Janis Joplin, The Who, whose guitarist Peter Townshend also destroyed his instrument, not by fire but beating the holy shit out of it, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, folk-rock duo Simon-Garfunkle, R&B legend Otis Redding, and many more notable rockers. Monterey set the stage for another rock festival two years later in an upstate New York cornfield.
Woodstock
Jimi kickin’ out the jams
What can I say about Woodstock that the world doesn’t already know about? Well, how about It was the first U.S. rock concert that drew more than 400,000 people that turned into a mass media money-maker. The concert’s promoters managed to crank out two double-albums (the second one sucked and was only produced to squeeze more money from rock fans-like myself- who didn’t know any better) and a movie from the three-day festival held in a small upstate New York farming community. And the only people who were higher than the concert-goers around that time were three white guys in spacesuits walking around the moon. Most of the popular rock/pop/folk artists at that time graced Woodstock’s stage, including Monterey Pop acts like Hendrix, The Who, Joplin, The Dead, and Jefferson Airplane. There also were new acts like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, The Band, Mountain, and Ten Years After, whose guitarist and lead singer Alvin Lee blew away the crowd with the seminal blues-rocker “Goin Home”. At that time, folks said Woodstock set the gold standard for rock festivals. Perhaps, but its legacy was ultimately tarnished with the riot-whacked version in 1999. In 2019, the festival’s original promotor tried to revive Woodstock but, unfortunately, failed to do so, as he couldn’t find a concert venue, or cow pasture, that would permit such a gathering again.
The Summer Jam At Watkins Glen
A victory lap for rock fans
In the history of rock festivals, there was one that hardly warrants a mention, but yet it received the Guinness Book of World Records’ largest audience at a rock festival. In July 1973, an estimated 600,000 rock fans-about 200,000 more than Woodstock, descended on the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway in upstate New York, to see The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and The Band. Or, let’s put it another way, one out every 350 persons living in the United States at the time was grooving to the music at Watkins Glen. Like Woodstock, the festival had a traffic jam that stretched for miles and became a free concert. In the case of Watkins Glen, the promoters declared it as a freebie after packing in 150,000 fans, who bought tickets at $10 apiece.
The concert was supposed to begin on July 28, but there were already thousands of fans camped out at the racetrack the day before. So, the bands spent the day and night doing soundchecks as a way of calming the masses. Soundchecks included The Allman Brothers’ hit songs “Ramblin’ Man and “One Way Out”. The Dead, not to be outdone, played what is probably the longest soundcheck in history (5 hours) with two sets including “Tennessee Jed”, “Wharf Rat” and “Sugaree”, a song from Jerry Garcia’s first solo album.
Amazingly, there were no major disturbances at a concert with more than a half-million rock fans. One interesting tidbit: Forty years later, the racetrack’s maintenance crew found abandoned cars from the event in nearby woods.
Live Aid ’85
’80s rock fest holds concerts simultaneously in London and Philadelphia
Rock festival attendance the size of mid-sized cities seems to have gone out of fashion in the latter part of the ’70s. Perhaps, it was due to the fact that punk/new wave bands rebelled against anything that reeked of ’60s and early ’70s rock, including massive summer festivals. To my knowledge, there were no punk versions of Woodstock-sized festivals during this period. Everyone from The Ramones to The Sex Pistols wouldn’t be caught dead playing to hundreds of thousands of people on acres of dairyland or a racetrack. That just wasn’t their style. Instead, they were more at home playing in dingy clubs or halls, with just enough room for fans to slam into each other.
But as the 80s arrived, rock concerts suddenly became charity events. And one of the biggest was Live Aid in 1985. The concert, which was held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia in sweltering July weather, was organized by new wave artists Bob Geldoff of The Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of UB40. The event was held to raise funds for the relief of a famine in Ethiopia. It was the largest televised broadcast of all time: an estimated audience of 1.9 billion people from 150 nations tuned in to watch the live broadcast, or close to 40 percent of the world population at that time.
