The Smashing Pumpkins 2022-07-27
| July 27, 2022 – Highland Park, IL, US | |
|---|---|
 Poster with artwork by Gary Baseman | |
| Live performance by The Smashing Pumpkins | |
| Artist | The Smashing Pumpkins |
| Date | July 27, 2022 |
| Venue | Madame ZuZu's |
| Coordinates | 42°11′11″N 87°48′2″W |
| Location | Highland Park, IL, US |
| Venue type | Teahouse |
| Capacity | 300 |
| Personnel | Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, Sierra Swan, Billy Swan, Frank Catalano, Chloe Mendel Corgan, Greg Geary, John Rotan, Janelle Lake |
| Order of bands | Janelle Lake, Frank Catalano Quartet, Bob Moses, Billy Corgan, Sierra Swan, The Smashing Pumpkins |
July 27, 2022 was the Together and Together Again benefit show for the Highland Park community in the wake of the Highland Park parade shooting. The full performance (which can't be embedded here) is available on YouTube.
The first set was by harpist Janelle Lake, while the third set was by Canadian duo Bob Moses. All other sets featured personnel of The Smashing Pumpkins, in whole or part. The sets featuring Billy Corgan are notable for the first public performances of two new songs, "Ithax" (which was written as a "reaction" to the mass shooting) and "Simmatar".
The event raised over $250,000 for the Highland Park Community Foundation.[1]
Relevant setlist
Set two
- "Night and Day" [Cole Porter] (final performance)
- "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" [Duke Ellington] (only performance)
- "Tuna Town" (only performance)
- "Impressions" [John Coltrane] (live debut)
Set four
Billy Corgan solo
- "Processional" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Thirty-Three" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "The Celestials" (acoustic)
- "Like Lambs" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Ithax" (acoustic) (final performance)
Set five
- "Lover Please" [Billy Swan] (acoustic) (only performance)
- "I Can Help" [Billy Swan] (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Don't Be Cruel" [Elvis Presley] (acoustic) (only performance)
Set six
Corgan, Chamberlin and Swan
- "Aeronaut" (acoustic)
- "Today" (acoustic)
- "Wrath" (acoustic)
- "The Weight" [The Band] (tease) (acoustic)
- "Simmatar" (acoustic) (Hush Your Mind) (only performance)
- "1979" (acoustic)
Set seven
Frank Catalano Quartet with Swan
- "At Last" [Glenn Miller] (final performance)
Encore
Corgan with Frank Catalano Quartet and Swan
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" [The Beatles] (acoustic) (only performance)
- "Jane Says" [Jane's Addiction] (final performance)
Notes
- First set by harpist Janelle Lake
- Second set by Frank Catalano Quartet with Chamberlin on drums
- "Impressions" and "Don't Be Cruel" with Corgan on electric guitar
- Third set by Bob Moses
- "I Can Help" and "Don't Be Cruel" with Chamberlin on drums
- "Aeronaut", "Wrath" and "Scimitar" with Sierra Swan on backing vocals
- "At Last" with Swan on vocals
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" with Chloe Mendel on lead vocals
- "Jane Says" with Perry Farrell on vocals
- First performance of "I Can Help" since 2016-04-16
- First performance of "Like Lambs" since 2017-01-31
- First performance of "The Celestials" since 2017-09-23
Banter
…
BC: (off camera) Okay, here we go. 3, 2....
(crowd cheers)
unknown (Janelle Lake solo)
BC: Welcome, everyone, welcome, welcome to everyone watching at home, thank you so much for being here with us tonight, this is a very special night. Unfortunately, under the most auspicious of circumstances. As everyone knows, on July 4th, there was a tragic shooting just one block from here. And the injuries are untold...and still unfolding. What we have in this community is a need and you’re here to help support that need, so thank you to everybody in this room for your support and thank you to everyone at home watching. Anything you can do: share, let people know, and of course, if you feel it in your heart to contribute, we appreciate that. This is a community reeling. I’ve lived here for 20 years, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. We’ve gathered a world class group of musicians who wanna play for you to support that idea that together...and the reason I named it Together and Together Again is we won’t stop, we will always come together, we will always bond around what we care about: our community and our love for one another, no one can take that from us. And tonight, we begin to reclaim that for Highland Park and we want to bring that message to the world. And I know everyone is super focused. So we appreciate being here, thank you Janelle, Janelle Lake. So sit back and enjoy the show.
