Kinks Tribute show comments

On April 30 I arranged a gig in Boston, where I was attending a teacher conference. I set aside my own songs and played a two hour tribute to the Kinks. It was fun to dig into their catalog and have a chance to play for an appreciative audience. I had "met" some of the people before on the internet, but it was fun to create an excuse for folks, friends, and families to gather out of the Massachussetts rain for an afternoon of Kinks music. Here are some comments and impressions from the participants.


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From: Cjamesmart1@aol.com
Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 20:59:14 EDT
Subject: Jim and The Bull

To All;

I just wanted to Thank Peter and Jim for a great Saturday afernoon.
Peter, as always was a kind and gracious host and Jim's show was
awesome.
I should start by saying this was a bare bones acoustic deal. Just a
guy
and his guitar.
That takes guts! Jim, I admire you for that.

Jim played a lot of great songs. Songs that we won't ever hear Ray or
Dave
play live. Songs that, if I could play the guitar, I would want to
play AND
want people to hear. It was a great mix spanning the many and varied
years of
our boys. I know somebody will post a set list but off of the top of
my head
some of my favorites were;
Supersonic Rocket Ship, a great version of You Make it All Worthwhile,
Sweet
Lady Genevieve, Groovy Movies (which I know of but never have
heard-loved
it), Scattered and many more that I can't think of right now.

Jim and Peter Thanks, again!! and Jim keep spreading the "good word"
of the
KINKS.
Chris

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From: "Peter Bochner"
Subject: Jim Smart at the Sit n Bull
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 07:33:34 -0400

Just a quick note of thanks to Jim Smart for playing the Sit n Bull on
Saturday. Jim, who said he wanted to do so just so he could entertain
and
meet some Boston-area Kinks fans, gave a bunch of us in the Boston area
an
opportunity to get together again and listen to some great Kinks songs
(36,
to be exact, by one fan's count!).

My personal highlight was getting to hear Animal Farm live for the
first
time in my life. And now, Groovy Movies has now been performed twice on
the
stage of the Bull.

Thanks again, Jim. It was great meeting and listening to you. (Also,
you now
have the honor of being the first performer my soon-to-be-four-year-old
daughter, Alexandra, has seen live.)

Peter Bochner
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From: RandyRI@webtv.net (Randy RI)
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 20:43:16 -0400
Subject: Great Job, Jim Smart!

Great job, Jim on a very nice performance of great Kinks songs at the
Bull. Thank You (and Peter for letting him do it)!

~Randy~

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From: "lew blatt"
Subject: To Jim Smart and Peter Bochner...Thank you for the Day !
Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 07:41:43 -0400

Peter hosted Jim, who turned a rainy Maynard, Massachusetts day into a
sunny
afternoon, at least inside the Sit N' Bull. Listening to the hits
emanating
from Jim's acoustic (on the very stage taken by Dave so many times),
seeing
the familiar faces at the tables, made for a wonderful break. Families
turned out with kids and kids mouthed lyrics, along with grups, to
songs,
proving once again that GOD HAS SAVED THE KinKs !

i raise my glass to Jim and Peter for making it happen again at the Sit
N
Bull !

lewelewe


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Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 10:20:40 -0400
From: Joanne Corsano
Subject: Jim Smart at the Sit 'n Bull, April 30, 2005

It was a real treat to be at the Sit 'n Bull on Saturday, April 30 for
the Maynard debut of Jim Smart performing a set of Kinks songs,
accompanying himself on guitar, and on harmonica for a few songs. Jim
played with enthusiasm, delight and good humor, to an appreciative
audience full of familiar faces. He played a wide variety of songs,
mostly obscurities that only Kinks diehards like us would want to
hear, from all phases of the Kinks career -- even from the '90s
("Scattered"). The Arista period, the '60s, and the concept album era
were all generously represented. You'll never hear that set list
again, from any solo Kink or kombination of Kinks.

Jim played almost all of his printed set list and a few others that
weren't listed. He did a very unusual, and exceptionally good
"Oklahoma USA" in which he accompanied himself on his guitar with the
riff of "You Really Got Me." He did a weird medley of "Supersonic
Rocketship" with a few lines from "Ducks on the Wall" included -- thus
proving the two really *are* the same song. Jim played two songs from
'Preservation,' saying that he has the reputation on the digest as the
guy who doesn't like 'Preservation,' he did a lovely version of "You
Make It All Worthwhile," a song that is much improved without the
'Soap Opera' dialogue; he played "Hard Way," saying that as a teacher
he ought not to be saying things like this.

