We are asking Mellencamp fans to upload videos taken at a Mellencamp show, with either their cell phones or cameras, to YouTube.com. Full songs, partial songs, footage of you in the crowd dancing... whatever Mellencamp footage you have, we want to see it! Be sure to include the tag JM2011 to make it easier to find. Check out the tour opener in Lowell, MA
When John taped A&E's Private Sessions With Lynn Hoffman in December he warmed up for the session by playing a song called "Delia" first recorded by Blind Willie McTell 71 years ago as part of producer Alan Lomax's sessions for the Library of Congress. John recently raved about the song to Rolling Stone Online.
As we continue with our series on past and present band members from John Mellencamp's band, we focus on one of the more versatile artists in the band, Troye Kinnett. Troye, a native Hoosier, joined the band in the midst of the Words and Music Tour, and has made an impact in Mellencamp's music since joining, both in the studio and during the live shows. In this article, Troye talks about several different aspects of being in John's band.
Troye Kinnett grew up near Muncie, Ind. in a little town called Selma. He's lived in Indianapolis for about 20 years. He grew up influenced by Elton John in the 70's and Edward Van Halen in the 80's. By the 1990's he was writing production music for radio and television commercials, and listening to whatever was necessary for the project he was working on at that time. "I did a movie soundtrack a few years ago, so I got into that thing for awhile." Since joining the John Mellencamp band, Troye has listened to a lot more 60's classic rock, focusing on groups such as The Band, The Doors, The Beatles and Bob Dylan. "Now I'm pretty much a channel surfer," he explains. "I'm flipping through my iPod and may go from Snow Patrol to The Carpenters, to Oscar Peterson, to Steely Dan. My son, Sam, was in The Nutcracker this month, so now I'm reverting back to the 1800's," Kinnett said.
Kinnett is a piano player first. He became an organ and accordion player later on. "I've got a guitar and a bass that I can play, but I don't make any money playing that. Over the years of writing stuff for advertising, I've had to write riffs on guitar. So I can play it enough to use it as a writing tool," he said.
Troye said that growing up in Indiana, he was very aware of the music of John Mellencamp. "I worked at TRC (studio in Indianapolis) with John Cascella. That's when I started getting more exposed to his music. I heard it on the radio just like anybody else." Troye had just gotten an entry level writing position at TRC, a place where John had done some additional recording for the Uh-Huh album. "I had heard some of John Cascella's work that he was doing with John, plus he was touring with John. After I heard some of the stuff, I was like 'Oh wow, this is something I need to be more familiar with,'" he said. "You know, "Minutes To Memories" and The Lonesome Jubilee is when I realized how good that stuff was," he said.
Playing the Accordion
When asked about how challenging it is to play an accordion, Kinnett said it is much different. "It's an easier transition to go from piano to organ than it is to go to accordion. The left hand is so much different. You can't see the buttons. It's like using brail. But a lot of what I do in the band is right hand melodies anyway, but I do incorporate the buttons on some songs," he explained. With the accordion and fiddle being such a big part of Mellencamp's sound on much of his music, Kinnett realized the importance of what he was doing. "Being an Indiana guy, I realized I really need to learn how to play this way. I just love playing with Miriam" (Sturm).
Small Town Old Rugged Cross Hymn at the 2:35 minute mark
Troye really enjoys doing the hymn with Sturm. "On the new version, we go back to the melody of the original hymn and you hear people responding to it, like that's what they were waiting to hear. "I love doing "Minutes to Memories," he explained. He said that he and Miriam are kind of their own little section of the band. "Sometimes in rehearsals we'll get together early before everyone else so we can work out some things that we have to play together. It might be a melody part that really works together or sometimes the other guys will take a break and we'll just stay in there and workout our stuff. We will also email things back and forth. Miriam might have an idea for something we're working on like the "New Hymn." So a week or two before rehearsals we will have already been in contact and sent each other some tracks, or some ideas. Usually we're close, but it might need something. There's nothing like getting in that room and working it out," Kinnett explained.
