Greetings, and welcome to Fredro's Blog! I didn’t comment too much about Mick Jagger’s SNL appearance last week, but after reviewing the clips, I gotta say, Mick’s appearances with Foo Fighters and The Jeff Beck Group should serve as a wake up call to the rest of The Stones, because Mick was in top form and he proved, finally, that he can play with somebody other than Keith and The Stones, and still kick butt!

     Mick’s solo albums have been rather dry and sterile and lacking in soul, except for a few tracks here and there. Every time he tried to do his own thing, all that happened was that he proved that he needs The Stones!

     Enter Foo Fighters! Foo Fighters are without question, the greatest, and pretty much the only, rock band success story of the past twenty years! Not to take anything away from them, they are a great band of musicians and songwriters in any era! Never was this more self evident then last Saturday night when they backed Mick Jagger on a medley of Stones’ hits. Foo Fighters are able to rock out with the best of ‘em, while retaining just enough interesting, unexpected moves to bring something different to the tried and tested three chord formula. They threw in just enough of their own musical personalities to improve on The Stones without losing the spirit of the originals. It was something like when Jimmy Page toured with The Black Crowes, who proved they could play, and Chris Robinson could sing, Led Zeppelin, better than Led Zeppelin!

     Now, although The Stones proved they’re still The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band when they want to be, in the Martin Scorsese documentary,  “Shine a Light”, on most nights they’ve lost a step or two. Still better than most bands out there, just not compared to themselves! Foo Fighters are the exception to this rule! They take it to another level, one The Stones themselves haven’t been on for a long time! Like I said, Keith and The Boys can go there whenever they want. They just have to be inspired, which maybe they aren’t to be playing with Mick anymore! But Mick could tour with Foo Fighters and it would be the most exciting musical event of the year, and I hope he does it!

     This week’s live music choices are few, but very high level. Pick of the Week is EILEN JEWELL and LOS STRAITJACKETS at Club Helsinki in Hudson on June 1st. These are both artists I’ve championed in the past and will do so again. Check out Jewell’s “Sea of Tears” and anything by Los Straitjackets. There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight! Don’t miss this!

     Not really familiar with ANDERS OSBORNE, but The Village Voice called him a “New Orleans guitar demon”, and that’s good enough for me! Bowery Ballroom, June 2nd.

     LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM was always one of the bright spots of Fleetwood Mac. BB King’s, June 4th.

Reggae royalty JIMMY CLIFF stops by the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn on June 5th. Always a great spot to see a band, doesn’t hurt that Cliff is still rockin’ 40 years later!

     Have a great week!

     

     Greetings y’all! I hope you caught Mick Jagger’s performance with Jeff Beck on Saturday Night Live. It was truly inspired! Look it up on Hulu or You Tube. You won’t be sorry!

     This week, inspired by last week’s article about Duck Dunn, I’m going to start a new series about lesser known luminaries in the world of music who nevertheless, consistently rubbed shoulders with rock and roll royalty! This will not run every week, but it will be a recurrent theme that will resurface from time to time. The first in the series will focus on Billy Preston.

     Billy was a child prodigy who went on to record with both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, who respected Billy so much that he was given his own segment on the Stones’ tours in the 1970’s. In the middle of their set, Billy performed 2 of his songs backed by The Rolling Stones! The Beatles gave him a label credit on “Get Back”, which featured Preston, and was released as “The Beatles with Billy Preston”. Billy was the only person ever to be credited on a Beatles’ record! (Music historian note: Yes, I know there were the Tony Sheridan records, but those were Tony Sheridan releases, not Beatles’ records).

     In fact, Billy was widely considered the “real” Fifth Beatle, and there were rumors at the time that he was given full group membership status! What definitely is known is that most of the group favored making Billy a member, but Paul famously vetoed it by saying, “It’s bad enough with four”! Either way, he went on to have featured credited roles on “The White Album”, “Abbey Road”, “Let It Be”, and many Beatle solo records! He was playing with The Lads at their last performance on the Apple Records rooftop! He also had featured roles in The Concert for Bangladesh, The Concert for George, and numerous Beatle solo tours!

