The Great Roll Call Roadtrip
Go cruising with Plainsense in his Boattail Riv. Along the way we will discuss what's on our mind while drinking a craft beer, smoking a fine cigar and only listening to good music. So hop in and let's go! I only ask that you throw in a little gas money.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Does Little Feat Deserve To Be In The Rock n Roll HOF? Exhibit A
Friday, October 4, 2024
Another Innocent Man About to Be Put to Death By A Texas Governor
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Harris Makes It Official: Minnesota Nice Over Hillbilly Mean
Tim Walz came to my attention like he did for many Minnesotans when he attempted to bring members of the high school class he taught to a George W. Bush campaign rally in 2004. Walz and his group were initially denied entry to the rally being held at a gravel pit outside Mankato, MN. One of Walz's students had a John Kerry sticker on his wallet which a local GOP staffer saw when the student showed identification at the gate.
Walz, a national guardsman who had just returned from a tour of duty in Italy with no thought of entering politics at the time, was frustrated that the GOP would deem a high school student who wanted to see his president in person a threat. After attempts at assuring the gatekeepers they posed no threat, Walz cut to the chase and asked if they wanted the headline for the rally to be that a returning veteran and high school teacher was denied entry to the President's campaign rally. The gatekeepers eventually made the right decision but not before Walz's situation caught the attention of a public radio reporter. It was that radio news report where I first heard the name Tim Walz.* It was also the event that sparked Walz's interest in politics, to the chagrin of Minnesota Republicans. Walz went on to run and win the congressional seat in the usually red district. The first of 6 congressional and 2 gubernatorial elections he won.
The former NRA member and avid hunter is a responsible gun owner who recognizes reasonable, common sense gun laws can protect the public without sacrificing the Second Amendment. A nuance the NRA and GOP refuse to even consider, at the cost of countless lives. While Governor Walz has his critics in the anti-vax, anti-mask and anti-nuance crowd, I truly appreciated his intelligent, science based approach to issues even if in retrospect they were not perfect. I honestly believe that is all one can and should expect from one's public officials.
Walz's ability to work in a bipartisan manner is well documented and appreciated in these polarized times as is his ability to stand in another's shoes. Unlike his opponent for Vice President, Walz is authentic and never would sacrifice his integrity merely to attain political office. A very refreshing quality in these dark times.
Just a regular Joe who knows how to throw a baseball.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
The Night I Partied with The Muddy Waters Band AKA The Legendary Blues Band
At first I mistook Pinetop's hesitation for politeness as he would set the pen down and listen to me then I would hand him the pen back and he would just stare at the paper, After about ten minutes Pinetop, bless his soul, had almost scrawled his name when Calvin or Louis grabbed me and took me aside asking "What in the hell are you doing? He doesn't read or write very well!" To say I felt like a complete idiot would be an understatement and why it is even more amazing that these incredibly gracious giants of blues music asked me to hang out after the show for drinks. My roommate and I returned the courtesy by offering them to partake in a smoke and they chuckled and pointed to Willie saying "we'll leave that to you youngsters". We went outside by their van and after trying some of ours, Willie pulled out a cigar from his private reserve.
Sunday, June 9, 2024
The St. Peter Ambassadors' Put On A Respectable BluesFest But Leave Room For Improvement
Friday, May 24, 2024
W. C. Clark: November 16, 1939 - March 2, 2024
The world learned of the passing of W.C. Clark on March 2, 2024 from Austin music historian and critic Michael Corcoran. To learn about the man, his music and the profound impact he had on the Austin, TX music scene, please read Corcoran's article "W.C. Clark the gentleman godfather of Austin Blues 1939-2024" on his excellent substack site "Overserved" .
The reason I say that is because you are not going to get that information from me, a music fan living 1,171 miles away at the Northern end of I35. I barely knew Wesley Curley Clark, we only met on three occasions. But his music has brought me tremendous joy and I just had to share one of his seemingly small acts of kindness that meant the world to me.
