By Scott Roberts; photos by Sue Volkert
Steve Wynn may be the luckiest man alive. His former band The Dream Syndicate created one of the most enduring and beloved albums of the 1980s, 1982’s The Days of Wine and Roses, and Wynn used that as a springboard to a steady, respectable solo career that began with their demise and has continued to the present. Last year he formed The Baseball Project, a band that combined his love for baseball and rock 'n' roll, and they released the CD Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails to stellar reviews and even an appearance on David Letterman. Now that band, featuring Young Fresh Fellow/Minus 5-er/REM sideman Scott McCaughey, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer/also Minus 5-er Peter Buck, and Wynn’s lovely wife/powerhouse drummer Linda Pitmon, is in the middle of a short tour playing songs from every part of Wynn’s lengthy career (as well as allowing the 49-year-old rocker to lend his underrated guitar skills to several Minus 5 songs and choice covers), a tour that included a stop Monday night at The 40 Watt in Athens.
The band hit the stage at 9:30 with Wynn looking youthful and dapper in a classic smoking jacket (of all the musicians from the early ‘80s, he seems to have aged the best — yet another reason why he may be the luckiest man alive!), Buck on bass, and McCaughey taking on the role of the Master of Ceremonies with his extemporaneous witty banter. They opened with the destined-for-Baseball Project-Volume 2 song “Ichiro Goes To The Moon” then proceeded to chug through a 16-song set that mixed Minus 5 songs with Baseball Project songs and classic Dream Syndicate tunes “That’s What You Always Say” and “Tell Me When It’s Over,” all of which seemed to please the appreciative 40 Watt crowd.
After a half hour break, the band came back up to do another full set joined on guitar for a few songs by REM bassist Mike Mills making the already garagey-sounding ensemble even more garagey, with the highlight being a blistering, extended “Days of Wine and Roses.” To top it off, the band was joined at the end of the evening by former REM drummer/current farmer Bill Berry who was positively beaming behind the drum kit during the covers “The Ballad of John & Yoko,” “Hang On, Sloopy,” and “Teenage Head.” All in all, in addition to Wynn, I’d say the audience was pretty lucky, too.
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