Water has finally found it’s own level in the Rock n Roll world! Ted Nugent is touring with REO Speedwagon and Styx! I suppose it should come as no surprise, as Tommy Shaw of Styx was in Damn Yankees with Nugent, but the point I’m making, is that as much as The Nuge has the Motor City Madman image, he’s really more at home with bands from the Midwest who sing in high voices, like REO and Styx! The Nuge is bottom billed, and here’s why.

     The Nuge is a great guitar player, but in my opinion, is not a much bigger star because of the quality of his songwriting, which is not really very good, with a few notable exceptions! One of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen was Damn Yankees at a private party at The China Club in Manhattan, where they performed a series of Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, and Beatles tunes. Awesome show! I’ve seen The Nuge on his own, and nothing came close to that show! Why? Songwriting! He showed me he’s a great guitar player, but he also showed me he’s not a songwriter!

     Now, “Journey to the Center of your Mind”, the second Amboy Dukes single, (and their only hit), was written by Nugent and The Dukes’ other guitarist, Steve Farmer, and that is a great song! It shows that Farmer and Nugent could have been a great songwriting team, in the style of Lennon and McCartney, where one brings the pop and one brings the rock, and the combination somehow results in the best of both worlds! But apparently, Farmer and Nugent couldn’t get on the same wavelength, and the group broke up in 1973. Other than “Journey to the Center of your Mind”, most of the Dukes material was written by Farmer!

     Anyway, enough about The Nuge, who, according to his own statements, will soon be dead or in jail, as he famously stated in 2012 that if President Obama is re-elected, he will be dead or in jail within a year! Bet you didn’t know that about The Nuge! I wonder if the FBI or Secret Service felt the need to investigate that! Haven’t heard anything about it!

     In other news, The Rolling Stones, who are great songwriters, just announced 18 more dates for their 50th Anniversary Tour. New York got theirs already, so there are no New York shows! The closest they’ll come is Boston and Philadelphia! If you want tickets, you’ll have to cash in your retirement account. Top price is close to $1000 and premium packages range from $1200 to $2000! And that’s for ONE ticket, not a pair! Having seen them at the height of their career many times, you will not ever find me paying that kind of money to see a band in the twilight of their career! But, if you’ve never seen them, and you’ve got the dough, this will probably be your last chance! How do you top a 50th anniversary tour?

     Okay, I’m way past my deadline, so let’s get to the live music picks, so this column can make it into the paper this week.

     Wednesday, April 17 – Tonight marks the third night of Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s nine night FURTHER tour at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. Tour continues here this weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), and next week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday).

The amazing ANA POPOVIC is at Iridium in Manhattan for a CD release party. Ana is a Yugoslavian born guitarist who has played with everyone, won dozens of awards, and is one of the most amazing female guitarists ever, and just amazing, period! You need to check her out!

     Friday, April 19 – FURTHER continues, but if you can’t snag a ticket to the sold out shows, there’s a lot more going on this weekend than just Further! One of the many Masters of the Telecaster, ARLEN ROTH, is at The Falcon in Marlborough, and in the city, ANA POPOVIC returns to The Iridium, and in a real blast from the past, UNCLE FLOYD makes a super rare appearance at The Cutting Room! Uncle Floyd was a wacky comedian who had his own TV show years ago. He masqueraded as a children’s show, but was really aiming his show at adults, along the lines of Soupy Sales or Pee Wee Herman. But what really set Uncle Floyd’s show apart, was that he had every cutting edge rock and punk band in New York on as guests! The Ramones, Madonna, Bon Jovi, and many others were guests, before they were famous, and Uncle Floyd, whose real name is Floyd Vivino, and who is guitarist Jimmy Vivino’s brother, counted John Lennon and David Bowie among his many fans! I have no idea what he’ll be doing at this appearance, but whatever it is, it should be worth the price of admission!

     Saturday, April 20 – One of the best and unique singers around, IRIS DEMENT, is at Club Helsinki tonight! Once you hear Iris, you’ll never forget her! Her voice is totally unique, in the same way Levon’s is. If you’re anywhere near Hudson tonight, just go to this! You won’t regret it! I’m not gonna mention every FURTHER show again, but they are playing all week, and the dates are listed in the first posting for Wednesday, April 17.

     Sunday, April 21 – The very funny KATHY GRIFFIN is at UPAC in Kingston tonight, and the very amazing JUNIOR BROWN is at City Winery. When Brown played in Woodstock a couple of years ago, every guitar player in town was in attendance, with their jaws on the floor!

