I was made to play music. nothing seems clearer in my life. thousands of nights, thousands of days in gigs, in studio. the fact that I have gotten to do so is less due, I think, to an undeniable amount of talent - we all know very talented people who give music up for making art bowls or having families or becoming financial advisors - than to an undeniable passion for all of the challenges and rewards of playing music. it's always been the only game in town for me, a place where the right answer is not found in the back of a book somewhere but in your heart at the end of the day.
I believe in music, and through it, in life, that life has for us what each of us really most wants.
the quality of the product can be very very important to a musician, but somehow always still takes second priority to living out and transmitting that belief. If you had fun...you won.
The ReJuveniles for six years now has been a bully pulpit.
yes, it has looked like nothing but fun, getting up in a bar that will never really lose its decades of smoke infusion, wrestling with the sound, pouring out energy to an always hungrier group of thrill seekers, occasionally attempting to discipline them by letting out the Punishment Music...
Do Wah Diddy or Wooly Bully or "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Haaaaa!" by...wait for it...Napoleon the 14th!
ok, so it was actually nothing but fun. balancing our desires to do the music we never thought we'd get a chance to do with the demands of the Big Beat Sound live. being able to dive for a microphone that is set for a normal singing level, and just scream into it!! like a Beatles or a Who scream.
it's all been only what I could most want. I could not be more grateful. thank you.
I haven't spent a long time looking for a way not to get along with Jim and Vickie Jones. but neither in our years have I found one. there are not two more virtuoso people on the planet, and if Happy is the New Smart, I would nominate them long before any of the models the media confront us with as being the "it" crowd, "the people". two people who love music as I do that I get along with all the time...wouldn't have to have a whole lot of raw talent to immediately have me in their band.
we all know that there is no direct correlation between an artist's value of self and their actual ability level...geniuses are plagued by self doubt, while Pat Metheny has a cow that Kenny G would put out an album intermingling his tracks with those of Louis Armstrong. oh, yes, the G-monster had that much nerve...we're all supposed to smile and endure such things, but Richard Thompson also couldn't keep still about it and wrote a song "I agree with Pat Metheny/ Kenny's talent is too teeny..."
so, smile, and leave Jim Jones the room he needs to be self effacing about his contribution to The ReJuveniles. but know better. no one is more passionately involved, loves that music more, makes more sure he's on point for every performance, no one in that band fills their assignment more fully than Jim. and no one is more responsible for the vibe ReJuveniles project onstage, for giving everyone in the band and audience permission to be thrilled at what is happening, than Jim is. Jim has brought a special kind of courage to me in these days, but brought it in spades throughout the days before as well.
primary, for me, on the long list of talents Vickie Jones brings to that band is that of misdirection.
yes, you're going to get Grace Slick, yes you're going to get Merry Clayton on Gimme Shelter, against all odds you're going to get Graham Nash and Paul McCartney thrown into the bundle.
yes, we're talking someone whom you can set up with any sixties song, let her take the ball full court, and end up with a slam dunk at the far end, no one near her.
so how is it, Dear Hearts and Gentle People, that like Mary Huckins, she's the one who takes on the keyboards, the flute, all of the percussion, sometimes guitar, mandolin, accordion, always filling the sound out by filling in just what's needed. is it possible for someone with Vickie's great direct talent to still be a sleeper?
I say, yes.
this is someone whom, when I sing a unison Beatles part with, the two of us are being the record. when I hear that music, I have always wanted to be as happy as it sounded like they must have been when they made it. Vickie brings that to me, and to the band. watching her when she is in that place...playing sparse percussion throughout or determinedly singing a high part leaving the lead for someone else...is an irresistible pleasure for band and audience!
yes, a solo star can be a sleeper if she also turns out to be the quintessential team player...and all around musician...as well.
