Kracker gig special to Chown

By STEVE SEYMOUR

Ex-Escanaban Kevin Chown's music career has taken him around the world, but it wasn't until 2003 that he got a proper homecoming.

At last count he has performed in 41 states, eight countries and four continents A professional musician since age 15, Chown has gigged with rocker Uncle Kracker, Motor City madman Ted Nugent, jazz master George Benson, teen idols Hanson, country newcomer Ashley Jay and many acts on the oldies circuit.

In addition, he's recorded with an impressive list of artists including Tony Macalpine, Artension, Magnitude Nine and Jeff Kollman. His composing talents have been utilized by the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Little Caeser's Pizza and the Weather Channel.

Chown's journey into rhythm and melody started in Escanaba where he grew up in a musical family. His father (John) was his high school band teacher while his mom (Ruth) gave private piano lessons. In 9th grade, choral teacher John Beck played "Heavy Metal Be-Bop" by the Brecker Brothers for Chown. "I remember literally being blown away from the first note. I knew exactly what I wanted to do," Chown said of the experience.

"Watching Ruby Starr from through the door at the old Sherman Lounge, watching the Lark Brothers at the old Lark's Bar on 10th St., seeing Mark Woerpel come back to town with his bands, I guess in a nutshell, I feel blessed to come from a small town like Escanaba. But, I didn't realize it when I was there."

Chown began performing professionally at age 15, first on drums with a country band from Norway. "Shortly after, I switched to bass. By the time I was 19 I had already played over 100 gigs. Most people my age hadn't played any." After a year at Bay College, Chown moved to Detroit to attend Wayne State University. Due to the practical skills he learned performing in the U. P., he was able to start working immediately in southeastern Michigan.

He earned a bachelor's degree in jazz studies and was named "instrumental soloist of the year" at the Montreau-Detroit Jazz Festival for his rendition of a track from the Brecker album which had influenced his music career years earlier. In Detroit, he got busy recording his first solo album, "Freudian Slip" in his 12th story studio apartment. "I think I drove my neighbors crazy," Chown recalled. Some of the original writing for that album was done in Escanaba.

Now a resident of Los Angeles, Chown, his friend "and long-time partner in crime" Jeff Kollman, and Charle Waymire record as JKB. The group is nearly finished with a new record but is on hiatus while Kollman plays guitar for Glenn Hughes, former singer for Deep Purple who is on a world tour for the next few months.

Chown has also planned a new solo compact disc for some time. "I actually just started doing a bunch of new songs with a software package that I bought and am having a good time doing some electronica based things, with bass. I want the next record to be very jammy and spontaneous. I'm thinking of doing a vocal record actually."

Chown's career is moving along swiftly. He's musical director of a show called Royal Jelly, which is running twice weekly at a Hollywood club called Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce. In addition, Chown's band appeared recently on the late night talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel: Live." Carson Daly has also made inquiries for an appearance this spring.

Even while he's busy in California, Chown finds a connection to the U. P. "Just in LA, I have friends from Escanaba, Gladstone, Ironwood, Munising, Marquette, Houghton and the Soo. The list goes on. I usually have them all over for at least one Packers game."

Chown looks favorably on his early years in northern Michigan. "Without that time in the trenches in the Upper Peninsula, I would not be where I am today. I can think of others who have gone on to success that probably would say the same. Brian Lord, Steve Huebler and Catte Adams, would be a few."

While the U. P. provided Chown with that early experience, it also welcomed him back on Nov. 7 & 8, 2003.

That's when Chown brought his booming bass to the Island Resort & Casino as a member of the Uncle Kracker band, hot at the time for "Drift Away," "In a Little While," and "Memphis Soul Song."

"I had a great time when I was back in town with Kracker. In a way, it was a homecoming as it was the first and only time that I have performed in Escanaba since I moved away, except for a recital I did at the Bonifas Arts Center. I dragged Kracker and the boys out to Mueller's Pizza after one of the shows. It was a riot. It was great to see so many friends I hadn't seen in years."

Chown left the Kracker band a few weeks later when the tour ended. He moved on to other things in LA where he was offered work on movie soundtracks, trailers and TV scores.

