Stage Fright 4. The Last Waltz

--> The Last Waltz: Arguably the best rock-concert-film in rock n roll history, directed by Martin Scorsese.

On Thanksgiving, 1976 The Band put on its “farewell concert appearance” at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. It was a free-for-all-musical-jam and a ton of great musicians came to honor The Band's departure from the road. In the past 30 years this concert has been recreated across the United States in California, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania and Minneapolis. Last Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, Pizza Plus hosted the Chippewa Valley's very own Last Waltz—or “Stage Fright 4” featuring local musicians. And it was good.

This is Stage Fright's fourth year and the brain-child of The Rhythm Posse, “a funky rhythm and blues band” consisting of Billy Angell on keyboards, Lucas Fischer on lead guitar, Levi Felling on drums and Jeremy Holt on bass guitar. Because the original configuration had a piano and a keyboard, Eric Pierson of Last Open Road joins them yearly for this production. The Posse+Pierson forms the core of the performance—The Band—and each year different musicians are tapped to assume the role of their famous counterparts.

I headed to The Plus early, ate pizza (thanks Jean and Charlie!) and watched as the people trickled in. This was Stage Fright's first year at The Plus. Previous hosts include The House Of Rock and The Stone's Throw. This was, by far, the best venue to date. And, because The Plus is a restaurant, it was the first “all-ages” show. I was delighted to see teenagers in the audience. The show started at 9:00 and by 8:30 it was standing-room only. There was a $5 cover and the proceeds were donated to Feed My People. More about that later.

I had my little black reporters' notebook. When the music began I strategically settled in (read: cross-legged on the floor, right in front of the stage—old hippies don't die, they just fade and tatter like their blue-jeans), to enjoy and take notes. And I took a load of notes. I wrote down each song, each musician and added my personal thoughts and observations. My original intention was to give a blow-by-blow but, as cool as the event was, that would just be tedious for both of us. Instead I'm going to list the musicians and the parts they played and write about some of my personal, subjective highlights from the concert. I'm also going to link to as many as these musicians as possible: They donated their time, asking for no other payment except a lively, appreciative and engaged audience. They brought passion and energy to the event and deserve so much more credit than this little blog could ever offer.

This year began differently from Frights 1-3 and really touched me. When my son, Toby, was younger part of our Thanksgiving tradition was to listen to Arlo Guthrie's “Alice's Restaurant.” Toby is spending Thanksgiving with family in Alaska, but I still got a piece of that family tradition when Nick Foytik kicked off the whole thing with a rousing rendition of the song. Arlo was not part of The Last Waltz, but he's appropriate to include because it's of the era and a Thanksgiving song. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but if you give it a listen you'll better appreciate the idea of covering it live. “Alice's Restaurant” is a story-song that starts with a Thanksgiving dinner “that couldn't be beat” cooked by Alice, leading to the arrest and conviction for littering and creating a public nuisance and then to the Vietnam draft. It goes for 25 minutes and Nick pulled it off beautifully. At the end of the song the whole audience was singing the refrain. Thank you, Nick Foytik.

I would be remiss if I didn't toss in a big shout out to graphic designer, Amy Schmitz, Nick's partner and the owner of Amy's Custom Designs for this year's Stage Fright's poster.

Rhythm Posse and the King Harvest Horns took the stage and the show began.

There's nothing better than a good horn section and The King Harvest Horns rocked. They consist of Sue Orfield on sax, Dave Burki on trumpet, Jayson Collins on baritone sax, and Tom Carlson on trombone. Jayson, Tom and Dave play with TheSue Orfield Band (SOB) and The Chippewa Valley Jazz Orchestra (CVJO). They didn't play every song but, like Rhythm Posse, were there for the entire event, bopping on and off the stage. Their skill and enthusiasm made the show. I gotta say it again: There's nothing better than a good horn section.

Roger Dinardi played The Last Waltz Theme on a cool synthesizer-thingy. I really liked his set-up; it's all packed away in an old-style travel-trunk with attached fold-up legs. He was accompanied on guitar by a young man (I didn't get his name, but am happy to add it if you know it).

The Posse-Band took it away with “Up On Cripple Creek” and “The Shape I'm In,” getting the audience all revved up. There was a pause as the band called to the audience for “Ronny Hawkins.” My heart sank just a little, because I was looking forward to this particular song. Just when it looked like it wasn't going to happen, Peter Phippin strode through the crowd and onto the stage. Dressed all in black, long hair pulled into a pony tail he grabbed the mic and started belting “Who Do You Love,” all big, snarly, charisma-y and rock n roll-ego. And, like Ronny in the original, he left the stage before the last note, and was gone. A one-shot-Hawkins/Phippen injection. Like cocaine, it left me yearning for more.

Will Chopper from Mojo Lemon, all dappered-up in hat and suit coat owned the keyboards as Dr. John on “Such A Night.” Paired with Tom Carlson on Trombone, the song had a raucous, old-timey feel that got me bopping.

