Friday night: Seeing my son Gabriel’s band The Collies play at a bar in Mt. Lookout.
Saturday during the day: working on a basement clean-up project.
Saturday night: Maggie Rose/Molly Tuttle concert in Lexington, KY with Gabriel. (MP Gannon rules!)
Sunday morning: kayaking with my friend Matt. His wife passed away back in February. Friday would’ve been her 50th birthday. I’m making an concerted effort to catch up with him on a regular basis. (I also organized a happy hour with some of our old co-workers a few weeks back.)
Sunday night: Built to Spill/Wussy concert at Ludlow Garage, with Gabriel and my daughter Leah. (First concert that we’ve gone to together!)
I’m not retired (yet!) but when the topic comes up in casual conversation (as it often does for people in my age bracket), some folks interrogate me with variations on these questions:
“But what will you do all day when you’re retired?” and
“Aren’t you afraid of getting bored?”
My answer to #1 is “more of the above” – more concerts, more time with my family (hmm, I probably should reverse the order of those two…), more home projects, more kayaking (and yes, more pickleball), more travel, more time with friends, more reading, more writing, more podcasting, and more of whatever the heck I want to do. (And yes, probably more naps.)
And my answer to #2 is an emphatic NO! I have waay too many interests for that to happen.
Right now I’m working for the weekend. I am starting to look forward to a permanent weekend. Especially if they’re like this past one!
On Saturday, I drove down to Lexington, KY with my oldest kid Gabriel to see an outdoor show at The Burl. (Great place to see a show, btw.)
It was a co-headlining tour, Maggie Rose and Molly Tuttle. I’d just seen Molly Tuttle a few weeks prior. And yes, I’ve been known to double down on artists I enjoy seeing. (Looking at you, Gladie.) But the real reason for the road trip was the guitarist for Maggie Rose’s band. MP Gannon. The dude’s an amazing guitar player.
And he has a fantastic, soulful voice to boot.
And I’d say that even if he weren’t my first cousin once removed.
But he IS my first cousin once removed, and that makes it even cooler! (I know him better as Michael Patrick.)
This doesn’t exactly qualify as a news bulletin, but I love music. And seeing my cousin’s kid up on stage, in front of a rapt audience, doing his thing… goosebumps the entire time! (I can only imagine how my cousin Patty and her husband Paul feel when they see their son on stage.)
In her set, Maggie performed a cover of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” — a ballad made famous by Bonnie Raitt*. If you’re gonna do that classic (or any Bonnie Raitt song, really), you’d better have the voice to back it up.
And Maggie does, in spades.
*that song was co-written by former Cincinnati Bengal defensive tackle Mike Reid, a two-time Pro Bowler whose songwriting career has far eclipsed his gridiron greatness.
Maggie recorded a duet version of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” song with Vince Gill. Which means MP has some pretty big shoes to fill in concert. TBH, I prefer his voice to Vince’s. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my first cousin once removed. (But, as previously established, he IS!)
Speaking o’ big shoes to fill, for Molly Tuttle’s encore, Maggie Rose and MP joined Molly’s band for rousing renditions of “She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones and “Up on Cripple Creek” by The Band. MP sang a verse of the latter – meaning he was channeling Levon Helm… merely my favorite member of one of my favorite bands. (Because Levon, the only non-Canadian member of The Band, was from my old stomping grounds of Arkansas.)
MP is based in Nashville. And as the Lovin’ Spoonful famously told us in their song “Nashville Cats”:
Well, there’s thirteen hundred and fifty two Guitar pickers in Nashville And they can pick more notes than the number of ants On a Tennessee ant hill
To snag a gig as a touring “guitar picker” is a big hill to climb. To become an integral part of Maggie Rose’s band in just a year with them is a testament to his talent, and his dedication to the craft.
A rockin’ house concert, for our family and 25 other folks – some of whom were friends, but most of whom were just friendly strangers.
That’s Jason Narducy playing to the crowd. He releases music as Split Single. He’s also the touring bassist for Superchunk, one of my favorite bands. Also bassist in the Bob Mould band (Bob’s another fave). And Jason teamed up with actor Michael Shannon to organize the R.E.M. tribute supergroup that I posted about a couple of months ago. Oh, and he wrote a book filled with some fun stories from his life on the road as a musician.
When he’s not touring as a “band guy” he does solo house concerts.
It’s not a glamorous existence, cramming all your gear into a rental car (in Jason’s case, a rental car with the “lane assist” function that he can’t figure out how to turn off) and driving hours upon hours to get to the next stop. And when you get there, setting up all that gear, hoping the host is a decent human being, and that your voice isn’t shot, and that the crowd isn’t dead.
