An example of a "rebel yell"
While waiting in line to see Billy Idol last night at the Fillmore, I was talking to a friend on the phone that was rather disappointed to learn that his show was sold out, and the asking price on the streets was about $160. We were talking about Idol’s history, and I was informed that Idol was once a member of Siouxsie & The Banshees, but left the band because he felt that they weren’t taking music seriously enough. My immediate response was, of course, to chuckle, but I thought about Idol’s place in our society and realized that there is nobody else out there quite like him. He is part of the new wave era, the punk era, and the hair metal era, and managed to escape all of those trends with dignity & credibility. There is a reason that he is still able to sell out The Fillmore on a Tuesday night 30 years after his first record.
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Seen Here: Toad. Not Pictured: Wet Sprocket. Also Missing: The part of my brain that would tell me not to make that joke
I have a live music bucket list. That is, I have a list of performers and bands that I would like to see before I or they die. This week has been pretty good for me, in terms of knocking things off that list, but I was really excited about the opportunity to see the first band to make that list. I believe I was 12 when I first heard “All I Want.” I was watching VH-1, as I did sometimes at that age, and thought that it was one of the coolest songs that I have ever heard. At that point, I decided that I needed to see them live, yet it somehow became a difficult task. They played often throughout my high school years, but broke up before I was able to see them. When they reunited, they local shows tended to be either very intimate (selling out super fast), at wineries that are unreachable by public transit, or opening for other bands (Counting Crows, Big Head Todd & The Monsters), and it just wasn’t plausible for me. But, with everything working out just right, I’ve finally accomplished this goal, nearly 18 years later.
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The two stars of a giant family reunion
Pollstar is a magazine that keeps track of concert tours, and around July of every year, they release their mid-year list of highest grossing tours. Usually it’s not a huge surprise. Generally speaking, it’s tried and true dinosaur rock, mixed in with a few “flavors of the year” pop artists. This time, however, the we got a bit of a surprise. Number one was Bon Jovi, which wasn’t actually a surprise. The number two really got me, though: James Taylor & Carole King. Neither of these artists have had any recent output that had much of an effect of the pop charts, and both artists have toured in recent years on their own without much fanfare. I needed to know why, in 2010, are people spending their hard-earned, recession-era dollars on this pairing, instead of on The Eagles or Christina Aguilera. So, I did what any good reporter would do in this scenario. I went to the show. And I brought my Dad, because it wouldn’t be right any other way.
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WARNING:
The following review may contain the following:
*Explicit Language
*Violence
*Male Nudity
*Intelligent Discussion
Please proceed with caution. If your boss, or the coworker you have a crush on is looking over your shoulder, please point your browser elsewhere immediately. [read the whole post]
I have spent a lot of time defending different artists in my day. Usually this is because, well, my tastes are difficult to define, to say the least. (Case in point: two of my early reviews, which happened one right after the other were this and this) But, the one single artist that I come to the defense of more than any other is Yoko Ono. Everyone has an opinion about her, and generally speaking, this opinion is pretty negative. The primary cause of this is most likely either a.) they blame her for the break up of The Beatles (I still think that this was Linda’s fault) or b.) they blame her for the widespread acceptance of the avant garde. I personally don’t hold her responsible for either of these things. I also think people either don’t take her seriously enough, or take her far too seriously.
I must give a respectful shout-out to the good people of Noise Pop for making this show happen. They took a chance at booking such a divisive figure for their opening night show, and it paid off pretty nicely.
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Not In Frame: Harry Partch or Harry Patch
The Fiery Furnaces have been in the press quite a bit lately. Not because they put out a record of Fiery Furnace covers, but because of their mythical feud with Radiohead & Beck. My relationship with this band is a little strange. I saw them open for The Shins many years ago, and they blew me away. I ran out to purchase their current record at the time, Rehearsing My Choir, and was taken aback even more. They reminded me of everything the band Caroliner was trying to accomplish, only without the distraction on the costumes. I was hooked for months to this record, but never went further. I kept missing out on new releases, for one reason or another, and whenever they came around, I couldn’t make it. So, this cold November night, I decided to finally see them again. [read the whole post]
