RE: (TV) Has TV replace Oliver Ray?

[nelgin@nyct.net]

I have no idea if there's "anything" going on between Patti and Tom,
although Patti did sing the last chorus of "Because the Night" ("Because
the night/Belongs to lovers/Because the night/Belongs to us") on her knees
in front of Tom at the New Year's Eve show, much to Tom's apparent
chagrin. Patti had a huge smile on her face while she was singing, and
afterward, Tom and Tony, who interacted quite a lot during the shows, were
both laughing. I heard Tom say, "I can't believe she did that to me!"

I think Tom's playing with Patti's band is good for all of them,
particularly Tom and Patti themselves. It's good for Tom because he's
obviously making money (the Vox that he was playing through at the most
recent shows was new, I believe), and it's good for Patti because it's
bringing her back to her earlier, more artistic vibe as opposed to the
more rock vibe of her later stuff (which I for some reason associate with
Fred Sonic Smith's influence). I base that on the emphasis on early
material at the recent shows. My totally uninformed prediction is that Tom
will keep playing with Patti's band and will influence her to return to
her earlier, more daring and creative style.

As for Oliver's playing, I think he was doing the more interesting guitar
work only because he took almost all the leads; Lenny rarely had the
chance to play lead, and it's been great to once again hear him pulling
some very interesting stuff from his strings. I think Oliver's best
contributions to the band were as a songwriter, but I'm quite sure that
Tom can take up the slack that his absence will create!

Tom's playing with Patti is also good for us, because we'll get to hear
him more often, and hopefully the added attention he'll get (as well as
the money) will encourage him to do both more solo stuff and -- please,
please, please -- Television stuff. He also seems to be having fun, which
has got to be a good thing regardless of whether we benefit from it. But
let's hope!

--Robin wrote:
>>ollie went from boyfriend-learing-to-play guitarist to
>>being a rather competent guitarist.  in fact he was
>>doing the more interesting guitar parts whenever i saw
>>them play the last couple of years.
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