Pathway To Paris - Patti Smith And Friends Sing For The Planet

I keep saying that none of the big issues facing our world today will even matter if we're no longer able to survive on this planet. When Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, it was a huge - and super embarrassing - blow to the work so many good people are doing on behalf of our Earth, and now good people are taking matters into our own hands to try to keep it livable here a while longer ... if it's not already too late. Seriously.

There was a great concert last night put on my the fine folks at Pathway To Paris, a group co-founded by Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon, committed activists and eco-warriors doing everything they can to try to help. Smith is also the daughter of Patti Smith, so they've got a lot of musical friends who share their enthusiasm to save the world. Quite literally.

The evening at the lovely downtown Ace Hotel featured many action booths in the lobby, merch to support the cause, and drinks to sip while you mingled and talked about how bad we've screwed up this planet. Once seated, the show started with a video about what Pathway To Paris is about, and what they hope to accomplish. It reminded us that "Time is ticking - let's make change NOW." Because we actually don't have a choice. Patti Smith took the stage to well-deserved cheers, and I had chills from the outset. She recited a poem about the environment (beautifully backed on cello by Rebecca Foon), with a line perfectly describing the night - and the organization - "We arise to walk as one ... Nature gives us everything." The man seated next to me had his palms up and open, receiving, almost as if in prayer. I got it. I felt it too.

Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon came out to talk about Pathway To Paris, which they founded in 2014 after the Peoples' Climate March in New York City.  Their hope is that we can be using 100% renewable energy by 2040, emphasizing how urgent this crisis that affects us ALL really is. It always frustrates me when things are said like "By 2040" - that's over 20 years off. Why not NOW? Why not DEMAND it? I know it's all very complicated, but isn't our survival worth just changing it all NOW? Because it really is that serious - it's our basic SURVIVAL. They talked about the 1000 Cities Initiative, and getting cities to commit to renewable energy on their own, outside of this lousy administration. They told us about 350.org, who are working to reduce fossil fuel usage. But most of all, they inspired us. Imany ("All the way from Paris!") was a beautiful singer, who took her time getting on stage, and when she did, she said, "I'm sorry I was late, but I'm French." People laughed, knowingly, but gave her a pass, because Paris.  She did a cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and did her best to get people to sing along ("That was horrible. We're gonna do it again."). We did, and then Patti Smith came back on to introduce her friend, Flea.

Red Hot Chili Pepper's beloved bassist, Flea, took to the stage in a purple tie-dyed suit with a L.A. Lakers tee under it (Go Lakers!), and laid a typical funky Flea bass throw down on us, and also blew minds with his gorgeous trumpet playing. He's like a modern Miles Davis, for real. He shouted out to his daughter, Clara, who was celebrating her 30th birthday on this day. Flea is awesome.

Pro skater, Tony Hawk, came out to talk about how he met Dhani Harrison when he was a little skater and invited them all back to his house (Castle) to hang out with him ...  and his Dad (George Harrison. Beatle.) and Tom Petty, and I think even Bob Dylan was there.

That cemented a friendship, and Hawk introduced Harrison, who played a song called "Press Pause", I think, that had never been played live before. My Morning Jacket's Jim James joined him for this lovely tune, and then stayed up there for his own "Over And Over". People were loving it, and his line, "If you don't speak up, we can't hear it" especially resonated for this night of music and charity.

350.Org's Bill McKibben showed video from his summer vacation, that was spent in Greenland watching giant ice shelves melt into the sea ... raising water levels with every crash. "We will keep doing this until we win," he said, and had us all write postcards to Gavin Newsom, our likely new Governor of California (which Tony Hawk skated down the aisle writing to demonstrate). All of this was happening while North Carolina was under siege from Hurricane Florence, illustrating climate change in real time.

Jim James introduced Karen O. (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) who played a couple of numbers from the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack that she did. "Worried Shoes" was lovely, but "Hideaway" seemed to my ears to be almost a direct ripoff of one of my very favorite tunes, Hendrix's "May This Be Love". Pretty, but I couldn't stop hearing Jimi. Still, happy that she was there in support of our world, and look forward to more of her original work.