Jim and Vickie have been pulling on each other musically for decades now...I think one of the additions of my pull is the adrenalin making task of singing some song you have never thought of performing before, and finding the three part harmonies right off the bat. I think Jim is most improved in that skill, but we've all gotten kind of good at it.
of course, George gets the sleeper award for the whole band. again and again, after a good long time of getting to know him, you still go...I didn't know that he did that...he was there...that he has this degree, plays a sport to this level...has some great writing chops...to hear George tell it, probably common to many drummers' experiences, it's always the ego driven guitarist who makes the band not fun, who wrecks the party...now, here, I always though the rhythm section was the problem!
not here. George caught onto what we all wanted to do right away, and always came prepared not to let down the side. oh, he'll stay mellow and scratch his head, and you'll worry sometimes...but he always comes through.
and it matters to him, like it matters to each of us. a high entrance bar for anyone to clear to be in this band, too high for some pretty darned talented people to really be ok with. but he's the guy I'll turn to for the big rock and roll ending every time, and we 'bout hit it every time too.
yeah, bass players, now there's a place where we've tried out some different answers. it was a mystery for quite awhile. a traditionally dour seat to fill in a band, especially one looking for the bliss of sixties music. bass is a hard seat to fill if the player has to love the music, to be willing to do the research and learn the parts, to bring energy and order from a part that was undermixed in poor studio muck on the original recording.
there just are no other Sandy's. I've looked for them, believe me. to learn a part with religious zeal, and then be willing to modify it for some larger band idea...that takes a courage in itself, methinks. he prepares like no one else for a gig, brings a great stage presence to the show, isn't afraid to be silly or to bowl people over with bass when each are called for.
and this answer to a musician's prayer bounty isn't the full list of what the Rejuveniles just handed to me to step into years ago.
Jim and Vickie, George, Sandy have no fans to show for their years in the music business. but they have many many many good friends. people who have been filling the Little Bear when we play, and with the most flexible, supportive, Ed Sullivan Theatre audience anyone could ever want.
when I encouraged the band to do this last gig without me, I've been calling that audience "the fifth man". like a football audience is the twelfth man. I told them people would love them, and not let them down.
I have a lot of feelings for that audience, the times we've shared there, even when I've gotten to be the fifth man. without them, there would have been a lot less us, that's for sure.
I wanted to be there yesterday.
Wednesday's rehearsal was as encouraging as it could possibly have been. I had really been looking to see if my strengthening and Miracle Management was starting to level out, or only getting deeper.if the gig had been Friday...I might have given it a shot.
I got some low oxygen readings Saturday morning, though. unexpected, and didn't bounce back as I might have wanted. and I was just tired. the idea of that whole campaign was the second most important thing in my world.
but the most important reared its head at the exact wrong moment.
I wanted to say, never quit. I wanted to say, this was good, this is good, hang on all. I wanted to say, no matter what I can no longer do, I will do what I can. to add one more big yes, for me, for the band, for the audience who has given each of us a dream come true.
it wasn't the day, Kind Hearts and Gentle People. I made it an easy day. when Dr. Gore called back...ten minutes tops...she spoke of my coming into the hospital to get a chest x-ray and looking for some fluid to remove. I had long lobbied for some scans to find out just what was happening...but had it been yesterday or today, it would have been through the ER, and I'm not sure that shouldn't be avoided. it seems to me, and I'll change this plan if I must, that I can lay low today and be ok, then go in Monday to the clinic.
from there, I don't know. readjustment of drugs? look at the pericardium to see if fluid came back? more pleural effusion warfare? some BNP that might find a Big New Answer? check into the hospital?
history writes that I didn't make it to the Little Bear last night, not even to listen. not even to beg people to live, by example.
less than the best news.
and less, less, less than the worst. Oh, I was there. 1pm, when the table was to be saved, 3pm when the amp was going to be set up, 4pm when the band started, 6:15 or so when I was going to get there, 7:30 to 8pm when I was going to rock. I watched each come and go, and I was there. I heard the feeling and the band on janice's phone. as committed as I am to being careful, I really regretted not having more to give.
and now we're back to, we don't know.
The Rolling Stones' first attempt to break the US singles market was oddly resonant during each of their last tours...Time Is On My Side, yes it is...
The Rolling Stones' first self penned song to go into the top ten in the US singles market was oddly resonant during each of their last tours...Well, This Could Be The Last Time...
I don't know.
We could not be more honored and blessed to call you our friend and bandmate.
ReplyDeleteWe love you!
Jim and Vickie