friday, november 6, 1981
page 12
daily nebraskan
'True American' Thorogood keeps crowd happy
By Pat Higginsand Casey McCabe
News Item: George Tfiorogood and the
Destroyers played in Omaha 's Music Hall
Wednesday night.
"What can you sat about George Thoro
good?" "He's the best salesman of Budweiser
since Ed McMahon."
"He's Delaware's greatest export."
"He's a true American. He played his
entire show beneath the stars and stripes,
and sent the crowd home with the national
anthem."
mm reuisvj
Thorogood keeps playing Chuck Berry
for the umpteenth time, but after all, isn't
that the same music NASA sent out in a
space probe a few years back?"
"Yep. TheSounds of Earth package, one
of NASA's best moves. Funny thing is,
some of the folks up there at the music hall
probably don't know Chuck Berry from
Adam and the Ants, but George Thoro
good is rapidly becoming God for the new
generation of rock and roll bluesters."
"He must be seen to be believed. His
live performance is far, far better than the
records. I guess that's the point."
"He was awesume, I mean the man was
sweating buckets."
"Giving 110 percent all night. Plus, I
doubt if even Chuck Berry can do the
duckwalk anymore as well as he does."
"Well Chuck's getting pretty old. Old
enough to be George's dad. You don't
suppose . .
Holy Trinity
"Naw, spiritual father at the most.
Along with Elmore James and Hank Wil
liams, he forms Thorogood's Holy Trini-
ty."
"Well, all I know is George is a fun guy.
He dared the audience to be great and they
took him on."
"What other artist would invite the
crowd to storm the stage?"
"It was rerniniscent of his last music hall
Burton discusses LP, TV,
By Matt Millea and Chuck Lieurance
Charlie Burton, leader of the Cut-Outs
and the most creative performer on the lo
cal music scene, spoke about his new LP,
his recent TV appearance, politics, and yes,
even Elvis Presley.
Millea: What kind of plans have you for
the band?
Burton: We recorded our own LP, you
know, on our own, putting our own money
behind it. Money that is yet to be made.
We've only paid for about half of it so far.
We should be getting the test pressing back
this week, or very soon anyway.
Millea: What did you think about the
"33rd Street Sessions" program you did on
NETV?
Burton: Well, there were things I liked
about it and things I didnt like about it.
After we'd seen the stuff played back, we
sat down and decided what should make it
in there. The actual things that made it in
there were somewhat different than what
we'd agreed on with the director. So I was
a little miffed at that. I thought the mix
could have been better. But you know, I
was grateful. It was a great opportunity to
learn the ropes of the video situation. I
wrote "Breathe for Me, Presley" for that
show. When they didnt use it I was kind of
hurt.
Millea: How do feel" about Elvis, any
way? Burton: Presley?
Millea: (Laughs) Yeah.
Burton: Oh, I love Elvis Presley. I love
Elvis Costello too. But you know Elvis
Presley's great. Everyone's talking about all
the drugs he used and everything. But ba
sically when you go back and listen to the
records he's great. All that stuff. I think
the dust will settle and people will realize
what the guy was about was music. At his
show. You couldnt even see the band for
all the twisting humanity trying to grab the
spotlight dance. The security guards seem
ed a little more uptight this time."
"They must have been Communists. Af
ter all, George represents everything good
about today's youth. He's out for fun . . .
and sex and alcohol. That seemed pretty
obvious."
"I Ie looked good . I le looked healthy for
doing the grueling 50 states in 50 days
tour. I don't know how he's going to make
it to Alaska. But he looked like a real ath
lete. He's got the moves, it must be his
baseball training showing through."
"I loved it when he was Christening peo
ple with the neck of his guitar. Truly a reli
gious experience. He even kept the people
in the third balcony happy."
"He just plays old rock and blues, which
is irresistible in the first place. And Thoro
good can pull it off as well as anybody else.
Probably better.
Buying rounds
"I don't know. I think people should
advance beyond playing the same old stuff.
But maybe he's right, maybe that was the
best music. Even with all my qualms
about him, he's still better than 92 percent
of performers out there, probably more."
"He belongs in a bar. He should be buy
ing rounds for the crowd."
"Exactly. Hetould also play one of the
most ultimate Animal House Fraternity
parties of all time."
"But if you're a bar band and you
charge S9, you'd better be pretty awesome,
And he was."
