The Turtles Live @ CMU Fall 1969

The Turtles Live @ CMU Fall 1969

It takes some research and a bit of wistful thinking to try to recreate a set list and the actual performance of concert that took place over 40 years ago. I have still have Technicolor memories about this show that are incredibly vivid yet not totally accurate. I wonder what I actually experienced and if I’m simply filling in the cracks with the reassembled images of my plastic brain. The neurons are firing and my synaptic connections are stretching and contorting themselves like an aging gymnast.

Central Michigan University was still a rather small institution at the time, about 8,000 students, mostly white. However changes were afoot following the 1967 riots in Detroit, Flint and Saginaw. CMU was actively recruiting students of color, hoping to provide greater opportunities for diversity and cultural competence.

Between 1968-69 CMU booked the hottest acts in the country including Spanky & Our Gang, Blood Sweat & Tears, the Association, Sly & the Family Stone, the Cryan Shames and the Turtles – each of these bands were at the top of their game. But musical tastes were gradually shifting and expanding into genres that took on greater complexity, at least in name if not deed. Marketers would hail the next big thing e.g., hard rock, metal, progressive, folk, symphonic - but it was still rock & roll to me.

The Turtles were certainly an underrated and misunderstood band, perhaps it was their proclivity to stretch out from folk and pop to psychedelia, jazz and anti-war anthems. For god sakes they even recorded a concept album in 1968 entitled The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. It was their Sgt Peppers and the even left out some great 45’s (She’s My Girl, The Story of Rock & Roll) just like the Beatles when they carved out Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields from their opus.

I was eagerly anticipating the Turtles concert. I had all their LPs and their most recent 45’s and I actually played them all on my tiny modular stereo. I didn’t know any better.  It sounded just like my tiny little transistor radio. To this day I cherish those warm primitive sounds more than the loud pro-tooled analog crap that sprays the airways with more poison than a liquored-up mosquito control pilot.

I can’t recall the opening act. CMU always had an opening act, an intermission and a three song encore by the headliner. It could have been a very young Jackson Browne or Henry Gross because I saw them open for somebody somewhere…ok, so I don’t know but what I do recall is the then common practice of festival seating. This was the norm at the time, most venues did it. It went something like this - general admission tickets are sold to an unwitting public; the show starts @ 7pm; crowd assembles @ 5pm. The doors open @ 7:15pm and the crowd storms in, running, pushing and shoving to get the best seat possible. It was a harrowing exercise and proved to be fatal a few years later. It was always a bad idea.

After sprinting to my seat and body blocking a wannabe concert buff, I smiled broadly – wow, I’m pretty close to the stage – 20 rows out or so. Is that cool or what? A thought flickered –where’s my brother. He was wondering the same thing and we eventually landed together. I could feel the crowd was pumped. People were talking, laughing and singing Turtles songs. It was a good vibe

 The Turtles opened the show with The Battle of the Bands – a sweet little rocker that had plenty of cowbell. The theme was a perfect tag for most everyone at the show. Battle of the Bands contests had been around for years and musicians and fans alike had experienced it.

Two bucks a ticket, got to get with it,
On the night they have the battle of the bands.
Shine up my new shoes, kick off my old blues,
The night they have the battle of the bands.

The singers Howard Kaylen and Mark Volman were in excellent voice right from the start of the show. The audience did a unison gasp when the hit those 3 octave stratospheric vocal registers. Nobody - and I mean no one had ever sung this way before, not at any live show I attended. These cats had other-worldly gifts that they delivered in an almost nonchalant manner…as if they didn’t know just how good they were. Plus they goofed like adolescents – fake holding hands and fake grabbing ass. Volman was a natural vaudevillian, a Buster Keaton whereas Kaylen was the sardonic storyteller of greater and lesser truths like Charlie Chaplin or John Lennon.

