Anytime At All

Wanna see a Beatles cover band?

That statement often is met with "Elvis impersonator convention-like skepticism" each time it is put forth to non-believers in the possibility of bringing The Beatles tremendous music back to life, real life. The immediate assumption by msuic fans is the disappointment in listening to acts like Beatlemania (Broadway) -- which was pretty damn good -- or Rain or the faux pas bands like Yellow Matter Custard or 1964, complete with the mop-tops and full costume get-ups, that are so unnecessary if you are like me, and just want to hear the music.

With the Fab Faux, like so many have stated before me, "The argument is over."

They've been able to capture the recording studio of the 60s with LIVE performances where you simply can not believe your eyes, or, more importantly, your ears.

Proof? It is with the Part III of Abbey Road.  Listen in. (You will freak out at 1:56 - horns and 3:27 - drums).



Enjoy Beatles fans on this most wonderful Anniversary week.

TL

Beware of Darkness

If you read my prior post, you'll enjoy this masterful piece of music which was created this past weekend in New York. The video was posted by my friend and Fab drummer Rich Pagano who does the main vocals on my favorite George Harrison song.  Beware of Darkness was one of about six show-stoppers and one of 31 songs covered by the Fab Faux in their tribute to George Harrison.

Living in a Material World? Remember this...

(From Elmore Magazine Online... Check it out..)

Forty Years Later, The Beatles Continue To Inspire

For Beatles fans or just music fans, it looks like an excellent six weeks. Forty-odd years after the Fab Four disbanded, some of music’s heavy hitters will play at least three concerts within shouting distance of New York.

October 26, the Fab Faux will perform a one-time-only George Harrison tribute show at the Beacon Theatre with special guest Jim Keltner, Harrison’s drummer both with and after Ringo Starr. Keltner and Starr were the drummers for Harrison’s groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh, and Keltner would later go on the road with Harrison and Ravi Shankar (full disclosure: Jim Keltner has played with three of the four Beatles and virtually every great musician of our time, not just George Harrison). You can check out a behind-the-scenes look at the Fab Faux’s preparation for the show here and here.

On November 9, vocalist and guitarist Denny Laine will perform the entire Abbey Road album at the intimate Bearsville Theatre, in Woodstock. An original member of the Moody Blues, Ginger Baker’s Air Force and Paul McCartney’s Wings, Laine will ice the Abbey Road cake with hits from the Moody Blues, Wings and songs recorded at Abbey Road Studios by the Zombies, Pink Floyd and others. It’s not often we’ll hear Abbey Road, “Live and Let Die” and “Band on the Run” in a venue that’s smaller than a Jumbotron footprint.

On December 6, near the anniversary of his death, John Lennon’s music will be front and center at Symphony Space, not far from his home. The lineup for the 33rd Lennon Tribute includes many Elmore favorites like Bettye LaVette, Raul Malo of the Mavericks, Joan Osborne, Dana Fuchs, Marc Cohn and Steve Earle. Rich Pagano of the Fab Faux will join the lineup, too, presumably being especially well warmed up after drumming with Keltner on the October 26 Harrison show.

The Fab Faux Roll Out George Harrison Tribute

For those of us who never got to see the Beatles in concert, the Fab Faux is the next best thing. This ain’t your momma’s costumed cover band. These five musicians—Will Lee, Rich Pagano, Jack Petruzzelli, Jimmy Vivino and Frank Agnello—have world-class chops, which will be on display at their George Harrison tribute at the Beacon Theatre on October 26th. Conscientious to a fault, these pros gave Elmore a behind-the-scenes look at this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Part 1 of 4: Preparation

The amount of preparation for this one-time show is daunting. The Fab Faux has performed the music of the Beatles for over 15 years, but they’ve never had to learn this many new songs for any one show. They’re cramming post-Beatles tunes that they have never played before (and may never play again) into a one-off, but insist it will be of the same quality as the material they’ve learned over the last 15-16 years. “You get one take,” bassist Will Lee (of the CBS Orchestra on The Late Show with David Letterman) said.

Guitarist Frank Agnello (who has played with Phoebe Snow, Marshall Crenshaw and Joey Molland of Badfinger) curated the show, no small task because the set list is not based on airplay, but instead on the songs that the Fab Faux members themselves love. “We have always been big George fans,” Agnello said. “My job is to make sure that some big songs are in there. The trade-off is that the audience will hear a really cool performance of something that they may not have expected, and whoever is singing it is going to bring a little extra something because it’s a personal favorite.”

