[Gerry-Semola]

Blue Blast-From-The-Past Greetings Everyone,

I just can't stop hearing songs from my tours. No matter where I go, it seems I am constantly reminded of TIB and the good times and all the great music and perhaps more importantly the well thought out ARRANGING that we all have. So after much though and consideration, I decided that another cool idea would be to open up a thread for priors to post their favorite songs and segues from their tours so all the others can have fun and enjoy contemplating the many musical possibilities and successful experimental songlists that the Chief and Barry, and Bernie, and Terry Griffey et al and all the musical  musical staff over the years, have painstakingly put together for us all to perfom.

After leaving the Blue back in '88, and then attending Berklee ('92) and being basically forced to study arranging in the degree performance program, I gained a sudden profound respect and insight into the inner workings of musical arrangements and the architecture of music. So then I began to contemplate how difficult and tedious it must have been to fit various songs together and make them work in differents keys and with modulations etc. Fascinating stuff! And no small task when you consider the amount of material we covered in one show! I think the '04 set lists were closer to what we did back in the old days (80s) than say the set list for '05. But every tour is different and unique in its own way. It's always interesting to see what Chief and Barry will come up with next.

Anyway, this topic thread is here for Priors and whoever else is interested to post their favorite Songs, Segues, and Set Lists for all of us to enjoy and ponder over. I think this  is a really good idea because it keeps the magic alive and it may even serve as a valuable resource to the staff if they start to see patterns evolving here and commonalities among various tours and what worked well and was successful for them. These things start to become formulaic in my opinion and certain songs and combinations of songs just work REALLY, REALLY, WELL together! And once they start to appear here, people will be able to mull them over and contemplate the endless possibilities that have been, and may be in the future!  I know I always wonder now as a prior, how certain songs would sound played back-to-back in a TIB set! TIB has become my musical compass and standard guage for mentally "hearing" certain songs in their proper context! Its something you rarely get to see/hear outside TIB, except for Superbowl Medleys, and perhaps in clubs with DJs etc. But that's not quite the same as a TIB arrangement! DJs can't really change keys (pitch perhaps) and do all the solo sections and modulations that TIB does in staging a show. And although DJs CAN do a lot with adding beats, and overdubs, speed control, volume, control etc., they only have so many hands and can only do so much by themselves. Certainly they can not begin to approach the level of 30+ musicians and vocalist on stage all at once harmonizing and embellishing with their own touch! All they DJs can do is "sample" stuff. And that's cool, but that's not really breaking new ground musically as far as I am concerned. But I love what a master DJ can do with a good mix! Especially the old-school New York City DJs  from back in the day. All the house and rave stuff is way too generic and impersonal for me. But that's just an opinion. What do you all think? Curious to know.

Here are MY favorite two songs from tour which I believe we played in the Motown set(s). Not sure which tour did which, but I think the '86 teams had the MOST DEF songs and song combinations ever! Laughs! Especially the horn arrangements! But Im sure this will open up a huge debate/friendly discussion on which list was the absolute BOMB!!!!:

"Lady Marmalade"
"Turn the Beat Around"  (for best songs and segue/transition)
 
Some songs I wish we could have done and would have been fun to do:
"That's the way I like it"
"Tears of a clown"
"Goin' to a go-go" (Smokey)
"Don't Stop Till You Get Enough"
"Brick House"
"Rock the boat"
(*ALL speeded up a bit to TIB tempos! Laughs....but NOT AS FAST AS '05s Earth Wind and (on-)Fire tune (Spetember?)WHOA!!!! CRAZY FAST!!!! Poor dancers! LAUGHS!!!!! I was CRACKIN' UP with Tony G  '85 Superbowl back at the soundboards when I saw that one at McGuire! WHEWWWWWW WEEEEE....HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT!!!!! MANNNN! I thought Lady Marmalade got a bit fast on certain "good nights"! Laughs! Chief had ta reel me in at mid-tour staging!    ....but YOU GUYS on '05 were doing WARP FACTOR 9 on that one!!!!

