Terry Sullivan and Friends Le Metro August 20, 2004 By Kevin J. Hosey Photographs by Eric Jensen
One of Buffalo best known, best regarded and simply best rock and roll singers, Terry Sullivan, has performed everything from punk rock to hard rock to bluesy rock to sometimes more country and melodic rock, frequently meeting with much local success and often going further; as the singer of The Restless, he and his bandmates released an album on Mercury Records in the mid-1980s as well as a video for the fledgling music channel MTV for the upbeat, punchy “I Wanna Know.” Joined by a strong cast of musicians he has worked with in various bands and stages, Sullivan entertained a large and enthusiastic audience with two sets of rather 1960s-based pop rock, both originals and covers. The band was made up of Bob Kozak on guitar and backing vocals, David Kane on keyboards, Kent Weber on bass and backing vocals and Greg Gizzi on drums, with Michel Weber (who also performed a set of her own between Sullivan’s sets) providing occasional backing vocals
	Singing behind an oscilloscope throughout the night, Sullivan opened with “Morning Girl,” and the highlight of the first set was a fantastic version of “Walk Alone,” a Sullivan/Kane composition, with Webber’s backing vocals adding a fine touch and Sullivan’s voice sounding passionate while not overly urgent. The band also played a very cool version of Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man,” with Sullivan speeding up and slowing down the words and pace at times; the musicians added the right amount of weariness without aping the original version, putting some extra dread and emphasis into the music. Sullivan next provided a heartfelt, pained performance of Randy California’s “Nature’s Way,” taking away the whininess of the original. After the audience’s applause for that song, Sullivan joked that they were the “Johnny and Jimmy Orchestra,” alluding to a popular 1960s-1970s polka and party duo from Buffalo best known for playing on the television program “Dialing for Dollars.” After the laughter died down, it turned out that one of Jimmy’s nieces was in attendance. The next song up was another new song, “Outside,” with keyboard, guitar and vocals at first before the band joined in on a very sunny pop song; the set ended with a fun run through of Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talking at Me,” a tune Val normally hates but enjoyed this time mainly due to Sullivan’s earthier singing style
One change noticed as the band started its second set was that Kozak, who has played in several set ups with Sullivan since the classic punk and revved up Stones rock of The Jumpers, had his electric guitar at the ready after playing acoustic the entire first set. Opening with “Singer Not the Song,” the band segued into a new song, “Lorelei,” upbeat pop rock with Sullivan singing in a higher register. An apparent fan of Nilsson, he and the band performed “Remember.” Sullivan then used his voice from a virtual whisper to scream on “This Will Be Our Year” or “Mr. Completely,” while some heavier guitar eventually came from Kozak. The crowd erupted when the instrumental introduction of the band was recognized as Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon,” an excellent sounding choice, and Sullivan and Friends then sounded almost martial on “Red Right Hand” and a bit bluesy on “Don’t Worry Mary” before ending the set with “This Masquerade.” They returned for a two-song encore, reprisals of “Everybody’s Talking at Me” and “Nature’s Way.” Weber’s short set was a pleasant surprise to the many listeners who have missed her relative absence from the music scene as she raises her young son Lukas. Nervous and accompanying herself on acoustic guitar as always, she started her “mini-set” with a new, raw song on wanting someone so bad who may not be worth the effort; the second song, off her upcoming release “Single Mother Welfare Hotel” (as she refers to the apartment building she lives in), “Johnny Big Star,” was very autobiographical on the difficulties of being a single mother and trying to be a singer/performer, knowing she can’t be anything else even though it may not be what a guy is looking for: “I’ll never be where you are” she sings to him, and while some listeners think she is addressing the song to a specific, um, local star, it doesn’t sound like it to me. Her third song, also a new one, depicts two people not getting what they thought they would from each other and other people. She ended her set with a cover of the Flaming Lips’ “In the Movies.”