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Tribute To
Steve
Goodman
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When A show is as good as this one was, it becomes difficult to describe it. It definitely went beyond the realm of a concert. It was indeed a musical "event" perhaps even "historical" in nature. I talked to a few people in the audience before the show. Sure Chicago was well represented but people came from as far as the west coast and the gulf coast just to see the this show. They didn't care who was going to be playing, all they saw was "Tribute to Steve Goodman" and knew they had to be there. They knew that with Steve's name in the title the music portion would simply take care of itself. And they were right.
The choice of the Medinah Temple for the venue was excellent. Its loaction at 600 N. Wabash, made it easy to find even for out of towners . A parking structure was across the street, and the $8.50 parking fee was reasonable considering the usual downtown fees. The building itself was simply beautiful. Restrooms were a challenge because the place is one of those antiquated old style auditoriums. But quite frankly it seemed to help set the mood for the night. The main floor as well as the mezzanine and upper balconey looped around the stage forming a letter C. I was loacted in the left side ground floor seats and the place seemed to be acoustically balanced. Looking around the auditorium before the show was pleasing. The architecture and artwork blended nicely and seemed to reflect the mood of the intimate, personal show that was to be the night's treat.
The seating was tight but comfortable. The audience spanned all generations from teenagers to "sequinned septageneraians". They came from all walks of life, from the rich gold coast of Chicago, to poor students, who probably begged and borrowed to scratch together enough dough to purchace a couple tickets. But they were all united tonight, no barriers, no class divisions. Everyone was just a fan of Stevie Goodman. And that was enough. Everyone seemed to have a story about Steve that they wanted to share.
As I took my seat before the show I couldn't help but notice the large screen that had been set up on the stage. My first thought was "I wonder what Steve would've done if he were alive today and his last tour was like that of the Rolling Stones. Would Steve want to play to a crowd of 50,000 people and have his image projected on a screen four stories tall?" I shuddered at the thought. Playing for a radio show or to television cameras is one thing, but an impersonal stadium tour is something altogether different. But this was Medinah Temple, not a stadium and the screen was only two stories high. And fortunately the producers of the show did not use the screen to project the images of those performing. It was only used for the video portion of the show.
The show started with archival footage of Steve Goodman and friends. Roger Ebert began the video with some remembrances of Steve. I never realized that Ebert, the movie critic had been a fan/friend of Steve but wasn't surprised either. It seems like everyone in Chicago has found memories of Steve. It's hard to recall everything Ebert said. He talked about the first time he saw Steve and knew that what he saw was history. I believe it was Ebert who mentioned that the first time he heard Steve sing the song "City of New Orleans" he knew he was hearing a song that would outlive all of us.
After Ebert's heartfelt speech we were treated to vintage footage of Steve on the big screen. This included a tapestry of Steve Goodman singing "City of New Orleans" at several different venues over his career. It reminded me of an old quote from Steve. It went something like: "Today this song is a hit, and everybody is singing it, but I'll be singing it long after it isn't popular".
To my surprise I found out afterwards that this footage had been spliced the old fashioned way, without the aid of new fangled digital editing. Not because they chose to do it that way, just because it had been done some time ago. It was an excellent piece of editing. One of the bright spots was seeing old friend Jethro Burns on mandolin join Steve in some of the footage.
As I mentioned earlier the woman next to me started crying when Steve sang "You're the Girl I Love" This is one of my favorite Goodman tunes. I hated that the song was cut short in the video and I made a mental note to remind myself to tell Red Pajamas to hurry up and release the "The Asylum Records" The Song is on "Say It In Private" and is one of the few songs that hasn't been repackaged on another CD/record.
The finale of the first video session was "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" Steve did it without his "hat from the audience" Seemed there weren't any cowboys in New Jersey that night. I would be if John \Prine would've asked for a hat at the end of the show that night, He would've got one.The presentation was flawless, and even though it was film footage and I'd heard the song a thousand times before, I couldn't help but laugh and smile and sing along.
Interspersed with the songs were some words from Kris Kristofferson and John Prine. They talked about their first meeting with Steve and how much they missed them. Very well done.
Now If we can just bombard Red Pajamas with enough requests, maybe they'll release this footage to the public.
The second part of the video footage was Steve and his guitar. On his head was the familiar blue baseball cap. in the background, the home of the "Doormat of the National League" the song was "Do They Still Play The Blues In Chicago" To answer the question... The Cubs had the worst start in National League history this year. Steve is lucky. He's watching the Angels and I'm stuck here with the Cubs.
