DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski, Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe. So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs!
With Gratitude For Gena Rowlands, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Quarry, Leo Gorcey, Arthur Alexander and Joey Heatherton, Your Splendid Bohemian, Rich Buckland.
DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENT "DOUBLE TROUBLE" DOUBLE STANDARD: A CHEATER’S PURGATORY - A LANDSCAPE OF DECEPTION DELINEATED BY DON COVAY, MASTER OF MUSICAL PAIN AND PRIDE. FEATURING DON COVAY AND PETER WOLF. DOUBLE DOWN!
When it comes to infidelity: can we have our cake and eat it too?
In the following two songs, written by the incomparable Don Covay, this theme is explored. The two men narrating these tales of inconstancy are in turmoil - one cheater feels guilty, while the other betrayer is suffering from hurt pride - because his woman is playing the same game. The soulful bard who created these parables of marital strife covers the gamut here: in the first you’ll hear the voice of the creator himself, Mr. Covay, on a special alternate track of “I Was Checking Out While She Was Checking in”; the second song, “I Stole Some Love” features one of his best interpreters, Peter Wolf, of the J. Geils Band.
Donald James Randolph, aka Don Covay aka “Superdude” left us in 2015 with a legacy of pungent excavations of the human psyche, often delivered with toe tapping, humorous perfection. Although he was a charismatic performer in his own right, he was known predominantly as a songwriter with an unerring instinct for hits. Starting out in the fifties as a chauffeur and opening act for Little Richard, Covay went on to pen a raft of chart toppers such as Mercy Mercy (recorded by the Stones), See Saw, and Chain of Fools, for which Aretha Franklin won a Grammy.
But it was in ’72, doubling as an A&R man for Mercury Records, that Don hit performing pay dirt with “Superdude,” which contained the following song-monologue, which we are honored to present here with this alternate take, where the singer ruminates on the irony of his unique situation.
In ’92, Don suffered a stroke, and Ronnie Wood of the Faces and the Stones, produced a tribute album entitled “Back to the Streets” which contained the Covay classic “I Stole Some Love,” delivered here with characteristic swagger by the one and only Peter Wolf - former front man for the J. Geils Band.
79 years old and still going strong, the ex late night DJ “Woofa Goofa”, turned undeniable Rock Star and raconteur, has recently delivered an engrossing memoir “Waiting on the Man: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses” about his life’s journey, and the iconic artists he’s encountered along the way- starting with his stint studying art at Tufts University, and rooming with David Lynch. (He was also married to Faye Dunaway for five years)…, so he knows a lot about a lot of stuff, including failed romance. And, on this cut, his tortured vocal attests to the emotional vise he’s caught in.
