2003 Review Music Award CD - "Volume I & II"

Bob Martin and his alter ego Review Magazine has been faithful to the beat of Mid-Michigan's music scene for as long as I can remember. (the Review debuted in May 1979). And for the last seventeen years, Martin and his staff and many loyal and dedicated volunteers have put together the Review Music Awards - a magnificent showcase of our local artists. This is where the coolest bands from the local scene get a chance to stretch out and "do their thing". At times, the best music meets at that intersection where cultures collide and the tension creates new rhythms. Something palpable emerges in this undercurrent.
And popular culture's drive to mediocrity is momentarily suspended.
You won't find something this good on the radio
Why?
Well...Mose Allison once said (to paraphrase), "When a piece of music finally gets to that point of acceptance...radio and television...it's typically not worth a damn".
Jim Dickinson, Memphis favorite-son musical legend and agent provocateur describes how the consumer culture's machinery homegenizes the creative impulse. And that pop culture can absorb just about anything and will "co-opt, preempt, and recycle" the ideas, techniques, and best impulses of the original artists .
He says, "the best songs don't get recorded, the best recordings don't get released, and the best releases don't get played"

This 2-Disc set attempts to set things straight and fight the music industry's torpor by recording acts that have otherwise been criminally neglected. These recordings represent a cross section of the bands and the beautiful sounds circling the tri-cities.
Something is in the air
The sound is impeccable. Crisp and clear and wonderful separation.
The music breathes.
Rick Levario, the recording engineer, soundman Al Limberg, and mixer/producers Eastside Mike and Jim Schmitke deserve credit for the superb sound quality of the recordings. It sounds better that most of "live" LPs I've purchased through the years - (pick any) by the Rolling Stones or Moody Blues or the soundtrack to Woodstock or semi-major artists - remember "Bloodrock Live"...DOA says it all.
Yeeech

The Review's Music Awards has a MISSION of sorts - to showcase a music scene rich with talent.
The messengers may have changed but the message is the same.
And finally one of the shows is caught on disc.
About time!

As cool as it is to be recognized, the awards are secondary to the feeling of community. And that vibe is contained in the performances. I only wish more of our great artists would have been captured. But how could we ever do them justice...
a 12-disc box set would scratch only the surface. That's just how deep the current runs. Saginaw has always been a hotbed for music from forties blues (remember Frank Washington & the Ramblers)and Angelo Lorenzo pop (Sleepy Time Gal) to mid-sixties Bossmen rock 'n' roll.

Maybe it's the dichotomy between the haves and the have nots or the confluence of barely recognized cultural imperatives.
Or is it that very moment when complex social factors intersect to compel a dialectic...as when authenticity and free thinking bump into a conformity to yield a tension so complete that creativity is spring-loaded. It's in this tension that rock 'n' roll, blues, jazz, and reggae sprang to life....a breath of fresh air in a oppressively dim ethos.

That said, let me take a deep breath...a little sip of PEPSI ONE...and let's take a listen to the 2-disc set from the 2003 Review Music Awards Show

Disc one opens with the Brush/Lopez trio performing Jack, their tribute to local jazz legend Jack Bruske. This is cool jazz at it's best...from the creative "juice" of Mike Brush (a legend in his own right). Brush sings with affection as he recalls one of Saginaw's original "cool cats".

Brush follows with "Into the Night". It opens witth a folk/pop vibe like early Elton John circa "Tunbleweed Connection" but segues to a mid-tempo rock format with a dominant organ riff ala Al Kooper on "Positively 4th Street". But it's actually a modern spiritual. Check out the lyric...

"Time to Shine through"
"Be who we are"
"Radiant lights"
"Dazzling stars"
"All of us are"
"In God we are one"
"And seeing it clearly"
"We dance in the sun"
"Oh - we can't all deny it"
"Hide it from sight"
"And sooner or later we'll step into the light"

A fantastic track...a HIGHLIGHT.

Lila Rasa is the spirited vessel for Noel Howland's Magic Medicine. This is a syncopated funky showcase for Howland's sensual and expressive voice. She displays some great chops on piano. Chris Mohn's masterful guitar work weaves in & out of the piece with an economy of expression that recalls the best work of Howard Glazer (Harmonica Shah). This is a powerful piece of music and a shining example of Lila Rasa's artistry
They follow-up withBetter Plan - a mid-tempo jazz rocker led by Noel's piano and Mohn's soaring guitar. The percussive effects are outstanding and color the song's aural landscape. Noel Howland provides another extraordinary vocal - a knockout performance that is at once soulful and nuanced. The instrumental gymnastics in the coda not only kick ass - they're way too fun.
LILA RASA RULES
It's about time this great band appears on disc!

The Timothy Hyde Project is next with Shining Light. A ringing guitar and an ascending tremelo bassline open the track with a sense of foreboding. I was told these tunes were part of a larger project.
A stage presentation.
The musical elements both instrumental and vocal combine for a dramatic reading that is both well executed and breathtaking. It is mildly reminiscent of a heavier "Bat Out Of Hell" by Meatloaf. Their second track, The Shelter is a blues rocker with (what sounds like)a Hammond B3 giving it some "punch". It is a uniformly great performance by the cast with some great blues guitar
Who is that axeman?

Marty Viers performsKeep On Moving...an uptempo gospel rocker with heavy drums and organ up front in the mix. But it's Marty's wondrous mid-range tenor that takes center stage. A GREAT performance. Viers is another local performer that needs to be recorded. And he tells me his long awaited solo CD is about ready for release.
BRING IT ON!!!

