Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun Returns

If you didn't get a chance to see the Grammy nominated guitarist, singer and songwriter Bill Kirchen at the last Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, fear not. Kirchen returns for several shows this weekend at the Throckmorton in Mill Valley tonight, and the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley this Sunday. Kirchen's website states that he "is one of the fortunate few who can step onto any stage, play those trademark licks that drove his seminal Commander Cody classic Hot Rod Lincoln into the Top Ten, and elicit instant recognition for a career that has spanned over 40 years and includes guitar work with Nick Lowe, Emmylou Harris, Doug Sahm, Elvis Costello and many more. Named “A Titan of the Telecaster” by Guitar Player Magazine, he celebrates an American musical tradition where rock 'n' roll and country music draws upon its origins in blues and bluegrass, Western swing from Texas and California honky-tonk. His current CD Word To The Wise on Proper American features duets with many of these artists he's worked with, including Elvis, Nick, Maria Muldaur and Dan Hicks."

You wouldn’t be wrong to refer to Word to the Wise, the latest outing from songwriter, singer and Titan of the Telecaster Bill Kirchen, as a “duets” album. The record—Kirchen’s second for Proper American, hitting May 25—is crammed to the brim with memorable appearances from a revolving cast of characters including Norton Buffalo, Paul Carrack, Commander Cody, Elvis Costello, Blackie Farrell, Dan Hicks, Nick Lowe, Maria Muldaur and Asleep at the Wheel alumna Chris O’Connell.

But there’s a lot more going on here than the standard blending of two voices. Each of these all-star pals of the veteran artist puts his or her own distinctive stamp on the proceedings, from Hicks’ sublime scat singing with himself on the title tune to Costello’s “bulging-veined” (as Kirchen puts it) assault on “Man in the Bottom of the Well,” an original the gracious host pulled out of his thick songbook guessing it would be a good fit—and it’s viscerally apparent that Bill was on the money with his selection. “Elvis is not just messing around, as we all know,” Kirchen points out. “He’s a soulful man.”

Merle Haggard’s “Shelly’s Winter Love” is a more conventional duet, but Kirchen opts to get out of the way as Lowe and Carrack blend their burnished voices on it in the classic Everly Brothers manner. “The last thing I’m gonna do is get up and sing with Paul Carrack and Nick Lowe,” Kirchen says with a laugh. “It’s not gonna happen. That song just marched up to second position on the album…The way those two guys go toe-to-toe is just sublime.” In all three of these instances, and others as well, Kirchen chooses to hide in plain sight, doing what he does best—subtly and masterfully playing the role of lead guitarist, every ringing note brilliantly serving both the singer and the song.

The album, produced and recorded by Proper’s Paul Riley, was tracked at London’s Specific Sound, with additional recording done all over the map, from Austin to Vancouver to Bill’s home setup in Maryland. “We sent the tapes of ‘Man in the Bottom of the Well’ to Vancouver for Elvis to put his vocals on, but the rest of the time, we traveled around the country and collected those people,” Kirchen explains. In each case, the guests recorded their parts on top of basic tracks laid out by the core band of Bill, drummer/singer Jack O’Dell, bass player Johnny Castle and keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Austin de Lone, the former leader of seminal pub-rock band Eggs Over Easy.

On his first Proper album, Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods, Kirchen saw his challenge as “trying to write some songs that were more from the heart and closer to the bone. I wanted to let go of my stance of writing attitude-laden truck-driver songs—I’ve done enough of those to last a lifetime. But, as with any of my albums, I love so many kinds of music that I haven’t figured out a way to focus down and just do one specific thing.” To which we happily say, vive le difference.

The new album opens with the rockabilly rave-up “Bump Wood,” which Kirchen describes as a “glad to be alive song,” but it also ventures into finger-snappin’ boho jazz with the title tune, and deep country with “Arkansas Diamond,” co-written with Bill’s Austin friend Sarah Brown and his wife Louise, the same crew responsible for the contemplative, wide-open-spaces ballad “Time Will Tell the Story.” But Kirchen also happily snags the Roger Miller standard “Husbands and Wives” for a bona fide guy/gal duet with Chris O’Connell, and together they turn in one of the album’s most moving performances.

