Gary Puckett and The Union Gap 7/28/17 Hamden Town Center

What is it about 1968? Recent previous entry The Stylistics formed as did Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, must have been the hangover from the Summer of Love. Crowded Town Center for the final installment of the 2017 summer series. The benefit of riding the initial band success for almost 50 years is that the show is pretty well scripted. GP and the UG is no exception, they played songs from everyone and anyone with their "hits" sprinkled in. Lady Madonna, Quinn The Eskimo, Happy Together, Kicks, Runaround Sue, a bizarro Sonny and Cher song, a BeeGees tune were part of their repertoire. GP told a story of riding around the Arizona desert in a 68 red corvette with Glen Campbell which led into "By The Time I Get to Phoenix", natch. He is also of the age to pray at the altar of Elvis Presley, from which he pulled a few hits. Being "Union Soldiers", they did a fitting, but lengthy tribute to US veterans that came with a heartfelt plea to interact with the GP website in an effort to connect vets with available services. While I support and see the definite need for veterans affairs, for someone who was 5 in 1968, the conflicts which we have gotten into (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) in my lifetime have needlessly created a vet population. Striving for a world without war seems to be the best way to honor our military.

Reeves Gabrels 7/5/17 Cafe 9

Veteran shreadmeister Gabrels led his power trio into the 9. Gabrels' wife was manning the merch table handing out earplugs to anyone with an ear. Reeves has a colorful past playing with David Bowie in Tin Machine and axe-wielding for Robert Smith and The Cure. Shaved-head drummer, shaved-head bass, and Gabrels with, you guessed it, shaved-head played originals and covers with stadium style flourish. The song structure was similar, fractured Barrett-like vocals got sucked into the maelstrom that was Gabrels guitar soloing. Good covers of Bright Lights Big City, a slowburn bluesy intro to Who Do You Love?, ending with a rousing Messin With The Kid. I got a similar feel in Cafe 9 when I saw Adrian Belew, technically flawless stadium tested guitar pyrotechnics that blistered the club size crowd. Gabrels was a sight to behold, like some Seuss-ian Grampa that could shread like Eddie Van Halen, he even had a guitar tech bringing him the axe dujour.

The Stylistics 7/22/17 New Haven Green

Packed NH green for this seminal soul group. Four African-American male singers with matching white suits backed by a serious group of young musicians, bass, guitar, drums, and keys played the hits. For 49 years, the Stylistics have been plugging away on the soul train. Spotify the Stylistics and you'll remember songs, mainly from the 70s: You Make Me Feel Brand New, Betcha By Golly Wow, You Are Everything, Break Up To Make Up, and my personal favorite People Make The World Go Round. Mixtapes, CD ripped mixes, and now playlists I've curated have all payed homage with People Make The World Go Round either by this group or one of the many and varied covers. The enthusiastic crowd sang and danced for the whole set. I must say it felt good to be in the racial minority of the crowd, unity especially at a time when the racial divide seems to be politically exploding all around us.... People really do make the world go round.

Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Wood Brothers, and Hot Tuna 7/9/17 Simsbury Meadows

Good triple bill at a soccer field with a bandshell called Simsbury Meadows. Electric Hot Tuna was first up. Jorma and Jack are now in their mid-70s and have been road warriors mostly in an acoustic vein. Solid reading of Water Song from the Burgers album was the highlight. The Wood Brothers, Oliver on guitar and vocals, and Chris from MMW on bass (standup and electric) were joined by a drummer. This band has chops, and Oliver's southern twang was fantastic on the Band's Ophelia. My jamband life has seen Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks go from strangers to band mates to husband and wife. Their current lineup has 12 members, drums, horns, singers make quite the racket. The show was billed as the Wheels of Soul tour, with that many members the spotlight needed to be spread around. Good version of Bound For Glory. The Wood Brothers joined the crew for a rousing version of Sweet Virginia. Simsbury Meadows usually hosts the likes of the Hartford Symphony and were therefore ill-equipped to handle the beer drinking and peeing hordes of hippies.