It’s also not a lucrative endeavor. On a good night, you move the people with your music, and you move some merchandise too. Enough to pay the bills, and may put a few bills in your pocket.
From my biased perspective, I think last night was a great night. Jason’s a gifted musician, and a natural storyteller. And he’s a heck of a nice guy. As much as I love hearing music in an intimate setting, I probably enjoy the dead time before the show just as much. It was just Jason and I, hanging out in our kitchen. I won’t delude myself that we’re now besties. But it was good to get to know a bit more about him as a person, not just a performer.
Live music is my thing, but every house concert is a family affair. Peter helped me rearrange the furniture. Tina cleaned after my “cleaning” efforts fell short. Gabriel grabbed the pizza for Jason’s pre-show meal. Leah and Andrew kept the dogs upstairs when guests started arriving.
The show was stellar – mostly originals, with a few tasty covers (The Kinks, Superchunk, R.E.M… on mandolin!) in the mix. Great stories in-between.
We live on Wilaray Terrace and Jason jokingly called it “Wilaray Arena.” I love that. As long as I’m living, our living room will be open for business as Wilaray Arena. Because I’ll take a rockin’ living room over arena rock 100% of the time. Or in Jason’s case “95 Percent.”
I spent a decent amount of time last week hootin’ and hollerin’ in the Hoosier State. with nary a Gene Hackman sighting.
Live music is my game.
This past Tuesday, I drove to Bloomington, Indiana to see Gladie, an indie rock band from Philadelphia. (And my new musical obsession.)
(I also took my son and one of his roommates out to dinner before the show. It was “two-fer Tuesday.”)
Then on Friday, I went to Indianapolis with my friends Deuce* and Matt to see David Byrne at the Murat Theater.
*everyone should have a friend named Deuce
The members of Gladie are probably in their 20s. David Byrne will turn 74 later this month. (You wouldn’t know it by his stage presence, though.)
Byrne’s show was part of a two-night, sold-out stand. 5000+ people total enjoyed his amazing show.
Gladie’s show probably had fewer than 60 paying customers. But to me, it was equally amazing.
When David Byrne and his fellow Talking Heads band members were starting out, they probably had many sparse crowds at CBGB and other NYC venues.
Making music for a living is a tough row to hoe. Talent matters, but there’s also a lot of luck (or at least “right place/right time” involved). Talking Heads were part of the NYC scene that included bands like Blondie, The Ramones, Television, the New York Dolls… They didn’t sound the same, but they supported each other, and benefitted from audiences that were open to new ideas. And those bands stayed true to their thing. They stayed indie, even as they moved to major labels and the stakes got higher. David Byrne — who typically bikes around NYC (such a brave soul!) — spent Thursday biking around Indianapolis and taking photos to use in his show. And he started a great website called “Reasons to be Cheerful.”
You can check out the website and sign up for their weekly email here.
In other words, even though he’s playing to much bigger crowds, David Byrne is still indie.
Will Gladie be playing bigger stages down the line? I have no idea. They certainly have the talent.
But I hope they stay true to their thing. I hope they stay indie. Because 50 years from now, staying true to yourself — even if it’s just for a crowd of 60 — will matter much more than selling out to get a sell-out.
This past Friday night, Milwaukee singer/songwriter Brett Newski played a free show in the lounge at the Southgate House in Newport, KY.
The music was great, but the crowd could best be described as “sparse.” However, there was a woman in the audience who knew the lyrics to every song Brett sang. She was mouthing along (not, it should be noted, singing along) to every tune. So much so that Brett commented on it from the stage – he was duly impressed.
After the show, that same woman and her husband talked to Brett at the merch booth, and the woman got a photo with him. Afterward, she was crying tears of joy. So of course, i had to put on my roving reporter hat and go up to the couple, and find out the backstory.
Actually, I just complimented her – said it was great to see someone so passionate about Brett’s music. But I did get the backstory – her husband likes discovering new artists, and makes mix CDs for his wife. A Brett Newski song was on one of them, and Meghan (with a “h”… I asked, as good reporters do) was hooked.
Great news for Meghan: Brett and his band will be back in town this summer, playing a house concert. My friend Jacqui (the OG Brett Newski superfan – she and her hubby Dave hosted him at her house for a concert, and now they offer him and his band free room and board and a complimentary breakfast whenever they roll through town) introduced me to the couple who will be hosting the summer show (all of us were at the Southgate show), and I passed along the ticket info to Meghan.
