BATTLE OF THE DETROIT BANDS

If The Detroit Breakdown could be considered a battle of the bands between two groups that rocked my world back when I was in junior high – back in the mid '60s when there used to be actual battles of the bands – there was a clear winner Saturday night.

? & The Mysterians kicked major rump on Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels.

Of course it wasn't a “battle.” Music is the expression of the soul, which touches the spirit and lifts the soul in harmony with the world and shouldn't be perceived as a childish competition.

Screw that. ? & The Mysterians kicked ass! No disrespect to Mitch. Like I say, I've loved his music for nearly 45 years. In a year of flower-power excess, Mitch got back to the gritty rock 'n' roll basics .

The Detroit Breakdown is what sparked my impulse vacation to New York City. The event, sponsored by The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, was held at The Lincoln Center. The evening portion of the show not only included these '60s acts, but more recent Detroit groups including the wonderful Gories and Death. (More on these two bands later.)

The Mysterians got a little outside help. Soul singer Louise Murray of the Jaynetts dueted with ? on “Sally Go Round the Roses. She sang on the original recording of this cool tune.

But more impressively, the one and only Ronnie Spector joined the group on their big hit “96 Tears.”

Allow me to repeat that: Ronnie Spector sang “96 Tears” with ? & The Mysterians!

But even without this added star power, The Mysterians would have ruled the night. From the moment he bounced onto the stage wearing a cowboy and a pink-and-purple jacket with Buffalo Bill fringes, ? was a psychedelic sprite belting out his rock 'n' soul.

Here's the main differences between them and Mitch Ryder. First of all, The Mysterians included all their original members. In other words, five Chicano guys who grew up hanging out and playing music with each other. They're tight and yet have an easy way with each other. They've done all these songs a jillion times, but they still look like they're having the time of their lives playing them.

Ryder on the other hand had a bunch of new players who looked young enough to be Mitch's grandkids. These Wheels weren't even hubcaps when Ryder was tearing up the charts with “Devil in a Blue Dress” and “Jenny Takes a Ride.” All proficient musicians, but lacking that warrior's bond.

But the main difference between the two is that ? and crew have retained their garage-band spirit while Ryder's band had a classic-rock edge. There was even a big production number that started out with tinkly-winkly piano versions of Rolling Stones songs like “Ruby Tuesday” and “You Can't Always Get What You Want” leading up with epic guitar crescendos to an overwrought version of “Gimme Shelter.” (Full disclosure: I left during the drum solo. I just couldn't take it.)

On the other hand, The Mysterians did a version of The Stones' “Satisfaction.” But there was nothing grandiose about it. They played the song as I imagine they did in 1965.

Besides ?, my favorite band of the day was The Gories. This was Mick Collins' group before The Dirtbombs. Collins along with fellow guitarist Dan Kroha and drummer Peggy O'Neill started out in Detroit in 1986 and lasted until the early '90s. They got back together last year for a reunion tour with The Oblivions.

True confession: I've dug The Dirtbombs for years, but I'm a relative newcomer to the pleasures of The Gories. Both are amazing bands.

And they still sound fresh and crazy. Starting out with their unofficial theme song, “Hey Hey, We're The Gories,” they bashed their way through a high-energy set that included Gories favorites like “Thunderbird E.S.Q.” and “Nitroglycerine,” as well as covers of John Lee Hooker's “Boggie Chillun,” Eddie Holland's “Leaving Here” and the R&B classic “Early in the Morning.” They even went No-Wave for a minute and did a cover of a Suicide song.

Also a lot of fun was Death, a Detroit hard-rock trio who back in the early '70s combined the soul and R&B they'd grown up with the Detroit rock of the day.

At one point Death singer/bassist Bobby Hackney gave shout-outs to some of their influences: Alice Cooper. Iggy & The Stooges. And Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels.

Check my snapshots of The Detroit Breakdown HERE

GOGOL CONQUERS BROOKLYN

Well actually Gogol Bordello started out in New York, so a lot of locals probably would say they conquered it a long time ago.

But they didn't fail to work the crowd into a frenzy and it didn't take 'em long.

They played some of old favorites -- "Not a Crime," "Wanderlust King" and, later in the set, "Start Wearing Purple." And they played a lot of their latest album Trans-Continental Hustle.

