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January 29, 2007
Roots rock weekend
Despite the lack of major concerts in this post-holiday time, there are still some good music events to be found.
I found two this weekend: Bill Kirchen at the Fairfield Theatre Company Friday night and Dave Alvin and James McMurtry at Toad’s Place in New Haven Sunday night.
It was actually surprising to see Kirchen back a FTC as his appearance there last Labor Day weekend didn’t exactly pack the people in. I guess word of mouth helped because there was a decent crowd Friday night and, from the raucous reception Kirchen received, there will be even more people at his next stop in Fairfield.
For those unfamiliar with Kirchen, he was the guitarist in Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and he plays a brand of music he’s termed “dieselbilly," a play on rockabilly and the fact that he has a lot of songs about trucks.
Kirchen is on tour to promote his latest disc, “Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods," and he played every song from the album Friday night. Of course, he also played his old favorites such as “Looking at the World Through a Windshield," “Swing Fever" and, of course, “Hot Rod Lincoln."
Using his Fender Telecaster, Kirchen rides in his “Hot Rod Lincoln" and comes across famous musicians of the past and present. Each musical reference is joined by a riff from the artist in question and in Friday night’s show, Kirchen channeled the spirits of Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy, Roy Orbison, Johnny Rivers, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard, Bob Wills, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, The Ventures, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Link Wray, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Ben E. King, The King (Elvis Presley), Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Monkees, The Sex Pistols and Jimi Hendrix.
I’m sure I missed a couple of names, but that’s pretty impressive how he can jam all of those people into one song.
Sunday night at Toad’s was a great doubleheader, made even better by the fact that Dave Alvin led off. I have been a fan for quite a few years now and caught him at Café Nine in New Haven a couple of years back. For this show, however, Alvin was backed by his longtime band, The Guilty Men, and it was amazing to watch him burn on an electric guitar.
There weren’t many surprises — except for a lousy turnout or 100-150 or so people — in Alvin’s set, but if was just a great performance by one of this country’s under-appreciated artists.
He even added a song from his former band, The Blasters, to close the show.
Up next was James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards. I wasn’t familiar with the music of McMurtry, whose father is Larry “Lonesome Dove" McMurtry, but I must say I liked what I heard.
I only stayed for about an hour of McMurtry’s set (at that point it was after 11 p.m.), but I would like to have heard more. He did mention that he hasn’t been to New Haven in about 15 years, so it might be a while until I can catch his whole show.
Posted by Sean on 7:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2007
Bob Seger at Mohegan Sun
Bob Seger has been off the touring circuit for more than a decade now, so maybe he is unaware that a rock concert nowadays is supposed to be more a spectacle than a music performance.
How else can you explain the fact that at his concert Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena there were no large video screens surrounding the stage to divert people’s attention and his one “costume change" consisted of him going from a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt to a different pair of jeans and a fresh black T-shirt?
How retro. How refreshing.
If I didn’t watch Seger take the stage, his long brown hair now short and gray and a noticeable paunch caressing his midsection, I could easily have closed my eyes and imagined I went back in time to 1986 when I saw him at the Hartford Civic Center.
Back then, Seger was still at the top of his game and he would go another 10 years before walking away from rock and roll to focus on raising his kids. Saturday, the capacity crowd of about 10,000 saw a different Seger, one who has come back to rock with a beaming smile and a fervor usually reserved for the young bucks still trying to make their mark.
He deftly mixed a half-dozen songs from his solid new album, “Face the Promise," into a set list loaded with classic hits from back to the late ’60s (“Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man") through his ’70s and ’80s heyday (“Against the Wind," “Old Time Rock and Roll," “Night Moves," etc.).
(For a complete set list from Saturday night’s concert, see bottom.)
It says something about Seger’s career that after a 24-song, two-hour-plus show, I could name many more well-known songs of his that didn’t make the cut (“Her Strut," “Still the Same," “You’ll Accomp’ny Me," “Even Now," “Fire Lake," “Like a Rock," to name a half dozen, although he may have left that last one off to give us a break after hearing it ad nauseum in truck commercials for the past decade).
Vocally, Seger was as sharp as if he had never stopped. If anything, 10 years away has added a little more grit to his already raspy singing style. He had always been a world-class growler and he proved again that he can still bring it when it’s needed.
And when he played his softer songs – including the one-two punch of “We’ve Got Tonight" and “Turn the Page" he sang at the piano near the end of his first set – his voice still managed to deliver the feelings each song set out to convey.
Though “Face the Promise" doesn’t include the work of any members of Seger’s Silver Bullet Band, they were a big reason why Saturday’s concert hit all the right notes with fans. Longtime members Chris Campbell (bass, 33 years with SBB), the aptly named Alto Reed (saxophones, 31 years) and Craig Frost (keyboards, 25 years) were joined by former Grand Funk Railroad drummer Don Brewer, guitarist Mark Chatfield, who played on Seger tours in ’83 and ’96 tours, and guitarist-keyboard player Jim “Moose" Brown.
Even two of the three backup singers have long histories with Seger. Shaun Murphy, whose day job is lead singer of Little Feat, has been with him for 27 years and Laura Creamer for 25 years. (In case you were wondering, Barbara Payton is the other singer.)
The first single from “Face the Promise" was the Vince Gill-penned “Real Mean Bottle," which Seger recorded as a duet with another Detroit icon, Kid Rock. Since he wasn’t there, Seger called on drummer Brewer to handle Kid Rock’s part and he was up to the task – not that Kid Rock is ever confused with Luciano Pavarotti.
Another new song, “The Answer’s in the Question," was recorded with country singer Patty Loveless, so Seger again had to dip into his bullpen for Creamer, who did a more than adequate job.