Moving with the momentum and stylistic diversity of the T.A.M.I. Show and Mad Dogs & Englishmen (come to think of it, there are several members of both constituencies on this platter), Word to the Wise serves up heaping portions of rock ’n’ roll, country, boogie-woogie and Western swing. It’s loaded with verbal and musical witticisms, as well as moments of deep poignancy, all of it set against a vital backdrop of Telecaster twang, tremolo and reverb, as Bill does his thing, riffing like Chuck Berry on “I Don’t Work That Cheap,” whipping up thunder and lightning Richard Thompson-style on “Time Will Tell the Story” and spinning out quicksilver runs that recall Mark Knopfler’s work in front of Dire Straits on Blackie Farrell’s “Open Range.”

“I was surprised at how much guitar ended up on this record,” says Kirchen. “On some of the tracks, where we hadn’t figured out where the vocal was gonna be yet, I’d do the guitars sitting at home, and I’d just lather it on. I was assuming that Paul would have a more ruthless editing knife, but on a lot of the songs, like ‘Open Range,’ there’s just an ass-load of guitar. It’s funny, I didn’t set out to make as much guitar noise as I did, but then again, I can’t deny I played all that stuff. Part of it was being self-indulgent, just sitting at home with an amp in the basement and a cord running down the heat duct and having at it. It came out a little more rock ’n’ roll that way, which I really enjoyed. I tend to be a really clean country-based picker, and it was fun taking the Deluxe reverb and cranking it up. I hope it’s OK.” No worries, Bill—it’s more than OK; it’s downright godhead.

Each song has a rambling back story, providing insight into Kirchen’s omnivorous creative process while also demonstrating his vast knowledge of musical history. None of these roving narratives is more fascinating than the one he tells about the instant classic “I Don’t Work That Cheap.”

“I’ve always been a Bo Diddley fan,” he begins, “so when he died, I was thinking about his song ‘Who Do You Love’ and thinking, ‘Is there a better song than this one?’ We were imagining talking to Bo Diddley about it, going, 'You used what for a necktie? Mr. Diddley?’ A cobra snake? Goodness!' I was kiddin’ around with Nick about that, and he goes, ‘You walked 44 miles of barbed wire? I can usually only manage eight or nine myself… ’ Anyway, that’s how we got goin’ on it.

“So my buddy Blackie Farrell and I decided to write a ‘brag’ song in that spirit, and I got that line from the great fiddle player Johnny Gimble: ‘Don't try to pay me what I’m worth—I don’t work that cheap.’ It resonated with me, but I decided not to think about it too much or I’d get confused. So we tried to write a brag song from that stance of a guy who would say something like that. When we were writing it, Blackie said, ‘This is a comic book, Bill,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, exactly.’ I grew up reading ‘Pogo,’ and I picture this guy as an Albert Alligator type. There’s this great picture of Albert getting all dressed up for a date; he’s pulling on a catcher’s mitt, he’s got a frying pan on his head and he says, ‘Funny how a good-lookin’ guy looks good no matter what he throws on.’”

In his wonderfully engaging and informative liner notes, Bill manages to transform his description of the origin of “Valley of the Moon” into a moving elegy for his dear friends Norton Buffalo and Chris Gaffney. “Louise met [Norton] and brought him to the band’s attention when we lived in Valley of the Moon, Sonoma County, CA,” he writes. “We subsequently took him to Europe for what turned out to be the last hurrah Commander Cody album, We’ve Got a Live One Here. He was in my original Moonlighters band along with Blackie Farrell. For decades, Norton played on dang near everybody’s record or movie soundtrack. A triple-threat harp player, songwriter and singer, Norton sadly succumbed to cancer shortly after cutting the track for this record. He is greatly missed. Norton solos on ‘Valley of the Moon,’ which I wrote for Louise after a trip to Glen Ellen, CA, where we had lived and married 35 years before. We were on our way to attend a wake for our friend Chris Gaffney, and the song took on special poignancy after Norton’s death.”

