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 5th, 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
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