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Saturday
Jul132013

The Backstory: Something Else by The BB's

Ron Cianciaruso and I go back many years to the creation of musician Pete Townshend’s novella, ‘The Boy Who Heard Music’. We met online through a common love of music and a particular devotion for The Who, and have maintained a close friendship since 2005. When I published my Behind Blue Eyes rock fiction series, Ron was an early supporter and fan of the novels, and we often talked about how cool it would be for someone to take Ian Harrington out of my novels and give him and his band a distinct sound. As a musician and songwriter himself, Ron decided to take up the challenge, and the result was an incredible song called ‘Something Else’. There are elements of magic in the backstory of how this song came to be, which I will let Ron describe in his own words.

Ron with Pete Townshend.


The BB’s have a new song called ‘Something Else’.

How does a song like this get written? What drives the inspiration? How does it take form?

This song is interwoven by several backstories, but in order to maintain context, I will keep this fairly simple. I have always been a fan of Anne Marie’s book series and have enjoyed them since Book One was released. After reading the novels, I felt like it would be very creative to try and put a voice to Ian and I set off to do that in one form or another. I had never written a score to a story so I felt the need to challenge myself on this. In early December, I watched a documentary on how Freddie Mercury conceived, composed, and recorded ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. I was incredibly moved by the process for reasons I cannot explain. Immediately after viewing this, I sat at my piano and out came three parts of a song, literally within 10 minutes.

The instant I played them, I knew it was special, so I set to work on arranging the parts into a final song arrangement. I also sent the music to Lou Luca, who is my good friend and band mate. We have written many songs together over the years and always had a certain Lennon/McCartney type of musical connection. Within hours, Lou had written lyrics as he had done hundreds of times before and sent me a draft of the song. Imagine my surprise when I heard the words ‘Something Else’! Unknown to Lou was the fact the Ian Harrington’s band was called Something Else, and his lyrics fulfilled my desire to be spiritually connected to Anne-Marie’s books. This was an eerie twist to the connection of Anne-Marie’s book and my music, which seemed to bond together like molecules.

Very early one morning after reading an article about the recent Who concerts, John Rabbit Bundrick, the keyboardist for the band, was mentioned and I had wondered how he was doing. I had a casual email relationship with Rabbit over the years, so I wrote him to ask if he would listen to the song and if he would be interested in playing on it as a compensated performer. He replied back almost instantly and we made the arrangements for him to record the piano and Hammond (at Rabbit’s suggestion). Three days later, Rabbit uploaded his parts, which sounded VERY different than the piano I had played in the original recording. After mixing, we quickly realized that Rab took the song to a NEW level. He didn’t just play the piano; he invented some of the magic in the song. This set the stage again for a true collaboration between Anne-Marie, The BB’s, and a member of The Who.

After final mixing and tweaking, the song was released on March 26th. The first time I heard the final mastered version, it gave me chills up my spine. I imagined Ian, standing in the rain, alone, confused, singing this to some of the loves of his life. This was the final piece of the magic that has been born for me. We are already working on several more songs based on the book series and will release them as soon as we can.

You can hear the song by visiting www.thebbsmusic.com or looking us up on Facebook under The BB’s. They are @TheBBSMusic if you want to follow them on Twitter.

Saturday
Jul132013

A History of the Eagles

History of the Eagles 2013 tour promotional poster outside the Air Canada Centre

The last ten months have seen the Toronto concert stage graced by so many rock acts. I’ve had the good fortune to see Rush, Peter Gabriel, the Who, Muse (with Biffy Clyro, who were my primary listening target on that night), Heart, and the Rolling Stones. Two of the bigger tours that came to the Air Canada Centre were on my ‘bucket list’ of bands to catch live, and I was lucky enough to see Fleetwood Mac in April. Two nights ago, it was the Eagles who brought their ‘History of the Eagles’ 2013 tour to the same venue.

Don Henley and Glenn Frey opening with 'Saturday Night'

I am at best a casual fan of this supergroup, appreciating their songs when I hear them played, but by no means a devoted follower of their work. The only record I own is the iconic Hotel California, and I still routinely skip a few tracks when I listen to it. That said, very few other bands come to mind when I think of superb harmonies (CSNY, Queen, and the Sweet) and the possibility of hearing most of the line-up (minus Don Felder and Randy Meisner) was irresistible.

The six magnificent guitars delivering 'The Best of My Love'

The show unfolded in chronological order, giving a retrospective history of the band in its many incarnations. The first set was devoted to the earliest days, and opened with founding members Don Henley and Glenn Frey reminiscing about their meeting in 1971 and then singing a beautiful duet, ‘Saturday Night.’ Former member Bernie Leadon came out for ‘Train Leaves Here This Morning’ to the delight of the crowd, and the band continued to grow in numbers as Timothy B. Schmit and then Joe Walsh were introduced to the stage along with seasoned session musicians. By the time we were treated to ‘The Best of My Love’, there were 6 guitarists in a row strumming, picking, and delivering the trademark vocals that defined the Eagles’ sound from 1975 and onward. From that number on, the hits kept on coming, with a short intermission before a second set that took us on a journey to the Hotel California and beyond. Every song reminded me of the depth of their back catalogue, and the choice to deliver a chronological concert highlighted the evolution of their musical style from their folksy origins to a more multi-layered hybrid of genres that blended their acoustic country roots with electric rock riffs. The visual backdrops of still images and videos evoked the stark landscapes of the southwest, places I have visited and those I still dream of passing through, and they added rather than detracted from the performance by being subtle and intermittent.

