Kiss Returns To Huntington, WV: Thirty Seven Year Anniversary Show - by Scott Carr

KISS Returns to Huntington, WV

September 10th, 2016 marked the 37th anniversary of Kiss making a stop in my hometown of Huntington, WV on their 1979 "The Return Of Kiss" tour.  In a weird coincidence, the final stop  of their current "Freedom to Rock" tour brought them back to Huntington to perform on that very same date and on the same stage once known as the Huntington Civic Center, now the Big Sandy Super Arena.

Before I get into my review of Kiss' most recent stop in Huntington, I want to travel back in time to 1979:

In May of 1979 Kiss released their seventh studio album Dynasty and launched a tour that was dubbed "The Return of Kiss." Kiss had ended their Alive II tour in April of 1978 and took time off to do the Kiss Solo Albums and released their TV movie Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park. By the time they started the Dynasty tour Kiss had been off the road for over a year and excitement was high for their return to the concert stage.

When it was announced that Kiss would be making a stop in Huntington my dad quickly picked up tickets for the whole family. Going to see Kiss back in those days was a family affair because my parents were Kiss fanatics just like me and my two older brothers. I was so excited that Kiss was coming to My town and that we had tickets. Kiss had played Huntington a couple times before but the excitement for this show seemed bigger than anything prior. Counting down the days until the concert was kind of like waiting on Christmas, it seemed like the day would never arrive. One of my most vivid memories I have of the 1979 show was waiting for the band to take the stage. I was physically shaking with excitement to see my heroes and my dad had his hand on my shoulder and he could feel me shaking and he asked me if I was gonna be alright. I'm pretty sure I wasn't even able to reply to his question. I don't think I've ever been that excited for any other show in my life. The specifics of the show are kind of a blur thirty seven years later but I do remember it being very loud and flashy and everything my 10-year old self expected it would be. One highlight that I do remember clearly is the band performing a couple songs from the Kiss Solo Albums. They did "Move On" from Paul's record and "New York Groove" from Ace's. Earlier in the tour they had been doing one from each record but by the time they made it to Huntington, they had dropped the songs from Gene and Peter's records. 

There were almost ten thousand crazed Kiss fans in attendance that night, which was a bit smaller crowd than when Kiss had played Huntington in 1978, but rumor is the previous year's show had been way oversold. The band did not stay at the local Holiday Inn just down the block because the hotel chain was requiring the band to put down a $5,000 deposit, due to some damage that had been done on the band's previous trip to town. It has also been reported that Kiss manager Bill Aucoin was in Huntington for this show. Bill did not always attend concerts, if Bill was there it was considered to be a special occasion or important show.

Another memory that I have from this show is my mom buying a shirt from a bootlegger outside the venue as we were leaving the show. She only had enough money for one shirt, so she got it in a size large and said I had to share it with my brothers. I eventually grew into the shirt and I still have it. When I heard Kiss was returning to Huntington on September 10th 2016, I knew immediately what shirt I would be wearing.

Fast forward thirty seven years and I find myself heading back to my hometown to see Kiss once again. During those thirty seven years I have remained an avid Kiss fan and have probably seen them at least 20 more times. I didn't take the time to count them all, but that's definitely in the ball park. I've seen them in just about every configuration you can think of. I saw them four times during the original make-up years, several times once they unmasked and then numerous times when they decided to put the facepaint back on. Kiss have only returned to Huntington one other time during this thirty seven year span, that show being January of 1988 during the Crazy Nights tour. I actually got backstage at that show and met my heroes, maybe I'll write about that in a future Pencil Storm entry.

Going to concerts today is so much different than it was all those years ago. When you went to a show back then you really had no idea what to expect and I think that played into the excitement I felt when I saw Kiss in 1979. Now with YouTube and setlistfm, you don't even need to go to shows anymore because you know everything in advance.  Times change and that's just the way it is now. 

