Bill Briggs — the 1964 Staples High School graduate, car aficionado and keyboardist with the Remains, the band (with Staples alum Barry Tashian) that developed a cult following that remains strong today, and opened for the Beatles on their final, 1966 tour — died yesterday.
He turned 78 a few days ago, and suffered from multiple health issues.
Bill Briggs
His daughter Jen posted on Facebook:
As you all know, my dad was quite the rock star in more ways than one. Bill could build a hot rod in his garage to drag race in the desert, he played the blues and toured with the Beatles playing keyboard and harmonica with the The Remains in the 60s, was a damn fine Porsche/Audi salesman for many years, an avid train photographer, collage artist, patient advice giver, along with one of the most hip rock and roll dads you’ll ever meet.
Bill Briggs (far left) and fellow Remains Chip Damiani, Barry Tashian and Chip Vern Miller.
My brother Jake and I will miss him so much, along with his partner Barbara Simon and his extended family.
We will have a small gathering for my dad near Boston at some point soon. Yesterday, he requested we join in on singing “Knockin on Heaven’s Door” with the music therapist. He chimed in clearly, singing, “put my guns in the ground!”
Miss your sense of humor and understanding already, Dad.
Bill Briggs, George Harrison, and Beatles tour manager Neil Aspinall on tour in August, 1966. (Photo/Bob Bonis)
Tributes poured in, from fans and friends from Bill’s many stages of life.
Remains guitarist Vern Miller wrote:
I can’t even begin to express how shattered I feel with Bill’s passing. We played together in The Remains for 57 years and were friends for almost 60 years. We toured together all over the U.S and Europe and shared so many adventures like the 66 Beatles’ tour.
Just last week we were clowning around on the phone about that great band in the sky. I told him if he gets there before I do, please make sure they know what kind of bass amp I want.
Bill, in his inevitable way of not missing a beat, quickly asked me where I wanted it placed on stage. He kept his humor right up to the end.
Michael Haydn recalled playing with Bill in the Westport band the New Schemers, in 9th through 12th grade.
Tom Hatch remembered working on cars with Bill, in the Downshifters hot rod club.
I was a Remains fan from junior high on. I felt so fortunate to get to know Bill later, as a friend.
In 1966, the Remains played a Staples High School fundraiser for the Orphenians’ upcoming trip to the Virgin Islands. Staples grads Bill Briggs (right) and Barry Tashian flanked the school’s music director and Orphenians founder John Ohanian.
One of the true highlights of my life came about 20 years ago, in the basement of Gail and Terry Coen’s Soundview Drive home.
The Remains got together for the first time in about 30 years. They had been “rediscovered” in Europe, and were ready to embark on an overseas tour.
I was there at the first rehearsal, the moment they started playing and singing again. Their joy at being together again — and the sheer, incredible power of their musical talent — was astonishing, and overwhelming.
The Remains in 2019. From left: Chip Damiani, Barry Tashian, Bill Briggs, Vern Miller.
Bill was an “06880” fan, always interested in his hometown, and the people he grew up with here.
In the mid-’60s, rock critic Jon Landau — channeling John Sebastian — said the Remains were “how you told a stranger about rock ‘n’ roll.”
Today, Bill Briggs’ many admirers remember him, and his magic.
Click below to enjoy some of the greatest rock music of all time.
A reminder: This Sunday is the “State of the Town” forum.
The annual event — featuring 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker and Board of Education chair Lee Goldstein — is February 4 (2 to 3:30 p.m., Westport Library; click here for livestream).
They’ll discuss the past year for the town and Board of Ed, respectively, and look to the future. They’ll take questions from the audience too.
As always, it’s a co-production of Westport Sunrise Rotary, and the Rotary Club of Westport.
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker and Board of Education chair Lee Goldstein.
Cava opens Friday next to Westport Hardware, across from Fresh Market.
The national fast food chain has over 300 outlets. The menu includes pitas (crispy falafel, spicy chicken and avocado, spicy lamb meatball and Greek chicken), and salad bowls (spicy chicken, zesty falafel, lemon chicken, harissa avocado, lentil avocado, tahini Caesar and more).
CAVA is known for its community involvement. Even before its official opening, they’re showing Westport why.
On Thursday (February 1), guests are invited for a free lunch (10:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.) or dinner (5 to 8 p.m.). Donations to Food Rescue US are encouraged — and CAVA will match them, up to $1,000. Advance registrations are required; click here.
