Consensus opinion is Spoon delivered the goods and for sure this is their best song to date, so good their Summerstage gig on September 10th is looking better and better except, given the type of venue and the type of band, I am not sure I can take the audience again. The new Al Jarreau is terrific.
It is not every day a live performance changes instantaneously from a non believer to a fan, and it is not that I think Hurray For The Riff Raff were actually that great, they weren’t bad but not that great, but the songs revealed their stickiness and suddenly you could hear just how strong the riffs in the riff raff were. Blake Shelton was a blast
A heavy duty concert week for me, Keith Urban, Action Bronson, Danny Brown, The Roots, Katy Perry and Chronixx, and not a dog in the lot but pride of place goes to Keith because it was just such a cool scene and Keith was a good natured country ramblin’ guy AT FORTY SIX!!!!
James Garner was one of my favorite actors, both “Support Your Local Sheriff” and “Support Your Local Gunfighter” were major charm filled westerns and both “Maverick” and “The Rockford Files” are among the great TV shows. Garner had the toughness of a western hero, an Eastwood or a Wayne, with the self-deprecation of a Woody Allen. A completely winning combination for a great great movie star.
Well done, Yankees, Tanaka has a partial UCL tear and is out six weeks if not the year. Why? One thing is for sure, they rode his arm too hard. Whither the Yankees? They spent $500 Million, $209 Million this year alone, and aren’t getting into the post season. Enough. Fire Cashman
Tim Howard is 35 years old and sports, soccer, is more or less a young man’s game, but the Manchester United goalie from New Jersey who carried the USA team past the UK for one and Italy for another, may prove capable of doing what Pele couldn’t 40 years ago, with that in mind, US ball clubs should through mountains of money at the man so he can singlehandedly turn the US onto, dare I call it, football.
Yes, the US lost against Germany in the World Cup, but they still made the next round and considering the Germans had control of the ball an astonishing 70% of the time and only managed one goal, this is something in the nature of a miracle and the miracle has a name: Tim Howard., US Goalie. By the time you read this, they may be out but it doesn’t matter any way, Tim did well.
A 14 year old boy killed the boy who had bullied him for months while New York fiddled mindlessly. This is such a horrible story it is hard to find the good guys. But the murderers Mom who threw away the cellphone because she sells drugs and thought the cell might have a GPS tracking device is a damn good place to start. Or the Principal who wouldn’t do anything. Or the Police who refused to intervene. You know, there’s enough blame to go round.
International News: So 12 years after Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraq is back to Sunni Versus Shiite’s with the US on the same side as Iran for some weird reason and Afghanistan is gonna fall to the Taliban. The moral? Colonization doesn’t work.
Old 97’s and Lydia Loveless failed to change the world on Tuesday, though they were both pretty good, still it ended up being the weekend of Governors Ball and with weather to dream for I dashed from one great gig to another and was sure the better for it. You gotta try it out next year, the only Festival you can grab the subway home from.
The Rangers have made it to the Finals of the Stanley Club, but, while hockey is not, by any stretch of the language, football, and of the big three team sports comes in last, I will absolutely take, It is much more fun than watching LeBron and the rest of the Heat toying with NBA teams for fun and profit, before slaughtering them.
I missed Barry Gibb on Friday due to the weather and Lael Summer on Saturday due to the late start (1230am!). Luckily Helen Bach and Mary Magpie represented at Boston Strong. Excited for the Decemberists? Frank Turner? Brand New? Perhaps but how about TWO VEGAN TACOS FOR FIVE BUCKS!!!
A good week for concerts. I went three for three, Lady Gaga followed by Lily Allen, followed by Elbow and all three were a whole lot of fun, though I think, maybe, Elbow were best. Still, two of these will make my best of the year list and the third maybe should as well.
Can one star make that much difference in a musical theater production? It can when that one person is the sheer brilliance that is Jessie Mueller as Carole King, she sure can. A bravado vocal and acting tour de force that changed a mediocre jukebox musical story into what they were aiming for: the story of “Tapestry”. A great, star making performance
At 88 years of age, the great seven string guitar wiz Bucky Pizzarelli and three guitar slingers came to the Cutting Room, dubbed themselves the Fab Four and then proved it with 70 minutes of finger picked, strummed and otherwise bedeviled swing for the ages.
I really love the new Peter Stampfel album and I am kicking myself for the opportunity to catch the great man at Mercury Lounge last week. Better Than Expected might not have lived up to its name but that’s mostly because expectations are so high.
It is all very well for the Yanks to reel off 5 wins in row but whither the Knicks? No playoffs and check this out, owned by a Russian and in their second year have made the playoffs. Enough already Dolan, give the Knicks to J Lo along with the Fuse. She can’t do any worse.
Three songs? That’s it? I sat through knocking on five hours of Jann Wenner’s pomp and circumstance and for what? To see Cat Stevens perform three songs? Enough already Yusef, get off your ass and play the Beacon Theater. Meanwhile., I ended up on Stubhub for Lily Allen’s May 15th gig at Highline Ballroom
The week belonged to Kraftwerk. Yes, there is only one original member left and, yes, the other three are hired hands and, yes indeedy, there isn’t much action. But having noted all of the above, the 3D Kraftwerk was a blast of sound and sign and numbers.