Getting Involved With Mellencamp
Kinnett joined the band in the middle of the Words & Music Tour in the spring of 2006. "I was recording with John in the fall of 2005. I worked on some of the rehearsals and recordings for Ghost Brothers, then came back and played on the first demo of "Our Country" in 2006," he explained. "(Michael) Ramos had been playing that tour for quite a while so it was just a matter of coming in and playing everything the way it was already played. Actually that was easier than coming in and starting from scratch. So it was a matter of executing it," Kinnett said.
Troye already knew everybody in the band and how things worked, so it wasn't like he was coming into a completely unfamiliar situation. "I had a pretty good idea that you better be prepared, so I was." He did whatever he could to be prepared for whatever was asked of him. "The Ghost Brothers rehearsals was when I really first got my foot in the door. That was right after Hurricane Rita. First there was Katrina, then Rita. My grandparents lived in New Orleans and they had been through so much that my brother and I were going down to move them back up here to Muncie on this particular weekend. I got the call on a Thursday to go down and record at Belmont (Mall Studio, John's recording studio) on the following Monday. So my brother had a truck and we were pulling a trailer. It was a big truck with a cab, you know, four doors, so I rode in the back seat and practiced my accordion all the way down there while he drove down there and back, so I could be ready for Monday," he explained.
"We were seeing all these trailers on the way down there. We just wondered what they thought of us. You know, here's this construction truck pulling a trailer and here' s me in the back seat playing an accordion," he said with a laugh.
Re-Arranging Walk Tall
Kinnett talked about the re-arrangement of songs. One in particular is the song "Walk Tall" that has taken on a whole new life on the No Better Than This Tour. The song went from an urban beat, acoustic sounding song with layers of vocals to a bar-room bluesy piano jam that sounds like it came right off of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. "John was rehearsing with the other guys minus Miriam and me for a week to get some of these arrangements together for this different approach. So they had already gotten together and worked out the basic groove of that song. Andy said that John want's piano on this. I've played a tack piano on a couple of tracks on Life, Death, Love and Freedom, but it's just not what I would normally go to for one of his songs. But it totally worked the way that we're doing it," he explained. "John said 'why don't we get a real piano.'" That would be Troye's assignment. For the next three days straight, he was on the internet looking for a piano. He had suggested to John that they get a Tom Thumb piano. Troye had recorded with a Wurlitzer Tom Thumb piano a few years ago. "It's two octaves short of a real piano, so it's a smaller piano and there were tacks on it and it just had a cool sound. So that's what I was looking for. We could have gotten a normal piano, heck there's one in John's studio, but I knew for this song that (Tom Thumb piano) was the way to go and sure enough we found one and got it going, and now it's in the show."
Check out Troye's solo around the 2:00 minute mark
Check out Troye's solo around the 1:40 minute mark
Kinnett said they had played the arrangement several times in rehearsal, but it didn't really come to life until they added the Tom Thumb piano to the song.
Troye has a solo in the middle of the song that has become a crowd favorite on the current tour. "I was kind of surprised about that. It pretty much worked, the only thing is that at first I didn't start out with the high...Jerry Lee (Lewis) piano solo. I didn't go aggressive with it. That was one thing he (John) noticed and he wanted it to stand out more when it came in so you could really hear a change. Once I did that, the arrangement was done."
Stepping Up and Contributing
Troye really made a positive impact on the sound of the Freedom's Road album, especially on the song "Jim Crow" where he implemented some very unique sounds. "That was a breakthrough moment because I wasn't really approaching anything, thinking outside the box, like I did on that one. A lot of those songs were really guitar driven, so I wasn't really taking the lead on a part. That song was the time. I needed to step up and think outside of the box on that part. For some reason it was the right time of the night. It just felt right. It worked right away, it was just like...whoa! It changed the song and set the mood and took it to a different place. From that point on, I felt like it was okay to try something that you wouldn't just normally hear on kind of a folk-rock song," he said.