unknown (Janelle Lake solo)
[set break with video of Nancy Rotering, mayor of Highland Park]
Night and Day
Frank Catalano: Well, first off, I’m glad I quit smoking a long time ‘cause I got some air to put through this and, you know. I first want to say thanks so much to Billy and Chloe for having us be a part of this super amazing and special event. Uh, when we left last night, it was such an awesome concert and I kind of, you know, uh, just, everyone talking to me and telling me all their stories, it was a kind of tough ride home, and I was on the phone with my wife, Sona, and it was a real special night, so thanks so much for being here, thanks for listening and watching at home. And how ‘bout most importantly, a big nice round of applause for the world’s greatest drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin on the drums. We like playing that song for Laurie especially but um, it’s just such a great song. We try to play a lot of standards –- Our Love Is Here to Stay, Fly Me to the Moon –- but that song we just played, Night and Day by Cole Porter, is probably me and Jimmy’s favorite standard, so how ‘bout another nice big round of applause for Jimmy Chamberlin. And uh, definitely, uh, John Rotan on the keyboards, being not only my favorite piano player but truly like my right hand man because sometimes when we’re close together like this, the saxophone can accidentally hit him and he hasn’t sued me yet or anything, so another nice big round of applause for John Rotan on the keyboard. And then, anchoring us always, Greg Geary on the bass, how ‘bout a nice big round of applause for Greg. And uh, next we’re gonna do something by Duke Ellington but we do it in a little bit more Chicago style, bluesy way, and I hope you like it.
Things Ain't What They Used To Be
Catalano: Thank you so much. Duke Ellington’s Things Ain’t What They Used To Be. And uh, Jimmy and I recorded this one a few years back and uh, it’s original and I hope you like this one.
Tuna Town
Catalano: Well, we’d like to welcome up a very special guest, the great Billy Corgan is gonna play a John Coltrane song with us.
Impressions (with Billy Corgan)
BC: Frank Catalano, everyone!
[set break with video of Highland Park residents Brigham Temple (emergency medicine physician) and Leslie Mendoza Temple (family medicine physician)]
Tom Howie: Hey everybody, thanks for having us, we’re Bob Moses, uh, we’re gonna play a few songs for you. This is called Back Down.
Back Down
Howie: Thank you. Thank you so much, it’s a real honor to be here. You know, we heard about these horrible events on the news as everybody doe –- did and uh, you know, you read this from afar and you see it from afar, but now that we’re here and we’ve really -– we’re feeling it in a totally new way, so um, we’re really honored to be a part of it. When Billy and Chloe asked us, we jumped at the chance to come and participate. A lot of the –- you know, you read about these horrific, this horrific event and you feel kind of helpless and um, you know, the one thing we know how to do is play music, so we hope that by being here, we can contribute in some small way, so.... Uh, we’re gonna play, this next one is called Love Brand New.
Love Brand New
Howie: Thank you. Alright, this next one is called Never Ending.
Never Ending
Howie: Thank you. I always thought it was like a faux pas to tune on stage, but then I went and I saw Neil Young and...he spent like, you know, like maybe six or seven minutes tuning his guitar, so ever since then I’m like, if it’s good enough for Neil, I got a free pass. But that was pretty quick, really. Um, we have one more for you, uh...we’re, all I can say is we’re honored to be here and contribute in some small way, so.... We wish all the best to this community, we wish all the best to all the people affected here and everywhere else and uh, yeah, we’re really honored, so thanks for having us and this song is called Tearing Me Up.
Tearing Me Up
Howie: Thank you so much, everybody.
[set break with video of Lou Jogman, chief of police for Highland Park police department, and Joe Schrage, fire chief of Highland Park]
BC: Thank you. Are you having a good time? Alright, well, don’t let me ruin it for you.
Processional
BC: Thank you very kindly. Now this here song I wrote many moons ago. Living on the north side of Chicago. Over there by Wrigley Park. Heh heh heh heh. Hope you know this one.
