Drew's Corner — Maximus Wax

Andrew’s Corner

“Chief Cat Herder” for the Madison Area Ukulele Initiative (MAUI). Andrew Wilke is a household name in the state of Wisconsin, teaching people about community through the magic of the Ukulele. He holds classes in Madison, WI. You can reach him through his website: www.MAUImadison.com. (Drew’s link to his website is below. His musical tastes range broader than most anyone I have known. Proof of that is in his Ukulele version of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train. He has always been ahead of the curve with discovering music and has agreed to occupy a corner of my site to help introduce you to new albums of music. I would like to start by giving you my top 10 albums that he launched my vinyl obsession with. So many years ago. With new suggestions from him to follow. I personally think that these albums will help you broaden horizons, and widen your listening experience. So let’s start shall we…..

Andrew's Website Link

The introduction I had to this album was unlike any other that I have ever had before, or ever will again. One night my brother was in his room, doing a school project I believe. I remember it like it was yesterday. Here I am this little kid, maybe 10/11 years old, and my brother says…”hey little brother, come in here, I want you to listen to something”. Now this wasn’t the traditional big brother situation, where I come in and he blasts some rock tune on his stereo for me and talks the whole way through it. No, this was Andrew Wilke we are talking about here. The man that goes to the beat of a different drummer. It made all the difference. He proceeds to tell me to lay down on his bed, and then hands me a set of headphones. He tells me to just relax, close my eyes, and let this music take me where it wants me to go. He then drops the needle, turns out the bedroom light, walks out of the room and closes the door. In complete blackness, with only the light from his Pioneer receiver and the strobe speed light from the turntable for ambiance, I heard the first notes of George Winston’s composition ‘Colors Dance’. Let me tell you, that there are only a few times in life when I was this moved by a piece of music. That’s the truth. Maybe Rush’s Time Machine tour, when the song Marathon was played outside at the MN. state fair. Or maybe John Denver’s ‘Flying for Me’, for the shuttle crew that perished in that horrible accident. But, even so, this was something I had never heard before. Life stopped, or you could say it just began, I suppose, also. It was a solo piano piece like nothing that had ever entered my ears before. It wasn’t classical, it wasn’t rock, it wasn’t easy listening… it was absolutely engulfing. Sad was an understatement. But, not a bad sad. It was a beautiful sad. It was the first time in my life that I felt a beauty in death. I say this because, the song is clearly about the dying that surrounds the FALL Season. The colors, the smell, the harvest, and the longing to stay in that place before the brutal Winter season hits. This music, as Salieri said about Mozart, “this…. this was a music like I had never heard before. Such longing”. It was a 10 min journey to another world, and the first time in my life that I can honestly say that I was 100% not focused on myself and my surroundings. After it was done, it took me weeks to get over the feeling that it bestowed upon me. To me, it was a transformation. I became a more whole person after ‘Colors Dance’. Since then I picked up pretty much everything George has ever put out on WH records. And one magical eve, years and years later, Drew and I got to see him play that song live at the Riverside Theatre in Milwaukee WI. There were no microphones for the whole concert. It was simply George and a Piano. It smoked me just as much then, as it did when I was a child. That bedroom journey I took as a little boy was life changing. It steered me to a different course. How lucky am I to have a brother like that? Completely priceless, these experiences are. Especially to a little boy. When you are younger is when you are shaped and molded. I have taken this lesson to my parental roles of today. It is so important to capture those moments, and remember them. I am so grateful. To this day, that song remains unparalleled in so many ways. But there is always room for more. The glory of vinyl, is that I can go back to that day, all I have to do is drop the needle…

So…… Here it is! Enter the mighty Frank Zappa. I could write for hours and hours in this Dept. Frank is the epitome of originality. Just like another Frank says, “I did it my way”, it can be said that Zappa did it HIS way from beginning to end. So because Frank is such a huge subject for me to talk about, I would like to keep this short and sweet, because there are going to be many Zappa albums being reviewed here. So lets focus on the “my way” quote from Mr. Sinatra, to give us a direction here. Being a follower is not how you make your mark in this world. If you are constantly trying to be someone else, you will never carve your own path. That’s what this album did for me. Taught me to carve my own path. Be true to myself. That message is very upfront from the opening track, ‘The Central Scrutinizer’. Frank made a career out of explaining ideas in a very direct, but whimsical way. He believed that censorship of any form was wrong. So he took music in a very different direction. This album is about the comical side of the music industry, but yet the reality behind it. Starting from the basement of any Joe Shmoe, all the way through the end and stagnation of a music career, he explores the humor, stupidity, reality, and idiocrisy of what people call the ‘music business’. It was a lesson that most of us had to learn the hard way. But, I think that Frank nails the idea that you gotta be nuts to want to be in this industry. At the same time he celebrates the uniqueness, and chaos of it all. Millions enter the business and a few survive. Of the few that survive, and those blessed with longevity, there are only a microcosm of people who actually have something of substance to offer. I always listen to interviews with young, blossoming, hopefuls, asking their heros the question…”what kind of advice do you have for someone like me trying to get into the business?” If I was the ‘celebrity’ musician getting interviewed, I would say 2 things… 1. Don’t do it, and 2. If you want the answer to that question, Listen to Zappa’s album, ‘Joe’s Garage’. Period