Tenzin Choegyal was there from Australia (via Tibet) and brought a letter from the Dalai Lama for Jesse Paris Smith to read to us, and it was as lovely as you'd expect. It mentioned that when you see photos of Earth from space, there are no borders, just one blue planet. "It's in our interest to look out for it." Choegyal played his native instrument (whose name I don't know), and to me it was the musical highlight of the entire marathon show. SO beautiful - and unique, sounding like nothing else (except for a little bit like Eddie Vedder on his Into The Wild soundtrack). It was truly stunning, and then he had us all stand and make roofs with our arms over our heads, as "Tibet is the roof of the world, and the roof is leaking." He played a song called "Snowline" - "about elegantly leaving fear behind." His passionate playing and singing left a deep impression on everyone there, and the next artist - LUCINDA WILLIAMS - admitted to being in tears side-stage while observing Choegyal. "I just stood there and wept."  As were we in our seats.

We only got one song from Williams, but it was a new one, featuring just her wonderful voice and guitar, singing that "We've come too far to turn around." And in the climate's case - we HAVE to keep going in our struggle to protect it. Patti Smith returned to introduce her friend, Eric Burdon from The Animals. He took the stage in dark sunglasses at night (o.k.) and said, "Give it up for the Smiths! Great vibes here tonight!" Everyone cheered in agreement, and Burdon showed himself to still be in fine voice when he belted out Lead Belly's "In The Pines" (made real famous by Nirvana), backed by a ripping guitarist. It was dramatic, and his "Mother Earth" was a bluesy number accented by some excellent trombone. Good stuff.

Talib Kweli was next, and after a bunch of "Wave your hands in the air like you just don't care!" and "Make some noise!" requests, he got down to a version of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" done rap style. Another one had Nina Simone samples, and then that was that for his set. It was just o.k. to my ears. But then Tony Hawk came back up to tell how he came to know Patti Smith, which was that his skate company (Birdhouse) was doing a video and his skater, Clive Dixon, asked for his part to have Patti Smith music. She had given him a guitar pick, and after repeatedly trying a Nollie trick that had never been done ("NBD"), he held up that pick and then DID IT. Magic. So Hawk (and everyone else) loves Patti Smith, and he introduced her by saying, "Please welcome one of our greatest musicians, Patti Smith!"

Huge applause again, and then Smith cracked everyone up by saying, "Greatest musician? I can't play a fucking thing!" She dedicated her first number to North Carolina, and she (and Flea on backing bass) gave us "Peaceable Kingdom", which ends with the line, "Maybe someday we'll be strong enough to build it back again." We can only hope. The wonderful "Dancing Barefoot" was next, and Smith dedicated it to Flea's daughter, Clara, for her birthday. How cool. Smith ended her set with "Pissing In A River", and when she sang the line, "Don't turn your back now, I'm talking to you," she added, "Write those fucking letters!" Right on.

Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon returned to give their thanks to everyone there and involved, and urged everyone to continue taking action. They then asked all the performing artists back on stage for the All Star finale, which was her mother's "People Have The Power", and there couldn't have been a more fitting song for the night - and the world at large right now. Everyone was up there belting it out, and Smith shouted "Use Your Voice!!" to end the absolutely inspiring and spurring to action evening of Pathway To Paris.

Please join their good work by writing your own letters, signing all the petitions, and CARING about your Mother Earth - it's the only one we have. Thank you.

KCRW's Summer Nights Backyard Party With Jim James!

I finally got to see the new KCRW Headquarters in Santa Monica on Saturday night when they held their Summer Nights Backyard Party in the courtyard of their super impressive new digs on Pennsylvania Avenue. The bonus to seeing the new space was that it was for a Jim James (My Morning Jacket) solo gig, and I'll go see that dude anywhere.

It was a perfectly gorgeous evening for an outdoor concert, and the line for the first come, first to get in line stretched around the block for this really fun - and free - event. The crowd was very KCRW Westside Liberal, with friends and families out for a lovely neighborhood jam under the stars. DJ Liza Richardson warmed up the proceedings, spinning popular tracks while people got their buzz on with delish lavender lemonade or spicy tequila drinks - or beer. Food trucks were there, per usual, and a whole lot of schmoozing going on. So much so that when Mr. James took the stage, it was kind of subtle, like he was just all of a sudden there singing "Rainbow Power". "America needs Rainbow Power" is sung truth, and James had the crowd in his hands from then on (aside from the very chatty scenester girls that always seem to be standing near me).

