Sordid Humor "Barbarossa"

A Throwback Tuesday post:

I'm sure there is some kind of rule that states if you're going to post some kind of Throwback song, it should be a tune that people at least vaguely remember. 

I don't think this was much of a hit anywhere, though I did play it a ton on my Alternative show in the mid-90s. 

It lives on as a curiosity, since some of the members of Sordid Humor went on to become Counting Crows, and this particular track features Adam Duritz as a guest back-up vocalist.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Ryan Adams "Answering Bell"

I had heard stories about Adam Duritz of Counting Crows taking refuge from fame by continuing to work as a bartender. And while I believed it, it was certainly still strange to see him right in front of me serving a drink.

It was especially strange, since he wasn't serving a drink at a bar, he was serving it on-stage.

He simply delivered a drink to Ryan Adams, and quickly exited the stage.

This was at Ryan Adams' show at the Paradise in Boston, October 2001, just after his "Gold" album came out. Adam Duritz had been a guest on the record, but the audience was surprised and delighted to see Duritz emerge from the wings just 3 songs into the show to recreate his back-up part of "Answering Bell."

I thought that maybe he'd stick around and be part of the fun---athletes don't want to sit on the bench---but after that song, he waved to the crowd and slipped backstage.

I wasn't surprised to see him come back on stage 20 minutes later, but I assumed it was to sing.

Nope. He just brought Mr. Adams a cocktail.

When he came out again, I thought, "Surely he'll sing this time."

Nope. Just delivering another drink. If you didn't know it was Adam Duritz, you wouldn't have even noticed him. He was just a roadie, unobtrusively slipping in and slipping out.

He did come out and sing one more time, when Adams covered "Rocketman," but that was it.

At the time, Duritz was a much bigger star than Adams. I thought it was a real display of restraint and humility, for him to behave more like a roadie who got to sing a little back up. Much respect for that.


See the video on Youtube.

I found a bootleg of this whole show. Wow!

Counting Crows "The Ghost In You"

If the Counting Crows show I wrote about this week had happened in 2009, instead of 1999, there'd be dozens of clips of it on YouTube. But I couldn't find a single clip from 1999. We didn't have video cameras in our phones, back then. In fact, if you were "mobile" at that time, you might've had a giant bag-phone.


Anyway, Adam Duritz donned the bunny ears on a later occasion, and here he sings a Halloween-appropriate cover tune.

Counting Crows “A Long December”

Some people dismiss Counting Crows, saying Adam Duritz takes himself too seriously. But if you were at The Orpheum in Boston, in 1999, you know differently.

At the time, I was still living in the South, but was coming up to New England for my sister’s wedding. As usual, I perused Pollstar.com to see if there were any good shows in Boston, on the dates I was in town.

The day after the wedding, Counting Crows were schedule to play at The Orpheum, with another favorite band, Gigolo Aunts. So I got tickets.

As it happened, the show was October 31st. Halloween. We joked about going to the show in costume.

The Counting Crows did not joke.

I’ll never forget the band taking the stage. Backlit and silhouetted, I could make out a shape.

“Is he dressed in a bunny suit?!?!?”

Yes, Adam Duritz was dressed in a giant, white, fluffy bunny suit, complete with ears.

Other band members where dress up too. The bass player performed the full show in a robe and Yoda mask. One guitarist had a red devil suit and the other was a Russian soldier. It was pretty cute.

But better than cute, it added a really interesting element to the show.

Duritz would sing these heart-wrenching, very personal lyrics, the sincerity of which was completely undercut by the fact that he was standing there dressed as a bunny. It was hard to take him seriously, and it made the whole thing totally charming.

The giant bunny sat at the piano, for a stripped down version of “A Long December.” But he had to stop and start a couple of times, because he kept cracking up, knowing how silly it all was.

I remember walking out of The Orpheum thinking, Every concert should be that good.

The interpretations of familiar songs were adventurous, the playing was impeccable, and while the music had majesty, the show was completely devoid of rock or singer-songwriter pomposity.

Like all singers, every show, should be made to dress as a bunny.