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Well, highway companions, I have returned. The Country Homeboy is back in the hills, but glad as all hell he drove down to the flats. Though the GTE Amphitheater is not a place I can necessarily walk alone, Neil made it a place where I got a little "Piece of Mind." :>) It was indeed the Neil show of my dreams. A ditchy detour through tunes that were sleepy and dusty and some of which had never seen the light of day. Being the first show of the tour, Neil and the band were still working out some kinks, which made it even that much more ditchy. Being the first show, he was in a loose, goofy mood, and was just having a mess of fun. And somehow, someway, he and the HeadBand had picked a set list that was a hardcore fans' delight---much to the chagrin of those who came to hear S&G and the like. (Three of whom were sitting next to me---two men and an older woman, gray hair, looked to be about the age of my mother. She appeared stunned and shellshocked when Neil opened up the concert with Old Black strapped around his neck, and launched into Powderfinger right after rockin' the house with the kickoff Motorcycle Mama. She was smiling during Daddy Went Walkin', but somewhere around Words, she must have gotten lost again! they walked out during Hurricane. couldn't believe it, though I could understand it!!!) Of course, the mood for the evening was set by Miss Hynde (who was wearing blue jeans, by the way ;-)). "He's the perfect stranger/ Like a cross of himself and a fox." She was hysterical, she made NO attempt to hide her absolute adoration of Neil, laughing at one point as she dedicated yet another song to him. Their version of TNATDD was quite effective---after the first verse accompanied by fingerpicked electric, they kicked into a groove that gave the song a whole nother level of emotional energy. Has Neil ever electrified it? If not, hope he was listening! Alas, there was no duet moment (I thought for sure he was going to come out for TNATDD or Forever YOung, but it was not to be.). But that probably would have been awkward anyway, so it's best that the rest of the night was pure Neil! You've got the set list. Here are a few of my thoughts and comments: Who would've picked Motorcycle Mama for an opener? Only Neil!! It gave Astrid and Pegi immediate cameos, and they nailed 'em!! We're cheering as the song ends, and then it's "Look out, Mama, there's a. . . . ." and I'm shouting along!! Neil sang all the verses---Astrid sang the harmony, and so would've been singing along at that point. I remember specifically honing in on the way Neil sang, "Since the river took EmmyLou," for some reason! After that, he's trying to get the beat started on EKTIN, but Jim and Duck and him are dragging, so he stops and says, "Naw, that's too slow for Va. Beach," and counts it off again. The song was TOO SHORT---he did it like the album without repeating the first verse---but still SWEET!! The funniest moment was before DWW, while he was waiting for Larry to tune the bass E down to D, he said: "I don't know what to say. (laughter) I've already said "how ya doin'!?" (more laughter) and this is a great place." Then "This next song I wrote about my dad. We lived up in a small place in Ontario. . . ." to which Astrid gave two thumbs up! Anyway, that was about it for stage banter. Except the comment about the weather: "nice weather you got here. (pause) Kind of slippery!" Must've been 100% humidity! I couldn't quite place IBIY right off the back either, but when it hit home, it was sublime. Unknown Legend sounded good electric---that riff has much more punch coming from Old Black than the Martin. And then Dance, Dance, Dance---I was fooled, I thought it was Homegrown for some reason, but then he sang: "I never thought love had a rainbow on it," and I was humbled!! I guess I wasn't ready for an electric version! Then came the "acoustic set." Great BSA---Neil muffed the guitar lick on purpose I think, cause he and Jim K. were laughing in a certain knowing way. Razor Love was stellar---gorgeous---wonderful---soothing. I think this was the point where the folks next to me must have been thinking---"Ah, finally. Neil's gonna settle down now and sing the rest of S&G." NOT!!!!! Although his next three songs were exquisite in their acoustic-ness, Neil wasn't leaving the ditch quite yet!! Lotta Love is one of my favorites, and to see him singing it with Pegi on BGVs was one of many sentimental moments. Then DWW, and . . . . "Peace of Mind." I sort of slumped down in my chair at this point, rendered sort of mooshy inside, as he and the girls started singing: "You know, it takes a long, long time.......you know, it takes a long, long time......" Whew. Although already riding the groove-wave of the night so far, this was where I began to feel weightless: Walk On. whathefuckisthat!!!!!!!! When did he play that last!!? (thanks Steve for tracking that down!) the guy in front of me is dancing and singing along. I tap him on the shoulder and we high-five it! The ending is sheer delight, with the women singing "sooner or later" over and over and Neil rappin: "Some get stoned. ..." "It all gets real....." and makin' it up as he goes along. I'm floatin'!!!!! Next, the Gretsch is playing this little hammered on lick, and I'm thinking "Tired Eyes"!!?? But no---"Bad fog of loneliness. . . . " and I'm like---"FINS!!!!!!! It's your song, man!!!!! It's the ditch!!! No doubt about it now!!!" He's touring behind the Archives!!!!! A hint of the feast to come!!!! Another stone riff on the Gretsch rings out, and I hear my voice actually yell: "No frickin' way! Winterlong!?" And it's the truth!! And like Walk On, it ends with Neil and his women trading vocals, "You seem to be where I belong," "I waited for you winterlong," several