James Baumann from 2014 on the cultural importance of The Beatles Marathon. The annual show is this Saturday, December 28th, 2024.
Read MoreJoe Peppercorn's Nine Least Favorite Beatles Songs to Play (of the 215).
They can’t ALL be winners; Joe Peppercorn on his least favorite Beatles tunes, reprinted from 2015.
Read MoreThe View From the Side of the Stage: The Beatles Marathon
Ricki C. on being a roadie at The Beatles Marathon, reprinted from 2018.
Read MoreWatershed Hullabaloo Weekend: The View From the Side of the Stage - by Ricki C.
Watershed Hullabaloo Weekend, August 9th, 10th & 11th, 2019
(editor’s note: Ricki C. had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands this summer, couldn’t type, has been out of commission for awhile, and now – unfortunately – the Pencil Storm readership is gonna pay for it. Strap in, folks, it’s gonna be a long one.)
WATERSHED / 1992 or so
A little deep background: I met Watershed in 1990 when I was a roadie for Willie Phoenix & the True Soul Rockers and they were still called The Wire. The Wire would open for the True Soul Rockers one Saturday night a month at a Columbus, Ohio, club called Ruby Tuesday where Willie maintained a monthly residency. To make a long story short: 3 or 4 months into their opening slots – after they had changed their name to Watershed – they somehow wrote an entirely new set of KILLER power-pop originals since the previous month (including “Rise,” my earliest favorite Watershed tune), got their asses moving onstage, and soundly blew the True Soul Rockers off the stage at Ruby’s. (Ironically that Great Leap Forward was probably largely due to Willie’s tutelage as he produced their first six-song e.p.) They also got 86’d as the opening band for that impertinence, of course, but from that point on I caught them live every time I could. From 1990 to 2005 I bet I saw ‘em close to a hundred times. From 2005 when I joined their road crew to now, I’ve seen ‘em a couple hundred more. And I’ve never ONCE been disappointed.
Which brings us to this past weekend: from being on the crew I’ve seen Watershed three nights in a row any number of times, but never in three more widely-varied rock & roll circumstances as The Watershed Hullabaloo.
The Friday night show at Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza – Columbus’ absolutely premier listening room (as opposed to rock & roll dive) – found Colin & Joe seated on secondhand living room furniture that road manager extraordinaire/all-around Watershed tech mastermind Michael “Biggie” McDermott had somehow procured in some kind of time warp from the early 1970’s. Truthfully, I’m not crazy about the idea of rock & rollers performing sitting down, but it fit the concept of “two old friends swapping stories & songs around the campfire” vibe that Watershed was going for the first night of the Hullabaloo.
Opening with “Sensational Things” – a tune I’m DEARLY hoping opens the upcoming Watershed CD – Joe & Colin strummed through maybe a dozen songs, old AND new, peppering the set with the stories behind the songs, or just yarns that filled in the history of the band, and that’s a RICH history, boys & girls. They were then joined by middle-period Watershed powerhouse Mr. Dave Masica for a standing-up set of Watershed rockers, albeit it in a bass-less, acoustic, quiet hollow-body electric kinda frame of mind. A night of “Soft Rock Watershed” as the appearance was billed. They still woulda blown Bread off the stage. (Set-list for this show and the Saturday & Sunday gigs will appear in a future Pencil Storm blog entry.)
Friday night highlights: “Sensational Things,” “Plan B,” “American Muscle,” “Manifesto,” and Joe Peppercorn’s (the only past member of Watershed unable to make an appearance during Hullabaloo Weekend) “Set The World On Fire.”
At heart Watershed has always been a Saturday night rock & roll band. When they played on a Wednesday night after a (now-defunct) Columbus Chill hockey game in the mid-1990’s, they were a Saturday night rock & roll band; when they played third on the bill on a Tuesday night at some long-forgotten rock club during one of their innumerable Southern swings in the early 2000’s, they were a Saturday night rock & roll band; when they opened for Cheap Trick at a huge downtown outdoor festival on a Friday night, they were a Saturday night rock & roll band.
So, when you put Colin, Joe, Herb & Rick Kinsinger in front of a sold-out crowd of Watershed super-fans at Marcy Mays’ Ace of Cups – Columbus’ coolest rock club – on a warm August Saturday night you’d best believe you’re gonna get a fucking KILLER set of rock & roll music. So let’s check off the boxes on the rock & roll checklist:
1) Rockers – You got your “You Need Me,” you got your “Suckerpunch,” you got your “Black Concert T-shirt.” Check.
2) You got your heartbreaker ballads/slow tunes that set Watershed apart from the one-trick pony bands who only know how to pound, but never how to charm, because Colin & Joe always keep in mind that more hearts get broken on Saturday night than any other time of the week: “Over Too Soon,” “New Depression,” and “Anniversary,” for Chrissakes, one of the great power-pop ballads of all time. Check.
