With Downtown Manhattan off limits and Brooklyn a million miles away, one result of Hurricane Sandy has had me scouring midtown for concerts. And I've gotten pretty lucky as well. I saw the Meters on Halloween at BB Kings and tonight I am off to see Robbie Dupree at the Iridium on 50th and Broadway.
I haven't been to the Iridium since I caught the wonderful Phoebe Legere there a couple of years ago. Despite quoting from us on their posters, we aren't on their presslist and I have missed one former Rolling Stone, Mick Taylor, and one current Rolling Stone, Charlie Watts, to name just the most obvious performers this year.
When Iridium was next to Lincoln Center, I would go all the time, but the closer 50th street room seemed a little touristy to me even if it isn't. Once Les Paul died I lost interest.
As for Robbie Dupree, am I the only one that assumed he was from L.A.? Perhaps his hit "Brooklyn Girls" should have wised me up! Yep, he is one of ours though he didn't hit it big till he left for the West Coast. The King of late 1970s AOR and blue eyed soul was nearly the exact opposite of the post-punk I was so crazy about when he first hit it big. How could soft rock compare with Cabaret Voltaire and Swell Maps? I lacked imagination, there was room for both. More fool me: imagine Bread covering Hall And Oates and you get a feel for the superb AOR, a creamy easy listening swirl of sound, Dupree was responsible for.
Dupree's timing was a little off, he needed to break in 1973 not 1980. That would have given him time to hit the charts over and over again, something a listen to his first three albums proves he was more than capable of. Also, a break from 1981 to 1987 was just bad news. It was like he had to start again.
The world's loss will be your gain at 8pm at the Iridium where the great Brooklyn boy will be performing.