Since 2019, CAVA’s nationwide Community Day program has donated more than $350,000 to over 60 non-profit organizations. Much of the funding is aimed at improving food security.
Westporter Kelli O’Hara’s performance as Kirsten Arnesen in “Days of Wine and Roses” earned a stellar review in Sunday’s New York Times.
Laura Collins-Hughes wrote:
O’Hara, who starred in Lucas and Guettel’s “The Light in the Piazza” on Broadway in 2005, is particularly sublime. Her nuanced and variable performance is as technically impressive and fully human in its acting as in its singing — and the singing is considerable.
Of the show’s 18 numbers, she has 14, seven of them solos. In her crystalline tone are secrets of Kirsten’s soul that aren’t explicit in Guettel’s lyrics; when she sings “Sammen I Himmelen,” a kind of prayer as lullaby, to baby Lila, we can hear Kirsten missing her own dead mother.
The same edition of the Times also included an in-depth story of the play’s route from movie to Broadway. O’Hara gets much of the credit.
The piece begins:
As origin stories go, the transformation of “Days of Wine and Roses” from a movie into a musical is a straight shot, with a twist. Kelli O’Hara and Adam Guettel had the inkling more than 20 years ago, when she was a Broadway ingénue, working on what became her breakthrough Tony-nominated role in “Light in the Piazza.”
Guettel had written the music and lyrics for that musical, which went on to earn him a Tony Award for best score. They talked through their coordinating vision for evolving “Wine and Roses,” the midcentury classic of a romance ruined by addiction. “I think I used the words ‘a weird dark opera,’” O’Hara recalled.
Later, Melena Ryzik writes:
In her New York Times review of its premiere last year, at Off Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company, Laura Collins-Hughes called it “a jazzy, aching musical” with an “awfully glamorous” central pair. And O’Hara, who then as now sings 14 of the 18 numbers in the show, was, she wrote, “in exquisite voice.”
During that run and in previews on Broadway, O’Hara said she quickly understood how viscerally the narrative connected with audiences. One theatergoer came up to her after a show, “with a full drink in her hand,” she said, “crying and hugging me and saying, ‘you know, I’m a mother and I worry about my drinking.’ And she was quite past sobriety at that point.”
Another woman walked by and thanked her, quietly adding, “‘23 years’ — meaning 23 years sober,” O’Hara said.
Few people’s lives, she noted, have not been touched by addiction. “I lost a couple of friends to this over the pandemic, and I think many people got sober over the pandemic,” she said. Even though there’s more understanding of its pervasiveness than “in the time of Kirsten and Joe, it’s not changing, it’s not ending, and it won’t.”
The very same Times Arts & Leisure section included a review of Sarah Jarosz’s new album, “Polaroid Lovers.” It was produced by — and includes several songs written by — Daniel Tashian.
The Nashville-based singer/songwriter/producer is the son of country artists Barry and Holly Tashian. Both are Staples High School graduates; Barry was the founder and front man of The Remains, the band that camethisclose to national stardom, and opened for the Beatles on their final American tour.
Click here for the story on Sarah Jarosz and Daniel Tashian. (Hat tip: Tom Kretsch)
Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James in “Days of Wine and Roses” at Studio 54. (Photo/Sara Krulwich for The New York Times)
From art exhibits and speakers to drag shows, MoCA Westport offers plenty of interesting programs.
Always among the most popular: concerts by Michelle Pauker February 8 (7 p.m.) for a special pre-Valentine’s Day “Songs for Lovers” show. From Broadway and jazz to folk and pop, she’ll cover just about every “love-ly” genre.
She has performed around the country. But MoCA remains one of her favorite venues.
Like Michelle’s 2 previous performances, this will sell out. Click here for tickets, and more information.
Michelle Pauker
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Cathy Malkin — a “humane educator” who teaches responsible pet care and safety around dogs, as well as an animal reiki teacher/practitioner — is offering 2 in-person classes for area animals (and their people).
”Learning to Communicate Telepathically with Animals (Especially Your Pet!) is February 3 (2 to 3:30 p.m., The Transformation Center, Westport).
The class includes a Q-and-A session where Cathy will answer one question about your pet, whether living or departed, so attendees can hear their wisdom and guidance. Bring a photo of the pet on your phone.
