The Next Big Thing

Brother Donald C caught the travelling salvation show that is Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby in San Francisco - the lucky so and so. I talked to both Amy and Eric last night as they were about to leave Seattle for Portland and they were in great spirits so that was good to hear. Anyway, over to Don...

"What a show Amy & Eric put on last nite!! Not my fave joint -- the Hemlock. I go there so infrequently it took me and my buddy James a half hour walking up and down Polk Street trying to remember where it was. Finally spotted a street (more like an alley) sign saying "Hemlock" -- duh. What annoys me about this place is that it's a big oval bar with a tiny room in the back for music. Suppose that's better in some ways so you don't get the bar noise. Certainly defines the term "intimate setting".

Ran into Roy Loney and his girlfriend just as we got in and also spotted Wally of Wally Sound -- (where we recorded the Rue '66 demos, which I just happened to be carrying around with me).

Said hi to Amy just before they went on and got a big hug. She looked great in a black print dress with roses all over it, black tights and boots. Eric wore a brown cowboy shirt and brown cords and shades and looked very good-- much slimmer than last time I saw him. They had lots of guitars: Amy had her trusty beat up Gibson J-45 but started off with a really cool solid body Harmony with the same much loved pickups in the Harmony Meteor (famously heard on very early Stones). She also had a Dano 12 string as seen on the cover of “Favourites”.

Eric began with a white Mustang bass with flower stickers on it. He also had his Guild hollow body (like the one Dave Davies had on Kontroversy) and Japanese Rickenbacker copy that he didn't use. Traynor amp with 12" bass cab. Amy went thru a Roland Jazz chorus amp with a pair of 10" speakers. She also had a Roland keyboard hidden in a vintage looking cabinet. They both had numerous pedals.... echo, fuzz, tremolo among them.

They came on like gangbusters running through (by now) old faves like “Astrovan” and “Til the Wheels Fall Off” and some very old Eric tunes like “The Donovan of Trash” (that Amy says is being re-released). “Raising the Bar”, “Please Be Nice to Her“ (still gives me chills that one), PF Sloan's “I Get Out of Breath” and more including some great stuff from “A Working Museum”.

Eric finally got around to his greatest hit “Whole Wide World” (yes Amy, it is the best 2 chord song ever writ) followed by Amy's greatest “Don't Ever Change”. They each entertained the crowd in between songs with tales of the road and Eric said he was disappointed with the trip west as "it's all the same. I was expecting little brown men raping fetuses or something!". Amy, however, was not disappointed with their first day in Frisco as someone held a parking spot for her only to ask for a ten dollar reward for his effort. Eric introduced "Reconnez Cherie" by saying that he thought he was writing a song in French but found out later "it wasn't French it was rubbish".

Rubbish perhaps, mais magnifique -- this was always my favorite song of his. They also did both sides of the most recent single and “Bobblehead Doll” was just tremendous. What that would've sounded like if they had a band behind them!! Really if they had a band they would just tear the roof off the whole country with this material.

Easily the best I've ever seen them do as a duo. I must say that up til now, altho a big fan of each of them, I never felt they worked as well together as they did solo. This show totally changed my mind.

Amy bought us drinks afterwards. Roy downed a shot of vodka and smartly left to catch his coach before it turned pumpkin. James (who first turned me on to Amy) and I stayed and hung out for a bit which meant we had to wait over an hour on the human toilet bowl known as Market Street for the N-Owl. But it was well worth it and I'd do it again tonight. Lucky folks n Seattle can do so. 

And I think Portland is next and San Diego and LA after that". - Don