About halfway through St. Paul and the Broken Bones’ incendiary 85-minute show at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre last night, frontman Paul Janeway pointed out that “I can’t believe that just four-and-a-half years ago, I was a bank teller.” When you see St. Paul it’s hard to believe that the 33-year-old and his tight 7-piece band … Read More
“News guy wept when he told us, earth was really dying Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying.” (“Five Years,” from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972) Less than an hour after I awoke to the news of Davis Bowie’s death … Read More
So, I got a couple of highly-acclaimed box sets from some of my favorite artists ever for the holidays. Between them, the two boxes have 10 CDs, so it’s taken a while to listen a few times before writing about them. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the depth and breadth of both Wilco’s … Read More
So, the other day on the radio (yes, some of us still listen to that sometimes!) I heard about Robin Thicke whining that he really didn’t write “Blurred Lines,” he was just high on Vicodin and booze. The whole mea culpa sounded to me like he was asking Marvin Gaye’s estate to sue Pharell, not … Read More
Saw Arcade Fire for the second time in my life last night. As much as you may like or not like them on recordings, their live shows are a must. They paid homage to Georgia’s own during their encore . With 12 people on stage switching back and forth between instruments, in and out of … Read More
Some song lyrics are universally acclaimed. You have lyrics by the usual suspects: Dylan, Simon, Lennon, Costello. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people laud “the sunshine bores the daylights out of me (Jagger/Richards “Rocks Off”). But we all have our pet lyricists, who speak to us. I’ve been listening to Magnolia … Read More
I finally watched my DVR-d Letterman from Thursday night and saw his retirement announcement. It was classic Dave, the perfect mix of sincerity and insincerity, self-deprecation and self-aggrandizement. It was joyful and sad. The man is the most important entertainment figure of the past 30 years. He gave so many bands their first major exposure, … Read More
2013-14 are shaping up as the “years of the reunion” for many of the most influential bands of the past 35 years: Outkast, the Pixies, the Replacements, and now, the Afghan Whigs. On the new single “Algiers,” just released a few hours ago, original Whigmaster Greg Dulli and co-conspirator John Curley revisit the soulful sound … Read More
So, I hate missing work for a sick day. First of all, I like my job. Second of all, I hate using up days off better spent on vacation. So, unless I’m really really really sick, I go in. Well, maybe an hour after I posted late Sunday afternoon how excited I was to watch … Read More
I’m usually pretty ambivalent about the Grammys. While they always have some acts worth watching, the show usually runs way too long and has too much drivel for my tastes. But I’m pretty excited this year. Even in the categories traditionally populated by epic blandness, some great songs and albums made the cut. And some … Read More