In addition, dogs are invited to an ”Animal Reiki and Sound Healing Bath Meditation” (February 8, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Hummingbird Healing Center, Westport).
The event combines the healing power of a guided animal reiki meditation with a soothing multi-instrumental sound bath, designed to help guests and their dogs relax on “a journey into a shared space of inner peace and heart connection with dogs.” (Dogs are optional.)
The County Assembly formal dance, for high school students, was held this past weekend. Among the attendees (below, from left): Samantha Henske, Megan Healy and Ava Chun.
Meanwhile, Village Pediatrics showed up in force. Doctors and office staff showed up in force, to ensure a smooth check-in for their patients — and everyone else.
Genna Grushkin, Evelyn Anderson, Crystal Perez and Dr. Nikki Gorman join parents at the County Assembly dance.
Chef Raquel Rivera teaches braising techniques that can be used for many Dutch oven meals, at a “Cozy Winter Meals” class on March 7 (7 p.m.) at Wakeman Town Farm.
Click here for tickets, and more information. (PS: It’s BYOB.)
Coq au vin
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Pianist Sarah Jane Cion returns to Jazz at the Post this Thursday (February 1, shows at 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner from 7 p.m.; VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399l music charge $20, $15 for students and veterans).
Her songs “Cat in the Hat” and “Golden Song” were featured in “The Mule” and “Thor: The Dark World.”
She’s joined by Mike Camacho (drums), Sameer Shankar (bass), and Greg “The Jazz Rabbi” Wall (saxophone).
Reservations are highly recommended: JazzatthePost@gmail.com.
Darcy Miller Boyd Austin died Friday peacefully at her home in Damariscotta, Maine, surrounded by family and friends. She was 81.
After moving from Manhattan to Westport in 1948, she attended Saugatuck Elementary, Long Lots Junior High and Staples High School. She graduated from Connecticut College, then earned a master’s in special education from Columbia University.
She married Warwick Boyd and moved to New Mexico with VISTA, and had a son, Jesse Boyd, in 1970. She divorced, and moved to Maine. She lived at the Pemaquid Lighthouse in keepers’ cottage from 1984 to 2004.
Darcy taught school in Bristol, then worked at the daycare in the YMCA, and got her CNA certification in 2004. She married Jim Austin in 1993.
After retiring, she volunteered for many organizations.
Darcy is survived by her husband, Jim Austin; Jim’s son Christopher Austin; his granddaughters Guinevere and Penelope Austin; her son Jesse Boyd (Sheila) and and her grandson Elliott Boyd; her sister Holly Watts (Michael); her brother John Miller; nieces Sara Miller, Kate Watts Gregory, Tory Watts Donohue, Ali Watts Sise, their spouses, and 8 grandnieces and grandnephews.
A celebration of her life will be held in Maine this June.
And finally … on this date in 1969, the Beatles gave their last public performance. Their impromptu concert on the roof of Apple Records in London was broken up by police.
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It takes a certain talent — and mindset, and genius — to be a heralded songwriter. Think Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Bob Dylan or Lennon/McCartney.
But the music world is full of songwriters we’ve never heard of.
Like Billy Seidman. He’s been on the staff at RCA Music and other publishing companies, in New York and Nashville. He’s an adjunct professor of songwriting at NYU, and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He consults for Berklee NYC/The Power Station.
Billy Seidman
Seidman’s songs have been recorded and performed by Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony-winning artists like Irene Cara, Vicki Sue Robinson, Evelyn “Champagne” King and Kevin Kline. He’s a studio musician too, and toured with Ashford and Simpson.
Now the Westport native wants to teach you how to write songs like him. And like Berlin, Porter, Dylan and Lennon/McCartney.
Seidman recently introduced The Song Arts Academy. The Zoom course challenges students to “beat your songwriting heroes — write your best song in 4 weeks!”
This month drew 15 songwriters of varying backgrounds, levels and ages, from around the country. A summer “tune-up workshop” is coming soon.
Seidman hopes to find a space in Westport to offer an in-person course.
He knows this town well. In addition to going to school here before moving to New York, he’s friends with Grammy and Emmy-winning composer/producer/ Staples High graduate Brian Keane, plus Staples grad/former Remains front man/country singer-songwriter Barry Tashian and his songwriting son Daniel. Seidman was part of the now-legendary 2019 tribute to guitarist Charlie Karp that rocked the Levitt Pavilion.
