These Days: Tuesday, January 5th, 2016
Perhaps if they gave him a defense he could use?
Slideshow
These Days: Saturday, September 19th, 2015
It is not often I agree with Trump about anything, but I agreed with him about Syria: let Assad and ISIS fight it out and wait till the dust settles before you pick a side. Since nothings works for the Yanks, why not leave em to it? It is as though the US forgot what Russia learnt in their own excursions into Afghanistan: this shit will bankrupt you. Enough of wars, since you aren’t really on any side, let Russia go bankrupt for awhile.
Going Steady: New Singles Reviewed 9-18-15 – 9-24-15
Whatever you might think of Beyonce, she has exquisite taste in collaborators and they don’t get much better than Naughty Boy. The master producer already has a track record and anybody who heard his Zayn Malik track from earlier this year can only pray they work together on Zayn’s solo comeback. Till then, this is a high falutin’ ballad with Bey tackling the hook like a real pro, absolutely giving over to it. Arrow, who handles a verse like a pro, I have never heard of but we all will after this – B+
Lady Gaga’s Video To Raise Awareness About Sexual Assaults On Campuses
‘One in five college women will be sexually assaulted this year unless something changes.’ It says at the end of the video, and Lady Gaga has always been outspoken about the subject as she has herself being sexually assaulted at the age of 19.
Medium Cool: Best Talk Show Guests Week Of September 21st, 2015
Don Henley. selling a terrible new album, on Stephen Colbert, might be interesting in a trainwreck sort of way and James Taylor on Kimmel is always fun plus he is selling one of the best albums of the year, but I am going with Miss Piggy and Kermit -going through a nasty break up, on Kimmel.
Tommy Keene At Bowery Electric, September 17th, 2015, Review
He can dazzle you with his tight and smart band on point as one, and his constant inventiveness on every level, whether it be guitar on “Nowhere Drag”, a beautiful refrain on “Places That Are Gone”, or even on his own inevitable epitaph, like Bronson at the train station, leaving Dodge, “but what can a poor boy do…?” breaks through the clutter in our brain and lifts us somewhere we weren’t
Oldies But Goldies: Barack Obama’s Infinite Playlist from 2009
Soon the Obama Presidency will be history and we can all spend the next four years making fun of… well, who knows but someone. Still I predict this, the next President won’t have an Ipod playlist half as much fun as this one
10 Songs: Friday, September 18th, 2015
Bad Blood – Ryan Adams – While it isn’t my favorite Taylor Swift song at the same time, and while it is just one track off the upcoming Ryan does 1989 album, this is alright I suppose: it sounds like Ryan covering “Bad Blood”. Polite to its source, to a fault, it is a little bit strange. Why is he doing this? To teach us Taylor Swift is a good songwriter? Don’t we know that? – B
These Days: Friday, September 18th, 2015
People claim this is an important series, Mets Vs Yankees, but my friend Ben Buchwald claims otherwise. The Mets have the division sown up and home field advantage isn’t worth wearing out their players, and the Yanks have Wild card in pocket and don’t stand much of a chance of taking the division. So fun? Perhaps. Important? Not so fast.
Le Butcherettes At Amoeba, Thursday September 17th 2015 Review
‘We can all be free if we want to,’ she also said in the interview. ‘You take those transmissions and become A Raw Youth or part of that oppressive society. Youth doesn’t mean young. It’s the essence of being resilient against so many of life’s struggles. In every decade or era there’s always a rebel who gives inspiration for the poets to write about. That person holds the light. These songs tell those tales.’
UK Top 10 Albums: 9-18-15 – 9-24-15
Stereophonics were part of the Britpop explosion back in the 1990s and have kept going with a bunch of loyal Brits and Anglophiles as fans. Not me, though “C’est La Vie” is a goodie, Otherwise, I have seen the state of the charts and I am fast asleep.
UK Top 10 Singles 9-18-15 – 9-24-15
Justin back on top and of 10 songs, 9 are EDM, and one, “Fight Song” is so bad it should be illegal. The complete domination of the singles charts by dance is scary, it is ALL dubtstep and house and while I like both to a degree, who can take a steady diet?
Keith Richards Can’t Stop Loving Ed Sheeran
‘These days? You know what? Ed Sheeran is really interesting to me… Yeah, yeah. Lovely guitar and he’s a one-man band at the moment but he has the potential. And James Bay. They’re the two that come to mind immediately.” ’60s and ’70s legends seem to just love the shit out of Ed Sheeran; you should hear Elton John talk about him on his Beats 1 Radio show.’
