Photos by Lucie Monk
(Above) Margaret Fowler Abrahams gives her all to Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” originally penned by Willie Nelson. The ballad was performed among the “preliminaries” that began April’s edition of Drop the Needle. (Below) Denton Hatcher tears through a song at the May 22 installment, which dropped the needle on Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska."
Drop the Needle turns audiences back into listeners
Baton Rouge faces no shortage of bands, but what it does lack is a cohesive scene—this according to Rob Chidester, the man working to glue it all together.
“I looked at my hometown and I realized that it really wasn’t a music scene and it never has been. It always frustrated me that the town wasn’t more of a production town. Music cities have a certain production quality they never fall below. Baton Rouge has one it rarely rises above. And that’s just the accepted level,” said Chidester, who runs the Royal Cyclops production company.
Originally from Baton Rouge, Chidester spent some time in Nashville before moving back home to work in the film industry. When he saw an opportunity to contribute to the music scene, he switched from building props to building stages. One of his latest projects is Drop the Needle, a monthly show at Chelsea’s Café that brings musicians together from across Baton Rouge to perform one album in its entirety. Other songs written or sung by the album’s artist(s) are also performed, opening up the stage to an array of performers, from independent singer/songwriters to local band members and solid backing musicians.
To experience a Drop the Needle concert is to witness a sort of beautifully organized chaos. The core band ensemble mostly stays put, though sometimes artists switch positions and instruments as a rotating lineup of singers shuffle on and off stage. Chidester offers between-song banter and commentary, calling less attention to said shuffle. The constant movement keeps the excitement going, and the talent overshadows any technical hiccups.
The idea of covering an album from start to finish is not an original one—Chidester cites “The Complete Last Waltz” as part of his inspiration. In New York City, a large group of famous musicians came together to perform The Band’s legendary final concert, The Last Waltz, from start to finish. But Chidester’s interpretation and his rotating cast of musicians make Drop the Needle unique.
“I come from a theatre background,” he said. “Each album is a script…You’re sticking to the script. But it’s not karaoke and it’s not tribute night. You’re performing that album, not just playing that album. This brings out a different core audience.”
Chidester’s strict adherence to punctuality also sets the monthly show apart from most local concerts. He criticized the all-too-familiar timetable: advertising a start time of 9 pm, with the first band going on stage at 10 pm and the headlining act performing from about 12:30 am until 2 am.
“For the average person in this town who has a job and works, that doesn’t work. I advertise my shows for 7:30. They start at 7:45, and by 9:30 [the audience] is walking out the door.”
Drop the Needle’s small, intimate setting fosters a respectful vibe for both the performers and the audience. It takes place on the smaller side of Chelsea’s Café called Bar B, with tables and chairs set out for accompanying dinner service. Owner Dave Remmetter even allowed Chidester to build a permanent stage where there used to be a pool table, and is working on having a full speaker and light setup.
Though musicians sometimes approach Chidester wanting to be part of a show, the producer has a meticulous “casting” process for the “characters” in his production. They must be dedicated, talented, and punctual. Chidester sings his cast’s praises loudly both on and off stage.
“The key is finding the right musicians and plugging them into the right space where they can do what they do, and it’s all part of the tapestry,” Chidester said.
In this way, Chidester brings diverse music audiences together. He intentionally chooses divergent albums from month to month, bringing in Drop the Needle enthusiasts along with new audience members who come because they are fans of the featured album. For instance, March’s show featured The Kinks’ Muswell Hillbillies while April brought the twang with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ Wanted! The Outlaws. Chidester said after The Kinks, he wanted to get as far away from England as possible, so he went to Texas.
“It opens up an audience that wouldn’t go to a Kinks show but loves Willie and Waylon, and draws a whole different genre of musicians in for the next play,” Chidester said of his selection. He believes that by creating a monthly event that features both variety and a strong central concept, he can solve the problem of audiences fizzling out after a few months.
