Mailbag
From: Billy F. Gibbons
B,My fave email incoming…Â "I don’t know how you managed the NYT piece but I wanna a learn how"…
B
If reviews meant anything, ZZ Top would be getting a Kennedy Center Honor and appearing at the Super Bowl.
Wait a minute, rumor is they are going to be playing the Super Bowl!
You’ve got to read this review:
The money quote?
"If you are the kind of person who likes to use a suspect and imprecise and maybe impossible term about music, then go ahead, because this was, more or less, a perfect concert."
And as long as you’re still reading:
"Mr. Gibbons, who is one of the finest living guitar players – say his name, fold your arms and stand your ground next time you are faced with an Eric Clapton idolater – never tuned between songs, and for the most part played only one instrument: a black GretschBilly-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird, which he designed with Bo Diddley. He used a plastic pick – not a coin, as he has done in the past with his 1959 Gibson Les Paul – but his picking, expressed through a warm, overdriven tone, still sounded heavy and metallic, lumbering and lovely."
You’ve got to know… Back in the day, when ZZ Top was still on London, they were a joke in NYC. Touring with livestock playing that damn boogie music.
But sometimes it takes a while for the critics to come around. Kind of like with the Carpenters. Hated by the hipsters, adored today.
No one O.D.’ed, the band didn’t change and the music barely did either, except for the addition of synthesizers in the eighties.
I’ll admit, I didn’t get it the first time around. Maybe because I’d never been to that little old whorehouse they sang about in "La Grange". But the humor of "I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide", caught me. And the power of "I Thank You" instantly infected me.
As for "Gimme All Your Lovin’", "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man"…they’re just irresistible.
And rather than complaining about how the Net has ruined their business, how no one is interested in their new music, ZZ Top is going on the road and playing the oldies. Giving the people what they want. And you might say it’s basic and repetitive, but that’s just the point. The blues were never about flash, they were about simplicity, about roots. Which is why the aforementioned Eric Clapton abdicated his throne, dismissed being a deity and went simple with Delaney Bramlett. Hell, the really powerful, intricate licks on "Layla" were played by Duane Allman. Who didn’t sing and spoke solely through his instrument, and was not about flash so much as fluidity.
I know Billy. And what I like about him is he’s not the guy in the image. He’s like a guy you went to high school with, who took a different path, but you can still connect like the buddies you once were.
He e-mails me pictures of Canadian mountains they’re seeing outside the train, he tells me about restaurants he’s visited in Barcelona. It’s like his life is one big travelogue and he’s enjoying the ride. And sharing the experience.
Real artists are not celebrities. That’s just a hard coating like the dip at Dairy Queen. Inside, they’re soft. They’re the art kids sitting in the back of the classroom, who could get A’s but are fine with B’s, because they know it’s all bullshit. They know greatness is not really quantifiable, it’s something you FEEL!
I don’t know if Ben Ratliff is a closet ZZ Top fan or whether he was converted by this show, but I haven’t seen a rave review like this in the "New York Times" in memory.
Like I said, it doesn’t mean much. The average person is not reading. Then again, other media outlets are. And maybe the word of ZZ’s greatness will spread, they’ll get more opportunities for exposure.
And that’s the life of an artist, a musician. It’s long. It’s got twists and turns. It’s got ups and downs.
Maybe ZZ Top’s album with Rick Rubin will be fantastic, after all Rick gets people in touch with their roots, who they really are, but even if it stiffs…expect Billy and the boys to be plying the boards from city to city until they drop, like all the great bluesmen before them. That’s what a musician does, PLAY!
