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When
Heartaches Collided
A Review of the Cake/Buck
Owens Creative Collaboration at the Crystal Palace by psychologist, Dr.
Bruce L. Thiessen, AKA Dr. BLT, the shrink-rappin' rock doc
There's a heartacheI could have sworn that Johnny Cash, the only angel in heaven allowed to wear black, was present, at least in spirit, the night Buck Owens and Cake hit the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California. It was an event Johnny Cash would have hated to miss. Sadly, others--namely reporters--that could have and should have been there, were conspicuously absent. MTV reporters, for example, must have been too busy planning next year's Pimp and Ho Show (AKA the MTV Video Music Awards) to notice that history was being made. VH-1, Rolling Stone, and Billboard surely should have been there. Who knows what trivial pursuits were competing for their attention? At the very least, Bakersfield's own local reporters should have been at the scene of the rhyme. Not being there should have been a crime. I witnessed no eye witness accounts. Yes, I was there, but I'm only a "somebody" in the eyes of God (and even He must have had to think twice before adopting me as his child and allowing me to serve in His kingdom). If lightning could ever strike twice in a town once known as Nashville West (and it could), it was striking with a mighty force. It was striking with a mighty force at the Crystal Palace as one of country's biggest legends teamed up with one of modern rock's most creative forces. The date most media sources forgot to remember was September 20, 2003. Johnny-come-lately If there could ever be another Johnny Cash (and there couldn't), his name would be John McCrae. There's so much in Johnny Cash's now empty shoes that only Cash could fill. Yet, McCrae displays that iconoclastic spirit, the same tough-as-nails-but-tender-underneath-it-all persona, the same penchant for boldly and unapologetically crossing all stylistic boundaries, and the same predilection for mixing old and new. McCrae even allows trumpets to mix with country music--a no-no until Cash's cover of his wife June's "Ring of Fire" lit up the music world and burned the rule book in the process. Like Cash, he bears a wounded soul and, with a little wit and a wry sense of humor to ease the burden, he carries the world on his shoulders. Cash reached out to a young generation, teaming up with Bono and Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor. McCrae, with his participation in "Excuse Me, I've Got a Heartache," the duet dessert he and Buck served up at the Crystal Palace on that surrealistic night, reached back to the past to embrace a legend and draw nourishment from his deep well. when heartaches collidedI was there to witness one of the first sparks to fly when an old branch rubbed up against a twisted, new twig. The "old branch," Buck Owens, who referred to Cake as "The Cake," was admittedly a little out of touch with the modern rock scene. And the two, who had reportedly only met ten minutes prior to the show, had obviously not spent a great deal of time, if any, rehearsing either. Yet the two managed to pull off the duet in a way that presaged great things to come. With a little more rehearsal time, the song could get every bit as big as Buck Owen's collaboration with Dwight Yokam on "Streets of Bakersfield," a song that hit the top of the charts in the early nineties and went on to win the two a Grammy. It could at least get as big as Buck's more recent collaboration with Ringo Starr on "Act Naturally." Hitherto, I have focused on the duet of a lifetime, but the event itself was one that should go down in history books for its sheer brilliance and uniqueness. First of all, the Crystal Palace gives a new meaning to the term "palatial." I felt like I was sitting in the midst of a huge, elaborate set for a Western movie. A Cadillac that I was told was once custom-made for Elvis, mounted on its side, and bedizened in the finest decorations serves as the centerpiece to the bar. The inside is beautifully engineered to create an unmistakable, old west ambience. The food was spectacular, especially the dessert, and I'm not just talking Cake. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos were in rare form. Though he seemed mighty slim around the waist, Buck looked his age. But his weathered, wizened face only reinforced his manly image as it matched his leather Native American jacket and beaded belt buckle. Buck opened the set with "Tiger By the Tail." He continued with a set that featured various members of his band taking over the reigns on vocals while he showcased his variegated skills on the six-string acoustic guitar, the mandolin, the steel guitar and the fiddle like a revolving door. Then he brought John McCrae from "The Cake" on stage. I've said all that can be said about that dynamic duet (Excuse Me, I've Got a Heartache), except, "Don't forget to take it to the studio and make it the classic country-meets-modern-rock anthem it was destined to be!" The last line of the song was "I better say good-bye before I cry," but I have a feeling that this good-bye was every bit as much a hello as the line in that Beatles classic that says, "You say good-bye. I say hello..." As John sheepishly left the stage, lyric sheet in hand, Buck said of the band, "They're comin'. They're goin'. They're there!" Though he promised to stay after his set, Buck was no where to be found once Cake took to the stage. Between the best of Buck and a heavenly slice of Cake were the Hackensaw Boys Band, a seven-piece neo-bluegrass, Americana roots band from the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, the very place John Denver referred to as "almost heaven," in Take Me Home, Country Roads. They had all the instruments and then some, including a homemade contraption made of tin cans and an old, beat up hubcap. It was like bluegrass on meth, but there were no meth heads in the bunch, only a winning musical method to their madness. Cake shined in all its glory, their first song being the Cake-a-billy classic, "Stickshifts and Safetybelts." That was followed by "Sheep Go to Heaven," Frank Sinatra and other Cake standards, old and new. When Cake performed "Jesus Gave Me a Blank Check," I was convinced that, while unlike Johnny Cash, he hadn't cashed his in just yet, John McCrae was keenly aware of its value. My favorites were "Daria," and Cake's encore number, a can't-be-beat cover of a song Gloria Gaynor made famous as a disco anthem, "I Will Survive." Both of these gems stemmed from the CD Fashion Nugget. So there you have it. The place was packed with the most odd combination of fans I've ever seen. It was a no-show for a media world enthralled with pimp and ho shows. But for me, it was a head-on collision with history-in-the-making. Does a tree that falls in a forest on a dark night when nobody important is around to notice really fall? I'm a witness to the fact that this it does, that this tree was huge, and that it made a loud crash when it hit the ground. Better get out of the way if and when a recorded version of Excuse Me, I've Got A Heartache is ever released. Believe me, you won't no what hit you. So for all of you tree-huggers: Timber!!! And for all of you golf aficionados: Fore!!! As far as the rating goes,
that's even better than four. I'll give it a 4.5-a five, for me, being
the Beatles debut on the Ed Sullivan show.
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