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Oh I had so much fun on Nantasket Beach
The open double life...Present and Past...
What a delightful way to close out August. Taking photos, writing poetry, going back into my old world with dear friends that have been with me for decades juxtaposed alongside my new world, it's truly like switching channels. This gig we kept "low key," and the old Count traveled on the clouds against a pink gold sky. The ride to Nantasket such a hike (it's easier to go to Salisbury Beach or Hampton, even though the mileage seems longer) it was an intentional solo journey from my new world back to my old world. And it was so much fun.
There was no disrespect, anyone from my day to day 2019 life surely would have been welcome to attend...I just didn't push the show, a kind of meditative spirit heading back to Hull for the 7th year in a row, emerging from Kansas and landing back in Oz. The status as rock and roll legend intact I didn't have to pull a "Ric Ocasek" of the Cars and play the part. Kids in 2019 wouldn't know Mr. Ocasek (nee Otcasek, dropping the t for his stardom quest...)if they bumped into him. Nor would the new artists even know me if not for my status of nightclub publicist...
But there were people from back in the day rocking out, and the promoter came up while the applause was happening and told us to do an encore. So there we were...I'm saying "Sister Ray..." the band members are contemplating "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Hangin' Round," all Lou Reed material. Funny thing, we only did a couple of Lou tunes in the set, the rest of the material was mine, a switch from previous years. But the new rhythm section and key fellows from my 90s bands (as well as someone from my 70s band, of course) have been digging into my old catalog. It's been a treasure to sing the old compositions again.
photo by Joe V (C)2019 all rights preserved like you-know-who's hairdo! Uncle Bob!
It was a perfect beach night down in the world where the Kingsmen (Louie Louie) and other famed groups played other venues long gone...indeed, Nantasket Beach is NOT the Nantasket of the 1960s...like Revere Beach it has all changed and you know more condos are coming quicker than Mayor McGlynn can snap his fingers and say "abracadabra."
The sky was accelerating, from ominous to splashy pastels, what a rock and roll genius paints on the stellar canvas. I didn't want to practice for the gig...how many thousands of nights practicing, how many shows over the past forty-eight or so years...but we practiced, and the show was momentous, much better than the one 90 days ago at the Middle East on June 1. That show was ok, but this had verve and intensity.
So the encore...what band throws songs around onstage to figure out the encore? Now "Sister Ray" would have been for me...I just love playing and singing that song, but when I asked the audience to choose between "Sweet Jane" and "Sister Ray," they chose "Sweet Jane."
Give the people what they want. So the performer's hat went back on and we performed Lou Reed's true nugget, a song that is bigger than his hit recordings ("Wild Side," "Love You Suzanne," "Dirty Boulevard," etc.) ...interesting that Lou's hit records remain with his fans, but "Sweet Jane" is probably larger than Wild Side, despite the motorcycle advertisement and Marky Mark and his Funky Bunch covering it. "Sweet Jane" is the staple, currently being performed by our friends in Mott the Hoople as that tour is continuing. All due respect to Ian and Steve and the gang in Mott, our band was playing "Sweet Jane" before Mott the Hoople put it on their All the Young Dudes lp. Probably because we didn't know how to play anything else...except "Sister Ray" which has less chords!
It was my night at the beach...the rock star coming out of retirement and taking the stage by storm...
One side of me would like to get back out on the road and do this full time - as one of Lou's original bandmembers said, we do Lou Reed better than all the others out there attempting to capture the magic that we have... probably some very good money in it.
The other side of me likes to savor the rare gig or two...come out - be dazzling...and go back to my other life traveling in and out of worlds like a space alien on his super conductor...
When it came time for "Foggy Notion," the Velvet Underground song off of my first lp (the Velvet Underground never released it back in the day; that album of ours was the only legitimate place you could find the track, taught to us by The Real Kids and The Modern Lovers while we were recording the Flamingo/Carrere platter for Paris back in the 1970s...) ...I let the band have fun with it. They do it more like the Velvets than my "new" arrangement ("new" forty years ago, that is....) ...it was fun to be out in the audience watching your group do one of the songs that launched your legend.
They did it great...I wasn't in the mood to sing it.
Oedipus: "Foggy Notion is your only good song." Really, Oedi? Have you grown up yet???
We have many good songs...many, many good songs...and we don't need the ex arbiter of taste putting his two cents in...ha ha... We are rocking, and he's long forgotten...
Can't wait for Year # 8 - September 2020...be there, or be square!
to be continued
