On Election Night, Susanna Hoffs Earns My Vote, Imperfectly -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Susanna Hoffs
City Winery, Chicago
November 6, 2012
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Susanna Hoffs is someone I don’t mind forgiving.

Nearly 30 years after I first became smitten by her songs (with the Bangles), appearance and voice, she is still quite appealing on all fronts. And given her on-stage demeanor, she seems genuinely gracious, amiable and endearing.

So although I was rather disappointed back in April when she failed to appear, as advertised, at a Siskel Film Center screening of the 1978 movie, Stony Island, in which she made her screen debut (you can read my bitching about this here), I nonetheless ponied up good money to attend a solo performance by her Tuesday night at Chicago’s City Winery.

And though she showed up missing half her band and delivered a performance that went beyond loose and scruffy to be somewhat embarrassingly slipshod, her good natured persona—along with a nice mix of enjoyable songs—made her show likable nonetheless.

But though Susanna still looks and sounds great at 53, making the gig worth my while if not fully the admission price, I can’t truthfully call it one for the ages.

Hoffs did showcase what has been a rather robust career, playing Bangles gems such as “Manic Monday,” “Hero Takes A Fall” and “If She Knew What She Wants,” some nice cuts from her recent solo release, Someday (“November Sun,” “One Day” and “Picture Me” being highlights”) and several cover tunes, reminiscent of her fun Under the Covers collaborations with Matthew Sweet.  The latter included the Beatles’ “All I’ve Got to Do,” the Stone Poneys (i.e. Linda Ronstadt’s) “Different Drum,” Little Feat’s “Willin’,” The Association’s “Never My Love” and a show closing encore of “September Gurls” by the Box Tops. (Full setlist on Setlist.fm)

All of these were nice to hear and except for a few phrasing concessions on some high notes, Susanna's sticky sweet vocals sounded as good as ever.

Explaining as she took the City Winery stage—an attractive, comfortable venue if a bit snooty—that her bassist and drummer weren’t able to make it to the show (perhaps pertaining to Hurricane Sandy, but not specified), Hoffs was accompanied by guitarist Andrew Brassell and another guy who mostly played the tambourine.

Initially playing an acoustic guitar—for which she apologized at being less than adept—rather than her favored trademark Rickenbacker, Susanna was instantly beset by technical challenges, including a strange buzz emanating from her guitar cord.

Affably apologetic and effusively appreciative of the somewhat sparse Election Night crowd, Hoffs initially offset the snafus with her charm. But with a number of songs being started, stopped & re-started and “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “In Your Room” being completely butchered, what might have remained engagingly homey in a coffeehouse ventured toward being unprofessional given my nearly $50 ticket price.

When Hoffs and Brassell got through an entire song, it generally sounded delightful. Just hearing her unique voice on a nice batch of classic songs was undeniably pleasing, and the 100-minute show had enough stellar moments to be more enjoyable than not.

I realize Susanna is in the early stages of a rare solo tour, without her Bangle bandmates nor in tandem with Sweet, and is still finding her “sea legs.” And the unexplained absence of half her band certainly couldn’t have aided her comfort level. Especially given her sweet disposition, I won’t overly harangue her lack of polish, but I think she’d be the first to admit her stagecraft could use some improvement.

But at least she showed up. And if all is not quite forgotten, I’ll consider it forgiven.

To reference the Bangles #1 ballad she performed Tuesday night, when it comes to the female rock singer I’ve most aesthetically admired (with apologies to Debbie Harry, Gwen Stefani and other contenders), I guess my “Eternal Flame” continues to burn. Even if it occasionally flickers a bit.

Oh (No) Susanna: Bangles' Hoffs Turns Me On To 'Stony Island,' Albeit in Absentia

If "Iconic Beauties of the '80s" was a Jeopardy category and "She provided the single most titillating music video moment of the decade" was the answer, my question would be:

"Who is Susanna Hoffs?"

As a member of The Bangles, that point near the end of "Walk Like An Egyptian" when Hoffs pauses and demurely rolls her eyes--well let's just say I recall it fondly.

Though I genuinely enjoyed several Bangles songs for their musical merits, that moment--and Hoffs herself--was enough to prompt me to attend a Bangles reunion show at the House of Blues several years back (they have also performed more recently).

And while I'm always interested in learning about Chicago history, especially through informative films, I can't deny it was the chance to see Susanna--who's still quite lovely at 53--that brought me to the Siskel Film Center last night for a screening of Stony Island.

Focusing on an interracial band of R&B musicians from Chicago's South Side, Stony Island was the first feature film directed by Andrew Davis, who would go on to make The Fugitive and a number of other movies.