Kiss definitely gave the nearly sold-out crowd in Huntington its money's worth on the "Freedom To Rock" tour. I could sit here and complain that Paul didn't sound pitch perfect or that it's just not the same without Ace and Peter - which it's not - but in the end Kiss is still the biggest rock & roll spectacle out there and they do it better than anyone. The set list was kind of predictable but they did throw the die-hard fans a bone when they played "Flaming Youth," which they rarely do. Other highlights included "Psycho Circus" and "War Machine." It was weird seeing Eric Singer sing Peter Criss' signature song "Beth" and Tommy Thayer doing Ace's "Shock Me," but when I looked around no one seemed to care, everyone was singing along and having a blast. I guess in the end that's what really matters. The music still gets people excited. Gene Simmons was in great form, breathing fire, spitting blood and sounding strong vocally. Gene takes a lot of flak but he is a great showman, no question. The biggest thing that struck me while watching the band perform was realizing that in 1979 Paul Stanley was just twenty seven years old and at what I would consider the top of his game and Gene was thirty. Now they are in their mid-sixties and they are still doing what they love. That's pretty cool. 

I will admit that over the last decade or so it has been harder to be a Kiss fan but for me they will always be my band. Kiss gave me the spirit of rock and roll and that's something I will never turn my back on.  

I thought I would have mixed emotions about going to this anniversary show but I'm glad I went. I'm glad I was surrounded by Kiss fans old and new. I'm glad that my 76-year old mother attended this show with me like she had so many others in the past.  It wasn't quite the magical experience that I had in 1979 and my hands weren't shaking with excitement prior to them hitting the stage but I came away from it feeling like I had just seen a kick-ass rock show. So, I say job well done Kiss.

Below you will see then and now pics and videos from the Huntington concerts. As you will notice, I tend to save everything!

Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH  bands Radio Tramps andReturning April.  Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.

 

1979 newspaper ad.

1979 newspaper ad.

2016 Freedom To Rock ad

2016 Freedom To Rock ad

Me 1979 with my bootleg concert tee

Me 1979 with my bootleg concert tee

Hey, it still fits in 2016!

Hey, it still fits in 2016!

1979 ticket stub

1979 ticket stub

2016 ticket stub

2016 ticket stub

Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley Huntington Civic Center September 10, 1979

Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley Huntington Civic Center September 10, 1979

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Big Sandy Super Arena September 10, 2016

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Big Sandy Super Arena September 10, 2016

The Return of Kiss set list September 10, 1979

The Return of Kiss set list September 10, 1979

The Freedom To Rock Tour set list September 10, 2016

The Freedom To Rock Tour set list September 10, 2016

Classic 8mm Dynasty Footage!

This is KISS performing Detroit Rock City live at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, WV on 9/10/16 on their Freedom To Rock Tour. This was the highest grossing show in the history of the venue (KISS's first time in Huntington since 1988) as well as the final stop on the tour.

KISS performing "Flaming Youth" at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, in Huntington, West Virginia.

KISS breaks record for the gross amount earned during their Freedom to Rock Tour, and the record for gross amount at Big Sandy Arena in Huntington, WV on the last night of their tour!** ------------------------ **KISS donates $150,000 to veterans, honors a wounded, Purple Heart veteran on stage, and plays the National Anthem** ------------------------ Mayor declares September 10th Freedom to Rock Day in Huntington, WV!

Sinkers, Stinkers and Cringers - My Unmasked KISS Album - by Jeremy Porter

Click here for full KISS Unmasked Fantasy Draft  Results.

Like many pre-teen American boys in the late 70s, I was a big KISS fan. It’s a familiar tale - staring at the gatefolds of ALIVE! and ALIVE II, impatiently waiting for KISS Meets the Phantom to air on TV in 1978 (and an HBO concert special in `79), and playing tennis racket guitars and couch cushion drums as my friends and I became the characters themselves. The pinnacle of that experience for me were the solo records (especially Ace Frehley’s) and the Dynasty album my mom bought for me for being a good boy at a traumatic orthodontist appointment. After that, my interest faded quickly as I moved onto The Who, Cheap Trick, The Knack, and eventually Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne. My attention was briefly rekindled when they took the makeup off for the Lick It Up album. I was deep into metal at that point, and the record held its own with others in the genre that year. I also still held on to enough nostalgia from my younger years to want to finally see what these guys looked like without the greasepaint. (Yikes!)

