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31  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Re: New Album and Tour Set for 2014 on: December 09, 2013, 11:41:10 am
What a great holiday gift - sensed this one coming but glad he'll be back north of the border again. Always love to see him and the boys!
32  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / All About John / Random quote - funny though on: November 26, 2013, 08:14:23 pm
Came across this today; by Eric Alper, Media Manager for EOne Music Canada.  Reminded me of John....

"Don't worry if you had a bad day - remember there are bands (artists) who have to sing about their ex every night".
33  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Photos / Re: Nashville Honors Gala Photo on: November 25, 2013, 10:39:09 pm
Nice pics, missed those. 

Maybe we can get John a better tailor though....?
34  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Photos / Re: John and band - FarmAid 2013 on: November 25, 2013, 10:36:39 pm
Nice pix; I've never seen him in concert. Next tour. Smiley

Thanks, it was a fun one.  You really must try and see him live, he and the band put on a great show!  Maybe next year after his new album is released....
35  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Photos / John and band - FarmAid 2013 on: November 24, 2013, 10:53:05 am
I took these photos at FarmAid this past September at SPAC in Saratoga Springs, NY. Was quite a day to celebrate local farmers and enjoy some great music.


The amazing 94 year old Pete Seeger made a surprise visit to perform two songs.











36  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Review from "No Depression" - The Roots Music Authority on: November 08, 2013, 02:18:42 pm
John Mellencamp and Stephen King conjure the Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
by Kevin Lynch

“Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow.” The image from 1985 shows John Mellencamp’s knack for literary horror, 15 years before he began writing a musical with iconic horror writer Stephen King. The song about a dying Heartland farm was one of the singer-songwriter’s first indelible artistic statements.

Some years ago, Mellencamp bought a lake cabin which turned out to be allegedly haunted -- by accidental deaths and restless spirits -- the inspiration for Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the ambitious stage production that will come to Fort Wayne (Embassy Theatre) Oct 24, Madison (Overture Center)  Oct. 25, Rockford Oct 26 (Coronado Theatre), Milwaukee  (Riverside Theatre) on Tuesday, October 29 and Minneapolis (State Theatre)  Oct 31, then on to Iowa. Tour info: http://www.ghostbrothersofdarklandcounty.com/events/

Not surprisingly Mellencamp is a Stephen King fan and he approached King with the idea of doing a libretto for what became a “live radio musical,” says Ghost Brothers director Susan Booth. The story’s key dynamic is two mirroring male relationships -- dead brothers who haunt their living nephews in a Southern gothic atmosphere of poisoned character entanglement.

It might also reflect the working relationship of two symbolic blood brothers. King’s prolific literary sensibility rises relentlessly like a specter from the darkest shadows of the American experience. King’s also an amateur musician, and a roots music aficionado.

“The greatest thing about Ghost Brothers is my friendship with Steve King,” Mellencamp said in an interview with The Tennessean in Nashville. “He and I are like brothers. In 15 years, I don’t think we’ve had a cross word. We laugh at each other and teased each other quite a lot, but never has there been any kind of, I’m really mad about this.”

The project also marked the reunion of two estranged brothers, Dave and Phil Alvin who perform on the recording. However, the biography John Mellencamp: Born in a Small Town details his problematic issues with collaboration.

“I don’t play well with the other kids, and neither did Steve,” Mellencamp admits. “Steve lives in Maine by himself. I live in Indiana by myself so the idea of him and I working together doesn’t sound like it would work very well, both of us are very respectful of each other, and it’s worked fantastically.”

That almost ominous isolation belies the charisma and strong connections of their individual talents, which attracted an all-star cast recording. That includes Mellencamp’s current girlfriend, Meg Ryan, as Monique, the mother of the living brothers.

The third member of the dead uncle's love triangle is Anna sung by the silver-throated Neko Case. One of the first really gripping songs is “Wrong Wrong Wrong About Me” by “The Shape” a ghostly figure sung by Elvis Costello with Marc Ribot’s far-eastern psychedelic guitar backwash.

Frank and Drake argue in roles by actors Matthew McConaughey and Hamish Linklater. The ironic “Brotherly Love” moves with the shambling funkiness characteristic of Mellencamp’s recent work, with  singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham (Oscar-winner for Crazy Heart) and Will Daily, as the brothers.

A spectral aura deepens when Kris Kristofferson, as the father Joe, sings “How Many Days.” Joe’s the younger brother of the two dead uncles and the father of Frank and Drake,. “Home Again” quivers with a winsome lyrical soulfulness in a four-part harmony among Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal and the Alvin brothers.

On “You are Blind” gravel-throated Ryan Bingham as Drake reflects on his love for the woman he shares with his brother.

Kristofferson’s father Frank begins to tell his story and Taj Mahal invokes chaos in “Tear This Cabin Down,” to convey the horror of the murder site.

