Getting to Know. . . LENNY SOLOMON
 by Kathy S-B  ·  19 July 2007

Lenny Solomon has been kicking around the Boston and Cambridge music scene for a few decades or so. His style has been compared to early Bob Dylan, Guy Clark, and Jerry Jeff Walker. He’s still got a lot to say and sing about as evidenced below and on his recent CD, “Maybe Today.” One review said of this recording: “Solomon has the wisdom of that other person of that name. He gives us songs to make us think but never lets the message get in the way of the fact that to transmit any message, the medium must grab and hold our attention.” One of Solomon’s most moving songs is called “Come Take the Hand” and was written for National AIDs Day 2006. You can watch a video of Lenny performing this song here. Lenny will be appearing at a benefit concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead on Saturday, August 25.

You’ve been involved in the folk scene in the Cambridge area since the late 1960s, in particular at the late great Idler Coffeehouse. What are some of your favorite memories from those days?

I have many memories of my Idler days. Some of those have to do with the idiotic things one does when one is young and foolish. For example, I would play at The Idler doing five sets from 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM. Although I didn’t get paid much, the beer was free. At times, this was a problem because by 1:00 AM I’d be fairly blotto.

At that time I drove a small Fiat sports car that had a five speed manual transmission. Depending upon how much I drank I at least I was lucid enough to tell myself when driving home not get out of third gear, second, or sometimes even first. That was nuts.

Since I was such a big star, there were the times I got a little cranky if asked to be flexible about changing the usual Friday night slot I had. I remember getting a call from a fellow musician who asked me to switch nights one week. Although I eventually said “yes” I think I gave him a hard time. That fellow was Ric Ocasek who with his singing partner Ben Orr founded the Cars a year later. I guess you could say he owes me one.

When Passim reopened after being closed for some time I started to hang out there in between my Idler sets with Bob and Rae Anne Donlin. I lobbied them to present music again. I’m sure that must have been in their minds from the get go but I feel I did my part. When they did begin having live music again on weekends, I was the second act they booked there and the first to fill all the seats.

I remember Sergeant McCarthy, a big Irish cop that the Idler management hired to keep order on weekends. He was a wonderful man with a kind heart. We had long conversations back then and I still think about him.

Then there was the night I was fired. In 1979, after playing regularly there for over seven years, I was fired after my last set was over at 1AM. Lenny Rothenberg, the manager at that time said he felt they need a new face. I couldn’t argue with him.

How would you compare the Cambridge scene from those days and what it’s like now?

I think the biggest difference was that there was more of an emphasis on folk music and more independently owned coffeehouses. Most closed a long time ago because it became economically unfeasible for them to stay in business. There are still lots of places to play, however, so I don’t know from the musician’s perspective if things have changed all that much. I was never much of a “scene” person and I’m still not. The closest I came to that was hanging out with Bob and Rae Anne. I did that, however, because I basically enjoyed talking with them.

One reviewer of a Solomon Band CD said something to the effect that your sound goes back to when “country music was still folk music.” There are so many sub-genres of music these days. It’s not so cut and dry anymore — or is it? When I listen to a song of yours like “It’s Snowing,” I hear rock, country, folk, and maybe even a little bit of old-fashioned blues. Does this make it more difficult to find an audience?

There are several things that make the “selling” of my music more difficult. One certainly is that I enjoy writing songs in different styles. This makes writing more interesting for me and my albums hard to pigeonhole. This affects sales. While I do, on occasion play-out solo, I really enjoy performing with my band, something I hadn’t done earlier in my music career. I love to play listening rooms such as coffeehouses, however, many coffeehouses have a problem booking bands, never mind bands with drummers. I do get a certain number of these gigs when playing as a trio, without our drummer, but most of the four-piece gigs we get are in bars. In bars, people by and large, are there to drink and socialize and it’s much harder to connect with the audience on an intellectual level. I put a lot of effort into my lyrics and I’ve learned through the years that lyrics are the last thing absorbed by a typical audience, especially in bars.

I’ve also found it difficult to get local airplay, I think because of the diversity in my material. Considering I’m pretty unknown, I’ve been fortunate enough to get airplay on over 130 radio stations around the country and around the world. I even got played on a station in Siberia. However, I’ve never been added to WUMB. I guess I’m just not folkie enough.

Your song “Let’s Go to Mars” is on Neil Young’s “Living with War Today” website. I think it’s terrific that he has made a stand and has given so many songwriters a place to air their feelings about the war. Your sentiments about taking off and heading for Mars sure sound attractive. Have you gotten a good response to this song?

I’ve had great response to this song. Being the hip ol’ dude I am, I developed a MySpace page about a year ago. Many of the folks who asked to be on my friends list found me through that song. I don’t usually write political or topical songs but Bush has been a very inspiring president. I’ve written a bunch of very socially relevant songs, and several are on the Maybe Today album (my latest).

I’ve got to ask about your early work at Harvard about ozone depletion. It sounds like you were aware of global warming before Al Gore came along and began talking about it. What are you current thoughts on the state of the environment? Are we too far gone or should we all move to Mars

I think the planet has a very serious climate problem and the US political system, especially the Bush administration, has failed in its charter to protect the country from potential disaster. The physics and chemistry of climate change is a very complex. and considering the potential risks I consider it a crime that we’ve invested so little to understand the problem.

The chemistry of ozone depletion was simple compared to climate change. However, when it was generally accepted by scientists in the field that Freons could be depleting ozone in the stratosphere the government mobilized. Using NASA as the primary funding vehicle the US government stepped up to the plate and went all out to investigate this theory. The group I’m with at Harvard provided the definitive piece of data over the Antarctic that the chlorine monoxide created when Freons break down in the stratosphere catalytically reacted to destroy ozone. As the data came in, Congress phased out the future manufacture of Freons.

Ozone depletion is only one segment of the climate change problem; one piece of the equation that feeds back positively to increase the Earth’s surface temperature. Instead of investing research dollars to address the other pieces of the puzzle, President Bush announced a major effort to go to Mars. With no increase in the NASA budget, billions of dollars have been shunted to the Mars program having the affect of slashing science funding to study the Earth’s systems. “Let’s go to Mars, forget about your cares, let’s go to Mars, we’ll bring a case of beer.”’

In 2002 I wrote another song called “Global Warming Blues.” I’ll leave you with those lyrics.

He loves to go out shopping in his SUV
A car that large is rocking, fits him to a tee
When he gets behind the wheel, hears that engine whine
He doesn’t think of the gasoline he’s burning all the time
Will it be now or later, when he gets a clue
Global warming’s coming, babe, it’s gunna get you

I make so much money I could buy me a continent
Gunna build me a trophy house with every complement
A fridge as big a Venus, a stove as big as Mars
With all the modern conveniences, you see I’m a star
Will it be now or later, when he gets a clue
Global warming’s coming, babe, it’s gunna get you

Glaciers are all melting, the Arctic’s turning green
Polar bears have seen their lairs go floating down the stream
Harp seals have changed color, they’re no long white
They’re now bronze complected and extremely uptight
Will it be now or later, when we get a clue
Global warming’s coming, babe, it’s gunna get you

© L. Solomon 2002

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