The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 134

THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1997 Al Kooper' www.alkooper.coinonc.html Rock Notes E18 Orbit hits the fast track with new 'Libido Speedway' cept to add, "We want to create more of a park, with more greenery and flower beds. I think the new Harborlights will be better than the last one." 1 I0J i year lease on the building, was four months behind in rent payments. Wright's company issued a statement this week that the current owner wouldn't accept any more rent payments because of a deal made with prospective buyers who intend to demolish the building and turn it into a parking garage, "It's unimaginable to look at this historic arts theatre and think of what a great parking garage it will be," Wright's statement said. "Unfortunately, the death of the Strand will affect Providence and music fans significantly. The entertainment market in Providence will suffer and the top names in music will once again skip this market altogether." Of course, they could go to Lu-po's Heartbreak Hotel, an excellent club nearby, though it's smaller than the Strand.

Bits and pieces: Keep an ear out for the band Godsmack. The local hard-rock band reportedly stole the show at a recent WAAF-sponsored gig on Lansdowne Street, which also featured Days of the New (the opening act for Aerosmith at the Fleet-Center Dec. 3Q and 31). Lookjor not two, but three dates by the oilman Brothers Band at Great Wopds next summer. The Allans' love Great Woods and can't seem to get enough of the place.

They're also doing 10 nights at New York's intimate Beacon Theatre starting March 3. Tonight: the Unnatural Axe reunion at the Middle East at 11 p.m., Lisa Karp at the Hard Rock Cafe's Cavern Club at 10 p.m., comedian James Cennamo at the Comedy Studio atop the Hong Kong restaurant in Harvard Square at 8 p.m., the Gravel Pit at T. T. the Bear's, Buttercup at the Lizard Lounge, Barrence Whitfield at Johnny D's, Little John at Mama Grooyasaurus at the Middle East Tojfnrow: Dennis Brennan and Deb Pasternak. the Lizard Lounge, Radio Kings at Cool, Blues in Chelsea, Merry Danksters, at the Middle East (with David Gans and members of moe), Popgun celebrates a new five-song EP at Great Scott, Boston's Orbit is made up of Jeff Lowe Robbins, Paul Buckley, and Wally Gagel.

By Steve Morse GLOBE STAFF "1 he punk-inspired Orbit I has been orbiting around Boston without much fanfare, but that's changing. Scan this year's nominations for outstanding rock band at the Kahlua Boston Music Awards and you'll see Aerosmith, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Dambuilders, Morphine and Orbit. I "It's nice, because I didn't know anybody knew we existed," says Orbit singer-guitarist Jeff Lowe Rob-bins. "At the time we got signed, there was so much happening in Boston. Jennifer Trynin was getting signed, and so was Tracy Bonham.

There were all these hyped-up things. And we thought, 'OK, let's Iceep it low So we're always surprised that people know us." "The secret is out, because Orbit has compelled attention with "Libido Speedway," which came out in February and hit hard with its buzz of guitars and adrenalized vocals, "We just wanted to make a a big, Mid, fast album," says Robbins, whose band will start recording a follow-up soon after working out new songs at a show tomorrow at tne Middle East in Cambridge. "I'm nervous about recording the songs without playing them in front of an audience first," says Robbins. The album "Libido Speedway," with its radio singles "Medicine" and "Bicycle Song," was released by Records and helped Orbit se-. cure 14 dates on this year's Lollapa-Uooza Festival mostly in the South and West It was a true coming-out party for Orbit, which formed only 'three years ago and had previously fmade just home recordings for its Town Lunch Records label.

-Orbit was the creation of Rob-. Ibins and drummer Paul Buckley. "I with me the angst of a suburban upbringing," says Robbins. grew up in Everett and Chelsea and went to military school. He 'used to get into all sorts of fights, 'while I was clueless and sheltered." the group's new songs are "a bit more deep." Look for a new record in the spring, then a summer tour, but without Gagel, since his produc-, tion commitments have grown and he won't have time to travel.

