| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
 Posted - November 05 2005 : 3:04:53 PM
|
Ray will be doing a one off show in NY when he comes in to town to tape the Coanan O'Brien show on Thanksgiving day to showcase hie new "
Thanksgiving Day " E.P. cd.
Monday, 11/28 at The Supper Club, New York (240 W. 47th St) in Theatre
District in Times Square, phone 212-921-1940. 7pm show, tickets through ticketmaster
May be SOLD OUT ALREADY?
Frank Lima aka krankiekat@aol.com
|
" You're a misfit
Afraid of yourself so you run away and hide
You've been a misfit all your life
But why don't you join the crowd and come inside
You wander round this town
Like you've lost your way
You had your chance in your day
Yet you threw it all away
Now you're lost in the crowd
Yet, still go your own way "
--Ray Davies
" They'll move me up to Muswell Hill tomorrow,
Photographs and souvenirs are all I've got,
They're gonna try and make me change my way of living,
But they'll never make me something that I'm not.
They're putting us in little boxes,
No character just uniformity,
They're trying to build a computerised community,
But they'll never make a zombie out of me. "
--Ray Davies
" The days go by and you wish you were a different guy,
Different friends and a new set of clothes.
You make alterations and affect a new pose,
A new house, a new car, a new job, a new nose.
But it's superficial and it's only skin deep,
Because the voices in your head keep shouting in your sleep.
Get back, get back. "
--Ray Davies
" I've just had a dream that I never will forget.
And I wish I could erase.
I was standing on the street with a whole crowd of people
And no one knew my name.
And I was just another face
No one looked at me or touched me
Spoke to or acknowledged me.
I had no identity or individuality
No thoughts of my own, no mind or personality.
I was just a no one, a total nonentity "
-- Ray Davies
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - November 26 2005 : 03:43:57 AM
|
Ray was in town to tape the Conan Obrien show on Thanksgiving Day afternoon. I was able to get in for the taping for his premier performance of " Thanksgiving Day " his new titled EP and song where all benifits of the sale of the CD are going to the hurricane victims in New Orleans.
Did anyone happen to see the Conan Show last night ( Thursday night ), there was a breif moment when the cameras panned the audience that I could see myself.
I spoke breifly with Ray after the taping but he asked me to meetr him this Monday afternoon before the Supper Club show in NYC...
|
  |
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 07 2005 : 12:57:06 AM
|
The Supper Club show was a fading memory of an old kinks show...
Ray and band were in fine form with the kinks kontigency of fans packed up at the stage and as good as it was, sadly no Dave, and he is missed. It just ain't the same with out Dave.
I'll post some reviews of the show here later.
Bean |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 07 2005 : 06:53:48 AM
|
Find that Bean in the picture?
Image Insert:
40.01 KB
Bean on line for the Ray Davies show 11-28-05, NYC
Frank Lima NYC...waiting for Dave Davies to hook back up with Ray Davies for a KINKS Reunion? |
Edited by - Bean on December 07 2005 06:56:02 AM |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 07 2005 : 06:57:44 AM
|
Ray Davies at the Supper Club
November 28, 2005
Thomas M. Kitts
Ray Davies, co-founder of the legendary Kinks, played his first New York City gig since summer 2000 at the Supper Club in midtown on November 28, 2005. It was a career-spanning set, drawing on songs from 1964 through his just released EP Thanksgiving Day. Backed by a three-piece band, Davies captivated the sold-out audience for over two hours with some twenty-six songs.
Like only a handful of other rock composers, Davies has written a deep catalogue of pop songs that transcend the genre to become first-rate works of art. His songs spring from his North London working-class roots, steeped not only in American blues and rock and roll but also in the British music hall and the "kitchen-sink" films of the 1950s and early 1960s. Throughout his career, Davies has created character portraits of marginalized individuals or Misfits, as the Kinks' 1978 album is entitled. Consider hits like "Lola" or magnificent album tracks like "Oklahoma U.S.A." from Muswell Hillbillies - both performed capably at the Supper Club and in the case of the latter, movingly. Deepened by an insightful socio-economic and political context, Davies's characters are often victims of a Big Brother-type global conglomerate that controls and exploits the under classes - he has developed this world view throughout his career but most fully in his "unauthorized" autobiography X-Ray (1994). It is Davies's awareness, perceptions, and sympathies expressed with lyrical sophistication, sometimes gorgeous melodies, and sometimes thunderous power chords that has sustained him and his music for over forty years now. Even when not at a creative peak, Davies is always at the very least interesting and worth a listen, which places him in the first rank of rock composers.
