You may recall me telling you how Tom Newbold dragged me to see Great Plains despite my misgivings. My young befuddled spirit had not yet cottoned onto the ‘radical’ notion that great music (gasp!) isn’t always about great musicianship. In fact, sometimes all the hemi-demi-semi-quavers and musical gymnastics can get in the way. It took me at least a couple decades before it dawned on me that being impressed is not necessarily the same thing as being moved (although it can be pretty magical when the two do happen to intersect). This emotionally-disconnected die-hard music fanatic remembers Newbold telling me about musical moments that moved him to tears, and I remember at the time thinking, I want me some of that.
Ticket stub for both NRBQ shows (spliced together) at Stache’s — Sept. 20, 1984
Newbold would rally a group of us to that first “life-changing” NRBQ show, which was promoted by School Kids Records’ Curt Schieber, interestingly enough. That first night’s performance was so incendiary, Newbold and I found ourselves standing in line for NRBQ’s second show, even though that had not been our original intention. Judy Pinger would tell me later that she and her friend, Diane, ran into the ‘Q between shows at the nearby 7/11, where she got an autograph from the late great drummer, Tom Ardolino (“Tom Ardolino at 7/11” it would read in hilarous deadpan fashion), who was reading Mad Magazine at the time (as noted by Judy in the comment below).
Oh, dear – ticket stub says “T.C. & the Cats” was the opener!
Don’t tell Mark Wyatt, or he’ll pull the plug on this blog —
But wait, didn’t RC Mob fill in at the last minute, Judy?
My roommate, R.J. Rothchild, however, surprised us all by leaving after the first show, rightly surmising the improbability of “lightning striking twice” with the same intensity. R.J. turned out to be right (much to my frustration) but of course, I lied when we met up later and told him that the second NRBQ performance was just as amazing as the first. I’m a horrible liar, and I’m pretty certain R.J. saw right through me.
Loveable cut-ups: The RC Mob (with original drummer) switch instruments
Hold on a blippity minute – isn’t this supposed to be a piece about The RC Mob? Right!
As it happened, a local band from Columbus – The Royal Crescent Mob – would open for NRBQ that warm September night in 1984. It always frustrated me terribly (and I suspect, Big Car Jack‘s Ed Goldstein, as well) that ‘The Mob’ had found a way to forge funk and rock in the same combustible way as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, although history would fail to take sufficient note of this “musical synchronicity.” You can see for yourself: the Chili Peppers released their first album that same year, 1984, thus proving that both bands were independently mining the same musical vein, albeit from different parts of planet Earth.
Flyer for free show at Bernie’s Bagels (R.I.P.)
Even worse, although the RC Mob would amuse the crowd at the NRBQ show with their rockin’ version of The Ohio Players‘ 1975 radio hit, “Love Rollercoaster” (which The Mob then laid down on tape the following year on 1985 album, Land of Sugar), the Chili Peppers would steal the Mob’s thunder 11 years later by releasing a hit version that everyone now associates with the former and not the latter, who almost certainly gave them the idea. Oh, the injustice!
“Love Rollercoaster” = included in the TV ad for K-Tel’s mindbending LP
The scuttlebutt at the time was that The Mob’s guitarist used to mow the lawn for one of the Ohio Players! Ed Goldstein and I would marvel at the band’s formidable rhythm section each time we had the opportunity to see The Mob when they took their seismic road show to Cincinnati. This rhythm section would include not just bassist, Harold Chichester, and drummer, Carlton, but also guitarist, B, who never took a guitar solo — a concept that completely bent my mind. Still does.
Washington-area readers (if, indeed, they exist) might be intrigued to learn that The RC Mob once tore up DC’s fabled 9:30 Club in 1987, back when the venerable venue was kissing cousins (abstract Abe Lincoln reference – get it?) with Ford’s Theater and locally famous for (a) “that smell” and (b) guaranteed encounters with over-sized rats should you dare to venture behind the club. Land of Sugar would also feature stand-out original track, “Get Off the Bus” which may not be as supportive of mass transit as I imagined it to be. In fact, the lyric would seem to advocate otherwise, shockingly:
“Get On (or Off?) the Bus”
Royal Crescent Mob at DC’s 9:30 Club (July 26, 1987)
Just now discovered the source of my confusion: The song would be titled “Get Off the Bus” for Land of Sugar but then (mysteriously) re-titled “Get On the Bus” two years later for 1987 album Omerta. This immediately brings to mind John Lennon’s similar sort of ambivalence when he sang the following lyric on the White Album version of “Revolution”: “But when you talk about destruction, don’t you know you can count me out … in.” Yep, the two situations are completely analogous.
Think of a band whose studio recordings never came close to matching the power of the group’s live performances. Zero to 180’s list would include The RC Mob, and this blogger cries tears of pity for those who never got to witness the band at the peak of their power.
