Featured Artist: Backstage with Al Stewart, New York City, 1998 - Page 2

Settling in on a vinyl chair in the tiny room, I really wanted to comfort him — he seemed really upset, and adding insult to proverbial injury, one of his capos was missing.

"Please forgive me. I'm really pissed with myself," he said. "Maybe it's senility setting in — I know these songs, but nothing seemed to be working. I got fixed on my fingers standing there, you know?"

"Some days are just like that," I said, adding that the audience had a great time — we weren't disappointed at all. And we weren't. Yes, Al's performance was perhaps tentative in spots, but on the whole, it was a terrific, energetic concert that the audience thoroughly enjoyed. I doubt he heard me.

"I think I was trying too hard," he said, his eyes turning steely as he looked into mine. "They were recording me, and I hate being recorded. I just couldn't get it out of my mind. I do my best when I'm not thinking about it, and I was thinking about it too much."

"So stop thinking about it. We all had a wonderful time."

He turned to dig through his things in search of the missing capo, and he smiled for the first time since he'd said hello to me. "Did you notice I didn't do 'Year of the Cat' this time out?"

Yes, I said, noting that earlier that evening I'd seen "Cat" on his handwritten list of planned first-set songs. "Doing 'Roads to Moscow' knocked it out, didn't it? I'd much rather have heard 'Moscow;' I was glad that guy requested it and you played it."

"Maybe I can avoid it in the second set," he said, grinning

The opening artist, Julian Dawson, entered the room. Al hopped up. "Julian, you haven't seen my capo, have you? I can't find the damned thing."

We all looked around the room, hoping to see some sign of the guitar tool to no avail. Al sighed and asked Julian a question on a completely different subject.

"You said you like the Everly Brothers. Would you like to do a duet with me?" Dawson, of course, accepted eagerly. Al picked up his guitar and the two went back and forth coming up with ideas of what to sing. Al wanted to do something obscure, and they even asked me what I liked (I suggested "Wake Up Little Susie," but Al said Simon and Garfunkel had covered it and he wanted to avoid that comparison. Interestingly, during the second show, when Dawson was on stage with him, Al quipped that the juxtaposition of himself, roughly 5'9" in height, with the 6'5" Dawson was reminiscent of the mismatched folk-pop duo). They eventually decided upon "Bye Bye Love" and practiced it. Al was worried that he'd have problems with the lyrics, but they got through it fine, and I really enjoyed the impromptu performance in the dressing room

Article Author: Natalie Davis

Natalie Davis is an award-winning journalist, progressive- and GLBT-issues activist, musician and broadcaster. Davis' All Facts and Opinions - The Armchair Activist has existed since 1996. She is general manager and program/music director of Grateful …

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