Autograph

 Over the years I’ve been a music fan, and as such attended various concerts.  At a very small minority of those shows, I had the pleasure of meeting the musicians themselves and getting them to autograph various items.  However, I’m not in the habit of seeking out autographs, so the instances of doing so are so few and far between that I have little trouble in describing each of them in a brief, Friday blog entry.

RONNIE WOOD.  From 1979-1982 I attended Marymount, a Catholic school in Neuilly, just outside Paris, in that European country commonly referred to as “France”.  The school had an annual fair in the spring.  At the one in 1984 we acquired Judas Priest, Defenders of the Faith on cassette, and the Y&T albums Mean Streak and Black Tiger on vinyl.  At another one I had occasion to briefly meet Ronnie Wood, the second guitarist of the Rolling Stones.  One of his children was attending school.   By this time I was in high school at the American School of Paris, so his kid was not a classmate of mine.  I happened to be wearing a denim jacket which also – by coincidence – had the Rolling Stones lip & tongue patch on it.  Mr. Wood was nice enough to sign the patch itself.  Sadly, by now the signature has faded to the point I can no longer see it.  But he was cool.   As a side note, to date I have not seen the Rolling Stones in concert, nor have I seen Ronnie Wood in concert in any way, shape or form. 

FAITH NO MORE.   In November 1989 we attended the Faith No More concert at the old 930 Club, in Washington, DC, when it was still back on 930 F Street.  This was the band’s The Real Thing tour, when it had Mike Patton on vocals and Jim Martin on guitar.   I managed to persuade Jim Martin to sign my The Real Thing CD insert, and drummer Mike Bordin did so as well.  I wasn’t able to meet or talk to the other band members.  I still have that CD.

WISHBONE ASH.   This English band was at its peak in the 1970s, headlining larger venues like Merriweather Post Pavilion.  By the time I managed to see them, guitarist Andy Powell was the sole remaining original member, and they were playing small clubs instead of armpit heaters.  Of course, had they been playing an armpit heater, I would not be able to talk to Andy Powell in person and get him to sign my Wishbone Ash CD inserts.  Oddly, even years after the vinyl renaissance, those early albums are still not reissued.    

TESLA.   In 2007 the band released a CD of covers, Real to Reel, ostensibly a two disc set.  The second disc you picked up from the band itself on its tour.  I saw the tour at the Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland.  Oddly enough, lead guitarist Frank Hannon was actually running the concession stand.  In addition to handing over my copy of the second disc, he also autographed the case.  Thanks, man!

BLUE CHEER.   Actually, I didn't come away from the BC encounter with any autographs, per se.  This is a band which had its initial peak of fame in the late 1960's, coming from San Francisco like the Grateful Dead, and even loosely associated with Owsley, the premiere source of LSD back then - even down to naming themselves after one of his strains.   Fast forward to modern times, and bassist/singer Dickie Peterson got the band back together with guitarist "Duck" MacDonald.  While this lineup did play classic material - exclusively of the Leigh Stephens era, it seems - Dickie put out new material that was heavier and more modern - and just as enjoyable. The band played a show at Krug's Place in Frederick, Maryland, in December 2005, and my college comrade Ken invited me along.  I managed to get my picture taken with Dickie, which is the primary picture for my Facebook profile.  

MEET & GREETS.   As noted, my own experience meeting rock stars has been rather limited.  My brother Matt, on the other hand, has been to several meet & greets and thus had a chance to hang out with, and talk at length with, various rock stars.  These include Doro (from Warlock), Ace Frehley (of KISS), and Biff Byford of Saxon.  He spoke with Pete Trewavas of Marillion.  He was also at the Faith No More show mentioned above.  

One last name drop: back when we were living in Paris, our parents met up with Martin Sheen.   This wound up with my sister, Sarah, visiting the Sheens in California and hanging out with Emilio Estevez.  I don't think Charlie was around the household back then.  

Faith No More - Easy Live on the Tonight Show

(with Jay Leno). Much better than the video, which features a parade of drag queens. It looks like Jim Martin has EMG pickups in his Flying V.

Faith No More - Epic (Rock in Rio 2 - 1991)

Their top single, performed live at Rock in Rio 2 (Maracana?). I couldn't find the video. Is it just my Friday morning net connection, or is this choppy? Anyhow, enjoy as best you can.

"War Pigs" Faith No More Live at Brixton Academy

A fairly faithful cover of Black Sabbath. You can see Mike Patton's stage antics and hear his offbeat delivery. Quality - at their peak.