The band focused on much of the material on their (undeclared) 1968 masterpiece The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. They performed the exquisite You Showed Me (the prompted many back seat romances and mash fests) and Elenore was simply breathtaking - perfect execution by the 3-piece backing of Jim Pons (bass), Al Nichol (guitar) and Johnny Barbata (drums). It was apparent that Barbata was a master and that his rhythmic patterns were both powerful and intricate. He filled spaces and accented shifts in tempo as well as keeping a rock steady beat. But it was Volman and Kaylen who sent us to another world. The vocal crescendo on the coda was otherworldly, brilliant. Surfer Dan was a sonic hats off to the Beach Boys and Too Much Heartsick Feeling was a chance for Pons to use his rich baritone. Pons’ low harmonies were strategic to the Turtles sound, a counterpoint to the dual tenor harmonics of Volman and Kaylen.

One of the highlights for me was the Harry Nielson anthem The Story of Rock & Roll. Kaylen’s vocal gymnastics were simply not humanly possible. He had the best voice in rock – everyone talked about it as if reaching those high registers were normal – only if you’re a steel worker walking a 12 inch cross beam 100 stories up - that’s not normal either. But for me it was Barbata’s sharp accents and syncopated beats that scaffold the energy of the song. It was sonic nirvana.

It was about mid-show when Volman left the stage and came jumping back onstage all greased up and do-wop’d to spoof on Lee Andrews’ chestnut Teardrops. It was stellar performance with a manic energy that kept me on the edge of the seat. I wanted more. I loved the vaudeville. I loved the energy. Mach Schau

All the hits were present and accounted for: You baby. Love it – can’t help it. Kaylen’s soaring  “You” hits my G-spot and won’t let up. It’s just too innocent sexy to resist.

She’s My Girl the highlight of the evening. It is in my opinion the Turtle’s most realized song -  soaring vocals, elusive yet accessible lyrics, soft/loud dynamics, tempo changes and incredible musicianship. Kaylen’s lead vocal was astounding – perfect. That performance alone should land him and the Turtles in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But then again rock & roll should never be in a museum. It’s a oxymoron.

Bo’s Interview with Howard Kaylen:

Hi Howard
I'm preparing an article of the Turtles Concert I attended @ Central Michigan University in 1969. Could you help me recreate the set list and clarify if John Seiter was in the band at that point?

Howard Kaylan

In 1969, Seiter played during the last part of the year. Can't answer depending on the month.

Bo:

It was a great show that highlighted those exquisite Kaylen/Volman vocals. In the middle of the show Mark did a spoof on fifties rock. Do you recall the name of the song (s)? I remember the hits - did you play any deeper album cuts during that time, the Ray Davies produced cuts?

Howard Kaylan

The song was TEARDROPS by Lee Andrews and The Hearts. Yes we did play deeper cuts

Bo:

I recall battle of the Bands opened the show - were you doing Somewhere Friday Night, There You Sit Lonely, and Hot Little Hands? Did Setter and Nichol sing any of their songs during the 69 tour?
PS Thanks for helping me out - it's very generous

Howard Kaylan

If we opened with Battle of the Bands, then we didn't do ANY of those songs. We would have done Too Much Heartsick Feeling and Surfer Dan. Big Difference. And Barbata did that show. Pleasure

Bo

Can we be best friends?

Dave Mason

 Live @ The Ford Auditorium 

April 17th 1972

 I eagerly awaited the Dave Mason concert @ Ford Auditorium in ’72. I knew every song on his Alone Together album by heart. It was filled with astonishing rock & roll symphonies of lost love and heartache. It was a breakup album instilled with all the confusing emotions that are tangled up in saying goodbye. It is filled with anger as well as sorrow. There is an unspoken despair in the inevitable split of a relationship with someone that you loved honestly. Mason’s music resonated deeply in me for I was living that sorrow. His lyrics mirrored my unhappiness and quiet resignation. My girlfriend accompanied me to the show but she was cool and distant as if she were longing to be somewhere else. She was not a Dave Mason fan. She made that clear. So I ignored her irritation with me and just concentrated on that glorious music. Mason was in his prime, sleek, slender and handsome. Although soft spoken on the introductions, he sang his ass off with his effortless contralto. His range was a bit limited but his full bodied grainy voice was the perfect accompaniment to his songs.