Not only a great composer, however, Davies is also a superior performer. (A manager once told me that he would direct his young acts to study Davies to learn how to work an audience.) His performance at the Supper Club came on the heels of a very successful UK tour that concluded in October. Davies, his usual trim and casually suave self, took the stage with a blue Stratocaster and launched into the Kinks' anthem, "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." The audience, hooked immediately, sang along as they would throughout the evening, sometimes providing otherwise absent background vocals. Davies followed his opener with "The Hard Way," the power-pop favorite from Schoolboy's in Disgrace (1975), and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone," a b-side from 1965 rescued from obscurity by David Bowie on Pinups in 1973. The subtle Davies may have been suggesting something about his career with these first three titles: I'm different, I've struggled and survived, and I wonder where the years have gone. The sixty-one-year-old Davies delivered theses songs, and every song throughout the evening, with passion, intensity, and high energy.
What separates Davies from many pop artists is his refusal to surrender his songs to nostalgia. His songs might often take a nostalgic view of an imagined England - that "green and pleasant land ... that throne of Kings, that sceptred isle set in a silver sea," as he sang the other night - but he refuses to play hits-by-numbers. He infuses old songs with new energies and spirit whether through new arrangements, different instrumentation, introductions, or contexts (specifically, the song's place relative to surrounding songs in the set).
Davies's set list at the Supper Club was almost as remarkable for what he left out as for what he performed. He omitted favorites like "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Well Respected Man," "Apeman," "Celluloid Heroes," "Rock N' Roll Fantasy," and "Come Dancing." A fourth of his set, in fact, was from Thanksgiving and the forthcoming Other People's Lives, which is scheduled for a February release - a word of caution: from the stage, Davies used "might" when referencing the release date. From what we heard in songs like "Next Door Neighbors," "After the Fall," "Things Are Gonna Change (The Morning After)," and "The Tourist," the album promises to be very strong and well worth its long wait. (Sessions began in the late 1990s.)
Showing little evidence of his New Orleans' gunshot wounds, Davies consistently topped himself throughout the evening. I'll suggest a couple of highlights: the powerfully rearranged "20th Century Man" from Muswell Hillbillies and the acoustic trio of songs from Village Green Preservation Society, the Kinks masterpiece. "20th Century Man" took on new meaning and urgency as Davies sang the opening verses, sans guitars, with support only from the pummeling bass of Dick Nolan and the pounding drums of Toby Baron, suggesting that world bureaucracies have become more brutal and more violent than when the song was released in 1971. In my other high point, Ray and Mark Johns, an exceptional guitarist, performed acoustic versions of "Village Green," "Johnny Thunder," and "Animal Farm," which was followed by a clever pairing: a sing-along tribute to the drunken and abusive aristocrat in "Sunny Afternoon" and a supportive chant for the poor evicted couple of "Dead End Street."
The evening ended with three encores and featured two of the finest pop songs Davies or anyone has ever written: "Days" and "Waterloo Sunset" - the latter with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" might be the most perfect pop songs and productions ever. Davies ended the evening with the always fun "Low Budget," which draws from both the blues and music-hall traditions as it presents a down-on-his- luck "toff" forced into shoes too small and trousers too tight.
Throughout the evening, Davies expressed concern in song, story, and pre-show music for the victims of the recent disaster in New Orleans. His sympathies, from which his songs develop, along with this performance at the Supper Club, suggest very eloquently what one of his hits, "Rock N' Roll Fantasy," first said in 1978: Ray Davies "might still have a way to go."