All of the footage received a thunderous round of applause. And Iris Dement did indeed have good cause to be concerned. Many of the people there that night would've paid to watch three hours of film footage of Steve on the screen. The vision of him singing in front of a live audience, even if it was on a screen was so engaging. Even though the footage was 15 to twenty years old, Stevie seemed to make the experience extremely close and personal. You could feel his warmth and presence in the room.
Studs Terkel stole the show when he discussed Steve as the one true trubador of Chicago. His Best comment went something like "My Kind of Town, Chicago is. What the hell does Frank Sinatra know about Chicago! Steve knew Chicago" Studs was a real character.
Lin Brehmer was also there. He's a monring DJ ( I guess they call 'em radio parsonalities these days) from WXRT radio. What he lacked in anecdotes was made up in his ability to know the artists performing. I was slightly annoyed by his plug for 'XRTs upcoming "Chistmas is For Kids" concert, but hey, if Steve were there, he would've done the same.
Some of the comments that were made seemed to blend together and I'm not sure who said what.
Some of the comments was:
"City of New Orleans" wasn't a train song. It wasn't just about that one train. It was about all the trains from all times.
And when Kris Kristofferson met Steve and invited him to go to New York to do a record Steve said "Wait a minute, you haven't to seen the rest of the show, You haven't seen my friend John, play." That was the way Steve was.
You could tell the announcers were talking from the heart.
I already mentioned a little
bit about Iris Dement. She was the lead off
singer. Needless to say she had a tough spot on the bill. Not only did
she have to hit the stage first, she had to follow vintage film footage
of Steve doing what he does best. From her voice, you could tell she
was nervous. She started the show with a Goodman song (actually a song
co-written by Steve and John Prine) Before she started to sing she
commented that she was probably the only woman singing that night who had
never seen Steve. She also said 'a lot of people told me one of the
worst things they ever had to do was follow Steve onto a stage, because
when he was finished with an audience there was nothing left. I thought
to myself, well that's something I'll never have to worry about -- until
now.' She looked over her shoulder at the screen were they had just
finished showing the Goodman film and added "He was 80 ft. tall!"
She proceeded to promptly blow the first line of "If She (he) Were You" I may be wrong but I don't think this song was ever officially released by Steve on an album. I know he did a few times in concert. Iris has a sweet voice, similar in someways to Nancy Griffith and Bonnie Koloc. She did a great job on this song, once she settled down. She followed this song with one of her own, "Our Town". It appears on her first album. She was more relaxed with her own material and did a great job on this number as well. If you're looking for a connection between this up and coming singer, you needn't look any further than her first album. Some of the liner notes were written by John Prine. I found this out the next day, when I ran to the store and picked up the CD. Yep, she impressed me.
Next up was Todd Snider.
Todd was initially 'discovered' is you want to
use that word by Jimmy Buffett. More correctly Buffett saw Todd,
recognized talent and signed him to a contract on Margaritaville/MCA
records. If you've ever heard Todd do "Joe's Blues" live, you'd know he
has been influenced by Steve Goodman. The end of the song will somtimes
end with the last verse of "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" Todd got
the house rocking with a stirring cover of "This Hotel Room" He was
backed up by the House Band (I'll talk about them later) It was kind of
comedic when Todd first came out. Todd's about six foot tall but the mike
stand was adjusted for someone about three inches taller. He tried to
lower it at first but then shrugged his shoulders and kicked into high
gear. Again justice was done to Steve's song.
As with Iris, Todd was more comfortable doing his own song. He cracked the audience up with his story behind the song. And then had them rolling along as he sang "My Generation Part 2" The premise of the song is to tell the baby boomers all the great things that Generation X has given the world. Such things as "Shopping Malls and big bold paisley ties." Todd both woke up the audience and got the blood circulating. The woman sitting next to me commented "Steve would've loved that guy -- he was so funny" Todd knows how to work an audience.
Next up was Kathy Mattea
(You know, Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses).
Hopefully someone will be able to help me out here. I'm not familiar
enough with her songs to tell you what song she sang that night. I can
tell you it was good. She kicked off her set with "I Can't Sleep (When
I Can't Sleep With You)" Kathy has a low sulrty voice and while she did a
great job on the song it is hard to top Bonnie Koloc's version of the
song. I would bet money that anyone who was not familiar with Bonnie's
version enjoyed Kathy version three times more than I did. The reaction
from the crowd is obvious proof that Kathy did the song justice. I
enjoyed Kathy's second song much more, though I don't have a clue what
the song was. Hopefully someone will tell me what it was an I can
straighten out this review.