"Wally has got things pulling at him in all kinds of ways," says Robbins. "But we'll get a new bassist for the tour and we'll go on." Music world's loss: Nicolette Larson, the 45-year-old singer who came out of the southern California rock scene in the late '70s, died Tuesday in UCLA Medical Center after suffering a brain seizure over the weekend. Larson's pop hits included a cover of Jesse Winchester's "Rhum-ba Girl" and Neil Young's "Lotta she also excelled as backup singer on Young's "There Comes a Time" album. In the mid-'80s, she switched to Country music and was named best new vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1984: Since 1994, she divided her time between concerts, appearing with Jimmy Buffett, The Beach Boys, and Willie Nelson, and acting. She played a nightclub singer in "Twins." New Harborligtits in '99: Rumors continue to swirl about the future of Harborlights Pavilion, which has been a premier summer venue in recent years.

The official word from Harborlights co-owner-concert promoter Don Law is that the Harborlights will last through next summer, followed by a new Harborlights in 1999. It will not be in Chaiiestown, as has been rumored, but "we're confident it will be on another location on Boston Harbor," said Law. He wouldn't specify, ex Kooper with students: "It's a pain, hit "This Diamond Ring" for Gary Lewis the Playboys. But Kooper "really had his hip card punched," he says, when he hooked up with Dylan. "That put me on the map in terms of: a) being an organ player; and b) coming into that kind of music.

It was a very big turning point for me. Spending time with Dylan remade my personality. He was very charismatic and I had the good sense to shut up and listen. By the time Dylan's album 'Blonde on Blonde' came about we were really good friends." Kooper was also in Dylan's band when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. The two remain friends today.

Kooper last performed with Dylan at the Prince's Trust concert in Britain two years ago. His '60s recordings with Dylan were a springboard to other major sessions. One standout was playing organ, piano, and French horn on the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" He also jammed frequently with Jimi Hendrix in Manhattan, where the two lived a block apart on 12th wmwu-n 1 11 1 1 i 'V. Al Kooper at Berklee: The doctor is definitely in New Year's Eve: The most visible New Year's Eve gigs are Aerosmith at the FleetCenter and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the Worcester Centrum Centre. As for the theater level, God Street Wine flows into the Somerville Theatre.

As for the clubs: Sleepy LaBeef at Johnny D's; Mind-flow and El Camino at Mama Kin; Mudhens, Superfly, and Two Ton Shoe at Mama Kin Music Hall; Heavy Metal Horns at Harpers Ferry; Kevin Meaney at the Comedy Connection; Quintaine Americana and 8 Ball Shifter at the Middle East; Gojjam Vibration at the Western Front; the Shods and Boy Wonder at T. the Bear's; Debbie Da-vies at the House of Blues; and Calypso Hurricane at Ryles. Mark Morris Catunes perform at the Sheraton Tara in Braintree to benefit the St Coletta Day School. Call 781-273-5594. A glum Paradise staff: The Frogwings show on Sunday marked the last Paradise show for the next month.

The club received a 30-day licensing suspension, which appears to be a scapegoating of the club because it happened to be where New England Patriots Drew Bledsoe and Max Lane dove from the stage into the crowd last month. On that night a woman in the crowd was injured and she has filed lawsuits against the club and the players. "We didn't tell them to dive into the crowd," said one Paradise staffer, whose mood characterized the prevailing grimness at Sunday's show. The 30-day suspension affects 150 club employees and many were planning on that income for the holidays. Strand Theatre rebuttal: Providence's Strand Theatre (Rhode Is--land's counterpart to the Orpheum) closed recently amid bad feelings.

There were charges that Steven Wright Productions, which had a 20- huh? But it's great when you're done," Street (Kooper played on Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" album, but says their best music came at unrecorded jams.) Kooper also started the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat Tears. The first was an urban blues band with "five really different people who had nothing in common except a love of the blues and the fact we were all Jewish." As for Blood, Sweat Tears, Kooper hung around only for the first album and is miffed when people think he was there for the schlockier discs that came later. "That's the reason I left," he says. In 1972, Kooper discovered Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd in a bar in Atlanta. And, yes, they were doing 'Free the now-clas-sic tune that was on the debut album that Kooper produced.