Natural Woman finds Shar Archambeau doin' her best "Aretha". She has the pipes.
And it's a powerful performance

One of the disc's highlights is Dick Wagner's 4th Street - an autobiographical account of his life and times in New York City. This is Wagner at his rockin' best. Brian Bennett's imaginative and dynamic keyboard work drive the tempo. Wagner is in great form. His guitar sings and moans with conviction and his lead vocal is p-e-r-f-e-c-t. The unique chording and sudden signature changes are characteristic of Wagner's more complex work. Another Wagner masterpiece.
And if 4th Street didn't pound it home and slug ya straight in the chest, Wagner makes it clear he'll take no prisoners. You are gonna learn your lesson from the master right here and now with Darkest Hour from his seminal work with Ursa Major. This is the original "power ballad" - an existential masterpiece of pain, longing, and redemption. Musically breathtaking and lyrically sophisticated this is Wagner's "finest hour".

Baked Goods brings disc one to a proper rock 'n' roll conclusion . These cats power chord their ass off on Sunshine Ray. It opens with a lonely guitar riff...nice and quiet-like until it builds into a cacophany of drums, bass, and vocals. A wall of sound that explodes with urgency and distortion. The tempo comes back down only to build back to a compelling discordance ala Nirvana. Baked Good have a compelling vocalist with a great stage presence. The final number is "Prescription" a grunge rocker that opens with a Bo Diddley-like riff and segues into some savage rock 'n' roll. An exciting performance.
Where are they now?

Disc 2 opens with Gretchen Toth's solo acoustic performance of Frustrated. She has a great voice that recalls the range and expressiveness of Alanis Morrisette. This tune has a repetitive riff and minor chording that gives it an edge. This is a romance song that "smolders".

Laurie Middlebrook is the premier country artist in mid-Michigan and she shows you just how good it can get with The Damage Done. She's sho 'nuf a country girl and one helluva natural born storyteller. This song is about troubled relationships with the historical backdrop serving up a series of metaphors that tell the story. Middlebrook's rich contalto is an instrument all by itself. She just may be the best singer around the state.
Beautiful Goodbyes is less traditional country and more of a pop rocker. But it still has that trademark Middlebrook touch...that warm, inviting vocal. This is a song from a woman that has been around the piss-pot and has some hard earned wisdom to share. A great performance.

The Dave Kellan Band perform the title track of their latest CD, Truth of the Matter
Kellan's voice is hoarse... the vocal has a raw and rough-hewn quality that gives the song an added edge. This is a mid-tempo jazz rocker with a cool piano riff by Matt Cohen. Kellan is one of the finest artists performing in mid-Michigan. He does it all - writes great songs, sings like Stevie Winwood, and rocks his axe off.

Liliana Rokita...what can I say that hasn't been said about this talented singer/songwriter
Liliana just may be the most exciting performer in mid-Michigan. She is a pure and expressive singer who can convey layers of nuanced and complex emotion just by singing an aria....without lyrical accompaniment. Yet her lyrics are poetry that add depth and meaning to her message. And like any great piece of music. There IS a message. Liliana chooses a diverse vehicle to get the word out. Her music is anything she wants it to be. Funky dance music, Latin soul, or rockin' Salsa with a twist. The track listed as "I'll Do It For You" is actually a cover of Latin superstar Paulina Rubino's Lo Hare Por Ti'. The track opens with Bobby Balderama's funky wah-wah and segues to a steady latin beat. Erotic and sensual rhythms. Liliana's warm vocal takes over and your suddenly transported to a tropical paradise....lying blanketed on hot golden sand, the waves crashing gently onto the shoreline...and the palm tree's shiver ever so slightly as a cool breeze washes over your moist skin... And then... just as Liliana's captivating beauty takes your breath away... and your body reaches a vise-grip tension... Liliana begins to dance. And the release is sweet - and liberating
The next track is listed as "Com Mi Vida" but it's correct title is Mi Amor A Escondiditas. This Liliana original is uptempo Latin/Salsa at it's heavenly best. Bobby Balderama's soaring guitar gives it a rock-edge and puncuates the overall texture of the song. The groove is driven by an insistent latin beat. Liliana's vocal is earthy and energetic and compels the listener to come closer and join Lilana's "dance of life" .
Gracious Liliana...this is one of THE highlight performances of the 2003 Awards Show.

The Robert Lee Band is represented by two souful covers My Girl and Midnight Hour

- with leader Balderama's (and keyboardist Rodriguez') impeccable sixties credentials as a founding member of Question Mark & the Mysterians lending the vibe an easy confidence and a strong measure of credibility.

My favorite alternative rockers Radio Therapy contributes Need To Find, a great little rocker that confirms the groups status as one of the premier rock bands in mid-Michigan... an outstanding lead vocal and rich, imaginative axemanship. My Blood is Red is a cry for justice an appeal for humanity. A Bo Diddley-esque beat gives the song an R&B vibe that underscores Atha's magificent power chording.
A great performance

The disc closes with two fantastic numbers by metal rockers BORN. These cats are way too cool. And the vocalist may be one of the best front men around the block. Another Illusion comes on like "metal thunder"...but there's more to it - avant garde poetry set against a compelling but discordant rhythm.
They got something here
And It's GOOD
They are create a progression of ambient tones and shifting moods that seem to reflect a growing awareness...enlightenment - satori?
Born ends the disc with Side With The Lights. The song opens with a provocative tremelo, shifts to a quiet and thoughtful vocal interlude before EXPLODING with sheer metallic power. The singer croons like a sober Jim Morrison on "Touch Me". And he's got such a compelling stage presence, he just might be the next "Lizard King"!!!
No matter
Born is an excellent band in fine form.

