Book Review - Al Kooper Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards

                                                           

                             Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards

                                  Memoirs of A Rock & Roll Survivor

By Al Cooper

The book is a longish 327 pages that include a two-page intro and a four-page preamble wherein Cooper identifies a five block stretch of Broadway in New York City especially 1619 Broadway (at west 48^th), more commonly known as the Brill Building. Tin Pan Alley era flourished at the Brill Building (1930-1955). In the mid-fifties the Brill Building Sound took over @ 1650 Broadway. This is where Elvis Presley’s publishing were looked after. It was the base of operations for the Goodman family who handled the Arc Publishing Empire. They had a total lock on R&B and Blues with songs of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry and Howlin’ Wolf. Cooper certainly does his homework. He understands that British Invasion bands like the Stones, Dave Clark 5 and the Beatles recorded Arc songs to achieve a shaky cultural authenticity. As a wet behind the ears teenager, Cooper learned from some of the best songwriters on the planet including Goffin & King, Mann & Weil, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Aldon Music was the premier song publisher from the early sixties onward. Cooper continued to improve his songwriting craft and by 1958 he was in demand as an up and coming instrumentalist and got a gig with the Royal Teens. They had a hit with a song entitled Short Shorts. Bob Gaudio of the Four Seasons was an original member!

Kooper is a natural born story teller who can split the truth to make a point. Early on he befriended Gene Pitney and he decries his involvement with Gary Lewis when he wrote This Diamond Ring, originally conceived as an R & B song for the Drifters. They declined and a west coast producer by the name of Snuff Garrett cut a “white” version of the song. It became a massive hit that started Gary Lewis & the Playboys down the road of bubblegum and pop music for teenagers who liked their rock sugary and sweet.

In 1965 Dylan was god. Tom Wilson produced Dylan and he allowed Kooper to observe the sessions for Subterranean Homesick Blues. The next session was called for the next afternoon. As Kooper recalls, “Taking no chances I arrived an hour early and well enough ahead of the crowd to establish my cover. Suddenly Dylan came in with Mike Bloomfield and the session got down to business. I told Tom Wilson that I have a great organ part for the song.” Wilson was distracted with other chores and it allowed Kooper to play that ham-fisted organ part without Wilson’s consent. Dylan liked it, so he told Wilson to turn the organ up. Wilson complained, “that cat’s not an organ player” but Dylan wasn’t buying it so he told Wilson, “Hey, don’t tell me who is an organ player and who’s not. Just turn it up. Kooper admitted that he waited until the chord was played by the rest of the band before he committed himself to play the verses. Kooper was always an eighth note behind. However, “Like a Rolling Stone” was pure magic and it was the linchpin for the album Highway 61 Revisited. To this day, Kooper insists his abilities are only adequate, even though he plays several different instruments. He is also an accomplished songwriter.

Kooper has an astonishing list of musicians with whom he’s known. He developed Blood Sweat & Tears, his first great band, only to walk away when the tension proved toxic. The later incarnations of the band never got the acclaim that the first Kooper-led aggregate. It seems that Kooper’s early BS&T work was visionary.  Child is Father to the Man was an incredible album that is still highly regarded by rock/jazz historians.

Along the way he championed Lynyrd Skynyrd and helped build their illustrious career. The leader and singer Ronnie Van Zandt was close to Kooper and they became a strong alliance that created the band’s persona, that of country gentlemen, a close knit band of brothers.

 It seems that Kooper was everywhere at once, in demand as a session player or a producer whether it was the Tubes, Nils Logfgren, Rick Nelson, Eric Clapton, or Pete Townsend. In 1980, Kooper collaborated with George Harrison and Ringo Starr at Harrison’s home studio to complete his new album. They were on their fourth night of recording when news broke at 10am. An hour later Lennon’s death was confirmed. The sessions continued even as Harrison was grieving. Harrison was white as a sheet, real shook up. Wine was gathered and somber tributes made. The sessions resulted in Harrison’s album Somewhere in England. Harrison composed a single entitled “All Those Years Ago.” It was a loving tribute to John Lennon. Kooper was on the session providing the Wurlitzer piano.