Thirty-three
BC: Now last night, we played a private show for first responders and victims of this unspeakable tragedy. The true heroes, the true heroes of this community. And in an effort to cover my, uh, inartful tuning, heh heh, I tried to make a bad joke about –- tuning’s the thing I most hate with my job –- and I was trying to think of wow, I wonder what annoys the shit out of cops and the fire department, like what would their be their [sic] equivalent of tuning and no one got the joke. And uh, heh heh. But the most beautiful part of that little exchange was –- and I think we should share this with the world if you can find it in your heart, which is send a little thank you out to our wonderful and incredible Highland Park police department. (huge crowd cheer) Wicked, wicked. And of course, our fire department, who saved so many lives that day, along with the police department. (crowd cheers) I know I speak for Chloe and I to say we are so grateful to the professionals in this community who saved so many lives that day, we’re just so grateful, I just hope that message comes across. (tuning guitar) Remember the joke about tuning and...? And hey, thank you to Bob Moses, those guys were great, thank you so much, gentlemen. Bringing a little Canada to our shores. Of course, Frank Catalano and the group.
The Celestials
BC: So I wrote this song for my son but it ostensibly is for my children, now that we have two. Augustus Juppiter, six. He just lost his third tooth and was shocked that given inflation, the tooth fairy has upped the ante, handing out $20s now. He’s gotta pay for gas! Heh heh heh, I mean, have you been down the street? Uh, heh heh heh, you know what I’m talkin’ about, (laughing) right? Highland Park, right? Um, but we now have a daughter, Philomena Clementine, who’s three. Today, the uh, the family was playing Charades and my daughter in her infinite wisdom pointed her head down, like this (places index finger to forehead) into the floor and was doing this (swirling same finger around). We said, “What are you?” She said, “I’m a pencil.” Heh heh. So not only is this song for my children but for yours as well. And um, we were very heartened to her – hear last night that one of the victims, the young boy paralyzed in the shooting, is making a strong recovery, so prayers up for him...and his family. ‘Course, this is still a national story and to those of you watching, please, if you find it in your heart to donate, please do. Here’s what I know...here’s what I already know and I certainly didn’t know it a few weeks ago: this community will stay with those affected by this tragedy all the way down the line, and so thank you for that, thank you for starting that journey. Very proud to be here in Highland Park with everyone. So this is a song I wrote for my kids and for yours.
Like Lambs
BC: Ladies and gentlemen, I am certainly more dumb than I am courageous. Heh heh heh heh, I'll let you think on that one for a second. In a zigzagging career –- and yes, I call it a career –- 35, 36 years and counting, done a lot of crazy things. Last night, played a new song for the assembled, and of course, I’d like to play this song for you now. But what I did is I explained before I played the song that I was doing an interview the other day -- we did a lot of press to set up this event. And uh, interviewer asked me, “Would you ever think about writing a song for what happened here?” And I said, "Well, it kind of reminds me of like when you get your heart broken when you're young and you write really bad poetry. I don’t want to write really bad poetry about something that is very hurtful." Couple days later, I was working on a new Pumpkins song. Started playing something, I thought “Oh, that could work.” Took a nap, woke up, and the song was spinning in my head. So, this is my reaction, I guess you could say, to what happened. I don't know if it's a good song or bad song, but it certainly expresses the way that I feel. Normally, I do not explain what my lyrics are about. I'm loathe to do it ‘cause invariably I ruin somebody's stoner-trip version. Heh, heh heh. Or given my lack of diction, those misheard lyrics that are certainly better than the ones that I wrote. So if you indulge me for about 60 seconds, I'd like to explain what this song is about, which again falls into the category of unwise...more unwise than stupid or more unwise than courageous, right? So in the opening scene, I'm explaining to somebody that I found a photograph of us standing in the very spot where this horrible thing happened. It's as simple as that, how something so simple like a photo taken on a beautiful day, maybe right over here by the ice cream shop where we go sometimes for fancy sorbet. And uh, suddenly you look at a photograph, it suddenly has meaning, “Oh my god, we were in that spot.” And that's what something like this does is turns everything upside down. Good things become bad, bad things become good, simple things become complicated. Complicated things suddenly have no meaning and certainly no resonance. Then it shifts into a dream. Sometimes I have these dreams where it's as real as I'm sitting here with you and I don't know why I have these dreams, but I feel like I'm on another planet having these dreams with unfamiliar people. So it shifts to the dream, where suddenly, right over there in the square (points outside) –- Port Clinton Square, I believe it’s called –- harkening back to our origins here in Highland Park. And uh, I see a young woman dancing by herself. And she's obviously dancing in my dream for those we've lost. And my reaction is to try to explain to her or ask her for something, which is interesting because, if she's mourning the dead and the wounded, why do I need something from her? But I think we all have that reaction sometimes, right? We wonder what this has done to ALL of us. You could say it's selfish, you could say it's focused. But that's what the rest of the song is about, so I hope you enjoy it. (modest applause) Thank you.
