The Mavericks

My phone buzzed; “Get ready for your show tomorrow!” Wait. What? I have tickets to a show tomorrow? I have a Ticketmaster app on my phone? Turns out the answer was yes and yes. Apparently, at some point in the past I had the good instincts to click on a button to purchase tickets to see The Mavericks at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati. Maybe it was late when I clicked. Maybe I had a few coca-colas with the boys and/or it had been rescheduled Covid style from 2019. No matter now. The show was in 24 hours and my wife & I were on board to check out the show.

The next day at Colin’s Coffee, I told everyone excitedly, “I’m so stoked to finally see The Mavericks tonight!!!” Everyone; “Who?” Me; “You know.. The Mavericks. They are legends. Raul Malo. ‘What a Crying Shame’”?  Everyone; “Never heard of them.”

When I say everyone, I mean nobody. Nobody had heard of The Mavericks.  Literally. Not a single person. I made it a point to ask every single customer. A shutout. Nada. Nada a one.

In my mind they were a pretty huge act. Turns out maybe only Colin’s Coffee has been playing Mavericks records for the past 25 years. They are probably in our top ten most spun artists in history. They just sound so good. Like The Jayhawks if they had been born in Miami. Pure sonic beauty. The truth. With horns and a squeeze box. 

Anyway, once again I checked out their most recent set-list to study up and was surprised to learn they were touring behind their latest record which was sung entirely in Spanish. No problem. I took French in high school and and it was my worst subject. It would all be Chinese to me. Good thing music is the international language of love and this is a band you can dance to.

As I always say, I don’t review shows. I don’t have that skill. But I will tell you this, if you don’t see The Mavericks before you die, then your time here on Earth has been a waste and a crying shame.  In the meantime, please listen to all those beautiful recordings while you make plans to attend a show. Here is a short playlist to get you started. They are on the road all the way through 2022.

Alice Cooper w/ Ace Frehley

Biggie fired up the van and along with Patrick Baracus and Mike Lovins from the excellent hard-rock band Bava Choco, we made the 55 minute drive from Colin’s Coffee to the fabulous Rose Amphitheater in Huber Heights, Ohio. I love this venue so much I would drive with Biggie just to drink in the parking lot and listen to Judas Priest. 5,000 seats, no lawn, with a roof but no AC. No worries, the beer is cold and plentiful. I love the Rose. Find a show and go. Or just party in the parking lot. 

Space Ace was up first. SetlistFM giveth and taketh away. As I was doing homework for the Alice Cooper set, I accidentally saw that Ace was opening with Rocket Ride. Not as cool as Rip It Out in my opinion but would have been cooler as a surprise. He did play Rip It Out later. That’s probably the best Ace song outside of the KISS catalog, right? Ok, we can make an argument for Stranger in a Strange Land, but.….

Ace was Ace. He looks healthy-ish. Better than at the Alrose Villa in 1994 but since I thought he might die that night I’m not exactly sure what that means. He played a bunch of KISS including Detroit Rock City, Strutter and Deuce. I assume he does this just to piss Gene and Paul off. And I’m sure it works. Still, no Rock Soldiers? Come on, Ace. Only you can play that. We need to hear it. And Escape From the Island. Obviously.

As for Alice….oh man...ok, I don’t like to ruffle feathers. Many of my friends are HUGE fans. And it was my first show. I was in a good mood. I had studied his set. I thought his latest record Detroit Stories was very good and the best thing he had done in years and the show started and I…..

Hated it. Not just passive dislike. Open scoffing. Barf. Was I watching the Disney School Of Rock final exam? Every band member was dressed like a poser. Every bandanna was perfectly placed. Every step across the stage and hand clap had been reviewed on video to meet “rocking” expectations. The entire thing was scripted. 

Yeah, yeah, I know…“His band is amazing...” Uh, when was the last time you saw a band of hired guns that wasn’t amazing?  It’s really not that big of a deal. Do you know how many hot-shit musicians are out of work at any given moment? A hot-shit ton. When was the last time somebody saw a pop idol or a Broadway show and the backing band WASN’T amazing. Why does Alice get extra credit for this? The Shadowbox house band in Columbus could replace Alice’s band in 24 hours and do a better job. (Mind you,  I’m not blaming the players..They are just taking orders. It’s a great gig.)

As the the famed theatrics: Biggie, “The stage looks like my Halloween Fisher Price set when I was nine years old.”

And the guitar tones made C.C. DeVille sound like Malcom Young. Amps turned to 2, distortion boxes turned to 11. BARF BARF BARF! 

I don’t want amazing, I want authenticity. Or at least a nod to authenticity. I saw nothing like that here. And outside of the songs produced by the great Bob Ezrin, the rest of Alice’s catalog sounds like deep cuts from Bon Jovi albums. The entire crowd was standing around waiting for the three songs they knew. Is it just me but it seems that in some hipster-deluded universe, Alice Cooper is actually considered cooler than KISS in the year 2021? That is exactly wrong. A single Space Ace functioning at 50% exposed Alice for what he is at this point. A shrewd businessman who kills time on stage between rounds of golf. KISS should hire Alice to open for them just to set the record straight.

The good news was that after an hour we tapped out and beat the traffic back to C-bus. I was in bed by 11:30 pm for my 5:45 am alarm the next day.  It was still a very fun night and I was glad I went. I would go see almost anything at the Rose. And no offense to my Alice friends. I still like Detroit Stories. Maybe I was just in a mood. But I doubt it.

Colin Gawel wrote this at Colin’s Coffee the week after Watershed played a 2 hour and 43 minute show at the CD92.9 Big Room. He needs a haircut and he might be coming unglued. He once knew a guy who made fun of people who drove around with cats but turns out said person also drove around with cats. In related news: If he had to pack up the cats, he would play The Kids Are Alright.