Joe continues the story about brothers “who couldn’t get along,” in 1967 when it happened.


A brotherly heart-to-heart may not deter tragic fate. Courtesy mediagalleryusatoday.com

ung by young Clyde Mulroney, “My Name is Joe,” is a touchingly plainitive flashback ode about the father as a boy and “the runt to the family,” whose big brothers “will take care of me.” Later Roseanne Cash sings Monique’s song “You Don’t Know Me” which reveals how love is ravaged by tragedy and misunderstanding, yet a forgiveness persists.

And yet  the dead brothers’ mother Jenna can only ponder, “It all goes so fast and it’s all so rich, life I mean, and love. It slips away from this world, like silk.” She calls out for Andy and Jack, “where did you go?” a sentiment superbly expressed by Sheryl Crow in “Away From This World.”

Finally the song "Truth" is a stirring, swelling ensemble song with Mellencamp having the final musical word.

Taken as a whole, the recording experience sprawls but it hangs together like a dark, engulfing cloud of inevitability, with committed performances and excellent music.

The touring cast has some of its own star-power but promises proven acting and musical chops. Ghost Brothers should be more compelling as a dramatic story line on stage.

The show stars actor Bruce Greenwood as the father Joe McCandless. Greenwood is perhaps best known for his roles as JFK in the film Thirteen Days, in Flight as Denzel Washington's friend and union rep, and as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film and its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. Broadway actress Emily Skinner, who plays Monique, received a Tony Award nomination for Side Show, and has had leading roles Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty and Billy Elliot.

The two sets of brothers vie for the hearts of a woman: One is Anna, played by Kylie Brown, who has recently appeared in Atlanta productions of Hello Dolly and Hair. The other, Jenna, is played by Kate Ferber, whose recent credits include the one-woman show One Child Born: The Music of Laura Nyro.
The Shape, a devil-like character, is played by Jake LaBotz, who is a blues singer-songwriter and has acted in films by Sylvester Stallone and Steve Buscemi. LaBotz has released six of his own albums.

The company's music ensemble is Mellencamp’s longtime band, led by bandleader Andy York on guitar, percussionist Dane Clark, Troye Kinnett on Keyboards and harmonica and upright bassist Jon Gunnell.

The story of jealousy, murder and suicide is set in a Mississippi cabin “haunted by the ghosts of people that had a terrible thing happen,” King said. “Because it is so awful, their spirits stayed there, and then the whole chain of events starts to repeat itself.”


Producer T-Bone Burnett (in suit, front left)  takes a bow with co-authors John Mellencamp and Stephen King in an early production of Ghost Brothers. www.lijas-library.com  *The photos above are from the previous production of "Ghost Brothers."

The libretto’s shades of Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner and perhaps Carson McCullers underscore that King is a more subtle psychological writer than often given credit for. Typically penetrating lyrics and memorable refrains by Mellencamp reflect a theme of suffering, resilience and self-acceptance in the face of fate.

Booths says the gritty, low production values “allows us to sit and listen to Stephen’s words and plug our imagination in, rather than having the work done for us by a fully stage production.”

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/mellencamp-and-stephen-king-conjur-the-ghost-brothers-of-darkland

37  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Re: 30th Anniversary of "Uh-Huh's" release on: November 08, 2013, 02:13:04 pm
I can still remember taking the subway down to a record store on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto to purchase this on tape cassette (!!) the day it was released. I then listened to it on my way home on my bright yellow waterproof Walkman.  Oh the good old days!
38  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Review- South Bend Tribune on: November 08, 2013, 02:10:09 pm
Review: ‘Ghost Brothers’ makes dramatic improvement
by Andrew S. Hughes

John Mellencamp slipped into the Morris Performing Arts Center to watch Tuesday’s performance of “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” the musical he co-wrote with Stephen King.

In all likelihood, the Indiana native left pleased with what he saw: The production has improved dramatically since this tour’s opening night Oct. 10 at Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, and it already was very good.

“Ghost Brothers” tells the near-parallel stories of two sets of brothers, Jack and Andy in 1967 and their nephews, Frank and Drake, in 2007. In each case, a girl, Jenna and Anna, respectively, is only the latest cause for strife in their feud-ridden young adult lives.

Jack and Andy’s younger brother, Joe, summons his sons and wife to the family’s cabin at Lake Belle Reve, Miss., in 2007 to finally tell them the truth about the night one of his brothers shot the other there in a game of “William Tell” and then committed double suicide with Jenna by leaping from a nearby cliff. Ten at the time, Joe was the only witness to all three deaths.

Jack, Andy, Jenna and Dan — the cabin’s caretaker, who also died there under mysterious circumstances — appear on stage as ghosts in the present and as people in 1967.