The benefit concert featured more than 75 acts who performed in both countries. The stage was graced by older rock acts like David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Beach Boys, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and Mick Jagger. It also included a new generation of performers like Madonna, Duran Duran, Run DMC, Elvis Costello, Howard Jones, U2, Dire Straits, Adam Ant and Spandau Ballet.
The concert raised nearly $130 million. Sadly, though, most of the money did not go to feeding the starving masses of this impoverished African country. Instead, it somehow got diverted to the Ethiopian government which reportedly spent the money on guns and other arms.
Lollapalooza
Ticket stub from a Lollapalooza festival in the early ’90s
In the early 90s, grunge and alternative rockers ruled the airwaves–and the concert stages. Like punk/new wave music brandishing its collective middle finger at stinking rich and artistically bankrupt 60s and ’70 rockers whose music failed to excite a new generation of rock fans, ’90s rock acts stole the limelight from the MTV-ready hairband acts and pop synth groups who were no longer considered innovative or relevant in the new decade.
Thus, it was the right time for a new music festival called Lollapalooza to feature the acts of the day. The festival, which took its name from an episode of the Three Stooges comedy team, was created in 1991 by alternative rocker Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band Jane’s Addiction. The touring festival kicked off in July in Chandler, Arizona, where soaring temperatures led to equipment malfunctions and even a fistfight that broke out among Ferrell and his bandmates. Other acts included Siouxsie & The Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Butthole Surfers and ex-Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins.
Lollapalooza still exists today as a four-day festival touring around the world with diverse performances including alt rock, punk, rock, hip hop, electronic music and heavy metal.
Coachella
Coachella-the anti-Woodstock
Last, but not least, is Coachella, which earned the nickname as the “anti-Woodstock” because the festival books acts based on artistry rather than how often they are played on the radio.
The first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was launched in October 1999, so it technically wasn’t a summer festival. At that event, performers included Beck, Rage Against The Machine, Morrissey, Jurassic 5 and the Chemical Brothers. The concept of the festival was based on trying to recreate European music festivals, according to one writer, “that had small crowds in a great setting with plenty of turntables.”
The inaugural Cochella was considered a success from an artistic perspective. The music critic for The Los Angeles Times had high praise for the event, saying that the festival “laid the foundation for what someday maybe a legacy of its own.” Financially, however, the festival bombed. The festival’s promoter reportedly lost $850,000 on the event and later worked out deals with performers at future festivals so that they would only receive deferred payment.
Until recently, summer music festivals have sharply grown in numbers as well as in ticket prices. Marketers have found that festivals are a great way to reach their demographic in selling products, anything from high-priced vacation spots to CBD oil. And with virtually every fan armed with a smartphone, music festivals can live forever on YouTube and other social media channels. But it’s going to be quite awhile before festivals are back in business again, or at least until we figure out how to get thousands of people to attend these events without fearing for their lives from the coronavirus. And, I’m sorry, watching bands play while sitting in your car at a Walmart parking lot doesn’t count. If it does, perhaps they’ll revive those old custom van rallies as the perfect festival venue. And, by chance, that happens, I’ll be there.
If you want to know more about Muligo or suggest a topic for a future blog post, please add in the comment section or send an email to marc@muligo.com
In the Muligo March 16th post, ’50s rock ‘n roller Little Richard was included as those rock stars who have survived innumerable scrapes with the Grim Reaper over the course of their careers, not even a global pandemic could have them pushing up daisies.
It is with great sadness that Little Richard, whose real name was Richard Penniman, passed away at the age of 87, according to multiple published reports today. The cause of the rock pioneer’s death was unknown as of this writing.
Little Richard rose to fame with classic rock hits “Good Golly Miss Molly”, “Tutti Frutti”, “Long Tall Sally”, “Lucille” and others. He was one of the founding fathers of rock which included Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Louis, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley & The Comets, Chubby Checker, Fats Domino, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.