Glenn Frey and Don Henley

There were a few surprises for me. I have always thought of the Eagles as a classic California group, and was not expecting to hear that Don Henley was from Texas, Glenn Frey from just outside Detroit (where ‘mother’ is only half of a word!) or that Joe Walsh was from Texas and then New Jersey. In fact, Timothy B. Schmit is the only current or former member that hails from the great state they are associated with. Another delight was to hear no less than three solo numbers from the master of the Stratocaster himself: Walsh’s lively personality added a burst of energy to what was a more laid-back performance when he was out of the spotlight. The only regret I had in the close to 3-hour concert was the omission of my two favourite songs, ‘Wasted Time’ and ‘The Last Resort.’

Joe Walsh does lead vocals

For those of you who may have missed the Toronto date, new dates were announced yesterday, including a return to the Air Canada Centre on November 6th for an encore show on this current tour. I would highly encourage anyone sitting on the fence to consider catching this group on what Henley has called their last tour. The catalogue is rich and deep, the playing of their instruments is superb, and the harmonies are as sweet now as they were in their heyday. Highly recommended, even for the casual fan.

All photos courtesy of Sue Long.

Friday
Jun072013

The Rolling Stones at the ACC

They were stellar during their Forty Licks tour, with a stage I best remember for its naughty graphics of a writhing woman riding their famous tongue logo, and for the stacks that gave off bursts of flames that added flashes of heat during Sympathy For The Devil. A year later, AC/DC stole their thunder at the day-long SARStock concert at Downsview Park, and I wondered if I’d ever again be enchanted by the greatest rock and roll band in the world. It took almost ten years, but on Thursday, June 6th, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, or the ACC as we call it here, the answer was a resounding yes.

With our seats directly across the stage just 20 rows above floor level, the view was perfect; the backdrop was a half shell shape that projected large video images behind it and let the ‘tongue pit’ contain a group of fans as much as it made a great extended runway for the band to stroll around and engage the audience sitting farther back.

The set was solid, a mix of their biggest up-tempo hits along with a few rarities thrown in. I particularly liked the idea of the song request, although the winner, ‘Worried About You’, would not have been my obvious choice. With their vast catalogue, it was evident that many favourites of mine, especially their ballads, would not be included in the show. Still, over the two and a half hours that followed the opening number, they managed to keep the crowd on their feet, dancing, cheering, singing, and clapping along, a remarkable feat given the median age of the audience. It was an astonishing sight from below to see such enthusiasm and energy carried to the far reaches of the arena, one I am sure I last witnessed when I saw Freddie Mercury weave his magic in the early eighties at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The guest star was former Stone Mick Taylor, who came out during a few numbers to add his guitar touch to pieces such as ‘Midnight Rambler.’ There were great moments throughout the night: Lisa Fischer’s majestic trademark vocals during ‘Gimme Shelter’, the tongue logo’s incarnations of gold and then black, before morphing into multicoloured tumbling dice, as well as an elaborate video backdrop during ‘Doom and Gloom’ that evoked the graphic used by Roger Waters during his presentation of ‘The Wall’ last year and the magnificent montage of the King Kong-like gorilla late in the set for ‘Honky Tonk Women’. The Cawthra Secondary School choir took to the stage for the first encore, getting the thrill of a lifetime singing ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, making it a wonderfully local affair that again for me seemed reminiscent of the Waters show.

My favourite moment, however, was not on stage but a few feet away in our section of the audience: an elderly couple, likely well into their seventies, were dancing away in their seats and in the aisle for most of the night, she well-coiffed and elegantly dressed, and he no less striking in his black leather trousers and matching dark fedora. Enchanting indeed.

Sunday
May262013

Wings Over America Revisited

Wings Over America is the first tour I remember wanting desperately to see. I was only 13, and already a Beatles fan: the “red” and the “blue” greatest hits albums had come out a couple of years before, and had been well worn out on the family’s little suitcase plug-into-the-wall record player. At the time, my mother put her foot down and scoffed at the idea of two young girls going off (my sister was only 11), a notion she would finally abandon a year later when Queen rolled into town and was I finally allowed to see a rock show.

Last Wednesday night, I sat in a big, modern movie theatre and saw the concert that eluded me 37 years ago. I came out of the documentary footage in awe almost two and a half hours later, with so much going through my brain that I am confident would have completely escaped me in 1976. Wings were musically a very tight, well-rehearsed band, and it was incredible to watch the performance. Each member playing with Paul McCartney—his wife Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCullogh, Joe English— played their parts to near perfection, and the newly mastered soundtrack really highlighted their individual talents. What impressed me was how versatile Denny Laine was, playing guitar, bass, and piano and occasionally singing lead vocals. The Moody Blues song Go Now, along with Richard Corey, were two of my favourite numbers, and I left the theatre realizing just what an integral part of the band he really was.

I have had Wings Over America in my LP collection all these years, and despite enjoying it over the years, the act of watching the concert made me appreciate many things that the simple audio could not manage. Among my discoveries was how much Paul McCartney and Freddie Mercury had in common on a live stage: both had a vaudeville element in their showmanship and sound, and each had a vocal range and texture that was as wide as it was diverse and nuanced as was needed in that musical moment. The horn section Wings had brought along after their foray into New Orleans really brought old and new songs to life, and I loved the added layers of sound to such classics as Live and Let Die.

The acoustic set delivered halfway through the movie was another tactic that was, for me, reminiscent of late 1970s Queen shows, and I loved listened to the pared down versions of Bluebird and Yesterday. It was also interesting to see guitar upon guitar standing in front of the drum kit, and then catching each musician swapping them out by themselves instead of what has become the standard of watching assistants do this at live shows. The generosity of seeing McCartney giving each of the band members their turn in the limelight was impressive, whether it was letting Jimmy McCullogh sing or do his impressive guitar solos, or handing the vocal lead to Laine. It seemed to be a true team effort, and nowhere was this more evident than in the appreciation bestowed upon them by the enthusiastic crowds. My favourite piece was Magneto and Titanium Man, a great rocker from the Venus and Mars LP that really got us started in the theatre. One of the best things that night was that there were less than twenty people in the audience, which meant we could hoot and holler as though we were really at a concert and not get chided by other patrons. In fact, our row of six screamed and clapped after every song, and that helped make the evening very memorable.

Sometime this week, the DVD will be released commercially. Highly recommended to anyone who is a fan, and for those of you who want to see what big tours were like in the heyday of the 1970s.
Paul McCartney at the piano for The Long and Winding Road.

Denny Laine sings Richard Corey.

Backing vocals by Linda McCartney and Denny Laine for Bluebird.
Saturday
May112013

The Bay City Rollers on a Saturday Night

Just two years before I began to rummage through the racks of Sam the Record Man’s downtown store for LPs by Queen, The Who, Supertramp, and Genesis, I experienced the typical teenage girl’s obligatory musical crush. It was the era of David Cassidy and his brother Shaun, Leif Garrett, Bobby Sherman, and Donny Osmond, but none of these American artists cause my heart to flutter. That honour went to the Bay City Rollers, and though the term boy bands hadn’t been invented in 1975, but could certainly have applied to them. The Tartan terrors emerged from Scotland and success in the UK to quickly become a global phenomenon selling millions of records to largely young female fans. It was a time of innocent, heartfelt adoration, and much like the early Beatles and Elvis before them, and Duran Duran, New Kids on the Block, N’Sync, and One Direction afterwards, everyone had a favourite Roller and behind the hype, the songs were pure pop fun with catchy melodies and simple lyrics. My favourite Roller was Alan Longmuir, chiselled and very much a man next to his more boyish band mates. I’m still drawn to the rugged rather than to the cute and cuddly, and it’s interesting to note that my twelve year-old-self expressed similar tastes.

 

 The album cover of the first Rollers LP I ever owned.

 

My love for the Rollers lasted until 1977, when a combination of growing up and evolving tastes led me away from them. By that time, their star had also faded and they broke up soon after. What followed for me was a period of exciting musical discovery, mostly towards prog rock and what is now considered classic rock. I am ashamed to admit all these years later that I threw away all my BCR LPs in a gesture of youthful desire to appear cool. It is something I regret deeply, because the band was an integral part of my youth and denying them a place in my vinyl collection seems absurd to my confident 50 year-old self.

 

Last Saturday, I jumped into a car and drove an hour and a half north to meet 6 girlfriends for a concert by Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers at CasinoRama. He was their lead singer, and the only original member taking the music on the road with a back-up band. Unlike their appearance at the CNE in August 1976, I could actually hear him this time and appreciated his enduring vocal abilities. His banter was light-hearted and nostalgic, and the optimistic cheer from someone who endured sexual abuse at the hands of his manager and robbery from his record label to then climb out of the abyss of alcohol and drug abuse and depression was commendable and left me in awe of his courage. When the concert was over and he thanked us for the support, I felt such joy in knowing that his story, unlike so many other similar ones, had a happy ending.

 

After the show, we lined up to meet him, patiently waiting for over an hour for the line to move forward. I wanted to shake his hand and wish him well for being a survivor and for taking us on such a sweet journey back in time. When we came face to face, I told him he was every bit as handsome as I remembered from his appearance at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto in 1976, when they were honoured with an award from the city and met 55, 000 screaming fans at the outdoor reception. He smiled, called me a “wee fibber” in that charming Scottish accent, and then kissed my cheek. At that moment, 37 years after my crush began, everything faded from my senses and I was 13 again. It was the loveliest thing.

 

 

 

 

 

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