Lingering in their midst is the malevolent The Shape, swathed in red light and able to guide the other characters’ actions through suggestion.

What worked in Bloomington still does, but subtle improvements to the production have made an important difference.

Now, the entire cast appears fully immersed in the characters, a slightly quicker pace has trimmed a few minutes from the run time and heightened the tension of the work, King’s liberal use of humor succeeds in places where it didn’t because the actors’ delivery of it has changed for the better, and a few adjustments to the actors’ blocking have helped to underscore its themes and conflicts.

Director Susan V. Booth stages “Ghost Brothers” as a radio drama with minimal blocking and realism, but when the actors do act out a scene, it works very well.

Travis Smith and Peter Albrink, for instance, make Andy and Jack’s antagonism feel natural and long-held in how they eye each other with suspicion, particularly at the beginning; Joe Tippett and Lucas Kavner re-enact a recent fight between Drake and Frank in a way that makes it tense even though the outcome is already known; and as Anna, Kylie Brown’s taunting of Drake has a believable maliciousness to it, while the sound of an organ and rim shots helps to increase the tension of the scene until Anna becomes out of control with rage.

As the adult Joe

McCandless, Bruce Greenwood remains compelling with his tormented, guilt- and grief-ridden performance, both as an actor with the haggard, hooded-eyes expression on his face and the confusion he makes palpable in the character’s hesitation and as a singer whose rough, weary voice imbues “How Many Days” and “What Kind of Man Am I” with anguish.

As played by Jake LaBotz, The Shape is a charismatic figure with a droll delivery and the ability to shift seamlessly from mocking to insidious, and his eyes have a disconcerting ability to pierce the audience when he sustains eye contact, while the underscore for his narration scenes roils with turbulence.

LaBotz glides up to the microphone, gyrates with its stand and delivers the opening “That’s Me” with a mischievous sensibility that fits perfectly with the song’s jaunty, burlesque rhythm, and he accompanies himself on guitar with very good finger-picked and strummed blues playing on the simultaneously humorous and seductive “Lounging Around in Heaven.”

Emily Skinner gives a multi-dimensional performance as Joe’s wife, Monique. She displays a deeply rooted range of emotions, including anger at her sons’ fighting, co-dependent maternal devotion to Drake, genuine love and affection for Joe, and disdain for Anna.

With musical direction by T Bone Burnett (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”), members of Mellencamp’s band — guitarist and band leader Andy York, percussionist Dane Clark, keyboardist Troye Kinnett and bassist Jon E. Gee — perform the music live on stage and do so with the intimate familiarity and sensitivity you’d expect from musicians long-accustomed to playing his music.

Among the song and musical performance highlights, Gee’s slapped bass and York’s slide guitar give “Brotherly Love” a violent urgency; Kinnett’s subtle accordion, Clark’s use of brushes and the hollow sound of York’s guitar coupled with Skinner’s anguished delivery make “And You Are Blind” sound mysterious and otherworldly; and Brown delivers Anna’s “That’s Who I Am” with a seductive forcefulness that matches the character’s narcissism.

As Jenna, Kate Ferber’s colorful, warm soprano sounds inviting and comforting on “Home Again,” while her voice is tender and soulful with nicely rounded notes on “Away From This World” and suggestive on the driving rocker “Jukin’.”

The musical’s one major flaw, however, remains: King’s script.

But even there, one performance differs from another.

In Bloomington, the conflict between Frank and Drake didn’t seem as urgent and compelling as that of Jack and Andy, but that wasn’t as evident Tuesday at the Morris. Nor did Joe’s hesitation feel like a purposeful delay on King’s part, perhaps to make room for one or more additional songs by Mellencamp, as it did in Bloomington.

Instead, the roughness of the transition to King’s ending after a false conclusion stood out Tuesday in ways that it didn’t in Bloomington. This time, it seemed contrived and forced, an expedient device more than a plot development, and it may be that something as simple as an added sound effect or scream could at least smooth the transition enough to make a pivotal, late act of violence more credible.

But compared to opening night in Bloomington, the cast merited Tuesday’s standing ovation more than it did four weeks ago, and “Ghost Brothers” appears headed toward a long life, most likely as a successful repertory, college and community theater piece.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/entertainment/inthebend/article_9c97ebb4-46be-11e3-8530-0019bb30f31a.html
39  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / DesMoines Register A&E- review: Iowans have three chances to see the production on: November 06, 2013, 03:21:36 pm
'Ghost Brothers of Darkland County' is one spooky musical

by Michael Morain

Ready for this? A spooky new musical hits Iowa next weekend with songs by John Mellencamp and a story by Stephen King.

You read that right. And for effect, you should read the rest of this little article aloud in the dark, with a flashlight held under your chin.

