Shames Reunion – A Night to Remember

Downers Grove transforms into the town we’d like to go back to Saturday, June 27^th, as the original Cryan’ Shames: James Fairs, Gerry Stone, Tom Doody, Lenny Kerley, Jim Pilster, Dennis Conroy, and in spirit, Isaac Guillory and Dave Purple, reunite for “A Night to Remember” at Fishel Park, 9:00 p.m.

They won’t do their songs they way they did 40 years ago. That would be wanting to hear the “young” Cryan’ Shames. And, as we all know, “Young Birds Fly.”

This is not so much a retrospective as it is discovery. And, you will see that their “new music,” is once again marking our own time, now, as it did back then.

This lineup of the Shames is legendary. Their respective solo careers reveal the powerhouse that was. Lenny Kerley’s mastery of the blues has catapulted him to the respect of peers at the top level of the music business. His friends on his MySpace page include Eric Clapton and Tal Wilkenfeld, Jeff Beck’s precocious bassist who appeared with him at Crossroads in Bridgeview a few years ago and won everyone over with “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers.” With the right time machine, Tal may well be someone we saw “in a magazine” and wanted to meet some 40 years ago.

Isaac Guillory’s music has finally and graciously appeared on You Tube. This guy was, in the 80s, what the best singers/writers/minstrels are aspiring to be now.

Isaac blazes on “Swingin’ Little Guitar Man” and without moving a note from the middle of the pocket, he seamlessly goes into “Birdland” – Jaco, Weather Report – Joe Zawinul’s tune. Isaac’s voice is as perfect as his passion, his picking flawlessly encompasses an entire rhythm section. He honed his craft from the back of his van, traveling all over Europe, post Shames. He was James Fairs’ best friend, passionate and serious about his music and entertaining his fans. He is gone now and all puns aside, it is a shame. We NEED that kind of music and that kind of performance.

It is a heavy torch to carry, but who better than Shames’ founder and original folk-rocker Gerry Stone? Gerry’s electric 12-string and vocals graced the Shames’ first album of Ben Franklin lore (is that where McGuinn got those shades?), and echoed in hallways and staircases of high schools across Chicago and the suburbs.

James Fairs would be both Paul McCartney and John Lennon of this endeavor, but to his credit, James is his own person and that is the biggest compliment to his intense, cutting edge artistry. He will go back, not often, but he alone knows when the timing is right. Something, it may be perceived, with all respect, due to his restless searching of the heavens and the deltas for what he will unfailingly turn into a tantalizingly delicious, new cosmic brew. That’s evident in James’ music and you will hear it Saturday when his own Jamez Band takes the stage.

Toad, Mr. Tom Doody, who once affected a convincing British accent, was once recommended to replace the angelic voiced Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys. TD’s vocal ability was always surpassing with that slight tremble that denoted sincerity as much as vibrato and it is as good today.

A fan nailed it when he said of their vocals, writing, arranging and musicianship – “they prepared me for Crosby, Still, Nash and Young because they did it first and in many ways, the Shames were even better.”

And while a case is made against the sum of the parts being greater than the whole, when this group of powerfully talented individuals took the stage, the chemistry was atomic. They possessed the elusive intangible. Add Jim Pilster to the mix and it was like plugging the whole thing into an electric socket at Fermilab. Called to action, this sensitive soul ignited into the pure stage presence known as J.C. Hooke. Ever watch him up close? This the man who shot a hole-in-one as accurately as he tossed a tambourine into the air, kicked a cymbal and caught it, right on a dime, placed there courtesy of Dennis Conroy.

Denny’s melodic fills, precision and cohesiveness spelled one of rock’s most creative drummers of the 60s. He was the rhythmic signature of the band – and that accounted for the Shames’ uniqueness as much as any of part of their sound.

It was Dave Purple’s Hofner bass that you heard on the meaty “Hey Joe” and the incredible rendition of “If I Needed Someone.” Dave’s interest in audio engineering was piqued in his tenure with the Shames and he went on to Nashville where he lent his considerable engineering talent to many Stax Volt albums in the 70s [note to james: didn’t dave have something to do with dbx products?]

Maybe the original group didn’t realize that the charisma they exuded set the tone for our lives as teenagers in the late 60’s and even into the early 70s. From their Tobacco Road opening, to Toad lying on the stage, cracking us up parodying the lyrics of Sugar and Spice, to Hooke’s histrionics, to their sheer musicianship and vocal ability, the Cryan’ Shames utter charm, talent, and personality epitomized everything that was good about being a teenager in that era.

And that cues the aptly titled, “A Night to Remember.”

Scene: The original Shame’s reunited at Chicago Fest 1982. Navy Pier. This writer had just started dating the lady who would become his wife. As they went into “Could Be We’re in Love,” the whole crowd was up on its feet. His arm gently caressed his girlfriend’s waist and as they looked up, there was a perfect crescent moon with just the right silvery slip of cloud sailing across its middle.

We are delighted to know a new part of the soundtrack will unfold, even for a night, with a mature styling of the original tunes. Having heard the arrangements, the musicians have grown, as have we. There is even more meaning, more to appreciate and reflect on, and savor. We couldn’t have embraced such richness back then. But we can now. And above the twilit, blue village we shall see, like never before, the colors behind that Scratch in the Sky.