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Bobby Z and the 2nd Annual Benefit 2 Celebrate Life 2013
http://www.startribune.co...194535821/
Revolution drummer Bobby Z had two things on his mind: His second annual "Benefit 2 Celebrate Life!" and sharing his appreciation for his former boss and current best friend, Prince. Heart attack survivor Bobby Z wanted to talk about two things close to his heart: His second annual “Benefit 2 Celebrate Life!” and Prince. “Prince is my best friend, ” said Bobby Z. “I always knew from the very first day I saw him play that he was the greatest entertainer who ever lived. He reaffirmed that [recently] at the Dakota. He was my friend first. He was my boss and he remains my best friend now.” Bobby Z is thankful for all the prayers of Prince fans who sprang into action in 2011 when a heart attack threatened the Grammy-winning drummer’s life. “I could feel your prayers,” Bobby Z said. “I’d like to thank all the fans for all their support, for all I’ve been through. In the hospital I could feel your prayers, the love. It helps me to this day.”
This brush with death has made him “more appreciative.” To show his gratitude, Bobby Z is doing another musical fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
“To give back last year, we brought together the Revolution for a reunion. You can never top that, but we’re going to try this year at the second annual ‘Benefit 2 Celebrate Life!’ with events Friday and Saturday at First Avenue.
“Friday night we kick it off with just Questlove in the Record Room at First Avenue. What a beautiful friend. He’s doing his DJ set. Saturday we have Alexander O’Neal, Stokley, Nicholas David. That’s just the opening act. And the [SNL alum] Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum will be ‘Princess,’ which is not a Prince tribute band. They take this very seriously. They will do some amazing Prince songs with a little help from Questlove, Dr. Fink, Dez Dickerson, yours truly. Then we will go into the past with the original Prince backup band including André Cymone. We’re going to have a good old time playing some rock ’n’ roll.” Get more details at Mypurpleheart.org. The companion startribune.com/video with this interview includes a few frames of me getting my first drum lesson — and from a legend — at Todd Fitzgerald’s Winterland Studios in New Hope. Bobby Z tried to teach me “a basic two-four beat.” Even simple drum riffs are quite a bit more complicated than they appear. “Give yourself some credit. You got it. Pat yourself on the back. Some people can never get it,” said Bobby Z. I only felt as though I sorta got it.
Q As a member of Prince’s first band, the Revolution, are you disappointed that Prince didn’t make you his musicians for life the way Bruce Springsteen has his band mates? A No. Q Do you feel like you were properly compensated for the Revolution given how successful that band was? A Yes. Q Why haven’t more musicians who’ve worked with Prince parlayed that connection into bigger careers? A I think that you pretty much are responsible for yourself. What you do with him is what you do with him. And what you do without him is on you. If you don’t have your expectations or self-actualization in the right place, you might end up somewhere else than you think you should be. But the public has a funny way of correcting your music career if you think you’re too big for your britches. Q Aren’t you glad I didn’t wear my buttless breeches today? A Yeah. I definitely say yes to that. Q Were you type-cast as an electronic drummer because you played electric drums, as opposed to real drums, for a period of time? A No. I started out as a drummer, and with Prince we pioneered electronic drums and brought them to be playable. But if you watch the last few tours I did — the “Parade Tour, ” some of those other tours — I was playing the drums to beat the band. I felt very happy being the muse for electronic drums. Q Do you have a favorite Prince song? A “Purple Rain” is my favorite Prince song, because it’s “Purple Rain.” Q Have you ever thought about writing a book about Prince? A No. Q No? If you outlived him could you write a book about Prince? A No. Q What accounts for you being such a loyal person? A My heart. Q Who are the best drummers going now? A Well, there are so many. I love the guy who plays for Adele [Derrick Wright]. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is absolutely amazing. The drumming on the Foo Fighters is spectacular. My favorite drummer, historically, is John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. I think he changed everything in the way we look at drumming. Q What makes a drummer good? A Three elements: Timing — a drummer is nothing more than a human clock. That is what keeps the song going. The way they hit the drums, the tone of the drums. And technique, the ability to play proficiently. Q Can you imagine Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Rosemary Clooney or Anita O’Day lip-syncing the national anthem at the inauguration? A Don’t be so hard on those people lip-syncing. Those are big productions, and the weather, and the band — you don’t know all the variables there. Everybody’s picking on ’em like they’re Milli Vanilli. It’s tough to get all that right. Q Has singing to a recorded track become too much of a crutch for today’s singers? A If you are a perfectionist and you want it perfect, I don’t know. We all know Beyoncé can sing. To get it perfect for TV? I wouldn’t call it a crutch. On “Saturday Night Live,” if you’re sing to a track, yeah, that’s a crutch. Q Yeah, Ashlee Simpson, I’m still talking about you. A I’ll let you say that. Q Whose version of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” do you prefer — Marvin Gaye’s or Gladys Knight & the Pips’? A Marvin Gaye. Q Would you have outlawed the sampling of music if you had that authority? A No. I think they got it right, eventually, to give credit to the people who made it. Once they figured out, if the songwriters were incorporated in the whole thing, when it gets redone, then I think it’s OK. Q You’re a rock ’n’ roll drummer married 29 years to Vicki. What’s your secret? A I started very young, I got to have a great career, and I married the right woman. Q Which of these singers would be your choice for someone with whom you’d tour: Angela Bofill, Patti Austin or Anita Baker? A Probably Anita.