Some people remember their first kiss, first car, first time they rode a bike…

Me… I remember my first autograph. It was at State Fair Park on a small little stage as big as an ice cream truck, that Corky Siegel played for an audience of about 20 people. Amongst those 20 people were my Mom, Drew, and I. I remember the anticipation of waiting to see Corky. It was truly the magic that people forget about later in life. Excitement of being somewhere to see someone that you have heard only on an album in your brothers room. Which is where Corky was introduced to me.

To this day I don’t think I ever asked my brother where he heard of Corky. All I remember is that I would hear this killer piano player, and solid band playing this crazy song about Lake Michigan. It turned out to be the ‘Southwest Coast Blues’. I have a sense of pride being from the Great Lakes area. It is a special area. It is blue collar. It is down home people. I can’t help but be drawn to songs about it. There are other artists like Bob Seger of Michigan, or Gordon Lightfoot from Canada. I just relate to these. And Corky really clicked with me. He was tangible. He wasn’t sooo big time that you could ‘get close’ to him. So my Mom and Drew took me to see him. I think my Mom totally loved this idea, and it was clearly because the music of Frank Zappa was being smothered by this wholesome dude Corky Siegel. She tried everything to try and smother her little boy being influenced by Mr. Stinkfoot himself. Which was cool because I ended up being influenced by both anyway!!

So after the concert we all went backstage. My mom pulled out these rectangular pieces of paper and a purple pen, and here he was addressing autographs to this little star struck boy. Drew thought it was so cool that his little brother had these signatures that he took the pieces of paper home and made a plexiglass worshiping monolith for his little brother. Was one of the coolest things anyone has ever done for me.

Over the years that plexiglass worshiping autograph monolith has been lost to time. I haven’t seen it for 25 years. It’s a shame. But what remains is the memory. That’s what matters. When I think about it, it’s like I am there. Crazy but I can still picture the whole experience like it was yesterday.

I lost touch with Corky and his music as I grew up and grew outward musically. And I discovered the blues later in my life through Stevie Ray Vaughn. One day surfing youtube, I came across Corky and saw he had a new thing happening. It was with his old partner Jim Schwall. I got hooked again. During that time I was looking on Ebay for a Vox Wah pedal that SRV used to play from the 60’s, and found one for sale. I bought it. It was sent to my house with a note inside revealing that the seller is Jim Schwall. He thanked me for my purchase and left an autograph in the box. So here Corky was, indirectly, leaving an imprint years and years later. Synchronicity. That pedal is still in my amp setup to this day.

When my brother got rid of his records, this was the main one I wanted. Luckily, it came with his collection. Still jam Corky to this day. And I take with me a lyric from him that I will remember for the rest of my life. I pretty much live by it’s creed. “I’ve been sitting here thinkin’, I’m gonna have to be here till the very end… waiting for the palm trees to grow on the southwest coast of Lake Michigan… Ahhh yeah'“!!

Corky jamming Southwest Coast Blues 2020

Henry John Deutschendorf (John Denver), without a doubt is the most important musical recording artist to emerge for me. When most people hear his name they think, the round eyeglass wearing, mop haired hippy from the 70’s that sang with the Muppet’s, and wrote corny songs about love, his wife, and family. This could not be further from the truth. John crossed boundaries. He started his career in the 60’s with the Chad Mitchell Trio, went solo during the ‘summer of love’, and finally hit with his song, ‘Country Roads’. But this song did not find him fame directly. It was through Peter, Paul, and Mary singing, ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’. You see John is a songwriter. And a songwriters songwriter at that. As his career blossomed he honed his craft to rise above all others to become the biggest selling artist of the 70’s. His songs were so powerful, honest, and capturing, that he actually influenced people to move out west. There were Americans that actually took to his concept of ‘Rocky Mountain High’. My brother was one of them. He didn’t move there, but traveled there many times. He couldn’t tell me different. He even took me once. All that aside, John had powerful songs. His gift for melody and simplicity was monstrous. He wrote about the environment, nature, the sea, the Earth, space, mythology, spirit (way before Nugent did), connection, bewilderment, and our growing connection with the planet. His music/songs evolved into unique compositions stepping way outside of the usual chord progressions known to us all. Song’s like ‘Whalebones and Crosses’, ‘Songs Of’, and his towering song ‘Spirit’ were great examples of that concept. He put you out on the sea with Jacques Cousteau and Calypso. And I mean that song really puts you there. Out on the sea. Not too many writers can do that.