Rasta partymon Bunny Wailer Ex-Stray Cat member Brian Setzer struttin’ his stuff. Katrina making waves.Rocking Roche
April has its share of famous musicians who celebrate their birthdays this month, including:
–Neville O’ Riley Livingston (aka Bunny Wailer) is mostly known for his collaboration with deceased reggae superstars Bob Marley and fellow Wailer Peter Tosh.
–Singer and guitarist Brian Setzer and his former band The Stray Cats came on the scene in the early ’80s with their juke-joint-jumping brand of rockabilly (“Rock This Town”).
–Katrina Leskanich, or better known as the bandleader of Katrina and The Waves. Their biggest hit was “Walking on Sunshine” released in 1985.
–Terre Roche, a member of the folk-rock trio The Roches, which garnered a significant cult following since the ’70s, although never attained commercial success.
Clapton in his younger days (Photo courtesy of The New York Times)
A belated-happy birthday shout-out to rock legend Eric Clapton, who turned 75 on March 30. Clapton, whose musical career spans six decades, has had health issues in recent years that have limited his output in the studio and on the road. However, Slowhand is not one to hang up his Strat and call it a day. He is following the same path of his musical influences like Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf, who all kept playing almost to the very end. Or, as Eric sang in his song “Blues Power”: just keep on keeping on.
Since the global spread of coronavirus has resulted in the government-ordered shutdown of bars, restaurants, theaters, arenas and anyplace where people go to have fun, Muligo has had to suspend its musical outings. But it takes more than a bunch of virulent microbes to stop the site’s posts.
So, let’s go with the topic of conversation that’s sending the stock market reeling and toilet paper/hand sanitizer producers insanely rich and apply it to the rock music world. In this case, let’s talk about a few rockers who have staved off death-coronavirus be damned.
First, an old joke to kick things off: what do cockroaches and Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards have in common? Both would survive a thermonuclear war. Yep. the other half of the Glimmer Twins could inhale a roomful of coronaviruses and show no signs of symptoms. Keith continues to laugh at the Grim Reaper despite decades of ingesting Jack Daniels and assorted illicit drugs. Meanwhile, his bandmate Mick Jagger dutifully exercises 8 hours a day and had a heart attack last year. Note to pharmaceutical companies: Don’t waste time and money finding a virus-fighting drug. Just stick a syringe needle in Keith’s arm to extract some of his blood for a cure.
When Muligo heard that the coronavirus originated from the saliva of a bat somewhere in China, thoughts immediately turned to heavy-metal rocker Ozzie Osbourne. Heck, if Oz can munch on a bat’s head with abandon-which he did at a concert back in the ’80s-then he could certainly survive something as benign as a deadly virus.
Good Golly Miss Molly, Richard Wayne Penniman (better known as Little Richard ) was nearing the backside of 30 when he hit his stride back in the ’50s. Today, he’s closing in on 90 and he still kicking around in his rock n roll shoes, though he’s confined to a wheelchair. But the fact Little Richard is one of the few if not the oldest rocker still around, speaks volumes that the rock life is good for your health (and soul). Rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu, not for Mr. Penniman.
Grateful Dead tribute band Dead on Live perform at House of Independents in Asbury Park, NJ.
“Grateful Dead in Asbury Park?” Marc Muller, leader of Dead tribute band Dead on Live, jokingly asked the audience between one of the band’s songs on Sunday night at the House of Independents in Asbury Park.
Indeed. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting some band playing Dead songs at any given night in this hip New Jersey shore town. In fact, the up-and-coming NJ-based Dead/JGB tribute band Cosmic Jerry played the previous night at the nearby club Asbury Lanes.