Kooper has been there and seen it all. He struggled with addiction and loved and lost too many times to count. He ended up in television with his friend Charlie Calello, a popular musician and guru who arranged all the Four Seasons and Lou Christie hits as well as Kooper’s Stand Alone LP. Kooper and Callelo created whole new careers when they got involved with a television show entitled Crime Story. It gave them both a new lease on life.

This is a page turner of a book, an incredible memoir that leaves no stone unturned. It is both irreverent, lurid, and loving.  If you like rock & roll, jazz, blues, and a good story, then buy this book. It is an updated version that is a page turner with plenty of photographs. You can find copies on Amazon at a good price.

Peace

Bo

The State of Music 2016 - You Might Be Surprised

                                       

                                    

                                            The State of Our Musical Union

                             Music Trumps Hairballs and Backroom Deals

By Bo White

For the life of me I cannot recall counting the coupe so viciously though I would scalp any low life billionaire who takes advantage of sloganeering and backroom deals in the name of progress. I’ve seen those people in grey with their feckless high-end uniforms, sartorial delights, and Viagra hard Eunuchs when they are just keeping up with appearances.  I’ve been down the road with the Kinks for forty-five years, loving their missteps, feuds, and musical faux pas.  It started with Arthur and took a hard left to Something Else and ended with Lola. I recently read a book about the Kinks written by Ray Davies. After a few hundred pages down road, it dawned on me that the book was incomplete; it went only to 1996, twenty years short of my goal of knowing the complete mania surrounding the kinkdom.

Oh, well. I’m not the man I used to be. I now get up at 4am, drive over to White’s Bar by 5am and I count all the money and laugh hysterically, maybe it’s the coffee. One thing I know for sure is there is a lot of great music in the Great Lakes Bay of Michigan.  Take Andy Reed, one of my musical heroes. He sent me three vinyl LPs including Always on the Run; The Legal Matters, Conrad; Relay Vol.1. I couldn’t imagine a better set of LPs since I love power pop, cool lyrics, and high harmonies. Reed is a musical institution in Michigan as well as parts unknown as the music drifts into the ether only to reappear when the aspects are right. I love Andy Reed because he is talented and honest. He doesn’t jump and jive and he offers no pretense to being pretty. I need to mention the Legal Matters recent vinyl release. It is an incredible piece of music and harmony plus it has a card so you can download some goodies.  The Legal Matters rocked the Magic Bag in Ferndale on November 5^th, it is one of the last bastions of free world rock & roll!

The local scene is becoming more resilient due to the resurgence of White’s Bar. Allysha Guldenzoph is the manager and she has made White’s the place for great music and good vibes. There is a rotating group of singers/musicians who make the place hop from Michale Graves, Honesty & the Liars, Marsupial Creampie, David Asher’s DAB, Eastside Mike with Tommy Dolson and Chris, Joe Balbaugh, Tim Avram, The Mongrels, Charlie Klein, Margie & the Madness, Aaron Johnson Spout & the Orange, and the spirit of John Krogman, the man that made it all happen.

Chris Zehnder has been a compelling presence in the Music Scene in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. He cut his teeth with the Avery Set, a great band that was done too soon. College, travel, and life itself intervened to give Chris a wanderlust that served him well. Thus, Zehnder matured and blossomed as an artist. He can do rock, country, alternative and acoustic solo without blinking. He’s earned his stripes the hard way, moving out and moving forward but never leaving us behind. Chris provides the proof that great music continues to be designed. Thank god for Andy Reed, Donny Brown and the host of musicians that created this living document of great music.

Michael Robertson deserves a special mention. After dissolving Maybe August Michael and Roscoe Selley created some incredible music together. Michael is older and wiser. He’s embraced playing music in smaller venues (like White’s Bar) and continued to focus on music and lyrics. He is now working with Honesty Elliott on a regular basis and the marriage of musical ideas have flourished. Michael sings low to allow Honesty’s high harmonies to make a statement. The band’s photos are silhouetted in perfect sepia tones, Michael’s hair is windblown and impervious to the overgrown grasses and haggard trees. Incredible!

 Lumber Barons Fire Bar and Stable Martini Bar has entertainment 7 nights a week. The Bancroft Wine & Martini Bar has great drinks, Ladies Night, and music from their vinyl record collection. At times, they have live music with cool artists like Joel Rydecki, Andrew Kitzman, Avenue Acoustic and the Jim Pagel Jazz Trio.