I first met W.C. at a club in Austin called the Top of the Mark. I was on a Gonzo intermodal (air and car) trip to see my friends in Roomful of Blues play the House of Blues in New Orleans and two days later the Top of the Mark in Austin. I call it a Gonzo trip because for a period of time in the late 1990's to early 2000's I was going through a tough divorce and my running mate was a fellow divorcee, a very large, professional chef, Jonesy. Much like the protagonists in HST's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", except the 300 pound Samoan was a chef and Hunter was the attorney.
The flight to New Orleans had a 4 hour layover in Dallas. Normally such a layover would be a dealbreaker. However, this was cool because, through the band, I had met their friend Stew and he had offered to meet us at a bar to kill some time. Unfortunately for us, Roomful had just played Billy Bob's in Dallas the night before and Stewie had been in attendance and overserved. After touching down at Love Field in Dallas that morning, Jonesy and I grabbed our one carry-on piece of luggage each and took off on foot, leaving the airport for a nearby McDonald's.
It took several calls before Stew eventually answered his phone. He asked our location so he could figure out a nearby bar to meet.When I tell him our location, Stew makes an audible moan which I initially mistook as more of his hangover talking. Stewie finally exclaims "man, that's a rough part of town, I don't know of any bars around there, at least that I have been to". I tell him hold on and I walk outside the McDonalds and down the street until I see a bar and give ol' Stew the name and address. Jonesy and I proceed to enter an extremely seedy establishment, the name of which is lost to posterity and several rounds. Big mistake.
To call this a working man's bar would be a misnomer because no one in the bar looked like they were currently employed based on the time of day, before noon and their level of intoxication, drunk. Furthermore, Jones and I were the only honkies in the room with the exception of a friendly but somewhat well-worn middle aged woman who introduced herself as "Miss Wanda" and the sketchy looking bartender.
Before long Jonesy and I are buying rounds for Miss Wanda and anyone nearby. About every half hour I am calling Stewie wondering when he was going to join us. The question out of about every patron's mouth was what we were doing in a place like that. I am sure to them we looked like undercover Dallas Vice cops. When I mentioned we were killing time on a layover on a music trip to New Orleans, Miss Wanda perked up. "Music...I love music, I use to live in Austin." As kind of a test and just out of curiosity I ask Wanda "Did you ever see W.C. Clark?" Wanda, replies something to the effect, "That old man, of course, he is such a fixture it would be hard to not have seen him". Having not seen W.C. in person up to this point I said we must be thinking of different people because I have several of his records and he has the voice of a song bird. No "old man" could possibly hit some of the notes he hits..." We go back and forth, the argument becoming somewhat heated. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, the sketchy looking bartender reaches under the counter and pulls up a plate of warm tuna fish sandwiches, cut in half and complete with flies (not a typo, the insect). To shut us up the bartender says "Since you two are so sure of yourselves, why don't you bet?" To which I reply, "But we'll never see each other again." Whereupon Miss Wanda grabs a scrap of paper and writes down her address and hands it to me saying "if he is over 60 years old you owe me $10 and if he is under 60 I owe you."
It was at this point the bartender said"when did you boys say your flight was?" I look at the clock and let out a high pitched "EECK!" We got less than 30 minutes to make our plane. Jonesy and I go into full panic mode running around wringing our hands while the bartender and Miss Wanda keep level headed and call us a cab which arrives in under 5 minutes. They tell the cabbie our situation and he tells us "...you'll never make it if I take you to the terminal". In a scene that could only have happened pre-911, the cabbie takes us to a gate at Love Field which must have been for those with private planes. The cabbie knew the person working security at the gate and we opened our carry ons for a quick peek and were waived through and directed to a plane on the tarmac with a set of stairs on wheels next to it like in the olden days.
The flight to New Orleans, although somewhat of a blur to us, I am sure is remembered by our fellow passengers. My friend Jones, who considered himself quite the lady's man, was carrying on a loud, risque' conversation with the octogenarian woman sitting next to him. In an attempt to distract my friend, I took the opportunity to loudly announce to everyone that the 15-1 Minnesota Vikings were going to avenge their 4 Super Bowl defeats after they crush the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game on Sunday.
