Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Spearheaded by George Harrison, the Concert for Bangladesh was attended by more than 40,000 fans. The lineup at Madison Square Garden was a who’s who of the era’s most popular rock musicians: Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Badfinger, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar. The concert, along with sales from the live album, raised more than $10 million for the nation’s starving refugees.
Singer-songwriter Steve Poltz had a strange reaction when he saw himself starring as the male lead in his buddy Jewel’s video. He shaved his head. “I was in a bar in Boston when the video came on and I thought, `God, Jewel looks great, but who’s this stupid guy?’ ” said Poltz, phoning from an airport in Montreal. “I just cringed. Then I went and cut all my hair off. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
It wasn’t that the Wallflowers were particularly physical performers. If anything, they remained as immobile on stage as Blues Traveler. However, their songs had variety and veered in tempo, and singer-guitarist-songwriter Jakob Dylan’s passionate delivery made each song spring to life. The Wallflowers are having their first taste of commercial success, thanks to their haunting hit single, “6th Avenue Heartache.” Their hourlong set included most of the songs on their latest album, “Bringing Down the Horse,” as well as a rocking cover of “Tears of a Clown.”