     Monday, April 22 – Woodstock’s own CINDY CASHDOLLAR is at The Iridium with The Les Paul Trio, and the great old school soul singer, RYAN SHAW, is at The Cutting Room, both in Manhattan.

     Wednesday, April 24 – FLEETWOOD MAC reunion at The Prudential Center in Newark, the fabulous RYAN MONTBLEAU BAND at The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan, and FOUR GENERATIONS OF MILES, featuring former Miles Davis sidemen, JIMMY COBB, SONNY FORTUNE, BUSTER WILLIAMS, and MIKE STERN, begins a three night run at Iridium.

     Thursday, April 25 – The phenomenally versatile and talented guitarist, KAKI KING is at the very intimate Mercury Lounge in Manhattan tonight. Kaki’s accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but check out her Wikipedia page or her own website for a full bio, music clips, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaki_King or www.kakiking.com.

Also tonight, in a super rare appearance, the multi-talented JOHN SIMON pulls into Joe’s Pub in Manhattan! John is a songwriter, piano player, and producer, who is best known for producing The Band’s first two albums, but his discography is endless. As producer, he also worked with Janis Joplin (Cheap Thrills), Leonard Cohen, Simon and Garfunkel, Blood Sweat and Tears (first album), and the great Bobby Charles! As piano player, he worked with Clapton, Muddy, Howling Wolf, Dave Mason, and more! In other capacities, he worked with Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John,Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, etc. Get the picture? If anyone was a sixth member of The Band, it was John! Check him out at www.johnsimonmusic.net.

     Well, that wraps up another week. Have a good one!

     Rock music criticism lost a true original last week. Paul Williams, the man who founded Crawdaddy magazine from his college dorm room  at the age of 17, passed away March 27, from complications arising from a bicycle accident that occurred in 1995! He was 64.

     Crawdaddy, whose first issue hit the streets in January, 1966, a full 18 months before the first issue of Rolling Stone, was the first national magazine of rock criticism, and Williams was the first journalist to take Rock n Roll seriously as an art form and write about it as such! The writing style Williams pioneered created modern rock criticism as we know it! Crawdaddy influenced every Rock magazine to follow it, and I’m sure that even writers like  Hunter S. Thompson had to be aware of it!

     Williams championed young writers like Jon Landau (now Springsteen’s manager and producer), Sandy Perlman (producer of The Clash), and Richard Meltzer! We used to breathlessly wait for each issue like it was The Word of God Himself! It’s difficult to understand how important Crawdaddy was at the time, living today in our always connected universe! Magazines like Crawdaddy were the distributors of information and the counter cultural lifeline to suburban hepcats in the making! They built bridges between regional scenes and brought record company attention to artists who otherwise would probably never get any. When a new issue came out, it was the highlight of our week!

     More than most rock writers, Williams lived the lifestyle, hanging out and partying with his subjects like The Grateful Dead, Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, and David Crosby! After Crawdaddy’s initial 2-3 year run (Williams’ stats), Paul moved to Mendocino, where he ran Timothy Leary’s gubernatorial campaign, going with Leary to meet John and Yoko at their Toronto Bed-In for Peace, where he and Leary appeared as part of the background party for “Give Peace a Chance” and the song, “Come Together” was written overnight, based on Leary’s campaign slogan, “Come together, join the party”.

     Williams was the author of more than 25 books on music, counterculture lifestyle, and memoirs of his own life. He struck up a friendship with the Science Fiction author, Philip K. Dick, after writing a widely seen and highly regarded article on Dick in Rolling Stone, which many people, including  Dick himself, credited with the revival of interest in his work. After Dick’s death in 1982, Williams was named the literary executor of his estate, and oversaw Hollywood deals that led to “Blade Runner”, “Minority Report”, “Total Recall”, The Adjustment Bureau”, A Scanner Darkly”, and others, all based on Dick’s work!

     In the 1990’s, Williams returned to the helm of Crawdaddy, which he ran again for 10 years before selling out to Wolfgang’s Vault in 2006! The entire Crawdaddy archive is now available on Wolfgang’s Vault!

     In 1995, Paul suffered a spill on his bicycle, which incurred traumatic brain injuries that began a long slow decline, and from which he never recovered. He is survived by his wife, singer-songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill, and their son. The financial burden on the family has been crushing, as Williams, like most self employed artists, lived without any structure of institutional support. Donations can be made on Williams’ website, www.paulwilliams.com/donations.html. While there, you can read up on Paul’s complete bio and accomplishments, which are too numerous to fully list here. If you can’t make a donation, please, at least, light a candle for this man! He created something out of nothing that helped change the world for the better! A true original! RIP Paul! And thanks for the memories!

