Seen & Heard vol. 4

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 – Leon Bridges at Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA)

Time Life launched an advertising campaign in the 1980's to coincide with the release of their "Mysteries of the Unknown" series.  One commercial began with a voice-over narration: "How can you explain it? A woman in Wisconsin is doing the dishes, while suddenly she has a feeling that her daughter has been just been in an accident. She gets a desperate phone call and finds out her feeling has just become true."   Now in 2016, I find out that my cousin Jason is attending the Charles Bradley show at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC and the next night I am watching Leon Bridges at Stage AE in Pittsburgh.  Charles Bradley, a 67 year old funk/soul/R&B singer, who according to Paste Magazine "echoes the evocative delivery of Otis Redding".  Meanwhile Leon Bridges is a 26 year old gospel and soul singer and songwriter who has been tagged as the "next Sam Cooke". 

Compare him to whoever you would like, the one thing that is undeniable is that Bridges' has soul.  According to my friend Jon H, Bridges also channels all of those who have walked before him in the New Orleans' Jazz Fest Gospel Tent.  From the fifth song "Brown Skin Girl" all the way thru the 10th song "Hold On", Bridges and his band kept the groove going to a sold out crowd in Pittsburgh.  And although the show fell somewhere between satisfying soundtrack to a 1960s retrospective and the polished showmanship of James Brown, the entire crowd remain engaged throughout his set.

Bridges smooth voice is a gift and he has a potentially long career in front of him.  Looking forward to hearing what's next for Mr. Bridges, something along the lines of one of his latest singles "River" or his collaboration with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on the track "Kevin". 

MONDAY, JUNE 20 – Barenaked Ladies at Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA)

Redefining my personal definition of corporate rock, I attended the Barenaked Ladies show with colleagues in the music industry.  In town for a conference, I thought an entertaining night out would be to check out the Juno-award winning band.  And although BNL is no longer breaking any new ground and it was extremely hard to tell if the band or the crowd missed original member/singer Steven Page, no one can debate that they continue to be extremely entertaining.   Known for their humorous banter, the band had the approximately 2,000 loyal Pittsburgh/hockey fans in attendance eating out of their hands with Phil Kessel references and a number of their hits.

And although most people came for songs like "One Week", a distinct highlight of the show for me was when they called out Howard Jones to join them onstage for "No One is to Blame".  I also enjoyed the upright bass playing of Jim Creeggan and the BNL Classic, "Brian Wilson" which I learned later on has been covered by the real Brian Wilson. 

25 years later, the Barenaked Ladies are still a fun band and not leaving any questions unanswered.  However, I left wondering if I am somewhat psychotic for including the song "The Old Apartment" on a mix tape that I made for my wife before we were married.   "Broke into the old apartment /This is where we used to live / Broken glass, broke and hungry / Broken hearts and broken bones / This is where we used to live."  

Rhyme or Reason.

I keep telling myself that it is not just Youtube sensations becoming the next generation of musicians.  However, these days, there does not appear to be any consistency as to why a song breaks or becomes destined for a VH1 special on one-hit wonders.

Jeffrey Gaines had released three (3) studio albums between 1992-1998 and not until fans heard him crush Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” on 1998’s album ‘Galore’ did he start getting national attention.  Even though the song originally appeared as a B-Side to the 1993 single, “Headmasters of Mine” in 1998 (5 years later!), it reached #22 on the U.S. Adult Top 40 chart.  It did not matter to most fans that he had strong original songs like “Hero in Me” and “I Know a Man”.  And that he had a review from the Chicago Tribune that stated, “Gaines’ deceptively simple, disarmingly direct rumination on life finds an audience of those desiring more from music than a fleeting flavor-of-the-month buzz.”  Fans came to his shows wanting to hear “In Your Eyes” and I saw it first-hand at Avalon on Landsdowne Street in Boston, MA in 2000.

On the flip side, Ben Rector released five (5) studio albums between 2007-2015 and not until select radio stations this year started playing the title track from his most recent album ‘Brand New’ did the music industry start to take notice.  But reading that his new album went to No. 3 on Billboard Top Current Digital Album Sales chart when it was released was not what caught my attention.  What initially drew me to Rector was not his original music but his memorable September 2009 cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin”.  And eventually that was followed up with the unique February 2012 cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Want to Dance with Somebody”.  And even though he is touring to support his latest album, in a nod to Elton John, Rector and his band have earned the nickname “Bennie & The Jets” by opening every show with a cover of that song. 

There is part of me that is just happy that both of these extremely likable musicians “made it”.  Jeffrey Gaines continues to tour up and down the East Coast and Rector is happily making the rounds of TV talk shows.   I believe it is their original songs that will allow them to continue to make music, but I am sure they will also smile the next time someone yells “Freebird” at one of their shows.

Thanks for reading.