RiffRaf

Two Davids: Cassidy and Jones

 

Musician/actor/producer David Cassidy has performed for some 40 years -- after first breaking into the big time as a singing teen heartthrob on the 1970s ABC show The Partridge Family. Cassidy was one of the first personalities to be merchandised and marketed worldwide, and recorded ten Partridge Family and five solo albums during the show’s five-year run. 

David Cassidy debuted his Davy Jones tribute show at the Kenley Centennial Amphitheater in Layton, Utah on Monday, July 2, with three subsequent tribute appearances in Vegas later this summer.

Cassidy delivered all of the hits that made him famous, such as "I Think I Love You," as well as favorites by The Beatles and others. But he also paid special tribute to the music of a fallen friend.

Davy Jones, who held his own heartthrob status as part of the The Monkees TV show and band in the late '60s, was originally slated for the Kenley date. He was struck down unexpectedly by a heart attack at age 66 on Feb. 29.

Cassidy and Jones had performed together several times over the years and were close friends: "A month after he passed away, we were actually scheduled to do a show together," said Cassidy. "We were working out the details shortly before he died. So when that happened, I was glad to help. Other than having Danny (Bonaduce) open for me a couple times, Davy is the only one I'd shared a stage with. And his fans and my fans are very supportive of each other."

In their previous performances, Jones had always opened for him.

"This time, I said to him, 'Listen, man, why don't I go on first, then you do your set, and I'll join you for the last couple of songs?' I felt weird about always closing for him, because of me being more famous or whatever, because he was insanely talented. And the venues we were going to play were OK with it, and we were set to go. And then he was gone. So when his agent called and asked me to do this, to rehearse a tribute to him, I didn't hesitate."

Knock at the door

A few years younger than Jones, Cassidy was a fan of Jones and his work on The Monkees' television series and albums: "Those memories are very special to me," said Cassidy, "I can remember driving in a car, as a teenager in L.A., and listening to their music on the radio -- great music. It is an amazing thing to perform this music, have this connection with this music from my early years, before I became a professional myself. The whole thing is really very emotional for me."

Cassidy first met Jones when one day, completely out of the of the blue, Jones knocked on Cassidy's door. This was in the early 1970s, when Cassidy's own fame was in full blush, but after Jones' mega-stardom was waning.

"His career was really in a frustrating place then," said Cassidy. "So he just wanted to come in and feel me out and see what I was about, who I was."

Jones told Cassidy that he had written a song for him.

"Well, I was stunned, flabbergasted, having been a fan myself. I welcomed him in. I think he understood we would have a connection. We did, of course. He understood what I was going through then -- and also knew the kind of frustration I would go through after 'The Partridge Family' went away. "

More than a Monkee

Cassidy said that Jones, a serious actor and musician, struggled with his Monkee identity. The very name of the band was something that chafed.

"That word -- Monkee -- it connotes something kind of silly, or clownish. And of course, they were fun and funny, but they made some great music that still holds up. Individually, I thought they were all talented, but together? Amazing. And they had some comeback shows later that showed what they were really made of. It is a tribute to them that they finally got the respect they deserved.

"But back then, before the comeback happened, Davy was hurting. He told me, 'The Monkees were great, but they ruined my acting career.' He was a very good theatrical actor when he was young -- played on the West End as the Artful Dodger, a fantastic role, and in many others. But he couldn't go back to that, after The Monkees. He was too closely identified with that role. And of course, not too many years after that day he first came to see me, I went through something very similar. His friendship helped me deal with it."

Cassidy and Jones stayed close over the years, sharing an interest in thoroughbred breeding and racing, as well as music and acting. During the last five years, as they performed shows together, they grew even closer.

"I have nothing but great memories of knowing him. He was able to let down a lot of his barriers, and that helped me to do the same. We could share it all."

        

(This article was reprinted from the Standard-Examiner with journalist Linda East Brady's permission. The original article, which appeared on June 29, 2012 was more extensive and has been shortened. Linda East Brady is a novelist, music journalist and radio host. She is the music writer for the Ogden Standard-Examiner, and has also written about music for numerous other publications. Linda also co-hosts an Americana radio show, “Sunday Sagebrush Serenade,” for KRCL FM.

