MEET THE NEW KING OF NEW YORK: KENYON PHILLIPS

By Tom Semioli

This feature appeared on Huffington Post New York, April 2014

Lou Reed is dead; long live the new King of New York: Kenyon Phillips.

When dear Lou left this mortal coil last October, a pall settled over "our" New York -- which includes the boroughs, New Jersey, Long Island and geographical pockets throughout America and around the world that are "New York" in soul, spirit, and the bard's beloved "chi" energy-force. Our rock 'n' roll poet laureate was gone. Fear not, I will refrain from adding to the host of hosannas to Lou and his importance to the silent strain of all "New Yorkers" who recognize that cool can never be co-opted at a CBGB contemporary menswear designer outlet or the like. We know who we are and what Lou meant to us. Now we have a reason to stop mourning.

I first met Kenyon Phillips in the early 21st Century, when Lou's career as a recording artist was slowing down considerably -- especially for those of us who treasure the era wherein one or two releases from rock and jazz musicians was the norm. Phillips was commandeering a band which performed under the name of Unisex Salon. They reminded me of the Velvet Underground; noisy yet melodic, sensuous but always sardonic, frightfully real yet comfortably surreal, modern but mindful of their influences, and always proud of the manner in which they portrayed the gorgeous in the grotesque. Akin to the Underground, Salon had a small but fervent following. They were outsiders in a city that was rapidly being swallowed by insiders.

Kenyon brought me on board to be band's publicist -- an easy job as they were beautiful to look at -- though brutal in their execution. Like Lou's Underground, Salon's media reviews were not always positive. Nonetheless hipsters, dilettantes, kinky Wall Street executives, porn actresses, cable TV divas, and downtown frat boys walked on the wild side to see and hear them. After much prodding from Mr. Phillips, I emerged from musical retirement to become the band's bassist. Our first gig was opening for Lou Reed and several other local luminaries of a bygone era, including Garland Jeffreys and Syl Sylvain, for a benefit at the Bowery Ballroom. Of course, we hung backstage to meet Lou. We expected the worst -- Lou's volatile personality was well documented. Not on that starry, starry night. The King of New York loved his subjects! Lou gazed at Kenyon the way people used to gaze at Lou -- with equal measures of disbelief, admiration, and fascination. When Lou jovially agreed to be in a photograph with us -- a verboten idea to begin with as Lou never, ever, ever took requests or hardly posed in pictures - I knew the torch had been passed -- or perhaps dropped -- onto Kenyon's lap -- flames notwithstanding.

After a year of gigs that were more like "happenings" ala Andy Warhol's Plastic Exploding Inevitable than musical performances - although the music was phenomenal -- I departed the Salon. They had their crack at the mainstream soon after by way of a network reality show appearance - however Kenyon and his troupe were too far ahead of their time for any American demographic. Even the show's host, Tommy Hilfiger, who has a yen for rockers, was baffled by Kenyon. Shades of Lou!

Time marched on and Kenyon's artistry evolved -- he formed another remarkable band Roma! He composed and produced songs for Amy Poehler, Joey Arias, Raven O., and Sherry Vine. You've seen Kenyon's dancing silhouette in campaigns for Apple iPod. You've heard his compositions on network and cable TV -- Showtime's Shameless, CBS Eleventh Hour, MTV's Teen Cribs, and Nickelodeon's The Mighty B!among others. Kenyon's current genre defying ensemble The Ladies In Waiting have found a home at Joe's Pub deep among the luxury condos and chic boutiques of Lower Manhattan. His debut solo EP, Fire in the Hole, sounds like nothing and everything you've heard before.

The new King's latest endeavor is The Life + Death of Kenyon Phillips -- a dreamlike autobiographical rock opera. Like most great works, its genesis was simple: a few of Phillips' artistically astute colleagues urged him to expand his patented rock cabaret format to a full-fledged piece about himself. Recalls Phillips "it struck me as narcissistic, self-indulgent, and intriguing - I loved it!"

Phillips found his template after viewing the film Lola Montes -- a 1950s release directed by Max Ophuls which portrays the romantically and politically tumultuous life of the 19th Century courtesan who bedded, according to an impressed Phillips, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, and the King of Bavaria. Her story is told by way of a series of flashbacks in which the subject assumes the guise of a circus performer -- and a ringmaster acts as narrator. In Life and Death, Phillips assumes both aforementioned roles with the ringmaster serving as Kenyon's agitated alter ego.

