Tacoma loved the ’90s
City Life
B2
TACOMAWEEKLY.com
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2016
SECTION B, PAGE 1
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVISITED
RETURNS TO PUYALLUP
PHOTO BY JEFF DOW
FORTUNATE SONS. Creedence Clearwater Revisited is (L-R) Kurt Griffey, John Tristao, Stu Cook, Doug Clifford and Steve Gunner. The band will headline the Washington State Fair on Sept. 7. By Ernest A. Jasmin ejasmin@tacomaweekly.com
T
here are many examples of feuding rock bands that have managed to patch things up for the sake of a lucrative reunion tour: The Eagles, The Police, most recently Guns N’ Roses. But so far not Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Bay Area band behind some of the most iconic rock songs of the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Theirs is a decades-long beef, characterized by occasional litigation; and the chasm between singerguitarist John Fogerty and the other surviving members, bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford, remains deep and wide. However, Creedence Clearwater Revisisted – featuring Cook and Clifford – is still out on the road, bringing “Down on the Corner,� “Have You Ever Seen the Rain� and other smash hits to the band’s diehard fans. On Wednesday, Sept. 7, Revisited will headline the Washington State Fair grandstand; and, in the days leading up to the show, Cook held out the teeniest, tiniest sliver of hope that Revival might reunite one day. You might need a microscope to see that hope, but it’s there. Here are outtakes from our conversation. TACOMA WEEKLY: Take me back to 1995. What made you and Doug want to revisit this music and take it back on the road again? COOK: We were hanging out a
lot together and jammin’, drinking beers, etc. We thought maybe we should start a musical project. It’s pretty much that simple. We needed to get out of the house. It was nothing more complicated than that. TW: What is it about the songs that people still connect with them so strongly? COOK: Gee, I don’t know. They were popular recordings in their day. Fortunately, the baton seems to be passed to at least two new generations. We’re very fortunate in that sense. TW: Do you remember when you were first starting out with Creedence Clearwater Revival, when you realized you had something special? COOK: The feedback for that was getting played on the radio. Once other people start liking what you’re doing, then you’ve got a chance. But before that, we couldn’t get into any kind of regular rotation. We’d been making records for almost nine years – over nine years, actually – before “Suzie Q� came out. We just never really clicked with the listening public. TW: Your sound and imagery is very Southern, but you guys are all West Coasters. COOK: That’s the kind of music we liked when we were kids. When we were first tuning into music, we preferred music from the South; blues, some country, but mostly blues, urban and rural. So as we were learning to play together, that’s the sort of stuff that we’d go to. We’d play other people’s songs, but it was Ike & Tina Turner, not Pat Boone.
TW: Speaking of Ike & Tina, what was it like watching them have success with one of your songs and putting their stamp on it? COOK: They were touring with us at the time, and Ike comes up with his arrangement to have Tina sing “Proud Mary.� I go, “Wait a minute, Ike. We’re doing that song tonight.� (He laughs.) I didn’t care for that version very much, but it’s always great to have other people tune in to what you’re doing; and if they want to do it themselves, that’s even better. They take it to a whole new audience. TW: You guys were one of the headliners at Woodstock. Do you regret not being in the film? At the time, you probably didn’t know it was this pivotal event in rock history. But later it’s like, “Hey, we were there, too.� COOK: You’re feelin’ my pain, aren’t ya? (He chuckles.) That was a huge mistake. That was Fogerty’s decision alone. We fought it. We argued till we were blue in the face. We were booked as the headliner for Saturday night, but we didn’t get to play til early Sunday morning because of technical difficulties, and the whole thing was kind of reinvented on the fly after another extra quarter million people showed up. Nobody knew that concert, but particularly that film, would create so many careers. We should have been in it. What can I say? Fogerty’s thinking, as I recall it, was “What good can that film do us? We’re u See CCR / page B4
