COURTESY OF EVENTS INTERNATIONAL
Longtime island favorites War, with original member Lonnie Jordan (standing, second from left), returns to Hawaii for the Vans Triple Crown of Surf Kickoff Party.
War zone at
Sea Life Park
So stunned by the natural charm of the Hawaiian Islands was Lonnie Jordan during his first visit to Oahu in 1969, that he forgot about all his possessions. The airline that flew rock celebrity Eric Burdon and his brand new backup band, War, into Honolulu, had somehow lost Jordan's luggage. But the then-young organist from South Central L.A., just barely out of his teens and on his first trip away from the mainland, couldn't have cared less.
"I was in Hawaii, are you kidding? It was beautiful," remarks Jordan. "Once I started mingling on the island, everything changed. I didn't even miss my stuff. I just went out and bought new stuff."
Surfing competition kickoff
The Vans Triple Crown of Surf Kickoff Concert featuring WarWhere: Sea Life Park, 41-202 Kalanianaole Highway
When: 6 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $23 advance, $30 at the door; available at the park, all Hawaiian Island Creations stores and the UH-Manoa Campus Center
Call: 259-2577
Note: No coolers or outside beverages allowed. Opening bands include Hot Rain, Neken, Amplified, B.E.T., Ooklah the Moc, Go Jimmy Go and Ho'onua
Over the years, War has enjoyed more visits to our fair isles than Jordan can accurately recollect, though the majestic open air venues and receptive crowds still evoke fond memories for him. This weekend at the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing kickoff party in Makapuu, Jordan and War will be adding Sea Life Park to their long list of Hawaii shows.
In War's maiden excursion to the islands, recalls Jordan, the band hadn't even released their first single, and although Burdon had already achieved star status with the Animals, the group was only slightly familiar with his work.
As Jordan tells it, songwriter/producer Jerry Goldstein, who co-wrote such indelible pop hits as "My Boyfriend's Back," "Hang On Sloopy" and "I Want Candy," showed up at a club in North Hollywood with Eric Burdon one evening, where the band had been backing another legendary figure -- NFL great Deacon Jones. Though Jones' performance was less than memorable, Burdon was impressed by the group's fiery, funky concoction of rock, soul, and Latin rhythms and quickly took them under his wing. Goldstein became the band's producer, while the group's manager, Steve Gold, decided a new musical direction required a name change. He suggested the band be rechristened War.
"We didn't really like it at the time; we thought it was a little bit too radical," said Jordan. "But then we thought it over and figured, 'Why can't we wage war against war and be a war for peace?' Instead of shooting bullets, killing people and making mothers cry, how about shooting beautiful musical notes, melodies, rhythms and harmonies?"
THERE WAS Papa Dee Allen, an accomplished percussionist who had played alongside jazz immortals like Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt and Jimmy Smith. Saxophonist/ flautist Charles Miller offered a blues and Latin flavor to the project, while bassist B.B. Dickerson gave War a rock edge. Burdon then added Danish harmonica player Lee Oskar to the lineup. "With a mixture of all that, we just pushed a button and turned the tape on and whatever came out, came out," says Jordan.
War, however, was ill-prepared for life on the road as a high-profile band, he says. "We were young. We didn't know how to act, to be honest with you," he admits. "The girls, the drugs, the flying to this and the flying to that, the interviews. Everything started happening at once. It was like, 'Wow, is this real or is this a dream?' "
They returned stateside, minus Burdon, to record their self-titled first album, a free-flowing, decidedly non-commercial venture. When that album was met with lukewarm response, War reorganized and released several albums which featured such catchy, sing-along hits as "Cisco Kid," "Low Rider," "Why Can't We Be Friends?," "All Day Music" and "Slipping Into Darkness."
One day in 1979, guitarist Howard Scott gave Jordan the shock of his life. "He called me up and said, 'Man, are you sitting down? Charles Miller is down at the morgue ... lifeless.' Those were his words. He didn't have to say he's dead or anything." Miller was killed, explained Scott, in a robbery attempt. "I started trembling, I remember that, and I was standing, but I sat down after he told me. It seemed like my breath was just taken away."
Then in 1988, performing in Vallejo, Calif., Papa Dee developed an aneurysm and died. "He had to go backstage and lay down and he had gone into a coma," says Jordan ruefully. Yet, as War's only original member after three decades, Jordan has persevered. "I'm doing it the same way we did it then."
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