I tried to stay tuned in. I even saw them a couple times in the 80s, but Animalize and subsequent records just failed to hold my interest. Blame it on my rapid descent into punk rock, the consistently sub-par records, or just the descending, personal-arc of a once-favorite band that had run its course in a kid’s life….but it was pretty much over.  

jer & bruce.jpg

Then one night in 1995 I casually flipped onto the MTV Unplugged episode that saw the return of Peter and Ace at the end to jam on some classics.  Those old songs stuck out to me as so much better, especially side-by-side with the new stuff, but I also enjoyed seeing Bruce Kulick solo on his acoustic like it was a Kramer, and “Domino” stood out as a kickass song.  It was around that time that I realized Gene Simmons is a really, really great rock singer. KISS was back in rotation, but still just the classic stuff. For the last 23 years that’s how it’s been.

I accepted the invitation to participate in this draft with only a slight hesitation. I’m always up for a challenge, especially when it forces me to explore something I might not otherwise bother with (like when a bandmate suggests we cover an Echo and the Bunnymen song). But I wasn’t about to phone it in. I knew almost nothing about their post-Lick it Up catalog except the singles, so I got the records and listened to them several times. There wasn’t enough time to truly digest that much music, so I created a spreadsheet and ranked each song from 1 - 10 as I listened, then re-evaluated another couple times. My plan was to tie my picks to my highest rated available songs.

I can’t honestly say that I think the best of the non-makeup stuff holds a candle to classic tracks like “Calling Dr. Love”, “Detroit Rock City”, “100,000 Years” and “She”, but it’s not without its redeeming qualities. I did my best to approach it objectively and as a separate entity, which it mostly is, and to avoid holding the past against it.

01. Domino (Revenge)

I picked this first and started my album with it because it was the one song that helped to suck me into that Unplugged show. The dynamics and transitions between the parts are really well executed. The pre-choruses and transitions into the chorus build some good momentum. It’s sexy and sultry and everything that is wrong and right about KISS. Gene’s swagger is full of confidence. This isn’t gonna be on the soundtrack for the #MeToo movement, but Mr. $immons offers no apologies.  

Cringer line:  “Every time I walk through that damn door it’s the same damn thing.  That bitch bends over and I forget my name - ow!”

Bonus cringer: “Got a reputation, haven't got a hope, It's a sticky situation, if she ain't old enough to vote”

02. All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose (Lick it Up)

This one was a bit polarizing in pre-draft discussions, but I chose it early because it was a standout to teenage me in 1983 and I still get a kick out of it. Is that Paul Stanley rapping? Sorta, certainly close enough to chuckle about it. But like “Domino,”  this song - especially the verses - have real swagger. The confidence and boldness make up for the cheesiness. Somehow, it’s believable. It’s also got shades of “I Love It Loud” (a great Gene track from the later makeup years) with the single-string, repeating guitar riff under the singalong chorus, and Vinnie VIncent’s guitar solo sounds hauntingly like something Ace would have played. I also love how the bass kicks in for the second half of the verses. In addition to being a great vocalist, Gene is also an underrated bassist.     

Cringer line: “...and he says, ‘Hey man, what be this and what be that, and why you gotta look like that?’ I just looked at him and kinda laughed and said, ‘Hey man, I am cool; I am the breeze.’ "

03. Young and Wasted (Lick it Up)

This is a really cool song for a couple reasons - it’s fast, it has a great vocal, and the lyrics aren’t ridiculous. Think of it like an 80s version of "Parasite." They sound hungry and full of piss and vinegar. Gene isn’t phoning anything in. The urgency here is something that so much of the unmasked era is sorely missing. It kicks ass and holds up very well.        

Cringer line:  none.

04. Rise To It (Hot in the Shade)

In spite of the super cool, swampy acoustic intro to this song, we’re starting to get into some trouble here. I ranked this one a (relative) 8, which it probably isn’t. I think what really attracted me to it was the main riff that pretty much rips off one of my favorite Scorpions songs, “Loving You Sunday Morning.” The bridge almost redeems the song with the cool variation on the ascending notes in the second half and the back-and-forth vocals transitioning back into the final chorus, but not quite. Forgettable lyrics, predictable 80s arrangement.

