JEFFERSON STARSHIP - Rock Log 073111

Jefferson Starship rolled into The Den tonight and I caught this show by myself.  True, it is a loser who Dens alone, but when the godfather of psychedelic rock, Paul Kantner, is there then you must go, albeit sans amigo.  

First a little history.  Kantner is the sole remaining member of the original band.  It was he, Grace Slick and Marty Balin who drove this band in the 60s and 70s.  During this period they morphed from the world’s preeminent LSD band to a hard rockin’ pop band.  By the end of the 70s Slick and Balin were gone.  Then in April 1979 the band hired Mickey Thomas to replace Balin and that was the beginning of the end.  Replacing Balin with Thomas would be akin to the Stones replacing Mick Jagger with Michael Bolton.  Bad.  

Anyway, the show was a good one.  Kantner, at 70 years of age, looked it.  He was confined to a chair throughout the show.  This was painful to see as my memories of him were of wild rhythm axe-man.  The lead guitar duties were handled quite admirably by Slick Aquilar, who at times would walk over to chair-bound Kantner for a jam session, only it looked more like a child next to a department store Santa.  Sad.  

The set list was perfect, which included several Airplane tunes.  The best song of the night was Wooden Ships which became a ten minute jam session with Aquilar driving it home.  Law Man was done to perfection, as lead singer Cathy Richardson’s voice was uniquely her own while at the same time eerily similar to Slick.  Richardson’s antics were rife with sensuality and whacked out looking eyes.  However, she lost me entirely during White Rabbit during which she crawled around the stage with the back of her sweater pulled over her head.  I found her actions irritating as this was THE song that I wanted to see.  Mad.  

The Starship songs were done well including Miracles, Fast Buck Freddy, Jane and Count On Me.  During the latter song Richardson implored the crowd to sing along, something they failed to do.  In fact, this was the most lackluster crowd I think I have seen at The Den, which was not deserved because the band could actually rock.  They were flat at times, but generally they rocked.  The show ended with a three man jam as only Aquilar remained with drummer and keyboardist as they tore through ten minutes of instrumental While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  When the rest of the band returned to the stage they ripped through Somebody to Love and ended with Volunteers, both done very well.  Glad  

Essentially, I go to The Den to see rock legends perform their songs.  Seeing Kantner on stage strumming along to White Rabbit is all I needed.  He is a trooper, but clearly the years of “licking the stamp” have slowed the man down like a slow swimming fish.  Shad.  

Tonight I took an airplane ride and it rocked.  

Vick

THE COWSILLS - Rock Log 072611

Cowsill me once, shame on you.  Cowsill me twice, shame on me.  Cowsill me thrice, well shoot me in the head.

Randall, Homework, the Rockin' Burkes and I made the trek to The Den tonight to see the 60s first family of bubblegum music, The Cowsills.  It was the third time for Randall and I and the first for the others.  I alone am the driving force that makes us attend the Cowsill concert, as nobody else cares for their music.  The audience was an amalgamation of WWII babies and their spouses.  The sole crowd highlight was Bruno arriving midway through song one, donning actual lederhosen.  Let’s talk about the show. 

It started with a reasonably strong cover of the We Five’s legendary 60s folk anthem You Were On My Mind.  It proceeded downward with a bullet.  The show was lifeless, the song selection was pedestrian and the banter was intolerable.  Our two previous times to see the band resulted in the following synopsis; Susan Cowsill is quite talented, Bob acts as the box of Arm & Hammer baking soda and Paul Cowsill is the most annoying human being on the planet.  In our previous encounters Susan was able to overshadow Paul.  Not tonight.  Susan, recovering from a bout with laryngitis, was off her game.  Her vocal range was limited and she appeared to be mailing this performance in.  Paul on the other hand was so obnoxious that it prompted the normally reserved Homework to shout “you suck Paul”, which was both accurate and welcomed.  Paul was reduced to a bumbling idiot with hyper-active sweat glands. 

Admittedly, there were three songs that were performed well; “The Rain The Park and Other Things”, “River of Love” and “Goin’ Home”, the latter two were solo songs from Barry Cowsill, who died in 2005 amid Hurricane Katrina.  This leads me to a more ecclesiastical question of “if God really does exist, then why did he take Barry and not Paul?”

This rock and roll show was a complete bust.  On January 29, 2010 I saw The Cowsills for the first time.  On July 26, 2011 I saw them for the last time.  There is an outside chance that I may attend a future show only if Paul Cowsill has his larynx removed and is dismembered, AND some direct lineage is found were Paul McCartney is actually a Cowsill relative and joins the tour.  Otherwise, this family could use some guidance from Lindsay Lohan, that being fracture all family ties and move on.

