Seattle Subsonic

UFO tribute Flight to Mars at the Showbox, Wishlist Foundation and David Coalter, Rock Bottom

April 12th, 2011

I get to the Showbox late, but it was unavoidable. I’d come from from a place in West Seattle called Locöl where the conversation with a woman had been too good. I lingered thus, checked my watch, spoke, listened, drank, asked, “So you want to go see Flight to Mars. I have an extra on the guest list. I’m writing about the show.” I didn’t have a plus one really, but that didn’t matter. I would have feigned dismay at the door and then bought her a ticket. The show is a benefit (see here) so I wouldn’t have minded paying. She wasn’t impressed, though, by the guest list or the writing. “I’m meeting my boyfriend later.” So I paid and hightailed it downtown.

I find my editor, Stephen, standing by the mixer. “You missed Lazy Susan,” he says, “They were good. The singer said they have another gig soon, but I didn’t catch the date.” I’d heard good things about Lazy Susan, and trusting to Stephen’s opinion, I guess they were true. I make a note to find out when their next gig is and perhaps write something about them. “You missed Mike McCready’s acoustic set too. Flight to Mars should go on soon.”

“Damn.” I’d wanted to catch that acoustic set, but the woman at Locöl got in the way, or rather the possibility of her. Didn’t pan out though. Seems I’ve hit a bottom of sorts lately in that regard. There’s a tap on my shoulder. I turn around.

“Hi!”

“Uh, hi.” It’s a bartender I see from time to time at a place in West Seattle. She serves me beers. I linger at the end of her bar.

“You’re Dave. You always drink Manny’s.” She hugs me then. Random unexpected hugs are good things. I don’t mind it of course, but I don’t understand. “Nice seeing you.” She says and then walks off.

“Do you know her?” Stephen asks.

“No. She just serves me drinks sometimes.”

“So what’s with the hug?”

“I have no idea.” It lingers in my brain though, and I hope Flight to Mars is as good as Stephen says they are or my brain will linger on it all night. We get a couple beers and get situated by the mixer as the lights go down, the stage fills with smoke, and the sounds begin.

And the 80′s are back.

The singer, Paul Passereli, is wearing a shirt with white tassels hanging from the sleeves which is something I haven’t seen at a show in years and reminds me of the first time I saw Ozzy way back in 1982. Passereli throws his arms up and the tassels hang down like feathers. The crowd erupts, and the music is good, very good. It’s rocking and LOUD and the rhythms are balanced in the mix. The song is UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” and the crowd obviously knows it. Flight to Mars has been playing these benefit shows for nine years so I assume the set is pretty well known. The bass player, Gary Westlake, told me they’d like to do more shows in the course of a year, but one is about all they can manage in twelve months given their different schedules. Still, for one show a year, they sound great, and from what I know of UFO, better than the original. That could be because it’s live, and well, live is the thing.

The music goes on. The crowd jumps, sings, screams, applauds. I do too. Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready plays guitar in the band, but the other guitarist is a guy named Tim DiJulio. And he’s good. He holds his own certainly with the likes of McCready, and the solos go on, and the crowd jumps, sings, screams, applauds. I do too. They’re excellent. You need to see them next year.

I go to the bar to get a drink and see the woman who’d given me a hug. “Hi, again. Can I buy you a drink?”

“No, thanks. My boyfriend is getting one.”

Damn.

When Flight to Mars plays “Too Hot To Handle”, the winning bidder for the Wishlist Foundation’s VIP pre-gig party auction gets to jam on stage with the band. Now, there’s a wish come true. Jamming with Mike McCready. The guy’s name is David Coalter. I don’t know how much he bid, but it has to be worth it for the benefit ($11k+ raised from the pre-gig party alone!), and more so for the memory, the experience of giving and jamming at once. Sadly for Coalter, the sound man has him turned way down, and his shining musical moment of a lifetime, playing a solo while McCready plays rhythm goes unheard. I can’t hear a note he plays. It makes me want to slap the sound man upside the head. “Man, this is his moment! Turn him UP!” You’ll notice such in the video. Coalter’s solo is just fingers moving but no sound.

Watch video

Flight to Mars closes the set with a song called “Rock Bottom” that is easily my favorite. But then each song has been. “I like this one … No, I like this one … No, this one is the best!” So it is with “Rock Bottom”. There are long solos, big choruses, “Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom!” And loads of guitar, even a Keytar in true 80′s rock fashion. And applause, lots of applause, when it’s over after two encores, “Let There Be Rock” and “Everybody Wants Some”. I feel a bit like I’m 13 again back at that Ozzy concert which was my first.

Great show.

I go then to stand by the backstage area hoping to catch Gary Westlake and get a set list from him. I wait and sing to myself, “Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom!” There’s a tap on my shoulder.

“Hi. You know these guys?”

“I know Gary a little.”

“I used to know them well. Henry (name changed to protect the innocent) taught me how to give blow jobs years ago.” I look at her. Strike three for the evening. She’s death with too much red lipstick and blond hair and weariness in the eyes and skin. Everything about her sags as she hints at the possibility of sexual favors. “Yeah, at one point he asked me if I wanted to practice more with him, but then I said I could teach him a thing or two.” She laughs, winks, touches my shoulder and back. “Who you waiting for?”

The only thing going through my head is “Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom!” And it would indeed be rock bottom. Thankfully, Westlake appears from backstage with a copy of the set list. We shake hands and chat for a quick second, and death walks off seeking another unsuspecting soul. I leave with Stephen and the list and the music in my head and think to buy a UFO CD tomorrow. If FTM sounds this good live, the CD will certainly have merit. And next year, I may just get in on that auction thing in an attempt to get on stage with these guys. The cause is good, of course, but jamming is the thing, music is the thing, live music is the thing. Music heals, but so do dollars, so yes, next year, I’ll give a few more, and hopefully jam a bit.

Dave

Photos and video by Jason Leung of Infinitum Productions