Black and White Night

Well it's been over a year now since I blogged about the Horse Woman. She still haunts our pasts but we need to move on.

I recently bought Roy Orbison and Friends "Black and White Night" on Bluray Disc. I have seen parts of this before on a PBS fundraiser but never the entire thing. I woke up last Sunday morning a little earlier than usual and decided to break it out.

It was filmed in LA for either a Cinemax or HBO Special, there's conflicting info on that online. What makes it cool is the all star cast of people who are on stage with him. He was backed by The TCB Band who backed Elvis from '69 til '77 when Elvis died. Among the TCB band is James Burton, the lead guitarist- I'll come back to him later.

Other solid stage presences included JD Souther, who co-wrote many of the most popular eagles songs, Tom Waits, who is as strange as they come but a great musician in his own right, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen, who had apparently been an Orbison fan for a long time. There was also Jackson Browne, Bonnie Riatt, and KD Lang. There were also some all stars in the audience including Billy Idol, who is also a big Orbison fan.

The setting is intimate, tables and chairs with white tablecloths and people enjoying drinks during the show. It looked like a genuinely good time. This was shot in '88 IIRC and all in black and white which adds a nice grainy touch to it all.

My favorite part was the interaction between James Burton, Roy Orbison, and Bruce Springsteen. It was an excellent show to say the least. Bruce would come share the mic and sing with Roy with an obvious cohesion of energy. James Burton would trade solos with Roy and Bruce and they were all VERY well done. During the song Pretty Woman, Bruce Springsteen and James Burton have a guitar solo dual that's fun to watch. It's obvious that James Burton has more chops than The Boss but it's still fun to watch.

I can't say enough about James Burton. Before I watched this movie I wouldn't have known him from adam. He had such command of the guitar, he was playing a Telecaster which is a classic for country and rockabilly and he had added a great country sound to the mix, he contributed a ton. Apparently he started playing semi professionally by the time he was 13 and has been working as a studio musician, on touring musician, and producer. He Played with John Denver for many years and he also toured with Elvis Costello on and off for about a Decade.

If you haven't seen this movie, it behooves you to check it out!

Here are some pics, the first one is
James Burton, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen. Number 2 is
James Burton, Number 3 is The Man himself, RIP Roy...