Kinnett said John not only allows his band members the freedom to come up with new things like that, but he expects it out of them. "Everybody is responsible for their own part. There's times when he might start off right away and say 'alright, I want you to do this, whether it's an organ part, or a particular melody or whatever. But if he brings a song in and they're working on the guitar parts and drum parts, that's my time to be thinking what am I going to do on this song. And I need to jump in there and do what I feel is right, without just standing there and waiting on someone else to jump in there and say 'this is what you are going to play.'"
He's quick to point out that John does oversee everything. "In the end, there is nothing that we play on stage that he doesn't know about," he said.
Kinnett talked about the aggressiveness and power that he brought to the song Troubled Land. He played a studio B-3 organ on the album track. "That's another one of those songs where I had room for a big part. It just happened to be Andy (York), Dane (Clark) and me in the studio one night. There was all kinds of room for me to play that night without the full band there, so I just filled the space and as it turned out, it was like, wow, that just took it in a new direction, where now it's driven by the organ part," he said. The song ended up making the NCIS soundtrack, and being heard by many people. "It's just a blast to play."
"That song is an example of why I'm so glad they did the Life, Death Live and Freedom album. Some of those songs took on a new life when we played them live. That (Troubled Land) was one. Another one Kinnett is proud of is the live version of "If I Die Sudden." "If I Die Sudden"...I mean it just kills live, and it's because of the way we do it live. When we first started playing "If I Die Sudden" nobody knew it because the album wasn't out yet. But by the second chorus everyone was singing along with it," he said.
Preparing for a Tour
When it comes to deciding what songs are going to be chosen for a tour, the more songs there are, the more of a challenge it is to decide which ones are going to be done. "John decides what songs we are going to do. We kind of have some ideas about the order and how it might work. We spend a lot of time, probably more than any band, working on the flow of the show. John is really good at that...knowing what's going to work, when it's going to work. (On this tour) It seems to be working really well," Kinnett explained.
The first leg of the the No Better Than This tour received great reviews across the nation last fall. Troye said he's talked to people who have seen Mellencamp six or eight times live, who have said this is the best show they've seen yet.
Troye's wife might have described the tour best when she told him it was like watching a musical. "It takes you on these ups and downs. And you have to credit that to John for knowing how to put together a show." Sure enough it does work. It's upbeat at the beginning. Then it goes into the acoustic section, then it ends big. "I'm really glad it's set up for a theater. There's a lot of dynamics on the stage," he explained.
No Slowing Down
In the past few years, John Mellencamp has had several projects going on, some overlapping others. In the last four years, John has released three studio albums, along with a live album and a box set. He has also continued working on the Ghost Brothers of Darkland County project with Stephen King, and has toured constantly throughout that time period. On top of that, he was inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame during that time. "There are a lot of artists that just don't have a tour going like this. Some artists have had to cancel tours in the past year, so it's great to have something rolling right now that's so well received," Troye said.
Favorite Songs
A couple of Troye's favorite Mellencamp songs to perform include "Minutes To Memories" and "Check It Out." "When I started playing in this band, that (Check It Out) was always one of my favorite songs to play. Now that I'm playing piano, that might change, I love playing piano. But definitely "Check It Out." Troye said of all the Mellencamp songs they haven't done since he's been with them, he would like to do "Ain't Even Done With The Night" or "I Need A Lover" from the early stuff. "I don't know, I think "Forgiveness" would be a good one to do if I was choosing a recent song. I'd love to do that one...actually, I've done that one with a church group," he said. Troye said he talked to a guy who was going to work up "Forgiveness" for a Catholic Mass.
In His Own Time
When Troye's isn't playing with John, he does a lot of studio work and writes music for commercials. "I've always had some band thing going on, whether I'm doing theater shows, or playing with bands for corporate gigs. I don't do a lot of club work." He's also the music director at The Garden at Beef and Boards Dinner Theater in Indianapolis and has been doing that for several years.