(He was also a member of The Jades, a junior high dance band. Fellow members included Karp, Fred Reynolds, and Bob Jackson — “when his brother Chip let him borrow an amplifier.”)
Of course, there are differences between writing a story, and writing a song. In the latter, Seidman notes, “you only have 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes total, and just 5 to 15 seconds to grab the listener’s attention. You have to get a lot done, fast.”
You have to do it in two ways, too: the music itself, and the lyrics.
Hope, loss, regret, joy — those emotions (and many more) are the starting points for Seidman’s deep dive into how to craft a good song.
How deep? Consider “love.” Seidman breaks it down into song categories like devotional love, new love, disillusionment love, unrequired love, makeup, breakup, coming to terms with love, coming of age, empowerment, optimism … to name a few.
He’s similarly deep when talking about harmony, melody and chord structure.
This is not for the faint of heart. But neither is trying to write a song like “Can’t Be Really Gone,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” or “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
“Some people have a supernatural gift” for songwriting, Seidman says. But everyone — no mater how talented or average — can develop that skill.
“I have a method that works,” Seidman says confidently. “People who work with me look at songs differently. I help them connect with themes, so they connect with their audience. I’m like Johnny Appleseed.”
Westport hits the jackpot with this month’s Connecticut Magazine.
Local writer Michael Catarevas contributed an in-depth, insightful, and very intriguing look back at the Remains.
They’re the band — fronted by 1963 Staples High School graduate Barry Tashian, with ’64 alum Bill Briggs on keyboard — that packed clubs around New England, played “Ed Sullivan” and “Hullabaloo,” had a major recording deal — and in 1966, toured with the Beatles.
They were all set to be rock’s next big thing — until they weren’t.
I’ve written often about the Remains. Jon Landau nailed it, back in the day: “They were how you tell a stranger about rock ‘n’ roll.” Now Catarevas’ story — which includes details about their still cult-like status and recent tours — puts it all together, for a statewide audience.
Bonus cuts: There are sidebars about Briggs’ tour with the Kingsmen (“Louie Louie”),
Click here for the main story. Click here for one sidebar on ’71 Staples grad Fred Cantor’s off-Broadway play and film documentary on the Remains — and another on Prudence Farrow, the inspiration for the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.”
“In light of the town support of our Asian community, I want to share what I saw in New Luxx Nail & Spa (near the old Calico) earlier this week.
“A gentleman in uniform came in. I’m not sure if he was a police officer or firefighter. I heard him speaking to the owner and workers, who are Asian.
“He warmly told them that we (I assuming he meant Westport law enforcement) are very proud of and value our Asian business community. He said ‘we are here to support you,’ &Sp and that anything they need, or any issues they might have, they should not hesitate to contact them.
“I am proud of our community and law enforcement, that they made this outreach to these wonderful people of whom I have grown very fond. It is these unseen acts that help make Westport the place that it is.”
Invasive plants have invaded Westport. They crowd out natives and are harmful to our natural resources, disrupting biodiversity and ecological processes.
Earthplace has partnered with Sustainable Westport and the Town of Westport to host 2 events.
The first is an in-person walk this Sunday (March 28th, 1 to 2:30 p.m., $10). Click here to register.
The second event is a free webinar on Sunday, April 11 (1- to 1:45 p.m). Click here to register.
The Assumption Church Youth Group holds a food drive this Sunday (Palm Sunday, March 28, 7:30 a.m. to noon). Non-perishables are needed. All donations go to their sister parish in need — St. Charles in Bridgeport — and to children in the care of Missionaries of Charity in Bridgeport.
Donors should pull into the back parking lot. Someone will unload your trunk.
Meanwhile, tomorrow (Saturday, March 27, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.), Weston’s St. Francis Church holds a drive-through food drive in their parking lot on 35 Norfield Road. As with Assumption, volunteers will unload non-perishables from your trunk. All donations will be delivered to the Weston Food Pantry, and Norwalk’s Open Door Shelter.
Assumption Church, from Imperial Avenue (Photo/Patrick Goldschmidt)
When Charlie Karp died in March, his many friends were devastated.
The Westport native left Staples High School early in his junior year, to play with Buddy Miles. Though he had an extraordinary musical career — playing at Jimi Hendrix’s funeral; writing, recording, teaching and, especially, performing with the world’s greats — he always came back to Fairfield County.
