Post 1004, Day 326 of 2013
- and 1056 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment
- and 1056 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment
The last time I saw them (they had just stopped being The Young Rascals), was in May, 1967 at the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park. I met best friend Thom Jones (RIP) after work and we had a little dinner and walked through Central Park to the show.
The opening act for that concert was The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first American appearance. This was hugely weird for the audience - some ignored the show (which started without introduction), many were confused, and a small minority booed, and a few walked out (probably to wait until the Rascals came on).
Thom and I smoked a skinny joint in the bleachers, and just freaked out over how amazing it was. I had heard of the Experience, but I don't think I'd heard them before that. Thom hadn't heard them, and he dug the idea of a black guy leading a rock band. And the music.
Then the Rascals came on, and did their predictably amazing show. I would be lying if I said I thought at the time that the Experience was better - but that idea would come the next time I saw the Experience, a couple of months later. By that time, they had played the Monterey Pop Festival and ruled the known (by me) Universe.
Anyway, last night - well, it wasn't quite as an emotional experience for me. Where I was, the sound wasn't that great, that might have had a lot to do with it. Vocally, Felix still sounds great. Eddie Brigati, on the other hand, worked really hard, but was a shadow of his former self. Musically, again, Felix performed as well as he had forty-five years ago, but Dino Danelli, who early on was the best drummer I'd ever seen, pretty much stuck to the rudiments. Gene Cornish never struck me as more than competent, and that's pretty much where he remains.
The years haven't been kind to the performing skills, but the show, which featured all their hits and a couple of band favorites, interspersed with filmed interview clips of them telling the story of the band, and a group of actors playing them in their glory days, kept it interesting, and really plunged me into a lake of nostalgia.
All in all, I enjoyed the evening. I heard songs I hadn't heard in a long time, played with as much passion as these old men could muster - and I'm meaning that as a compliment.
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Food and Diet Section
Today's Weight: 208.6 lbs
Food and Diet Section
 |
| 2013 Daily Weight |
Previous Weight: 209.2 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain: - 0.6 lbs
Diet Comment
I'm surprised to find last night's carb-fest didn't derail my effort to get back to where I was at the beginning of the year.
Food Log
BreakfastSkipped.
Lunch
Skipped.
Dinner
From Wegman's take-out: Grilled garlic-lemon chicken breast with grilled Brussels sprouts. Also, Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain toast with guacamole.
Snack
Liquid Intake
Dinner
Snack
 |
| Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain cereal with hemp seeds, blueberries, almond milk and stevia-inulin blend. Not shown: Buttered Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread and a hard-boiled egg. |
Liquid Intake
Coffee: 0 oz. Water: 64+ oz.
Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!
Ken, having seen the same show a week earlier in Detroit, I found your review to be excellent and well-balanced, accurate and respectful. And concise in the best sense. I love seeing the older groups, but quite awhile ago was forced to recognize that it just isn't going to be the same. Age does take a toll. Some do better than others, and the Rascals did better than most I've seen over the past ten years. --Dan R.
ReplyDeleteDan,
DeleteAs the days have passed, I was struck by one of the main sources of my dissatisfaction with the show: Steve Van Zandt, who produced and was the musical director of the show, is no playwright. His use of a Sopranos co-star as commentator/narrator drew hoots from the audience, and it seems like he also ended up with the various Rascals themselves adopting more 'Badda-Bing' accents and attitudes than I saw in them in interviews 45 years ago. Some of the 'set pieces' of stage dialog seemed particular stilted and theatrical, NOT in the best sense. I loved the Rascals, and, in many ways, I could say that my own musical career amounts to little more than trying to be the bass player they never had...
I wasn't a huge Rascals fan, though I loved their hits from back in the day. I actually thought they were a Long Island group, and got a chuckle by your implying that Little Steven was laying it on a bit thick with the "Joisey" stuff, kind of like a new version of "Jersey Boys." I've listened to Little Steven's radio show on occasion and always thought he himself sounded more like a stoned-out hippy than a Jersey Boy. He plays good stuff, but his persona makes too much of the radio show cringeworthy. --Dan R.
ReplyDelete