Be Here Now: New Album Releases Reviewed 9-18-15 – 9-24-15
This Sixpence None The Richer singer releases an album of irreproachable country songs, Leigh’s voice has just enough undertow to suggest depth without solemnity, her ballads are subtle enough to draw you in and her singing is clear, clean and unadorned enough to gain your trust. Try “Cruel Heart” or “Chicago” or “”Tell Me Now Tennessee” -try anything, she co-wrote them all. Leigh name checks Dottie West but she reminds me of mid-period Iris DeMent without sounding like her at all – Album Of The Week – A
Greg Graffin To Present His New Book ‘Population Wars’
‘In that respect, it’s my worldview on ecology, and the persistence of species and communities of populations that are currently existing on the planet. Let’s face it: Our community, our social connections, are really all that matters. It’s this realm of social connectivity that we must come to terms with in order to get along with all the other populations on the planet,’
These Days: Thursday, September 17th, 2015
Cablevision: The worst run cable company, in a market that includes Time Warner, has been sold by the dreaded Dolan family to European telecom giant Altice is for $17.7 billion. Now if we can just convince them to buy the Knicks while they’re at it. But no. The fat pudgy face of James Dolan, a man so hated in this town he should run for President.
Oldies But Goldies: Rod Stewart As Serious Rock Star
This dates from 2009, and right now it reads a little like we take these truths to be self-evidently but at the time I thought Rod Stewart’s greatest achievements were more or less forgotten. So in a vail effort to rectify the situation… I wrote what everyone knows!
Last Call: Final Songs Off New Albums 9-11-15 – 9-17-15
I Was Doing Alright (Then A Few People Died) – Craig Finn – “Sometimes I wonder if anything means anything” a girl during a drunken late night three bottle conversations wonders. It’s a good question and we all know what Craig’s thoughts are, but it is good to hear him think his way through – A
Taylor Swift At Adele Levels Of sales For 1989
If she manages to surpass 11 million units sold, I don’t know how you could possibly follow it. I’ve long felt that the sheer hugeness of Adele’s achievement paralyzed. She couldn’t see any way to compete with herself and fiddled and faddled for years on end (the promise is 26 will be out later this year, but who knows?).
Madonna’s “Rebel Heart” At Madison Square Garden, Wednesday, September 16th, 2015, Reviewed
“I’m feeling very nostalgic”, Madonna claimed about her return to MSG 30 years after her first performance here. But she shouldn’t be. Madonna didn’t have the rebel heart for it then, she hadn’t learnt how hard she could cry, how alone she could be. She didn’t appreciate human frailty the way she did last night. She is playing tonight, if you love Madonna this is the concert you must see.
Frank Turner At Amoeba, Wednesday September 16th 2015 Review
Meanwhile Frank Turner was talking about being jet lagged, and was profusely and euphorically explaining his songs, he seemed to be in very high spirit and was joking around… ‘The tour starts in Pittsburg, but they sent me to LA first’… ‘This song was about being an asshole to my girlfriend, and this is an apology’ he added before singing another song of his new album ‘The Opening Act of Spring’.
10 Songs: Thursday, November 17th, 2015
Slide – Myke Terry – “”being a black guy in a metal band has its challenges” claimed Myke of his four years as lead singer of Bury Your Dead, so does coming back as a sort of MOR soul singer, doing to soul what Darius Rucker did to, played it straight and and close to the chest – B+
Listen To Deafheaven’s New Song, ‘Come Back’
‘A lot of this record is us being like, “Look, we are a metal band. We do a lot of other stuff, but we can solo; we can have some Slayer riffs in there. There was a lot of, “Hey, what if we throw some traditional thrash metal stuff in here, but just make it our own?” And I think it worked really well.’
Billboard Not by The Numbers
This is a real mess, nothing about Billboard’s charts means the slightest thing any more. For instance, Billboard had a post about how “Selena Gomez celebrates her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs airplay chart, as “Good for You” rises 2-1.” Fine, but since it is # 7 in the Hot 100 what does it mean and what does it matter?
Spend New Year’s Eve 2015 With Jimmy Buffet In Margaritaville (Or Barclay center Rather)
Jimmy and Margaritaville for New Years Eve? I am a little wary of jumping too soon, it might be a little early to make the decision, plus, Jimmy is such a sunny individual, do we really really want to see him in Latest of late December…
Gwen Stefani Playing The Hammerstein October 17th, 2015
The last time I saw Gwen Stefani, nearly exactly a year ago, she was performing an excellent greatest hits package with her band No Doubt, at Central Park for Global Citizen. She was really incredible and the time before that, at MSG on her first solo tour, pushing the awesome Love Angel Music baby, she was, if anything even better. Me and my friend slip slided down to the 100s to the side of the street and she was practically sitting on my knee
“I SAW A MAN DIE ON THE INTERNET” -Interactive Art From California
The video will post from everyone’s facebook on September 16th at the exact same time. This will ensure that the videos progress is easy to track and promote. This video contains explicit language and difficult themes. If you do not want this content on your timeline or would feel more comfortable sharing this in the privacy of your home, that’s totally fine! If you would like to forward this campaign to others who might want to get involved, that’s great too!