Justly famous for his indelible Telecaster sound on “Hot Rod Lincoln,” his 1972 Top 10 hit with Commander Cody, Kirchen has been everywhere since he first plugged in during the mid-’60s: he was a founding member of the legendary Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, he’s released eight critically acclaimed solo albums, he’s toured internationally with Nick Lowe and has performed with the likes of Doug Sahm, Gene Vincent, Elvis Costello, Dan Hicks, Emmylou Harris and Link Wray. Each step of the way, he’s made a deep impression with his singular six-string virtuosity. As the Washington Post’s Mike Joyce put it, “The folks who make Fender Telecasters ought to stop what they’re doing and cut Bill Kirchen a fat check.”

On the title song of Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods, Kirchen wrote of his trusty Tele that it was “born at the junction of form and function,” but he could’ve just as accurately been referring to himself—if he wasn’t so damn humble, that is. “I’m really thrilled with the album, man, because for Proper to have that much interest in me to put this out, I mean, honestly, at this point in my life it’s not something I can take for granted,” Kirchen reflects. “It’s been 40 years since I’ve been fulltime at this, and I’m still not sure if I have a career, but I know I have a job.”

• Friday, October 26 8:00 pm
• Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun with Special Guests Heidi Claire and Austin de Lone
• 142 Throckmorton Theatre: 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley, CA 
• (415) 383-9600

• Sunday, October 28 8:00 pm
• Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun plus Special Guests, Hardin Burns opens
• Freight & Salvage: 2020 Addison St., Berkeley, CA 
• (510) 548-1761
• $26.50 Advance / $28.50 Door

Remembering David S. Ware, 1949-2012

I once had the privilege of working with the great saxophonist David S. Ware back in 2000, when he came to Virginia's State Theater for a jazz festival, and touring to support his latest album on Columbia Records, "Surrendered". With his brightly colored clothes flowing about him, Ware launched into a sonic performance that I will never forget. Last night, at the age of 62 . Ware, a leading free jazz player during the last 20 years, passed away. A statement from Patricia Parker, wife of Ware’s long-time collaborator bassist William Parker, was shared on the  jazzcorner.com’s bulletin board: "Tonight, a giant has fallen. David S. Ware, the great saxophonist, died tonight, October 18, 2012. What an incredible loss! What a great musician and spirit! His tremendous sound, his spirit, his music, is irreplaceable… Music holds Us… when there is more information we will let you know... -Patricia"

The Ottawa Citizen's Peter Hum wrote, "Ware was 62. When he was 60, after nearly a decade of dialysis treatment, Ware underwent a kidney transplant. Ware’s Wikipedia entry states that the operation took place after a kidney was donated in response to an email message sent out to nearly 1,000 of his fans. Aum Fidelity recently sent out this update on Ware’s health, stating that he was”physically not doing well at all, though his spirit is in a very positive place.” The update solicited cards and emails of support from Ware’s fans to be shared with him…."

"In the 1990s, Ware formed a celebrated quartet that included pianist Matthew Shipp and Parker, as well as drummers such as Susie Ibarra…. At one point Ware was signed to Columbia Records, thanks to the advocacy of Branford Marsalis. Ware released more than 25 records under his own name, most of which were on small labels such as DIW and Thirsty Ear. Earlier, as a sideman, he recorded with pianist Cecil Taylor and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

Ware was also the subject of several short films. A 1994 Dutch documentary called In Motion concentrated on the fact Ware drove a cab for many years in New York. “The film makes the influence of the speeding traffic on Ware’s music tangible,” states one synopsis. More recently the David Lynch Foundation released the film David S. Ware: A World of Sound." You can watch the 14 minute documentary here… Here too, is recent concert footage of Ware and his quartet, live in Vilnius.



