Al Wilson Tribute
Concert: May 3, 2008
by Mark Guerrero
On Sunday afternoon May 3, 2008 there was a tribute show called
the "Together Benefit Concert," dedicated to the
memory of r&b singer Al Wilson, who passed away on Monday,
April 21st due to kidney failure in Fontana, California at
the age of sixty eight. Wilson was best known for his
recording of "Show and Tell," which was a number
one hit on the Billboard charts in 1973. He was scheduled
to perform at this show at San Bernardino Valley College before
his passing. The promoters and artists decided to turn
the show into a tribute to Al Wilson. On the bill at
the outdoor amphitheater on the college campus were Brenton
Wood, Tierra, Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods, Cannibal &
the Headhunters, Jewel Akens, Leon Hughes of The Coasters,
Jerome Robinson of The Platters, and Ron Dante of The Archies.
I was invited to the event by Robert Zapata, drummer and leader
of Cannibal & the Headhunters. Robert and the Headhunters
band had recently backed me on the Mr. Duran Show, a cable
TV show in Los Angeles, and at a concert at Pima Community
College in Tucson, Arizona. I showed up with my former
drummer from my 60s and early 70s bands, Ernie Hernandez.
When I got backstage, the first person I ran into was lead
singer of Cannibal & the Headhunters, Charlie Muñoz.
He was rehearsing "Show and Tell" with guitarist
Bobby Robles and Ron Dante. Charlie asked me to sing
a verse of "Show and Tell" with them on the show.
I told him that I didn't know the song other than kind of
remembering how the chorus goes. I tried to talk him
out of it, but he was very positive and encouraging in pushing
for me to do it. He sang it to me a few times until
I got it. The next thing I know, my name is announced
when Cannibal & the Headhunters were about to do "Show
and Tell" in tribute to Al Wilson. I walked out
on the stage joining Charlie, Bo Donadson, and Ron Dante on
vocals. Charlie sang the first verse and sounded great.
The four of us then sang the chorus together in harmony.
True to his word he pointed to me to sing the second verse.
Since I had no choice at that point, I went into it and got
through it respectably. However, I had to read the lyrics
from a piece of paper I held in my hand. It came off
well and I got some good comments about it afterwards.
As we were well into the song, we were were joined onstage
by Rudy Salas and Billy Mondragon of Tierra who contributed
to the harmonies on the choruses. The song being sung
for the late Al Wilson added to the emotional content of the
moment and the audience seemed to feel both the sadness of
the loss and the joy of the music and tribute at the same
time. It was the emotional highpoint of the day.
The camaraderie between the musicians backstage was great.
I also got to meet and take photos with Brenton Wood and Jewel
Akins. I'd already met Ron Dante through Trini Lopez,
who'd brought him to my gig in Palm Springs on a couple of
occasions. Ron just finished producing an album with
Trini called "Ramblin' Man." The CD, which
includes Trini's covers of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay,"
The Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man," Dion's "The
Wanderer," and Ron Dante's hit with the Archies, "Sugar
Sugar," was released on May 15h on the Fuel label, distributed
by Universal Records. Mr. Duran of Thee Mr. Duran Show
attended the event and Phil Reyes, who does the sound on Mr.
Duran's television show, provided the sound mixing for the
Al Wilson tribute concert. Many photos were taken on
stage and backstage by Paul Ruiz and my aforementioned old
band mate, Ernie Hernandez, which can be seen on the photo
gallery for this article. I was able to catch the shows
of Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods, Ron Dante, Jewel Akens,
and Brenton Wood, but unfortunately had to leave before Tierra's
set. I had to get back to my gig in Palm Springs.
Everyone put on a good show and had a great time in tribute
and in honor of Al Wilson. All of the artists on the
bill had toured and performed with Al over the decades and
knew him well, so it was easy to tell there was definitely
the feeling among all the performers of being there and performing
for Al Wilson on this memorable day.
Al Wilson's
"best of" CD available at amazon.com link below
Click here for
Al Wilson Tribute Photo Gallery
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