The Day The Music Di...Did WHAT????
I have attended a few concerts in the past few months, and while the clues were not-so-subtle, I have noted a trend among the artists.
First up: Booker T & The MGs. Their front man is Booker T. Jones. For the uninitiated, the following video is a sample of their music. The quintessential and timeless 'Green Onions':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5SFT3OLzl0
and for another version, The Root Doctor (Organissmo). Jim's dad is playing drums in this band. Watch his face when Jim takes it to church! A proud and supportive pappa, indeed! (Where can **I** get one of those????)
Back to the subject at hand. Further examples from Booker T Jones' repertoire can be found on YouTube. Songs like Hip Hugger, Time is Tight, Melting Pot and many more have become Booker T classics. The instrument that Booker T is known for playing, and had gained him his fame and fortune is the Hammond B3 organ. There can be no doubt or argument against that fact.
During Labor Day weekend, we attended the Big Muddy Blues Festival on Laclede's Landing, St. Louis. Booker T & The MGs was the headliner act on Saturday night, the biggest night of the festival. We parked in the Brentwood area, just 3 miles from our home, and bought round trip train tickets to ride public transportation (The Metrolink) directly into the heart of the action. Our stop on the Metrolink was less than a block from the main stage of the Blues festival. We got there about 20 minutes before Booker T was to take the stage. The area was PACKED with people, but we managed to sneak up behind the sound booth, and sit on the ground to get a direct close-up view of the stage.
When the previous band left the stage, it took about 20 minutes for the stage hands to set up for Booker T to start playing. I was THRILLED to see a beautiful B3 wheeled on stage, followed by a road case for a Leslie 122. What more can a fan ask for? They unpacked the Leslie, and removed the Hammond from it's dolly.
The band started to play. 'Green Onions' was the first song in the set. I knew something was amiss, because most bands don't start a set with their #1 hit (by most people's consideration, at any rate). That would be a suicide attempt, because after most fans hear the #1 song by that particular band, they would leave the venue and head for home.
I am here to tell you that if Booker T. would not have played 'Green Onions', there would have been rotten eggs and tomatoes by the bushel thrown at the stage!
Here is my beef about the current trend: Immediately after Booker T played 'Green Onions', he vacated the bench, and grabbed a guitar. I whispered to Mark, "I will give him 3 songs to get back on that bench. If he doesn't, we are OUT OF HERE, and we will board that train and head home before the rest of the crowd follows." Ultimately, we waited through 4 songs, and Booker T was still playing that damned guitar!
When Liberace was still alive, I would have shot him directly in the head, myself, if he played one song on the piano, then took to a drum set for the rest of the concert! I would have payed out the ass to see him play **PIANO**. I do not want hear Carlos Santana sing all night. He is known as a guitar virtuoso - a Guitar God!
I certainly embrace diversity in our lives. I am not opposed to a musician playing a totally different instrument than the instrument they are known for playing for a song or two during a concert. However, I have a real beef when they play their #1 hit at the beginning of the show "Just to get it out of the way", and then they do something totally different for the rest of the concert.
I thought I was just being a major Diva about the subject until I attended the St. Louis Art Fair and approached a gentleman that was manning the St. Louis Blues (not the sports team!) booth. I told him, "I attended the Booker T. concert at the Blues Fest....", and he *immediately* started shaking his head, and hung his head while whispering, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!" - before I even completed my sentence or thought!
I asked him, "Did you go to the concert?" He said, "No, I was out of town that weekend, but boy, did I hear about it!" I asked him, "Who told you, how did you hear about the concert?" He said that several tried and true fans that know Booker T's music well had stopped by his booth and said the same thing! I asked him if Booker T ever got back on that bench during that concert, and he said, "Remember, I wasn't there, but from what folks are telling me, he didn't touch that organ again the rest of the night!" That is bad - just bad!
A few years ago, we went to the Fourth of July festivities at the Gateway Arch. Al Green was the headliner act that night. Everybody waited through his entire set for his hit, "Love and Happiness". When he did that song, the arrangement was hideous! He performed that song much too fast, there was NO Hammond in the song, whatsoever. As you can hear in this clip, Hammond organ is the most significant and prominent instrument in 'Love and Happiness':
Removing the Hammond from Love and Happiness, and playing it much to fast is like shooting a hole through the face of the Mona Lisa painting!
I do wish I would have videoed the mass of people leaving - all at the same time, during that Al Green concert, when he royally screwed up 'Love and Happiness'. It was a mass exodus! You would think that he would have learned his lesson the first time they walked out on him, and changed his set before the next concert.
The examples of musicians and singers shooting themselves in the foot could go on and on. There is a time and place for change. We all need some changes in our lives to avoid being like people that I have been familiar with in my past. The only difference between a rut and a grave is dimensions!
There is something to be said, however, for giving back to the people that have made you so successful what they are expecting. Barry Manilow was asked during an interview if he was tired of singing the song, "Copacabana" at every concert. He answered, "Well, no! That song paid for the nice big house that I live in, and the life that I enjoy so much! Why would I be tired of singing it? I will sing it as expected, and as gleefully as I can at every concert I play until I can't perform anymore!"
Musicians and singers: Take a lesson. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In doing so, you aren't being 'hip' by changing something else up in this 'Dump-it-now-and-run-on' society. You are in danger, however, or losing everything you are now experiencing if you attempt to exchange tried and true values and skills for something that is of diminished value.
- Michael
Mr.Toad's Wild Ride! Caution: May contain various ramblings referring to my hobbies and life, in general.
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