Bill Petro

DOOBIE BROTHERS AT COLORADO STATE FAIR

The end of the Summer concert season was unusual — there’s something about catching a favorite music group at a State Fair. The Doobie Brothers, who I haven’t seen live since the mid 80’s, appeared here after two warm up groups. They took the stage with 5 people in front and 2 full drum sets: 3 guitars, 1 keyboard, 1 sax. While two full drum sets is unusual, the Doobie Brothers have been doing this for years.

Band History

The Doobie Brothers — who are affectionately known as “The Doobies” in reference to, well, doobies — have had a huge following among people from northern California, like yours truly. They got their start in San Jose, CA, and are often compared to the group Moby Grape, the band through whom the original members Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston were introduced to each other.

In their earlier years they attracted a rough audience, and had a following among some of the Hells Angels groups whom they played for regularly in the Santa Cruz mountains. And band co-founder and leader Patrick Simmons is known for his predilection to Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and many of the songs celebrate rocking down the highway.

Their 1973 album “The Captain and Me” put them firmly on the map with hits like “China Grove” (my favorite, also featured in the movie “Field of Dreams”) and “Long Train Runnin’ “, which a band I was once in performed regularly. But it was their 1974 hit “Black Water” that was their first #1 single.

The next year saw Michael McDonald join the group as singer, keyboardist and songwriter — to replace Tom Johnston who had fallen ill. “Takin’ It to the Streets” and “It Keeps You Runnin’ ” became hits during this period, and later the #1 “What a Fool Believes” earned them a Grammy.

The Concert

Only one member of the original band, from what I could tell, was there — Patrick Simmons. Tom Johnston does tour with them now, but he was not there for this concert. They began with their favorite

• Rockin’ Down The Highway

and the bass, played by Skylark, was deafening, you could feel your clothes shake. Indeed, they played at ear bleeding volume. I used paper towels as ear plugs. By the way, earplugs are always a good idea for live concerts… at least until they play your favorite song. I used to routinely do this with The Who, until they played “Pinball Wizard.”

With the Doobie Brothers, it wasn’t so much sound as it was a “wall of noise” coming at you.

They returned from an extended jam session with the more recognizable

• Jesus is Just Alright

this song was originally done by The Byrds. Here, the evangelist spirit remained, if not the old harmonies.

They did a change up with some instrumental Hawaiian Slack Key guitar by Pat Simmons and guitarist Joe Satriani.

Guy Allison on the keyboard picked up the song from there, followed by the sax, which led into

• Takin’ It To The Street

Oh, how we miss Michael McDonald on vocals.

Pat Simmons, lead singer and guitarist wrote many of their original hits and is the only original member who has been on all their tours and albums. He doesn’t have the presence of Tom Johnston, and has trouble hitting the notes on some of the melodies. Next was

• The Power of the Blues

with lots of jamming by the band. When they all lined up to perform, it seemed like a cross between the Foggy Bottom Boys and ZZ Top.

• Take Me In Your Arms (And Rock Me)

the old Motown hit was next. They could play it wonderfully, but alas could no longer hit all the notes.

• Little Bitty Pretty One

an unusual song for a Doobie concert had Pat Simmons eponymously saying of the open air venue “Something smells good out there.”

• Black Water

came next, that bluegrass harmonic treat which hit #1 in 1975, and here it was nicely done, with Joe Satriani on the fiddle and Pat Simmons on lead vocals. As this was done in Pueblo, Colorado, he added a few lyrics

“Colorado moon won’t you keep on shining
Old Black Water, keep on rolling
Pueblo moon keep on shining on me”

He asked for us to join in on the mellifluous harmonization at the end

“I’d like to hear some funky Dixieland/Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand.”