We will miss you my man...

Sylvia Cuenca Comes to Yoshi's

Sylvia Cuenca is an active young drummer on the New York jazz scene who is contributing outstanding performances in a variety of situations. Recently, she has been performing extensively with trumpet legend Clark Terry as part of his quintet. This group performs annually at the Village Vanguard and the Blue Note in New York City, on the Royal Caribbean and the S.S. Norway jazz cruises as well as many clubs, concerts and jazz festivals.

In addition to working with Clark Terry, Ms. Cuenca has performed with artists such as trombonist Al Grey, saxophonists Red Halloway, Jimmy Heath and Frank Wess, to name a few. Next Tuesday night, Ms. Cuena brings her Organ Trio to Yoshi's in San Francisco, featuring Paul Bollenback on guitar and Jared Gold on organ. This trio exudes a strong personal sound rich with interplay and hard driving swing: soulful guitar, bluesy organ and funky drum grooves.


Originally from San Jose, California, Cuenca attended San Jose City College where she performed and recorded with the City College Big Band. Over the years, she has studied with Victor Lewis, Keith Copeland, Adam Nussbaum, and Portinho. She currently resides in New York City.

Other achievements include several tours of Europe and the United States with saxophonist Joe Henderson. Since 1987, this quartet performed at the Taxi International Jazz Festival in Milano, Italy, the Brecon Jazz Festival in Wales, the Viersen Jazz Festival and the Burghausen Jazz Festival in Germany, as well as many concerts in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, England, Switzerland and France. In a trio setting, she performed with Joe Henderson and Charlie Haden in 1989 and also with Joe Henderson and George Mraz in 1994.

As a sideman, Ms. Cuenca has also performed and toured with such jazz luminaries as Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, George Cables, Marian McPartland, Jon Faddis, Kenny Barron, Michael Brecker, Emily Remler, Mulgrew Miller, Lew Tabackin, Etta Jones, Dianne Reeves, Joshua Redman, as well as her recordings as a leader, The Crossing and Exit 13.

Most recently, she was a clinician for the Sisters in Jazz Program at the 2001 IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) in New York and the Jazz for Teens Program at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She has taught and performed with the Clark Terry Quintet and the Eddie Henderson Quartet at various colleges and universities in the United States and Europe. She has been a staff member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop in Stanford, California since 1985. She was also Artist-In Residence at the Clark Terry Institute of Jazz at Westmar University in Iowa. In 2005, Guest Director for Sisters in Jazz Program at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

In 1988 and 1991, Ms. Cuenca received jazz performance grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, and in 1992, she was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Drum Competition.

Trumpeter Clark Terry once said of Cuenca's first CD, "Sylvia Cuenca is affectionately referred to by those of us in our quintet as ‘Cuenc's. She is an extraordinarily talented percussionist, who doesn't like to be thought of as "a girl drummer." I think of her as an alert, supportive, versatile and swinging drummer. This is ‘Cuenc's first CD under her own name, and I'm happy about it. She has chosen some fantastic players, and the group is really swinging. I'll give it six stars!!! Save a space in your CD rack - you're going to want to keep this one. Go, go, go, ‘Cuenc's - keep on keepin' on!!!"   

The Sylvia Cuenca Organ Trio
featuring Paul Bollenback on guitar and Jared Gold on organ
Yoshi's San Francisco
Tuesday, October 23 @ 8pm $12

10 Memorable Reasons to Keep Those Mitts Off PBS

If a certain presidential candidate had his way, Big Bird would be fired from one of the most educational programs for children in the history of television. Sesame Street is an institution, and anyone that threatens its existence, and the rest of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, (aka PBS), is in for a fight. The very thought of wiping out PBS got me thinking about the decades of television we have all but taken for granted. Growing up in DC, I happily dined on a steady diet of great programming on WETA, Howard University's WHUR and WMPT, Maryland's Public Television out of Annapolis. I've got a personal, top ten list of some of the programs that inspired my generation, and my hope that many more like them will continue to positively influence generations to come.