I realize that there are lots of people who are uninitiated into the pleasures of this band. So here's a quick primer:

Head Gogol Eugene Hutz, a native of the Ukraine, immigrated to New York City in the early '90s. There he fell in with like-minded musicians, many of them immigrants like himself from various parts of the world.

Together they crafted a high-charged rocking fusion of traditional gypsy music -- violin and accordion are important elements -- other traditional European sounds, reggae, South American sounds they modestly call "Gypsy punk." Recently Hutz moved to Brazil and traces of samba could be heard on the group's latest album

I wasn't immediately taken by the new Rick Rubin-produced Trans-Continental Hustle. But hearing it live Friday convinced me that the new songs stand proudly by the old.

My only disappointment was that they didn't play "American Wedding." But I didn't feel cheated.

I almost felt sorry for the headlining act of this show -- Primus. I'm a Primus fan. I love "My Name is Mud" and "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver" and lots of their other songs. I was happy to hear that Les Claypool and the boys had reunited and I'd get to hear them.

But following Gogol Bordello would be a heavy task for anyone. (My buddy Chuck suggested that Shane McGowan in his prime might be able to pull that feat off. But not many others.)

So sadly, Primus was somewhat of a letdown after Gogol. Claypool does some interesting music, but after their opening act, it just didn't seem all that exciting.

Speaking of interesting -- the very first band to play Friday was a rocked-out jazz-fusiony/No Wavish trio called Dead Kenny Gs. They have a sax man (who doubles on keyboards) a bassist and a drummer who also plays vibes. They were lots of fun and left me wanting to hear more.

On the subway trip home when we transferred trains at the 14th Street station, Chuck noticed that Gogol's accordion player, Yuri Lemeshev was there, posing for pictures with fans. One of them was me.

Check my snapshots of Gogol Bordello HERE

But

CONGO ROCK

Brian Tristan, better known as Kid Congo Powers, has an impressive recording history having served time in The Cramps, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and The Gun Club. And his solo work, like last year's Dracula Boots, are full of under-recognized gems.

But you really haven't heard Kid Congo until you've heard him live.

I did just that at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. Congo played there with his band The Pink Monkey Birds as part of a free show sponsored by Vice Records. Congo has a new split single with Hunx & His Punx, who opened the show, coming out in the near future.

Mr. Powers is a hero in the garage-punk sub genre, which doesn't place the highest value on instrumental virtuosity. Nevertheless, he's an amazing guitarist who does't need 15-minute solos to prove it. One of his encore tunes was an instrumental I didn't recognize that sounded like a wild cross between Duane Eddy and "Psychotic Reaction."

Opening his hour-long set with "I Found a Peanut," a Thee Midnighters cover and the funniest song from Dracula Boots, Congo let rip with tunes spanning his lengthy career. There were several others from Dracula Boots, including "La Llorona," (which I know would be a favorite in Santa Fe if he ever comes here), "Black Santa" and "LSDC." There were several songs from an upcoming singles compilation on In the Red Records (I believe he said the name of that's going to be "10 Greasy Pieces") and older tunes like "La Historia de un Amour."

And, yes, he did a Gun Club song, a tough version of "Sex Beat," and two Cramps tunes -- "I'm Cramped" and an extra-sinister "Goo Goo Muck."

I got a chance to yak a little wit the Kid before the show. He said he's excited because he's been asked to sing "Found a Peanut" with Thee Midnighters at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans in September. I wish I could be there for that.

(No, I didn't take that photo at the top of this post. My camera was in my suitcase, which hadn't arrived before I left for the show, thank you very much, American Airlines!) So I stole that picture from my pal and fellow GaragePunk podcaster Michael Kaiser, who saw Kid Congo in California last year. Thanks, Michael.)

WHAT A HOOT!

UPDATE: For more of my photos of the Hootenanny Festival, CLICK HERE



IRVINE, CA. -- It was a true patriotic moment: Hearing The Blasters sing "American Music" on the Fourth of July! Of course I was in a Porta-potty when they started. But I wasn't there for long.

It was the 15th annual Hootenanny Festival outside of Irvine. I don't know why they call it that. When I first heard of "The Hootenanny Festival" my first image was a bunch of folkies in a coffee shop singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone."

But that's not what this festival is all about. This is a hootenanny for rockabilly, pyschobilly, roots rock, a little neo-swing and a touch of hillbilly music. Plus there's a car show.