So there you are two elpees worth of tunes from our best and brightest. Cool cities my ass...this is the real deal.
You can purchase copies at the offices of Review Magazine. Call Bob Martin @ (989) 799-6078 for more information about how to purchase these little treasures

...or stop over to White's Bar.
We have a few copies to sell ya

Peace,
Bo White
10/18/03

Mandi Layne & The Lost Highway - Drunk in Love

It’s been sometime since the local country scene broke free from its lethrgy and came up with something new. Mandi Layne is a fresh face with a rootin’ tootin’ country rock style that will get you starting out tapping your toes and before long you’ll be dancing, drinking shots and hoopin’ amd a hollerin’ like a young and almost skeltal Johnny Cash doing white crosses and black bennies and staying up days on end just to take it all in. I haven’t heard anthing this exciting since the iconoclastic Charlie Klein and the Honky Tonk Zeros wrote about Hank Williams and told the real story. But Layne…she’s into something bigger. Bigger choruses , bigger hooks and a big rich sound. Kudos to Andy Reed who divined a way to merge Owen Bradley’s vision of modern country music with the style and craft of Phil Spector. Reed is adept at layering sound and building a rich aural landscape that envelope the music. But Mandi Layne and the band deserve much of the credit. They possess spunk and energy and youthful confidence. They have something real that cannot be denied. Layne’s got “it” - an almost indefinable star quality, certifiably hot – an amalgam of Avril Lavigne attitude and the look of Jennifer Love Hewitt. Oh, mama… Let me take you for a ride to new Virginny where the mist the apple blossoms kiss your face and the slight southern breeze brushes your hair. Listen to Mandi Layne and the Lost Highway….

If You Ain’t Wasted opens the disc like a sonic thunderstorm. The fiddle and slide trade off riffs like gun shots. It’s like Duane and Dickie doing Whipping Post or the Black Crowes going seriously country. Layne’s vocal is soulful and nuanced. She’s at once both fresh faced and naughty but hasn’t adopted the worn resignation of living life on the edge and experiencing bottomed out misery. She’s still in control and having the time of her life. When she says “Bring it on Boys” she means it.
These cats can play

Hell Hath No Fury (like a woman scorned) is a countrified salute to Alanis Morissette’s masterpiece (of a woman scorned) Jagged Little Pill. Layne pulls no punches in her exacting vocal tribute to Morissette’s unique stylized intonations. The quietude of the music swells into a loud, angry and powerful statement. Cobain would be proud! There are several tempo changes and the guitarist Barry Forster is brilliant, sounding more like Hendrix than Willie.

The title tune Drunk in Love is quite intoxicating. Great metaphor- eh? But Layne sings it sweet and straight like Reba on a greatest hits tour or Shania doing AC/DC. I love the line “like a warm shot of whiskey lay me down”- don’t quite know what it means but when Mandi sings it, I just say, “ooh, baby, make it a double”. But don’t get fooled by the metaphor, Drunk in Love is a cool love song.

Star of My Life borrows from the Bon Jovi play book with the hook coming straight outta You Can’t Go Back. The lyrics convey the dialectic of a life lived to its fullest - sometimes sad; sometimes funny – but always packed with a lot of action. Right on! The well conceived bridge recalls our ghosts from the nursery…“I keep hearing my daddy’s voice, the bigger they are; the harder they fall. I like the stop/start at the end with that classic countdown...
1-2-3
I NEED YOU
The guitarist plays it like a modern day Thurlow Brown, the cat that showed Levon Helm (The Band) all those bar chords, diminished and augmented things going up and down the neck like nobody’s business!

Brown Bottle Blues is a mid-tempo ballad with minor chord riff. The fiddle and jangly acoustic creates an emotional landscape that holds both longing and the triumph o f the song. The lyrics tell a story about choices. In the end the singer chooses an empowered voice over her lover.

The Simple Side of Life is a perfect companion to Brown Bottle Blues. It’s a minor chord classic that is reflective yet powerful with great close harmonies and a rockin’ Van Halen guitar riff. The protagonist is a little older now and a little bit wiser. The song starts out stark and quiet, a tempo picks up and the instruments buildup and quiet down to accentuate the message – to get back to the simpler pleasures and to remember who we were when we started…when you and I are all we had to do. This is a song about values and integrity and loving honestly. Not easy in this day and age of instant celebrity and mass hypnotic narcissism.

The Biker Song is an elegant up-tempo shuffle (love them shuffle beats) that’s guaranteed to get you off your soggy wrinkled rear-end and up on the dance floor to do the Tennessee two-step and shakin’ it like a jackhammer manhandling a construction worker and he’s liking it. To hell with line dancing, express yourself and do your own thing. The road is a perfect metaphor for the longing in the song. The singer is a risk taker…she got the look and the moxie to explore unchartered waters – to be OK with not knowing. It was pure genius to insert That’s All Right Mama in the coda. I bet Elvis is smiling at the sincere tribute. Excellent song.

NBD is a straight out rocker with a bit of an early Eagles feel. Layne is singing about our necessary losses – like a older sibling coming to terms with the birth of his baby brother and not having mom’s love alone or the loss of innocence (at around age three) when you discover you are a boy and your best buddy Sheila is a girl…yeech – or in this case getting over a failed relationship. Dig the name dropping from New Kids on the Block to AC/DC and Rainbow Brite. She says getting over all these things are no big deal. But when I look back…I’m not so sure. I don’t covet the past but these memories sure can fill me up.

Chinese Monday is a fantastic title that hints the intimacy in the lyric. It’s a modern love song with a husky vocal, echoed and sensual, that suggests intimacy at the same time she signals uncertainty when she is alone. The fear of abandonment – an existential aloneness like an infant crying in her crib, never certain her cries will ever be heard. But this is an adult tangle of love, sex and intimacy, more than a synaptic connection…it’s the meeting of souls.

