I Just Saw The Replacements Play in Denver. Actually,.. by Colin G.

I just saw The Replacements play in Denver.   Actually, that isn't exactly true. I saw Tommy Stinson and Paul Westerberg play 23 Replacements songs with two other dudes in a dusty hole 80 miles east of Denver. And it was great.

Q: "Wait just a second, I read Hitless Wonder and I'm wondering how you and Mike "Biggie" McDermott ending up seeing this show in Denver when you could have caught it in Chicago the week before? Did you guys hit the Powerball or did Biggie just prefer driving the van an extra 1200 miles for the hell of it?"

Speaking for myself, it doesn't take an accountant to figure:  coffee sold + music royalties - real life expenses = way less $ than it takes to fly me to Denver for a rock show. But that is exactly what happened.

As Mats' guitarist Slim Dunlap use to preach to me at a very impressionable age, "God* takes care of his writers and musicians. He may not get you a new car, but he gives you little gifts every once in awhile to let you know that he appreciates you. The key is to notice those gifts and not get hung up on what everybody else is getting. If a pile of cash is important to you, work at a bank. Songwriters get different gifts."

So about a month before this show, I get a call out of nowhere from a longtime Watershed friend who happens to live in the Denver area that I haven't heard from for a  while. "Hey, you and Biggie need to get your asses out here to see the Replacements show. It wouldn't be the same without you. It's on me. I got your tickets and just booked your flight. See you there." (click)

Now that is an offer you can't refuse. And a pretty obvious gift from whomever doles out that sort of thing.  

Speaking of Slim, sadly, his illness is also the reason Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson ended up wearing pink skirts performing in a dust bowl for Biggie and myself. Slim had a serious stroke awhile back and a number of musicians released some music to help raise money for his health expenses. (Unfortunately, health care is not a gift typically given to musicians.) Anyway, Paul and Tommy reunited to release a single as The Replacements and I can only assume had enough fun to want to play a couple of gigs in the meantime. They paired up with Paul's original solo band compadres David Minehan (The Neighborhoods) on guitar and Josh Freese (everybody!) on drums to round out the line-up. The show in "Denver" was the third and final of a three show run as part of Riotfest. The previous two shows were in Chicago and Toronto.

The reason I write "Denver" is because although the flyers said "Denver" the actual show was 80 miles east of Denver at May Farms, which, to the naked eye, looked to be a dirt farm.  It would be like advertising a show in Columbus while setting up the stage in Tipp City. 

I'll write another post about the rest of the bands at the festival soon, but let's stick to The 'Mats for now. I was curious about the crowd make-up for the event, because even as an over-the-hill rocker myself, I would be on the young side for a typical Replacements fan. I had never even heard of them until Joe Oestreich showed up at the Watershed house on 65 E. Patterson with a copy of "Don't Tell A Soul" and said, "Somebody said we should check this new band out". We listened, weren't impressed, and if I recall correctly even went so far as to sell the record back. (Probably got a good trade on the latest Dokken or something.) 

But then two things happened that changed my life forever. I turned twenty-one, so I could now drink beer whenever I wanted and I purchased a used copy of The Replacements "Pleased to Meet Me" on cassette tape. The opening of "I.O.U." tore open my sheltered suburban soul and suddenly a world appeared where I could hang out at bars in the afternoon if I felt like it. Like Slim once said, "When Tom Petty stands behind a microphone everybody feels safe. When Paul Westerberg stands behind a mic, it feels dangerous." 

The Replacements gave me the guts to push the envelope a little bit. Not to the point of real trouble, but just enough to quit being such a pussy. You know, if you happen to stay up for a few days and make out with a stranger every once in awhile, the world isn't going to end. Embrace a little danger. And Paul's lyrics were like discovering a long-lost brother I never knew about. A really smart, older, crazy brother.  The songs of Ray Davies, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Westerberg shaped me, for better or worse, into the person I am today. And I am not talking about musicality, I am talking about my actual personality. 

So yes, I was quite excited to see Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson perform together again as I stood about 30 feet straight back from center-stage with a mouth full of dust and my ears still ringing from Iggy and The Stooges. 

I won't bore you with a review of the show as actual music writers do a very good job of that already. I will say that they looked and sounded great. The crowd was about 7,000 strong and knew every word. I was probably in the middle, age-wise. The younger kids are hip these days, so quite a few hung around to see what all the fuss was about. The ones I saw seemed to be digging it. 

