{"id":3390,"date":"2010-10-01T06:32:50","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T14:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2010-10-01T06:32:50","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T14:32:50","slug":"the-dukes-of-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/10\/01\/the-dukes-of-september\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dukes Of September"},"content":{"rendered":"

HEIGHTY HI<\/span><\/p>\n

Muddy Waters played "What Now America".<\/p>\n

The music business mantra is repetition.\u00c2\u00a0 People have to hear it enough to love it, you’ve got to beat it into their brains.\u00c2\u00a0 Then there are tracks you hear once and you can’t forget them, and need to hear them again to save your soul.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s how I felt about "What Now America".\u00c2\u00a0 I borrowed the album from Muddy, who’d already achieved this moniker even though freshman year had just begun.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d drop the needle and listen to "What Now America" again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 The intimacy was like a late night phone call from your best friend, when people were more interested in exchanging stories, making a personal connection, than making money.<\/p>\n

The next time I was in the metropolis, I bought "Barrel".\u00c2\u00a0 And then "Recital".\u00c2\u00a0 And "Lee Michaels".\u00c2\u00a0 I was reveling in the entire catalog of this guy who’d never had a hit, but was suddenly a giant in my world.<\/p>\n

"The War" on "Recital" was as good as "What Now America".\u00c2\u00a0 There was that same intimate feeling.\u00c2\u00a0 But "Heighty Hi" was something completely different, like we’d all had too many beers, were a bit woozy and the band got up on stage and started to play.<\/p>\n

And that’s exactly what the Dukes Of September’s rendition of Lee Michaels’ classic last night was like.<\/p>\n

It’s great enough when a band reaches down deep and plays a cover of a song that only you thought you loved, but when they knock it out of the park you feel this inner spark, this elation that’s the essence of life.<\/p>\n


DON’T MESS UP A GOOD THING<\/span><\/p>\n

The classic rock artists raped and pillaged in the seventies, went on tour in the nineties and early twentieth century at exorbitant prices for boomer listeners who wanted to relive their youth, now what?<\/p>\n

It’s creepy to see the oldsters trot out the warhorses one more time.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like being sentenced to an endless "Groundhog Day".\u00c2\u00a0 Like being in college forever.\u00c2\u00a0 At some point, you want to graduate and get on with your life.<\/p>\n

But this is illegal in the rock world.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t take a risk, your audience can’t handle it.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t even age.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to get plastic surgery and diet down to look like a twentysomething when the audience is now round and lined and nothing like you.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like a living "Sunset Boulevard".\u00c2\u00a0 And now the audience has moved on.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve seen the Stones.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve heard the hits.\u00c2\u00a0 They want something new.<\/p>\n

The Dukes Of September is something new by people who are old.<\/p>\n

It’s Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and Donald Fagen fronting nine associated players in a motherfucking soul band.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like famous artists came to your wedding or Bar Mitzvah.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, they’ll play a few hits, but you want to hear your favorites, you want to rock out, you want to have a good time, you want to have a party.<\/p>\n


RAG MAMA RAG<\/span><\/p>\n

Hail stones beatin’ on the roof<\/span>
The bourbon is a hundred proof<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, it wasn’t exactly hail, but the chain lightning had dumped a copious number of raindrops upon the assembled multitude, but eventually stopped. No one left.\u00c2\u00a0 We endured the elements to hear this classic Band tune along with "The Shape I’m In".<\/p>\n

Michael McDonald is tinkling the ivories, everybody’s in a race, trying not to be left behind.<\/p>\n

It was pure joy, out in the audience tinkling our air pianos.\u00c2\u00a0 Robbie Robertson may have retired, but that doesn’t mean the music has to die.\u00c2\u00a0 These songs can come alive, if someone just dedicates themselves, puts in the energy.<\/p>\n


CADILLAC WALK<\/span><\/p>\n

O.K., we all know the Band, but how many in the audience have even heard of Mink DeVille, never mind this nugget?<\/p>\n

Actually, you’d be surprised how many in the audience would know the now deceased king of cool.\u00c2\u00a0 But I bet many in attendance thought this was a Boz Scaggs original, because he owned it.<\/p>\n


REELIN’ IN THE YEARS<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay.<\/p>\n

Michael McDonald is the prematurely grey, now white-haired singer of MOR songs that made the girls swoon.<\/p>\n

All of that may be true, but he’s also a MUSICIAN!\u00c2\u00a0 He was a reluctant frontman.\u00c2\u00a0 He started out as a sideman.\u00c2\u00a0 Last night he played not only the keys, but the ukulele.\u00c2\u00a0 He reminded you of that kid in high school, who lived to play music.\u00c2\u00a0 He was never the singer, but every band you went to see, he was in. Sometimes playing lead, other times the bass, even the drums, adding perfect backup vocals.<\/p>\n