When they are on down time with Mellencamp, band members don't see a lot of each other, but Troye says they keep in contact by email. "Just the other day Andy saw a review and sent it to me. So usually when we do contact each other, it's about band business. Let's face it, when we get back together, it's going to be nothing but us on a bus looking at each other," he said laughing. "Like anything it becomes a job. It's not easy, it looks like fun and it is fun when you're on stage, but the rest of it can be really tough. The traveling is tough. You really have to get into the groove. The last week of the tour, everybody is really ready to be home," he said. "But this is what we do and traveling is just part of it. That's why I love recording. Especially working at home on Pro Tools. I can work and look out the window and that's about as good as it gets. Right now is a good time because we tour for a few weeks then come home, then go back out. I'm able to travel, but not so much that I don't see my son growing up.
Looking Down The Road
John Mellencamp and his band are getting ready to crank up the second leg of the tour with the first of 33 dates on Feb. 3 in Lowell, Mass. They will play all over the country from New York City to Los Angeles. They will also be making a stop in Austin, Texas for the Austin City Limits live at the Moody Theater. One of the highlights for Kinnett will be the New York City stop, where the band will play two nights, Feb. 18th and 19th. "I'm really looking forward to Radio City Music Hall."
For more information on Troye Kinnett, check out his website at www.troyekinnett.com
The beautifully evocative "Save Some Time To Dream" has been released to Adult
Album Alternative (AAA/Triple A) and Americana formatted radio stations. It's
off to a good start but your help in securing additional airplay would be
greatly appreciated. The stations are playing the song but, of course, we'd like
to hear it more often which is where you come in.
The hope is for you to request your local AAA and Americana radio station to
play it.. find Yours HERE and then
call, email or Facebook them your request.
Among the stations that have supported John's music in the past that we hope
will do the same for "Save Some Time To Dream" his new single are:
These days most stations have a facebook page that you can “like” and discreetly
post on their wall asking to play the song.
Thanks for taking the time to help support this great music!
THREE IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN REQUESTING
1. If it seems you are part of a 'street team' or any other kind of highly
organized effort the stations are less likely to take your request seriously.
2. When requesting the song focus only on the song and them why "Save Some Time
To Dream" is a great inspirational song and that you want to hear it on your
favorite station. You can say “I saw John Mellencamp in concert this year and he
performed this awesome song… Or I saw John perform "Save Some Time to Dream" on
Letterman and would love to hear it on my favorite station... Or I saw John
perform "Save Some Time To Dream" on YouTube and I think it's one of his best
songs and want everyone to hear it. In these cases, it's more about the song
than the artist so please focus on that when you reach out.
3. BE DISCREET! Don't email the same DJ more than twice a week and please don't
email the same station more than once a day. Keep your requests friendly, fun,
and upbeat.
Thanks for taking the time to help support John and don't forget to "Save Some
Time To Dream"!
Let us know how you make out at your requests! Post back to this thread with your efforts!
Fans around the world have purchased more than 40 million record albums featuring music by John Mellencamp, including 22 of the top 40 all-time best-selling songs. Photographer/Filmmaker Kurt Markus and his son Ian literally followed Mellencamp to 26 cities in 18 states while making It’s About You, a documentary about the musician’s six-week concert tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan in summer of 2009. Markus produced this documentary, his first, at Mellencamp’s invitation.
For the duration of the tour, Markus and his son rode in a car that followed Mellencamp and his entourage. They used Super 8 film to record approximately 15 hours of performances and behind-the-scenes footage. Mellencamp has since shown an abbreviated version of the doc to audiences during his six-week 2010 concert tour that began in Bloomington, Ind. in October. After seeing the film, one journalist wrote, “Watching this documentary before hearing John Mellencamp perform is like eating dessert before dinner.”
There are no interviews in It’s About You. “It’s not about me,” Mellencamp has told his audiences, “It’s about Kurt being with me.” The documentary blends music and images from concert performances and studio recording sessions during the tour with a pensive Mellencamp on the streets of some run-down cities. The musician’s facial expressions and body language as he observes shuttered buildings in once-thriving towns speak louder than words.