Faith No More

November 26, 1989.  I just had just dropped off my friend Jean (John) at BWI Airport following the Thanksgiving 4 day weekend, and joined my brother Matt, my friend Phil, his sister Kathy, and my friend Ken, to see Faith No More at the (old) 9:30 Club, at 930 F Street in downtown DC.  I wish I could remember the setlist, but it was mostly from The Real Thing.  I got Mike Bordin and Jim Martin to sign the CD insert of that album.  Overall a kick ass concert, by the band at their peak.   Later, in July 1992 we saw FNM open for Metallica & Guns’N’Roses at RFK, on the Angel Dust tour, but this show was much better.

 The Real Thing.  They had two albums with Chuck Mosely, the prior vocalist, We Care A Lot and Introduce Yourself; another album, Angel Dust, with Jim Martin and Mike Patton; a live album Live at Brixton Academy, which features two extra songs “The Grade” and “Cowboy Song” (NOT the Thin Lizzy song); an extended single cover of “Easy” by Lionel Richie; and two albums (King For a Day…Fool For A Lifetime, and Album of the Year) later without Martin.  But this is by far their best album.  To be honest, I didn’t like the earlier albums, and didn’t care to listen to the post-Martin work, of which I might have heard one album.

            Probably the best known track on this is “Epic”, a rap-metal mix which got phenomenal airplay and a weird video.  “War Pigs” is the Black Sabbath cover, which they did play live.  My favorites were the title track, “Zombie Eaters”, and “The Morning After”.  “Woodpecker From Mars” was an instrumental, “Edge of the World” was a twisted attempt to portray a child molester; “Surprise!  You’re Dead” is a thrash number; and “Falling to Pieces” and “Out of Nowhere” are fairly commercial examples of their material. 

            I hesitate to put a label on their music.  There’s clearly a big dose of funk, similar to Red Hot Chili Peppers, but the keyboards are definitely noticeable as an instrument in their own right, not merely as some sort of additional melody factor along with the guitar. All well and fine to talk about the rap element, but “Epic” was the only song like that, so even if it was their biggest single, it hardly defines their sound, except to classify it as original and eclectic.  The most important thing, in fact the REAL THING, was that this album and band were undeniably DIFFERENT and ORIGINAL.  There was no one else like this in 1989.

 The classic lineup:

Mike Patton (vocals).  He took over from Chuck Mosely.  Mosely was of the Robert Smith of The Cure “just got back from the dentist, still on novocaine” school of singing.  Patton actually sings in some sort of snarky way like Roger Waters.  I’d say he has a unique voice, and I like it.  However, I’ve heard Mr. Bungle and was not impressed, nor did I like the FNM material since Martin left.  He strikes me as having a lot of talent and inspiration, but it’s only impressive when he has someone else channeling it in some way or acting as a foil – similar to the way Lennon & McCartney’s solo material suffered from the lack of any input from the other former writing partner.  Left to his own devices he comes up short.  I’m also not keen on his deliberate attempts to feign bisexuality.

 Jim Martin (guitar).  Aka “Big Sick Ugly” Martin, he has strange red glasses, a wacked out beard, and long hair.  He dropped off the radar after Angel Dust.  He did appear in “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey”.  His trademark guitar is a black Gibson Flying V with a mirror pickguard.  He also used to play with Cliff Burton of Metallica.

 Billy Gould (bass).  Nothing special, though he does remind me of Brian Wheat from Tesla.  He does do a passable slap-funk bass thing similar to Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Aside from that he blends into the woodwork as bassists so often do.

 Roddy Bottum (keyboards).  I really like his keyboard sound.  Some keyboardists seem to be more like glorified pianists – particularly Billy Joel, Elton John, etc.  Even many “keyboardists” like Jon Lord don’t really go off very far off the beaten track.  He ranks up there with Rick Wright among my favorite keyboardists.

 Mike Bordin (drums).  So far as I can tell, Bordin was born with dreadlocks.  He actually played with Black Sabbath on the first reunion tour in 1997 before Bill Ward came back.  He’s also played in Ozzy’s solo band, from Down to Earth up to Black Rain, though he’s now back with Faith No More.

 As of now, FNM have reunited, but with Jon Hudson on guitar.  Martin apparently is not interested in returning to the band.  I’ll check them out to see if it’s as good as before, but I’m not holding my breath.