“Usually, we travel to go and see history. How often does a piece of history come to see you?
Apt was the introduction by Bogie’s Bar owner Ken Greene as he set the tone for the 90 minute tribute to musical icon and fellow member of the legendary studio band The Wrecking Crew. Charter members Don Randi/key, Chuck Berghofer/b and Don Peake/g were joined on the stage by a collection of LA studio studs and guests share stories, music and memories of their iconic late teammate who branched out and became a world-wide star, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Alzheimer’s Association, a group leading in Alzheimer’s research.
The evening opened with film from the famous Wrecking Crew documentary, as stars such as Dick Clark, Cher, Brian Wilson and Micky Dolenz gave homage to the bands legendary professionalism. A collection of pictures of Campbell and his albums (put together by the show’s producer Lauri Reimer) served as a backdrop as original members and the remaining band of Billy Hulting/perc, George Green/dr, John Depatie/g, Eric Ekstrand/k and John Rosen/banjo got the night off to a rousing start with a honky tonk read of “Sloop John B.” From there vocalist Gary Stockdale jumped up on stage for a travelin’ man read of “Gentle on My Mind” (with a nice solo by Rosen) and a heartbreaking take of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” before Marty Ross came up to give an impassioned “Galveston” an aria of “Wichita Lineman” and a foot stomping “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
Up next bounced Kiki Ebsen who gave a gloriously vampy version of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” before tapping into her inner Kim Darby for a homespun “True Grit.”
Stories and memories of working with Campbell by Peake and Randi kept the nostalgia level high, and all guitar fans in the audience with kept rapt in attention by Peake’s yarns about various instruments he used for his legendary solos.
Stockdale returned to the front and, aided by Chris Elliott’s mellifluous flugelhorn, brought the packed club to a reverent hush with a drop dead agonizing “Yesterday When I Was Young” before having Ebsen pop back up for a gloriously kitschy “I Got You Babe.”
Closing out the celebration was Lamont Dozier Jr who sang out an impassioned reflection of Campbell’s illness on “I’m Not Going to Miss You.” But the evening was not to end on a sad note, as Campbell was sure to want to look down from heaven and see a celebration, and Dozier delivered the goods, with Peake supplying his famous opening guitar intro to “Let’s Get It On” and Dozier serving up soulful stew.
While Campbell became a worldwide star and was justly celebrated, it must be remembered that it was these “obscure” musicians who, in retrospect, were the foundation for all of the glamorous artists on stage. As George Eliot would write, “the growing good of the world is … owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” The true tribute is to these faithful artists that graced the stage at Bogie’s, and those in attendance were the fortunate ones.
Upcoming shows at Bogie’s Bar include David Garfield 02/05, The Delgado Brothers 02/07, David Marotta 02/10, Strawberry Alarm Clock 02/24 and Martin Barre 03/10