Our next treat was Lyle
Lovett (happy belated 40th, Lyle) Lyle was the
first performer to break the two song limit, upping his set to three
songs. He was also the first singer to start with a non Steve Goodman
song. Again someone will need to help me out with Lyle's first song.
Lyle covered "I Just Keeping Falling In Love" for his second number and
as I said to the person next to me, "He Nailed It" Lyle's voice seemed
perfect for this song. It was probably the best cover of the night. He
brought us into the intermission with another of his own songs, "Family
Reserve". Also a great song. I had never heard Lyle before but I made a
decision that night that I would be hearing more of him in the future.
Intermission -- long lines at the bathroom. (But you already knew that.) So Many Songs So Little Time... And the show goes on...
After intermission, we were
treated to some more footage of Steve. In
this case it was a video of "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." Arlo
Guthrie was next up. He started off by telling us the now famous "Buy me
a beer -- sing your song story" and went into "City Of New Orleans" This
was the most disappointing moment of the night for me. Don't get me
wrong, Arlo did the song quite well, but there was a marked nasal twang
to it that caught me off guard. This is not what disappointed me, His
delivery was excellent.
Before the show I was talking the woman next to me (we had just met that night, she was there with her husband, both were avid fans of the entire Chicago Folk Scene). We were discussing which songs everyone was going to play and she said, "Of course Arlo will sing CONO" and I replied, "I Hope not." I was hoping that he would do justice to some other song of Steve's. Songs that rushed through my head ranged from "Unemployed" to "Hot Tub Refugee" Arlo has CONO on at least six albums. He did it for the first Tribute, he does it all the time in concert, I wanted to hear him do some other Goodman song. It didn't happen. Of course to be fair to Arlo we have to assume that a lot of people in the audience may have never heard Arlo do it live and perhaps may have never heard him do it at all. In any case I'm sure at least 90% of the audience wanted to hear it.
Arlo redeemed himself when he picked up a Ukulele and did the cover of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower. I think he managed to convince the audience that it was a spur of the moment thing. But a lot of evidence pointed to it being planned ahead of time. Arlo did however, manage to surprise everyone including the backstage crowd. No one knew what he was doing with the ukulele until the moment he said. "Imagine if Bob Dylan had played the ukulele". It was a great delivery. I wonder if anyone else thought what I thought after Arlo did it... "Imagine if Steve had played the Uke!" With that said, you may think I was disappointed with Arlo Performance but this is not the case. He did a superb job.
Emilou Harris was next up
and she shined. Her lead off number was "Yellow
Coat". this is one of my favorite Goodman songs and I was hoping someone
would sing it. Matter fact both me and my new found friend next to me
and mused if perhaps one of the women would sing this song. We were both
smiling when Emilou started singing. It was a very special moment.
Emilou knew the song quite well and she manage to convey all the pain and
emotion that the song evokes.
Her next number was the 1838 country standard "Farther Along" Emilou was joined at first by Kathy Mattea and then by Iris Dement with backing vocals. Their three strong voices seemed to blend and compliment each other perfectly.
Emilou's last song was "Jambalaya" the old Hank Williams number. Considering Goodman's laove for Hank Williams it seemed a fitting cover. Kathy and Iris remained on stage for this song. The three women and the band tore the stage apart. I'll discuss this number a little more when I talk about the "house band". But for now, suffice it say that the women pull this song off beautifully making it probably the highlight of the evening.
Next up was Jackson Browne.
I think about half the place there was
expecting Jackson Browne to play California Promises. He started off by
talking about growing up around a place where Steve had lived (Seal
Beach, California) When he started talking about this, I knew for sure
the song was going to be "CP" I was wrong. Browne kicked off with a song
of his own doing, and followed with "Grand Canyon Song" It actually made
since, considering the environmental messages in the song and Jackson's
involvement with these causes. He had some problems with the lyrics and
said the wrong words at first which led to a "take two". He said
before hand that Steve had a different style of guitar playing and he
knew it was going to be hard to duplicate what Steve did on the
guitar.
I wish he wouldn't of said that...It really made me compare it more closely than I should have. All in all he did a respectable job and made it through a very difficult song.
After the show he commented to me "if they plan on releasing it on a CD, I hope I'll have the chance to do some over dubbing." I guess he's a harsher critic than I am. He did a pretty good job. His last song was what he called the "Rehab Cocaine" which was a cover with major lyrics changes of "Cocaine" by the folk artist Rev. Gary Davis. The song was quite hilarious but seemed somewhat out of place at a tribute for Steve.
