Wow! As I sit here writing this column, I’m watching Paul McCartney at Citi Field in Queens performing “I’m Down”, seamlessly interspersed with footage and vocals from The Beatles renowned performance of the same song at Shea Stadium in 1965, and I gotta say, it’s pretty great! He is an amazingly talented guy! He’s part of possibly the greatest songwriting partnership ever, one of the best and most unique and melodic bass players on the planet, fantastic singer, also plays every other instrument there is, and is one of the most exacting performers I’ve ever seen. Every note is perfect! He’s probably the richest man in the music business, and deservedly so. It’s funny, because I’m not that big a fan of his solo stuff, with, of course, many exceptions. He has recorded many albums worth of excellent, fabulous, great, rockin’ material since the breakup of The Beatles, but only a few songs really grabbed me in a big way. I even walked out of a Wings show at Madison Square Garden once, but you just can’t deny the man’s talent and presence! To sum it up, the second most popular rock n roll band of all time, The Rolling Stones, are rock n roll royalty, but, and people forget this, The Beatles were GODS! Sir Paul ended his show with Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (the song) into The End from Abbey Road. Truly inspiring!

     Well, on a sad note, we lost Amy Winehouse this week. By now you’ve all heard about it, so I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already know, but I could not let an artist of her stature move on from this world without some sort of tribute. Now, I know some of you think that she was nothing but a drug addict, and she was asking for it and she got what she deserved, and she deserves no sympathy, and it’s the same old boring story of drug addiction ruining a talented persons life, BUT, I have to say that Amy was a lot more than that! She had a unique voice, knew how to deliver a song, and was a major talent! She had it all! She was the complete package! Unfortunately, the package also included uncontrollable use of some pretty dangerous drugs! But that does not take away from her talents! Tony Bennett said that Amy was “an artist of immense proportions… an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist… an exceptional talent.” Well said, Mister Bennett. R.I.P. Amy Winehouse. She will be missed.

     This is gonna be a pretty darn rockin’ week, lemme tell ya! Starting tonight, Thursday, July 28, at the Bearsville Theater, with DWEEZIL ZAPPA performing his dad, Frank Zappa’s, material. Dweezil ain’t resting on his neither. The acorn… as they say. Frank’s formidable talent as a guitarist was sometimes dwarfed by his even more formidable talents as a composer and bandleader, and Dweezil can wail too! This should be an awesome show, so why not make it one of my Picks of the Week.

     Also tonight at The Falcon in Marlboro, PROFESSOR LOUIE AND THE CHROMATICS. Always good, I’ve heard these folks are peaking right now, so if ya can’t afford $50 for Dweezil, make your way over to the cozy confines of The Falcon, where there’s never a cover charge.

     Friday night, July 29, your choices are between MIKE AND RUTHIE  at The Kleinert Center in Woodstock and THE ALEXIS P. SUTER BAND at, once again, The Falcon. Mike and Ruthie are well known as members of The Mammals and Alexis is a veteran of more than a hundred opening slots at Levon’s Rambles. They’re both great, so I suppose it depends what you’re in the mood for. Alexis is rockin’ blues with a big voice, and Mike and Ruthy are more like virtuoso but accessible acoustic folk-rock, if that makes any sense.

     There is also another show on Friday that could be great, but it’s kind of quirky and you’ll have to travel for it. The show is in Norfolk, Connecticut and the musician is LES DUDEK. Les who, you might say. Well, I guarantee you’ve heard this guy play guitar. If you’ve heard The Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’ Man” or “Jessica”, then you’ve heard Les. If you’ve heard Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” or the “Book of Dreams” album, you’ve heard Les. And if you remember Boz Scagg’s “Lowdown” or “Lido Shuffle”, well, then you’ve heard Les Dudek. So, you see what I mean? This could be worth the drive, and I know he tours, but I don’t remember seeing a Les Dudek show advertised for about 30 years, so this is definitely a rare opportunity, so rare that it’s another Pick of the week!

     You can take the night off to recuperate on Saturday, July 30, or you can go to LEVON’S RAMBLE. The guest this week is RAY WYLIE HUBBARD, who is also playing Sunday night at The Bearsville Theater. Ray is a really great and funny guy who wrote “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers”, and is part of the Jerry Jeff Walker/Billie Joe Shaver/ Guy Clark/ Gary P. Nunn school of Texas songwriting. I’ve seen him live and he’s great. Nuff said!

     And finally, we end the week on a high note with LITTLE FEAT at The Bearsville Theater. Hopefully, this band needs no introduction. If they do, you’re gonna have to look ‘em up, cause I gotta get some sleep. Suffice to say, this is my third Pick of the Week.

     Have a great one!

    

      

Howdy folks, and welcome to this week’s Reservoir Music Notes. Last week, I was so busy planning my party at the Bearsville Theater to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Reservoir Music, that I plum forgot to write my column! Well, everything went great, and I got a lot of positive feedback on the music and the event itself. My friend, Joe Ruffini, said it was the best time he ever had at the Bearsville Theater! My thanks to all who attended, the theater staff, owner Peter Cantine, and most especially, to all the musicians who played. General consensus was, The Cheating Hearts rocked, Mystic Ritual impressed, and Pitchfork Militia were awesome as usual. Let’s do it again in 2016!

Since I’m still recovering from party planning, we’re gonna keep this week’s column short and sweet, and I’ll just get right down to this week’s picks for live music. Next week, I hope to be back to normal and I’ll attempt to expound on some arcane musical history or something, but for now, here are my Live Music Picks for the week of July 21 through July 27.

