Werewolves of St. Louis: Warren Zevon Tribute Photos and Streaming Audio

Photo by Sara Finke

This past Friday, nine Saint Louis bands got together for a KDHX benefit at Off Broadway and paid tribute to the late Warren Zevon, a songwriter who doesn’t get near the props he deserves. I can’t think of a genuinely funnier or smarter writer in American music.

The evening captured the sweep of his work, from the wry and winsome opening song “My Ride Is Here,” wisely selected and sweetly harmonized by Auset and Brad, to the randy satire “Hula Hula Boys” of Jon Bonham and Friends, played with Tom-Waitsian growl and determination, to the acoustic blues punk of Bob Reuter (backed up by fellow KDHX programmer Fred Gumaer and Ryan Spearman on fiddle and mandolin), who did “Excitable Boys,” “Lawyers Guns and Money” and “My S**t Is F***ed Up.” Leave it to Bob to turn a potential train wreck of under rehearsal into a riveting bit of musical self-psychoanalysis. Tenement Ruth gave the songs — “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” and “Ain’t That Pretty At All” and a cover of a cover, “Jesus Was a Cross Maker” — a Velvet Undergroundish quality and Melody Den came out of semi-retirement for a harrowing “Keep Me in Your Heart,” “Carmelita,” “Mannish Boy” and “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead.” The band has rarely rocked so hard.

Photography, streaming audio and more after the jump.

Prairie Rehab, a new band featuring the core of the Linemen and new singer Lacie Mangles, covered the lovely “Mutineer,” “Mohammed’s Radio” and “I Was in the House When the House Burned Down.” The young Mangles was making her stage debut, and if she was a little nervous, she showed she has genuine Missouri twang and a lot of potential. Brothers Lazaroff followed with “Dirty Life and Times” and then a biting and genuinely howling “Werewolves of London” and “Disorder in the House.” Keyboardist Moe Egeston brought the noise and drummer Grover Stewart the funk.

Rough Shop, featuring KDHX’s John Wendland, more than held their own with “Splendid Isolation,” one of Zevon’s most overlooked and revealing songs, as well as a stormy “Play It All Night Long.”

The final act of the night, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School,” with Steve Scariano and Steve Carosello of the Love Experts, John Ellis and Andy Ploof, as well as Fred Gumaer and Brian Smith on drums, tackled three lesser known Zevon tunes: “The Heartache,” “Searching For a Heart” and the great kiss-off “Finishing Touches.” Who knows if this band will ever play together again, but I’m very happy they did this Friday.

Zevon isn’t the most accessible songwriter. After all, one of his signature songs concerns a headless mercenary haunting Africa and internecine battlefields thereafter. He’s angry, political, prickly, vulnerable, and brutally honest. But Friday night reminded a packed room at Off Broadway just how much fun he can be as well.

Listen to selections from the tribute below and check out Sara Finke’s photography from the whole night. Time permitting, I may even get around to posting some videos.

Werewolves of St. Louis: Warren Zevon Tribute Photos and Streaming Audio

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