Saturday, February 4, 2006
Mini Concert Review:
Beach Boys / Kenny and the Kasuals / Creedence Clearwater Revisited
Here’s a TexasGigs mini review you can fit in your pocket: Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Kenny and the Kasuals at Nokia Friday night.
GRAND PRAIRIE — Here’s a TexasGigs mini review you can fit in your pocket: Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Kenny and the Kasuals at Nokia Friday night.
Let me tell you this, it was great seeing K & the K’s on the big stage - just like their regular gig at the Lakewood Bar and Grill, as Kenny Daniel said to start the show. OK, so they can’t fit 5,000 in the Lakewood Bar and Grill. They played about a dozen songs from the 60s and got a warm reception. A very plump man seated behind me tapped his very plump hand on his knee most the show. I could tell he was a satisfied customer among many others, including one who appeared to be his plumpish wife. She wasn't quite as plump but I noticed she often tapped her foot during this set. The band was tight, they sounded good especially on the heavier songs. Great job, guys, hope you get to do more like this down the road.
The Beach Boys played next, switching spots with Creedence on the bill in case the really old folks wanted to skip out afterward (I overheard an usher say this to some really old folks who indeed skipped out after the set.) Lead singer Mike Love mentioned those PBS doo wop specials that come on every now and then, and their part of the show was kind of like that. Even though you heard those beachy harmonies, it’s just not the same after so much beach erosion. There are eight Beach Boys now (only two are from the good old days.) Then again, this group is/was such an American institution I couldn’t help having a fun time. Except when they played that freakin’ "Kokomo" song – man, I want to puke when I hear that, and for several reasons that I simply cannot disclose in a pocket review.
Creedence rocked, thanks to Fogerty-esque, baldy singer John Tristao and the great guitar work of Tal Morris. Nothing sounded dated. I swear, if they came up today they would be successful. Steve Gunner is the fifth member (originals are Stu Cook on bass and Doug Clifford on drums.) Gunner played some odds and ends – including at one point what appeared to be a pair of salt and pepper shakers from Pottery Barn. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but I didn’t get a lot out of Gunner. The CCR website says, “Gun provides live all the overdubs that were on the records.” Did they play salt and pepper shakers on those records? I felt bad because 4/5ths of the band was charged with the Creedence vibe. But Gunner looked like if the bearded Oak Ridge Boy and David Crosby were brothers and they had a middle brother, it would be Gunner and he just didn’t fit.
Mike Orren, says:
I love that this review pulls up Google ads for Pepper Mills.
Is it common parlance, or blasphemy, to call Revisited "CCR"?
While I used to agree with you about "Kokomo," once I learned its pedigree, I took a slightly kinder eye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokomo_%...
(I think Van Dyke Parks was involved too, but the WP entry doesn't note it.)
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Mike Orren, says:
Oh, and truth in photography, Blair: There are no 30-inch waists in our office.
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Blair Lovern, says:
We can all dream about 30-inch waists, can't we?! Kind of goes with the theme of last night - all of us Nokia people recalling a kinder and gentler time with our clothing.
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clay, says:
tis blasphemy&kokomo rocks
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Blair Lovern, says:
Full Kokomo disclosure: Although I don't think it's their best effort, it has less to do with the song than with a roommate in college who played it as soon as he got up every morning for about 1,474 days in a row, give or take, and it really seems to tip toward the "give" side in my damaged mind.
When the Beach Boys came out for an encore they said something like, "Here's one we haven't played tonight!" real enthusiastically. And I thought, "Alrighty, I can't wait to see what..." and then as soon as I heard "Aruba..." - no, as soon as I heard the first syllable "Ah" - heck, when he opened his mouth to take a breath to start the first syllable, because this song has been permanently burned without permission into the song-keeping part of my brain, I thought - well, hells bells. It just brought back a flood of memories about all kinds of things non-Beach Boys related you couldn't stick in a 600-page memoir, let alone a pocket review fit for a size 30 waistline.
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