peter wolf

Peter Wolf fans are getting a treat this month, with Peter on the road for eight shows in 12 days. Dennis and I caught him at the Blue Ocean Music Hall in Salisbury on Sunday night. Last time we saw him was in May last year up in Portland, Maine, and I suppose that was the last time I gave him a listen. So it was good to dust off Midnight Souvenirs and Sleepless last week and squeeze them into the Van rotation, getting prepped for the show. Tonight I've got a Peter Wolf mix going on YouTube. You've gotta love YouTube. I think for my next vacation, I am going to take a week off and just watch YouTube. Some of the Peter Wolf videos they have up there are classics. Check out "Come As You Are"for starters, then "Lights Out"-- you'll get an idea of the energy this guy has.

And he brings it all to the stage. A dancing fool, with all the right moves, across the stage and down into the audience for a couple of songs for the ladies. He's got some seriously dedicated fans and they are in full participation mode all night long. Most of them go back to the J Geils days and could sing you every word coming out of Peter's mouth. Too funny ... about halfway through the show, Peter's in locomotion with "Wastin' Time" when all of a sudden, a transformer blows and everything goes dead up on stage. No problem; he turns to the audience and they sing the song through to the end. These guys know their stuff.

It took about half an hour, but they got the band hooked up to auxilliary power and away we went for the second half of the show. I don't know the song, I wish I did, but early in the second set, there was an instrumental featuring the pedal steel and double bass - a nice tribute to both of them. Great band - with Duke Levine on guitar, and on piano, Kenny White, who was also the opening act. Stellar pianist - his hands were a blur in the flourishes - and a captivating song stylist. White produced Peter's last three records, and when they're playing together up on stage, it's easy to see why it works. A big recommend for Kenny White.

As for Peter, he was his typical charged self. From "Must Have Got Lost" and "Love Stinks" to"Riverside Drive," "Nothing But The Wheel" and last year's "Tragedy,"he touched down on points throughout his career. It was an especially nice treat to hear "Women Are Lonely" from 1990's Up To No Good. Altogether, a superb show. Wish you were there!

finally, Peter Wolf in concert

After a short caledonia stroll around the block, we arrive at the front door of the Port City Music Hall just after 7. It's a cozy little spot, which we're told holds 550; even at that I don't think it was a full house. It certainly wasn't when we got there, still open spaces up at the very front, so I scooted up there to hold some spots while Dennis and Dan got us drinks. Good song selection coming over the speakers - a bit of Mink de Ville and Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf's All Night Long, another Mink de Ville.

By the time the opening band came onstage, there might have been a hundred of us clustered around the stage. I wish I could remember the act's name - two guys, Morris? Boris? Sludge? Sledge? and Jim Haggerty, forming the Morris/Boris Sludge/Sledge duo, or something like that. Their gave us a rousing 30 minutes, and if I knew who they were, I'd highly recommend checking them out. I guess you could go to one of the remaining shows on the tour and see for yourself.

I don't think Peter played for more than 90 minutes, maybe 100. But the set was jam-packed with goodies. After the first song, Peter had the event staff remove the barrier set up two feet in front of the stage, putting us in swarming distance when he'd parade along the lip of the stage.

As you might imagine, a substantial amount of the set was taken up with material from Midnight Souvenirs, and for each of the duet songs, including The Greenfields of Summer with Neko Case, It's Too Late For Me with Merle Haggard, and Tragedy with Shelby Lynne, he had a story to tell about how he got together with them to record the songs, including one involving two bottles of bourbon with Lynne. Early in the set he did Cry One More Time, describing it as a song of his that Gram Parsons sang. Peter had some good stories, and some funny ones - including how he got John Lee Hooker's business card. He's actually got the card up on his website. (While you're at the site, click on BIO and on the second page, there are two photos of Peter and Van back in the Boston days.)

The band was introduced as mainly the same as on the album, minus Larry Campbell (that would have been a shocker). We had pedal steel, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, with Peter on marimbas and harp when the occasion warranted. The only thing missing was the sax, which adds a huge sound in key places on the album.

Peter gets his whole body into the songs - a mix between Mick Jagger, minus the prima dona, and a gazelle. A man in motion. He gets the beat in his feet, and they get going, and the energy from the music seems to explode from his body, driving the song. Song after song, although sometimes he took a break for a sit-down on a stool, but never for more than a song, sometimes only half the song, and the music would hit his feet and he'd be off again.

It was definitely a J. Geils audience - when he pulled out Night Time midway through the set, there was a rush from the crowd; same for Must Have Got Lost and Love Stinks (where he got Boris/Morris to do the basso profondo voice in the refrain; a great touch). More of a raging guitar solo audience than a pedal steel one perhaps. They got what they came for in Looking for a Love, which closed out the first set. That song made the rest of the show seem like a Perry Como rap.

I highly recommend getting out to see Peter if he's coming to your town. The current tour goes until early June, and it's pretty much east coast, so if you get the chance, go for it! His voice sounds in good form. You know what else really impressed me - his diction. Impeccable - I could hear every word. I think he might be the only person I can say that about. Altogether a great show.

Thanks, Dan, for the photos!

breaking news: found needle in haystack

It all started in 1992, when Sleepless came out. That's when my quest to see Peter Wolf started. I hadn't been much of a J. Geils Band fan. Maybe I didn't give them enough credit, but to my "walking through meadows with Van" sensibilities, J. Geils was too short on lyrics and too long on frantic. Sleepless was a whole 'nuther thing. I liked what he was doing and wanted to see him do it live.

Chances of getting that to happen were somewhere between needle in a haystack territory and when hell freezes over, the big snag being he didn't play any shows. Every so often I'd hear a report that he'd showed up at some club somewhere, nothing announced. Enough to make my mouth water, little good that did me.

It must have been summer 2005 and Dennis heard about a concert held in conjunction with some arts and music festival going on down on Cape Cod; there were going to be a couple of good artists - James Montgomery and Marcia Ball on the bill, and I don't suppose we would have gone except for the announcement that Peter Wolf was going to join James onstage for a few songs.

So, we took the opportunity, figuring it might be the only time. It turned out to be an excellent night of music - I'd never seen James Montgomery before, so I was getting to hear his harmonica styling for the first time. It's good stuff - very intense, and I like that. He's a working man. Peter was the icing on the cake. He came out and played three songs, all three of which I've forgotten by now, and off he went. Dennis and I convinced ourselves that it was worth the three- or four-hour drive to the Cape. A legend in his own time. At least in my mind.

Flash forward to last month: Midnight Souvenirs was released, and that's pretty much all I've been listening to since. These days I don't get in a lot of music listening time, so it's pretty precious to me - as such, you're going to have ta' be a serious contendah if you're going to knock Van out of position. Wolf has taken over my listening airwaves.

Better still, Dennis found out that he was playing one night up in Portland, Maine, in support of the new album, and did I want to go? Um, yea! Peter Wolf in concert - a huge, huge item off my music bucket list.

The day of the show Dennis and I were driving up in time to grab a bite to eat and hoping to catch up for a pre-show quiet drink with Dan Hart, denizen of Portland. Haven't seen Dan since the big party at Rockwood Music Hall in in NYC last February, when we were in town for Van's shows at the WaMu.

It serves to remind me that for far too many of my friends, the only time I see them is before a show, and we've both got a drink in our hand. I'm sure there is a lesson to be learned here.

In the meantime, the three of us have a show to get to. Doors open at 7.

Note to self: I've got to learn to write shorter posts. Now I've got to put off my review of the show till the next post. I'll get right on it! Dan's sent me a bunch of photos he took at the show, so I'll have fun putting that together. Till next time!