 He opened with the masterful shuffle blues of Only You Know and I know. It was his most realized composition at the time – great ironic lyrics and a masterful presentation. His voice was perfect!  It was followed by the country rocker Waitin’ on You, another great song even though it faltered on the chorus. The recorded version had Rita Coolidge and Bonnie Bramlet sing the soulful backing and it simply could not be duplicated in the live show

Shouldn’t Took More than You Gave. His wah wah guitar work was extraordinary - economical yet fluid, melodic and powerful. I was having’ the time of my life, listening to my hero with my best girl by my side. And as I sensed her tension, I realized that Mason’s songs were the soundtrack of our impending breakup. Sad and Deep as You followed World in Changes and Can’t Stop Worrying; Can’t Stop Loving. Each song hit me like punch as if Mason was singing about our shared sorrow.

The mood shifted when Mason hit his stride with two of his Traffic masterpieces Pearly Queen and Feeling Alright. I was digging the music without my earlier self-consciousness. He ended with a masterful take on All Along the Watchtower – Hendrix channeling Dylan through Mason

The crisp sweet aroma of marijuana circled the room and tantalized my olfactory glands. It sure smelled good. At about this time my girlfriend lights up – only it’s a cigarette. I wasn’t a smoker but I didn’t mind. I liked it – in a sexy kind of way.  But as I looked around the auditorium, I noticed a mushroom-cloud of sweet Colombian rise from the seated throng and circle around the decorative luster of the arched ceiling. It seemed that everyone in the whole damn auditorium was smoking and passing it around like it was communal love fest. Like a silent phantom, an usher suddenly appeared from the midst of the heavy hemp fog, walked up to my girl and put a hand on her shoulder and barked “Put it out.” Well, she put it out alright and she sent me with it. She was pissed off -to put it lightly. I tried to help her see the humor and the irony – “if only you would have lit up a joint instead.” But she didn’t find it one bit funny, instead she drove to the downtown bus station and told me to find my own way home. We ended our relationship a few months later and Alone Together became my best friend. It got me through, brother…it got me through.

Segue to the Rocking on the Riverfront Concert
July 16th, 2010

Seeing Dave Mason in a recent show in Detroit is like going to my 40th Class Reunion with high expectations yet leaving with a sense of dread and an unsettling realization. I look like them. I’ve grown old like a tattered old coat – and my beloved classmates are no longer the people I remembered

.

Mason, the once serene sex symbol rock star is now a crotchety old fart with a big belly and a bald head. He looks more like a retired beer-swilling assembly line worker who moves to Florida, walks around in baggy shorts, wears a shirt that doesn’t hide his tremendous girth and turns his thermostat up to a constant 80 degrees. I don’t think Rita Coolidge or Bonnie Bramlett would saddle up with him anytime soon… unless they want to do the bump and grind with a big balding Buddha. Get religion.

Dave Mason did not age gracefully but his songs were like a rare vintage wine that gives you a warm comfortable buzz. It felt like that long overdue phone call from an old friend… when the sound of his voice evokes an inward smile that no one else could see. Mason opened with World in Changes an introspective song about longing and discovery from his 1970 masterpiece Alone Together. The guitar work is fluid and the song contains several tempo changes. He followed with Let it Go, Let it Flow, a 1978 hit that has a mellow Southern California charm that sneaks up on you.40,000 Headman, a classic Traffic song from ’68 was a real treat as he Mason was able to recreate the complex textures and time signatures. Great song. He did a note for note take on one of his biggest hits, the popish Jim Krueger composition. We Just Disagree - probably the worst song of the night. Luckily enough (for me) Mason did several songs from Alone Together including Look at You, Look at Me, Can’t Stop Worrying and his two great masterworks Shouldn’t Have Took More than You Gave and Only You Know and I Know. The original LP was released on marble vinyl. It was his crowning achievement – an entire disc about love, loss and longing. It’s about breaking up with someone you love dearly and learning that the only way out of the pain and sorrow is acceptance.

