Jerry Lewis Was Bigger Than Elvis by Wal Ozello

Jerry Lewis, comedian and filmmaker, died on Sunday morning, August 20 at age 91. Pencilstorm writer Wal Ozello shares his memories of Jerry.

I met Jerry Lewis in 1995.  At the time, I was a video editor for A&E Biography and my company was doing a show on Dean Martin.  The company was a small one and everyone did double duty.  So when I wasn’t in the edit room, I went on the interviews as a camera assit.  My director, Brice Shipley, had scored what was soon to be one of the biggest interviews of all our lives: 20 minutes with Jerry Lewis.  Over the years, we interviewed dozens of big names.  Bill Cosby, Steve Allen, Tony Bennett to name a few.  But all of them paled in comparison to Jerry.

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a big part of my youth.  Growing up in Cleveland, the only thing on TV on Saturday afternoons was Super Host showing films from the 50s and 60s which included The Caddy, At War with the Army, My Friend Irma Goes West, and Pardners - all Martin and Lewis films.  Jerry’s solo films is where he really shined: The Bellboy, Cinderfella, The Geisha Boy, The Family Jewels and the infamous, The Nutty Professor. These movies were comedic gold. If you've never seen the original The Nutty Professor, you're missing out.

Before there was Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Jim Carrey, there was Jerry Lewis.  All are bland cardboard characters compared to the comedic genius of Jerry.  Either with Dean or without him, Jerry knew how to entertain like none other.

And how big was Martin and Lewis?  They were bigger than Springsteen, Simon and Garfunkel, Abbott and Costello, and even Lennon and McCartney.  Jerry’s credited in more than 50 films on imdb, many of which he wrote, produced and directed. He and Dean hosted several episodes of the Colgate Comedy Hour which was on NBC opposite The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS.  Martin & Lewis beat Ed Sullivan in the ratings forty times in a row… by double digits. Let me put that in perspective.  The Ed Sullivan Show was as big as Game of Thrones is on Sunday night.  When Martin & Lewis were on the Colgate Comedy Hour, people watched them instead.

They’d also do live shows, selling out week-long shows at the 4,000 seat Paramount Theatre and packing the streets with 75,000 people trying to get a glimpse of them from their hotel window. (See footage below.)

Jerry was also a Broadway performer.  He appeared in the revival of Damn Yankees which was how we ended up interviewing him. I was one of four people allowed in the room and we were told to keep it to 20 minutes.  Jerry ended up giving us 45.  After the interview was over, Jerry chatted up my director and me.  I think he was impressed that two guys in their early twenties new so much about his career and were in awe.  Jerry was 69 at the time and still giving it his all performing. During our conversation, Jerry casually called me a “fucking dago.” While to most Italians this is an insult, Jerry meant it as a compliment, as if I was suddenly “in” with him.  That moment is probably one of the top ten highlights of my career.

Jerry Lewis was the biggest entertainer that ever lived.  Imagine an amalgamation of Robin Williams, John Landis, Judd Apatow, Nathan Lane, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Presley.  He was bigger than all of them combined. I consider myself fortunate to have met him and even more fortunate to be entertained by him.  Rest in peace, funny guy and thanks for the laughs.

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis at the New York Paramount 4 July 1951. Absolute bedlam on 44th Street! Come on up for coffee!
Jerry Lewis sings "We've Got a World That Swings" from the film, The Nutty Professor, (1963) directed by Jerry Lewis, featuring Les Brown and His Band of Renown. The song was composed by Lil Mattis and Louis Y Brown.

Clip from Martin & Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour.

The Password scene from the movie "Which Way To The Front" with Jerry Lewis

Wal Ozello is the lead singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's the author of the science fiction time travel books: Assignment 1989, Revolution 1990 and Sacrifice 2086 and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee. As a local filmmaker, Wal has directed Dad Can't Help You Now by Colin Gawel and the short film, Alone.