Muligo was fashionably late to the Dead on Live show, walking in around half-way through “Mississippi Half Step”. But once we got to our seats, we were immediately entranced, as was the rest of the crowd, by the band’s note-for-note rendition of the song and the rest of the night’s repertoire (For those who are unfamiliar with Dead on Live, the band’s claim to fame is to hit or come as close as possible to the notes that the Dead played on its instruments at shows).
During “Mississippi Half-Step”, lead guitarist and vocalist Muller delivered scorching Garcia-like licks that put the crowd into Dead heaven.
And while the audience was still in a euphoric state, the band took the crowd higher with bossa-nova influenced “Eyes of the World”, another favorite from the Dead’s 1973 widely acclaimed album “Wake of the Flood.”
The song also featured top-rated NJ vocalist Emily Grove, who also accompanied Muller and guitarist/vocalist John Merjave on most of the other songs during the night’s setlist. By the way, Ms. Grove, according to her bio, proudly proclaims she was born on the same day (August 1) as Garcia.
The band’s first set also included popular Dead hits “Playing in the Band”, “Ramble on Rose”, a soulful “Sugaree” (which is a hit from Garcia’s first solo album), and ended with the get-up-and-shake-your-booty classic “The Music Never Stops.”
The second set opened with a surprising number. The band paid tribute to the once-Dead side project New Riders of the Purple Sage, with its “Last Lonely Eagle” with Merjave on vocals and acoustic guitar and Muller on steel pedal guitar. Garcia and Dead bassist Phil Lesh were founding members of NRPS who played the song on the band’s first album.
Speaking of Lesh, Dead on Live gave him his due with “Pride of Cucamonga” and “Unbroken Chain”, two deep-track Dead songs that clearly demonstrated Lesh’s talents as a singer/songwriter and who was unfortunately overshadowed by Garcia and Bob Weir.
Also during the set, Grove took over the vocal duties for a rousing “Loose Lucy” from the Dead’s “Mars Hotel” album. On the Garcia-penned “Loser”, Muller nailed it with his clear-as-a-bell” picking on his Stratocaster, at times sounding like a mix between Garcia and Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler.
And what would any righteous Dead tribute band be playing in Asbury Park without its longtime musical prodigy Sandy Mack, who sang and played his blues harp for a few numbers including “Not Fade Away”, “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad”. and the encore “Turn on Your Lovelight”, which also featured a blistering lead guitar from James McCaffrey of hometown favorite Karmic Juggernaut.
Derek Trucks mesmerizes the audience with his guitar wizardry at a recent Tedeschi Trucks band performance at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ.
A long time ago, a bunch of dope-smoking, whiskey-chugging Southern rockers ruled the airwaves with guitar-driven music that borrowed heavily from the blues and country music. One, if not the most important of these bands, that left an indelible mark on rock music was the Allman Brothers Band.
The band, brothers Greg and Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai “Jaimoe” Johnson, perfectly blended blues, country and jazz to serve up a tasty mix of music often referred to as Southern rock.
They indeed should be given credit for giving birth to this musical genre, but as time passed, they transcended geographical and musical boundaries. Their music heavily influenced a generation of musicians who are doing their best to keep rock alive and relevant.
The Allman Brothers Band are no more (the band called it quits and only two of the original members are alive). But, one of the bands to keep ABB’s legacy intact is the Tedeschi Trucks Band. It’s more than a coincidence that this is the case, as Derek Trucks, the nephew of the late ABB drummer Butch Trucks, grew up in this great Southern family of rockers and crafted his guitar playing after one of the greatest rock guitar gods, the late Duane “Skydog” Allman.
It was during a recent evening at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ, that Trucks, along with his wife and musical soul-mate Susan Tedeschi and the rest of the band, displayed their allegiance to the Allman Brothers Band (which Trucks was once a band member) and the musical forms (blues, R&B, country and jazz) that run deep in every AB song.