Tonight, Thursday, July 21, is the opening night of THE GATHERING OF THE VIBES in Bridgeport, CT. I’ve never been to one of these, but I’ve heard nothing but great reports. The talent line up this year is awesome, as always, and includes Woodstock’s own Levon Helm. The event goes through Sunday, so pack up the kiddies and go enjoy the sights and sounds for a few days. More info at www.gatheringofthevibes.com.

If you’re downstate tonight, LUCINDA WILLIAMS pulls into the Beacon Theater for a night of rockin’ Americana music. Lucinda’s one of the best who’s doing this type of music, a great songwriter, and always puts on a good show, so go!

CRACKER is at The Bearsville Theater on Friday, July 22. I don’t know what it is about this band that attracts me, but they seem to have a bunch of really good songs, they seem to rock, and they seem like they’d be pretty good live, so hopefully they will be. Info at www.bearsvilletheater.com.

If jazz fusion is your thing, THE MAHAVISHNU PROJECT is at The Falcon Friday night. These guys are world class musicians who play note perfect classic Mahavishnu Orchestra material. You’ll probably never get a chance to see the real Mahavishnu Orchestra again, so this may be the best chance to recapture those heady days of jazz fusion choppery.

This weekend brings about another annual ROSENDALE STREET FESTIVAL, with dozens of great bands, vendors, and food. This will be going on all day and night in the town of Rosendale on Saturday and Sunday, July 34 and 24. It’s a lot of fun for the whole family, it’s real easy to park, and the music is always great. Plus there are parades, drum circles and more.  Info at www.rosendalestreetfestival.ning.com.

Saturday night, July 23, LEVON HELM is back in Woodstock with another MIDNIGHT RAMBLE featuring special guests, TAJ MAHAL and JIM LAUDERDALE, so that’s not just a special Ramble. It’s a very special Ramble. Info at www.levonhelm.com.

And we end the week with THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND returning to The Beacon Theater for one  night only, Wednesday, July 27. If you missed them in March, here’s a second chance for a second chance.

Have a great week.

     Welcome to another week of Reservoir Music Notes in The Townsman! I hope you all had a great Fourth, but to quote Homer Simpson, “Now we have to face stupid reality again!”. After the Fourth of July festivities, this week is kind of slow, but that’s actually good because that will give everyone time to rest up for the RESERVOIR MUSIC 5TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY at The Bearsville Theater next week, on July 15th. Mark your calendars now! Steve and Dona Crawford even said they might reschedule the Friday Night Jam at their home in Olivebridge (which happens every Friday night in the summer) to come to my party! Every other Friday, besides July 15, all musicians are welcome to go to Steve and Dona’s jam at 49 Weber Lane to rock out, or whatever you do. More info about both events on Facebook.

     Last week, we lost The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, to complications from a stroke. An artist of the stature of Clarence Clemons can not pass without a proper obituary in every music column, and mine is no exception.

     Although best known for his roles in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and his own Red Bank Rockers, Clarence was oh so much more than that. Married 5 times, with 4 sons, Clemons left a rich legacy. He came to music following an auto accident that ruined a promising pro football career on the day before he was to try out for the Cleveland Browns. Over the years, Clarence worked with an astonishing variety of artists, from Ringo’s All-Star Band to Twisted Sister and everybody in between. His last gig was Lady Gaga’s latest record! In the interim, he got calls to play and record with Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker, Todd Rundgren, Roy Orbison, Luther Vandross, Ian Hunter, Ronnie Spector, Gary US Bonds, Alvin Lee (Ten Years After),The 4 Tops, Great White, Narada Michael Walden, Carlene Carter, Jim Carroll, and Aretha Franklin on “Freeway of Love”. And that’s only a partial list! Enough variety there for ya? Clarence was also fond of showing up unannounced at Grateful Dead shows and jamming with Jerry and the boys!

     He was also in demand for movies and television shows, appearing in “New York, New York” with Robert DeNiro, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, “Blues Brothers 2000”, and episodes of Different Strokes, Nash Bridges, The Wire, and The Simpsons.

     Before “The Big Man joined the band”, he had heard about Springsteen and wanted to check him out, so one stormy night when Bruce was playing in Asbury Park, Clarence walked over to see him. As he arrived at the club and opened the door to walk in, a sudden gust of wind came along and blew the door off it’s hinges, and it flew down the street, making it look to the band, who were on stage at the time, that Clarence had ripped the door off it’s hinges and casually tossed it down the street, leaving him framed in the doorway in the dark! He then walked in and told The Boss, “I wanna play in your band”, to which Springsteen could only reply, “Uh, sure. You do anything you want”! At the funeral, Springsteen gave the eulogy, and said that “When you were in his presence, it was like being in a sovereign nation”! Little Steven marked the solemn occasion by devoting the entire Underground Garage show to The Big Man, deservedly so! RIP Clarence Clemons. May your big heart shine on.

     It seems like the only things happening this week are all on Friday night, July 8th. We’ve got Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, DAVE MASON, at The Bearsville Theater, slide guitar master, SONNY LANDRETH, at Club Helsinki in Hudson, and drummer extraordinaire, TERRY BOZZIO, at The Iridium in NYC, all on the same night. Ya takes yer pick and ya names yer person (that’s poison, for those of you who can’t spell propily).

     So, take it easy this week, and conserve your energy. You’ll need it on July 15th! Have a great week.