Gotta Move While It's Still Fun

Drove by here the other day but didn't see it quite quick enough to frame it well. Just before showtime one night Mitch, Jack and I and maybe Greg or Kevin...anyway, we walked, or actually surfs upped through about 2 inches of urine. And that was in the lobby, on our way to see the Spensive Winos where we witnessed Waddy, Steve Jordan and Charlie Drayton, among a couple others, bring down the house.
Happy times.

Aragon Ballroom, Chicago

3 Out Of 4 Cylinders

Oi, what's all this flap over the un-even harmonies on Rhiannon at the Grammys? Live bands, mathematically speaking, should be un-even.
When I saw The Eagles (everybody just groan now and get it over with) in the early 70s in support of On The Boarder, still in their Chuck Berry at a campfire mode, they were still havin fun and on the loose end of tight. Hell, even Glenn Fry was choog-aloogin in those days. But he is from Detroit, so, he should.
Saw em again at a baseball stadium in Miami ( Jimmy Buffet opened...ugh) touring behind Hotel California and they weren't as much fun but were really really tight...really tight...too tight.
THEN, I saw them once more when The Long Run came out, and they were a holier-than-thou sounding pristine and I vowed never again.

My long winded point is, rawk is about imperfection. It's not about running on all 8, but how you try to get there and what it sounds like while you do.
A prominent drummer friend of a friend of a friend had heard a record, okay, it was a tape I played on and said he really enjoyed it. And I told him I thought I sounded pretty wobbely. His epic reply, which I had tattooed on my upper neck in thick black gothic letters, was: "Rock-n-Roll is wobbely Todd." Every time I read that back I catch myself nodding my head in agreement.

A cooler thing to have done, although Taylor and Stevie never would have gone for it, was to have brought the vocals down in the mix and brought Waddy way the hell up and just had him crank for the duration. Nobody would have been the wiser if the girls weren't particularly on it.
The crowd would have actually rawked for a change and maybe I wouldn't have turned the TV off.

credits:
Fred Young of the Kentucky Headhunters
From ginbaby.vox.com

Rock Pyle

This could very well be another laboring read on the influence of my older brother's college record collection. One would bring home the folksy, troubadour style, Kingston Trio then The Byrds then Judy Collins. The other would bring home the Stones, Cream Disraeli Gears and Blue Cheer. Meantime, the folks taste ran along the lines of the Mills Brothers, Sing Along with Mitch and the theme for Dr. Zhivago. The house seemed to swoon to music while my brothers took turns beating me to a bloody pulp. But as I rose from the liquid, it was the Stones and Byrds and maybe a touch of Dinah Shore that stuck with me, or because of my gelatenous state, stuck to me.
Rick Pyle never allowed me to fall on the Beatles side of the Stones/Beatles fence. And from there, I became a devout Keef, hit-the riff-hard disciple. It was Rick Pyle again who shed light on this other much more gifted Keith devotee, and soon to be sideman down the road, Waddy Wachtel. Waddy, he must be a Brit with a name like Waddy. Then I heard Linda Ronstadt's rowdy, Cali-style version of Tumblin' Dice.
Bud Cowsill urged Waddy and his band, Twice Nicely to head west to L.A. from their base in Connecticut. After 2 years of not much/not enough, Waddy began recording and producing the Cowsills, which lead to the swingin' door for artist's and musical directors, The Everly Brothers where he met Warren Zevon, which, lead to an ever growing laundry list of stints with Carole King, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt. Buckingham/Nicks and my personal favorite, the X-pensive Winos. How do you like that, Keith playing with Keith. Waddy Wachtel, besides Ron Wood is the only guitar player I've heard that can hand Keith back to himself. They
both perfectly exemplify rhythm-as-lead. Keith being a bit more artisan rootsey vs. Waddy's studied, no-nonsense chops.
If you've ever seen Martin Scorsese's Shout at the Devil...er no, Shine a Light, you'd be witness, I think, to the finest recorded performances on film especially on IMax. It's so freakin' loud, in a good way. I could feel myself wanting to stand up and cheer after my favorite songs. The mix and seperation is so clear you can pick out the nuance between Ronnie and Keith.
Those out-of-left-field rhythmic flourishes pop in and out. I'd like to think I can easily tell the difference between the two but I don't think I'd ever put money on it.
Waddy also had and has his hand in scoring films. He played on and in The Poseidon Adventure, FM (in Linda Ronstadts band), Up In Smoke, The Longest Yard, Joe Dirt, The Bench Warmers, House Bunny and Paul Blart Mall Cop to name a few. During a break while working with Adam Sandler, Waddy made a call to Keith to say;"Guess what, I'm playing with a comedian" to which Keith replied;" Yeah, aren't we all?"


A little Wikipeepee
Photo of Waddy from paulgilbert.com
Photo of Keith and Ronnie backstage 78' from morrisonhotel.com