The Three Es and The Beatles

For a long time, my favorite local bands were the Three Es: emmet swimming, eddie from ohio, and The Excentrics. But The Excentrics split in 2002. Happily, singer/songwriter Todd Wright, started another band, The Getaway Car, and I’ve been enjoying going to see them recently. It amuses me that the first three shows of this year have been the good old Three Es, as last night I caught Todd at Paolos. He was setting up in a corner of the bar when I walked in, and we chatted briefly. The only other person there to see him was his girlfriend, and we talked as he finished soundchecking. I’d heard from my friend Linda (who showed up a couple songs in) that he had a new looping board, and I was looking forward to hearing what he did. I was amused after he used it initially to play a rhythm guitar part in “American Girl”, he recorded and played back the intro to “Down Under” – then took a bathroom break! I asked if he was taking requests – when he said yes, I asked for the old Excentrics song “Wheelbarrow”, but he just teased it. He did mostly covers, because while a couple other fans showed up, it was mostly a bar crowd he was playing to (including one older gentleman who got increasingly drunk as the night wore on). Good covers, and I requested a couple I knew he did well: Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom” and the Beatles “She Said She Said”. He had requests that ran the spectrum, at one point dueling requests for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nine Inch Nails (he passed on both).


“In My Place”

The Beatles have been on my mind lately, as first I’d enjoyed the new Love CD, then my boss turns out to be a big fan, he loaned me The Compleat Beatles and I in turn loaned him The Beatles Anthology. Todd had played a couple other Beatles songs: “I’ve Just Seen A Face and “Rocky Racoon”, as well as McCartney’s “Band On The Run”, but he wasn’t done yet. For his third set, he started with “Wish You Were Here” segueing into his own “All Time Low”, then took a request for “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” and finished with all Beatles: “Til There Was You”, “Dear Prudence”, “Nowhere Man” and “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”. A great ending to a good show. Jill had watched part of “The Compleat Beatles” with me, and asked why they were important – was it because they did more than people expected? No, it’s more than that – they did make timeless songs, but they revolutionized both studio recording and songwriting over their short life. They have a legacy that probably will never be equaled and songs that will never be forgotten.