Y'all Come...

My music writing has allowed me to meet a huge number of folks who are just as passionate as I am about the medium. Locally, I've talked to, argued with, and become great friends with musicians, promoters, radio personalities, fans, and just about any other kind of person who loves music. Of all the folks I've met, there are a few that immediately come to mind as the biggest fans, the most passionate promoters, and the loudest critics. Joel Frank is one of those people on the short list. To say that Joel is passionate about music is like saying the Pope is passionate about Catholicism. He worked in radio for a number of years at stations including 96 Wave and The Bridge. During his time at The Bridge he championed bands both local and national, and worked his ass off making the station sound great. We butted heads more than a few times over stories I wrote, or simply about our differing opinions about music. For instance, he considers The Beatles a "boy band." Those are his exact words, but as he's a Rolling Stones fan, he's biased anyway. I write that with a smile on my face, because even with our disagreements we're good friends. He has great taste in music (except when it comes to The Beatles, obviously), and he never misses a chance to experience a new sound or act.
So why the sudden Joel Frank love fest in this space? A couple of reasons, actually. First, Frank has joined forces with another local music professional, Ben Bounds, who runs Follywood Productions, a local booking agency. The pair have formed Y'all Entertainment, which will promote and book bands, shows, and other events locally. Frank and Bounds paired up for "Mac'n at the 'Drome," a benefit concert thrown for local musician Mac Leaphart, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year (Leaphart has made amazing progress since getting the tumor removed, and is back playing live). That event proved so successful, that Frank and Bounds decided to continue collaborating. According to Frank, "Mac'n at the 'Drome showed we could bring together each other's talents, as well as compensate for each other's weaknesses." Frank also says that Y'all Entertainment isn't trying to go after the other, longer established promotion businesses in town, and Frank says that in fact they hope to be able to collaborate with those other businesses.
To kick things off for Y'all Entertainment, Frank and Bounds are throwing a party this Sunday, July 29, at Home Team BBQ in West Ashley. It's an all-ages show open to the public, and will feature local musicians such as Mac Leaphart, Tyler Mechem, Danielle Howle, Luke Cunningham, Reid Stone, as well as the first local full band performance by the Clemson band The Tarlatans. Frank says that some other surprise guests might show up to play as well.
The second reason I'm shining the spotlight on Joel is because Sunday's party also marks his tenth anniversary living in the Lowcountry (he's originally from Charlotte), as well as his 30th birthday. It ought to be a fun time. Good food and drink (Home Team is my favorite BBQ in Charleston), good music, and good company. Congrats to Frank and Bounds on the new venture, and happy birthday to you Joel. I still maintain that the Beatles top the Stones any day though.