Cringer Line:  Everytime he sings “ri-e-i-e-ise”  

05. Cadillac Dreams (Hot in the Shade)

Another polarizing song in the pre-draft, trash talking circles. I saw it as a sort-of rockabilly tune with a good, upbeat tempo and more-traditional rock and roll arrangement. If nothing else, it sets itself apart because it’s not predictable the way “Rise To It” is, though the lyrics are almost as forgettable. Imagine if they’d used real horns instead of the synths at the end? Knowing what we know today about Gene’s unquenchable thirst for wealth makes the chorus of  “Money, money, that’s what I need” a bit nauseating, but when you consider it from the perspective of a poor, seventeen year old kid from Queens, which is established in the first line, it’s a little easier to stomach. It’s a good filler track on my record, but it wouldn’t be the single.

Cringer line:  None

06. And on the 8th Day (Lick It Up)

The intro to this song sounds like it could have been on Quadrophenia. Great bass riffs under massive power chords and drum fills. It’s really powerful. In comes the signature one-string guitar riff and cliche-80s metal drum hits on every beat. Gene belts out a great vocal over terrible lyrics about how the evolution of rock and roll basically parallels The Greatest Story Ever Told. Turns out that's not exactly how it went down, but I believed it when I was 14. It still works as a kicking song, but like a lot of the KISS catalog, you have to chuckle when you listen to the words.  

Cringer Line: “Rock of ages carry the news to the heart of a brave new world, Feel the noise in the name of ROCK, let the heavens roar!”

07. I Just Wanna (Revenge)

A well executed, but predictable 80s-sounding hair-metal song with a terrible church-choir bridge that only serves to elevate the cringiness, though there may be some points in there for effort.  Vinnie Vincent gets a co-writer credit on this, and future drummer Eric Singer does some backups. Paul’s vocal is convincing and the beat is strong, but the elements of the song are just too generic to elevate it above anything released by the remaining hard rock bands grasping to stay alive in 1992.  

Cringer Line: “I'm gonna set the night on fire, shootin' like a Roman Candle, Ooh yeah, I'm burnin' with desire and I'm much too hot to handle”

08. Prisoner of Love (Hot in the Shade)

At this stage in the draft, choices were really thinning out. This isn’t Gene’s best vocal, and the mix doesn’t do him any favors, with the voice less prominent than it is on other records.  Once again, we’re in that familiar 80s hair metal cliche world, this time, the shuffle beat under the power chords trick used by everyone from RATT to Poison to Whitesnake ad nauseam. The high point in the song is the instrumental break after the guitar solo that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Judas Priest record. Sorry, but it’s not enough to save the song. There’s little edge here, too much time spent on harmonies and guitar fills and not enough on creating something that actually resonates.  

Cringer Line: None, really.  

09. Silver Spoon (Hot in the Shade)

This tune is maybe a notch above the previous two, if only because musically it’s more straight-ahead rock and not falling into those predictable musical cliches. Lots of open, ringing chords, a more standard arrangement, and attention-keeping transitions between the verses and choruses. The Stonsey backup singing women at the end lend a bit of class to the song that they should have used throughout - it would have really set the song apart from the rest of the album. They either lacked the imagination to try it or the guts to challenge their listeners that way. The lyrics are cliche-ridden and delivered with a vocal that’s not Paul’s best, at times reaching to hit the higher notes. Certainly not the low point of the unmasked era, but just a notch above filler. 

Cringer Line:  “I wasn't born with a silver spoon (whoah-oah-oah), nowhere to hide in a crowded room (whoah-oah-oah)”   

10. Love’s a Slap in the Face (Hot in the Shade)

Like Prisoner of Love, this isn’t Gene’s best vocal, and again, no help from the mix.  I hate the Na-Na-Na-Na Bon Jovi choruses, but I do like the melody change in the last line of the verse that takes it into the chorus. It reminds me of the chorus of “Lie to Me” by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - an under-appreciated deep-cut from her Notorious record.  At this point I’m just grasping for positives to take from these songs. Other than that turnaround, there’s not much here to keep my attention.

Cringer Line: “Singin' na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na”  

11. Boomerang (Hot in the Shade)

This track kicks in at a great tempo and with some great Bruce Kulick licks. The energy is there for sure, making up for the lack of any memorable hooks or lyrics, with the double-kicker going throughout and a vocal cadence that keeps up pretty well, until the unnecessary breakdown before the guitar solo. The solo itself is cool with no bass for the first part. They lyrics recall that old gambling-sex metaphor that’s been done more than a few times.  Not bad for such a late pick, and one of the better tracks on Hot in the Shade.   

