And in the end…we can all be Fab

The Fab Faux perform Abbey Road @ the Wellmont Theater – Montclair, NJ – March 12

I never hide my aversion to “cover bands.” I mean, it’s one thing to be away on vacation and walk into a sleepy little beach bar and hear some locals playing Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffet and find yourself singing along for an hour. But it’s another thing to make it a regular occurrence. Or better yet, to try and make a career out of it.

[All photos by Marc Millman]

So, to answer the question: I am not a fan of Dark Star Orchestra – even though they put a nice twist on the formula – or Sticky Fingers. But as I have mentioned in the past, I am a fan of extremely talented studio and touring musicians getting together occasionally to play the music that inspired them to become who they are today. And under this category, you can file The Fab Faux, maybe the best there is at this “game.”

• Marc’s Fab Faux Videos: Eleanor Rigby, Come Together, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers Medley and Hey Jude

For over a decade, the band that The Late Show With David Letterman bassist Will Lee put together has been playing music of The Beatles better than anybody. If you were lucky enough to see Beatlemania at The Wintergarden Theater in the ’70s, then you can understand the feeling one gets seeing these guys play live. Jimmy Vivino, known these days as the bandleader for Conan’s Basic Cable Band plays guitar. Along with Lee & Vivino, the band features drummer Rich Pagano, guitar player Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli on keyboards, guitar, bass and anything else needed.

READ ON for more from Marc about the Fab Faux…

If you have any doubt as to whether The Fab Faux are the best Beatles tribute act out there, look no further than this clip of the band recording all of the b-side of Abbey Road for The Howard Stern Show in the Sirius Studios. The vocal harmonies alone are ridiculously good.

The Fab Faux – Abbey Road Side 2

The Faux have two shows lined up this month – May 15 at the Paramount Center For The Arts in Peekskill, NY [tix] and May 22 at Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC [tix]. Both concerts are billed as “a glorious hodgepodge of Beatles music” & feature the Creme Tangerine Strings & Hogshead Horns.

As we mentioned earlier, we’re less than a week away from the release of Rhino’s latest Grateful Dead vault release Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978 on September 30. The 2 CD set, culled from the band’s run at the Sound & Light Theater outside of Cairo, is also being packaged with a DVD that will include a mini-documentary called the Vacation Tapes along with 95 minutes of spectacular concert footage. To get you ready for the release Spinner is currently sharing an exclusive video of Deal.

• Check out the first trailer for the Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious
• CLD urges you to sign the petition to get Pete Seeger a Noble Prize
• Ear Farm took in Saturday night’s Fab Faux show at RCMH
• List Time: 11 Best Kings Of Leon songs
• Stereogum offers up the new Vampire Weekend track Ottoman
• WNEW interviews UK buzz band Noah & The Whale

Finally, Ray Davies is stirring the rumor mill about a possible reunion of the original dysfunctional brother fronted rock band. According to a BBC report the former Kinks lead singer is claiming that the major obstacle holding things up is if his brother Dave, who has experienced some health problems over the last few years, feels good enough to commit to it. The Kinks have not performed together live since 1996, and are the only major British Invasion band whose original members are all still alive. The clock’s ticking!