3) You’ve got your brace of brand-new songs, ‘cuz Watershed is never gonna be just a nostalgia act, chums: “Blow It Up Before It Breaks” and the GREAT new “Another Night In The Ruts.” Check. (By the way, the band enlisted Pencil Storm scribe Scott Carr to help out with stage duties to free up Biggie for the killer light display witnessed Saturday night, and Scott & I were trying to figure WHO’s song that was a cover of, before I checked with Colin on Sunday and discovered it is, in fact, another choice new original.) (But Jesus H. Christ, WHY didn’t they bust out “Sensational Things” at Ace of Cups? I’d have LOVED to get a full band Watershed airing of that on Saturday night.) Check.
4) Audience participation. You want audience participation? How about “How Do You Feel” and “Can’t Be Myself”? Check.
5) Flat-out great songs that should have been hits: “Obvious,” “Small Doses,” “Little Mistakes,” “5th Of July,” “The Best Is Yet To Come,” really too many too mention. Check & check.
Prime extra-musical moments of the Saturday night set: Joe throwing a tantrum AND his bass when his tuner kept screwing up; Mark “Pooch” Borror bringing the energy level up several notches in his guest slot on “Can’t Be Myself and “Anniversary.” Rick is a solid player and a stabilizing force in the band, but Pooch brings out some special sense of abandon and flat-out JOY when he’s up there with Watershed; Colin calling the show over seven songs into the set after “Black Concert T-Shirt,” and the band playing another 17 songs or so as an encore, before the “second encore” of “Sad Drive” and “Mercurochrome.” Genius performance move.
Okay, I’m already over my allotted 1000 words and haven’t dealt with Day Three of the Hullabaloo Weekend yet. Sunday was billed as “Watershed & Friends” and those friends included Jim Johnson (Willie Phoenix/League Bowlers), Dan Cochran (League Bowlers/Hilltop Lager), Marcy May (Scrawl/Ace of Cups) and Mike Sammons (Twin Cam.) Innumerable Watershed/League Bowlers/Lonely Bones/Colin solo songs and cover tunes from Willie Phoenix, Georgia Satellites, Cheap Trick & Chuck Berry all got played, the beer flowed freely, and – from my view at the side of the stage – the assembled multitudes had a rockin’ good time. (Again, set-list from Sunday to follow in a later Colin blog about Hullabaloo Weekend.)
Musical highlights of the Sunday show: “Battleship Chains,” “Twister,” “High Roller.”
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I’ve got the best job in the world. – Ricki C. / August 13th, 2019
WATERSHED / 2019
(random closing thought: I was talking to Nick Jezierny - auteur of The Watershed Complete Rankings - after the show on Sunday, and he was saying if he did the list today, a ton of the rankings would be different, and that he should do the whole thing over again. I ABSOLUTELY agreed with him, and told him he should do it, but on the other hand his wife seems like a REALLY nice person and I don’t want to do that to her. Also - to my knowledge - Nick came all the way from Idaho for the Hullabaloo Weekend, so he should get some kind of prize or grant money just for THAT.)
(further random closing thought: for Pencil Storm readers with WAY too much time on their hands, here are some links to Watershed stories I did on my 2012-2013 blog, Growing Old With Rock & Roll…….)
Growing Old With Rock & Roll / Colin & the Stairwell
Growing Old With Rock & Roll / Watershed & Kamakaze’s
Growing Old With Rock & Roll / Watershed & The Somnabulistic Stickman Streaker
GOWR&R / The View from the Side of the Stage, part one
GOWR&R / The View From the Side of the Stage, part two
GOWR&R / My Ten Most Memorable Moments as a Watershed Roadie, part one
GOWR&R / My Ten Most Memorable Moments as a Watershed Roadie, part two
GOWR&R / My Ten Most Memorable Moments as a Watershed Roadie, part three
Watershed Rankings Day 2 (Songs 55-45) by Nick Jezierny
Originally published in 2015 - Watershed plays Columbus August 9-10-11 in the year 2019. Click here for details.
Find and play these songs on Spotify!
Watershed Rankings by Nick Jezierny Day 2 (Songs 55-45)
Click here to read Day 1 (The Bottom Ten)
Wallflower Child (55): This is probably going to cause some debate. This is my least favorite song on Three Chords II. In fact, I’ve wondered why “New Life,” “Star Vehicle” or “Laundromat” didn’t get on the live record over this. I think about that type of stuff from time to time. I also wonder how certain songs are left off Greatest Hits packages. My two prime examples: "Stone In Love" for Journey, "Gimme Some Water" for Eddie Money. There are three better versions of “Wallflower Child" — Hoarse’s version is excellent, the one from Colin’s "Live From Cleveland” disc I bought from Ricki C. in Raleigh and the original Watershed version from one of the early recordings that I’m not ranking. This is the only case where Watershed made its own song worse!