"All In Your Head", "I'm Amazed", and "Just A Fool" were thrown down back to back to back, as James wove his spells among a backdrop of projected art done by Future Lighting that served up a trippy atmosphere that went perfectly with his 70's rock vibe. Backlit with hair blowing in the summer breeze, slinging a red, glittery guitar, James could have been there from a Zeppelin-era time machine. And we were all loving it.

"Throwback" was therefore an apt track to be played, and "Changing World" was straight from now. James sang about living in the now, which was crazy, because I had just run into Rocky Dawuni (another KCRW favorite, the reggae singer from Ghana) earlier and we had talked about exactly that. Living in the moment, as it's all we really have. And these moments were good ones to be living in. Glancing around, everyone seemed happy, and all cares seemed to have been forgotten, at least for the moment.

It's kind of amazing when just one guy with a guitar and no backing band can hold such a big crowd's attention (by now the place was jam packed), but James sure did. "Here In Spirit". "No Secrets". "Too Good To Be True." All awesome. James didn't talk too much, but when he did, he urged everyone to go out and see Blackkklansman - "The most important film in our lifetime". Whoa. That's a pretty hefty claim ... but now I'm going tonight. James sings about things I agree with, so I'll take this as a solid film referral (and get back to you).

"I'm excited to be here to break in this wonderful new space, what a cool place to gather, I'm honored to be here with you tonight," James addressed the surroundings, and I think we all felt the same way. James brought it home with "A New Life", "Rome", "Over And Over", and finished the set with Brian Wilson's "Love And Mercy" with its great line, and great show-ender, "Love and mercy, that's what you need tonight, Love and mercy to you and your friends tonight." How lovely - and we'll take it.

There was no encore, and after the applause died down, DJ Chris Douridas took over the turntables to spin until the party ended ... though no one wanted it to. What a delightful first visit to the new KCRW Campus! If you haven't yet checked it out, there's another Summer Nights Backyard Party next Saturday - this time with Henry Rollins! Yessss!

Bu-huuuut, Oh! Those Su-hum-mer Niiiii-iiiiiights! See you there.

*Photos courtesy Everett Fitzpatrick for KCRW.

Rock The Night - Jakob Dylan, Jim James, And Butch Walker Rock For A Cause

The Teragram Ballroom hosted a rock show to benefit finding a cure for Crohn's and Colitis, issues that 1.6 million Americans suffer from. The disease is such a bummer, that it's good to have an awesome night out in honor of all of the people that it affects - and that we did.

The festivities kicked off with a silent auction - and open bar - that got folks milling around and connecting right from the start. They had all sorts of cool things, from weekends at posh resorts to a signed Lakers basketball. There were a whole bunch of speeches, and a video explaining it all. Stacy Dylan spearheads the event every year, which is how you get Jakob Dylan to headline it every year. Stacy's son and Jakob's nephew (Bob's grandson), Lowell, suffers from the disease, and this show was for him and all the other people that share this affliction. And good people coming together to do good things with rock and roll is my favorite thing, so I was there.

The musical portion of the evening opened up with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James and his gorgeous tunes. He's awesome. He kicked it off with the fantastic "I'm Amazed", and it's just as good solo as it is with MMJ. We also got "Throwback (When We Were Young)", also beautiful and with his nice crop of hair back-lit with the colorful lights, it was as good throwback to real Zeppelin-type rock vibes, for real.

To be honest, I was also talking to a bunch of folks during the James set, as I got there a little late and really wanted to learn more about the disability that we were there for. I learned that former Laker, Larry Nance, Jr. suffered from Crohn's, and would often visit kids in the hospital also dealing with it. It's kind of incredible that he could play at such an elite level while also having his stomach tied up in knots, but there is medication now that really helps, and that's what we were there for - help, and a cure.  Jim James ended his set with a Yim Yames tune, "Changing World", where the chorus goes, "Change the ways of this changing world" .... which is also what we were there for.



