Gene "Eugene" Andrusco was remembered in 2000 by a concert at
Cornerstone Festival, just a few months after his death. His bandmates in Adam Again were on hand to provide note-for-note renditions of 13 past favorites. I attended this concert myself, and I can attest to the emotional undercurrent that pervaded the evening. The core section of Paul Valadez on bass and Jon Knox on drums sounded phenomenal. Greg Lawless handled all of Gene's rhythm
guitar parts and Andy from Prayer Chain did a very capable job of playing all of Greg's leads perfectly. I especially enjoyed a guest performance from Karen of
OTR, the highlight being her harmonies with Riki on "Worldwide". All the guest vocalists sounded great, my personal favorite being Mike Roe's rendering of "Dig" (augmented by Ojo Taylor's
Fender Rhodes).
SONG/ALBUM:
Introduction- John Thompson, True Tunes
Opening Remarks- Riki Michele, Adam Again
1. Strobe / Perfecta, 1995
2. Dance Around In Circles / Homeboys, 1990
3. Worldwide / Dig, 1992
4. Hide Away / Homeboys
5. Deep / Dig
6. Dig / Dig
7. Stone / Perfecta
8. Don't Cry / Perfecta
9. Hopeless, Etc. / Dig
10. It Is What It Is / Dig
11. Homeboys / Homeboys
12. Relapse / Perfecta
13. All You Lucky People / Perfecta
Video montage by Anna Cardenas, with song "River On Fire" (Dig)
Closing Remarks- Dan Michaels
MUSICIANS:
"Riki" Michele Palmer- lead (1&2)and backing vocals (all)
Greg Lawless- guitar
Paul Valadez- bass
Jon Knox- drums
Dan Michaels- sax
with
Andy Prickett (The Prayer Chain)- lead guitar (all songs)
Karen Bergquist (Over The Rhine)- backing vocals (1-3)
Derri Daugherty (The Choir, Lost Dogs)- vocals (3)
Steve Hindalong (The Choir)- vocals (4), songwriting (4), percussion
Mike Roe (The 77s, Lost Dogs)- vocals (5-7)
Ojo Taylor (Undercover)- keyboard (6)
Sim Wilson (Undercover)- vocals (8)
Mike Knott (LSU, Aunt Bettys)- vocals (9-13)
I've been holding out for a DVD release of the concert (which was promised); at the moment all I have to go on is my grainy, blurry home video of the event (shot with a $100 video camera I picked up at a pawn shop in Chicago). Millenium 8 Records released a 3-CD set of the event in late 2000, packaged with two Adam Again performances from 1995 and 1997. A re-release (coupled with Greg Lawless' solo record Prayers and Lowsongs) was issued by Dan Michaels through The Choir's label, Galaxy21, in 2001.
FAST FACTS ABOUT GENE:
Name of first band in early '80s, with Sim Wilson: "Martus"
Other bands played in: The Swirling Eddies (as "Prickly Disco"); The Lost Dogs
Favorite food: chicken
Favorite sports team: LA Dodgers
Sources:
"A Tribute To Gene Eugene", M8 Records, 2000
(www.m8.com)
www.thechoir.net/genetributepages.html
my home video