Must See: Kevin Jenkins At Triad, October 1st, 2013
The two songs Kevin performed at the Doncker Bands Blue Note gig last week were highlights and on October 1st (a Tuesday), the Triad gig spotlighting the new album should be amazing.
Hear Ye On Spotify: what rock nyc is listening to 9-27-13
Girl Josephine – Fats Domino – It was always feels like of all the first graduates of rock and roll, Fats gets relegated to the also rans. Here is proof again he was anything but, just wait for the horn on the bridge – A
Lionel Richie At Barclay Center, Tuesday, September 24th, 2013, Reviewed
Effortlessly out of fashion, with a straight up pop band behind him, keyboards, drums, bass, guitar and piano played by Lionel himself, and a minimal to non-existent stage set, Lionel brought a knife to a gun fight and got slaughtered.
Alter Bridge, "Fortress" Reviewed
‘Fortress’ is one of the best albums of 2013 providing a fabulous roller coaster of ballad and balls The album is constructed to keep you on your toes flowing from one extreme to another. Alter Bridge have opted to tour Europe in support of the release, which pisses me off.
Flaming Lips Fans Fight To Restore Wayne Coyne's Instagram Account
The Internet is a free speech place right? Things like these should not happen and I wonder why these pictures were more offensive than anything you see around… So sign the petition and let’s restore psychedelia and all these alien vaginas! … Or may be it’s just another of Wayne’s clever publicity-tricks,
Katy Perry, Sarah McLachlan And Devolution Denied
I wonder what the poor bastards who went to this concert had done to deserve it? Was it bad karma from a past life. It must have been a form of hell, sitting through the Indigo Girls to reach Lisa Loeb, it is like is there no exist?
Urban Outfitters Embraces Their True Punk Spirit,… Yeah Right!
So we aren’t even in the same ball park here but I still want to punch in the face the first middle class hipster who buys such one of these jackets. Urban Outfitters clientele was not even born in the 90s and this screams poseur more than I can express it here. It is a sad day when punk becomes a brand,
US Top 10 Albums 10-5-13
I’ve been tracking the charts for years now and this is beyond a reasonable doubt the worst list of albums in some 160 weeks
US Top 10 Singles 10-05-13
This week, the album charts are a disgrace BUT that could change overseven days, meanwhile the singles chart are a lively mess of pop and dance vying for your attention in a fight to the death.
Hear Ye On Spotify: what rock nyc is listening to 9-27-13
This is a swirl of modern blues, poppier than her earlier stuff? Well, certainly faster than we’re used to, the arrangement includes what sounds like a drum machine, and, wow, back up singers. Trixie has already left Four Corners in her review mirror – B+
Paul McCartney On The Jimmy Kimmel Live, Monday September 23rd 2013
The JKL crew was asking us to cheer up and applause every 15 minutes, it was for a TV show after all, and no one was complaining, that was the least these people could do. On stage, they were bringing a colorful small piano, whereas there was already a grand piano in the back, and soon Jimmy Kimmel and Paul McCartney were waving to us from the top of the El Capitan building
Dan Whitley's "Devil Is On Your Trail" Reviewed
Whitley stakes his claim to the blues he derives his power from, he taps into the primal instinct but takes it from the reverse, and merges forward like a shaman. With his blonde visage he is like a vengeful angel, unti, you realize the devil on her trail might be him.
When Richard Hell Hated Me!
We go to hell; Richard trashes the East Village Eye, “Leonard is sloppy, he doesn’t do what he promises he will.” We go to punk: “I said all I wanted to say about my contribution to punk in the ‘Slum Journal’ piece. I have nothing left to add.” We get caught in time: “I have to leave for a rehearsal in an hour, but we can talk again if you like.” We are lost in perceptions: “Ask me a question… That isn’t a question.”
ITunes Radio VS Pandora Radio… Ya Just Can't Win
Pandora and ITunes are strictly radio and their free versions both carry some heavy advertising. Pandora’s ads are so loud that you can literally be startled. ITunes radio isn’t so bad but its bland and monotone
Wait! Tom Waits Was Just Added to Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit on October 27th!
The Bridge School Benefit, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help individuals with severe speech and physical impairments, has already a crazy line-up this year including CSNY, Queens of the Stone Age, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis,… but also fun. and the Killers?
Concerts I Wish I'd Seen
I’ve written about musicians I’ve never seen but wish I had but that isn’t this article! This is about musicians I didn’t see on specific tours or even concerts that I wish I’d caught. I mean more than wish, like dream of having been to
Michael Feinstein Residency At Birdland This December
He is playing a residency at Birdland’s this December and I am going at 830p on Christmas Eve. I am trying to track down rock nyc’s fave cabaret artist Jack Phillips to see if he wants to join me. Ask him to give me a call if you see him.
