Frank Beacham's Journal

Tony Garnier On His Trip to the White House

 

Tony Garnier, fresh from a performance at the White House last week playing bass for Bob Dylan, did a second gig for Jonny Rosch and friends at the P&G Bar in New York City on Tuesday night.  

Garnier, who is about to go on tour with Dylan, said the White House performance was one of the highlights of his career while performing around the world with Dylan. He was behind Dylan as he shook hands with President Obama and then met the President himself. 

Garnier said he not only shook hands with the President and the First Lady, but found himself shaking hands with to both Malia and Sasha. However, he forgot to shake hands with Vice President Joe Biden who he said “was only three feet away.” Garnier said he hoped to get a picture shaking hands with the President but had not contacted the White House about getting one.

 

Dylan’s bass player and music director said he, the pianist and Dylan did a sound check of The Times They Are a Changin' earlier but didn’t see any reason to stay in the White House to wait for the performance. So, he said, they went back to their hotel and went through the stringent White House security twice—arriving about an hour before the actual performance.  

Garnier said Dylan did the song differently during the sound check than in the performance. That’s fairly routine, he said, since playing with Bob Dylan requires a player to always be ready for different variations. However, where some acts at the White House repeated their songs for the taping, Dylan did his only once and it was perfect.

While waiting for the performance, Garnier said he viewed the original paintings on the walls of the White House—including those of George Washington and American Indians—which he said gave him a sense of the gravity of the building and where he was standing. He said it is a place he'll never forget.

When they finished the performance, he said the Dylan group immediately left the White House, not remaining for the ending. Garnier said he returned to New York City on an Amtrak train.

 

 

South Carolina's Shame Shines Bright on Black History Month

As a native of South Carolina, it’s always interesting to me how many people mix up the two states of North and South Carolina. On Black History Month in 2010, there’s often praise for how Greensboro, North Carolina turned an old Woolworth’s lunch counter, the home of a black sit-in 50 years ago, into a civil rights museum. It often leads to a conversation of how much the South has changed.

Unfortunately, in the area of civil rights, major differences remain between the two states. North Carolina is far more progressive than South Carolina. The people of North Carolina are better educated and led by far better politicians.

 

In South Carolina, a confederate flag still flies daily in front of the State House on government-owned property. In a 1999 television interview on CBS Sunday Morning, State Sen. Robert Ford reminded flag opponents that they weren’t going to resolve the issue with a barrel over the heads of the “white men” in the state. 

“These white men in South Carolina in 1861 started a civil war that lasted five years without a navy, army, air force or marine, because somebody was trying to tell them what to do... This is not Arizona. This is South Carolina—[home of] the meanest, toughest white men on the planet.” That remains true today.

The governor of South Carolina may be best known for his martial infidelity, but his real shame is the way he has handled the money of the state. The Corridor of Shame still defines the black-white divide of the state’s schools. The state’s unemployment and poor education system still ranks among the highest. Black prisoners still maintain the civil rights memorial at the state house.

Sadly, even with a black president, South Carolina has changed little. Never forget that South Carolina is very different from today’s North Carolina.

A Miracle on New York City's 78th Street and Columbus Avenue

The best music in New York City today happens in small clubs when the world’s greatest musicians take a night off from their big ticket gigs and jam for fun. I’ve written several times before about the P&G Bar on 78th and Columbus Ave. in NYC, where on most Tuesdays Jonny Rosch assembles a group of his musical friends. Last night, however, was truly exceptional.

As a non-musician, I’m always amazed when a group of people who have never played together walk into a room and, completely unrehearsed, do a set that almost lights the place on fire. Last night, Oz Noy, one of the world’s great guitarists, joined Robby Ameen on drums, Ron Jenkins on bass and Dan Cipriano on sax in Rosch’s ensemble.  It was explosive—one of the best jam sessions I’ve ever witnessed.  

 

Oz Noy is a top flight guitarist who has played with musicians ranging from Cyndi Lauper to Harry Belafonte. He is among the very best. Everyone should hear him. Enough said.

Robby Ameen is an aggressive drummer that cannot be ignored. At the P&G, he destroyed a drum head and another was sought late at night. It didn’t slow him down for a second. Ameen has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, Eddie Palmieri, Dave Grusion and on and on. He’s one of the best I’ve ever witnessed.

 

Ron Jenkins is a killer bass player. At the P&G, he played electric, taking over the stage when he and Ameen did a bass-drums duet. He has worked with Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Cher, Anita Baker, Cyndi Lauper and a whole lot more.

Dan Cipriano was Wilson Pickett’s sax player for seven years. He does a killer solo in D.A. Pennebaker’s “Only the Strong Survive.” One of the world’s best sax players, bar none.

 

Jonny Rosch is a white blues singer who should have been black. He’s a member of the Blues Brothers Band. As good as he is, perhaps his greatest talent is assembling the level of musicians he pulls out of the hat each week. A lot of wannabee players hang around the P&G hoping to be invited on stage. Rosch only chooses the best of the best, which, as he noted last night, are the “professionals.” That quality control makes all the difference in the world. 

Al Kooper Rocks New York City on His 66th Birthday

 

Al Kooper has made rock history a hundred times over and had absolutely nothing to lose by telling noisy fans behind him to “shut the fuck up.” It was a vintage, endearing Kooper moment from a man who has been around so long he remembers the time when audiences actually kept their mouths shut and listened to the songs.

Now, at 66, Kooper celebrated his birthday at B.B. Kings Club in New York City on Friday night with some old friends and great music. The weather forecasters had predicted a huge snowstorm and Kooper figured no more than a couple of hundred people would attend. He was wrong—the 500-seat club was sold out (and the snow didn’t come.)

 

Danny Kalb, the founder of the Blues Project, was the first guest. Kooper, a member of that seminal group, played the vintage blues with Kalb, whose singing and guitar playing were first rate.  Kooper and Kalb still make a great fit after all these years.

 

Then came a Kooper discovery—a woman he had met when he interviewed her for a newspaper on the day she opened for Keb’ Mo.’ Kristina Train, he said, reminded him of the 60s-era British singer Dusty Springfield, and he invited her to sing at his birthday show. After Kooper’s big build-up, she came on stage and quickly won over the audience. 

Raised in Savannah, Georgia and schooled in church choirs growing up, Train, 28, has a powerful, soulful voice and plays a mean violin. Her first album, for Blue Note Records, is called Spilt Milk. Kooper spread it around to his friends, anointing her a real comer. I can't help but agree.

 

Then came Jimmy Vivino, the ace guitarist who moved to Los Angeles to play in the Tonight Show band with Conan O’Brien. An old collaborator with Kooper, Vivino said he had just arrived from a cross country flight and “my ass hurts.” But that didn't keep him from taking a slap at Jeff Zucker, the NBC president who fired Conan O'Brien and is taking much heat for destroying a network.

Vivino did a vicious set with Kooper, highlighted by Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, the legendary song where Kooper sneaked in one of the most famous Hammond B3 organ rifts in history. Kooper said it’s what you do when you’re confronted by “Bob fucking Dylan.” Vivino sang the vocals and Kooper played the organ part that made him famous. Kooper later played with Dylan when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival.

Jimmy Vivino sings Like a Rolling Stone. All photos by Frank Beacham

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The show closed with Kooper playing with his “Funky Faculty” band made up of music teachers from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where Kooper once taught himself. 

Kooper wrote one of the most entertaining books on the history of rock. The new revised edition of Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor is a classic and a must read for anyone who loves rock music.