English Beat to Play at Rec Center May 20

“We’re doing a concert designed with kids and babysitters in mind,” joked Palisadian David Wakeling about his benefit concert with The English Beat at the Palisades Recreation Center this Saturday, May 20 at 7 p.m. All ages are invited. Many parents may be surprised to know that the dad who coached a team in last winter’s youth basketball league at the park is actually a major rock star. When park director David Gadelha explained that he needed $15,000 to build a new a handball court, Wakeling offered to help by playing a concert. Since The English Beat is playing 70 concerts between now and September, a logistical problem was finding a date when Wakeling’s band would be in town. “That’s one of the great by-products of this job,” he says. “I’ve been all over the United States and in countries all over the world.” Wakeling is the original lead singer and songwriter for The English Beat, a popular British rock band that originally broke up in 1983, but has since regrouped around Wakeling. HIs band was famous in the ’80s for such hits as “I Just Can’t Stop It” and “Special Beat Service,” and he’s amazed that another of their hits, “Save It For Later,” has been used as background music for everything from a barn raising in a Woody Harrelson movie to an HBO special about the Gulf War as bombs explode. The English Beat is famous for creating a hybrid of pop, punk and reggae. The music has a good dance beat that kids can move to. “This music is really popular at the moment,” Wakeling says. “The 80’s have become the new ’60s.” He explains that ’60s music is considered the standard of rock music, but younger listeners have discovered the music of the ’80s and are making it their own. Currently, his singles are played on all the classic rock radio stations. Of music from the ’80s, The Beat’s music in particular is not dated and Wakeling is quick to credit the producer, Bob Sergeant. “He wouldn’t let us use ‘gizmos” everything had to be classic, classic drums, pianos and amps.” Wakeling started playing guitar in Birmingham, England, when he was 12. “I kept it to myself for a long time,” he says. “I’m ambidextrous and I taught myself, which means I learned how to play a guitar upside down and back to front. I made up my own chords, which gave me an original sound.” He credits Van Morrison as an influence as well as Bob Marley and The Clash. His first guitar is now on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. “It went from an instrument to an artifact,” Wakeling muses. “Now if I ever touch it again, I have to put on a pair of gloves.” He writes his own songs. “It’s ever so lucky’ they write themselves. You get really excited or really upset and it just pulls out of you. It all splurges out, even in the shower, and sometimes you have to say it over and over so you can remember it. The job is to put yourself in the way so you can catch it.” Wakeling said that Saturday’s concert will feature “loads of old hits and a handful of new ones. It’s a delicate balance because people come to reminisce, but you have to enjoy songs in the moment. They can’t all be in the past.” He hopes that this concert will be the start of something that could mobilize and utilize the enormous talent of all the Grammy and Oscar winners who live in the Palisades, to help benefit the community. “After 9/11, the destruction of the Twin Towers helped us realize that the simple pleasures become all the more valuable. There are true family and community values in the Palisades and one of the places my family enjoys them is at the park. It’s one of the things we enjoy most in the Palisades.” Wakeling, his wife, son and daughter live in the Palisades. Three years ago, he did a benefit concert for Marquez Elementary School, where his children were attending, and asked the crossing guard at the school, Dane Calcote, to play with the band. Wakeling is hoping he can get Calcote, whom he calls a “marvelous percussionist,” to once again play with his band on Saturday. Concert tickets can be purchased (by check only) at the Rec Center front office, between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow and until 5 p.m. on Saturday ($25 for adults, $15 for kids under 16).