Royal Crescent Mob
[L to R]: Harold Chichester, B, David Ellison, Carlton Smith
Spin the World by The Royal Crescent Mob
Rolling Stone — August 24, 1989
Review by David Browne
If the Replacements had been raised on the Ohio Players and James Brown instead of Alice Cooper and Aerosmith, they might have sounded something like the Royal Crescent Mob. The preeminent white funk band in the state of Ohio, the Mob is one of rock’s best kept secrets.
The band’s live shows — in which lead singer David Ellison sings in a Paul Westerberg rasp and blows country-blues harp over the scratchy lines of guitarist B and the fatback beats of the Harold Chichester-Carlton Smith rhythm section — are some of the most exciting around. Both live and on its 1987 Celluloid/Moving Target debut album, Omerta, the Mob has achieved that rare combination of rambunctiousness and cohesion, both on originals and on tasty covers of James Brown’s “Payback” and the Ohio Players’ “Love Rollercoaster.”
Omerta amply captured the Mob’s on-stage kerang, but Spin the World does that album one better. The band’s essence is effortless funk, and tracks like the turbo-driven “Hungry” and “Nanana” and the funky strut “Silver Street” are quintessential Mob. But with producers Richard Gottehrer and Eric Calvi cleaning up and sharpening the band’s edges, the Mob has expanded its guitar-raunch base for the lumbering anti-big-business number “Corporation Enema” and gotten all bluesy and sleazy for “Goin’ to the Hospital.”
Spin the World [recorded at Bearsville & NYC’s Sanctuary Recording] doesn’t contain anything quite as incendiary as Omerta‘s “Mob’s Revenge,” a blazing slab of funk metal about everyday frustrations featuring the recurring chant “You’re [funk]ed!” But who else could attempt – and pull off – the “white rap meets James Brown” sound of “Big Show,” on the new album, which details the time Ellison’s mother saw the Beatles? The Mob’s publishing company may be called Dull White Roar Music, but this band is anything but dull.
*
In Memoriam: Stache’s
Excerpt from OSU’s The Lantern — August 2, 1998 edition
“The reason the place stayed open when [former owner] Pete [Herman] was here was because of Curt ,’ [current/final owner, Dan] Dougan said. The ‘Curt’ who Dougan is referring to is Curt Schieber, host of WWCD 101’s ‘Invisible Hits Hour.’ Schieber, one time co-owner of Schoolkids and Used Kids Records plus his own production and record label, started bringing shows to Stache’s under the label No Other Presents in 1983. ’We were doing things in 1983, bringing in the kind of shows, that had never been played in Columbus,’ Schieber said. Schieber and his partner Mark Moormann went out of their way to bring acts which might be considered Alternative or Underground music.’ We knew there was an audience for it, because we were selling the records,’ Schieber said. Schieber brought such bands as The Violent Femmes, The Replacements and The Butthole Surfers through Stache’s doors.’ Stache’s has always been able to offer a well balanced diet of music,’ Schieber said. Schieber brought his final band to Stache’s in 1988.
The bands didn’t stop coming to Columbus. Stache’s has continued to bring in a wide variety of talent. The Red Hot Chili Peppers [see what I mean? aargh! -editor], Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden and Nirvana are just a few of the better known names that have played the venue, Dougan said. Stache’s has also supported local bands. ’I think the bands in Columbus are great,’ Dougan said. ‘Columbus audiences don’t realize how great the bands are here.’ Stache’s has given artists, who may not be well known to mainstream society, a chance to play, and for Dougan that is what the bar is about, Dougan said. ’It’s not about what’s going to be the next big thing. It’s the other shows, that aren’t big, that make it work; artists who are good at their craft,’ Dougan said. Whoever they are coming to see, Stache’s does have it’s regulars. Lisa Mirman, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, has been visiting the club for 12 years. ‘It’s my favorite hole in the wall,’ Mirman said. ‘It’s the only place to see a band.’
Dougan plans to open a new bar, ‘Little Brothers,’ in the Short North in the old Gene’s Furniture building. ’Same attitude but a little bigger,’ Dougan said. Up until the move Dougan will host a series of benefit shows to finance the new location. The next benefit will be Nov. 27 and at this time Ishkabible and Dog Rocket have signed on to play. Stache’s may be closing, but the memories remain in the stories of the many people who have spent time there. Like the time The Red Hot Chili Peppers played in jock straps [here we go again – sigh], Dougan said. Or, when Sun Ra had 15 people on stage including a group of fire eaters. There is even a rumor that a Stache’s patron smashed out the windows of Nirvana’s van because Kurt Cobain flirted with the patron’s girlfriend. But, when asked about that rumor Dougan just smiled and said, ‘no comment.”
One Response
Chris-this edition of your blog moved me to tears. I have not seen the RC mob in action since 1987. What a rich and wonderful shared trove of musical memories we share. Incidentally, Tom Ardolino was reading Mad Magazine in the aisle of the 7/11 between sets at Staches. He was a nice guy. I continue to be pleasantly surprised that Terry Adams is still with the Q. Best.Live Band.Ever. J.