The show at the House of Blues went off famously. After the gig some wealthy fans of the band sent private coaches to take the band and their entourage, including us, to their mansion on a golf course for an after hours party, featuring Louisiana cuisine made from scratch , that lasted until dawn. I had spent a lot of my time at the show and after hours party talking to a charming and knowledgeable silver haired gentleman who was introduced to me as the "Governor". It was only until the next day when we ran into the band after only a few hours sleep that I mentioned what to me was the coolest part about the night before, that I had met and talked with the Governor of Louisiana. This brought a chorus of hilarious laughter from the band. "What's so funny?" I sheepishly ask. The "Governor" I had been talking to was not, in fact, a politician, but rather the esteemed WOZ radio dj and host of the show "The Governor's Mansion".
Jones and I were so hungover trying to explore New Orleans that late Sunday morning we rented a horse drawn carriage. When the driver learned Jones was a chef he talked us into being dropped off at an expensive Italian restaurant for which I suspect he got a commission for. Following our meal we proceeded to Patrick O'Brien's Bar, famous as the Home of the Hurricane cocktail, where we watched our beloved Vikings lose when our kicker, Anderson, who had a perfect season up to that point, making every field goal and extra point, misses a chip shot resulting in a Falcons victory. So much for my in flight football proclamations.
Fast forward two evenings later, Jones and I had rented a car in New Orleans late Monday morning and made the eight hour trip to Austin in record time. The band had left New Orleans the night before and in light of our condition the last time they saw us, were quite sure there was no way in hell we would be making the show that night in Austin. So when Jonesy and I entered the Top of the Mark a few songs into Roomful's first set, the band members mouths dropped to the floor and I swear they missed a beat. When the set ended we joined them in what I recall was the basement or storage room that doubled as the bands green room at the Top of the Mark. In addition to my friend and I, the band had two other guests. Fran Christina, the original drummer in Roomful of Blues before joining the Thunderbirds and the other guest was none other than one Wesley Curley Clark.
After recovering from the serendipity of it all, I think I told W.C. all about my encounter with Miss Wanda in the seedy bar in Dallas and even produced the scrap of paper with her address on it as proof. As I recall, we even joked about how funny it would be to have W.C. collect the bet in person for me next time he was in Dallas. I remember standing next to W.C. during the second set and when the band started into the song W.C. wrote and suggested they cover, "Standing at the Crossroads" he looked at me and said "I wrote that " to which I replied "I know".
Several years later a new blues club, the Narrows, opened in the Minneapolis suburb of Wayzata. As part of the grand opening month they book none other than the Godfather of Austin Blues, W.C.Clark. I was so excited I fired up my 1973 Buick Riviera Boattail and headed for Wayzata. But before going to the show, I stopped in at the best steak restaurant in Wayzata which coincidentally is where my friend was still the head chef. Unable to get off work, I wound up going to the show by myself, which is actually my preferred way to see live music. I was early enough to get a table not far from the stage and before long W.C. comes out to start his first set. Although a little disappointed he didn’t have his band with him, given the size of the club and it just having opened, I understood the cost would have been prohibitive.
At the end of his first set and before he could get off the stage, W.C. was met by a staff member of one our local public radio stations, who, microphone in hand, began interviewing him. During the interview W.C. kept looking over in my direction until, after about the third time, he held up his hand in front of the reporter's microphone as if to say "one moment please", climbed off the stage and came directly over to my table. With a quizzical look on his face he says "It's Jim, isn't it?" Before I can respond verbally, my body language gives him his answer and his quizzical look is replaced by a broad grin. After exchanging routine pleasantries (e.g. "How have you been?" "Thank you for coming" etc.) for the life of me I cannot recall any more of our conversation.
My head was swimming in a sea of thoughts ranging from immense pride to insecure doubt. I didn't know whether to take pride in the fact Mr. Clark remembered me and that he cut-off the interview to come say hello or to question what I did to be so memorable to the likes of one of my heroes. What is important to me and what I will always cherish, is how that small act of remembrance made me feel.
Now fast forward to the summer of 2022. The nation is starting to come out of the covid lockdown. I had been worrying if I would ever get another chance to see many of my favorite acts again. When I see the line-up for the Antone's 47th Anniversary Party included some of my old friends in Roomful of Blues and W.C. Clark there was no question I was going.