     We also lost record producer Phil Ramone this week. Ramone worked with Sinatra, Dylan, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, and Ray Charles, among others. He garnered the usual GRAMMYS, Emmys, and Lifetime Achievement Awards that one would expect from a producer of his stature. Ramone was 79.

     Wow! As I mentioned last week, we are on the cusp of an amazing summer of music, and it continues this week! In the next two weeks, there are over 30 live shows that I’m recommending! That averages out to over 2 a day, so you should be able to find something to your liking!

     Wednesday, April 3 – Hooray! We’re in April, Spring has sprung, and the weather is warm! Good vibes! Tonight is the second and last night of THE BLACK CROWES at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester! The Crowes are doing things with open tunings that rival The Rolling Stones! Catch ‘em if you can! Also tonight at The Cutting Room in Manhattan, original Sex Pistols bassist, GLEN MATLOCK, teams up with TOMMY RAMONE, original Ramones drummer, producer, and writer, for an unusual pairing that should be very interesting, to say the least. Finally, influential Arizona based band, THE MEAT PUPPETS, who counted Kurt Cobain as a fan, are at The Mercury Lounge in Manhattan for the first of two shows. Tonight’s show is an early one, starting at 6:30. Tomorrow is at a more normal time, 9:30.

     Thursday, April 4 – Second MEAT PUPPETS SHOW at Mercury Lounge. Also in the city, Cheap Trick lead singer ROBIN ZANDER at BB King’s, and The CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS at Bowery Ballroom.  Upstate in Woodstock, at The Bearsville Theater, LINDSEY WEBSTER begins a month long Thursday night residency that is sure to pull ‘em out of the woodwork!

     Friday, April 5 – There is so much going on this weekend that I’m really feeling a bit overwhelmed, but, duty calls, so here we go! If you missed THE BLACK CROWES at The Capitol Theatre, you’ll have a second shot tonight and tomorrow at Terminal 5 in Manhattan. My recommendation however, is to save The Crowes for tomorrow, and opt for MARS BONFIRE at The Bitter End on Bleecker Street. Mars who? Bruno? No. Mick Mars? No. Mars Bonfire, the man who wrote “Born to be Wild”, who I have never heard of doing a live performance before. ever! Historically, this blows away everything this week! If you happen to be in Connecticut this weekend, there’s a cool double bill at Mohegan Sun Casino. ERIC CLAPTON with THE WALLFLOWERS opening!

     Saturday, April 6 – The iconic LEONARD COHEN is at Radio City Music Hall, BLACK CROWES finish up at Terminal 5, LIVING COLOR at Irving Plaza, ex-Captain Beefheart guitarist, GARY LUCAS, at Joe’s Pub, all in Manhattan, and LOW CUT CONNIE brings their Jack White approved rock n blues to The Rock Shop in Brooklyn. In Woodstock, The Bearsville Theater continues their great series, BEARSVILLE SESSIONS #6, which will focus on the roots of rock n roll. If you’re upstate and you want some schoolin’, this is for you!

     Sunday, April 7 – GREEN DAY at The Barclay Center in Brooklyn is a show that a lot of people have been looking forward to. So is LEONARD COHEN at Radio City Music Hall, which reprises tonight. So is The YEAH YEAH YEAHS at Webster Hall. Slide guitar master, SONNY LANDRETH, at Brian’s Backyard  Barbecue in Middletown, probably not so much, but it’ll be a  great show none the less.

     Monday, April 8 – Here’s another biggie – FLEETWOOD MAC at Madison Square Garden!

   

Tuesday, April 9 – Mandolin master, CHRIS THILE with BRAD MEHLDAU at Bowery Ballroom and RICKIE LEE JONES at City Winery.

     Wednesday, April 10 – RICKIE LEE JONES concludes her engagement at City Winery, and SONNY LANDRETH is at BB King’s. Sonny is doing several other shows in the northeast this month, so check your local listings for more info.

     Thursday, April 11 – A show starts a four night run tonight at The Beacon Theater called MY BROTHER MARVIN with ZEOLA GAYE. Don’t know if this is Marvin’s brother or sister, don’t know if it will be singing or talking, but I do know that it will be interesting, either way.

     Alright, that wraps up another week. Don’t forget to tune in every other Monday night to The Little Delaware Jamboree on WIOX, 91.3 FM, and on the web at www.wioxradio.org, where I do an on air version of this column, and more, as John Madeo’s guest. My segment usually airs at 8:30, but the entire show is worth a listen.

     Have an amazing week!