Her fiction appears under the name L. E. Brady.  Her short story, “Continental Club Graffiti,” appeared in the Mid-South Literary Review.  Her first novel, “Lone Star Ice & Fire,” was published in 2004 by Coral Press. Her follow-up book, “The Pedigree Blues,” is due out soon from the same publisher. She lives with her husband and family in Ogden, Utah.)

5 Things That Make Adam Yauch Great

   
On May 4, 2012 Adam Yauch, aka MCA, aka Nathanial Hornblower, succumbed to cancer at 47. A great musician, accomplished director, and philanthropist, today we'd like to pay tribute to the late rapper by highlighting five of the many things that make him great.

5. He Wrote an Amazing Letter to the New York Times

In 2004, a New York Times critic wrote a negative review to the Beastie Boys’ music video “Ch-Check It Out." Borrowing the same pseudonym he directs under, Nathanial Hornblower, Yauch responded with a bizarre letter proclaiming his genius and reminding the critic that she owes him a goat after his died en route to deliver his letter from the high cliffs of his remote homeland. It’s definitely worth checking out: (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/arts/20MAIL.html).

4. He was a Director

Yauch directed some of the Beastie Boys’ best videos, including “Intergalactic,” “Make Some Noise” and the epic thirty-minute, star-filled "Fight For Your Right (revisited)." Yauch also directed the 2006 Beastie Boys' film “Awesome; I Fucking Shot That” and the 2008 documentary “Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot.”

3. He was a Philanthropist

Yauch was a supporter of the Free Tibet movement. In addition to creating the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit dedicated to Tibetan independence, he organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1996, which drew over a 100,000 people. In the wake of 9/11, Yauch helped organize the benefit concert New Yorkers Against violence along with his Beastie Boys cohorts.

2. He Founded Oscilloscope Laboratories

Started in 2002 as a record label, Yauch’s Oscilloscope Laboratories quickly branched out into film. Adam had a vision for his company, selecting a wide variety of films including the Banksy documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop” and the school shooting drama “We Need To Talk About Kevin.” Yauch was a big fan of both films: “I’d say the common thread is really just films that I and other people at the company like…You have to feel like the film has some redeeming quality, feel moved by it for some reason.”

1. He Gave Us The Beastie Boys

You love the Beastie Boys. I love the Beastie Boys. We love the Beastie Boys. Who doesn’t? Adam Yauch co-founded the group when he was just seventeen. They started out as a hardcore punk group before embracing hip-hop and becoming the band that gave the world “No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn” and “Sabotage."

             

(Elford Alley has written plays, sketch comedy, and short stories. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter. Follow Elford on Twitter.)

5 Things That Make Levon Helm Great

                          
On April 19, 2012, the world lost a brilliant musician. With the passing of Levon Helm after a long battle with cancer, the public is reflecting on Helm's long and influential career. A great drummer with a soulful voice, he’s left an amazing catalogue of Americana behind. 

Here are just five things that make Levon Helm great:

5. He Published an Autobiography

Helm’s 1993 autobiography This Wheel’s On Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band gives his fans a glimpse at his childhood, being raised in the deep south, to his discovery of music, and the formation of The Band. Helm also accuses Robbie Robertson of conspiring with record companies to steal songwriting credits from the rest of the members of The Band.

4. He Performed in Berlin After the Wall Came Down

After the Berlin Wall came down, former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters organized a special live performance of Pink Floyd’s magnum opus The Wall. Levon Helm, along with Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, performed as The Band to an estimated half a million people.

3. He was an Accomplished Actor

Helm didn’t act in many films, and despite his appearance in Steven Segal's Fire Down Below, he gave incredible performances in Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff, and the unique and disturbing film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

2. He was the Glue in The Band

Don’t let The Last Waltz fool you! Levon Helm was the heart and soul of The Band. Playing drums and mandolin and performing vocals on “The Weight,” "Up on Cripple Creek," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and “Ophelia," it was his unique fusion of country and blues that made The Band legendary.