George Clinton 7/8/17 Hamden Town Center

Highlight of the Friday night Hamden Bandshell series with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. The traveling circus that is GC and P-funk have been funkin it up since the early 70s. While the cast of characters has evolved through the years (r.i.p. Bernie Worrell), GC's loose booty brand of Afro-futuristic funk is a sight to behold. With anywhere from 8 to 20 people on stage, the crew lightly adheres to P-funk hits from the songbook. GC, who must be in his mid70s, has amazing stamina. Clad in a shiny papal frock and a Thurston Howell III cap, GC assumes the role of funk master of ceremonies. Guitars, sax, backing singers and dancers, a half naked drummer, rappers, and crowd cajolers all have their place in this troupe. After a rainy day, a large crowd was on hand for the spectacle. I didn't recognize much from the first set except a lengthy rendition of Flashlight. Given the late start, a less seasoned artist might have stopped after the first set, but this is George Clinton, and nobody is gonna stop the party but him. The "encores" went on for another hour touching on Walking The Dog, P-funk wants to get Funked Up, and Tear the Roof Off The Sucker, before the obligatory and incendiary guitar solo that is Maggot Brain. I got a sense that the town elders (and local police) were nervous that this party may never end. Alas, all parties must end, and this one closed with a great version of Super Stupid, complete with a crowd sing-along of "shit, goddam, get off your ass and jam!"

United Folk Festival 7/1/17 Westerly RI

Very thankful for some friends to lead the way to the first year of UFF. Free and open to the public, this amazing lineup of indie-folk acts was expertly picked. We hit the scene during Woods, this freak folk act from Brooklyn has been positively reviewed in this blog before. The lead singer has an alarmingly high voice ( not quite Roy Orbison territory), that once you accept ,you can dig in to the well crafted original songwriting. This tight band veers from pop to psych very easily. Next up was The Low Anthem, a Providence- based outfit that has strayed from its early folk Americana (the Oh My God, Charlie Darwin release is excellent) into straight noise land. While I appreciate a good noise outing, this racket sent the twirling kids in the front row straight for the safety of their strollers. Next, on the smaller stage was Michael Nau, a big fella in a trucker hat sang calming folk that brought the crowd back from the rings of Saturn where The Low Anthem must currently reside. Langhorne Slim came to the party solo. Langhorne, from the Philly area is hysterical, if he comes to your town please go and see him. Comical song intros about ADD, his love of old people, his demons and sobriety, and the need for human kindness in the Trump era were particularly poignant. His brand of high energy folk and audience participation bits made for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Next, on the small stage were The Barr Brothers. Brad on guitar and vocals, Andrew on drums were joined by another guitar, bass, and female harpist. The Barrs used to front the regional jam trio The Slip. The Slip were mainly instrumental jazz jam psychedelia. Towards the end of their run, Brad started to sing more and the Barr Brothers emerged. I watched the roadie mic the harp and told him I was a big Slip fan back in the day, he assured me that there would be no Slip material that evening. While the songs were different, the style of the brothers was very evident. The show closed out with one of my favorites, Blitzentrapper. These road warriors from Portland OR have been pegged with a "70s rock vibe", and I get the tag. The lead singer and guitarist has a well worn twang. Accompanied by bass, guitar/keys, keys/vocals and drums, Blitzentrapper is a festival staple. If I had to describe Blitzentrapper, I would equate them to those puffy South American sweaters worn by Starsky and Hutch, a comfortable period piece. You could sense that part of the draw for these bands, was the reverence for the lineup and the movement away from the craziness of Bonaroo. Getting old? Maybe, but in a graceful and rockin way

Gillian Welch 6/30/17 College Street Music Hall

No opener for this show, and was pleased to see signs "please no video, audio or photos- by request of the artist".  For the most part, the crowd complied which allowed them to focus on Gillian and musical partner David Rawlings. I have seen this duo before at a Newport Folkfest in the early aughts, they are still a polished country folk force from Nashville with great original songwriting. Over the years, this duo has released 5 stellar albums from Revival to The Harrow and The Harvest. Setlist included Orphan Girl, Red Clay Halo, My First Lover, Time the Revelator, Back In Time, I'll Fly Away, Scarlet Town, Hard Times, The Way that it Goes. Couple of encores that included Miss Ohio and some Johnny Cash rap followed by Cash's Jackson. Gillian did some knee-slap percussion and even some clogging ( cowboy booting?!) for good effect. I find it odd that the show and albums are just credited to Gillian, and not the Welch/Rawlings Duo. David Rawlings is an excellent picker and his solos got cheers from the crowd. Great harmony vocals, Gillian on acoustic and some banjo the near capacity crowd left happy with only pictures in their mind.