Set List
1. I'm Not Like Everybody Else
2. The Hard Way
3. Where Have All the Good Times Gone
4. After the Fall
5. Yours Truly Confused, N10
6. Next Door Neighbors
7. 20th Century Man
8. Oklahoma USA
9. Thanksgiving
10 Till the End of the Day
11. Village Green
12. Johnny Thunder
13. Animal Farm
14. Sunny Afternoon
15. Dead End Street
16. The Tourist
17. Stand Up Comic
18. Things Are Gonna Change (Morning After)
19. Tired of Waiting
Encore 1
20. Set Me Free
21. All Day and All of the Night
Encore 2
22. Days
23. You Really Got Me
Encore 3
24. Lola
25. Waterloo Sunset
26. Low Budget
|
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 07 2005 : 07:00:13 AM
|
More | Subscribe | 14-Day Archives (Free) | Long-Term Archives (Paid)
Davies, the Kinks' comeback kid
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
BY BRADLEY BAMBARGER
Star-Ledger Staff
POP/ROCK
NEW YORK -- Those who came to see Ray Davies Monday at the Supper Club expecting a folksy, avuncular show got a shock.
Armed with a new blue Stratocaster, the erstwhile head Kink tore through a brace of electrifying rock songs to start, three-piece band in tow. Acoustic, "storyteller"-type episodes would follow, but high energy was the keynote, as he mixed his British Invasion hits with textured new songs.
Wiry and youthful under his dyed hair, the 61-year-old Davies was obviously thrilled to be back on a New York stage after years when books and films took up his time. Early on, "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" went so well that Davies called out "encore" himself to revel in another hip-grinding verse and chorus.
The night's impetus was a preview of songs from Davies' first official solo album, "Other Peoples' Lives," due in February. The songwriter downplayed the apparent political charge of the new "After the Fall" by noting that he penned it "before the events of the last four years." As with several other new numbers, the song sounded more vibrant live than on pre-release copies of the politely produced album.
Davies has a new disc out now, "Thanksgiving Day EP," to herald the forthcoming album. One song on the EP (but not the album) is "Yours Truly Confused N10," which Davies said he wrote for his daughter's punk band years ago, but "they rejected it -- too radical." The jaunty tune belies lyrics in which a liberal Londoner is dismayed over his reaction to the violent disintegration of his neighborhood.
In the psychedelic '60s, when it was deeply unfashionable, Davies aired his poetic nostalgia for old English values on such albums as "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society." Seated with guitarist Mark Johns, he dusted off several of those wistful songs. Back up again, Davies gave a vaudevillian performance of the new "Standup Comic," which mocks what he called "British yob culture."
For all his famous Englishness, Davies has always been fascinated by America. He prefaced "Thanksgiving Day" by calling it "a heartfelt appreciation of a wonderful institution." Davies also referenced the inspiration of his extended stay in New Orleans; his appeals for the city -- the EP benefits its music education programs -- showed that he had no hard feelings after being shot in the leg by a mugger there last year.
Davies demonstrated how "You Really Got Me" was based in the blues before he bashed his acoustic guitar through the deathless garage-rock classic. He also noted that his brother and fellow Kink, Dave Davies, was getting better after suffering a stroke this summer ("he must be -- he's giving me trouble already"). Davies paid homage to his younger sibling's proto-punk guitar style before careening through "All Day and All of the Night."
Davies shredded his voice fearlessly through the early rockers, as well as the '70s hits "Lola" and "Low Budget," but the show's highlights were often in the ballads, including "Days" with an a cappella intro. Several songs barely needed his contribution; for "Sunny Afternoon," a buoyant ode to an endless summer of the mind, the audience's singing almost drowned out that of the songwriter.
After two hours, Davies returned for multiple encores, including "Waterloo Sunset" -- the loveliest of his '60s London vignettes, which he dedicated to New Orleans and his views there. The lights went up and Fats Domino played on the sound system, but Davies prowled the stage, slapping hands and looking like he couldn't bear to leave.
|
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 08 2005 : 09:46:51 AM
|
| I see a photo of 'Dink' playing a banjo, and I was wondering if he, or anyone out there knew the difference between a banjo and an onion.... |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 08 2005 : 11:28:37 AM
|
Dink Knows...
