OCD Chronicles: The Outlaws-"Green Grass and High Tides"

I want to see Pat Travers this weekend, but I can’t.
Sure, I could probably whine to my wife and have her watch the kids solo, but then you have to prioritize the other factors. In this case, Traverse is playing at a biker rally about an hour away.
Strike one.
I’m not saying that I’d get into a rumble, I’m just saying it’s a biker rally. Since I don’t drink and I don’t ride a motorcycle, it wouldn’t be the best environment for me.
The other aspect is the venue-which I’m sure isn’t really a venue like you’d visualize-but it’s probably some biker’s farm land where he’s gotten a few grand invested in a stage, generator, and whatever is on the rider for Pat Travers’ contract. With the recent rain we’ve had, that field is probably a muddy mess
So I’ll stay home tonight, letting another artist that’s burned a hole in my past slip by.
All of this leads me to another artist-one that really didn’t have much of an impact with me years ago-but now I’m enjoying at least one track from them immensely. Get ready to dish out some southern-fried ridicule, because that band is the Outlaws.
How did I make the leap from Pat Travers to the Outlaws? Well, one was a fixture in that important middle school period of musical development while the other was around during that same time, but I chose not to pay attention to them.
Or maybe I did, to some extent, and I just didn’t realize who they were.
The song “Green Grass and High Tides” has been swimming around in my head for the last few years, the result of catching the song on a classic rot radio station and wondering “Who’s this?” I caught it in the middle, during the song’s extended guitar solo which just destroys. I mean, it’s up there with “Freebird” if you ask me, but without the radio burn.
I snagged it along with a couple other classic rock staples while I was parusing the internet.
Then it occurred to me: I’d seen the Outlaws live in concert at the age of 13.
In fact, The Outlaws were part of the package on my very first concert ever. That concert-part of an awesome festival that used to take place at the state fairgrounds-was called the Iowa Jam. The name was lifted from the legendary California Jam, except it wasn’t in California and it was held at the same place where later on in the summer they would do butter sculptures and judge livestock.
On that particular year, the Iowa Jam featured The Outlaws, UFO, 38 Special, and April Wine. Many of you may be scratching your head now, but this line-up would be considered hot shit for the day. UFO and The Outlaws were on their way down, but April Wine just scored a hit with “Just Between You And Me” and 38 Special finally took off with “Hold On Loosely.”
With that being said, this was the last Iowa Jam as the crowd was not as big as they needed it to be to stay profitable.
I knew nothing about the Outlaws back then. Their logo looked too country for me and I vaguely remember them being a hairy bunch.
But now as I become familiar with “Green Grass And High Tides” and its nine plus minutes of southern rock noodling, I wish I would have paid attention the first time around.
Here's a video of the song from the same tour that I saw them in.

There's a part two to this video as well, but I'll leave it to you to seek it out if you're all jacked up on Billy Beer and so inclined to view it.

OCD Chronicles: Pat Travers Band "Snortin' Whiskey"

It was a conversation that prompted me to seek out Pat Travers Band's Crash And Burn album, a record that packs everything decent into the first side while allowing the second side to completely implode with mediocrity.
But don’t let that discount how good side one is and, in particular, the one song that the two burnouts were referring to while eavesdropping on their conversation.
That title, “Snortin’ Whiskey,” was easy enough to remember when looking for the record a week or so later, but it was/is great enough for me to remember nearly thirty years later.
It occasionally pops up on classic rock stations. I’m assuming this because I don’t really listen to classic rock stations and, from what little I’ve heard of current rock stations, they play songs that I’ve heard before, but couldn’t name the band or title if you paid me to. For example, I know there’s a tune where the chorus goes “You’re such a fucking hypocrite,” which is funny as the station drops out the offending word. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that word/line is the only reason why people like it. I mean, musically it’s about as non-descript as you can get, swimming in a sea of anonymity that will fade away the moment that it’s fans cash in their rock ‘n roll tastes for a country artist that will speak to their moment in five or ten years.
“Snortin’ Whiskey” isn’t that type of song. It’s a lifestyle that stays with you even after you’ve left the booger sugar behind and replaced it with an atypical world of Bud Light twelve packs and the obligatory D.U.I. conviction that comes with it. When Travers declares, “I’ve got so much cocaine/Ain’t ever comin’ down!” you know because you’ve been there. You never forget about the nights of too much coke and too little to talk about, eyeballing the next line with the greed of the Reagan administration. You may remember the incredible sex drive that the snowstorm creates, which also can create an inability to climax or, just as bad, get it up, depending on the amount you Hoovered.
Do you want to know one of the reasons why I think the movie Sideways is so awesome? It’s because of the scene where they go back to the waitress’ house to get Jack’s wallet, after forgetting it when her old man came back unexpectedly and caught him porking her. As Miles goes in to retrieve Jack’s wallet, he navigates through the unkempt house while “Snortin’ Whiskey” plays in the background. The couple is in the bedroom fucking, both seemingly turned on by her unfaithful actions, making them the perfect stereotype for this song. Indeed, I could see either one of the two men in that concert line playing the role of that character from Sideways.
But make no mistake, “Snortin’ Whiskey” is by no means a Neanderthal song. Travers is an awesome guitarist and he teamed up with another great six-stringer (Pat Thrall, who later went solo and started a band using his own name on the marquee) and delivered a shit hot solo smack dab in the middle of the tune. The riff itself is pretty sweet too.
Travers’ band also featured Tommy Aldridge on drums, perhaps one of the greatest rock drummers ever. Aldridge, for those of you who dig useless trivia, actually replaced Nicko McBrain after he left, eventually becoming the long-standing drummer for Iron Fucking Maiden.
Anyway, “Snortin Whiskey” and it’s awesome riff have been going through my head like a heart-racing coke binge lately and I’m here to tell you that it’s just as good sober as it is under the influence.