The band, which performed two lengthy sets, also gave a nod to another band whose songs are often in TT’s setlist: Derek & the Dominoes. Ms. Tedeschi belted out “Bell Bottom Blues” in her gospel-tinged singing style (some have compared her to Bonnie Raitt, Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie, and Janis Joplin) while Derek Trucks & Co. did justice to the original. No surprise, though, that the band picked this number or play other Dominoes’ songs during their sets, given that Duane Allman was a member of the band fronted by Eric Clapton. In fact, TT played the entire Derek & the Dominoes’ classic “Layla and other assorted love songs” almost in its entirety and in chronological order at the Lockn Festival last summer.
The band also did an admirable job on the Bob Dylan cover “Down in the Flood”, with Derek’s soloing reminiscent of lead guitar work by Jimi Hendrix and Led Zep’s Jimmy Page. The band’s two songs that get the most airplay, “Midnight in Harlem” and “Bound for Glory”. captured the true essence of the Tedeschi Trucks band: a perfect marriage of blues and R&B (complete with an outstanding horn arrangement).
’90s indie funk rockers Spin Doctors at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ.
Sometime during the grunge era of the ’90s, a funky, little band called The Spin Doctors went from relative obscurity to superstardom with big radio hits “Two Little Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”. They got so damn big that they once opened for The Rolling Stones.
Then somewhere along the way, the Spin Docs spiraled downward and broke up. A couple of years ago, I recall seeing lead singer Chris Barron going solo at a very small club in a very small town in Pennsylvania (billed as “the mushroom capital of the world”-not the magic kind). At the show, Barron sang a couple of Spin Doctor numbers while strumming an acoustic guitar. But it wasn’t a Spin Doctors show.
Muligo, however, had the great fortune to see and hear a reformed SD with Barron and the original members guitarist and vocalist Eric Schenkman, drummer Aaron Comess and bass guitarist Mark White at a recent performance at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ.
The band opened up with signature funk-rock numbers “What Time Is It” and “Traction Blues”. Those tunes were followed up with hits like “Two Princes”, “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”, “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues and others and, of course, the crowd-pleasing “Big Fat Funky Booty”.
Barron’s vocal delivery was in fine form, and he even showed the crowd a few yoga poses. Schenkman, who has played a major role in shaping the band’s sound, did not disappoint, from playing chicken-scratch funky rhythm guitar to blistering rock leads. The rhythm section, White and Comess, pulled it all together.
Earlier in the evening, a band called Uprooted played an hour-long set of world-beat music, at times sounded like Talking Heads meets African tribal dance music. The band was fronted by former Rusted Roots lead singer Michael Glabicki, who performed Roots’ hits “Send Me On My Way” and “Ecstasy”.
Philly-based Coast to Coast pays tribute to ’70s funk/soul hitmakers Earth Wind and Fire
Muligo took a detour from its adventures in the land of rock ‘n roll to pay a visit to funkytown. And it was worth the trip on a chilly Sunday evening to New Hope’s Havana Night Club, home of the tribute bands.
Philly-based Coast to Coast not only played and sang like the iconic funk/soul/rhythm & blues band Earth Wind and Fire, but they also had EW&T’s dance moves down to a tee and donned Egyptian-style clothes that were the band’s trademark.
The crowd was up on their feet most of the show, dancing to EW&T hits including “September”, “Shining Star”, “That’s the Way of The World”, “Beijo” and others. But I want to know why that woman near the stage tossed what looked like a piece of her clothing at the band.
A lot of people associate EW&F as a ’70s disco band. True, the band had their bump-and-grind moments (“Let’s Groove”, “Shining Star”) but their repertoire also included soul music in the time-honored tradition of the Temptations, The Bar-Kays, James Brown and other artists of this genre. They also were influenced by rock, jazz, pop, Latin and Afro pop.
Coast to Coast came as close as possible to the real thing at Havana. But they put their own flourishes on each song, such as the call-and-response jam between the lead singer and one of the saxophone players. And on one song, the guitar player soared on a Prince-like guitar solo that would have met the approval of The Purple One.
