Dr. John

June 22, 2008

For years Dr. John, the New Orleans rhythm and blues piano playing legend, has lived by this mantra: “Everything bad has something good come out it, and everything good has something bad come out of it. It all balances some kind of way.”
Dr. John will take the stage June 25 at Interlochen’s Kresge Auditorium, bringing with him his raspy bluesy voice and legendary boogie-woogie piano style. More importantly the 67 year old brings with him a fire in his belly.
“It is hard to look around my town and see what good has come from the bad,” said Dr. John, born Malcolm (Mac) John Rebennack, Jr. “It is three years after Katrina and we have miles of people living homeless.”
Dr. John took his anger against the government, contractors, and insurance companies all who he blames for not stepping up and helping to restore his city, and put that anger into several songs. On June 3 he released his 31st album “The City That Care Forgot.” He recorded the album with his Lower 911 band. The album features Ani DiFranco, Eric Clapton, Terrence Blanchard and Willie Nelson.
“This was a very painful experience for me. The more I wrote, the more I got pissed off thinking about how the good people from New Orleans got dumped on,” said Dr. John. “I wrote way more songs than I had room for on the album.”
The message Dr. John is trying to get across is that this experience could come to a community near you.
“I am not talking just about a natural catastrophe–I am talking about the way the government handled it,” said Dr. John. “It could happen anywhere and people got to stand up and do something about it.”
For the good, Doc hopes touring in support of the album will create awareness for the continued atrocities in New Orleans.
“Look, if I were to point to the one good that came out of this bad, it is all the people that came to our aid down here,” said Dr. John. “But as time goes on, we are being forgotten and it is still tough for many. So I am hoping we are going to start asking more questions of our government so this never happens again.”
While he has watched his city being ripped apart by both natural and manmade disasters, Dr. John has faced his own personal tragedies always with song. He was a successful session guitarist before taking a gunshot to his hand, defending a band mate.
“That’s what I am talking about when I say that something good comes from something bad,” said Dr. John. ‘When I couldn’t play the guitar no more I started playing the piano.”
Overcoming the gunshot wound was the easiest of Dr. John’s life challenges. During the ’60s he became addicted to heroin.
“The good news is I have been straight for 18 years after being addicted for 34,” said Dr. John. “Being clean has helped me focus on my music. When I was addicted I was trying to do whatever to support my narcotic habit.”
Known for his signature voice,
Dr. John’s most notable song remains “Right Place Wrong Time,” (most recently the music in the Heneiken commercial where the guys show up at a party full of cross-dressers). Dr. John will pay tribute to the boogie woogie stylings of his native land. While his heart remains in New Orleans, his home is on the road.
“I am doing okay, I have had my setbacks. I am just glad to have gigs at my age,” said Dr. John. “I have been homeless before. I know what it is like. I have forgotten a lot of things over my life but there are two things I will never forget: what it’s like to be homeless and where I came from.”
His current album “The City Care Forgot” will help remind his fans not only where Dr. John is from but where his heart is at. Catch this living legend with opening artist Madeleine Peyroux at Interlochen’s Kresege Auditorium this Wednesday, June 25 at 8 pm.
For additional information or to order tickets interlochen.org or call the
box office at 800.681.5920.