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To the Mayor of the City of New York....
That is how ALMOST BROTHER TOMMY BOOTH's letter to the mayor...with a cc: to the Publisher and Editor of Billboard will be entitled. I go for right hand surgery this Thursday- but I WILL pen (or thumb) a very polite but strongly worded note to these gentlemen whereby I will request that Billboard issue an apology NOT so much to DUANE's BAND- shoot they're used to this horseshit and more! No. I will request of Billboard that an apology be addressed to the innocent, dedicated, generous and carefree spirit that is WE- the ABB fanbase that this WEENIE assaulted with his "review". As we say in NYC- "Hey schmuck (sorry Lana for lingo)-review a show- get your facts straight- have an opinion- publish your opinion- that's cool- BUT DON"T dare insult the hand that feeds you! That's right. One cat here in the GB got it straight earlier when he brought up the most obvious fact that has blown my blue sky head- and that fact is that NO-ONE- (believe me because up until Sept 11 I was a travel agent with my own biz that has since gone into the toilet!)- NO-ONE- or very few people are travellin to NYC (or many places for that matter)- and spending BUCKS. I guess only Bikers and old hippy types are the only ones with $$$ to come travel to NYC-($$)-stay in hotels ($$)- buy concert tix- ($$)- eat in Chinatown- ($$)- eat in Niko's Greek dina's- $$- Get the point Billboard? Mayor Bloomberg WILL! How DARE this SCHMUCK insult a fan base. And while I do consider myself an enlightned rogue/ evolved 47 year old hippy (w/class of course :-)- I want this WEENIE to know that I brought as my guests (at $70 each) 3 friggin DOCTORS!
They were wearing jeans, tee-shirts, leatherjackets- but they were (3) three DOCTORS who (except for one) had never seen the ABB and were totally in awe- as was I - that's right ME- when we walked out. And where did we go? To a restaurant. And did what? Ate? Yeah ate...and spent what? BUCKS $$$. The staff at the Beacon worked for XXX amount of nights- and even this WEENIE picked up a paycheck in NYC for his "review". And one last thing I NEED to say. I grew up in Greenwich Village (downtown NYC) blocks from the Fillmore. We used to play stoopball across the street from the sidestage doors in the daytime and groove on the soundchecks of all/most of the greatest legends of R'N'R music history. I can still see Bill Grahams Marquee with the lettering THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND- and while I noticed that name very frequently back then- it really caused little emotion in a teenager. I played with these guys in 1989. It WAS a great moment...but again, no tears. **But for the last several years that they have been doing the Beacon- you folk out there in the rest of the USA have to know- that for me, to try and get through the NYC traffic at 75th and Broadway each March- and witness regular Joe's, yuppies, secretaries, couples, truck drivers, nuns, Hare Krishna's, NYC CABBIES and yes of course- DEADHEADS- all straining to look and see from 3 blocks in each direction exclaiming- "Who could that be? What's going on up there? "WHO'S AT THE BEACON TO BE CAUSIN THIS TRAFFIC JAM?" curses the NYC cabbie! And when I, that grown up teenager is finally able to fanagle by in my car- a BIG emotional tear DOES comes rollin down my cheek- as I whisper to myself- "It's Duane's Band Again" 33 years later...back in their real "Home-away- from- home...NYC! You're damn right I am PROUD, PISSED, and I think Hizzoner Bloomberg is going to appreciate my sentiment...and Billboard better apologize before the Mayor has something to say!
*** P. friggin S. ***Maybe some of us NYC resident "old hippy type's" should go by Billboard's Office and have a NY "chat" re: manners to our out of town guests w/ Brother Weenie! (JUST KIDDING BIG BOYS!! We Eat a Peach For Peace...and write Mayor Bloomburg). Believe me, by the end of this week, weenie will have learned some journalism lessons I'm sure by the EDITOR himself!
***And then we should throw Kirk and Bert a NYC beatin for givin this weenie the PRESSPASS! (Just kiddin BIG BOYS- you know those... "BIKER TYPE"S)! TAB 🙂
Good Mornin' All,
Hope everyone is doing well. I just got home and read the GB, and have to say, I got quite a kick out of some of these posts. I guess i'll have to read the Billboard review, I think?
Happy Birthday Red Dog & The Allman Brothers Band, many more to come....Goodnite....
Random thoughts: Happy Birthday to the Allman Brothers Band and to Bro. Red Dog Campbell. Not being at the shows, I hesitate to comment on the review. I contrast it to Bro. Tommy Booth's comments. I know Tommy well enough to know how much he loves and supports Dickey and how troubled his spirit still is over the rift in the family. He knows of which he speaks; got to dis the other dude. Especially after he opened with that NASCAR line. Time for the brilliant media guy from the big city to mock the Southern hillbillies again. Yeah, right. Funny stuff with the mullets, Bird. I guess Melissaphish had the most avant-garde handle in the GB all along!!
