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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., May 10, 1996 -- Last week in this space we hailed the prospects for a banner summer concert season in light of shows already announced for the National Music Foundation's Berkshire Performing Arts Theatre and at other venues in the area. This week we take another look at just what exactly is in store for pop fans this summer. Warning: with a few notable exceptions, it isn't pretty.
First, some updates: As of the time this column was written earlier this week, Lollapalooza in Pownal, Vt., looked like a definite go. All that remained to be worked out was the issuance of a public assembly permit by the state requiring the assent of the various police and emergency agencies that will be affected by the gig, which is expected to draw approximately 40,000 concertgoers between the ages of 15 and 25 to the festival of alternative-rock at the Green Mountain Race Track on Route 7 on July 9.
The inside word on Tanglewood's Popular Artists Series is we may be looking at a near-repeat of the summer of '93, when the only pop concert was Peter, Paul and Mary on the Fourth of July. The venerable trio returns this year on the same day, and the ubiquitous James Taylor will follow a few weeks later on July 29. Otherwise, a source at Don Law's Tea Party Concerts -- the promoter that books Tanglewood's pop shows -- said they were too busy buying acts for their eastern Mass. venues like Great Woods to be bothered with Tanglewood. Maybe it's time for the BSO to rethink its relationship with Don Law, although that's about as likely as Tanglewood staging a tribute to the Music Inn.
Up in North Adams, the only summer date that has been confirmed so far at the Night Shift Cafe is a double-bill of Three Dog Night and America on Aug. 11, although more shows should be announced in the next few weeks.
But what is perhaps most disappointing, so far, is the lineup that has been presented by the music foundation in Lenox.
Compare this summer's schedule, featuring the likes of Paul Anka, Connie Haines, Johnny Rivers, Jose Feliciano, The Commodores and The Buckinghams -- vintage acts of questionable musical integrity that primarily fill dates at casinos and conventions and second-rate music theaters -- with the one presented at the same venue in 1989. In its very first season as a concert hall, under the direction of non- industry amateurs Jonas Dovydenas, Dianne Haas and Susan Jamison, the Berkshire Performing Arts Center hosted Chick Corea, Judy Collins, Pat Metheny, David Bromberg, John McLaughlin, Laura Nyro, Toots and the Maytals, The Bobs, Stanley Jordan, Paul Winter, Norman and Nancy Blake, Johnny Cash and Shadowfax.
In subsequent years, in cooperation with professional concert promoter Brian Alden, BPAC's stage was occupied by such legends as Jackson Browne, Joan Armatrading, Wynton Marsalis, Merle Haggard, B.B. King, Joan Baez, Gordon Lightfoot, Leon Redbone, Robert Fripp, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Crosby and Nash, alongside such cutting- edge acts as Laurie Anderson, Phish, Fishbone, Lucinda Williams, Shawn Colvin, Tom Tom Club, They Might Be Giants, Freedy Johnston, The Roches and Michelle Shocked, not to mention such avatars of American musical styles as Buckwheat Zydeco, Terrance Simien, The Band, Emmylou Harris, Robert Cray, Tracy Chapman, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Johnny Winter and the Neville Brothers.
Who knows what sort of thinking went into the schedule that was announced last week? Seventies hit-makers The Commodores, for example, were essentially a vehicle for Lionel Richie, who left the group 15 years ago. Since then, they have barely been heard from. (Actually, promoter Richard Nader confessed that he only booked The Commodores because he couldn't get The Temptations or the Four Tops.)
Johnny Rivers's claim to fame was as a human jukebox, scoring chart successes with remade versions of songs that were already hits by Chuck Berry, The Miracles, Pete Seeger and Carl Perkins. The Buckinghams had one good year (1967) with one major hit ("Kind of a Drag"), and by the time the entire band was arrested on drug charges in 1968 it was pretty much an also-ran. As for Paul Anka, there is no minimizing his commercial accomplishments (over 35 Top 40 hits), although his last big hits, in the mid-'70s, were "(You're) Having My Baby" and "I Don't Like to Sleep Alone," both of questionable taste.
But what is most puzzling is not the relative commercial impact of any of these performers in 1960, 1970, 1990 or 1996, but their relative artistic merit. Compare these acts to most of those that played BPAC or even the Music Inn back in the '70s. Sure, both of those venues had their fair share of clunkers. But if this is the best that the foundation could come up with -- allegedly with the personal intervention of none other than foundaiton chairman and music mogul Dick Clark -- one truly has to wonder what is meant when foundation officials talk of perpetuating the legacy of American music. Does it mean primarily staging oldies shows?
It is interesting to note, incidentally, that the one performer who boasts the greatest musical integrity and creative vision on the schedule is the one of whom promoter Nader said he had never heard. Nader credited program director Thomas J. Heany for insisting that he book innovative jazz banjoist Bela Fleck. It's reassuring to know that someone at the foundation might understand the difference between Chubby Checker and Hank Ballard.
(This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on May 10, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.)
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