10. The 1972 World Chess Championship Match
We were riveted when chess masters Shelby Lyman and Jimmy Sherwin brought us those live updates of the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky World Chess Championship match in Iceland. Chess had never been seen or heard on that kind of scale before, and the drama and hope for an American champion is now the stuff of legend. Nowadays, you can follow it all on the internet, with Grandmaster commentary from around the world; but back then it was new, exciting, and history was being made right before your very eyes.

9. Sesame Street, the Electric Company and Reading Rainbow
Can anyone doubt the significance of these groundbreaking programs for children? Literacy improved under the watchful eyes of Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch and the Cookie Monster. For the older kids, the Electric Company and Reading Rainbow, featuring a young Levar Burton, brought a plethora of wonderful stories into our living rooms and dens. My brothers and sisters loved them as much as my parents did.

8. Nova and Secrets of the Dead
Einstein, Hawking, Madame Curie, nebulas, dwarfs, black holes, you name it, Nova had it. The wonders of science, technology, exploration, history and archeology, Nova took you places you never knew existed, asked and answered questions about life, the universe and everything. Nova is still going strong today, and its companion program Secrets of the Dead, takes you into the forensic worlds of our past. Narrated by the amazing Liev Schreiber, tt too remains one the most compelling shows on PBS.

7. Soundstage and the Austin City Limits
For some strange reason, I got a huge dose of music from around the world on PBS; Jazz, Rock, Folk, Blues, Reggae and World. In those pre-MTV and VH1 days, all we had were Don Kirschner's Rock Concerts and Wolfman Jack's Midnight Specials. PBS would bring you concerts like Miles Davis and his proteges; Chick Corea, Billy Cobham, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and many, many others. Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Y'oussou N'dour, Yanni, you name it. No shortage on folk acts like Pete Seeger, Peter Paul and Mary, Carole King, James Taylor and anyone else the thoughtful programmers could bring you, PBS had them.

6. Ken Burns
Say what you will about Burns; his documentaries were amazing. The Civil War series set the bar mighty high, launching even more series, on Baseball, Jazz, World War II and others. Burns' narrator was the great David McCullough, and the guest stars he employed were a who's who of Hollywood's greatest actors and actresses.

5. WGBH and the British Invasion
WGBH in Boston really led the way, and its got to be acknowledged that Rebecca Eaton had a lot to do with it. With the late Alastair Cooke as host, Masterpiece Theater and Mystery have become Sunday night staples. The Duchess of Duke Street, Upstairs Downstairs, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot; Conan Doyles' Sherlock Holmes are among the very best. Shows like EastEnders weren't part of the Masterpiece family, however series like: As Time Goes By with Dame Judy Densch, Monarch of the Glen and many others would show a wonderful, contemporary side of British life. All of which brings me to a few of my top favorites…

4. Doctor Who, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Mr. Bean and Blackadder
It was the sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison who helped educate the American public to the world of Doctor Who, following the cult successes of Star Trek and the subsequent runaway hit known as Star Wars. Doctor Who actually premiered, rather ominously on November 23, 1963 in England, the day President Kennedy was assassinated. Nevertheless, England would soon be introduced to the evil Daleks and a gentleman who traveled throughout time and space in a British Police Box, fighting evil across the galaxy. When the Doctor first appeared in the US in the mid '70s, it starred actor Tom Baker, (the fourth of eleven Doctor Who's), where it became a hit on PBS stations across America and Canada. It continues today on BBC America and is the longest running show in British TV history.

The genius of the Monty Python gang featuring Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Clesee, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones has been well documented, so I won't go into much detail here, but suffice it to say, Python was another PBS comedy staple, (so was Benny Hill, but "that's not for here"). From 1969 to 1974, these iconic comedians paved the way for Saturday Night Live, Little Britain and so many, many others. "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!"

