Rocker From the Heartland, Aging Brashly
By JON PARELES
Published: February 20, 2011

At Radio City Music Hall on Friday night John Mellencamp joshed about what it would be like to meet his younger self: a brash kid who’d condescendingly say, “Hey, Classic Hits, what’s happening?” He went on proudly to assert his age, 59, as a lead-in to what he announced as a “song for my generation.” It was “Don’t Need This Body,” a blunt, death-haunted stomp that began, “This getting older, it ain’t for cowards.”

It was one linchpin of a concert that seesawed between facing mortality — full of songs about death — and a stubborn determination to live fully. Performing for more than two hours Mr. Mellencamp was as feisty about a bold middle age, in “The Real Life,” as he once was about wanting to “hold on to 16 as long as you can” in his biggest hit, “Jack & Diane,” from 1982. He doesn’t care about the past, he insisted, but wisely he hasn’t discarded it either.

Mr. Mellencamp’s “classic hits” made him a multimillion-selling rocker in the 1980s. He built the persona of a populist bad boy: a small-town guy bucking authority and speaking up for also-rans. But Mr. Mellencamp wouldn’t act like a bad boy forever. He grew up fast.

By the late 1980s he was singing, in his gutsy, earnest rasp, about adult disillusionment and economic woes, particularly for family farmers. He would go on to write about politics, racism, hard luck, faith and dying. Mr. Mellencamp also rusticated and backdated his music, adding folky instruments to his band and modeling his newer songs on Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash and the blues.

He made his 2010 album, “No Better Than This” (Rounder), in mono, using a tape recorder and one vintage microphone, in places including the San Antonio hotel room where Robert Johnson recorded and Sun Studios in Memphis. (“It’s About You,” a documentary shown to Radio City’s early arrivals, was a grainy hagiography filmed on Mr. Mellencamp’s tour and at recording sessions, using another vintage technology: Super 8.)

At Radio City Mr. Mellencamp changed his backup from song to song, juggling small groups and the full band. Sometimes he was alone with an acoustic guitar, strumming through “Small Town” with the audience shouting along, or he was joined by Miriam Sturm on violin and Troye Kinnett on accordion. Mike Wanchic, Mr. Mellencamp’s rhythm guitarist for 35 years, doubled on mandolin.

Certain older songs were recast as rockabilly, with a swing beat from Dane Clark on a stand-up drum kit, John Gunnell slapping a bass, and twangy lead guitar from Andrew York. “Jack & Diane” got a countrified beat, and Mr. Mellencamp sang “Cherry Bomb” a cappella. Meanwhile some of the bare-bones songs from “No Better Than This” got fleshed out, like “The West End,” a chronicle of urban decay that became a dark drone, and “No One Cares About Me,” a litany of bitter isolation and stubborn optimism that took on a jaunty bounce.

As the concert ended, Mr. Mellencamp stopped jovially dodging his past. His band’s Hoosier power chords were back for “Pink Houses” and “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.,” played in their old hit style. Still a populist, Mr. Mellencamp gave people what they wanted once he had his say.




http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/arts/music/21mellen.html

[LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: There are a few things I want to cover, but I want to make sure I talk about the film “It’s About You.” The only thing I know about it I saw online and in the trailer. Does it include scenes from the minor league baseball stadiums?]

The Mellencamp story: Guitarist Mike Wanchic tells how roots rocker made it to the top, stayed there

Posted by John J. Moser at 01:30:00 AM on February 19, 2011

Mike Wanchic, who for almost 35 years has been the guitarist for John Mellencamp’s band, can explain exactly how his boss not only hit it big, but also has sustained a career for those 31/2 decades that has seen him sell more than 27 million albums in the United State alone.

The first part was serendipity, Wanchic says. The roots rock sound and populist message of 1982’s “American Fool” happened to resonate with a listening public that, in the early 1980s, was looking to recover from a recession and years of perceived national weakness and doubt.

But what sustained the career, Wanchic says, was integrity.

Now, almost 30 years after that commercial peak, Mellencamp is out on tour to support  his latest disc, “No Better Than This,” which he recorded in historic locations such as the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga., the famous Sun Studios in Memphis and the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, where blues and rock pioneer Robert Johnson recorded.

Mellencamp used a 1955 portable recording machine and only one microphone and recorded in mono, the same way as the classic recordings were done. The recording process came during breaks in Mellencamp’s 2009 national tour of minor league baseball stadiums with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, which stopped at Allentown’s Coca-Cola Park on July 14, 2009.

The process, and the tour, was captured by film makers for the new Mellencamp documentary “It’s About You,” which will be the “opening act” for his current tour.

In a recent telephone interview to promote Mellencamp’s stop Monday at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, Wanchic talked about his career with Mellencamp and where it has brought them.

Here's a transcript of the call:

LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: There are a few things I want to cover, but I want to make sure I talk about the film “It’s About You.” The only thing I know about it I saw online and in the trailer. Does it include scenes from the minor league baseball stadiums?

WANCHIC: “Oh yeah, lots of them.”

And it really makes me wonder – you guys played Allentown on that tour and I’m thinking, ‘Gosh, our stadium may show up.’

“You know, I don’t know which ones they are, ‘cause it’s usually stage shots. So it’s a little difficult to say, but you guys got as good a shot as anybody else [Laughs]. ‘Cause Kurt Marcus, he shot every single show.”

You know, I have to tell you – that show, I was there. And when I wrote the review, I actually said that you guys hit the home run – in a baseball park – hit the home run. I mean, I liked Dylan, but I thought you guys were the best act there.

“Thanks.”

Anyway, do you know what the idea was behind using the film as sort of the opening act at the shows you’re doing now?

