Duluth Does Clapton: Sacred Heart Kicks Off 2020 with a Bang

If you want to start an argument amongst music fans, ask this question: Who's the greatest guitar player of all time? Some will swear it's Hendrix. Others Eddie Van Halen. Still others... well to some Clapton was God.

EdNote: We interrupt this blog post to say that if you've ever seen Tuck Andress of Tuck & Patti, there would be no further discussion.

Actually, I personally dislike all such blather about the best Dylan album or best Beatles song or best drummer or whatever. I always say, "By what criteria?" There's just so much talent in this field. Jimmy Page, Mick Taylor, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, and on and on.

Personally, some of it comes down to the kind of music you like. And part of it comes down to their entertainment value as performers. I think here of Townshend and Hendrix.

I was never into Prince, but he was phenomenally talented. Zappa and Santana are cut from different pieces of cloth, and each an innovator in their own ways. I once worked with a fellow whose allegiance was to Mark Knopfler, and once had a friend who swore by Jeff Beck.

EdNote: One of Jeff Beck's classic cars appeared in an ad I created once for Rodder's Journal. Thank you, Mr. Beck, for permission on that. 

I first began listening to Eric Clapton in high school. I had all three Cream albums with Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Clapton was really just a kid there, but a phenomenal talent from the getgo. I loved the music, loved the lyrics and loved the psychedelic album covers. I purchased Blind Faith as soon as it came out, with the original "indecent" cover featuring a young girl holding an airplane.  And when George Harrison's All Things Must Pass came out after the Beatles breakup, sides five and six got the most play time, with Clapton accompanying a team of players in an Apple jam. And I've still never tired of Derek & the Dominoes to this day.

DULUTH DOES CLAPTON: 

A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF ERIC CLAPTON

January 25, 7 - 10 p.m. @ the Sacred Heart Music Center (SHMC)

DETAILS HERE & TICKETS HERE

THE DULUTH MUSIC SCENE has as much talent as any music scene anywhere in the country. This includes Hollywood, Austin, Nashville and the Big Apple. You can check it out each spring during our Homegrown Music Festival the end of April/beginning of May. That's why this Sacred Heart  Tribute Series is so phenomenally rich.

Setting up for another Armory Arts concert to kick off Dylan Fest

According to Mark Nicklawske, SHMC Board of Directors Secretary, "The Duluth Does series really brings the Duluth music community together and showcases what a strong, creative and talented group of musicians we have living in the Twin Ports. It promotes the work of world-renowned masters like Clapton and at the same time gives a stage to hard-working local musicians, exposing their talents to a large audience. The series is organized and run entirely by volunteers and the musicians donate their time and talents. All the money raised through ticket sales goes into maintaining the historic Sacred Heart building and supporting its programming and projects."

In recent years Sacred Heart has hosted Duluth Does Tom Petty (about a year after his death), Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King & James Taylor (in one show). One even higlighted Low, with Alan Sparhawk sitting in the audience.

"The mastermind behind all this is Eric Swanson," says Nicklawske. "Eric is the SHMC sound engineer, former SHMC executive director and co-owner of the SHMC recording studio. Eric picks the artist to honor, puts out a call for acts, organizes the set list and produces every facet of the performance. He's amazing. Without Eric's hard work organizing and producing these events they would never happen. Eric puts in hours and hours into organizing the show and works days in advance setting up the stage and sound system and then tearing it all down afterwards. He does it all for Sacred Heart."

I can testify that Sacred Heart is an amazing venue to perform at. I've had the opportunity on a pair of occasions in conjunction with the Armory Arts concerts during Dylan Fest. During the setup, Eric Swanson and team spent a full half hour adjusting the mics to capture the piano I would be playing "What Good Am I?" on for optimal sound quality.

Best sound technicians, best venue, best local talent... performing one of the true greats of our generation. It's time to order tickets because I'm certain this one will sell out.

Related Links
Sunshine of Your Love, Cream at the Revolution Club, 1968.
Clapton Autobiography Has Me Plugged In
Clapton Autobiography Proves to Be A Worthy Read

Three Versions of "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You"

I remember where I was when I first heard Led Zeppelin. 1969. Their first album had just been released and someone turned us on to it in Scott Homan's basement. Scott and a couple other kids were forming a band and I sometimes used to sing with them, though I was too shy to perform live. The power of Zeppelin's music with Robert Plant's vocals was devastating. From the opening chords our music stopped and all we could do was listen. Three cuts were especially riveting: "Dazed and Confused" and "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" on side one and "How Many More Times" as the closer on side two.