Cringer Line: “First you're cold and then you're hot, you're in the mood and then you're not, Yeah, I know I'll get a bang, 'cause you're like a boomerang”

12. Lonely is the Hunter (Hot in the Shade)

The poor, last picked track in the draft, just like me on my fourth grade kickball team. The title is stupid (though I love Lonely is the Night by Billy Squier), the lyrics are terrible, the riff and arrangement are forgettable, and the playing is uninspired. The guitar break before the solo is similar to the one after the solo in “Prisoner of Love” (above), but it’s not enough to lift this stinker from the bottom. This is why I gave up on them after Lick It Up.  

Cringer Line: “My eggs in one basket, but she threw me a bone - She was dealt a full deck, but she likes to live alone - Ain't just talkin' to myself, need a reason to stop (oh yeah) - With a flower in her teeth, she drained the last drop - I said girls love money like bees the honey”

___

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos.     
www.thetucos.com

Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
www.facebook.com/jeremyportermusic  

Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive

www.rockandrollrestrooms.com

 

It's Barely Even Worth Playing the Gig.....Right? - by JCE

Wrong!  Have you ever been to a show where there were so few people in attendance that you wondered whether the band would even play?  I read Hitless Wonder, so I know Watershed has played some gigs like that.  I have been to quite a few shows like that, and while I feel empathy for the bands having to play to such a paltry audience, I secretly love the intimacy of those shows.  You walk into an empty bar excited to see a band you came to see, and you think, “Crap, the show is cancelled.  Or if it isn’t, they’ll soon announce it is and give me my money back.”  But that never happens, because bands don’t work like that.  If they did, they probably wouldn’t last very long.  I’m pretty sure that the few people there usually have enough appreciation to make it worth the effort.  I thought I would relate my top four stories about nights like this.

The Reds / Washington, D.C. / Nightclub 9:30  

This show took place in June of 1981.  I remember this because it was the day that I graduated from high school.  The Reds were a band out of Philadelphia, PA.  They had a record deal with A&M and had put out a nice 10” record, followed by a self-titled debut LP.  They put out several more records over the years.  I totally loved the Reds and was excited to celebrate graduation by going to this show with a couple of my best friends.  We walked into the club and there was no one there.  No.  One.  I was amazed.  A short time later a few people came in to have drinks at the bar, but by the time the set started only a total of five people were standing in front of the stage paying any attention.  The band played like it was a packed house and we supported them like it was as well.  A crowd that small was rare at the old 9:30 Club, so it was all that much more surprising, and disappointing for the band I’m sure.  The 10” had a nice cover of the Doors’ “Break on Through” and the debut had some great tunes as well.

 

The Outlets / Norfolk, VA. / Kings Head Inn

One afternoon in 1988 or so, no idea what month it was, I got a call from a friend who lived in Norfolk, VA.  I lived in Charlottesville, about 2½ hours away.  My friend was calling to tell me that The Outlets were playing a club called the Kings Head Inn that night.  The Outlets, from Boston, were and still are one of my favorite bands ever.  I called my friend Ted, and a few hours later, five of us were crammed in Ted’s Suzuki Samurai headed for Norfolk.  It was a rainy night, and a weeknight, I think.  We rolled up to the Kings Head Inn in plenty of time to ensure we didn’t miss any music.  There was a handful of people there who seemed mildly interested, but our group of about ten fired-up fans were ready to see The Outlets.  I was particularly psyched for this one.  This would be the first and – unfortunately – the last time I ever got to see The Outlets play live.

The Outlets came out and played a really great set.  At the time, the Restless Records release, “Whole New World” was the only music I knew by The Outlets, but I loved that record.  They played most of the songs from the record, a couple I did not know, and then said they were taking a break but would be back.  I was stunned and so excited that they were going to play a second set.  The Kings Head was small, not much to it, so we went back to talk to the band between sets, giving them no rest whatsoever.  I talked to Dave Barton, and I recall two things in particular.  First, I asked him to make sure they played “Tilted Track” in the second set, but he said no.  He said they refuse to play that song anymore, but he wouldn’t say why.  The other thing he told me was that he thought “Whole New World” was a terrible record.  I told him I loved it, but he insisted that it sucked.  I still love that record to this day, but I will say that having heard some additional live recordings, and after the release of the amazing “Outlets Rock 1980” which came out in 2007, I can see his point.  “Whole New World” does not capture the true rocking sound of The Outlets.  It tames down their sound quite a bit.