Counter Culture is located on 620 Gratiot Avenue. They feature great live bands. They are the good guys!

Jeff Hall is still a fixture at Delta and continues to play beautiful music whether it’s tenor or baritone sax. He can play piano if you ask nice. Jeff was acquainted with Sonny Stitt through his gigs at Bakers Keyboard Lounge back in the seventies. It was a heady time for music, music was everywhere!

My last rock & roll concert was in Detroit and it featured my all time favorite singer/songwriter/musician Todd Rundgren. I loved the show. Rundgren took a page from each of his most well loved LPs including Todd, A Wizard; A True Star; Something /Anything? Back to the Bars. Good Stuff!

It was a great show that highlighted Rundgren’s ability to make the crowd stand up and pay attention. Well known players like Kasim Sulton and Prairie Prince were excellent and helped layer the harmonies. Rundgren performed his greatest songs such as Hello It’s Me, Just One Victory; I Saw the Light and Open My Eyes (Nazz). By the last third of the show I was beginning to tire, my energy was spent and I was nodding off and just when I got into a deep REM sleep, Rundgren started banging his drum and I awoke with a start. I had been dreaming of days gone by when Angelo Lorenzo was playing Sleepy Time Gal and Kenny Roberts was singing Going up the Country while Dick Wagner defrosted the Mystery Man and Question Mark danced through all those tears and through it all Lillie Gonzales took what she needed especially when Bobby Balderama played his guitar. Bob Seger is our hometown hero, he played Daniel’s Den in 1969 and came through White’s Bar with Tom Wechsler back in the seventies.

Peace

Bo White

Ray Davies Live In Detroit

                                         

                                                                         

                                           Ray Davies

                                        Solo In Detroit

It’s been a few years since we met, old friend. It was 1979 at Cobo Hall. You had just released Low Budget, your American album. And suddenly you were quite popular again and you found yourself playing arenas with a new muscular sound. Dave still played glorious yet precise heavy metal solos, not as sloppy as in the past, none of you were. You had a new haircut, short and athletic. You seemed trim and just a bit hyper, but so remote, not like in the past, back in ’70 at the Eastown when you revealed your whimsical and self-deprecating nature with that almost pastoral British charm. Hell, back then you could getaway with Harry Rag or Big Sky and just floor the audience with those incredible images. And you were so good at poking fun at yourself, your brother Dave, and the Kinks. But in ’79 you were a rock star in an arena band; imagine the KINKS…an arena band. It seemed that the Kinks got better, more proficient. But …damn, I missed the sloppiness and your irreverent British point-of-view. It was all to calculated, so serious. Something gained, something lost. I never thought it could ever return. In the nineties, your days were numbered and you seemed to retreat into your cocoon just as Dave got busy with an odd and delightful solo career.

 I missed his show a few years back at The Magic Bag in Detroit, not for any lack of trying, as soon as I heard about the Dave Davies Show I dialed up my friend Willie Wilson from WDET to get some special accommodation, i.e. tickets and Willie said he’d get me tickets but Dave’s show was yesterday and that I just missed it and that he drove Dave in from the Metro Airport and Dave was cool not as prickly as legend would have it. The Kinks are notorious, can’t remember any Michigan rockers from the sixties or seventies that had a good word to say about you guys, maybe it was just the times and maybe our remembrances have a plasticity that cushion our own shame at someone else’s expense, someone more famous and unable to defend himself. And maybe you were just a drunken roustabout. Well, I was a drunken man way back then, it doesn’t matter anymore because I’ve made peace with myself and I’ve come to terms with Ray Davies, the Kinks and fandom itself and judging from this performance I think he has found something too, like home and peace. I saw the Kinks six or seven times between 1970 and 1979 and though the Kinks group changed personnel several times during that era, I never saw him play without his brother. I know he misses him; I miss him too. I hope he’s OK. I heard he suffered a stroke a few years ago.