I suppose some Albini types could knock the band for going on a nostalgia trip but I don't think that is fair in this case. I mean, they hadn't played in 22 years so it's not like they are out milking it, and, more important, these songs deserve to be played. To paraphrase Pete Townsend - "Write your own fucking songs and then you can choose not to play them. I'll do what I want with mine."

Speaking of songs, the set-list is as follows: Takin' a Ride, I'm in Trouble, Favorite Thing, Shiftless When Idle, Hangin' Downtown, Jingle Jangle Jingle (Tex Ritter cover), Color Me Impressed, Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out, Kiss Me On the Bus, Achin' to Be, Androgynous, I Will Dare, Maybelline (Chuck Berry), Merry Go Round, Wake Up, Borstal Breakout (Sham 69 ) , Little Mascara, Left of the Dial, Alex Chilton, I Don't Know, Hold My Life, Can't Hardly Wait, Bastards of Young. Encore: Hootenanny 

Having never seen The Replacements before, just Paul solo, it is always interesting to notice what songs the band seems to really enjoy playing. Maybe they aren't the best songs to listen to, but just fun songs for the band to play, dig? I would throw "Hangin' Downtown," "Tommy Get His Tonsils Out," and "I Don't Know" in that category. The version of "Androgynous," sans keyboard was stunning. I was mildly disappointed they blew off show-closer "I.O.U" after an inspired mess of "Hootenanny," but really, it was all I could have asked for and more. Okay, got to run. I hope to write another essay soon about the under-appreciated Tommy Stinson and some thoughts on the other bands at Riot Fest, but don't hold your breath. I've got a kid to raise, a coffee shop to run, songs to write and The Wire  to watch. Oh, and football & baseball. I'm swamped. 

* God, as in some mysterious higher power. Not the one made famous from the Bible. 

Colin Gawel writes stuff sometimes for Pencilstorm . Learn more about him and the other contributors by clicking here.

Below are my favorite three Youtube clips of the show. 

Somehow I ended up backstage and on stage for THE REPLACEMENTS in Denver. I hate people who take videos at shows, but it was THE REPLACEMENTS, when are you ever going to get this chance again? Here is a video of them playing BASTARDS OF YOUNG! Make sure to watch CAN'T HARDLY WAIT!

The Replacements playing "Androgynous" into "I Will Dare' live at Riot Fest 2013 in Byers (Denver), Colorado. 0:00 - Androgynous 3:53 - I Will Dare Filmed on my HTC One on 9/21/2013.

The Replacements' performance of "Takin' A Ride" on the Riot Stage at the Riot Fest Denver http://riotfest.org, September 21, 2013 in Byers, Colorado.

The First Time I Saw The Replacements by Ricki C.

The first time I saw The Replacements was autumn 1983 at Stache & Little Brothers – a 170-capacity hole-in-the-wall club in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio – that everybody here called Stache’s.  (I also later saw Richard Thompson, Joe Ely, Lucinda Williams, Soul Asylum, Dave Alvin and a fuckload of other acts there, but today we’re talkin’ Replacements.)

I know Hootenanny was already out, but I don’t know if Let It Be was.  I do know that Westerberg & company were being touted as The Next Big Thing in “alternative rock” after REM, so I wanted to check ‘em out.  The Replacements staggered up onto Stache’s “stage” – literally one step up from the floor – and lurched into some kinda unholy din that I think was supposed to resemble a song.  Bob & Tommy Stinson were cutting huge ragged swaths of guitar & bass noise through the Stache’s PA, but nobody was anywhere close to being in tune, nobody was changing chords at the same time (if indeed those WERE chords being played) and Westerberg was so drunk you couldn’t understand a single word he was singing – it was a MAJOR fucking train-wreck of a set.  The only person even close to being on the ball was drummer Chris Mars, who was striving manfully, single-handedly, to hold the songs together, and he was failing, badly.

