Opinion

rock nyc

Winner And Loser Week Of March 4th, 2013: Elvis Costello And Justin Bieber

Winner – Elvis Costello – I’m gonna call him the Magus from now on. On Thursday of last week, Elvis Costello performed a 45 minute concert at the Theater at Madison Square Garden that magically rolled back time to the late 1970s (without the bile) and unleashed a dynamite set ranging through his first two albums as well a s couple from Get Happy! and Armed Forces. Anybody who was lucky enough to be there won’t forget it soon.

rock nyc

The Fall Hate Their Last Album

You’ve got to be honest for the fans.I would say five songs on the last record were bad, but I will make it up… Re-Mit is going to terrify people. It’s quite horrible. The Fall have had enough and we’re coming for you.

rock nyc

Missing John Lennon

We as a species were robbed of such a bright and beautiful human force of hope and goodness and creative power, I can’t help but be struck by the ultimate tragedy of a man who gave the rest of us so much.

rock nyc

Hey, Michael Dorf: How About A Tribute To Talking Heads In 2014?

Llet’s look at 2014. Let’s look not at David Byrne but Talking Heads. Since Byrne flat out refuses to reform the band and since he only plays an occasional song in concert, we are gagging to hear these songs live. And since you need bucks to go to Carnegie Hall and catch one of these tributes, and since older New Yorkers are more likely to have money

rock nyc

What Time Does The Band Go On?

They have a captive audience and the Clubs and Arenas can ply them with overpriced alcohol and tee-shirts. Everybody knows Pianos, Arlene Grocery, all those clubs, make their money at the bar and not from the door. The longer you are there, the more they make.

rock nyc

Mary Magpie's Take On The Grammys

I am beyond proud of Mumford and Sons for winning Album of the Year for their release “Babel”. I already named it the Album of the Year in my “Best of 2012” post; I couldn’t have called it any better. I teared up when I saw the tweets and texts from my friends about it;

rock nyc

Fall Out Boy; Legit or Full Of Shit?

Back in full glory the bands tour sold out in seconds. Stub Hub became the saving grace for many but not all. There were ‘car crash hearts’ broken fans who sobbed openly knowing they wouldn’t be part of Mays shows.

rock nyc

Lost In Blue Hawaii

The tedium and the pressure of work palls after decades of it, there has to be more somewhere in 1960 and I will be Chad and my problems? Join the family canning business, no Dad, I wanna go my own way, I wanna charter planes

rock nyc

Gil Scott-Heron – Too Black, Too Strong

Scott-Heron’s catalogue is a mess, many of the albums he recorded for Arista from 1974 to 1983 are no longer on the market and there are too many bargain bin compilations to address. It’s hard to know in retrospect if Scott-Heron was a brilliant artist that never had the opportunity for the following he deserved

rock nyc

An Ode To Sid Vicious

He went from a SuperFan of The Sex Pistols, to a member of ’em. He climbed the ladder and became a big name in the punk scene, and he was named after a freakin’ hamster because Lydon and him couldn’t have the same name without being confused. He was cool simply because he wasn’t.

rock nyc

Joyce Manor: Something I Will Never Grow Tired Of

It’s just the band is so tight that it feels ridiculously close-knit and well rehearsed. That in an of itself is beautiful; listen to any of their songs, and you’ll hear how many little intricacies there are that put JM above and beyond hundreds of other bands.

rock nyc

Gigwise Best First Albums… And Ours!!

I think I missed the entire Killers infatuation. At the time, I thought “Mr. Brightside” was cute enough; a sorta novelty song for losers. But I didn’t much attention to the rest of the album. So imagine my surprise upon discovering they were a Mormon U2

rock nyc

That Lip Syncing Feeling

Beyonce’s refusal to make a statement seems like either fear or indifference. She should have said: “Because of the cold weather I used taped vocals. This is standard practice but now I wish it had been made clear.” She’s even acting like she was caught cheating on her SATs

rock nyc

Has Conor Oberst Peaked?

For a run of ten years through the heart of his youth from the ages of 15 to 25 (1995 – 2005), the kid was the poet laurate of indie and held in awe by just about everybody including me… and then…

rock nyc

Please Don't Pimp Your Ride

Here is the fun thing, as much as I want to smash this kids piece of crap car to smithereens with a bat is as much as I admire the kids music. Without his ghetto swag I would never have discovered Don Omar

rock nyc

The End Of The Innocence

The song isn’t great, though it is good, the two parts don’t fit very well together and the song is lugubrious. Plus I don’t much like Henley’s vocal. But something about the chorus seems to reach into what I am feeling. I don’t feel so innocent any more, like all ex-lovers I feel defeated and shallow.

rock nyc

2013: Never Trust a Year That Ends With A "3"

In 2013 expect Avril Lavigne to Kanye West to lead a pack of rock stars not as much fun as they used to. That’s the problem with years that end with the number three, they are all a settling in year, long enough into a decade where the sense of enhanced possibilities have kinda gone and we are settled into the calm of it all.

rock nyc

2012 Is Ending? Let's Review 2002 Instead

Remember we were still buying CDs and Spotify was not even showing up in our wildest dreams. Now, 10 years is a long time, can you imagine how many albums, how many songs have been released since? Tons! I don’t know what this says about me (too attached to the past, should I let it go?)

rock nyc

Winner And Loser Week Of December 17th, 2012: Victoria Soto And Lamb Of God Fans

Winner – Victoria Soto – Some deaths simply define us. And Victoria Soto who was murdered in a rush of bullets while saving her young students defines not just herself but what we all hope we are. Paul Simon played “The Sound Of Silence” at her funeral, but if ever a funeral needed a sound, it was this one. The sound of the children who were saved and the sound of the children of the children yet to be born. And the parents and brothers and sisters and friends… The sound of all these people raising their voice because of one persons sublime bravery.

rock nyc

In Praise Of Kanye West!!

West was important rock and roll, a sound that made sense in 2012 and broke through the morass of nostalgia and into the 21st century with an inspired take on his career. All bass and rapping, without an ounce of respect for the hallowed halls or the needs of the performers around him, or an audience of millions upon millions

rock nyc

And So It Is Christmas.​..

With a bedrock of faith in a life everlasting the tragedy, without narrowing fits into a larger picture, but no larger than this: First Grade Teacher Victoria Soto, 27 years old, died when she threw herself in the path of the gunmans bullets to protect her children. Certainly, in this world there is nothing more important than Ms. Soto’s sacrifice

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