     Billy had known The Beatles since Hamburg, where they met while Billy was on tour with Little Richard, and when they started Apple Records, Billy was the first artist they signed! The band on his first George Harrison produced Apple record consisted of  Clapton and Harrison on guitars, Keith Richard on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums!

     Billy was a child prodigy who received his early musical education in his mother’s church, and by the age of 10, he was regularly backing Gospel stars like Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland! By 12 he was appearing in movies and TV! As a young man, he was mentored by Ray Charles, who called him his successor! And he more than proves he’s up to the task with his performance of “Double Oh Soul”, backed by Charles and his band, in the opening scene of the documentary film, “Before the Music Dies”, a performance that you MUST catch! Google it! It’s the first scene and it takes less than five minutes. The rest of the film is good, but I’ll bet it takes you a while to watch it, because you’ll be replaying Billy’s performance over and over again! It simply is one of the greatest musical performances ever, by anyone, and is in the same league as anything Otis, Jagger, James Brown, Iggy, or Tina Turner ever did! As a young man, he was a regular on the 60’s network rock TV show, “Shindig” and was the musical guest in the premier episode of the first season of “Saturday Night Live”. He continued to find work in the movie business, and scored the Sidney Poitier movie, “They Call me Mister Tibbs”, with Quincy Jones!

     His friendship with The Beatles led him to The Rolling Stones, who employed Billy’s talents on the classic albums, “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main Street”, as well as “Goat’s Head Soup”, It’s Only Rock and Roll”. “Black and Blue”, “Tattoo You”, and “Bridges to Babylon”! During his career, Billy toured or recorded with Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Winwood, Johnny Cash, Jeff Beck, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, The Funk Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, Jackson 5, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha, and more, in addition to the previously mentioned musical luminaries! In 2006, Billy climbed out of his deathbed to record a part for The Red Hot Chili Peppers “Stadium Arcadian” album!

     A prolific writer, Billy wrote “You are so Beautiful” which was a huge hit for Joe Cocker. He also had a string of hits under his own name, million sellers all, and won two GRAMMY’s in the process!

     His influence was such that Miles Davis recorded a song called “Billy Preston” in 1974! He gave Stephen Stills the phrase, “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with”! He was invited to join The Band in 1991, and did complete one tour with them, but never got to record with them.

     Personal problems threatened to derail his career in the 1990’s and he became gravely ill in 2001. In his twilight years, he was still scoring movies and TV shows like “Two and a Half Men”, “Desperate Housewives”, “The Simpsons”, “Inglourious Basterds” and “Rush Hour 2”.

     Billy Preston passed away in 2006, just short of his 60th birthday.

     This week’s live music picks are as follows:

     Wednesday, May 23 – STEVIE WINWOOD at The Beacon Theater and guitar wunderkind, KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD at City Winery, both in Manhattan.

     Friday, May 25 – SONS OF CREAM, featuring the offspring of Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Peter Townsend bring their act to BB King’s and DYLANFEST 2012 is at Irving Plaza, also both in Manhattan. Don’t know who’s booked at Dylanfest, but it promises to be interesting, and you never know who might show up!

     Saturday, May 26 – In the city, lead singer of The New York Dolls, DAVID JOHANSEN, aka Buster Poindexter, returns to the Highline Ballroom, and upstate, guitar whiz ARLEN ROTH  rolls into the Towne Crier in Pauling.

     Sunday, May 27 – The only show in town tonight is The CKS BAND at Club Helsinki in Hudson, featuring Bruce Katz and Scott Sherrard from Gregg Allman’s Band, and Randy Ciarlante from The Levon Helm Band.

     Tuesday, May 29 – RAVI COLTRANE, the son of John and Alice Coltrane, who has developed into a phenomenal horn player in his own right, is at Birdland in Manhattan.

     Thursday, May 31 – MOUNTAIN JAM kicks off at Hunter Mountain, and continues through the weekend.

     Happy Memorial Day! Stay safe!