I was standing at the back of Stache’s by the soundboard with local scenester Ron House that night, surveying the carnage that was The Replacements, and I shouted over the din, “These guys are supposed to be The Next Big Thing?  This is HORRIBLE.”  Ron, yelling back in my ear, concurred and Ron and I seldom agreed on ANYTHING.  Just at that moment – fully a half-hour into the set – the band launched into “Take Me Down To The Hospital” from Hootenanny and it was fucking FANTASTIC!  They were AMAZING.  It was really quite unbelievable.  From “Hospital” they went into the yet-to-be-released “Unsatisfied” and it was even better than “Hospital.”  They went from total indeterminate, out-of-time, out-of-tune noise to one of the greatest rock & roll bands I’d ever seen in the course of three songs.  “Can you believe this?  They must just have been getting warmed up before.” I yelled to Ron, unable to take my eyes off of them.

And then, after “Unsatisfied” they went right back to sucking.  Right.  Directly.  Back to sucking.  Ron and I just stared at the stage and then at each other as the band veered off-course back into The Rock & Roll Wasteland.  They did that at least two more times in the course of an hour & ten minute set.  They would be world-beaters for a song or two, and then go completely off-the-rails for four or five more.  It was the weirdest, most off-kilter set of rock & roll I have ever witnessed.          

I’ve said ad infinitum for years that all of my standards of rock & roll professionalism are based on the 1969 Who – nature’s most perfect rock & roll organism – and in all the times I saw The Replacements (four or five more shows, at least) they never even managed a competent live show, let alone the lofty heights of Townshend & Moon and company in 1969.  (Plus, it’s not like I don’t understand loose, sloppy & fun in rock & roll.  I saw Rod Stewart & the Faces a number of times and they were great.  The Replacements weren’t loose, sloppy & fun, they were just drunk & shambolic.)

The last Replacements show I saw – in 1991, with Slim Dunlap on lead guitar, at the Riverbend outdoor venue in Cincinnati, opening for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – the band was a defeated, downcast, worn-out, ghostly echo of its former self.    That show was just tough to watch.  Until his first solo tour, promoting 14 Songs in 1993 at Peabody’s Down Under in Cleveland, I never saw a Paul Westerberg song played competently.  (That first solo tour backing band, by the way, included David Minehan – drafted in from Boston’s superlative pop-punk assemblage The Neighborhoods – on lead guitar and Josh Freese on drums, who now reprise their roles as Bob Stinson & Chris Mars’ substitutes in the new Replacements.)  (Notice how I avoided an obvious bad pun, there?) 

The long and the short of it is; I should not have had to wait a full TEN YEARS – from 1983 to 1993 – to see justice done to the songs of The Replacements.  I should have seen it the first time I saw The Replacements.  I wish I could go along to see it this Saturday. - Ricki C. / September 7th, 2014.  

Next time: In 1985, Ricki C. turns down a job as a roadie for The Replacements. 

Tommy (Ramone) Erdelyi Talks About Producing The Replacements: Full Interview

It's Replacements week here at Pencilstorm. Along with my Watershed pals - Hitless Wonder author Joe Oestreich and the living literary legend, "Biggie" - I have been invited to St. Paul, Minnesota, to witness The Replacements' homecoming show on Saturday September 13th at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, MN. In honor of this we decided to knock out some 'Mats-related material for your enjoyment. 

Getting stoked for the show, I stumbled onto to this unedited footage of Tommy (Ramone) Erdelyi talking about producing the Mats' classic "Tim". The footage is so raw they even have to toss a few drunks out of the bar for interrupting the shoot. Bits of this were used for the unauthorized 'Mats bio pic "Color Me Obsessed" and if you haven't seen that movie, you should. Brian Phillips and I screened it one month awhile back for our Reelin' and Rockin' at the Gateway film series. Anyway, got to serve some more coffee. Enjoy!  - Colin G.

Tomorrow:  Ricki C. tells the tale of the first time he saw The Replacements. 

The complete unedited interview with Tommy Erdelyi (Ramone) for Gorman Bechard's documentary COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS. The deluxe 2-disc DVD edition is available everywhere. Buy it now: http://www.amazon.com/The-Replacements-Color-Obsessed-About/dp/B0091JJ24Q/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y Visit the Color Me Obsessed wesbite: http://www.ColorMeObsessed.com

The Replacements Perform on Jimmy Fallon. Click Here to Watch.

It's Replacements week here at Pencilstorm, as we are getting stoked for their big homecoming show in St. Paul, MN, Saturday, September 13th. Here they are performing "Alex Chilton" on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Keith Richards was a guest the same night. Wow. - Colin G.

