Hacker and Hanck--Double Trouble on the Berkeley line

Last minute change in the roadtrip: add Ron Hacker at the Ashkenaz dance hall for his first set then to the Ivy Room for the main event: Terry Hanck and his fine band. Four of us flew down the freeway to the Berkeley-Albany line. First stop the ancient Ashkenaz dance hall with its old weathered wood walls, exposed wood truss roof, big wooden dance floor, and notoriously muddy sound. As we entered and paid the $13 door charge I saw the place was nearly empty.

Ron Hacker and the Hacksaws were soon on stage doing their very old time bottleneck blues with the twist that AJ’s modern funk bass gives them. AJ (Artis Joyce) plays both bass and effectively rhythm guitar with them. The first set was mostly medium dance tunes like "Red Cross Store" and "Keep You Hands Off Her." AJ’s bass and Ronnie Smith’s drums were much clearer than Ron’s guitar as the hall’s acoustics sucked the life out of Ron’s amp.

At the break I had a chance to talk to Ron. "They wanted us back here after the Birthday Party we had here. I told them it was a bad idea, not the right place, but they wanted us." He shook his head.

Opening the second set Ron played solo bottleneck guitar on his old National steel guitar. The fine old Sleepy John Estes tune "Brownsville Blues" was nice.

If you goin' down to Brownsville
take that right hand road
If you goin' down to Brownsville
take that right hand road
Lord I ain't gonna stop walkin'
'Till I find sweet mama's door

The girl that I love
She got long black curly hair
Well that girl that I’m lovin’
She got long black curly hair
Her Mama 'n her Papa
Sure don't want me standing there

I quietly sang the words along with Ron. AJ sitting next to me said, "You know the words to that? I never have learned them right." AJ as he got up to go on stage got off a line, "The music business is filled with thieves, pimps, and hustlers trying to screw you out of money -and those are the good people!"

Out on the street I talked with guitarist John Graham (Birdlegg, Motordude Zydeco, others). We both noted that the sound out on the sidewalk was better than inside. "I’ve played here so many times and it’s never very different. When David Nadel was still alive and running the place he used to have a soundmeter that cut off the electricity to your amps if it got so loud. We’d be playing and the electricity would cut off right in the song. Once Billy Wilson was just talking into the mic and the PA went off. I wish Ashkenaz charged less and the Ivy Room charged more."

[Later at the Ivy Room break I got to talk with talk with Fatdog (Subway Guitars. He told me lots of people seemed to be staying away from the Ashkenaz in protest of the actions of the Board of Directors running the place since David Nadel passed away.]


Mo, dancing right in the throw pattern of Ron’s amp, kept extending the time we were to spend at Ashkenaz. We were sympathetic, but we’d come for Hanck. Piling into the van we made the six-block transition into a nearly full Ivy Room parking lot. The sound was bouncing off the plate glass windows of the shops across the street as we rounded the corner into the sidewalk in front of the Ivy Room. People were dancing on the sidewalk! The sound coming out of the Ivy Room’s well known Dutch door was fabulous and we hurried inside.
Fate was good to us, both Johnny Cat, regular guitarist for Terry Hanck, AND former guitarist Chris "Kid" Andersen were on guitar, and the excellent Tyler Ng was sitting in for Butch Cousins on drums. Wow, what a band! Terry was in solid form singing well and honking the Tenor Sax like nobody’s business.



Johnny and Kid were having a ball and in friendly competition on hot and zinger guitar licks and laughing. Terry had the pleased look of a circus ringmaster.

"You’re all over town
wherever there’s a band
you stop at any table
where’s there’s a bottle and a man.
You from club to club
You from bar to bar
And man to man
You from car to car.


I’m gonna send you back
To that one horse town
Too many bright lights
You just pulling me down
You wearing your wig hat
And you doing me wrong
Go on back to that one horse town
Back where you belong

Johnny and Kid went nuts with this trading crazy licks and topping each other. The crowd was in frenzied and dancing like mad. Those not dancing were riveted on the band. It doesn’t get much better.
Kid Andersen, the Norwegian flash

Hot tune after hot tune with great solos and irresistible dance rhythms had most everybody out on the floor. Sitting gave time to watch a band completely on its game. Dee nest to me was dancing on her stool. Ann tried to sit some but would get on the floor as if drawn there. Mo never even came off the floor once. Tyler Ng on the drums in back was smiling and laughing. Kid Andersen began to caper in the postage stamp size area he was in. Johnny Cat was grinning. And always the rhythm and drive was overwhelming.

Slow numbers were achingly good with tons of swing and feel. Terry is one guy who can do justice to Tyrone Davis. He makes those songs ache.

"Aww, she didn't bat an eye
As I packed my bags to leave
I thought she would start to cry
Or sit around my room and grieve
But y'all, the girl, she fooled me this time
She acted like I was the last thing on her mind
I would like to start all over again

Baby, can I change my mind
I just wanna change my mind
Baby, let me change my mind
As I took those steps
Toward that open door
Knowing all the time
Oh, Lord, I just didn't wanna go
But she didn't give me no sign
Nothing that would make me change my mind
I would like to start all over again."

Honking solos by Terry would climb into the stratosphere and the saxophone shriek would punctuate the cutting edge of the solo. Terry would sing a verse and then call "OK Johnny" and a hot solo would drive us. Another verse and then "Git it Kid" would give us another wild solo. And all the while the rhythm guitar would be rock solid and Fly Brooks’ bass would keep the bottom with extra sudden fast fills. Fly was looking as animated as I’ve seen him, swinging his bass, and moving around.

At the Break I got to talk with lots of people. Everybody was going for a big serving of Hanck and double guitar. The break was a good one for talking, lots of blues friends and a happy crowd.


The last set was Blues about as good as it gets in a club. Driving and infectious, with James Brown and Junior Walker tunes played the Hanck Way, and instrumental work hotter than a pistol. Younger patrons who might not have seen something like this seemed entranced, totally focussed on the band. Blues regulars were out on the floor for almost every song. It was a "I’m so glad I went" night. At the end the band didn’t even consider not doing an encore. The crowd mostly went up to the bandstand to shake hands with the band. This was one of the good nights where the band has too much fun. Terry’s new CD is due out at the end of June ’05.