Scott Morgan’s Powertrane with Deniz Tek & Ron Asheton
“Ann Arbor Revival Meeting” LP
scum stats: first 500 on red vinyl
It is seldom that live shows I witnessed are properly released on record, so the fact that I was in the crowd for this show and it’s finally out on vinyl puts a smile on my face.
Short story: the Mooney Suzuki had flown in to Detroit to finish the mixing of their album “Electric Sweat” and were staying at my mom’s house (where I was living) over that weekend.
Upon picking them up from the airport, they’d asked if there were any good shows happening while they were in town. I’d mentioned this show (one I wasn’t previously planning on attending) and they LIT UP excited and hell-bent on attending.
I was easily swayed. The gig was memorable (I got to meet Ron Asheton backstage afterwards), so much so that I went home and immediately reviewed it in a piece that went nowhere. Unpublished for 17 years. Until now.
The piece ain’t perfect (maybe I imagined them playing “Future/Now” by chance?), but I’ve got nothing to cringe over. I was 19 years old. No ragrets.
I’m giving away a free copy of a red vinyl copy of this sucker to the post in the comments I like best. Write about something you did in the early 2000’s (or earlier) that DOES embarrass you. Turn your cringe into colored vinyl.
DENIZ TEK w/ SCOTT MORGAN’S POWERTRANE, featuring RON ASHETON 11/10/01 Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Detroit expatriate Deniz Tek didn’t need have a cake for his birthday celebration this night. All he needed to do was show-up. Scott Morgan and Ron Asheton and 200 hundred-some people, most too young to have ever seen RADIO BIRDMAN, the RATIONALS or the STOOGES live (Tek, Morgan, and Asheton’s former bands, respectively) were the guests. With only a few days to practice, his backing band overcame a few miscues and provided the concrete backbeat that they were enlisted for. Tek electrified the audience with his intense demeanor, seeming as if his entire future depended on what amounted to a pick-up gig. The set mainly consisted of Tek’s solo material and Radio Birdman songs, but the occasional MC5 song (“Future/Now”) and Sonic Rendezvous tune (“City Slang”) seemed to be surreptitiously slipped in by Scott Morgan. After a brief break backstage, the band returned with Ron Asheton. The all-star line-up tore, no, ripped, no, shredded through the Stooges back catalog. As Asheton fingered the first notes to “TV Eye” the crowd erupted. Twenty years of pent up energy was released in a cosmic explosion of power chords and Detroit dirge. “So this is what rock and roll was like?” I thought to myself, having been born after the STOOGES, MC5, and RADIO BIRDMAN had all played their last shows. I’d gotten mine, finally, as did the rest of the crowd. “Down on the Street” featured Hiawatha from the Cult Heroes on guest vocals. As if being the only black member of the White Panthers wasn’t enough, Hiawatha oozed with cool, maintaining the cocksure attitude I can only imagine Iggy had when he originally sang those notes. Next was the anthem of leering punks everywhere “I Wanna be Your Dog”. Had we waited our entire lives just to hear this song? I had, so had others, we celebrated in spilt beer, pushing, shoving, and any other form of testosterone bonding that can occur without taking off any clothes. The crowd had turned into an atom smasher and no one was complaining. We had arrived, as had our leaders, and the celebration was the chunky boogie of “1969”, the first track off the STOOGES self-titled debut album. The show closed with Tek’s signature song “New Race” and was somewhat marred by the fact that two hyper-fans took it upon themselves to jump the stage and sing along. I cringed at the tackiness, but felt better when I saw one of the guys realize what an idiot he looked like as he emotionally broke down after the show.It seems that rock journalists have overused the term “sonic” to the point where it’s lost it’s meaning. But the vibe, the air in the room, it was, simply put, sonic. Deniz Tek plays the guitar that Fred “Sonic” Smith used in the MC5. ‘Nuff said. A line-up of this caliber would draw thousands in Europe, a continent that continually seems to be beating us to the cool that we produce in southeast Michigan, while the club in Ann Arbor held less than 500. You weren’t there? Your loss. Once in a lifetime. I was. I’m set. Now I can die.
