Let’s talk legacy entertainers for a minute. They’re everywhere, of course, especially during state fair season, when organizers are trying to fill their entertainment schedules with “names” at bargain basement prices. So what determines if someone will ultimately end up a Mick Jagger or just another past hit maker grinding out the tunes in front of a smattering of cotton candy eaters?
It’d be easy to buzz in and shout “talent,” but the real answer is likely that combined with something that you just can’t peg.
| Onstage |
| The Cars |
| When: 7 p.m. Monday |
| Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW |
| Info: Sold out at press time; tickets may be available from online resellers; 9:30.com; 800-955-5566. |
Whatever it is, you just know that Ric Ocasek and the rest of the Cars have it, especially now that they’re touring behind their just-released “Move Like This.”
“I just thought, it’s been a long time since I played with these guys,” Ocasek said, “but they’re the ones that will do the best job. They’re the ones that I wouldn’t have to explain things to, they wouldn’t have to get used to the way I write, they’re already inundated with all that. I’ll just put out a feeler and see if they’d be interested in doing it.”
So for the first time in many years, the group is back with a sound that many say rivals the band’s self-titled 1978 debut and its 1984 masterpiece “Heartbeat City.”
Once original members Greg Hawkes, Elliot Easton and David Robinson came together, the music just flowed, said Ocasek. Bassist Benjamin Orr died in 2000.
“It totally clicked immediately,” Ocasek says. “Everybody got right into it as if we had never stopped playing. After two days I thought, ‘Oh yeah, this is going to be cool.'”
“The simplicity of us getting together and making a record was amazing to me,” Robinson adds. “When you’ve got the right combination of people, you can just start back up again.”
“It was very comfortable,” says Hawkes, “Everybody just returned to their old sense of humor.”
Easton agrees, “It’s like a family. When you don’t see a family member for a long time, within a few minutes it’s like you never left. The years melted away and it just felt normal.” He adds, “We’re really good at being The Cars. We know how to do that.”
What about the excitement from young fans about the new album and tour?
“It seems like The Cars are one of those bands that generations which follow seem to discover,” Easton says.
Somebody say amen.
