Gene Pitney – Geriatric Rock @ the Roaring Eagle Casino
Valentines Day 2006

I suppose it’s a sign you are getting older when you go out to eat but only for the Early Bird Specials ( you’re always home by 9pm to see some variation of the CSI franchise), you no longer drink beer or “do” shots, you’ve given up smoking (‘cept for medicinal reasons), and remember the days when you enjoyed sex and even jackin’ off was fun. Now all you do is jack. But the real sign you’re over-the-hill is when you R-O-C-K at four in the afternoon and you’re home by 5:30pm. Baby Boomers still like music but they want it their way, easy with little effort and even less involvement but a whole lot of nostalgia. For an audience taken by simple pleasures, a good meal, a quiet evening and twice weekly gambling sprees, this show is their very own scaramouche mask, a time for letting your hair down and escaping the 9-5 humdrum world, an earned privilege for layin’ down plenty a ching at the roulette table and slot machines. Gosh…free tickets, hallelujah! Like a false memory Gene Pitney’s performance brings us aging Boomers to a time when we had energy and vision and our life was a series of open doors. But it’s not that way anymore and the Gene Pitney we saw on Bandstand, young and lanky and an endearing boyish grin with just a hint of a dimple has been transformed by time. Pitney, now at age 65, is a lean elder statesman of pop music, fit and trim with manicured coif of white hair. He looks like an aging fashion designer along the lines of Ralph Lauren and he’s just as stiff. I cannot recall a more rigid stage presence since I saw B.J. Thomas mumblin' through his hits and checkin' his watch. Just past midway through the show, I asked my wife why Pitney is pointing toward the audience. She informed me he was acting out the "Liberty Valence" death scene, in effect shooting the audience. What the hell...is that cool or is it cornball? Live or memorex? And his occasional pelvic thrusts reminded me what an oldtimer shouldn't do onstage, like fat Elvis grabbin' Darlene Love from behind and ridin' her like Bronco Billy on the chorus of Kentucky Rain. YEEEWW. After workin’ the oldies circuit for that past 30 years with the same tired set list, each song in the exact same order (24 Hours of Tulsa is first; A Town Without Pity is last and everything else, about 15-20 hits and near-misses is in-between) and with the same pretend “Gene Pitney Orchestra” hired just for the day with one afternoon rehearsal under its belt, Pitney has stone perfected every stilted aside and practiced stage cliché known to man...or to Frankie Valli, anyway. His once (almost) operatic voice is a bit weathered though he can still belt ‘em out. The overall effect is like listening to a latent Sinatra on helium. It could be worse. Most of Pitney’s songs veer toward the melodramatic and his voice has a natural timber for the more emotive songs such as It Hurts To Be In Love which is still very good to Backstage, a real stinker, a bit over-the-top even for Pitney. I must admit I love the old Brill Building” storytelling songs that have plot lines - a beginning, middle, and end - and have defined characters. Liberty Valence, Town Without Pity, Hello Mary Lou, and Only Love Can Break A Heart all fall within that category and I love all of them. The audience by and large seemed to adore Pitney as they slurped down their ice water and tea sat back and gazed at the screened image of their hero, dozing occasionally but just for moments at a time. A few old hipsters even copped some liquor and cigarettes in the foyer (without tellin’ momma), feelin’ their oats, they clapped and hooted the loudest and blew out a collective artery when Pitney did Heartbreaker, his ’69 smash comeback attempt at being contemporary, we all sang along…
”Your dynamite, you got me uptight”
”The way you sock it to me girl, you’re outtasite”
”Heartbreaker”

Pitney finished with the glorious Town Without Pity and said “Good Night”. It was 5:30pm. It was getting’ late, for sure, and the audience began milling out the door. Some headed straight for the buffet; some lit out for the slot machines. Lisa and I went home, tired but happy we spent Valentines Day together

So how does a singer who hasn’t had a hit since ’69 keep it fresh, authentic and relevant? He doesn’t – sorry. It just doesn’t happen, unless the artist continues to write, record and evolve – maybe artists such as McCartney, the Stones, Springsteen, and Mellencamp. But even that’s a stretch ‘cos those icons are way past their prime.

Time to pass the crown Kanye?

Peace
Bo White