The Washington State Fair kicks off today at the Washington State Event Center, 110 Ninth Ave. SW, in Puyallup. Here is a list of this year’s grandstand headliners, with more details available online at www.thefair.com. t + $PMF XJUI #BT IJQ IPQ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2, $70 to $115 t ,JE 3PDL XJUI 6ODMF ,SBDLFS SBQ SPDL DPVOUSZ SPDL 7:30 p.m. Sept. 3, $38 to $120 t 5JN .D(SBX DPVOUSZ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 4, $85 to $350 t i&OE PG 4VNNFS #BTIw GFBUVSJOH " " +JNNZ #VGGFU USJCVUF 5 p.m. Sept. 5, free with gate admission t $SFFEFODF $MFBSXBUFS 3FWJTJUFE DMBTTJD SPDL 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7, $30 t 4NBTI .PVUI QPQ SPDL 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8, $30 t 3PEFP QMBZPGGT NBUJOFF 1 p.m. Sept. 9 to 11, $5 to $35 t 3PEFP QMBZPGGT XJUI 5IPNQTPO 4RVBSF DPVOUSZ 6:30 p.m. $35 to $40 t 3PEFP QMBZPGGT XJUI $ISJT +BOTPO DPVOUSZ 6:30 p.m. Sept. 10, $35 to $40 t ,JOH $PVOUSZ XJUI .BUU .BIFS $ISJTUJBO QPQ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12, $26 to $46 t %/$& XJUI -VODINPOFZ -FXJT QPQ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14, $28 to $55 t 9 "NCBTTBEPST XJUI 3BDIFM 1MBUUFO QPQ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15, $40 to $60 t $IBSMJF 8JMTPO XJUI +PF 3 # 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16, $45 to $65 t i'JFTUBT 1BUSJBTw XJUI 7P[ EF .BOEP 1SPZFDUP 9 BOE .BSJBDIJ %JWB .FYJDBO SFHJPOBM -BUJO 5 p.m. Sept. 18, $20 general admission, $10 ages 12 and under t $ISJT :PVOH XJUI $BTTBEFF 1PQF DPVOUSZ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19, $40 to $60 t (BWJO %FHSBX XJUI "OEZ (SBNNFS QPQ 7 p.m. Sept. 21, $43 to $65
THE THINGS WE LIKE ONE CAFFEINE & GASOLINE
Where can you find exotic cars, street rods, tuner cars, and race machines all in the same place? The first Saturday of every month, you’ll find those and more at Griot’s Garage Caffeine & Gasoline cruise-in car shows. Each installment has a different theme, but all kinds of cars are welcome. There will be free coffee and donuts when you cruise in to the retail sore, which is located at 3333 S. 38th St. Caffeine & Gasoline events are a great chance to talk cars with fellow enthusiasts, get inspiration for you own projects, and tune in to the local car scene; www.griotsgarage.com.
TWO GREAT PUMPKINS It’s that time of year when harvest activities begin and holiday shopping gets serious.
It’s also time for those two things to combine in a uniquely Northwest event, the 2016 Northwest Glass Pumpkin Patch tour, which is presented by the Tacoma Glassblowing Studio. The annual tour will feature more than 2,000 beautiful, hand-blown glass pumpkins crafted by local glass artisans and displayed at nine different locations throughout the Puget Sound region. This year’s events will be held on nine consecutive Saturdays starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3, at Watson’s Nursery in Puyallup. Admission is free. Find a full list of events at www.northwestglasspumpkins. com.
THREE SUMMER SPLASH Labor Day weekend is upon us, and there may be no better place to mark the unofficial last days of summer than at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. The schedule
is jam-packed with events and activities for animal lovers all day, every day. The zoo’s End of Summer Splash is scheduled for Saturday through Monday. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. With a zoo bustling with things to do and see, the event will be more fun than watching a ton of walrus haul out of the water; www.pdza.org.
FOUR GEEK OUT Swords & Laser Book Discussion is a locally-organized, real-life offshoot of the online Sword & Laser community. Each month, Sword & Laser picks either a fantasy or a science fiction book to read and discuss. Next, the group will meet at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, at King’s
Books to discuss “The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher� by Andrzej Sapkowski; www. kingsbookstore.com.
FIVE SOAPY FUN Need to wash your clothes, but don’t feel like taking them off first? Then you’re in luck since Jazzbones is hosting it’s 14th annual Foam Fest, which will kick off at 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4. Suds will fill the club as DJ Pressha and BZ Productions spin the hottest dance tunes. Admission is $15 for men. The first 20 women in bikinis get in free. Otherwise, women get in for $10 before 10:30 p.m. and $15 after.