Pencilstorm and Friends Remember Chuck Berry

editor's note:  Upon hearing the news of Chuck Berry's passing, Ricki C. & myself quickly agreed that nobody needed our two cents on the subject. Who were we to comment on the man who invented rock n roll?  After taking some time to let it all sink in, and a road trip to see Dan Baird, we decided our best course was to compile a page of people we admired to pay tribute.  Hail Hail Rock n Roll. Hail Hail Chuck Berry. - Colin G. 

 

For a quick reminder on why Chuck Berry was so important check out Annie Zaleski's bio she wrote for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here. 

Read "Without Chuck Berry There Would Be No Rock n Roll" by Rob Harvilla

Listen to Remembering Chuck Berry on the outstanding Sound Opinions podcast.

 

Terry Anderson is one of my rock n roll heroes and one of just a handful of songwriters I mention in the same breath as Chuck Berry. I asked him for his Chuck memories and he was nice enough to shoot me this as he was finishing up work on his latest album, Jimmy's Arcade due out May 10th. - Colin G

Terry Anderson: So our hero has left the building. 90 years is a good run, though. I'll take it! Sign me up! I'm just so blessed to have seen him perform three different times.

The first time was at MUSIC CITY here in Raleigh NC when The Pedestrians, along with my buddy Dave Adams on keys, got the backup gig. He loved Dave but man! oh man! he hated Tony the bass player who was, shall we say..."new to the instrument"! Chuck finally yelled at him "if you can't play that thang put it down!" I seem to remember getting backstage at that show, but you know, that was long time ago...back in my drankin' days (hee hee!).

The second time I saw him play was years later. Me and my buddy Roger were at Topsail Beach with our girls (mine was my soon to be wife) when we were looking in the paper for somewhere to go eat and wouldn't you know it! there's an ad for a CHUCK BERRY gig about to start in just 2 hours. The only problem was it was 2 hours away!  So Roger and I left the girls to fend for themselves on the food thing and we hightailed the shit outta there headed for Myrtle Beach! Driving 70mph the whole way, screaming at stoplights and generally being the kinda assholes you never want behind you we got to the Carolina Opry House JUST as Chuck was hitting the stage! We had just enough time to catch our breath before he came out and started into Roll Over Beethoven.

The piano player sure was exuberant! Song after song he would take off on a solo just when Chuck was about to! Chuck would cut an eye but the guy was good, I mean REAL good! Eventually Chuck would get his solo in and continue on. But you could tell after about 5 or so songs like this our hero was getting pretty pissed off. About mid-way through the show Chuck had it out with the guy on stage. It was during a song so we didn't know what the hell was going on. But things started to change after that little talk they had. Chuck was ok with the guy stepping on his solos. He'd let the dude take one then he'd take his. Things went smoothly from then on and it wasn't until the end of the show did we ever figger out what they had discussed up there. On the last song Chuck made up an entire new number, 3 verses, solo...everything! 

And on the last line of the song Chuck sez, "I didn't know the piano player was stone cold blind! Goodnight everybody!"

He came back out and did ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC, then he was gone.

It was so great and hilarious!

Saw him one more time a few years ago in downtown Raleigh. There were storms due to a hurricane in the area and it was an outside gig. The promoter was having trouble talking Chuck into going on. Finally he upped the pay 10k and got him a plate of ribs. I don't know which one influenced him the most but he came out during a break in the storm action and did about 40 minutes of partial Chuck Berry songs. The backup band sucked, but hey! at least Chuck sucked too! It didn't make a bit of difference though, we were standing right in front of him performing for US! There he was...Chuck FUCKING Berry!

 

Anybody who has seen Willie Phoenix knows he is in anybody's class when it comes to playing guitar-driven rock n roll. I snagged this from his Facebook page. - Colin G. 

