Month: April 2023

I may have been the only person I know who wasn’t at one of the three John Mellencamp concerts he played last weekend at the Chicago Theater.  However, I have a favorite Mellencamp concert memory to share.

John Mellencamp doing his thing in concert.

Since 1985 I’ve seen John Mellencamp in concert many times.  In arenas, outdoor venues, football stadiums, at Farm Aid, radio studios, you name it, I’ve been there.  Yet my favorite Mellencamp memory was when he was the warm-up act for the up & coming Chicago based power pop trio called Material Issue. John and Material Issue were label mates on Mercury Records, and the show happened on October 11^th 1991. (Let me backtrack a bit)

I was producing the Murphy in the Morning show at WKQX, Q-101 FM and Mellencamp was booked to come on with us and promote his new album “Whenever We Wanted” which hit stores three days earlier. We were already playing the lead single “Get a Leg Up.”  His visit went fine, we were warned not to ask John to sing that early in the morning but Murf coaxed the Indiana rocker to take a turn on his Gibson ‘Songbird’ guitar and John obliged with a verse of “Small Town” and then a verse of the John Prine song “Dear Abby.” Murf knew that song too and joined in on the warbling.  After a quick visit to our sales staff in the conference room we walked John and his people out. Yet, I wasn’t done seeing him that day.

Here’s the Hoosier rocker and yours truly posing in the Q-101 studios.

Unbeknownst to some, Mellencamp and his band were set to make an un-announced concert appearance in some towns where they did radio to promote the new music and this Friday night would be no different. The afore mentioned Material Issue was already booked to headline a show at the Riviera Theatre and now Mr. “Hurts So Good” and his players would be the opening act.  I was put on the guest list and got to sit in my favorite reserved seating area; the first row of the Riviera balcony.  I always referred to this locale as being the “Abe Lincoln Seats” because we had a similar vantage point Abe & Mary Todd had that fateful night at Ford’s Theatre.  Sitting behind me that night I was happy to see my longtime friend and record promoter Dave Ross who was in town from L.A. and made it to the show.

The place was well filled, the house lights drop and the band, save for Mellencamp took their places onstage.  Drummer Kenny Aronoff rapped on a cowbell a couple of times and I’m thinking “That sounds like the opening to ‘Honky Tonk Woman’.”  It was, and with some twang from guitarist David Grissom and fiddle player Lisa Germano sawing away with her bow, we were getting a country version of the Rolling Stones classic.  As the intro almost wraps up, out walked John, lit cigarette in hand and he took to the microphone to sing “I met a gin soaked barroom queen in Memphis, she tried to take me upstairs for a ride.”  This was one of the cooler ways to start a show and the Mellencamp group really sent up that Stones classic in a fun and novel way.

The Riviera crowd went insane, a surprise cover to an iconic song and seeing this guy who normally plays hockey arenas in such an intimate place that holds just 2,500 people?  This was a special night.  Mellencamp and his band played their new single, rocked out “Hurts So Good” as the crowd took over singing the first verse, then there was also a visit with “Jack and Diane”, “Small Town”, “Lonely Ole Night” and my favorite of his tunes, “Minutes to Memories.”

The album cover for the 1991 album “Whenever We Wanted.” The woman on the left is model Elaine Irwin who would go on to become Mellencamp’s 3rd wife. Not sure why she needed to be in bare feet during this photo and video shoot.

The band wasn’t finished with their covers as they took on Free’s “Alright Now” and John forgot a few of the words mid-song but that didn’t matter. The whole set lasted about forty minutes as it wrapped with a rousing version of “Pink Houses.”  John and his band took their bows and were done with the surprise appearance.

I stuck around for Material Issue’s following set. After a couple of songs played back to back they stopped down for a quick greeting to their fans. Lead singer and guitarist Jim Ellison (rest in peace) then asked, “What did you think of that opening act?”  The crowd cheered out their approval and Jim dryly responded with something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, that guy’s pretty good.  He might make it someday. I’ll have to put in a good word for him.”  Everyone laughed and then went on to enjoy the rest of Material Issue’s set of power pop songs.

Leaving that night and heading to my car I saw a couple of long white passenger vans pulling out from the back alley of the Riviera. The vans approached the corner where I was standing and inside were members of John Mellencamp’s band.  I gave a quick wave and they waved back then took off into the cool fall Chicago night.

This short but hits packed John Mellencamp performance was my favorite of his for a couple of reasons. One, it was rare to see the guy perform in such a small room with great acoustics. Two, as well as they played, this was a ‘let’s have fun and cut loose’ type of show.  That’s the best kind of concert to see and hear. 

Next Blog:  Work is Work.

Last week there was a designated “National Prom Day.”  This means prom season is in full bloom.  A couple of my students are making plans for attending the proms at their home schools and I’m hearing plenty of talk about those events

I went to two proms, in my mid-twenties. No, I was not a designated chaperone or a creepy stalker.  I was part of the hired entertainment for the dances.  This was back when me, my college radio pal Jim Turano and our young assistant Magic Alan Hawes had a profitable D.J. business going. 

Both proms were for Fenton High School in Bensenville.  We’d done other dances for them and they paid handsomely for our services.  Proms are a big money deal and when they asked me how much we charged for that special night, I answered “How much you got?”

Spinning records at proms, I never did run into Andie and Duckie.

My own high school proms for junior and senior years at York High School happened in the Springs of 1978 and 1979.  This was when going to these shindigs was more formal in social structure. By that I mean everyone was coupled up, nobody went to the prom stag or in groups of guys and groups of girls like kids have been doing for the past twenty years or so. I often wish our era was as casual as it is today which is more inclusive and fun.  I also wish I would’ve had the stones to ask a girl to either one of those proms back in the day.

The night of the dance in 1978 found me at the home of a female classmate who had some friends over for beers and hanging out.  It was a low-key night but it seemed like everywhere I turned there was a girl or two who would be quietly crying; hurt that nobody asked them to prom.  I felt so bad for them and hoped they’d get asked by somebody the next year.

My senior year prom was a real downer for me.  Earlier that spring, there was a girl a year younger than me who I liked as more than a friend.  She knew this and was liking on me too.  However, I waited too long to ask her out on a date and she linked up with a real dweeb.  By the time York’s prom came, this girl and the dweeb had been dating a couple months. That ship had sailed. 

In the early evening of my senior prom, I drove to that girl’s house to see the dweeb’s car parked in the driveway.  Just as I rolled by the happy couple came out, all dressed up and set to pose for photos taken by her parents.  Ugh!  Talk about a major belly drop!

Jeez, even Napoleon Dynamite made it to a prom!

From there I went to my pal Gordy Carlson’s house. Gordy always hosted the best beer bashes and I stopped by to join others who weren’t going to the York prom.  I could only have a couple of beers because I was slated to work the 11pm til 7 am shift that night at White Castle.  I figured why not make a few bucks instead of getting piss drunk at a party and feeling miserable the next day?

My graveyard shift at White Castle was a busy one.  The time flew by as we fed the late night drunks and stoners. Things slowed down at four a.m.  Then, as I was mopping the Castle’s dining room floor, in came several couples from the York prom; still dressed to the nines and partying it up!

I forget who the kids were but I knew some of them and they knew me too.  Those classmates were out having the times of their lives and here I was slinging a smelly wet mop on a dirty floor. Standing there among my peers in their tuxedos and gowns, I suddenly realized that not making an effort to go to prom left me missing out on one of the special rites of teen life. The regret hit me like a punch to the gut. In my high school days, I rarely felt low or depressed but at that moment in the White Castle dining room, I never felt more like a loser. 

Prom night & the morning after and I was working at White Castle.

If there was any bright spot to this whole lousy experience, it was to happen a year later when I did date that girl who I liked and she liked me.  It didn’t last too long but at least I scored some redemption for my being too shy or chickenshit to pull the trigger earlier.  Lesson learned.  As hockey great Wayne Gretzky always said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”  Duly noted!

Happy Prom Season!

NEXT BLOG- Remembering a favorite concert I went to.