when is winner selected
Ok. Here goes. Ive always been a fan of grooming my self as best I can. I mean I need all the help I can get! So after a fresh haircut, trimmed them nails, brows were tight and pre shower on an early Saturday morning….. well it’s time to clock in and take care of the downstairs. House is quiet as it could be. All are in a comfortable slumber. I got a single bathroom so I took it to the basement. My 10 year old nephew and my boy were up playing video games. So I’m taking care of business tightening up my undercarriage when this little ninja pops outta nowhere to catch me in easily the most precarious position I’ve ever had another human see me in. (Good thing my pooch can’t talk!) Shocked as he was and embarrassed as I was he snuck to me with intent. Turns out my little homey pissed the bed and needed a trusty understanding uncle to bale him out of his embarrassing situation. Needless to say we’ve been in each others pocket ever since. Here many many years later he’s a grown man and still gives me that goofy look and we know what it’s about. Needless to say I’ve always had my dudes back and always will. Moral of the story… just wait till the house is confirmed empty before you decide to tighten up down there!!
Much love to all!
I was asked by a female friend of mine (I have had a couple in my life) if I could take her to a concert in August of 1985 that was an hour and a half away since I had recently obtained by driver’s license. As an aside, what parent in today’s world would let their 16 year old child drive 3 hours round trip to a concert knowing that said child had a month of driving under his belt? Apparently my mom—but I digress. My friend refused to tell me who was playing but, as she knew I liked music, thought correctly that I would not say no to a free show. As we arrived at the Concord Pavillion in Northern CA it became clear why she had been so reluctant to provide me with the name of the act….in big letters on the marquee I saw the name Rick Springfield.
While some of you might say, “holy cow…that is embarrassing”, others might be thinking “do you mean Grammy Award winning Rick Springfield who wrote and performed the ear worm Jessie’s Girl?”. Regardless of which side of the argument you gravitate toward, I have to tell you that wasn’t the embarrassing part…..As I sat amongst a screaming throng of young women, my friend tapped me on the shoulder as the concert was obviously reaching its’ zenith….I looked over and my friend handed me her bra….not one that she was wearing but rather one that she had packed for the express purpose of throwing onto the stage. She told me that she didn’t have a good enough arm to assuredly toss it the five rows onto the stage and with pleading eyes asked if I would throw it up there.
The things you do for friends….I took it from her hand and with an arm that had been trained as a HS baseball pitcher easily made it across the chasm and onto the stage. You may think that this is the end of the “embarrassment”….nope. That came when I realized that, right after releasing the bra into the air, Mr. Springfield had eyes on me, tracked the arc of the flying bra to the stage, and then stared at me with what I can only describe as a level of bemusement that can only be attained by an Australian sex symbol/musician who could at that point safely say that he had seen it all.
Went far into debt?
Went far into debt?
I went to my first concert with some of my older brother’s friends in the early 2000’s. It was Kid Rock. Please don’t tell anyone. They have bad tastes.
Speaking of which, I saw The Raconteurs play in the Blue Room and heard “Help Us Stranger” played in its entirety for the first time ever. That show was recorded. When can I expect the thrill of playing that record? ??
most embarrassing moment of my life is when I have a girl LEGO flowers because I was in 6th grade and didn’t have any money. I wish I never did that because she told everyone and I was always picked on until I left the school.
Love the song “Down on the Street”…new fan!
Went to my first concert in 2008 or so with my church and all my friends from kids church crammed into this tiny bus and arrived at the venue where COLIN BUCHANAN had his name up in lights.
There I was surrounded by droves of 8 year-olds dagily rocking out to the one and only MR. Buchanan who played hits such as God Is Great and Crockodile Song.
There are people who saw Jimi Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac, or Billy Joel at the peak of their craft as their first concert. But me, unfortunately it was Colin Buchanan.
Most embarrassing of all, I actually enjoyed it…