Ithax
BC: Alright! Now let's have some fun! (laughing) Instead of all this depressing stuff. I'd like to bring up two close, close friends of mine, we consider them members of our own family. From Nashville, we got Billy Swan. The man, the myth, the legend himself, and his diaughter -– his diaughter -– his diaughter, heh heh, his daughter Sierra Swan.
Billy Swan: (off mic) Where am I going?
BC: Come on up here, young man. Heh heh. Now as I like to point out, Billy is the only man or woman in this room who has a #1 hit song, which I'm very proud to say, so please give them a warm welcome.
Billy Swan: (off mic) Thank you.
Sierra: I honestly don’t think (Billy C.’s iPad used for lyrics falls off the music stand in front of Billy S.) -– oh, that was tragic. What was that?
BC: (off mic) That was not good. (Sierra laughs) That was not good.
Sierra: Um, even though we’ve said it before, I think we still should give Chloe and Billy a round of applause, it really is...an incredible...it’s an incredible thing to put together, it really is. So this first song –- let’s make sure I’m on ‘cause last night.... Are we on?
Billy S.: Hello.
Sierra: Ah, there we are! This first song, I’ll let my dad introduce it ‘cause you wrote it.
Billy S.: I’ll tell ‘em, lemme do that part.
Sierra: Yeah, I’ll shut up.
Billy S.: Okay. Uh, this is my daughter, Sierra, I guess you all know that. (applause) Yeah, heh. And last night, we actually sung together in front of people the first time, so this is our second time, so....
Sierra: Yeah.
Billy S.: And the song I’m gonna do is a song that uh, first song I wrote, and uh, it was a teacher in high school who got me interested in writing some poetry, so this was a poem and uh, I put it to music later, a friend of mine taught me two chords on a guitar, so that’s all there is in this song, so this is simple to play if you ever want to learn it. Uh, and a gentleman name uh, Clyde McPhatter did it, uh, have you ever heard of Clyde McPhatter? (one person in the crowd enthusiastically claps) Yeah, yeah. And uh, actually when I wrote it, I wrote it for Ernest Tubb, (laughing) I was thinking about him, yeah. But uh, it goes like this. 1962, right? Let’s hear it for 1962, okay? Yeah. Hahaha. (off mic) Okay.
Sierra: (off mic) Ready?
Billy S.: Ready?
Lover Please (abandoned after first two words)
Sierra: Oh, I’m, you want me to wait?
Billy S.: Yep, that [2 unintelligible words] (gesturing strumming).
Sierra: Oh, you want me, oh, wow, okay. Wow.
Lover Please (Billy Swan vocals, Sierra Swan acoustic guitar & vocals)
Sierra: (singing) Don’t leave me in a men’s room, (speaking) I thought we were gonna end it like that but I guess not.
Billy S.: Yeah, haha. Okay, give me a guitar. Thank you, thank you.
Sierra: I-I need a, well, we’re gonna, next is uh, I Can Help. Right?
Billy S.: Yeah, yeah.
Sierra: Yeah. But we need a bass. Hahahaha!
Billy S.: You know, this is another –- another oldie friend, heh heh. (Jimmy comes on stage) Hey! Jimmy?
Jimmy: (off mic) Yes sir.
Billy S.: Hey, here you are.
Jimmy: (off mic) You remember this one?
Billy S.: Ha, I think so.
Guy in crowd: Backup singer!
Sierra: Heh heh.
Jimmy: (off mic) Alright, nice and slow, Sierra.