“Hey, hey, my, my, rock ‘n roll will never die,” Neil Young had sung in the ’70s about the prospects of rock music. Well, Neil, rock isn’t dead but it’s far from alive and well.
Don’t believe me, just take a look who’s up for Grammys this year. Rap/hip-hoppers and diva pop queens mostly fill the bill in the awards ceremony (which, in my opinion, lost any street cred when it named progressive rock band Jethro Tull as hard rock band of the year many moons ago).
But there was a time when rock music mattered. Fresh from the turbulent ’60s, the year 1970 stands out as a jumping off point for rock ‘n roll. Sure, that was the year that rock music lovers were shaken by the news of the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin (to be followed a year later by the death of Doors frontman Jim Morrison), and the official breakup of the Beatles,
1970 was the year that rock music followed an adventurous path, producing a string of masterpieces before eventually sinking into bloated excesses later in the decade.
For starters, it was the year that Mr. Young and his songwriting/singer contemporary James Taylor released “After The Goldrush” and “Sweet Baby James”, respectively. That year also brought other notable works from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Simon & Garfunkle “(“Bridge Over Troubled Water”), CSNY (“Deja Vu”) and amped-up power trios Mountain and Grand Funk Railroad (When I once saw Mountain play, the concrete bleachers were vibrating to the point that I thought the whole place would collapse).
Across the pond, the Brits were also actively contributing to the output of rock music that year, Including the Kinks (“Lola”) Led Zepplin (the band’s third album), Free (“All Right Now”) and the debut of seminal hard rockers Black Sabbath (way before Ozzie took a ride on the crazy train) and former Beatle George Harrison as a solo artist (“All Things Must Pass”).
But if I had to pick the most important rock album that year, I’d have to say it was Derek & The Dominos’ “Layla and other assorted love songs.” Band leader Eric Clapton recruited members from his stint with Delaney & Bonnie (keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon) and guitar virtuoso Duane Allman to create music that still sounds as fresh and vital as it did a half-century ago.
Oddly enough, when the album was first released, it was a commercial flop and received some negative reviews from critics who were expecting Clapton to just crank out lengthy Cream-like solos. While the album eventually found its audience, the initial reaction and Clapton’s messy love life sent the brilliant guitarist into hiding with a heroin addiction for nearly four years (emerging sporadically, such as the Rainbow Concert pictured above) until his comeback in 1974.
The music scene has changed so dramatically from 1970, it’s barely recognizable. I read somewhere recently that rock music has been so marginalized, that it will soon meet the same fate as jazz music, which has a devoted but small following compared with today’s rap/hip-hop/diva pop offerings. While I consider that to be a pessimistic view of where rock music is headed, the recent attempts to revive this genre (Gretta Van Fleet and a reunited Black Crowes) are too far and few between to bring rock back to its majestic stature.
I think more than half of the planet’s population was born after 1970. So for many of them, it’s just another year in the human historical timeline. But for those who were old enough to enjoy the music output that year or recognize its contribution to rock music (or music in general), 1970 was a pivotal year in a musical form that, in my humble opinion, will never die but continue to evolve.
Dark Star Orchestra Rocks In 2020 at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ.
Uber Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra ushered in the New Year with big hits, deep tracks and a few covers at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ. There are tons of Dead tribute bands-some great and some, well, falling short of the mark. But DSO which formed in the ’90s-could almost, if you close your eyes, sound like the real thing (notice that I included the qualifier “almost”, as I know some Deadheads would angrily dispute that any Dead tribute band (Including DSO) are as good as The Grateful Dead). But that’s a conversation for another time.
In a 4-plus hour performance, the band opened the first of masterfully played three sets with “Uncle John’s Band” followed by other Dead favs “Iko Iko”, Black-Throated Wind” and “Ramble on Rose.” DSO then shifted to a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” and closed with the Dead’s “Let it Grow”. The band also dug deep in the Dead catalog with “Corrina”.
