I offer this grainy rare video as an unusual little holiday treat. Please allow me to explain.
Deliriously, for over a decade, circa 1988-2000, I frequently managed the drums behind one of my favorite Detroit poets, (WSU) Professor ML Liebler. In this rarefied footage, I perform with a lingering headache and a dozen sticthes in my scalp. About 48 hours prior, four uncongenial late-teens rather forcefully greeted me with two ice tea bottles to the head, in a poorly-lit, one a.m. Detroit saloon parking lot.
Those were the days.
As with most calamities in my life, a woman rescued me: in this encounter, a good samaritan across the street screaming loudly, as I tried to verbally reason between blows by my soon-to-be departing assailants. The ferocious foursome seemed quite frustrated by my unwillingness to escort them to my vehicle, as well as my possession of only one lone dollar bill.
Perhaps I ended up fitting the description of a broke musician and songwriter.
Anyway, this consciously Detroit blend of blues, rock, reggae and defiant poetry helped me through a particularly difficult period of my life, after losing my mother in December of 1995 from her tragic year-long battle with a brain aneurysm. Despite my troubles, this show somehow conveyed a shared enthusasm, as I tried to carry this talented little outfit from the kit.
Besides ML at the mic, you can view Steve Bitto on guitar, Michael Smith on bass (recently replacing Hobey Echlin of Majesty Crush fame), and 26 minutes in, a special guest appearance by Chris Reo (from Dopetown) on my original song “Birdie Face,” from a new play at the time, “Birdie on the Back Nine,” amid the crammed chaos of the Old Town in Saginaw.
You’re also welcome to just fast forward to the final song, a spirited version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.”
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