Detroit has an amazing array of musical talent—both new and vintage—and that fact was never so evident as it was last Saturday evening as musician and producer Don Was took the stage during Detroit's Concert of Colors to introduce acts ranging from the dapper and frisky Sir Mack Rice (whose music career is still going strong after more than 50 years in the business!) to Mick Bassett and the Marthas (a band led by the 21-year-old Grosse Pointe native that Was said he discovered while checking out MySpace pages looking for new Detroit-area talent).
Was took the helm of last year’s Super Session I, fielding an eclectic bill of homegrown performances that thrilled the festival crowd and left them clamoring for an encore.
This year’s Super Session II demonstrates that Detroit has an amazingly deep talent team as an all-new line-up of diverse Detroit talent hit the stage.
I’m hard-pressed to name a favorite moment from the revue. Was it hearing one of my favorite Detroit blues divas, Thornetta Davis, with a sound system that finally did her magnificent pipes justice? Was it Sir Mack Rice, brought back onstage after Was decided to break his “one-song rule” to have Rice follow his classic “Mustang Sally” with a hot, hot, hot version of his “Respect Yourself” (ably supported by Thornetta)? Was it the quirky Question Mark with a mini-medley of a cool arrangement of “Stand by Me” and his classic “96 Tears”? Was it a reawakening of Teegarden & Van Winkle to, in their first appearance onstage together in years, lead the entire revue in a sing-a-long of “God, Love and Rock & Roll”?
There were just too many great moments to make a choice!
Let’s just say that Don Was and the killer cast of musicians he assembled for this revue did Detroit proud and, as someone remarked, this was just the kind of positive experience our region needs right now.
As if that weren’t enough, Super Session II was just one slot on a two-day Concert of Colors schedule of diverse music and good vibes.
It’s always difficult to decide which shows to see during each year’s Concert of Colors, and even though this year’s festival was an abbreviated version of prior four-day festivals, the choices were no easier.
Candy Band, was a lot of fun as they got the crowd to sing along with old songs and nursery rhymes performed with a punk twist.
I loved Aaron Neville and his Quintet’s smooth take on so many classics, including: “Tell it like it is”, “A Change is Gonna Come” (which got one of the most enthusiastic crowd responses) and a H-O-T sax solo of “Besame Mucho” from his brother Charles Neville.
We caught shows ranging from Galitcha’s Eastern Indian folk, Mali blues and rock from Vieux Farka Toure, alt-rock Yo La Tengo, the Latin Funk of Grupo Fantasma, Native American folk from Joe Reilly to a rip-roaring show closer with Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas.
We worried when the Concert of Colors lost Chrysler as a major sponsor due to the crappy economy this year, but we’re overjoyed that organizers managed to pull together enough support to stage a two-day festival and keep the Concert of Colors as a free event.
It’s been a tough year for a lot of people here in the Detroit area, so those who helped make this happen for Detroit this year really do deserve special mention.
Meijer stepped in as the lead sponsor this year, and corporate sponsors included Comerica Charitable Foundation, AT&T, DTE Energy, Ford Motor Company, HAP, New Detroit’s Cultural Exchange Network and Yelp. Media sponsors Metro Times, MyDamnChannel, WDET 101.9 FM and WHFR-FM 89.3 supported the event as well.
The Arab American National Museum, New Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and ACCESS (Arab Community Center of Economic and Social Services) deserve tons of credit for having the heart and determination to make the Concert of Colors happen.
The two-day festival was over all too soon, but that just makes us anticipate future Concert of Colors even more!
Missed it? Check out my Concert of Colors preview over at The Urbane Life to see more about this year’s festival or check out the Concert of Colors Web site.
Want to hear more great Detroit talent? Check out MyDamnChannel for clips from the 2008 Concert of Colors Super Session I and watch the site for future posting of clips from the 2009 Concert of Colors Super Session II.
And if you really want to be part of the team that makes a 2010 Concert of Colors a reality, consider making a donation to be a Concert of Colors “Groupie”. Groupies receive perks like reserved seating at Main Stage shows and a T-shirt. People may ask why pay for a “free” event—but we jumped on this deal when organizers first made it available a few years ago, and it’s worth every single penny to support this event.
© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved
Sounds like it was a great time with some fabulous music. I wish we could have made it but we just had too much going on this weekend.
Thanks for the awesome overview of the festival.
Posted by: Becks Davis | July 21, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Becks-this is always one of our favorite events of the summer! The Super Sessions are especially great with the way that they showcase so much great homegrown talent! You don't think about how rich and deep the talent pool in Detroit really is, and continues to be, until you see one of these revues.
Posted by: Dominique | July 27, 2009 at 06:20 PM