The final performer was John
Prine. John kicked it into hi gear as soon
as he set foot on the stage. He palyed four numbers. The first two were
his own numbers, "Promise" and ???. Suffice it to say both of his own
songs were great.
His first cover song of Steve's was, "You Never Even Call Me By My Name"
He started the song by telling the story about the hotel room, jumping on the bed with a imaginary fiddle and tearing apart some sappy song Steve was writing. when he got to the part where Steve says "We left out a bunch of Stuff" John inserted the following.
"I figured the song was over by this point. We couldn't think of anything else to say and I just forgot about it. About a month later I got the telephone call from Steve and he says:
He was a little more up-tempo than Steve and didn't quite make the song as much of a parody as Steve does. But who really could? John did a great job. He followed it with "My Old Man" The humor was gone and John was definitely choked up by this song.
He's done it several times and its on the first tribute but I still wanted to hear it again.
Kind of strange when you consider what I said about Arlo and "City of New Orleans."
This always seemed like such a personal song of Steve's. And as Prine said before signing it "when I sing this song I say my old man but I always want to say "My Old Pal" Very moving and a fitting tribute to Steve.
These names will sound familiar if you are a follower of John Prine.
I haven't talked much about the house band that night. This is because I wanted to talk about them, not as a backing band so much but as an integral part of the evening. I'm may be mistaken, but I think they backed up everyone on at least one song, with the exception of Jackson Browne. Typically they backed them up on the Goodman number. Without a doubt they knew what they were doing and they probably knew the songs better than the headliners. They flowed effortlessly from song to song. They managed to adjust to the different styles that each performer brought to the stage. I'm not a musician but it seems to be that this wouldn't be an easy thing to do, yet they made the transitions look smooth and without effort.
Phil Parlapiano has become my "Accordion God" And believe me when a hillbilly from Harlan winds-up in second largest Polish city in the World you can assume he's heard a hell of a lot of accordion music. And I feel that if Steve were here today he would hold Phil's mandolin picking right up there with Jethro Burns. When you combine this with his work on the keyboard he truly becomes the jack of all trades that few bands actually possess.
The bands first effort was to back up Iris Dement on "If He (She) Were You" The song appears on Prine's "German Afternoon" so its a given the band knows it. I doubt few people in the audience would have even recognized Iris's mistake in the beginning because the band would've successfully covered it up if she had not stopped herself.
Todd Snider is a bundle of dynamite on the stage and it was clear from his own song that he could twist an audience around his finger with very little effort. You can make that with absolutely no effort when you have Phil, Jason, and David providing a full band behind him on "This Hotel Room" Steve claims he stole the tune from "Shortening Bread" What we heard that night was some of the best merging of 'Dixie land rag' and 'folk' since Steve first released the song.
I'm not going to comment about the excellent work while backing up John on stage. Instead I will just recommend you pick up "Live on Tour" and hear for yourself with these three guys can do.
So much for the plug...lets get back to the praises for the house band. They were given one opportunity that night to really shine and they didn't fail in their delivery. I'm talking about "Jambalaya" The Cajun beat of the song allowed Phil to go crazy on the accordion. David Jacques (pronounced JAKES) had the chance to show off his stand up bass abilities and Jason Wilbur was given his guitar solo. When you combine all of that music with the superb singing of the three women (Harris, Mattea, and Dement) you have a top forty C&W hit in the making. Even the dead would dance to the kick-ass version that was done that night.
I would go further to say that a lot of musicians who used to come on stage after Steve walked off, are probably now saying "Damn, that's what I needed. If those guys would've backed me, I could've held my own!" It may not have topped Steve but it would've probably made him come back out and join in. And that is what the house band was able to that night. John Prine has surrounded himself with musicians that Steve would love.
Hey guys, do us a favor and cut a CD of your own. The world needs more instrumentals.
The Encore was Arlo Guthrie leading everyone in "City Of New Orleans" As was mentioned Arlo sang the verses and everyone joined in with the refrain. It was a fitting end but it only reinforced my dismay over Arlo not singing some other Goodman song, knowing that this would be the encore.
Despite my criticisms, I thought the show was great. As I mentioned the day after the show, this was probably the best musical event I've ever attended. I was left totally speechless that night by everyone's performance. It isn't until many days later that my criticism of the show can filter through the fog of euphoria that the show left me in.
