Robbie Thomas
Seeing Stone Temple Pilots and The Guess Who
Going to the Arts, Beats and Eats in Royal Oak was something I missed. I did go in 2019 to see 38 Special, Foghat and the All-American Rejects. That was a great show and a lineup I liked. I got a VIP seat, no fucking around here. The VIP seat was needed for this show. The first person performing was a Thornetta Davis. She does Blues, I didn’t watch that show, that music is quite my cup of tea.
The Guess Who
The Guess Who now has one original member, that is Garry Peterson at drums. I have a strange Guess Who story to share, as a baby/toddler and believed there were monsters, I thought the singer of American Woman was a monster. That voice yelling “American Woman” scared me as a boy. There was a few times I remember being afraid of the dark, waiting for what I imagined a monster yelling “American Woman!” and coming out of the darkness and eating me alive. God damn, I was a sad little tot.
The Guess Who also has Rudy Sarzo at bass. He was Ozzy’s first bassist when he went solo. I’m not familiar with the other band members. The lead singer Derek Sharp can sing, but he doesn’t sound anywhere like Burton Cummins. It’s reminiscent of John Payne who took over as lead vocalist of Asia after the late John Wetton quit back in 1991. John Payne’s voice was very good, but it wasn’t anywhere near John Wetton. I also met John Payne and Geoff Downes in 2004.
They did Shakin’ all over, I haven’t heard that song in ages. I think the last time I heard that song was somewhere in the 90s on an oldies station. Yes, they did American Woman, no I didn’t run away screaming that the monsters will come to get me. Another song they performed is Haunted, one of their new songs (made in 2018). I actually like it. They did No Sugar Tonight and my personal favorite Share The Land. One of the songs I seriously, seriously hate is These Eyes. They did that on their encore. Ugh!
Stone Temple Pilots
This will be the second time I seen STP, the first was in 2018 at Freedom Hill. Stone Temple Pilots was my favorite band for a few years in the 1990s. I discovered them in the summer of 1993 while seeing the music video for Plush. And it blew me the fuck away. Before then, I was a serious fan of classic rock such as Journey and Boston. Both of those bands took a back seat when I discovered STP. Although I loved the song, I would often make fun of Scott Weiland during that time, he looked awfully goofy to me. The video itself was awfully goofy but I cared more about the music opposed to the video.
In 93-94, I was 11-12 years old and I tried to be a grunge. I did get an Alice In Chains shirt and also a flannel shirt. I tried to be a grunge and hopes that my special-Ed self could make friends with older grunge kids. Didn’t go so well one time. I was able to befriend a kid two years older than me who was into grunge. He took me to this coffee shop where I saw some 16-17 year old long-hair grungers hanging out at this place. Needless to say, his friends weren’t a big fan of this little 12-year-old trying to be a grunge. Because I was an emotionally inept special-ED kid, I reacted by running home crying to my mom.
Stone Temple Pilots did a great job and spoiled the hell outta me with Sin, Silvergun Superman, Still Remains and Piece Of Pie. I was hoping for Kitchenware & Candybars, but that didn’t happen. Would love to hear that song live. When Scott Weiland died, the next day, I watched the bands VH1 Storytellers performance of this song. It’s a fucking bummer that I never got to see Scott Weiland perform live. I had some interest in seeing STP in 1996, but I was just 14 years old. Couldn’t take (or steal) the car to the now-defunct The Palace Of Auburn Hills.
Getting There Too Early
I arrived at the Arts Beats and Eats at 5:30pm. I now wish I arrived at the 7:00p hour instead. All I really did from 5:30-8 was drink and mainly wander around the festival. I did enjoy Pictus peformance, and later saw them at the Michigan Renaissance Festival on Sunday 5 Sep 2021. Went to a Mexican Restaurant due to a bar I wanted to go to was filled. During the show, Rob DeLeo said he walked around the festival and went to a few bars. Too bad I didn’t run into him, would’ve loved to say hello. I’m glad STP is continuing on with Jeff Gutt. I think he does fill in the shoes well. And also, I like the idea that he is local (from Marine City).
