The conclusion to my Brush with Greatness, Eighties Edition, wrapped up with John Oates of the legendary duo. John was in Austin to promote his new book Change of Season, which is also the title his band’s 1990 release. Tired jokes aside, the guy is his own man/musician plus he never would’ve teamed up with Daryl Hall if it weren’t for Daryl’s irresponsible sister. Lately, John said he’s been more into Americana which he demonstrated in the three songs he performed for us. As for the book, fear not, it’s not some sordid tell-all plus Daryl got to read it to make sure there were no objections.
I’m proud of myself for having a good question during the Q&A session. Personally, I dread this portion of a book signing because most people have to interject something inane if they get to a question. So I asked him if he knew or and/or performed with (the comedic duo) Garfunkel & Oates. The short answer, yes! The long answer: he stumbled upon them on MySpace and as a joke, he wrote them an e-mail he was going to sue. Kate and Riki begged him not to. John agreed to drop the suit in exchange for them being his opening act in LA, plus they had to perform “Maneater” with him. There were a couple changes he insisted on, Kate played the familiar bridge on the trombone and Riki did a strip tease. She was wearing another dress under the first since Riki’s mother was in the audience. John said this performance was one of his finest moments. It certainly earned laughter from the audience.
One last detail I never knew about John. He performed the very first SXSW. It was in the basement of a hotel (probably the Driskill) in front of 30 people. Then he asked us, “It’s still like that right?” What a cool guy.
The book came with a CD, I can’t wait to read/play this stuff.