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Gary's Back Pages 2010
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You never know, exactly, what you’re going to get when Gary Shane and the Detour pulls into town. The band, which scored several big hits in the power pop days of those lazy, crazy eighties, is a, um, constantly shifting musical paradigm propelled by a virtual musical kaleidoscope of local talent. So it should be no big surprise to anyone to see a couple of unfamiliar names on the roster for the Return of Gary Shane and the Detour show coming up at Stone Soup Cafe, an Ipswich venue that has seen more than its share of (re)incarnations. This time out, Shane will be backed up by Granite State guitarist Dennis Monroe, who has been a constant in the post-2000 revival of the band; drummer Peter Gordon, bassist Eric Bistany and Richard Pierce on harmonica. They’ll be doing “the same old rock and roll thing,” says Shane — playing hits like the reggae-tinged “Shadow World” and “Johnny’s Coaltrain,” both of which made huge splashes on local and national charts back in the day.
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Wade Dyce ~
Imojah & The Skylight Band
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But the interesting thing about the show, which is being billed as “The Return of Gary Shane and the Detour,” is the fact that the Detour, in fact, is the opening act. At some point, and it’s still a little loosey-goosey at this point, the Detour will shift gears — and personalities — and become Imojah and the Skylight Band. That will happen just as soon as Jamaica-born singer Wade Dyce shows up. He’s the real deal, a singer who made his bones, musically, on the island with Cultural Roots, which released four albums in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Shane met Wade, now a Salem resident, in the Shadow World of real life, in the hallways of North Shore Community College — actually singing him a tune in the hallway — and “got a real education” and a “burning yearning” for reggae from him. Since then, they’ve done a couple of benefit concerts for Haiti relief efforts, at Great Scotts, in Allston and at Blackburn Performing Arts, and a fundraiser for Whole Foods.
Expect the old Luciano song “Sweep over my Soul,” expect a cover of the Road Apples hit “Let’s Live Together.” After that, well, who knows? The concert starts at 8 p.m. April 17 at Stone Soup Cafe, 141 High St., Ipswich. For more information, call 978.356.4222.
~ JCLockwood ~ Beyond the Merrimac: Detouring Into Reggae
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 THERE I WAS waiting in line to hear Barack Obama speak on his health care reform. I had no idea I'd be swept right to the front with other handicap followers and I was interviewed by NPR RADIO and felt a part of this momentous occasion. It was a grand experience and enlightening especially when I found there was a dude with a gun waiting with the protestors holstered and ready for force, but his show went unheaded and it was a peacefull overall day with the HS band sounding wonderfull and full of vitality. It was a splendid day and it made me proud to be an American. More on Gary's battle with MS HERE |
 Review of this show from Noise Magazine:
First off, it is a damned shame that the room isn’t packed to see Gary Shane & the Detour. This is the guy that topped the charts with “Shadow World” in 1979 and again with “Johnny’s Coaltrain” in 1982. The latter is a clever homage to jazz saxophone king, John Coltrane. Gary Shane aka Gary Lavenson is a brilliant, unstoppable individual. Shane was diagnosed with MS, a degenerative disease of the nervous system in 1985. This led him on a quest to Greece where he undertook a radical cure that he would never have had access to in the states. Despite the fact that Shane sits through his set, he EXUDES vitality that SHINES from his eyes, his smile, and his music. He RESONATES an immense joie de vivre. Gary and company lay down an authentic bluesy vibe. Although I have never heard Gary’s finely chiseled masterworks like the aforementioned Northeastern chart toppers, it is inspiring to see an artist who can and does deliver the goods with style and class. To quote a fellow from across the pond, Gary’s got a Heart full of soul. (Nancy Neon)
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The Detour disturbs the peace in Amesbury
You can breath easy now, Carriagetown. The perpetrator has been apprehended and is now, as we speak, winding his way through the criminal justice system. Rest assured, civil society has zero tolerance for disturbers of the peace, people who disregard the standards of good, decent, God-fearing folks and, well, play loud music at 9:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, when they should, um, I don't know, be watching reruns of "Murder, She Wrote" or something.
No, it wasn't quite Altamont. The average age of the people attending was, let's be generous, the wrong side of fifty — old enough, just barely, to know what Altamont is or was. No hopped-up Angels, no Rolling Stones. Just Gary Shane and the Detour playing at a private party in a tony Amesbury subdivision with a spectacular view of pretty much everything.
It was a lovely evening, but, behind the apparent calm, there was an undercurrent of danger and fear. Like Altamont, where concert-goers said (in retrospect, of course) that they knew someone had to die that evening, there was a palpable sense of foreboding in Carriagetown: You just knew someone had to disturb the peace that night. You knew it right from the start, from the seemingly endless vamp at the beginning of "Gonna Storm," necessary because, gasp, the bass player broke a string before the performance even began.
Things went smoothly for the next couple of hours. The too-old-to-rock-and-roll/too-young-to-die crowd drank white wine and eventually, yikes, started dancing. We sat on an comfortable leather couch on the deck enjoying the evening because we felt like we were old enough to know what Altamont is/was. By the time the Detour finished playing the big hits — "Shadow World" and "Johnny's Coaltrain," which Shane announced as the last song — shortly after 9 p.m. , we were on our way home to watch "Murder, She Wrote," and the band was about to play an encore. A couple of minutes later, all hell would break loose — or, at least, what passes for all hell breaking loose in sleepy Amesbury.
No, we're not going to get in the middle of this since we weren't there, but we do have "some" experience with this sort of thing — experience we gained around the time Mick and Keith's helicopter touched down at the speedway: You don't argue with cops, even if you're right. You'll just end up being led away in handcuffs and get your name in the newspaper the next day, like the host of the party — something that might be embarrassing the next day if you, like Mr.Jagger, are on the wrong side of sixty.
For the record, the party was a rehearsal for the Detour's June 13 date at Club Bohemia, 738 Mass Ave., Cambridge. And a word of warning — the band doesn't go on until midnight, so a pre-concert nap may be in order. The Boize, Third Rail and The Brigands open. The music starts at 9 p.m. For more information, call 617.482.4920
Posted by J. C. Lockwood |
Truth, justice and the American way
Perhaps we were a little too hasty a while ago, when we wagged our finger at that Carriagetown desperado, the alleged disturber of the peace who hosted a party in a tony Amesbury subdivision with Gary Shane and the Detour providing the musical soundtrack — much to the consternation of at least one of his neighbors. (Can’t remember? The refresher course is here.) We were trying to make two points: One, “Murder She Wrote” is a rocking good show, and, two, you don’t argue with cops, even if you’re right, because you’ll just end up being led away in handcuffs and get your name in the newspaper the next day. Which is exactly what happened.
But in our sadly expedient grown-up conformity, we completely missed the moral center of the story, the one you should tell your kids, although you will completely regret it: That you should always stick up for what’s right, even if that means you’ve got to read about it in the papers the next day. And go to court. And go to court again. And again. You know, whatever it takes to do what’s right, to fight the power. Which is what our intrepid Prospect Street host had to do to clear his name, to shed the shame of being a putative disturber of the peace, to balance the scales that blindfolded lady (No, not Jessica Fletcher, the other symbol of Justice) has in her hands. By the time the thing went to court, nobody from the Commonwealth wanted to get too close. In the light of day, it looked, well, a little mall-coppish. It was a stinker, it had to go away. All that was left were the details — making sure it was dismissed, straight up, with no admission of guilt, because the peace wasn’t especially disturbed, and that our perpetually cash-strapped state didn’t try to soak him in court costs. Which, of course, they tried, attempting to slip in another hundred clams in costs until they got called on it. He paid the $150 in court costs and walked out of Newburyport District Court a free man.
The story is already mythic, but the part where the judge invited himself to the next party, no, that really is myth. It never happened, although it should have and will always be part of the story we tell about how one man took on the entire power structure and lived to host another party. “My saga has ended,” he says. “My slate is clean. Good has won out over evil.” And, by the way, the air conditioning has been fixed, so the windows will be closed for the next party. We’ll miss sitting on the deck, listening to the Detour plein-air, but nobody will miss the excitement from the dust-up with the law. We’re too old and responsible for that, right? |
GOOD PRESS: 10/19/08
A LETTER FROM GARY... 4/2006
before I go one more second
I wanted to thank ...all my faithfull band mates and family over the span of my musical history...
continues HERE
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