So it was appropriate that last night’s tribute concert took place at the Levitt Pavilion. Charlie’s longtime friend and collaborator Brian Keane — himself a Grammy-winning artist, songwriter and producer — put together a remarkable event.
Roger Ball of the Average White Band (lead sax) joined Fred Scerbo, Ricky Alfonso and Joey Melotti for “Pick up the Pieces.” (Photo/Dan Woog)
From Germany, Nashville and plenty of other places, Charlie’s friends and admirers canceled gigs and rearranged schedules. More than 70 vocalists, gospel singers, keyboardists, percussionists, horn players and (especially) guitarists flew and drove to Westport.
Westport native Barry Tashian fronted the Remains, who opened for the Beatles. He then played for many years with the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmylou Harris. Long before all that, he was Charlie Karp’s guitar teacher. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Their list of credits is eye-popping. They’ve played and recorded with, or opened for, everyone from the Beatles, Doors, James Brown, Smokey Robinson and Roberta Flack to Wynton Marsalis, the New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops and London Symphony Orchestra.
The Reunion Band — formed originally with Charlie Karp’s very talented Staples High Class of 1971 professional musician classmates — reunited, and added a few members. (Photo/Dan Woog)
With just one rehearsal, the musicians — many of whom knew each other, but had never played together — delivered one of the Levitt’s most powerful, pulsating shows ever.
Julie Aldworth McClenathan and Bonnie Housner Erickson were Charlie Karp’s classmates at Staples. (Photo/Dan Woog)
It even included a tribute from Charlie’s friend Keith Richards. He was otherwise engaged, on tour with his band the Rolling Stones.
The Good News Gospel Choir added their talents too. (Photo/Dan Woog)
The benefit raised funds for a scholarship in Charlie’s name. Every year it will help talented student musicians, by providing studio time at the Carriage House in Stamford and Horizon in West Haven.
When he wasn’t playing keyboard, John Lamb was dancing. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Midway through the concert, storm clouds rolled in. Thunderstorms — predicted, and ominous — never materialized. The clouds moved on, and the sky brightened.
“Charlie’s angels,” someone said.
A storm threatened … (Photo/Dan Woog)
… but never came. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Brian Keane (left) produced the tribute concert. Carole Sylvan and Ada Dyer added powerful vocals. (Photo/Dan Woog)
As one of Charlie Karp’s classmates, I was honored to take a turn as one of the MCs. (Photo/Carleigh Welsh)
(Tax-deductible checks made payable to Fairfield County’s Community Foundation [put “Charlie Karp Memorial Fund” in the memo] can be sent to Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, 40 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854. Donations may also be made online at www.CharlieKarp.com. Follow instructions under the donation tab.)
But there — standing right next to the country music star last night, at the 61st annual awards in Los Angeles — was Daniel Tashian.
He shared in the award — twice. He’s one of the album’s 3 producers — and one of 3 songwriters too. He shares both credits with Musgraves and Ian Fitchuk.
Daniel also played multiple instruments and provided background vocals. Previously, both the Country Music Association and Apple Music named “Golden Hour” Album of the Year.
Daniel Tashian and Kacey Musgraves, at last night’s Grammy Awards.
The “06880” connection: Tashian is the son of Barry and Holly Tashian. Both are Staples graduates.
Their names are familiar to Westporters. Barry fronted the Remains, the legendary band that toured with the Beatles. He went on to play guitar with the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmy Lou Harris, among many others.
A longtime resident of Nashville, he carved out a rewarding performing, recording and songwriting career alongside his wife, the former Holly Kimball. She’s got a beautiful voice. Together, they’ve performed all over the world.
Neither the Remains, nor Barry and Holly Tashian, won a Grammy — though they sure should have.
But they’re just as proud today as if they’d won a dozen themselves.
(Do you know of any other Westport/Grammy connections? Click “Comments” below. Hat tips: Marc Bailin and Fred Cantor)
On February 3, 1959, Charlie Taylor was a Staples High School sophomore (and a budding songwriter).
Exactly 60 years later, he remembers that day with stunning clarity. Charlie writes:
That Tuesday morning dawned bright, sunny and very cold in Westport. I was 15 years old, standing outside the cafeteria in the smoking area, chatting with friends.
Buddy Holly
Someone ran up and told us they heard a news flash about a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa.
American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashed in a cornfield a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City.
We were speechless.