Dink is a really good player...I think Doc can testify to that. Dink was also an original member of FTW. Eddie Dink's younger brother is another fine guitar player.
btw in the picture above that's me all the way on the right with out the guitar. I'm wearing the Lola Vs Powerman KinKs tshirt.
Bean who loves Onions btw!
|
Edited by - Bean on December 08 2005 11:29:45 AM |
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - December 11 2005 : 3:10:50 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by richm
I see a photo of 'Dink' playing a banjo, and I was wondering if he, or anyone out there knew the difference between a banjo and an onion....
Ok Rich, I'll 'bite'. What's the difference; It probably has something to do with tears.... |
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 13 2005 : 9:44:13 PM
|
Dear Doc, and perhaps Dink and/or Bean: The difference between an onion and a banjo? Nobody cries when you cut up a banjo.
By the way, I am unfamiliar with FTW. You guys will have to fill me in. I think I missed something by moving away from Valley Stream in '68....Rich M |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - December 13 2005 : 11:44:36 PM
|
| Rich check some of the posts under the Reminisces section of this page and you might get some idea about FTW? |
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - January 16 2006 : 4:06:22 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by richm
Dear Doc, and perhaps Dink and/or Bean: The difference between an onion and a banjo? Nobody cries when you cut up a banjo.
Rich,
In musical terms, what is it called when you throw a banjo into a 'cordeen?
|
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - January 19 2006 : 12:08:01 AM
|
| Doc: I have no idea what it might be called, and I am dying to know. I also am dying to know if a mutual friend of ours put you up to this query, as I have had some discussions of late regarding the unfortunate instrument lovingly referred to as the 'cordeen'. Rich M. |
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - January 19 2006 : 07:21:25 AM
|
Rich,
"Perfect Pitch" and no, I wasn't put up to it.
In defense of the less loved and often annoying banjo, I have been listening closely to a Bella Fleck CD my son gave me. He plays that thing like Charlie Christian or Pat Matheny.
doc
plucking his magic twanger |
Edited by - doc on January 19 2006 07:25:46 AM |
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - January 19 2006 : 09:41:24 AM
|
| Doc: I really appreciate that. Bela Fleck is great, isn't he? Which CD is it, and who is on it? |
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - January 19 2006 : 9:27:30 PM
|
Rich,
"Greatest Hits of the 20th Century" The usual cast of characters are on most of the cuts;
Bella-banjo, Victor Wooten-bass (I sometimes confuse Victor Wooten with Victor Bailey), Future Man-synth ax, drumatar, and Howard Levy-harmonica, synths,piano.
I retract the Charlie Christian comparison though. On one cut he sounds more like Al Dimeola.
We had tickets for an outdoor concert at the Planting Fields in Oyster Bay this past summer that was rained out. The lineup was Bella Fleck, Stanly Clark and Jean-Luc Ponty. What a disapointment it was when the thunder and rain came!
doc
strummin' on guitar so lo |
Edited by - doc on January 19 2006 9:43:59 PM |
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - January 19 2006 : 9:56:48 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by richm
I think I missed something by moving away from Valley Stream in '68....Rich M
Rich,
You didn't miss much. I'm guessing that "the worst that could happen" would have been for you to stay. Perhaps if you choose to stay, you could have taught 'cordeen at Alden music? Hmmmmm..... tough choice.
(' ')
doc |
Edited by - doc on January 22 2006 3:13:58 PM |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - January 20 2006 : 03:08:09 AM
|
I've seen Lucinda Williams at the Planting Fields in Oyster Bay, a great place to see that kind of show, and she ( Lucinda ) is always amazing. One of the best songwriters and performers ranking up their with the Lennon's, Davies, and Neil Youngs. Dylan is in his own catagory all his own. He just boggles my mind when ever I see him live the way he constsntly reinvents himslef,and his music and the fact that he remembers his own lyrics amazes me and at each show he does different songs from his entire career. I can barely remember the words to I'm so glad let al one Desolation Row!
