Scoop! - All the news on Was (Not Was)
David Was Interview - February 9th, 2010
A long interview with David appears in issue five of “Wheel Me Out”
Pick of the Litter 1980-2010 Now available at Amazon - December 3rd, 2009
Pick of the Litter 1980-2010 is now available on pre-order from Amazon.
Track List:
1. “Wheel Me Out” (1980)
2. “Out Come the Freaks” (7” Version) (1981)
3. “Tell Me What I’m Dreaming” (1981)
4. “The Sky’s Ablaze” (1981)
5. “Should I Wait – Sweet Pea Atkinson (1982)
6. “Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball (1983)
7. “Walk the Dinosaur” (1988)
8. “Spy in the House of Love” (7” version) (1988)
9. “Dad I’m in Jail” (1988)
10. “Somewhere in America There’s a Street Named After My Dad” (1988)
11. “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (Promo Edit Single) (1990)
12. “I Feel Better Than James Brown” (1990)
13. “I Blew Up the United States” (1990)
14. “Semi-Interesting Week” (2008)
15. “From the Head to the Heart” (2008)
16. “Hello Operator . . . I Mean Dad . . .I Can’t Even Remember Who I Am” (Rehearsal Version) (1989)
17. “Shake Your Head” (Steve “Silk” Hurley Remix) featuring Kim Basinger and Ozzy Osbourne (1992)
18. “Elvis’ Rolls Royce” featuring Leonard Cohen (1990)
19. “Zaz Turned Blue” featuring Mel Tormé (1983)
WAS (NOT WAS) TO RELEASE THREE-DECADE RETROSPECTIVE SET, ‘PICK OF THE LITTER (1980-2010),’ ON FEBRUARY 23, 2010 - December 3rd, 2009
Was (Not Was), dubbed “the funkier art-funk band” by The New York Times, have spanned three decades with their mutant mix of jazz, rock, R&B and funk. On February 23, 2010, Micro Werks will release Pick of the Litter (1980-2010).
Was (Not Was) at The Newport Jazz Festival - May 15th, 2009
Reports indicate that Was (Not Was) will be at the Newport Jazz Festival May 16/17 2009.
New Gigs - May 7th, 2009
Was (Not Was) descend on Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way in Santa Cruz, for shows at 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $20 in advance at moes alley.
The Don Was Detroit Super Session - July 16th, 2008
Don Was no longer requires an introduction in these pages. One of Detroit’s most successful musical expatriates of the last two decades, the producer and Was (Not Was) co-leader returns this week to front an All-Star Detroit tribute at the Concert of Colors.
METRO TIMES: So tell us about the origins of the Don Was Detroit Super Session Show. We heard today that it looks like David [Was] isn’t going to make the show now.
DON WAS: Well, we’ll know when the plane leaves L.A. (laughs) He may; he may not – I don’t know for sure. But the whole thing really came about in a haphazard way. The Arab American Museum saw the Wasmopolitan site I’d done online, where we recorded and videotaped 11 Detroit artists. And they said “How about a live version of that?” I thought that’s a pretty cool idea, to do it as a revue, where everyone gets onstage and does one song. So, it’s basically an outgrowth of Wasmopolitan. But we’ve added the Detroit Cobras and the Dirt Bombs. Mitch Ryder, John Sinclair and Wayne Kramer. Lola Morales. But it’s most of the same people from the website —Black Bottom Collective, Black Merda, Sisters Lucas, the Go, the Ramrods, the Muldoons. Luis Resto. Hopefully David. (laughs).
Video – Walk The Dinosaur and Interview - July 2nd, 2008
Wonderful Was (Not Was) video (looking youthful from the 80’s) on YouTube. The lip-sync of ‘Walk The Dinosaur’ is as painful as anything from this era, but just wait for the interview at the end of the video – hilarious and brilliant. — Thanks to Mark.
Audio – Portland and Seattle, 17 May 2008 - June 2nd, 2008
Was (Not Was) recorded in Portland and Seattle, 17 May 2008, available as MP3, WAV and (soon) FLAC files.
firedrill.com/wnw.htm
Thanks to Ted.
Was (Not Was) returns to its roots - June 1st, 2008
Don Was positively flourished in the years following his band’s demise.
