George Thorogood and The Destroyers are coming to The Paramount on February 19, 2025. We recently caught up with George to talk about the show and more. When George and I speak there is always a lot of joking around, and that’s right where we started this time as well. The last couple times George and The Destroyers played The Paramount were sold out shows. We are certainly expecting that kind of energy again. The show falls just days before George’s 75th birthday. That could certainly add to the party atmosphere for the night.
When I mentioned that to George, he informed me that it was actually actor Lee Marvin’s birthday. In fact, if Lee were still alive, it would be his 101st birthday. We did dive into some discussion of Lee and his career. George shared that being on the road for so long that they’ve “Seen a lot of movies, over and over and over.”
The Destroyers last visit to The Paramount was filmed. I tried to pin George down on if we are expecting the release of that show. George did mention Scorsese during the discussion. I think I’d be safe in guessing that his name was mentioned in jest.
Very often George and I discuss older music. It prompted me to ask him who are the younger artists catching his attention. George did give a mention to Gary Clark Jr here. “He could become the next Buddy Guy, maybe.”
George’s career not only includes his compositions, but he’s also scored with many cover songs. I asked George if his interpretations of these songs were just how he heard the tunes. His response was “No, it’s just the way I play it.” He also joked that “I know one chord and I pound it until someone takes notice.” That’s when he gave a shout out to Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker and all they were able to accomplish with just one chord.
We then started to talk about Bob Dylan. George has been a long time Dylan fan. That’s where we began to discuss the film “A Complete Unknown.” He said, “They nailed it.” George even voiced his support for Edward Norton to win the Oscar for playing Pete Seeger. He mentioned having met Bob three times. And then really dove into speaking about the film. We discussed Dylan first getting on George’s radar around 1963. He spoke about AM radio playing folk music back in those days. George mentioned his older brother bringing home a Live, Peter Paul and Mary album including Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind.” He had never heard the song before. George clearly gives Dylan the credit for inspiring him to hit the road.
I asked George who he was listening to most recently. He mentioned a name I had never heard before, Alice Gomez. Alice is an internationally acclaimed Latina composer, inspired by her own Mexican culture. Do not expect Alice Gomez to sound like any of the other artists that we had discussed up to this point. She is quite different for sure. Certainly, more of an instrumental composer. George described her music as hypnotic and beautiful.
George and I spoke about so much getting lost in music these days by the search for perfection. One of the last things George said to me was “Baby, let me tell you something. There is nothing more boring than perfection.” “Something without some flaws to it, it’s just not natural.”
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