From: Tom Johnston
Re: Re-Bad Company
I’m a little late here, but the fact that Paul Rodgers, in any given format….Free, Bad Company etc isn’t in the Hall is a travesty. He is the best Blues Rock singer I’ve ever heard and I’ve heard and played with some of the best. He’s a great guy, down to earth, easy to get along with, who has a gift (timing and tone, showmanship) and isn’t afraid to let it rip. Always a fantastic show with Paul and Simon Kirke. I did love Andy Fraser’s bass playing as well. And Paul Kossof and Mick Ralphs were both great players with different styles that complemented the pure rock those bands put out with Paul Rodgers leading the charge!
Tom Johnston
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From: Paul Brady
Subject: Re: Trick Or Treat
Hi Bob,
Thanks for digging out Trick Or Treat again…and the fulsome praise. Bonnie Raitt hits the stratosphere when she opens up in the second verse!
Not sure where you heard I was managed by Paul McGuinness but that wasn’t the case, though we are passing acquaintances.
At the time I was managed by Damage Management out of London.. whose other act was Dire Straits. It was David Bates of Fontana Records UK who put me with Gary Katz.
We started in A&M studios and the Village Recorder in LA, moved to Bearsville NY and mixed in the Hit Factory NYC. It was a whole new and hugely enjoyable experience, working with the heavy gang. Gave me a lot of confidence. You’re right there never was a breakthrough cover of ‘Can’t Stop Wanting You’, though it was recorded by Johnny Hallyday on his 1994 album 'Rough Town' featuring, among others, Bonnie’s long time bass player Hutch Hutchinson. I’m still at it, writing and recording and, until Covid, playing live. Too late to stop now!
Stay well and keep on telling it like it is.
Paul Brady
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From: Steven Page
Re: Steven Page Live From Home XLI
Thanks so much for coming to last night’s show and for writing about it. I’m so glad that the best part for you was the same as it is for me - the folks at home, singing along, kibitzing in the chat, and even playing along on their own instruments! It blows my mind that we’re at forty-one shows now, with no sign of letting up, as this incredible community of people from all over the world keep showing up every week and honestly, I’m only a small part of the whole thing now and I love that. At Christmastime, the audience set up a gift exchange for each other, without my involvement at all. Their holiday gift to me was a surprise video of fans playing and singing one of my songs, “The Chorus Girl,” which I re-ran last night. The Patreon has been a great plus as well, where, for $5/month, folks can re-watch or catch up on any past shows they may have missed.
Last year, after seven years of writing and prep and workshopping, my first musical, Here’s What It Takes, was in rehearsal at the Stratford Festival in Canada, where it was supposed to open in May and run all summer. Obviously, that, along with any touring plans, disappeared and I went home and tried to figure out what to do. Lots of musicians were doing livestreams on Facebook and Instagram, but with the help of my friend Dan Mangan and his company Side Door (sidedooraccess.com - check them out), I tried out doing a paid Zoom livestream and was hooked. I have my screen set up so I can see 49 people at a time, so it doesn’t feel like I’m singing into a void. Instead, I watch folks singing along, or making dinner or doing yard work and we all feel some connection that doesn’t normally happen in online concerts.
After a few shows with Side Door, I started doing them on my own (well, not entirely - my wife, Christine, runs the Zoom and the Discord server upstairs). I started working at making the audio and video as good as possible, and have tried to make each show as different from the week before. That’s the part that’s really different from touring - on the road, with a completely different audience every night, the set list needs to be a fairly consistent balance of hits with some newer stuff added in, which makes each show necessarily similar. With the weekly livestreams however, many of the audience are regulars, so I’ve learned to stretch and do stuff I’d never have done otherwise: I’ve played every album, both BNL and solo, in order, I’ve done every b-side, covers, holiday songs, new stuff - with a running tally of 210 different songs so far. You’re right that it’s definitely geared toward the die-hard fan, but we all are welcomed and will soon feel like they’re among friends, in-jokes and all. For me, and for so many of the audience, Saturdays are something to look forward to and the shows give us a chance to reset. It’s done wonders for my mental health! I have no idea how this might change the way I play shows once we’re all together in person again, but I know all of this has forever changed my relationship with my audience in a truly positive way. I miss my friends and family and I miss being on the road, but I’m happy to have found some silver lining.
Best,
sp
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