Jim started one or two songs with instrumental bits that sounded like
altogether different songs; a few notes of "Lola" led into a
completely different song (might have been "Waterloo Sunset"). So, one
could say he played even more than the 36 1/2 songs I'm giving him
credit for. I'm counting "Supersonic Ducks" -- as the medley was
listed on Jim's printed set list -- as 1.5 songs. The 36 1/2 song
total does include two song fragments, but they were enough to count.

Apparently some raving Dave fan had requested that Jim include some
Dave songs. Jim says Dave songs are hard to sing because Dave "sings
high, and has quite a range," but Jim, you done good. They were great
to hear, even "Strangers" with its dizzying vocal highs and lows.
After starting his mini-Dave set with "Death of a Clown," Jim segued
into "Can't Stop the Music" as a get-well wish to Dave, then played
"Strangers," and then he played "Groovy Movies." That one has never
been my favorite song of all time, but it is a lot of fun, and it
reminded me of the time a few years back at the Bull when Dave Davies
played that song. Later Jim played "Living on a Thin Line" and
"Susannah's Still Alive," the latter of which made me painfully
nostalgic for Dave. Any time any Kinks songs are played at the Sit 'n
Bull, Dave Davies is always there.

Jim instructed the audience to sing along in a couple of cases where
the extra vocal bits were necessary, especially on "Dead End Street";
he laughed at himself at the occasional wrong lyric, knowing the
audience would notice; he handled a broken guitar string early in his
set with aplomb; on "Susannah's Still Alive" he did the very Dave-like
thing of starting the song, getting it wrong from the start, stopping
after a few seconds, and starting it over again, getting it right on
the second try. This Rainy Day in April became a Sunny Afternoon when
Jim Smart played the Sit 'n Bull.

-Joanne

Set list:

This Is Where I Belong
Apeman
Life on the Road
Misfits
Sweet Lady Genevieve
Sitting in the Midday Sun
Supersonic Rocketship (with Ducks on the Wall)
Wonderboy
Animal Farm
Come Dancing
Twentieth Century Man
Oklahoma USA
Sitting in My Hotel
Dead End Street
Hard Way
Death of a Clown
You Can't Stop the Music
Strangers
Groovy Movies
Shangri-La
You Make It All Worthwhile
Better Things
Get Back in Line
Full Moon
Schooldays
Animal (one verse)
Scattered
Waterloo Sunset
Harry Rag
Live Life
Do It Again
Living on a Thin Line
Susannah's Still Alive
Days
See My Friends (one verse)
Autumn Almanac

------------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

I'd like to thank all of you who came out to the Bull
for the Kinks tribute. I had a blast squeezing those
songs out of my guitar.

It was great to meet and see everyone. What an honor
to play on the stage where Dave Davies has played so
many times; and to have my set list written into
Joanne's notepad, the same one she has written many
Ray and Dave set lists, is more than a simple teacher
from Honolulu deserves.

My dream is to do that someday at the Clisshold Arms
in London, perhaps with folks like Geoff Lewis and
Henny. This is a wild whim, but I've had all sorts of
wonderful things happen through the years thanks to
this digest. Walks around London with locals, hikes in
Scotland, band gigs in Worcester, getting Ray's
signature on my guitar, and especially going to the
Ray Davies songwriting course back in the nineties.

This is what I've learned: I can count on KPS people
to be kind, intelligent, interesting, and fun. Lots of
amazing things are possible. Thanks again to all of
you who came, and especiallly to Peter for setting it
up and letting me play on that stage.

Fun!

Jim


Listen my Kinklings and you shall hear
Of an afternoon of guitar and beer,
On the 30th of April, 2005;
Hopefully those who made the drive
Will fondly remember that day and year.

He said to his friend, "If I bring my guitar
By land or sea from Hawaii that night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the Sit-n-Bull Pub as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the Sit-N-Bull stage will be,
Ready to play and spread some good cheer
Songs and stories for Kinklings to hear."

So through the night played Jim's guitar;
And so through the night went the songs of the Kinks
To every Boston village green, methinks,---
A broken guitar string, but with courage, not fear,
A fix in the darkness, then back to sing more,
With words that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all the Kinks history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness, with Ray's wound and Dave's
stroke,
The KPS will waken and drive in a car
To gather and listen to that Hawaii Kinks bloke,
And the Davies-penned songs on Jim's guitar.