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Show The Newspaper Thursday, September 18, 1980 Page 11 "" z ) - i ; The Crowd Went Wild for Bonnie Raitt By David Proctor Bonnie Raitt is a textbook example of a cult artist. That's the label hung on musicians like Bonnie who have a loyal, but not too large, audience. A few hundred hun-dred thousand members of the cult will buy any album she puts out, and several thousand will attend most any concert. And what those concertgoers will see, as we saw at Salt Lake's Symphony Sym-phony Hall last Thursday night, is a talented woman playing some great music. As she stands on the stage, Fender in hand with a glass slide on her second finger and surrounded by her five-man band, Bonnie looks the epitome of the rock 'n roll mama. She can swagger through "Sugar Mama," "You're Gonna Gets What's Coming" and "I Thank You" as well as handle the more delicate "Been Too Long at the Fair" and her own co-composition "Safe in Your Love." To top it off, she paid a tribute to the men who got her into the music business in the first place-people place-people like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Skip James and Robert Johnson with a medley of their songs. From the opening number there was no doubt that the Bonnie Raitt cult, Salt Lake area chapter, was out in force. Bonnie could do no wrong. Seven-year-old songs like "Give It Up or Let Me Go" were welcomed with tumultuous applause, but no less a greeting was given new compositions like "The Wheel of Life." 'Her show stopper was Del Shannon's "Runnaway," probably the closest thing she has had to a hit single. It was the last song of the regular set, her encore insurance. But that night she could have done something as lifeless as "Feelings" and gotten an encore. She came out blazing with "I Thank You," that wonderful wonder-ful Sam and Dave chestnut, and Presley's "Big Hunka Love." They were probably the two best performances back to back of the night. Of course the cult wouldn't let her go without another reappearance, a call she obliged. No question, the evening was a total success for artist, audience and probably the promoter as well. But the question remains, why is she not more popular with the general public than she is? It is certainly not a lack of talent; her voice rings over the band with exceptional clarity, and she is a pretty spiffy guitar player to boot. She certainly is attractive enough, as any right-minded male in Thursday night's audience will testify. The problem, I think, is that she has never carved out a distinct musical territory for herself. She was brought up in a household where her father was a respected Broadway singer. Her first love was the blues and she can play rock 'n roll as well. But she is not a blues artist, nor does she go to the edge to play rock. It's as if she falls into the gap between the gut-level rock of the late Janis Joplin on one side, and Linda Ronstadt's emotional ballads on the other. This lack of a firm musical identity is not helped by the fact that thus far no one has been 'ihlp to capture the real Bonnie Raitt on record. Producers like Peter Asher, who has had great success with James Taylor and Ronstadt, and Paul Roth-child Roth-child (with the Doors and others) have tried and failed. Maybe this lack of success is because Bonnie herself doesn't have a clear picture of what she wants to do. The Symphony Hall concert was a roaring success in spite of these nagging problems. prob-lems. But if Bonnie ever pulls it all together and decides to go for the throat, that will be a concert for the ages. Backstage with Bonnie IEasSa Words by Jack Hash How well do you know your candidate? You think so? Okay then where's Mister Lillian? We know all about the President's mother. She is a reigning dignitary and the toast of every place that is posh. You really can't move around too much without running into Miz Lillian. Whether you are looking for her or not she is there in her Re-Elect the President t-shirt and you have to say something hearty to her. But what about Mister Lillian? You don't see him hanging around the rotunda very much or running a stick along the pickets in the White House fence. Where is he? If he stuck to Plains we would see him throwing the old pill around with the family. Is he touring the earthquake sites of South America? You don't know do you? And there's a lot more we don't know. I don't mean just facts facts you can pick up anywhere for a buck a bundle, like tube socks; they gethig holes in them just as fast. I mean faces we don't know what a political face really looks like in the morning without any makeup. ,n . , A television" 'Viewer gets a little polished zircon when he tunes into a candidate in the home stretch. Where's the rough human stone he was hewn from? You hardly ever meet a politician who came up through anything but 4-H in a tiny colorless Illinois tractor turn-around or the heartland of Pinnacle, Montana but he doesn't look earthy and he doesn't reflect any earth tones to the viewer. Either" he's come a long way or Clinique met him on the step up. We get a pruned-down