Bryan's List of Musical Happenings Week of 1/27/14

Monday, January 27

Findlay Family Fun Fest at Greenwood  7:00

Tuesday, January 28

Dan Jones and Friends at Greenwood 8:00

Wednesday, January 29

Reeferseed Express & Friends at Hull Avenue Tavern 6:00
Bob Pace and the Dangerous Band at Zimm's 7:00
LAZERfest - Battle of the Bands at Wooly's 7:00
Ben Wantland at Raccoon River Brewery 7:30
David Zollo at El Bait 8:00
The High Crest at the Greenwood 9:00

King of the Tramps play The Grapevine Saturday at 7:00

Thursday, January 30

Soul Brothers at Coda Lounge 6:00
Thankful Dirt at Confluence 7:00
Snocore Tour ft. The Pretty Reckless w/ Heaven's Basement, The Letter Black, Crobalt at Woolys 7:30
Songwriter Night at House of Bricks 8:00
Badfish - A Tribute to Sublime at Val-Air 8:00
Gas Lamp's Open Jam ft. Fat Tuesday & The Greasefire Keys 9:00
Soul Searchers at Greenwood 9:00
Leradee & The Positives (Reggae) at Star Bar 9:30

Friday, January 31

Gas Lamp's Work Release ft. Bob Pace & The Dangerous Band 4:30
Brian Holtz Band at Daytona's 5:30
Women Songwriters in the Round: Mary McAdams, Rae Ferhing, Jennifer Garman,& Deanna Mayer at Ritual Cafe 7:00
Mike Himebaugh at the Grapevine, Clive 7:00
The High Crest at Cafe Pattee, Perry 7:00
Grover Anderson at Mars Cafe 7:00
Hairball at Jacobson Exhibition Center, Ia State Fairgrounds 8:00
Boombox at Wooly's 8:30
El Dorados at Greenwood 9:00
Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang at Maintenance Shop, Ames 9:00
David Zollo, Chad Elliott, Electric Jury at DG's Taphouse, Ames
Tom Gary Blues Project at Hull Avenue Tavern 9:00
Parranderos Latin Combo w/ DJ Lizz at Vaudeville Mews 10:00

The Surf Zombies play Gas Lamp at 9:00 on Saturday

Saturday, February 1

King of the Tramps at The Grapevine, Clive 7:00
Bill Matykowski at Smokey Row 7:00
Rob Lumbard at Trostel's Dish, Clive 8:00
Jeff Banks & Butterfinger at Greenwood 9:00
Josh Davis Songwriters Round at Raccoon Rivers Brewery 9:00
The Surf Zombies at Gas Lamp 9:00
Waka Winter Classic: Zeta June, Mighty Shady, Cirrus Minor, Franklin's Basement, Fuzzy Logic at Vaudeville Mews 9:00
Bob Pace & The Dangerous Band at the Longest Yard, WDM 9:00
All Things King at Hull Avenue Tavern 9:00
Infuzion at Star Bar 9:00
Dakota Park at the Keg Stand 10:00

Sunday, February 2

Tina Hasse Findlay & Brandon Findlay at Botanical Center 1:00
The Zach Svoboda Duo at Summerset Winery, Indianola 2:00
Sadat X w/ El Da Sensei, Qwel & Maker, Maxilla Blue at Vaudeville Mews 5:45
Tom Gary Blues Project - Open Jam at Hull Avenue Tavern 7:00
Quarteto Latino At Star Bar 8:00

Corrections and additions welcome.

Buck Owens Brunch # 1: Dwight Yoakam Coaxes Buck Out of Retirement

Wednesday, September 23, 1987

Dwight Yoakam came to the offices of Buck Owens Productions just before five in the afternoon. The 30- year-old singer, with several Top 10 records to his credit, was in the vanguard of the movement back to traditional country music. In Bakersfield to perform at the Kern County Fair, he hoped to meet the man he idolized as a youth, and whose music he championed as a rising star.

Buck Owens hadn't recorded in over a decade. He was kicking back, presiding over a corporation that included four radio stations, a television station and two weekly newspapers. The glory years of writing songs that became country standards, of one #1 record after another, of the Bakersfield Sound and the sold-out concerts, were long past. In his last active decade of performing, he was known less as a singer than he was as a clowning co-star of TV's Hee-Haw. 

Buck Met Dwight that day, and as he gazed on the young singer, the knees of his blue jeans fashionably torn, he saw a bit of himself, 25 years earlier. At the beginning of his stardom, in his early 30s, Buck too had been a maverick, ready to please but unwilling to compromise. Like Buck, Yoakam decried Nashville's disdain for it's hillbilly roots. Unlike Buck, he went even further. In interviews he assailed Music Row executives who he felt slighted traditional country artists.

A bond quickly formed between the veteran and the Young Turk. Buck once had a similar bond with a younger musician: his near-telepathic relationship with his lead guitarist Don Rich. Depression over Rich's death in 1974 had sapped Buck's creativity and led to his semi-retirement in 1980.

