(photo by Larry Norton)

The following article is a Norton Speaks exclusive written by Canadian writer Charles Guy, a long time fan of entertainer Laurice.

LAURICE IN CALGARY

by Charles Guy, June 3, 2017

The following article is a Norton Speaks exclusive written by Canadian writer Charles Guy, a long time fan of entertainer Laurice. 

Wow! Wow! Wow! This time I was lucky enough to review one of Laurice’s rare performances much closer to home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And what a show it was.

Laurice headlined at the world famous Palomino nightclub in downtown Calgary Alberta.  It was the last leg of Laurice’s North American mini-tour, after dates in Philadelphia and New York. The evening was hosted by the owner of the club, Mr. Dan Northfield of the Concord Group, and Dan certainly knows how to appeal to the punk crowd. The club sported posters of many punk and rock band celebrities, and it was nice to see Laurice’s poster up there with the rest of them advertising the event.

Two acts performed before the headliner: Suicide Helpline, a very refreshing punk band, with a lead vocalist with bags of personality and good rock songs.  This was followed by the unique punk disco renderings of Tommy Grimes, a solo vocalist mainly performing hits from his new King of the Jungle album. Grimes was backed up by his two go-go dancers, and the whole set made for a very entertaining and sensuous time, with Grimes actually slithering into the audience, writhing and gyrating to a very sensuous beat.

I managed to have a few words with Laurice before he started his act. He actually remarked to me that he felt that Tommy Grimes would be a very hard act to follow. The room was surprisingly not full and Laurice was concerned that the club would not make their money back on audience attendance, but the owner was not worried. In fact, the audience could not have been more appreciative and wild.

The time was after twelve thirty am Sunday morning before Laurice went onstage.  And from the very first note the sheer energy of this seventy-three year old man bowled me over. Laurice ran through many of his rock and punk hits, some of them mentioned in my New York review of Laurice Live in New York: http://nortonspeaks.com/index.php/2017/05/05/music-review-legendary-laurice .

Laurice joked that he didn’t look quite like the posters of him advertising the show because he had just grown old, aged beyond years just waiting to get on stage. This brought a good laugh from the eager crowd, with Laurice emphasizing that he was “still here.” The audience loved it.

He again thrilled the audience with his power rock ballad The Dark Side of Your Face from his Best of Laurice Vol. 2, this time bathed in a blood red light that only added to the drama of the song.  He also sang a couple of songs devoted to the women in the audience, including the serious female sexual assault song Girls Cry single that Laurice released last year independent of any of his albums. Laurice told the audience that this song was one of the very first of the many videos that he has released on YouTube. It seemed really appreciated by the ladies in the audience.

Laurice asked the audience if they liked the blues. Only a few hands went up. The audience, partially comprised of energetic millennials. seemed confused at first. Some did not appear to know now what a blues song was. Laurice started to sing his new twelve bar blues song Bleedin’ from his forthcoming rock album Bad Boy, this time bathed in an appropriate cyan light. By the middle of the song many of them were actually slow dancing to the beat, and the song was well received by the crowd.  So yet again, I think Laurice introduced another type of music to many young people not familiar with that genre of music.

His Disco Spaceship rendition, a hit song from his Dance Dance Dance disco album, included a performance frolicking around in a multi-coloured Afro wig which brought the house down.

Near the end of his act Laurice happened to mention the homophobia and racism that he, and artists like him, experienced in the record industry of the sixties and seventies. This appeared to strike a chord with  the crowd, who seemed surprised and interested by a part of music history not often mentioned by music critics and historians. Entertainer Tommy Grimes told Laurice that it certainly struck a chord with him. Laurice mentioned to me that Tommy said he suddenly realized that artists like Laurice really paved the way for artists of his generation to be out, gay, bi and proud. Laurice’s comments were certainly a consciousness raising moment for many in the room.

Laurice sang and entertained the crowd for over seventy-five minutes. They didn’t want to let him go.

The artist finished the selection with a brand new song, the  punk-pop-rock Space Case, from his forthcoming Bad Boy album. Then he concluded the show with the romantic disco hit Love’s Sweet Symphony which he dedicated to his videographer and partner of twenty-five years, Larry Dean Norton. I watched as Larry was very busy at the side of the stage trying to video record the performance. This appeared difficult because so many people wanted to talk to him about Laurice.

Colin Gallant of Beatroute Magazine, who wrote this splendid article on Laurice: http://beatroute.ca/2017/05/27/laurice-pop-punk-glam-disco-veteran-touches-calgary/   also managed to engage a videographer for the performance. I hope both videos can be edited soon and clips from Laurice Live in Calgary can be released toute de suite.

The entertainer stuck around to talk to the fans, sign autographs and talk to the other entertainers. It was another very successful venue for the singer, writer, producer. I eagerly await the release of his new Bad Boy rock album and the videos, which Laurice tells me, he has for every song on the album.  It’s exciting that there is lots more to look forward to from this veteran artist. More heads up later…

Charles Guy