“Well, I think we’re trying to really sort of expand off of our normal base of hit records and give people a little more insight into what is involved in what we do on music and on a daily basis, and I think that really kind of also opens the eyes of the listener and the concert-goer ahead of the event. I think it’s a better set-up. It actually gives you some context for the show that you’re about to see.  ‘Cause the show itself is put together so differently than any tour we’ve ever done. This tour is strictly about music. It’s not a whistles and bells. It’s not shooting fish in a barrel with hit records. It is songs that we really feel are great songs. And that’s why it’s in a theater environment – so people can actually sit down and feel good about it, and not have to stand up the entire time. There’s points in the show where standing up is great, there’s points were there are long stretches where you want to sit down and actually listen to the songs that are being played.

“So that’s sort of the nature of the entire program being put together with the film and then leading into what we’re doing. I think it all ties up very nicely.”

Sounds like a good show. I’m really anxious to see it.

“It’s a long thing, ‘cause it’s an hour show and then we play two.”

Oh, really? The film’s an hour long?

“Yeah. It’s one hour and then we play for two hours.”

I’m assuming a good chunk of the show is retrospective.

“Well, yeah, and a lot of it is very current. What was done is we really have gone and we have looked deep into our material and gone, ‘Well, you know, this was a really good song and we were never really able to play this song. And so, yes, on a retrospective level, some of that is in there. Songs like ‘Jackie Brown,’ which we haven’t really been able to perform for many years. And then there’s songs like ‘Longest Day’ and ‘Save Some Time’ from the new records that are just absolutely fantastic songs, and in an arena environment and big rock show environment, you could never get away with playing.”

In fact, one of the complaints — not mine — about the set you guys played here, I think you played like three songs from [the 2008 disc] “Life Death Love and Freedom” and I loved it, I’m blown away by that album. But people were expecting to hear the hits at a stadium show.

“Well, exactly. And so the environment partially dictates the kind of show you have to put together. Hits are desired to do nothing but theaters on this go-round, because once again, it alerts the concert-goer that this – and we’re very up-front about it – this is a different kind of show. This is an opportunity to get with us after a 30-year career and listen to not only what you want to hear, but what we want to play.”

I like that whole concept.

“From a musical perspective, it’s incredibly diverse. The show starts out with a quartet of two guitars, a cocktail kit and upright bass and vocal. And we move from there into all kinds of different configurations, from John being solo to two acoustic guitars to the entire band ensemble with upright basses and tambourines and violins and accordions. And the eventually into what we would call the arena set. You know, we’re not going to abandon the hits, and we certainly give people a big chunk of it at the very end. But you know, it’s kind of like dessert."

[Laughs] Good way to put it. I want to talk a little bit just about the musical space that John is in right now. Like I said, I loved the last album and this one, and there’s clearly – to me, at least – a perspective that his musical life is changing again, different. I don’t know what you’d call it, introspective or whatever. But clearly he’s looking at things or writing about things that are on a more serious level.

“I think the nature of writing as one matures has to alter and change. It’s no longer … we’re not so cavalier as we used to be, certainly. And I think all our priorities have changed, our outlooks on the world have changed. John’s view of life and politics and family – we’ve all grown up, you know? He really can’t write from the crotch anymore like we did when we were kids. [Laughs]

“John is just continuing, in my opinion, to evolve as a writer – as a great writer of timeless material. Not unlike Dylan, where there is no, you can’t really put a time reference on the writing. To me, that’s what allows a song to live forever. When the universal human condition is being examined.”

When I reviewed, “Life, Death, Love, Freedom,” that’s one of the things I said. I think these songs are song of John’s best-written songs ever.

“Absolutely, no question about it.”

And you know what. I’m willing to accept that maybe I’m at a point in life where I’m looking at songs differently, too. But for some reason these songs really spoke to me, and I think him speaking about himself is really reaching some people out here like me.

“Absolutely. Once again, I agree 100 percent with you and I think that’s why this material is the kind of thing that actually deserves to be heard. And at this point in our career, and any great artist in this age group, record sales are really not happening. So how do you reach your constituents? And in our case, it’s go out and play the music live and perform it. Because that’s really the nature of music, is performance. It’s a performance art. And I think that’s something that can’t be ignored and forgotten.”

As I prepared for this interview, I refreshed my memory on your time with John and it reminded me that, when you talk about changes, you’ve basically been with him through all of his changes, right? You were with him when he was still Johnny Cougar.

"Yes, I was -- it was 1976."

So tell me about your 30-odd years with John Mellencamp. How have things evolved, and how have things changed, and what’s it been like?

“ Man [laughs]. Well, I think we started out with very lofty goals to start with. We wanted to be rock stars when we were kids. And that was everybody’s goal in the music business – to get the big record deal, to be the big success. And just by great providence, it happened for us. And the funny thing is – the way things work in this world, in my opinion, we did one thing, and that’s pretty much all we knew. We had our limitations, we worked well within them and we were making records and they were no happening, and no one really wanted to hear what we wanted to do. And then, what we considered  pretty much our last shot at making records was [1982’s] ‘American Fool.’ And once again,  we just continued to do what we did – even more fervently. And the way I see things working in that you continue to do what you do, and with any luck, culture will intersect what you do. And in our case, it happened to do that.”

I think you hit that nail right on the head.

“Because we weren’t doing anything different – but culture crossed us. Contemporary culture crossed us and all of a sudden, it was a hit.”

I agree. If you look at the times when that album came out, it was perfect for those times.

“It just happened to intersect. And at that point, our career was  born and blossomed. And from that point on, we were able to bring our audience with us and continue to evolve and our audience was accepting. I think that’s what’s allowed us, over the last 20 albums, to continue to mature, continue to evolve musically without losing out audience. Because our audience had grown with us.”

I read that you actually were among the people that persuaded him to keep “Jack and Diane” on “American Fool.”

"That's true."

And also R.O.C.K. (In the U.S.A.) on [1985’s album] “Scarecrow.”

“Absolutely. Well, John’s always wanted to be a legitimate songwriter. But there’s an element of rock and roll that has to be fun.  There has to be a fun factor in there. And I don’t mean in a trivial fashion, but in a celebratory way. Both those songs are anthemic, American, celebratory songs.”