Were there problems -- sure no show is ever flawless. But in the end the show was simply fantastic.
Well I've got a few special souveniers from the show. First I have my backstage pass for after the show (thank's Al, Ben). That's probably the best souvenier I'll ever get, next to the program that was signed by just about every artist (Iris where were you!) and several personal autographs from members of Steve's family.
I also have the soundcheck schedule for the show as well as a copy of the running line up as of Nov 6. (just photocopies that were stuck on the wall back stage.)
But these aren't the kind of things anyone could get. So what could the masses get for souveniers. Well lets see there was the Vegematic and the pocket fisherman too, illuminated illustrated history of life, and Box Car Willy with the Ginsu Knife, a bamboo steamer, and a garden weasel too, and a tie died day-glow souvenier shirt from Six Flags over Burbank. --No there wasn't
In this day of mass marketing and and product placements and everyone trying to make a buck you'd assume that there would've been seven different t-shirts, key chains, $20.00 programs, fancy golf shirts, Steve Goodman holograms/action figures and the works. There wasn't.
As you entered you got a FREE program with a pictures of those performing sans the house band :-( with some nice anecdotes about Steve enclosed. The stories were mostly new but some were familiar ones.
There were also two other souveniers availalble. There was a large poster of a young Steve Goodman (age 3 to 5 years old) sitting on a stuffed bear. This was the logo for the Tribute and I will get it scanned in ASAP. Or if you wanted go a little more pricey, you could get the poster signed by the singers of the night's concert.
Beyond that Steve's Red Pajamas CDs were also on sale.
In many ways it was nice to see a lack of over commercialization on this event. (Still, I was kind of hoping to buy a key chain) I guess I'll have to wait for John to come back to town and pick up his bottle opener.
I'm not sure if Red Pajamas is planning on selling any of the posters but I would hope so. I'm assuming the photo may also wind up on the jacket of the CD.
If you ever get a chance to go back stage, use your brain. I managed to find a parking spot across from the Medinah Temple. I'm a cheap bastard so I decided rather than risk having to carry a heavy coat around or spend money on a coat check, I'd leave my coat in the car. (motto of the light infantry: "leave it and freeze") Of course like an idiot I left my Sharpee in my coat pocket. This is called gross stupidity but what do you expect from a guy who would walk around in twenty something degree weather in a flannel shirt.
Anyways, I get backstage and immediately start spotting all the cool people. I even pick out my first target of opportunity from an itty-bitty picture on the back of "Live On Tour" Most people go straight for the stars but I go looking for Al Bunetta. Next I see some woman who would've died happy because she just had her picture taken with John Prine.
My thanks have to go with the woman, whomever she was, who was with Jackson Browne. Not only did she let me borrow her sharpee to get JB's autograph, she loaned it to me for the night. (If you're out there, I looked for you for fifteen minute at the end of the evening to return your pen)
I met Todd Snider next and complimented him on a great show. Todd and his brother Mike are really good people. If you get a chance to see them, go. They are down to earth and usually make time for their fans.
John was really cool, I told him I did the Scrapbook, and he thanked me and asked me if I knew Ben Lewis. I'm sure he thought I was a total idiot as did everyone else that night. By the time I got back stage I had been awake for going on 21 hours. Combine the lack of sleep with the adrenalin rush from the show and you can probably figure out how stupid I must've seemed. Best thing John told me was he wanted to get out of the place so he could go grab a decent "Italian Beef". Yep he's still a Chicagoan at heart, at least to some degree.
But all of the stars handled me pretty well. I guess they're used to people being stupid. They probably think were quite humorous.
Anyway, all the singers were really great folks. Very freindly, all seem to have time for babbling idiots, listened well and they answered questions!
I guess the best part of the back stage experinece was getting to me Nancy and the girls. Of course the girls are all young women now. They're all doing quite well, living in and around Brooklyn. They've seen my page and complimented me on it (big ego stroke). They all signed my program as did Minnette, Steve's mom. Dummy as I am, I forgot to bug Nancy for an autograph.
I'm not much when it comes to getting autographs, but for some reason it just seemed important to me to make a connection with Steve's family. I guess its also important to other fans of his and this is why I'm writing this stuff; Just to let everyone know, Steve's family is doing okay.
Well that about sums this all up. Would I have done things differnetly? Sure. Did I want to hear other songs? Yep. Was the show flawless? Nope but you know what? Its been over a week now and i still can honestly say it was one of the best nights of my life and I can't think of better concert/show that I've ever attended.
Toby
The
Ambiance