Agnello drew up a first draft in January, and the band rehearsed a few hours before a gig in Rhode Island in April and then planned three more Fab Faux rehearsals. Lee put together a six-person choir; Agnello wrote out all their backing vocal parts and distributed the sheet music electronically. In an interview two months before the event, Jimmy Vivino (band leader for Conan) told us, “Instead of talking to you, I should be doing horn charts now.” “It’s more like independent study,” Agnello explained. The day before the show, the choir, the horns, the strings and the guest musicians will be in a marathon rehearsal. “George’s songs were pretty large scale, especially in his solo period,” Agnello said. “We’re going to have as many as 20 people playing at one time, so to coordinate all that is the tricky part.”

For example, here’s their arrangement of “What Is Life”:

Lead Vocal: Frank
Double Vocal, Tambourine & Last Verse Slide Guitar Fills: Jim B.
Harmonies: Will, Jimmy, Rich, Jack, Erin
Lead Guitar (Fuzz): Jimmy
Rhythm Electric Guitar: Frank
Acoustic Guitar: Erin 
Piano: Jack
Bass: Will
Drums/Verse Mounted Tambourine: Rich
Drums: Jim K.
Trumpets: John & Bones
Saxes: Jerry & Sam
Violin: Amy
Cello: Sibel
Choir: Elaine, Nicki, Tabitha, Chrissi, D-Train, Frank S.

The band will perform 12 Harrison solo songs that they’ve never done before, six solo songs that they have previously performed and 13 of his Beatles songs. With the Beacon Theatre’s curfew, the whole thing must be done in three hours. Do not expect much patter.

The band divides lead vocals by the time-honored schoolyard tradition known as “dibs.” “When you call a song, you get the lead vocals,” Vivino explained. Agnello then breaks down the instrumental parts. “Every part is important, so whatever the job requires—we serve the music,” Vivino said. When pressed, he added, “It’s not the last time you’re going to play … Hopefully! If it is, you say, ‘Damn! I wish I had had that solo.’”

Not only do these musicians learn the songs, they learn instruments as well. Vivino learned sitar to play Harrison’s songs, and he now owns three. He likens the sitar to the blues: “It’s a lot like John Lee Hooker, like an open tuning. Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf—one chord,” he said, adding, “When I got my sitar, the first thing I did was learn how to play ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.’” Similarly, Agnello considers “Any Road” from the Brainwashed album to be Harrison’s last great song, so he went on eBay and bought a vintage banjo uke to play it. “George played a lot of slide guitar, so we all have to brush up,” said Agnello. “There’s going to be as many as four different guys playing slide guitar.” Rich Pagano (Rosanne Cash, Ray Davies) will even sing “Bangladesh,” the song Harrison wrote specifically for The Concert For Bangladesh. “We are going deep,” he said.

The Beatles, and Harrison in particular, had a massive influence on these musicians. Frank Agnello heard his first Beatles song at six years old, when his cousin played him “It Won’t Be Long.” “My first perception of George was that he was the lead guitarist (Wow, he’s playing the hard stuff),” Agnello recalled.

“The first rock ‘n’ roll concert that I ever saw was The Concert for Bangladesh,” Pagano said. “I was ten years old, and there may have been five people in the theater, but we still sat in the second row like we were in the first row of the concert, with our necks tilted back. I just loved George’s sense of changes. He was coming out of the whole Band thing, and he had a Robbie Robertson sound in his songwriting at some point … I knew as soon as I could grow a beard, I was gonna do it from watching that movie.”

Lee, the only member of the Fab Faux to have played with Harrison, recalled that Harrison insisted on teaching him a particular part, the subtle figure underneath the bridge of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” telling Lee, “This is very important to me.” “Every time I get to that part of the song, I get very emotional, tearful, and I think, ‘How’s this, George?’”

Jack Petruzzelli (Joan Osborne, Patti Smith and Rufus Wainwright) simply said, “George was how I wound up playing guitar, so this will be a highlight of my career.”

In addition to choosing songs, the sequencing becomes very important. The Fab Faux often play Beatles records in their entirety, start to finish. “When you play ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ in a White Album show, it comes up too soon, the great song that it is,” Vivino said. “It’s buried in the beginning of the album, if that makes any sense.” In the all-Harrison show, Vivino promised, “It will be extra special. Now you are presenting the crown jewel, in my opinion.”

Differences like sequencing change the way both the band and the audience hear the music. “We keep finding things out,” Vivino said. “That’s why the Fab Faux can keep going, because information keeps leaking out.”