Willie Phoenix :IT'S SUNDAY MORNING....AND THERE IS YET ANOTHER CLOUD OVER PEPPER LAND...SEEMS SO MANY STARS THAT HAVE BRIGHTENED OUR ROCK N' ROLL SKIES ...OUR ROCK N' ROLL EXISTENCE...HAVE MADE THEIR FINAL EXIT. ...NOW WITH THAT BEING SAID ...LET ME SAY...NO OTHER ROCK ARTIST HAS INFLUENCED SO MANY MEGA STAR ROCK N' ROLL ARTISTS LIKE CHUCK  BERRY...MEGA STARS INCLUDE....BOB DYLAN...BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN...BEATLES...BEACH BOYS,,,WHICH OF COURSE CHUCK SUED BEATLES AND BEACH BOYS...MANY OF YOU THINK COME TOGETHER WAS AN ORIGINAL...LENNON SLOWED DOWN CHUCKS...YOU CAN'T CATCH ME...HE EVEN LIFTED CHUCKS LYRIC...HERE COMES OLD FLAT TOP.. . AND JOHN HAD TO THANK SIR PAUL FOR THE ROLLING SOUL BASS LINE IN THAT SONG ALONG WITH MR. LENNONS BIG CHORUS PUSH....OR THAT TUNE WOULD HAVE BEEN MR. BERRYS ALL THE WAY. BOB DYLANS HIGHWAY 61'S RAMBLINGS..VERY MUCH IS CHUCKS ....TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS....THE ROLLING STONES...ALWAYS HONORED THEIR BLACK ROCK N' ROLL FATHERS....GOT THEIR NAME FROM A MUDDY WATERS SONG....BUT CUT THEIR TEETH ON MANY MANY CHUCK BERRY SONGS...AND THE STONES ALWAYS PAID BACK...BEFORE CHUCK BERRY....YES THEIR WERE OTHER GREAT GUITAR PLAYERS...IN ALL THE GENRES ...ESPECIALLY COOL ROCK A BILLY AND BLUES CATS...BUT MOST OF THOSE GUYS FOLLOWED THE BASS RIFFS TO FATTEN GUITAR RHYTHMS...NOT CHUCK...HE ADDED THAT CHUGA CHUGA THING...THAT ALL GUITAR PLAYERS SHOULD LEARN TO DO IF YOU WANTED TO PLAY TRUE ROCK N' ROLL GUITAR...AND NOT JUST ROCK GUITAR...AND FOR ALL MY METAL BUDS OUT THERE...YOU MIGHT SAY CHUCK NEVER INFLUENCED ME...WELL EVEN JIMI HENDRIX DID A 1000 MPH VERSION OF JOHNNY B. GOODE...LED ZEPPLIN ....RIFFIN' CHUCK UP ON...BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I ROCKED N' ROLL...AS ROBERT PLANT WOULD SING.... ANYWAY HISTORIANS RUSHED TO GIVE ELVIS THE CROWN...FOR MANY REASONS...AND BOY GROWING UP I LOVED ME SOME ELVIS....ELVIS MADE THE GIRLS SCREAM...BUT CHUCK NOT ONLY MADE THE GIRLS SCREAM...BUT THE BOYS CHEERED HIM ON TOO...ROCK N' ROLL ...THE TRUE POWER OF THE ELECTRIC ROCK N' ROLL GUITAR WAS FIRST BROUGHT TO LIGHT BY CHUCK BERRY...AND THEN OF COURSE WAS THE GENIUS OF HIS PERFECT SONG WRITING...I THINK HIS SONG WRITING GAVE A PICTURE PERFECT STORY OF ROCKIN' TEEN SUBURBIA FOR ITS TIME. HAIL! HAIL! THE TRUE KING OF ROCK N' ROLL!
p3ace

 

And not to be outdone, long time Willie Phoenix and League Bowlers drummer Jim Johnson had some thoughts too.

Jim Johnson: No one had a bigger influence on every band I've ever loved, than Chuck Berry. The man defined the word Rock & Roll. There would be no Beatles or Stones, without Chuck Berry. There would be no Willie Phoenix or League Bowlers without Chuck Berry. His influence will live on, in a world that will be just a little sadder,without his presence. Rest in peace Chuck. 
You changed my life, and countless others, who loved the words you sang, and the notes you played. 

No Chuck Berry tribute would be complete with out reading what Keith Richards had to say about his passing and influence. 

And Hail Hail Rock and Roll Director Taylor Hackford. Read it here.