Sierra: Nice and slow. Alright, hold on, let me get my high heels around the cord here, heh heh. Alright.
Jimmy: (off mic) Be sure that’s on.
Billy S.: You ready?
Sierra: Yeah, I feel it tingle, it’s working. Alright. Does anyone know this song?
I Can Help (Billy Swan acoustic guitar & vocals, Sierra Swan bass, Jimmy drums)
Billy S.: Thank you! Thank you. Thank you. [unintelligible word].
Sierra: So, Dad, if you don’t mind, can I introduce the next song or no? Or do you wanna do it?
Billy S.: Do what?
Sierra: Can I introduce the next song?
Billy S.: Yeah!
Sierra: Okay. So this is actually kind of a cool story, so this is not a song that he wrote but it’s an old Elvis song called Don't Be Cruel. But my dad covered it in the –- what year did you cover it, Dad? What was the year that you -– that it came out? A long time ago.
Billy S.: What, Don’t Be Cruel?
Sierra: ‘62, look at this guy! (points at a guy in the crowd) Oh my – oh, okay! Well, the original, right? So my dad covered it a long, long time ago and it had a resurgence just recently, does anyone know about that show Euphoria? Right, Euphoria, pretty big show. Um, and they placed it and now it’s blown up again and I think it’s just the...
Billy S.: Yeah.
Sierra: ...coolest thing ever, just something that from the past can come back and the young kids love it.
Billy S.: I’ll tell you one interesting story and I don’t –- Billy’s heard this, uh, the songwriter that wrote this wrote a lot of great songs, he wrote Great Balls of Fire, uh, Breathless, All Shook Up, Return to Sender, Fever, uh, Hey Little Girl (In the High School Sweater). Otis Blackwell was his name and uh, he was at our house one day in California and he and I was standing out back talking and he was smoking a cigarette and uh, my wife came out and said “Well, it’s time to eat”, so he threw it down -– he had just lit it actually and he put it, threw it down, and we went inside and she--
Sierra: And maybe I took it and that was my first cigarette.
Billy S.: She would have never tried a cigarette before.
Sierra: (cackling off mic)
Billy S.: Heh. So she smoked a little bit of Otis’s cigarette.
Sierra: Yeah, Otis Blackwell, yeah, I think that’s some good, that’s a good vibe.
Billy S.: Yeah. I always thought that was pretty cool, although I don’t think it’s good for kids to smoke, you know?
Sierra: Alright, well, so here we go, here’s Don’t Be Cruel.
Don’t Be Cruel (Billy Swan acoustic guitar & vocals, Sierra Swan bass & vocals, Corgan electric guitar, Jimmy drums)
Sierra: Hahahahaha!
Billy S.: Yeah, Billy, yeah! Yeah, thank you! Thank you. Thank you.
Sierra: Thanks, Dad.
[set break with video of Larry Bloom, 15 year Highland Park resident and Madame Zuzu’s employee]
BC: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to our late night lounge. You’ve been such a fantastic audience, we are now in the home stretch. We hope you had a great time. You want jokes or music?
Guy in crowd: Both!
BC: Heh heh. That’s a joke.
Sierra: Yeah, hahahaha!
BC: Heh heh heh heh heh. Alright, here we go. Jimmy Chamberlin. My beloved brother from the Smashing Pumpkins and of course, on the bass, the lovely siren...
Sierra: Heh, thanks.
BC: ...Sierra Swan.
Sierra: And Mr. Billy Corgan!
BC: Actually, it’s now William, but thank you.
Sierra: Okay, sorry, William.
Aeronaut (Billy acoustic guitar & vocals, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass & backing vocals)
BC: Now this next song...comes from an album that was released 29 years ago today. Actually, I just thought of a funny story, you wanna hear a funny story? So sometimes people looking for autographs will send me mail. They’re not fans, they’re just obviously trying to solicit something. So I got a letter the other day: I’m a big fan, da da da, you know, you influenced me so much, da da da da da, I’ve enclosed this picture...if you could please sign it and return it to this address. I get these letters all the time so it’s nothing new but uh, I look at the picture ‘cause sometimes they, heh -- it’s not a bad picture, you know what I...? I just keep the picture, right? I kid you not and god love him...another brother from another mother, it was Eddie Vedder. And by the way, looking very handsome in the photo, heh, heh heh heh, heh. And I was like, “Okay.” Heh heh. So to Eddie and the Pearl Jammers. As I like to say these days, I’m happy for anybody of our generation that survived and thrived. Green Day, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots. Dave Matthews...Band. Who am I forgetting?