Mellencamp and King started working on “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County” about 13 years ago (ooh! 13!), when the rocker told the writer a real-life story about a family from his home state of Indiana. Mellencamp asked if King would turn it into a play, and he did, leaving in pockets for music. The pair worked back-and-forth from there, although neither actually performs in the show.

They eventually settled on the format of an old-time radio show, with a cast of costumed actors taking turns at the microphones while a sound-effects team rattles chains and crinkles cellophane “flames” at a table nearby. The lighting is dramatic; the set is spare.

“It’s not about the physical environment. It’s about the environment of souls. It’s Stephen between your ears that’s the most powerful,” said the know-him-when-you-see-him film actor Bruce Greenwood (“Flight,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”).

Greenwood stars as a middle-aged guy named Joe, whose sons are fighting over a woman. He fears they’re heading down the same path that led to the long-ago deaths of his two older brothers, whose ghosts — wouldn’t you know it? — show up at the family’s cabin in the sticks.

The show premiered Wednesday in Bloomington, Ind., and is touring the Midwest through Nov. 6. The album, produced by musical director T-Bone Burnett, came out in June with recordings by Sheryl Crow, Roseanne Cash, Neko Case, Elvis Costello, Kris Kristofferson and Mellencamp himself.

His songs have always been “these brilliant character studies,” stage director Susan Booth said, and the new ones “are among his best.

“And understand, I’m a longtime fan. I must sing them in my sleep, they’re so embedded.”

The show’s future depends on its success on the tour. It may or may not head to Broadway.

But it’s probably a step up from King’s first play, which he wrote for his Boy Scout troop when he was 11. His parents gave it favorable reviews.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131027/ENT01/310270008/?nclick_check=1
40  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / How Was the Show? - Minneapolis review on: November 06, 2013, 03:15:41 pm
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, State Theater
by Janet Preus

“Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” billed a “supernatural blues and roots musical,” is the creation of author Stephen King, and musicians John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett. Clearly the writers have the credentials to write a) about the supernatural, and b) blues and roots music. It’s an intriguing idea; the songwriter/arrangers unquestionably have musical chops; the hybrid concert and staged approach just pumps up the curiosity about this piece. It is, no question, “a tale of fraternal love, lust, jealousy and revenge,” and who wouldn’t want to see how Mellencamp, at least, pulls that off?

So, I was curious.

Not surprisingly, I found myself at the State Theater surrounded by Mellencamp fans. They were generally appreciative of the songs, but there were people leaving during the show. It could have been the lousy sound, which made the dialog difficult to understand, or the language and violent content. But judging by the intermission conversations around me, I wasn’t the only one befuddled by King’s libretto.

It’s a dark story leading to a heavy lesson, which we all saw coming in some iteration. Well, it’s Stephen King. One of the main characters (The Shape) is Satan, essentially, the title is “Ghost Brothers,” and people are going to die. It’s also Stephen King, the novelist, whose libretto played like a novel being recited on stage, interrupted by songs that reiterated what the dialog just said. The final number says something else completely. By the time we get there (and it took a while), the ending is moot.

If I had been at a concert by Mellencamp, I’d clap, I’d sing along, I’d cheer. He’s a superstar and he has cache of solid tunes. But songs in musicals have to do more than that, and they have to fit seamlessly into the libretto as one story, carrying it along and lifting that arc for the character(s) singing and the story overall. They are the story, sung. Mellencamp was on his way; King didn’t get it.

Also, it’s also hard to get away with less than perfect prosody (how the lyrics flow with the music) and imperfect rhymes. Nobody cares about such things in popular music, but in musical theater these little glitches stick out like a bad entrance.

It had its redeeming qualities, however. The most interesting element was “The Shape,” played by Jake La Botz. A tattooed, guitar slinging, redneck with greased-back hair, his presence guided the events of the play and anchored its creep factor. La Botz was terrific in this role. There were many other fine individual performances by excellent singers, and the band—Mellencamp’s own—was superb, knocking down really interesting treatments for mostly straightforward and heartfelt songs.

This was a provocative concept; it needed the hand of someone who knew how to translate it into a functioning musical–regardless of the method in which it would be staged. I didn’t mind that the actors sat in chairs in a semi-circle behind the action; I rather liked the backup singers sitting at a table extreme stage left, handling the acoustic sound effects. The old fashioned mic, which was planted down center throughout, however, tripped me up. It worked well for the narrator (played beautifully by Jesse Lenat) but served no purpose otherwise. It was there, so they had to use it, and that’s what it looked like. Was this a director (Susan V. Booth) call, or did the superstars get to tell the director what to do? I wonder. Booth certainly has credibility, and one would think could’ve tightened things up–if that was her prerogative.

This show was in development for 13 years. Surely there must have been somebody along the way who knew how to translate it into a functioning musical. There have been a lot of musicals written by famous people who are not librettists, lyricists or composers for the theater. It has served to broaden our scope of what musical theater can be, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But in many cases, the shows have a limited impact, or simply fail, and it’s usually because of the libretto.

