Putting the A in STEAM: Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul in Detroit, November 9, 2018

Who would combine the best rock show in ages, with a lesson plan?

There is only one person I can think of: Little Steven.

Last night, Stevie brought The Disciples of Soul Teacher Appreciation Tour to the Detroit Music Hall. Promising to "leave all politics aside," the show, according to Steve, "took a little trip down my influences, which also happens to be the history of Rock and Roll" The Disciples of Soul total 15 musicians. Some go way back with Steve: Eddie Manion and Stan Harrison were not only part of the original Disciples of Soul, they were part of the great Asbury Jukes recordings and shows before that. Many of the other players weren't born until long after those records had been made.

Before the show, there was a TeachRock workshop on how teachers could use music to engage their students. Not being a teacher myself, I wasn't eligible. But Aaron was; he's primarily still a college student, but he has also been involved on the teaching end, and since the site said "educators of all types," we (correctly) figured he was ok for this. He could even bring Ezra as a guest. Just one problem yesterday -- he had to teach! Or, "mentor," as they called it up at Central Michigan University. He couldn't make it to Detroit until after the workshop ended, so we brought Ezra on time. We had a choice: we could go downstairs and munch the freebie Pringles and KitKats that attendees were offered, or we could go on upstairs to observe the workshop. We went up to the workshop. I took a KitKat.

Steve spoke for a couple minutes, but mostly the workshop was about how teachers can approach using music as "source documents" when engaging. The workshop leaders are all high school teachers themselves. A great example (to me) of the approach was the use of of a documentary called Rumble to teach about the Indigenous influence on the history of American music. This was also Ezra's favorite part as it included a clip of "Come and Get Your Love" from "Guardians of the Galaxy." What I learned from the workshop was the seriousness and dedication of the teachers who put it together, and of the attendees learning from it.
The show followed, and it completely rocked the house. Yes, as Steve had hinted, there were several covers, but to me the core of the show were Steven's songs from the 1982 album Men Without Women. These songs are almost never heard outside occasional plays on Steven's Underground Garage satellite radio station. To me, "Forever" is a miracle of 1980's pop, and the rest of the album isn't far behind. Hearing these great songs live, interspersed mostly with nuggets from last year's Soulfire (many of which had previously been handed to Southside or other artists to record), was a treat. Hearing them like this, with a full 5-person horn section, 3 backup singers who could move and sing, 2 percussionists, 2 keyboard players, and guitar and bass in addition to Steve, players who all had chops and fully justified Steve's description of the band as "amazing," that was awesome.

After the show, I asked Aaron his favorite part. "It was when the trumpet player quoted Ornithology." That was a "wow" answer for me; I don't know how many people in the room recognized that (I sure didn't); to me it tied right back to the theme of the workshop.

The Detroit Music Hall seats just 1731 people, if it's full. The hall was not full last night, and probably a couple hundred of those in attendance were teachers and their guests, like my kids. Even though the tour has sponsors, I find it difficult to imagine that Steven is making any money from it. Who would do a massive tour like this?

I can only think of one person, and I'm glad that person is Steve Van Zandt.