Tag: Wreckless Eric

This morning’s project was enumerating the Wreckless Eric, Amy Rigby gigs we’ve seen over the years. I counted thirteen. They were all so memorable it is doubtful that I missed any. Starting with the Atrium at Village Gate in 2008 when we spotted our new neighbors in the front row. They were Amy fans. We were completely out of the singer songwriter loop but knew we loved Eric.

I made a shakey movie of them in the courtyard in 2009 and then at the Lovin’ Cup in 2010, the day after Dennis Hopper died, where we sat with Chris Schepp. We learned they were considering a move to Rochester in 2012 but there were a few buts. I recorded them doing Tom Petty ‘s Walls Fall Down in 2012 across the street in Rick and Monica’s living room. We were there when Eric told a noisy table to “shut the fuck up” in 2013

We drove down to the Catskills for a Homemade Airplane show in Eric and Amy’s house. We talked music with Eric when he stopped next door on his way to Toronto in 2015. We caught Eric’s solo gig at Abilene in 2016 and then “the perfect night” in 2018 when Eric stayed at our house and Amy and Eric sat in with Chuck Prophet on the outdoor stage at Abilene.

We were up front when Amy read pages from “Girl to City” in 2019, We were blown away by Eric’s solo show at the Bop Shop in 2021 and his performance at Lux in 2022. We were in Spain when Amy played here in 2023 so we were really looking forward to Saturday’s Bop Shop show.

On Saturday Amy did most of the songs from her brilliant new lp, “Hang in There with Me.” Chris Schepp called it “bio rock,” songs like “Hell-Oh Sixty” and “Too Old to be Crazy.” Honest and funny at the same time, songs about writing songs and getting older. Peggi was laughing all the way through “Bangs,” (“Nico before her heroin phase.”) Eric played bass and guitar while Sam Shepard, yes, someone named Sam Shepard played drums. He was mostly a distraction especially because Amy’s lyrics were getting lost. The album is a treat with sweet sounding guitars and beautiful lush production from Eric. They have moved to England now and we’re hoping that doesn’t mean there will be no fourteenth time.

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Peggi is about halfway through Amy Rigby‘s memoir, “Girl to City,” and she’s loving it. I will get my hands on it next. Amy was in town last night and she alternated between reading and playing songs. The songs, many of them older, were related to the passages she read and the combination compounded the experience.

She started reading a chapter called “Elton Girl,” (her nickname in middle school because she was such a fan) and she got to the part where she wins two tickets to an Elton John concert from her hometown Pittsburgh radio station. She stopped to tell something that wasn’t in the book. Something that had just occurred and that surely will be in the next edition.

While traveling across the country on this book tour she has been listening to the Elton John’s autobiography, “Me,” and Elton has a chapter in there where he talks about calling Stiff Records and offering to play keyboards for a tour they were putting together, the ulterior motive being he had a crush on Wreckless Eric. Amy’s husband! Amy stopped the car and called Eric.

Eric wrote a blog post about Elton John and Elton John saw the post and contacted Eric. All too much.

Amy finished with a bang in a string of songs that began with the anthem, “Do You Remember that?” (video below), her Tom Petty karaoke song, “The President Can’t Read,” and the perfect closer. “Hey, I love you. You’re perfect. Don’t ever change.”

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The Homemade Aeroplane site said we would receive our boarding passes by post and sure enough, on the day before our departure they arrived. Google maps said the journey to the Catskill Aerodrome would take just under four hours but we took the scenic route along Routes 5 & 20.

It was a clear sunny day but dangerous snow had drifted across the road in some of the wide open spots. Our hotel room was on the other side of the river in Hudson so we passed through the town of Catskill on the way, in effect doing a reverse dry run of the hop over the Rip Van Winkle bridge to Amy and Eric’s place later tonight.

A Trip Advisor review of the 139 year old Saint Charles Hotel said, “Don’t do it!” but we tempted fate. It’s a funky old brick building in the center of town that was probably a pretty cool bar in its day. We signed a waiver that said we’d be charged $250 if we smoked in our room and then found the room already smelled like smoke. The floor runs uphill toward the windows too but we’re not complaining.

The show tonight promises a special guest but that’s a secret. I told Duane Sherwood (owner of a beautiful Wreckless Eric painting) we were headed down this way for the show and he said, “Are you sure you are not the special guests?” I am sure of that.

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The cold snap changed the color of our giant pumpkin from rusty yellow to a deep orange. I figured we better get it out of our doorway before it thaws so we rolled it into our wheelbarrow and took it across the street to ask our neighbors if we could roll it down the hill behind their house so the deer could have it. Other years we’ve rolled our pumpkins down the hill behind our house but we have a road down there and if they manage to get through the trees they zoom across the road and wind up in the creek. This year’s pumpkin was big enough to take out a car so we rang Rick’s bell. The crazy thing is that when we let it fly it scared the hell out of the three deer that were down there and they hightailed it out of sight.

Rick and Monica asked us if we’d like to come over for dinner and we took them up on that. Eric and Amy were staying with them. Both Eric and Amy are art school veterans so we started the evening looking at my paintings and talking art. I’m thinking of buying one of Eric’s Kodak paintings.

Dinner conversation switched to music as we discussed matters such as whether The Stooges or The Ramones made a bigger impact on music. Eric has a piece in the new Mojo about his upcoming reunion of the Len Bright Combo but he is defiantly moving forward. The Mojo interview contains this killer quote. “It might even sound modern now but in the ‘80s it probably sounded horrible to people because in those days every snare drum hit was an event in itself.” And Amy is at the top of her game. She is a brilliant songwriter. I am a huge fan and am looking forward to her book.

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Wednesday was a funny night. People expected a big band version of Margaret Explosion but Pete was the only special guest able to make the gig. His piano playing was great and worth the free admission. We packed up quickly and drove out to the Lovin’ Cup in Henrietta to catch the the tail end of Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby’s set. Eric seemed out of sorts and off his between song, free-association game. He kept looking over to the noisy crowd gathered around the bar. Twice he asked if they could turn the tv off. “You don’t go out to watch tv.” The edge added to the excitement for me and musically they sounded better than ever. I love how they trade songs and support one anothers’. I love it when Eric sings high harmonies to Amy’s voice and I loved it when they smiled at each other and kissed in the encore. This is way post punk stuff.

Peggi talked to Amy after the show and Amy told her they felt like they had to do some different material because they’ve played here so often. How many times has it been, six or seven? We’ve been to them all. Eric even did his “Men In Sandals” fashion send up even though Tom Kohn, the one that brought him here, was sitting at the merchandise table in open toe footwear. Their three song encore included a beautiful version of Tom Petty’s “Walls Fall Down.” We learned that before we got the club the bar had a beer tasting and some those idiots stuck around for the show. Eric told them to “shut the fuck up” and someone who had come to the show chimed in only to get thrown out by the club owner.

Watch their brilliant video and see them next time at a better venue.

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