Sean Spillane On Music

I had planned on heading up to Waterbury Wednesday night to see James Brown, but as you have probably heard, he passed away this week.
While I can’t say I’m a huge fan of The Godfather of Soul, I was curious to see “the hardest working man in show business” do his thing at a great venue like The Palace Theater. It just goes to show you that you should see these national treasures before its too late.
I’ve been good about that in the past, making sure I caught concerts by Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, as well as B.B. King and countless other aged bluesmen. Still, it’s the shows I didn’t see that leave me sad that I missed out.
One that pops immediately to mind is Johnny Cash at Toad’s Place. Imagine seeing The Man in Black playing at a rock club in New Haven. I’ve seen a lot of great events at Toad’s, but every time I go there I see the large portrait of Cash on the wall and regret not going to that show. Same with Stevie Ray Vaughn, although I was just really getting into him when he died in that helicopter crash.
Anyway, if you already purchased tickets for Wednesday night’s James Brown concert, refunds are available by calling the Palace at 755-4700. If you bought them online, you should be getting an e-mail from www.tickets.com regarding your refund.

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, but a home computer on the fritz and the general end-of-the-year malaise on the local concert scene has left me with little to write about.
The Who in Bridgeport on Nov. 28 was a truly spectacular evening, but I haven’t gotten any feedback on the Dec. 1 show at the Mohegan Sun Arena. If you attended that show, feel free to send in a reply.
Actually, I’d appreciate more replies to this blog. I tend to get buried in whatever I’m writing about in any given week and sometimes things fall through the cracks. If you have any thoughts, tips or suggestions, I’m open.
I did see a great traditional Irish music concert on Dec. 2 at Ludlowe Middle School in Fairfield with Robbie O’Connell and his cousins, Aoife and Donal Clancy. The Clancy Legacy show made for a fun evening and the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society has found another wonderful venue to play. Be sure to check out Altan at the school on Feb. 9. See www.shamrockirishmusic.org for details.
One thing that struck me about the concert is the age of the audience, which made me feel pretty young. I wonder if there will be an audience for this great music in 20 years, or even 10.
But then again, I wonder if there will be an audience for any kind of live entertainment in 20 years. The 20-somethings out there now don’t seem that interested in concerts, or at least not as much as those 40-years-old and up.
I’ve attended several concerts where I wasn’t a fan of the artist, but I still felt like it was better than sitting home watching TV or going to some trendy nightclub.
I know the big concerts can get pricey (even before you buy a $7 beer), but there still are places to find original live music for $5-$10, such as Cafe Nine and Rudy’s in New Haven; the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport; Daniel Street in Milford; The Space in Hamden, just to name a few.
I’m just worried that if we don’t support these intimate little venues, soon enough they won’t exist or, even worse, they’ll just cater to the cover-band crowd.

The Klein in Bridgeport might not be the perfect venue for a ’60s folk singer like Donovan, but the veteran performer did his best to make his Friday night concert an intimate affair.
Playing an acoustic tour with Tom Stubbs on stand-up bass and Stewart Lawrence on drums, Donovan breezed through all his hits and some more obscure album tracks from his heyday during the two-hour show, which drew a nice crowd of about 300 to The Klein.
That number is reportedly about par for the course for Donovan’s present tour, but it looks kind of sad in a large concert hall. Still, it was about triple the size of “American Idol

The scene was all too familiar as I pulled into the parking lot at The Klein in Bridgeport Tuesday night – plenty of parking spaces surrounding not a lot of cars.
But this was worse than other poorly attended concerts in Bridgeport because I figured “American Idol” season 2 winner Ruben Studdard could have drawn some people into the city on a weeknight. Even if it was Election Day.
But, again, I was wrong.
There couldn’t have been more than 150 people in the 1,200-seat hall and, noticing a local radio station’s van out in front of the auditorium, I wondered how many of the people there actually paid for tickets and how many won tickets as part of a radio promotion.
Granted, I wouldn’t have paid the $30-$40 to see the Velvet Teddy Bear, but I’m also not one of the tens of millions of people that watched Studdard beat out Clay Aiken for the “AI” title. And I didn’t care much for his new album, “The Return,” which I listened to before I interviewed him for the feature that ran on the cover of Sunday’s Arts & Travel section of the Connecticut Post.
Still, in concert, Studdard was downright listenable and he definitely has a charisma about him. If he saw all the empty seats, he didn’t let it bother him, starting his performance by calling everyone down to the front of the stage and shaking hands throughout the show. He even danced with a little girl from the crowd and came into the audience to sing a couple of songs.
He seemed like a real man of the people. Unfortunately for Studdard, the concert promoter and, in a way, Bridgeport, there weren’t that many people there.