The guitar interplay between Jeff Mattson and Rob Eaton was phenomenal (and, at times, better than the Garcia/Weir pairing (there, I said it) during this set and the others. The rhythm section (drummers Rob Koritz, Dino English and bassist Skip Vangelas). keyboardist Rob Barraco (who once played music for “The Cosby Show”) and vocalist Lisa Mackey accompanied Mattson and Eaton to faithfully recreate some of the Dead’s best musical moments.
The second set included more popular fan fare such as “Help is on the Way/Slipknot”, “Franklin’s Tower”, “Touch of Grey”, and “Stella Blue”. The band later went into percussion mode with Dead concert standard “Drums/Space”. In the covers department, the band took inspiration from Dylan again with his “Masters of War”, which Mackey sang, channeling Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick.
After the clock struck midnight and the band and audience broke into a brief “Auld Lang Syne”, DSO headed into blues territory (a la Pigpen) with “Viola Lee Blues”, “Good Morning, Little School Girl”, “The Alligator” and others. The show ended with the encore “Brokedown Palace.”
On a rainy Sunday night in Asbury Park, Billy Hector & the Acoustic Armana turned up the heat in Danny Clinch’s gallery, with a mixed bag of original compositions and covers. Bluesman Hector gave his Fender Stratocaster a night off and used 6- and 12-string acoustic guitars to accompany the band during the evening’s performance.
The band’s repertoire included Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass’ rollicking “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms”, The Beatles “Revolution” (slow version), The Rolling Stones’ country gem “Lovin’ Cup”, The Grateful Dead’s “I Know You Rider”, Canned Heat’s “Going up the Country”, and even a rockabilly version of Led Zep’s “Rock & Roll”.
Of course, no Billy Hector band performance (acoustic or electric) would be complete without a healthy dose of those old cosmic blues. The band offered up some of its original tunes as well as those by blues and jazz guitar legends Lead Belly and Django Reinhardt, respectively (both who deeply influenced some of rock’s greatest guitar slingers).
Near the end of the evening, Asbury Park music man Sandy Mack made a surprise appearance. Hector asked Mack if he brought his harmonicas, hoping he would join the band for a song. Mack didn’t, but he soon returned with a few of his blues harps and accompanied the band on a blues tune.
It’s that time of the year when the media, including music blogs like Muligo, engage in the silly annual tradition of picking the year’s “best” or “trendsetters to watch” in the next year. Well, Muligo has joined that crowd and its judges (actually, just me) picked Motor City rockers Greta Van Fleet as the best new artist in 2019.
Actually, the band is not new (they formed nearly a decade ago) but 2019 was their breakthrough year, which earned it a Grammy award for their work. Greta Van Fleet owes its success to the realization that that past is the way forward to the future of rock n’ roll. The Kiszka brothers (Josh, Jake and Sam) and Danny Wagner have managed to take bits and pieces of classic rock masters of the 20th century (mostly ’70s rock) and fused a form of rock music that has breathed new life into today’s highly fragmented musical (and often overproduced) landscape.
Thankfully, not one of their songs infuses rap or hip-hop stylings that some of today’s “new” rock bands have incorporated into their sets to stay “relevant”. Sorry, Lisso, and rappers whose names start with Lil or Young (Millennials and Gen Zers, now shout on cue: “OK, Boomer”). Greta Van Fleet is straight-ahead, guitar-driven, shake-your-money-maker rock, though it manages to temper the mood with a lighter touch at times.