House concerts. Lounge shows. It’s not 20,000 plus at Madison Square Garden – but it doesn’t matter. Brett Newski played to an appreciative crowd (including people who turn their homes into concert venues and Quality Inns for him), and got to meet someone who truly loves his music. And Meghan got to meet the person who creates art that she adores. That sort of connection doesn’t fill anyone’s bank account, but it nourishes the soul.
On Sunday, a Philly band called Gladie played at the Northside Tavern.
The music was great, but the crowd could best be described as “sparse.”
However, there was an old man there who knew (most of) the lyrics to every song Gladie played, and was mouthing along (not singing along) right near the stage. And he got to talk to the band after the show and let them know how much he loves their music. You won’t find that at Madison Square Garden. And my ticket costs less than the service fees for most big shows.
Have you found your Newski? Your Gladie? It doesn’t have to be a musician. If there’s someone who creates art that nourishes your soul, let them know, and find a way to support them. Before you squander more sunsets…
This past Tuesday, I drove two-and-a-half hours to see a tribute band.
It wasn’t Hells Belles (female AC/DC tribute band).
It wasn’t Pink Talking Fish (tribute to Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish)
It wasn’t the Hot Red Chili Peppers (tribute to the Red Hot Chili Peppers).
It wasn’t Mini KISS (KISS tribute band of little people).
It was less a tribute band, and more of a supergroup — with an Oscar-nominated actor — paying tribute to R.E.M.
Jason Narducy (touring bassist for Superchunk and Bob Mould’s band, also releases solo music as Split Single) first teamed up with Michael Shannon [Oscar nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Revolutionary Road (2008) and Nocturnal Animals (2016)] to play R.E.M. songs back in 2023.
The Shannon-Narducy project started as a one-off in a July 2023 show at Chicago’s Metro honoring Murmur’s 40th anniversary, built on a decade-long tradition of the two middle-aged men learning and performing a complete album—Bob Dylan, The Smiths, Modern Lovers—as a single event, never repeated. The Metro show sold 925 tickets on 30 days’ notice, in summer, when every street festival in Chicago is competing for attention.
Clearly there was an audience for this show. So they took it on the road.
None of this [touring] was planned in any way, shape, or form,” Narducy says. “I can tell you that.” But promoters around the country started emailing. The first tour was nine shows. Narducy financed it on two credit cards. “My credit score dropped 250 points,” he says, chuckling.
(same source as above)
This year, “Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy & Friends” was playing the R.E.M. album Lifes Rich Pageant from front to back, along with several other R.E.M. tunes. And the rest of the band members are names any indie rocker would recognize:
John Stirratt (Wilco) on bass. Jon Wurster (Mountain Goats and Bob Mould, formerly of Superchunk) on drums. Dag Juhlin (The Slugs, Poi Dog Pondering) and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (“One of Chicago’s most sought-after musicians — pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger, engineer, and producer”) on keyboards.
The tour was selling out 1,000+ seat venues. I went to the final show of the tour, at the 288-capacity Bluebird Nightclub in Bloomington, Indiana. (Lifes Rich Pageant was recorded in that town 40 years ago.)
If you think Michael Shannon is just dabbling in music, think again. He’s put in the work to do justice to Michael Stipe’s vocal stylings.
I would’ve loved the show even if it were just the stellar band doing 23 R.E.M. songs. But they had a special guest joining them for several tunes: R.E.M. bassist/vocalist Mike Mills.
And he loved it too!
Nostalgia can be a trap. But R.E.M. songs meant a lot to a lot of folks in my age bracket. And a chance to reconnect with those songs — and with one of the guys who created them — was magical. Not just for us, but for Mike Mills too. “The power, and the joy, of an R.E.M. show… keeping the joy of our music alive for us, and for our fans.”
So it wasn’t a tribute band. It was great band, playing tribute to another great band that paved the way for them.
… we are young despite the years… we are hope despite the times…
R.E.M. “These Days”
BTW, Jason Narducy is playing a solo “songs and stories” show at my house on May 14. You can get tickets here.
Damian on Uno, dos, tres, cuatro…: “That’s where my head was for the title as well, Chuck! Great musical minds…” Jun 2, 21:36
Chuck Wiggins on Uno, dos, tres, cuatro…: “The extent of my high school Spanish memory is being able to to the count off at the beginning of…” Jun 2, 11:19
Thomas Kuhl on M.P.G. the M.V.P.: “I see the resemblance especially with the facial features?!?” May 19, 03:19
Chuck Wiggins on M.P.G. the M.V.P.: ““I Can’t Make You Love Me” is a fabulous song – I love the clip above, so will go searching…” May 18, 13:19
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