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Roadtrip of the Month
Edited by Rob Turner
by Rob Turner - ontheroadagain@mindspring.comThe huge sounds of an absolutely rip-snorting version of "Basis For A Day" were still echoing in my head as I crunched the sleep out of my eyes late in the morning Saturday, April 24. The Disco Biscuits had invaded Commercial Street Café in Worcester the previous night, and I had taken in Branford Marsalis at Cambridge’s Regatta Bar the night before. I wanted nothing more than to sleep the day away, but two days from heaven were upon me and I had to rally. I spoke with Branford’s sound man Rob "Wacko" Hunter on the phone, whom I had met at the Branford gig because he was sporting a Disco Biscuits T-shirt as he checked the band’s instruments. He twisted the knobs on The Biscuits hugely successful "Uncivilized Area" CD, and I had given him my number and offered him a ride to see The Biscuits afternoon set at Curry College in nearby Milton. He unfortunately declined because he had to deal with a broken bass string. Apparently, Bruce Hornsby had come over to take in some of Branford’s set the night before, and minutes after he arrived the bass string snapped. Rob related the story in hilarious fashion, and when I hung up, I was energized to jump in the shower and get on with the day. Dave was a little late coming over to pick me up so we arrived at Curry late, but thankfully someone had left our name on a list at the security gate, allowing us to only miss one song. Had we not been on the list, we would’ve had a difficult time getting into the show as security was not allowing non-students in. We parked in a lot that made us feel like we were at a Dave Matthews concert, with all of the baseball hats turned backwards and generic FM radio cranking. We weaved through the students who were seemingly unaware that they were walking on a street built for car and foot travel, and found a spot toward the back of the lot. We hustled up toward the stage in plenty of time for the highlight of the set, a killer "Mulberry’s Dream," on which lead guitarist Jon Gutwillig blistered a guitar solo that swirled into the stratosphere. The band was opening for Run DMC on what seemed like a very nice stage considering it was temporary and at a very small school. The sun was shining bright, a pleasant contrast to the many rainy outdoor gigs The Disco Biscuits had played last summer. When I wasn’t boogying amidst the Disco Biscuit faithful that had found their way in, I had one eye on the students, many of whom were sporting perplexed expressions. There were quite a few that got sucked into the infectious groove, slowly moving closer to the stage and gradually introducing more motion to the hip area of their bodies. The lingering memory from this day will either be the two police officers standing on a walkway to the left of the sound board actually watching the band, or it will be the long line of kids to the left side of the stage impatiently watching the band as they waited for their food. By the time they closed the set with a strong version of "Aceetobee" (from the Uncivilized Area album), they had seemingly won over even some of the kids who had just come down to eat. We were sprinting back to our car as we heard bassman Mark Brownstein say, "and now for the words I’ve been wanting to say for many years, Run DMC is next!!!" A few of the Biscuit fans stayed for some of Run DMC’s set, but we had less than thirty minutes to get to Boston, park, and make our way to the Hatch Shell. We kidnapped Tom Levine, one of the most consistent tapers of the Biscuits, and Dave let me take the wheel to speed up I-93 to Beantown. We made great time, despite a couple of 50 miles per hour people in the fast lane, and we decided to just toss the car in one of the parking lots near the Mass General Hospital rather than waste time hunting for a space. We also used the Causeway Street exit off of 93 in order to avoid the traffic nightmare that tends to happen on Storrow Drive during these concerts. We hustled over to the shell, which is nestled between Storrow Drive and the Charles River right near the Arthur Fiedler footbridge. We arrived just as he was starting his set, and there was Branford up on the bandstand with Bruce’s touring brassman (who is also spectacular). Tom was taping the show, and we were forced to move around a few times as there were many people more interested in talking than listening to Bruce’s set. This is to be expected and accepted at a free concert of course. We were weaving past families as well as people who looked like they had been partying hard all day. Then we made our way up to as far as they let the general public go, and it was about the least crowded area around. The esplanade is always draws a mixed crowd, even when the symphony is performing. This is where we found our friend Matt Carlson. Even though Branford only stepped up a couple of times (once Bruce’s new guitar player severely stepped on Branford’s solo) Bruce made the very best of the short time he was given for a set
We had to hurry out of the show once again, and get right back on I-93 and head south. The Bruins/Hurricanes NHL playoff game was just starting, so our radio entertainment was set for the ride. We grabbed some very tasty grub at Fellini’s on Wickenden Street in Providence before plowing down to Metanuck, Rhode Island for the show that Waful built. When Jeff Waful was searching for a venue that would fill this Saturday for the band he manages, Uncle Sammy, he found the Ocean Mist was open, and he immediately called the Disco Biscuits to set up a double whammy of a show. He was able to convince the Biscuits to do the gig even though it meant the band would have to perform 4 sets in a little more than 24 hours. When we arrived, most of the Biscuit faithful who had hung for Run DMC’s set at Curry had high praise for one of rap’s longest running acts. (It is quite a coup for this group to have stuck around for all these years in a genre that places such importance on what is current. Fans of rap can be very dismissive of groups that are seen as something from the past, making it very hard for the music to have the staying power that much of blues, jazz, and rock n roll have) The club had some problems with their sound, so Uncle Sammy’s set was cut short, and the Biscuits ended up having to trim their second set a bit as well. Had the Biscuits not forgone their sound check (they do not ever like to play sans sound check) there would have been almost no time for Uncle Sammy. I was treated to my first full version of the Uncle Sammy’s new jewel called, "The Village" which opened their fifty-five minute set. They also delivered pleasantly extended versions of "MAG" and the destined for radio, "Waiting For Life." More than ten Biscuit fans came up to me glowing after their set, raving about how rapidly Uncle Sammy is improving.