Released, briefly, in 1978, it was co-written by Davis and Tamar Hoffs, Susanna's mother. One of the stars is Richie Davis, Andrew's brother, and as his character's girlfriend, an 18-year-old Susanna Hoffs made her film debut. (Then a UC Berkeley freshman, she also served as a Production Assistant on the film.)

Thus, in addition to a screening of the film--which will be released on DVD for the first time on April 24--the Siskel two-night event was to include a discussion with Andrew Davis, Tamar Hoffs, Susanna Hoffs and (on Thursday only) Richie Davis.

While I have great respect for successful directors and enjoy hearing them talk about their work--I recently attended an event where John McNaughton spoke about his underrated Chicagoland-based film, Normal Life--given my "Eternal Flame" for Susanna, she was, for me, the main attraction.

But she wasn't there. 

And no explanation was given for her absence (I don't know if she had been there on Wednesday).

Perhaps she had to get back home to prepare a Passover seder, as although she walked like an Egyptian, Susanna Hoffs could also be part of a "Jewish Rock Stars" Jeopardy category along with Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Geddy Lee and Joey Ramone (or Billy Joel, David Lee Roth, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Lou Reed, Leslie West, Beck, all three Beastie Boys and several others). In fact, Hoffs' grandfather--Tamar's father--was Ralph Simon, a longtime Rabbi at Congregation Rodfei Zedek in Hyde Park.

I realize she wasn't going to sing--though the possibility of her participating in a post-movie concert at Buddy Guy's Legends was mentioned in Dave Hoekstra's Sun-Times piece on Stony Island--and even Davis' comments were rather brief as they segued into the showing of a short documentary he crafted on the making of Stony Island, which featured several insights from Susanna, Tamar, both Davis brothers, Gene Barge (a longtime Chicago musician and a star of the film), additional actors plus Quincy Jones, Chuck D. and others.

In all likelihood, I probably saw Susanna better and heard more from her in the documentary than I would have in person, but it still would have been nice had someone apologized to those of us who endured a 90-minute traffic jam down the Edens/Kennedy and paid $11 on the basis that she would be there.

Still, the movie itself was quite worthwhile as a time capsule of late '70s Chicago and--per the Davis boys--a rather accurate depiction of racial harmony on their native South Side, at least among up-and-coming musicians.

Stony Island Avenue runs through the South Side and according to Andrew Davis is literally the road  that was first walked on by greats like Louis Armstrong and Muddy Waters upon migrating to Chicago.

Along with Richie Davis, the two main stars of the movie are Gene Barge, a legendary saxophonist who plays Percy Pride, something of a mentor to the young musicians, and Edward "Stoney" Robinson, a gifted young singer who died in 1979, shortly after--and perhaps somewhat exacerbated by--the movie's ill-fated release.

According to the post-film discussion and documentary, Stony Island was initially released in seven Chicago-area theaters. It supposedly received strong reviews and attracted young black audiences to theaters in white neighborhoods. Scared that they would lose their other audiences, the white theater owners complained and the movie was quickly pulled. It was subsequently re-released as My Main Man From Stony Island and promoted as a blaxploitation picture, with a trailer antithetical to the movie's true nature.

So it was shelved until now. While I wouldn't quite label it as fantastic, it's well worth seeing if only for the historical context. Davis stated that he was inspired by American Graffiti and Mean Streets and wanted to make a film about his own neighborhood.

There are a lot of great characters in the movie--including one played by a young Dennis Franz--and some wonderful lines, including the sublimely delivered, "Chicago is a nice town if you're looking for a pizza." The music, written specifically for the film, is also quite enchanting.

Though her screen time is relatively brief, it is fun seeing a young Hoffs. While others in the movie have gone on to nice careers--Richie Davis still performs with the Chicago Catz--I think it's safe to say that Susanna became the most successful singer, yet she doesn't sing in the film. But in the documentary and an interview with Hoekstra, she cites how the film experience (along with seeing The Sex Pistols and Patti Smith perform around the same time) was crucial to her eventual career path.

As seen in Stony Island, Hoffs wasn't quite as stunning as she would become with the Bangles, but it's already quite clear that the camera loves her.

Which is why my digital point-and-shoot was at the ready last night, but alas, like many tales of young lust gone unfulfilled, it wasn't meant to be. (The photo at left was found on her Facebook page, from an event in March.)

Not quite a case of "Hero Takes a Fall," but I still think an explanation would have been nice. Even if it was only, "If I had an airplane I still couldn't make it on time."