My favorite sets to play as a drummer were....OBVIOUSLY...Motown, and Disco (BUT... we never had a "Gospel" set in 86 or 87, ...but that would be in this list if we had done it!) I LOVED watching '04s Gospel, Disco, 70s, Country sets! WILD! Crowd went nuts too! But I would have speeded the 70's set up a bit for more flashy horn-section dance moves!) Laughs!

The set I'd most LIKE to do, would be an entire James Brown set...with some vocalist/dancer in the cape and with some female vocalist putting it back on him every time he throws it off!    
_________________
Yoda G (AKA: Gerry)
86/87 Drummer/Loadmaster
--Blue unto others...and ask not what the Blue can do for u, but what U can do for the Blue! And if it snores LOUD, its probably a member of the staging crew! LOL!  Cheers 2U Chief! Godspeed!

[Gerry-Semola]

Guess this one (thread) is kinda laggin' yall!

Well, guess I have to "reply" to myself here.... I want to add another song to my list above. I just heard it playing (blasting) over the PA in some restaurant I was eating in at luchtime today. Its called "No where to run" by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas This cut is SLAMMIN'!!!!! Totally a pocket song all around! Horns are too tight and rhythm section is on point and locked! Drums are way out in the mix (as usual for Motown stuff) and too darn funky!:

http://www.onewest.net/~roxtar/reeves_martha.html
http://www.onewest.net/~roxtar/lyrics/reeves_martha.html#14
http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/legislative/CityCouncil/Members/ReevesM/Reevess_Bio.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/martha-reeves

Anyway.....GREAT SONG! Wish we had that one in our Motown set too! Nice groove! Classic Motownish feel! Nice tempo too!

So here is the new and improved list so far to date:

"Lady Marmalade" (Labelle) and
"Turn the Beat Around" (Vicki Sue Robinson)
    (for best songs and segue/transition)
"That's the way I like it" (KC And The Sunshine Band)
"Tears of a clown" (Smokey)
"Goin' to a go-go" (Smokey)
"Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" (Gloved Wonder)
"Brick House" (The Commodores)
"Rock the boat" (Hues Corporation)
"No Where to Run (Martha Reeves)

Yoda G.........out like an ATM on a Friday Night!  
_________________
Yoda G (AKA: Gerry)
86/87 Drummer/Loadmaster
--Blue unto others...and ask not what the Blue can do for u, but what U can do for the Blue! And if it snores LOUD, its probably a member of the staging crew! LOL!  Cheers 2U Chief! Godspeed!

[Gerry-Semola]

Hey Blue,

Okay Before I add a new song to my all-time greats TIB Dream wish list I just gotta get this off my chest.

I just got around to purchasing the DVD called Shadows of Motown: Hittsville USA the other day! Somebody, I can't remember who........from the old board.....maybe it was Walt.....recommended that DVD after I was talking about some TV special on Motown I had seen a few years back. Anyway.....thanks a lot to whoever that was who mentioned Shadows of Motown! Let me just sum it up in one word.........INCREDIBLE!

That DVD should - in my opinion - be MANDATORY for all teams going through staging to see. I WISH to God I had seen it prior to my staging in '86! I had to pick apart the beats from tapes, and I did'nt really have the historical context of what I was imitating! Now I do! The Motown sound is due to the BAND of studio A ("The Snakepit") known as "the Funk Brothers!" These cats were doin' 12-14hr. sessions every day! They were so good, that they would lay stuff down in ONE TAKE! They did'nt have the luxury of multiple takes. Too expensive and too time consuming! And the eqipment wasn't anything close to what we see today! But they got it done! And flawlessly I might add!