These Days: Wednesday, September 16th, 2015
P. Diddy is a thieving bastard? That’s a shocker. According to Danity Kane ex-member Audrey O’Day “We have two platinum albums, let alone grossed over $1millon on Christina Aguilera’s Back To Basics tour while opening for her, and we came off that tour $15,000 in debt.” Quite how this is possible, we will have to wait to find out. Quite how he managed to siphon off everything I have no idea, but I bet it is a lot more interesting than Diddy’s career as a rapper
La Lenguas, Charlie Overbey And The Broken Arrows At The Echo, Monday September 14th 2015 Review
Wearing Willie Nelson’s braids, holding his guitar very low and approaching his songs with some Springsteen muscles, Charlie Overbey and his Broken Arrows gave us a very energetic ballet of layered guitars, as they were a lot on stage and constantly moving around.
10 Songs: Wednesday, September 15th, 2015
Chocolate Factory – R. Kelly – before all that godawful stuck in a wardrobe crap, Kelly was seconds away from being a modern day Stevie Wonder with a larger libido and maybe a tenth the talent (which means he was great), and this was the lead song off the album that made us take R. Kelly seriously for a year or so. A masterful Wonder redux, a beautiful soul song of faith in love and metaphor – A
Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up’ Is The Soundtrack of LA2024 Olympic Games Campaign
Come on, the song has been used and re-used so many times, during hockey games, soccer games, in commercials and Super Bowls commercials, for the trailer of the 2009 movie ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and the 2014 movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’… even U2 used it for the Vertigo Tour! We have heard it, alright, too many times.
Top Summer Songs 2015? OMI, But Don’t Call Him Maybe
Much like the charts for the past couple of years, this is a strangely characterless state of affairs. The incredible homogenization of the charts means that the only curveball you ever get, the occasional OMI, comes from Youtube. It’s a pity.
The Wainwright Sisters, Lucy And Martha, Record An Album, Playing City Winery, November 2015
Martha is such a dirty mouthed diva, such an histrionic and brittle ill-tempered and temperament folk rocker, and Lucy a well tempered smart and delicate folkie. But apparently, the duo are at least half sisters, Martha’s Mom was the late extremely great Kate McGarrigle, and Lucy’s Mom is a member of one of the greatest sister acts ever and of all time, The Roches.
Opening For Pope Francis At Madison Square Garden On Friday, September 25th, 2015…
170 (90%) of the world leaders are at the UN the same day, I figure someone decided to put every terrorist main attraction at the same place and at the same time, it is a question of organization, you know. it saves time if we all just stick a giant bullseye on our backs and wander around the city. incidentally, the very next day is Global Citizen…
These Days: Tuesday, September 15th, 2015
I upgraded a couple of weeks and this sleep, smart operating system is the best in the business. Much better than the baffling 8.0 or luddite 7.0, it is a helluva easy system, a pleasure to negotiate and simple as 1.2.3. I have never had a Mac but I would be shocked if it is as good as this at getting you where you want to go. A personal favorite is the “Task View”. A great way to use your computer and if you have 8.0 the upgrade is free.
Youth Lagoon Feels Like A Rotten Human In His New Song
‘Throughout the process of writing this album—about two years—I’ve gone on this spiritual journey to learn more about myself and my faults and all this stuff that I’ve tended ignore for a really long time. It’s so much easier to go through each day and forget the previous day or forget the hurtful things you said to someone or whatever it might be, just the shitty parts of your life. This song is addressing that. It’s really examining what it is that makes me who I am, and what parts of that are disgusting.’
10 Songs: Tuesday, September 15th, 2015
Southern Hospitality – Ludacris – So crude that if it wasn’t so great you’d be right to wonder what the hell is his problem? I saw Ludacris open for Outkast back when this was first released and it brought the house down. Plus Pharrell Williams, the one man hook factory, is all over it. Finally, any song that has you singing along to a request you rub Ludacriss’ balls can’t be all bad – A
Taylor Upsahl’s “Viscerotonic” Reviewed
It is music for a peer group dealing with similar battles between theory and practice, how things feel and how they are, the emotional range is noticeable and the disquiet is tempered, sometimes distempered by mooted desire: it is all burgeoning lushness and self awareness. Sixteen years old , but sixteen years old unblinking looking into the heart, and sometimes into the dark.