"I still do a lot of that in addition to a great deal of live performance. By ending my time with Kracker with a concert in my hometown did give it special meaning. It was the perfect place to let go of the gig and move to greener pastures. I had a blast while it lasted, however."

While he has rarely performed in Escanaba in recent years, Chown returns often to see his family and visit some of his old haunts.
IN HIS OWN WORDS:
CHOWN'S ADVICE TO ASPIRING MUSICIANS

"First off, keep at it. You might not know it, but you have a proud Escanaba rock legacy to live up to. There have been some great musicians to come out of Escanaba. Always remember that it doesn’t matter where you start. Being in Escanaba can rightly seem like a million miles from what you dream of. But use the time you have there to find your own identity. If you have integrity and if you truly love doing what you do, things have a tendency to find you, no matter where you are. Find yourselves while you are there. Be true to the art and learn about the business. Be smart but be courageous. And don’t let anyone tell you that you can't."


IN HIS OWN WORDS:
CHOWN DESCRIBES THE U. P. CONNECTION

"I always find it amazing that almost every situation I have been in musically or in life in general, there can always be found a connection to the U. P. The oddest was when I was in the Middle East. I was backing a country singer named Ashley Jay and it was one of those escorted tours where we played for the military just before the Iraq war started in 2003. First off, the guitar player who I hired for the gig turns out to be from AuTrain. Then, we would be in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles out in the Kuwaiti Desert, playing at these weird desert fortresses. After the show, the troops and the band would be hanging out. So, I’m talking to one guy. Totally has the U. P. accent. After a few minutes, I had to ask, 'Where you from, soldier?' Turns out he was from Gwinn. He knew my high school girlfriend's ex-husband who used to be stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. Yes, we live in a small world. And it gets smaller every day if you can believe it. Always amazes me!"


FAST FACTS ABOUT KEVIN CHOWN
Favorite Old Record: Marvin Gaye: “What's Goin' On”
Favorite New (er) Record: U2: “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”
Recent Significant Discovery: Donny Hathaway: “LIVE”
Best Concert: U2, Beth Hart, Michael Brecker, Trilok Gurtu, Mike Stern, Tribal Tech
Coolest Artist Worked With: Hanson. Totally cool, generous, humble guys. And talented.
Worst Artist to Work With: Martha Reeves. Hands down.
Favorite Escanaba Haunts: Baron's, Buck Inn, Catman’s, Breezy, Stonehouse, Delona, Mueller's, Sub Shop, Mr. Bike, Kobasic Market, IGA
Most Missed Escanaba Haunts: Crispigna’s, Mr. Ed’s Grotto North, Sherman Lounge, Big Al’s, Hob Nob, Spars, Whiffletree, Holiday Bowl
Thing I love About Escanaba: The simplicity of the lifestyle.
Favorite Celebrity I’ve Met In LA: Mr. T. Sting is a close second.

Lomax saved U.P. music's past

By STEVE SEYMOUR

Many people are surprised to learn the Upper Peninsula has a musical heritage as unique and sought-after as the culturally important blues and jazz music of the American south in the middle of the last century.

This little-known chapter in U. P. history actually starts with folklorist and musicologist John Lomax and his son Alan. In the late 1920s, the Library of Congress had identified a need to preserve fading American culture by collecting ethnic folk songs. In 1933, the elder Lomax was appointed honorary curator of the newly established Archive of American Folk Song.

The pair initially traveled through Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi recording the traditional fieldwork songs of black prisoners, eventually running across a treasure in the person of Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, an original bluesman, composer and extraordinary musical resource. With help from the Lomaxes, Leadbelly was released from prison, moved to New York City and became the most popular blues performer among white audiences.

By 1936, Alan became the Archive's first federally-paid staff member and was named "assistant in charge" the following year.

While the younger Lomax made many field recording trips to the southern states to record such notables as Jelly Roll Morton and Muddy Waters, the Texan also made a significant northern sojourn in 1938 which included the Upper Peninsula.

Lomax collected about 1,000 songs from August to November that year, most of them from the U. P., during what was called a "reconnaissance survey."