The opera commences with the Kenyon's accidental conception and his graphically Monty Python-esque re-enacted birth, and follows through with various childhood traumas, adolescent sexual dalliances and fantasies, therapy sessions (helmed by Michael Musto, no less), his migration to New York, 9/11, his artistic triumphs and failures, and other incidents; some true, others not so much. "My intention was to create something original -- even though there is nothing new under the sun. This project comes from a desire to take the traditional one-man show idea of 'here's my life story -- and throw a grenade at it."

The world premiere of The Life + Death of Kenyon Philips will take place at Joe's Pub in New York City on May 2, 2014.

The King is dead. Long live the new King of New York.

OVEREND WATTS: A ROCK STAR WHO HATED WALKING AND LIVED TO WRITE ABOUT IT!

By Tom Semioli

This feature appeared on Huffington Post Books, December 2013

 "A lot of books about people in the rock music business are boring to me...the drugs, the women...the bankruptcies...it's all so repetitive. When I approached publishers and told them my story isn't anything like that ...it's all about back-packing -- they said 'great!" - Overend Watts, Mott the Hoople

Though Mott the Hoople hardly achieved the commercial success of the innumerable bands they spawned -- you can count The Clash, Def Leppard, and Wilco among them -- their sacrosanct status in the pantheon of rock 'n' roll lore is time honored. Mott were the first band to headline Broadway (with Queen in support, no less) and their David Bowie-penned anthem "All The Young Dudes" defined a generation that urgently needed to separate itself from the idyllic hippie culture which permeated the early 1970s. Since Mott the Hoople's untimely split in 1974, their albums have never gone out of print, nor has their relevance -top rock artists continue to name check the five lads from Herefordshire.

Mott's chief singer/songwriter Ian Hunter, unquestionably in a peer group which includes such iconic rock poets as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Patti Smith, enjoys an acclaimed solo career that spans nearly forty years. Guitarist Mick Ralphs' fame and fortune as a founding member of Bad Company was no surprise -- Jimmy Page inked Bad Company to Led Zeppelin's fledging Swansong imprint and the rest, as they say, is history. And the fact that Mott, Hunter, nor Bad Company, have yet to be recognized by the so-called Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame -- is outright heresy. Even Rush fans would agree!

However no member of Mott the Hoople embraced the joy, pageantry, and excess of the band and the era than bassist Peter Overend Watts. A silver haired towering figure atop platform hip-boots (which he also wore off-stage: "I couldn't get them off after a gig!" ) whilst plying mighty riffs from his self- painted white Gibson Thunderbird, Watts would adorn himself in outrageous outfits that would render Lady Gaga and her minions ridiculously passé. Watts left the music business in the early 1980s and never looked back -- not that he needed to, thanks to his dealings in antiques and collectibles for many years, among other endeavors.

Watts' first official foray into "literature" -- The Man Who Hated Walking, available now by way of Wymer Publishing -- is a laugh-out-loud, riveting documentation of his 650 mile (actually 680 miles if you include Overend's several missteps) two month journey of the South West Coast Path in 2003 -- one of the most expansive way-marked long distance trails in the UK -- spanning Minehead in Sumerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. That's almost four times the height of Mount Everest -- glam rock footwear not included.

Akin to those of us who fell in love with Mott at a young, impressionable age, Watts' fascination with hiking stems from his childhood. "Back in the 1950's I saw a lot of tramps in England...many of whom were War World II veterans. Perhaps they had shell shock. They were Dickensian characters. Amazing to look at, dressed in rags with great, big beards. I was mesmerized by them -- what do they do? Where do they go? Where do they sleep? Where did they walk? So a little seed was sown in me -- things do hit you harder when you're young...they go straight to the heart."

The Man Who Hated Walking officially commences when the self-proclaimed couch potato becomes obsessed with the idea of long distance walking in the midst of a late-night Cadbury Fruit & Nut chocolate induced viewing of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Host Chris Warrant's interview of a contestant who had conquered the aforementioned Path inspired Watts -- who normally rises at two in the afternoon -- to embark on the journey of a lifetime."If I had to crawl I would have done it!

Watts' conversational tone and vivid descriptive narratives peppered with hysterical Brit vernacular affords the reader the feeling that they are indeed walking with the author every step of the way -- through his arduous preparations; agonizing spells of foot and back pain; the numerous bouts of self-doubt; his moods of terror and triumph; Watts' exhilarating scenic views; the wayward diversions borne of both nature and error ("You can't get a mobile phone out when you're stranded on a ledge...and even if you do, how are they going to rescue you?!"); awaking to pigs and ponies; insomnia; confrontations with batty bread and breakfast matrons; the rescue of a stranded swimmer; and the anxiety that comes with the myriad of hygienic and bodily function challenges in public restrooms and in the wild; just to list a few.

