Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
The Sixties Show’s Craig O’Keefe is NOT from Mars
Is Craig O’Keefe, the visionary behind “The Sixties Show” coming to the Garde at 8 p.m. on May 1, an actual time traveler? Some odd fusion of H.G. Wells, Jim Morrison and Walt Disney?
How else can one explain the significantly spectacular immersion experience of The Sixties Show? It’s one of those “you have to see/hear it to absorb it” situations — where eerily precise live musical recreations are cleverly synched to an entire wild, tumultuous decade in ways you’d never otherwise have imagined.
In anticipation of The Sixties Show, we had a fascinating conversation with O’Keefe, a multi-instrumentalist/singer/visual artist whose career prior to this production includes hundreds of recording sessions and his own major label album releases.
Garde: How does an ambitious and accomplished Music Dude even begin to narrow down the possibilities when it comes to deciding what bands and songs best represent The Sixties?
Craig: Well, to sell tickets, you have to play some hits. Fortunately, as you point out, there’s a lot of great hits and artists. (laughs) A lot! Having said that, we try not to choose anything too pedestrian, and it’s fun to do some deep cuts and B-sides because the audience for these shows are very familiar with and enthusiastic about the whole era.
So, the set runs the gamut and we’re doing everything from the Beach Boys and the Beatles to Tom Jones and Burt Bacharach. We can’t play everything, but we’re trying not to leave any stone unturned, either.
Garde: In that spirit of such an expansive stylistic set list, and given the perhaps unequaled explosion of musical creativity in the sixties, what was your approach in terms of mastering the sounds? Obviously, there are plenty of sophisticated synthesizers and equipment to capture nuances that could help in that capacity. And clearly you’ve got top-level players.
Craig: I’m glad you asked that. Every note we play is live. We’re not using samples, no pre-recorded music or sounds — no matter what you might think when you hear us. Probably over 300 people — some of them are household names, people you’d know — auditioned who didn’t cut it, and they were all good to great players.
But I was looking for guys who not only understood how to play this material but understood the sensibility of how to approach the way it was originally put together. The guys in this band, for example, include people who’ve played with John Fogerty, The Who, The Young Rascals and are well established as big time session musicians.
One bit of technology we did take advantage of is that we now have the capacity to go online and research what studios and instrumentation were involved. Who were the producers and engineers? Mic placement, guitars and effects. What kind of tape machines did they use? What were the compression levels — all those technical things that, when you do the homework, enabled us to better capture the exact sounds.
In the end, it’s a true labor of love. It’s work, but it’s really fun and exciting work. And everyone in the band is totally into the deep-dive aspect of making our stage show sound exactly like the records.
Garde: Conceptually, what you’ve come up with is a lot more than just putting together a musical revue. Without spoiling any surprises, give us an idea of the thought that went into the production.
Craig: You’re right, this is not a tribute show. With all due respect to some tribute shows that are very good, it’s not what we do, and we don’t want to be included in that category. We’re put a lot of effort into the multimedia aspect of our show, and it’s a very cool aspect that goes beyond just background visuals. It’s got edge and teeth to it because, socially and politically, a lot happened in the sixties, and the music is sort of a soundtrack to that.
Without exception, everyone I’ve spoken with or heard from who’s seen our show says, “I had no idea it was going to be like this. I’ve never seen anything like it.” By design, It’s high energy, it’s fast and informative and fun. There are so many elements to the multimedia presentation — and we want it to be just as interesting to young people as to people in their forties, fifties and sixties as well as people who lived through it in real time.
Garde: You’re a little young to have lived through and assimilated the music you so reverentially recreate. What is it about that era that inspires you in such emotional fashion?
Craig (laughs): You’re right. I was barely out of diapers by the end of the decade, so I really don’t remember a lot, and I certainly wasn’t buying records, but, yes, it resonates. Look, the music of the sixties and, I should add, the seventies, really … it’s just the best music ever. I don’t care what anyone else says — nothing else touches it.
Now, there’s been great music all along, and there’s great music today. But, to me, a lot of the great music today and the great music that came after those decades is or was created by artists emulating and inspired by the music of the sixties and seventies. And a lot of things had to happen simultaneously for this magic to take place at the time. To be honest, it’s hard to explain exactly why it happened, and part of our show is to try to capture those circumstances at the time and figure it out. It’s an ongoing process.
Hopefully, when people see us, no matter what age group they might be in, there’s a big Wow Factor. It’s not just the songs we’re playing, it’s that the audience sees precise historical footage or commercials or images very specific to that era and even a particular musical genre of the time. It’s all wrapped up in the popular, political and historical culture of the day. It’s a very modern show — and yet at the same time you’re suddenly back in the sixties in ways you never imagined.