Alternative Country Nation with a side helping of Maniloonies?

 Greetings! Upon 1993, not a lot was going on.  My records indicate only 2 concerts attended and one of those a last minute fill-in concert.  

In April 1993, the local alternative radio station, KUKQ (on AM no less) was sponsoring a big alternative festival with several artists including X, Robyn Hitchcock and the headliner, Pornos for Pyros (with Jane's Addiction lead singer Perry Farrell).  Primarily interested in Robyn Hitchcock and X, I had a friend, Joe, who was willing to take me and his fiancee, Rachel, to the gig at Compton Terrace.  Of course, I can't recall who else was performing as we had to stop off for Rachel to get some Taco Bell.  But I did see Robyn Hitchcock and X.  It is quite a blur and I feel quite embarrassed that I remember the Taco Bell incident more than the performances, but I can say I did see Robyn Hitchcock and X.  Other terrible bands we saw in this group were Best Kissers in the World (lead singer mooned audience) and Phunk Junkees. We walked out proudly during the first song from Porno for Pyros as it was not any of our cups of tea.  I also, remember saying something on the drive home about Bob Dylan (who was not at this festival, obviously) and was lambasted by Rachel for insulting her hero.  (Oops!)

Please see the great ticket below.

In June 1993, my cousin had her tickets ready for her and her mom to go see her favorite singer, Barry Manilow.  My aunt, however, came down with Valley Fever after living in Arizona since the 1970's so she could not go.  I went in my aunt's place to the hottest (in temperature) I had ever gone to up to that point.

Barry Manilow performed in 110 degree heat at, you guess it, Desert Heat (Sky) Pavilion.  The evening also had a touch of humidity as the monsoon season was starting early, but no dust storms or rain.  Just a great evening of entertainment by a consummate showman.  We all know Barry's songs from the 1970's so it was definitely a greatest hits show.  When Barry asked for someone to come up on stage to sing "I Can't Smile Without You" with him, a woman seated near us jumped out into the aisle with arms raised yelling crazily.  We were up in the second tier at the venue, so odds are, she was too far to be Barry's pick.  Please see lovely ticket below:

In 1994, I can recall only one concert which was Elvis Costello at the Mesa Amphitheatre.  By then, I had made an acquaintance of a neat guy named Harold who I met in a Blue Plate special Tuesday night graduate history class at ASU.  We seemed to have similar musical tastes, so we went to see this concert together.

Alternative group the Crash Test Dummies opened for Mr. Costello.  I was impressed by their live performance and later went out and purchased 2 albums.  

Funnily enough, I did see my other friend Joe there and said, "Hi!"  Elvis Costello was amazingly good and he did a lot of the songs that had made him a college radio darling.  Most memorable was a dude in hippie attire dancing with great enthusiasm to "Pump It Up."  I have never seen anyone move like that since, and everytime I hear "Pump It Up" I always remember that guy at the concert.

So as 1994, unfolded, so did my relationship with Harold.  We starting dating in August 1994, and a while after that, we decided to get married in May 1995.  But bigger news than our marriage it seemed was R.E.M. would be touring in support of they 1994 album, Monster.

Harold somehow lucked out calling the ticket line (was it Dillard's or Ticketmaster?) and got us almost front row seats for this band!  When he called me I jumped up and down in my parents' kitchen.  The show was set for May 5, a few weeks before our nuptials.  Wow!  How amazing!

But, Bill Berry, drummer for R.E.M., suffered an aneurysm which ended up postponing our show until November 1995!  We got married, Harold took a job in Utah, and we saw a show up there before we ever saw R.E.M.  (see next blog for the concert review).

We were living in Riverdale, Utah, a town right next to Ogden (home of the Osmonds).  Harold got tickets for us to see Mary Chapin Carpenter in Park City in September.  I have no idea where that ticket stub went to.  I will say that it was a great show and it was an outdoor amphitheatre so that was cool to see the show there.

Stay tuned for the next blog which will include R.E.M. and a few other fun shows from the late 1990's.