This album was a departure from that type of writing. Three quarters into his career it was a look inward for once. ‘Seasons of the Heart’ was a look at himself and his demons, failures, and dreams. This album came along at a very unique time for me. I was in love, and on the end of a relationship. Songs of John’s struggles became mine through this album. ‘Heart to Heart’, ‘Seasons of the Heart’, ‘Islands’, and especially ‘What one man can do’, became my emotional go to.

This concert was my first John Denver concert as a little boy. And to this day, I have never been captured with any artist, as John grabbed me. He was so genuine up there on stage that I can honestly say he loved what he did. He would have done it for no money. As long as you listened and he had an audience. It was a lesson I learned that I took with me as I toured playing. It was also the reason I got out, because that honesty I thought was rampant through the whole industry was not. Turns out I think I have met 1, maybe 2 other people in the industry that felt the same way. Made me want no part of it at all. But years later it made me look at him with even more respect that he held that attitude for most of his career.

After ‘Seasons of the Heart’, John lost himself as a writer. His life was destroyed by his marriage breaking up, and his disloyalties to his wife. His writing was never quite the same. There were songs that were good here and there, but he never quite got back on the horse. This is oh so symbolized metaphorically as he walks down the stairs on the front cover. But here, nor there, this album was his ‘9th symphony’. It is a masterpiece. He truly peaked here. There are few, and I mean few artists that you can say define their own genre. Zappa was one, Rush is another, and John Denver was the top of them all. For me. Maybe for you? You’ll never know unless you listen. Thanks to Drew for spinning this record and listening to what was not necessarily ‘top of the pops’. Your little brother was definitely listening.

I remember on days when the parents were not home, especially on evenings, my brothers bedroom door would open up and 2 artists would emerge at higher volume. Frank Zappa and Jean Luc Ponty. Oddly enough the 2 are related. Frank was responsible for turning out the greatest talent in the business. Jean played on many a Frank project. Oddly enough, I never knew that until years later having a conversation with Drew that this was the case. I thought they were separate finds. If there was a root to my love of ambient and jazz music, it is this album. Jean Luc Ponty is a genre of music onto himself. In this album there are vintage sawtooth synths, electric violin, Randy Jackson’s masterful bass playing (yes he was not always on “American Idol”), and ambient waves of music through out. Synchronicity is what this album is all about for me. I used to frequent a music store in Milwaukee known as “Uncle Bob’s” Music. It used to be owned by a guy by the name of Daryl Sturmer. Never really gave a care about that name until one day in my 20’s I read the credits on this album. It just so happens he play’s 2 solos on this album. Sometimes it amazes me how much talent came out of Milwaukee, yet the town is cursed by cover music domination. A topic for another time perhaps. But to stay on track, the most important track to me is “Once a Blue Planet”. It is the first time that I could picture what the artist was portraying in his music. For the first time I could relate musical emotions to physical surroundings. Just amazed the hell out of me. This song is just an overlying sadness of what we humans are doing to our planet. Jean really hit it on the head. And as I said before, my love of ambient music is due to this song. It was the first time I ever sat back and went soaring to other places, letting my mind fly. A thing I love to do. My collection is strong in the Ambient genre. But I can go there, after another album pops up on Drew’s list soon enough. The album cover in the picture is my brothers actual album from 40 years ago. How awesome it is to have attained it. It is one of the few I have from him. Onto number 8…

I remember 2 people when I hear the opening acapella, “Let me bring you Songs From the Wood”. My Uncle Frank Behrendt and My Brother Drew. Matter of fact, I believe that my Uncle actually had my brothers old turntable at one point. I remember it sitting on his dresser in my Grandpa’s house. To be honest, I hated this album when they would play it. It was a channel changer for me. But, what is really cool about it is, it is kind of like when you ate brussel sprouts as a kid. They sucked right? But somewhere in your 20’s you have them again in a meal and really dig them. Or kind of like having a beer at 10 and thinking my god what the hell is so special about this?. But, then approaching your 30’s you are getting all hoity toity with German Lager. That’s this album. It really is the German Lager, a Hofbrau Maibock if you will.

This album went from a hated annoyance to a masterpiece in my mind. One day I spun my Uncle Frank’s copy and as each track dropped I was like, Holy Shit. These guys are serious business. Ian Anderson’s writing is like no other in history. It is Celtic, British, American, Progressive, Eclectic, and Harmonic. There really is no way to describe a genre. It is simply Tull. That’s it. It is a combination of lush harmonies, gypsy melody overtones, beautiful overdriven Marshall amps from the 70’s, and billowing flute puffs both quiet and aggressive. Time signature change is throughout every composition, however, somehow Ian keeps you latched on thinking that you can tap your foot to it. But, that is not very possible. Try it. You will see what I mean. Simply original.

Upon falling in love with this album, I went out and bought the whole collection. They have become one of my favorite bands of all time. Maybe they could become yours? They are truly the beginning of progressive music. You can’t tell me Dream Theatre didn’t dig these guys. Tull is the shoulders that most bands of that genre stand on. They are BIG SHOULDERS!