Guy in crowd: You!
Sierra: You.
BC: Rage Against the Machine. They’re okay. Just kidding. Lots of love to everybody, lots of love. Okay, so 29 years ago today, we were playing down the road over there at – over dere...in Chicago at Tower Records. They had to close down the street ‘cause so many people showed up. Was anyone there? You were?! Were you on drugs?
Sierra: Hahahahaha!
BC: Heh heh heh. This song goes to you, here we go.
Today (abandoned after about 6 chords)
BC: In this version--
Sierra: We don’t have time.
(Billy and Sierra laugh)
Today (Billy acoustic guitar & vocals, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass)
(a man in the front row stands up and begins taking pictures of the crowd with a professional camera)
BC: Thank you! If this gentleman doesn’t sit down, I’m gonna have him thrown out.
Richard Shay: Uh oh!
BC: Yeah, you.
Shay: Me?!
BC: You disrupter. Richard Shay, ladies and gentlemen. You might recognize him from our Christmas spectacular, where he ruined Christmas.
Sierra: Heh heh heh heh heh heh!
BC: He did!
Sierra: I didn’t hear the story.
BC: He ruined Christmas.
Sierra: (laughing) Wow. What did he do?
BC: "What did he do?" He just showed up!
Sierra: Awww, come on.
(rimshot from Jimmy)
BC: Okay! Here’s another sad song, here we go.
Wrath (Billy acoustic guitar & vocals, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass & backing vocals)
> The Weight (tease) (Billy plays the beginning guitar and sings a variation on the first line, seemingly to make Jimmy laugh)
Jimmy: (off mic) Boooo.
BC: Heh heh, yes, thank you, heh. Still havin’ fun, yes? I like to ask because you’ll know when I’m not having fun anymore, that becomes apparently obvious. Heh heh heh heh. Again, thank you to all our special guests, thank you for being here. Thank you to our sponsors, thank you to those watching online. Here’s a new song called Simmatar.
Sierra: Just have to take a deep breath (laughing) before this song.
BC: You got it? You got it?
Sierra: This is like just one of those songs that scare me.
BC: Okay.
Sierra: Hahahahahaha! He has a talent to like write these really easy bass lines that completely confuse me, this is probably – what’s the bass line? (plays 3 notes) Right, so that’s easy, right?
BC: That’s it, that’s it, easy.
Jimmy: (off mic) Make sure it’s just in the right spot.
Sierra: Well, let’s hope –- yeah, it’s gotta be in the right spot, he’s a -– he’s a tricky fella.
Simmatar (Billy acoustic guitar & vocals, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass & backing vocals)
BC: Yes. This is where we go back to the tuning. Did I already tell you the Eddie Vedder picture story or...? Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh. In fact, Jimmy, heh heh heh, I was talking to Frank before the show, Frank Catalano. And uh, we were talking about listening to Pharoah Sanders in the old apartment.
Jimmy: (off mic) Oh yeah.
BC: We were talking about how we listened to Pharoah Sanders back in the old apartment.
Jimmy: (off mic) In what state?
BC: In what state we were in, yes.
Jimmy: (off mic) It was very enlightening.
BC: It’s an illegal substance, but if you wanna do your Googling, it was once legal.
Jimmy: (off mic) That’s right.
BC: It was legal. In fact, the Animals wrote a song about their love of this particular drug. Naming the song Sandoz because it was for the Merck company that made the drug. Heh. I could see the reviews already: “The most entertaining part of the show,” heh heh heh.
Jimmy: (off mic) “Besides the tuning.”
BC: And besides the (trails off laughing).... Alright! This is where the show gets really good. Do you agree?
Jimmy: (off mic) I don’t know, what are we playing?
(Billy and Sierra laugh)
BC: Audience participation is encouraged.
Sierra: Absolutely.
BC: Which if you know anything about our band, audience participation is not encouraged. Heh heh heh. I just had a flashback of when Perry was yelling at me about playing the ukulele.