And in closing, check out the playlist from Jon Brian Peterson's always swingin'  Shakin' it Radio program which airs/streams on WCBE every Saturday night at 8pm. www.wcbe.org 

"ALL OF CHUCK'S CHILDREN" 3-25-17 CB Special now online for FREE DOWNLOAD. Playlist below and download by clicking:

SHAKIN’ IT: CHUCK BERRY SPECIAL 03-25-17/HOUR ONE
CHUCK BERRY- “Memphis” (Live, 1972)
JOHNNY RIVERS- “Memphis”
CHUCK BERRY- “Sweet Little 16”
BEACH BOYS- “Surfin’ USA” (Live, 1972)
LONNIE MACK- “Memphis” (Instrumental)
CHUCK BERRY- “Wee Wee Hours”
CHUCK BERRY- “Downward Train”
CHUCK BERRY- “Havana Moon”
PULP FICTION clip- “Vincent Vega”
CHUCK BERRY- “You Never Can Tell” 
CHUCK BERRY – “Tulane”
PAUL McCARTNEY- “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”
JOHNNIE ALLAN- “Promised Land”
CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND- “Come On”
MC5 – “Back In the USA”
ROLLING STONES- “You Can’t Catch Me”
ROLLING STONES- “Carol”

ROLLING STONES- “Around & Round”
MITCH RYDER- “Let It Rock”
ERIC BURDEN & ANIMALS- “Little Queenie” (Live)
BACK TO THE FUTURE clip- “Johnny B. Goode (instrumental)

SHAKIN’ IT: CHUCK BERRY SPECIAL 03-25-17/HOUR TWO
JOHN LENNON & CHUCK BERRY- “Johnny B. Goode” (Live on Mike Douglas Show)
BEATLES- “Roll Over Beethoven” (George Harrison sings!)
BEATLES- “Rock & Roll Music” (John Lennon sings)
ROD STEWART- “Sweet Little Rock N’ Roller”
BOB SEGER- “Rock N’ Roll Never Forgets” 
TERRY DAVIDSON & THE GEARS- “I Will Not Let You Go”
THE KINKS- “Too Much Monkey Business”
ROCKPILE- “Oh What A Thrill” (featuring Dave Edmonds)
THE TROGGS- “No Particular Place To Go”
SELDOM SCENE- “Nadine”
JUDGE DREAD- “My Ding-A-Ling”
PETER TOSH- “Johnny B. Goode”
CHUCK BERRY- “30 Days”
JANE PAULEY INTERVIEW- (with CB, 1973)
CHUCK BERRY- “School Days” (Live, 1972)
CHUCK BERRY- “Almost Grown”
CHUCK BERRY- “Run Rudolph Run”
CHUCK BERRY- “I’m A Rocker”
CHUCK BERRY- “Woodpecker” (Instrumental, under outro)

Colin Gawel : The rock n roll tree has grown many branches, but the one that came straight from the trunk, the direct path from the roots was planted by Chuck Berry. I've watched the scene below hundreds of times and it always fills me with joy. I could go on and on about the songwriting, the poetry, and his problems but..... just look at him.....or better yet, try to take your eyes off him. RIP Chuck.

Chuck Berry - Guitar, vocals Eric Clapton - Guitar Keith Richards - Guitar Steve Jordan - Drums Johnnie Johnson - Piano Chuck Leavell - Organ Joey Spampinato - Bass

Two Rock 'n Roll icons of the 20th century meet and perform together at the Mike Douglas Show in February 1972, New York City. Full segment: Memphis, Tennessee - Interview - Johnny B. Goode NOTICE: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

Ace In The Hole Music Is Closing Next Week: You Should Stop In - by Ricki C.

Ace In The Hole Music Exchange (1153 Kenny Centre, inside the Kenny Centre shopping plaza, right by the corner of Kenny & Henderson Rds. / 614-457-5666) is closing its doors for good on Saturday, March 18th, 2017.  You should go there before it does. 