In an annual report Lomax said, "The Upper Peninsula proved to be the most fertile source of material. After six weeks of recording a mass of lumberjack, Finnish and French folk-songs, I felt that there was material enough in the region for years of work. Near Newberry, Munising, Greenland and Ontonagon, it was comparatively easy to find lumberjack singers. Everywhere through the Copper Country and south of it, Finnish singers generously furnished me with more material than I had time to record. In Champion and Baraga, I found French ballad singers who still enjoyed ballad fests that lasted all night long."

His time on Beaver Island, Aug. 24-29, was especially fruitful. Lomax was proud of recording two "remarkable" ballad singers, Dominick Gallagher and Johnny Green. Green performed over 100 Irish ballads for Lomax and later wrote that he had recalled 150 more.

Recordings were also made in St. Ignace, Champion, Marinesco, Amasa, Calumet, Fulton, Charles, Round Lake, Hancock, Allouez, Laurium and Ironwood.

Escanaba is notably absent from that list, although it is known Lomax stopped here, arriving from Munising. His visit is not mentioned in the Escanaba Daily Press, but federal government mileage reimbursement records indicate Lomax spent Sept. 19-21, 1938, in the city. Escanaba isn't represented by any field recordings, either. Is it possible Lomax did not record in our fair city?

To get to the bottom of this mystery, I contacted Nathan Salsburg, production manager and catalog editor for the Alan Lomax Archive & The Association for Cultural Equity in New York City. "I understand that it seems suspect that he would spend two days there and not have recorded, but the best record is the "List of Recordings in the Archive of Folk Song," published by the Library in 1940, and that does not include anything from Escanaba."

"In fact," Salsburg said, "Lomax often chose not to make recordings in larger urban areas, as the influence that popular culture had on traditional material in such places didn't serve his purposes."

Perhaps Escanaba was too cosmopolitan for Lomax. Afterall, Time Magazine had recently featured a story on the town's annual smelt jamboree, in which "20,000 curious tourists were welcomed with open arms by the 15,000 natives." Residents also pointed to the progress wrought by the newly built automated light at the entrance to the harbor, a quarter mile off-shore from Sand Point Lighthouse.

Despite that, the 23-year-old Lomax apparently left town without turning on his recording equipment.

He spent the period through mid-October recording Finnish musicians in the western U. P., returning to Washington, D. C. in late 1938.

Lomax left the Library of Congress in 1942 but continued as a folklorist and musicologist, collecting thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britian, Caribbean, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and Spain over the course of his career. Before his death in 2002, Lomax amassed one of the world's most important collections of ethnographic material including sound recordings, film, manuscripts and photographs.

We can take pride knowing some of the voices of the Upper Peninsula's rich musical past will live on in such a prominent collection, and that Lomax thought they were important enough to gather in the first place.

Woerpel in Blackfoot reunion

By STEVE SEYMOUR

It was a performance which reunited one of southern rock's greatest stars with a guitar virtuoso who happened to be a former Escanaba resident. The March 22, 2004 show at the Palms in Las Vegas featured Blackfoot founder and Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rick "Rickey" Medlocke along with Mark Woerpel, who once called this area home.

Woerpel's on-stage reunion with Medlocke in Nevada also included Charlie Hargrett, the man he replaced in the 1990's version of Blackfoot.

Medlocke's rare solo concert that night, the first in nine years, showcased acoustic tracks from his tenure with both Blackfoot and Lynyrd Skynyrd. "This doesn't mean I'm planning to leave Skynyrd, nor does it mean I'm planning to reform Blackfoot. It's just something I've thought about doing for a while," Medlocke said then.

"Rickey has always loved acoustic shows," Woerpel noted, adding it was interesting that night to watch Medlocke work together again with Hargrett, the original guitar player in Blackfoot.

Woerpel, of course, was already quite familiar with Medlocke's song catalog, having toured and recorded with the venerable southern rocker during Blackfoot's final years. "It seemed like no time had passed at all," the ex-Escanaban told me about playing with Medlocke again. "In all the Blackfoot shows we did, there was a spot where he and I would play two or three duo songs," he recalled.