Perry Farrell: (off mic) Oh yeah I was!
BC: Hahahaha. Heh. (laughing) You wanna hear the story?
Jimmy: (off mic) Yeah, I do.
BC: This is where the donations just (gesturing nosedive)....
Jimmy: (off mic) Yeah, yeah. Plummet, plummet.
BC: The Pumpkins -– you weren’t in the band unfortunately at that moment –- the Pumpkins were uh, playing the Viper Room.
Jimmy: (off mic) Oh yes.
BC: Legendary venue. And uh–-
Jimmy: (off mic) Actually, I was there the night after you guys.
BC: Heh heh heh heh! And uh, as an encore, uh, I was doing a cover of Ray Noble and Al Bowlly’s version of Love is the Sweetest Thing on ukulele.
Jimmy: (off mic, laughing) My god. You can, you can tell I wasn’t there.
BC: (laughing hard) Jimmy was not in the band.
Jimmy: (off mic) That woulda never happened.
BC: It woulda never happened under Jimmy’s watch, heh heh haha. So I get up there and I’m all (gesturing) “L.A., come on, bring it on, the darkness.” And I’ve got the ukulele and I’m just about to play this beautiful song from the 1920s and I hear somebody go “Tiny Tim! Tiny Tim!” And I shoulda recognized the voice ‘cause it was kinda like (Perry Farrell imitation) “Tiny Tim, Tiny Tim!” (normal voice) And that man over there, I stormed offstage –- I did -– I stormed offstage and I never played the song. I thought about smashing the ukulele.
Jimmy: (off mic) That woulda been good.
BC: That would’ve been the best move. And then, uh, and then I found out it was Perry Farrell. True story! Heh heh.
Perry: (off mic) No, no! I was yelling Tip Girl to the Tulips [sic]!
BC: Oh. I just heard “Tiny Tim,” I just heard “Tiny Tim,” I don’t know what you were yelling, I just heard “Tiny Tim, Tiny Tim!” I once stood next to Tiny Tim at a phone booth.
Jimmy: (off mic) Heh!
Sierra: That’s cool.
BC: The Pumpkins were on tour -– very early days -– staying in a Holiday Inn, I believe. No shade there, beautiful Holiday Inn. And uh, I heard this voice behind me talking, yelling at his manager, as all rock stars do. And I turned around, it was Tiny Tim. And he had, uh, blush on his cheeks, nine a.m. and he was–-
Sierra: Nine a.m., hahahahahahahahaha!!
BC: Yes, he had blush on his cheeks like –- but it like, it was like (gesturing) clown circles? It wasn’t just blush, that’s cool, blush is cool. He had like little clown circle blush. And (laughing) I kid you not, he was (laughing hard) holding a sausage. Hahahaha.
Sierra: That’s amazing. That’s incredible.
BC: And that memory is seared into this brain. Holiday Inn, ‘92...holding a sausage.
Sierra: That’s pretty good.
BC: But you know who did the largest rating ever of a late night talk show? Tiny Tim on the Johnny Carson show.
Sierra: There you have it.
BC: So we dedicate this song -– I’m gonna keep my priorities straight –- to everyone in Highland Park and Tiny Tim.
1979 (Billy acoustic guitar & vocals, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass)
BC: Thank you! Alright! Thank you so much. Now let’s bring Frank and the boys back up. We got a special surprise coming.
[set break]
Sierra: Check check check check check one two, check check check check check one two and turn it down. I’m dedicating this next song to my daughter over there.
At Last (Frank Catalano Quartet w/Sierra on vocals)
Sierra: Thank you! Thank you.
BC: Sierra Swan, Sierra Swan. ... Okay. We’re almost done. I know you want to party but it is Wednesday night, right? Heh heh heh heh. It’s a little early, Thursday’s your normal starting, uh.... I’d like to introdoosh for you now, if I can talk, I’d like to introduce for you now, my partner, the love of my life, the mother of our children.... And uh...before you uh, thrill these people, uh...like to say a public and personal thank you: without you, this event would not have happened. Chloe’s lived here in Highland Park for ten years and she’s fallen in love with the community, so this affects us both and I know you wanted to say a couple things before we ride out into the sunset with our last few songs.