And I read, as a person interested in music, how artists such as Dylan don’t see the big hits. They’re so focused on the songwriting.

“Absolutely. Well, the thing is, I pride myself on being able to smell a hit records.”

In your work in producing and as a band leader, how much influence do you think you had in John’s songs over the years?

“Well, all I can do is offer my honest  counsel, and my musical ideas. I am not a lyricist, never claimed to be. I am a musician and a hook writer and to me, the two things actually are absolutely married. I know how John thinks, and he knows musically how I think. And I think those two things have just allowed us to learn to trust each other over the years and to honor each others’ opinion.”

The concept behind “No Better Than This” – the recording in the historic places and the use of the instruments the way you guys did – how did that evolve? Is that something you went into the making of the album with?

“Yeah, absolutely. John wanted to do sort of a traditional record, from his love of Johnny Cash and the early records and even much earlier music than that. I think it’s an exploration – a musical exploration. Once again, I think at this point in John’s career, he’s allowed the latitude to do what he wants -- irregardless of the commercial ramification. He can’t buy a hit at our age, anyway. It can’t happen. If you look right down the  line at every great artist in our age bracket, from Paul Simon on down, there’s no radio for us anymore. So why bother, you know? Why not just perceive your career exactly how you want to perceive it and forge your legacy in the direction that you want to take it. Irregardless of any kind of commerciality.”

I saw John perform on Letterman and, again,  it just sort of blew me away. But you’re right – you put that on the radio, it’s not going to work. But you got an audience like me that’s like, all of a sudden we’re in love with this music.

“Yeah, well, it’s real music, you know?  It’s real music for real people that actually enjoy real music. It’s timeless music. It has nothing to do with contemporary culture. So from our perspective, it’s the only place we can go anymore.”

To what do you attribute the fact that you and John have been able to work together more than 30 years?

“Oh, a lot of it is shared experiences. We’re the same age, we grew up very close to one another. We grew up listening to the same music. We had parallel experiences, even though I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and he  grew up in Seymour, Indiana, we listened to the same radio station growing up, out of Louisville, Kentucky. We had very similar music language when we met one another. A lot of shared experience and I think those things have just allowed us to forge a brotherhood that was able to survive.”

When you guys came through Allentown, I interviewed one of Willie Nelson’s players who had a long history with Willie, and I asked him the same question and he said, ‘I just think he hadn’t gotten around to firing me yet’ [Laughs]

“[Laughs] Well, I’ve been fired a half-dozen times already.”

[Laughs] Well, you know what? If it’s a great relationship, that type of tension better have shown itself at some point, you know?

“Oh, absolutely [Laughs]. There’s no question about it. Yeah, no question about it. That’s just part of real life. But you know, then you have to look at the greater good.”

Yeah, yeah. You know, I can’t let the interview go by without asking about John’s personal life. Does the fact that his marriage is ending, does that play into where he’s at at all?

“I think what it is doing right now is it’s really creating a focus on his music. Because ultimately and finally, that’s what he’s got. And that’s what he is – he’s a great songwriter. He’s a great dad, he’s been  a great husband to Elaine. But sometimes things run their course, you know? And I’m not really prepared to say what it is because I don’t really know. But the upside of it is that he had refocused completely on the music and what we do. You know, our life has been built around making music and playing music. And at this point in our lives, I think that has kind of been refocused and that’s what we’re out here doing. We have a lot of shows booked, which we normally don’t do. Let’s go out and let’s play music. That’s what we do, that’s what I am, you know? At  59 years old, I’m not going to be changing much.”

[Laughs] How is John? As far as health-wise, he’s doing well?

“Yeah, oh, very well. He’s on [an exercise machine] 45 minutes every day and he works hard.”

Those were the questions I had. Anything I missed?

“The thing I would stress to people is that this show is about music. This is a presentation that we’re gifting people that is not what they have known from us in the past. It’s a much broader musical experience, and I think any true fan will find this very enriching – and revealing about what we do musically.”

http://blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2011/02/the-mellencamp-story-guitarist-mike-wanchic-tells-how-roots-rocker-made-it-to-the-top-stayed-there.html

Her daughter is six years old so most likely she's in school during most of the day.

There are new photos of John with Meg, taken yesterday. Shows them out and about with John's father and his two sons in NYC.

And here they are:

John Mellencamp set to take Radio City Music Hall by storm with film and three live segments

By Jim Farber

To hear John Mellencamp tell it, his entire history of hits - a stretch that helped define the '80s and allowed him to headline arenas all over the world - was besides the point.

"All those records that were very produced and got on the radio were a sidetrack for me," he says. "To be able to survive at that time, in the '80s, you had to do that. But now, as a fully grown man, I don't feel I have to survive on any terms except my own."

Of course, it's those hits that gave him the profile, and the finances, to make such options possible. But at least Mellencamp actually chose to exercise them, a decision made plain by his new tour. Instead of hitting the biggest venues and filling them with hits, Mellencamp's new show parks at more intimate spaces (at least by his standards) and moseys through a surprising quartet of segments.

The event, at Radio City Friday and Saturday, will open with a film and then move into three live segments: Mellencamp alone on an acoustic guitar, then backed by a spare, down-home band, and finally joined by a full electric one.

While some well-known songs turn up, they're unmoored from their original arrangements. If that's not enough Mellencamp for you, his artwork will be on display in the lobby. 

The featured movie, titled "It's About You," isn't really about him, Mellencamp insists, even though it was shot during his 2008 tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. "It's not a concert movie," he explains. "It's about [director] Kurt Markus and his son. They're trying to make a movie about a rock band, but really what they discover is America is not the place they thought it was."

Much of the live music follows the style of Mellencamp's most recent CD, "No Better Than This," which mines the roots of Americana to the point of fetishism. It obsesses on spindly instrumentation, raw vocals and, yes, mono production. That's not a new route for Mellencamp. Nearly all his works since 2003's "Trouble No More" have hit that ascetic tone.

