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“These go to eleven.” That catch phrase from This Is Spinal Tap will haunt the remainder of CHRISTOPHER GUEST’s days, and to our benefit. Christopher will always be branded to that particular send-up of a hard working heavy metal band, but his subsequent work showed that he was far from a one trick pony, a la MCLEAN STEVENSON and M*A*S*H, and Berklee School of Music was impressed enough with his output to give him an honorary degree and have a bit of fun with his songbook. Now the bestowing of an honorary doctorate has more than a whiff of a shovelful of dirt on a career, as qualifications tend to require a lengthy and distinguished body of work. They can also be a bit of a maudlin affair, filled with dewy-eyed nostalgia and endless thank yous. Luckily, the man responsible for challenging the base ten amplifier dial paradigm is neither at the fading end of his talents, nor all that serious when he’s on a stage.
After the requisite dignitaries got on stage and did a bit of yapping (what was local car dealer magnate ERNIE BOCH doing up there?), Guest walked on stage flashing devil horns, received the actual degree from school president ROGER BROWN, then gave a short talk (“Up to an hour ago, I was convinced that this was a practical joke”). After the formalities were attended to, the black cap and gown were duly doffed and after a short break the rock was brought, starting off with the very salient “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight”, as a full stage of Berklee students and a few teachers and alums were rocking out, with a rotating cast of vocalists. Alas, partners in black leather MICHAEL MCKEAN and HARRY SHEARER weren’t present, but though that would have been a treat, the music and presentation weren’t lacking in any particular aspect (well, aside from there being no foil-wrapped cucumbers tucked away in tight spandex pants, and no exploding drummers).
Guest isn’t just about Nigel Tufnel exclusively, though, and songs from Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind were also aired (groan). “Old Joe’s Place” and a latin-tinged “Skeletons of Quinto” from Wind transitioned from metal to folk, but it was the hilarious Folksmen cover of “Start Me Up” that really carried this part of the set, with Guest on mandolin; the inflection and emphasis on the last word of “you make a grown man come” was very funny. After a couple more (“Blood on the Coal” and the title track), it was back to Tap land, but the early stuff, specifically from the 60’s spoof The Thamesmen. “Cups and Cakes” was dolled up in an ornate British chamber pop style, taking full advantage of the sizeable string section, whereas the trashy “Gimme Some Money” had the Berklee vocalist totally vamping the lines (unlike a few who struck me far more as American Idol wannabes). Occasionally the between song breaks would feature a bit of video, as colleagues offered their thoughts and well-wishes to Christopher. Through the magic of videotape, STEVE VAI, TOM HAMILTON of AEROSMITH and ELVIS COSTELLO alternately gave their congratulations, humorous anecdotes, and/or words of wisdom (Elvis – “This is the most painless way to be doctored.”)
The night wound down with the glorious trilogy of Tap’s “Stonehenge” (the only song Christopher would sing solo on), a rousing “Hell Hole”, and the bass-tastic closer of “Big Bottom”, featuring not only every student bass player attending Berklee (they filed into and filled both the aisles), but also school president Roger Brown behind the drum kit. How cool would that be, to have the head of your school beating the skins to that song??? In all, the night clearly illustrated that not only is Christopher Guest a talented actor, he’s also a very accomplished song writer and guitar player; had the songs from these movies been merely funny and not also good, the movies would have badly suffered.
more photos can be seen here