I doubt we’re going to quit suckering for famous people doing something other than what they’re famous for. Fame sells. In this case, I’m just not buying it. Except, maybe, the show recording.

http://www.howwastheshow.com/2013/11/ghost-brothers-of-darkland-county-state-theater/
41  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Mellencamp, King musical coming to Minneapolis on Halloween - Twin Cities.com on: November 06, 2013, 03:09:23 pm
 
by Ross Raihala, TwinCities.com - Pioneer Press

First announced in 2000, the Stephen King/John Mellencamp musical "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" finally debuted last year in Atlanta and visits the Twin Cities on Halloween at the State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis.

What took so long for the unlikely pair to scare up the production billed as a "Southern Gothic supernatural musical of fraternal love, lust, jealousy and revenge"?

"Well, I've got a real job, and he's got a real job," Mellencamp said during a recent phone interview. "I've probably done 1,000 shows since we started working on this, and he's probably written 1,000 books. We have the kind of relationship where three months could go by, and then we'd pick up the phone and start talking again. It's just like my own brother -- I don't speak to him for months sometimes."

But after a dozen years working on the project together and taking on a third collaborator in producer T-Bone Burnett, Mellencamp and King have created something utterly unexpected, both in its form and presentation. The pair owns the rights to "Ghost Brothers" and are promoting it via the current tour of one-night stands and an all-star cast recording with guests like Elvis Costello, Neko Case, Sheryl Crow and Taj Mahal.

Before "Ghost Brothers," Mellencamp said he had been approached numerous times by eager Broadway producers.

"Twenty years ago, someone wanted to make a musical out of 'Jack and Diane.' I said no," Mellencamp explained.

"First of all, I'm not for sale. Second of all, things are written for a reason. One size does not fit all. I couldn't see a song like, say, 'Pink Houses' being part of some silly story.

"When I wrote the song, it meant something, and I didn't want to take away the credibility of the song or any song I'd written."

Still, the interest got Mellencamp thinking. "I figured I'd do it my way, the throat-cutting way. I don't play well with other children. But I was talking to my agent about this story I had going about this cabin I owned and how Stephen King would be a great guy to write it.

"The good news is my agent is Steve's agent, too. I had direct access to the exact guy I was interested in working with. Since then, we've become like brothers."

It's not a coincidence that the topic of brothers came up several times with Mellencamp. His older brother introduced him to the art of the musical while in high school.

"I was the hoodlum of the family, and I was in a rock band as a teenager," Mellencamp said. "But my brother had all of the leads in the musicals, from his freshman through senior years. He did 'Camelot,' 'My Fair Lady,' 'South Pacific,' 'Li'l Abner.'

"I had to go to all of them, but what happened was, the more I went, the more I liked it."

On top of that, "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" offers just what its title promises. It's about a pair of feuding brothers forced to spend time together in a cabin haunted by the ghosts of dead brothers who also hate each other.

"Steve and I had a conversation really early on, where I said, 'Look, if we do this, it has to be a play with music. It's not really a traditional musical,' " Mellencamp said. "I didn't want to write songs that moved the story forward. I find that corny.

"It wasn't very long before we realized (my songs) were doing the character development, and he was telling the story.

"We knew we were bucking the system. Broadway has a formula, and we weren't going to follow it."

After years of work, "Ghost Brothers" debuted in April 2012 for a six-week run in Atlanta. Reaction was decidedly mixed, with Mellencamp's music earning more acclaim than King's somewhat bloated story.

"That cost us a s--- pile of money," Mellencamp said. "But I think Steve and I both had the same reaction. It was exciting, but it wasn't quite right. All of this movement and dancing -- we needed to get rid of that stuff because it was interfering with the story.

"The story is beautiful and frightening, and the songs seemed cheapened with people dancing behind them. We had to come up with a new way to present this."

After plenty of tweaking and the input of producer Burnett, who joined Mellenamp and King six years ago, the new version of "Ghost Brothers" is spending October scaring audiences around the country with an ensemble cast of 15 actors and a four-piece band.

Reviews have again been mixed. A critic in Indianapolis called it a "hybrid of concert, old-time radio show and conventional musical drama -- elements that never converge effectively." A writer in Nashville praised the production for its "stripped-down approach to storytelling, offbeat narration and a stellar four-piece band."

Mellencamp said "Ghost Brothers" will always be a work in progress in his eyes.

