THE NORMAN TRANSCRIPT
FRIDAY JUNE 18, 1999
Reviewed by Doug Hill
Although they ran amok there in 1977, there's no photo of the Sex Pistols at the Cain's Ball Room, 423 N. Main in Tulsa. Big black and white photos of artists who've played the Cain's circle the walls in its one huge room.
This collection leans toward the C&W alumni. Pee Wee King, Al Clauser, Cindy Walker, Red Foley, Moon Mullican, Jimmy Wakely, Tex Williams, Johnny Bond and Ernest Tubb. It's a big old barn. Pat Breene, Hank Snow, Roy Rogers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Roy Acuff, Kay Starr, Eddy Arnold and Hank Thompson. The Cain's is celebrating 75 years of honky-tonkin': 1924 to 1999. It's called the house that Bob (Wills) built.
The Cain's is a low stone building painted white. Outside, flashing multi-colored neon lights gave our muggy May 29 evening a deco glow. Inside there's no a.c., but big industrial fans kept the air moving across the hardwood floors black as ebony from generations of spilled beer and ashes.
This holiday weekend show was billed as "Swing-A-Billy Wipeout '99." Five bands over six hours. The crowd was a mix of older people in Shepler's wear, yuppie pairs, pretty, tattooed punkabilly girls and dancing middle-aged biker couples.
POISON OKIES
Referring to a caravan of Detroit steel parked out front, the Poison Okies' Brian Dunning said, "I'd take the '60 Impala, cuz it has the biggest back seat." They played "Oklahoma Baby." A cute girl jumped on-stage from the audience to dance with Dunning. He closed out their set like an Appalachian saint; spinning full speed, shaking both hands full of rubber snakes, shouting "BE HEALED!"
KYODAI
Billed as a Japanese surf band, guitarist Chris Casey introduced his band Kyodai with, "Welcome to the whack-out part of the show." They played sexy spy music. All-instrumental (a brief chorus on one song), Japanese mafia movie soundtracks. Action boys playing imaginary Nipponese horse opera scores, circa 1966. From Stillwater, the remainder of Kyodai were Tatsuya Fukushima (guitar), Ko Ashida (guitar), Seth Kane (bass) and Toby Surratt (drums). Their songs had titles like "Night of Star" and several were named for Japanese film actors. Unlikely as it sounds, the crowd loved them.
BRIAN PARTON AND THE NASHVILLE REBELS
Brian Parton and the Nashville Rebels filled the Cain's aisles with dancers, causing the old boards to bounce under the rocking weight. "I've seen a lot of movies/ and dirty magazines/ but you're the sexiest thing / that I've ever seen," Parton howled like an alley cat. More rock than billy, the Rebels blew "Sugar Kisses" to the fans. Parton has a combination of soul, rock and down-in-the-cornfield country that's irresistible. "Thank you neighbors, thank you so much," he concluded with Broken Arrow sweetness.
WAYNE "THE TRAIN" HANCOCK
Wayne "The Train" Hancock and his band included stand-up bass, three guitars and a keyboard player. They played "Wino Boogie," "Highway 54" and "Blue Suede Shoes."
Hancock's voice is high and dry as wind across Lubbock stubble field. Boozy hillbilly car radio music rocketing up and down East Texas two-lane blacktops.
BR5-49
Nashville's BR5-49 (BR) headlined this Wipe-Out. they're winsome, arty successors to Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen and the Sir Douglas Quintet. They are Jay McDowell (upright bass), Don Herron (fiddle, mandolin, dobro, etc.), Shaw Wilson (drums), Gary Bennett (vocals/acoustic guitar) and Chuck Mead (vocals/electric guitar).
BR are new wave rockabilly with a stripped-down big band sound. They attracted fans from all over the country for this Saturday night Tulsa blast. Two genuine Cherokee princesses in from California, were front and center. They were delighted to dance when the quintet struck up Bob Wills' "Cherokee Maiden". [Diva's Note: There is NO SUCH THING as a Cherokee Princess, unless you count winners of a Cherokee Nation Beauty Pageant. We're proud ol' Doug Hill thought we were royalty. He didn't say anything about us headbanging through "18 Wheels and A Crowbar." Doesn't exactly fit the "indin" stereotype, huh? AAAAAAAY!-- The Diva.]
BR have a strong stage presence. Masculine, good-looking guys in studied retro duds, they could be a 1940s posse of roadhouse studs. They took the gloves off on some numbers. Their trucker song is called "18 Wheels and a Crowbar." It's a "...pail full of pill...cut-off at mile marker 33...Pinto and his fiery grave..." turbo-diesel. Herron's fiddle added a powerful dimension to several numbers. His virtuosity on half a dozen different stringed instruments gave the performance impressive depth. They sing lots of close harmony and some songs have that hiccupy country thang croaking in the mostly dual vocals. BR played "Pain, Pain Go Away" with its radio show slickness and Light Crust Doughboy undertones. Their newest album, "Big Backyard Beat Show' (1998, Arista), has cool touches like a Doug Sahm, Tex-Mex number called "Goodbye, Maria." It's full of dazzling accordion (Santiago Jiminez) and slowed up and down percussion. BR cover "Seven Nights To Rock," obscure Buck Owens and Billy Joe Shaver's "Georgia On A Fast Train." Their own tunes are just a tad too formulaic. "You Flew the Coop" is a shameless Bob Wills rip-off, but it's good fun. Like the Stones (and everyone else) robbing Chuck Berry for the past 30 years, it qualifies as tribute, not real larceny.
BR gave me a feeling of permanent appeal. Guys who will stay together, getting better and better, just like Bob Will and his Texas Playboys and the Stones. BR's album will travel on my Arkansas mountain vacation. Ultra-hip country. Visit their www.twangthis.com website. Take me back to Tulsa any time for a show like this.
