{"id":487065,"date":"2019-06-15T13:12:11","date_gmt":"2019-06-15T19:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=848658"},"modified":"2019-06-15T13:12:11","modified_gmt":"2019-06-15T19:12:11","slug":"bonnaroo-griz-pay-tribute-to-dr-john-at-eclectic-superjam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/bonnaroo-griz-pay-tribute-to-dr-john-at-eclectic-superjam\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonnaroo, Griz Pay Tribute to Dr. John at Eclectic SuperJam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Griz is bursting with energy, smiling ear to ear with eyes wide as saucers when he sits down with Rolling Stone<\/em> in the Bonnaroo<\/a> press compound on Friday. Forty-five minutes earlier the relentlessly ebullient singer, MC, saxophone player and all around entertainer (real name Grant Kwiecinski) was getting as turnt up as the tens-of-thousands-strong crowd watching his golden-hour sundown set at the sold-out festival. The performance was a redemption moment for Kwiecinski, whose set on the same stage at Bonnaroo 2016 was a bit of a shit show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played in the middle of the day [and] the sun baked my computer,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was just epically bad for the first, like, 20 minutes. This is one of those festivals where everyone\u2019s watching, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Cool, I just, like, shit my pants in front of everybody.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But with Kwiecinski leading this year\u2019s G.O.A.T. SuperJam \u2014 one of a series of unique, late-night all-star jams that are a hallmark of the festival since its 2002 inception, the earlier performance was the first of two opportunities for things to go wrong. To throw a wrench in the works, the SuperJam \u2014 a 90-minute performance that\u2019s five months of planning and four days of rehearsals in the making \u2014 would feature a tribute to Dr. John<\/a>, added to program on short notice upon news of the New Orleans music legend\u2019s sudden death on June 6th. But if that sounds like a lot of pressure, especially given that the festival takes its name from Dr. John\u2019s 1974 swamp-funk classic Desitively Bonnaroo<\/em>, Kwiecinski wasn\u2019t feeling it. He says that\u2019s thanks to SuperJam music director Stu Brooks, who not only helped assemble the Griz live band, but toured as member of Dr. John\u2019s band in 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Stu<\/p>\n

Stu Brooks and Griz (Nick Karp for Rolling Stone)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201c[There\u2019s] no pressure,\u201d Kwiecinski says, \u201cbecause Stu Brooks is the genius at being able to orchestrate a group of people. I\u2019m the charismatic figure who gets to smile at everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously had to pay tribute to Dr. John,\u201d Brooks says. \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to process the loss of someone\u2019s life \u2014 by celebrating at this [festival], it\u2019s serendipitous to the max.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really morbid situation to be in,\u201d Kwiecinski adds, \u201cbut also kind of a blessed situation \u2014 that we had a platform that we were able to celebrate his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kwiecinski, who calls his blend of EDM, hip-hop and smooth R&B grooves \u201cfuture funk,\u201d says he was inspired by the trail Dr. John blazed before him. \u201cHis style of writing \u2014 without that I wouldn\u2019t exist,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s this badassery to it. His breaking rules paved the way for people like myself to do similar things with music\u2026 That \u2018free and easy\u2019 thing \u2014 that makes me feel like I don\u2019t have to be worried about what my heart feels about this music and the way it should sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks had a more personal connection to the late music legend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a short time with him,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThere were a handful of conversations I had with him, but each one I remember every second of.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always smiling and very welcoming. [He] nurtured me coming into the gig cold. It was about 50 tunes cold, with no rehearsals. And the first time playing with him was onstage, and he looked at me over his sunglasses, just kept his eye on me, made sure I was cool with the [song forms] and the cues \u2014 that was really generous \u2026 I really took comfort in that. And his smile was like [magic] \u2014 I loved him immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks focuses on one piece of wisdom the music legend shared with him: \u201cBe free and easy.\u201d Kwiecinski relates: \u201cI feel like that\u2019s the ethos of this entire SuperJam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lindsay<\/p>\n

Linday Ell (Nick Karp for Rolling Stone)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

SuperJam rehearsals started last Monday, and wrapped up literally hours before the gig.<\/p>\n