Yes, Michael sang "What A Fool Believes".\u00c2\u00a0 But I was even more thrilled that he did "I Keep Forgettin’"…\u00c2\u00a0 That came out just when I’d broken up with my live-in girlfriend, I kept forgettin’ that we weren’t in love anymore, except that we were, we just couldn’t live together, I listened to the tunes to get me through.<\/p>\n

But the killer, the piece de resistance, was "Takin’ It To The Streets".<\/p>\n

Michael had now been fully integrated into the Doobie Brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 But this was a transitional album, "Minute By Minute" was still years away.\u00c2\u00a0 But suddenly, this aged audience was on its feet, shaking its collective fist at a country that seems to have broken free of its grasp.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, as we seem to near the apocalypse, only music will keep us sane.<\/p>\n

Boz seemed like he didn’t want to be there, like he was punching the clock.\u00c2\u00a0 John Herington was playing most of the leads.\u00c2\u00a0 Boz wasn’t shucking and jiving.\u00c2\u00a0 But when he stepped up to the microphone, I swooned.\u00c2\u00a0 That voice!\u00c2\u00a0 Those notes he picked!\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got style, he’s got feel!\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, he eventually played "Lowdown", he subtly stole the night, but what stunned me was I’d given up on seeing him, I’d been there and done that, this one appearance reinvigorated my interest in him.<\/p>\n

And then we come to Donald Fagen.<\/p>\n

He was having fun.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t say much, but when he did he questioned our sensibilities.\u00c2\u00a0 He waited for silence, then turned to the audience and asked "What’s new?"\u00c2\u00a0 As if he was an old college buddy and wanted to catch up.\u00c2\u00a0 After we laughed, he said he heard it had been hot.\u00c2\u00a0 Which elicited further laughter that only an Angeleno who’s been in town this week can understand.<\/p>\n

"I.G.Y" was a triumph.\u00c2\u00a0 But "Reelin’ In The Years" made us smile, recalling who we once were, and who we now are.<\/p>\n

But what impressed me most was Donald’s elation.\u00c2\u00a0 At one point he was pounding the keys and he had his feet in the air under the piano like a six year old.\u00c2\u00a0 I know, I’ve been there, I’ve done that.<\/p>\n

That’s what’s great about music.\u00c2\u00a0 When done right, you can throw off all convention, be the child basking in purity, having fun.<\/p>\n

LOVE TRAIN<\/span><\/p>\n

But it was the covers that made the night.<\/p>\n

I bet almost no one in attendance owned an O’Jays album.\u00c2\u00a0 But we all know "Love Train".\u00c2\u00a0 Because back before every car had an FM radio, never mind an iPod input, we were exposed to all kinds of music on the AM dial that we came to love.<\/p>\n

And to hear this powerhouse unit perform "Love Train" was to experience a cannonball express.\u00c2\u00a0 A train asks no questions, it has no doubts, it pulls out of the station, gains momentum and just HUMS!<\/p>\n

HELP ME RHONDA<\/span><\/p>\n

There were music stands everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, most of these tracks were not part of the performers’ usual repertoire.<\/p>\n

But in an age where acts use teleprompters to sing THEIR OWN songs, Boz Scaggs strode up to the mic and sang "Help Me Rhonda" by heart.<\/p>\n

Just like us.<\/p>\n

It was not like seeing Mike Love or Brian Wilson.\u00c2\u00a0 This was not nostalgia, this was like going to the high school dance, except the band was really damn good.<\/p>\n

THEM CHANGES<\/span><\/p>\n

I found out about this tour from a reader.\u00c2\u00a0 How fucked up is that?<\/p>\n

There’s no Website, no big hype, it’s a secret.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s a mistake.<\/p>\n

This is the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless you’re planning to die young, you just can’t repeat what you’ve done in your heyday forever, you’ve got to grow.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that what Dylan taught us?<\/p>\n

Michael McDonald can play to dwindling audience, same with Boz, Fagen can reunite with Walter Becker and overcharge to hear live renditions of some of the most exquisite recordings ever, but demand is not going to increase.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve been there and done that, those of us who care anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 But the Dukes Of September is something completely different!\u00c2\u00a0 This is like Jimmy Buffett.\u00c2\u00a0 Something to come back to every summer.<\/p>\n

No one left early.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody had a good time.\u00c2\u00a0 Based on my e-mail from others in attendance, everyone was lifted up, everyone felt they’d experienced something that normally eludes them, a celebration of the power of music, our music.<\/p>\n