When Uncle Sammy finished I went to check on the Bruins game, and I started watching just in time to see the Carolina Hurricanes tie the game and send it into overtime. As a long-time die hard Bruins fan, and a ravenous Biscuiteer freak, I was in a bit of a quandary when the band started up "Smoothie King" shortly after the overtime period began. Thankfully, there was a TV where my friends Matt Carlson, Tony Oliviera, and I could watch the band and the overtime simultaneously!!! It was like a real life split screen, with the Biscuits in the big picture, and the Bruins in the upper left of the screen. I was switching between being mesmerized by Sam Altman’s relentless drumming and the Hurricanes relentless checking. The game ended during "Voices Insane" so I had my glass full and my bladder empty for the band’s amazing excursion into the unknown. The band segued beautifully from the powerful and challenging, "Mindless Dribble," to Rossini’s "Thieving Magpies" (my first time seeing them perform this sophisticated number most well known from being heard in "Clockwork Orange"), which gave way to their anthem to inebriation, "Barfly," which led to the ode to their buddies, "Bernstein + Chasnoff" which exploded back into the conclusion of "Mindless Dribble." They ventured into Pink Floyd’s "Run Like Hell" before closing the set by finishing "Bernstein + Chasnoff." An absolutely brilliant performance to end the first set, I would recommend this tape to anyone venturing into the land of Bisco. After a strong second set (although it was greatly overshadowed by the first set) we blasted out of the Ocean Mist to head to East Greenwich and crash at Dave’s folks house.
Again it took all the energy I had to drag my fat ass out of bed, but the prospect of another Biscuit show and a Neil Young show helped to kick things in gear. We were again a little behind schedule, so we drove through the nearby Felicia’s in East Greenwich. Our bagel orders seemed simple, but somehow it confused the Felicia’s people as it took them close to 15 minutes to microwave the eggs and cheese and toss them on a bagel. We were happy just to eat, and thanks to a slightly illegal spot we parked immediately. One Brown student told me that the campus police were a little more lenient on days where there is an event. This was a refreshing change as many cities (certainly Boston) will become more brutal with ticketing cars when there is a big event as an easy way to generate revenue (and make people want to move to other cities... like Atlanta).
We were really looking forward to the Brown show, as many Disco Biscuits fans attend this school, which Mark Brownstein referred to as, "the other doormat of the Ivy League" (his alma mater UPenn being the first doormat). The enigmatic Brett Maxwell "The Conductor" Dawson, and the funky and spunky Sara "Front Row" Papa head up the Brown Bisco contingent. It was immediately apparent when they started their set somewhere around 3, that there were considerably more fans of the band in attendance than had been at Curry the day before. "Good afternoon, we are Run DMC" Brownstein said at one point, causing those who had been to Curry to chuckle. Again the sun was shining bright, and the vibe was ideal on the Brown campus on this Sunday. Dean and Leanne Budnick made the trip from their home west of Boston to allow their newborn daughter Caroline "The Great" Budnick to see her first Disco Biscuit show (and I thought my nephew Ricky was cool attending his first show at 3). I ran into Matt again, and he had parked directly opposite the stage across the quad at the center of Brown’s campus. We were amazed how clearly you could hear the band even though we were a considerable distance from the sound system. The vocals were slightly muffled, but we enjoyed a spectacular instrumental section of "Magellan" as we watched Brown students carrying on with their normal Sunday activities. A surreal contrast for sure. They also offered the now rare "Stone" which led into a fierce version of "Mr. Don" which had Jon Gutwillig fanning like a madman at the end of his final solo. Unfortunately nobody taped this performance, but take it from several hundred Brown students and me, this was a rockin’ set!! The band wrapped up at about 5:30, leaving us precious little time to get down to the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut for Neil Young’s solo acoustic tour. Dave and I had an extra ticket, and it was on Tom Levine’s way home to New Jersey, so we grabbed him away from the Biscuiteers and led him to this cozy theater off Route 15 in Connecticut. On the way, we stopped at a Texaco just before the border in Rhode Island. Dave left his car running while he went into the store, so I quickly moved it to the other side of the station and hid it. Then I started yelling at Dave to hurry up and get back on the road. He did quite a double take when his car wasn’t where he had left it, but he quickly figured out that he had been duped. Perhaps the fact that Tom and I were giggling like schoolgirls gave him a hint. The gas station attendant even got in the act, charging out at me like he was angry, but he was just returning my change. Something was in the air, as everybody wanted to f with everybody else!!
We made it to the Oakdale Theater minutes before Mr. Young took the stage. Our seats were pretty good, we had driven down to buy them the day they went on sale a few weeks back. We would’ve had better seats but the theater felt the need to ask every person for their full name and address, as well as a few other questions that seemed marginally necessary at best. Many people, some who had traveled long distances, didn’t get any tickets at all while people sitting in the comfort of their homes easily procured tickets on the phone.
Neil has to be one of the greatest solo performers in the history of the world, as I was immersed in every second of his fantastic performance. He delivered a particularly strong "Pocahontas." The crowd roared with thunderous approval after Neil played the quick but moving, "The Needle and The Damage Done." He also told a funny and even at times moving story about his dog during the rare, "Old King." But the highlight of the show for me was a trance-inducing version of his (even more rare) "Ambulance Blues."
Seven sets of music in two days. We dragged our ass back to Boston (well Tom went to his home in New Jersey) and believe it or not, we all made it to work on time Monday morning. Monday night was for sleeping though!!!!!!!!!!
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