times over and over. And then the piece de resistance, which we were psychically prepared for via the Big Island Transmission, thank God, because I think all the Rustie/Zuman synapses would have blown at that point!!! Epic, as Julio wrote. Neil was in the zone, like DBTR on the CSNY2K tour, but with no one to spar with, he was going truly solo---and the rest of the band, once again, looked a little out of place! But what could they do, what could anybody really do!? It's in moments like these that the respect and the awe that fellow musicians like Chrissie Hynde have for Neil makes sense. Talk about his Muse! Neil was tapped in big time on this song and sang/played the chorus with an almost ferocious emotion. Amazing. Stunning. Spent! So, Harvest Moon after that almost makes sense. Nice lighthearted love song, tho he and Pegi did not make eyes at each other. Neil's a professional, right!? Then, Neil climbs back in the ditch and finishes with a one-two TTN punch: World on a String and the title song. I agree with Julio 100%----this is the way the song was meant to be played!! When I heard Neil play that little tinkly piano riff that starts off the record, I knew right away!!! The stage set up almost looked exactly like a picture out of the TTN rehearsals, esp. with Ben sittin' there on lap steel. Oh my. That night was indeed the night. And what a night. . . . . But it wasn't done. This organ that's been hanging over them all night long, looking like some prop that had been forgotten, gets lowered and set down on the stage. Ben sits down, neil straps on Old Black, and then those familiar descending guitar notes go echoing out into the humid night!! As often as Neil has played this song, I have never heard it live---seeing as this was my first full Neil show EVER. Strange to even say it, but it's the truth. So I was really glad to hear him launch it, and he smoked it. As I said, my row mates took off. I stretched out, and so did Neil. With Ben and Spooner both laying down an organ bed for his guitar leads to spring off of and bounce around on. Sonic bliss. So, you're thinking that's got to be it. Fitting finale, especially with hurricane season staring the denizens of the seaboard in the face. The crew is picking up wires and hustling around. But the lights haven't gone on. So I figure---go ahead, lose your voice with the rest of this crowd, don't give it up yet!! And sure enough, Neil walks back out, and puts on the Telecaster, shows something to Duck, then says, "This one's going out to everyone in the parking lot." And I'm thinking: "Roll Another Number, for sure." And when he intros it with, "Here's another song from the TTN album, I'm dead set certain. But then, the ragged C-E7-Am intro can mean only one song, and one song only, and in that moment of recognition, I suddenly realize that all that wishful thinking about the ditch and making a fool out of myself appealing to Neil in my dreams, that all of it was worth it and that all of it had come true!!!!!! MELLOW MY FREAKIN' MIND!!!!!!!!!! The musical incarnation of the ditch. Being sung for me in person by the very man who wrote it, in his shorts and sandals and straw hat, not straining for that place "on the railroad track" where his voice breaks up into a hundred splinters, but still screwing up his face and remembering a time when it was so hard to find a situation that could casualize his mind. And knowing that that feeling still comes and goes, no matter how settled and content you happen to be. Cause you're human. And it's part of what goes with being human. And Neil knows this. And I know it, but just a little more deeply, cause Neil wrote this song. And now he's singing it for me in person. What can I say. (well, too much already, right!!?) Neil said good night, and the lights came on, but I sort of drifted out with Nancy, mumbling incoherently. In the men's room, I hear myself say to the guy taking a whiz next to me: "I can't believe he played Mellow My Mind." He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. So---I had to wait til now to finally share this with folks who would actually give a frick!! (I yelled out, "UNION MAN" from the 8th row afterwords, but I think my voice was too gone!! So I missed youse guys!) |
Just announced!!CSNY at Farm Aid September 17th. Stay tuned for further details... |
A&E Rock Week...A&E has an interesting week coming up. Starting on Sunday August 13th, it is "Rock Legends" week on Biography. This will show every night at 8pm/7c. The schedule is: 8/13 - Bob Dylan(this will be a 2 hour show)8/14 - David Crosby (yeah croz!!!) 8/15 - Jimi Hendrix 8/16 - Janis Joplin 8/17 - Mick Jagger 8/18 - Sam Phillips |
Napster...7/29/00-Napster has had an interesting week. On the 26th, a Judge ordered them to shut down by the 28th at midnight. On the 28th, Napster obtained a reversal of this. The debate rages on. Meanwhile I thought I would provide some of the proliferation of alternatives that I am hearing of. I cannot vouch at this point for the useability or quality of these sites:Gnutella Scour... Tapster, created by the guys of Spinal Tap... |
The Clan Continues to Gather as the Friends of Fred Walecki are Joined on August 8 by Spinal Tap and August 9 by Don Henley SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 31, 2000--The clan continues to gather as Glyn Johns and Bernie Leadon announced today that Spinal Tap would be joining the "Friends of Fred Walecki -- a Gathering of the Clan" benefit concert on Tuesday, August 8 and Don Henley on Wednesday, August 9 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Already set to perform are Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby and Graham Nash, along with special guests including Colin Hay (Men at Work), Chris Hillman, David Lindley, Randy Meisner and Warren Zevon.
