Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008 - (Page 14)

Downtown Live LAST CALL BRAWLERS continued from page 13 DONOVAN…AN ICON COMES TO TOWN By Jim Lipson ong before there was Madonna, Bono and sting, there was donovan. Granted, while many were aware he was in possession of a working surname (Leitch), he was the first of his generation to make the one word moniker stick. Given the realities of today’s skewed and star-driven entertainment world, this seems hard to imagine. despite writing and performing a string of hits between 1966 and ’69—including “sunshine superman”, “Mellow Yellow”, “season of the witch”, “Hurdy Gurdy Man”, and “atlantis”, among others, donovan’s fame never quite rose to the level of his contemporaries—namely the Beatles, stones, the who and the one he was compared to and linked with the most, Bob dylan. the first to be referred to as “the new dylan,” a quick listen to donovan’s first recording, Catch the Wind, is indeed reminiscent of the urban folk/blues sound that defined dylan’s debut some 2-3 years earlier. there was even a woody Guthrie cover, “car- car.” dylan (and his entourage), never comfortable with this, attempted to ridicule donovan, as evidenced in d.a. Pennebaker’s documentary Don’t Look Back, a film recounting dylan’s 1965 romp through the uK. although the movie does feature an anticlimactic meeting between dylan and donovan in a hotel room, there are no warm and fuzzy moments. dylan, as was his nature at the time, comes off as insecure and somewhat abrasive while donovan takes it all in stride. His ability to rise above the fray and get a sense of the bigger picture is perhaps what has allowed him and his music to endure. His follow-up to Catch the Wind, found him with a new manager, alan Klein and new producer, Mickie Most, who had produced hit records for several British invasion bands. with this change, donovan, like dylan, left the traditional folk blues sound behind in favor of finding and developing his own authentic voice. the immediate result was Fairy Tale. still a folk album at heart, it was also clear the young troubadour from scotland was much more than a dylan knockoff. His ability to transform his poetic visions into song, and without compromise, is what continues to distinguish him to this day. bbbb while donovan continued to churn out hit after hit, throughout the late 1960s, like the Beatles and dylan, his desire to push the creative edge never diminished. when he recorded Donovan Live in southern california, it was not only not a greatest hits record, but also employed parts of a jazz band to back him up. and when he recorded “Hurdy Gurdy Man”, he found Jeff Beck (uncredited) to play the lead guitar. Beck and his band later backed him for parts of Barabajagal, while future Led Zeppelin alums Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were also employed for session work. after taking some time off in 1970, donovan quietly retired to the deserts of southeastern california. In 1973 he reunited with Most to make Cosmic Wheels, a comeback album of sorts. while this LP garnered some critical acclaim, there were no hit singles. Fortunately that hasn’t kept him from the occasional tour or recording studio. 7-Tease, Sutras and Beat Café are three such diamonds in the rough. without a post-‘60s hit, however, he’s been flying under the radar. His tours are not world tours, are generally solo acoustic and seem confined to select venues around the san Francisco Bay area, Europe and the northeast. But none of this has diminished the desire to sing new material, the power of his voice or the sharpness of his dry wit. at a show in san Francisco in 1995 he mentioned that some Hollywood producers called him asking for his permission to use “Mellow Yellow” in the follow-up to the Brady Bunch movie. He asked for the context in which it would be used, and they told him it was a dinner scene where the maid puts Lsd in their meatloaf, they all eat it, and then the song comes in. “so I said, ‘Yeah, all right.’” when he takes the stage at the Fox, hopefully he’ll not have tired of telling the story behind “Hurdy Gurdy Man” being written in India for the Maharishi, complete with the great John Lennon reference (“that’s a good little guru!”), and the lost verse by George Harrison. Donovan will appear on February 9 at the Fox Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $32.50-$90. l an instant classic, i.e. ‘tony stark.’” there are quite a few instant classics on Pointing Fingers. Gone But Not Forgotten is a rad little punk rock romp, Voodoo Doll sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack for Marlon Brando’s The Wild One, albeit on speed with red lipstick. Smitty should be made into a film short, by david Lynch, in black-and-white on 35mm. the macabre song is based on a 1960s tucson serial killer. “we always wanted to write a song about charles schmid, the Pied Piper of tucson,” the band said. “But every time we tried something out, nothing seemed to really flow. “then one day Justin wrote this instrumental surf song and Eric was like ‘Hey man, I got some lyrics for that song’ and along came Smitty. “It’s one of our favorites on the album. Kinda like southwestern-surf?” the band is releasing Pointing Fingers on their label, Los Muertos Records. LcB said “L.M.R. will be releasing a comp in april and another new Last call Brawlers album by the end of summer.” In addition, the Brawlers promise the following: “the cd release party is gonna be a really big event in tucson. we got wolfman & the nards and the dead tones opening the show. channel 4 and 9 are doing stories on L.c.B. and the release show, the stories will air Friday night, the night before the show.” The Hut, 305 N. 4th Ave., hosts the rock on Saturday, February 23. Listen to the tunes online at www.MySpace.com/LastCallBrawlers. DEAN AND BRITTA continued from page 13 My favorite song is The Sun is Still Sunny, a simple dean & Britta harmony, with drums and acoustic guitar. dean & Britta perform at club congress on wednesday, February 20. Keren ann, a headlining performer in her own right, will share the bill. as I listen to her excellent self-titled 2007 album, her electric guitar in It Ain’t No Crime pierces my soul and gives me a taste of the bitter in the sweet. - dan twelker Host of Dr. Dan’s Road Show, a radio preview of bands and artists coming to Tucson. Broadcasting Tuesdays from 10:00pm to midnight on 91.3FM KXCI. 14 downtown tucsonan.february.08 http://www.MySpace.com/LastCallBrawlers http://www.MySpace.com/LastCallBrawlers

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008

Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008 Contents From the Editor Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Restaurants & Cafes Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performances Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Downtown Travelogue Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008

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