Greg Kervokian sings like a sober Dickie Betts on Friends & Lovers. He trades off lead vocals with Layne and when they harmonize, the results are exquisite. The stylistic vocal approach has just the right nuance and intimacy to convey an understated libidinal urgency – like magnet to steel. So… we cross the line between friendship and romantic love. But if you been long-time together, married or otherwise you know deeply and certainly that lovers become friends and perhaps it’s this quality of deep abiding friendship that can sustain us when the heat has gone.

She’s Gonna Get a Life is a lush mid-tempo ballad about crossroads and courage. This is the perfect vehicle for Layne to display the power and range of her incredible pipes. It’s never easy to change your life, even if it is necessary or even the right thing to do. This song’s ending question is really a statement question… life begins at the end of the rainbow - down I-75 south to Tennessee. More pop than country, this could be a big hit on adult contemporary.

Runaway With Me is a modern slap dash rockabilly that would fit perfectly in a Social Distortion set list. This tune is irresistible. From my perch this has all the makings of a hit – great hook, lyrics that are joyful with just a tinge of melancholy, perfect close harmonies – a well conceived and skillful performance! Fiddles, barrel house piano and guitar trills tell the story. This is a sing-a-long crowd pleaser anthem of the highest degree.

The closer Straight to Hell is a close cousin to the aforementioned Runaway with Me – is a mid-tempo country outlaw waltz, perfect for line dancing, drinking PBR and screaming HELL YEAH. When Layne sings “I’m going straight to hell – just like mama said” she’s stepping outside her pain and finding her empowered voice. I love this song. It’s bold and defiant and it’s a slap in old mama’s face. That old cracked template ain’t gonna push her around anymore. No shame in the pain. Her soul is free. This is another classic by Mandi and the boys. Instantly memorable.

Check out Mandi Layne and Lost Highway on MySpace and for Pete’s sake buy this CD…it’s the best new music to come down the line in years.

Peace
Bo White

John Krogman’s Primordial Earth Songs aka Sling That Mud

I’ve known John Krogman for a few years now and I’ve been attracted by his active creative force and almost frightened by his intensity. This cat is all body and heart and his music reflects his masculine energy. His minimalist lyrical style is tell-it-like- it-is, straight to the point without obscure references or metaphors that don’t let you in on the joke. Krogman’s gritty scratchy cool is part of his mystique. People that experience Krogman’s music or performances are naturally drawn nearer and want to be close to him. But he can lose more people and friendships in the span of a solstice than I’ve had in my lifetime. It’s like Jim Perkins once told me, “I don’t form bands because I don’t like people.” We laughed and of course he exaggerated but there is a kernel of truth underneath his statement that resonates for many of us. Including JohnKrogman. I can dig it. I believe in peace and love but I don’t trust people easily.

Holding this long-awaited disc in my hands is, for me, like the first moment I laid my trembling sweaty mitts on the Bossmen’s Anthology CD (1964-67). It took my breath away. I loved Dick Wagner’s primitive country-laced jangly pop music. I put it on the changer, receptive and open and let the music take me back to Daniel’s Den – Baby Boy, Take A Look My Friend, Here’s Congratulations….ah
Now, some may see Wagner as the true mystery man at times arrogant and distant but I see another side, one that is generous and even loving. Rockin’ Johnny lives a similar paradox. He’s plain spoken, does not mince words or suffer fools gladly. But there is always something more like Krogman’s long abiding friendships with Stewart Francke and John Van Beschoten, his love for music. John is a true minstrel whose soul needs to express itself in song and music. John Krogman has found his time and place with Sling that Mud. It may be long overdue but it’s here and now. Listen and rejoice as one of our greatest singer/songwriters has crafted a forum for his muse. Listen….

Soft and Sweet is reconfigured with an old blues progression stolen back in the mid-sixties by the Newbeats for their pop classic Bread & Butter. Producer Stewart Francke plays it straight and true adding lazy horn trills and honky tonk piano. This is rockin’ 12 bar R&B played by some of Detroit’s best and brightest. Krogman is writing about someone we all know. If you look close enough you can see her toughness is her vulnerability. She smokin’ cigarettes, drinking whiskey and riding it hard yet never really hiding her capacity to love well.

Curtis Road is a fired-up mid-tempo rocker, a song with big riffs and a bigger beat. Curtis Road is a metaphor about longing… a wish for a better life, as a tired soul leaves the sparkle of a Bavarian tinsel town only to return to the dirt and grime of the wet nasty – where it gets real. The heavy load is a metaphor for the fear and ennui evoked in a dying city. The minor chord on the bridge gives the music-scape a sense of foreboding. From my perch I’m not sure which city is more frightening.

Sling that Mud is a Louis Jordan Big Band swing and jive. It jumps out and slugs you in the chest and dares you to want more. Krogman’s voice is filtered and thinned out like it’s a radio broadcast giving you the skinny on things that don’t matter like whose doin’ who and what Travolta said on the stand. The music bomps and rolls but the lyrics reveal a darker message – how people talk smack and defile reputations. It is a universal message. We’ve all been there – on each side of it. This mud activates our own internal critic and a judgment you believe (at least partially) to be true about yourself….its a heavy load to carry. The sinister organ and the moaning horn riffs give it a B-movie horror classic vibe. Boris is watching…oooh

Sinatra Hours is a Francke composition, a big band number with a walking bassline and a modern sound that is more bluesy than ‘ol blue eyes swing. It rocks and rolls and it took me home and made me like it. The cool windy city Chicago sound is front and center. The almighty hawk swoops down to fashion a paranoid vision of mistrust and infidelity. This overarching suspicion kills the singer’s peace of mind. It begs the question where have you been. You’ve been nowhere. It’s just the illusion of betrayal, balling Mick and Keef while singing Love in Vain. The sumptuous full bodied guitar trills speed it up. The urgency in the coda reaches fever pitch until it all collapses in exhaustion… whew.