Black Pearls In The Great White North

The reasons why escape me, but I'm thinking about upgrading my vinyl copy of Pat Travers Crash & Burn to digital. And by "upgrade," I mean converting from one obsolete format to another obsolete format. That's how we roll in Iowa. Hell, we still wear acid wash jeans around here.
Actually, I probably know the reason why I've got Pat Travers on the brain: Arcade Fire. You see, I've been playing Neon Bible a bit (which didn't surpass Biggie and ended up entering at #2 last week), which got me thinking about Canada. From that, I started to think about April Wine, which reminded me of The Trailer Park Boys when they tell Rush's Alex Lifeson to play "I Like To Rock" before he explains that it's an April Wine song and not Rush. From there, I'm reminded that I really should get season three of The Trailer Park boys on dvd, because it features the episode where they kidnap Lifeson.
So now my minds in total classic rock obsession which leads me to think of other Canadian rockers...Like Pat Travers.
Crash & Burn is awesome: it features the classic song "Snortin' Whiskey (Drinkin' Cocaine)" which I overheard two total burnouts talking about while waiting in line for a Cheap Trick concert back around '81.
Burnout #1: Pat Travers put on a good show...
Burnout #2: (singing) Snortin' whiskey! Drinkin' cocaine!
Burnout #1: That's a fuckin' great song, man.
Burnout #2: I know, man!
Burnout #1: Ya'ever try it?
Burnout #2: What? Blow?
Burnout #1: Nah man, snortin' whiskey!
Burnout #2: N'uh uh...
Burnout #1: I did...Poured some fuckin' Jack on the table...Fuckin' hoovered up a line of it!
Burnout #2: Did'ja get off?
Burnout #1: Nah man...That shit fuckin' burned!
(both laugh)
So understand that when a 14 year old hears two longhairs in their early twenties talking like this, one of the first reactions is to go get some Jack Daniels, cocaine, and the Pat Travers album that has "Snortin' Whiskey" on it.
Having no luck with the first two items, I snagged Crash & Burn at the Woolworth's and actually enjoy the album quite a bit.
Travers remains a sorely under appreciated guitarist who's played with some very talented folks.
He played live around SEIA on more than one occasion, usually at the same venue where I saw Cheap Trick, so he was probably bigger around there than in other parts of the country.
When some band members left to join other projects, Travers regrouped (literally) and called it his new band and album, Black Pearl.
Pat Travers' Black Pearl may have given him his biggest notoriety: inclusion in a major motion picture. "I La La La Love You" was featured prominently in the movie "Valley Girl" and was given an on-screen endorsement by Nicolas Cage's character.
The song is pretty good...but you'd never know this if you saw the video for it. I didn't know the thing existed, but unfortunately, it does.
And I found it.
Travers, who looks hilariously similar to Nigel Tufnel in it, tries to get the attention of (strangely) the woman he just woke up next to. He follows her around in a baby blue shirt before frightening her with a guitar solo on a perfectly matched baby blue guitar.
If you're not a fan of Pat Travers, the video will ensure that doesn't change.
If you are a fan of Travers, the video may change that opinion.