In honor of Willie Phoenix Way, I am re-posting the four-part Ballad of Willie Phoenix that first appeared on my blog Growing Old With Rock & Roll in 2013. It’s a deep dive into Willie's history from my dual perspectives as both a fan and as his roadie. Someday I might write another chapter, but just in case I don't, let me say this: If I hadn't met Willie Phoenix (and one other) in 1978, I would have lived out my existence as a middle-manager in some retail operation. Willie gave me back music, gave me back poetry, gave me back style, and made me believe in a future where I could still be living in and writing about rock & roll in 2020.
Thank you Willie.
Monday, December 9, 2013 / The Ballad Of Willie Phoenix, part two - The A&M Band, 1981-1982
After The Buttons split up in 1980, Willie turned his attentions to a solo career. Romantic Noise and The Buttons had been pure power-pop creations: four-piece guitars & drums bands stressing harmonies and three-minute pop confections of the highest order. Willie's next band was formed with the idea of extensively widening that rock & roll palette.
Contemporaneous articles of the time - from the Ohio State Lantern and The Monthly Planet (the completely dreck-ridden, unlamented successor to Focus as Columbus' music weekly) - tell me the name of that band was, alternately, The Stray Revival or Willie & The Passions. I never heard the band called by either one of those names. Rockers around town routinely called it "Willie's Big Band" and later, after they were signed, "The A&M Band." Stray Revival or Passions? I don't think so, though both are cool names.
That band was comprised of Willie on rhythm guitar & lead vocals, Greg Glasgow - Willie's right-hand man, held over from the earlier bands - on bass & backing vocals, Rob Brumfiel on lead guitar, Mel McGary on keyboards and Gary "The Captain" Strauss, a strapping 300-pound drum-basher. There were always two or three female back-up singers (who were dubbed "The Willie-ettes" in tribute to Ray Charles' girl singers - beginning with CiCi Hank and Tracy LaTour - but I swear there were different girls every few months. (If my memory serves, even Donna Mogavero - later and still a popular Columbus folkie singer/songwriter around town - was a Willie-ette at one time.)
(This is just an intro; click the link below for the “rest of the story” if you are so inclined…….)
The Ballad of Willie Phoenix, part two: the A&M Band, 1981-1982 / Growing Old With Rock & Roll
(Any history of Willie Phoenix is a Living History, an ongoing process. He’s still out here rockin’. Stay in the loop at WilliePhoenix.com.)
left to right: Rob Brumfiel, lead guitar / Greg Glasgow, bass / Jerry Hanahan, drums / Willie Phoenix, vocals & rhythm guitar / Mel McGary, keyboards
