Under The Radar

Yesterday I listened to some groups that never quite made it big. I never understood why they never received the recognition they should have, but being in the business, it could have been a number of things...poor management, poor record company, no budget to market them, etc. Two groups come to mind: Batdorf & Rodney and Brethren. I believe the Batdorf and Rodney cd is available online. Both of these albums are self-titled, but Brethren is not available as a cd. You might be able to find a vinyl copy somewhere. I became aware of Brethre from concerts I used to see at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. At that time of my life, my family moved to Orangeburg in Rockland County, NY. I was a junior in high school and there was absolutely nothing to do. We moved into a brand new development and we were one of the first families to move in. I made friends with a guy my age and another a year younger. Thankfully, we all loved music, so we decided to take a critical departure in our lives. Every Friday or Saturday evening, we used to walk a couple of miles to the local restaurant, where we had hot chocolate and an english muffin or some other crap like that. Sounds exciting, no? We wanted to hand out with some girls, but we were sent to a high school in Pearl River, miles away from where we lived, and not to the local high school, where they claimed they were already overcrowded. Pearl River High School was like a neo-nazi academy for this Jewish kid from the Bronx and Yonkers...but that's an entirely different story. Anyway, we all decided that the closest concert venue to us, even though it was over the Tappan Zee Bridge was in Port Chester, NY. We asked our fathers if they would drive us to the concerts each week and then the 3 of us pooled our money together and we took a taxi back home. Now you may not believe this but tickets for each concert, and we went pretty much every week, was around $5.50 a ticket and we got to usually see 3 bands in a show, 2 at the very least. The taxi back from Westchester to Rockland County was a flat rate of $15. So with tip, etc., we each ponied up approximately $12 each for everything. I got to see so many acts at this venue, starting with the Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour. Just to name a few of the $5.50 bands, we saw everyone from Steppenwolf to The Byrds to King Crimson to Traffic and the list goes on and on and on. As a matter of fact, my cousin Jason, who I wrote about in a previous blog, called me up one day and said: "listen, tell your friends to go with you to ticketron and get tickets to the Derek and the Dominoes concert coming to the Capitol Theater in Port Chester. I remember laughing when he mentioned the name and I said, who are they? He said: This is Eric Clapton's new band and they are doing these shows without any prior hype or announcement. So I told my friends, and they laughted too...but nonetheless, they knew Jason wouldn't joke, so we got tickets and saw Clapton's new band...and all I can say is this...when he did Layla and Have You Ever Loved a Woman, I didn't pick up my guitar for fun for a few months. I was giving private lessons weekly, but I refused to play in a band during those months because I witnessed Clapton play the blues and hold a note for so long, that it took my breath away! I think that note is still ringing somewhere. Anyway, Brethren was an opening act for many of the headliners. They were a superb band. They had two albums out on Tiffany Records. As I said, the first one, which was just called Brethren was great. Every song grew on you with each listen. The genre was rock, but they had a unique almost gospel type thing going on, but not really gospel...you would have to hear it. As a note of interest, Dr. John is on this first album as a guest artist, but the sound is not akin to Dr. John. They never made it big, and soon after their second album they called it quits. Batdorf & Rodney were two guys who played in a Crosby Stills & Nash kind of groove. Their songs were tremendous...truly. John Batdorf still records to this day and he has excellent product online. But the gem is their self-titled called Batdorf & Rodney. John Batdorf did most of the writing, and I guess like Paul Simon, just didn't want to share the limelight, since he was the main writer. Again, each and every song is wonderful...great...they grow on you each listen. And if you are a fan of great songs, great harmony, nice production, then grab this before it goes out of print. I have so many bands to turn you onto that have flown under the radar for one reason or another, and from time to time I will do this. Blogging not only gives one the license to whine and complain, but it also gives me the opportunity to provide great listening experiences and once again, open up your ears. And I welcome anyone who reads this and ventures out there to try some of my suggestions, to post a response. I'm curious what you think. The news reports are that the swine flu has kind of peaked for the time being, but they all think after the holidays, it will spike. So get your H1N1 flu shot as well as the regular flu shot...especially if you are in a high risk group...of course the choice is up to you. I had my swine flu vaccine last week...I went and got a ham sandwich right after it...I wonder if this is a side effect?