Part Two:

The Fab Faux Roll Out George Harrison Tribute (Part 2)

New at Elmore
ElmoreMagazine.com | October 8th, 2013 by Elmore Staff

For those of us who never got to see the Beatles in concert, the Fab Faux is the next best thing. These five musicians have world-class chops, and they will present a George Harrison 70th Birthday Celebration October 26th at the Beacon Theatre. They were kind enough to give Elmore insight into their concert preparation. (You can read part 1 of our story here.)

Part 2 of 4:

George Harrison’s music

Unquestionably a junior member of the Lennon/McCartney collaboration, George Harrison found the Beatles’ songwriting club tough to break into. Although he tried to get songs on an album, acceptance was difficult. Schoolboys everywhere discriminate on the basis of age, and John Lennon was no exception. When fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney invited his chum George Harrison to audition, Lennon, then seventeen-and-a-half, thought Harrison (about eight months younger than McCartney and still fourteen) was too young. After a month, Lennon relented, but he may have been marginally correct: two years later, during their successful residency in Hamburg, Harrison was deported after German authorities discovered he had lied about his age.

Harrison’s songs differ fundamentally from the Lennon/McCartney model. “Paul played a lot of leads because their attitude was ‘Let’s get it done,’” Jimmy Vivino (bandleader for Conan) noted, and the Lennon/McCartney team worked together to crank out many, many songs. Harrison, who primarily wrote solo, competed against this amazing powerhouse.

“John and Paul used to tag-team,” explained bassist Will Lee (The Late Show with David Letterman). “One guy would come with an idea that would spark the other, and one guy would be a little too soft and the other guy would put some harshness into it and make some push and pull throughout the song. Paul would say, ‘It’s getting better all the time,’ and John would come back with, ‘It can’t get no worse.’ It took a lot of balls for a guy like George to present his meager scribblings. These guys had already latched up, they had thing going. They had writing at the top of their agenda when George was just their fledgling guitar player and hadn’t really started being a composer yet.”

The tables turned when Harrison landed the opening song on Revolver with “Taxman,” but still, Paul plays the lead. “George said, ‘Oh that’s great.’” said Vivino. “I wouldn’t have done that, I would have said, ‘It’s my song.’ But George was honored in a way to have his brother get so into his song that he played lead guitar. There was a reverence for each other that we can never imagine, a club that no one was allowed in but four people. And they’re brothers, no matter what…dysfunctional or not.”

Choosing songs from Harrison’s Beatle days was pretty easy, since they only recorded the cream of the crop. Later on, when his songwriting flowered and he was putting out a lot of material, the choices become less straightforward.

“People always say, ‘Oh, it didn’t get good until later,’ but it was always good, as you look back,” Vivino said. In the Beatles’ heyday, two songs per album were about as many as Harrison was allowed, and a lot of songs on his masterpiece solo album All Things Must Pass were turned down for Beatles albums for one reason or another, although they probably should have found a place on Abbey Road. Given Lennon and McCartney’s sheer output as songwriters, however, Harrison was swimming against the tide.

Harrison’s writing did not hit the public in a straightforward timeline. “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” two of his­—or any Beatle’s—greatest songs were on the last recorded album,Abbey Road (Let It Be, the last album the band released, was recorded earlier). If Harrison’s allotment was two songs per album (and Ringo Starr one), Harrison’s own output was so strong that All Thing Must Pass‘ backlog of rejected material blew the Quiet Beatle’s solo debut up into a triple album.

Some see Harrison as the Beatles’ audio standard-bearer. “I find that when people mimic the Beatles, I think that they mimic George’s style of songwriting because he was that sponge from both Paul and John,” said drummer Rich Pagnano. “And he always sounded more British in his vocals. Original bands who come from the Beatles’ college, their music tends to have more in common with George’s sensibilities.“

One could argue that Harrison’s contributions changed popular music more than any other Beatle. It was Harrison, of course, who introduced the influence of Eastern music, and it didn’t go away. He placed emphasis on the diminished chord, which he used over and over in the most strategic spots. While the others used it in passing, it became a Harrison signature.

“He liked to do what is called a pre-bend,” Fab Faux curator and guitarist Frank Agnello said. “Instead of bending up, you hear it on the comedown. For instance, in the beginning of “Something,” the second note you hear: bum bowwwww owwww. It shows up in Indian music a lot, and George is always the person I think of when I think of that.”