Shadows of Night. This is a Krogman oldie that has aged like a fine wine - a 1945 Red Bordeaux versus a 1970 Ripple. I prefer Ripple. Krogman is doing a straight 12-bar blues with a lyrical theme that recalls youthful extravagance, being just a bit naughty. His husky tenor is huskier now from years in the bars and jook joints. 3 or 4 sets a night. 7 nights a week, mixing originals with the covers, use those classic rock gems by Fogerty and Young to hook the audience then give ‘em Shadows of Night, Come on Down and Into the Sunset. They’ll never know what hit them. And before you know it your songs become anthems.

Live Without Love is a song that exposes John’s most vulnerable side and his most ambivalent lyrical framework. Krogman questions love’s influence on his life…even its very existence. We covet it, pursue it, even pine over it. Then it turns out to be such a disappointment. The ride is a let down and you put the blame on yourself. But you go back to her anyway. When love dies and falls away you may fill up with regret and longing fall into this cold emotional black hole that sucks the life right out of you. But you come back for more. You do not want to be alone… ever. It’s like that primal existential aloneness that a baby experiences in her crib. Alone. Crying in the dark. And not knowing if momma will come and pick her up.

Raymond Jones is a clever take on Beatlemania. What would have happened had this English bloke Raymond Jones had never entered NEMS Department store and sauntered over to the record department and asked about this German 45 rpm entitled My Bonnie by this unknown group The Beatles? This was indeed a history altering event. NEMS was owned by the Epstein family and their wayward son Brian was charged to take care of the records division…he mucked up just about every other assignment, couldn’t do too much damage here. Yet Brian Epstein’s natural curiosity led him to find the aforementioned record and learn more about these oddly-named Beatles. Raymond Jones turned on the world. The rest is history.

The Right One is a mid-tempo rocker with a REM vibe, a jangly Happy Shiny People riff and a variation of the message in Everybody Hurts…Hold On. Krogman’s voice is a wonder, always has been. His singing has an immediacy that is palpable. He is the instrument of his message. It’s between him and his audience, it’s out front like no other instrument can be. Few voices could capture the wordless searching of those who are lost and lonely. But Krogman hits the pocket like Unitas threading the needle. Krogman gets it. The ringing guitar break at the end of the song brushes the musical landscape with a felt sense of pain and awakens the body to the tension. This is something that isn’t “figured out” or analyzed.

Tears of a Clown. This old Motown chestnut is actually John’s tribute to his former band The Flies. They would do it at their shows but would rearrange it dramatically into a cool Ska beat with choppy rhythms and syncopated vocals. Back in the day, John and the Flies loved the Police and the English Beat and The Point, a great Ska band that frequented old town. The Flies would play downstairs at the Fordney Hotel in the Old Town Saloon (formerly the Gaslight) and incorporated all of these influences into their act- pop, punk, reggae – anything was grist for the mill. The Flies did a similar Ska workup by combining the Beatles’ Rain with Rankin’ Full Stop by the English Beat. It was magnificent.

Red, White and Blue closes the disc on a thoughtful and heartfelt note. The tempo is slowed way down from the ’93 version by Johnny & the Boomers (though he’s been slowing it down for years) to great effect. It helps color the ambivalence about doing what’s right when moral issues of right and wrong are uncertain. This is a Desert Storm era song that is both patriotic (I’m ready, ready what I gotta do) and anti-war (I’m hoping to shoot no bullets). It’s a clear-eyed patriotism that considers the human cost of war and it ain’t the rich man paying. A mournful pedal steel underscores the weariness of the message. When will it ever end?

Peace
Bo White

The Avery Set - Returning to Steam

No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Make no mistake. Returning to Steam is the embodiment of Chris Zehnder’s artistic vision. Music informed by personal discovery and the preservation of a youthful perspective. Through an inspired loneliness Zehnder comes face-to-face with a felt sense that his life is no longer the sum of other’s prescriptions. In this body of music Zehnder acknowledges that he and his world have changed. The original Avery Set disbanded. Brant became Charlie and sat in with the 78s and learned full well that Whitey can sing like Waylon but he’ll never be a Honky Tonk Zero. For Chris all these Michigan memories exact their own brand of revenge especially in those quiet Nashville moments when aloneness is his only muse.

Zehnder’s music is part of an internal dialogue, a dialectical conversation to create music as a means of taking care of himself while still giving it a universal message. Zehnder discovered his greatest strength is also his Achilles heal. His search for identity can be a very lonely journey… as it should be. How could it be otherwise?

Zehnder’s legacy is more than a family name; it is the story of his elders; the heroes and the villains, the success and the failures and the unique Bavarian individualism and self-reliance that has been handed down for generations. It’s in his blood. Yet Chris Zehnder refuses to follow those footsteps. Instead he took the fork in the road and stuck it in the rear-end of a dead chicken, well seasoned and delicious and never looked back. Sure, he could make a good living following his father’s vision and taking over the family business but he wasn’t born to follow. He was born to make music. Zehnder is one of those rare people who have learned in the early phases of his journey about the inherent emptiness in the acquisition of wealth.