Owner/proprietor Mike "Pepe" Depew has kept Ace In The Hole going since 1995 - virtually single-handedly for the past seven years - but the crushing economic realities of keeping an indie record store afloat in our current downloadable music culture has made continuing the venture impossible.  (see store hours and closing-week discount schedule below)

I worked at Ace In The Hole for nine years in the first decade of this 21st century, 2001-2010.  I lived a pretty clichéd rocker existence that decade: I played action-packed acoustic solo rock & roll gigs; I served as road manager for Hamell On Trial, a punk-blast of MC 5-derived acoustic energy; halfway through the decade I signed on as merch guy & guitar tech for Watershed (and later for Colin’s spinoff bands, The League Bowlers and The Lonely Bones); and in between all that touring my day job was at Ace In The Hole Music.

I can’t tell you how cool that day job was.  Essentially I was getting paid to hang out and listen to music for eight hours a day, while talking ABOUT MUSIC to various strangers, friends & acquaintances who dropped into the store, both of which I WOULD HAVE DONE FOR FREE!!!  Other than a very short stint at Camelot Music right before Ace In The Hole, I had spent 25 years of my life working on receiving docks and in warehouses, unloading trucks and humping freight about for 40 bone-crunching/soul-destroying hours a week; BELIEVE ME, working in an indie record store work was better.

Plus I can’t tell you the number of good friends I made at that store: a local cancer physician, who – due to his rather retiring nature – I’m guessing would rather remain nameless here, who has subsequently become my sister’s oncologist as she battles cancer, and whose friendship has made that entire process SO MUCH EASIER; local rocker (and current Nashville émigré) Erica Blinn, whom I met when she was in her early teens when her dad – Ace In The Hole regular Jerry Blinn, bassist of the fine, fine, superfine West Side rocker elite Black Leather Touch – brought her into Ace, where she later became an employee; and, crucially, Joe Peppercorn – leader & master songwriter of first Mrs. Children, later The Whiles, still later the mastermind & driving force of the annual Beatles Marathon, perhaps Columbus’ finest yearly musical throwdown.

I met Joe one chilly Monday morning after I had co-hosted Invisible Hits Hour – Curt Schieber’s long-running Sunday night CD 101/102.5 record review show – the night before.  Joe came into the store – all but twisting a cloth cap in his hands like a character out of some Dickens novel – and said, “Are you the guy who was on Invisible Hits Hour last night?”  (I continually plugged my employment at Ace In The Hole on the show: why waste an hour of free advertising?)  “Did you like the show?” I asked back at him.  “Yeah, it was great.” he replied.  “Then yeah, that was me,” I said, brightening.  “What were you going to say if I didn’t like the show?” Joe asked, meeting my eyes for the first time in the entire shyness-slanted conversation.  “I was gonna say it was the white-haired guy who owns the store,” I said, “the last thing I need is little assholes coming in here and berating me because I badmouthed their favorite 311 record, and I can’t walk away from ‘em, because I’m at work.”

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

There’s so much more about my nine years at Ace I’d like to get into: Watershed playing a great gig in the parking lot of the store on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon back in 2002, when The More It Hurts, The More It Works was brand new, YEARS before they ever became my employers (maybe Colin will write about that separately this week); the fact that Jim Johnson – ace drummer of various Willie Phoenix bands through the years & decades – was our record distributor throughout my employment and remains in that position to this day (plus he got me my job at the store, that’s a cool story in itself); but all that has to wait for a later blog, ‘cuz here’s what you have got to know RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! 
   
Ace In The Hole is open this week and next week Tuesday through Friday 11 am-7 pm; Saturday 11am-5 pm; and Sunday March 12th from noon to 2 pm or so, whenever the traffic and the conversation run out.  Final business day is Saturday March 18th, 2017.  All used CD’s in the store are 50% off; vinyl records $6 and under are 50% off (and, you’d best believe me, there’s still a BUNCH of great, cheap vinyl left in the store, I got that Brotherhood album – offshoot band of Paul Revere & the Raiders – for 50 cents last week, among others); vinyl $7-$30 is 20% off, and vinyl over $30 (and there’s some gems in that price range still there, too) is 30% off.  You really should go in and drop some cash, you could do much worse stuff with your time and your disposable music money until the 18th. – Ricki C. / March 6th, 2017. `

National Record Store Day, April 18th, 2009: Colin plays music, future Pencilstorm movie critic Rob Braithwaite reads the paper, local singer/songwriter John Vincent watches and waits for his turn to play.....