"We'll continue to plug along and work on this thing," he said. "If we break even, we'll have another leg of this tour. I want to continue going to theaters and letting this thing find itself and letting the actors find themselves. It can only be interesting if it's something you've never seen before. And there are a couple of characters on this stage you've never seen before."

http://www.twincities.com/stage/ci_24379835/mellencamp-king-musical-coming-minneapolis-halloween
42  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Photos / Favorite Farm Aid photo on: October 31, 2013, 10:25:45 am
Here is my favorite memory of Farm Aid in September, John announcing this unexpected special guest and one of his heroes growing up.  The appearance of 94 year old Pete Seeger was a special moment no one in the audience will ever forget.  The tears were flowing, from audience and media alike, as the whole crowd sang his legendary "This Land is Your Land" and "If I Had a Hammer".  

43  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / The Wierdest Thing Lou Reed ever did ... & it involves Mellencamp! on: October 29, 2013, 06:35:53 pm
Now this is an interesting tale about John and Lou in Bloomington in 1987!

By Cathy Kightlinger; columnist for Sky Blue Window

When Indiana University rock history professor Glenn Gass heard the news of Lou Reed's death Sunday, he remembered the day in 1987 that the leather-and-sunglasses wearing icon visited his class.

It was one of the teacher's proudest moments since he founded the course Z201, the History of Rock Music, 30 years ago.

"That has to be my favorite teaching memory," Gass said during a telephone interview from his family home in Kauai, where he is on sabbatical this semester.



Reed, a groundbreaking rocker who rose to fame with his 1960s and 1970s band The Velvet Underground and was immortalized by iconic pop artist Andy Warhol, died Sunday of complications from liver disease. He was 71.

Reed virtually invented punk rock and the whole concept of alternative music, according to Gass.

"We've lost a giant. When I think of truly American musicians, (Reed) doesn't leap to mind like Johnny Cash, but he is just as American," said Gass. "(Reed) is a lot like James Brown and without (Brown) we wouldn't have funk, rap."

Later, Gass added: "Very few artists have that type of impact."

Sunday, the professor was thinking of the day in 1987 when he answered a telephone call from drummer Kenny Aronoff, who was a member of Hoosier rocker John Mellencamp's band then. Aronoff told Gass to hurry down to the Bloomington nightclub, the Bluebird, that night because the drummer was planning a spur-of-the-moment appearance with Mellencamp, the rest of Mellencamp's band and Reed.

The contingent of rock stars were in town practicing for a Farm Aid performance when they decided to head to the Bluebird to play for a stunned audience that was there to see that night's advertised band, Bloomington's Ragin' Texans. In the mid '80s, Mellencamp, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, co-founded Farm Aid, which raises money to help American farmers.

"The last place you'd expect to see (Lou Reed) is the Bluebird in Bloomington," said Gass. "Everybody was having a terrific time. It was just amazing. It was a legendary Bloomington night."

The Ragin' Texans played the first set and announced a break. Next, to the amazement of the crowd, Mellencamp and his band walked on stage and played a set. Following that performance, Reed came out and performed his classics "Sweet Jane," "Rock & Roll," and "I Love You Suzanne," with Mellencamp playing backup instruments, said Gass.

"Mellencamp was in a great mood," said Gass. "You could tell he loved Lou Reed."
American country and folk singer-songwriter John Prine, who apparently was also with Mellencamp that night, went on stage after Reed. But Gass missed that performance because he followed Reed into the alley behind the nightclub. Gass' mission: convince Reed to visit his class.

At first, Reed didn't believe Gass when he told the rocker that he taught his college students about the Velvet Underground. But, standing in the alley, Mellencamp helped convince him. Gass wrote his telephone number on a matchbook for Reed, who called the next day.

As Gass drove Reed to his class in IU's Musical Arts Center, they were both concerned that Gass' 180 students might not recognize Reed. But, thanks partly to a Honda scooter commercial featuring Reed and his song, "Walk on the Wide Side," they did.

"We walked in and the place exploded. He stayed an hour and a half," said Gass. "His guard was completely down."



Reed answered questions about his appearance in the commercial, telling the students that Honda was supporting him more then he was supporting the brand, and Bob Dylan, saying that everyone was lucky to be alive on earth with Dylan, among others, recalled Gass.

"(Reed) kept saying, 'this is the weirdest thing I've ever done,'" remembered Gass, who says he thinks that comment is funny given Reed's notorious exploits with drugs and sex.

Then, after class, Gass and Reed went to find Reed's rental car in an IU parking lot. Reed, a native New Yorker, didn't know what the vehicle looked like, so he and Gass walked through the lot putting the key into different car door locks until they found it, said Gass. That, Gass said, was one of the best moments of all.

The days Reed came to town in 1987 were good for Bloomington's Bluebird nighclub, too. Enlarged photos from the night still hang on the venue's walls.

"That looms large in Bluebird legend," Gass said.

As for Gass, he uses the story of Reed's appearance to keep students from skipping class. One woman, who regularly wore Velvet Underground and Lou Reed t-shirts to class, missed Gass' class the day Reed showed up and wound up weeping, he remembers.

"I came in and she was in tears on the floor. She said, 'please tell me it isn't true.' She was just sobbing hysterically," said Gass, who added that the episode was sad. "That was a good lesson. I tell my students, 'don't skip class.'"

Click on the link below and on that webpage there is a short audio clip of the teacher asking Lou to come to his class and Lou pays a compliment to John and band.
http://www.skybluewindow.org/indianapolis/the-weirdest-thing-lou-reed-ever-did/Content?oid=2180858



44  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Review - G. Brothers - South Bend Tribune on: October 28, 2013, 03:55:23 pm
Music stronger than plot in 'Ghost Brothers'
Review by Andrew Hughes, In the Bend


This Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013 photo shows Eric Moore, as Dan Coker, center, during a dress rehearsal of the musical "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" at the Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, Ind.
Photo courtesy of Michael Conroy/ AP

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Retooled by original director Susan V. Booth from its 2012 premiere production at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Stephen King and John Mellencamp's "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" musical opened a Midwest tour Thursday at Indiana University Auditorium.

The current production takes chances with its mix of mediums -- traditional musical and 1930s and '40s radio drama in its staging -- and features an evocative, soulful score by Mellencamp that, in several places, joins the best of his work as a songwriter.

But, despite the opening-night audience's standing ovation, "Ghost Brothers" still has some flaws, all of them in King's libretto, although his surprise ending deserves praise.

Set on two nights separated by 40 years, "Ghost Brothers" takes place at the McCandless family's cabin at Lake Belle Reve, Miss., and tells the near-parallel stories of two sets of brothers, Jack and Andy in 1967 and their nephews, Frank and Drake, in 2007. In each case, a girl, Jenna and Anna, respectively, is only the latest cause for strife in their feud-ridden young adult lives.

Jack and Andy's younger brother, Joe, summons his sons and wife to the cabin in 2007 to finally tell them the truth about the night one of his brothers shot the other in a game of "William Tell" and then committed double suicide with Jenna by leaping from a nearby cliff. Ten at the time, Joe was the only witness to all three deaths.

Jack, Andy, Jenna and Dan -- the cabin's caretaker, who also died there under mysterious circumstances -- appear on stage as ghosts in the present -- their tattered-sheet coats serve as a shorthand visual for their otherworldly status but also make for an effective symbol of how worn out their trapped spirits have become -- and as people in 1967.

Lingering in their midst is the malevolent The Shape, swathed in red light and, as played by Jake LaBotz, a charismatic figure with a droll delivery -- "I get bad reviews (in church). True artists usually do." The Shape's "Lounging Around in Heaven" effectively mixes humor and philosophy in lyrics that LaBotz delivers with a jaunty, unrepentant self-assurance.

The scenes alternate between the past and the present, and the narrative's non-linear form works well in how King and Mellencamp tell the story, with the two eras feeding into each other and, at times, overlapping.

That's particularly effective when Frank and Drake mirror Jack and Andy's shoving of each other in a key flashback -- obviously, the present repeats the past -- and then give a compelling, dramatic performance as a quartet of the dark rocker "Put Me in the Ground."

Booth and the production team employ a mostly minimalist approach to blocking and realism as they partially simulate an old-time radio broadcast -- Jesse Lenat has a deliberately exaggerated down-home charm as the narrator.

When the actors do engage in dramatic interpretation, however, it pays off well in such tension-driven scenes as the feverish buildup to the "William Tell" game and Bruce Greenwood's dazed tour of the cabin as the adult Joe.

As for the libretto, although King successfully has some self-aware fun with popular phrases, at other times, it comes off more as cliché than clever, while a reference to Flannery O'Connor just misses its mark.

But, more importantly, Andy and Jack's story simply is more compelling than Frank and Drake's, and that makes the latter pair of brothers' squabbles feel like padding at times, something that eventually creeps into Joe's hesitation to finish his story. It begins to feel like stalling by the writers, not the character, and underscores the fact that until King throws in his surprise ending, it never seems as if there's much at stake in the present-day narrative.

After 35 years of writing songs from a single point of view, be it first person or third person narrator, Mellencamp proves himself adept at writing for multiple voices within the same song to use these numbers to advance the story within the dramatic relationships of the characters.

With musical direction by T Bone Burnett ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?"), members of Mellencamp's band -- guitarist and band leader Andy York, percussionist Dane Clark, keyboardist Troye Kinnett and bassist Jon E. Gee -- perform the music live on stage and do so with the intimate familiarity and sensitivity you'd expect from musicians long-accustomed to his playing music.

For the most part, the songs resemble Mellencamp's recent, blues-influenced writing on the superb albums "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" and "No Better Than This," and aside from the critical roles they play in "Ghost Brothers," several of them could stand alone.

