Seems as though everyone knew a beautiful
dreamer when they were in high school who said, “I’m
heading to California to make it in a rock & roll
band.”
At Pleasant Plains High, our traveling man
was Bill Laymon, and he did go to the land of the do-re-mi — and guess
what? He did make it in a rock & roll band. After several
years of playing bass for anybody and everybody around Santa Cruz
and the Bay Area, he landed a gig with the New Riders of the Purple
Sage. That particular position propelled him into the thick of San
Francisco music mayhem. The late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
was an original NRPS member, and Phil Lesh, the Dead’s
bassist, produced their first record. Peter Rowan wrote their big
hit “Panama Red,” and David Nelson, a lifelong friend
of Garcia’s, was a founding member. The group had steady
bookings for many years, until John Dawson, the main songwriter and
frontman, moved to Mexico for a well-deserved and sorely needed
break from the rigors of rock & roll. After that, Laymon stayed
with Nelson and, along with Barry Sless and Mookie Siegel, formed
the David Nelson Band. DNB spent the next several years
crisscrossing the United States, playing every imaginable venue,
from beautiful old theaters to decrepit taverns. In
2000, DNB was the featured band at the famed Kerrville Music Festival,
outside Austin, Texas, where founder Rob Kennedy called them “the
best band in America today.” The mixture of Grateful Dead-style jamming
with original songs was a winning combination and allowed the group
to cash in on Nelson’s Dead connection (he played acoustic
guitar on the early ’70s albums) while pursuing their own
artistic direction. After years of hard travel and boom-or-bust
payoffs, the group slowed down the bookings a few years ago. Sless
and Siegel are now playing a high-profile gig with Phil and
Friends, Lesh’s current project of ever-changing musicians
and music. Laymon has returned to the land of his formative years
to rest, recuperate, and, of course, continue making music with the
world.
Bill Laymon hosts an open mic (both acoustic
and electric acts are welcome) at Marly’s Pub (9 W. Old State
Capitol Plaza, 217-522-2280), 9 p.m.-1 a.m. every Tuesday, starting
Dec. 13.
Calling all bands
willing and able to do battle for the opportunity to perform at the
Firehouse, located at the corner of Fifth and Monroe: Report for
duty to Mark Ballinger (217-522-1717 or burnone978@aol.com)
sometime in the next week. Bands play on a Sunday, Monday, or
Tuesday night. A contract for gigs on selected Saturday nights over the
next six months will be awarded to the winning group. Bands will be
judged on the basis of audience interaction and the register. May the best band win,
and remember: Those not chosen as the ultimate victor may be
awarded gigs as well — think of it as a live audition.
Clear the decks and
duck your head: Friday, Dec. 9, marks the return of the Bottle
Rockets to the Underground City Tavern (700 E. Adams St.,
217-789-1530). Their August show was a bang-up, knockdown affair in
which the pride of Festus, Mo., rocked a full house. Since then,
the group has finished recording a new CD, now in the mixdown
stage. It features, among other songs, a tune by the newest Bottle
Rocket, Springfield resident and St. Louis native Keith Voegele.
The singing bass player singlehandedly rescued the Rockets from
rock & roll oblivion last spring when he joined the band.
Perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration, but we sure like Keith,
and the Bottle Rockets have been hotter than a firecracker since he
joined the band. The Damwell Betters, the latest project by Josh
Catalano of Mugshot fame, open the show at 10 p.m. Advance tickets
are available (and highly recommended) at Recycled Records (625 E.
Adams St., 217-522-5122) for $12 ($15 at the door).
It’s hard
enough to believe that John Lennon is dead, but it’s perhaps
even more difficult to comprehend that it’s been 25 years
since he was murdered outside his New York City home.
Springfieldians will gather at the Douglas Park bandshell for a
memorial tribute to the multitalented genius at 1 p.m. Saturday,
Dec. 10.
The one and only B.B.
King returns to the University of Illinois at Springfield’s
Sangamon Auditorium on Feb. 12. Tickets for the newly octogenarian
bluesman go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 9, at the Sangamon
Auditorium ticket office (217-206-6160 or 800-207-6960) or online
at www.sangamonauditorium.org.
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2005.