FROM THE LA TIMES...
With a little help from his friends
Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, others performing in benefit in Santa Monica
this week for legendary Westside music-shop owner Fred Walecki.
By JEFF ADLER
Shortly before undergoing life-saving surgery, Fred Walecki, owner of
Westwood Musical Instruments, talked to close friend Linda Ronstadt. She
would be one of the last people to hear his voice before doctors removed his
larynx in an effort to save him from the cancer ravaging his throat.
Although Walecki now speaks only with the aid of a hand-held vibrating
voice device, he's not complaining consideringthat Ronstadt and some of his
other famous friends/customers--including Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Emmylou
Harris, Bonnie Raitt, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Spinal Tap--have all
rallied together to show their support for the longtime guitar peddler with
benefit concerts Tuesday and Wednesday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
A former purveyor of classical instruments and Stradivarius violins,
Walecki tried to maintain the store's classical edge when he took control of
operations following his father's death in 1967. But it wasn't long before he
abandoned the old school and dove headlong into dealings with the raucous
world of rock 'n' rollers.
"He went from total obscurity and within two years everybody in the
business in Southern California knew who Fred Walecki was," longtime tour
manager Denny Jones said. "What brought them out there was that Fred always
came up with something before anybody else did."
Although the Westwood store became a haven for some of the hottest acts
in the music biz like Bonnie Raitt, the Eagles, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash,
it continued to exude the kind of close-knit atmosphere one can only find in
a local music shop.
"We would come by to do more than deal in picks, string, and guitars,"
said former Eagle Bernie Leadon, who helped organize the benefit concert. "It
became a spot where working musicians would come to hang out when they
weren't working on the road."
With Walecki unique blend of musical acumen and offbeat humor (he once
paid a piano player $200 to play "New York, New York" until somebody
noticed--an hour and a half later, everybody was still singing the tune),
Walecki fit right in with his celebrity clientele, bailing them out on more
than one occasion by flying across the country to deliver his custom-made
equipment.
In fact, Walecki was continuing to ride high in the world of music until
the throat cancer brought his life crashing down.
And although it's now in remission and Walecki says the prognosis for
the future looks good, life will never be the same for the father of two. He
must hold the electrolarynx, the voice device he uses, up to his throat, and
it takes two hands to sell a musical instrument.
"You gotta talk and play guitar at the same time," said Walecki, who
added that no matter how congenial he is when answering the store phone, many
people hang up when they hear his electric voice on the other end. "It's
impossible to make a buck."
When longtime friend and legendary record producer Glyn Johns heard of
Walecki's troubles (not to mention the mountain of medical expenses left
unpaid by his insurance plan), he and a few other friends conceived the idea
of the benefit concert, which they've titled "Friends of Fred Walecki--A
Gathering of The Clan."
"I felt that it was such a shocking experience for him and his family,
that allowing everybody to show their concern and love for him would be a
really good thing to do," said Johns, who has worked in the past with such
bands as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Eagles. "And frankly, for
what he's done for everybody else over the years, it's a drop in the ocean."
Because Walecki, a Topanga resident, and his store are such longtime
Westside staples, the organizers searched out a fitting location for their
tribute show.
"What we wanted to create was a sort of low-key neighborhood vibe which
is why we chose a small venue like Santa Monica," Leadon said.
Walecki hopes that with the financial support generated by his friends,
he will be able to close his store at its current location at 10936 Santa
Monica Boulevard later this year and reopen it on a smaller scale somewhere
nearby.
Additionally, he plans on fighting on behalf of small music stores,
which he feels may well be driven out of business within a few years unless
they work together to survive. In fact, Walecki halfheartedly joked that,
although he was a longtime smoker, it was the stress of trying to keep his
neighborhood shop afloat that brought about the devastating cancer.
In the meantime, however, he's just trying to deal with the overwhelming
display of affection his friends have put together.
"What these guys are doing for me is giving me such a huge boost,"
Walecki said. "If somebody said that they would give me back my voice in
exchange for the knowledge of how many people love me, I would say, 'No
way."'
What: Friends of Fred Walecki--A Gathering of The Clan
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday
Where: The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica.
Cost: $48. Tickets available through Ticketmaster
Phone: (213) 480-3232
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