Thank Your Lucky Stars - by James A. Baumann

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Each time the calendar flips to December, one can count on a parade of year-in-review stories; filling pages and websites with a balance of best-of and in memoriam pieces. With 2016 — the spectacular clustercuss of a year that it was — nearly in our rearview mirror one can expect an uptick in the wistfulness and mourning those stories will hold. Between assorted illnesses and accidents, plus the inevitable passing of time (spoiler alert: more gut punches will be coming sooner rather than later) this year took more than its pound of flesh. 

Bowie. Prince. Cohen. Haggard. Phife Dawg. George Michael. It didn’t matter what musical camp you preferred, these last 12 months have had something to disappoint everyone. But in the midst of those losses there were those others who left behind magical musical moments even if their departure wasn’t accompanied by banner headlines.

In the 1990s, thanks to publicists being willing to send stuff to anyone with a URL, I was inundated with music. Some of it was garbage. Most of it was forgettable. But some of it — those glorious gems sparkling in the mud alongside the information superhighway — was stellar. Two of those brightest lights were Kevin Junior and Ross Shapiro. Odds are you have never heard of them and, even if you did, you wouldn’t have heard that those lights have gone out. Which is what brings me to the keyboard today. 

Kevin Junior publicity photo.

I knew Kevin Junior as the frontman of the Chicago-based Chamber Strings. He had previously played with the Mystery Girls and the Rosehips before The Chamber Strings released two albums of melancholy, orchestral-pop beauty. With his Ron Wood hairstyle and suave style he oozed rockstar, but also maintained a Midwest approachability. 

I first met Junior in person at Columbus’s Little Brothers when they headlined a show curated by the club’s doorman for his birthday. Many of the details of that night are fuzzy, but I do remember a roving magician doing some amazing sleight-of-hand tricks and what may have been home movies being shown on the wall. I also remember things running late, which could have led to grated nerves. But Junior and his band relaxed, alternately at the bar and backstage, smoking cigarette and buying their time before taking the stage. Once they did, for all you knew, they could have been playing the Fillmore, a basement, or a stadium. It was effortless, it was glamorous, and it was beautiful.

Not much later I travelled up to Cleveland to see The Chamber Strings open for the Pernice Brothers at the Beachland Tavern. Again looking every part the glam rock star with a velvet suit and flowing scarf — and yet somehow still fitting in with the wood paneling on the walls and the Blatz beer sign with one burned-out letter — he nursed his drink and juggled one conversation after another. He was the first person I ever saw woo a woman by stating that George Harrison was his favorite Beatle and actually mean it. Then, again, when it was time he and the band took the stage — which was only a half-step higher than the rest of the floor — and delivered another effortless, glamorous, and beautiful set.

The Chamber Strings were one of those bands that sounded like dozens of others, yet didn't feel derivative. They were fueled by the pop of The Kinks, Beatles, and Big Star as well as the soul and swagger of The Faces, with a dose of Johnny Thunders and David Bowie glam for good measure. Sadly, about the only place today to hear gems like “Cold, Cold Meltdown,” “Make It Through the Summer,” “Telegram,” and “Let Me Live My Own Life” now is on fan-posted YouTube videos.

Also, unfortunately, almost as quickly as The Chamber Strings came into my world, they would also leave it. Junior, shortly after the 2002 release of the second record, fell into drugs. This isn’t the place to recount that part of his story. Besides, it has been fully-covered in a gut-wrenching account by Bob Mehr in the Chicago Reader as well as a separate short video documentary. 

As fans waited to hear something from Junior — alternating between hoping for new music and  fearing news of an overdose — he eventually would come back to his native Akron (rumor says Chrissie Hynde was once his babysitter) to live with his mother. There he put together a new Chamber Strings line up. I would occasionally see a Facebook post that they were playing an Akron club and it was always on my to-do list to make it back to one of his shows. But I didn’t. And now I can’t. And that is what brings me to the keyboard today.