Hear Ye On Spotify: what rock nyc is listening to 9-25-13
Hellhound On My Trail – Robert Johnson – The legend starts here with Johnson pursued by a Hell Hound and wailing his blues. Recorded in 1937, it sounds really fresh today, weary but fresh – A+
Be Here Now: New Releases Snapshot Review 9-24-13
Impressive renewal of their smart and sexy guitar rock; the voice took awhile to get use to but by now they seem to have releaxed into their position of rock elder statesmen on this cool old fashioned rocker – B+
Eve To Adam's "Locked And Loaded" Reviewed
Rarely does album do what it sets out to with the pinpoint concentration, Locked And Loaded is a triumph in a genre that bores me sick.If I liked the genre this would be an album of the year, as it is it is an impressive modern rock album
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' Alex Ebert Scores A Robert Redford Movie
Okay, people, calm down, I know they may sometimes sound a bit too happy, too much like a bunch of love-is-all-around-hippies, while Ebert may take his messianic role a bit too seriously, but their songs are uplifting and despite the redundancy of their proclaimed (and indestructible) optimism
Not With The Band: Animal Liberation, Celebrities Should Leave Monkeys Alone
Animals do not exist to serve us or make us pretty on Instagram. They should be respected and wild ones should be left alone. And I am not even talking about Beyonce’s custom-made trainers incorporating the skins of animals including anaconda, crocodile and stingray, and other fur-wearer pop-stars!
Bouncing Juggalo's, The Check's In The Mail
This mulit day event is a huge gathering of former and future Jerry Springer guest but its a costly proposition. Unlike most fests these people have no corporate sponsor. It’s self funded by ICP and Psychopathic Records.
Tim Lambesis Ordered To Stand Trial In Hired Hit Plot
The lead singer of Christian metalcore band As I Lay Dying handed $100.00 to a guy named Red and stressed ‘Just to clarify, I do want her dead’. The ‘her’ is Labesis wife Meggan, mother of 3 adopted children and the woman who put up with his ponytail wearing ass.
Pat Todd And The Rankoutsiders "14th And Nowhere" Reviewed
Built for rock and roll radio with a rhythm section right out of Wyman-Watts songbook, a vocalist in Pat who is like a pub rock denizen from way back and one addictive shot of rock and roll after another through 15 songs of glorious dance music, on 14th And Nowhere.
Sneak Peaks: Upcoming Albums 9-24-13
If Sting, Willie Nelson, or Metallica are even vaguely bearable I’ll be happily surprised. The one here is Icona Pop, and Kings Of Leon are first runners up
Hear Ye On Spotify: what rock nyc is listening to 9-24-13
Hard To Handle – The Black Crowes – The apex of the Southern boogie boy’s coolness came with this Otis Redding cover which they whitened while shaking it up – A
Blood On The Dance Floor Webster Theater Hartford, CT Saturday September 21, 2013
I loved that the crowd had fun. I had a few good laughs cuz I wasnt soaked in fake blood and I appreciated the cheesy theatrics. I just really wish I could have heard it more clearly. Next time maybe?
The David Bronson Band At Brooklyn Bowl, Saturday, September 21st, 2013, Reviewed
It is like a 70s pro-rock placed underneath an early 1970s singer-songwriter and at Fonatana in February, the singer songwriter won out and on Saturday night the prog rock artist weirdo won out and on both nights the audience won out.
More About Arcade Fire's 'Reflektor', David Bowie And Greek Mythology
And what if the album sucks? Well all this hype will have been for nothing, but right now, the hype is high and any detail about the upcoming Arcade Fire album, ‘Reflektor’, which is filtering through the info superhighway is the center of all attentions.
Does Kanye West Really Like His Carpet Ironed?
According to several tabloids (the Sun, Radar online,…), the diva rapper asked for the unbelievable, beating Maria Carey’s craziest demands: he asked for the walls of his dressing room to be all white with white curtains and white flowers, and he asked for the carpet to be ironed! What?
Singles Going Steady: New Album Review Week Of September 16th, 20143
“Will I ever forgive myself?” asks Mike Hranica and this is the second album of theirs that defies harcore or Christian category to emerge as one of the most overwhelming, loud and sometimes even lovely experiences you will hear this year – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
UK Top 10 Singles 9-29-13
The horror, the horror. Jason Derulo is pretty good but Christina Perri is unbearable, I had to turn her moldy old ballad off, And what of Avicii and One Republic, two terrible terrible, no actually, that implies a passion I can’t hear, two dull as dishwater performers
UK Top 10 Albums 9-29-13
Interestingly enough, this is the return of the rock band, it opens with Arctic Monkeys (whose album will be at # 7 on the US Charts next week) and ends with Placebo, and the Manics at # 2, garage blues rockers the Temperance Movement at # 9.