The wonderful Jakob Dylan was on next, and as excellent as expected. It's funny, it was the ten year anniversary of the Justice Tour launching (a series of shows put on by Tom Morello to benefit different charities in each city we visited), and I had met Dylan at our New York show for Road Recovery. We talked about it after the show, and he remembered playing a pink guitar for "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" - that also featured Slash! Probably the rockingest time that Sunday School classic has ever been played. Great memories, but we were there to make more, and Dylan playing his "Three Marlenas" will definitely suffice as one. It was the first Coachella weekend, and Dylan said, "Thank you all for being here and not at Coachella. All of that money went to garbage stuff, so thank you for being here!" Agreed.

"God Don't Make Lonely Girls" was up next, and The Wallflowers jam was extra warmly received. Because Dylan and his band are awesome. Dylan said, "The next one is a song that if you knew it, and you had a gig, you'd play it on a Saturday night too.", and we got Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night". The whole place was up and dancing, and full of the stoke that comes from the communal singing and dancing that goes down at a fantastic live show - AND for a good cause! Guitars were extra shredded on that one, prompting Dylan to say, "Stanton Edward is playing so good tonight we have to introduce him!" Again, agreed.

The big Wallflowers hit, "One Headlight" was next, and my friend next to me told me that he'd heard that Bruce Springsteen said he'd wished he'd written this one. Mighty fine compliment for a mighty fine - and now classic - tune. It was great. As was the Dylan set closer, "The Letter", a cover of The Box Tops oldie. People didn't want Dylan to leave, but it was now time for Butch Walker.

The Awesome Butch Walker. I was friends with him back in the MySpace days, and hadn't really seen or heard him since, so this was a real treat. I'm not super familiar with his discography (yet!), but this show made me want to run out and get every last thing he's ever played on. I don't know the name of his opening song, but after it, Walker cracked, "This next song is also not 'One Headlight'". Well, it didn't need to be, because it was also mighty fine - all on its own. "Wilder In The Heart" was next and had great lyrics like, "I heard you talking in your sleep in English, even though it ain't your native tongue, I see you still got your sense of humor, left over from when you were fun." Nice!

I think the next jam was called "Bed On Fire", and by now the place was seriously rocking. At first I was wondering why Butch Walker was headlining, but at this point, I totally got it. He is, again, awesome. As is his band. I wrote in my notes, "How is Butch Walker not huger?!" underlined several times, and I ask it again now. HOW?! Maybe to that point, after that barn burner, Walker said, "We've officially gone 15 minutes without talking about Ed Sheeran. Want another song?" Yes. Yes, we did. He than cracked, "That was from Page 14 in the Audience Baiting handbook. And I don't have a tech. This is a benefit. We tech for ourselves," by way of explaining the pause for tuning. I love him.

Another great song whose name I don't know merged into "Teenage Wasteland (Baba O'Riley)", and that was so good that Dylan re-joined him on the stage to duet on Walker's "Closest Thing To You I'm Gonna Find" and it was just .... !!! All the guys were literally bending over backwards, giving their ALL to the rock. We all went crazy, and Dylan said, "I just felt like Petty in that Prince moment ... that's what that felt like." (referring to the Rock Hall of Fame gig when Prince's guitar did NOT gently weep, but nearly set the joint on fire with its fury). Walker replied, "Except I didn't smirk the whole time." Haaa. (*Editor note: Prince deserved every smirk he gave.) It really was just about that good.

"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding" was the Elvis Costello cover Walker and Dylan sang together for the evening's finale, and it both asked the question, and gave us the answer. There's nothing funny about any of it, and we were all there for all of it. The music was pure peace and love (and ROCK FURY!), and I think we all now had a better understanding of this medical situation that so many people live with but don't really talk about. Again, these are the kind of musical events I love best, and you always leave feeling a little better about the state of the whole world.

The Night was indeed Rocked, and money and awareness for Crohn's and Colitis was raised as we all Connected For A Cure.

Thank you to all involved!


*All photos courtesy of Rodney Bursiel

My Morning Jacket LIVE For KCRW - Truly Wonderful

OK, I LOVE My Morning Jacket. I'd never seen them live. I got an invitation from the fantastic KCRW to attend a live show at Mack Sennet Studios to see My Morning Jacket play their excellent new album, The Waterfall. I was THERE.