Bean |
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - January 23 2006 : 11:55:58 PM
|
Doc: You mention the Alden School of Music, where I would not be qualified to teach 'cordeen, but where I took guitar lessons from the great Joe Gennelli. In late '92 or early '93, while I still lived on Long Island, I happened to be in the area and found the store in a slightly different location on Elmont Rd. It was around the corner from its former location on Linden Blvd. It brought back memories, probably because the store was laid out the same way as when I was a kid, with a curved bowling alley bench in the front of the store. I wonder if they are still in business.
Young academics were schooled mainly in guitar, or if less fortunate, 'cordeen, and organized into ensembles for the yearly recital at the Dutch Broadway School. In the late fifties, all the junior or senior guitar band members with electric pickups on their guitars would plug into a spider on the floor, which would feed all their signals into one amplifier. We were living large with our DeArmond equipped Gibsons. I remember an army of us playing a rendition of The Champs' 'Tequila' at one of these affairs. No drums or bass or saxophones....just fifteen or twenty of us on guitar. Fortunately no recordings survive.
Many years later, at a gig at the Plaza Hotel, I ran into a bassist named George Mell, who was playing a nice black Fender Jazz bass. In the course of our conversation it turns out he knew Joe Gennelli, and told me he sold his guitars. Joe had died, and that saddened me. George told me some of Joe's music was in a guitar case and he still had it. I offered to buy it from him, but he said I could have it free if I could meet him a week later. We did meet, in front of the Pierre Hotel , and he gave me the music, all in Joe's hand writing. Another old timer musician was walking by on Fifth Avenue, George introduced me to him and explained that I studied guitar with Joe. The old timer beamed at the memory of Joe, and told me that Joe had played with 'the greats'. Just about thirty years later I still have that music. Were you an Alden School of Music kid, too?
|
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - February 05 2006 : 11:26:54 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by richm
Doc: You mention the Alden School of Music, where I would not be qualified to teach 'cordeen, but where I took guitar lessons from the great Joe Gennelli. In late '92 or early '93, while I still lived on Long Island,........ Just about thirty years later I still have that music. Were you an Alden School of Music kid, too?
Rich, I only just now saw this post. I was a 'cordeen student; starting out at Downs school of music and ending up at Alden. We were told that if you could play the 'cordeen everything else would come easily. I recently considered that untruth as I attempted to sight read the head of Wes Montgomery's 'West Coast Blues' on guitar. |
Edited by - doc on February 05 2006 11:29:02 AM |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - February 05 2006 : 9:09:48 PM
|
| Ray Davies 3 nights at Irving Plaza March 24th thru the 26th..tickets go on sale this Wednesday February 8th thru ticketmaster! |
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - February 06 2006 : 10:51:15 PM
|
| Doc: When were you at Alden School of Music? And are you in touch with any other Alden alumni? Downs was up, over the theatre on Rockaway Avenue, if I am correct. |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - February 07 2006 : 03:33:23 AM
|
Ray added a Phily area show Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA for Tuesday March 21st, tickets go on sale February 11th...
|
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - February 07 2006 : 03:35:38 AM
|
| Yes Downs was up over the theatre and the sign was still up there well in to the early & mid 90's. My ex wife was good freinds with Kathy Downs their daughter. Downs lived over by Clear Stream Ave school about 1 block south of Merrick Rd. |
|
|
|
doc
Into the 60's
Status: offline |
Posted - February 07 2006 : 5:50:48 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by richm
Doc: When were you at Alden School of Music? And are you in touch with any other Alden alumni? Downs was up, over the theatre on Rockaway Avenue, if I am correct.
I guess I was there in the early sixties sometime. I know I was at Downs in '63-64. I also took 'Cordeen lessons at a music store across from the Argo Theater. Yes. you and the Beanster are correct about Downs' location. They also had a music retail store on the street. Back then I did not know any fellow 'cordeeners from Alden. Is Dan an alum? |
|
|
|
richm
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - February 07 2006 : 11:42:08 PM
|
| Doc: Dan is an Alden School of Music survivor. I don't think he studied the cordeen there. He made have started out on percussion there. We'll have to ask him. Have you ever heard Pete Barbutti do his bit on cordeen? |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Ray Davies NYC Gig in November