Chloe: Well, I’d like to thank our sponsors, heh heh. Uh, heh heh, thank you guys.
BC: Wait, should we get the program?
Chloe: Yeah, why don’t we do that right now? Can someone hand me a program? Thank you.
BC: Yeah, we need to thank these people ‘cause they’ve generased –- it’s, uh, generously donated, I’m so tired. And uh, heh heh, actually, I’m not tired, I just like to pretend I’m tired.
Chloe: Would you like to thank them?
BC: I’ll read it because, listen, without these people, uh....
Chloe: These are our legends.
BC: Conagra Brands.
Chloe: Thank you!
BC: Ryan and Jennifer Sutherland, Abrams Family, Lifeway Foods, thank you so much. Michael and Brooke Kauf, Oak Residential Partners, John and Graziela Kaufman, dear friends of ours, Peter and Paula Fasseas, also dear friends of us –- ours, thank you so much. T-Mobile, A.J. Feldman Financial, Ashley Quicksilver, FGMK, Ari and Judy Golson, Kraft Chemical Company, Andrew and Melanie Goodman, Logik IO, thank you, Greenberg Traurig, Brookfield Properties, Levenfeld Pearlstein and Brian and Stacey Price.
Chloe: Thank you, thank you!
BC: Thank you.
Chloe: There are so many more people than the people we just listed, really.
BC: Thanks to you and all our great sponsors, we’ve raised a significant amount of money, we can’t say yet what it is but it’s a lot and we thank you so much.
Chloe: Yeah, it’s amazing, and thank you to the committee who helped us put this together...
BC: Yes, absolutely.
Chloe: ...too to help us raise money.
BC: Okay, are you ready?
Jimmy: (off mic) Yes!
Chloe: Are you ready?
BC: No, but, heh heh heh heh....
Chloe: Well?
BC: Chloe’s gonna take us through a classic. A classic, now you know the words to this song, if you don’t, well...you’re just not alive.
Chloe: Well, you might’ve just been born more recent.
BC: Looking around, I –- I’m gonna guess they know this song, heh heh heh heh. So please join us in the The Beatles classic With a Little Help From My Friends.
With a Little Help From My Friends (Chloe vocals, Billy acoustic guitar & vocals, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass, Catalano saxophone, Janelle Lake harp)
BC: Now--
Chloe: Now, we have something more exciting!
BC: This is even more exciting!
Chloe: Oh my gosh!
BC: Our very special guest and our good friend, Perry Farrell.
(Jimmy starts drumbeat)
Perry: Nice to be here, your neighborhood, heh heh heh heh heh heh. So these are your neighbors, huh? I wouldn’t mind living next door to these guys; well, maybe not that guy though. Well, you know, I wanna just say a few words, not to, you know, dampen the party as it’s really reaching its cresendo – crescendo? cresendo? – crescendo. Um, I just wanted to say we do know what we’re up against here, we’re up against uh, money and corruption. Because I think most of us sensible people really do understand that there’s gotta be better, more sensible gun control laws. So it can get very, very disheartening to kinda try to think, well, how can we – how can we combat that? We’re talkin’ money, man, and money is uh, how do you beat money? There’s really only one thing that can beat money, that’s right, it is love, love will conquer all and especially, especially the love that people have when they have families. The love that is generated from people that have families: oh, I don’t wanna mess with people that have love in their hearts when they are wont to, you know, protect their families. So let’s all decide right here and right now – I know it seems overwhelming and maybe it’s never gonna happen, but I promise you that the world can chank – change really in the blink of an eye. If we all decide this is the way we wanna go, you will not stop us because we have the love in our hearts from our families and our neighbors. It’s gonna go down and I really feel it, I feel it’s goin’ down tonight, right now. Right? Yeah. ... (off mic) Here we go.
BC: (off mic) Should I count it in?
Jane Says (Perry Farrell vocals, Billy acoustic guitar, Jimmy drums, Sierra bass, Catalano saxophone, Janelle Lake harp)
Perry: There we go, Highland Park. Highland Park. Yes, beautiful, thank you, thank you, Billy and family, thank you all. Let’s keep it goin’, man, we got the –- we got it, right, we got it in our heart, let’s keep it goin’, man.
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