So Is Veruca Salt
“Rock ‘n’ roll royalty came out for the world premiere of Sting’s musical, The Last Ship, in Chicago before the show debuts on Broadway in October,” the New York Post reports.
“At the Bank of America Theatre, Sting’s wife Trudie Styler was seen sitting with Paul Simon and James Taylor, who were both decked out in hats.
“For a curtain call, Sting joined the cast onstage to lead a song himself.
“At an after-party on a boat docked on Lake Michigan, Styx singer Dennis DeYoung was seen circulating, and AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson had a bartender in stitches when the rocker made it to the front of a long line for booze and then proceeded to ‘pour himself two glasses of Champagne.'”
Ah ha ha ha ha! The bartender was in stitches; he’d never seen such shenanigans before!
Veruca Salt Is Just . . .
“Veruca Salt rolled into the Roxy in Los Angeles on Friday, the fifth night of the outing, for a sold-out gig. The anticipation from the crowd – which included Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and actor and former Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen – was palpable before the curtain rose on the tiny stage as patrons discussed their favorite tracks from the band’s first two albums: 1994’s debut, American Thighs, and ’97’s Bob Rock-produced mainstream breakthrough, Eight Arms to Hold You,” Kelli Skye Fadroski reports for the Orange County Register.
“They roared when the curtain finally lifted, and Veruca Salt, in all its sludgy rock glory, immediately dug in with ‘Get Back,’ the first track off its beloved debut. Gordon and Post played it fast and furious [?] through ‘All Hail Me’ and right into ‘It’s Holy,’ which felt just right nestled between old favorites. At no point did this reunion feel like a quick money grab, unlike those of many other ’90s acts hoping to cash in on nostalgia – this didn’t reek of that sort of desperation.”
Um, okay.
Trendrespotting
Vinyl is back again. Just like heroin and old-fashioned milk bottle delivery.
Remembering Bobby Womack
“Bobby Womack, the revered ‘poet’ of soul music for his prowess as a songwriter as well as singer and guitarist, died Friday at 70,” Greg Kot reports for the Tribune.
[A]s Womack began making his own albums, his substantive songs won favor from tastemakers such as Soul Train host Don Cornelius, who used to book him for Chicago concerts before the promoter’s TV show went national.
“Chicago is old stomping grounds for me,” Womack told the Tribune in a 2012 interview. “Don Cornelius used to bring me in, when they were very fearful of me because I married Sam [Cooke’s] wife. There were so many negative feelings about me. But I loved to sing so much, being young and naive, all I thought I needed to do was come in and perform. If I’m a true entertainer I have to perform anywhere. It was a big thing for me to win over the crowd. (Chicago soul radio DJ) E. Rodney Jones would always bring me in. He said, ‘Bobby, you keep being you, they’ll join you.’
“One day in the 1970s, we had a big date at McCormick Place. That was great news. I got paid a nice price to come in, but the promoter came in and said, ‘We got bad news, your band had a bus wreck. Nobody got hurt, but all the instruments got torn up. We got to take our money back, or you got to go out and perform without them. It’s up to you.’ I had my acoustic guitar, so I started to perform by myself. I started to talk to the crowd like I’m talking to you on the phone. I played some songs I never recorded. I went into some of these songs, told jokes about me and Sam coming up. I walked off, got a standing ovation. It was a full house. I never forgot that.”
Here’s Womack with the Valentinos doing the original version of a song that became the Rolling Stones’ first No. 1 hit – and doing it much better:
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Comments welcome.
Posted on July 2, 2014