It was for the most part, the same bunch of cats doing all the hits on the Motown tracks. they estimate something like 500 cats dropping in for brief stints over the years....but there were like a dozen + of them who were there ALL the time and who played with each other every day! They were like a family and a SUPER TIGHT GROOVE MACHINE! Hence the moniker "The Funk Brothers"!
Sadly they never got the just respect and credit (recognition) they deserved from the mass media and all the Motown fans! They remained obscure and non-existent for over 25 years! Until this movie was put together and finished in 2002! Some of the original guys died while the film was being made! But they went out knowing that their legacy would not fall into oblivion. I wo'nt give anything away here.......but I'll just mention their names again for posterity as my little tribute for all the TIB bands that struggled to learn and pay homage to their workin stagings:

Richards "Pistol" Allen (Drummer, passed while filming)
Robert White (Passed while filming)
Benny "Papa Zita" Benjamin (THE Drummer "genius of Motown sound", died years ago)
Uriel Jones (Drummer)
James Jamerson (Passed years ago, Bass Virtuoso "Genius of Motown sound")
Bob Babbitt (Bassist)
Joe Messina (Guitarist)
Eddie Chank Williams (Guitarist)
Earl "Chunk of Funk" Van Dyke (Keyboardist/Bandleader)
Eddie "Bongo" Brown (passed years ago, Percussionist
Johhny Griffith
Jack "Black Jack" Ashford
Joe Hunter

As for the nicely done renditions of some of the classics on the DVD, the one which I LOVED THE BEST (not so crazy about Bootsy Collins) was the Chaka Kahn rendition of Marvin's "What's Goin' On?" OMG!!!!....I always liked Chaka's voice, but this tune is the BEST I have ever heard. She has the most AMAZING vocal range and phrasing I have ever seen in any female vocalist alive today! HANDS DOWN! GENIUS!!!!!!!!! Sorry Patti....I know you are a home girl......but THIS SONG IS TOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!
Mike control......timing......dynamics.......range......phrasing.....diction.....and on and on! This performance should be studied and STUDIED by all new TIB vocalists in staging! If you want to see what a living day Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Vaughn, Betty Carter, Etta James, Martha Reeves, Diana Washington, Nina Simone, is like up close.....then GO BUY OR RENT THIS VIDEO and SEE FOR YOURSELF! If I'm lying....I'm flying yall! Canna get a witness BLUE! Walt? Kahlil? OMG!!!!!! Chaka TORE THAT SONG UP!!!!!!! I just clicked on repeat on my PC and watched it over and over like 20 times at 4am before I went to sleep last night! That girl is SICK! Effortless talent! She does'nt even have to try that hard to belt out lines that most musicians today can't even pull off on their axes! And she is doing it with her voice! Lavert did a nice job too! But Chaka Stole the show! ONE OF A KIND in all her glory! Step off Alicia Keyes an Patrice Rushen!  Chaka still got it goin' on! Nuff said on THAT!

Now, as for my new addition to the TIB dream set-list, I want to add "Get Down Tonight" by K.C. and The Sunshine Band! Too FUNKY!!! Horns are like a tsunami of sound! TOO TIGHT.....AND TOO FUNKY! Rhythm section is SLAMMIN'!!!!! BIG TIME! Shoulda though of that one a long time ago! Some TIB tour MUSTA played this song! I envy them! Our horns and rhythm section on '86 woulda TORE THAT SONG UP! Oh well........we had some good stuff too! But if there ever is a TIB All-Priors reunion tour.......whoever the band members are better hope they do some of these songs! They're the BEST and FUNKIEST I've ever heard! Just my opinion!

Aight......I'm out! Take care yall. Get that DVD......NOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW! It's worth EVERY PENNY and THEN SOME! LOOOOOOONG OVERDUE! Much RESPECT to the Funky Funk Brothers! Lotta Philly boys in that mix too! Vibe player/Tambourine Man is a "homie". Who knew???????
_________________
Yoda G (AKA: Gerry)
86/87 Drummer/Loadmaster
--Blue unto others...and ask not what the Blue can do for u, but what U can do for the Blue! And if it snores LOUD, its probably a member of the staging crew! LOL!  Cheers 2U Chief! Godspeed!