|
|
|
MICHIGAN
MUSIC ARTICLE |
January, 2002 "NEW YEAR" ISSUE |
|
|
|
|
ROCK
STILL
STANDS
IN
SAGINAW
MICHIGAN |
|
BY BOB DENNIS
|
|
|
 |
| I
met Dick Wagner when he lived in Nashville and was
thinking of moving back to his home - Michigan. He
was, and is a Michigan Rock legend. His band, Frost
(recently performing again) was one of the popular
Michigan rock bands of its era, along with Grand Funk
Railroad and Alice Cooper. The members of these groups all
knew each other and most had played in the same band
together at one time or another. |
| Dick
is probably best known for his collaboration with Alice
Cooper on the Welcome To My Nightmare album that rejuvenated
Cooper's career. Dick was Cooper's musical director
at the time and co-wrote many of Alice Cooper's hits of
that era. Dick's more than two dozen gold and platinum
awards also include other artists as diverse as Air
Supply, Lou Reed, Aerosmith, Hall & Oats and
Kiss. |
| I
was happy working closely with Dick for his first three
years in Michigan. During this period, I had a
Saginaw office down the hall from him and helped him
design and install his 40 track studio. We got a
chance to co-produce a Michigan rock band and otherwise
work closely together. |
| Today
Saginaw Michigan is becoming a recording center because of
Dick, his Downtown Digital Studios and his Wagner
Music Group label. This article describes the
center's current activities. - ed |
|
|
| An all digital studio, a website
with over a million hits; an MP3 being marketed through mp3.com
with 1500 plays in December and impressive sales figures; Dick plugs
his musical expertise and impressive history into today's
technology. With new creative staff and new studio
facilities Dick goes where he hasn't gone before - into rap and hip
hop production. Like many industry greats, the now-almost-over
gangster and hate rap craze repelled him from this new idiom of music,
with him refusing to be associated with the negative, destructive
verbalization that was getting so popular. But since September
11th, negative rap isn't being listened to very much and Dick is
ready. The press release about his new team members goes like
this: |
Ennix
Buchanan, award-winning percussionist, has joined the CREAM
Team at Downtown Digital Studios, 707 Federal Ave. Saginaw, MI
as In House Producer of Urban Music. He will work primarily
out of Studio C, a full MIDI equipped operation.
Ennix first studied piano with the mother of Sonny Stits, a
famous Jazz musician, and later graduated from the Center for
the Arts in his hometown, Saginaw. He later studied percussion
with Joe Fryer, organizer of the Flint Jazz Festival. As a
percussionist, Buchanan has traveled the world and recorded
many albums. Buchanan toured with the off Broadway show,
"The All Night Strut" and also played with Wendall
Harrison in the Oklahoma City Jazz Festival.
Partnering with Buchanan on many projects will be producer,
Darryl Turner, a Detroit musician with a long, successful
musical background in the Detroit area. Very much tuned in to
the Urban/R&B culture, Darryl brings a lot of romanticism
and sophistication to any project he is involved in.
Ennix Buchanan and Darryl Turner now join Dick Wagner's CREAM
Team and will be producing music for WMG Heat, the Hip/Hop,
R&B side of WMG Records. |
|
| In addition, Dick will be co-producing some Saginaw
brand meld of Rap & Rock with a new 17-year old discovery, a
clear-voiced Jamie McDonald. Wagner's WMG Records has started a
new label, "WMG Heat," to handle the new style product. |
Other Michigan bands and artists currently working with
Dick include "Koverican" a pop production from an artist in
Fllint, Nicgigan, The Thumb Brothers in the hard rock style (and,
according to Dick, with good songs) and another rock band, White
Lye.
When Dick isn't at the studio producing, he's keeping busy by
performing in Grand Rapids and Muskegon (Michigan)as well as dates in
Indiana. Check out the WMG
Website for show date details. |
|
|
|
|
