Steve Hamm Photo
On a day when the U.S .House of Representatives condemned the president of the United States for being a racist, Little Steven Van Zandt did his best to sooth our jangled nerves at the College Street Music Hall with an energetic show paying tribute to rock, R&B, soul, funk, and the blues — with a little bit of reggae and Latin beats thrown in.
These musical genres were gifted to the nation by its people of color, of course, and, indeed, the show Van Zandt put on could be read as a loving paean to the very citizens the president scorns.
Van Zandt, famous as a sidekick to Bruce Springsteen and for playing a really creepy mobster on TV, is an elfin man with sizable talents. He put those talents all on display at College Street Tuesday night as he sang his own songs and some penned by others, played a mean lead guitar, and even danced a bit.
Draped in flowing bandanas and wearing his signature head scarf, Van Zandt dashed around the stage like a dervish, kidded with three backup singer ladies who wore immense Afro wigs, and played a couple of lead guitar solos that reminded me of his halcyon days with Springsteen’s E Street Band.
He also delivered some serious messages. In addition to praising teachers and speaking in favor of equal rights for women (which, you’d think, should be non-controversial topics by now), he did his bit to reclaim American patriotism from Trump and his right-wing bigots.
“You can be a patriot, love your country, and be a good global citizen,” Van Zandt told the crowd.
He and his band, The Disciples of Soul, are in the early stages of a tour that has already taken them to in Omaha, Syracuse, Montreal, and Buffalo, and will soon cross to Europe. The tour features songs from Van Zandt’s just-released album, Summer of Sorcery, which marks his first new album of original material in 20 years.
A lot of the show was just plain fun — harkening back to summers in the early 1960s when people like me listened to the Ronettes and Shirelles on the radio; and, in the mid-1970s, when, if we were very lucky, we got to hear Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes play Springsteen songs at the legendary Stone Pony club in Asbury Park, N.J.
At its essence, it was a celebration of summer, and of the sweet memories of youth.
I was struck, but not surprised, by the makeup of Tuesday’s audience. It was mostly people in their 50s and 60s, with much gray hair and a little more bulk around the middle than we would like to acknowledge.
But, somehow, Van Zandt and his crew made us forget all of that for just a moment. In a darkened theater, listening to really loud rock & roll and dreaming of long lost summer nights, we were all young again — for a couple of hours, anyway.
And I even forgot about Trump for a few minutes.