The band, unfortunately, and unfairly has come under the fire of critics accusing the band as being nothing more than a Led Zepplin rip-off. Even the Golden God Robert Plant once remarked that “they are Led Zepplin.” There’s no disputing that most of their songs have traces of Zep hits, such as “Highway Tune” and “Black Smoke Rising”. When I listen to Greta Van Fleet, I hear Plant’s octave-busting vocals; Jimmy Page’s ear-candy guitar-filled runs and frills; John Bonham’s jackhammer-drumming style; and John Paul Jones’ fluid and meticulous bass lines. But I also hear other influences such as The Who (check out Josh on You Tube doing his best Roger Daltry improv at the Lollapoolza concert in Chile); Queen’s Freddie Mercury’s sonic crooning; early Clapton; and a host of other classic rock gods. But, really, who cares. All bands are or were influenced by others before them, and my hat’s off to Greta Van Fleet to follow in this time-honored tradition, allowing them to veer away from the often-uninspired contemporary music scene and make something old excitedly new again. Rock on, GVF.
Saxophonist Marc Russo blows his horn on Doobie hits.
There are too many still-active ’70s rock bands who are way past their expiration date. The Doobie Brothers, fortunately, isn’t one of them.
Back in the day, you couldn’t turn on an FM rock station without hearing one of the Southern California band’s monster hits like “China Grove”, “Taking it to the Streets”, “Long Train Runnin”, “Rocking Down The Highway”, and many others.
At a recent concert at the Mark G Etess Arena at the Hard Rock and Hotel in Atlantic City, there was no evidence that the nearly half-century of recording and touring had taken any toll on the band. In fact, the Doobies sounded like their ready to rock on down the highway for a few more decades.
The band’s unmistakably sweet three-part harmonies and flawless playing of their instruments mesmerized the audience during the all-too-short set. Guitarists Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons handled most of the vocal duties and performed admirably, although bassist John Cowan did a respectable turn delivering “Takin’ it to the Streets”
Multi-instrumentalist John McFee, who has performed with Elvis Costello and The Grateful Dead, was nothing short of amazing on guitar, steel pedal and electric fiddle. Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne, who is a member of the touring band, was given an opportunity to show why he is one of the best keyboard players around today. In a nutshell, they were all at the top of their game, not surprising since they follow the same playbook as their musical cousins Steely Dan of assembling a band with top-notch musicians (former Doobies’ Michael McDonald and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter” were also Steely Dan members).
The band’s closing numbers, the gospel-influenced “Back Water” and the FM classic rocker “Listen to the Music”. confirmed that some ’70s rock music can hold its own in today’s hyper-fragmented musical landscape. God bless the Doobies.
Clash tribute band Straight to Hell recently performed the seminal punk band’s masterpiece “London Calling” in its entirety at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, celebrating the album’s 40th anniversary. The Clash’s musical career ended too soon, but thankfully Straight to Hell is around to remind us of the band’s impact on the music scene.
Straight to Hell played flawlessly on the album’s cuts including punk anthems “London Calling” and “Clampdown” as well as the punk-ska-driven “Rudy Can’t Fail” and the all-out rocker “Brand New Cadillac. And, of course, the band’s big hit “Train in Vain”
The set was bookended with earlier and later hits including “I’m So Bored With the USA”, “Career Opportunities”, and “Should I Stay or Should I Go” which had young and older fans dancing up a storm. Not surprisingly, the band skipped songs on the last Clash album “Cut The Crap”, which was roundly panned by critics and fans alike
As for the night’s performance, Clash frontman Joe Strummer would have approved. R.I. P. Joe.
Space rock band Hawkwind beats Cat Stevens on rock music chart
–British progressive rock band Hawkwind’s album hit #4 on Disc & Music Echo’s Progressive album chart in 1971, beating Cat Stevens’ “Teaser & the Firecat (#5). One interesting tidbit: Hawkwind’s vocalist and bassist Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister (who later went on to front metal band Motorhead) taught Sex Pistol’s Sid Vicious to play bass.
–In 1992, Ozzy Osbourne announced his decision to quit touring after a gig in California. How did that work out for you, Ozzy?
–In 1969, blues-rock singer Janis Joplin was arrested in Tampa, Fla., after mouthing off to a police officer and using “vulgar and indecent language” She was later released on $500 bail.