Spotify On Hear Ye: 9-23-13
On A Carousel – The Hollies – This is the sound of the timeless clang of pure pop for now people in the heat of the UK Invasion. Immaculate harmonies, melodies, lyrics and Nash’s first lead singing on the A Side of a single- A+
Vampire Weekend, Solange, Sky Ferreira. At Barclay Center, Friday, September 20th, 2013
Friday night was a professional and pleasant 90 minutes by a band who can’t figure quite how to merge their concepts of God and men into a full bloodied rock show.
Glenn Tilbrook, Kessler Theater, Dallas, Friday, September 20th, 2013, Reviewed
Tilbrook worked hard during this long and uneven performance. He’s constantly trying to squeeze the charm in – doing mock rock star poses, mugging for the crowd, orchestrating sing-alongs, taking requests, and providing wry asides
rock nyc Attends An Early Screening Of "CBGB" The Movie
The problem is, there were some real heartaches and bad things that happened, and the director didn’t find a way to include them in this confection of a movie convincingly.
Johnathan Rice Is Not Having Fun Anymore With 'Good Graces'
Last time I heard from him, he was part of Jenny & Johnny, and they were having fun, but this time he is alone at the top of a pile of dead bodies!
QOTSA's Josh Homme: 'This Is Me Breaking Jay Z's Gifts'
‘The guy’s a kook, you know. He has security frisking bands on the way in. I just told him, ‘If you open up my bag, we’re not playing. So I guess it’s up to you to have to decide whether we’re playing or not.’… You shouldn’t frisk my guys’
New Graham Nash Bio Poorly Written
Nash can’t seem able to evoke anything at all. It just lies their on the page waiting for Thoth (the god of writers pop pickers) to breathe some life on the sucker. He is a good guy but he can’t write.
Active Viewin': Concert Picks For Week Of September 23rd, 2013
Sure, you’ll be a 100 miles away and sure you will have to sit through the dreaded Alicia Keys and almost as dreaded John Mayer to get there, but IT IS LITTLE STEVIE WONDER
Hear Ye On Spotify: what rock nyc is listening to 9-22-13
Her best track in a couple of years, is all archy robotic tweaks and bleeps and for a woman with no personality, she brings a ton of personality to it – A-
Valerie June At Amoeba, Thursday September 19th 2013
Born in Tennessee, she seemed to be a mix of elegance and style (just look at her on the cover of her album!) with deep rural roots, confusing eras, genres and races, singing like a poor white man living in Tennessee, while holding this crown of majestic dreadlocks on the cover of fashion magazines. ‘I ain’t fit to be no mother … I’ve been workin’ all my life’
Shinobi Ninja At Arlene Grocery Last Week: Less Was More
Unbelievably enough, the baby faced lead singer and rapper of Shinobi Ninjas, has muscles and sinews and a beard! But then wait a second, so do twin brothers guitarist and drummer Maniac Mike and Terminator Dave. Round our way we particularly adore Dave since he once wrote an article for us on his drumming influences for rock nyc
UMass Cancels “Return to Fantazia”
Uni is looking at about a $18,500 debt as it cancels and electronic dance party cuz they’re too afraid Molly will crash the party leaving co eds dead in the quad. The decision was made by school officials leaving the idiotic named “NV Concepts’ in a lurch.
M.I.A. Is In War With The NFL Over A Middle Finger
The Hollywood Reporter says that Football officials have started an ‘arbitration proceeding’ against her for ‘breach of contract’, seeking $1.5 million in damages. This is ridiculous
Golden Slumbers: Deaths In The Musical Community 9-21-13
Lomax was indeed a fabulous guitarist and just a listen to The Ballad Of Liverpool Slim from 2000 will get your blues jones on. He was also gorgeous. Lomax died of a heart attack at the age of 69.
Taylor Swift Was Going To Be A Novelist!
“You can convey a thought or a story or completely describe a character or a situation through words and the whole process of editing and re-editing and rethinking and imagining. I think that that’s what I loved about writing the novel”
Winner And Loser Week Of 9-16-13: Mick Farren And Elton John
Joe Stevens reported for us here, and it is a fitting send off for the Deviants lead singer, who died with his boots on; a rabble rousing, free speeching, free spirit. As Joe (among many people) put it: ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE.