"This
footage was shot at 14 Below in Santa Monica, California
on July 26th, 2003, the first-ever live appearance of Stephen
Collins & The 7th Band. The lighting at 14 Below
wasn't set up for video and the floor was crowded, but thanks
to video editor, Matteo Molinari, and my webmaster Jim Kamm,
we're able to give you a little glimpse into one of our live
dates.
"This was my first full band performance
in over thirty years, since my last college band, The Naugahyde
Revolution. After my CD came out in '03, we got some offers
to play live dates, and I was thrilled that the guys in the
band wanted to do it. 'Penny Lane' is an old favorite of
mine that the Beatles never actually performed live. They
did it in the studio, of course, but never anywhere else. Gary
Herbig, our sax player, does the song's famous trumpet
solo on his flute. At a rehearsal, our drummer/musical director Michael
Jochum had the idea to have Gary play it. Jim Cox,
our amazing keyboardist who has every bit of music he's ever
heard stored somewhere in his fingertips, scribbled the musical
notation for the solo from memory in about two minutes — something
very few musicians could do, especially since I wanted to
do the song in A, and not the Beatles' original key, B. Jim
wrote out the whole complicated solo as easily as if he were
signing his name, Gary played it perfectly the first time,
and we all liked the way the flute sounded. When Gary doesn't
play with us, Jim plays the solo on keyboard with his right
hand. All the guys in the band are superb players, but the
library of music in Jim's head is a little scary.
"Jon Walmsley, who I worked with
in 1975 (!) on The Waltons (Jon played Jason Walton) is on
lead guitar and standing to my right onstage. Domenic
Genova, on bass guitar, is behind me and Gary. Jim
Cox, to my extreme right, is very hard to see as his
part of the small stage wasn't lit well. Ditto for Jon. The
cameras, operating from the floor, which is below stage level,
couldn't get an angle at all on drummer Michael Jochum,
but he's there, keeping his usual solid, rock-steady beat."
"'Oh Boy!' is an old Buddy Holly favorite.
I read somewhere that Bruce Springsteen used to prepare for
his shows by playing Buddy Holly songs backstage. There's
something so basic and elementally rock'n'roll about Buddy
Holly's songs. Played live, they tend to make people want
to jump out onto the dance floor. Gary Herbig is on
sax, Jon Walmsley on guitar, Domenic Genova on
bass, Jim Cox on piano, and Michael Jochum on
drums.
"'I Saw Her Standing There' is one of
the first songs I ever played with the 7th Band. It's a great
party tune, and Jon
Walmsley does a terrific lead guitar
break here, with Michael
Jochum (drums)
and Domenic Genova (bass) driving the beat as always,
and Jim
Cox (piano) providing his usual strong support. The Beatles
originally recorded the song in the key of E, but we do it
in D on the advice of Laurence Juber (LJ), our sometime
guitar player. LJ played lead guitar for Wings, and he's
done this song with Paul. According to LJ, Paul now does
the song in D, which is good enough for me."
Camera operators: Matteo Molinari,
Joel Feigenbaum, and Abbie Bernstein.
Edited by Matteo Molinari.
"I Saw Her Standing There" and "Penny
Lane"
Music and Lyrics by Lennon-McCartney
©1963, 1967 Northern
Music
"Oh Boy!"
Music and Lyrics by Norman
Petty, Bill Tilghman, Sunny West
©1957 (Renewed)
Wren Music Company |