pan designed to chase Bob Richards off a box of Wheaties. And that's all right, but it isn't whistlestop America it isn't Lincoln-Douglas Lincoln-Douglas debates: it's wartless. The most you can expect from a face like that is a last minute change of part. Who is the man behind that Helena Rubens tein? You don't know and you don't want to know, any more than you want to know what your secretary looks like without his dictaphone. You don't want to tamper with a thing that works and ruin it for posterity. I didn't want to either, but the set blew out : a big robust 19" color console. Last November I almost extinguished myself under the packing crate on the second floor landing and now the thing is lodged up here in the penthouse and it's dead. The warranty covers it, but a warranty is not a call to arms; you can't expect immediate action. We're trying to pin down the Admiral people now. First we have to find them. Meanwhile, we're watching the Evening News on a little grousing Magnavox black and white. It's about the size of a volleyball and about as handy around the house. But it has this virtue: I think the Magnavox is showing the candidates in their true form, unadorned. I think it is unmasking them. The other night I saw Gerald Ford on the screen with Ronald Reagan. They were in Chicago and they were discussing campaign strategy and joint effort and the good of the party and lunch maybe, and why Mr. Reagan keeps quoting John F. Kennedy. I noticed that Mr. Ford was looking kind of wan and thin, especially in the close-ups. His head was sort of dime-shaped, not round but flat. I said, "What's wrong with Mr. Ford. Has he been pining for the ticket?" And then President Carter came on, touring the refinery, and he looked the same way in spite of his protective headgear, so I knew it wasn't a party affliction but a widespread national erosion. Mr. Anderson was the only candidate who looked no different on the Magnavox than he did on the Admiral. He probably doesn't look any different at the health club or gathered around a cup of cocoa in his breakfast nook. Even the hard transit from color to black and white didn't bother him. He came out just as life-like as ever and his head was no thinner on the small screen than it is anyplace else. I have no political bias, I judge on Magnavox alone and I think this is a man to go with. He stays thin-headed under every condition. And that's what you want natural talent. After the show, backstage away from the thundering crowd, Bonnie cordially entertained reporters who asked questions about the year-long tour that's taking them from coast to coast, upcoming albums and the history of the band. After they left, she milled around in the hallway with band members and friends, mumbling about how no one seemed interested in her dual role as entertainer and political activist. A driving force behind the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear concerts in New York last year, she said she will continue to organize a no-nuke movement, spreading spread-ing the word where the band travels. She said she particularly particu-larly admired her friend Jane Fonda, who has successfully suc-cessfully melted motherhood, mother-hood, politics, and entertainment entertain-ment into a forcefull package pack-age that captures the attention atten-tion and admiration of many. Bonnie Raitt is a very approachable person eager to talk. She shook hands strongly with everyone she met and fielded compliments sincerely, but was quick to lavish praise on the band. Red-haired, freckle-faced and pretty, she has a raspy voice and sarcastic sense of humor that makes you feel like she's an old pal from down the block. She's unpretentious unpre-tentious and genuine, and meeting her did not feel like being a fan fawning over a star. She's just a regular person who has a great voice and guitar-playing ability to match and a job just like the rest of us. Being on tour is nothing fancy, she said; it's hard work, lonely, frustrating frustrat-ing and rewarding. Just like every other job. And what does Bonnie Raitt do when the word day ends? Thursday night, as the lights switched off in Symphony Hall, she worried over her reflection in a mirror, rolled up her stage blouse and stuffed it into her purse, and moseyed out to the streets of Salt Lake on her way to the Green Parrot for a drink. 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Cooper 141 Boston jet-heroine jet-heroine sam:Dec. 16, 135 Lick 1773 for that certain affair i ROBERT S T E U R & F i I L N D S SALT LAKE 1355 SO FOOT HILL BLVD (801)583-1213 PAUCITY THlGAJFB'J i-:'''-1j.'..:-'vr,;j1 m -n iii-ilii.-nniirlr miiiinrili lli-l m 'i I Featuring Works by Special Guest Photographer GEORGE TICE and Patty Anne Felkner Grant Heaton Jill Klausner Susan Makov Lisa Palasvirta K.C. Price Barbara Richards Marguerite H. Roberts George Sears John Telford Chris Wangsgard Andrew M. Whitlock Fred Wright Peter C. Van Dyck Reception honoring the artists Sunday, September 21 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. ml'nitt-tTt'f" -i-r -' --... 1-,1,! um uiim-mr- - - llgm ... |