     

Fredro's Blog will now be posted here every Tuesday at Midnight (technically Wednesday), as well as at www.reservoirmusiccenter.com. The live music picks may not be relevant for those of you living outside the New York metropolitan area, but, I think, will still be interesting, as most of the artists are on tour, and will probably be coming to your area at some point.
Below is this week's blog.
     Just as we were going to press I got the news that Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Honoree, Donald “Duck” Dunn, had passed away in his sleep after a double show at Tokyo’s Blue Note night club. Duck, as he was known to all, (including his teachers back in school), was best known as a member of Booker T and The M.G.s, the house band at Stax Records, who backed every artist on the label, live and in the recording studio! Stax artists included Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett (technically on Atlantic, the parent label), Rufus and Carla Thomas, and Albert King, and Booker T and The M.G.s (which was short for “Memphis Group”), also had several hits under their own name and others.

     After The MGs broke up in the early 1970’s, Dunn went on to record with Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Willie Dixon, Freddie King, John Fogerty, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Tom Petty, and Woodstock’s own Levon Helm (in The RCO All Stars)! And that’s just a partial list! In 1980, he joined The Blues Brothers, touring, recording, and playing himself in both films, where he delivered the memorable line, “We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline”!

     Dunn was in Japan touring with his old bandmate, guitarist Steve Cropper, and label mate, Eddie Floyd (“Knock on Wood”). He was 70. The world has lost one of the real all time greats! More info at www.duckdunn.com.

     The Rolling Stones are reportedly rehearsing in New Jersey for their 50th anniversary tour. Mick is hosting Saturday Night Live this week, and rumours are flying about the band joining him, but my guess is they are just that – rumours! Still, it should be better than the average SNL, which is to say it might not suck, but it probably won’t be very funny. “Oh yeah, life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone”!

     Here are my live music picks for this week.

     Thursday, May 17 – The week starts with a bang with three great shows, all in the city. JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE, Steve’s son, and a fine artist in his own right, is at Webster Hall. RAY WYLIE HUBBARD, best known for his song, “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mothers”, is at Joe’s Pub. And LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY, legendary Reggae producer and artist, who has worked with Bob Marley, Max Romeo, Junior Murvin, The Heptones, Keith Richards, The Beastie Boys, The Clash, and many more, is at The Gramercy Theater. Perry produced almost all of The Wailers and Bob Marley’s albums, and is probably the most prolific Reggae producer who ever lived!

     Friday, May 18 – My friend, GARY LUCAS, whom The Village Voice calls a “monster guitarist”, is at The Bell House in Brooklyn. Gary was the guitarist with Captain Beefheart and has worked with just about everyone in the business. I’ve brought him to the Hudson Valley three times, including the grand opening of my original store in Shokan, and a memorable show at The Bearsville Theater with Talking Head, Jerry Harrison. Info at www.garylucas.com. COLLECTIVE SOUL, a band I’ve always kind of liked without getting real into, is at Irving Plaza in Manhattan, and up in Woodstock, The Bearsville Theater celebrates Bob Dylan’s birthday with a SOUNDOUT FOR THE WOODSTOCK DAY SCHOOL. Hosted by Happy Traum, booked artists include Donald Fagen, Larry Campbell, Amy Helm, Teresa Williams, Aaron Freeman (Ween), and more. Info at www.bearsvilletheater.com.

     Saturday, May 19 – Three great shows tonight! JOEY RAMONE’S BIRTHDAY BASH, an annual event that’s always great, where you never know who might show up, is at Webster Hall this year. PAUL WELLER, the force behind The Jam, and one of our finest songwriters and artists, is at the Best Buy Theater. And multi-instrumentalist DAVID LINDLEY, best known as Jackson Browne’s guitarist for many years, is at The Towne Crier in Pauling

     Sunday, May 20 – The great DARLENE LOVE, who sang on just about every Phil Spector production during Phil’s golden years, is at Joe’s Pub tonight.

     Monday, May 21 – CHICKENFOOT, the supergroup made up of the guitarist’s guitarist, Joe Satriani, former Van Halen bassist and singer Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Chad Smith, pulls into the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. This is a particularly stand out week, with just about every show a great one, but this is my Pick of the Week! However, JACK WHITE is also at Roseland Ballroom tonight and tomorrow. Jack is sometimes inconsistent, but also sometimes great!