In discussing his inspiration, Mellencamp doesn't mention musicians, but writers. "It's about trying to get to the root of John Steinbeck, to the root of Tennessee Williams and to the root of William Faulkner," he says. "It's down to the essence of what makes humanity the way it is. I don't think you can do that with guitars blazing."

Mellencamp takes a similar, eye-level approach to a musical he's been working on, "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County," with a book by Stephen King. When the specter of U2's "Spider-Man" fiasco is raised, Mellencamp flinches. "We're so far away from that. I'm done with anything to do with spectacle."

Instead, he says the music hews closer to Woody Guthrie. It has been recorded already, using both singers and actors. The musical will open in Atlanta later this year, at which point Mellencamp will have turned 60. He says that number doesn't faze him.  "I'm actually starting to embrace my age, which I resisted for a long time," he says. "But it's okay because now, I realize, I'm a dangerous old man."

Or, at the very least, a free one.

Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Radio City Music Hall, 50th St. & Sixth Ave. (221) 307-7171

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2011/02/18/2011-02-18_mellencamp_set_to_take_radio_city_music_hall_by_storm_.html?r=entertainment

No arena rock in Mellencamp tour
Guitarist Mike Wanchic speaks for the man from the small town, who comes to Philadelphia Monday

Written by
PETER BOTHUM

It was a major bummer to discover that the man behind "Jack & Diane" does not do phone interviews in advance of shows.

But it was a nice consolation prize to discover the man who came up with the tune's unforgettable guitar hook, Mike Wanchic, was willing to serve as John Mellencamp's mouthpiece.

As Mellencamp's bandleader for more than 34 years, Wanchic (who came up with the little guitar part that comes before the handclaps) has become a master at handling Mellencamp's dirty work, which often requires checking his ego at the door of the studio or the foot of the stage.

"John's a songwriter. He has incredibly good instincts. My job is to lay stuff on him. I'm a melody writer," Wanchic said, calling from Washington, D.C., where Mellencamp and the band were slated to play on Tuesday. "I think democracy is a bad thing in rock and roll. I think you have to have creative vision, and someone has to see that thing all the way through.

"I've come up with parts that I thought were brilliant and they got pitched, but ultimately they got pitched for the greater good."

Wanchic said Mellencamp's current tour reflects the direction he went in his latest album, the stripped-down, critically hailed "No Better Than This." It's an exploration into honest, barebones folk and roots, and as such the tour is a more mature affair, where audiences can sit instead of stand to better focus on the actual music.

"It's not an arena rock show like it's been for the last 30 years," said Wanchic, who lives 10 miles from Mellencamp in their native Bloomington, Ind. "This tour is based very seriously around

great songs and a lot of times doesn't involve big hits."

Don't worry: Fans will still hear a fair share of hits.

"We know we owe certain things to our audience," Wanchic said. "Yeah, you gotta play 'Jack and Diane.' (But) we've completely rearranged it. The song is there, the music is there. We've allowed all of these old hits to grow with us."

In addition to classic songs and a heavy dose from the new record, fans will also hear deeper cuts like "The Real Life" off of 1987's "Lonesome Jubilee." There are three sets with different band arrangements that interchange upright bass, mandolin, violin and acoustic guitars.

Because of the more intimate musical setup -- at one point Andy York is on banjo, Mellencamp is on acoustic guitar and Wanchic plays mandolin -- the players have less margin for error.

"Your ass is hanging out," Wanchic said. "I've never seen John this exposed, this vulnerable on stage."

This isn't exactly true. Mellencamp was quite exposed in the 1980s as an early icon of MTV. And because he was a star of those epic videos -- kicking dust with the band in "Pink Houses," rocking out in the biker bar in "Hurts So Good" -- Wanchic was exposed too and is now a part of pop culture history.

"I guess I don't think about it a great deal. Nobody thinks a thing of it. It's just part of the fabric of my daily life," Wanchic said. "We were there at the very beginnings of MTV, and I think it provided people with a lot of exposure to an audience. It just doesn't exist anymore, in the same way that physical product doesn't exist anymore."

Mellencamp, with Wanchic leading his band, will be at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia at 7 p.m. Monday. Tickets range from $48.50-$130 and are available by calling 215-893-1999 or online at www.kimmelcenter.org.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110218/ENTERTAINMENT0201/102180303/-1/FEEDS/No-arena-rock-Mellencamp-tour?odyssey=nav|head

Setting up 'Camp in NYC
John likes Meg, does not like talkin' 'bout it

By DAN AQUILANTE

In his three or so decades as a hit-making musician, John Mellencamp has had his rock- star moments of fame and fortune. But now, for the first time, he's getting noticed in the gossip pages -- for dating Meg Ryan.

Mellencamp, who plays a pair of sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall tomorrow and Saturday, was snapped walking arm-in-arm with actress Ryan last month, just days after he and his wife, model Elaine Irwin, announced they were splitting after 18 years of marriage. Those photos were subsequently plastered across the pages of The Post and People magazine.

Quite honestly, I'm really shocked that anybody is even a little interested," the 59-year-old singer tells The Post. "I've made it my business to stay off the gossip pages and the magazines. So I'm a little disappointed that I ended up in there for a week, but now it's like everyone has lost interest, so you probably won't see much more about my love life." And that's all he'll say on the subject.

The romance doesn't seem to be slowing. Mellencamp, who was seen lunching with Ryan, 49, at Balthazar in January, celebrated Valentine's Day by walking and shopping with her in SoHo and NoLIta -- and having lunch at Bread.

Still, Mellencamp would like to keep the focus on his music, rather than his personal life. He's always been more about work than fame. After establishing himself as John Cougar with hits such as "Jack and Diane" and "Hurts So Good," he ditched the phony stage moniker in favor of his given name in 1983. His heartland rock style has also gotten

back to basic, gimmick-free roots music and Americana.