“By the hand, take me by the hand/Pretty momma, come and dance with your daddy all night long”

while Skylark led us on

“Honky tonk, Honky tonk/Honky tonk, with you all night long”

They left the stage at the end of the show, to be followed by the requisite encore

The song that everyone was waiting for, including yours faithfully came next after a long, electric instrumental

• China Grove

that song about a town in Texas that mentions the samurai sword — Japanese, not Chinese, but no matter. Finally came

• Listen To The Music

beautifully done, with very nice harmonies indeed.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

DIANA KRALL AT RED ROCKS IN DENVER

I discovered this singer several years ago while traveling through Canada when my wife played me her CD. I asked her “Who is this fabulous old black singer? She sounds like Ella Fitzgerald.” When she showed me the CD cover, I was stunned. Diana Krall is a 41 year old rather striking blond chanteuse from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. But it’s her voice that is the most outstanding reason to go see her. This was her first performance at Red Rocks in Denver.

But the show started with a 45 minute set by Chris Botti. This gifted trumpeter set up the evening quite dramatically. He began with a stirring rendition of

• Ave Maria

as unexpected as it was beautiful. He began only with a piano accompaniment, but then he was joined at the end with drums.

• When I Fall in Love

added guitar, electric bass and drums. Even on this second song you could tell you were going to get your money’s worth. He’s an outstanding instrumentalist. Having played trumpet myself several centuries ago, I could appreciate both his lightning fast valve action as well as his staccato tongue work.

He introduced his pianist Peter Martin from New Orleans, who joined him on his next song, taken from the legendary Miles Davis hit album “Kind of Blue” which was a series of 5 chord changes but no lyric thread. Chris introduced it by saying that he himself grew up in the Jazz capital of the world — Corvallis, Oregon. But he was asked to give the talk when Miles Davis was inducted into Jazz Hall of Fame, as the natural choice, being the palest trumpeter they could find. Obligatory story: I caught Miles Davis some 35 years ago when he was performing in the renowned Berkeley Jazz Festival, as it was held at the Greek Theater. Along with Ike and Tina Turner, it was jazz on steroids.

• Flamingo Sketches

with a mute in his horn, and a 20 second sustain, it don’t get no better.

Chris then introduced Mark Whitfield on the fire engine red guitar, and they played a duet.

The next song was originally done by Jeff Buckley, which Chris told us was recording in the studio next to the one he first recorded in. But Buckley died before finishing a second album, a great loss. Chris then played this song

• Hallelujah

The Red Rocks amphitheater is an open air venue, with only the stage covered. At this point in the evening, the rain began to fall. While they were playing

• A Thousand Kisses Deep

the guitarist played a riff of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and the rest of the band jammed. This guitarists was so fast, he could play an answering echo to his own riff. He then introduced the next solo

• Isn’t She Lovely

James Genus on bass was introduced as was Billy Kilson on drums. Chris then introduced the next song, from his favorite movie about a boy growing up in Italy. As the pianist began the theme from “The Godfather” Chris corrected him and said this was the love theme from

• Cinema Paradiso

Following on that theme, he introduced his upcoming album Italia, coming in September of music inspired the the couple of years he spent living in Italy as a child. He will have songs featuring Andrea Bocelli and Dean Martin. “And Dean Martin still sounds fabulous!”

• Indian Summer

sounded incredible, especially the second verse, which he did with the mute in that was so sassy. The song was quite kinetic and energetic with an extended drum solo. Man, could he slap hide! And his cymbal work was sizzling syncopation.

His part of the show ended, followed by a rather long 30 minute interval.

Diana Krall took the stage, took a bow and began by saying “I am from British Columbia, I appreciate the elements” as the rain continued.

She’s taken a six month break as she’s recently had twins, with her husband Declan MacManus, who probably know better by his stage name Elvis Costello. She is currently in the midst of a 3 month tour of the U.S. in support of her album From This Moment On, her tenth album.

She began accompanied by only an upright bass, guitar, and drums. She launched into a Peggy Lee song

• I Love Being Here With You

with each instrumentalist getting a solo in this mostly instrumental piece.

As the rain came down even harder she did a long intro to

• Stormy Weather

but she actually turned it into the Cole Parther favorite she intended to play

• Let’s Fall in Love

but her guitarist, during his particular solo, could not resist playing “Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head.”

She introduced her band: Anthony Wilson on guitar, Jeff Hamilton on Drums, and Robert Hurst on upright bass. She told us that she was going to do a Nat King Cole hit, but teased us with the opening strains of Sesame Street.

• I’ll String Along With You

and ended it with a few strains from the Nat King Cole song “Mona Lisa.”

• Do I Love You, Indeed I Do

came next, but was brought up short by a cloud burst. She took a break “to move the furniture.” She had been wiping off the keyboard and her piano, but was on the edge of where the canopy covered the stage. She took the opportunity to chat with the audience saying, “Now you get to see what I look like before I come on stage. Living on Vancouver Island, we get rain about 300 days a year. If it hasn’t rained for a while, I get anxious in a Woody Allen kind of way. You probably heard that I had twins… last week. And now I’ve been living on a bus for weeks eating food. Now I’m ready to record my children’s album ‘If You’re Happy And you Know It Clap You Hands’.”

She went on to play many more songs, including the standards you’d expect. Though she had to wipe her piano and nose a number of times, her deep, throaty, confident phrasing reminded me of a young Barbara Streisand. She can hold a phrase longer than you’d expect, but still make it work. It was magic.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

“1964″ BEATLES TRIBUTE AT RED ROCKS IN DENVER

It was 43 years ago today
Sgt Pepper taught the band to play
They’ve been going in and out of style
But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile

Indeed, 43 years ago today, on August 26, 1964 the Beatles performed a concert at Red Rocks, a beautiful natural amphitheater above Denver. Last night, a Beatles tribute band named “1964″ performed at Red Rocks. This tribute band looks like, sounds like, moves like, and sings like the Beatles. They used authentic costumes and instruments.

I’ve seen a number of Beatles tribute bands over the decades but this was by far the best. In fact, back in 1964, my brother, sister and cousin did a Beatles “karaoke” at the school talent show. Of course, we won! I played Paul, left handed to be sure.

This band is unique though in that they confine their repertoire to music of the early Beatles rather than the entire canon. While this limits them to pre-Sgt. Pepper music, it allows them to play some often neglected tunes that other cover bands don’t do. The evening took me back to that night on February 9, 1964, as we sat in front of the TV and watched Ed Sullivan introduce us to The Beatles.

The Look

The band even mimicked the stance. John had the wide horse stance with the tapping left foot, Paul hand the trademark head bobble, George the stiff stance with one knee out, and Ringo had the head nod and occasional tilt. They even did the signature deep bow after each song. By the way, for a mop top tribute of a different kind, catch the movie “That Thing You Do” where Tom Hanks, the band’s manager instructs the boys to bow.

The Sound

Their songs were practically pitch perfect, a close approximation to the Beatles studio work. Ironically, they played better than the Beatles played during their live performances, when they could rarely hear themselves sing above the screaming fans. Indeed, a few years ago, when I caught Paul McCartney at the Denver Pepsi Center in his first concert back in Denver since then, he mentioned that his last time in the area was when they performed at Red Rocks. “But we could barely finish a half hour set… because we couldn’t breath!” Indeed, Denver is a mile high, but Red Rocks is even higher, at an elevation of 6,200 feet.

This band, “1964” did a two hour set, including break. Compare this to the original show, with warm up by the Righteous Brothers and Jackie de Shannon, with the Beatles playing for about 25 minutes. This band has been doing this for 23 years, 7 times at Carnegie Hall and at other original Beatles venues, plus Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have their CD. They originally played Red Rocks 3 years ago in 2004 on the 4oth anniversary of the Beatles’ original concert here. “John” is performed by Mark Benson, “Paul” by Gary Grimes (he even has the arched eyebrows correct), “George” by Tom Work, and “Ringo” by Terry Manfred.

The Voices

Their singing was outstanding, and their speaking accents were good, but I did catch a few non-Liverpudlian pronounced words from Paul. John did the kind of light hearted banter you’d expect, and it was spot on.

The Songs

They started their set with one of their biggest early hits

• I Want To Hold Your Hand

which was a hit not only in the UK and US, but in Germany as well, as the band recorded it in German too.

• Please Please Me

followed that, another #1 for the band in 1963, with curiously and to fans’ consternation, was not on the recent compendium of Beatles #1 hits called, ironically, “The Beatles 1.”