Davies opened the show with an indefatigable and irreverent version of Low Budget, his paean to American consumerism. Looking fit and trim, Davies inexplicably - as it was something like 90 degrees outside - wore a brown wool jacket over his shirt. He was sweating just a bit and dancing around like some deranged middle-aged dandy or a Kink or something and after a couple of songs he really got down to business removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. This cat is serious. He was here to rock and roll us - and to reveal a little bit more than just his songs. In fact, Davies said, “To understand my songs, you have to understand me”. So, True. Davies could have sung all night and most of the next day and still covered only a portion of his extensive catalog. Tonight, he included Where Have All the Good Times Gone, You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night, an incredible extended version of 20^th Century Man (with some great slide licks from Mark Johns), and Tired of Waiting, the Punks favorite along with Till the End of the Day which he also performed.

Davies also played a few tunes that were never or rarely played in public including Dead End Street (an obscure Dickensian ode to class inequality) from 1967 that he turned into a playful call and response scat and go exercise and A Long Way from Home from 1970’s Lola vs Powerman and the Money-Go-Round. Davies said it was written for his brother Dave and it was about coping with the pressures of sudden fame. Davies narrated his performance with incredible anecdotes about Dave asking “What the Fuck is that”? after he first heard the riff to You Really Got Me; auditioning for record executives who hated their music, dismissing Dave’s guitar work as sounding like dogs barking. Davies remarked, “I thought that was a good thing”. A sound was born and the Kinks were part of that early vanguard but they changed and Davies brief solo acoustic set with Sunny Afternoon and Well Respected Man illustrated the changes, with satirical lyrics and universal themes that nonetheless poke fun at the writer himself, overall a good vibe with just a hint of regret. I was most interested in his new material from his first solo record, Other People’s Lives. I bought it and loved its quiet majesty. Don’t get me wrong, Davies still rocked on the record but it was a return to the more pastoral musings of Village Green Preservation Society, Big Sky, Autumn Almanac, and Waterloo Sunset (Davies’ masterpiece). He played several of the new songs including After the Fall, an older tune originally meant for the Kinks; the funky Tourist, about his life in New Orleans. In introducing Over My Head, a tune that begs the question “Is life Good to You?”  Davies revealed that it’s about acceptance and putting your life in perspective that it reflects upon his own life; a life like so many others - both comic and tragic. The Getaway is a moody gem inspired by Leadbelly and Davies skiffle days. Before performing Next Door Neighbor he asked to no one or everyone, “Do you want to be my friend?”; he repeated the question and then said, “Let’s go out and you can have a few drinks with me and then you’ll see how it works.” That aside Davies possessed a self-deprecating charm, oddly endearing and so loveable. He took performance art to a deeper level – especially for rock n’ roll – and simply and exquisitely charmed the pants off the crowd. He closed the 90-minute set with Lola, a classic song that he could never sing, seems he wrote it out of his range. Where’s brother Dave when you need him? Still, Davies proved he is a master, a songwriting genius that has grown comfortable with the stage. This was an inspired performance that was strangely reassuring. Maybe I’m not obsolete after all. I left the Taste Fest feeling renewed and enlivened. My wife Lisa and I hailed a cab and returned to our room at The Hilton Inn on Gratiot Avenue, laughing and goofing around.  It was a good night GOD SAVE THE KINKS. I arose early the next morning, a good hour or so before Lisa. I showered and then brewed some of that complimentary individually packaged coffee that tastes bad but turns the lights on, so I drink it anyway and I get fired up and I decide to take a stroll down Gratiot over to Ford Field and Comerica Park. I’d never seen these stadiums, homes to the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions. The terrible over-the-top opulence stunned me, steel and concrete monuments to our cultural constipation and diversion as a way of life. I shivered at those lavish modern pyramids and wondered what future generations would think of us. I was alone on Gratiot as I turned toward the Fox Theatre. There were only a few random people around the corner, some shirtless, some with shoes but no socks; one missing a few teeth. As I walked back toward the Hilton, I noticed a young man with his head in his hands, sitting on the church steps, oblivious to my passing eye. I imagined that something happened to him and I wondered if I should say something but I didn’t bother. I was afraid for some reason but I shook off those awful thoughts like a cold chill and continued walking. After awhile I started to feel invigorated by the morning sun and felt the quiet pulse of the city begin to pick up before the hustle and bustle returned to the streets. I went back to my hotel room and told my wife about all these things. She smiled and kissed me softly. It was time to go home.