That style is the hallmark of the singer's current tour, a departure from his past raucous rock shows. The Radio City concerts, the singer says, "won't be what people expect -- it will challenge the audience because it isn't a greatest-hits concert. There's some familiar material, but it'll be laden with blues and country and swing -- all the roots music that I grew up with."

It's a risky move, considering that fans often reject this kind of concert -- they want all the hits and nothing but the hits. Yet over the course of more than 20 shows on this tour, Mellencamp says, only one performance had fans heckling him and screaming for the big songs. "That was the only one where the audience didn't listen," he says.

On the other hand, he says, "Just the other night, in Ottawa, during the acoustic set, you could hear a pin drop. I was so pleased. I'd like everyone to come to the Radio City shows with the same open mind, and maybe leave with a full heart."

Whether talking about fans' attention spans or the distinct possibility that he'll headline next year's Super Bowl halftime show on his home turf in Indianapolis, Mellencamp has the tenor of an accomplished politician. No wonder: He's one of music's most outspoken social activists, from his work with Farm Aid to social-commentary songs such as "Jena" (about the Jena Six, the six African-American teenagers convicted in the beating of a white student in Louisiana in 2006).

His political opinions and personal popularity in his home state have sparked the Democratic Party there to entice him to run for office.

"A little while back, I was asked to run for the Senate. I said no because there's nothing I could say or do that would make any progress for the people," Mellencamp says. "Look at Obama. I know the guy -- he's compassionate and smart. If a guy as dedicated to serving the people as him can't get things done, what could I do? I'll stick to what I do best, and sing about it."

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/music/setting_up_camp_in_nyc_zDIqez3yXBD7nRaZ6OE7PN#ixzz1EEDE1UJP

Hard Walkin’: Mellencamp by Numbers
Posted by Chris Klimek on Feb. 16, 2011 at 4:00 pm

It looks like this reviewer has seen the error of his ways:

So, some data has just come back from the lab in RE: last night's Constitution Hall concert by one John Mellencamp, about which I had plenty to say as it was happening.
Man, I don't know why you hipsters all make fun of this guy. Is it because of the "Cougar" he dropped from his name after 1989, when he was in the midst of a string of fine, mournful albums that have aged just fine for having had the good sense to eschew the Top Gun drums and synthesizers that have dated so much Reagan-era music so badly? Is it because of that truck commercial from a few years ago? Is it because he is typically photographed looking like this?

I suppose you have your reasons. But I'm here to tell you, your reasons are crap.

The world is full of 60-year-old (give or take) rock stars now, and they're all still on the road. Some of 'em mail it in and some of them never, ever do. Somehow I'd got it into my head that Mellencamp was of the former variety. I can't really defend this. Based on a couple of interviews (from MTV, which tells you how old they'd be) and some 90s benefit gig appearances, I had a vague impression of him as a cranky, prematurely-old goat who didn't like performing and who only played the hits, an approach that would leave anyone bored and cynical.

Brothers and sisters, I was wrong. The Artist Formerly Known as Coug — yeah, you know what? Screw that hacky joke already — performed 25 songs, opening with an obligatory-feeling "Authority Song" and shutting things down in similar fashion 130 minutes later with a two-fer of monster hits "Pink Houses" and "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." (I was hoping he might update the lyrics of the latter to name-check Jay-Z or Eminem or somebody, but no dice.)

What came in between was remarkable. Fronting a six-piece band that included an accordionist and a fiddle player along with longtime guitarists Mike Wanchic and Andy York, Mellencamp emphasized his fine, rustic recent work alongside the downbeat songs he'd always placed on his 80s and 90s albums among the radio jams. (The former often outnumbered the latter.) "Jackie Brown," from 1989's Big Daddy album, was a highlight, performed with violin accompaniment during an otherwise solo acoustic set that also included the lovely "Save Some Time to Dream" and an a cappella "Cherry Bomb" he said someone had asked him for on the street that day. "I don't give a fuck about the past," quipped he before singing the sentimental tune.

More than half the set — 13 songs, to be precise — was from the 21st century, if you count Son House's "Death Letter," which Mellencamp didn't cut until 2003. These come mostly from his latter two albums, 2008's Life, Death, Love and Freedom (four) and last year's No Better Than This (six songs), both raw, earthy affairs produced by Americana ambassador T-Bone Burnett. After he fought "Authority" and lost, the show began for reals with "No One Cares About Me." After that, "Death Letter." After that, "John Cockers," a song with the irresistible chorus, "I ain't got no friends." He growled through "Don't Need This Body" and "If I Die Sudden" before the evening was done. Nick Cave sings fewer songs about death than this guy.

You guys, it hurt so good!

Which he did not play.

Once the set moved into hitsville, "Small Town" got a telling lyrical alteration from the just-divorced, now-stepping-out-with-Meg Ryan Mellencamp : "Married some dolls and brought them to this small town / Now I'm starting to think the trouble's with me." So the drunken fools who shouted through the acoustic performance, and worse, clapped along, couldn't quite drown out the words, but nice try, morons!

BIG HITS NOT PRESENT: "Lonely Ol Night", "Crumblin' Down," "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)," and that annoying cover of "Wild Night" that was everywhere in 1994 all made the top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100 and were left out last night. Also, "Hurt So Good" made it to No. 2 in '82.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blog ... y-numbers/

[Note]

Note: I know this is all a little redundant to post these paparazzi pictures each week, but I post them just because I know some fans out there like this kind of stuff. Please don't think less of me.

Meg Ryan and boyfriend John Mellencamp seem very happy together as they stroll, hold hands, kiss and hug their way around Manhattan for their first Valentine’s Day together.

The 49-year-old actress and the 59-year-old rock star, began dating about three months ago, after John announced his separation from his wife of 18 years, Elaine.

The lovebirds enjoyed shopping, a romantic lunch at BREAD restaurant and dessert at DEAN & DELUCA.

