http://www.cleveland.com/popmusic/in...jam_parks.html
Cleveland Plain Dealer by Chuck Yarborough, February 1, 2014
Dave Mason's 'Traffic Jam' parks an appreciative Ohio Theatre back in time (Review)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- “If you remember the ’60s, you weren’t there.”
It’s an old saw, and in some cases, true. But the good thing is that the MUSIC was there, and it’s still here today.
That’s what came back Friday night at PlayhouseSquare’s Ohio Theatre, when Traffic co-founder Dave Mason and his current band took us aboard the Wayback Machine and let us all relive – and remember – those days courtesy of his "Traffic Jam Tour.''
The good thing about reminiscing is that almost everything looks better in the soft-focus reflection of your mind’s rearview mirror. You can’t smell unwashed hair or jeans that haven’t seen a laundry in six weeks. The horrors of the Vietnam War become plot devices in “Forest Gump.’’ “The Generation Gap’’ exists only as a paragraph in a history book.
But what survives, what lives even today, is the music. It’s especially wonderful when it’s brought back to life by the people who first GAVE it life, like Mason.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mason – he and Traffic were inducted in 2004 -- will be 68 this year, so he, his music and his stories are to be cherished even more. I mean, how much longer will he be here to share them with us in person?
Friday night, it was a packed Ohio Theatre’s turn to thank him for the memories, even as he opened up to us.
“We Just Disagree,’’ “Feeling Alright,’’ “Medicated Goo,’’ “Dear Mr. Fantasy’’ and “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys’’ aren’t just songs. They’re sonic scrapbooks of days gone by.
Of course, none of this would work if Mason had lost his chops, and that definitely has not happened. He and his Dave Mason Band – Alvino Bennett on drums, Jason Roller on guitar and mandolin and especially Tony Patler on keys (and through them, the bass) – and their airtight harmonies made it seem as though we were all just months away from the real Summer of Love instead of light years removed.
For two hours – with a 15-minute break between sets – Mason and his friends took us back in time, both with the music and tales. And the guy has a million tales. He didn’t just play with Jimi Hendrix; they were friends. He played with Fleetwood Mac. George Harrison gave him his first sitar (“I don’t play sitar now, because there’s no way I could SIT like that anymore!’’). He and Eric Clapton were buddies, too. So were he and Bob Dylan, hence his hit on a cover of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.’’ Oh, and his Dylan impression is spot-on, “only when I sing it, you can understand the words.’’
But a favorite story of mine, which he shared amid Friday, night has to be about the boys of Traffic – Mason, Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood and Chris Wood – taking up residence in a house in the middle of nowhere in England. It had no heat and no running water. They even had to “chop down the outdoor bathroom for firewood.’’
“But we were kids, we didn’t care,’’ he told the crowd at the Ohio. Musicians from all over England would come to jam (I DO wish he’d revealed how they powered the amps and PA’s, but that’s a nit I’ll leave unpicked).
The story is cute, sure. But more than that, it showed just how much the music mattered. I’m not sure it does to that extent today. I’m not denigrating any artist, and I know everybody who’s in the field makes sacrifices to “make it.’’ But I’m not 100 percent sold on the idea that “making it’’ in 2014 means making music instead of money.
Not that Mason is against a few bucks. After all, he noted that “Feeling Alright,’’ which Joe Cocker turned into a huge hit, has been the goose that laid the golden egg. It’s been used in a slew of commercials, for example, and that means cha-ching royalties.
Most recently, he said, Bank of America has paid him to use the song in its commercials.
“I love it!’’ he said to an appreciative and laughing crowd. “A bank is paying ME!’’
Not enough, Dave. Not NEARLY enough. Memories are priceless.