40 years on, Marshall Crenshaw rates Pittsburgh as a career highlight

Jul. 11—Singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw is calling his current tour "40 Years in Showbiz!"

The exclamation point indicates he's still excited to be out there doing what he started doing in the clubs of New York City in the early 1980s.

"I just like the sound of saying it's a 40th anniversary thing," he said. "It's got a nice ring to it, and I might keep that for the next five years."

Best known for his 1982 Top 40 hit "Someday, Someway," Crenshaw has a July 19 date at City Winery in Pittsburgh's Strip District.

His musical milestone has been accompanied by the reissue of an expanded version of his self-titled debut album, along with the reissue of his second effort, "Field Day."

The tour is all about "the longevity of those albums — and of me," said Crenshaw, 69.

It's given him the opportunity to look back over some career highlights — including one that took place in Pittsburgh in 1978, while Crenshaw was playing John Lennon in the national touring musical "Beatlemania," his first big break.

"We opened at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh. Before the show opened, I'm at the theater killing time, hanging around, watching the carpenters build the sets," he said. "While I was doing that, I made up a song in my head called 'You're My Favorite Waste of Time.' "

The home demo copy of the song, a lighthearted paean to his wife, became the B-side for "Someday, Someway." It was later covered by artists including Bette Midler and Owen Paul, whose rendition reached the Top 10 in the United Kingdom.

"A little tune I made up in my head got sent out in the world. You never know where anything is gonna land," Crenshaw said. "I love the memory of that day backstage at the theater."

Following "Beatlemania," Crenshaw hit the New York clubs with a trio that included his brother Robert on drums and Chris Donato on bass.

"We played our first gig, and there were like four people there," he said. "Then we played our second gig, and there were like 24 people there. Then we played the next gig, and there were 224 people there. It just kept building and building. In about a year-and-a-half period, it finally blew up. That's a time I really like to look back on."

Another career highlight was playing Buddy Holly in the 1987 film "La Bamba," about 1950s rock 'n' roll sensation Ritchie Valens.

"That was really extraordinary," Crenshaw said. "I didn't know that I could do that, and I just found out in the moment that I could."

These days, in addition to his tour dates, Crenshaw performs with The Smithereens. He stepped in after the 2017 death of his friend and the group's lead singer, Pat DiNizio.

"It's a nice hang with the fellas, and I like the music, too. They're a great rock 'n' roll band," he said.

He also is working on a documentary about the late record producer Tom Wilson, best known for his work in the 1960s and '70s with Bob Dylan, the Mothers of Invention, Simon and Garfunkel, the Velvet Underground, Sun Ra, Nico, Eric Burdon and the Animals and others.

"I feel like it's a story that is utterly vital. His contribution to popular music is indispensable. Take him out of the story, and the whole DNA of the music changes," Crenshaw said. "For some set of reasons, he's been erased, but now people are talking about him again.

"It's a story that never should have been marginalized, so we're going to unmarginalize it, I hope."

City Winery audiences will hear a retrospective of songs from Crenshaw's career.

"It's a whole lifetime that's reflected over the years in the music that I've made — the skills, the craft involved in growing into my job as a musician and singer — or my role, not a job," he said. "It's almost always a joy because I'm always doing what I want to do."

Crenshaw has been a regular performer with the winery chain since the beginning.

"I started playing the one in New York when (founder) Michael Dorf first got it off the ground," he said. "Now there are several of them around the country, and I've played all of them.

"I like the City Wineries. They're nice, friendly places for artists, and they have great taste in what they book. I like that size venue and that kind of situation."

Dorf has described the intimate performance space as a "luxury concert facility. Our audience likes to sit down and drink wine in a real glass and have good food and great sight lines."

Crenshaw takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, starting at $32, are available at pittsburgh.citywinery.com.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .