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        Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls� music became post-Katrina anthem
        
(Message started by: Shannon on Sep 22^nd, 2006, 7:43am)

Title: Goo Goo Dolls� music became post-Katrina anthem
Post by Shannon on Sep 22^nd, 2006, 7:43am

Goo Goo Dolls� music became post-Katrina anthem

By JOHN WIRT
Music critic
Published: Sep 22, 2006

Though the Goo Goo Dolls are from the snowy city of Buffalo, N.Y., the big-selling rock band has a special connection to New Orleans. In the grim days following Hurricane Katrina, the band�s song, �Better Days,� became a post-storm anthem after CNN used it during the network�s disaster coverage.

On the occasion of the New Orleans Saints� first game in the Superdome since the stadium served as a nightmarish refuge for thousands of New Orleanians who remained in the city during Katrina, the Goo Goo Dolls are playing a one-hour pre-game concert Monday at the Dome.

�It�s probably gonna be the most important gig that we do on this tour,� Goo Goo Dolls singer-guitarist John Rzeznik said from Los Angeles. �It�s really cool that we were asked to be involved in something that signifies that life is going on, that people are determined to get back to their lives in an amazing place.�

To be broadcast by ESPN, the performance is part of a free festival on the Superdome concourse. Local acts the Rebirth Brass Band and Storyville Jazz Band will play, too. The festival begins at 3 p.m.

Rzeznik isn�t a football fan, but he is a New Orleans fan. His fondness for the city developed through years of including the city on Goo Goo Dolls tours.

�Yeah, I remember playing at Tipitina�s half-a-dozen times, when we were still traveling in a van,� he said. �Whenever we got to New Orleans, it was a welcome stop. The audiences are great.�

Even before the Goo Goo Dolls sold millions of records � including the radio hits �Name,� �Isis,� �Slide� and �Here is Gone� � and the New Orleans audiences that showed up for the band were small, the city charmed Rzeznik.

�It was awesome to spend a night or two there and dig on the culture of the place,� he said. �I�m from Buffalo. I mean, I drove into New Orleans and it was as if I had landed on Mars. So incredibly different from that rustbelt kind of mentality. Yeah, it�s pretty wild to just take a ride on the street car. I got lost and I was just walking and I couldn�t believe how beautiful it was. The gardens and houses and the whole thing.

�And the musicians you run into on the street, they�re amazing. I liked that it didn�t seem like there was this big struggle to make it. They love to play music and you can feel their sincerity. It�s a way of life.�

�Better Days,� the song that got the Goo Goo Dolls� invited to Monday�s festival at the Dome, was initially available from online music service iTunes. The song has since appeared on the band�s new album, Let Love In.

Rzeznik originally envisioned �Better Days� as a Christmas song. He composed it one day and the band recorded it the next day. The song was mixed, mastered and released to iTunes and radio, all in about one week�s time.

�I don�t know if I believe in divine intervention, but it seems like that song happened so quickly for a reason,� Rzeznik said. �Otherwise, it would still be sitting in my drawer.�

Such songs are gifts that come every once in awhile, the songwriter added.

�It just flowed really easily, it felt right.�

Besides �Better Days� and the Goo Goo Dolls� many visits to New Orleans, Rzeznik and bandmates Robby Takac and Mike Malinin have another Crescent City connection. Their personal assistant is from New Orleans.

�She was staying with us out here, but she�s down there right now taking care of her mom,� Rzeznik said. �She�s an amazing girl. To me, she embodies the spirit down there. You know exactly where you stand with her; she�s got a big heart; she�ll do anything for you; and she�ll just yell at you if you�re wrong.�

The Goo Goo Dolls were among the millions of TV viewers who watched New Orleans drown in late August and early September of 2005. Recording for their Let Love In album � produced by Glen Ballard, a Natchez, Miss., native who had family in the city � got sidelined.

�That TV was always on,� Rzeznik said. �A lot of the days were spent discussing what was going on, all the people sitting on their roofs waiting to be saved and hearing the stories, the tragedies and the screw ups at the top. Glen loves that city. He was grief stricken. We were all just sort of shocked. It had that same strange feeling as 9/11.�

Rzeznik feels honored that the Goo Goo Dolls� �Better Days� became part of the post-Katrina soundtrack. The same goes for the band being there in New Orleans when the Saints go marching in the Superdome.

�It�s gonna be something to see, man. I�m really glad I�m gonna have a little piece of it. I need that, too, in my life.�

Story originally published in The Advocate

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/music/4201596.html

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls� music became post-Katrina anthe
Post by tkc1989 on Sep 22^nd, 2006, 10:46am

Thanks Shannon that was a good read :) Good ol' 'Isis', what a song hehe ;)

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls� music became post-Katrina anthe
Post by pink boa lady on Sep 23^rd, 2006, 10:18am

that is such a great article!

i'm still so excited about monday!

Title: Re: Goo Goo Dolls� music became post-Katrina anthe
Post by Shannon on Sep 23^rd, 2006, 10:34am

on 09/23/06 at 10:18:21, pink boa lady wrote:

that is such a great article!

i'm still so excited about monday!

I'm excited for you guys who get to go. I can't wait to hear all about it. From what I've read it looks like the Goos will be on for about an hour. At least we get to see a song on TV. That's better than nothing.