1. He was a Musician Until the End

Levon Helm never slowed down, either performing solo or with The Band, he toured and performed right up until this year. He received the first ever Grammy for an Americana album for Dirt Farmer (2007) and released Electric Dirt in 2009 and the live album Ramble at the Ryman in 2011.

(Elford Alley has written plays, sketch comedy, and short stories. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter. Follow Elford on Twitter.)

Thinking About Davy Jones & The Monkees

   

In the wake of Whitney Houston's tragic death, another pop idol's passing has struck a chord with the general public. 

Davy Jones, the cute frontman of the 60's musical group The Monkees, might not have had Ms. Houston's vocal chops, but his cultural impact, together with The Monkees, is equal to if not surpasses the pop diva's. Jones' sudden death has spawned a curious outcry from generations of fans who were brought up on The Monkees and those who discovered the band in reruns in the 70's as well as those who might have found them on MTV in the 80's. 

The Monkees were one of the first pre-fab bands, but they should not be lumped in with other pop creations that followed such as The Archies, the Banana Splits, Josie & the Pussycats, the Partridge Family, even the Spice Girls. First, they performed brilliant songs written by brilliant songwriters: Boyce and Hart, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Second, they performed several of their own compositions. Third, they followed a genius blueprint: one part Marx Brothers, one part Beatles.

The show's producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, based The Monkees on the Richard Lester film "A Hard Day's Night," which is essentially John, Paul, George and Ringo channeling Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo as they take occasional breaks from being chased by hordes of young women to play music. The sum of that equation adds up to an absurdist comedy, avant garde production, hip guests like Frank Zappa and Tim Buckley, and of course compelling music and videos.

James Poniewozik, a contributor to Time Magazine, has praised the classic sitcom as well as Davy Jones: "Even if the show never meant to be more than entertainment and a hit-single generator, we shouldn’t sell The Monkees short. It was far better television than it had to be; during an era of formulaic domestic sitcoms and wacky comedies, it was a stylistically ambitious show, with a distinctive visual style, absurdist sense of humor and unusual story structure. Whatever Jones and The Monkees were meant to be, they became creative artists in their own right, and Jones' chipper Brit-pop presence was a big reason they were able to produce work that was commercial, wholesome and yet impressively weird." 

When I was a kid (watching The Monkees reruns), I wanted to be Mike Nesmith until I found out that he was modeled after John Lennon. For me, The Monkees - and I'm sure that I'm not alone in this - introduced me to The Beatles. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else but these four charming, witty and talented young musicians in their own right to have given me the most important education of my life.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

                    

Thinking About John Lennon

   
December 8, 1980. John Lennon's death shattered our spirit.

Nearly twenty years earlier, in 1963, the assassination of John Kennedy demoralized a nation -- ironically it was Lennon and The Beatles who nursed America back to health. Lennon's murder has provided us with yet another tragic event in which to measure our pain. Only this time a politician wasn't assassinated. It wasn't someone who makes false promises or sends young people off to fight the wars he has waged. It was an artist, a musician.

In the thirty-one years since his murder, Lennon's legend has grown immeasurably. His music has endured, reaching younger generations. Perhaps more importantly, he remains a prominent symbol of peace, change, the creative spirit and individual thought.

Music journalist Anthony DeCurtis said, "He is an enemy of the status quo, a bundle of contradictions who insisted on a world in which all the various elements of his personality could find free, untrammeled expression." 

Mark David Chapman might have ended Lennon's life, but he could never break his spirit.

                 

Hubert Sumlin (11/16/31 - 12/4/11)

This week Rolling Stone announced its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and Chicago bluesman Hubert Sumlin is #43. 

Sumlin, who is best known for his work with Howlin' Wolf, is a perennial presence on lists of great guitarists, but with his passing a few days ago this year's acknowledgment is even more poignant.

Mr. Sumlin played on the classic 1962 record Howlin' Wolf which included a number of memorable tracks including: "Back Door Man," "Spoonful," and "The Red Rooster." All three songs were made even more popular by The Doors, Cream and the Rolling Stones.

