Somebody's watchin' you

Somebody's watchin' you

Tony Reay

So you go in at 6:30, and you notice first of all that there’s no sound check and you remember that Cocker and Leon spent five days practicing and you don’t know if even Leon is capable of putting an eight piece band together on Wednesday and playing the Eastown Friday and Saturday without so much as a soundcheck. Still, nobody seems to be panicky.

And you stand backstage and watch O.C. — the big spade cop — throw Leon’s roadie off the stage ’cause he doesn’t know who he is; and you watch and listen for awhile and Miller comes on and says to welcome Leon Russell and the guy behind you says “who?” and while you decide not to say anything, Leon’s on stage and lights a cigarette, sitting at the piano.

Then he sings two songs and accompanies himself on piano. And that’s really that. No big claims of — “When I was here with Joe ... ” And no candlesticks on the baby grand. Just two tunes and five cigarettes and large chunks of applause and a strange rumble in the back of your mind that comes with the knowledge that this is Leon Russell — the magnificent monster — and you never did hear him do anything that you didn’t automatically classify as brilliant and if you reach out, you can touch him but that’s not cool is it? I mean that’s like autographs and screaming and that’s not cool so you just stand and clap and tap your foot to the uptempo while the band walks out and Leon says “This is where the band walks out.” And there’s only one drummer and you know there should be two and there’s Miss Kathy and Claudia Lannear and Chuck Blackwell and John Gallo on organ and piano bass and a rhythm and a lead that you don’t know about except Dave Teegarden told you that the lead and the drummer used to • be in the Shindogs and the band just rolls into the same uptempo that changes into “Shoot Oui On the Plantation” and then they stop and the audience applauds and that’s three songs and seven Marlboro and “The Prince of Peace” starts and finishes and so on through numerous hits of Leon Russell from the Shelter album including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” which wasn’t on any of his albums and damn well should have been.

And all the time you stay cool and don’t whistle or shout “Right On” or anything and they do “Roll Away the Stone” and you know — I mean you just know cause you start banging on the Grace’s P.A. mixer and doin’ a Rod Stewart stomp and yellin’ and singin’ and clappin’ and shaking your fist at Leon and screamin’ “Go, you marvelous little mother, go” and he hears and turns and smiles and keeps playing those incredible chords and Miss Kathy and Don Preston and Claudia Lannear and Joey Cooper and John Gallo are singing “Rollin’ — Rollin’ — Keep on rolling” and O.C. is tapping his feet.

And you don’t remember songs after that. You remember that kid behind you that said “Who” is screaming “more” and giving peace signs to everybody and the audience is maybe realising who “Mad Dogs” was and that they’ve seen the conclusion of an era but they think it’s the beginning and that’s every reason on earth to demand an encore but you know that it’s not going to be long before it’s at Olympia and it’s $5-$6 and $7 a ticket and that stops a lot of the glitter and you kinda want to say to Leon “Never mind — it was good while it lasted” but you don’t and they do the encore and leave, so that Miller can tell you to “be sure and catch Jethro Tull on Thursday” and it’s all hard sell and it’s not long before the lights go on and you slip back to the dressing room and Leon’s setting there by himself with the lights off and you know that you should ask for an interview or say “Great set” or one of those chickies but instead you just look at him slumped hot in the armchair and you realize how hard it is to be that good and have nobody know it for years and then for it all to change in one night and head towards where you could be lousy and nobody knows it.

And you really don’t want to play the game at all but you have to so you say “Thank you very much Leon” and he just looks and lights another cigarette and smiles and somehow you feel that he’s only smiling because you paid $4.50 to get in and a smile is part of the show.