Once There Was a Way to Get Back Homeward
You walk into the Paul Robeson Theater, a former church tucked away in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene, and the first thing that springs to mind is the timeless middle-school assembly. Should we say no to drugs, or to crime, or is someone about to raise a little more awareness about The AIDS? Are the 8th grade elections coming up? Four-day school weeks, motherfucker, promise me!
So you take your seat next to a lovely blonde and wait for the band that’s scheduled to play this hidden gem. They come out, they begin to tune, and instantly your drawn to the awesome acoustics of the small auditorium. The music bounces off the walls and the band immediately sounds the best they’ve ever been. Then it hits you: This may be the coolest venue you’ve never heard of, and you want everyone you’ve ever fancied to play on that stage…post-haste.
American Babies took that stage at 10:30 last night, part of the Paul Robeson Concert Series that’s begun to bring more rock acts to this underutilized venue. I’ve seen the Babies — Tom Hamilton and Scott Metzger on guitar, Jim Hamilton on bass and Sir Joe Russo at the kit — more times this year than any other band, and last night may have been their finest show of 2007. Read on…
The regular foursome last night augmented their sound with the Disco Biscuits’ Aron Magner on keys, fresh from the four-day Caribbean Holidaze excursion in Jamaica with Umphrey’s McGee, Keller Williams, The Duo and others. And the now-five broke out a special holiday-inspired treat for the, well, intimate, crowd.
On top of an hour-long set that featured all the band’s well-written, well-executed hits, only now with a touch of keys, the American Babies saved the last 15 or so minutes for what Tom Hamilton called his musical association with the holiday season: The Beatles. Ten seconds later they started tuning up for You Never Give Me Your Money, and the coveted Abbey Road medley we all know and love seemed imminent. Sun King followed soon thereafter, and when Mean Mr. Mustard dropped minutes later, there wasn’t anything left to do but smile and head-bob.
The band expectedly did it justice, nailing the complete medley almost perfectly and adding a bit of rock-jam shenanigans during The End, like the album, only nastier. The Hamilton Brothers sang the vocals perfectly, Russo held down Ringo’s only drum solo in the Beatles’ history and more, and the interplay between Metzger and Tom throughout the medley was downright goosebumping. It was one of the finer examples of playing a cover note for note and giving it a fresh spin at the same time. I fluff this band plenty, perhaps to a fault, but on this night, they deserve all the high praise in my arsenal of high praise.
And since nobody was there to record it or videotape it, at this point the only thing we can do is go back to the original…inspired by Tom’s own divine inspiration, maybe the holiday season was meant for the original Fab Four. Let’s do it.
Part I:
Part II:
Last night made for a fine holiday gift — a new venue to keep an eye on and one of my favorite bands stuffing my stocking with greatness. Lovely.
Slade Sohmer
In 2006 Slade Sohmer founded Hidden Track along with current EiC Scott Bernstein. Slade ran the site until 2008, establishing a scope of coverage and level of professionalism that still exists today. In 2010 Sohmer founded HyperVocal with Lee Brenner and the "purveyors of the vital and viral" have gone on to create a network of highly acclaimed sites that includes Headlines That Suck, Weeping Elvis, Distriction and Spike The Water Cooler.
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