Lana, yes that's what I meant. However, I thought Yooper would somehow be worked into the name of the run. River Run, I like that, kinda has a ...............................flow to it. I'm going to try to make at least part of it.
Brofan, mainstream is relative. Remember when the ABB was at the top of the Rolling Stone polls back in 71 & 72? And records like FE, EAP and others like Bitches Brew, were all getting rave reviews. Remember when the mainstream meant good taste? Thank God for aging hippies. The irony is many of these so called critics may be aging hippies themselves, that just forgot, for the sake of the almighty dollar. I'm not cynical, am I?
Dear Master Matt Elzweig, N.Y.
The Flesh is not sagging it's just resting.
Waiting to spring into action at a moments notice...
The young jam band kids were missing cause they were watching "Friends" in the Beacon lobby before headin to the show.
They apologize... after the show thet ran out the side door as part of a new NYC Survivors episode.. off on a new hunt.
To find Intelligent Lifeforms... THAT is WHY YOU didn't SEE them..
"Mountain Jam" (which lasted 40 minutes!) ...
Yes my youthful lad just like it orginally was. Of course, You've never seen this on VH1 or other Music channels because the ABB couldn't talk Michael & Janet Jackson into Moon walking for that long.
Even the occasional Warren Haynes vocal was not enough to provide much variation. Both men have great bluesy, raspy growls, but that's precisely the problem.
yes ..here again young skywalker...or may i call you Door Matt or Dour Matt...
they tried to get George Michael in to provide that very contrast but he was not available as he huntin gerbils on London's West End.
Perhaps you could make this suggestion to BB King, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray , Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Vaughn, Delbert McClinton and Most certainly Bob Dylan. Maybe mix in the Backdoor Boys & N-Silk and Poop-Daddy.
{"and without the group's biggest commercial hit, "Ramblin' Man".}
That's what was needed ...
Some Commercials...
Maybe put up some sponsor billboards, one for Tuck's Medicated Pads...think about how Jaimoe & Butch's arses must feel after sitting so long!!!
then have the band wear polo shirts with Ralph Lauren, Depends, and Viagra on them.
Invite Leeza Gibbons & Woody Allen in to do spot interviews while the flabby seniors pee every 45 minutes, reset their dentures, fix their toupee's and down shots of geritol.
Do us favor Master Matt....
don't go away dissappointed...
just go away!!
Congrats to the Allman Brothers Band on 33 years of great music, with some of the greatest coming in just these last two weeks. Over three decades and STILL the Best Damn Band in the Land! Peace. --Marley
Happy Birthday to Red Dog!
Also, happy 33rd anniversary to the Allman Brothers Band!
Carey, Excellent post. When the Alllmans reach the mainstream, we're all in trouble. Remember when the ABB tried to alter their sound to cash in on the disco craze in the late '70s/early '80s? Although the band was pretty solid and Dickey wrote some great tunes (Can't Take It With You, Pegasus) everytime I watch the Brothers of the Road video and see Mike Lawler brandishing that ARP synthesizer like a guitar during One Way Out, I cringe. That was definitley NOT Duane's band. It still had merit-but you know what? Twenty years later, where's disco and Studio 54? Dead and buried. The Allmans just blew the lid off New York City with some of the hottest shows they've done in decades, by all accounts. Like somebody said, do your research. A little historical perspective is in order, please. Nothing exists in a vacuum, especially music. This guy from Billboard just wrote up a show he saw. He knows nothing, or doesn't care to know anything, about the Band's continuing struggle to survive and create against all odds. And you know what? I don't give a damn what he, or any other critic thinks. The day I get my musical taste from a critic is the day I get fitted for a hearing aid. Those who can, do. Those who can't, write reviews for trade rags like Billboard.
Hey Sheep,
If by Midwest B2P you mean the 6 shows with P&F:
June 27 Minneapolis Target Center,
June 28 Milwaukee Summerfest,
June 29 Indianapolis Verizon Wireless,
June 30 Detroit DTE Energy,
July 2 Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Center,
July 3 Cincinnati Riverbend
that would be The River Run -- from the Mississippi in Mpls to the Ohio in Cincinnati 🙂
So, who's gonna make The River Run?
Sweet dreams, sweeter reality,
Lana
I will always miss the DB/GA contrast, but if the show this guy reviewed didn't have you shakin' yer bones there is something wrong. Thing is, I think he had at least 1/2 of the review written before he even got to the show. Whatever...