     Tuesday, May 22 – The great and vastly underrated guitarist, SLASH, is at Irving Plaza. If you like your Rock n Roll hard and fast, this is a must see! Also tonight, alt-rock band, GARBAGE is at Webster Hall, and JACK WHITE concludes his dates at Roseland Ballroom.

     Wednesday, May 23 – STEVIE WINWOOD closes out the week at The Beacon Theater, prior to next week’s headlining appearance at Mountain Jam.

     Wow! What a week! This is the most exciting week in music that I can remember for a very long time. Enjoy yourselves. After all, “life is like a beanstalk, isn’t it?”.

     

 

The following two blog posts were written the weekend of 4/20/12, on the passing of Levon Helm, and 4/27/12, in response to his funeral. They speak for themselves. 
My blog is posted every Tuesday (technically Wednesday) at Midnight on www.reservoirmusiccenter.com, and they are archived there back to January, 2011.

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     Last Tuesday was not a good day! As I was getting ready to leave for work, my daughter called to tell me her mother had died. A half hour later, on my way to the store, my car died and then burned up. Two hours later, a friend called to tell me Levon had only a couple of days to live!

     As bad as the other stuff was, hearing the news about Levon was like getting sucker punched in the gut! He was so full of life, and after seeming to beat back the cancer, it seemed like he could never die, but death comes to us all, eventually, and April 19th was Levon’s time!

     My 35 year relationship with The Band started back in 1978, when Emmett Grogan’s cousin introduced me to Rick Danko. Rick and I became fast friends, and after that, whenever Rick played, I was usually there! We talked about making movies and music together, but after the first night, when we sang together, Rick and I never did get a chance to work together. We sure did have a lot of good times though! After a while, it was inevitable that Rick would introduce me to Levon, Richard, and Garth, and I also became fast friends with Richard, and particularly Levon.

     We saw each other often, over the years, and when I decided to move to the Hudson Valley, Levon told me where he thought were good places to live. During a very bad time in my life, he helped me out immensely, because, he said, “That’s what friends do”. When I was recovering from said traumatic event a few years later, I told Levon that he was my role model in my  recovery. After all, he had recovered,  it seemed, from so many traumatic events – cancer, bankruptcy, The Barn burning down, Rick and Richard’s deaths – and now he was on the road that brought him three Grammys and a major career comeback, before his untimely death last week. He was inspirational, in so many ways! Levon was the kind of guy who’d slip you a hundred bucks if he ran into you and thought you needed a helping hand!

     His down home folk wisdom never ceased to amuse me. Who doesn’t love and understand a phrase like, “Even a blind chicken gets a peck of corn once in a while”? He had the ability to cut right to the heart of the matter with a simple phrase. His sense of humor always made me laugh and we always had a great time together!

     And musically, he practically invented what became known as Americana music. He embodied it! On any given night, you could hear Blues, Rock n Roll, Country, R n B, Folk, and Dixieland music at one of his shows, but it all blended into Band/Levon Helm music. Only the cream of the crop can cover all those bases authentically – The Beatles, The Stones, Dave Edmunds and Rockpile, Bob Dylan, Elvis. You get the picture. He was in THAT kind of company! And they all knew it! Clapton broke up Cream after he heard The Band, and, in his book, writes of wanting to join The Band when he came to Woodstock! Bruce Springsteen said of Levon, “You get used to hearing versions of the thing. Levon IS the thing!”.

     The band he put together in his final years is every bit as good as The Band, and it would be so sad to see it end here. The Levon Helm Band deserves to live on!

     Anytime an American icon passes, it’s a sad day, but when it’s an old personal friend and a man who gave so much to the world, as Levon did, it’s hard to get through the day! His charity work was mammoth. He was always doing benefits for schools, fire fighters, cops, political candidates, and other worthy causes. His Kid’s Rambles touched the lives of many.

     I’m just glad he was able to have the resurgence he did before the end. The three Grammys, the Americana Music Association awards, the high paying gigs, and the mobs of adoring fans. At least he went out on a high note! The sad part for me is that I never got to say goodbye and I’ll never see him again. Never hear that Arkansas accent tellin’ it like it is. Never hear that one of a kind voice sing “Rag Mama Rag” again. Never hear him lay down a backbeat with simplicity and grace.