He also performed two of his greatest Traffic songs Dear Mr. Fantasy and Feelin’ Alright. Mason’s guitar work was simply stunning throughout the evening from the heavy full bodied rockin’ workout on Dear Mr., Fantasy and the sonic soaring Telecaster brilliance on All Along the Watchtower, a song he introduced to his friend Jami Hendrix back in ‘68. Hendrix recorded it at Olympic Studios forthwith and released it on his legendary Electric Ladyland LP (Mason played acoustic guitar on it). Mason incorporated it into his seventies shows and recorded it for his 1974 self titled LP. Tonight it was brilliant!

Mason puts on a tight show with a set list he’s been playing for years. I can forgive the stasis as well as his well rehearsed ad-libs. I’m sure it gets stale but people only want to hear the hits. To play new original music would be the death knell to touring sixties/seventies rock bands like REO, Styx, and Boston. The audience does not want to work too hard and hopes to leave with a pile of boozy music-fueled false memories. Yet, in the middle of the show, Mason had the temerity and a huge pair of I-don’t-give-a-damn oversized balls to play songs nobody knew (got to get beyond the seventies, brother) by cranking out Good 2 U and Let Me Go from his 2008 release 26 Letters-12 Notes. Unfortunately Mason received only polite applause for his effort. To be honest these songs did not measure up to Mason’s glorious past and served as a grim reminder of the fading arc of his star power. Onstage Mason appeared anxious and awkward as if he had lost his confidence. Perhaps he is fighting his inevitable decline and the necessary losses he encounter as he gets older. These are the things we give up in order to move on to the next stage of our lives - like youth, freedom, and experimentation. But liberation from our past glories can create the conditions for true creative freedom.
Maybe that’s what keeps Dave Mason performing and thrilling crowds with his wonderful songs and his overall craft. He’s still got the mojo; it’s just harder to notice.
At mid-point during the show he bent over to adjust the microphone stand and hit his head on it and muttered something unintelligible… it just wasn’t his day.

Peace
Bo White

Simon & Garfunkel Live @ The Y-A-Go-Go February 1965

Simon & Garfunkel

Live @ The Y-A-Go-Go

February 1965

My wife and I attended the Simon & Garfunkel "Old Friends" concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills back in 2003. I thought about getting tickets for quite a while when suddenly the concert was only two days away. First I called my pal Bob Martin from Review Magazine. Did he get some gratis tickets and press passes? Nope.
I called Ticketmaster. They only have recorded announcements
I called "Choice Tickets"...they had tickets at each price range. And they confirmed that Saturday's show was a sellout. But what was the range -
$165 to $500
Nope that wouldn't work unless they propped up Warren Zevon to sing Excitable Boy. I just cannot afford it. I may be middle class but it’s just an outdated label and a cruel myth  that doesn’t even consider the enormous transfer of wealth to the rich.

So, being a stubborn kind a guy, I drive over to the nearest Ticketmaster outlet and they have tickets available. But the price range was way different. Their tickets must have been printed on cheaper paper 'cos they started at $59.50 - then progressed to $79.50, $149.50, and $205.50.
I thought scalping was illegal. Anyway, I got my tickets

There were plenty of tee-shirts, programs, CD's, and posters at the show and all major credit cards were accepted
Simon & Garfunkel were simply amazing. They provided a rich treasure trove of memories for all of us starchy white-haired boomers I just needed to celebrate my fading relevance one more time.