Gnarly traffic got us there the instant the show began, so there was no time to indulge in the open bar before squeezing in to the jam-packed house there to see these super talented gentlemen throw down some rock and roll. I'd spent the whole previous evening listening to the new album on repeat so I'd be familiar with it to double enjoy it all, so it was even better, and awesome that they played it all in order. Thus, they opened with the album opener, "Believe (Nobody Knows)" and the people just went crazy from thereon out.

"Compound Fracture" and "Like A River" were up next, and you could feel the reverence for this band in the room. People seriously LOVE them. For good reason. Even though some in the room may not have even heard the album yet, they were all the way into every single note hit.

The room was a sweltering hot box with all that body heat squashed in there, and nobody minded a bit. The crowd was a mix of older NPR bookish types and total textbook hipsters, rounded out by KCRW staffers, and everyone was enjoying it as much as anyone could. Zero jadedness, just pure, unadulterated joy and appreciation to be there. That was tangible in how polite and kind everyone was to each other, moving aside for shorter people, not caring when a drink spilled on you ... it was that kind of vibe, and probably a tribute to the band, and our hosts.

The older couple in front of me were pretty much making out and dancing together the whole time, and I loved them for it. I want to be them when I grow up. They loved "In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)" and they really loved "Get The Point", clearly already having committed its lyrics to memory. I wish you all the love in this world and beyond ... I hope you get the point,  the thrill is gone ... Maybe the nicest breakup song ever. It was impressive all around.

Jim James wore a technicolor dream coat, which went great with the trippy Joshua Light Show type swirly lights dancing around us. James is a shaman of sorts, and he's very hard to take your eyes off, except maybe to watch the shredding of guitarist, Carl Broemel (that's the side I was on, I'm sure Bo Koster, Patrick Hallahan, and Tom Blankenship were mesmerizing too, I just couldn't really see them).

"That song was a matrix to get lost in ... we wanted it to be disorienting, but pleasant, we hope.", said James after a particularly psychedelic passage of "Spring (Among The Living)". People were FEELING it in there, and a guy near me thought aloud how much he wished he was on acid. I've never done acid (perhaps surprisingly to some), but this one made me kind of get it.

After "Thin Line", James thanked everyone for coming, saying that they'd only ever played these songs two or three times, "So it's nice to be playing them for actual human beings." He's right, it was super nice, even more so that the show was being live-streamed on KCRW (and airs on the radio next Wednesday, May 13th), so the whole world was able to be in there watching with us ... though I have a feeling it wasn't quite the same. Or as hot.

"Big Decisions" almost got a bit metal, with a smoooooth ending. I think my favorite track off the new album is "Tropics (Erase Traces)", as it's already almost caused a skip in my Itunes there. So, so good. They closed out The Waterfall with its closer, "Only Memories Remain", another smooth, gorgeous one, that builds and builds until it was an awesome jam that was so good my friend Brad had to leave to mull it all over, missing the encore. He was MOVED. I'm pretty sure we all were.

The band left the stage for a minute, and then came back out and James said, "I've never given birth before, but when we finished these songs, it felt something like that, with not a millionth of the pain. The songs are new and fragile, and you go 'what the fuck do I do in this part?' ... and then you remember to forget ... We're so proud of them." They should be. It's a great album, as everyone expected.

The encore of classics began with "Wonderful", which it surely was, then "Down On Bottom" that had the whole place clapping and dancing along. For "Circuital", James went and put on some kind of little Simon game looking machine around his neck, pulled up a monk type hood, and walked around the stage, singing all distorted and cool. They closed - appropriately - with "Victory Dance", and so it was for us all, just to be there.

Phew! We all exploded out of there into the night, only to find a beautiful, sorely needed steady rain falling from the sky, so maybe it was a rain dance in there as well. All I know is that it was perfectly, indeed, wonderful.

Thank you so much to KCRW and NPR for having me, and to My Morning Jacket for completely stoking us all. Go get The Waterfall right now. You'll love it.

*Great photos courtesy of KCRW's Ethan Shvartzman. (OK ones by my phone.)