After a brief retirement the Whiplash band is back together for a limited time! If you've been waiting to come see the band, now would be the time!
8851 Dixie Highway, {Ira} Fair Haven. MI
May the 4th be with you! Whiplash returns to the Lighthouse Tavern in beautiful Fair Haven, on the lake.
O.K., It's actually Ira Twp., but ...
8851 Dixie Highway, {Ira} Fair Haven. MI
315 Lakeland Ave. Grosse Pointe, MI
The Junior League of Detroit's biennial Designer Show House is a fundraising event where a chosen home is essentially stripped bare, and a t...
315 Lakeland Ave. Grosse Pointe, MI
17005 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe, MI
I will have three pieces displayed in the Time/Place juried group exhibit at Posterity Gallery in Grosse Pointe. Exhibit runs through May 3...
17005 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe, MI
28410 S. River Rd, Harrison Twp. MI
Whiplash returns to Bentley's Roadhouse for another classic rock dance party. Bob says, "It's o.k. to take your snow brush out of your car....
28410 S. River Rd, Harrison Twp. MI
3001 E. 13 Mile Rd, Warren, MI
Whiplash returns to the Warren Lion's Summer Fest to support all the good work this organization does for the community. Halmich Park is on...
3001 E. 13 Mile Rd, Warren, MI
Another historic Whiplash jam at Bentley's from 2009!
Here's my take on a beautiful Simon and Garfunkel song. Sorry, Art was not available to sing harmony on this one.
This is the song I played at a memorial service for my dear friend Walter Roberts, who passed away in August 2021.
"Pools of sorrow, waves of joy."
One of my favorite Cat Stevens songs off a rather obscure album called Numbers released in 1975. I think it's the last album he did before converting to Islam in 1977 and dropping his guitar for 20 years. Lots of chord changes in this one. It took me quite a while to memorize. This is an excellent example of his percussive style of guitar,
which I have always appreciated.
This is a video I had been wanting to make for a long time. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lock down afforded me the time & space to finally get it done. If you are not a member of my family, you will not know the people in this video, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, mom & dad and brothers and sisters, but I hope the message of the song will resonate with you. We were poor, but none of us kids realized it until we grew up. And then it dawned on us that we didn't have much money,
but we were actually quite rich in every other way.
It's surprising how busy you can get being locked down during a pandemic. I didn't realize how long it had been since I put up a new video. Although it looks like I'm wearing the same shirt as in the Bill of Goods video, I'm not. I just happen to like grey clothing. Makes laundry so easy! Anyway, this song was written by Steve Goodman, although most folks are more familiar with Arlo Guthrie's cover version. I've traveled by train in the U.S., and this song captures the experience so beautifully in three simple verses.
This is a song about the iron mining country in northern Minnesota, but I sing it thinking about my grandfather Michael, who worked the Calumet-Hecla copper mine in the upper peninsula of Michigan. If you look closely, you will find his two man saw on the wall. To call it a blues song is almost an understatement. I play it simply with two chords (Dm & C) because the story is the real focal point. What Leonard Cohen called liquid poetry.
Gina and I got the chance to see Jackson Browne a couple years ago at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheater (Freedom Hill), and he put on a tremendous show. This is one of the few songs people were calling for that he didn't get to, so here is my version.
Whiplash had a talent for putting together medleys of songs. Most often it was three or four songs by the same artist, but in this case, it was three songs with Detroit connections. Back in 72 by Bob Seger, Devil With The Blue Dress and Good Golly Miss Molly, made famous by Little Richard, but covered by Mitch Ryder, and Oh Well, originally done by Peter Green and the Original Fleetwood Mac, but covered by The Rockets.
Here's another one from the same jam session. (Or maybe we were just all wearing the same clothes a week later.) A great rock and roll
song from Neil Young and Buffalo Springfield.
This song from 1994 has one of the great riffs of all time. I get to join in at the very end. It was a pretty big hit for Edwyn Collins who eventually left the spotlight to work behind the scenes as a producer. This song and a couple David Bowie tunes constituted Whiplash's venture into glam rock.
"There's too many protest singers, not enough protest songs."
Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) got stuck in my head one day, so I had to learn it. This song is moody and enigmatic, but I can't stop playing it. Some day I hope to understand what it's all about.
Perhaps it was growing up as the 12th child in a family of 13 that induced me to take a slightly unconventional path in life. I think being surrounded by so many brothers and sisters may have influenced me to become a quiet observer of others. When I was a child, adults would often ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up; a doctor; a lawyer; a fireman; a teacher; an engineer? And I always thought to myself, "None of those quite feel like me." No offense to any of those fine professions, but I always had an urge to do something a little unexpected. When I gravitated toward art as a child, my father, who was an avid book collector, began buying me used art books. I probably had a library of 30 or 40 volumes by the time I started high school. I took a year off after high school, not sure exactly what "being an artist" meant in the late 20th century. Getting a Fine Art degree was widely considered to be professional and financial suicide. At the same time I had always been told "do what you love and the money will follow." I didn't find that to be exactly true, but I found my background in the arts allowed me to eke out a living working in libraries
and museums, and, most recently, teaching foundation
art and design, and running a college book store.
For the past 12 years or so I've been a member of the band Whiplash Classic Rock. We played bars, bowling alleys, and festivals all over the east side of Detroit, and once or twice on the west side,
my old stomping grounds.
In 2015 we won a slot to be an opening act for the WCSX GM Riverfront Concert Series. We opened for Kansas in front of a crowd of 2,500 folks on the Detroit River front (some say it was 3,000 plus, but we didn't have time to count). That was definitely a high point for the band. In 2019 we decided to call it quits after more than ten years of rock and roll. The late nights, hauling and setting up a ton of equipment eventually became more work than fun, but I did enjoy making some noise with the band,
kicking out some Who, Doors or Robin Trower.
And many thanks to my brothers in arms, James Vallar, lead guitar,
Rick Crooker, bass, and Ernie Modestino, drums and vocals,
for teaching me so much about rock and roll. Also, a big shout out to Gina, my lovely wife, who allows me to have so much fun.
As it turned out, our timing was good as all the live venues stopped booking bands due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
And now, after nearly 3 years of altered reality and acoustic porch concerts, we've decided to get the band back together for a
short reunion tour. (See Events)
We'll be resurrecting most of the old set list, and, of course, introducing some new (old) tunes as well. I hope you can catch a show!
I refer to my current situation as "gainfully unemployed." I'm essentially retired, but that means gardening, making music, baking, and taking care of our home built in 1901. We recently finished a complete remodel of our kitchen. And, even though we contracted the main work, it kept me very busy. Gina and I are also the primary care givers to my 99 year old father-in-law, Gino, a WWII veteran and former POW.
****Thank you for your service!****
I'm very grateful that my lovely wife Gina puts up with me and supports all my creative habits. As I find the time, I will post more videos and artwork. During the summer of 2020 I began performing Pandemic Porch Concerts for friends and neighbors in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown. We will be doing it again in 2024, and mixing in some full band gigs as well.
Look for dates and times in the events calendar.
Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Color Photograph
3.5" x 7"
Check Events for solo acoustic and Whiplash shows.
Grosse Pointe, Michigan 48230, United States
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