The story behind the making of the documentary is much like a script for an old-fashioned, feel-good Hollywood movie. Markus is an accomplished photographer whose fashion and celebrity portraits have been featured in Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone, Travel Plus, Leisure, Esquire, Condé Nast Traveler, People, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, German Elle, House & Garden and other mainstream print publications. His photos are also on display at museums and galleries around the world and in books published by Wild Horse Island Press, which is managed by his wife Maria. “I took some pictures of John and his family around 20 years ago,” Markus recalls. “We have stayed in touch over the years. I directed a music video of John performing ‘Peaceful World’ in 2001. A few years ago, I sent him a book filled with portraits that I had taken of boxers. One of Mellencamp’s two sons is a boxer. John called and told me how much he liked the book. About a week later, he called and said he wanted me to shoot a documentary of him on tour. John said that he wanted it to look like the portraits in my boxing book.”Feature_ianmarkus
At the time, Markus had sparse experience with motion picture cameras. During the late 1980s and early ’90s, a few advertising agencies experimented with hiring still photographers to create television commercials, and Markus shot one commercial that he describes as “terrible.” His wife then bought him a Super 8 Beaulieu camera, which he used to shoot family films and a few music videos, including “Peaceful World.” The camera had been on a shelf gathering dust for years when Mellencamp called about the documentary.
Markus met with Phil Vigeant, president of Pro8mm, in Burbank, Calif., who convinced him that advances in technology made Super 8 film a viable option for the documentary. It would enable Markus to work unobtrusively in sometimes challenging environments while recording an appropriately organic look on film that could be converted to HD format. For the shoot, Markus traveled with two Pro8mm Max 8 Classic Pro cameras mounted with Beaulieu 7-56mm T1.4 power zoom lenses. Vigeant explains that it’s a Beaulieu 7008 Super 8 camera modified to record synchronized sound and frame images in 1.58:1 aspect ratio. The modified aspect ratio allows cinematographers to use more of the negative frame in a format compatible with 16:9 projection.
Pro8mm also provided Markus with an ample supply of KODAK VISION3 5219 500T film in Super 8 format, with each cartridge having a two-and-a-half-minute run time. “In my dreams, I thought about dramatic lighting, but in reality I knew from day one that we would have to be invisible behind the scenes,” says Markus. “We didn’t have any control over lighting. Ian and I were definitely not the boss. As a matter of fact, we were ignored.” That actually turned out to be an advantage, because it left Markus free to roam unobtrusively behind the scenes, filming performances and the reactions of people in the audience while his son recorded synchronized sound with a Sony EX3 camera. They also took 35mm still pictures.
“I tried to learn how to synch sound and film by reading about how [Filmmaker] Albert Maysles did it on the [D. A.] Pennebaker films,” Markus explains. “He had a sound person hold up a card with a number on it. We decided to use time code, which freed my son and I to wander separately. I slated shots myself. I didn’t have anybody assisting me.” Markus and his son skipped a few concerts to scout places where Mellencamp had scheduled recording sessions, including historic Sun Studios in Memphis, Tenn. “I knew going into this project that I would be flying by the seat of my pants,” Markus says. “John kept saying, ‘Kurt, this film is about you,’ but I took that tongue in cheek.”
Feature_KurtMarkusAfter the first day of production, the film was shipped to Pro8mm. After Vigeant inspected the processed film, he told Markus that it looked good and transmitted samples over the Internet. He also gave Markus verbal reports as production continued. “This 500-speed negative has enormous latitude,” says Vigeant. “That gave Kurt and our colorist opportunities to create interesting images that were the right aesthetics for parts of the story. It recorded faces in darkness and details in bright highlights.” The processed negative was converted to digital format with a custom-made Cintel Millennium II 4K scanner and Da Vinci 2K color corrector. Markus and his son edited the documentary, which included integrating still photographs that were scanned and converted to digital format. The images were displayed on a 55-inch TV screen and recorded onto Super 8 film. “During postproduction, like in production, we were making it up as we went along,” Markus says. “We want to take the audience on the same journey that we took with John.”
