By Chris Varias - Cincinnati News Enquirer Staff
The dawn of the 1990s brought a seminal moment in the history of Cincinnati Reds baseball.
No, it isn’t the 1990 World Series title. That was a stand-alone event, given the 15 years of mostly mediocre baseball to follow.
It’s something that happened the following year. That’s when Pearl Jam released its first album.
Cut to 2006. The Reds trade for Bronson Arroyo, an Eddie Vedder-worshipping right-hander who enjoys living out his Pearl Jam fantasy on the stages of Cincinnati rock clubs. Cincinnatians, for their part, are happy to indulge the All-Star pitcher, and if the Reds don’t make the playoffs, this season will be recalled as the time Arroyo’s Vedderesque baritone took the Queen City down a memory lane paved with grunge cover songs.
Arroyo and a pick-up band did their cover thing at the Southgate House in Newport Sunday night. Among the crowd of 300 were Arroyo’s teammates Rich Aurilia and Chris Denorfia.
The repertoire was 1990s cover songs, several of which appear on Arroyo’s CD “Covering the Bases.” After the show Arroyo was signing copies of the $15 CD for anyone who bought one.
The band – which included local-music veterans Chuck Davis (guitar), Dave Becknell (drums) and Chris Simpson (bass) – provided faithful recreations of such songs as the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Slide,” Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” Pearl Jam’s “Black,” Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” and Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike.” On the latter, local singer Matt Cowherd sang the Chris Cornell parts, accompanying Arroyo’s Eddie Vedder lead. Adding another dimension to the show was Elan Trotman, a saxophone player Arroyo brought in from Boston.
As for Arroyo himself, he did an adequate job singing other people’s songs. Although he made a few self-effacing comments about his musicianship, he never appeared uncomfortable or out-of-place on stage. He also showed he could hold things down without the band, knocking off a solo-acoustic version of “Name” by the Goo Goo Dolls. By whatever standards a cover-band show should be judged, it was a solid 80-minute performance.
Arroyo’s female admirers seemed especially pleased, for reasons musical and otherwise. Loud cheers followed the times Arroyo lifted the bottom of his shirt to wipe his brow, revealing his stomach.
It was Trotman’s performance that impressed Roni Butts of Anderson. “I think the band captured the essence of the songs. The saxophone was great, because I don’t think that any of those songs have sax originally. It really added to the music,” she said.
Taryn Tegarden, who works at Shake It Records in Northside, was indifferent about what unfolded before her. “If I want to listen to Tom Petty, I listen to Tom Petty. Apparently, there are a lot of 18-year-old girls in Cincinnati that want to hear Bronson Arroyo sing Tom Petty,” she said.
The Cincinnati rock band Buffalo Killers opened the show with 40 minutes of its very own songs. Starting with a mid-tempo Neil Young-style stomp and adding touches of garage, psychedelia, boogie and blues, the band effectively showed that you can turn your influences into something that belongs to you and not to Eddie Vedder.