Even though his collaboration with Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett) lasted until Mr. Burnett's death in 1976, their partnership wasn't always amiable. “We had just two fights in all those years,” Mr. Sumlin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He knocked my teeth out and I knocked his out. . . . The day after the fight, he went and had the teeth fixed with gold. He looked better than before I hit him.” 

Sumlin claimed that Burnett fired him more than 100 times. He was even dismissed during a show for having played too loudly, interfering with Howlin' Wolf's vocals.

As a solo artist, it took the blues guitarist several years before he could splinter his indelible connection to Howlin' Wolf and forge his own identity; his influence can be heard in the playing of Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

Rest in peace, Mr. Sumlin.

(Although you can't see Mr. Sumlin in the performance below, you can certainly hear his smooth guitar licks that augment Howlin' Wolf's fierce vocals.)

                

Jim Ellison and Material Issue

    

Singer/guitarist/songwriter Jim Ellison took his own life on June 20, 1996. The musician will most likely be remembered for his work with the underrated power pop band, Material Issue. 

Ellison and bassist Ted Ansani formed Material Issue while they were both enrolled at Columbia College in 1986; the duo was later joined by drummer Mike Zelenko who answered an ad in the Illinois Entertainer.

The band released an EP in 1987 and toured extensively for the next three years. In 1990 they were signed by Mercury Records and released their debut album International Pop Overthrow the following year. The album only cost $5,000 to record and sold over 300,000 copies. Behind the three singles, "Renee Remains The Same," "Diane," and "Valerie Loves Me," International Pop Overthrow reached #86 on the Billboard 200 album chart. 

In 1992, Material Issue released Destination Universe which included the single "What Girls Want." Even though Destination Universe wasn't as successful as their first record, Material Issue continued to tour relentlessly in support of both albums. 

By 1994, grunge had become fully immersed in American culture. Unfortunately, the band's next album Freak City Soundtrack suffered from the repercussions. The album sold fewer than 50,000 copies and the group parted ways with Mercury Records.

During the next two years, Material Issue recorded new songs with the intention of shopping them around to labels. Tragically, Jim Ellison committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Those recordings were released posthumously on Telecommando Americano in 1997.

Liz Phair, a Chicago contemporary of Material Issue recalls, “Material Issue was a kick-ass Chicago band. We all looked up to them.  Their songs were infectious and often deeply heartfelt. The chorus: ‘I want love, I want drugs, I want sex and affection; I want everybody in the room to look in my direction,’ from ‘What Girls Want’ is one of the most honest and encapsulating summaries of the twenty-something female mind that I have ever heard, and all the more shocking to have been written by a man.” 

                    

Honeyboy Edwards: Last of the Delta Bluesmen

   

David "Honeyboy" Edwards passed away on August 29, 2011 at the age of 96. He was the last Delta Bluesman. 

Edwards was only 14 when he left his Mississippi home to travel with Big Joe Williams. Later, he performed with legendary blues musician Robert Johnson; he was even present on the fateful night when Johnson drank poisoned whiskey. Edwards' story has become the definitive version of Johnson's demise. 

In his 1997 autobiography, The World Don't Owe Me Nothin', Honeyboy describes his childhood, his journeys through the South, his arrival in Chicago in the early 1950s, and life as a traveling musician:

    On Saturday, somebody like me or Robert Johnson would go into one of these little towns, play for     nickels and dimes. And sometimes, you know, you could be playin' and have such a big crowd that it     would block the whole street. Then the police would come around, and then I'd go to another town     and where I could play at. But most of the time, they would let you play. Then sometimes the man     who owned a country store would give us something like a couple of dollars to play on a Saturday     afternoon. We could hitchhike, transfer from truck to truck, or if we couldn't catch one of them, we'd     go to the train yard, 'cause the railroad was all through that part of the country then...we might hop     a freight, go to St. Louis or Chicago. Or we might hear about where a job was paying off - a highway     crew, a railroad job, a levee camp there along the river, or some place in the country where a lot of     people were workin' on a farm. You could go there and play and everybody would hand you some     money. I didn't have a special place then. Anywhere was home. Where I do good, I stay. When it gets     bad and dull, I'm gone.

