Ask most casual rock `n` roll fans and they`ll tell you that Jerry Lee Lewis all but disappeared after he dropped the twin bombs of ”Whole Lot of Shakin` Going On” and ”Great Balls of Fire” on the Eisenhower era.
Such is the fate of a performer who has been dissected, and victimized, by all manner of kiss-and-tell biographies and at least one horrendous commercial movie, ”Great Balls of Fire,” with its bug-eyed star turn by Dennis Quaid.
The reality is that Lewis has sustained one of the great careers of any rocker, a point affirmed by a new book, ”Rockin` My Life Away: Listening to Jerry Lee Lewis” (Rutledge Hill Press, $16.95), by rock journalist Jimmy Guterman, and its companion CD, ”Rockin` My Life Away” (Warner, (STAR)(STAR) (STAR) 1/2), as well as the recently released ”The Complete Palomino Club Recordings” (Tomato, (STAR)(STAR) 1/2).
Guterman helped compile the Warner release, which pulls together the best of Lewis` recordings for the Elektra label from 1979 to 1981. These show the Killer in nearly top form, taking on Bob Dylan (”Rita May”) and Charlie Rich (”Who Will the Next Fool Be”), New Orleans rhythm and blues (”I Like It Like That”) and rip-it-up rockabilly (”Rockin` Little Angel”), Johnny Cash`s ”Folsom Prison Blues” and Harold Arlen`s ”Over the Rainbow.”
The double-disc Tomato release, drawn from a series of 1979-85 dates at the Palomino Club in Van Nuys, Calif., is equally wide-ranging, if more erratic. It features a great band: rockabilly legend James Burton on guitar, Kenny Lovelace on violin, and the impeccable Nashville rhythm section of Bob Moore on bass and Buddy Harmon on drums.
Lewis stamps his king-sized ego all over these discs. It becomes almost a running joke to hear how many times he refers to himself in the third person, but what stands out is the hypnotic power-sexual, technical, stylistic-that Lewis brings to his best performances.
”Play ya a little lick on the piano, now,” he drawls near the end of
”Who Will the Next Fool Be” from the ”Rockin` My Life Away”
compilation. He begins his solo with a teasing series of notes, then unleashes a flurry of chords, settles into a richly melodic passage, rumbles the bass notes, and begins to ruminate: ”… The woman is tough … mean.” Then, as the song fades, he begins to whistle its melancholy melody.
It`s an electric moment, at once introspective and flamboyant, casual and carnal, and Lewis luxuriates in it.
The recording, from a time when Lewis was widely regarded as washed up, is one of many that affirms the sweep of his ambition and the depth of his artistry.
But there`s more. Guterman`s book draws attention to two nearly forgotten live recordings by Lewis from the mid-`60s, ”Live at the Star-Club” and
”The Greatest Live Show on Earth,” which capture the Killer at his frenzied best. It also notes with admiration the singer`s ongoing ability to make something out of nothing, even as late as ”It Was the Whiskey Talkin`
(Not Me),” from the 1990 ”Dick Tracy” soundtrack.
The book`s subtitle-”Listening to Jerry Lee Lewis”-is illuminating, because so little of the media outpouring about the Killer seems to be informed by the actual music, not the least of which is ”Great Balls of Fire,” the Hollywood ”biography” of Lewis starring Quaid.
”All those (rock `n` roll) movies get the facts wrong, but at least
`The Buddy Holly Story` got the feeling right,” Guterman says. ”`Great Balls of Fire` got the facts wrong, the feeling wrong and then it just treated the whole (Southern) culture that Jerry Lee came from as a joke.”
Guterman`s book doesn`t excuse Lewis` six failed marriages, his bouts with alcohol and drugs or his prima-donna behavior, nor does it focus on them. ”Any person who`s a great artist is considered to be great because he looks at the world in a different way than most of us,” the author says.
”That difference that results in brilliance is also a difference that also will, in almost every case, lead to some sort of anti-social behavior or attitude. . . .
”In his music, Jerry Lee created a world in which he could show all sides of himself. He had to create that for himself just to live. He desired freedom in every possible way-spiritually, sexually, emotionally, musically, stylistically. And it was in his music that he found it. Jerry Lee`s life outside the studio and concert stage proves he hasn`t been able to find it anywhere else.”
– There`s a fine line between fun and chaos at a rock concert, and the skateboard-punk band Murphy`s Law appears to have crossed it, at least in the eyes of local concert promoter Jam Productions.
On Oct. 13, the New York-based quartet played a Jam-sponsored show to a mostly under-21 crowd of about 800 at Medusa`s.
During the performance, Detente security guards hired by Jam began ejecting audience members for defying the promoter`s edict against stage-diving, which was announced before the show. After several ejections, Murphy`s Law singer Jimmy Drescher stopped the show because, he says, the guards were using excessive force.
”I tell this bouncer, `Come on, man, you should take it easy,` and he says, `(Expletive) you!` to me,” Drescher says. ”I say, `You`re hurting these kids and you can`t do that, because we`re all here as friends.` We started playing again and when the bouncers grabbed another kid, the other kids surrounded the bouncers and didn`t let anyone else get thrown out. . . . There were no more confrontations and everyone left in an orderly manner.”
Although no injuries or damages to the club were reported, Jam refused to work with the band when it sought another date in Chicago. Although a Jam spokesman would not comment for publication, it is known that the promoter believes the band acted irresponsibly at the Medusa`s show and created an
”unsafe situation.”
This didn`t deter the ownership of the Avalon nightclub, who have leased the Vic Theatre for a Sunday night performance by Murphy`s Law.
”The Vic ownership were really nervous when they found out what happened at Medusa`s, but we`ve assured them that this isn`t going to be a problem show,” says Avalon booking agent Michael Yerke.
Murphy`s Law has been a fixture on the underground scene for years with high-energy songs that extol non-violence and benign silliness, while setting a $10 ceiling on ticket prices and T-shirts as a gesture of respect for its fans.
”It`s very important to us that everything goes right for the kids that come to our shows,” Drescher says. ”Jam states the (Medusa`s) show was out of control and we were out of control. I say, `Au contraire.` Jam didn`t like the fact that Murphy`s Law was in control and that we weren`t going to let our kids get hurt.”