The second set was as good as the first.  The opportunity to see The Outlets at the Kings Head Inn was a treat I will never forget.  They were a powerhouse of a three-piece band with simply great songs.  Dial up You Tube and watch a live set from The Rat in Boston, and you’ll see how good they really were.  

 

The Blake Babies / Charlottesville, VA. / Zippers Restaurant. 

This show was around 1990.  Zippers was a weird, short-lived restaurant/bar in Charlottesville, VA, which had bands play occasionally in a corner of a room with no real stage at all.  Unlike the Reds show, this was in a hole-in-the-wall joint where you couldn’t have anything but a small crowd.  Still, me and two of my friends knew the Blake Babies were from Boston and one of us even had one of their CD’s.  We went to this place, paid a $2 cover, bought some beers and sat down in the room all by ourselves.  Three of us.  The Blake Babies came out and played us songs while we talked to them between songs, like they were in our living room.  I left the gig thinking the band was pretty good, and for the next week I got tired of my friend oohing and aahing about how much he was in love with Juliana Hatfield.  She definitely was way cool and pretty, too.  Still, only now that I love all her solo records (of which there are many) and her efforts with Paul Westerberg in the I Don’t Cares, do I realize how much of a treat that night really was.  If you’re not a big fan of Juliana Hatfield, you may want to dig a little deeper.  She’s done tons of solo stuff, plus the Juliana Hatfield Three and Some Girls.  Juliana also did a record with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, calling the band Minor Alps.  Of course anything with Westerberg gives you instant credibility, but working with Nada Surf is awesome too.  Her latest record, Pussycat, is very good (and angry!).  Ms. Hatfield is one prolific musician, that’s for sure.

 

Rhino Bucket w/ The Factory / Springfield, VA. / Jaxx Nightclub.  

This show took place in 2011.  Rhino Bucket has been making AC/DC-style rock n roll for decades.  They are one of my favorite metal bands.  Just good, old fashioned hard rock.  The Factory is an old D.C. band that came oh so close to making the big time, only to be brought down by the usual rock n roll cliché problems of addiction, etc.  The Factory had been gone for decades when they resurfaced in about 2010.  Their awesome vocalist, Vance Bockis, had overcome years of addiction problems and some 1980’s recordings were dug up from various recording studios around D.C. in order to allow Acetate Records to release a CD.  The Factory started playing a few shows again, and Rhino Bucket also had a new record out on Acetate.  When I saw this double-bill coming to a strip mall suburban nightclub an hour so from my house, I was all in.  I got some tickets on line and my wife and I headed out for a blast from the past.  The Factory had been a favorite of mine for so long, and I was really excited to see them resurrected.

Upon arriving at the club, the gruff dude at the door told us to come back in an hour, because the bands hadn’t shown up yet.  We went to a pub and came back an hour later.  The door guy took our tickets and tossed them aside and we were in.  There was a tiny smattering of people, but most were probably with the bands.  The Factory came out and played a set that took me back in time.  They sounded great to me, and they even looked great still.  Rhino Bucket followed and played a killer set of straight-ahead rock n roll.  I could yell out a request and they’d ignore me and then play it a few songs later.  I would say there were about fifteen people there, and Jaxx is a big place with a great light and sound system, even if the outside of the place looked like a total dump.  An empty metal show might be the strangest kind of show to see practically by yourself.

It’s only been a few years, but Jaxx is now closed & gone and Vance died of natural causes about a week before The Factory was scheduled to open for Kix at a show in D.C.  He had invited me to hang out with the band at that show, which never happened.  R.I.P. Vance.

A video of vintage Factory – The Factory performing “Girl I Want”:

A mini-documentary called SHIFT featuring Vance, probably not too long before he passed:

 

JCE is a good friend of Ricki C.'s whom Ricki has never actually met in person.  A lot of us here at Pencilstorm have friendships like this; long-distrance liasons that sometimes eventually result in face-to-face meetings if you're on tour enough, but sometimes remain letter-to-letter (back in the day) or e-mail to e-mail or text-to-text in these oh-so-modern times of ours.