Ross Shapiro of The Glands (photo credit: Athens Banner Herald Online)

Ross Shapiro of The Glands (photo credit: Athens Banner Herald Online)

Ross Shapiro had much in common with Junior. They shared the reputation as a musician’s musician, indie-label disappointments, and a musical career under the radar. In other ways, though, Shapiro lived at the other end of the indie-rock spectrum. While Junior gravitated to the spotlight, Shapiro kept in the shadows. Many of the accounts of his life written after he passed painted him as Athens, Georgia’s, curmudgeonly hermit; a perfectionist who put together his bands and recordings in secret and a record store clerk who quietly judged each customer for their Schoolkids Records purchase. He had t-shirts printed that read “I Love (What Used to Be) Athens.”

This depiction surprised me because I don’t hear any of that cynicism in his songs. It’s not there on the first record, Double Thriller, (named so because it was recorded using the same mixing board as Michael Jackson’s smash). It was a local hit and harbinger of what was to come. 

Their second record was self-titled and was released in 2000. Well, “released” may be a bit of an overstatement as (depending on what source you look at) either Capricorn Records or the short-lived Velocette Records stumbled out of the gate, meaning few heard it. But those who did hear it fell in love with it. Due to geography and at least some shared musical attitude, it benefitted from the excitement around the Elephant 6 musical collective, but certainly earned its own accolades. SPIN magazine, if my memory serves, gave it a 9 out of 10. NPR heralded it as one of their “Songs We Love.” Through its 14 tracks, the album alternated between dreamy, jazzy, poppy, rocky, funky, and folky. Some were driven by electric guitar riffs. Other by chunky keyboard chords. The constant was Shapiro’s slightly nasally drawl, delivering seemingly free-associative lyrics. As I listened to it again this week, over and over again, I would be hard-pressed to find a single wasted note.

The tour for that record brought The Glands to Athens, Ohio, and I excitedly made my way to The Union bar to see the show and interview Shapiro. While the opening act prepared the stage (again, memories are fuzzy, but I remember a line of musicians standing in boxes to produce a “Dorf On Golf” effect while playing songs like David Seville’s “Witch Doctor”), we chatted easily as he smoked and drank cup after cup of coffee. There was none of the reticence I would later read about. He seemed to love talking about music. The exchange I still remember was when I asked him how he balanced the jangly, off-kilter nature of many of the songs (think Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, and fellow Athenians REM) with the blistering guitar solos in the middle of songs like “When I Laugh” or “Work It Out.” He just smiled, took a draw on his cigarette and said, “Well, we all wanted to be in Aerosmith when we were growing up.”

In the following years, when other bands from the Georgia area came through Columbus, our talk would inevitably work their away around to mutual admiration for The Glands. Rumors of a new record would come and go with each conversation, but nothing materialized.

Then, in 2004 Shapiro was lured back out on the road by his friends in The Shins. This time the tour came to Columbus and they played to a full Newport Music Hall. While the band lineup had changed, Shapiro and the songs were still there. As they finished their all-too-short set, Shapiro smiled and waved. He looked happy. They had played some new songs. “They will be back,” I optimistically believed. Then they virtually disappeared for a decade before briefly popping up to play some gigs in Athens or spot shows with other bands. But now that chance is gone as well. Which brings me to my keyboard today.

There is nothing I can add to what will be written about Bowie, Prince, et al. They were more monument than mortal, which is what made their passing such a shock. They were something for us all to look up to. But let’s not forget those that we could see across a bar or a record counter. Those that shared their art on stages that are six-inches high, rather than coliseum alters. Those that were more lightning-in-a-bottle than legend.  

The truth of the matter is that, in this century, I am sure that I have spent more time with Kevin Junior’s and Ross Shapiro’s records than I have with Bowie and Prince. That’s not said as some sort of ranking or judgement, but merely an observation that hit me with each obit. 

So, as we move into a new year, let’s hold close to our heroes and all that they have brought us. But let’s also resolve to keep our eyes, ears, hearts, and souls open to those new (at least to us) voices and their contributions. Buy a shirt. Bend the ear of a friend. Make a convert or two. Head to your keyboard today. Because nobody knows how many more tomorrows there will be.