Among Overend's various whacky encounters includes a happenstance summit with a German hiker desperately seeking the famed house wherein seminal metal rockers Deep Purple recorded their classic Fireball album in 1971 (which was released shortly before Mott's far superior Brain Capers LP for those of you keeping score). When Watts, who never, ever reveals his rock 'n' roll pedigree, casually informs the gent of his Mott past -- the torrid Teutonic trekker turns purple with rage, accusing the retired bassist of being an imposter! "That poor prog-rock bloke...I'll never know if he found his house..."

Since Watts' completion of the South West Coast Path, the author continues to traverse the UK by foot. In 2008 Watts completed a marathon 1,250 mile walk from Land's End to John O'Groats in sixty-three days -- a sojourn which incorporates The Cotswold Way, The Heart of England Way, Staffordshire Way, Limestone Way, Pennine Way, Cheviots, Grampians and Cairngorms.

"You only have one life to live haven't you?" opines a jovial Watts just a few hours before Mott the Hoople's final re-union performance at the 02 in London in November 2013. In addition to walking himself into physical fitness worthy of a man several years his junior, Overend is quick to note that the residual effects of his newfound hiking lifestyle included a healthy dose of self-discovery. "I found that I was more resilient and had more will-power than I thought...walking does that for you...it's really simple, like Confucius said 'just take it one step at a time, mate!" Well, in Overend's world, the Chinese philosopher just may have been a scouser!

Mott Literary Postscript: Mr. Watts is not Mott's sole scribe. I strongly advise readers of rock autobiographies to seek out a copy of Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star, written by Overend's bandmate Ian Hunter, which was first published in 1974. Unlike the current crop of tomes composed by marquee rockers (and their ghost writers) who somehow remember everything that happened to them in decades past despite their massive intake of mind-altering substances that cause most addicts to forget what they did five minutes ago, Hunter's book is an honest, illuminating, and entertaining portrait of life in a band on the road. And, Hunter also affords the reader great insight into the sartorial splendor of Peter Overend Watts.

My deep appreciation and gratitude to Peter Purnell of Angel Air Records and Mark Preston for helping me track down the most elusive rock star who ever walked (pun intended) the earth!

THE WONDERFULLY CHECKERED PAST OF A SOUL ROCK GODDESS

By Tom Semioli

This feature appeared on Huffington Post Entertainment, September 2013

She was Mick’s muse for “Brown Sugar,” and the inspiration behind David Bowie’s “Lady Grinning Soul.”

"1973. It was a golden age of our lifetime...forty years ago was the pinnacle of creativity in the rock world...and if it lasts for infinity that would be a blessing...and an opportunity for everyone to share it long after we're gone..."

By way of Morgan Neville's brilliant new documentary entitled 20 Feet From Stardom, Claudia Lennear has been rescued, albeit reluctantly, from obscurity and afforded her rightful place as one of the greatest background singers in the history of rock and roll.

My search for Ms. Lennear commenced long before Neville's long overdue film - which depicts the dramatic plights of rock's most hallowed yet unknown back-up singers - hit a theater near you. In 2005, I received an advance review copy of the re-mastered, enhanced DVD/CD of George Harrison's historic Concert For Bangladesh. With a vastly upgraded mix far superior to the muddy, archaic sound-recording that was standard fare in the early 1970s -especially for live albums - one particular voice behind the voices and guitars of the stars grabbed me - Claudia Lennear.

Her searing, soulful wails and harmonies alongside George, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, and Billy Preston on that legendary hot August night in Madison Square Garden lifted the performances of these icons to heights untouchable. To my ears, Claudia's backing vocals rendered the studio versions of such classics as "My Sweet Lord," "Something," "That's The Way God Planned It" "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Here Comes the Sun" as somewhat inferior runners-up. Listen for yourself!

Midway through that fabled gig, the ex-Beatle introduced the marquee players, including a surprise appearance by the then reclusive Bob Dylan, to thundering applause. However as the concerts were hastily assembled under immense pressure to help save the homeless Bengali refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War , George could not recall the individual names of the lesser known backup singers, hence he led the crowd in "giving them all a big hand..."

"The one thing I regret," reveals Claudia, "was that I was offered to do a solo song at the concerts. George asked me through Leon. I felt caught off guard...I felt that I'd do better to serve in the choir!"

Nearly thirty-five years later, the modernized Bangladesh finally identified Claudia and her co-singers on-screen. Thus began my pursuit. I fast discovered that Claudia was everywhere in my record collection: Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Dave Mason, Humble Pie, Gene Clark, Taj Mahal, Al Kooper, Delaney & Bonnie, Ike & Tina Turner to name drop just a few. Since 1970 Claudia's voice has been on the radio or streaming online - every day, every hour, every minute, every second, every continent -and probably right now as your reading this!

