Flashback to 2007: your favorite pair of shoes is a worn-out pair of Converse with song lyrics written on them, “Sugar We’re Goin Down” is your Myspace Song, your AIM username reads something like xXRAwR123Xx, and there’s no such thing as too much eyeliner.
Sadly, ten years has passed. A lot of your favorite bands have since broken up (or even worse, they sold out and are releasing radio-pop records), while AIM and Warped Tour are on their deathbeds.
However, there’s good news!
You can relive all your teen angst at Emo Royale on Friday December 1. I’ll be there, and you’ll probably find me scream-crying the lyrics to “You’re So Last Summer” and reminiscing the time I met Adam Lazzara after Taking Back Sunday’s set at Warped Tour circa 2011.
The newest edition of the Royale family will include sets of Taking Back Sunday performed by Conman Economy, Fall Out Boy (pre-hiatus, obviously) performed by Zach Sullentrup & His Terrible 20s, Paramore performed by Between Elsewhere, and Never Shout Never performed by Blue Jay. RIP AIM & WARPED TOUR </333
On November 25, 1976, an audience of 5,000 packed in to Winterland Ballroom — an ice skating rink that also served as a concert venue — to watch The Band perform for one last time.
It was an extravagant event. The audience was served a Thanksgiving dinner with live music, ballroom dancing and readings from various poets under the lavish lights of the chandeliers in the hall.
But the true beauty of the event was the fact that a group of people that certainly had their differences managed to work through them and come together to deliver a night of celebration.
It was dysfunctional, but human.
And isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about? Even though you may not enjoy your uncle’s company sitting next to you at the dinner table — whether he’s discussing his political views or refuses to put down the bottle of Jack — he’s still family and you recognize that both of you are there for one common purpose.
The Last Waltz gave viewers a glimpse at these unstable relationships but showed that the musicians forgot about all of that bad blood before coming on stage and giving it all they had.
On Friday night, The Blue Note will be presenting its second annual live recreation of the film with no detail spared.
Over the years, Blue Note local talent buyer Pat Kay frequently covered songs from the legendary concert in his various bands. But he craved more — a more complete production for a film that deserves to be seen and heard by all.
For years, Kay saved a place in The Blue Note’s booking calendar for the event — dreaming of a way to successfully pull off a worthy tribute for the historic night. But year after year, he was forced to remove the pin from the calendar — until last year.
Kay enlisted the help of former Columbia musician Sean Canan to play as The Band with his “Voodoo Players”. And slowly but surely, the parts began to assemble as Kay pieced together all the details from the film to eventually create his fantasy.
Between finding the chandeliers to mimic the original set and putting together a cast of local musicians to serve as the famous guests, Kay worked tirelessly to produce a quality product that even Richard Manuel would be proud of.
What was once just a pipe dream for Kay became a reality.
THE SHOW
The design of the show allows for creativity and adaptation with a lighter focus on Robbie Robertson and instead more on the overall community that came together to honor the legacy of The Band’s career.
The set is structured very similarly to the original concert. The first part of the set will feature songs from The Band’s discography performed and backed by Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players and the The Funky Butt Horns. The second part of the evening will make room for the plethora of local musicians on hand to portray the iconic guests from the film. The guests were hand-picked by Kay to match the vocal styles and on-stage personalities of the artists they were chosen to portray.
Each performer left it all on the Winterland Ballroom stage 41 years ago. You can expect the same from this batch of artists on The Blue Note stage Friday night.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Listen to last year’s recording here to get you ready for Friday’s show!
Josh Deal, then the 18-year-old manager at Coach’s Pizza World in Mexico, Missouri, befriended a co-worker. Bradley Hutchinson was 14 at the time and didn’t know how to play the guitar. Josh did. What followed was a guitar lesson and friendship that would eventually result in the formation of folk-pop band, Blue Jay.
When The Havana Honeys, a folk band that Deal played banjo and sang in, were in need of a bass player, they brought Hutchinson in to fill the role. It was the first band Hutchinson had been part of that wrote and played their own music.
After The Havana Honeys split, Deal and Hutchinson remained as co-workers at a local sub shop. After finding a common love for The Avett Brothers and The Beatles, they decided to try and make music as a duo — but found little success.
“We tried at one point to do the whole guitar and banjo thing, and it was awful. It just didn’t work out,” Hutchinson said.
That all changed when Deal heard “You”, a song that Hutchinson had written. Deal decided then that they should pursue the project now known as Blue Jay. The two sat down and reworked the structure of the song to fit the mold of what they wanted from their band. “You” served as the rebirth of a project that Deal thought was history.
“It just seemed like something clicked that time around,” Deal said.
The duo’s one-year anniversary is quickly approaching, and Blue Jay is aiming to release their debut album in early 2018. The band released their second single from the upcoming record on Friday.
“It’s a song about being in love with someone for quite some time, and being able to look back at all the chapters of the relationship that you have been through together. Being thankful for every passing moment and not wanting to ever see any of that go away,” Deal said.
The album will be produced by Kevin Gates, a local producer out of Springfield. Gates has also worked with one of Hutchinson’s biggest influences — Joplin-based band Never Shout Never.
“My buddy told me he produced their album and then showed me one of their recordings, and it was so good that I couldn’t justify not recording with him,” Hutchinson said.
For Hutchinson, it turned out to be the perfect artist-producer relationship.
“Kevin knows exactly what he’s doing with each song. It just hits him and he goes – nonstop,” Hutchinson said.
One track on the record that sticks out for both Hutchinson and Deal is “North Carolina”.
“At our live shows, I like it to be the second to last song. My favorite part of the night is connecting with the people in the audience. I try to get people nice and close with that song, because I want them to listen to the words. It has a good meaning and there’s something that people can learn from it, especially when you’re young and going out a lot,” Hutchinson said.
The first priority for Blue Jay is to finish writing and recording the album. The second is to eventually distribute the record in physical form with a full package of artwork and lyric sheets.
“I would really like to print this album on vinyl. I want to have a really artistic album – like holding a piece of art in your hands,” Hutchinson said.
Follow Blue Jay on Twitter and like them on Facebook for the latest news on the upcoming album!
The Blue Note & Rose Blog 