Below are photos from the couple's Valentine's Day in NYC:

John Mellencamp and Meg Ryan ducking into BLT Steak downtown for a late lunch Tuesday. Corner booth, by the bar. The divorcing rocker was set to play Constitution Hall that night; his new girlfriend the actress has been accompanying him on several of his tour dates.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2011/02/hey_isnt_that_john_mellencamp.html


Sightings: Mellencamp and Ryan lunch at BLT Steak

Legendary rocker John Mellencamp was spotted lunching Tuesday afternoon with actress Meg Ryan at BLT Steak in downtown D.C., Yeas & Nays spies report. The two have been quietly dating for several months with Mellencamp filing for divorce from his third wife Elaine Irwin Mellencamp in mid-January. The musician is in town to play a show at D.A.R. Constitution Hall Tuesday night.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/yeas-nays/2011/02/sightings-mellencamp-and-ryan-lunch-blt-steak#ixzz1E5pjeDWv

More photos:

[It’s About You]

Once a ‘dangerous young man,’ Mellencamp becomes a formidable old one
BRAD WHEELER

John Mellencamp
At Massey Hall in Toronto on Wednesday

Johnny Cougar, we hardly knew you. The 59-year-old John Mellencamp is in reinvention mode, presenting himself on a warmly lit stage for the first of two Massey Hall concerts as a new sort of Johnny Cash as he sang with gravel-voiced authority on mortality, humanity and dreams. There was a little night dancin’ too.

In his well-practised populist drawl, he said that long ago he had thought himself as a “dangerous young man,” but that now he was a well-travelled and formidable old one. He sang sombre new folk-based material convincingly and reworked his radio hits in colourful ways, alternating his onstage lineup seamlessly on the fly, from a Tennessee beat combo to a solo acoustic troubadour to a southern ensemble with accordion and electric fiddle – and, finally, a full-on rockin’-in-the-USA electric unit.

The show was prefaced with the thoughtful tour documentary It’s About You, the “you” being not just Mellencamp. At his best – and he was there on Wednesday – the Indiana native sings to, for and about all of us. On Don’t Need This Body, he offered gruffly that “This getting old ain’t for cowards.” Mellencamp isn’t one of those, a coward; he throws cherry bombs at authority, lives fully, moves forward and makes dignified music.

It’s About You

No popcorn was served, but the “opening act” was a grainy Super-8 travelogue that followed Mellencamp’s 2009 tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. In the film by Kurt Markus, we saw the silver Streamline camper Mellencamp uses as a dressing room; that same vintage trailer was parked outside Massey. Also covered was the making of Mellencamp’s latest album, No Better Than This, an unflinching collection of original folk-blues recorded in historic locations in the U.S. South. The film also hit at the tumbled-wall decline of the United States. Markus, as narrator, talked about seeking discovery, and not being sure if the ones he found were outside of himself or from within.

Death becomes him

The show proper began with the lights down and the taped introductory music of Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down, concerning inevitability. Authority Song, done in a rockabilly style, came first. The old anthem about a defiant youth – “growing up leads to growing old and then to dying" – gave way to the boom-chicka-boomed No One Cares About Me, a crotchety sing-along with a man who has “angels around the bend.” Then the judgment-day delta blues of Death Letter, followed by John Cockers (raging Americana rock about an angry, old fellow with plans to dig himself a six-foot hole). Mellencamp, with grey stubble on his chin, thinks about dying.

Life’s short

Check It Out was rendered in a sweet Acadian style, with Mellencamp delivering a semi-sermon on the fallacies of our daily lives and what we think we’ve learned. Before a spot-lit Save Some Time to Dream, he addressed the matter of song requests: “Just be patient, it’ll probably show up sooner or later.” To which a voice in the dark cried out, “We got all night.” But do we? Later we heard If I Die Sudden, the resigned No Better Than This and a song about life being short even in its longest days. So, no, we don’t have all night. But we did have one night, some night.

Setlist:

AUTHORITY SONG, NO ONE CARES ABOUT ME, DEATH LETTER, JOHN COCKERS, WALK TALL, THE WEST END, CHECK IT OUT, SAVE SOME TIME TO DREAM, CHERRY BOMB, DON’T NEED THIS BODY, RIGHT BEHIND ME, JACKIE BROWN, LONGEST DAYS, EASTER EVE, JACK AND DIANE, SMALL TOWN, RAIN ON THE SCARECROW, PAPER IN FIRE, THE REAL LIFE, WHAT IF I CAME KNOCKING, IF I DIE SUDDEN, NO BETTER THAN THIS, PINK HOUSES AND R.O.C.K. IN THE U.S.A.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/music/once-a-dangerous-young-man-mellencamp-becomes-a-formidable-old-one/article1902346/

The first five pictures were taken today, Feb. 10, 2011, in Toronto:

i was at the show last nite also...but i have to say his opening nite in bloomington was (for me)a nicer performance from start to end..his approach to re-invent himself was right on..but i guess he went back to his rockways.

How did he go back to his rock ways? The setlist last night was almost identical to the show in Bloomington that kicked off the tour, with two or three exceptions. It's essentially the same show.

Concert Review: John Mellencamp
February 6, 2011
National Arts Center-Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (soft seat theatre)
Attendance: sold out (not sure what that could be, but around 3000 maybe?)
Ticket price: $255. Yes, you read that right, but I was in the front row, 4 seats dead center.

I’m baaaa-aaaack. I did not stop writing reviews, it’s just that there hasn’t been anything decent since Kim Mitchell back in September. So, this is the first review of ’11. Let’s get ‘er goin’. Since I AM a bit rusty, this one will be short (plus I’m going to the Heart concert tonight, and need to save some comedy!)

Before I get into the music, I needed to provide a counterpoint to something I saw Rita MacNeil say. I watched a bio piece on her over the Christmas holidays, and she said something like (paraphrasing) “…the first time I read a review where the writer didn’t mention my weight, I thought ‘finally, this guy really gets it’…” My argument is that a concert is mostly about the music, but there are also other sights, sounds, and yes, even smells that all combine to make what is, the concert experience.

