The Rundown: In Honour of LeRoi

Pictured to the left is LeRoi Moore, sax player for the Dave Matthews Band. Yesterday, Moore passed away due to injuries suffered in an ATV accident earlier in the month.

I am a huge DMB fan and reading the news of LeRoi's death wasn't exactly how I was planning on starting my day. The guy was super talented and will surely be missed, much like the rest of the people taken from us too soon who make up today's Rundown.

My Top Five Musicians Who Died Too Soon

5. Tupac Shakur
While I wasn't a huge West Coast rap guy at the time of his death, there is no denying the incredible talent and intellect that was Tupac Amaru Shakur. Lots of people associate Tupac with his run-ins with the law and gangsta rap anthems of violence and partying, which is fair enough. But don't forget about tracks like "Dear Mama" and "Keep Your Head Up" to name two. Tupac wasn't just a musician either; this was an artist in every sense of the word and I wish he didn't have to go so soon.

4. Kurt Cobain
I do not include Cobain because I was one of the millions of Gen X kids who thought I had found my saviour when I first heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the rest of Nevermind. I actually didn't like Nirvana at all. I still don't. I think Cobain was a messed up dude who couldn't deal with fame and pressure and copped out by killing himself. So then why do I include him here? Because I would have loved to see where he went to next and how he evolved as a musician and leader of a musical generation.

3. Marvin Gaye
We lost Marvin at age 45 in 1984. He'd have turned 69 this year and I'm certain he would still be churning out music. The man has been a staple in the samples of hip hop tracks for years and is a certifiable icon in the music business. You think Kanye wouldn't be doing something with Marvin if he were still around? Or what about one of these younger R&B cats like John Legend or Alicia Keys lining up next to him? Imagine how beautiful that would be.

2. The Notorious BIG
A small part of me still thinks that had Biggie lived, he would have turned into 50 Cent, going from drugs and violence being the dopest MC in the game to rapping about nothing but asses over slinky P. Diddy beats. "Hypnotize" over and over and over again. Then I listen to tracks like "Sky's The Limit" or "I Got a Story To Tell" or "Juicy" and I remember that Christopher Wallace was the King of New York at the time of his death and I wonder if it would be any different now?

1. Shannon Hoon
A lot of people look at Blind Melon as One Hit Wonders, only able to recall "No Rain" thanks to The Bee Girl. That's fine by me. I loved them. I have no problem admitting that I cried when I heard of Shannon Hoon's death. "Change" is still my favourite song of all-time, with a segment of the lyrics to one day be etched into my skin permanently. This one clobbered me and still makes me mad to this day.

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Babylon
Artist: David Grey
Album: White Ladder

My friends Bucky and Beast get the kudos here for introducing me to David Grey. Yes, sometimes, other people find really great music before me. These things happen from time to time. This is one of those cases.

I don't know where or how they discovered him, but I'm guessing it had something to do with The Dave Matthews Band, as Grey is signed to ATO Records, Matthews' label. Perhaps Bucky will clarify in the comments for us later...

As we've covered time and again during this segment, I'm a big fan of songs and albums that resonate both musically (you know... melodically) and lyrically and once again, this song boasts both.

Musically, this song is awesome. Simplistic acoustic guitar layered over an echoing backbeat that has enough movement to it that it makes you sway with hints of piano added for flavour. It's a pretty plain concept on paper, but it works really well. It's kind of like how, despite how utterly crappy Bruce Hornsby was, his songs always stuck in your head because the music of them was really, really well crafted.

Then we come to the lyrics. I was won over in the first verse:

Well looking back through time
You know it's clear that I've been blind
I've been a fool
To ever open up my heart
To all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule

Been there. Felt that. Got the t-shirt in a drawer somewhere. Been in verse two too:

Saturday I'm running wild
And all the lights are changing red to green
Moving through the crowd I'm pushing
Chemicals all rushing through my bloodstream
Only wish that you were here
You know I'm seeing it so clear
I've been afraid
To tell you how I really feel
Admit to some of those bad mistakes I've made

Honestly, there is an easy formula to become a favourite song of mine: well-crafted melodies and music, lyrics about missing your woman and apologizing for being a bit of a dick in the past. Most guys should be able to identify with these things. Lord knows I do.

The capper for this song is that it became a staple of my karaoke rotation while I was doing my thing at Sha-na-na's. Now, that may not be a good thing and some people may definitely hate this song for the rest of their lives because of my rendition, but whatever. It couldn't have been worse than the time I tried to belt out "Sugar, We're Going Down..."

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Grace is Gone

Artist: Dave Matthews Band

Album: Busted Stuff

I first saw Dave and the Boys on Saturday Night Live when the Under The Table and Dreaming album was released. On the stage stood this ragtag bunch of guys with no visible signs of pretention; everyone rocked what was obviously their own personal wardrode not something someone in Costumes had thrown at them and they smashed out both "What Would You Say?" and "Ants Marching" during the show. I was hooked.

Jump ahead some years. Dave et al have released sundry other albums, built the fanatical fanbase that treks all over the continent and world to see them and I had become friends with two very big Dave Matthews fans in Butch & Beast. Butch, real name Bryan Buchanon, worked with me at the casino and Beast, Greg Jorden, was a buddy of his from high school. Our favourite pasttime was heading down to our local watering hole - Tiff's in fabulous Barrie, ON - grabbing some grub, some pints and watching Leafs games. Yes, I watched a lot of Maple Leafs hockey, that is beside the point.

Anywho, the best thing about Tiff's was their jukebox. Actually, the best thing about Tiff's was that we knew everyone and so we got special treatment which included free reign on the jukebox and the jukebox happened to hold some Dave. You knew we were in the bar when you heard "Two Step" start playing.

Then Busted Stuff came out. Bucky and I copped it at Music World across the street from my house the day it came out. Later that summer, a tour was announced. I had never seen Dave Live; Beast and Bucky were vets, having tripped to Hartford to see him among their many shows. Checking dates, we discovered a very awesome possibility: back-to-back Dave in Montreal and Toronto at the start of September. What better way to close out the summer than a road trip to see DMB?

We planned it, executed said plan and rocked the two shows, which were exceedingly different. The first night, Montreal, was a fan show, where they played a lot of stuff that serious Dave fans were stoked to hear. Toronto was the Radio Show, where all the Dave Classics (read: the radio hits) were belted out in succession. There was some overlap from the two shows, including "Grace is Gone".

I've been known to love a sad bastard song or two and this is my personal favourite. A lament about love lost while riding the rail of a bar, stool under your ass, empty glass in front of you, heart heavier than ever. While I was a fan of the song already from the album, hearing it live, two nights in a row at that, cemented it's place in my heart and my all-time mix tape.

Starting off slow and somber, the song builds into Dave practically pleading with the bartender, his heartache and pain and loss more than he wants to feel at the time. As much as you can feel it through the CD version, seeing Dave's strained face on a giant screen back-to-back evenings as he raspily begs to a legion of fans sent shivers down my spine.

Excuse me please one more drink
Could make it strong cause I don’t need to think
She broke my heart my Grace is gone
One more drink and I’ll move on

Couple Dave's pleading and playing with the insanely good musicianship of the rest of the boys - LeRoi, Stefan, Carter and Boyd - and you have the makings of one of those songs that burns into your memory, forever capturing a place in your soul.

While I may not have the same kind of sad bastard days going forward that have prompted me to slap on Grace, there will always be a place for her on my playlist.

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