I’m always interested in watching the fans when a musician who is relegated to classic-rock status performs new material and, like the Nov. 28 concert by The Who in Bridgeport, I was happily surprised to see the fans still in their seats throughout the new songs. There was no mass exodus for the restrooms or the concession stands.
With radio being what it is today, it’s not easy for Seger to get his new material heard, so that’s why, at age 61 and happily ensconced at home with his family, he has hit the road after a decade away to promote “Face the Promise." He knows he has a strong album on his hands and he’ll do what it takes to find it an audience.
One can only hope he finds much success with the new album, if only for the chance that he’ll make another record and tour again. Seger’s always worth the money and the effort it takes to see him in concert.
For his final song of the night, Seger sang “Rock and Roll Never Forgets" and here’s to hoping that he never forgets how much joy he brought to his fans Saturday night and that he endeavors to keep doing it. After all, it might be too much, even for him, to sit out another decade.
The set list
First set: Roll Me Away/Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You/x-Wreck This Heart/Mainstreet/Old Time Rock and Roll/x-Wait for Me/x-Face the Promise/Betty Lou’s Getting Out Tonight/We’ve Got Tonight/Turn the Page/Travelin’ Man/Beautiful Loser
Second set: x-Simplicity/Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man/C’est La Vie/x-Real Mean Bottle/x-The Answer’s in the Question/Sunspot Baby/Horizontal Bop/Katmandu
Encores: Night Moves/Hollywood Nights/Against the Wind/Rock and Roll Never Forgets
Posted by Sean on 6:53 AM | Comments (1710)
January 20, 2007
Tear down the walls
As I write this Saturday morning, the New Haven Coliseum is in the process of being reduced to a pile of rubble and to that I say, "So what?"
Even its staunchest defenders can't say too many nice things about the place, although I'm sure a lot of memories were made there. Well, now people are making new memories at venues such as Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard, the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford and Hartford's Dodge Music Center and Hartford Civic Center.
I'd probably feel worse about the demise of the Coliseum if I had a lot of fond memories of the place, but I only have a few. My first rock concert was there - ZZ Top on July 7, 1986 - and I also saw Peter Gabriel there on his So tour and a tripleheader of (at the time) young up-and-coming bands Spin Doctors, Soul Asylum and Screaming Trees.
Any excitement I would get from these concerts would inevitably be dulled by the misery of the excruciatingly long wait to get out of the parking garage. All these years later, why do I still remember those times stuck in the garage more than the concerts themselves? I guess I'm just a glass-half-empty kind of guy.
The best times for me at the Coliseum would be the hockey games. First, it was the bloodbaths that were New Haven Nighthawks games, followed in ensuing years by the New Haven Senators and the Beast of New Haven.
Tickets were affordable and the stands would be filled - take note, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and your $25 tickets - and the building would be electric on most nights. The Nighthawks had a real solid following, although, truth be told, the fans often went too far and it wasn't much of an atmosphere to bring young children.
But if you're an avid concertgoer, Saturday's razing of the old shell of the building shouldn't be too traumatic. If you ever feel overwhelmingly nostalgic, you can always hunt down a copy of Van Halen's "Live Without a Net" concert video, which was recorded there back in 1986.
Posted by Sean on 8:54 AM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2007
What were they thinking?
Texas Governor Rick Perry called on rocker Ted Nugent to provide the entertainment at a black-tie event after being sworn into office. Not surprisingly, chaos ensued.
According to the AP report, Nugent wore a T-shirt with the Confederate flag, used maching guns as props and yelled offensive things about people who don't speak English. That might go over at one of his concerts, played to a crowd of other yahoos, but at an inauguration ball?
Nugent, 58, is far removed from his "Cat Scratch Fever" heyday, so why on Earth would a politician go out of his way to book the Motor City Madman for his inauguration ball?
Perry’s spokesman, Robert Black, said that “Ted Nugent is a good friend of the governor’s" and that Perry "didn’t put any stipulation on what he would play," AP reported.
Maybe he should have. The NAACP isn't happy with Nugent's antics and neither was political strategist Royal Masset, who, like Perry, is a Republican.
“I think it was a horrible choice,� AP quoted Masset as saying.
I could have told him that before the event.
Posted by Sean on 6:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 9, 2007
Buddy's blues
I read on the news wire that Buddy Guy's Chicago club has lost its lease and will have to move by June. The owner of the building where Buddy Guy's Legends operates, Columbia College, wants to use the space for a student center.
Not that it matters, but I could've sworn I heard this before. Wasn't Legends supposed to have made way for the student center years ago?
I guess the reasons this holds any interest for me is a) I'm a huge Buddy Guy fan; and b) I actually went to Buddy Guy's Legends.
It was back in 1998 when my cousin and I went driving around the Midwest to check out baseball games in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh (and Columbus, Ohio, for a minor-league game, too). I took charge of planning the trip and, not coincidentally, we just so happened to be in the Windy City during the weekend of the annual Chicago Blues Festival with Ray Charles, Pinetop Perkins and Guitar Shorty the headliners.
On the way to Grant Park for the festival, we stopped at Buddy Guy's Legends for lunch and, though the food wasn't great, it was still pretty cool being there and soaking in the atmosphere, which included a large painting of a blues Mount Rushmore with (if memory serves) Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and B.B. King.
I bought a T-shirt on the way out and wore it proudly and often, until a washing machine incident left it in the pink, literally.
The club doesn't plan to close - it is rather successful - and plans to find a new location close to its present spot. I hope so, because I plan on getting back to Chicago soon and grabbing another bad meal . . . and another T-shirt.
Posted by Sean on 5:57 PM | Comments (0)
