Dad and Andrew Enjoy the Music of Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
Dad and Andrew yes!
So you know your old when you hear your son say. “Wow, I can’t believe that I’ve been listening to that album for 20 years”! As your thoughts race towards – “Hey wait until you can say I can’t believe I’ve been listening to those guys for 50 years!” Anyway, that’s what my son Andrew said, as we were leaving the World Cafe Live in Philly last night. We had just seen Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers together for the third time! The tickers were a birthday gift from my son.
Ok so let;s digest what I just wrote in that first paragraph. Me a 65 year-old went with his 34 year-old son to a rock concert featuring one of his son’s all-time favorite bands. Now for many that may not seem strange but for me, one who grew up in the 60s it is! I don’t think there would have been away way on God’s green earth that in 1985 my father and I would have gone to see, say a Santana or Jethro Tull! Oh, the times they are a’ changin’!
Dad and Ed K probably not !
The sad reason for that is that my dad never made it to 1985. He died in 1984 at the age of 60. The other reasons are twofold. First there’s the cultural reason. The music that my dad and I listened to growing up were miles and miles apart. As a child growing up in the 1930’s, the music that he would have heard on the radio when he was 14. (1938) would have been a mixture of Big Bands and singers. The bands at the top of the charts included: Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Artie Shaw. While singers included: The Andrews Sisters, Bin Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald.
That;’s a far cry from when I turned 14 (1965) and was listening to the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, and Bob Dylan. The music that was probably the closest may have been Motown and the groups like The Supremes and The Temptations!
The second reason that my dad and I won’t have gone to a concert together is that he really had no time for music. Basically, I grew up in a house where music was largely absent. I actually bought the first 33 1/3 turntable that was in our house! Prior to that all we only had a little turntable that played 45s!
So where did my love of music come from? Once again, it was cultivated largely from outside our home and probably mostly from the radio and stations like WIBG and WFIL and DJs like Hy Lit, Joe Niagara and Jerry Stevens and later at WDAS and WMMR with the likes of Dave Herman and Ed Sciaky!
Anyway, you get the picture Andrew and I can both enjoy the same music, Dad and I not so much!
About Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
Quickly back to the music Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Here’s a little about the band….
….Dubbed the “Springsteen of the Southwest” by the Asbury Park Press, Roger Clyne and his guitar have toured around the world over his 20-year career, starting with The Refreshments. The seminal Tempe, Arizona band made big waves in the ’90s both on college and alternative rock radio as well as MTV with the songs “Banditos” (with the infamous chorus, “Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people”) and “Down Together” as well as writing the theme for TV’s “King of the Hill.”Read More
At last night concert in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the release of the first Refreshments album Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy, the band played the whole album top to bottom over the first hour of the show. And while I knew many of the songs such as “Down Together”, “Mexico” and the aforementioned “Banditos”. I was in the minority. As is typical for every Roger Clyne show that I have ever been to, the crowd was ofttimes singing along louder than Roger!
Over the last hour of the show the band played many of the songs that I am more familiar with. Including a cover of ZZ Tops “LaGrange” on which lead guitarist Jim Dalton took over the lead guitar. Oh and by the way Jim provided many scorching guitar riffs throughout the night! They all threw in a cover of Rupert Holmes “Pina Colada Song” with the lead vocals being turned over to the lead of their road crew. All in All it was a great night with both my son and Roger Clyne. So thanks Andrew for the tickets and Roger and Crew for the music!
The only downside of the evening was that are tickets were standing room only. And my 65 year-old legs were getting just a little tired after standing for over three hours!!
Here’are Roger and the Peacemakers performing “Banditos”….