Q This is not a Prince question: Who’s a music diva in the best sense of the word? A Beyoncé. Lately, if you saw that Beyoncé movie, that woman is serious. She is definitely one for the ages. Q Again, this is not a Prince question: Who is a music diva in the worst sense of the word? A It’s hard to say what drives people to perfection. I’ll pass on that. C.J. interviews are edited for space and clarity. She can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9.
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March 9.2013 My Purple Heart benefit @ First Avenue
starring Bobby Z Dr Matt Fink Dez Dickerson & Andre Cymone
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1. Fake (Alexander ONeal) 2. A Broken Heart Can Mend (Alexander ONeal) 3. Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Nicholas David) 4. What's Goin' On (Nicholas David) 5. The Greatest Love of All (Patty Peterson) 6. Darling Nikki (Princess) 7. Let's Pretend We're Married (Princess) 8. Lady Cab Driver (Princess) 9. Head (Princess) 10. The Beautiful Ones (Princess) 11. Purple Rain (Princess) 13. Kelly's Eyes (the Rebels) 14. The Dance Electric (the Rebels) 15. Livin' in the New Nave (the Rebels) 16. When U Were Mine (the Rebels) 17. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad (the Rebels) 18. Modernaire (the Rebels) 19. Some Kind of Wonderful (the Rebels) 20. Spanish Castle Magic (the Rebels) 21. Party Up (the Rebels)
Bobby Z.'s 2nd Annual “Benefit 2 Celebrate Life” brought together fans of the Minneapolis Sound to party up for a good cause. The event, held at First Avenue & 7th St. Entry, in Minneapolis, took place at 8 p.m. March 9. It was a follow-up concert to his first fundraiser, which reunited members of The Revolution--including Wendy Melvoin, Brown Mark, Lisa Coleman, Dr. (Matt) Fink and Bobby Z. himself--, sans Prince, on the very same stage in 2012.
Proceeds from the benefit will go to the American Heart Association and Bobby Z's own My Purple Heart foundation. The goal is to promote heart health, after he suffered a near-fatal heart attack two years ago.
This year's lineup included: Princess, featuring Maya Rudolph (of “SNL” fame and currently starring on the NBC sitcom “Up All Night”) and Gretchen Lieberum; ?uestlove, of The Roots; Andre Cymone; Dez Dickerson; Bobby Z; Alexander O'Neal and Stokely Williams, of Mint Condition—among others.
O'Neal, who helped popularize the Minneapolis sound in the 1980s with cuts, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, like “Criticize,” and “Innocent” opened up the show with two of his popular songs: “Fake” and “A Broken Heart Can Mend.” It was a delight to see him, as I learned not long before the concert that he recently moved back to Minneapolis, after living abroad for several years. The crowd seemed excited to see him, too.
He was followed by Minnesota's-own Nicholas David, a finalist on the NBC show, “The Voice.” (Bobby Z. said in his introduction to the set that the hometown boy was “robbed” of a victory on the show). David sang a rousing version of “ Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Marvin Gaye's “What's Goin' On,” and O'Neal joined him for the last half of the second song. Although I don't watch “The Voice,” I have to agree with Bobby Z: David should have taken top prize on that show; his voice is amazing.
