That’s My Last Name – Kim Longacre of The Reivers, 1989
By David Sadof. Blog Entry at Houston Chronicle Commons by former radio music director at KLOL and KTBZ, Jan. 1, 2008.
In my previous entry, I mentioned playing The Reivers on my radio show, Exposure, in 1987. Today, I want to share a story about a funny coincidence (or two) that occurred two years later when I saw them for the second time at Fitzgerald’s. First, I need to tell you about In Tua Nua. This will all make sense, shortly.
In Tua Nua was an Irish rock group whose instrumentation included bagpipes and electric violin. Their second album, The Long Acre, was released in 1988 and in addition to the single, All I Wanted, the U.S. pressing of the album included the previously released song, Seven Into The Sea. This was the first time I had heard the band and Seven Into The Sea with it’s Edge-like guitar playing and powerful vocals from Leslie Dowdall was a much stronger song than the single chosen by the label and a better fit for KLOL. As we often did, we chose our own single and ran with it. In this case, the record label (Virgin) didn’t mind and even worked the song to other stations based on our success with it. They even did a remix a few weeks after we started playing the song to emphasize the guitar. In Tua Nua later played a show for KLOL at the George R. Brown Convention Center that also featured Jon Butcher. My favorite moment when meeting In Tua Nua was when I introduced myself to the very attractive violinist and she said in her Irish accent, “Hello, I’m Lovely”. Her name, I soon learned, was Lovely Previn.
Before moving on to my story about The Reivers, I do need to tell you one other short story. Stay with me.
In 1989, only a week or two before I saw The Reivers for the second time, a new Program Director had been hired at KLOL. He had previously worked in New York and was looking over a list of all the songs (old and new) that we were playing. Out of the entire list, there were two songs that he specifically asked me about, having never heard them before. One was The Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy and the other was Balinese by ZZ Top.
Now about The Reivers. I first met them in 1987 when they were on tour with Fetchin’ Bones. I had been playing both bands on Exposure and they each came by the station that day to record interviews with me. I had a great time with both bands and they put on a great show that night at Fitzgerald’s.
Two years later, supporting their album, End Of The Day, The Reivers returned to Fitzgerald’s. The Reivers featured two singers, John Croslin and Kim Longacre, who would create great harmonies and often trade-off verses within the same song. That evening while getting dressed for the show, I randomly grabbed a t-shirt from my closet. It just happened to be my In Tua Nua t-shirt.
The Reivers were in great form that night and Kim even sang a cover version of the Gershwin classic, Summertime, from Porgy And Bess. As for the funny coincidences I mentioned earlier, The Reivers played two other cover songs that night. The Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy and Balinese by ZZ Top. What are the odds?
After the show, I went back to visit with the band. The first person I saw was Kim Longacre. She looked at me, looked at my t-shirt, and then back at me with a quizzical look. I didn’t understand and then she said, “That’s my last name”. The In Tua Nua shirt I was wearing had the name of their album, The Long Acre, printed on it.
Within a year or so, I saw The Reivers again for a third time. I didn’t wear the shirt, but Kim did tease me about it.
Top Ten Most Memorable Covers Songs I’ve Seen Performed Live
- Tori Amos – Purple Rain (Prince)
- Concrete Blonde – Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)
- Self – Glory Box (Portishead)
- Reivers – Summertime (Gershwin)
- Poi Dog Pondering – Don’t Look Back (Lloyd Cole), they performed this live on Exposure.
- Reivers – The Cowboy Song (Thin Lizzy)
- Reivers – Balinese (ZZ Top)
- Ani Difranco – When Doves Cry (Prince)
- Robyn Hitchcock – A Day In The Life (Beatles)
- Toad The Wet Sprocket – Mmm Bop (Hanson), I didn’t actually see this, they played an impromptu version of it on the radio program, Modern Rock Live.
