Chairmen of the Board

The Chairmen Of The Board: 5/11/23 “It was a tale of one band and two genres blended seamlessly together as kings of summer The Chairmen Of The Board drifted into Pickens Thursday evening to play the Amphitheater. The weather cooperated entirely for the free show with a daytime high of 80°, a somewhat moderate harbinger of the hazy-hot Summer nights lurking just round the corner. The Detroit Michigan based R&B/Soul group formed in 1967, then reformed in 1978 based out of Charlotte, with a mission of bringing the best in Beach Music to the East Coast. The band’s 55 year, 10 album, 11 single legacy best known for 1970’s #3 ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ has stood the test of time and I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity of seeing them LIVE for the first time ever. Arriving an hour in advance of showtime Michele & I secured our position utilizing lawn chairs as place holders at the center-most location closest the stage. At 7 p.m. The Executives, Chairmen’s six man backing band, took the stage dressed all in black for a four song set of covers setting the tone for the high-energy performance to follow. With the band still in place Chairmen came on (the three frontmen dressed alike in blue, gold and white button downs, white pants and black shoes) for an 18 song / 1.30 hour set. Mr T (Thomas Hunter) wasted no time stepping off stage microphone in hand in search of audience members for a spontaneous participatory singalong. Four songs in Ken Knox addressed the crowd, ‘South Carolina, wow I’ve never been to Pickens, are the pickings slim?’ Launching into a trio of beach songs (‘Gone Fishin’, ‘On The Beach’, ‘Down At The Beach Club’) he inquired, ‘Who’s ready to go fishin?’ During the mini-set the longtime member of 53 years 71 year old Knox marched off the stage saxophone in hand for a solo. Patrick McGuire and Mr T tagged alongside him with a single microphone. The trio parked immediately in front of Michele and I just feet away for the entire solo —no doubt my highlight of the evening! Attenders began to trickle forward (first older folk, then younger following suit) to grab a spot in the front to dance thus giving license for the band to extend the set instrumentally. ‘Who’s gonna swim with me?’ they invited folks on stage to do their best ‘Swim’. ’39-21-40 Shape’ followed next, a song which the late founder General Johnson wrote at the age of sixteen. Ken pondered, ‘Why was a sixteen year old thinking like that? I’ll tell you what he made a lot of money off this song, here we go.’ Mid-song the band took us to school on how a record was made back in the day —first lead vocals, then background vocals (the trio showcasing their harmonies), add some ‘sexy saxophone, ‘Come on’ Marcus’, then hand claps with audience participation matching the keyboard’s synthesized rhythm. A pair of covers were inserted in advantageously while the crowd was hot in dance-mode, then the ladies were invited forward for 1980’s ‘Carolina Girls’. As the evening sky darkened and the stage lights began to shine Ken slowed things down to reflect on his late band members, Johnson in 2010 and Danny Hunter in 2014. ‘They were my partners for over forty years, this is our tribute to General and Danny’. The first song was the classic ‘Patches (I’m Depending On You)’ a B-side to their A-side #14 ‘Everything’s Tuesday’ from the first album. A later version of Patches by Clarence Carter shot the song all the way up to number one. Then, #4 ‘Pay To The Piper’ where folks were called on stage to express themselves and do their best ‘funky chicken’. The third song in the tribute was #19 ‘Dangling On A String’ followed by band intros. Ken recalled the last words of The General, ‘I’m sick, I wanna come back but if I don’t come back please keep the legacy alive.’ The evening reached its apogee with the million selling ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’. Mr T took the lead vocal and reproduced a 10 second rendition of Johnson’s iconic hiccup-laden yelp ending the signature song. Ken no stranger to the upstate recalled the best of the early years, ‘We love the fans of the Carolinas, give yourselves a big round of applause. We loved coming to the balloon rally, y’all remember the balloon rally? We loved coming to New Years Eve in Greenville and to Hilton, that’s WAY back in the day.’ With bows and waves the band exited the stage off to their next half dozen Carolina dates before continuing up and down the Coast to spread the love and music respectively!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #778)