Graham Parker , without his longtime band The Rumour,  played solo and mostly acoustic at City Winery in New York City last night.. The talented Mr.Parker provided a delightful evening  of music and funny anecdotes reminding me at times of Men at Work’s front man Colin Hay with his interspersing the self deprecation between new and old material performed expertly. Like Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze and others from their 1980’s heights, Graham has learned that playing for the caberet crowd who adore the music from back in their youth helps keep name recognition out there, sells a few t-shirts and CDs, promotes the brand and helps pay the bills. A nice little aside was Graham Parker throwing in a taste of Neil Young’s “Harvest” as he led  in to one of his own tunes. “If you are going to steal, steal from the best”. I have to say I agree with Graham with that line of thinking. 

Opener James Maddock performed for 45 minutes and was interesting enough with his songs primarily centered around childhood, youth and growing up. A half hour would have been enough as the songs began to feel somewhat repetitive and had a sameness about them but overall he was a capable and obviously passionate player. Mr. Maddock is unlikely to achieve mass appeal but few working musicians ever do. There are so many talented people in the world who work hard and struggle to pay the bills as grown ups. I try to be as attentative as I can during opening acts and be respectful of their performances as  these folks likely live for their 45 minutes on stage. I give all due credit to those who pursue their musician dreams so I am not quite as critical as some regarding lesser known artists at these types of venues and events. We should all support the working musician;  it is not an easy life for most.

On Sunday night I bought myself  a twenty dollar  “all in”  ticket to see The Yardbirds, The Mark Stein Project, Canned Heat and the Blue McGoos at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury.. I only had time to stay for Jim Stein of Vanilla Fudge fame and Canned Heat, who played  at the original Woodstock. I had read his biography right before he hit the stage so I was not surprised that Mr. Stein’s new band played songs from throughout his amazing career to include Alice Cooper’s  “School’s Out” and Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree” along with a hard driving tribute to Keith Emerson with “Knife’s Edge”.  Canned Heat was my opener, as I missed Blues MaGoos, and the harmonica leads to their Canned Heat classics remained timeless. 

The older crowd  seemingly would have fit in at a Johnny Mathis concert but the reality is that this is what a 1960’s era show looks like in 2018.  I had to leave before The Yardbirds came out but I would say I got my $20 worth of entertainment on a Sunday night at a not quite sold out, even with massive discounting,  “half round” show in Westbury.

You Keep Me Hanngin’ On

Rock on

GQ