When he got into slide guitar, Harrison said Muddy Waters was one of his influences; Harrison’s skill as a slide guitarist is something that the Fab Faux will highlight. “We all have to brush up on our slide playing because there’s going to be as many as four different guys playing slide guitar” Agnello said. “Jimmy [Vivino’s] the first lead player, but we’ll be harmonizing with him and playing a few licks here and there.”

“He really got to be a great slide guitar player, he just found his voice very late,” Vivino said, noting that Harrison actually asked Muddy to show him some stuff. “And the good thing about that to me is that no matter how successful, how much money, how great your songs are, you’re still thinking as a player.”

Harrison’s persona is more obvious because he wrote solo. “It was a darkness and humor at the same time to George’s stuff, he was a funny, moody guy,” Vivino pointed out. In interviews, whatever George said was cutting and quick, but Harrison’s music is about subtlety. His vocals are often delicate, his guitar playing nuanced. He arguably released the greatest solo Beatles record out of all of them, and he wrote incredible ballads, certain to be highlighted in the show.

“We love to champion George,” Vivino told us. “All the emphasis has been on Lennon/McCartney for so long, that we’re being the not-down- the-middle-of-the-road fans.”

Early Elton ...

My buds Jeff Kazee (keyboard) and Rich Pagano (drums) along with bass player John Conte played a free outdoor summer concert outside of City Winery in lower Manhattan, not far from the Holland Tunnel.

The selection here, is the title track from Elton John's Madman Across the Water - one of the more influential albums of my early rock 'n roll exposure, alongside other Elton gems like Honky Chateau, Tumbleweed Connection and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

The first four songs of Madman - Tiny Dancer, Levon, Razor Face and Madman Across the Water were pure genius. I particularly liked Tiny Dancer and it is forever etched in my mind, now, as the most poignant scene in the Cameron Crowe classic, Almost Famous (2000).  That scene is amongst the best in modern motion picture history.

Anyhow, here's to Jeff Kazee - ticklin' the ivories with some Early Elton.

Please enjoy:

Happy 40th to Susan Tedeschi: Tribute to "the Experience"

While you are accustomed to many a sports-related post on TheBlog@TerryLyons.com - I love to recognize the very best in classic rock entertainment.  Among the most talented musicians that I have had the pleasure to meet is Susan Tedeschi.

Susan happens to hail from Boston and is married to the world's greatest living guitar player, Derek Trucks. As you well know, Derek heads up the DTB and regularly plays guitar for the Allman Brothers Band when he's not sitting in or on tour with Eric Clapton (2nd best living guitarist , IMO).  This summer and fall, Susan and Derek gave fans a treat when they toured together.

When the two appeared together at a DTB show at NYC's Nokia Theatre a while back, we had the good fortune to have VIP and backstage passes for the show.  Susan was hosting when not playing and at one point, she gave me a special treat.  She handed me a pass (that the roadies and guitar technicians use) and it allowed me to get a side-stage look at her hubbie as he was playing with his band.  Susan later joined in for a medley of "The Band" - from the Band's greatest performance - The Last Waltz.  It was terrific.

Anyhow, this post is dedicated to Susan today, Nov. 9th, her 40th birthday (hope she doesn't mind 'revealing' her age but, then again, it was plastered in today's Boston Globe, along with this review of Susan's work with the Experience - a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

Happy Birthday Susan.  Hope to see you at a concert very soon.  Maybe the one listed under the Globe story?

Reveling in the Hendrix experience

By Scott McLennan Globe Correspondent / November 9, 2010

It doesn’t take a dozen exceptional guitarists to extol the virtues of Jimi Hendrix. But having that many certainly makes for a great show, as was the case Sunday at the Orpheum with the “Experience Hendrix’’ concert.

Steve Vai, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Vernon Reid, Ernie Isley, Eric Johnson, Susan Tedeschi, Brad Whitford, Johnny Lang, Mato Nanji, and a triple dose of pedal steel players — Robert Randolph, Darick Campbell, and Chuck Campbell — produced a fiery three-hour show that explored all facets of Hendrix’s brief and brilliant career.

Isley, an early supporter of Hendrix, and bassist Billy Cox, who was in both the Experience and Band of Gypsys, brought historical heft as they teamed for the opening salvo of “Stone Free’’ and “Message to Love.’’ Cox reminded the packed house how Hendrix rested his unparalleled guitar architecture atop a steady foundation of blues and soul. Isley, best known as an R&B player, showed how Hendrix opened up new possibilities for guitarists, and he demonstrated with a mind-melting rendition of “Manic Depression.’’