After the film was edited, Markus supervised the timing of the final cut at Pro8mm, where he also narrated shared memories and observations on the soundtrack. “It was a great experience, coupled with the fact that I had to learn to work with my son as a partner, which was deeply moving,” Markus says. The next step on his inaugural journey as a documentary filmmaker will be taking It’s About You on the festival circuit. Asked if he has any regrets about the experience, Markus replies, “At the end of every project, I come home wishing that I had done something better.” And as for Markus’s son Ian, he has since enrolled as a film studies major at the University of Montana.
John's 12-6-2010 appearance on CBS's Late Show w/David Letterman repeats THIS Thursday night 12-30-2010. John is interviewed and performs Save Some Time To Dream.
A peek behind the scenes of a stop during John's week in NYC for Community board readers!
The day after taking the stage at the Late Show with David Letterman John headed to 45th street in New York City to tape an exclusive sit down interview and acoustic performance for the A&E TV show Private Sessions.
John arrived around 10:30am sporting his full beard and wearing his 2010 No Better Than This tour suit. Andy and Miriam joined John for the acoustic set. Andy in a suit and Miriam wearing one of her beautiful long skirts she wore on the No Better Than This tour. John's team of technical staff were already on hand making sure everything was ready to go when John arrived. Andy sound checked his own guitar and also checked out John's for him.
John went immediately into the stage area upon arrival and sound checked a Blind Willie Mctell song "Delia" as he did the previous day before he hit the stage at the CBS studio for Late Show with David Lettermen. The song wasn't part of the set list but John has been messing around with it. I wonder if he is thinking about incorporating it into the next tour set list? The A&E cameras was rolling during sound check so we are hopeful to be able to get a copy of it for Mellencamp.com in the near future!
John was joined by Andy on stage for two songs - "Longest Days" and "Thinking About You" and Miriam was on hand for a intense performance of "Jackie Brown." John sang "Small Town" and "Save Some Time To Dream" alone as he has done on the part tour. Hopefully all the songs will make the final cut for the show!
The sit down interview followed John's acoustic set with a quick change of the set and a break for John to have a smoke into a living room style feel with two chairs and a coffee table with the A&E Private Sessions host Lynn Hoffman. After a couple of technical microphone issues John was finally able to sit and talk to Lynn in a one on one interview. Many topics were discussed from the recording of No Better Than This, Farm Aid, the Dalai Lama, to being baptized in Savannah, GA amongst other things. There were some very comical moments within the interview and hopefully all make the cut! As we watched the interview taking place you could tell the host was quite taken with John. Who isn't!
The stage area was very small and cameramen and sound guys were everywhere so it was a little hard to get a decent photo of the stage area but we were able to grab a couple. Below is the stage area where the performance and interview took place. This revealing interview and performance is expected to air on January 23, 2011. Here is the link to the Private Sessions website. http://www.aetv.com/private-sessions/index.jsp
The John Mellencamp concert in South Bend, IN on Nov. 13 was so awesome.
John played some songs new songs off his “No Better Than This” album, his “Life, Death, Love and Freedom” album and old and favorite songs. He talked about some of the songs.
I had front row, dead center. I danced the night away. Earlier in the show, John shook my hand. He was all smiles. People were saying that “they loved him”. John said that “he loved us”.
During the last song, R.O.C.K. in the USA, my dream came true. John picked me to dance on stage with him. He pulled me up, and I scrambled over a piece of equipment. I was so excited. It was too awesome. John hugged me a few times. He smiled and looked into my eyes the entire time that we were dancing. I’m sure I was smiling. I kissed John on the cheek. Later he put his arm around me and walked me to the front of the stage. He held up his arm and held up my arm. Then I was helped off the stage by a friend and a tall man in the second row. I was so excited and felt so honored to be picked to dance with John! I’ve been a big fan since high school—a long time ago. I’ve been to more concerts that I can remember—over 17.
I can’t wait to see the pictures that my friends took.