It was so good to see W. C. again. In his early 80’s, W.C. had aged noticeably since we last met. Alas, there was no remembrance from him this time or at least that he would acknowledge. I even asked if he would take a picture with someone who came all he way from Minneapolis to see him, hoping it may spark something, but no.
But you know what? I was more than okay with that. In fact, it gave me an inkling of the feeling W.C. must have felt when he made my day by simply remembering me. And how cool is that!
These are some of the pictures and videos I shot at the Antone's 47th Anniversary Party.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Calling All Soul and Blues Fans: Be On the Lookout For Billy Price's "Person of Interest"
Billy Price's remarkable new album "Person of Interest" on Little Village Foundation Records is the kind of well-crafted, gem of a record that only someone with Price's vast experience and connections in the music industry could make. The veteran blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter first came to national prominence in the mid 1970's as the singer in legendary guitarist Roy Buchanan's band. Price appeared on two of Buchanan's albums, "That' What I'm Here For" and the wonderful live set "Livestock". Price's RnB vocals perfectly complimented Buchanan's incendiary guitar work.
Much like his good
friends, the Nighthawks, Price and his bandmates were musician's musicians
producing some of the best albums, bar none, but for lesser-known independent
labels. Consequently, they never received the wide spread recognition
their immense talents deserved. That is until now.
The album then downshifts to a ballad, "Mercy", and the album quiets down to just Pugh's piano and beautiful guitar before it explodes with horns and Hammond B3. Eric Spaulding's perfect sax solo also takes the song out. It is at this point you start to realize that this is one special record. "Mercy" was an unfinished track from his last recording session with his old group, the Keystone Rhythym Band, that Price had completely forgetten about. It wasn't until a fan gave him a recording of a live version of it they had began working into their live shows around that time that Price realized this one was too good to get away.
Perhaps the most intriguing collaboration on "Person of Interest" is the one with Nashville songwriting legends Jon Tiven and Sally Young. Now when I think of Billy Price, country music doesn’t really come to mind. But just like Austin, Nashville is not a one genre music town anymore and good songwriting is good songwriting. Price collaborates with Tevin & Young on two songs, "They Knew" and "A Certain Something". Both are strong contributions to the album. The Latin tinged and aptly named "A Certain Something” is the change-up pitch, that certain something, the album needed.
But what is most striking and why I am gushing over this record , besides that it is all original material, are the horns. Horn lovers pay attention, this is how horns were meant to be used.
Not seeing a credit for who arranged the horns I again reached out to Del Ray "Oh you don't have to call me" Johnson who was kind enough to pester his client one last time for me. Price responded with the following:
"The horn arrangements are largely by Jim Britton, my keyboard player, and they stuck pretty close to the demos that Jim and I made to give to the players on the album. I’m sure there were some tweaks here and there but for the most part the horn players played from charts that Jim and the guys in my horn section in Pittsburgh sent for them to read. Some of the horn parts may also have been arranged by those guys, Joe Herndon and Eric Spaulding."
On "Person of Interest" the three man horn section consists of Mark Pender on trumpet and saxophonists Ron Dziubla and Eric Spaulding.
Mark Pender may be the most recognizable name of the three, owing to his work on the Conan O'Brien show, but I have been an admirer of Pender dating back to the late 1970's when he played in the Jukes and Miami Horns.
Okay, okay...I'll stop but
not before I say I am not related to anyone associated with the record nor
being paid for my opinion. It simply is what it is: the masterpiece
we always knew Price had in him. And I for one, couldn't feel more
blessed. William, thank you for making me feel like I am hearing music
for the first time. (Eat your heart out Jon Landau!) Strong review
to follow. 😀
All kidding aside,
Billy Price's new album "Person of Interest" on Little Village
Foundation Records is a fantastic record that should be in every music lover's
collection.
Sunday, December 3, 2023
NRBQ Returns to the Twin Cities
NRBQ, which stands for the new rhythm and blues quartet, and I go back over 40 years. I had first heard of the band while living outside of Washington DC where there is a very hip music scene and I remember reading in the Unicorn Times stellar reviews of the band’s performances.