     But I will have my memories! Memories of the private times we shared, the Rambles, the kindness he extended to everyone, and the music. The glorious music! The music that will live as long as there are people to hear it! Godspeed my friend!

    

     THERE WILL BE NO LIVE MUSIC PICKS THIS WEEK.  THE MUSIC DIED AGAIN LAST WEEK WITH LEVON HELM. NOT TO WORRY THOUGH, THE MUSIC WILL BE REBORN NEXT WEEK.

     Last week’s Levon Helm viewing/funeral for the fans was a sad and somber affair, but at least it was closure. The shock of realizing you would never see him again was somewhat offset by, well, seeing him again!

     Levon’s casket was layed out, closed, on the Ramble stage, next to his drums, as it should be, and when you filed past you could see a slide show of photos of Levon being displayed on a large screen. I’m sure if you stayed there long enough, there’d have been all sorts of pictures, including ones of Levon on stage. There’d have to be! But when I got to the designated spot, the part of the slideshow that was playing was all pictures of Levon with his grandson, Lavon. The joy in that man’s eyes was so evident in those pictures! He always had that, but this was something special! He obviously loved that little boy and got so much joy from him! It was amazing and beautiful to see, and it made me so happy that in his final years, besides the historic comeback he engineered, with the help of manager, Barbara O’Brian, he also got to have this beautiful personal happiness! And how lucky Lavon was to have got to spend time with the world’s coolest grandpa!

     But now that he is gone, I predict that his fame, his popularity as a recording artist and actor, and his legend as an American and international cultural icon will grow larger than life! And I really hope that The Levon Helm Band will carry on. They are simply too good to pass with Levon! The band has become adept at singing most of the songs in the repertoire in the years Levon battled cancer and his voice fell victim to it. They could simply carry on! They have the perfect drummer to fill the giant chair Levon vacated in Randy Ciarlante, who also is a singing drummer, like Levon, who also has a great, soulful voice, like Levon, who has a similar drumming style to Levon’s, who previously was a member of The Band, and who was already in The LHB playing double drums with Levon! The Levon Helm Band is one of the greatest musical units, and one of the greatest personal accomplishments, in musical history! Play on! Please?

     They could continue on as The Levon Helm Band. After all, they are The Levon Helm Band. But that could confuse people who might somehow think that Levon, himself, is actually appearing, so I have a suggestion for the name of the Levonless Levon Helm Band – Live on! Or some combination or permutation thereof. Maybe The Live on Band, or Live on Helm Band. I don’t know. You know, something like that. Whaddya think? I think I like it. Ask me again next week and I’ll tell you for sure. Anyway, the important thing is just for this great rockin’ band, and the amazing music it plays, to live on under any name! I hope Larry and Amy agree.

     I’m not really recommending much live music this week. I’m still real depressed about Levon. And all of the good music this week’s in the city. Well, maybe not all. There were a lot of shows this week that normally would have been weekly picks, but I just still didn’t feel like recommending anything, so I skipped all but the best. And the local bands that I do like (you know who you are) never send me their gigs (hint hint) so it’s hard to pick ‘em!

     Thursday, May 3 – CHARLIE MUSSLEWHITE AND JOHN HAMMOND JR. at BB King’s. Two Blues legends on a double bill.

     Friday, May 4 – JUNIOR MURVIN, who did the original “Police and Thieves”, which The Clash covered, is at BB King’s. At least, I think it’s Junior Murvin. It’s billed as “Junior Marvin”, but I’m assuming that’s a typo.

The RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS have become one of our best, most innovative, and smartest bands around. Tonight they start a two day run at The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, which, of course, concludes tomorrow, Saturday, May 5.

     Tuesday, May 8 – This event at BB King’s is being billed as “A TRIBUTE TO LEVON HELM WITH THE THE BAND BAND”. Get it? The, The Band, Band. These guys do the catalog of The Band, and they do it very well, and tonight should be a very special night worth traveling for

     Wednesday, May 9 – THE BEACH BOYS are doing a 50th anniversary tour this summer WITH Brian Wilson. To me, that’s exciting. Tonight they’re at The Beacon Theater.

     May next week be better than the last two.