"At that time, Emerson, Lake Palmer; Genesis; Yes; and all those progressive bands were popular," I Kooper recalls. "But I didn't really care for them too much because they just didn't rock I thought 'If I could just find a great rock 'n' roll band right now, I could makel a million Because that's what was MP iqi 1 ijiii i 'I ii mm i ii I if To this attraction of opposites was added bassist Wally Gagel, who also made a name for himself this year by mixing a track of on the latest Rolling Stones album, "Bridges to Babylon." Says Robbins: "Wally became friendly with Stones producer Don Was, and Don said, 'I'll be doing a new Rolling Stones album and I'll keep you in Wally thought, "Yeah, But then Don called him up and Wally ended up having a peak experience of sitting in a car with Mick Jagger, listening to the song's mix. Jagger turned to him and said, 'It sounds great' Gagel and his bandmates will produce the next Orbit record, though he didn't produce "Libido Speedway." That was done by Ben Grosse, who had worked with Filter, Flaming Lips, and Jane's Addiction. "Ben was meticulous about it," says Robbins. "We went from a low-fi pop background where we did things quickly, to Ben coming in and ing a lot of things.

But we feel we can do the next record ourselves." Orbit plans to retain its "raucous energy," as Robbins puts it but says own headlining gig at Harpers Ferry on Feb. 7. He'll play blues, and jazz with a quartet that includes drummer Anton Fig (from David Letterman's band), guitarist Jimmy Vivino, and bassist Mike Merritt, who are both from Conan O'Brian's band. "I'm the only one not on TV," Kooper jokes. Currently, Kooper is "retired" from the commercial end of the music business and he doesn't care who knows it "The reason I left is there's little, if no, respect for se-, niority in the music business," he says.

"From the beginning, I've known how difficult it is to get out with your dignity intact So, rather than run around in Speedos and a flannel shirt singing grunge songs, I feel I got out with my dignity intact "Also, it's a scum-sucking, snake-pit business and I'm still trying to track down my rightful royalties at this late date," he says. But Kooper loves teaching. "I've had a wonderful semester," he says. He then pulls out a business card inscribed with "Doctor Al," a nickname acquired after he received an honorary doctorate in music from Five Towns College on Long Island last spring. Kooper expects to be at Berklee awhile he's already making plans for another year and he has several other outside interests.

He writes a monthly column for the pro audio magazine EQ the Andy Rooney of pro audio, always moaning about He also hopes to gain a Saturday radio show in Boston to play some of the 10,000 vinyl records and 4,000 CDs in his collection. He's completing a new book, "Backstage Passes and Back-stabbin' Bastards," an industry memoir that Billboard will publish in August (It's an update of "Backstage Passes," released 20 years ago.) Born in Brooklyn, Kooper was raised in Queens and turned professional at age 15, playing in the Royal Teens (their immoral hit was "Short before writing the Top 10 Steve Morse it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in clubland, which is to say we're entering a slow zone. The folks running the clubs know you're probably too mall-crazed to rock, so the offerings are scant. We do, however, recommend Orbit, the American Measles, and Double Dong at the Middle East Up tomorrow night. Orbit has a lovely new Christmas song, and we bet the trio croons it for you.

(The Up, by the way, just grabbed the Quintaine AmericanaHonkeybail show once slated at the Paradise and have it on New Year's Eve.) Another Girl great moniker continues her residency at the Kendall Cafe Monday. (If only a band called Another Planet was on the bill we'd have the complete title of an Only OnesReplacements tune.) Jim Sullivan Music online Music Online is the interact, tive companion to the Globe's -j Friday music coverage. Surf to www.boston.com, and enter the keywords: Music Online. Stump That Surfer: SteveS Weisfeldt of Chelmsford, Mat-it thew Hansbury of Canton, andT Mike Mcauley of N.H., were the first three to guess the right band, Junkies, but none of them could pin down the correct which was "Angel Mine" off of "Lay It Down." This week, iden; tify the snippet from the alburn "Reading, Writing and Arithnie-, tic" by the couplewho I resurfaced in after a five-year hiatusV; The reason for their absence from the scene? Parenthood. An Internet Scavenger-Hunt: Darryl Forbes of Quincy and Jacob Barss-Bailey guessed correctly that Moby's Richard Hall acquired his nickname be- cause he claims to be the great- great-grandnephew of "Moby- Dick" author Herman Melville.