Watch this! A fan making that version even worse from Comfest Bozo Stage.
Joe O. - I agree with Nick that Hoarse’s cover of this song is the definitive version. It also led to the Watershed/Tim Patalan partnership. The worst version of Wallflower Child is the tattoo that sits on my left shoulder.
Ricki C. - First off, and completely off-topic, regarding Greatest Hits, between the two of them Journey and Eddie Money have exactly ONE good, let alone great, song, that being Eddie's "Two Tickets To Paradise." On the subject of "Wallflower Child," I remember thinking the first time I heard it WAY back in the day at Ruby Tuesday, "This sounds like a song The Monkees might have sung." (In my 62 year-old world, a power-pop band writing a song that sounds like The Monkees is a positive notion.) Plus how many rock & roll bands write songs for and celebrate the shy, retiring members of their audience? Sometimes I think this is the song that established the Watershed "we're all in this together" persona that they honor to this day.
I-65 (54): This probably would have made the “Bottom 11” if I hadn’t been driving on I-65 in Nashville when this came on the iPod two years ago. That was pretty cool, and so is the guitar in this song.
Colin G. - I-65. Hmm. Is it good? Is it bad? Dunno. I do know that we approached our first record on Epic as the start of a musical family tree so that any direction we went after would make some sort of sense if you traced it back to its roots. Watershed never released another song quite like it though I guess the League Bowlers cover this ground. The more I think about it, this never should have been on Twister. FYI - First performed at the Ronald Koal Memorial Show at the Newport Music Hall. RIP Ronald.
She Picks The Songs (53): This song shows Watershed getting closer to its signature sound. It probably should be higher on this list, but man, this is very hard to do!
Joe O. - Somehow I actually worked the word ipecac into a song. Good for me.
Superstressed (52): It never fails that this song comes on when I’m running late and in traffic. It’s what I get for having an mp3 disc of all Watershed songs in my car’s CD player for the past two years.
Joe O. - I don’t want to speak for Colin, but I think we were all pretty damn stressed at that time, fighting to hang on to the Epic deal. Frank Aversa, the self-proclaimed “King of Huge” got a great drum sound here, and Herb wails on ‘em.
Colin G. - When it's all said and done, Star Vehicle might be the record I am most proud of. It's not our best record, but we were left for dead on the side of the road yet still made a damn good record. Playing for pride. It was the first time but not the last. Plus it just rocks. Who is that on guitar anyway?
Watch this! Live from Slim's Downtown.
Romantic Noise (51): Great lyrics, but a little slow and not quite a ballad.
Joe O. - Not only is this a great song, it’s super-important for us because it’s the first thing we did with Patalan. Probably the single recording session that sticks with me the most.
Colin G. - Yeah Nick, pull your head out of your ass. Didn't you read Hitless Wonder? In all seriousness, the song probably doesn't get it's due because us assholes couldn't really pull it off live. Tim P. just produced it so well we could never make it live up to the recorded version. Great song though. One of my faves.
Consolation Prize (50): “I’ll tease you like a slug teases a vending machine” is pretty memorable.
Joe O. -The line that I always like to sing is “I’ve been biting off erasers, so I can’t take anything back.”
Colin G. - Love this song. Got squeezed out of set by Anniversary. Herb's finest drumming and check out that tasty feedback before the last chorus. Yum.
On A Broken Radio (49): I like the idea, but I think because it’s the third ballad in a row at the end of “Brick and Mortar” that I don’t appreciate it more.
Joe O. - One of my favorite afternoons of the B&M sessions was hashing out these lyrics with Joe Peppercorn.
Ricki C. - I TOTALLY disagree with "Broken Radio" being this far down the list. It made a great closer to the shows on the "Hitless Wonder/Brick & Mortar" summer tour of 2012, coming after all the rock power & command of "Black Concert T-Shirt" and other ravers during the encores. Dare I say it brought a new depth to the Watershed show? Maybe. While we're on the subject, I'm also surprised to find "Set The World On Fire" so far down the list below at number 47. Those are the two "Brick & Mortar" tunes fleeting member Joe Peppercorn had the biggest influence on, so maybe a pattern starts to emerge.
Watch this! Live at the Bluestone.
New Depression (48): I once slid on some ice and my car ended up in a ditch while listening to this song. My car had no damage, until another car hit the same ice patch and T-boned me. What was amazing was I out there waving frantically at the oncoming traffic to watch for the black ice and the first handful of cars obeyed. Finally, the guy who wasn’t paying attention slams into my car about two minutes before my AAA tow truck arrived to pull me out. That wasn’t a good day.
Joe O. - I remember working on this song for months in the basement of 387 W. 4th Ave, where our good buddy Jeff Hassler was living at the time.
