What it was: a lifelong fan/fellow musician speaking to a world-class player who inspired his craft and pushed the instrument they both play to previously unheard levels of proficiency.
What it probably sounded like to a casual observer for the first 20 minutes: a discussion on interior decorating gone terribly awry.
In any event, the following are a choice few exchanges between your friendly neighborhood Nightcrawler and Living Colour founder/guitarist Vernon Reid.
Nightcrawler: Vernon, I'm a big fan—old and new. I obtained an advance copy of Living Colour's first disc in six years, Chair In The Doorway, and noticed track two is called "The Chair." Is this a concept album of sorts?
Vernon Reid: If it is, it was unintentional. Like the title, for example. That was actually a phrase [singer] Corey [Glover] would come up with during the recording of the last record, Collideoscope. There was still all this contention among us then, and when things would come to a head, Corey would say, "Ah, the chair in the doorway."
Like the proverbial 500-pound gorilla?
That's what I thought at first! But the more I thought, I realized… there could be a 500-pound gorilla in the room and the chair would still be there, in the doorway, preventing you from leaving. It's both an abstract and a concrete thing to me.
I suppose, but a chair can be easily moved, whereas a 500-pound primate& not so much.
There is hope… and I think by the end of this record, the chairs we all placed in the doorways were moved.
I believe it to be your best work since Time's Up. Like Time's Up, it's sprawling and offers a lot of different feels, but still has a cohesive thread and lots of places to hang your hat on.
Well, thank you. And I can add that I agree with the cohesiveness, but that that comes at a price. For example, I had another tune I really liked, called "Martin's Mountain"& and to be honest, I was kind of pissed it didn't make the album. But I later learned that everyone else had songs they were equally as passionate about that were voted down for no reason [other] than they didn't fit as well with the other batch of music.
The original listing showed 11 songs, but I see now there are 12, and that the 12th is called "Asshole." I must admit, lyrics like, "I saw a tree, it was talking to me/ it said 'you're an asshole'" took me aback at first. But then I got it. The song simply speaks to days when it appears everyone and everything is against you, right?
It does, and I just picture it like a Disney movie. With our hero walking around in all this bright animation and [a] bird lands on his shoulder. But instead of chirping him a song, he calls him an asshole.
Quite a visual. I'm sure the Pixar people will be knocking on your door any day now for the film rights.
Living Colour's Chair In The Doorway is slated to drop nationally Sept. 15, and the band is on tour in support of the endeavor. As of presstime, their closest area plays were Norfolk, Conn.'s Infinity Hall Sept. 6 and Johnny D's in Somerville Sept. 10. (Full disclosure: I do some blogging for the former venue.)
In other news… veteran party band Fast Lane and bluegrass notables Shore Grass lend some audio to the agricultural festivities at the Farm Fest Weekend in Suffield Sept. 5 and 7. For the full low-down on the annual Labor Day hoedown, kindly point your browser to fofah.com.
Send correspondence to: Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
