“Maybe someday
Saved by zero
I’ll be more together
Stretched by fewer
Thoughts that leave me
Chasing after
My dreams disown me
Loaded with danger
So, maybe I’ll win (Saved by zero)
Maybe I’ll win (Saved by zero)”
- The Fixx (1983)
Lyrically, The Fixx’s song “Saved by Zero” is a reference to the Buddhist mantra Śūnyatā. Fixx lead vocalist Cy Curnin reflected on its meaning in a 2008 interview: “It was about looking at your own life, not so much about amassing material things but about experiences that lend you to be blissful… It’s sort of a meditation. It clears your head of all fears and panics and illusions and you get back to the basics, which is a Buddhist mantra, which I practiced back then, and which I still do. The idea of the song is how great it is to get back to zero.”
I recently took a break from Facebook- as a Facebook addict, I found I was spending too much time, scrolling and scrolling through posts, videos, and ads, and posting myself constantly. I felt the need to always tell people what I was doing and where I was going, and posting countless selfies and pics of our cats, kids and grandkids, concerts, hikes, vacations, etc. I felt like if I didn’t post about it, it didn’t happen. While I am sure I will get back to it some day (once I learn how to minimize my scrolling time), I decided it was time to reset and get “back to zero”. That being said, Eva and I attended a great concert last night and since I’m not doing Facebook currently, I had to document it somewhere, so I’ll write about it here (is that cheating?).
It was an interesting triple bill at the Keswick Theater – Peter Asher, Colin Blunstone, and The Fixx. We had only seen The Fixx once before- on August 28, 2012 at the Allentown Fair, opening for the J Geils Band. And I had also only seen Colin Blunstone once before- I think as part of one of those “HippyFest” shows, which a bunch of acts each doing a couple of their hits. But I’ve seen Peter Asher many times- with Peter and Gordon, Peter and Jeremy, Peter and Albert Lee, and solo. It was an unusual mix of bands, probably accounting for the less-than-capacity crowd. I’m guessing the 60s Oldies Pop crowd there for Peter or Colin wasn’t that interested in the 80s new wave sound of The Fixx, and vice versa. But we enjoyed them all. And ironically, I happened to be randomly sitting right next to a friend of mine, David Levin- what are the odds? (I know- about 1 in 1,200!).
As many times as I’ve seen Peter Asher, last night’s show really got to me- I think it was because my parents loved Peter and Gordon, and I clearly remember taking them to see the band on May 3, 2008 at the Sellersville Theater. It was one year before Gordon’s passing, and two years before my father’s passing. Peter is now 82 and seeming a bit frail, and when he sang “True Love Ways” as a duet with a recording of Gordon’s voice, it unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes. Although his voice is not as strong as it once was, he can still carry a tune and was a joy to listen to. And he was nicely accompanied by two vocalists/multi-instrumentalists. But the best part of a Peter Asher show nowadays (for me, anyway), are his great stories. I know this can be a turn-off for people coming to hear music, but I can’t get enough of his tales, like his sister Jane’s meeting and dating Paul McCartney, who eventually moved in with the Asher family and lived with them for a few years. And Paul giving Peter a song (“World Without Love”) to record with Gordon because John didn’t like it (“Who starts a song with ‘Please lock me away? That’s dumb. We’ll lock you away, Paul’”). And then there was the time when Asher took charge of the A&R department at the Beatles’ Apple Records label (I wonder how he got that job?), where he signed a then-unknown James Taylor and agreed to produce the singer-songwriter’s debut solo album. The album was not a success but Asher was so convinced that Taylor held great potential that he quit his post at Apple to move to the United States and work as Taylor’s manager, eventually producing Taylor’s mega-hit album “Sweet Baby James”. He also talked about introducing Taylor to Carole King, and how they both ended up recording their own giant hit versions of King’s song “You’ve Got A Friend”. The guy’s had an incredible life, and he said he owes much of it to a teenage Paul McCartney who gave Peter a hit song that got his whole career started. It was a nice opening to the evening’s show.
Next up was Colin Blunstone. I’m not sure why I hadn’t seen the Zombies before (aside from the “HippyFest” show)- I always loved their music, and his voice in particular. Unfortunately The Zombies are no more, following Rod Argent’ stroke, so Colin is performing with his own solo band now (although several band members were from later versions of The Zombies band). I was pleasantly surprised to see Chas Cronk, formerly of the Strawbs, playing bass for him- I hadn’t seen Chas since the Strawbs stopped touring and I didn’t recognize him until Colin introduced him. So needless to say Colin had a great backing band. I was blown away from the first note- unlike many of his contemporaries, this 81-year-old still has an amazing voice. It was a great set list, with all of my favorites. The only negative was asking the audience to participate: Clapping and saying the “ahhh” for “Time of the Season” (I can never clap at the right time, and had a hard time nailing the “ahhh” vocal); and helping him remember the words to “Tell Her No”- “Tell her no no no no no-no-no-no No no no no no-no-no-no No no no no no” (I could never seem to get down the right number of “no”s). That aside, in addition to the big hits, I particularly loved his cover of Jimmy Ruffins’ “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted”, the Zombies’ “Hung Up On A Dream”, and “Old and Wise”, which he recorded with the Alan Parsons Project. He is roughly the same age at Peter Asher, but he had a lot more stage energy and I detected no real change in his voice from 60 years ago. It was a great performance- probably my favorite of the three acts.
And lastly, the headliner, The Fixx. I didn’t remember much from the last time we saw them- probably because we were so far away from the stage at the Allentown Fair (or else my memory from that long ago doesn’t work so well anymore). The Fixx are unique from many old bands I see nowadays in that 47 years later, they still had all of the original members. The lead vocalist, Cy Curnin, who was born the same year as me (1957), is still a youngster compared to Peter Asher and Colin Blunstone. He sounded great, and is quite the showman- very theatrical, with expressive movements, facial expressions, and occasional props such as a theatrical mask, a gigantic old-school mobile phone, and a hand telescope (for “Red Skies”). And I naturally enjoyed picking up on a few subtle political jabs he threw in at times. I was not familiar with their whole catalog (I only had their one album, “Reach the Beach”, which had the hits “One Thing Leads to Another” and “Saved by Zero”), but I enjoyed every song in their set list. Their lyrics are sometimes a bit cryptic, so I found it interesting to look up the meanings of several of their songs when I got home. It may be obvious to some, but I learned that “Red Skies” is warning of an imminent nuclear holocaust; “Stand or Fall” is another dark song- about generational trauma, political paralysis, and the moral urgency of making a choice before a looming catastrophe; and the aforementioned “Saved by Zero” about reclaiming power and a meditation on Buddhist emptiness. I’m a bit late to the party, but I really like this band. I would definitely see them again if I get the chance.
The show ended around 11:30, close to four hours long. I tend to get tired and lose interest at concerts after a few hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening- a nice variety of musical styles and enjoyable performances by all. A fun night!
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