But for nearly a decade, every road to my finding Claudia - including a brief chat with her former bandleader Leon Russell - led nowhere. You can learn a little bit about her personal history in 20 Feet.. which sort of explains my fruitless efforts. By the early 1980s Claudia had retired from singing to embark on a rewarding career as an educator - and her determination to remain out of the spotlight.

My only victory was to discover a worn copy of her sole solo album Phew! -released in 1973 - on eBay. This rarest of rare records is a holy grail among the most zealous of vinyl geeks. Upon first listen, I was astonished: how did this remarkable album not make Claudia Lennear a household name? How did this stunning voice vanish from the music scene? How did this record, on a major label, with the visually alluring cover photography of Norman Seeff, and with the crème de la crème of the baddest studio cats of their generation - go unnoticed?

How? No one really knows, not even Claudia. But thanks to the smart folks at Real Gone Music, Phew! has been re-mastered, re-issued, and reborn for a new generation.

"Ohhhhh I think it's wonderful, actually" coos Claudia. "It brings back a lot of memories...memories of great musicians and a lot of things I have missed being surrounded by over the decades."

Claudia's all-star cast featured Alan Toussaint and Ian Samwell as producers, bassists Chuck Rainey and Tommy McClure, drummer Jim Keltner, pianist Spooner Oldham, and guitarist Ry Cooder, among others. Lennear and her producers turned these simpatico virtuosos loose in the studio and their performances are nothing less than incendiary. Aside from the fact they don't make records anymore; they don't make records like Phew! anymore - though artists such as Erykah Badu and Meshell Ndegeocello have come close.

"There was a lot of electricity in the air at those sessions," recalls Claudia. "It was over-the-top with talent...it was pure magic. Chuck Rainey was a hero of mine from all those Aretha Franklin albums on Atlantic; I could sing all his bass-lines! Jim Keltner was a great friend from our time together with Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen...everybody played fantastic." To keep the peace among the egotistical producers, Lennear diplomatically afforded Toussaint and Samwell a side each of the vinyl platter.

Among the stand-out cuts on Phew! is "Sister Angela" - Claudia's self-penned paean to the political activist, scholar, patriot, and author Angela Davis - who was in prison at the time of the recording.

"Angela was a social 'heroine' for me... she was truthful...she was accurate. I identified with the social causes she stood for...her extraordinary intellect...just the fact that she was an African American woman at the forefront of the movement struck a chord with me...emotionally I 'climbed on to her bandwagon." Claudia is unsure if Angela Davis has ever heard the track. Unfortunately she missed a recent opportunity to attend a lecture by Davis at a university near her home in Claremont, California, wherein Claudia would have liked to have met her mentor. "To have her hear the song would be a real charge for me!"

The single from the album "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky" would have fit nicely on Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On. Lennear's raucous rendition of the late, great Ron Davies' seminal early 1970s standard "It Ain't Easy" casts aside the more popular versions waxed by Three Dog Night, David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, Long John Baldry, and Dave Edmunds.

Another dazzling Davies composition "Sing with the Children" features a fiery duel between Claudia and Ry Cooder's fluid bottleneck guitar. "Ron Davies would pitch songs to me all the time...we'd hang out and he'd play acoustic guitar, sometimes in my living room...and I chose those two that he wrote...he was such an excellent songwriter."

Lennear toured with a varied cast of musicians to promote the record, including a stop at Carnegie Hall to open for Ricky Nelson. Despite rave reviews Phew! never achieved the commercial success it deserved.

"I felt it was time to move on...and do something else with my life."

Regardless, Lennear's enormous contributions pop music continues to inspire modern rockers. Her students keep the humble diva young too. "A few weeks into each semester they Google me without me having said anything... I don't know how they find out...it could be that they are seeking someone else and my name comes up...then one by one they come in after class and say 'I saw a singer on YouTube that has the same name you have..."

Claudia follows the current crop of chart topping singers such as Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Usher, and Adam Levine whom she cites as her favorites. She has plans to make music again and looks forward to seeing Leon Russell for the first time in many years in October when he appears in her area. "I cried when I watched his Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction speech...I kept thinking, why did it take so long?"

Ms. Lennear's modesty regarding her accomplishments as artist who has touched millions with her voice, even if they didn't know her name, is purely unassuming. "I've had a wonderfully checkered past..."

Note: Much appreciation to Pat Thomas, Christian John Wikane, and Randy Haecker for helping me in my quest to interview Claudia Lennear.