<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was a toss up between \u2018Fog Tap\u2019 or \u2018Spinal Hat\u2019 so I flipped a coin to decide what to call this installment of FTV. \u00a0The band Foghat was named years before the band even formed when guitarist\/vocalist \u2018Lonesome Dave\u2019 Peverett was playing Scrabble with his brother. \u00a0The nonsense word stuck in his subconscious until his new band needed a name. \u00a0They didn\u2019t intend to become the template for the hilarious \u2018rockumentary\u2019 <\/span>This is Spinal Tap<\/span><\/i>, but the team that made the movie said that is who they patterned their faux band after. \u00a0During the 1980s, Foghat\u2019s career had descended to near punchline status, but that era is but a few chapters in the middle of a very long book. \u00a0Considering their explosive start and the longevity of the band\u2019s career, one can forgive those \u2018Fog Tap\u2019 years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1970, the future members of Foghat were playing on \u2018hired gun\u2019 status with Kim Simmonds\u2019 Savoy Brown. \u00a0They were touring behind Brown\u2019s <\/span>Looking In <\/span><\/i>album<\/span> when Simmonds fired bassist Tony Stevens and then offered Peverett and drummer Roger Earl points (basically, a raise) on the next record. \u00a0They weren\u2019t excited by the direction Savoy Brown was taking and decided to exit with Stevens and form a new band that would include Rod \u201cThe Bottle\u201d Price on lead and slide guitar. \u00a0Thus was born one of the tightest blues-boogie bands of the decade. \u00a0They proceeded to record, tour, and repeat the cycle until they were all over rock radio. \u00a0With the advent of disco, things changed but they kept on chooglin the boogie, just not to stadiums and large auditoriums.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Foghat made an appearance at Lakeview Arena in Marquette on July 19, 1980, placing it in the middle of our move back to Ontonagon after spending the 1979-80 school year finishing up my Master\u2019s degree at NMU. \u00a0I have tried to find a listing of concert dates held at Lakeview but was disappointed when the Parks and Recreation Office in Marquette informed me that they have no record of the concerts held at that venue. Fortunately, an extensive listing of Hat concert dates from 1973 on provided me with the date, the tour name (Tight Shoes Tour) and the gigs bookending the Marquette show (Green Bay and Minneapolis). \u00a0Both the <\/span>Rock and Roll Outlaws <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Fool for the City<\/span><\/i> albums were released in 1975 and both were featured prominently in the show I saw. \u00a0They were even introduced as \u201cthe Rock and Roll Outlaws – FOGHAT\u201d at the start of the show (for the life of me I can not remember who opened for them). \u00a0There are several things that stand out in my mind about this show. \u00a0First, was the contrast between Foghat and their former band\u2019s mode of outfits and stage presence. \u00a0When I saw Savoy Brown a couple of years earlier, it was all blue jeans and flannel shirts with the band pretty much rooted to the stage. \u00a0Foghat came jogging on stage wearing colorful, shiny stage togs that would not have been out of place at an Earth, Wind & Fire concert. \u00a0They looked like rock stars and they moved about but not in a way that detracted from the music! \u00a0Secondly, the music they delivered was driving and original sounding. \u00a0There are only so many ways to package a blues-boogie, but they managed to squeeze in a lot of different styles. \u00a0Roger Earl was a powerhouse drummer, but in his own quiet way, Lonesome Dave was the driving wheel that kep things on track and did most of the talking for the band.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When their record sales dipped in the 1980s (about the time the Spinal Tap rumours began), \u00a0Lonesome Dave decided to return to England and the band decided to call it a day. \u00a0As Earl told <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine, \u201c<\/span><\/i>Every dog has his day, right? \u00a0Well, this dog has been barking for a while.\u201d \u00a0Six months later, drummer Earl and bass player Craig MacGregor (who had replaced Tony Stevens) reformed first as The Knee Tremblers and eventually as Roger Earl\u2019s Foghat when the places they played kept advertising them as Foghat. \u00a0They proceeded to run through a series of guitar players in much the same way Spinal Tap ran through drummers (although it should be noted none of the guitar players exploded). \u00a0When Peverett eventually returned to the states in 1984, he began touring with a band called Lonesome Dave\u2019s Foghat and nothing confuses the concert going public more than having two versions of the same band touring at the same time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Although he ended up not being involved in the actual recording project, it was record producer Rick Rubin who suggested getting the original line up get back together in 1993. \u00a0Drummer Earl told<\/span> CRM <\/span><\/i>in a 2007 interview, \u201cDave and I talked and we said, \u2018Let\u2019s stop arm-wrestling around American.