This is one of the most cohesive bodies of music I’ve heard in a long time. It is a near masterpiece with its world class writing, superb singing, overall musicality and attention to detail in production and instrumentation. The players on this disc are MONSTERS. Drummer Jake Bartlett has been playing with the Avery Set for over 5 years and knows every nuance, tempo shift, and accent that Zehnder throws his way. Jacob Johnson is an extraordinary multi-instrumentalist. He plays the incredible stand alone piano scales on Set My Weight on Me and that cello sound on Wandering shoes is Jacob playing the standup bass with a bow. Together they are a first-rate rhythm section, tight in the pocket and able to create powerful crescendo and decrescendo effects in songs like Blown Away.

Zehnder is like a dancer that goes deep inside himself and allows his body to respond to the music in its own way. He steps outside of the circle of imperfect connections and returns to the stream of his youth. He closes his eyes and sees a world that is completely unlabeled.

And the music he creates is pure and beautiful.

Wandering Shoes opens with a moody cello followed by Zehnder’s circular acoustic patterns that create movement. The music and lyrics co-create an overall meaning of the song. It is a modern folk/blues shuffle that points to the glory and adventure of the road. This kind of music is subversive as it represents freedom of thought and expression. Zehnder writes about his longing and restless spirit and a terrible sense of losing his muse, feeling uninspired and disheartened:

“I roam this mighty country
I stand motionless in the Great Lakes
When I conquer you
I’ll be delivered from these blues
And I can throw way these wandering shoes”

Zehnder’s song repeats the theme of longing and with each repetition he goes deeper inside himself beyond the normal and rehearsed way we conduct our lives or sing our songs.

Gotta Move is another travel song, an adventure without a road map. Spin the bottle and follow the neck. A soft whispered intro segues into a powerful electric lead trills using the bass strings for a deep-end sound that underscores the urgency in the lyric;

“Dripping Heat in a dusty room
I’ve gone and burned my bridges in the wind
But she’s a friend I cannot lose
So I’m putting on my hat
I got to Move
She don’t like it
But I gotta Move”

Bible Belt is an irresistible country rocker with cool cat rockabilly guitar and a walking bass line. Zehnder does country-emo on this cut. He almost screams the lyrics. Zehnder sings with such an emotional intensity he pulls you into the dark nasty of mid-Michigan, you can almost smell the rot. His lyrics are a rebel yell that underscores his tangled emotions.
“Say Goodbye to the good times
Buckle down for a damn long ride
Put down the moonshine pick up the red wine
Find yourself a trophy wife
BUT I WON'T!"

Blown Away and Stranger are about different aspects of loneliness.
Stranger is written from the perspective of the reptilian brain –
Can I eat it? Can it eat me? Can I have sex with it?
Zehnder shakes off the blues like you do the rain but it ain’t that easy. Sometimes it feels rather desperate:

“I don’t care if it breaks my heart
If I lose my mind
I’m finding love tonight”

Stranger evokes the sadness and longing in being alone…

“Take this empty seat
It never stops reminding me
Of the vacancy…

Stranger, Stranger
Don’t walk away
Lend me your ear
Tell me your name
Are you lonesome, lonesome
In the flashy parade
Thousands of eyes
But not one can relate”

Goosedown Misery is an existential bump and grind wrapped into a country two step, a wall of sound filled-in by a powerful Hammond B3 background and syncopated be-boppin’ guitar trills up front. Zehnder’s lyrics contrast music and poetry with ecstasy and intoxication. He is really speaking to the tension between individualism and wholeness:

“Spare my soul from sleep tonight
Before these dreams replace my life
Please, Please
Give me rest with reckless highs
A picket fence and a faithful wife
Please, Please

Zehnder’s motivation is imbedded in a deeply held belief that we all end up where we belong - our own made end.

Hello Georgia is a country shuffle fueled by some sweet circular chicken-pickin’ country licks by Brandon Harris (a standout player throughout). This is the tune that anchors the themes of this CD – travel, the joys of youth. Zehnder sings it with a tongue-in-cheek irony while that insistent shuffle beat has your toes tapping and chair dancing. Zehnder’s favorite line is a gem:

“Hello Georgia I have yet to meet your friend Carolina
When you’re lonely do you peel away the border?
Go swimmin’ in the warm Atlantic water?
Skip across the islands south of Florida?”

Hole in My Head has an almost hymnal quality. It’s a country waltz with keyboard and guitar combine to create a baroque musical landscape. Zehnder’s tortured faltering reading provides a powerful emotional valence to the lyrical content:

“Silence alone, you put a hole in my head
The lion was kept in her cage
Avoiding the war does it always mean peace?
My how the madness is great
Don’t ask me to lie; never ask me to lie”

Salt Mines. Harris serves up some tasty rockabilly guitar, riffin’ like Bill Kirchen doin’ Don Rich, diesel fueled and bottom heavy. This is exuberant honky tonk boogie-woogie at its rockin’ best. The joyous tongue in cheek refrain is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. We’ve all been there:

“Blowing up the salt mines
Help me rig the dynamite
A perfect plan to be free again
Tell me when the boss is gone
Light the fuse and we can run
Far away from this awful place”

Soul and Song is the conscience of this disc. It neatly captures Zehnder’s celebration of youth and artistic vision while he rejects those who would attempt to suppress creativity. This song has an impressive energy. This is a no nonsense Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe stomper thrust from the rockpile with a brutal force that is both rebellious and joyous. The suit in the song represents any form of authority that stifles original music in favor of big hooks and trite devices, and sells disposable music, quickly forgotten or confused with the next big cliché. The chorus reveals the depths of Zehnder’s anger:

“Dug my records up from the riverbed
Found my guitar dusty in the tool shed
Screaming like a preacher to his crowd”

Two States Ago appears to be a song of travel and escape. It is. But it’s also a metaphor for internal discovery, casting fate to the wind and navigating through uncharted personal boundaries. At some level we all realize that we must face our fears in order to reduce their power over us. Zehnder’s searing vocal gives urgency to the lyric.