This week, tell us what famous bandleader hired Louis Arm- strong as a member in Chicago in 1922? Concerts: continues its countdown to Christmas tonight at 9 p.m. with a RealAudio broadcast of Deep Purple, while tomorrow at 9 i p.m., it plays a RealVideo re- broadcast of the Cure at the American Legion Hall in Los Angeles. Also tonight Rocktro- polis matches with its "Fistful of Christmas," a doubleheader re- broadcast of Patti Smith and Beth Orton at the tiny CBGB's club Smith's old haunt in New York's Bowery starting at 6 i p.m. On-line chats: Tonight at 7, dueling chats on Sonicnet by BT and Consolidated. UN CHOICE Look who's back from college.

It's Monster Mike Welch, the teenage blues prodigy who graduated from Lexington High School in June and is now at the University of California at Berkeley. The 18-year-old guitarist, who is New England's answer to Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang, performs tomorrow at the House of Blues. He then rocks Harpers Ferry on Dec. 26, the Muddy River Smokehouse in Portsmouth, N.H., on Dec. 27, and the Iron Horse in Northampton on Dec.

28. Also of high-octane interest: Kid Bangham, a guitarslinger who has worked with Duke Robillard, cranks at the House of Elues tonight. And, in a promising rock bill, Red Telephone and Edith hit Bill's Bar tonight. GLOBE STAFF PHOTO MICHAEL ROBINSON-CHAVEZ he tells them. missing from rock radio at the time.

And I knew 'Free Bird' was going to be huge." Among Kooper's later accomplishments were producing Nils Lof-gren's "Cry Tough" album, and playing on George Harrison's solo disc, "Somewhere in England." Kooper also released-" several solo albums, the latest being 1994's "Rekoopera-tion" (with liner notes by author Stephen King, with whom Kooper played in the band Rock Bottom Remainders with other writers Dave Barry, Amy Tan, and Dave Marsh) and 1995's excellent live album, "Soul of a Man: Al Kooper." Lately, Kooper has turned up at local gigs by Steve Winwood at the Orpheum, Kim Richey at Johnny D's, the James Taylor Quartet at the Middle East and Coco Montoya at the House of Blues. He's sat in and played only with Montoya. Although he's kept a low profile, Kooper has enjoyed his time in Boston so far. He even jokes that he's living just a block away from the mayor of Somerville. "At least I know my street will be plived," says the new Doctor AL KOOPER from Page 17 countless times, as Kooper instructs Manguia on when to punch in a different verse or chorus, i "It's a pain, huh? But it's great "when you're done," he tells the class.

Jnstant decisions are made at the yontrol board, as he and Manguia find their own rhythm in approaching the music. "You see how important the "teamwork is between the engineer 'and the producer," Kooper adds. you work with an engineer for a while, the communication becomes nonverbal." Kooper then shares his theory of recording. He suggests having the artist do four takes: "The first two you let him sing it all the way through and you don't stop him. The third time you stop him for pitch.

The fourth time you put in any ideas you might have for phrasing." The other students in the Berklee studio, who include Chris Hag-gerty, Rico Petrillo, Samara Krug-man, Victor Mancusi, Dan Nachim-son, and Keith Infantino, listen intently. It's not often that any student las the benefit of such experience. Kooper has been there, done that in all phases of the music business -and he'll share more of his knowledge in two new classes next semester on the history of songwriting and history of record production. "History is very important to me, and IU be glad to teach that to people," Kooper says after the students idepart He joined the Berklee faculty with the help of Gary Burton, the jazz vibist who helps run the college. "I didn't come in like a prima donna.

I went to all the meetings and orientations. I asked my department heads millions of questions. I really wanted to be at Berklee. I knew the student level was the highest of any place I might go." Kooper, who is living in Somerville, has maintained a low-key pres- ence in town, but will pop up for his.