A child prodigy on guitar, Woerpel's parents, Loren and Donna, moved their family here from Milwaukee in the mid-seventies. The young Woerpel attended local schools and remembered fondly playing "some crazy jazz stuff" with Escanaba musician John Beck.

Woerpel first met Medlocke in 1984. "I was playing with a drummer from a band called Axe. We had the same manager from Ann Arbor so Rickey became involved in everything, including producing some of my stuff."

"We hit it off like brothers so I was involved in his stuff as well, playing and singing on some of the Blackfoot material before I actually went full-time with him," Woerpel explained.

When Woerpel's group, Warp Drive, put out a compact disc called "Gimme Gimme" in 1988, Medlocke was there to produce two tracks, "Words" and "Stay On, Stay On." The compact disc contained ten songs, all composed by Woerpel, and appeared on Ann Arbor's Nalli Records label. Band members included Woerpel on lead vocals and guitar, Cary Kaylan on bass, drummer Vin E., Stevie Rae Draeger on guitar and keyboardist Mike Pyne. Except for Medlocke's tracks, the record was produced by Woerpel and Ben Gross and was recorded at Pearl Sound in Canton, Mich.

The disc was well received by critics and the music-buying public. It was also released in the European market by Music for Nations and Sony in Japan, but unfortunately, the melodic hard rock sound of the1980s was about to give way to the grunge of the following decade. Warp Drive broke up in 1991 after five years together.

Woerpel kept busy, participating in the recording of Blackfoot's "Medicine Man" album in 1990. Along with Medlocke and Doug Bare, Woerpel co-wrote a track on the disc entitled "Chilled to d'Bone." He was invited to join the band two years later.

Blackfoot recorded another studio album in 1994, featuring Woerpel in an even
more prominent role. "After the Reign," a bluesy southern rock effort, included four selections co-written by Woerpel: "Nobody Rides for Free," "It's All Over Now," "Bandelaro" (mistakenly credited to the drummer) and the title track. Woerpel provided lead, rhythm and acoustic guitar; guitar synth and backing vocals on the album which was released on the Wildcat!/MCA label. Zakk Wylde, famous for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, played the second lead on "After the Reign." The band's rhythm section was comprised of drummer Benny Rappa and bassist Tim Stunson.

"After the Reign" was a praiseworthy project and Blackfoot toured the world to support it. "One of the greatest things we'd always do is in every town from New York to Anchorage was Rickey and I would get up at 6 a. m. while everyone else slept and do the local morning radio show on two guitars. It would always amaze me how many great stories he had."

Sadly, that studio album turned out to be the group's last disc of new material. Woerpel quit Blackfoot when Medlocke started writing in Nashville. "I left because I knew I had no strengths in country writing."

Six months later, Medlocke was asked by founder Gary Rossington to replace guitarist Ed King in Lynyrd Skynyrd. Medlocke was originally a drummer for Skynyrd, but quit early on to front Blackfoot. "He's enjoying being back in arenas and I believe he's the strength of Skynyrd's resurgence," Woerpel commented.

With the demise of Blackfoot, Woerpel delved into other projects. Almost immediately, he was contacted by his dad. As owner of Noc Bay Trading Co., Loren asked his son to record for a new label aimed at the Native American market.

The younger Woerpel consequently recorded "Flutes of Moo-Wa-Sah" and "On Little Wings." He's produced seven albums for the label. "I have enjoyed and am proud of doing recording projects with my dad," Woerpel noted.

Woerpel now lives in the Minneapolis area on a hobby farm he and his wife built, "with plenty of good Escanaba family help. I hope to continue playing and writing here along with more hunting and fishing and family, all the things we would sing about."

And, what about Medlocke? "Every once in a while he'll call hoping to do a couple of shows, so I hope to continue to be involved," Woerpel said.

First local rock show recalled

By STEVE SEYMOUR

In 1970, Escanaba music promoter Gene Smiltneck had an idea.

While his Bands Unlimited had successfully booked dances for young people at Teamsters Hall and other locations for years, he noticed music tastes were beginning to diverge.

