Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame years ago. He’s in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and there are Grammys, a pair of awards named after Woody Guthrie, and other honors, too.
But there was a time 30 years ago when his beloved grandma wasn’t sure about his prospects for the biggest award of all, Mellencamp told the audience in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday, March 22.
“She said, ‘You know, Buddy, if you don’t stop that cussing and this wild way of life you’re living, you’re not going to get into heaven,’” he said using the nickname his grandmother always called him.
Grandma’s been gone for years now, though she made it to 100. But we’re here to tell her she shouldn’t worry too much up there in her celestial home. Sure, Mellencamp at 71 still swears like a proverbial sailor, but his beautiful music and big-hearted humanitarian spirit on stage and off should get him through the pearly gates.
“We’re gonna maybe make you think about some things,” Mellencamp said at the close of “Small Town,” one of his signature hits, and the first song of the night to get the crowd up on their feet to dance and sing. And that’s true, whether the thoughts dealt with the human heart or the world in which we all live – one big community, as Mellencamp urged the audience to become.
The curtain raised on a show that spread 20 songs over two hours with Mellencamp and his six-piece band kicking off the roots-rock tune “John Cockers” before sliding into “Paper In Fire” and “Minutes To Memories,” popular album tracks from “Lonesome Jubilee” and “Scarecrow” respectively.
The backdrop on stage was a French Quarter street scene drawn from the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire,” one of the classic movies from which scenes screened with Mellencamp’s commentary mixed in before the show started. Four life-sized figures dressed as film stars such as Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe…
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