Every week they should release a live cover on iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 Not because the tracks would sell, but because the story would be big and it might reach the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 The group should continue to work regularly, like the Allman Brothers, honing their chops, mesmerizing audiences to where they come back like sheep, like lemmings, where they don’t think about it, they just go to the show.<\/p>\n

It was impossible to be at the Greek last night and shrug your shoulders and be unimpressed.\u00c2\u00a0 You nodded your head, you shook your booty, and eventually stood up and clapped and sang, you couldn’t help yourself, the sound was just that powerful.<\/p>\n

SOMETHING IN THE AIR<\/span><\/p>\n

Call out the instigators<\/span>
Because there’s something in the air<\/span><\/p>\n

Now most people know Thunderclap Newman’s "Something In The Air" because of its inclusion in "Almost Famous", because of Tom Petty’s cover.\u00c2\u00a0 But once upon a time, in the spring of 1970, it was a record that got occasional play on FM radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Very occasional.\u00c2\u00a0 One listen was enough to hook you.<\/p>\n

And on the very first weekend of my college career, on Saturday night they bused us all up to Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus for a dance, where we could mix and mingle with the other freshmen.<\/p>\n

How depressing.\u00c2\u00a0 The music is blaring.\u00c2\u00a0 You barely know anybody, you’re desirous of knowing everybody, but you just can’t achieve this.<\/p>\n

There was a cover band from Boston.\u00c2\u00a0 Going through the motions for an unappreciative audience.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, they broke into "Something In The Air".<\/p>\n

Literally seems like yesterday that I went up to the soundman and asked him who did the original.\u00c2\u00a0 In the ensuing discussion he gave me the headphones, so I could hear the mix.<\/p>\n

On the bus back I did my best to connect with a woman who I wasn’t that interested in but who was even less interested in me.<\/p>\n

And there you have my college career.\u00c2\u00a0 Unsatisfying female encounters and a lot of music.<\/p>\n

I bought Thunderclap Newman’s "Hollywood Dream" on the first college break.\u00c2\u00a0 I downloaded it from Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not famous because of its sales, but because of its music.\u00c2\u00a0 And when the Dukes Of September broke into their rendition of "Something In The Air" I was completely surprised.\u00c2\u00a0 Shouldn’t they be doing something less obvious, that they can own?\u00c2\u00a0 No!\u00c2\u00a0 Because they weren’t interested in demonstrating how hip they were, but playing some of their absolute favorites, figuring they were some of our absolute favorites too.<\/p>\n

Lock up the streets and houses<\/span>
Because there’s something in the air<\/span>
We’ve got to get together sooner or later<\/span>
Because the revolution’s here, and you know it’s right<\/span>
And you know that it’s right<\/span><\/p>\n

We stopped a war.\u00c2\u00a0 They say music can’t change the world?\u00c2\u00a0 They’re wrong.<\/p>\n

But now we go to Vietnam as tourists.\u00c2\u00a0 The war is a deep memory.\u00c2\u00a0 But the music lives on.<\/p>\n

We experienced a revolution.\u00c2\u00a0 When the most important thing you could do, the most dangerous path you could follow, was to be a musician.<\/p>\n

Players were not in bed with Fortune 500 companies, corporations couldn’t take the risk.\u00c2\u00a0 And first and foremost, the artists needed to be unfettered, they needed to do it their way.\u00c2\u00a0 The record labels signed ’em and then got out of the way.\u00c2\u00a0 And these acts were so good, we still want to see them decades on.<\/p>\n

It’s a symbiotic relationship.\u00c2\u00a0 A star is nothing without his fans.\u00c2\u00a0 And we fans need something to invest our hopes and dreams in.<\/p>\n

We’ve lived long enough to know our heroes are only human.<\/p>\n

But somehow, the music is not.\u00c2\u00a0 The music is godlike.\u00c2\u00a0 Created in fits of passion, moments of genius, the music both embodies humanity and transcends it.\u00c2\u00a0 Not made to be consumed and then disposed of, these great songs radiate forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Michael, Boz and Donald created some of them.\u00c2\u00a0 But, just like us, they’re fans of so many they didn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Music is not a contest, the people creating competition TV shows, giving out awards, are not the players.\u00c2\u00a0 Artists are brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 In it together.\u00c2\u00a0 They want to revel in the greatness of each other’s work.\u00c2\u00a0 They want to live inside the music, they want that high only music can provide.<\/p>\n

And so do we.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HEIGHTY HI Muddy Waters played "What Now America". The music business mantra is repetition.\u00c2\u00a0 People have to hear it enough to love it, you’ve got to beat it into their brains.\u00c2\u00a0 Then there are tracks you hear once and you can’t forget them, and need to hear them again to save your soul.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-SG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3391,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions\/3391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}