Next up was B Squat Woody as Neil Young singing “Helpless” with back-up vocals by Catya as Joni Mitchell. Catya fans know her primarily for her blues singing and might not realize she has a 3-octive-range that lets her voice soar into the hemisphere. The sound was a little spotty, but Catya nailed it, nonetheless. B Squat Woody is a member of The Riverbenders which hosts a local variety show in Alma, Wisconsin called The Big RiverRadio Wave. You can hear them on Wisconsin Public Radio or go to the Big River Theater in Alma and catch them live. Word is they have The Best Christmas Show Ever going on tonight and that it will be aired on WPR later. I think it's very, very cool that he agreed to take time from his Thanksgiving holiday to participate in our show.

Caleb Horne, mandolin-player-extrordinaire joined The Posse-Band and Harvest Horns on “Rag Mama Rag” and Megan Hashbarger, Kateri Farrell and Koryna Flores took the stage for vocals on “The Weight.” They looked nervous at first and seemed to have a hard time hearing themselves on the monitors, but quickly warmed up and did a great job.

Lucas Fischer took the vocals on one of my personal favorites, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Luke's voice is tremendous and he did an amazing job.

After the intermission Billy Krause mounted the stage as Neil Diamond singing “Dry Your Eyes.” The casting for this song couldn't have been better. Billy is a singer-songwriter, well-known in the area for his poignant lyrics and gentle folk-style. “Dry Your Eyes” could have been one of Billy's and, in my humble opinion, he did it better than Neil Diamond ever did.

Catya took the stage as Joni Mitchell, singing “Coyote.” Again, fabulous casting. Catya's style is perfect for Joni's complex phrasing and chord changes. I got a kick out of watching her: at the beginning of the song she couldn't hear herself in the monitor and made a series of hand gestures to the sound-man, Ben White, asking for correction without missing a strum. A consummate professional.

Another favorite moment was when Gregg Wheeler played Paul Butterfield. Gregg Wheeler is an unassuming, laid back kind of musician whose tastes tend toward old country classics and lonely-sweet harmonica-playing. He was astounding Wednesday night, belting out “Mystery Train” and jamming out on the harmonica. He stayed on stage and accompanied Muddy Waters on “Mannish Boy.” Terry Demars of Mojo Lemon was a fabulous mannish boy and Terry sang his heart out. Mike Schlenker of Speed Of Sound rocked the house with his virtuoso guitar-playing as Eric Clapton on “Further On Up The Road.” Lizzy Diane was all long-hair, blue eye shadow and lusty-70s-style dress as Emmy Lou Harris. Caleb Horne leaped back up on stage with his mandolin and they sang “Evangeline.” Lizzie is a skilled songwriter in her own right with a unique style. Definitely check her out. Brian Bethke, another local singer-songwriter was an excellent Van Morrison and sounded more Van than Van when he sang “Caravan.” There were cool little touches, homages to the original, throughout the show and Brian's was when he reproduced Van Morrison's odd leg-kicks on stage. Fun and funny. One of the things that appealled to me most about this show is that—unlike the original—no one took themselves too seriously and everyone on stage was having fun.

The show signaled the wind-down when local thespian, Nic Sielaff, took the stage for the irreverent “Loud Prayer.” Then Wisconsin's very own Poet Laureate, Max Garland took the stage as the music-world's bard, Bob Dylan. Again, amazing casting. Max played an electric guitar and sang “Forever Young.” Time slowed down. Scanning the audience I saw people of a certain age, swaying and singing along to an anthem of days gone by:

“May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young.”

I found it profoundly moving.

Finally, the whole crew mounted the stage for the final song, Dylan's “I Shall Be Released.”

It was an incredible night. Yes, the sound was a little muddy. Yes it was a bit crowded. Yes, there were some blunders. Yes, there aren't enough women on stage (although Faith Ulwelling from Left Wing Bourbon was Muddy Waters last year and The Rhythm Posse seems more than willing to continue with gender-bending).

And yes, it was fabulous. Here's the thing; these musicians and this event increase our quality of life in the Chippewa Valley throughout the year. They're from all faucets of the musical-spectrum: classically-trained Jazz horns; folk singer-songwriters; blues; country; funk; bluegrass; a grammy nominated flautist. Young and old, seasoned and new, their talent is remarkable, as is their willingness to share that talent. I can't imagine living in a world without live music and I'm so very grateful to all the musicians in the Chippewa Valley for their gift of music.

It was such a pleasure to see Billy Angell behind his keyboard, grinning like a demon at the scene he'd created. He told me later that he's able to back out of a lot of planning in the past couple of years and that Lucas Fischer played a major role in putting 2013 together. And I gotta stress this: all the musicians did it for free. The $5.00 cover charge went to Feed My People and the unofficial word is that they (we!) raised over $900 for that charity. As Billy pointed out, there are a lot of Last Waltz's around the country, many of them demanding a ticket price of $20 or more. And those musicians are paid. I'll bet our musicians have the most fun.

As Eric Pierson said, “This is the single greatest musical cross-pollination of the year.”

Other mentions include:

Mike O'Brien, photographer. For pictures of Stage Fright 4, click >here<

DMI Sound: These guys work their asses off for music in the Chippewa Valley. You'll find them mixing sound for The State Theater, Volume One's Sounds Like Summer ConcertSeries, Blues On The Chippewa and Tuesday Night Blues. They rock.

Eight-Foot Squid has a full recording of Stage Fright 4 >here<

Finally, I'm going to include a link to another Chippewa Valley Music Blog, Freaks and Geeks.  I've used some of his musician bios as links in this blog. We're getting the word out!