Here is the write-up for
Annie and the Alcoholix.
Annie Lennox - Vocals
Jeff Beck - Guitar
Victor Wooten - Bass and Double Bass
Rick Wakeman - Synthesizers, Keyboards and Piano
Terry Bozzio - Drums and Percussion
“Wow, what a show! We will definitely have to do that again.” Victor exclaimed to Terry when the roar of the audience finally began to subside. It really was pretty amazing that this actually came to fruition considering how it all started. Victor’s good friend Michael had pulled him into this benefit for his non-profit organization “Helping Those That Help Themselves”, an out of the box concept for assisting our homeless and providing them with opportunities. It was at the first meeting that he met Annie and they had decided to team up and put together the headlining act for the benefit concert.
As a huge Sacramento Kings fan, Victor frequented a local fan site under the username Francisco d’Anconia where he sometimes participated in off season online draft threads. His favorite was the Rock Band Draft Thread in which you drafted members of your hypothetical band and attempted to assemble a band that would garner more votes from other board members than the bands of other drafters. None of his e-friends knew his real identity, so he was surprised when one of the other drafters selected him as their bass player and then in a later round selected Annie as the lead vocalist. This all seemed pretty coincidental and Victor was amazed that the band with Annie and him ended up placing first in the voting process and was the thread winner by a land slide. The other members of this hypothetical band consisted of Jeff Beck, Terry Bozzio and Rick Wakeman.
On a complete whim, Victor convinced Annie to let him attempt to put that line up together for the upcoming benefit concert. Knowing that it was a long shot, he devised a plan. Jeff Beck was not going to be an easy target. Luckily for Victor, he and Terry had recently had a connection at a mutual friend’s party and talked about getting together for a project sometime in the future. Terry not only played on “Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop” album, he also played with him as recently as 2003 opening for BB King. Victor would get Terry to recruit Jeff. After that, Rick would be a breeze because he has not been too busy since the last Yes tour.
It turned out that Jeff was available and willing to play under one circumstance. Jeff wanted the project to be billed as Annie and the Alcoholix. Somewhere in his warped brain, Jeff decided that the twist of alcoholism being associated with and even partially responsible for homelessness (the cause of the benefit) was absolutely hilarious. At the time, Victor was sure Annie would have none of it. He was surprised when she laughed and agreed stating that any controversy would simply be free marketing and promotion for the event, which turned out to be the case.
As he thought, getting Rick on board was as easy as a phone call. Victor had actually put the winning concept band from the Rock Band Draft Thread together in real life for a great cause. They spent some rehearsal time working out a set of mostly Annie Lennox and Euryhthmics tunes and a couple of covers were thrown in for good measure. The addition of The Pointer Sisters’ “Shaky Flat Blues” into Janice’s “Bobby McGee” was of special note. With all the talented soloists, it was decided that Terry, Rick and Victor would each have one very small solo only. The main focus of the set was to back up Annie; after all, they can solo all day long at home. Jeff of course, was given some extra space here and there to do his thing and the result was astonishing