• From Me to You

was their next tune followed by

• Thank You Girl

a song rarely covered by a tribute band.

Next, we heard George on

• Do You Want to Know a Secret

which was a #2 Billboard hit for him

• All My Loving

by Paul was spot on.

• This Boy

sung by John was quite moving. It was featured in their first movie, “A Hard Day’s Night” as an instrumental by the name “Ringo’s Theme”, but here, John even had the facial expressions down right. He had the sideburns, the hair combed to the side, even had his eyebrows go up in the center.

Next, Paul told us that Ringo had mentioned to him that he wanted to sing the next song in the worst way, and that was exactly how he was going to do it. Ringo wondered aloud, “Was that a left handed complement?” He then sang what was previously a #1 country hit for Buck Owens

• Act Naturally

This was followed by a song the Beatles never performed live

• Eight Days a Week

Then came

• A Hard Day’s Night

whose title came from a remark made by Ringo Starr. And in this rendition on stage, we got lots of cowbell.

• It’s Only Love

with John’s effortless phrasing and George’s brassy lead guitar.

• And I Love Her

with Paul singing to a cha-cha beat. He was dead on and even did Paul’s upturned chin.

• Nowhere Man

was next, sung by John, who wrote almost all of it, somewhat autobiographically.

• Can’t Buy Me Love

followed, another moving #1 tune, written while the Beatles were staying in the George V hotel in Paris.

Next, John asked the audience for the next song to stand up and sing along — as if he could stop them.

• Twist and Shout

though not written by the Beatles became a huge hit for them, and for Ferris Bueller on his day off.

The band took a break, during which strangely off-putting “ballpark organ” versions of Beatles music was played.

Mercifully, this was a short break, and they resumed with Paul saying “one-two-three-FAH”

• I Saw Her Standing There

Then George did the classic Chuck Berry tune

• Roll Over Beethoven

• Ticket to Ride

came next, from the movie Help! though Paul had a hard time hitting “my baby don’t care” at the end.

One of the most beautiful and archly autobiographical songs from Rubber Soul by John followed

• In My Life

The original had a baroque-styled piano instrumental bridge by their producer George Martin.

• And Your Bird Can Sing

from Revolver took me back to watching the Beatles cartoon show on Saturday mornings. During this song, we noticed that John seemed to have a budding double chin like Paul’s, but who doesn’t? This was followed by George singing

• Taxman

from Revolver, actually written by George after he discovered how much he was paying in taxes.

• Paperback Writer

which I recall was knocked off the #1 spot by Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” It please my mother at the time, but not me. This song, at least, has a lovely 4-part harmony.

• Rain

the B-side to the Paperback Writer single followed. Ironically, I saw one of the early tribute bands who took this title as their name perform in Disneyland in 1980. The Beatles never performed this in concert. This was the Beatles first tune with backward vocals.

• Yellow Submarine

was a huge hit in 1966 and served as the theme for the 1968 animated movie. I recall asking my father to attend with us. He didn’t like it. The song went to #1 with Ringo on lead. During this concert, we were encouraged to supply the sound of the submarine during the bridge. “Surface, surface.”

• Help!

another #1 hit followed. The film, by the same name, starts this song with a James Bond intro.

• Day Tripper

was one of the first hits to begin with guitar feedback and a wicked riff. And some conflicting reports by the Beatles themselves suggest that this is the first overt reference to LSD in one of their songs.

• She Loves You

a huge crowd pleaser had everyone on their feet. Though it was written in 1963 it set a record as one of the five Beatles hits that held the top five postions on the American charts. Like “I Want To Hold Your Hand” (Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand) it too was recorded in German as Sie Liebt Dich.

The band left the stage, with few leaving. As anticipated, they took the stage after dimmed lights with their encore.

Ringo then did

• I Wanna Be Your Man

though not one of the more memorable songs, nor deep in terms of lyrics, it has lots of energy and allowed the band a bit of jamming.

This was followed by a reminder that we had Some Fun Tonight with

• Long Tall Sally

an ironic song to be sure. The song was originally done by Little Richard, whom the Beatles used to open for in their early days in both Liverpool and Hamburg. Paul sings this a whole step higher than the original.

