Chronogram.com by Todd Paul ear whacks 12/99 Joys in the Hood

Ear Whacks

Joys in the Hood

by Todd Paul


Rick Danko

Remember when CDs first came out? Futuristic, durable, precise—they were everything records were not: a direct assault on the mysterious black platter that had come to symbolize white American hedonism in the post-war era. People, it turned out, were more attached to the medium than the message; willing to abandon disco at the drop of a mirror-ball, but unwilling to part with those scratchy old analog recordings with the stain on the cover from when your brother’s girlfriend drank too much tequila and threw up on your parents’ stereo about five minutes before your Dad was due to come home early and break up the party you weren’t supposed to be having. Gallons of ink were spilled lamenting the shortcomings of digital audio, the sterility of CDs, the graphic limitations of the little square package. I might even have spilled a pint or two myself.
It’s true, I harbor a deep distrust of digitized sound. But on a day-to-day basis, the only thing that really bugs me about CDs is the jewel case. Wasteful of space, hard to unwrap, easy to break, the things seem designed to use the maximum amount of plastic in the least intelligent way. A movement toward sensible cardboard sleeves has yet to gain any serious momentum.
But it’s always worth the effort, and that’s one reason I was glad to see this month’s featured album, the Rick Danko Band’s Live on Breeze Hill. Open the simple cardboard sleeve and you will find, printed in soy-based ink on recycled paper, the words, “Greenpeace will receive a portion of the proceeds.” According to an interview posted on the Woodstockrecords.com website, Danko has this to say about that: “I’ve often said, when we were younger, we wanted to change the world, but as I got older, I was saying, ‘I know I’m not smart enough to change the world, but I’m here to help the neighborhood.’ I’ll take all of that back, if I have to do it one CD at a time, you know, just by making people aware of Greenpeace, and what we’re trying to do to educate people to be on a more conscious awareness level, ecologically speaking. The more we think about things, the more things are gonna get done.”


Levon Helm

Now, I’m not advocating you run out and buy a CD just because it benefits Greenpeace and was produced in a unionized, non-polluting solar-powered studio using equipment sculpted entirely from tofu. Live on Breeze Hill is a solid musical offering of rave-ups like “Ophelia” and “Shape I’m In,” recorded live by Danko and a nine-piece band featuring Band-mates Garth Hudson and Jim Weider, along with luminaries like Letterman horn player Tom “Bones” Malone and Saturday Night Live band leader Lenny Pickett. Area players like Randy Ciarlante, Scott Petito, Dean Sharp and Leslie Ritter give the whole package a homey feel; Danko is in fine voice and if there are no great leaps into new territory on this recording, there are no let-downs, either.
I’m not sure what the relationship is between Breeze Hill Records and Woodstock Records, but it seems to be a close one. The latter label put out Souvenir Vol. 1 last year, the first album by Danko’s Band-mate Levon Helm and The Crowmatix. Some of the names are familiar—Hudson, Malone and Weider appear as guests on some tracks—and Ciarlante and Hurwitz are charter members, along with Marie Spinosa, Jimmy Eppard and Mike Dunn. The album, about half of which was recorded live at various venues, has more of a down and dirty blues sound than Danko’s, and features songs like “Don’t Ya Tell Henry,” “Rag Mama Rag” and the great Howlin’ Wolf growler “300 Lbs.”
What’s interesting about these two CDs is that, like Lennon and McCartney’s solo albums, they fracture The Band’s signature sound into two components, both of which anyone familiar with the music could instantly recognize—and distinguish between. Both disks are available at area music stores, such as Rhythms, or online at www.woodstockrecords.com.
We in the Hudson Valley are spoiled, in a sense, by the sheer number of fine musicians who live and perform in the area. But every once in a while, someone takes the initiative to bring in big-name artists who don’t have the good fortune to reside in the Catskills. Thom Wolke, president of Twin Cloud Concerts, has conducted an experiment by booking major acts into the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston recently. Wolke was responsible for the recent Lyle Lovett concert, as well as for visits by Joan Armatrading and David Bromberg with Jonathan Edwards.
Unfortunately, the response has been less than optimal. Except for the Lovett show, Wolke’s concerts have not sold as well as expected. “I’m concerned about whether people want to come out for this kind of music,” Wolke told me recently. “I’m a little discouraged...They should’ve done better, and everyone quite frankly is puzzled about that.”
Wolke confesses a love of old theatres. He’d like to see UPAC come alive more frequently, and believes it could help revitalize Kingston’s midtown district. But the numbers just don’t add up. Perhaps the shows are too pricey for us; perhaps Wolke’s choice of performers has been poor, or maybe people hesitate to enter midtown Kingston at night. Wolke’s evaluating the success of his three shows to date, and has no future plans at this point for a fourth—though he’d like to think that the community would support it. “It really does come down to whether people value this as part of their life,” he says. Let’s hope that they do.
Speaking of UPAC, it will be the location for WDST’s holiday benefit concert December 13 at 8 p.m. The concert will feature Interscope recording artist Smash Mouth with guest Citizen King and will benefit the Woodstock Youth Theatre and the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. Tickets are on sale at the UPAC box office or by calling 339-6088.
And now... for something completely different. After interviewing Benson Sebastian for last month’s column, I decided to take his advice and purchase the new Public Enemy CD, There’s a Poison Goin on....When PE first appeared, it seemed that they were a musical manifesto on the order of Malcolm X. It was politically-charged stuff, impressively bombastic, but once you got it, you got it... after It Takes a Nation of Millions, I didn’t bother to follow Chuck D. and crew. Now, sick of their treatment by major labels, PE is back on Internet-based Atomic Pop, with a raft of songs that speak as eloquently as ever on the topics of black oppression and the pathos of the ghetto. Sure, there’s the requisite bragging, but at bottom PE is about social justice, with songs like “I” and “Crash.” This time out, there’s also a heavy slam of the music industry, as Chuck D. urges other black artists to go independent and control the distribution of their own creations. Besides Public Enemy’s relevancy, they remain simultaneously hard and musical—masters of their art. Check it out.
If you’re looking for a good time, oh, around the middle of the month, get your bad self down to New World Home Cooking for the Chronogram sixth anniversary/holiday party on December 16. The evening features the phenomenal Latin dance band Soñando, with opening rockabilly band The Backseat Boys. I can vouch for both, since I’ve danced my butt off to the former and happen to be a member of the latter. The party starts at 7 p.m.—see you there!