Watch This! Live from Frankie's Toledo on the tour that inspired Hitless Wonder. Poochie smokes.
Set The World On Fire (47): This is a good song, but I think so many on the latest record are better. I was a little surprised that this was the second single (or at least I think it was).
Colin G.- Love playing this song. Sound-checked with it almost every night on Brick & Mortar tour. In retrospect, wish the keys were a bee sting louder in the chorus. Listen for them.
Below: Live from CD1025 Big Room. Andymanathon 2013.
Give A Little Bit (46): This is still better than Supertramp’s original and the Goo Goo Dolls’ cover, even though they aren’t the same song. But they do have the same title.
Joe O. - For some reason I didn’t care much for this song back when Star Vehicle came out, but now I dig it a lot. The intro snare hit always takes me by surprise—not that I sit around listening to old Watershed albums. Much.
No footage of this song. But enjoy this mystery promo video. Who made this and why?
Get Over Me (45): Did you ever notice how many pronouns are in the song titles on Twister? I notice that type of stuff for no good reason.
Joe O. - Good call on the pronouns, Nick. Our buddy David Martin noted that same thing way back when. Whenever I hear myself singing this song, I always want to tell myself to “Lighten up, Francis.”
Ricki C. - Our first "Stripes" reference of the countdown. I love it. Can Wicked Scepter be far behind?
Let's wrap up Day Two with the legendary Reverend Todd Baker and his TV Show "What The Hell Was That?" live from Raleigh, NC in 2013. All kinds of great footage including an interview with the even more legendary sound man and longtime Watershed supporter Jac Cain. If you look close you may even catch a glimpse of Nick J. himself.
"I Wish Sgt. Pepper NEVER Taught The Band To Play" - by Ricki C.
“June 1st, ’67, something died and went to heaven / I wish Sgt. Pepper NEVER taught the band to play”
- from “Who Will Save Rock & Roll?” / The Dictators / written by Adny Shernoff
Obviously we at Pencilstorm should have run this blog entry on June 1st – the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band release – but we didn’t, so now we’re gonna run it a coupla weeks late. Whattya think this is, Pitchfork?
I was 14 years old on June 1st, 1967, and I think that even as a child I was somehow fleetingly aware that the Sgt Pepper’s record was going to have an adverse effect on my beloved rock & roll. First off, I was a singles boy: I believed in 45 revolutions per minute. I believed then as I believe now that a hit single with a GREAT non-LP b-side was rock & roll’s most perfect form of expression, something that “concept albums” – as Sgt. Pepper’s and its descendants (and I DO mean DE-cendants) came to be known. Put simply: The Rolling Stones single “19th Nervous Breakdown” b/w “Sad Day”; The Who’s “Pictures Of Lily” b/w “Doctor Doctor”; and/or The Doors “Light My Fire” b/w “We Could Be So Good Together” (to choose just three out of possibly FIFTY others if I took the time to go through my 60’s singles collection) were INFINITELY more exciting (and a better value, at 59 cents as opposed to $3.68 albums) than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Let’s face facts, there are at least three flat-out unlistenable songs on Sgt. Pepper’s (and I would challenge even such an authority on all things Beatles as Joe Peppercorn to refute this): George Harrison’s “Within You Without You,” and Lennon & McCartney’s oh-so-preciously groovy/psychedelic & overblown “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!” “She’s Leaving Home” is McCartney treacle that wouldn’t have even been considered for inclusion on Revolver or Rubber Soul and “When I’m 64” is the kind of English music-hall ephemera that Ray Davies of The Kinks carried off better in his sleep, when he wasn’t half trying. (I believe Colin may be making a point very much like that one in a blog post later in the week.)
So that leaves the Sgt. Pepper’s “theme song” segueing into “With A Little Help From My Friends” (done better by Joe Cocker & the Grease Band, incidentally, for those of you scoring at home), “Getting Better,” “Fixing a Hole,” “Good Morning Good Morning,” and the Sgt Pepper’s reprise as six pretty good pop songs and “Lovely Rita” and “A Day In The Life” as two quintessentially great Beatles songs.
Huh, I guess those last two would’ve made a snappy little 45 rpm single with a non-LP b-side.
I’m bringing this blog entry in under 600 words with the following contention/bellyaching/assertion: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band forever killed off the 45 rpm single that I believe was the lifeblood of rock & roll. I understand that people like Jann Wenner DESPERATELY wanted rock & roll to progress beyond its simple, hummable, humble beginnings: I do NOT understand that they wanted rock & roll to become PONDEROUS, BLOATED, PRETENTIOUS “rock music” in the process.
I do not understand how (or why) FUN became removed from the rock & roll equation.
Thank God that the Rolling Stones woke up from “Their Satanic Majesties Request” and ROARED back with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Thank God. – Ricki C. / June 13th, 2017