Running On Empty

If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you might have noticed that I like to start my entries with song titles most of the time. Call it cheesy, call it cliche, but I try to make the title tie in with the respective subject of the blog. This entry's title serves a dual purpose. I went to see Jackson Browne at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center Sunday night. The show was great, and you will be able to read my take on it shortly, but first I need to address something that continually eats at me when I go out to see live music in this town.
I've been going to shows now for three decades. I've experienced shows in everything from football stadiums to small houses. I dearly love live music, and I frequently get the chance to talk to people I see out at shows who share my passion, and there is one thing we all agree on; local audiences are about as rude as they come. Now I realize that it only takes one idiot to potentially ruin a magical night of music, but I refuse to believe that I'm always seated within a row of that one idiot. Sunday night's Jackson Browne show was a prime example of how some people apparently just come out to shows to be seen or, in this particular case, heard. I was sitting in the last row of the orchestra section at the PAC Sunday night, so I was literally about halfway back from the stage. During the show's opening act, which incidentally was incredible, a constant conversation could be heard between at least three women behind me in the grand tier section. The brain trust actually raised their voices during the opening act's songs so they could be heard. Really? REALLY? There was also some guy off to my left who was talking in a slurred voice loudly to what I could only assume was an imaginary friend, since he was standing alone. To the PAC's credit, the ushers asked the guy several times to go find his seat, but he was either too drunk or too stupid to comply.
Once Browne hit the stage the behavior got worse. Browne advised the crowd that he'd be taking requests, which led to a volley of shouted song titles from the crowd. Okay, fine, no problem. He prompted that interaction. But once he started playing two incredibly annoying things happened, at least around the section where I was sitting. First, folks kept wandering down the side aisles, presumably to get a closer look at Browne. When Browne didn't play a song the wanderers knew, they chose instead to catch up on current events with each other. I was seated on the aisle, so in some cases folks were standing right next to me shooting the breeze in the middle of a song. When I ventured a whispered "Shhh!" to try and break up the conversation, in one case one of the offenders sarcastically said, in a loud voice, "Ooh, we're disturbing the PAC! We're disturbing the PAC!" Damn right you were, but to you it was all good fun. People had paid upwards of $60 apiece for tickets to the show. They didn't want to listen to you talk about the fish you caught last week. The second thing that happened to me personally was that a couple was seated in the two empty seats next to me after there had apparently been some sort of seating mixup. The female half of the couple was visibly drunk, and slurring her words. She was upset about being moved, and continually called out to some unseen person who presumably had better seats than her, saying things like, "Okay, you won this round, bitch," and "Payback's a bitch!" Then (and this is the best part), when one of the wanderers in the aisle piped up, the woman would bark a slurred "SHADDAP!" to quiet them down. The man with the agitated woman eventually realized that everyone around them was secretly plotting their demise and steered her toward the exit.
Again, the ushers and security were not standing by letting this happen. The folks at the PAC and Coliseum are friendly, professional, and definitely do their jobs the best they can. It should also be noted that rude audiences are not limited to these two venues. I once spent an evening at the Charleston Music Hall behind a person who spent the whole show with their back to the stage complaining about how expensive their ticket was. They turned around to actually watch the show maybe twice. It's frustrating, and it's unnecessary.
In short, I'm "Running On Empty" when it comes to tolerating rude, inconsiderate douchebags that ruin it for the rest of us. Do us all a favor and stay home in the future. Sure, you have the same right to be there when you buy a ticket, but that doesn't mean you get to talk over the performing act. Show a little class.
Okay, stepping down from my soapbox, loud talkers aside, Sunday night's show was musically magical from beginning to end. When opening act Sara Watkins stepped onto the stage with her fiddle, I was trying to remember where I'd heard her name before. Then it hit me; Nickel Creek. Sara Watkins had been part of that now-defunct bluegrass outfit, along with her brother Sean and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile. Thile now plays with Punch Brothers, but Sean was right there onstage Sunday night playing with his sister. As a solo artist Watkins was every bit as good as she was when I saw Nickel Creek at the Music Farm a few years back. She sand an played fiddle, performing songs from her two solo albums, such as "All This Time," "Lock & Key," and "You and Me," as well as a great cover of Lester Scruggs' "Dig a Hole in the Meadow." At one point an audience member yelled out a request for "Lonesome Valley," prompting Watkins to talk briefly about how she had recently played that tune on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion. "Oh that's really nice," said Watkins to the fan. "We're not going to play it, but thanks." Watkins ended her set with "Take Up Your Spade," another song from her most recent release, "Sun Midnight Sun." Jackson Browne sat in on that final song, singing backup just as he did on Watkins' album.