Edwards continued the itinerant life of a blues musician well into his 90s.

 Discography:

• Who May Be Your Regular Be (Arc, 1951)
• Build A Cave (Artist, 1951)
• Drop Down Mama (Chess, 1953)
• Old Friends (Earwig, 1979)
• White Windows (Blue Suit, 1988)
• Delta Bluesman (Earwig/Indigo, 1992)
• I've Been Around (Savoy Jazz, 1995)
• Crawling Kingsnake (Testament, 1997)
• World Don't Owe Me Nothing [live] (Earwig, 1997)
• Don't Mistreat a Fool (Genes, 1999)
• Shake 'Em on Down (APO, 2000)
• Mississippi Delta Bluesman (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)
• Back to the Roots (Wolf, 2001)
• Roamin' and Ramblin (Earwig, 2008)

                

Thinking About Marshall Grant

With so much going on - the new school year, 10th anniversary of 9/11 and raising newborn twins - I failed to comment on bassist Marshall Grant's death. Grant died on August 7th of an aneurysm. He was 83 years old.

Marshall Grant was working as an auto mechanic when he joined Johnny Cash's band in 1954. He and guitarist Luther Perkins called themselves the Tennessee Two, Cash's original backing band.

In the beginning, all three men played rhythm guitar until it was decided that Perkins would play lead electric guitar and Grant would play upright bass, while Johnny could be front and center, singing and playing rhythm guitar.

Shortly after Grant started playing bass, which he taught himself how to play, he and Perkins began experimenting with a new sound. It was while working on the Cash composition “Hey Porter,” that they discovered their signature style.

In his induction speech to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Grant discussed the event, “We finally got it [the bass] tuned, and then we stuck adhesive tape all over the neck with the notes on it, and then we started playing little rhythm patterns...the only thing that we could do was what the world now knows as the boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom sound that we established that first night.”

Mr. Grant recorded and toured with Mr. Cash for the next 25 years. As Cash's tour manager and friend, he tried to ensure that Johnny walked the line: “I took every step that he took. I looked out after him,” he said in an interview with classicbands.com, “I did everything you could do for a person.”

In 2006, Grant published a memoir, chronicling his history with Cash, I Was There When It Happened: My Life With Johnny Cash.

In the end, Mr. Grant died while he was in Jonesboro, Arkansas attending the Johnny Cash Festival, an event to raise money to restore Cash’s childhood home in Dyess, Arkansas.

                      

11 Songs About 9/11 (Pt. II)

In the final installment of my eleven songs about 9/11, I offer five more. I'd really like to hear what your favorite "9/11 songs" are, so drop me a note in the comment box.

Once again this post is dedicated to Lou Caporicci, one of the funniest people I've ever known.

5. "I Can't See New York " by Tori Amos

Only Tori can turn one of the most disastrous days in American history into a sensual love song: "But I can't see New York as I'm circling down through white cloud, falling out and I know his lips are warm 
but I can't seem to find my way out, my way out I can't see."

4."Hole in the World" by The Eagles

The lyrics are syrupy but at least Glen Frey and Don Henley tried: "Oh they tell me there's a place over yonder, cool water running through the burning sand, until we learn to love one another we never reach the promise land."

3. "Jesus Etc." by Wilco

This song isn't a "9/11 song," but Jeff Tweedy's lyrics apply to that fateful day: "Tall buildings shake/ Voices escape singing sad sad songs/ Tuned to chords strung down your cheeks/ Bitter melodies turning your orbit around."

2. "Empire State of Mind" by Jay Z and Alicia Keys

I'm not sure if this constitutes as a "9/11" song but it is the new "New York, New York" in which Jay Z plays the role of Frank Sinatra and Alicia Keys is...well, uhm Liza Minelli?

1. "Lonesome Day" by Bruce Springsteen

Even though The Boss is writing about the September 11th attacks, he is also musing about the human condition: "Better ask questions before you shoot/ Deceit and betrayal's bitter fruit/ It's hard to swallow come time to pay/ That taste on your tongue don't easily slip away/ Let kingdom come/ I'm gonna find my way/ Through this lonesome day."