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In the summer of 1998,
my last summer as a resident of great state of MI, I worked the freelance
A&E beat for the Kalamazoo Gazette, took any and every assignment
that came my way. What you see below are two of the stories I wrote
during that strange time. I say it was strange because those were the
bittersweet post-college postt-adolescent days and by then all my closest
friends had moved away from Kalamazoo except one who was just about
to move away and I was living in an apartment without furniture trying
to keep it together till September which is when I myself finally moved
away. I’m sure the stories were edited for inclusion in the paper
but they appear here exactly as I wrote them, not one word has been
changed, remember I was 23 at the time so be charitable.
WISH YOU
WERE HERE
Pink Floyd’s “Dark
Side of the Moon” is no longer just an album. It’s an epochal
happening in rock’n’roll history -- a permanent fixture on
the landscape of classic rock radio, where each of its tracks is a single
in heavy rotation. If that sounds like an overstatement, consider the
fact that “Dark Side of the Moon” has been firmly ensconced
in the Billboard bestseller charts, in one form or another, since its
release in 1973.
Now, twenty
five years later, Ohio tribute band Wish You Were Here not only pays
homage to every phase of Pink Floyd’s formidable career, but recreates
live “Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety.
The impetus
for Wish You Were Here began in 1987, when the Cleveland-based classic
rock band Harvest began performing a Pink Floyd Revue.
“We
were all just fans of the band and of the music, and it’s something
we did well together,” said bassist/vocalist Eric Sosinski.
Eventually,
Harvest became Tie-Dye Harvest and in 1994 their Pink Floyd Revue splintered
and expanded into Wish You Were Here, a full-time project.
Covering
another band’s songs can be dangerous territory as it is, but when
the band in question is as well-known and beloved as Pink Floyd, well,
the prospect is down right daunting. Wish You Were Here not only plays
all the songs generations of Floyd fans have grown to love, but also
utilizes a choreographed light show complete with rolling fog, pyrotechnics
and specially created sound effects.
“With
a Pink Floyd tribute, certain things are expected of you,” said
Sosinski, who also plays in the Grateful Dead tribute band Sugar Magnolia.
With that band, he explained, as with the Dead itself, there is room
for experimentation and improvisation.
“Wish
You Were Here is a little more rigid in terms of what people want to
hear. For example, the guitar solo at the end of ‘Another Brick
in the Wall (part two),’ we play that the way it’s recorded,
because everyone’s heard it a million times. With this band, we’re
going for the reproduction of the sound,” he said.
Not content
merely covering the material, Wish You Were Here also uses a certain
amount of theatrics to help capture the mood of particular songs.
“It’s
definitely a performance,” Sosinski said. “On ‘Nobody
Home’ I recreate the scene from ‘The Wall’ where Pink
is just sitting in a chair, freaking out.”
Perhaps surprisingly,
vocal duties are evenly mixed, with Sosinski and guitarist Jim Tigue
trading on and off between the David Gilmour and Roger Waters vocal
parts.
“We
split it up. I do more Roger Waters, though, because I have a higher
range,” Sosinksi said.
For its State
Theatre show, Wish You Were Here will play two sets. The first set will
be a thorough sampling of all the hits, from the Syd Barrett years through
Pink Floyd’s last album “The Division Bell.” For its
second set the band will perform the entire “Dark Side of the Moon”
album, open to close. To accomplish this feat, Sosinksi explained, they
are bringing along extra musicians to fill out the sound, including
a sax player and a female back-up singer.
Though a
light show is a large part of Wish You Were Here’s presentation,
Sosinski was quick to point out the differences between what he does
and the so-called Pink Floyd Laser Light Shows. While these events may
be intermittently impressive in their laser presentation, they are more
or less large-scale CD listening parties.
“We
try to do the light show tastefully, yet effectively,” Sosinski
said. “This is people up there performing the music.”
Wish You
Were Here will be at the State Theatre tonight. Tickets are . . .
SUGAR MAGNOLIA
For fans of the Grateful
Dead, long-time devotees as well as newer converts, the first week of
August is bittersweet. This is the time when Deadheads everywhere join
forces to both celebrate Jerry Garcia’s birthday (Aug. 1), and
also mourn his death (Aug. 9).
When Garcia,
who fronted the Dead for more than a quarter-century, died in 1995,
he effectively ended the band’s “long strange trip” and
left generations of dazed hippies wondering what to do with their summers.
But the music
and spirit of the Grateful Dead have been revived through tribute band
Sugar Magnolia. The band makes its first Kalamazoo appearance Saturday
at the State Theatre, as part of Shakedown Street’s third annual
Jerry Garcia Birthday Celebration.
Hailing from
Cleveland, Sugar Magnolia was formed a little over three years ago and
has been playing steadily ever since. In that time they have amassed
a repertoire of over forty songs, chronicling nearly every phase of
the Dead’s existence. Perennial favorites such as “Friend
of the Devil” are dutifully represented, along with more obscure
numbers.
“We
try to recreate the vibe of the shows, that real strong sense of community,”
said singer-bassist Eric Sosinski.
Sosinski,
who along with guitarist and lead vocalist Jim Tigue, moonlights in
the Pink Floyd tribute band Wish You Were Here, first became attracted
to the Grateful Dead’s music after he saw them play in ‘89.
His interest expanded over the next several years.
“I was
getting heavily into the Dead right around the time Jerry Garcia died,”
he said.
While Wish
You Were Here concentrates on recreating Pink Floyd songs note for note,
Sugar Magnolia, as with the Dead itself, focuses more on free-spirited
improvisation. The band bases each performance, from the shape of the
set to the pacing, around bootleg live tapes available through the extensive
Deadhead network.
“We
try to improv and interpret the way they would,” Sosinski said.
“We cover them in a way that pays homage to the way they worked.”
Typically,
the band plays a shorter first set, encompassing the more basic folk,
blues and bluegrass numbers. Then, following an intermission, they pay
their respects to the Dead’s more adventurous side, in a part of
the evening Deadheads refer to only as “space.”
Staging and
lighting are simple.
“We
just throw down a couple of oriental rugs, and let the music do the
talking,” Sosinski said.
This is again
in accordance with the standards and practices set by the Grateful Dead
on their hundreds of tours. And while the Dead’s music may lend
itself fairly easily to personal interpretation, Sosinski insists that
Sugar Magnolia strives to remain true to the source.
“With
a tribute band, you’ve got to give the illusion that (the audience)
is hearing, or seeing, that artist as much as possible,” he said.
Already a
hit in Cleveland, the band recently began branching out and hopes the
cultivate a larger following in the greater midwest. As expected, August
is their biggest month, with its deluge of Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead-oriented
festivals, and the birth and death days of a mythologized hippie hero.
Sugar Magnolia
performs tomorrow night at the State Theatre and Sunday night at the
Orbit Room in Grand Rapids. Tickets for the Kalamazoo show are $5 in
advance. Local merchant vendors will be present, as well as food stands
in the Grateful Dead traveling village tradition. Patrons are encouraged
to “join the vibe” by bringing their drums, guitars, etc.
Copyright © 2006
by Bryan Charles
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