But the show was more than just memories. It was an artistic triumph of a form of composition that is so well conceived, produced, and performed that it is timeless. The show opened with the instrumental strains of "America" serving as the backdrop for a film/photo montage of American images from the sixties onward. They would use this multi-media approach a second time using clips from the film to introduce "Mrs. Robinson".

The duo opened the show with "Old Friends", a powerful song that has grown only more poignant with the passing of time. Simon wrote and recorded the song when he was about 26 years old. Now that I’m approaching sixty the lyrics resonate more clearly
"Can you imagine us
Years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
to be seventy"

They went on to perform several other songs from their landmark 1967 LP Bookends such as "Hazy Shade of Winter", "America" (with its nod to Saginaw - more on that later), "At the Zoo", and the aforementioned "Mrs. Robinson", I loved this album as it represented an artistic shift for the duo. Their instrumentation became more complex and less folky and Simon began writing with more sharply satirical themes that balanced his morose tendencies. They performed songs their very first recording (as Tom & Jerry) "Hey Schoolgirl" and represented every phase of their brief career from Sounds of Silence and Kathy's Song to their majestic swan song "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and "The Boxer". They even threw in "Slip Slidin' Away" - a Simon solo hit actually written by Simon with his partner in mind. They also sang "American Tune" with Garfunkel wondering during the intro "where our country is going".
And to top it off the Everly Brothers showed up midway to perform "Wake Up Little Susie", "Dream", "Let It Be Me", and "Bye Bye Love" (with S&G).
It was simply stunning...

Much better than the S&G reunion concert I attended in 1982. It was a different vibe then with Simon taking a central focus and performing too many of his solo hits to the exclusion of S&G songs and Garfunkel's beautiful voice.

But I go back even further with Simon & Garfunkel. The very first time I saw them was in 1966 at the Y-A-Go-Go - right here in Saginaw. The idea for the "Y" Teen Dances was generated by the Saginaw YMCA High School Social Committee way back in 1961. It seems that local teens had very few places that provided wholesome outlets for the social needs of young people. So beginning on September 23, 1961 teen dances were scheduled for every Saturday from 8pm to midnight. It began as a traditional record hop with Ken Clark as the resident Dee-Jay. By 1964, WKNX disc jockeys Bob Dyer and Dick Fabian took over the reins and began to add live performances to augment the recorded music. The Tempests, The Countdowns, and The Bossmen aided and abetted the change in forma, along with Go-Go Girls in their Go-Go cages! It was an exciting time to be young. And to have such impressive community support.
Only sixty-four teens showed up for the very first dance on that warm September evening in 1961 but by 1963 the Y-A-Go-Go had a regular attendance of over 1000 young adults. It was the most popular teenage dance in the early 60's (it folded in 1969).

Beginning in 1966, Dyer and Fabian began to book national acts through the William Morris agency. They had connections to this guy, Ron Sunshine, who was able to get "artists on the rise" for a good price. In quick succession they booked the Shangri-La’s, the Beau Brummels, the McCoys, the Lovin' Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel, and The Hollies.
Each one was outstanding and deserving of their place in rock 'n' roll history
Dyer's favorite band was the Spoonful.
But my favorite bands were the local guys - Dick Wagner and the Bossmen (who were like the Beatles to me) and Jay Walker & The Jayhawkers (Jay was also a DJ at WKNX - hired by Bob Dyer).

 Jay Walker & his mates backed up Simon & Garfunkel on their first and only performance in Saginaw. They opened the show with some mighty fine Michigan rock 'n' roll. The Jayhawkers had a song on the charts entitled "To Have a Love" - it knocked me out when they performed it during their part of the show. It seemed only too soon that my heroes finished their set and I was left on my own during a brief intermission. My older brother Bill had taken me to the show but I somehow lost track of him, seemed like he was standing right next to me during the Jaywalker's set.
I was but a wee lad of 13 and my brother was a worldly 15. I was starting' to worry...what if something happened - like those Webber school kids jumping' on him or something. There seemed to be too many dark corners in the recesses of the gymnasium. But I took a deep breath and proceeded to walk real cool-like...well, as cool as a 14 year-old pimply faced dork could. When suddenly I catch a reflection in the shadows. It's the metallic shine of a young teen’s  braces as she is full-mouth kissing' my brother! A real lip lock, mashing at its finest

I was stunned yet oddly fascinated and more than a little interested - girls...hmm...so...that's how it works.