Jeff Beck-Always and ever, 1944-2023

I must interrupt the flow of my concert memories to honor the greatest guitar player ever.  Jeff Beck passed away Tuesday, January 10, 2023, after contracting bacterial meningitis.  Word was released Wednesday by the family.  I was stunned.  He was doing what he loved to do, playing amazing guitar, until the very end.  Dave Davies of the Kinks had just said in his Instagram that he had just gone to see him recently.  Are you kidding?  How can this life force fueled by the muse be gone?  78 seemed too young although in Pete Townshend's comments he said, "All of us from the first wave of UK rock and pop that followed in the wake of The Beatles back in the early 60's are getting older of course, and when our time comes it comes."  But it seemed so sudden.

I read over many musicians' comments on websites or social media.  Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Van Morrison, Sir Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper, Alice Cooper, Tal Wilkenfeld, and the list goes on and on.  Eric Clapton simply said, "Always and ever, ec."  Felt that was a fitting sentiment and a great title for this blog.

Guitar World Jan. 1985

   Jeff Beck was not really on my radar music-wise until the mid-1980's.  I know my brother had some of his albums of rock-jazz fusion and he would play them but otherwise I didn't really pay much attention.  I played guitar and my brother said I needed to learn all about the best guitar players.  I think I knew enough about him to see him in the Rod Stewart's "Infatuation" video on MTV in 1984.  I got his album Flash as well, "People Get Ready" was unbelievable bluesy song on a more 80's-style drum machine album but the video?  Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck? Wow!

In my caretaking days of my brother's record collection (when he was in Europe for 2 years teaching at a university) I got to really delve into Jeff 's music catalog.  The 1968 album Truth from the Jeff Beck Group is one of my Desert Island Discs.  The original JBG had Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Micky Waller on drums.  Oh, yeah, Keith Moon on "Beck's Bolero" and a crazy timpani thing on "Ol' Man River."  What an incredible collection of blues tunes!  But also an acoustic Jeff on "Greensleaves."  This virtuoso could "unplug" and be amazing.

Other albums in my brother's collection were Blow by Blow (1975), Wired (1976), and Rough and Ready (1971, 2nd Jeff Beck Group).  I was amazed at the different styles and was a die-hard fan.

I collected magazines, music books, CD's.  Blockbuster Video had The Secret Policeman's Ball for Prince's Trust and not only did it have Jeff performing "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" he also played a blues song with Eric Clapton: "Farther Up the Road." There has been many a comparison and controversy over whether "Clapton Is God" or if Jeff Beck is the best guitar player in the world.  Watch the performance of "Farther Up" and you'll see Clapton just doing a cool bluesy riff and singing, but then when Jeff takes over for a solo, it is out of this world.  It sounds so different but at the same time fits in to the backing bluesy riff.  Clapton and Beck are like comparing apples and oranges.  Clapton has said, "Jeff can do something nobody else can do, he can take the whammy bar, the volume and the tone, it is almost like he's pulling the sounds from the guitar.  It is very difficult to do."

In the Spring of 1989, I wrote about Jeff Beck for the Nils Lofgren Fan Club in Europe.  I basically wrote Jeff's biography up to that time and provided a "Suggested Discography" as well.  When I met Nils in 1990 we discussed Jeff Beck and I asked Nils if he had seen any of the Fall 1989 Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan shows.  He said he did and I asked him what songs he played.  If you are a guitarist like Nils, you can't help but be influenced by Jeff Beck.

Jeff wasn't really touring much in the 1980's or 1990's.  He did three dates with Rod Stewart in 1984, he would come out and play "Infatuation" then leave the stage.  The Stevie Ray Vaughan shows would have been cool to see.  

Beckology Boxed set

After 1989's Guitar Shop, Jeff released only two albums in the 1990's.  He always chose when to work and he loved his other hobby of restoring vintage race cars.  So Jeff just had that luxury of playing and recording when the mood struck him.  He did a few guest appearances on other artists' albums like an incredible cover of "Manic Depression" with Seal on the Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix album in 1993.  

Jeff was always in demand to be a guest musician in a variety of music genres over the years including:  Donovan, The GTO's, Stevie Wonder, Stanley Clarke, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, ZZ Top, The Pretenders, Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Corr, Roger Waters, Jon Bon Jovi, Morrissey, Paul Rodgers, Van Morrison, and Ozzy Osbourne among many others. 

I did not really hear much of what he was up to until he appeared at the 25th Anniversary for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.  He played "Superstition" with Stevie Wonder (Stevie actually wrote that song for Jeff and it appears on Beck, Bogart, and Appice).  And Jeff filled in for Eric Clapton (who was ill) to perform four songs:  "People Get Ready" (with Sting),  "Let Me Love You" (with Buddy Guy), "Foxey Lady" (with Billy Gibbons), and his amazing cover version of The Beatles "A Day in the Life."

Shortly thereafter, Rolling Stone magazine had Beck and Clapton on the cover.  In that interview, I learned about this epic performance by Jeff Beck at a jazz club in London called Ronnie Scott's in 2007.  I got the DVD in 2010 and I was just blown away.  He just had himself, young bassist, Tal Wilkenfeld, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and keyboardist, Jason Rebello.  Beck played songs from throughout his career and had artists like Joss Stone, Imogen Heap and Eric Clapton sing on a few songs.  If this was what I had been missing when Beck wasn't touring all those years, this DVD would have to sustain me.  It was worthy.

Jeff seemed to do more touring in the last 18 years of his life.  He played several Crossroads festivals for Eric Clapton, he toured with Brian Wilson, Heart, and others.  He did a show in New York City honoring his guitar hero, Les Paul, called "Jeff Beck Rock'n'Roll Party."  And, he finally came to Arizona in 2018 and 2019 when I finally got a chance to see him.

Yes, Jeff played the Celebrity Theatre and Nils Lofgren opened for him.  This was a chance of a lifetime.  July 21, 2018.  Set list below:

Pull It

Stratus

You Know You Know                                    

Nadia (Highlight)

Morning Dew  (Highlight)

I Have to  Laugh

Star Cycle

Lonnie on the Move

Mná na hÉireann  (Highlight)

Just for Fun

A Change is Gonna Come

Big Block

Cause We've Ended as Lovers

You Never Know

Brush with the Blues (Highlight)

Blue Wind

Superstition

A Day in the Life  (Highlight)

Encore:  Corpus Christi Carol and Going Down

The September 24, 2019 show included the following songs:

Space for Papa

Stratus

Just for Fun

You Know You Know

Nadia

Mná na hÉireann

You Never Know

Caroline, No (Beach Boys cover)

Lonnie on the Move

Cause We've Ended as Lovers

Rumble

Isolation (John Lennon cover)

This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr

Brush with the Blues

Little Wing (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

Superstition

A Day in the Life

Encore:  Hey Mr. Millionaire

What an amazing opportunity to see Jeff Beck two times, two years in a row!  It is not possible to describe the song by song details of the show.  Jeff's concerts are him doing his amazing guitar work, and you are totally immersed in his music (just mindfulness at its best).  I was thrilled to hear these songs live. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have seen him at all.

I will leave this with words I wrote in 1989:  "Jeff Beck has been known to many guitarists, not to mention many rock and roll enthusiasts, as the best guitar player in the world.  Some might not be familiar with his name, but he has inspired many a struggling young guitarist with his bluesy fills, slashing riffs, and use of feedback.  The most impressive thing people notice about Jeff Beck's talent is that he KNOWS the guitar.  He always manages to get the sound that he wants and it is never a muddy, unpolished sound--the sound is so clean."

Thanks, Jeff.  Rock and Roll Heaven has gotten their Greatest Guitarist Ever.

Take a look at Brush with the Blues from Crossroads 2007:

https://youtu.be/n9SJq4Tz-B8