“C’mon
Cross the border
Where we’re going, I don’t remember
But I got you and you got me”

‘ Set My Weight on Me is the centerpiece, the heart and soul of Zehnder’s vision. This is a modern spiritual wrapped in a simple sepia-toned piano riff, unfettered and unadorned. Beautiful. Chris Zehnder’s masterpiece.

“Time has me troubled as it starts gaining speed
It demands something better than the life that I lead
I trained like a soldier to fit in the mold
That was cast on my body on the day I was born”

So this is it. A moment of truth. Many others have come before Chris with a similar longing. It’s a common irony that we find our deepest problem and fall in love with it. Loneliness is a problem for Chris but it’s also his strength and his muse. He’s in that golden moment of awareness in which the clarity of his vision creates opportunity. And as he prepares for his show at Pit & Balcony, Chris’ mind wanders back in time. He can smell the air of the home he was born into. And return to steam.

Perhaps it’s a long shot. But you never know…

In the late fifties ‘Ol Mack Vickery was performing in Pontiac playing some sweet country blues at the Drayton Inn, gaining notoriety and getting’ laid on a nightly basis. He had this phenomenal cross-eyed guitarist by the name of Wild Bill Emerson who played left handed and set his guitar on fire years before Hendrix. By the early sixties Mack Vickery and the Driving Band featuring a very young Dick Wagner on rhythm guitar took the nubile and willing coeds at Michigan State University for an extended spree of Dionysian delights and debauchery. As a result, the collective GPA of the class dropped precipitously during the spring semester of ’62. The point of all this is that Vickery summoned up the courage to give up this lucrative gig in Michigan and move lock stock and barrel down to Nashville. He worked the clubs down Printers Alley sold some songs and eventually became a sought after writer, penning hits for Jerry Lee Lewis, George Strait, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and others.

Dreams can come true

Peace
Bo White

The Tosspints - 11 Empty Bottles

I’ve learned never to underestimate the Tosspints. As soon as I think I know their bag, they come out of left field throwing musical knuckleballs that left me scratching my head. In 11 Empty Bottles the Tosspints reach down deep to tell a story of such abject misery that I had to listen to it with my headphones on and the volume muted. The resolution of the sorrow comes with self knowledge and acceptance. It is the only way out of hell. It helped that the band has a collective appreciation of dark humor that gives the disc its humanity.

Welcome to 11 Empty Bottles, a ragged punk symphony that reaches toward a spiraling netherland that few want to travel. The music is nothing less than revolutionary. The Tosspints primitive sound poems battered my brain and annihilated my senses. I was disturbed by its terrifying images of fallen humanity and I was totally blown me away by their stark honesty. Zak Zuzula writes most of the songs while the chief cook and bottle washer brother Don seems comfortable in the back seat, gazing out the window. However, his presence is clearly significant and his songs and singing are the highlight of disc…with two crucial exceptions (both sung by Don) Zak’s Death is a Funny Thing and Johnny Johnson’s incredible I’ll Give You Nothing. Let’s get started…grab a Guinness, hunker down and don’t forget to fasten your seat belt.

I’m Fucking Drunk rumbles like an earthquake, it opens that disc with a frantic speed like Bowles ditching Holmes at Daytona Beach. Zuzula does not mince words or spare feelings. He paints a vivid picture of despair with a quality of nouveau realisme . I’m a Fucking Drunk contains a strange paradox in which an ugly truth may prove to be liberating. Young Girl, Bad Idea is like a Shakespearean comedy with equal measures of tragedy and humor cloaked in punk rhythms. The tongue-in-cheek tension is between the Apollonian and Dionysian – music and poetry versus ecstasy and intoxication. The song is a winner with a well conceived hilarity wrapped around a time-worn sexual paradox…should I or shouldn’t I…it wouldn’t hurt… just this one time. Underneath this potent froth is a serious issue.

Satan’s Little Whore is an emotional train wreck. Johnson’s sloppy drum riffs set the pace and they couldn’t be more perfect in creating a musical landscape of despair. This is how a broken heart speaks to you. Nothing is rehearsed. Zuzula reaches down to the fifth circle of hell where he can find no joy in the universe. And he lets his anger spill out and froth without any editing. It ain’t pretty.

Land Far Away is Zak’s 4thinstallment of the first suite of songs on the CD that describe the events that lead the protagonist to go ff to war. It offers a refrain of the themes of infidelity and betrayal that crushed the spirit of our protagonist and led him to sign up with the military and bid adieu to family and friends and the familiar. It provides a neat segue to Soldier’s Song, an honest portrayal of a young man’s fear and loneliness in the trenches fighting someone else’s war. Johnson’s brutal drumming keeps a breathless pace that signals the urgency in the lyric…”Let me go home, Lord I want to go home”.

Death is a Funny Thing is one of the best songs on the CD. Johnson pounds the bass drum like a heartbeat in a short story by Edgar Alan Poe while Don Zuzula plays an incredible nuclear powered rhythm riffs like Townsend in ’72. Zuzula takes each verse, every phrase and reaches into the core of his being. He is paying witness to a friend’s dying. The tension builds into a crescendo and as the song races to its conclusion Zuzula’s voice erupts like a volcano.