"Truly. It never once appeared that he
wasn't enjoying himself. He never let up
for a second."
"Speaking of bar bands, 1 think it's time
we mentioned how good Cocktail Shorty
and the Tablerockers were."
"They were inspired. IVe never heard
Sean Benjamin play better."
"One of the best incarnations of the
Heartmurmurs brotherhood. They handled
the big stage well. They just didnt have
big George's star quality."
"The crowd treated them great for an
opening band. They deserved an encore,
but the management pulled a cheap shot
best he was the greatest. He was great. I
love Elvis.
Millea: What's been the most difficult
part of it for you, as far as keeping it all
together?
Burton: I suppose the hardest thing has
been trying to keep some sense of optimi
sm while still being locked in the southeast
Nebraska uh, rut.
Millea: So this new LP is going to be
crucial?
Burton: No, everything's crucial (chuck
les). Life is crucial. I wouldn't say it's cru
cial, in the sense that if it doesn't bring me
wealth .and fame I doubt IH retire. It's
not so crucial, but it's the current project.
Millea: You just don't know why you
would?
Burton : I can't think of why I would.
Even though some nights one does wonder,
"God, what the hell am I doing here."
... " - w-
' n'iJWl - If ' IV.
Oariie Burton
George
by hitting the house lights right after their
set.
Complaints?
"Any complaints about the Thorogood
show?"
"He never introduced his fine band, the
Destroyers, which is a great name by the
way."
"He made too much of a point about
mentioning Omaha and Nebraska through
out the show. That got a bit old. Also, I'm
politics and
(Laughs) But then you go home and you
think "Well, what else can you do? I feel
like I'm doing what I need to do for what
ever sick reasons or healthy reasons.
And then I also like myself. I like the
lyrics. Some of the lyrics are just great!
(Laughs) I get a kick out of them. It's only
a matter of time before someone else gets a
kick out of them. I sent a tape to a studio
guitar player friend in Nashville. I'm trying
to get my songs recorded by some country
and western stars. There are a couple of
songs I do that could be recorded in a
country style.
Millea: (puzzled) Which ones do you
mean?
Burton: There's one, "Even As We
Speak," which is basically just a country
and western song. I'm trying to get that
one waxed by some country crooner.
i ft
Photo courtesy of Charlie Burton
and the Cut-Outs
O
Photo by Rhonda Hahn
Thorogood
sure my ears will be ringing for days."
"WeU, we probably shouldn't have stuck
our heads in the speakers. Plus, I started
getting really thirsty during "One Bourbon,
One Scotch, One Beer". I swear the man
can drive you to drinkin'."
"But all in all it was a memorable even
ing. The one, four and five chords have
rarely had such a workout."
"Thorogood's a class guy, certainly one
of the cooler dudes in the universe."
"I think he's still looking for a crowd
that's as wild as he is."
Presley
"There are two songs I think he might
be able to adapt, but I hate to think what
he thinks of "Breathe for Me, Presley". Its
gotta weird the guy out. He's basically the
white shoe, white belt, gold buckle, leisure
suit type guy, though he has a beard now.
This guy has a completely different life
style than you or me. It's like "Pictures
from life's other side" as Hank Williams
would say. A Good ol' boy. Probably part
owner of a football team or something. He
could probably appreciate a good Elvis-is-Dead
joke as well as anyone.
Millea: One of the most endearing
things about your band is that you don't
set yourselves off as "rock stars." You're
just normal guys being performers.
Burton: Right, not the Macho preening
of what I call the "Can I Give You My
Keys" school of rock singing like Foreigner
or bands like that, where they're really try
ing to come on as rock studs. That's sort of
what I think "New Wave", if you will, is
about, not subscribing to the sexist rock
image.
I don't want to be saying "Hey, I'm a
cool rock star and you're not." I dont
want to set myself apart from people. If
I'm up here and they like what I'm doing
or even if they don't, the thing to do is
that they should start their own band. I
would sooner see them want to express
themselves than emphasize that I'm some
one different from them.
Millea: Do you watch the news and de
cide, "Hell, I'm going to make a political
statement for a change?"
Burton: Everything's a political state
ment. I doubt I could sit down and write a
song like, "Let's overthrow the state." Any
political statement I would make would be
a little more understated or ... not so liter
ally about politics.
Continued on Page 13