FINAL WEEKS! (248) 745-8668
"Get Up and Dance!"
HOUSEPARTY
— Martin Kohn, Detroit Free Press
from page 67
you are going to forget some things."
Klein and his bandmates — lead
singer Peter Wolf, guitarist Jerome
,----Iay" Geils, harpist and harmonica
player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz
and keyboardist Seth Justman — have
reunited for a 17-stop tour of the
United States, with three performances
slated for Detroit at Pine Knob Music
Theater on July 2, 3 and 14.
It is going to be a great time. We
plan to do a retrospective from the first
album through Freeze Frame," Klein
adding that the band members
are not sure if they will release any new
material during the tour.
"There are aoinab to be a lot of
people who come to the shows who
.were fans back in the '70s and '80s,"
said Klein. "We want to make sure
they hear the songs that they know."
Klein first performed before a
rowd at his bar mitzvah in Jersey
City, N.J. The product of a marginal-
ly religious family, he said he was
taken aback when he got before the
congregation.
0 0
"l'had the longest haftorah of the
year," he recalled. "[Being on the
bima] is like performing. That is the
part that makes you into a man, I
,-,appose.
In the mid-1960s, Klein began his
college studies at Worcester Tech in
Massachusetts, where he met Geils and
Salwitz, two fellow engineering students
who had an amateur interest in blues.
The trio began a jug band, playing
acoustic guitar, washboards and jugs.
Their local success convinced them
move to Boston to play in bars,
where Geils picked up the electric gui-
tar, Klein picked up the bass and
Salwitz learned the harmonica.
Vocalist Wolf and drummer Stephen
Jo Bladd, both formerly of the Boston
band Hallucinations, soon joined
them. By 1968, organist and vocalist
Justman came aboard and the band
began to tour. A recording contract
ith Atlantic followed two years later.
As a matter of coincidence, all of
the Detroit-bound members of the
band are Jewish — except Geils. "He
is our token non-Jew," Klein said,
laughing.
The band landed a few Top 40
albums in the early to mid-1970s,
but it wasn't until 1978 with
\-crznctuary, an album that marked
their departure to EMI, that it gained
a wider audience. The raucous 1980
hit "Love Stinks" helped to gain the
recognition that set the stage for the
wildly popular album Freeze Frame in
1981.
That album featured the title track
and the No. 1 hit "Centerfold," both
songs that helped the album gain No.
1 standing on the Top 40 charts.
That same year, the band toured
with the Rolling Stones, a high point
for Klein.
"There were a lot of fun times we
had together in 17 years," Klein said.
"Touring with the Stones was both
an honor and a pleasure. "
But the high didn't last. Although
the band released the moderately suc-
school, he worked in small restau-
rants as a pantry chef, baking bread
and making desserts. But after about
seven years, he dropped out of the
culinary arts to pursue music once
more, touring with blues artist
Debbie Davies and eventually form-
ing a blues band.
"I started playing again because I
missed it, and I didn't realize how
much I missed it until I started play-
ing," he said.
The J. Geils reunion happened
when John Baruck, a manager for
REO Speedwagon, suggested the
group get together for a touring gig
— without a record deal. The pro-
posal pleased all of the bandmates
who plan to tour. In fact, only drum-
mer Bladd will not return, reportedly
due to an injured back.
"We come in, we play, we see
where it goes," Klein said. "There is
less pressure, less entanglements, no
long-term commitments.
Klein is particularly pleased to be
returning to Detroit, a city he called
the band's "second home." Although
the J. Geils Band originated in
Boston, they were often associated
with the Motor City sound, even in
their hometown.
"You know," said Klein, "we are
from Boston. I came home one day
and was in a bar. Some [people] came
up to me and said, 'What are you
doing in town?' I told them I lived
[there]. They were surprised. They
thought we were from Detroit. Detroit
is a very, very special place for us."
As for the future of the band, none
of the members is committing to
plans for the years to come, Klein
said. If the tour goes well, they will
contemplate a new release or another
tour. If not, they still would like to
see each other once in a while.
"We figure, once every 15 years or
so, we should get together to make
sure we remember the songs," said
Klein. Pi
"
Danny Klein: "Detroit is a very, very
special place for us."
cessful Showtime! the next year, the
band members soon had a falling out
and their personal relationships began
to crumble.
Tension was brewing between the
songwriting team of Wolf and
Justman. During one 1983 recording
session, Wolf left when the band
refused to record music written by
Wolf and other writing partners.
Although Justman assumed the vocals,
the band was never the same. It put
out the unsuccessful You're Getting'
Even While IM Getting' Odd in 1984
and broke up shortly after.
In their solo careers, Wolf, who
was once married to actress Faye
Dunaway, went on to record Lights
Out, a successful album. He also per-
formed with the House Party Rockers
and recently released another solo
album, Fool's Parade.
Jlistman produced albums for
Deborah Harry. Geils retired for a
short time to his horse farm but
reunited with Salwitz in 1993 to form
a blues band called Bluestime. Bladd
spent time with his family.
Klein initially dropped out of per-
forming to pursue another passion:
cooking. After attending culinary
The J. Geils Band visits Pine
Knob Music Theater, with spe-
cial guests Toots and the
Maytals, 7:30 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, July 2-3, and 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 14. Tickets for
July 2 are sold out. Tickets for
July 3 and July 14 are $37.50
pavilion/$20 lawn and are avail-
able through Ticketmaster, (248)
645-6666; or the Pine Knob Box
Office, (248) 377-0100.
then enjoy
Join the happy couple as they tie the knot,
the reception, which includes a pasta supper, wedding cake
and a champagne toast. You can interact with a variety of
lovable lunatics and zany relatives, throw some rice, kiss
the bride or dance with the groom to a live band!
BALI THEATRE (2nd floor)
40 W. Pike St., Pontiac, Michigan
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RSVP (248) 745-8668
BOX OFFICE: 8 W. Lawrence St. Pontiac
and at all n«tea Outlets
Great Seats for June! Farewell Detroit!
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. 1999
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Detroit Jewish News IA