Well, I rushed back to center stage a little confused and a lot interested in things more than just music. Simon & Garfunkel finally took the stage. But they looked different, strange, not at all like me, my buddies or anyone I had ever seen or met. Simon was "small" like me so I immediately liked him. But he wore a cape and had one of them "bowl" cuts with a short set of bangs hanging' high on his forehead but Garfunkel looked like he was created in a test tube from another planet. He had a curly hair that appeared mountainous - stacked up high and all frizzled. People in the audience pointed and laughed and made rude comments.
I felt sorry for him. He looked frail and timid, even scared, I started to wish he'd come leaping off the stage to defend himself. But he didn't

Simon & Garfunkel had two definite "hits" - Sounds of Silence and Homeward Bound at the time and they performed them both. In fact they opened the show with a rocking electric version of Sounds of Silence. Only we couldn't hear them clearly except at the break when the music stops and they sing..."the sounds of silence". That was about the only time I heard their voices all night. The PA was bad and the rock 'n' roll backing wasn't quite the best fit either. They performed a few other unknown (at the time) S&G songs such as Kathy's Song, Leaves that Are Green, Richard Cory, A Most Peculiar Man, He Was My Brother. They also performed covers of a couple of Beatles songs!! And they talked about Paul and John like they were good buddies. They closed the show by singing Sounds of Silence a second time. I couldn’t argue with that, it’s a great song

Well, I enjoyed the show even though I had no inkling that the duo would become so popular and this performance would become legendary. I really liked Simon and Garfunkel partly because they were kindred spirits, so uncomfortable and so awkward just like me and yet they still had something important to say. And they did immortalize this little show in their 1967 opus "America".

Bob Dyer told me that he paid S&G $1250 for that performance on the strength of their two radio hits. Would they be a flash-in-the-pan like so many others or would go on to a successful career?
Only time would tell...

Peace

Bo White

THE BEE GEES With The Detroit Symphony Orchestra Live @ The Masonic Temple Detroit, Michigan 1973

THE BEE GEES

With

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Live

@

The Masonic Temple

                                       Detroit, Michigan 1973

I had a tough year or so since my girlfriend and I broke up. We were together for over six years. In a sense, we grew up together from the time I was 15 in 1967 until 1972 we spent most of our time together. Because she was a year and ½ older than me, she was like a mentor. She taught me to drive a car, camp, and make-out at the drive-in theater, the living room couch, or in the driveway of her family home. Makin’ out was pretty cool. It seemed peculiar to me that as we became physically closer, our relationship became colder and more distant. By 1972, she had graduated from Henry Ford Hospital’s School of Nursing. I was in my second year at MSU. She was slugging it out in the frontline of Ford Hospital’s Emergency Room while I was demonstrating against the war. She was maturing into an attractive and fascinating woman; I was still a kid, rocking & rolling, smoking dope and gradually adopting a counter culture life plan. Somehow we couldn’t reconcile our differences. So we agreed to part, though we would occasionally check-in by phone or meet up unexpectedly at White’s Bar when we both happened to be in Saginaw.

