Friday, December 4, 2009

Written by Joe Viglione
Saturday, 24 October 2009 21:21

R.I.P. Ben Orr

Benjamin Orzechowski (September 8, 1947 – October 3, 2000)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Orr

This article was written on or about October 26, 2000.

Benjamin Orr

The first night The Cars performed at The Rat there were a handful of Boston musicians - Jon Macey of Fox Pass, Scott Baerenwald of Reddy Teddy (later The Modern Lovers and Robin Lane), a groupie immortalized in the Aerosmith song "Back In The Saddle" who was the then-girlfriend of David Robinson - ex Modern Lovers drummer and now drummer for “the new” Captain Swing

We had heard Captain Swing on a radio show on WTBS (now WMBR) and taped the songs. This was a fun night; I remember the band playing “Gimme A Little Sign”, the Brenton Wood song, and “Don’t Worry Baby”, the Beach Boys tune. We were Cars fans from the start, they had something special.

The last time I saw Ben was at The Paradise in March of 1999 when he performed with Brad Delp of the band Boston in a double bill. On the couch were Greg Hawkes, David Robinson and Ben Orr for the first time in years. Someone told me to videotape it, as I was allowed to video the concert, but the moment was special - and why throw a camera in their faces? It was great to see the guys two decades later.

When I found out that Ben had passed away, it was the second time a tragedy came via the internet. The first being the passing of legendary producer Nik Venet, which absolutely stunned me. These people have done more than contribute to music, they are warm human beings who I personally have fond memories of, so one can only imagine the loss when the kind thoughts that follow someone’s death are sincere... and the loss of Nik and Ben Orr are major losses. Then to get the E-mail that Gerard Spring, publicist for Johnny Barnes and Ben Orr died a week
after Ben, indeed sad and tragic.

So when we play Ben’s music does he hear us? I don’t know. But I DO know that he knew while he was alive that he was loved for his music. When he saw us show up at show after show it meant something to him. It meant something to us. These are not just good memories, they are GREAT memories of a GREAT performer - and talking about him is important. It is about keeping the flame alive. It would be easy to go over the videos - we taped four - and there is a show from Illinois which I have on tape too - and talk about the show... I remember the VH1 show in Cleveland Circle where Ken Shelton the WBOS/WBCN jock was there, the band had no keyboard player, so Rich from the Fools and John Kalishes really made it “Led Zeppelin Meets The Cars” which was John Kalishes’ flavor, for sure. A truly interesting performance with Rich playing the keyboard lines. Fun shows. The Beach Club in Salisbury Beach, Government Center, The Paradise, and the tons of Cars shows we saw, from their opening for Brian Ferry and J Geils at the Cape Cod Coliseum, to the headlining gig in Providence when Willie Alexander opened (I took a photo of Ric OCasek backstage that night that is around here somewhere...) - have that on audio tape somewhere around here too. The night in Lynn with Don the soundman playing us all the Cars demos, the night in the suburbs taping the Cars in a gig outside of the Boston scene - Jon Macey talking about how Captain Swing would open for Fox Pass and how he pushed them in a stylistic direction with clothing and ideas that helped mold THE CARS Ben Orr is still alive in the thoughts of his fans, and with the great body of music he created. The Cars Digital Fanzine keeps that music alive... these are just some scattered thoughts, twenty-three days after his passing.


Joe Viglione

Originally published in Frozen Fire magazine - thanks to Christopher, the editor, for preserving the text.


Related story: R.I.P. John Kalishes

Last Updated on Monday, 26 October 2009 20:37