Desdamullet perhaps? 🙂
I read the review, but because I did not see the shows I will not comment on the Beacon run specifically. I do think it is important to remember that the Allman's are not for everyone. I remember when the dead got huge in the 80's and 90's and the majority of the people there were there for the show and not the music. I believe they were referred to as week-end hippies, or day trippers. Not every one is going to get extended jazz-rock improvisation. There is a reason why the Allman's don't make videos, or get their names called by Casey Casem on Sunday mornings (does he still do the top forty?) By this time the Allmans have realized that pop music is nothing. Once in awhile something good will become popular and last (like the stones, tom petty), but for the most part, pop music has a two year life span and then is gone as if it was never there. Bilboard by its very nature is centered around pop music. It is probably the worst magazine to do a review of an allman concert. The brothers have had 1 top forty hit in their history, and they have a life span that most bands can only dream about. I say we all just take this review with a grain of salt... look at where it is coming from.... and leave it there (in a dung heap). If Jambands.com, Relix magazine, or even Rolling Stone (which I have lost almost all respect for... but feel they at least try to be fair in their concert reviews... if not in who they give print space to) gives the Allman's a bad review I will be a bit worried. The fact billboard is even doing a review, is probably more of a testament to the music than the actual review. Peace and love... see ya all on the west coast... Carey
Ya Rubba....
BTW, I am an aging hippie and damn proud of it. The hippie part anyway.
Also, song name suggestions for new instrumental: "Sea Of Mullets".... "Mullet Don't Fail Me Now"..... "Whip The Mullet".... "Stormy Mullet"...
What a disgrace of a review that was. Sure, Dickey is missed, but what a tool!!! NASCAR jacket-wearing aging hippies??? Holy S! Was this guy really at the Beacon? How can a "professional" critic miss the vocalist of a song? Hahaha. This guy makes Rolling Stone seems like a straight-up publication.
My thoughts? Nice run. Opening night didnt make the splash I thought it would have... seemed a bit disorganized. (lots of on-stage "conferences" during the sets, etc.). From then on.... nothing but good things to say. Really impressed with the quality of Greggs vocals... is it me or is he getting better with age? Whipping Post on Tuesday, 3/19 brought the house down... awesome!
I'd love to see the tapping cowboy boot and VanZant-esque hat bowed over his guitar ala Dickey, but ABB still raises the Beacon roof.
Personally, if the ABB were performing without Gregg A, and I felt inside that no way were they the real deal without GA, personally I wouldn't shell out 75 bucks to see them at the Beacon without GA. That's just me though. And I wouldn't just so I could say, yup, told you I knew that it wouldn't be the same.... The great thing is all the opinions in the world can't change the fact that my limited exposure to three nights was: A) Great friends and camadarie, B) Really great accomodations, sound, and hall to hear them in, and C) Extremely great music, regardless of who made it.
Having said all that, today I got a mullet, and a rebel flag tattooed to my forehead, and I started collecting old broke fridges and Jim Beam decanters. So if a Billboard "journalist" see's me they'll recognize me as an ABB fan. But just in case, I'll holler... "Squeel Like A Pig"!!!!!
I'm surprised this hasn't come up yet, but what do you call a Midwest Beach to Peach???
Well I fired off a letter to Billboard and I personally recommended that the " [n]ext time you want a person to cover the Allman Brothers might I suggest Marley Seaman, who is a young man with a lot of talent."
I think this would be constructive for everyone who thinks the author should have checked his facts. Think about it. The guy probably got a free ticket, compensation, possibly a backstage pass, and did not even do some proper homework and check his facts.
Love or hate the show that is subjective. However, misstating the facts and taking a ticket from someone who would have really appreciated it is a shame.
Vote for Marley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
Peace & Love--Scotty
Happy Tuesday All:
We're baaaaaccckkkk !! 😀
After all those counting down the sleeps, it's a been there, done that, kinda weekend.
Met lots of people, but, after a 3 hour trip from Buffalo airport, dinner and conversing with the kids, will post our events, people we met and the great time my Hubby and I had this past weekend.
Love you all !!
Later, Karen.
"Way to go Billy...play it Billy!!"
Now that cracks me up. I wonder what this guy writes, when he likes something? One thing's for sure, he wouldn't know good music if it bit him in the ass. In all honesty, there's very few places I can go to find a quality, well written review of a show. Fortunately we have one place and it's right here.
Just remember the source. That writer is probably blown away with Nsync's live performance. Billboard magazine just has no musical crediblity, just with musical fads.