\u2019 \u00a0We buried the hatchet and moved on. \u00a0We called Rod Price and he said \u2018okay\u2019 and then we got Tony back in.\u201d \u00a0The album (<\/span>Return of the Boogie Men<\/span><\/i>) came out in 1994 followed by a live album in 1998 (<\/span>Road Cases<\/span><\/i>). \u00a0This final album featuring this foursome was released in May of 1999 as part of the <\/span>King Biscuit Flower Hour<\/span><\/i> radio concerts but was actually stitched together from live shows previously recorded in 1974 and 1976. \u00a0This classic lineup continued on for six more years until Price decided to hang up his slide and retire. \u00a0His spot was filled by Bryan Bassett (ex- Wild Cherry and Molly Hatchet) who had been a member of the afore mentioned Lonesome Dave\u2019s Foghat. \u00a0I have not heard <\/span>Road Cases <\/span><\/i>yet, but I picked up <\/span>Return of the Boogie Men<\/span><\/i> when it came out and it is a great album. \u00a0Both <\/span>Return\u2026<\/span><\/i> and the <\/span>King Biscuit<\/span><\/i> albums have been featured many times on WOAS\u2019s Pete and Zenith\u2019s Blues program.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The 2000s have not been kind to the members (current and former) of Foghat. \u00a0Lonesome Dave succumbed to kidney cancer early in 2000 at the age of 56. \u00a0Price followed in 2005 at age 57 after a fatal fall caused by a heart attack. \u00a0Things remained somewhat stable for the next decade but bassist MacGregor was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer which had been detected in 2012 but not brought to his attention until 2015. \u00a0Rodney O\u2019Quinn from the Pat Travers Band has been filling in for MacGregor as he undergoes chemotherapy and pursues legislation requiring test results to be passed along to patients in a timely manner.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The loss of Lonesome Dave would have killed the band in 2000 if not for Earl recruiting guitarist\/vocalist Charlie Huhn. \u00a0Huhn had been working in the rock and roll trenches since his Michigan root\u2019s had put in Ted Nugent\u2019s band. \u00a0Before joining the Hat, he had been touring with Jerry Shirley\u2019s Humble Pie and was honored to join Earl, MacGregor, and Bassett in the post Lonesome Dave Foghat. \u00a0It was the current version of Foghat that released <\/span>Last Train Home<\/span><\/i> in 2010 featuring three Foghat originals, some of their favorite blues songs, and two songs by their longtime friend Eddie Kirkland who was 86 at the time. \u00a0They had met and performed with Kirkland in 1977 at a \u201cTribute to the Blues\u201d show at New York City\u2019s Palladium. \u00a0Earl described the album as \u201ca testimony to Lonesome Dave. \u00a0We always planned to do this. \u00a0I am so fortunate to have partners in band members Charlie Huhn and Bryan Bassett who share the same passion for the blues, \u00a0It was not hard work putting this album together; \u00a0playing this kind of music is joyous. \u00a0We had a blast.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Foghat may only count Earl as their surviving original member, but the band continues to record and tour. \u00a0They released <\/span>Under the Influence <\/span><\/i>in June of 2016 and their 2017 calendar shows them playing all over the map. \u00a0Perhaps Huhn\u2019s 2007 explanation as to why they are still at it makes the most sense: \u00a0\u201cOne thing that is interesting in being in a band at my age, in my 50s, is that everyone is more mature, and all over with these petty issues we dealt with when we were younger. \u00a0There\u2019s no baggage. \u00a0It is wonderful. \u00a0And everybody\u2019s like that, all survivors of this rock and roll pension plan that we\u2019re in.\u201d \u00a0Almost as an \u2018amen\u2019, Earl added, \u201cIn the immortal words of Lonesome Dave, \u2018I am going to roll \u2018til I\u2019m old, I am going to rock \u2018til I drop. \u00a0That\u2019s my plan!\u201d \u00a0Ten years after they described their \u2018rock and roll pension plan\u2019 they are still out there paying their dues and living the dream.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece video – Foghat circa 2012 before they started losing members due to death . . . rip!