It’s A Vintage Weekend: Roy Loney (from the Flamin’ Groovies); The Hesitations

Hello, Cleveland and Parts Beyond!  It’s been a while since we’ve utilized our Beachland blog, as we’ve shifted the heavy online PR lifting to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  We’re saving this blog space – and your precious time and attention – to shows we feel are truly special and worth more than a quick post or tweet.  This Friday and Saturday are filled to the brim with great musical acts – Roy Loney, from legendary 70s rockers The Flamin’ Groovies, and Cleveland soul group The Hesitations – that you couldn’t really see anywhere else.  So we’ve taken the time to get you hip to the sounds that are going down this weekend!

In many circles, Mr. Roy Loney needs no introduction. But to many others, he seems like a footnote in the annals of rock and roll.  Fortunately for Loney neophytes, we’ve got some Cleveland friends helping us tell the story of Loney and his band, The Flamin’ Groovies.  Former Mirrors drummer and CLE alum Michael J. Weldon shares his insights into Loney via the site for his shop, Psychotronic and Mia’s Bead Shop, which sells a wide variety of far-out rock and roll collectibles.  Please note that this is a thorough interview with Loney , so make sure to settle in a comfy chair!  http://www.psychotronic.com/psychotronic-interviews/roy-loney

For those of you readers pressed for time, here’s a quote from the Flamin’ Groovies’ bio, provided by the ever-essential Trouser Press, that sheds light on these San Francisco forerunners of punk, roots rock, and DIY record labels:

Starting out in San Francisco as early as 1965 (actually predating the Grateful Dead!), the Flamin Groovies were always out of step with the rock world. Ten years before bands routinely released their own independent records, the Groovies issued a 10-inch mini-album, Sneakers; in the ’70s, when that same do-it-yourself spirit was inspiring countless innovative bands to try and challenge the old boundaries, the Groovies retreated to make albums of beat group nostalgia, wearing period clothes and refusing to acknowledge that times had indeed changed.

Always more cult-popular and influential than commercially successful, the Groovies, led by irascible but talented guitarist/singer Cyril Jordan and (until 1971) singer/guitarist Roy A. Loney, always embodied the rebellious, youthful spirit that fueled punk, but held tenuously to their musical roots — ’50s American rock’n’roll and ’60s British pop. In effect, they provided inspiration for countless bands (how many covers of “Slow Death” can you name?) and are legendary for good reason.

So you’ve got your Groovies lesson, then. Let’s fast-forward to 1979, whereupon Mr. Loney solo career boasted a blasting sound akin to punk rock (warning: cute kid alert at the end):

Here’s a 2010 updating of a classic Loney tune, served up for the madwomen and madmen of Madrid, Spain:

Loney plays this Friday, January 21st, backed by former CLE surfoholics The Purple Knifs (Waitresses and Walkin’ Clampetts guys who’ll be playing a set of their own).  Also on the bill are Living Stereo, most recenly remembered for a powerhouse Halloween set covering the Sonics.

Saturday night, we’ll have a homecoming of sorts for Cleveland’s very own Hestiations.  This 60s soul group’s brief career got them not only airplay in the States, but in Europe and especially in Great Britain.  That nation’s Northern Soul fans gobbled up singles like “Soul Superman”, “The Impossible Dream”,  “Who Will Answer”, and “You Can’t Bypass Love”:

“….the Hesitations are ready to work again; reunited in 2006 for a show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the four singers and five musicians discovered last March that they can indeed draw a crowd, headlining the Northern and Modern Soul Weekender in Prestatyn, North Wales and pulling 3,000 to 4,000.

The Hesitations will perform at the Beachland Ballroom on January 22, helping Beachland manager Mark Leddy celebrate his 51st birthday. A long-time fan of Northern Soul, Leddy says: ‘I generally use my birthday as an excuse to book some kind of show. Often, it’s a soul-oriented show, so it seemed like the thing to do.'” Carlo Wolff’s great, four-page article on The Hesitations on OhioAuthority.com

John Benson, writing for CoolCleveland.com, has also penned a profile of The Hesitations that’s brief and concise.  However, for the purposes of you, The Blog Reader, we’ll go back to YouTube vids that show the Hesitations in front of an enthusiastic UK crowd, having a good bit of cheeky fun with their hit, “Soul Superman”:

The Hesitations will perform on Saturday, January 22nd, with help from DJ Charles McGaw, and DJ Racecard, aka Lawrence Daniel Caswell, one of the voices on local NPR affiliate WCPN, bassist for the bands This Moment In Black History, Vernacular, and National Suicide Day, and all-around polymath.  It’s also the birthday party of Mark Leddy, one of the Beachland’s co-owners. Expect nothing but good tunes and good times.

Tickets are available at http://www.beachlandballroom.com.

EAS

Look Out! Soul is Back – Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Melvin Davis at Beachland

Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves this Sunday. Click for tix!

Soul music fans can’t fail in October.  This coming Sunday, we’ve got Eli “Paperboy” Reed, one of your best Beachland bets if you’re looking for blue-eyed soul backed by a powerhouse band. Here’s a cut from several years back on UK TV:

NPR, as always, provides us with a pretty comprehensive look-see at this young cat who’s reinterpreting soul for 2010 and beyond. They write:

With a big sound and upbeat songs, Eli “Paperboy” Reed and his band, The True Loves, play bright, ’60s-inspired neo-soul. While Reed may be reminiscent of another era, it’s more as if he was born at just the right time to absorb all of his influences — Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, O.V. Wright — and make his own style.

Listen here to NPR’s “Weekend Edition” interview with Paperboy Reed.  Much less brainy is an interview conducted by none other than that immortal women’s mag, Cosmo.  This is from their “Cosmo Girl” section, which means it’s loaded with genius bits like this:

CG caught up with Eli to find out where he gets his suave sense of style, what he was like in high school and what it takes to win his heart!

It’s nice to know that some things don’t change, huh? To find out more about ‘dreamy’ Eli, who’ll be playing at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern on Sunday, October 10th, read this funny and lighthearted Cosmo Girl interview HERE. Now, hide your daughters!

Though we love Eli and obviously want you to come hang out on Sunday, we realize that some of you fine folks out there are doing your best not to get hit by today’s “trying times”. That is, ya’ll got jobs, and we’d like to thank you for keeping America working. That also means Sunday night boogaloos are out of the question.

But for those of you who crave live soul music played with the love, swagger, and reverential funk of years gone by, we’ve got Melvin Davis and the United Sounds coming on Saturday, October 16th.

LIVE SOUL with Melvin Davis on Sat Oct 16. Click for tix

We’ve already written about Mr. Davis and his career in a previous blog entry, dating back to last January.   Let’s cut right to the chase, however, and play you some of his tunes:

And here’s Mr. Davis throwing down at that very same Beachland show, compliments of our friend, videographer tizzyplanet:

(careful, it’s a bit on the loud side)

To get you ready for these two hot shows, we’ve made a Pandora.com station chock full o’ soul that you can listen to right now online. To keep you stoked on Saturday night, your hosts for this show will be Lawrence Daniel Caswell aka DJ Racecard, and Mark Leddy aka DJ Mr. Fishtruck.

EAS

Drive By Truckers wrap-up, gospel singers, and lusty ladies

gospel singer Naomi Shelton, Wednesday July 28th.

Last Monday’s surprise Drive-By Truckers gig, a very special treat after our Old 97s show and in lieu of the Tom Petty / DBT gig being nixed at Blossom, was the stuff of Beachland legend.  Here are a handful hastily-taken pics for your pleasure. The point is, you’re getting to see just how packed and how manic it was…but it’s also a testimonial to how much people not only love the band, but the Beachland as well.  If you’ve got pics of that very memorable night, find us on Facebook, and cross-post away!

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Our upcoming Wednesday offers another show that could also be legendary, not unlike our early Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings gigs.  Another artist on the Daptone label, Miss Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, will arrive amidst great fanfare.  And they sure do deserve it, too. Look alive, and listen:

While you’re here, listen to this WNYC  interview with Miss Shelton.

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Much less holy, but no less fiery, is Friday night’s Burlesque-A-Pades show, featuring the Pontani Sisters (who’ve played here before with Los Straitjackets), featuring other national performers like Kitten Deville, and regional performers like Bella Sin.

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Naturally, we’ve got plenty more in the coming months, as we cast out our reel and pull up a nice, juicy August from Lake Erie: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles, Russian superstars Mumiy Troll, and unstoppable Latin funk band Ozomatli. It’s all at http://www.beachlandballroom.com. We make it nice and easy for ya.

– Beachland

Got Funk If You Want It – Trombone Shorty, this Friday

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, this Friday

Hailing from New Orleans’ 6th Ward Tremé district comes Trombone Shorty aka Troy Andrews and a hornful of funk.  And what says summertime more than some hot, wave-your-hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don’t-care grooves?

Let’s drop back a bit time-wise, 2001, where we can see a very young Andrews choppin’ it up on an Armstrong number alongside Cleveland native Dominick Farinacci.  Andrews kills this one on trumpet:

Fast forward many years, where Shorty is sharing the spotlight with one of his NOLA musical kinsmen, Wynton Marsalis:

And here’s Mr. Shorty and his totally dope group, Orleans Avenue. Don’t bump this too loud at work–or maybe you should, depending on who really needs a pick-me-up: 

Who Dat? Trombone Shorty. This Friday, at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern.

EAS