I’m proud to say that there was nothing unpleasant in the smell department to report about the Mellencamp show.

It was a beautiful winter evening in Ottawa, and I was able to walk to the show. Got to will-call, got my ticket (stupid ticketmaster and their will-call shenanigans for good seats!), and arrived just in time for the opening act which was, a documentary about Mellencamp.

As mentioned above, I was in the front row…of a soft seat theatre show. What does that mean? It means that for the opening act, people were sitting down. I was slouching—as close as I could get to lying down. The documentary was OK, but not great. If it were to come out on DVD, would I buy it? Nope. Once is enough. It was more about politics, farming, geography, and Americana than it was about the musical genius that is, John Mellencamp. (hard not to stick ‘cougar’ in there).

After the documentary, there was a 20 minute intermission. What? Too long. So, I went for a stroll—lined up for the bathroom. Lots of 40 somethings wandering around. Unlike a metal concert, there were no girls dressed in rubber pants (looking to sleep with Vince Neil) wandering around. No smell of left-handed cigarettes. Just people, talking about the super bowl.

Finally…”ladies and gentlemen, from Bloomington, Indiana, please welcome, John Mellencamp!” And out he came, with almost full band (percussion, stand-up bass, two guitars). John was dressed in some sort of linen suit, and bearded—looked really good. He was playing a telecaster-type axe (not a Fender though—couldn’t see what the headstock said).

The first song was a real rocker…was not familiar sounding, until he started to sing. Here’s the kicker. They started with “the Authority Song”, but they didn’t use that awesome riff at the beginning! The ONLY thing I can figure is that each time they play it the ‘album’ way is that they have to pay royalties to Kenny Loggins, and don’t want to do that anymore (c’mon…you know Authority Song intro sounds like Footloose).


You could break the show into 3 separate ‘chunks’: solo acoustic (just him, sometimes fiddler, sometimes another guitar), small band (2 guitars, stand-up bass, stand up percussion, sometimes fiddle, sometimes accordion), full on rock band (electric bass, full drums, sit down organ). He started off with the small band, and I was really impressed. Especially with the percussion dude. For you drummers out there, this is what it looked like: snare, small tom, plus a BIG floor tom, big crash (or ride), small crash (no hi-hats). There was some sort of pedal, but no bass drum. He would also hit the side of the big floor tom. With just that stuff, the guy ROCKED. Did several songs in this configuration, then some solo(ish), then full on rock band for the last 5 or 6 songs. Full on rock band was LOUD. L-O-U-D!

For the first couple of tunes, everybody was on their feet, then slowly people started to sit down (or slouch in my case). There was one guy about 5 seats away from me (with either his son or little brother) who up on their feet, dancing non-stop (with many moves that he shares with Janic Gers), and singing EVERY lyric. Once those two dudes were the only ones up, an usher came over and asked them to sit—people booed—Mellencamp motioned for them to get back up…they did, and the place went nuts. They didn’t sit down again. Good for them. I was glad to see people have so much fun! It was like one of those sayings “dance like nobody is looking”, and they did. It was awesome.

To the left of the dancing guys was a beautiful young lady (more on her later), then two dudes in their fifties, then me (yes I went solo), and to my left was a guy and his date. He might have found his date in the yellow pages, or in the classified ads in the back of the local tabloid newspaper. He would have been better off going alone—he paid her god-knows-what, PLUS the ticket. It cost him (I’m guessing) close to a grand to have her sitting there texting on her phone, while HE was up dancing and clapping, most of the night. I HAVE to get to the clapping. Red is not a dancer—never have been. But I do have a certain sense of rhythm. The dude next to me? He could not clap in time if there was a gun to his head. I wanted to take his arms and help him clap in time, the same way we taught my son to clap in time. It ain’t that hard people. Look at mellencamp—see his hands? When he gives HIMESELF a high-five, you give YOURSELF a high five. Poor Aubrey back in Ashby in the early 80s had a better sense of rhythm!

Anyway, enough of that rant. So, JM comes out to do a few songs acoustic. The first one was a new song called “Save some time to dream”—what a great song! Great lyrics, great message. It was about a lesson he learned from his dad. At one point, there was a real quiet part, and some genius screams “we love you John!” and mellencamp laughed and lost his place in the song. There was a bit of comedy like this throughout the night. During another acoustic song (and one of his guitarists joined him), I could see that he was playing a different chord from the other guy. The guy leans in and says “F” (the chord, not the expletive--I was close enough to read lips)—JM was playing a C. JM laughed, got down and pointed at the teleprompter, and looked stage left and jokingly chewed out one of the sound guys running the teleprompter.

In a very “Spinal Tap on the Simpsons” moment, JM mentions that he had gone skating earlier that day, to a round of screams. “So, when I arrived in town, I got bundled up and went skating on your river!” Anyway, he mentioned that he fell, and this dude helped him up (as IF he didn’t have security with him while out skating). The dude says “hey, you’re John mellencamp”, and proceeded to ask him to play a specific song. JM said to the crowd “well, I wasn’t going to do this on this tour, but I’m doing it tonight, for the dude that helped me out today, wherever he’s sitting” He did an acapella version of Cherry Bomb. It was friggin’ AWESOME. The place went nuts.

So, after more and more and more new songs and old hits, they did full on rock for the last few songs. Some were ‘album’ versions; some were new treatments of old classics. This was my third time seeing mellencamp, and third different version of Jack and Diane. It was OK, but not great. I appreciate that he’s probably sick of it, but c’mon. Don’t wreck it, just skip it. Pink Houses was a little bit closer to the original.

