A desperate note. A plea

June 17, 2003

A desperate note. A plea for a few words. I hear you. Let me speak of the Motown Meltdown held this last Saturday at the Plaza of Nations in Vancouver. It was all for a good cause ( the short descriptions being programs that foster tolerance and fast money to aid those afflicted with AIDS). There was a large band made up of local 1st call studio & stage veterans. Each performer got to do a number on a Motown classic and it was all recorded by the CBC. I think it will air on Definitely Not the Opera sometime soon. When I find out I will post it. If you find out you better tell me. I sang “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honeybunch)” as made famous by the Four Tops. It felt great. In a way it was like playing road hockey as a child. Everyone used to pick the NHL star that they want to “be” for that particular game. I would yell out, “I’m Gerry O’Flaherty!” (or whatever Canuck I was into that day) and my friends would shout out their favourite. Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe were usually always there. Although many of my compatriot Motown interpreters attempted to reinvent the tunes to suit their own personalities I chose to indulge myself in fantasy and do it the road hockey way. I should have yelled out “I’m Levi Stubbs!” before launching into the tune. I was probably afraid of committing a “Motrosity” by murdering a classic.
As a fan of music I love to do great songs the road hockey way. I can’t stray too far if the original version was stellar. I once sang Split Enz “I Got You” with Vancouver’s New Waveoke band and I just had to do it like Neil Finn. A fan’s first instinct is to go to that comfortable place. I think the original take on a composition sometimes comes from one’s limitations. The Beatles couldn’t do Little Richard just right but they sure sounded like the Beatles doing a cool version of “Long Tall Sally”. It was all a big mistake. They really loved Little Richard’s version and were probably trying to emulate it. Same with the Stones. They sounded just like the Stones but they were trying really hard to remake Howlin Wolf’s old records. When I got offstage I felt like I’d taken the moment for myself and lived vicariously through the song and the original arrangement. My friend Paul Myers was hosting and I quickly told him I felt a little funny not doing something “different with the tune” -- as they had suggested we might want to do. He said , “No no ... It sounded great. It was your voice and that made it your own”. That means I’ll never be Levi Stubbs and I’ll never make the NHL but I have won the consolation prize of being the “character player” who still gets to lace them up with the pros once in awhile. I am still playing road hockey with Sharkskin and calling out, “I’m Steve Cropper! I’m Leo Nocentelli!” with every friggin’ note. If those two guys heard me play they probably wouldn’t be able to spot the similarity.