Here's some of the people I saw.

* Los Lobos: Following The Rev. Horton Heat -- not to mention all the other high-octane bands on the bill -- it only made sense that Los Lobos would emphasize their raw R&B side, rather than their artsier tendencies. Which is great, because that's the side that first made me love Los Lobos back in the early 80s. So sure enough, they led off with an explosive "Don't Worry Baby" and never once let the energy wane.

Toward the end of the set they called Phil Alvin of The Blasters and Rev. Heat to the stage to top off the festival with some R&B and blues standards (my favorite was "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz," originally a hit for The Hollywood Flames)

When Alvin began singing the Blasters' classic "Marie, Marie," it reminded me that one of the last times I'd seen Los Lobos, at a South by Southwest in Austin a few years ago, Phil's brother Dave Alvin joined the band on stage and sang that same song. Earlier in the Lobos' set, Cesar Rosas recalled how The Blasters had given his band their first break. The early 80s indeed was a great time for roots music in Southern California with bands like Los Lobos and The Blasters mixing it up with X and future country star Dwight Yokam. It was good to get a little taste of that on Saturday.

* The Rev. Horton Heat: The Rev. is a Hootenanny veteran and a crowd favorite. And it was easy to see why. He ripped it to shreds during his set. From the very beginning, the crowd was screaming for the song "Psychobilly Freakout." He delivered it with zeal.

One thing that strikes me about Heat's performance is that even though his music is frantic and crazy, his demeanor is calm. No jumping around, very few rock-star poses. It's as if he just allows a wild energy to pass through him and he just lets it flow with a bemused expression.


* Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: With its five-man horn section, Big Bad Voodoo added some good variety to the bill. They followed the cacophony of Nekromantix, a loud blaring psychobilly trio that sounds much better on record than they did at the festival.

For the record, I'm one of the few critics in Criticdom who wasn't completely down on the neo-swing fad of the late '90s. While I wasn't real impressed with the zoot-suit costume-party aspect of the movement, I actually enjoyed the sounds of several bands including The Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Royal Crown Revue and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. "Neo Swing" was a misnomer anyway. These bands basically revived the jump blues sound.

Voodoo Daddy's most recent album, How Big Can You Get, is a tribute to Cab Calloway. (They covered "Minnie the Moocher on one of their early albums.) They did "Minnie" and "Calloway Boogie" on Saturday. Cab's originals are still the best, but BBVD does them justice.

* Lee Rocker: He's the bass player of The Stray Cats, who were early MTV stars and the most successful of the early '80s rockabilly revivalists.

Lee was cool. He might look like your high-school science teacher, but, as the song says, "He's got cat class and he's got cat style."



* The Blasters: Dave Alvin, an original Blaster, has gone on to more critical acclaim as a solo artist (and he's coming to Santa Fe Brewing Company next month), but Brother Phil remains the voice of The Blasters.

And what a voice. The guy just exudes soul. As the music pours out he grins as he must have done the first time he heard rock 'n' roll as a kid.

The most memorable songs were early Blasters faves ("American Music," of course, ""Long White Cadillac," "No Other Girl," "Dark Night," and "Marie Marie," which Phil now sings in Spanish.)

They also did some dynamite covers by the likes of Johnny Paycheck and James Brown.

My only complaint was that the set was only 30 minutes (which was the case with everyone except Los Lobos and Rev. Horton Heath.) I could have listened to The Blasters for another hour.

THE PITCHFORK FESTIVAL

( I meant to post this last night, but I was so fried that I barely was able to get my photos uploaded on FLICKR. But that just means I had a great time.)

My son and I went to the final day of The Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. Music festivals are such an endurance test for old farts like me -- standing out in the hot sun in a park with few seats for 10 or 12 hours -- I just wanted to do one day. I chose Sunday mainly because of King Kahn & The Shrines.

I knew he was bound to be one of the major highlights of the festival but Khan and band were even better than I'd imagined. Their brand of crazed rock 'n' soul music (9 or 10 guys in the band, plus a lovely go-go dancer), along with Khan's crazy lyrics and antics ignited the place. At one point he had people tearing up dollar bills. In one song he describes a surreal and hilarious sexual encounter in shameless detail.

And what a band! These players -- mainly European I'm assuming -- play like Stax/Volt all-stars on crystal meth. For all the weirdness and tomfoolery, The Shrines are extremely tight.