I grew up spending every summer at a family cottage on Lake Freeman in a small Indiana town called Monticello. It was there that I was surrounded by the most unique musical influences possible: aunts, uncles, and a cousin of every age from birth to mid-twenties. Growing up in the 80s meant that Mellencamp had a steady presence on our dock and boat as we blared his music from our “boom box.” We were so proud to belt out his tunes and even more proud knowing he was from a small Indiana town, just the like one we were in!
Mellencamp’s existence faded a little bit from our playlists throughout the years, but made a huge comeback through my living room television, courtesy of VH1. My best friend from a block over ran all the way to my house one day so we could wait for the video of “Wild Night” to come on. We had heard it on the radio and knew the video would be just as exciting. She had always been a Van Morrison fan, so the Mellencamp version was easily a hit in our catalog. We found the CD in a brother’s collection and listened to it constantly. As we spent the next few years dancing along to all of Mellencamp’s music videos as they were released, our other musical tastes slowly began to take over again. It wasn’t until my graduation from high school in 2000 that I really began my journey of hope that I am still on today. My graduating class threw our caps in the air as “Small Town” (our choice) blared from the football field speakers. I was a few months shy of heading to IU Bloomington and was ready to absorb Mellencamp’s music to the fullest. Once on campus, it didn’t take long for the Mellencamp influence to kick in, as he was doing his “Good Samaritan” tour and “popped up” in the middle of campus for an acoustic set. The next summer at Deer Creek I saw him perform “Peaceful World” and other songs off of Cuttin’ Heads.
I was soon enrolled in the “History of Rock N Roll” class on campus and became completely enthralled with music. I had been listening to Cuttin’ Heads prior to that, but mainly “Peaceful World” found itself on repeat daily, especially after 9/11. After tragedy struck, the song suddenly meant so much more than it had before and somehow managed to soothe the sadness as it talked about paving the way towards a Peaceful World.
It wasn’t until our professor (Glenn Gass) spoke passionately about having bought a Bob Dylan record as a teen, taking it home and then lying on the floor while listening to the record in its entirety that I was ready to embrace music in a different way. He told us that if we could find a record that spoke to us from beginning to end, then it was truly something magical. Eager for such an experience, I hurried back to my dorm, put in my Cuttin’ Heads CD and listened to it from beginning to end, lying on the floor. I was immediately moved by the title track, cried at the story it told and was thankful that there was finally music to describe how passionately I had always felt about ending racism. That was it, I was hooked for life.
I went on a mission to buy and listen to every Mellencamp CD I could find. Suddenly, all the songs I had sung along to in the 80s took on whole new meanings and expressed exactly how I had always felt. Who knew those rock anthems were packed so full of deeper meaning?! I couldn’t listen to a song without dissecting it to friends, a habit I had gotten from doing so in my History of Rock N Roll classes. I became somewhat of a musical preacher, with Mellencamp’s words filling the pages of my Music Bible.
In 2003, I met Zach Dunkin from the Indianapolis Star and spoke at lengths with him about the impact of Mellencamp on my life. He enhanced my fondness for Mellencamp even more by loaning me copies of old taped interviews, filling my curious mind with endless Mellencamp stories, and having me read the book, American Fool: The Roots & Improbable Rise of John ****** Mellencamp (I try not to use the “C” word). We talked crazily about “To Washington” when it came out and we were so supportive of and excited about the song—neither of us ever understood how small-minded people could be in letting this song turn them off to Mellencamp. At that point I couldn’t get enough of the magic that was John Mellencamp and was practically bursting at the seams with Mellencamp fever.
While at IU I had never run into or seen Mellencamp anywhere in Bloomington, as had everyone else (or so it seemed). After my graduation in May of 2004 and a summer spent in Monticello, I decided to spend another year in Bloomington in hopes that I could absorb everything the town had to offer (outside of being a student). I planned to sit in on some of the History of Rock N Roll classes, wait tables and take in as much of the music scene as I could. Sadly I discovered a month or so later that my dad was losing his battle with lung cancer and I needed to be at home. That same day I received an email saying that I had been chosen to see Mellencamp perform at the Buskirk Chumley for a show on A&E. It was scheduled for the night before I was to move back home. After all those years on campus of taking in his music I would be leaving town on the words and music of John Mellencamp.
