R.I.P. Dan Hicks

[journeybear]

Thanks, friends. I made a point of seeing Dan every chance I could - which wasn't many. But I'm glad I did. The thing is, I surprised myself - I even scared myself - to think how much Dan and his music meant to me. I didn't realize just how, and how much I got from him, till he passed and I started reflecting on all this. Also, Sid Page's mandolin playing, though he didn't do it that much, had an effect that I see more clearly now, as I reflect on it. That first show was not the first time I'd seen and heard a mandolin played in a concert setting - I'd seen The Band a year or so before, and Levon played mandolin on one or two songs - but this had more of an impact, in a more intimate setting. Again, I don't think this really sank in until I got to thinking about all this.

This is from an appearance on Austin City Limits in 1992 that was mostly a reunion with The Hot Licks and also featured a few songs with The Acoustic Warriors. How did I miss this? Thanks to youtubers for a few clips showing up.



They sure did feel like singing. This was a band that really knew how to have some fun. I remember getting a chuckle out of the liner notes on "Where's The Money?" including the scat "lyrics." Gotta love seeing stuff like "dweet dot do dot" written out.

Here's the set list for this, which aired on February 7, 1992:
Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Canned Music
Where's The Money
I Feel Like Singin'
Milk-Shakin' Mama
I Scare Myself
Along Come a Viper
Payday Blues
Evenin' Breeze

The Acoustic Warriors
Up! Up! Up!
Shootin' Straight
Willie
Doin' It

Finally, eerie coincidences abound. That air date is the day after the date of his death. And the date of the show he played at my school? 2/6/73. I don't know what to make of that.

[mandolinstew]

I lived in Manhattan and San Francisco and got to see him live.Always a great show.Was trying to catch him last year,but he cancelled.Finally found a copy of It Happened One Bite on CD and it contains great bonus material from Sausalito.I just spent some time watching him on you tube and remember once around 1985 he was on local television doing something like Uncle Floyd.

[Upis Land]

I appreciate this. Without the cafe I would miss a lot of news. One of my siblings had the Dan Hicks Original Recordings album and I had it on cassette on the backside of a Michael Hurley album. Used to listen to it all the time on extended road trips to see the country. I have really enjoyed watching all these videos of his live performances. My favorite Dan Hicks song is Slow Moving, which has been something of an anthem for my life. He captured so perfectly the essence of taking it down a notch, going into observation mode; to me slowing it down is a lost art and sure can't think of anyone else who sang about it so perfectly. The song still goes through my mind even though I haven't had the cassettes out in some time.

[journeybear]

Well, it's hard to believe it, but five years have gone by since Dan Hicks passed. The void left in the music world has not been filled. The void in my heart, mind, and spirit - neither. I've made the acquaintance on facebook of Sid Page - violinist and mandolinist in the band - and both Lickettes, Maryann Price and Naomi Eisenberg. We don't communicate much, just every now and then, but it's nice to have some kind of connection with the people who made that wonderful music that transformed and inspired me. Especially Sid, who was an early and major influence on my style. He may have been the first guy I heard bend a note on the mandolin. Jaime Leopold, the bass player during the band's peak, also passed, coming up to three years ago.

On the brighter side, a new-ish band called The Hot Licks are keeping the music alive, with a completely new lineup.

[Bob Gnann]

When I started college in 1971 we had a guitar workshop and jug band music was a big part of it. Dan Hicks and also the Kweskin jug band. I think my roommate borrowed that Kweskin album and never returned it.

[journeybear]

Right? Always the good ones, always the ones you like the most, always the ones that hurt the most when they go missing ...

[Bob Gnann]

How can I miss you when you won't go away? Kweskin Jug Band song. Not you JB.

[journeybear]

Ha ha ha! But that's a Dan Hicks song. Though it is jug-band-ish. I think it was the first song he wrote. One of them, anyway.

[journeybear]

Here is a fantabulous review of "Where's The Money?" It reiterates something I've been saying for decades - it's one of the best live albums ever recorded, maybe even the best. I tend to cite it when the question comes up, and most people say "Allman Brothers - Live At The Fillmore East." That's all good and well, and it's probably my #2. But the quality of the performances, and the recording, plus the sheer enjoyment of listening, and how it has stood up to repeated listenings over the years - It's a 10 out of 10. It's so good, I often forget it's a live recording while mid-song. Even the banter before and applause after don't break the spell. It may be one of my all-time Top Ten Albums. Haven't taken a poll in a while ...

[Bob Gnann]

[Bob Gnann]

That would be this album JB? Forgot I still had it. Had to dig through the old vinyl to find it. And of course give it a listen.

[journeybear]

Well, looky there! Good for you! A few of these got re-done by the classic lineup on later albums. The core of the band is here, but the backup singers got replaced. I think the guitarist, too. But "How Can I Miss You" is on here. Glad you've still got it. Order is restored to the universe. Life as we have come to know it can continue.

[journeybear]

I'm getting my information from danhicks.net, not from wikipedia. Inexplicably, the wiki article is incomplete, apart from the overall history, without a single album given its own page except for a later album from 2009. I hope someone who really knows all about Dan Hicks will put in the time to correct this egregious error. His talent deserves the full-on in-depth treatment.

[Nashville]

True story here. My band buddies and I drove down to L.A. from S.F. for a few days in 1969 or thereabouts. Our lead singer had a relative working at a recording studio or record label. I remember we parked across the street from the Capitol building. We were invited to the recording session scheduled for that day. It was some band called "Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks". This would have been their first album that everybody loves so much. Well, like stupid punk rock 'n rollers that we were, we declined because we thought is was some greasy soul band from Detroit or somewhere. We'd never heard of them. Later when the album came out we were all floored by how good the music was, but it was too late. We'd missed our chance to actually be there in the studio when the magic happened.

Instead we went to the beach and had an Orange Julius for the first time. Never heard of that either.

[bgpete]

I saw Dan Hicks at Symphony Hall in Boston in the early '70s, just after the the Lickettes and Sid Page had quit (I think). So just him and a bass player - and still one of the best live shows I ever saw. His talent for making a unique song out of three chords was unrivaled IMO.

[Bob Gnann]

On Epic Records in stereo (can also be played on mono equipment).

[journeybear]

... we went to the beach and had an Orange Julius for the first time. Never heard of that either.

Well, it wasn't a total loss. Good stuff.