When Browne returned a little while later to start his headlining set, he walked out without any fanfare and sat down at the small piano at the side of the stage. Browne opened with "Black and White," and over the next 90 minutes he rolled out a show that was mellow and anything but rushed. Browne has always had a laid-back vibe to his recordings, even on more rocking tracks like "Running On Empty." He's one of the finest examples of that sunny, chilled-out style of folk-rock that can only come from California. Interestingly enough, Sunday's show was far from a string of one greatest hit after another. Backed by drummer Mauricio "Fritz" Lewak and guitarist Val McCallum, Browne was in good spirits as he ran through a setlist that dug surprisingly deep into his catalog. There were some obvious favorites played, such as "Naked Ride Home" and "Shape of a Heart," but Browne pointed to his ample supply of guitars behind him and stated that he was prepared for any musical situation. Among the requests that Browne honored were excellent renditions of "My Opening Farewell" and "Something Fine."
As more requests were shouted out between songs, someone yelled, "Something happy!," to which Browne smiled and said, "We try to save the happy ones. We don't want to use them up too early." Midway through the show Browne took a break while McCallum performed one of his own songs, "Tokyo Girl" with Watkins returning to the stage to play fiddle and sing. Later songs by Browne included "These Days" and "For a Dancer." Toward the end of the show Browne brought Watkins and her band back out to assist on "Live Nude Cabaret," "The Late Show," and "I'll Do Anything." After a stripped down version of "Running On Empty," Browne and the other musicians bid the audience goodnight, but they returned moments later to play Browne's version of the Eagles classic "Take It Easy," which Browne co-wrote with Glenn Frey.
For a guy who is now 63 years old, Browne looked easily about twenty years younger. His singing voice is also as strong as ever, and he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself up on the stage. It isn't as if the guy needs to tour to make a living, I mean, did I mention that he co-wrote "Take It Easy?" I'd love to see the royalty checks he's still receiving for just that one song, let along the dozen or so that regularly get played on classic rock radio. Sunday's show was a great musical experience, even despite the rude behavior of sue of the audience members.

If I Had $1,000,000

So here's the thing about getting older; when you're young, say in your teens or 20's, it seems as if everything is new, fresh, and tailor-made for you. A big reason for that is the simple fact that, well, everything is tailor-made for you at those ages. You're young, you have disposable income, so you're a marketer's dream come true. When you get older and the music to which you listened just a decade or two before is now considered classic rock, it can serve as a wakeup call to some. I pretty much take it in stride. Everyone gets older. It's physically impossible to stop it, no matter how much silicone and Botox you inject into your body, so really, why work about it? I don't.
I was 21 when Nirvana's "Nevermind" ushered in the rise of grunge and the death (or so it seemed then) of hair metal in 1991. A few years later I was fortunate enough to first intern for, then work at radio station 96 Wave, which signed on in 1985 and came into its prime just in time to catch the surge of alternative rock music that issued forth with the rise in popularity of bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. During my years at 96 Wave, where I worked as a weekend deejay, I spun records (all right, so they were CDs) by bands such as Cracker, Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Blues Traveler, and Barenaked Ladies. I became fans of those bands through my exposure to them on Wave. This was back when radio still had personality, something that, with a few small exceptions, is severely lacking on the airwaves these days, but that's a subject I'll devote an entry to on its own in the future.
When I heard about the Last Summer on Earth tour, and that it was coming to the Lowcountry, I couldn't help but get nostalgic. The lineup consisted of those very four bands I listed earlier, the examples of the sort of music that shaped my youth. How could I not attend this show. On my way out to the Family Circle Stadium on Daniel Island on Saturday night, I had to admit I was curious as to just how many people would be drawn to the show for the same reasons I was. It would be a shame to arrive at the show to find just a couple hundred like-minded music fans. I needn't have worried.
Cracker was the first band to play Saturday night. A longtime favorite in Charleston, frontman David Lowery seemed very at ease as he kicked into "St. Cajetan," a lesser-known track from the band's 1992 self-titled debut. Accompanied by longtime musical partner Johnny Hickman, Lowery was only able to get to a few Cracker songs during the band's 30-minute set, but they made the brief time onstage count, performing Cracker classics like "Get Off This" and "Low," as well as the song "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me" from the band's latest album, "Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey." It's a shame the band couldn't have played longer. I would have loved to have heard "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)," "Euro-Tracsh Girl," or my all-time favorite Cracker song, "Mr. Wrong."