I checked out the Ralph Stanley concert at The Klein in Bridgeport Friday night and, once again, I was a little saddened by the low turnout.
To have one of the legends of bluegrass in our own backyard and to see just a few hundred people at the show was a bit disheartening.
Concert organizer Fred Sailer would only admit to being a little disappointed, but was confident the show was just a “building block” in getting a series of concerts to the venue.
Premier Concerts is bringing two concerts to The Klein, which hopefully will pack in a few more people: “American Idol’s” Ruben Studdard on Nov. 7 and Donovan on Nov. 10.
I mentioned the concert to the Post’s Steve Winters, a fan of bluegrass and folk music, and he wasn’t surprised by the lack of attendance. He seems to feel that bluegrass has a small core audience of devotees and that the genre doesn’t really rack in the big numbers.
I know first-hand that the Alison Krauss and Union Station and Ricky Skaggs concerts at the Shubert in New Haven a few years back attracted at least triple the number of fans as Stanley. Maybe that’s because Stanley can’t really bring it like he used to. He is, after all, 79 years old. But he’s smart enough to surround himself with top-notch musicians in the Clinch Mountain Boys, which includes his son, Ralph II, and 14-year-old grandson, Nathan.
Even with his shotcomings – he played very little banjo and he was just getting over a cold – I always find it special to see someone who was there at the beginning. I felt the same way when I saw Chuck Berry and Little Richard in Westport a few summers ago. It wasn’t so much an expectation of seeing these icons perform as if it were 40 years ago, as just hoping to get an occasional glimpse into what made these men stars to begin with, to see an originator reclaim a bit of the spark that helped them create his classic songs.
You can easily walk away from concerts like this disappointed at what time has done to the artists, but I rarely do. I go in with low expectations and hope they’re exceeded.
Friday night at The Klein, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys went well beyond my hopes for the night. You should have been there.
Apropos of nothing, it was a nice touch for Stanley and the band to set up a table at the front of the theater to sell their albums, hats, T-shirts, etc. Fans got to meet each member and shake hands and it definitely took away any coldness you can get visiting any other merchandise table.

Kate Katcher of Bridgeport’s Playhouse on the Green was picking my brain before Friday night’s concert there about ways to draw crowds to the intimate little theater on State Street and I’m afraid I wasn’t much help.
I gave a few suggestions and, before heading into the show, all I could think was, “I’m glad I just write about concerts instead of having to put the things together.

How did I miss this group? I love Irish music. I love rock ‘n’ roll. I love Irish rock ‘n’ roll music.
So how has the group Flogging Molly been so far off of my radar? I mean, I’ve heard of them, but I never heard the group’s music.
The Pogues, Black 47, Dropkick Murphys, I love them all. But Flogging Molly, where was I?
My older brother Emmett and my friend Pete are into Flogging Molly music – as are their young kids – and still I floated through life unaware of how great this band is.
Thanks to Wednesday night’s concert at Toad’s Place, that is no longer the case.
Musically, the band owes much of its sound to The Pogues, although with a singer you can actually understand.
The singer and leader, Dave King, had his first taste of fame with Fastway, an ’80s metal band he formed with Motorhead guitarist Eddie Clarke. Well, Flogging Molly is a long way from Fastway, but King still supplies a healthy does of energy to his music.
Also adding to the ambience was the crowd at Toad’s. Not one of those sold-out, packed-to-the-gills kind of nights there, but a solid turnout for a rainy Wednesday night. Anyway, the audience seemed to know every word to every song and danced and sang for the full 90-minute show.
My next task is to track down past Flogging Molly albums and play catch-up with the rest of the group’s fans. It’s the first step in my trying to be as cool as my 6-year-old nephew Jack, who could have been right there singing along Wednesday, but, alas, it was a school night.

There was nothing surprising about Eric Clapton’s concert at the Mohegan Sun Arena Saturday night and that was a good thing. When you have Slowhand out on stage with a backup band of seasoned veterans and young hotshot guitarists, the only shock would have been if it was anything less than terrific.
Seeing Clapton wail away on his guitar is always impressive, but throw in his frequent collaborator Doyle Bramhall II, 37, and slide guitar whiz Derek Trucks, 27, and you have a night of pure heaven for lovers of the six-string.
In the Associated Press interview with Clapton, which ran in Saturday’s Connecticut Post, he said he felt that, at 61, he’s “definitely on the decline,