Living Colour captured Hendrix’s brash showmanship. A crazed “Crosstown Traffic’’ found singer Corey Glover prowling the aisles and balconies of the theater, with bassist Doug Wimbish in the floor seats and Reid letting loose screams and howls from his guitar.

Drummers Chris Layton from Double Trouble and Will Calhoun of Living Colour manned the kits throughout the night, and when Cox wasn’t playing, the bass was handled in turns by Wimbish and Scott Nelson, from Shepherd’s band.

Tedeschi’s performance showcased the elegance of Hendrix’s songwriting. She teamed with Johnson to tackle the wistful “One Rainy Wish,’’ then moved on to the psychedelic poetry of “If 6 Was 9’’ and “Spanish Castle Magic,’’ tunes that summoned Aerosmith’s Whitford and Indigenous’s Nanji for additional guitar firepower, though Tedeschi delivered some of the toughest solos of the lot.

Just how far Hendrix’s legacy reaches beyond rock ’n’ roll became evident when Randolph and the Campbell brothers — players schooled in the gospel tradition — trained their pedal steel guitars on “Hey Joe’’ and “Purple Haze.’’

Lang, using the night’s only acoustic guitar, and Whitford crafted a majestic version of “All Along the Watchtower.’’ Shepherd tapped both “Voodoo Chile’’ and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’’ to highlight Hendrix’s influence on modern blues. Vai’s note-packed performances reminded how high Hendrix set the bar for those wanting to be impressive soloists.

Vai, Reid, and Randolph engaged in ebullient jamming during “Love or Confusion’’ and “Foxy Lady,’’ and Cox, singing and playing bass, brought the show home aptly with “Red House.’’

***

Key concert news....

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Allen Woody, a respected bass player known for his work with Southern rock acts Gov’t Mule and The Allman Brothers Band. His passing in 2000 brought together former bandmates, friends, and fellow musicians (including The Black Crowes and Phil Lesh) to pay tribute to both Woody’s life and his contributions to the rock and roll world with the ”One for Woody” benefit show. Now, a decade later, The Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule camps are ready give back and celebrate the life of their friend by hitting the stage once again.

The original benefit was held at the historic Roseland Ballroom in New York City on September 21, 2000, less than a month after Woody was found dead of an apparent overdose. Thus, it’s only seems fitting that the legendary venue will also serve as host for “Another One for Woody” on November 22nd. Confirmed acts include The Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule, as well as country/blues rock act The North Mississippi All Stars Duo.
“Another One for Woody” tickets go on sale November 5th and you can get yours at the Roseland Ballroom official site. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to help raise money to keep music education alive in schools. For a taste of what’s to come, check out a performance of “I Shall Be Released” from the original benefit concert below.

In related news, Gregg Allman just announced his first new album in 14 years. Titled Low Country Blues and due for release on January 11th, the T Bone Burnett-produced effort hears Allman offers his take on classic Blues tracks from the likes of Muddy Waters, BB King, and Buddy Guy, among others. Album’s tracklist can be found below the aforementioned video.

Ya' gotta love T-Bone Burnett!

***

Also, as long as I'm dedicating this entire post to music, I might as well plug a tribute to the late John Lennon (celebrating what would have been his 70th - back in Oct.).  The show is coming this weekend, Nov. 12th, at The Beacon Theatre in NYC.

See this blog from WFUV - Fordham University's radio station.

John Lennon: 70

In honor of John Lennon, on today, October 9th - what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday, I am passing along a video tribute performed by the Fab Faux.  May God Bless John and his family who have carried on since that terrible, dark, December night back in 1980. 

After you listen to the Fab Faux, click here and send your tribute to John: 


My thanks to Rich Pagano and the Fab Faux:

The Fab Faux - Abbey Road Side 2 (mostly) from The Fab Faux on Vimeo.
 

Monday Morning Maniac Music with Rich Pagano

Check out Richie's new album, featuring Trey Anastasio, Ian Hunter, Fab Faux keyboardist Jack Petruzzelli who is one of the TL personal favorites along with Jeff Kazee. See Rich Pagano's cool online site for many other reviews.

