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May
6, 2006
Venue: Park West,
Chicago
Artists: Lowen and Navarro
Review by: Anita Maree Lande
Photos by: Niva Bringas
The Dynamic Duo
hit the Grace Notes perfectly
The fascinating
writing team of Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro stopped in at the Park West
to perform a mirage of their penned songs. Lyrically, this duo has
written some timeless classics, and musically their flawless harmonies
soared. Besides touring for the past decade and releasing many albums,
countless songs they have penned have been performed by major recording
artists like The Bangles and The Temptations. Rocker Pat Benatar took
their song “We Belong” and rocketed it to a world-wide smash hit.
When the duo took
stage, black-curly haired Dave Navarro (yes, his cousin is rocker Dave
Navarro) surprised the sell-out crowd telling them that “special guests”
would be performing with the band during their set. Eric Lowen,
strickened with ALS, rolled out and performed in his wheelchair, but
nothing prevented him from his extraordinary guitar and vocal
performance. The duo led off the night with the catchy “Constant As The
Night “ and they performed other songs from their past albums like
“Compass Point” and “All is Quiet”.
It would only seem
natural that their “special guests” would be wildly talented
singer-songwriters, and Lowen & Navarro picked four top Chicago-based
musicians to join them on stage. Alice Peacock and Jennifer Peterson
both shined in their performances aiding on “If You Loved Me Like That”
and “Not Like You” respectively. Then the soulful voice of Paris Delane
brought down the house helping out in “Just to See You.” Rounding out
the guest list was Chicago favorite Michael McDermott. Before the start
of his performance, McDermott told the sell-out crowd how much Lowen had
influenced him. McDermott then said about Lowen, “He’s up here sitting
down but still singing as good as ever” and he asked the crowd to get up
and put their hands together and to pay tribute to the talents of both
Lowen & Navarro. The thunderous applause filled the Park West for a good
few minutes. Then McDermott gave a knockout performance on the song
“Walking on a Wire”.
One of the most
moving moments was when Eric Lowen sang his song “Learning to Fall”
which is about dealing with and living with ALS. Some of the lyrics
say; “Me I Tasted True Glory, Had A Long Sweet Time on the Stage.” “And
it’s Beautiful Now, New Blessings Unfold, In Ways I Could Have Never
Known, And I Still Have Some Time on my Hands.” The show ended with
Lowen & Navarro and all their special guests walking into the crowd and
doing a sing-a-long with the chart-smashing song “We Belong”.
This writing team
perhaps is one of the best around with their songs about love, hurt, and
forgiveness. I felt a little raining in my eyes leaving the venue and I
saw a few others with the same surreal condition.
Visit
www.lownav.com for information on their new music and DVD
coming out soon. You can also find them on
www.myspace.com/lownav
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