In Dwight's presence, Buck felt that old drive stirring again. That night, for the first time ever, he appeared on stage with another artist at the Fair, singing with Dwight on a medley of old Buck Owens hits. It was an electric moment. And Buck Owens realized, after years away from the show business entity he calls "Lady Limelight," that his music still breathed in the hearts of others - and in his own.

Dwight and Buck playing at the 1988 Country Music Awards:

Story Behind the Song: "Claudine" by The Rolling Stones

The 2011 reissue of Some Girls by the Rolling Stones included a bonus disc featuring 12 previously non-released tracks.

Some Girls Re-Issue (2011 Rolling Stones Records)

The first of these tracks is "Claudine," a blues shuffle written by Mick Jagger. Lyrically, it points an accusatory finger at French singer and actress Claudine Longet, who shot and killed her boyfriend in 1976.

Her boyfriend, Vladimir "Spider" Sabich, was an American Alpine Skier who had become a star during the 1968 Winter Olympics. After a day of skiing on March 21, 1976, he returned to the house he shared with Longet in Aspen, Colorado. As he stood in the bathroom while preparing to take a shower, he was suddenly shot by Longet. Despite being struck in the abdomen (usually a non-fatal wound area) he lost a large amount of blood. In the ambulance on the way to Aspen Valley Hospital he died, with Longet at his side.

Longet maintained to police that the gun went off accidentally as Spider was showing her how to use it. She also insisted that she and he had a cozy, warm and trouble free relationship. 

Police confiscated a sample of her blood and also her diary.

Cocaine was alleged to have been found in her system, and details in her diary allegedly contradicted what she had told the police about her and Spider's relationship. However, in a blow to the prosecution, the blood and diary were deemed inadmissible to the case because they were apprehended without a warrant.

Claudine Longet: Colours (1968 A&M)

Without this key evidence the prosecution was unable to build a strong case of murder. Subsequently, Longet was convicted of "criminally negligent homicide" - a misdemeanor - and ordered to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail. Her time was served at her own discretion, a move allowed by the judge, so that she would spend minimal time away from her children. (Most of her jail time was spent on weekends.) 

Longet was exasperated by the public because of the presumption that she was guilty. In addition, she and her defense attorney, Ron Austin, became involved during the trial and developed an open relationship. Eventually they became married, which they still are to this day. 

Claudine Longet had been previously married to crooner Andy Williams from 1961 until 1975. At her trial, he publicly supported her and her claims of innocence. He was often her ride to and from the courthouse proceedings, despite her new relationship with Austin.




So why did Mick Jagger write a song about Longet? One can only assume that it's because she was young and pretty and wet with mystery. 

The Stones have never been a band to shy away from scandal. Like other great song writers, the Stones cover the gamut as far as song topics go - think Bob Dylan's "Joey" or "Hurricane." 

Longet is the perfect subject for a song. Scarred, broken, and clinging to love, she was a recipient of circumstance. If the police hadn't marred the crime scene, she might not have gotten away with murder.  

Some girls get the shirt off my back, And leave me with a lethal dose...

Bryan's List of Musical Happenings: Week of 1/20/14

Monday, January 20

Findlay Family Fun Fest at The Greenwood 7:00

Tuesday, January 21

Acousti-Beast at The Greenwood 9:00
Rumble Seat Riot at The Hull Avenue Tavern 9:00

Wednesday, January 22

Reeferseed Express at The Hull Avenue Tavern 6:00 ($1 beers!)
Bob Pace and The Dangerous Band at Zimm's 7:00
LAZERfest - Battle of the Bands 1st Showcase at Wooly's 7:00
Josh Sinclair at Raccoon River Brewery 7:30
Ben Wantland at The Greenwood 8:00
The Soothsayers at El Bait 8:00
Keller Williams w/ More Than A Little at DG's Taphouse, Ames 8:00
The Duhks at the Maintenance Shop, Ames 8:00
Briar Rabbit w/ Milk and Eggs, Ryne Doughty at Gas Lamp 9:00

Keller Williams will plat DG's Taphouse on Wednesday

Thursday, January 23

Spencer Brown at Coda Lounge 6:00
Jason Walsmith at Confluence 7:00
Gas Lamp's Open Jam ft: Fat Tuesday and the Greasefire Keys 9:00
Soul Searchers at The Greenwood 9:00
The Snacks at Star Bar 9:00

Friday, January 24

Gas Lamp's Work Release ft: Bob Pace and the Dangerous Band 4:30
Yellowcard, Ocean Ave. Acoustic, What's eating Gilbert at Wooly's 8:00
Rick Burke at The Greenwood 9:00
Greatest Story Ever Told (Grateful Dead Tribute) at Gas Lamp 9:00

Saturday, January 25

Bill Matykowski at Smokey Row 7:00
Thomas Tormey at Mars Cafe 7:00
Summer Camp: Come Unity, Natural Oil, Best of Fools, Mighty Shady at Wooly's 8:30
Fancy Pants at The Greenwood 9:00
Brother Trucker at Raccoon River Brewery 9:00
The Bob Pace Band w/ Rebel Creek at Gas Lamp 9:00

Sunday, January 26

Bryce Janey at Botanical Center 1:00
Bob Pace and the Dangerous Band at Summerset Winery, Indianola 2:00
Tom Gary and the Bad Boys of the Blues at Hull Avenue Tavern 7:00
The Crooked Mile at El Bait 8:00

32 years Ago Today Des Moines, Iowa Became a Part of Rock and Roll History

January 20, 1982 was a night that will go down in the historic annuals of rock and roll. That night Ozzy Osbourne escalated himself to the top of the heavy metal food chain after he bit the head off of what he thought was a rubber bat a fan had thrown onstage. 