See part of the recent review in Hi-Fidelity:

Pagano's backing musos, the "sugarCane cups," are an all-star collection of the best and the brightest that NYC has to offer, with guitarists Andy York, Steve Conte, and Jack Petruzzelli, along with keyboardist Jeff Kazee shouldering the heavy loads, while various name-brand talents like Trey Anastasio, Ian Hunter, Willie Nile, and David Johansen drop by to lend a hand. Recorded in bits-and-pieces over the course of a year, Pagano used whatever friendly collaborators that he could rope into a session, but the results are surprisingly uniform, with the obviously inspired participants leaving behind some good work when they walked out the door.

As a result, Rich Pagano + the sugarCane cups is an album that looks forward towards the future while gazing longingly towards the past. Pagano's rough-hewn vocals are a welcome throwback to the pre-Pro Tools era, glorying in their warm authenticity and sometimes ragged emotion, while his percussion work sits comfortably behind his fellow players, rising now and then in the mix to add an invigorating blast of energy.

Monday Morning Maniac Music ... the Fab Faux Coming to Boston.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, I've regularly posted some music clips on Monday morning with the famous Grace Slick mantra of some Monday morning maniac music which was said then to describe the National Anthem by Jimi and the set by Jeferson Airplane.

Here today, is some Monday morning maniac music featuring four of the five members of the Fab Faux, minus Jack at the keyboards.

This song, a rendition of Penny Lane, was played at BB Kings in NY during a benefit for Mike Smith at Paul Shaeffer's Brit Invasion tour.

Say no more, here is the Fab Faux:

All you need is ... Fab

Happy Valentine's Day ...



Courtesy of my favorite band, The Fab Faux.

Thanks Rich. I look forward to seeing you in Boston or Rhode Island.

Fab Faux - Two Years Ago...

Here's a tribute to The Beatles and the Ed Sullivan Theatre... Two Years ago tonight on the Letterman Show:



Enjoy.

Kazeedigs

The e-mail of encouragement came from a very good friend, Sammy, who was putting his hard-earned musical reputation on the line. He was asking his friends to head down to West 24th Street, off Sixth Avenue to Chris Noth's "Cutting Room" to see a band headlined by Jeff Kazee.

My decision to attend was made in about one second, as I wanted to support my buddy Sammy. Period. He could have asked me to go see Milli Vanilli sing Barry Manilow's worst hits and I would jump a taxi.

But, let the truth be told, when I saw that Rich Pagano, my favorite drummer this side of Zach Starkey, was in for the gig along with his Prisoner's of 2nd Avenue (PO2A) sidekick and bass player John Conte, I was sold.

The Kazeedigs also featured G.E. Smith of Saturday Night Live fame and appearances by Southside Johnny and the Southside horns, playing "Greats of the 88s," a collection of terrific cover songs. Also appearing were: Saxophonist Craig Dreyer and Trombonist Neil "The Dude" Pawley.

The highlight of the night was walking up to the short line forming in The Cutting Room and seeing an ole college buddy, Paul and his date, in line. We chatted up a storm and I thanked him for a special gift CD he had mailed to me a month or so ago (sound-board CD of Jimmy Vivino's birthday bash at BB King).

On the social scene, there were tons of people, including another good friend, Dan, who recently celebrated the birth of his first child. (Mazel-blankin-tov, they say, right?)

And, it was fun to watch my bud, Sammy, nervously working the PR gig and hoping the crowd would fill in. To his credit, the room WAS PACKED to capacity and actually a bit crowded and hot due to the crowd.

The musical highlight came quickly, as the band opened with a full slate of tremendous cover songs. The best being a Steve Winwood tribute as Winwood and Clapton are playing three nights at The Garden this week. Jeff Kazee's "Low Spark" was as good as it gets, trust me. He also brought down the house with some terrific "Dr John" and "Billy Joel," among dozens of other great tunes, played to perfection.

I can't wait to work with Sammy to get the band up to Boston where they are sure to play to a full house at "Johnnie's on the Side" or "House of Blues."

The "Cutting Room" is a really great place, the kind of bar that is fun to hang in, even when there is no music act in the back room. It has that "West Village" cool feel, with a great crowd of 20-30-40-50-somethings.

Sammy deserves a serious "High 5" for his efforts in filling the joint, and I was happy to mention that to Jeff and Rich after the performance.

Rich will be striking up the "Fab Faux" at Bowery Ballroom this March 13 and 14, and another great item on the music calendar is "Hothouse Flowers" with Liam O Maonlaí, the most under-rated musician on the face of the earth. He is Top 5, all-time.

Since, I don't have the Kazeedigs' video, I'll give you a preview of the March 17th Hothouse show in NYC, straight from Ireland: