First a little bit of housekeeping: Watershed will be returning to the Comfest Bozo Stage Friday, June 27th at 9:30pm. Even sweeter, I will be playing guitar with the legendary Willie Phoenix immediately preceding our gig. Pinch me hard now. Am I dreaming?
Also - Watershed will be making our debut at Natalie’s Grandview Friday, August 15th. This will be our only headlining show in 2025, so if you care about such things I would nab tickets ASAP. In fact it might be sold out by the time this hits the Pencil Storm presses, so get on it quickly. Click here for tickets
We plan on taking a good portion of the proceeds from that show directly to The Loft Studio in Saline, Michigan which suffered a devastating fire last fall, but is being rebuilt under the watchful eye of our fearless producer Tim Patalan. Hopefully this can help ease the pain just a little bit.
AC/DC Cleveland Stadium Wednesday May 28th
Under a gloomy Donnington-looking sky, the Factory of Sadness transformed into the Factory of Tinnitus for a couple of magical hours on the coast of Lake Erie.
It is a good thing the Cuyahoga River has been cleaned up considerably since the first time AC/DC appeared at the Cleveland Agora in 1976 or Angus Young’s hot licks surely would have reignited the river with the flames spreading all the way to Put n Bay.
I may have had as much fun at a concert, but I have never had more fun. It was a transcendental hard-rock experience. The last time Van Halen toured I talked myself out of going in the interest of responsible budgeting. I have forever regretted this decision. I was determined not to make the same mistake with what was probably ACDC’s last show in the USA.
These guitar tones are very close to my heart as I use 100 watt Marshall Amps with no effect pedals myself. That is where the similarities end, as Angus could quite possibly be the greatest rock n roll guitar-slinger of all time. And he still covers the huge stage end-to-end.
Hats off to MVP Brian Johnson who, while not perfect, was an excellent master of ceremonies and gave it everything he had vocally. No backing tracks or computers at this show. Just the greatest hard-rock band looking and sounding their age, but with as much energy as ever. It was glorious. I’m wiping away a tear now. The setlist was flawless. Mixing in a couple new tunes with more recent standouts and a healthy dose of Back In Black and Bon Scott classics.
Highlights for me were: “Shot In The Dark,” “Stiff Upper Lip,” “Riff Raff,” “High Voltage” and of course the greatest show closer of all time, “For Those About To Rock We Salute You.” Hell, every single song was a highlight.
Opening act and JCE favorites The Pretty Reckless served up an excellent set and bonded with the crowd, which is probably no easy feat. I was impressed. Watch This!
Parenting Gone Wrong With Sgt. Pepper’s
Two days after attending this show with my son, I was driving him to Chicago for a summer internship he lined up for himself. I thought it would be fun to listen to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band top to bottom just for the helluva it. It had been a long time for me and these streaming kids do not typically appreciate the LP format.
On one hand The Beatles are The Beatles and this is widely considered their masterpiece. On the other hand, rockers from Little Steven to Ricki C. cite it as the beginning of the end of real rock n roll. And the beginning of self-indulgent pretentious tripe.
Upon further review put me in the latter camp. On my scorecard…..
Great Songs: “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “A Day In the Life.”
Good Songs: “Sgt. Pepper & reprise,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Fixing a Hole,” “Getting Better.”
As for the rest…..kinda unlistenable.
And the sequencing is wonky. “Lovely Rita” is left for dead lyrically after the preceding lame tunes. What subjects are we writing about? They sound like Sesame Street rejects. And you can forget about The Electric Company or The Muppet Show.
Owen was polite while suffering through “She’s Leaving Home,” “Within You Without You” and “When I’m Sixty-Four” but I felt self-conscious realizing how lame this was. Especially coming on the heels of “Thunderstruck” less than 48 hours prior.
I’m sure if I was tripping balls in the Summer of Love Pepper would have been my favorite record too, but on this drive it just made me long for The Stones, The Kinks or The Who. So we settled on Let It Bleed and then The Replacements live set featured on the excellent Dead Man’s Pop reissue.
Parenting Gone Wrong/Right???
Out of nowhere..”Dad, is Paul Westerberg an asshole?”
“Uh, some people think so. Some don’t. It’s complicated.”
But obviously, I still love The Beatles. Speaking of the Beatles…..
Breaking Badfinger - The Very Best Side Of Tribute Bands
The CG2 (myself and Dave Masica) recently had the privilege of opening for Breaking Badfinger at Woodlands Tavern. Originally formed by John Estep (Jesse Blankenship) and Caroline O’Leary (Scrawl) to play at a mental-health awareness benefit (I played the same event w/ Rock Candy doing Montrose tunes) they decided to take it one step further and do 90 minutes of Badfinger tunes to a sizable and enthusiastic crowd of power-pop nerds.
John and Caroline led the 6-piece band (three guitars, keys, bass, drums) through their paces with each song presenting musical & arrangement challenges that should have been a mountain too high. Especially considering the modest financial rewards awaiting the band on the other side of the journey.
As tribute bands increasingly squeeze out original acts (which I understand as musicians and clubs need to pay the bills) Breaking Badfinger is a true labor of love that validates the entire concept. Not unlike Sgt. Peppercorn’s Marathon or KISS Unmasked Ohio (and others), this was a show by diehard fans for diehard fans. In these dark times, the love in the room was palpable and felt rejuvenating.
It gave me a whole new appreciation for the reason The Beatles signed Badfinger to Apple Records and for these amazing local musicians who put so much work into doing these extraordinary songs justice.
Overheard- “Badfinger were the original Big Star” - Mike Folker
Damn, he isn’t wrong. Why didn’t I make that connection?
I knew the hits. But give “Perfection” a listen. Timely and catchy as hell.
Ok, I have got to run. Coffee customers lining up. Peace.
Colin Gawel founded Pencilstorm, plays music solo and in the band Watershed, and wrote this at Colin’s Coffee in Upper Arlington, Ohio.
Hidden Secret Track!!! To prove my Sgt. Pepper bonafides, in 2009 I flew to Las Vegas to catch Cheap Trick doing the record live-mixed by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick himself. After the show Rick Kinsinger and myself chatted at the Hilton bar with Geoff and Bill Lloyd, who we later learned was instrumental in the Terry Anderson song “I Love You Period” ending up on Dan Baird’s debut solo record on Rick Rubin’s label which was produced by Brendan O’Brian.
Brendan also produced the most recent and excellent AC/DC record Power Up. Crank these tunes up. It will knock the corncobs out of your little baby ears. Compared to AC/DC, my actual band and your favorite band are an embarrassment to rock n roll.