Khan's set was heavy on tunes from his recent "greatest hits" package The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines. "Welfare Bread," "I Wanna Be a Girl," "Torture," and an unbelievably intense "Shivers Down My Spine."

This reportedly is this band's first U.S. tour. I'm expecting it's far from the last.

I was so worn out out from the Khan spectacular, I couldn't deal with much music for the next couple of hours. I did catch a little bit of M. Ward, who has a cool roots-rock sound. I heard some Leo Kottke guitar riffs early in his set when Ward was playing solo.)

I was still pretty kooked out when Spiritualized took the stage. They actually were one of the only disappointments of the festival. The band had a couple of female vocalists with them to add some gospel-like touches. But the ultimate effect was just too churchy -- too many lyrics about souls on fire, shining lights, etc. And too much Dark Side of the Moon in the music, at least for the first half of the show. Spiritualize began rocking out about 30 minutes into their set.

But I was truly revived by Dinosaur Jr. I'd been looking forward to seeing them with the original line-up featuring Lou Barlow on bass. The only other time I saw them was back in 1993 when they played Lollapalooza. (I caught the Denver show.)

I expected to enjoy their Pitchfork set, but I didn't expect them to be that good. They roared! Mascis still rips into his guitar like a wild man forcing it to scream.

Dinosaur Jr. played tunes from their most recent album Beyond, (an actual reunion album that doesn't suck), plus some old favorites like "The Wagon," "I Know You're Out There," "Feel the Pain" and their anthem of old, "Freak Scene." J's hair might be gray, but these tunes are forever young.

Early in the day I caught The Dirty Projectors. Their album Rise Above -- radical reworkings of Black Flag's Wasted album -- made my Top 10 list last year. But I wondered how these songs would translate on a live stage.

Quite well, it turns out. Frontman/singer.guitarist Dave Longstreth deserves credit as the guiding light behind the Projectors, but the two women singers (Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman, if their MySpace page is to be trusted) also deserve recognition for the strange and intricate harmonies.

While Longstreth's guitar often sounds straight out of Africa, seeing the Projectors live also reminded of another style of World Music -- mainly the experimental tunes of Brazilian Tom Ze.

A band I enjoyed -- though I suspect a little of them goes a long way -- was HEALTH. This is a Los Angeles noise band that specializes in heavy percussion, feedback and screaming. They reminded me a little bit of The Boredoms, (though they could use a little of that band's zany humor.)

My son was excited when he learned they were playing Pitchfork. He'd just seen them the week before here in Santa Fe. It's funny -- the HEALTH album he just bought doesn't sound much at all like their live performance. The record is full of synthy keyboards and seems like run-of-the-mill techno. Their live show is harsher and more relentless, but ultimately more listenable.

UP IN CHICAGO I WAS KNOWN AS QUITE A BOY

I'm here in Chicago to see the last day of The Pitchfork Festival with my son. I'm most excited about seeing King Khan & The Shrines, but I'm also looking forward to The Dirty Projectors and Dinosaur Jr. I'll write a full report tomorrow.

I spent part of this afternoon checking out the old Chess Studios at 2120 South Michigan Avenue. It's now known as Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven.

When we went in, a man led us up a flight of stairs and into a room with rows of chairs in front of a TV set. He put on a video about the history of Chicago blues with some great footage of Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, etc.

It didn't hit me until I'd been there a few minutes that this was the actual studio where Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and even The Rolling Stones had recorded some of the seminal songs of the last 50 years.

"Johnny B. Goode" was recorded in that that room. It's nothing short of sacred ground!

Talking with our friendly tour guide, he said, "You're from Santa Fe? Do you know Sharon McConnell? Sure shootin', downstairs on a wall are dozens of Sharon's Lifecast collection of plaster facial masks of blues musicians.

Many of these graced the New Mexico state Capitol Rotunda a couple of years ago. It was almost like seeing a bunch of old friends. I've always said the Roundhouse lost some soul when they took that exhibit down.

Sharon, who now lives in Mississippi, is well liked at Blues Heaven. She apparently did some casting of blues faces there at the museum a few years ago. Some of the women working there even asked me how Sharon's dog Bella was doing.

I took a few snapshots at the museum. Check 'em HERE..

And yes, we went to the top of the Sears Tower...