If you wander into Red Hook, Brooklyn these days you’ll still feel like you took a left onto desolation boulevard. Compared to adjacent neighborhoods like Carroll Gardens, the area retains the distinct identity of an industrial port. No subway, very little traffic. On Van Dyke Street there’s what seems to be the only bastion of nightlife…The Liberty Heights Tap Room. For two years now, they’ve sponsored a biannual fundraiser for ALS. The groups who donate their time and music are mainly local bands who have reunited in some cases for the first time in decades.
It’s a sweet place to lounge. Wafts of garlic aroma fly by waitresses carrying brick-oven pies. Beaten-up couches line the listening space as well as the pool table area. The bar features locally-brewed beers on tap.
All egos are in check and the musicians all support one another and guest-spot in any of the thirteen bands on the bill. For good balance an all-girl teen punk band unleashed five tracks featuring Sleater-Kinney-like vocals. The talented singer-guitarist and writer, Ted Mason who played many years with Modern English after they penned their most enduring and well-known hit “I Melt With You,” almost grudgingly played the catchy tune, ripping apart what should remain a simple pop ditty, instead making a pointless departure into a 15-minute guitar solo.
The kids, many learning music themselves cheer on their fathers. And so, you’ll find many shapes and sizes, many variations of grey on stage. But the truth is, these guys can play. One such band is XDavis. In the early eighties, the Brooklyn quartet toured with Stray Cats, Culture Club, XTC, and Squeeze. My good friend, drummer Bruce Gallipani has kept himself in shape well enough to tear through the band’s punchy-quick rockers. Gallipani also exercised band-mate swapping rites, teaming up with three others, all who share a fervent passion for The Who. For a few weeks the newly-dubbed Fools rehearsed the 8-minute 36-second Who classic, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
The song relies on the now-famous Townshend keyboard part which acts as a click track. Even The Who themselves used the recorded keyboard part while performing live. Gallipani locks into the recording to anchor the rhythm. The Fools played it very well; anyone who knows this song waits anxiously for the raucous Daltrey scream near the end. No disappointment—lead vocalist Rob Visciano nailed it well.
A tree-lined Red Hook street on an early August evening.
Drummer Bruce Gallipani plays live to the keyboard click track of “Baba O’Reilly.”
Singer Rob Visciano performs “Baba O’Reilly.”
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