Was (Not Was), the open-ended musical collective with Detroit roots, had called it quits in 1992, launching Was into a career as one of music’s most in-demand studio producers. The roll call of names became towering: The Rolling Stones. Bob Dylan. Bonnie Raitt. Willie Nelson. Randy Newman.
But amid the creative flowering, the man born Don Fagenson found himself unable to muster the will to write. Daunted by the immense talent now surrounding him, Was caught himself thinking, “What’s the point? These guys are so much better at this.”
It was during a conversation with country icon Nelson that Was had his epiphany: Willie Nelson might be Willie Nelson, but Don Was was Detroit.
Interview with the “Brothers” at Gulf Coasting
Audio – May 13 Cabooze, Minneapolis - May 29th, 2008
Thanks to Dave (No, not that one) we now have a torrent of the Cabooze show in Minneapolis from 13 May 2008.
Check out the Traders Den.
Now available at The Archive without sign on.
Audience Review – Abbey Pub in Chicago - May 28th, 2008
“This is more like a party than a regular gig, Don Was told the audience early on, and he couldn’t have been more right.
Not having seen any version of Was (Not Was) since a late 1980s Club MTV Tour, I must say that I have been intrigued and puzzled by the wide range of appreciations of the current Wasperience, ranging from carping that the band doesn’t access it’s entire catalogue, to effusive praise for inspirational performances. This is good, mainly because it shows that, whether you’ve seen them 20 times or can’t tell Don Was from a roadie, the band is still as fascinating as ever.
For a group as meticulous in writing, recording and rehearsal as this one, the genius of a Was (Not Was) show isn’t in the element of suprise, but rather in witnessing this wild musical/cultural and intellectual amalgam come to vivid life right before your very eyes.
And that goes from the MTV show, where they were 4th or 5th on the bill to Ton Loc, Paula Abdul and the density-is-infamy Milli Vanilli (they were sharp, smooth and fun, and belonged on that bill as much as William Burroughs opening for the Osmonds at Branson), back to the very first Was show I witnessed, in Chicago with Wayne Kramer and the Brides of Funkenstein en was, on the tour for the first album.
The May 10, 2008 show in the intimate confines of the Abbey Pub in Chicago was teriffic — David Was and Sir Harry got up front and sang harmony, fercrissakes — and the band and the audience were clearly interested in exchanging electricity. The combination of musicianship and volume in front of 2-300 or so folks who 85-90% looked like the main floor of a Republican National Convention is like what one imagines it might be like to watch a 747 experly landed in a shoebox.
Thanks to Harmen
Video – Sunshine Superfly from the Boston show - May 26th, 2008
Thanks to Red.
Audience Review – Portland and Seattle - May 26th, 2008
Saw WNW in Portland and Seattle. The Portland show at Wonder Ballroom
was excellent, although the sound was a bit muddled at
times…especially the first two songs. Crowd was small and the critic
for the local rag was groovin’ like the rest of the crowd – all 150 of
us. His review can be found here.
The Seattle show was at a smaller venue and the sound and show was
even better – fantastic show.
I have posted one song from Seattle- From the Head to the Heart – in
both WAV and MP3 format. (Unfortunately, I munged the taping in
Seattle and don’t think I can salvage any other songs. I may post the
Portland show but that also is a bit muddled – will need to have a
discerning ear check it out before posting.)
Downloads – or redirects to another site for the material are and will
be available here.
Thanks to Ted.
Audience Review – Portland - May 19th, 2008
The Mrs. and I caught the Was (Not Was) show at the Wonder Ballroom tonight, and I pretty much got just one word: Wow.
More
Thanks to Jack
Review – WONDERLAND BALLROOM, PORTLAND, OREGON - May 19th, 2008
Music review: Alternative reality of Was (Not Was)
Edward Lorenz, the meteorology professor who helped develop chaos theory, died last month at age 90, having seen his intellectual breakthrough influence economics, ecology and numerous other fields.
It is doubtful that Lorenz noticed its application to R&B, but Saturday night’s Wonder Ballroom show by the band Was (Not Was) might have been an apt demonstration. ….
by Marty Hughley/The Oregonian