US Top 10 Singles 9-26-15
What is it with the singles charts? It’s like watching paint dry, a tiny move at the top (Bieber drops to third, the two Weeknd’s move up a peg) and Ed has his third hit off X… you remember X, it dropped FIFTEEN MONTHS AGO. It might well be a bitch to get anything to hit big in the music world of 2015 but if it does -watch out, folks, because nothing else has moved an inch. Meanwhile, expect nothing but the weekend for months to come.
Dan Whitley’s “Calling All Gods” reviewed
The sound is broad, modern, owing as little as Whitley can manage to his antecedents, for a blues guitarist he is as wary as Gary Clark: completely unwilling to justify his sound through even his own past. It is post-modern mood blues for a 21st century audience and a world unwilling to justify itself to any one.
Elton John Wants To Discuss Gay Rights In Russia With Putin
While speaking to BBC News, John said ‘I would like to meet [Mr Putin],’ ‘It’s probably pie in the sky… He may laugh behind my back when he shuts the door, and call me an absolute idiot, but at least I can think I have the conscience to say I tried.’ At least he is realistic! ‘Give me a break,’ said Elton John. “You are President of Russia, and you go and say stupid things like that?’ I guess he is preparing himself when he has the big meeting with the president whose anti-gay attitude is ‘isolating and prejudiced’ and ‘ridiculous’ according to John.
The Ultimate Madonna Concert Setlist… But She’ll Never Listen
Four from Rebel Heart because business is business and I love the album any way, but none off Hard Candy, Confessions From The Dancefloor, American Life, I’m Breathless (though I seriously considered “Hanky Panky”) and Who’s That Girl? Two from Music and three from Ray Of Light.
A Fatwa Has Been Issued Against Indian Composer A.R. Rahman
‘if The Satanic Verses had been published today, the members of the literary elite who rounded on Charlie Hebdo in the wake of the French satirical magazine winning a PEN prize for courage would not have defended him.’… ‘it seems we have learned the wrong lessons,’
That Was The Week That Was: September 7th, 2015
Football season is upon us though with the sun still out I’ve held off taking any serious serious attention to it. The Jets drew the Browns and beat em well, journeyman QB Ryan Fitzpatrick everything the lousy Geno Smith isn’t. A couple more outings like this and guess who won’t be coming back. The Giants gave one away for no reason. The Yanks saved themselves from a sweep but with 20 games to go better keep their eye on the wildcard, the Mets keep on rolling, and have their first winning season 2008. Finally, Roger Federer lost to US Open winner Novak Djokovic.
Interpol at Rock En Seine, Saturday, August 29th, 2015, Reviewed
For my 4th time I enjoyed a magical moment between cold wave music, ecstatic memories and Ian Curtis reincarnation. It’s quite true that not many bands have the caliber and consistency of Interpol. These New Yorkers and their British singer have a whole collection of songs divided into five incredibly classy albums
rock nyc Top 10 Songs 9-11-15 – 9-17-15
This is weird, Lana, Keith, Kurt and Gary? I’ve dismissed all of these guys recently but a specific song has hit my pleasure zone and who am I to deny it? In a perfect world. Garfunkel and Oates would write the lyrics to all of Lana’s songs. My only problem with G&O is when they make nasty noises like gagging on dick and being nauseated by pussy. It sounds terrible over earphones.
US Top 10 Albums 9-26-15
everything that has been building since Drake took over from Weezy(or at least Frank Ocean and the rest of Odd Future) is boiling over and hip hop as art form is completely undeniable after so much rough and tumble Rick Ross-y gangsta. The concept is simple: we are assholes yes, but we know it. There are worse ideas out there. The Five Finger Death Punch maybe the best hard rock album of the year not nailed down by Titus Andronicus.
Let’s Active: rock nyc Top Concert Picks Week Of September 14th, 2015
With a fabulous album, Laugh in The Dark, just released and a deep back catalog to dip into, Tommy Keene is bringing along power poppers Dot Dash to Bowery Electric and for less than ten bucks (a ridiculously great price) all this can be yours on Thursday. I have never seen Keene on stage and wonder if he can deliver…
Not With The Band: Has The Internet Changed The Biography Game?
Brett Morgen’s ‘Montage of Heck’ received seven nominations for the Creative Arts Emmys which took place on Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, I don’t know how many he actually won but this is revolting,… revolting because Morgen has tried to sell this fiction for the truth, heavily promoting a story that simply is a lie. Didn’t Buzz Osborne say ‘Montage of Heck’ was 90% bullshit?
These Days: Sunday, September 13th, 2015
I guess you can call this the end of the Tony Blair era once and for all in the UK, the Labour Party has chosen to stop being a carbon copy of the Conservatives and voted socialist Jeremy Corbyn their new leader. Paradise redux? One thing is certain, unlike the States stuck with a right and an extreme right party system, the UK now has a serious alternative and possibly the first real change since Harold Wilson’s second term. The UK now has a two party system, two more than the US has.