I think I felt a kindred spirit with Buddy. We were both Texas natives.
The mood at Staples was muted for the rest of the week. We all followed the news broadcasts about the crash, and Buddy’s sad funeral in Lubbock. It was, as Don McLean later sang, truly The Day the Music Died.
Suddenly, we realized we were mortal. Buddy Holly was 22 years old — and Ritchie Valens, just 17.
Charlie Taylor, in the 1959 Staples yearbook.
We collected their records. We danced and made out to their songs.
Music was important to us. Bo Diddley played a number of dance shows in Westport, at venues like the YMCA. My ’61 classmate Mike Borchetta booked him, when Mike was still at Staples.
When I moved from rural Kentucky to Westport, I was washed in the blood of rockabilly and blues from Nashville and Memphis.
Then I got bathed in doo wop on WINS and WABC. My rockabilly roots collided with my new Westport friends’ jazz, folk an doo wop sensibilities.
At Staples we had the CanTeen every Friday or Saturday night. Sturdy and the Stereos, Dick Grass and the Hoppers, Barry Tashian and Mike Friedman’s Schemers, and bands Bobby Lindsey fronted were our weekly entertainment.
When those bands played songs like “Please Dear” or “Mr. John Law,” a dancing, sweaty fever seized us teens. We fogged up the windows of the cafeteria!
Sixty years later, I have to wonder what songs Buddy Holly would have written had he lived.
As fate (or luck) would have it, I met and was mentored by Buddy’s manager, Hi Pockets Duncan, in San Angelo, Texas in 1968. Hi Pockets played a recording of mine on his radio station, then told me to go to Los Angeles to develop my craft.
I moved to LA on August 15, 1970 — driving my black 1959 Chevy.
I still think about that day at Staples, exactly 60 years ago today.
Charlie Taylor has spent the last 3 decades in Tennessee. He’s recorded with, written with and for, jammed with and learned from the likes of Gram Parsons, Minnie Pearl, Chet Atkins, Barbara Mandrell, Rick Nelson and Barry Tashian.
Four years ago he wrote and recorded this tribute to Buddy Holly. He uploaded it to YouTube on February 3, 2015.
Barry Tashian is a legendary name in Westport music history.
One of the founders of the Remains — who, with fellow Staples grad Bill Briggs, toured with the Beatles in 1966, starred on “Ed Sullivan” and “Hullabaloo,” and were, in the words of Jon Landau, “how you told a stranger about rock ‘n’ roll” — he went on to play guitar with the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmy Lou Harris.
A longtime resident of Nashville, he carved out a rewarding performing, recording and songwriting career alongside his wife, former Staples classmate Holly Kimball. She’s got a beautiful voice. Together, they’ve performed all over the world.
Now their son Daniel continues the Tashian tradition.
Daniel Tashian
In 2018 he produced “Golden Hour” for Kacey Musgraves. Daniel also wrote 7 of the tracks, played multiple instruments and provided background vocals. Both the Country Music Association and Apple Music named it Album of the Year.
It’s been nominated for 4 Grammy Awards. Winners will be announced next month.
But one thing is certain: Like his dad and mom, no matter what genre, Daniel Tashian rocks.
Today marks the final concert of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ last US tour.
Also, the Remains’.
For local musicologists — and fans of the regionally famous band that included 2 Westporters, and lives on in the hearts and souls of anyone who heard them — that 2nd fact is as least as important as the 1st.
Fred Cantor — the band’s Boswell, who makes sure his fellow Staples High grads Barry Tashian and Bill Briggs (plus Vern Miller and Chip Damiani) “remain” alive, with an off-Broadway musical (“All Good Things”) and documentary film (“America’s Lost Band“) — sent along a reminder of the legendary summer of ’66 tour.
By then the Remains had already appeared on “Ed Sullivan” and “Hullabaloo.” They’d relocated from Boston to New York, and had a contract with Epic Records. But they had not yet broken into the big time, when they got the offer to tour with the Beatles (along with the Ronettes, the Cyrkle and Bobby Hebb).
Tashian — the front man, just 3 years out of Staples — remembers not being able to get out of their car, on the way to their 1st concert in Chicago. Screaming fans thought they were the Beatles. He found it funny — and scary.
They could not use their own amps there — and did not even have a chance to try out the ones they were given. To musicians, that’s like walking on a tightrope without a net.