“Baton Rouge will support [a new event] for the short term. But it is notorious for coming out and seeing a new thing and loving it and buzzing about it for the next three or four weeks. It’s going to be the rage. Four years from now, they will still be raging about it, and telling their friends from out of town about it, not realizing that it closed down two years ago because they never went back. Baton Rouge has always been that way,” he said. But Chidester has faith, and he expressed hope that Drop the Needle’s structure would break the cycle.
“The key is every event has to be an event. It has to be a one-time thing. It has to have a concept. It can’t go, ‘Here we go again.’ They’ll assume it’s always there, and they’ll value it and they’ll want it, but it doesn’t have any purchase or creative hold on them. You’ve got to be creative after you’re creative.”
The idea seems to be working. Previous shows have packed listeners into the room to experience their city’s talent on display. Whether it’s Carole King’s Tapestry or Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, the musicians shape the familiar into something fresh.
“People are more interested in the music. Since it’s songs that they know, I think they’re more attuned to singing along and participating and whatnot,” said Ben Catchings, who played as part of the ensemble for The Kinks show in March. “And the musicians were fantastic. It was nice to play with some really good people.”
Catchings and his brother Liam are part of the local band Liam Catchings and the Jolly Racket. Having worked with Chidester before, they are hoping to direct Drop the Needle in September with David Bowie front and center. Catchings knows getting everything together is a challenge, so he plans to start soon.
“Musicians are inevitably always late, they don’t do stuff that they’re supposed to do. That kind of deal,” Catchings said.
Each show comprises a backing ensemble and rotating cast of singers, and Catchings said his strategy will be to focus more on honing the instrumentalists so that the singers can fully trust their accompaniment and focus on their own performance.
Ideally each production would have months to get everyone to learn the songs, but that usually isn’t the case.
The rehearsal process for Drop the Needle involves a little chaos and a lot of trust. If musicians can’t make rehearsal and don’t take their roles seriously, then they are out of the show. There are usually two full group rehearsals, with the core ensemble meeting once in between. Everyone gets together for a final rehearsal the Sunday before the show and runs through the set one more time—and that’s it.
“They usually do these things in two weeks, which blew my mind. I didn’t think I could pull it off. Two weeks is really fast,” Catchings said.
It all boils down to Chidester trusting his own casting skills. His handpicked ensemble features musicians he says are some of Baton Rouge’s best, and he wants them to show that the city is worth sticking with.
“Some incredibly talented people have come out of Baton Rouge. But ‘come out of it’ is the thing. They have to leave here and go to Austin or Nashville or Chicago or New York to continue to do what they do,” Chidester said.
Future Drop the Needle shows may even move beyond the one–album model, according to Chidester. Genres such as blues or soul may take center stage in coming months.
“Instead of dropping the needle on a record, I’ll drop the needle on a label. So we’ll do a Motown show…a Chess Records show, which includes Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, or Bo Diddley,” he said.
For now the whole albums are going over rather well with audiences. Since Drop the Needle’s inaugural show in January 2014 featuring Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, the crowd has continued to grow with shows featuring Carole King, The Kinks, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, and Bruce Springsteen. Chidester plans to put Neil Young front and center in June.
Drop the Needle is not the only project that Chidester heads. His interest in fostering a Baton Rouge scene extends to a singer/songwriter showcase on Wednesdays at the Red Dragon Listening Room on Florida Boulevard. Comfy couches and a super-attentive audience, along with the no-cover-song policy, give musicians a chance to really bare their souls.
Chidester also gives budding musicians a chance to showcase their skills. The New Bloods is a concert series featuring high school artists. The concept is similar to that of Drop the Needle, with Chidester choosing kids from different area schools in order to broaden the teenage audience. He shares his expertise with the students, which, he joked, mostly involves telling them to turn down their amps. Come showtime at the clubhouse in Walden subdivision, though, the stage is for kids only.
Only time will tell if Chidester’s efforts to foster a vibrant local music scene, backed by sound logic, prove successful. He’s feeling pretty confident, though.
“I have faith in my hometown. I think that it will come out for culture.”
Details. Details. Details.
Drop the Needle takes place the fourth Thursday of every month in Chelsea’s Bar B. It begins at 7:30 pm, but attendees should show up early to get a seat. Cost is $10 and the June show will feature Neil Young’s Harvest.