Ricki and JCE (John, to his friends & family) first bonded over their shared mutual love of Boston's Finest Sons - The Neighborhoods - and everything extended out from that rock & roll ripple.  JCE lives in Culpeper, Virginia with his wife & daughter, and thinks a long-rumored new Neighborhoods record being released in 2018 would make this a perfect year.
 

House Party Concerts, Marah & Hogan Productions - by Ricki C.

“Johnny’s in the basement, mixin’ up the medicine” – Bob Dylan, 1965


Basement house party gigs are weird.  And great. 

The first time I ever played music in public – 50 years ago next autumn – that gig was in one of my high school classmates’ basement. From my vantage point of 65 years on the planet I have watched rock & roll shows progress from those basements to festivals in huge, barren fields and football stadiums in the 1970’s, and now back to people’s basements.

I spent the decade of the 2000’s as road manager for an act from New York called Hamell On Trial – aka Ed Hamell, a four-man punk band rolled into one bald, sweaty guy – and right at the end of my tenure on the road Hamell started playing house concerts.  Nine years earlier – July 1st, 2001 – Hamell had opened a sold-out Ani Difranco show at the 7,000 capacity Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.  By 2010 Ed was playing in people’s dining rooms.  Sometimes, looking back, I think that’s the entire history of what the music industry did to rock & roll music in the early 21st century, in a nutshell.

Which brings us to Marah at Hogan House Productions’ basement concert a coupla Friday's ago.   

Early in my service as a roadie for Watershed back in 2005 (to supplement my Hamell income), Colin & the guys opened a Marah show at the old High Five Club.  It was sold out, hundreds of people, the place was packed, and Watershed and Marah deployed one motherfucker of a rock & roll show.  Power, passion, volume to the point of pain; on that particular evening both bands mightily kicked out the jams.  

So last week I saw the Bielanko brothers – Dave & Serge – of Marah with Colin opening for them in a guy’s basement.  That’s a really different show than a packed High Five.  But then again, this is a really different basement.  P.J. Hogan’s home base for his shows seats maybe 50 people, the walls are lined with great classy DVD’s, there’s a decent little sound system and PROXIMITY to the performers that you’re not gonna get in a larger setting, even the intimacy of a small listening room club like Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza (my current favorite singer/songwriter venue in Columbus).

At Hogan House you’re almost TOO CLOSE to the performers.  After the first song Colin asked me and the audience – “Am I WAY too loud?  Do we need to turn this down?  Is this volume okay?” – because he was so close to the listeners it seemed overwhelming.  But it wasn’t.  Admittedly you could probably play PJ’s basement with no PA system at all, just sing and strum guitars and the sound would be fine, but the presence of that little bit of power & electricity just makes the show that much more exciting.  It's a rock & roll truism: Volume makes EVERYTHING better.

So Marah are, it almost goes without saying, genius-level great in the context of a basement house gig.  At one moment in the show – during a particularly dissonant Dave Bielanko guitar solo – his brother Serge (who normally is the lead guitarist of Marah, but at that point is grinding out a GREAT rhythm guitar bed for his brother’s solo) leans over and says, “Somethin’s tryin’ to get out,” as if Dave is attempting to conduct some sort of sonic exorcism with his beat-to-shit black acoustic guitar. 

It’s a rock & roll moment I won’t soon forget, and one I probably wouldn’t have gotten in even a small club, and most CERTAINLY would never have apprehended in Nationwide Arena or the Schott.  And it was a moment I got because I saw Marah in P.J. Hogan’s basement.  Thanks P.J.  Thanks Marah.  – Ricki C. / April 24th, 2018


The next Hogan House Production is Amy Rigby on Saturday, May 5th.  

Here is a link for details on that show: https://amyrigbycolumbusohio.brownpapertickets.com/.  I’ve seen Amy Rigby two or three times in the past – but again, never in somebody’s basement – and to my mind this show would be the absolute best use of twenty dollars of your entertainment budget for all of 2018 that I could possibly think of. 
 

For more info on Hogan House Productions in general, check out P.J. Hogan Talks About Marah and His Successful House Shows earlier in Pencilstorm.