The Cowsilliness officially ends tonight.

VICK

PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS - Rock Log 072111

Tonight Randall and I ventured to The Den to catch Paul Revere and the Raiders.  The expectation was low and our pre-show mantra was "just do not be as bad as The Association", which was by far the worst show we have seen (Rock Log 072210).  We were clearly the youngest people at the show until two ladies entered The Den, one of which we will conservatively label as breathtaking.

Back when we were embryos, Paul Revere & the Raiders erupted on the music scene.  With lots of help from Dick Clark & American Bandstand, the group, always decked out in their historic “Midnight Ride” costumes, was a mainstay on the radio helped by a plethora of then popular hits.  

After a twelve year absence in the area, the boys returned to The Den donned in Revolutionary War attire.  Equipped with his Ford Mustang keyboard, founding member Paul Revere and his 74 years of life, led the troops on a fun-filled trip through history with song, story and well-prepared comic antics. 

Honestly, through the first thirty minutes, the endless onslaught of AARP and coffin jokes grew stale, as did the medley of songs.  However, something unique happened when they dedicated two songs to the Vietnam Veterans, the boys actually began to rock.  Driven hard by the absolutely insane drumming of Tommy Scheckel, the elderly minutemen rocked For What it's Worth, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, et al.  All done quite well.  Front man Darren Dowler (former guitarist for the back Street Boys - WOW!) did a very good job with the vocals, but make no mistake, Scheckel drove this band. 

Following a shameless plug for their upcoming oldies rock cruise, the band peaked with a scorching rendition of Grand Funk's We're an American Band.  I should mention that six days prior we had seen Poison perform the exact song and the Raiders completely blew Bret Michaels off the stage.  Who would have thought that these musical patriots could jam up the stage so rock-fully.

The 75 minute show ended, we sandwiched Bob Knight in the men's urinal, grabbed two dozen Krispy Kremes and were home by ten.  Overall, this is a classic case of reality far exceeding expectations.  When discussed we both agreed that a return trip to The Den by Paul Revere and the Raiders would be met with a return trip by us. 

Rock on and kick King George in the teeth. 

Randall and Vick

LOU GRAMM BAND - Rock Log 071611

Twenty-four hours after watching a highly entertaining Motley Crue – Poison – NY Dolls show chock full of energy, pyrotechnics, scantily clad women and all sorts of debauchery at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday night, we settled in at the bar at the Wolf’s Den for a Saturday night with the Lou Gramm Band.

While it was my third time seeing Lou Gramm, it was the virgin adventure for my sidekicks, Vick, Homework & Frosty.  (We were all elated that the staff at the Den provided Frosty with a stool which he could stand on so he could see over the wall and view the show like the rest of us.)

The band started off with Double Vision and satisfactorily plowed through many of Foreigner’s hits (Cold as Ice, Dirty White Boy, Head Games, Feels Like the First Time, Waiting for a Girl Like You) as well as several of Lou’s solo tunes including Midnight Blue, Ready or Not and Just Between You and Me.  While Lou doesn’t have the impeccable range of his earlier days, he is not that far off from those days – his voice reached almost every note it had to during the night.  Also, Lou will never be mistaken for a high-energy frontman anymore….but it doesn’t matter because his legendary voice and resume of classic hits are why people come to see him.

There is always a good and bad feeling inside of you when you walk away from a show with Lou.  On one hand, you feel great for the guy – overcoming surgery to remove a brain tumor resulting in a damaged pituitary gland, weight gain, loss of voice and stamina – to hit the stage again to sing many of the classics is truly inspiring and fun to listen to.  On the other hand, the set list hasn’t changed in all three shows I have witnessed and it is an incredibly short concert.  After playing for just over an hour which included a seemingly long 10 minute drum solo by Lou’s brother Ben, the band left the stage.  They came back for two encore songs including the finale of Hot Blooded and then called it a night.

Maybe it’s due to his stamina, but Lou easily has enough material to bring a 70-75 minute show to a 90 minute show.  Favorites like Urgent, Yesterday and I Don’t Want to Live Without You have inexplicably been left off the set list for his last three appearances there.

Another downer was the crowd.  There was no shortage of people watching but most sat for the whole show and hardly made noise to support the encore.  (Probably too shocked at how short the show was to realize it was encore time).  Too bad, because Lou deserves a better reception from his fans…Especially because Lou goes out of his way to plug his Merch which includes sizes from all fans including the saucy 3XL spaghetti strap.

Overall - good music from a Rock & Roll icon...Can't go wrong with that.

Randall