Only thing is, it wasn't a toy. It was the real thing.

That event happened in Des Moines, Iowa at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. He was in town in support of his Diary Of A Madman tour, which apparently wasn't just a hyped up album name. Already known as one of the craziest front men in rock, Ozzy was at the height of his drug problem when he rolled through central Iowa.

Ozzy during the '80s, courtesy of the Associated Press

Almost 5000 fans braved the strong winter weather to attend this concert. One of them was a teenager named Mark Neal, who had smuggled a special "treat" in with him as an offering to the Prince of Darkness. It was the corpse of a bat that Neal's brother had brought home from school a couple of weeks prior - alive. According to Neal, he and his brother were unable to keep their pet from dying. Knowing of Osbourne's wild antics, Neal's friends convinced him to seal the rotting bat in a baggie and sneak it into the show.

Neal tossed the bat onto the stage and upon seeing it, Ozzy picked it up and bit it's head off. The rest is history. After the show, Ozzy - in his tour bus - was rushed to Broadlawns Medical Center to get shots for rabies.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine listed the incident as No. 2 on a list of "Rock's Wildest Myths." The article states that the bat was alive at the time of it's beheading, despite Neal's story to the contrary. In the booklet that accompanied the 2002 re-release of Diary of a Madman, Ozzy also claims that the bat was alive, and had even bitten him.

Some have called it, "The chomp heard 'round the world."

Ticket No. 1 printed for the concert, courtesy of
Matt Beaderstadt

Matt Beaderstadt, a teenager at the time from Newton, Iowa attended the concert. He actually owns the very first ticket (stub) printed for the show. "I was given general admission tickets 1-4," he explains. "My brother in law's dad was an executive with Dubinsky Theaters (now Carmike) and he use to trade movie passes with executives from Vets, Civic Center, Adventureland etc... I had the hook up for free tickets all the time in junior high and high school! It was great." 

"I don't know how many times I had the manager's seats to the Civic Center for a ton of rock concerts," he added. Although he says he doubts he would ever sell the ticket stub, he wonders about it's worth among memorabilia collectors.

The following is a brief recollection of the events of the night according to Matt and a few of his friends.

Matt: It says on my concert poster that UFO opened up for Ozzy. I've seen UFO several times but I didn't remember them being together?

Curt Buchmeier: Opening band, I believe, was called "After The Fire" from Australia. Someone in the band was related to the Youngs of ACDC, I heard. Lead singer mispronounced Des Moines and the crowd began yelling and throwing things onstage, which carried over into the Ozzy show. It was general seating yet somehow, the Newton crowd assembled in the balcony off stage-right. This was before cell phones. I do NOT recall anyone at or after the show saying that Ozzy bit a bat. That info wasn't common knowledge 'til it was in the Des Moines Register the next day. It was a school night also. Those days are gone - never will my kids attend a concert - Ozzy concert no less!, with a bunch of their friends on a school night, with a foot of snow on the ground and snowing without parental supervision. Far and away one of the best concert experiences of my youth. Randy Rhoads was amazing and I couldn't wait to get to my band's rehearsal the next evening. We learned "Crazy Train" and "Iron Man" that week.

Shannon Spiess: Ozzy had a great Gothic stage for that concert. Randy Rhodes was awesome. The midget stole the show. Buchmeier is right, the opening band was After the Fire.

Matt: I was right down front before joining Curt and everyone. A guy in the crowd had the bat and was holding it up to Ozzy. Ozzy either said "is that a bat I want to meet?" or perhaps it was "I want to eat that f'n bat!" The guy threw it on stage, Ozzy picked it up and bit the head off. We couldn't tell if it was real or rubber or dead or alive. Ozzy was also letting doves loose which I believe were all found dead later. All a little foggy. Ozzy was kicking the dwarf over and then hung him in effigy. Randy Rhoads was amazing. Crazy show!

Flyer handed out during the show.
Note different opening band
(Photo courtesy of Jim McNeer)

Curt: Absolutely crazy atmosphere, crowd was amped up and weed smoke filled Vets before the show even started. The crowd was beyond fired up, yet a sense of camaraderie prevailed; people from all over the state sharing contraband of all sorts and just a general sense of good will and anticipation. Then Rhoads was killed in a plane wreck a couple of months later and we all shared that sense of loss and pride that we had seen him live before he went.

Shannon: I'll never forget my old man saying, "In 20 years from now you'll never remember you went to this concert."