He observed his patrons were increasingly divided between "teeny boppers" and "freaks." The teeny boppers, he explained, liked dance music such as "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies, while the freaks were into heavy songs by such groups as the Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Led Zeppelin.

"The heavier music performers were recognized more as concert performers and some of the dance patrons actually started sitting on the dance floor when we had a musical group that played the 'heavier' music," Smiltneck told me recently.

Smiltneck's observation prompted him to organize "our first production of an organized rock concert." The show, with the audience seated, promised "to be an experiment into a new and fast growing field of music appreciation in the concert form."

For the event, he lined up the best performers the Escanaba area had to offer in "star soloist" Jim Lewis, the Riot Squad and the Prophets of Doom.

To publicize the show, Smiltneck designed an eye-catching 22 by 17 inch poster which included photographs and biographies of all three acts topped with the words "ROCK CONCERT" in large letters.

The event was held at the Junior High Auditorium at 7 p. m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1970. Admission was $1.

Lewis, known as "Louie" or "Smiley" by many of his fans and friends, had started his musical career six years before with one of Escanaba's pioneer rock groups, Beat Inc. In the sixties, Lewis was in various bands and never strayed far from the blues he loved so much. The poster noted, "He spent three years as a rambler, hitchhiking throughout the U. S. with no responsibilities except to himself."

For the local show Lewis performed songs by Willie Dixon, Siegel-Schwall Band, John Hammond, B. B. King, and Tom Rush, as well as original material. Many of those songs remained on Lewis' set list through the years as his reputation as a performer, musician, vocalist and composer grew.

Greg Tolman of Escanaba remembers Lewis in that era. "While everyone else was trying to be the coolest group and do the grooviest songs, Smiley just 'did his thing.' Jim was always true to himself and that is the mark of a fine musician."

The poster advertising Escanaba's first locally-organized concert was found in Lewis' belongings following his death in 2005.

Tolman offered some unique insight into the 1970 concert from his perspective as a member of the Riot Squad, which also included Larry Willette, Tom Vardigan, Greg Curran and Bob Derouin.

"I don't remember a lot about this particular concert except for it being one of our first, if not THE first time playing in a concert setting. I remember sitting back and listening to the other performers and critiquing them to the max. It was pure competition back then," Tolman said.

Formed in 1965, the Riot Squad had cut a single and toured throughout the Upper Peninsula, northern lower Michigan, Wisconsin and even into Minnesota and Canada. They had spent over 90 days on tour the previous summer in their green and orange bus.

"The Riot Squad always focused on vocals and harmonies. Most other groups at the time were trying to emulate the heavy music artists, while we always tried to remain vocally consistent. Sure, we did some heavy tunes that were popular and getting airplay. But we did a lot of Beach Boys, Four Seasons and the Letterman," Tolman recalled.

The Riot Squad's local rivals, the Prophets of Doom, also showed their musical prowess on the Junior High stage that evening. Also formed in 1965, the Prophets included Larry and Jay Olivares, Dave Watchorn and Mike Steede. The promotional poster cited the band's "showmanship and stage humor which has brought them acclaim from almost every city they have performed in." The group was a top draw in Wisconsin's Fox River Valley and also made many appearances in the Wausau and Eau Claire areas. At the time of the local concert, the band was preparing material for their second single release.

While the performers and promotion team worked hard on the show, it did not sell out.

"Although it was an enjoyable experience for all of us, the crowd was modest in size and we decided to stick with the dances," promoter Smiltneck remembered.

More difficult times lay ahead. "We were actually put out of business by the drop to 18 for liquor consumption. When that happened, we lost the 16 year olds and up to 'keg parties.' Our crowd sizes dropped to a level that made it unprofitable to continue the events and then discos dropped the band opportunities by 90 percent," Smiltneck explained.

With music promotion dwindling, he moved on to owning several bars, then migrated to real estate sales. In the late seventies, Smiltneck shortened his name to Gene Michaels.

Now 65, he lives in Green Bay where he has been an insurance agent, mobile disc jockey, and works to develop singers from around the world for recording projects.

"I really miss the time period," he said about his years in Escanaba.