Upon my return home I spent the first few nights excitedly talking about the show I had seen on Kirkwood. As I sat in bed with my dad everyday for his last two months of life, music was often a part of our discussions. You know how “born-again Christians” feel the need to talk about God constantly to anyone that will listen? Well that’s exactly how I became with my dad- Only I was a “born-again Mellenhead” - I felt the need to send my dad to heaven with the wisdom of Mellencamp. I wanted him to know how moved I was by the words that came from John’s mind and the music from his guitar and band. I didn’t want my dad to worry about the world he was leaving his family in because I believed in the power of the words Mellencamp sang. I would quote Mellencamp’s songs about racism, equality, a better world for the common man, and so on.
To this day I still continue to be a preacher of Mellencamp’s words. I run a gas station for boats on the same lake I grew up on and have pictures of Mellencamp on the walls of the store. All of my customers know I’m a huge fan and I am thrilled when they ask me why I like Mellencamp’s music so much. I tell them to go home and listen to “Rain on the Scarecrow,” “Cuttin’ Heads,” “Love & Happiness,” “Jena,” “Peaceful World,” “To Washington,” etc… and then tell me they don’t feel like they want to change the world and quite possibly can.
I am forever grateful that I was introduced to John Mellencamp’s music at an early age and allowed for it to shape who I am today. I briefly met John outside of the Crump Theater show that I was so blessed to have been chosen to attend. While I had thought long and hard for years what I would say to John if I had ever met him (any number of the prior mentioned stories were on that list), I simply said hello and asked him to sign my Scarecrow CD booklet-hoping that one day, in some parallel universe I would be able to sit down with John and discuss all the thoughts he conveyed in his music…I never wanted an “Oh my god, I’m talking to John Mellencamp and I’m going to ramble on about how obsessed I am” type moment, because that’s not what it’s about (I save that sort of reaction for when I see him on stage and am screaming along to every song). It’s more about absorbing the lyrics and sharing them with those who have yet to hear and know their power.
The Crump Theatre show definitely surpassed any expectations I had. Having been chosen through the fan club, I assumed family members and friends of the band would be up close and perhaps we’d be lucky enough to squeeze into the theater (I had watched the A&E Live By Request Bloomington show from the back of the theater-literally standing in the doorway the entire show and I was prepared for a similar spot at Crump). Instead I was thrilled to be ushered to the front of the theater where I found the perfect seat in the center of the third row. And just when I thought I couldn’t be luckier—Mellencamp not only gave us (the audience) permission to take pictures during the concert, he encouraged it-- whether the TV crew liked it or not!! I had dreamed of the day I would be able to take my professional camera into a Mellencamp concert and actually be allowed to take pictures!!
One picture I had snapped at the Crump Theatre was of John dancing during the instrumental part of “R.O.C.K. IN THE USA” – he even looked right at my camera! Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that two years later, in Bloomington, Mellecamp would pull me up on stage to dance with him, but that’s exactly what happened! Having not seen him perform in Bloomington since my last night there back in 2004, it was a bittersweet moment. My journey to Mellencamp that had really taken flight when I first stepped foot on IU’s campus in 2000 had come full circle at the IU Auditorium on October 29, 2010. While I still very much have the desire to actually meet and chat with Mellencamp one day, I will always treasure the memory (and pictures…and video) of the moment a true American icon (and my idol) held out his hand and invited me on his stage for a quick dance.
This “essay” of sorts came to me shortly after the Crump Theatre show. That show had filled me with so much energy and passion towards the words and music of John Mellencamp that I needed to put all that into my own words. I wanted others to look at any of the pictures I had taken that night and feel the exact same way I do about Mellencamp and his music. Somehow in looking for a way to describe my feelings, I found myself on a musical journey as I traced back to where it all began…a tiny boom box blaring a Mellencamp anthem during a hot summer in the eighties.
Show Posts