Among the song and musical performance highlights, Kate Ferber unleashes an aggressive, hell-raising performance on "Jukin' " and then turns tender and soulful for the spiritual "Away From This World" as Jenna; Greenwood's weathered voice gives "How Many Days" an appropriately weary and anguished tone; and Eric Moore uses his big, gospel-infused voice to fill "Tear This Cabin Down" with judgment and pain.

Despite its flaws, "Ghost Brothers" is entertaining, fun and often engrossing, and it features one of the best scores of any musical written. With more revising and editing of the libretto, it could become a popular repertory, regional and community theater piece with its minimal set, props and special effects demands coupled with Mellencamp's music and King's ghost story.

Especially for fans of King and Mellencamp and theatergoers who enjoy live radio dramas or using their imagination, when the tour reaches South Bend's Morris Performing Arts Center on Nov. 5, it deserves to be seen in what is likely still a developmental but enjoyable stage.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/entertainment/inthebend/article_23bfd348-3299-11e3-993e-001a4bcf6878.html
45  MELLENCAMP DISCUSSION / Articles / Review - Indiana Daily Student on: October 27, 2013, 07:02:13 pm
‘Ghost Brothers’ premieres at IU
by Audrey Perkins

Light fog filled the auditorium last night, adding a vintage look to the classic red space. Indistinct accordion music and a man’s crooning voice completed the atmosphere with a southern flair.

IU Auditorium opened to a full house Thursday night for the debut of “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.”

Created by trio John Mellencamp, Stephen King and T Bone Burnett, the show offered the audience a blend of blues, blood and boisterous laughter.

Before the show, the auditorium’s crimson curtains welcomed the awaiting audience to an empty stage populated solely by a silver-blue spotlight.

“Ghost Brothers” is King’s debut in playwriting. Audience members Melanie Malone and Sherry Haynes bought their tickets well in advance for the show. They said they were eager to see King’s work.

“We can’t hardly wait,” Malone said.

Gesturing to the King book in her handbag, she said, “Got it in my purse just in case I meet him.”

King’s success could be heard in the audience’s laughs. While the show is listed as a thriller, the show could be considered more of a supernatural comedy.

The story revolves around a triple death that occurred 40 years prior to the start of the performance. Father and brother of two of the deceased, Joe McCandless is scared of seeing history repeat itself in the form of his own two sons.

Aside from that malignant topic, the plot featured heaps of perverted and childish
humor.

A Bloomington local, Mellencamp created the music and lyrics for the production. His work reverberated throughout the auditorium.

Not to be confused with a musical, Mellencamp prefers to call “Ghost Brothers” a “play with music,” according to the show’s website. Thirteen years in the making, the show unfolded in great detail, all according to the inspiration of a true story that happened in Indiana.

Malone heard about the show’s muse in an edition of the Bloomington Herald-Times. Apparently, the deaths occurred in a “cabin out on Lake Monroe,” she said.
The true story eventually became the inspiration behind last night’s piece. Mellencamp is quoted on his website regarding the inspiration.

“Two brothers were there late one night with a girl,” Mellencamp said. “They got into an argument; they’d been drinking. One of the brothers hit the other brother with a poker. You know, he didn’t mean to kill him, but he did. And as the girl and the younger brother were driving into town, they lost control of the car on the gravel road, went into the lake — they drowned.”

This plot line translated into a play with a rather intimate setting. Rather than focus on an excessive production to match the high profile creators, the play transformed into a low profile show with all cast members on stage, taking turns walking up to the spotlight.

This production style suited King’s lyrical style, as well as that of Mellencamp and Burnett.

By taking the focus away from the actors’ movement, more focus was put on what was heard. In fact, no one left stage after stepping on in the first scene.

Maria Talbert, IU Auditorium’s associate director, is proud of the work that went into last night’s production.

“It has been simply amazing to witness everyone,” she said in an email. “From our own local stagehands to the show’s cast, crew, and creative staff — work together to build and rehearse this show.”

Cast and crew arrived last Friday to begin the vast set up required to give life to the production. Along with the three names listed above, there was also an all-star cast.
Among the 15-member cast is film and TV actor Bruce Greenwood and Tony Award nominee Emily Akinner. They played the older generation of actors on stage.

Returning back to the avid fans in the lobby, Haynes said she was seen as a makeshift reviewer by her friends. She said they hope to watch “Ghost Brothers” on its return to IU Auditorium later this month. Tickets are still available for the Oct. 23 show.
“They want my feedback,” she said with a laugh.

Talbert said she is proud of what she has heard on stage in the last few days. After the success of Thursday’s performance, she said she is excited to welcome an entirely new audience to the second show.

“The show has drawn a very wide audience,” Talbert said. “People have been very intrigued by the collaboration of these three incomparable artists.”

http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=94611
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