Big Head Todd and The Monsters was up next, and the crowd at the venue was starting to fill up. I was hearing rumors that the show was a sellout and that folks walking up to buy tickets were being turned away. That later turned out to be true, which is considerable for Charleston. Shows rarely sell out in advance, so the promoters of the Last Summer on Earth Tour should be commended for providing a lineup that made that happen. As Todd Park Mohr cranked up his guitar, it was evident that the band was still coming out of its corner swinging. While I love BHTM albums such as "Sister Sweetly" and "Strataegem," but the best way to experience BHTM is in a live setting. Mohr and the rest of the band didn't disappoint, and while the band was also limited to about only 30 minutes of playing time, they still managed to delight the crowd with songs such as "Bittersweet," "It's Alright," and "Broken Hearted Savior." Mohr, who was sporting a black straw fedora, was all smiles as he led his band through their all too brief set.

Speaking of bands better seen live, Blues Traveler has always been more at ease on the stage than in the studio. While the band has released some great studio albums and enjoyed radio hits such as "Hook" and "Runaround," I always tell fans of those albums, "Just wait until you see them live." BT's frontman, John Popper, has a singing voice that can go from a growl to a higher than you'd think register, and his command of the harmonica takes that normally simple instrument to a whole new level.  Onstage at the Family Circle Stadium Saturday night Popper was flanked by brothers Chan and Tad Kinchla on guitar and bass respectively, while drummer Brendan Hill and keyboardist Ben Wilson performed at the back of the stage. Touring in support of its new album, "Suzie Cracks the Whip," Blues Traveler opened with a cover of Sublime's "What I Got," which definitely get the ever-growing crowd on its feet. With Popper cracking jokes between songs and Chan Kinchla dancing with his usual euphoric facial expression, it was difficult not to like BT. These guys are always out to make sure the crowd has just as much fun as they are at a BT show. In addition to obligatory hits such as "Runaround" and "Hook," the band played older songs such as "But Anyway" and "NY Prophesie," as well as new songs like "Big City Girls" and "You Don't Have to Love Me." Much like Big Head Todd, Blues Traveler is a band that likes to stretch out musically when on the stage, so the 45-minute set made things seem a bit rushed, but the crowd, which now appeared to be at capacity, thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Finally it was time for the evening's headliners. For those not familiar with the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies, the best way I can think of to describe their show is to combine a good rock band with a good improv comedy act. The members of BNL are geeks at heart, and they strive to keep their audiences amused even when the music stops. Saturday night was no exception, as the band members walked onstage decked out in matching tennis whites in honor of the venue, which hosts the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament each spring. After opening with a volley that included "Get In Line" and "The Old Apartment," lead singer Ed Robertson guided the band into one of their trademark improvisational raps that they make up at each show. During the hilarious stream of consciousness rap Robertson riffed on tennis, the KISS song "Deuce," and several other subjects while miming forehand and backhand tennis swings between guitar riffs. Later in the show Robertson advised that the tennis outfits were quite comfortable, and that the band might have to adopt them for the remainder of the tour. "We've spent the summer dressing all rock and roll on this tour, and we've been sweating our asses off," said Robertson. "These outfits might be a better way to go." As the headliners, BNL got a bit longer time on stage, and they made the most of it, cranking out hits such as "It's All Been Done," "Brian Wilson," "Pinch Me," "One Week," and the band's well-known theme to the TV sitcom "Big Bang Theory." For the finale the band played one of its biggest its, "If I Had $1,000,000," while joined onstage by John Popper, who got into the spirit of things by wearing a white tennis visor while playing harmonica on the song. The band then launched into a medley of other artist's pop hits, including an epic version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," before finally sending the sold-out crowd home happy.

For folks that weren't here to experience the popular "Wavefest" concerts put on by 96 Wave in the 90's, Saturday night's show had a very similar feel. I was happy to see that a sell-out crowd came out to support these bands, all of which have great reputations as live performers. With any luck, the success of the Last Summer on Earth Tour will spawn similar combo tours. Whatever the case, it was a great night to be a fan of any of the four acts that played.