Are you ready? Then stop questioning your heart and follow me, because it’s time for another frankmarzano.com newsletter!
Father Guido Sarducci (Saturday Night Live) once boasted that he could teach an entire college curriculum in twenty minutes. How, you ask? Simple: He would teach only those things that students remember after graduating.
One of the few things I remember since graduating is a course I took in Greek and Roman mythology. It was an extremely popular class; even seniors had trouble getting in. Every Friday, the professor would come out dressed as the god Apollo and predict the score to Illini football games.
It was in this class that I learned about the Ship of Theseus. Theseus, after slaying the Minotaur, rescued the children of Athens and then escaped to the island of Delos. Each year, the Athenians would commemorate this deed by sailing a ship from Athens to Delos.
As planks of the ship decayed, they would be replaced with new ones. Greek historians (e.g. Plutarch) reasoned that, at one point or another, every plank of the ship would have to be replaced. Once the last original plank was replaced, would it still be the same ship anymore?
I mention this because, last week, I went to see the Little River Band in Erie. It was quite enjoyable; the sound was great, all five guys were great singers, and the hit songs (“Lady”, “Reminiscing”, “Lonesome Loser”) sounded just like the records. It was only after I got home that I discovered the band I had seen had no original members.
The list of currently touring classic rock bands with no original members makes for uneasy reading: Yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Molly Hatchet, among others. The current lineup of the Four Freshmen consists of people who weren’t even born during the group’s heyday. They sell official band merchandise at their shows, but, other than that, what separates them from a tribute act?
I was having this discussion with my friend Chenka, and she countered, “What about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the New York Philharmonic, or the Duke Ellington Orchestra? Those groups have no original members. Do you consider them inauthentic?”
Perhaps she’s right. Maybe rock and roll, having been around for 75 years, has entered a “legacy” phase (like jazz and classical), in which fans want to hear the music and they don’t care who it’s played by.
But onto a different subject… A number of you reading this are gigging musicians yourselves. What is your policy on accepting last-minute gigs (i.e. someone cancelled)? I generally don’t accept gigs on less than 24 hours’ notice, because (1) it’s hard to play for people who are there to see someone else, and (2) it means I was at the bottom of the list. But I’m glad I accepted a last-minute gig at Poverty Knob Farmhouse Ales in Waterford last January. It’s a very friendly place, they paid me very well, and it led to a couple of gigs at the nearby Jade Winery.
This past Sunday I hosted an open mic at the 16441 Collective. As host, my job would be to play music in the event that no one else wanted to play. This would not be a problem; I’ve played entire three-hour shows of fingerstyle jazz guitar.
However, coming back from the Little River Band concert on Friday, disaster struck: I broke my right-hand thumbnail. On Saturday, I tried practicing using the meat of my thumb. But, without a callous, I didn’t last longer than half an hour. What was I going to do on Sunday?
I needn’t have worried. There were so many talented performers that I hardly had to play at all. Once again, the king wore no clothes, but didn’t catch cold.
Well, that’s about it for this newsletter. Keep watching this space, as 2024 promises to be a banner year with many nice surprises, And, if I don’t see you around here, I’ll see you around. Hear?
Rock long and prosper,
Frank