Live Music From Dead Man String Band

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Denny

I have experienced very little live music during the last fifteen months, and I miss it. I was looking forward to attending a Dead Man String Band performance on Fountain Square last month but it fell victim to some serious wind and rain. It was rescheduled for June 4 and this time the weather cooperated in wondrous fashion. It was not, however, the same show I would have seen on May 7 if the weather had not misbehaved so badly back then. The “band” underwent a major transformation that included a tripling in size. You’ll see.

A difference I don’t think had anything to do with the transformation of the headliner, was a change in openers and an increase from one to two. I apologize to Loop Man Dan for catching just a smidgen of his set as I walked through the square on the way to dinner. I returned in time to hear about half of Nick Baker’s performance. Both were new to me and everything I heard sounded good.

Wikipedia says that a string band is “an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments”. The original Dead Man String Band was an ensemble of one. Rob McAllister played some pretty fancy bass and lead parts on an electric guitar while wearing a mask and playing bass and snare drums with his feet.

Rob is still at the heart of the band but, with the addition of John Castetter on bass and Eric Osborne on fiddle, it more closely fits the standard definition of a string band.

Rob calls this the acoustic version of the band and has written a ton of new music for it. That even includes some banjo tunes so that the instrumentation matches that of a traditional string band a little closer. Tonight there was no snare or hi-hat; just a tambourine for that left foot. His face is still partially hidden but now it’s by a beard instead of a mask.

As I circled the crowd on the way out, two different groups spotted my camera and volunteered as subjects. One was seated at a table at the back of the widely spaced crowd and the other was listening from the side of the stage. That’s something that has not happened in a long time and it felt pretty good. Actually, the whole evening felt good — and a little strange. The pandemic isn’t over and COVID has not been conquered but there are promising signs. A little string band music is one for sure.

Trip Peek #98
Trip #152
Dirk and Lincoln

Posted on September 27, 2020 by Denny

This picture is from the 2018 trip I called Dirk and Lincoln. The purpose of the trip was to see Dirk Hamilton performing at a venue he played at frequently in the 1980s with the musicians he played with there. That was all I needed to justify the trip, but the venue was in California and there was no reason not to hang around a few days. That’s where the Lincoln part comes in. I flew to Sacramento then drove to Stockton for the show. I drove down to the bizarre Winchester Mystery House the next morning and picked up some Lincoln Highway on the way back. The rest of the trip was spent following a sort of Lincoln Highway loop to the east through Carson City, Reno, and Donner Pass then back to Sacramento for a night that included a visit to the Delta King.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Music Review
Blues With Friends
Dion

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Denny

I started off my recent review of Willie Nile’s latest album by talking about my initial experience with it and I’m going to do the same thing here. I ordered both CDs ahead of their release dates but my experiences with them do not have much in common beyond that. I kind of keep up with Willie and placed my order while the music was being recorded. I ordered Dion’s CD in response to an ad on Facebook. I honestly believe it’s the first thing I’ve actually bought through a Facebook ad despite the platform’s tendency to flood my feed with eerily well-targeted items. There was nothing even slightly mysterious about why this album appeared. Just look at its list of guests. Predicting that I might be interested really could have been a no-brainer.

The only thing even remotely eerie occurred on the day it arrived. June 5 was the official release date. On the morning of June 1, I got a message saying my order was out for delivery. Preordering can have its advantages. In the afternoon, I took a look at Facebook and saw that a friend had shared a link to a video that had been posted a couple of days earlier. The video was of Dion singing one of the songs on the album and as I watched it the mail truck pulled up to deliver my copy.

I don’t doubt that current events had something to do with the posting of that particular song. By current events, I mean the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and protests over racial inequality and police brutality. The protests were triggered by the death of a black man at the hands of police although racial inequality was already a major topic of discussion because of the uneven impact of the pandemic on people of color. The black man was George Floyd. He died on May 25. The video was posted on May 29. The song is about Dion’s friendship with Sam Cooke, a black man who died in 1964. The video is extended a bit with some comments from Dion. I suggest watching it regardless of what you think about Dion, the blues, or any of the friends he recorded this set with. It’s here: Song for Sam Cooke (Here In America)

So what about the CD? I once reviewed a CD with a single word and I’m tempted to do the same thing here — with the same word. That CD was Love for Levon which was recorded live at a 2012 benefit concert following the death of Levon Helm. I justified not giving it a real review by telling myself that it was a big enough deal that my tiny voice would be totally drowned out by real reviewers, but the real reason was that there were so many wonderful performances by so many excellent artists that it would be nearly impossible to do justice to them all. Both arguments definitely apply to Blues with Friends. The word was “Wow!”

But it’s obviously too late to do a one-word review and there are some significant differences. The biggest is that, while Blues with Friends features an astounding roster of musicians, every song was written and sung by one man.

Dion DiMucci is eighty years old. His career is sixty-three. That’s a lot of time to pick up talented friends and Dion seems to have done better than most and he’s done it all along the way. Some of the friends contributing to this album, such as Joe Lewis Walker and Jeff Beck, have been performing since the 1960s. Samantha Fish began recording in 2009. None of them had to be begged and Joe Bonamassa didn’t even have to be asked. Joe wanted to play on “Blues Comin’ On” from the minute he heard it demoed. Dion credits Joe and his enthusiasm as being the catalyst for the album. As Dion tells it, “So I sent out invitations to my friends — and would you look at the names of who said yes!”

I have a feeling that all that talent could make some pretty crappy material sound good but what it does here is make good material sound even better. Saying that every song was written and sung by one man wasn’t entirely honest. Dion actually had a co-writer on each of them. It was Buddy Lucas on “Kickin’ Child”, Bill Touhy on “Hymn to Him”, and Mike Aquilina on everything else. Dion is the lead singer on every track although he does get help on a few. Of course, when that happens it’s people like Van Morrison, Paul Simon, and Patti Scialfa doing the helping.

I’m going to stop it with the details since I know that my tiny voice will be totally drowned out by real reviewers and there were so many wonderful performances by so many excellent artists that it would be nearly impossible to do justice to them all. Wow!

Music Review
New York at Night
Willie Nile

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Denny

I didn’t actually try to produce a flashback last week but I thought about it. Because I’d pre-ordered the CD, when Willie Nile released World War Willie back in 2016, I got a digital copy before the actual CD arrived. It was early spring and I took a nice walk around the neighborhood with the new music playing in my ears. The walk and the songs both made an impression. A similar situation existed with New York at Night. A digital version became available before the physical version arrived. My World War Willie introductory walkabout was powered by a 2011 vintage iPod. It still works fine but I no longer have any way to maintain its contents. This time I downloaded the music to my phone and set out to enjoy some fine weather and new music.

I’d previously used the phone for some podcasts and music but had not really mastered its operation. I tapped the first track listed; The phone played it to completion then stopped and waited for me to select another. There’s probably some way to get automatic movement between tracks, but a small screen in bright sunlight did not lend itself to figuring that out. So, as each track ended, I stopped walking long enough to tap the next one in the list. The screen size and bright sun also didn’t exactly help an old man’s eyes read each track name. I just tapped each track in the sequence displayed. Back home, I discovered that the list was not in the intended sequence. I’ve not deduced an actual pattern so maybe it really is random.

I quite enjoyed the warm and sunny walk and even stepped inside a store for the first time in several weeks. It was a United Dairy Farmers store where I bought an ice cream cone to help me get home. I also enjoyed the music and noted some tracks I looked forward to hearing again. But I did not feel the same kick and elation as on that 2016 walk. I started this article by saying I had not set out to intentionally reproduce a flashback. That’s technically true, but I think I must have expected one and was disappointed when it didn’t materialize.

Then the CD arrived. It was in the player when I set out on a drive long enough to hear it all. There was no flashback, but the kick was there and the disappointment was not. There’s no real need to dig for an explanation. Many things — and maybe music most of all — strike us differently for no more concrete a reason than it’s a different day. I’ve thought of some reasons for the difference and most have to do with my personal attitude and the fact that driving was less common than walking during the COVID-19 impacted 2020 while the opposite was true in 2016. But I honestly believe that the different sequences also had something to do with it.

The CD opens with “New York is Rockin'” which is, as you might have guessed, a solid rocker. The rockin’ continues through “The Backstreet Slide” and only lets up slightly with “Doors of Paradise” and “Lost and Lonely World”. It pretty much rocks, in fact, all the way through with a couple of exceptions I’ll get to later. Two of those first four CD tracks were among the first four tunes of the scrambled list on my phone but they are in reversed position. “New York is Rockin'” was the fourth song I heard on my walk and “Lost and Lonely World” was the first. The tone that was set was quite different and I think that walk vs. ride and my state of mind are only partly responsible.

Not only is the album heart-pumpingly uptempo, it is heart-warmingly upbeat. At its own heart, it is a love letter to New York City with the city celebrated in both the opening and title tracks. While I’ve often shared that NYC is not one of my favorite places, I very much recognize its concentration of art, culture, and energy, and it has been Willie’s favorite place for a long long time. He certainly captures that energy as well as anyone, and even makes me wish I appreciated the city more. That’s what happens with images like “Barishnikov is puttin’ on his blue suede shoes” and “Pavarotti’s singin’ up at Carnegie Hall” from “New York is Rockin'”.

“Under This Roof”, which I’d heard previously via an online video, is one of the two non-rockers I mentioned earlier. The album was recorded prior to the COVID-19 isolation and well before the ongoing national outrage triggered by the death of a black man in the custody of police in Minneapolis. Its generally lighthearted tone can be seen as a welcome and hopeful distraction and this tune’s message of love and sanctuary even more so. The other softer track features Willie alone at the piano doing a song, “A Little Bit of Love”, that was born in a conversation with his 102-year-old father.

Nile’s current touring (if only he could) band, Johnny Pisano, Matt Hogan, and Jon Weber, anchors the album but there is plenty of help. Perhaps the most notable comes from Jimi K. Bones, who was with Willie when I saw him most recently, and the Eagles’ Steuart Smith. Also notable, in my opinion, is the listing of not only one but two tabla players (Pisano and Frankie Lee). That’s something you don’t see every day.

As I considered the importance of sequencing, I may have discovered a subtle return to the past or I may be imagining it. Back in the heyday of vinyl, the first and last tracks on each side, often called the “four corners”, were considered important. Assuming a split with a half dozen tracks per side, the four corners of New York at Night are the two songs with New York in their titles, “A Little Bit of Love”, and something called “Run Free” which was recorded in 2003. “Run Free” is one of those rock ‘n’ roll anthems that seem perfect for ending a concert — or an album. Are the “four corners” on this album real or imaginary? Betcha know what I think.

Music Review
Viral Streaming
Various Artists

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Denny

This isn’t so much a review of music as a review — and preview — of a situation. For quite some time, the Internet has used the word “viral” as if it owned it. Widely and rapidly shared videos, jokes, and photos are said to have “gone viral”. Now the Internet is helping us deal with something that has gone viral the old fashioned way. The novel coronavirus that causes the disease known as COVID-19 is being widely and rapidly shared and we’re trying to make it stop.

We’re trying to make it stop by practicing social distancing. Some people at the World Health Organization want to use the more accurate “physical distancing” but “social distancing” seems to be pretty entrenched. Even before there were “stay-at-home” and “shelter-in-place” orders, bars and the dining areas of restaurants were closed and the income of people who make their living in them was suddenly interrupted. We are quasi-quarantined and semi-isolated, but thanks to the Internet, it’s a quarantine that is, in ways both good and bad, unlike any that’s come before.

One large group whose income has been interrupted is performing musicians. Major festivals and tours, including the Rolling Stones’ “No Filter Tour”, have been canceled or postponed. Some of the big-name stars have moved to fill a little of the vacuum with online concerts and performances. I understand Willie Nelson took part in an online concert last week. I learned of it too late to watch and sure am sorry. There’s an excerpt here. Neil Young has talked about a series of home shows and has one posted here. It’s unclear to me if that’s from a live stream or when there will be more. I stumbled on and surprised myself by enjoying a live feed from Brad Paisley. I’m sure there are others. I think the big-name home show I enjoyed the most is the one pictured at left. That’s Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline with some modified lyrics: “Hands. Washing hands. Reaching out. Don’t touch me, I won’t touch you.”

Of course, no one is really worried about Mick and Keith missing a few paychecks, and neither of the Neils was looking for a handout. Nor was Willie. He was, however, bringing attention to others on the feed who could use some help. A few rungs down the ladder from the Stones and Willie are a whole bunch of musicians that have managed to derive a livelihood from music. With the venues closed, the income is gone. Many are trying online “concerts” in hopes of pulling in some tips. Even on paying gigs, many would typically have a tip jar out. Now, though, the tips aren’t to augment what might be rather small payments from the venues. They’re the whole shebang.

During the last week, I’ve watched online performances by some Cincinnati musicians who happen to be in my line of sight. The opening picture is of Rob McAllister (Dead Man String Band) who did a show on Saturday. So did Ricky Nye, pictured at right. I watched Ricky live then caught Rob’s archived show on Sunday morning. On Sunday night I watched the folks in the other picture on the right, Serenity Fisher and Michael Ronstadt. These are all people I know so I sort of knew what to expect but there were surprises. Rob played a new only-heard-once song and Serenity broke out the bunny ears.

I also checked out some folks I’d never heard before. Ricky, Serenity, and Michael did their own streaming through their Facebook pages. Rob kicked off a series of live streams from CincyMusic. I took advantage of the series to catch three new-to-me artists. Kyla Mainous was on Monday night. Vusive and Matt Waters were on Tuesday. All three showed a lot of talent. Kyla and Matt are singer-songwriters that I’d welcome the chance to see in person. Vusive produces electronic music which happens to not be something I’m likely to go out of my way for although I appreciate the talent and effort involved.

I really enjoyed the “concerts” and I think the performers had a lot of fun too. Although I didn’t, many took advantage of Facebook’s comment support to request songs or just say hi. It gives the shows something of an intimate and interactive feel. I know there are lots of people in Cincinnati besides musicians whose income has suddenly disappeared and I know that’s true for cities everywhere. The interactive two-way aspect of this streaming means the help can go both ways. Music can be a tremendous benefit in dealing with tough times, and right now there’s a lot of music flowing through the Internet because it’s got nowhere else to go. Some can make music, and some can’t. Some can tip a little, and some can’t. Sometimes the helping hand drops a dollar in a hat and sometimes it strums a guitar.

ADDENDUM 25-Mar-2020 13:00: Not long after this was published, CincyMusic shared news of a ten act live stream planned for tonight starting at 7:30 in addition to the already scheduled stream at 6:00. Check them out here and here.

Willie and Beyond

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Denny

Recent road trip plans have been thwarted including some anticipated meandering on the outbound leg of this concert outing. But I made it to the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, IN, for the concert, and hope to do some meandering on the way home. The first day’s journal is up and I expect another two, three, or more days to roll by before I get home.

This entry is to let blog only subscribers know about the trip and to provide a place for comments. The journal is here.

Ludlow Garage 50th Reunion!

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Denny

The Ludlow Garage is a sadly dim shadow in my personal reminisces. I blame that on being busy and broke. My first child was born about seven months before the Garage’s opening on September 19, 1969. Some months prior to that, my wife and I had moved from an apartment roughly half a mile from where the Ludlow Garage was about to appear to a house in a Cincinnati suburb some seven miles distant. Besides the new baby, I was working a full-time job and playing in a band, which meant there was little time. A mortgage and commuting to downtown — along with that new baby — meant there was little money. I visited the Garage a few times, but I missed biggies like the Allman Brothers and Pink Floyd. I almost saw Santana. A friend and I were in line when we convinced each other to go somewhere else. I may have seen Mother Earth since I distinctly recall seeing East Orange Express there, and their only appearance listed on the Ludlow Garage Archive is as a Mother Earth opener. Despite thin credentials, I attended the 25th reunion in 1994 and came back for the 50th. As Ludlow Garage owner Jim Tarbell delivered some opening remarks, Rob Fetters, the day’s opener, crept up behind him following Jim’s mention of his name. This might have been a great photo if I hadn’t been so close and chopped off Jim’s head. But it’s the thought — and the spirit — that counts. Right?

Jim managed to finish his remarks, and Rob got the show rolling. The January 1971 demise of the Ludlow Garage preceded the start of Rob’s impressive musical career, so he never got to play there. In the early 1980s, he fronted local legends The Raisins. The Psychodots, The Bears (featuring Adrian Belew), and lots of solo work have followed. Using recorded tracks lifted from albums combined with live guitar and vocals, he delivered a cool retrospective.

I don’t believe Sonny Moorman ever played at the Garage, either, but he has played just about everywhere else. A typical performance consists of lots of his own blues songs, but one of his side projects was an outstanding Allman Brothers tribute band, and he has been a super fan of Lonnie Mack since childhood. Grand Funk Railroad headlined that first Ludlow Garage with Lonnie Mack preceding them. I’ve often said that if a Lonnie Mack biopic is ever produced, it absolutely has to involve Sonny. He reinforced that today with a remarkable Lonnie Mack tribute set.

This guy definitely played the Ludlow Garage. Sandy Nassan opened the Garage’s second concert, which featured Spirit. I apologize for not catching the names of the folks providing harmonica and vocals. They were quite good and certainly added to the performance, but on the other hand, they might not have really been necessary for a guy who released the critically acclaimed Just Guitar within a year of that Ludlow Garage appearance.

Robin Lacy & DeZydeco recently celebrated their own 30th anniversary, but I missed it. In fact, it had been a while since I’d seen the band, and I’d almost forgotten how much fun they are. Robin and Joani Lacy live near the Ohio River town of New Richmond, where they often perform as a trio with DeZydeco guitarist Ricky Leighton. It’s a place I tend to end up in on semi-aimless drives now and then and I’ve enjoyed several summer afternoons listening to the three of them rotate song selections. As enjoyable as that is it just isn’t the same as a toe-tapping bead-tossing full-band outing. “If you ain’t having fun,” Robin’s been known to point out, “it’s your own damned fault.”

I’m pretty sure everybody did have fun, and that includes Mr. Tarbell. Here we see him catching a strand of thrown beads, struggling a bit to get them over his hat, then casually tossing off a few dance moves before continuing his walk to the opposite side of the stage.

The members of Haymarket Riot nearly exceeded the space available on the stage and the name apparently did exceed the space available on the behind stage screen. That screen, by the way, showed a recorded Ludlow Garage light show in addition to each performer’s name. The band was started in 1965 by the two guys in the second picture, G. Parker and Steve Helwig. They did play at the Ludlow Garage. Over the years, quite a few members have come and gone around Parker and Helwig, and one was in town to help them with a song today. Gary Griffin left Haymarket and Cincinnati in the late 1970s then spent the ’80s and ’90s recording and touring with the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. He is currently touring with Brian Wilson but had some time off to help his former bandmates perform Good Vibrations.

The Warsaw Falcons arrived a little too late for the Ludlow Garage. Originally forming in 1981, the band has deformed, unformed, and reformed multiple times with the only constant being guitarist David Rhodes Brown. The current three-piece lineup came together in 2014 and has continued the legacy of solid live music with a tinge of rockabilly.

It’s possible that I saw Tracy Nelson at Ludlow Garage fronting Mother Earth. As mentioned earlier, that’s based on the fact that I recall seeing openers East Orange Express but I doubt that was the only time they played there. Today, she had wonderful backing from Cincinnati’s Bluebirds. Great voice and great performance.

As stated, Nelson’s backing band was the Bluebirds. There were a few members I didn’t recognize, but that wasn’t particularly unusual. The band has been around a long time, and I’ve lost count of the various lineups I’ve seen. The schedule called for the Bluebirds to perform their own set, including an Allman Brothers tribute, following Nelson’s set. I expected Nelson to just walk off and the band stay in place. Instead, a full onstage shuffle commenced and when it ended a more familiar lineup was on stage. Both groups were, of course, the legitimate Bluebirds. It’s kind of like whatever plane the President is on being Air Force 1. Whatever musicians accompany guitarist Marcos Sastre are the Bluebirds. And they’re always fantastic.

Although Jeffrey Seeman did not perform at the Ludlow Garage, his musical career is inextricably tied to the venue. Seeman was one of the neighborhood teenagers who helped create the place during the summer of 1969 and who worked there after it opened. Much about the experience made long-lasting impressions, but none like being the only person to witness the Allman Brothers rehearsal on the eve of their first Ludlow Garage appearance. The teenager was already playing guitar, but watching Duane Allman’s slide work inspired Seeman to master the technique, which he has done incredibly well. Today he performed on both acoustic and electric and had Skip Cason join on guitar and vocal for one song.

I’d been there when the music started at noon and sort of surprised myself by still being there when headliner Rick Derringer took the stage more than eight hours later. Rick played the Ludlow Garage in 1970 as a member of Johnny Winters’ band. I stayed for a few songs, including Hang on Sloopy, before starting the climb to my car. I saw Rick most recently back in his hometown when Sloopy was turning 50. The band had been a trio then, but now contained a keyboard player whose gear included a keytar. I was parked in the Art Museum lot, which isn’t all that far from the concert pavilion, but the museum completely blocked the music. Only when I pulled out and cleared the building could I hear what was being played. I exited Eden Park to the sound of Frankenstein as a keytarist presumably did his best Edgar Winter. Maybe I should have stayed for that.

Trip Peek #86
Trip #133
Rock ‘n’ Rail Redux

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2016 Rock ‘n’ Rail Redux trip. Readers may recall that previous railroad based trips to Washington, DC, have had issues ranging from extremely late trains to completely canceled trains. This one was essentially problem free. The “Rock” in this particular outing was a Willie Nile concert at, as the sign says, The Hamilton Live. In addition to a pretty much on schedule train ride and a rollicking concert, I enjoyed a day on the National Mall including an independence for Punjab parade.

Trip Peek #85
Trip #148
Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, and Nile

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2018 Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, and Nile trip. It consisted of a day driving to Pittsburgh, PA, a day in the city, and two days driving home during which I got to visit with three old friends. The picture shows the Duquesne Incline which I rode down on after riding up on the Monongahela Incline. I also checked out a couple of museums in Pittsburgh and another on the way home. The Allegheny and Monongahela are the rivers that meet in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio. Willie Nile is the musician whose concert the trip was centered around.

Trip Peek #80
Trip #82
International Blues Challenge 2010

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Denny

This picture is from my 2010 International Blues Challenge trip. Three things came together to make it happen. One was my retirement the previous month which gave me the required free time. The other two may not have been quite as big in absolute terms but they sure were big in terms of pure luck and in actually getting me to the event. About the same time someone posted the availability of a spare ticket via the local blues society group, someone else posted the availability of a room in a block reserved at the host hotel. I snagged the room but was just a little too late on the ticket. It still worked out great. I was able to get my own ticket and I learned that the person offering the extra was a fellow I worked with some years back. We connected in Memphis and have kept in touch since then.

There were 224 competing acts performing on two nights with a third night for the finals. There were also many non-competing acts performing around town in various showcases. I’ve heard the IBC called the largest gathering of blues musicians in the world. Knowing two of the bands in the finals was cool, and having one of those bands place third was downright phenomenal. The picture at the top is of those third place finishers: Cheryl Renee & Them Bones.

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