Click here for link to our music page with more Mats' and even more than that.

Music guest The Replacements performs "Alex Chilton" for The Tonight Show audience in their first TV appearance together in 25 years.

My Dad Was The Greatest Person I Have Ever Known - by Ricki C. (Vet's Memorial pt. 4)

VANILLA FUDGE / APRIL 28th, 1968

When I went to see rock & roll acts at Vet's Memorial in the 1960’s, it wasn’t all Bob Dylan & the Hawks, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who; occasionally there was a little Vanilla Fudge mixed in there.  Vanilla Fudge – for the uninitiated – were a second or third-level rock band of the 60’s who specialized in Heavy Versions of soul & Motown tunes.  (Their biggest radio hit was a proto-prog-rock cover of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.”)  

I had to have a hook and a date to hang this month’s Vet’s installment on, though, so Vanilla Fudge got the nod.

What I really want to write about this month is the reason why I got to see all those 60’s rockers for free, and that reason was my sainted Italian father, Al Cacchione Sr.

My dad was the greatest person I have ever known.  He died 45 years ago this week, of a heart attack at the age of 56 when I was 17 years old, in my senior year of high school.  My dad gave me my whole world.  Starting when I was 13 years old in 1965, dad started to get me into shows at Vet’s, where he worked in the ticket office.  It was my father's nighttime job after his day job at Columbia Gas of Ohio.  Dad saw how interested I was in rock & roll and started bringing me along with him to shows.  I was an incredibly shy, introverted child and I think the fact that I was willing to leave the shelter/womb of our home on Sullivant Avenue to see a rock & roll show heartened my dad so much he'd have brought/driven/conveyed me anywhere, let alone the three or four miles it was from our house to Vet's Memorial.

Dad gave me other stuff: he bought me my first guitar and he instilled in me a love of traveling.  In 1962, when I was 10, a couple of years before The Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and Changed Everything, dad had started to take my older brother and I to Cleveland Browns football games.  We would stay at the Sheraton Gibson Hotel right off Fountain Square.  The Sheraton Gibson, and hotels in general, became MAGICAL to me.  You could LIE IN BED and watch television.  You could TAKE SHOWERS.  Our bathroom at home sported only a claw-foot bathtub, so you have no idea what an impossibly decadent extravagance a shower was to the little West Side boy I was in 1962.  

My dad was absolutely the reason I became a musician and roadie.  I remember very clearly one night in 1965 on the way home from Vet's, when dad was explaining the concept of touring to me: that musicians had to be on the road all the time.  I just looked at him wide-eyed and said, "You mean all these guys do is play guitars & drums in a different city every night and stay in hotels in between?"  I was incredulous.  I was dumbstruck.  Dad couldn't have possibly realized what he had just done.  He might just as well have stamped Unfit For A Normal Job Of Any Kind across my 13 year old forehead right at that very moment.

When my father died I think I had a little nervous breakdown.  There are big gaps in my memories of my childhood and teenage years.  It’s one of the reasons I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to go downtown and witness for myself the absence of Veteran’s Memorial from the West Broad Street cityscape.  There are just too many things in my life that are gone forever, I can’t take the big gap that Vet’s Memorial represents, where my dad took me to see the rock & roll.  - Ricki C. / April 25th, 2015

(a different version of this piece ran as Birthday Blog in Ricki C’s site, 
Growing Old With Rock & Roll, June 30th, 2013)

SHOWS I SAW AT VET’S MEMORIAL APRIL HONORABLE MENTIONS

April 23rd, 1968 / The Turtles, Neil Diamond, Every Mother’s Son

April 17th, 1971 / Elton John (when he was still a rocker, before his interminable weekly singles off his monthly albums later in the 1970's)

Don't Miss This! Aaron Lee Tasjan w/Joe Peppercorn Tonight @ The Treebar. 8:30pm

You'd be hard pressed to find two better musicians playing a cooler venue anywhere in the world than Aaron Lee Tasjan and Joe Peppercorn performing at The Treebar Thursday April 23rd. Showtime is 8:30 sharp and though I have no idea what cover is, I'm sure it's way too cheap for the songs you will receive. 

Combined, the list of accomplishments these two have racked up are too many to mention so let's just let the music do the talking. Go check it out.

Two badasses, one stage, and one half of a big tree.