Wild Bill Ketelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blog
Wild At Heart
I went to a couple of great shows this past weekend seeing Salt N Pepa in Buffalo, Lita Ford rocking it hard with Poison and Def Leppard (she’s my girl since the Runaways days) and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at a local campground. There was some good music in Detroit this past weekend including the Marshall Crenshaw and Mark Farner show at the Ren Center.
Since our schedules were not lining up for a phone interview, I sent some questions to both. I was hoping to get them posted prior to the show but I just got Marshall Crenshaw’s today and Farner apparently didn’t have time to work on them. Anyway, here are the questions that Crenshaw was cool enough to answer though I was hoping to get his opinion of local Detroit bands, esp since he has a DJ gig at this time, but here we go. I have always been a big fan of his song “Someday, Someway” which got frequent airplay on my radio show when I was on WXOU. Besides being a great musician and songwriter, he also portrayed a couple of icons such as John Lennon in the stage production "Beatlemania" and Buddy Holly in the movie “LaBamba". On with the questions:
2) With all the musical history present in Detroit, how influential was it growing up in the shadows of Motown as well as the rock N roll of MC5, Iggy, Cooper, Segar, Nugent, etc?
It was huge; music was bigger than anything else in my world as a kid, and Detroit is a musical place. People sometimes have a narrow view of what Detroit music is; one thing that's great about it is the diversity.
3) What is it about Detroit that has produced so many talented musicians over the years?
Lemme think. A lot of people in the Detroit area come from Southern backgrounds, there's a lot of that influence in Detroit music. Really, there are too many reasons for a short answer. The Detroit area is just a place in particular that loves music.
4) When I was in Detroit for my 6 years, I heard a lot of stories about some of the great venues this town has produced. What has been your favorite show you have seen in Detroit and what is your favorite venue you have played here?
There are a lot of shows I could list but I guess my favorite of all time was Jimi Hendrix at Masonic Auditorium with The Thyme and The MC5 opening (and the Soft Machine too). It was a great Rock concert, but the MC5 stole the show. I was 14 yrs. old so it was a big deal to me.. I saw a lot of great shows at the Easton Theatre in the early '70s, but the local Rock scene had gone belly up around that time.. I was a couple years too young to be part of the Grande era, but I went to a lot of what they called "teen clubs" out in the suburbs, lots of great local '60s garage bands, saw The Rationals at the State Fair in 66/67. My favorite venue to play now in Detroit is the Riverfront; it's a beautiful setting, beautiful atmosphere.
7) I noticed you have a radio show called "The Bottomless Pit", which can be heard online, on 90.7WFUV.org. I caught a bit of the shows and liked what I heard. For those who are interested, how would you explain to your audience the types of music you play and inspired the naming on your show?
WFUV is a great station, a really good home for the show.. I just play stuff from my personal record collection, stuff that I feel some kind of connection with.. Recently I did a tribute to the early days of WABX, when they played everything from Magic Sam to Igor Stravinsky, and it worked.
10) I was enjoying you website http://www.marshallcrenshaw.com/home.php and checking out your links page. I noticed that beyond the musical sites you had a number of news styled sites in your recommended links. Beyond music, what types of issues and stories get your juices flowing?
Again, there are a lot of possible answers. I'll just mention the last book I read, which was, coincidentally, "Hard Stuff", Coleman Young's autobiography. I didn't really live through his tenure, but the book made me a fan of his.
The weekend is almost here and I am getting excited about my weekend in Toronto. I have always loved going to Toronto and it is definitely my favorite city to visit. I just got my hotel room for the weekend set and despite being a bit farther away than I wanted (my original choice had their pool closed for maintenance) it is neat that they have a three story water slide. I will have some pictures this weekend from the Toronto Fan Expo and from my trip as a whole next Monday, however if you haven’t been paying attention, here are some highlights (at least for me).
The Top 5 Reasons I want to go to the Toronto Fan Expo.
1) They always have great guests but they tend to get some of the best outside of San Diego. This year they have my heart throb Gillian Anderson from the X-Files, Back To The Future actor Chriostopher Lloyd and film director John (Halloween, The Thing, Assault On Precinct 13) Carpenter. Those are my big money names but they also have Marvel Comic’s Stan Lee, John Rhys-Davies (LOTR, Indiana Jones), the sexy Rose McGowan as well as cast members of Criminal Minds, Torchwood, Walking Dead, Flashpoint, Dexter, etc as well as the cast of the upcoming UPN show Arrow.
2) Jay And Silent Bob are recording a podcast live from the convention. I missed them at the Royal Oak when they performed and I have been a hugh Kevin Smith fan for years.
3) Being a big comic fan, I always like meeting the great artists and writers. Last year is was the legendary Joe Kubert. This year it is Neal Adams whose output in the 1970’s and 80’s was some of the finest working on runs of Deadman, Batman, X-Men, Avengers and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. He set the gold standard for realistic writing and bringing social issues into comics, not to mention the epic Kree-Skull War in the pages of the Avengers.
4) While Tim Burton’s movies are becoming a bit more lackluster (Dark Shadows anyone), he is still a master of movie design and thy have an art exhibit from the upcoming “Frankenweenie” which should be worth the trip by inself.
5) Just watching sexy girls dressed in skimpy and revealing costumes. Nuff Said!!
The convention also has the Back To The Future Time Machine, a bunch of movie premieres and tons of giveaways (as well as plenty of stuff to buy). It is one of my favorite events on my social calendar and I’ll be covering it this weekend.
http://www.fanexpocanada.com/
I will also be checking out the new Gordon (X-Men & X2) Smith exhibit at the TIFF, the Ultimate Dinosaurs at the Royal Ontario Museum and Dead Can Dance at the Sony Theatre. All-in-all, it should be a great weekend and I hope to see some people from Detroit up there.
I am also trying to get more of my summer concert photos out and here was the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars. The band was formed by a group of displaced Sierra Leone refugees (hence the name) during the Sierra Leone Civil War. They tour to raise awareness of humanitarian causes and they really bring a true world music experience. On Saturday, Sept 8th you can drive down to Bowling Green, OH (you know it’s not that far) and see them perform at the Black Swamp Arts Festival. I went to BG back in the day and the festival is always lots of fun. I covered the festival three years in a row and it is just a nice time.
I was looking at this weeks schedule and not a lot was really standing out to me except a lot of good local bands. Next week sees the Detroit Jazzfest and Arts Beats and Eats so stay cool until then and check out these shows.
Wednesday (8/22) – David Sanborn & Brian Culbertson @ Chene Park
Thursday (8/23) – Lac La Belle opens for Orpheum Bell @ Magic Stick
Friday (8/24) – High Strung open for Will Sessions @ Magic Stick, Jessica Lea Mayfield @ Mickey Finns (Toledo)
Saturday (8/25) – John Lee Hooker Jr @ The Boathouse (Put In Bay), Citizen Smile & the Handgrenades @ PJ’s Lager House, St Thomas Boys Academy @ the Ritz (Warren)
Take care and look for some updates throughout the weekend and next Monday from Fan Expo 2012.