(x-ref: Idiots Delight mail list...) Tony Shanahan

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forwarded w/out permission from the Idiots Delight mail list... 
 
From: Wisneski <wisneski> 
Subject: Tony Shanahan finally gets his due 
Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 14:15:01 -0400 (EDT) 
 
Here's the article from the On the Go section of last 
Friday's (8/30/96) Home News & Tribune: 
 
HERE AGAIN 
Local musicians back punk diva Patti Smith 
 
By Chris Jordan 
On the Go Staff Writer 
 
PHOTO CAPTION: Patti Smith and Tony Shanahan stroll the Pierre LaChaise in 
 
Paris recently while touring in support of Smith's latest, "Gone Again." 
 
Milltown-bred Tony Shanahan is "enjoying the ride."  Shanahan returned to 
the area this week after a six-week European tour as bassist for Patti 
Smith's new group as the legendary performer's comeback into the 
international spotlight continues.  "It was pretty crazy in some cities 
because of the eagerness and the excitement,"' said Shanahan about the 
European shows.  "I'll say that it was almost Beatlesque.  She's probably 
the most important female rock artist of our time." 
 
For Shanahan, these are probably the highest profiled gigs in the 
36-year-old's career.  In addition to Shanahan, North Brunswick-bred and 
original Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty 
and guitarist Oliver Ray are scheduled to perform with Smith 8 p.m.
Thursday 
at Central Park's Summer Stage.  Guitarist Tom Verlaine of the seminal New 
York punk band Television is normally a member of the current lineup, but 
will probably be unable to attend Thursday's show, Shanahan said.   
 
"I'm one of the. lucky ones," Shanahan said.  "I'm doing what I enjoy
doing. 
Although this year I'm traveling more and doing different things thanks to 
Patti." 
 
Some of those different things include performing with R.E.M.'s Michael 
Stipe in Europe, as Stipe joined his idol Smith on stage for a couple of 
shows, and Bob Dylan here in the States.  Dylan invited Smith and her band 
to go on the road last year. 
 
Those even remotely familiar with the New Brunswick music scene know that 
Shanahan is not an overnight success.  In 1979, a mutual acquaintance 
forwarded Shanahan's number to Velvet Underground founder John Cale, who
was 
putting together a touring band. 
 
I was in my bedroom at my parents' house when John Cale phoned me to ask me

to audition for his band," Shanahan remembers.  "I got the gig and it was a

real learning experience."  Shanahan's family owns and operates the S&S
Bake 
Shoppe in Milltown. 
 
After touring with Cale, Shanahan formed his own band called the Boogles, 
who were instrumental in making New Brunswick a viable alternative music 
scene in the early '80s. 
 
"We had to convince the guys at the Melody (Bar in New Brunswick) to let us

play," Shanahan said.  "We used to play to 300 to 400 people, which were a 
lot at the time." 
 
Shanahan became involved in various projects through the 1980s and into the

'90s, including the impromptu jams with various New Brunswick scenesters at

the Melody which became known as the Slaves of New Brunswick.  He also 
joined Hoboken's Health & Happiness Show, which was fronted by former 
Bongos' member James Mastro. 
 
However, it was through Kaye, a Slave of New Brunswick himself, that 
Shanahan first met Smith, who had been retired from the music business
since 
1979 with the exception of 1988's "Dream of Life" LP.  When Shanahan met
her 
during Christmas time of 1994, Smith had just lost her husband, Fred Smith 
of the legendary Detroit band MC5 that year, but would soon record the 
recently released "Gone Again" with her current band, including Shanahan on

bass. 
 
"Patti had written most of the songs for the record when she was just 
learning how to play guitar," Shanahan said.  Fred Smith had taught Patti a

few guitar chords before he died.  "A lot of this has an Appalachian feel
to 
it.  There are a couple of rock songs on it but my favorite song is the
one, 
"Wings" which is totally stripped down.  Patti wrote the song based on one 
of her poems and to me it really is my favorite song on the album."  
 
Critically, the album has received rave reviews and there is a folkie 
plaintive dignity to much of "Gone Again."  It's a feeling that conveys
some 
of the pain Patti Smith has seen.  Within the last few years, Smith has
lost 
her husband, brother Todd and original Patti Smith Group member Richard 
Sohl, all to heart failure. 
 
Smith, who grew up in Gloucester County, first gained national recognition 
in 1975 as the poet of the fledgling New York punk scene.  She combined 
intellectualism with the immediacy of rock'n'roll and blazed a trail for 
women in rock that performers like Alanis Morissette and Courtney Love have

followed.  She released four classic albums from '75 to '79, and scored a 
Top 20 hit with her reworking of Bruce Springsteen's "Because the Night" in

1978.  Because of her status as a pioneer, Smith will give the CMJ Music 
Fest keynote address at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center hours before 
Thursday's Central Park concert. 
 
When it came time to face the public again as a musician after the
recording 
of "Gone Again" late last summer, Smith chose Shanahan to accompany her to 
the West Coast to perform a handful of shows as a duo. 
 
"I became a friend for life with Patti," Shanahan said.