In 1979 I moved back to Minnesota to attend the university, and in the fall of my sophomore year NRBQ was scheduled to play the Whole Coffee House. As the name implies, this was a non-alcohol venue in the basement of the Coffman student union building and that as much as I wanted to see the show, my roommate, on my advice, was going to take a young woman to the show for their first date and I didn’t wanna be a third wheel. Later that night my roommate returned to our dorm room raving about the band and how they had the audience eating out of the palms of their hands. Perhaps the coolest thing about that show, was, to the best of my knowledge, the last time NRBQ used the magic box at a show in the Twin Cities, although I could be wrong on this point. That would’ve been in the fall of 1980.
The 1980s and 90’s turned out to be a very busy time for NRBQ in the Twin Cities. It seemed over the course of the next 20 years NRBQ played at least twice a year in the Twin Cities, including, it seemed, every free music festival from barbecue contests to the Taste of Minnesota, to Grand Old Days to the grand opening of the Saint Paul Mississippi Riverfront redevelopment, Bandanna Square on St. Patrick’s Day, as well as numerous club dates most often at First Avenue but also at the Cabooze bar and Famous Dave’s as well. Minneapolis music critic, Tom Surowicz famously named his music column after one of the band’s albums, “Grooves in Orbit”. For a while it seemed as though the Twin Cities had adopted the Louisville band as its own.
While every NRBQ show is a unique and special event, a few of the shows in the twin cities during this time stand out.
To be an NRBQ fan is to come to know the band intimately, including the quirky personalities, mood swings, idiosyncrasies and strained relationships that you get anytime you throw four talented and artistic individuals together. Ladle on heaps of praise and predictions that they are on the verge of being the next big thing in rock music, and you’re bound to have some volatile reactions by the band to all the stress. One show in particular that sticks in my mind was a show at First Avenue in the late 80s or early 90s where the band was in one of their particularly facetious moods. From the opening song to the last encore, Big Al and to a lesser extent, Terry and the rest of the band would break into an acappella ode to their “home town”, Minneapolis.
In this made up tune, “Minneapolis, my hometown” the band referred to Minneapolis as their hometown and how good it was to be back in their hometown and every chance they got between songs, and sometimes in the middle of songs, they would break out into an a cappella made up song “Minneapolis, my hometown delivered in the most insipid and annoying, facetious manner. It was the equivalent of their flipping off the entire town. The only problem was this was long before the town had done anything (e.g. George Floyd murder) to deserve such treatment. I have long wondered what specific act of passive aggressive “Minnesota Nice” set off the lads from Louisville / Woodstock, NY transplants.
As Perhaps the most surreal NRBQ show I witnessed in the Twin Cities was the show in the parking lot of Dixies restaurant during the 1990 Grand Old Days street festival. Less than a mile as the crow flies, Minnesota’s then Governor, Rudy Perpich, was hosting Mikail Gorbachov at the Governor’s mansion. Gorbachov had just announced glasnost and his loosening of control over the citizens of the Soviet Union who were experiencing their first, nascent tastes of freedom.
As military and state patrol helicopters flew security overhead, NRBQ was tearing the heads off the crowd down below on Grand Avenue in St. Paul with an absolutely scintillating performance. I will never forget Big Al’s version of George Jones‘ “White Lightning’” early in the set, replete with hearty belches at the end of every verse in the chorus.
As I recall, other highlights from that show were rousing versions of the band’s classic “It Comes to Me Naturally” which it seems every bar band in America was covering at the time and the crowd favorites “It was an Accident” and “Riding in My Car”. Most memorable was the festive mood and good will everyone had for the leader of the Soviet Union and the prospect for world peace. Somewhere I have a “Gorbachov for President” button I purchased that day.
NRBQ returns to Minneapolis this Sunday, December 3rd at an intriguing venue, the Parkway Theater. When I learned that the band would be augmented by their horn section, the Whole Wheat Horns I immediately thought of my old friend and trombonist Carl Querfurth who is a frequent member of said horn section. I did get a hold of Carl but alas he only plays the band’s Northeast shows.
The day before the concert I was hospialized with an abcessed tooth that made my face swell up so bad I had to call an Uber at 4 a.m. to take me to the Emergency Room. I shot the above video of NRBQ performing "Get a Grip" the next day but wasn't up for doing a review of the show due to my health.