As I left the amphitheater, I realized what a good time I had had. This band was bringing back rich memories. When I had applied to history graduate school, I was told “there’s no future in history” but there certainly is a future for nostalgia.

This band sings the soundtrack of my youth.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

Concert Review: James Taylor at Coors Amphitheater in Denver

I’ve seen James Taylor in concert about half a dozen times from the Greek Theater in Berkeley to Red Rocks above Denver. This performance at the Coors Amphitheater in the Denver Tech Center was the most relaxed I’ve seen. It is wider than either of the other venues and seemed to add greater intimacy and immediacy to his style. He has a very easy going style with audiences and a relaxed manner but I’ve never seen him so chatty with the crowd. He was cracking jokes, handling hecklers and signing autographs several times between acts and encores.

He began with a relaxed acoustic “Secret Of Life,” then was joined by the band for “Summer’s Here,” where each mention of “beer” in the lyrics brought people holding their Coors beer bottles high.

Andrea Zonn, one of his female singers is also a terrific fiddler. Her Irish tunes were delightful, especially as he performed the unexpected “The River is Wide.”

He performed two of his original pieces that were distinguished by having had Ray Charles cover them: “Nothin’ Like a Hundred Miles” and the mournful “Everybody Has the Blues.”

“Fire and Rain” seemed to be what everyone was waiting for. And “Handy Man” lit up the audience. With 8 instrumentalists and three background singers there were quite a lot on stage. The harmonies were rapturous. He improvised still more beyond his already jazzed up live versions (which you can hear on his Live album) than his studio standards.

At numerous times during the concert he joked with the audience. He talked about his “Elvis collar” that phenomena which occurs when the wind blows your collar up. At another time we couldn’t hear the question from the audience, but his reply was

“…their pitching is a little weak, but it’s still early in the season.”

When people felt compelled to call out song requests, “Mexico” came out loudest. His reply,

“We’ll get to it (holding up his blackboard). See, it’s right down here. We’ll have to get through this crap first though.”

Later, when someone was quite insistent about a song he said,

“I’m going to do this song instead. It’s really just like that song, except there are some differences, actually it’s not at all like that song. Never mind.”

When he did get to “Mexico” it he introduced his Cuban drummer who dazzled the audience. Following a 20 minute break, he pointed out that to be environmentally friendly the second half’s songs were written on the backside of his blackboard. He performed “Sonny’s Eyes” and a song he said he learned from the Dixie Chicks “Some Days You Gotta Dance.”

His horn section was terrific: Walt Fowler on trumpet and Lou “Blue Lou” Marini on sax and flute — you’d know him from the Saturday Night Live Band and The Blues Brothers.

James’ performance this time of “Carolina” used the backup singers like an a cappella church choir. I’ve never heard it so good.

He did a rather long introduction to “God Have Mercy on the Frozen Man” where he told the background to the story, then got off-track and decided to forget it. He similarly had a long intro to “Line Em Up” discussing the Nixon Whitehouse juxtaposed to the last verse relating to the marriage of 5,000 people by Rev. Moon at Madison Square Garden. He said there was so much matrimonial energy that some of it leaked outside and some people on the street were spontaneously married.

But one introduction caught the crowd by surprise.

“This is a song I wrote for my nephew… on the occasion of his birth. It’s been a number of years now. He was named after me and this was intended as a cowboy lullaby” — and now the audience has figured it out — “His grandmother is in the audience tonight.”

Could this have in fact been both the grandmother of Sweet Baby James as well as the mother of James Taylor? This performance had an an according and a steel string guitar. Lovely.

He did “Country Road” and donned his electric guitar to play “Steamroller Blues.” It turned into a jam session featuring solos by trumpet, keyboard, and guitar. He ended with “How Sweet It Is.”

The expected encore brought him back to do the old Drifters’ hit “Up On the Roof.” By now, the sky above the venue was dark. As he sang about “the stars up above” a shooting star lit the sky.

He followed this with “Summertime Blues” and left the stage, only to return with another encore and signing of autographs for the front row. A good time was had by all.

Bill Petro
www.billpetro.com