D’Angelo’s live album from ’95 is a flat out masterpiece and a sad reminder opf a promise he just couldn’t keep. Was it two years ago ?Love was telling us the final over a decade late new D’Angelo was 90% finished? And what happened next? A handful of cancels and that is it, D’Angelo disappeared again
Sleeper Agent released the sleeper album of the year, a fine sophomore effort overflowing with hooks, melodies and potential hits. Followed by a surfeit of albums which can only sustain it with a song or two
Does New York have a problem with Governor’s or what? I can’t remember a good one. Pataki, any one? Hugh Carey? Nelson Rockefeller. Like the man said, can no one play this game any more? Well, de Blasio needs to up his game through the roof. and stop handing Cuomo opportunities to make Bill look like a reactionary half wit. Of course, maybe Bill is a reactionary half wit…
Bill de Blasio has started closing down Charter Schools and while my sympathies are with the schools in question, still I can see the Mayor’s point which boils down to giving public property to private enterprises. he might be doing it for the wrong reasons but it isn’t entirely irrational.
The week belonged to two women, Angel Olsen and Lydia Loveless but on the charts Eric Church has a baffling success with the terrible The Outsider… even Rolling Stone only gave it four stars so you just know it sucked.
Derek Jeter retiring at the end of this season. I remember seeing his very first game in the majors and noticing him and, as a season ticket holder from 1999 – 2001. Greatest moment? The lead off home room in game four of the 2000 World series
The Haden Triplets harmony self named debut album, produced by no less a figure than Ry Cooder wins pride of place while Toni Braxton comes in second. The sisters sound lovely and Babyface still has the chops to write good slow jamz for Toni just like back in the day
With my friend Jahn Xavier, I went to the Allen Room at Lincoln Center and was floored by Jason Isbel’s “American Songbook” set. You can see it for yourself as part of the PBS “Live From Lincoln Center” program when it airs later this year, till then take my word, it was a career defining masterpiece.
Not a bad week and if we have many more albums as good as Adventures In Bluesland and Post Tropical, it might end up being a very very good year. If you include the yet to be released Half-Life and last years Bernie Worrell and Angel Haze it is absolutely a better year than last year.
The week belonged to Neil Young, whose four night stint at Carnegie Hall will be long remembered by any one who saw it as a journey through his greatest music and a treat for fans of the great rocker.
Billy Joel sucked in the New Year but the Icons Of Funk made up for it in the middle of a blizzard where Bernie Worrell gave a keyboard performance we will never forget.Still on Worrell, Tomas Doncker woke me to Worrell’s superb Elevation (The Upper Air) album, released in November.
As we count down to the de Blasio era, it is worth noting that while stop and frisk may well be racist and discriminatory, between 2001 and 2012 the City’s incarceration rate has now fallen by 36 percent, while at the same time, the national incarceration rate grew three percent. If that’s Bloomberg’s legacy it is a great one.
After a disappointing couple of weeks for concerts, Bobby Womack brought his eleven piece soul band to City Winery for the old time soul concert of the year and turned December around! Looking his age but acting timeless, Womack sang some of the great soul songs and most of which he himself wrote.
The surprise release of Beyonce couldn’t have been better timed, new albums have slowed to a crawl and the only knock out punch last week was Claptons ’74 – ’75. The new Beyonce may be as great as 4, certainly it is the best r&b album of the year.
An Upper Middle Class lawyer who used “terrorist” tactics to further his Anti-Apartheid cause, got nabbed, got jailed again when the racist couldn’t make it stick. Married three times. You know, a normal guy with a 27 year interruption for jail. On the plus side of the ledger, he saved South Africa from the disastrous fate of the countries surrounding him; whether that is enough to forgive him for being buddies with Bono is for others to decide.
He only performed two songs but the great vocalese Jon Hendricks, at the age of 92, came onto Van Morrison’s stage at the Theater At Madison Square Garden, and stole the show from under his nose
This was Kanye West’s week, he played four nights, I saw him twice and he was the epitome of artistic integrity and musical mayhem; an astounding statement defining musical and racial freedom in 2013.
The thing is this: like social security, the young are paying for the old and because of that, Obama had to repeal lame ass policies. He should have said “you can keep your policy if it isn’t a dog with fleas.
Luscious Jackson made a welcome return to the fray with an album that is shockingly wonderful and fun. The 1990s indie band reformed in 2011 and just released their first new album and it is really great. I know I’m gonna forget about it but I hope you don’t.
The rock and roll world reeled from the death of one of the all time greats Lou Reed and I wrote “this outpouring of affection for Lou Reed: it is like mourning Scrooge if Scrooge had died before he was visited by the ghosts.” though I was pretty upset myself.
The CMJ Festival came about as close to taking over the city as humanly possible, Saturday afternoon on Ludlow Street you could wander from one gig to another all day long. It is one of my favorite times of the year -it’s like Christmas Eve
The new Danny Brown album was the keeper and, man, did that take me by surprise, with Pusha T coming up second, less of a surprise, and a handful of indie bands bringing up the rear. Even Miley didn’t suck as bad as predicted.
Exene Cervanka won the battle of the post-punk divas in a showdown with Debbie Harry. Again, X did what they were meant to do. Maybe that’s all they did, perform ace West Coast early 1980s punk for an hour at Roseland
Elton John releases his best album in a long long long time, and Drake and Kings Of Leon keep on doing what they always do, with no small amount of success. Bassist Kevin Jenkins drops a real good soul album and Icona Pop owed us more than five new songs. But we will take it.
Solange’s 45 minute opening set was perfection and made me an immediate believer all over again, the very next day David Bronson brought The Long Lost to life and Shemekia Copeland killed it with humor and joy. Did I mention Solange was sizzling?