 I moved away in 1970 but returned in late 1976 for good, except for a 4 month trip to Oregon in 1977. Joanne returned to Saginaw briefly in the 80’s but ended up living in Detroit with her second husband until the time of her death in 1990 from a brain aneurysm. I was devastated. She was too young to go and now all those memories I shared with her would be my sole province. I hoped that I could live up to that honor. It was a daunting task for a budding alcoholic. At the time my only skill was drinking and I took to it with both fists. I wouldn’t feel the pain, no, I wouldn’t feel a thing. In 1973, I had no idea of what the future would bring. In fact, I thought I was pretty hot. I was acing all my classes and I was dating different women. The one I liked the best was over 6ft tall and since I’m all of 5’ 6”, we looked like Mutt & Jeff…was I Mutt? Anyway, students passing us on the campus trails would give us funny looks or even laugh. I guess we never really stood a chance though I was never too hooked, you see, I secretly wished to reunite with my lost girlfriend. I still carried the torch.

It was autumn of 1973, my brother Bill was back from the service having been stationed in Germany, Fulda to be exact. We were hanging out and even made plans to live together in East Lansing, never happened. But we did check out a few rock n’ roll shows before life took us in opposite directions. We both loved the early Bee Gees music and we jumped at the chance to catch their show at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. In 1973, the Bee Gees career was stalled and their early Beatlesque music seemed like a distant memory. Their last big hits Lonely Days (1970) and How Do You Mend A Broken Heart (1971) led to a series of other nice songs that were all ballads that all sounded the same.

 The Bee Gees had reached a pattern of stasis, paralyzed by their past, worried about the future, and losing track of the moment.  The band was stuck in a holding pattern, a never ending loop fit for the twilight zone. Despite their relative youth, they were becoming obsolete. But not in my eyes.  As we entered the comfortably lush and inviting main floor of the Masonic, I took time to gaze upon its grandeur. It was simply breathtaking, especially when I was used to more modest surroundings, like the Eastown on Harper & Van Dyke. So, I’m looking around and my eyes wander up above to the balcony and there, as god is my witness is former girlfriend and she’s with another man. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. “He’s probably that fuckin’ doctor she told me about.” I felt a pain, a pain in my chest…I think it was a heartache. The lights went down and I settled-in for the show.

The Bee Gees looked great. Young, trim and at the top of their game. They were no has-beens. The band was accompanied by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the sound was rich and gorgeous – magnificent baroque pop music, everything I hoped it would be. The music reminded me of their ’69 Masterpiece Odessa -   although they played only First of May from it.  Barry Gibb was the principal songwriter and lead singer on most of the hits. He took a center-stage prominence that could not be denied.  Robin proved to be a better singer with an oddly captivating operatic voice and incredible 3 octave range.  Robin’s vocal on I Started A Joke was simply incredible. Still Barry commanded our attention on such songs as Words, 1941 Mining Disaster, To Love Somebody and First of May. But when Robin would trade off vocals with Barry on I’ve Gotta Get A Message to You, Massachusetts, and Holiday the show really took off. Still, the show wore thin in spots, too many ballads, and Barry’s over-reliance on that whispery vibrato vocal style that he perfected on Words, after a while it was like “gimme a break, already”. Then-current hits like Run to Me, Don’t Wanna Live Inside Myself, and Alive were elegant yet repetitive ballads that all sounded the same. Maybe they just hit too close to my current state of mind. The topper was the stomping encore of Lonely Days, an elegant power ballad that starts out pretty and slow on the verses - sung in a magnificent 3-part harmony - then segues into a pounding sing-a-long chorus. Robin was beside himself, leaping to and fro in an odd dis-rhythmic convulsive dance across the stage, getting the audience to clap along - finally, signs of life! The show ended on a rousing note. The Bee Gees proved to be a magnificent live band and despite their best efforts, they put on an almost lackluster show. Perhaps it was the ambivalence amongst the brothers, the need for new direction. In 1973, the disco craze was about two years away and the Bee Gee’s rebirth was only a wish.  Then again, it may have been my own ambivalence about my life and about love that dampened the experience. I’m not sure. But when the show ended and the house lights came on, I looked up to the balcony.

And she was gone…

Peace,

 Bo White