In those days when we listened to music we seldom connected it to a pre-history. It was a song and it moved us. Only later did we understand that much of rock and roll had roots in the Mississippi Delta or folk music history. Bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones drew inspiration from these sources, re-inventing them and making them their own, as Zeppelin did with the classic "Hangman", re-naming it "Gallows Pole."

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" was a folk song written by Anne Bredon in the late 1950s, but it was Joan Baez who gave it wings. And that's what brought this recollection to mind.

Last week as I was digging through my vinyls I came across her 1962 live recording titled Joan Baez In Concert. The concert opens with her spellbinding rendition of this song. I immediately thought of the manner in which the Led Zeppelin version floored me and I realized that Baez in her way was equally smashing. I could see why Jimmy Page and Robert Plant felt this might be a good song to sink their teeth into.

Here's that 1962 Joan Baez rendition... at DailyMotion.

Joan Baez Babe I'm Gonna Leave You by Selvilicadde

While looking for the Baez performance I came across another heart-wrenching interpretation of the song by Barbara Mueller. Mueller was also a Greenwich Village folk singer of the 60's. Interestingly, this YouTube video attributes the song to a Janet Smith.

Finally, here's Led Zeppelin's compelling permutation. Ironically the album that so moved us when we first heard it was panned by Rolling Stone magazine. They gave it a "ho hum, so what" type of review. In 1994 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2003 Rolling Stone listed it at 29th on its list of Top 500 Albums of All Time. What does that tell you?

It's a simple blues song, but all three singers manage to inhabit the lyrics in such a way as to make it their own.

Nothing more to say. The song says it all.

'Tis the Season for Openings: Stuff to See, Hear and Do

Our birthday boy.

For starters, Happy Birthday, Don. Duluth's Mayor Ness turned forty this morning. The word on the street (and on Facebook) is that he will be celebrating the occasion in The Lyric Room at Porter's downtown.

He's probably aware, though you may not be, that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame is also celebrating his birthday today. Born in 1944, Page today is 69. I remember well when Led Zeppelin exploded on the scene. I had friends who practiced as a band when we were in high school. We were in Scott Homan's basement and someone said, "I have something you will want to hear." It was that first album with the bluesy Good Times, Bad Times, and the soulful rendition of Babe, I'm Gonna Leave you.

Speaking of Lyrics... Today at the Lyric Center in Virginia, MN is the opening of the January Abstractions show featuring new work by Colin Wiita, Heidi Mae Niska, Daryn Lowman and Pam Skinner.

Tonight in downtown Duluth, Pizza Luce is hosting the opening of Adam Swanson's new show titled My Wicked Secret. Don't know what he intends to share but I do know the establishment is a popular family restaurant and whatever Adam is putting on the walls will not be too wicked. He's just too nice a guy. So it must be a clever title, and I am very much looking forward to seeing his colorful new show.

Tomorrow evening is Second Friday Art Crawl, and at least a couple places you'll want to visit are these: Cracked at Washington Galleries and Polarize at the Prove. The Cracked opening is from 6-9 and Polarize from 7-11. Music starts at 8.

If you're in the Twin Cities, you'll have the good fortune of being able to attend Anne Labovitz's opening at the Burnet Gallery on Hennepin. The show is titled Layers and you'll get a chance to meet the artist, who's charisma is as compelling as her work.

Maybe you're not in the Midwest today and you happen to be stuck in crosstown traffic, mid-town Manhattan. There are a few things to catch in the Big Apple while you're there. Neil Young is at Carnegie Hall tonight and tomorrow. Yep, he's still alive an well, having released 2 albums with Crazy Horse in 2012 and kickin' it out in concert. Young won many of our hearts when Everybody Knows this Is Nowhere, his first solo album with Crazy Horse, hit the scene. I'm still listening to that one.

Meantime, life goes on. Catch a show or make something happen. Jack Frost is backing off for a spell and the weather should be downright balmy. Have a good one.