Rowan Atkinson is one of the funniest, physical comedians you will ever see, and his character Bean still stands the test of time. Two major films and an animated series later, Bean lives on and continues to crack me up no matter how many times I've seen him. Blackadder is also a comedy gem, as Atkinson with Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson and Tim McInnery, traverse through five different eras and series, including the Middles ages, the Elizabethan, WWI and modern day England, showcasing the hilariously evil Atkinson as Blackadder and his idiotic sidekick Baldrick, (Robinson), as they "cunningly plan", scheme, connive and swindle their way throughout history.

3. Sharpe and The New Adventures of Horatio Hornblower
Sean Bean stars as Colonel, Richard Sharpe, a rifleman during the Napoleonic wars. The music is wonderful, the stories and political intrigue are second to none. Bean would go onto to star in sixteen episodes from 1993 to 2006, alongside Daragh O'Malley as Sergeant Harper. From Spain and France to India, and based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe was a gritty, glimpse into the struggle between Napoleon and Wellington and the conflict that led up to Waterloo. One of my all time favorites and one of the best war series ever to appear on Masterpiece Theater.

Hornblower with Ioan Gruffyd was another fabulous series that takes place in the years before the Hornblower film of 1957 with Gregory Peck begins. If you like Sharpe, you will love Hornblower. Gruffyd later would go on to star in the film Amazing Grace, the story of the famed song that signaled the end of the British slave trade.

2. Downton Abbey, Lark Rise to Candleford and Cranford
Eaton, BBC and Masterpiece outdid themselves on this one, and I haven't enjoyed anything like this since the The Duchess of Duke Street with Gemma Jones. With an all star cast that features Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey has all the ingredients of a real Masterpiece drama; love, jealousy, betrayal, humor, and war. Many of these series tend to feature a lot of the same actors; Julian Fellows, the creator of Downton, was one of the co-stars of the aforementioned Monarch of the Glen; (Brendan Coyle is in Downton and Lark Rise, and Julia Sawalha in Lark Rise and Cranford); Both Larkrise and Cranford are coming of age, romantic dramas with all the classic plot twists and ultimately, happy, and at times, bittersweet endings.

1. Inspector Morse and Prime Suspect
What can I say about these two fine, British detectives that hasn't already been said? The late John Thaw was fantastic as that "bastard, but a straight bastard", Morse. Morse loved his Oxford (but not its people), his beer, his crossword puzzles, his opera, his vintage black and burgundy, 1960s Jaguar Mk II, and if they weren't guilty or an accomplice to a murder, his women. After over thirty episodes and Thaw's death, the series sadly came to an end; a spin-off with Morse's partner Inspector Lewis, (played by Kevin Whatley) will conclude its final season this year. With the fantastic morse-code-like end theme music by composer Barrington Pheloung, and an array of British guest stars and complex plots, Morse was one of the finest shows ever to come to PBS.

Dame Hellen Mirren was equally fabulous as Superintendent Chief Inspector Jane Tennyson in the series Prime Suspect, from 1991 to 2006, Tennyson fought male cronyism and prejudice from within the police force, her alcoholism and solved murders like no woman detective on television had ever done before. Prime Suspect had Tennyson in London, then Manchester and by series end, back to London. Bosnia death squads, serial killers, drug dealers, you name it, "Guv" had 'em. Recently, there was an ill-fated attempt to turn Prime Suspect into an American version; they don't work. They tried the same thing with the critically acclaimed Life on Mars and once again with the new version of Sherlock. The PBS version is amazing and I don't have any hope the new CBS version will succeed.

The list of quality BBC/PBS series is virtually endless, and nothing on HBO, Showtime, FX, Starz, AMC or USA will ever be anything like them. Don't get me wrong, a lot of shows on those networks are great, but they aren't PBS and they never will be. We need to keep someone's "mitts" off of our beloved PBS programming. If we don't, next thing you know, we could end up with an American version of Downton Abbey and no Sesame Street.

Next time on Nova...