RIP Kathi McDonald

Kathi McDonald passed away on October 3rd. Who? you might be asking. Kathi was the Northwest's own link with ROCK in a big, big way, but I doubt if any of the rock mags mentioned her passing.

Kathi was a member of Leon Russell's circus troupe that supported Joe Cocker on his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, she sang with the Stones on the "Exile on Main Street" album, she sat in the Janis Joplin chair with Big Brother and the Holding Company on some of their post-Janis albums --- and much, much more, as they say. She continued recording and performing here in the Northwest, still plugging away at it.

I think there's a fascinating story to be told of performers who were part of the earlier rock 'scene' who managed to continue their careers long after their early peak. I remember talking to a rep from a great (at the time) LP distributor in California and realizing "Crap, I was just on the phone with somebody who was in Big Brother!" or their resident Gram Parsons expert who went on to form his own band AND write a biography of Gram. These guys and so many like them managed to continue to work somehow in the industry they loved, certainly not at the same level as in their youth, but still.

So a tip of the hat to Kathi and the many more like her that had their brief shing moment and carried on. Rock and roll never dies, but sometimes it gets paid by the hour.

Last of the Summer Whine

Great summer ? Not so much for me, but, oh, those "golden autumn days", as Van said. The last few weeks were wonderful, so I managed to get in the last few spins of my favorite 'say goodbye to summer' albums, just before I dig out the Nick Drake and Sandy Denny.

So, four exhibits:

 

 

 

Exhibit One: "The Turning Point" by John Mayall. John's not a great vocalist, but what a band, what a langorous, stretched-out feel to "So Hard to Share", "California" and "Thoughts About Roxanne". Open the front door, open the back door, share the music with the neighbors...

Exhibit Two: "Hot Tuna" . For some reason, I play this when it's really hot (although when it's 'don't move a muscle' hot, it's time for the flutes, tablas and sitars). I know, white rich people play acoustic county blues. Politically, I should hate it, but I enjoy it too much.

One thing that ties the last two CDs together is that they both have bonus tracks -- no surprise in CD vs LP time -- but the bonus tracks are really good, and would have fit well on the LPs had vinyl been able to handle the 60+ minutes.




Exhibit Three: new Van Morrison! "Born to Sing: No Plan B". There's a reason this is #3, if you know anything about dramatic tension. This is the yes/no before the final thumbs up, just around the corner...
Bottom line: Van's assembled a crack band for this one. No, they're not even close to the Pee-Wee Ellis or Georgie Fame  bands, but they might be close enough, and they may expand in live performance. My dear wife and I underpacked our CD selections for our overnight trip to Concrete, so we heard this one A LOT. A few times through, we're sharing first impressions: a few 6-minute plus tracks work, lyrics hmm plowing the same furrows. But...there's a big media/promotion push -- Van's first studio album since 2003's "Keep It Simple"...and crap, librarian alert, there are a few major typos. Jeez, Van, can't pay a proofreader? It smacks of "here you go, I'm an artist, I don't care about marketing" -- but they got YOUR OWN LYRICS WRONG -- and they misquoted them in the fawning liner notes.

Finally, my latest summer favorite: the soundtrack to "The Descendants", and I haven't even seen the movie, so I'm not listening with some film scene in my mind. I know next to nothing about Hawaiian music, other than the Alfred Apaka LP my parents had (shrink-wrap bound and played never, except by me).

It's a very well selected collection, some instrumental slack-key guitar, some vocal, all of it seamless. It's not the tourist-centric music you may be familiar with, and for that I'm grateful to be able to hear a part of native culture I was totally unaware of. Great job!