Next up was Patty Peterson, renowned jazz singer and sister of “St. Paul” Peterson, who was briefly a member of The Time and also worked with Prince on The Family project in 1985. She sang a very emotional rendition of “Whitney Houston's “The Greatest Love of All.” This performance and Bobby Z's work with the American Heart Association had significant meaning for Peterson: she said she nearly died from
a thoracic aneurysm, where the aorta deteriorates and can eventually separate from the heart muscle. I had high expectations for Princess, a Prince tribute band (for lack of a better term) and the duo did not disappoint. Their set consisted of Prince songs from from four albums: Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain. They sang a lot of the naughtier Prince material, the likes of which we won't hear live from the man himself anytime soon: “Darling Nikki,” “Let's Pretend We're Married," “Lady Cab Driver” and notably “Head.”
....
“This is a funky ass baby!” she said to the crowd. Lieberum co-signed the fact that her partner in crime is “f****** bad ass.” When Princess came back for their encore of “Purple Rain,” the crowd was so hyped, the band so tight and Princess' vocals so captivating that it gave me a inkling of what the energy must have been like when Prince was filming concert scenes for his blockbuster 1984 movie of the same name. The crowd was screaming their approval long after they left the stage.
These ladies were going to be a tough act to follow.
But, The Rebels, which included Bobby Z., Cymone, Dickerson and Dr. Fink, all members from Prince's original band formed in 1978, were more than up to the challenge.
They opened their set with “U,” a song from "The Rebels" sessions in 1979--which at that time included Gayle Chapman--, a song that only the most well-versed Prince fans would be familiar with.
Cymone had many fans ardently waiting for his return to performing and people were shouting out song requests for him after he barely hit the stage: “Kelly's Eyes!” and “The Dance Electric!” could be heard from different parts of the crowd. He acquiesced to both requests and even threw in a very brief snippet of “Livin' in the New Nave.” (I personally would have liked to hear “Don't Let the Sun Go Down” from Survivin' in the 80s, but, I wasn't bold enough to yell that out the concert).
The band ripped into “Where You Were Mine,” a rock song from Prince's Dirty Mind album. Cymone, who sang lead, had given the audience a short disclaimer before he started playing-- he said he had never sang the song live before-- but, there was no need. His falsetto and guitar playing were both on point. At one point, I saw ?uestlove move in front of the barrier near of the stage, not far from where I was standing at stage right, to snap a picture of Cymone playing guitar on his smartphone. It was pretty cool to this very famous musician capturing this iconic moment for his own personal memories. He also played drums with the band, as did Williams for the very last song.
The band also paid homage to musicians Dickerson said influenced them as young up-and-comers: they performed “Some Kind of Wonderful,” by Grand Funk Railroad and “Spanish Castle Magic,” by Jimi Hendrix.
It had been more than 30 years since these musicians graced the same stage, but, listening to them that night in top form, it sure didn't seem like it.
After their set ended many of the night's performers came back onstage— for a grand encore of Prince's “Partyup,” also from Dirty Mind.
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Bobby Z., formerly of the Revolution, is having an all star line up for his MyPurpleHeart.Org charity organization tomorrow night at 1st Avenue in Minneapolis. Questlove will also be doing a special DJ set there Friday night. His former boss, as Bobby calls him, PRINCE had a message for Bobby this week on our Spreecast show:
“PRINCE would like to thank Bobby Z. for his continued support and pledges his friendship for eternity. All the best.”
Very cool.
The Saturday event will star the tribute performance “Princess” featuring Maya Rudolph (of SNL fame) and Gretchen Lieberum , followed by a celebrity-filled concert including Questlove (of The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ), Andre Cymone, Dez Dickerson , Dr. Fink, Alexander O’Neal, Stokley (of Mint Condition), Nicholas David (Minnesota contestant from The Voice) and more surprise celebrity guest artists.
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Hanging out at Paisley Park with Prince, and took some pictures with the NPG
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the Rebels minus Gayle Chapman / Lisa Coleman & Prince
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