![]() ![]() The tales of adventures in both cases run together, and in some cases, intersect. So much for needing “something to fall back on” if a hoped-for career in either art or music doesn’t pan out.Ĭase in point: Some 45 years after jumping feet-first into the music world, some 30 years after jumping back into art, and innumerable hops back and forth, a couple of years ago he kept a foot in each world when Commander Cody released a fresh album and George Frayne published a book of paintings called “Art, Music, and Life.”Īs Frayne/Cody sums his dual careers in his book, “I have been painting for a long time. In his shows, the Commander draws from this deep catalog, and has a penchant for growling out arcane but juicy facts about some of the vintage blues and western swing covers and his band’s originals.īorn George Frayne, Commander Cody left his position as an art professor in Michigan when the band moved west, but has remained a force in both fields. “We had a great time,” Cody said, “and anyone could see there was something really going on here.” Farlow - CCHLPA busted open genres and the charts with hits like “Hot Rod Lincoln” and albums such as “Lost In The Ozone,” “Hot Licks, Cold Steel, and Truckers Favorites” and “Live From Deep In The Heart of Texas,” which Rolling Stone dubbed one of the top 100 albums of all time. With the Commander’s blazing boogie-rock piano lines and a cadre of talented musicians, songwriters and singers in the band - including Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Bobby Black and Billy C. They became an integral part of the burgeoning music scene, carving their niche with a combination of rock, country, boogie-woogie, jump blues and western swing. In addition to Cody, the band is Sean Allen (Carlene Carter) on guitar, Tim Eschliman (Etta James, Jesse Colin Young) on bass and Steve Barbuto on drums.Ĭommander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen formed in Michigan in the 1960s and then relocated to the Bay Area. ![]() in Winters, with his current band of Western Airmen for a high-energy evening of old favorites and new fare on Friday, June 22, starting at 8 p.m. Older tunes sound rehashed rather than refreshed and filled with stoney wonder, and newer tunes such as "Two Triple Cheese," just don't measure up to the classics.Ĭody completists will enjoy this document of the Commander's 1980's work, but for those wishing full immersion into the original experience, the Airmen's debut ("Lost in the Ozone") or an earlier live LP ("Live From Deep in the Heart of Texas") are better picks.Commander Cody, the piano-pounding frontman of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, returns to The Palms Playhouse, 13 Main St. But despite Cody's energetic leadership and an enthusiastic crowd, the magic of the early days is gone. Bassist Dave Brown is a solid replacement for Buffalo Bruce Barlow, and the rest of the players are certainly competent. This 1982 recording features a latter-day edition of the Airmen, and sports only Cody and guitarist Bill Kirchen from the original lineup. Two posthumous live LPs provide additional coverage of their California gigs, Texas honky-tonkin' and European tours. Before drifting apart in 1977, they released three live albums by the core lineup. ![]() The original band was also a superb live outfit. ![]() The Airmen flushed out earfuls of overblown progrock with twangy pedal steel, boogie woogie pianos and a wicked sense of cultural mayhem. Early songs, like "Seeds and Stems (Again)," mixed country sentiment with hippie lifestyle, and their covers (e.g., "Hot Rod Lincoln") introduced classics to a whole new audience. There was a time in the early '70's when the most unlikely hippie stoners could be found digging the hardcore twang and jumpin' jive of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. ![]()
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