During ROCK in the USA (one of my least favourite songs of his), the young lady I mentioned above (not the “hired help”, the other one) she was getting a dude sitting next to her to get him to take a picture of her in front of the stage (that was hard to follow). Anyway, at one point, Mellencamp came over and I THOUGHT he was going to lean in so that he could REALLY be in the picture with her. Nope. He pulled her up on stage a la the boss and Courtney Cox. I couldn’t quite tell if this was a “set up” or not. I chatted with the girl briefly when walking out after the show, and I THINK that it might have been an actual random “let’s get that hot girl up on stage”. Not sure…

Anyway, ROCK in the USA was the last song of the night. No encore, but he played for a LONG time.

I’m going to give this one 4.5 Lobsters out of five. My only complaints: the documentary and weakfish arrangements of old classics. If it had been in a hockey arena, it probably would have been fewer lobsters, but sitting in the front row, watching that legend, in a soft seat theatre, was unbelievable—it was like being at a taping of VH1 storytellers. Really glad I did it—Mellencamp is a great singer, guitar player (a note on his guitar playing: he only used one pick all night, only played two guitars [an old Martin, and that tele-style], plays his Gs in a really awkward manner, and not once did he play a Barre Chord, and entertainer/storyteller.

Highlights: “save some time to dream”, “cherry bomb”, “check it out”. One word: Awesome.

Set list (95% sure)


1. Authority Song
2. No One Cares About Me
3. Deep Blue Heart
4. Death Letter
5. Walk Tall
6. The West End
7. Check It Out
8. Save Some Time To Dream
9. Cherry Bomb
10. Don't Need This Body
11. Right Behind Me
12. Jackie Brown
13. Cherry Bomb
14. Longest Days
15. Easter Eve
16. Jack and Diane
17. Thinking About You
18. Small Town
19. New Hymn
20. Rain On The Scarecrow
21. Troubled Land
22. Paper In Fire
23. If I Die Sudden
24. The Real Life
25. No Better Than This
26. Pink Houses
27. Rock In The USA

http://redsconcertreviews.blogspot.com/2011/02/john-mellencamp-feb-6-2011-ottawa.html?showComment=1297287731023#c4768190986337090942

Concert: John Mellencamp in Waterbury, CT
Story by John Voket
SoundSpike Contributor

On his new and rootsy "No Better Than This Tour," John Mellencamp seems to channel the shared mid-1950s Midwestern experience of discovering music across crackly far-flung AM broadcasts played through the dusty dashboard speakers of an International pick-up, and brought magically alive during summer night dances at the town bandstand.

And the sold-out crowd smack in the middle of a quintessential New England mill town was feeling that plain-talking, corn-fed musical magic as the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer pulled into Waterbury, CT's Palace Theater Friday night (2/4).

The show mixed select and re-worked hits with a heavy sampling from Mellencamp's new projects, performed by him and an exceptional backing ensemble that included Michael Wanchic (guitar), Andy York (guitar), Miriam Sturm (violin), John Gunnell (electric and upright bass), Dane Clark (drums) and Troye Kinnett (accordion/keyboards).

Fans coming to the show to hear the radio anthems of their youth may have been a little upset about some of the reconstituted material, particularly on numbers like "Jack & Diane," which was transformed from a hook-laden rocker into a light and breezy country swing ditty. "Pink Houses" was another tune that was a little hard to listen to in its new country-fried format.

But others -- like "Jackie Brown" delivered solo, a spectacular "Check It Out" and "Small Town" featuring Mellencamp and Sturm -- were close enough to their original spirit and style that nobody could stay angry for very long.

In between, Mellencamp chatted with the audience, doing a few lead-ins that touched upon personal experiences -- including an involved story about spending time with his dying grandmother -- that led into the affecting "Longest Days."

He also related how he met a passerby outside the theater earlier that day who commented on how much the artist looked like John Mellencamp, "except a lot older...." But the apparent slight didn't stop Mellencamp from obliging the fan's request, and he performed a shortened "Cherry Bomb" a capella, after looking across the crowd saying, "I hope you're in here somewhere."

Opening with a bouncy, twangy "Authority Song," Mellencamp emerged in a sharp gray suit and spent the rest of the two-hour-plus set depending more on the shuffling of musicians to keep things visually interesting than on any fancy staging. The lighting was predominantly low and shadowy, and the tour's sparse set was anchored by a huge antebellum mural that hung along the rear wall of the vintage theater.

To go along with the moody lighting, Mellencamp dealt out a handful of songs throughout the show that showcased some pretty dark subject matter, including "Death Letter," "John Cockers," and "If I Die Sudden." Meanwhile, the upbeat, classic country treatments on "No One Cares About Me," and "Right Behind Me," felt authentic and perfectly suited to the lyrics.
The most self-effacing moment of the night came as Mellencamp changed a line in "Small Town," to say: "...married a bunch of girls, brought 'em back to this small town, startin' to think the problem is me.../" This was the only passing reference to the fact that he was in the process of divorcing from his third wife, Elaine Irwin.

The balance of the show also featured a few rock star turns. "The West End" ranted with crunchy guitars, choppy fiddle and Mellencamp getting down and dirty with his most gravelly vocals. And the anger of "Rain on the Scarecrow" was still palpable after all the years and all the performances, proving that Mellencamp still shoulders the pain of so many American farmers whose loss of their farms and livelihoods still echoed through the verses of this unlikely hit.

Not wasting any time as the end of the show came too quickly, Mellencamp and the band shelved the routine of walking off before returning for an encore, instead just taking a moment to thank the audience before wrapping up with "ROCK in the USA," dropping "She's So Tough," which was his closing number during previous shows.

The concert differed from many in that the tour's opening act is a documentary film by Kurt Markus, entitled "It's About You." Shot on Super8 film over the course of last year's Bob Dylan-John Mellencamp-Willie Nelson tour of minor league baseball stadiums, it chronicles the creation of "No Better Than This," while serving as a cinematic think piece on the state of the country at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, according to an advance.
So if you want to check out the film before the show, take note of the extra early start times for most of the stops on the rest of Mellencamp's "No Better Than This" tour, which continues through a May 1 stop at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.