The Wreck of the Medusa is an epic punk symphony with tempo changes, minor chords, strong lead singing, echoed vocals and whispered pleas. The song is inspired by an actual event in 1816 that was immortalized in a painting by Theodore Gericault. The sinking of the Medusa was a turning point in the revolt against the Bourbon Monarchy and became the catalyst for the French Revolution. Zuzula molded this epic tale like a sculptor molding and shaping diverse tonal elements into a cohesive and remarkable sound. This is an historical piece that is unrelated to the basic concept of 11 Empty Bottles. But somehow it fits-in quite nicely. The refrain echoes the similar themes about death and war…”Don’t let me die this way.” It is a masterwork!

I Couldn’t Do It alone riffs along like Lotte Lenya doing Kurt Weill on speed. The sound is a sonic firestorm. Everything – the guitars and vocals are up front in the mix and HOT – giving the song and incredible emotional valence. It’s loud and cacophonous…explosive - the sound of a heart breaking. Lyrically sophisticated, the song tells the story of a soldier that makes a promise that is impossible for him to keep, to bring his comrade home safely. This is very difficult to listen to. It’s like watching No Country for Old Men with one eye shut and your head averted.

My Own Sinking Ship. Johnson’s speeded up shuffle offers a counterpoint to Zuzula’s steady full-bodied baritone. The dark humor in the lyric is a beacon of light and hope in an otherwise drastic message. The la-la-las in the chorus are like a tongue in the cheek, offering respite from an unrelenting ennui and a sense that life is like a sinking ship. He’s gotta learn to swim real fast. Great Fun.

Almost Home is a bare acoustic ballad just Don Zuzula and his guitar, honest and down home. It’s a story about longing and maybe just a few regrets. It’s about life on the road as a musician where life can be a series of a minute at a time, sitting back and watching it all go by. Every moment on the road gets him closer to his goal. This is a song you can listen to over and over again… exquisite.

11 Empty Bottles and 1 Beer, 1 Shot 1 Memory are companion pieces that reprise earlier themes of infidelity, booze, loneliness. In the first song the singer is nearly mad with grief. The second piece reveals the singer’s growing acceptance for who he is and his uncertain future.

Sing to Kill is a classical tone poem about courage and integrity. Zuzula’s imagery is a fascinating evocation of something ancient and true from English prison ships, ocean moons, skin so faire and light, and van diemens land. He paints his songs in broad metaphorical strokes about our modern empire and speaks directly about his hopes to control his own destiny and live the life he chooses. The Rebel’s Life.

I’ll Give You Nothing is the sleeper on this CD. John Johnson’s sole contribution may be the finest song on the disc. It’s deeply ironic and breathtakingly open and honest. Don Zuzula sings it masterfully as if it were his own:

“I won’t have the ending you’ve been waiting for all your life
The one where we ride off with everyone waving
The one where my life is still somewhat worth saving
If you take me under your wing
But kill every thought I’m left to sing
I’ll give you what’s inside of me
I’ll give what’s inside
I’ll give you nothing”

With this disc the Tosspints are moving away from the “Celtic” part of punk to fashion their own unique sound, a mixture of hard rock, baroque tone poems, and acoustic folk layered by reoccurring themes that reach an imperfect but very human resolution as the disc ends. This is revolutionary music that borders on dadist truth. Don Zuzula offers this story as an example:

While stationed in the sands and heat of Iraq, Don was part of a armored truck division. Each driver would spray paint a patriotic phrase on his vehicle for inspiration. Many of the phrases were typical of the spirit of the times. Phrases like:
Death to Al Qeada or Fuck the Taliban

Don wrote…No Fat Chicks

Peace
Bo White

Brett Mitchell - Falling Apart at the Seams

On his third disc Brett Mitchell comes out shooting from the hip with the help of genius pop-minister Andy Reed. Hallelujah. This duo is a match made in power pop Heaven. With a heavy dose of Mitchell’s vision, Reed was able to fashion an irresistible collage of vaguely familiar sounds, brought to full sonic brilliance through his analog recording technique. Reed was behind the board twisting the dials and bringing out the best performance from Mitchell’s already brilliant tenor. Mitchell and Reed play all the instruments with astonishing results. Through a collective knowledge of harmony, melody and craft, Mitchell and Reed created an almost perfect disc. This disc ranks up close to some of the best works of the Raspberries, Big Star and Badfinger. Standout tracks include Falling Apart at the Seams, the Moog/Strawberry Fields vibe of Disappointing the Dancers, the raucous rocking Dead End Lover, and the good time Simon & Garfunkel influenced You Could Be My Hat.

Peace
Bo White

The Legend of Xero

The Legend of Xero is the brainchild of Christian singer/rapper Jashae Slaughter. Slaughter is a fine singer with a tenor that recalls a younger Stevie Wonder with just a hint of Michael Jackson and he gets a little help from his friends Beacon of Light, Elohin, Crucified and Street Alert beats. John D’ Agostino wrote and sang on the chorus of Salvation. Slaughter’s vision is all encompassing without borders of race and class that exclude and diminish his message. The music is created by samples and electronic beats along with an occasional acoustic guitar. The lyrical themes are based in Christian theology. The disc is an extended prayer of singing praise and rapping the gospel truth. Slaughter’s heart is pure and his aim is true. He’s been on the other side and he gives clear counsel on avoiding the traps of coveting wealth and escaping through drugs, sex and violence. A central Christian theme circles the disc as Slaughter reveals God’s love, proclaims His glory and seeks salvation. This is a message for any thoughtful person that has experienced spiritual longing. Standout tracks include Never Go Back, Salvation, Dreamin’ and a powerful and perfectly executed The Master Plan.

“This is why we stay together” – Jashae Slaughter

Peace
Bo White