For Griz, the rehearsals were a transcendent musical experience in and of themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rehearsals have been so sick\u2026 Every time we get a featured vocalist or a featured [musician who played with the artist we cover], the energy explodes. You can close your eyes in that moment and feel like you\u2019re in the presence of that person performing that song.\u201d<\/p>\n

At just after 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, the performance of Dr. John\u2019s \u201cRight Place, Wrong Time,\u201d which featured Kwiecinski jamming on sax with a house band that featured ringers like Beyonc\u00e9 drummer Nikki Glaspie and the Naughty Professor horns, brought the house (or rather, festival tent) down without a hitch. As did tributes to Chris Cornell, David Bowie and others, featuring guest appearances from country-music guitarslinger Lindsay Ell<\/a>, K.FLAY, members of Rainbow Kitten Surprise and Walk the Moon, and members of Bowie\u2019s Blackstar studio band.<\/p>\n

Set list:<\/p>\n

\u201cMiserlou\u201d \u2013 Dick Dale
* Core Band<\/p>\n

\u201cSo What\u2019Cha Want\u201d \u2013 Beastie Boys
* Grant Intro<\/p>\n

\u201cRight Place Wrong Time\u201d \u2013 Dr John
* Core Band<\/p>\n

\u201cCould You Be Loved\u201d \u2013 Bob Marley
* NAHKO (Medicine For The People) Nattali Rize<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Land Is Your Land\u201d \u2013 Sharon Jones
* Deva Mahal<\/p>\n

\u201cPiece Of My Heart\u201d \u2013 Janis Joplin
* Jennifer Hartswick<\/p>\n

\u201cValerie\u201d \u2013 Amy Winehouse
* Jennifer Hartswick<\/p>\n

\u201cRespect\u201d \u2013 Aretha Franklin
* Chrishira Perrier<\/p>\n

\u201c1999\u201d \u2013 Prince
* K. Flay, Chrishira Perrier<\/p>\n

\u201cMary Jane\u201d \u2013 Rick James
* Chrishira Perrier<\/p>\n

\u201cDANG!\u201d \u2013 Mac Miller
* Probcause, Chrishira Perrier<\/p>\n

\u201cGrinding All My Love\u201d \u2013 Nipsy Hussle
* Probcause<\/p>\n

\u201cLithium\u201d \u2013 Nirvana
* K. Flay<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I Got\u201d \u2013 Sublime
*Griz, Muzzy Bearr<\/p>\n

\u201cBlackhole Sun\u201d \u2013 Soundgarden
* Lindsay Ell<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\u201d \u2013 The Beatles
* Lindsay Ell<\/p>\n

\u201cFolsom Prison Blues\u201d \u2013 Johnny Cash
* Hobo Johnson, RKS Bass & Drums<\/p>\n

\u201cBring It On Home To Me\u201d \u2013 Sam Cooke
* Sam Melo (RKS), Jennifer Hartswick, Lindsay Ell<\/p>\n

\u201cWake Me Up\u201d \u2013 Avicii
* Noah Kahan, Music City Mystique Drumline<\/p>\n

\u201cDrumline Interlude\u201d
* Music City Mystique Drumline<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Will Rock You\u201d \u2013 Queen
* Nicholas Petricca (Walk The Moon), Music City Mystique Drumline<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Pressure\u201d \u2013 Queen & David Bowie
* Nicholas Petricca (Walk The Moon), KAL (Rubblebucket)<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s Dance\u201d \u2013 David Bowie
* Nicholas Petricca (Walk The Moon), Blackstar Band<\/p>\n

\u201cLife On Mars?\u201d \u2013 David Bowie
* KAL (Rubblebucket), Blackstar Band<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom! \u201990\u201d \u2013 George Michael
* Deva Mahal, Muzzy Bearr, Chrishira Perrier<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Griz is bursting with energy, smiling ear to ear with eyes wide as saucers when he sits down with Rolling Stone in the Bonnaroo press compound on Friday. Forty-five minutes earlier the relentlessly ebullient singer, MC, saxophone player and all around entertainer (real name Grant Kwiecinski) was getting as turnt up as the tens-of-thousands-strong crowd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-487065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 06:18:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}