Indoor arenas — like Detroit, where the band could see the crowd — were excellent. “They were digging us,” Tashian told Cantor. “We were saying, ‘This is great. This is elevated to another place.”
But in large stadiums like Cleveland, the audience was too far away to make the connections the Remains thrived on. After that show, they met with their road manager. They second-guessed everything they did wrong — and right.
Barry Tashian (left) and Vern Miller, on stage. Drummer ND Smart (who replaced Chip Damiani on the tour) is hidden. Keyboardist Bill Briggs is not in the shot. (Photo/Ed Freeman)
Their interactions with the Beatles were limited, but memorable. Tashian says they had tons of energy, and great senses of humor. They did not take things too seriously.
Tashian learned a lot. “The world was a different place when you were with John Lennon,” he says.
The Westport guitarist also listened to Ravi Shankar with George Harrison. Indian music was a revelation. So was a new invention Harrison had gotten hold of: tape cassettes.
Six days before the end of the tour, the Remains and Beatles played Shea Stadium. Tashian calls it “an emotional moment.” The lights were the brightest of any place they played. With a rare break the night before, he felt rested, “a little more balanced and grounded.”
The Remains, back in the day.
In California, near the end of the tour, Harrison sent a car to pick up Tashian. Meeting the Beach Boys, Mama Cass Elliot, Roger McGuinn and others, he was “speechless.”
Briggs — the Remains’ keyboardist — recalls the final concert, at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park:
“It just seemed like you were playing on a mountaintop and there was nobody there. They shut off the lights, all in the stadium proper and they just left a row of the lights on the top. It was like we were playing there by ourselves.
“I really enjoyed it. That was probably the most relaxed I was on the whole tour.”
What came next was tough. “It was like being dumped from a dump truck down over a ledge into a quarry or something, just left down there in the dust,” Tashian says.
He realizes now that his band had been breaking up — for various reasons — even before the tour began.
The Beatles kept recording, until they too broke apart. Today, of course, they’re still big — perhaps bigger than ever.
The Remains are just a footnote in rock ‘n’ roll history.
But to anyone who heard them play — particularly at small clubs, not the big arenas and stadiums of that 1966 tour — what a footnote they are.
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When Brad Tursi was a Staples High School soccer star in the mid-1990s, he dreamed of playing before huge crowds in big stadiums.
He’ll do exactly that tomorrow, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
But he won’t be kicking a soccer ball. Instead, the 1997 Staples grad will kick it big-time with his band, Old Dominion. They open for Kenny Chesney, on the country megastar’s summer tour.
Brad Tursi
The road from Westport to Nashville is not well traveled. But Tursi is not the first Staples alum to make his name there.
Charlie Taylor graduated from Staples in 1961. After roaming from Greenwich Village to LA — with stops in between — Taylor spent the last 3 decades in Tennessee. He’s recorded with, written with and for, jammed with and learned from the likes of Gram Parsons, Minnie Pearl, Chet Atkins, Barbara Mandrell, Rick Nelson and Barry Tashian.
Tashian is also a Staples grad. His route to Nashville began in Boston, where he fronted the legendary rock group The Remains. They opened for The Beatles on their final tour, appeared on Ed Sullivan and Hullabaloo, and were called by Jon Landau “how you told a stranger about rock ‘n’ roll.”
Brad Tursi continues the Westport-to-Nashville connection.
After the group broke up, Tashian landed in Nashville. He’s been there ever since, playing with the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmy Lou Harris, and carving out (with his wife, Staples classmate Holly Kimball) a rewarding performing, recording and songwriting career.
Tursi continues that small but strong Westport connection. He co-wrote “A Guy Walks Into a Bar” — a certified gold song that Tyler Farr took to #1 earlier this year — and “Save It For a Rainy Day” for Chesney.
Tursi’s band Old Dominion got a shout-out last month from Sony Music CEO Doug Morris.
In an interview in The Tennessean newspaper, Morris predicted that the band would join Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley and Garth Brooks as providing “a new foundation for the company’s country music division.” The day after he heard Old Dominion’s EP, the 76-year-old CEO was singing their lyrics.
You probably are not headed to MetLife Stadium tomorrow, for the Kenny Chesney concert. But if you want to hear the opening band — Old Dominion — check out the video below.
Brad Tursi’s 2nd from the right, manning the oars.
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Meanwhile, Seidman has written a book. “
