It seemed like Nancy Sinatra‘sboots were made for just kinda standing there on the Montage’s groovy, new, and improved stage. She launched the early show with the sexy cool she’s known for with a super-sensual rendition of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” but that was it. The show was a yawn fest […]
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Old punks never die
“Punk rock should be and has always been, to me, about stirring things up,” says D.O.A. founder and frontman Joey Shithead Keithley. “The same way rock ‘n’ roll was when it started up in the mid ’50s. It was about being a troublemaker and changing things and being a rebel.” The man still burns. […]
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Heartland regathers the folkies
Last year Ralph Hunt and Judy Gradford spent a lot of time talking on the phone with Glenn Drinkwater, one of the organizers of the former 12 Corners Coffeehouse. For years it brought A-list folk music acts to the Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church. After moving briefly to RIT, it disappeared. Hunt and Gradford were […]
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The man behind the Masque
Some people are lucky: They experience a moment where they realize rock ‘n’ roll can save their lives. You can sit down with a lot of music fans and let them tell you the time they first heard this band, or how their older sibling got them into that band, and the nutty things they’ve […]
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k.d. lang still burns the absolute torch
We call my Grandpa Big Frank. Big Frank loves k.d. lang. In fact, he loves music in general — most of it. He digs Sinatra but thinks he was too much of a womanizer. Dean Martin was a drunk. Elvis had a nice voice, but Grandpa considers him part of the ongoing longhaired-pinko menace and […]
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From Nancy, with love
As rock ‘n’ roll’s swagger staggers under the weight of its disproportionate masculinity (you know, too many dudes), women with the appropriate stance and guts are keeping it somehow viable, visceral, and real. It’s still a man’s world, but women like The Breeder’s Kim Deal, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Deborah Harry, or yes, even Madonna […]
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Zekes, Dekes, freaks, and geeks
I love The Grinders. I mean I love me some mailman Todd. But I’m not sure I dig ’em in a big venue like Water Street Music Hall, where they warmed the boards for The Chesterfield Kings two weeks ago. They still sounded great, and sure, they’ve earned the right to rock a huge crowd […]
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Sophie B. Hawkins
If it weren’t for the warm, husky seduction in Sophie B. Hawkins voice, you’d swear you were talking to a child. Hawkins eagerly leaps at questions and insightfully discusses her life and music. In the background, Spearhead leaks in from the tape deck. We chat via cell phone as she and her band wind their […]
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A long way from Pepticon
“You really don’t want to hear me sing it a capella,” says B.B. King. Of course, he’s wrong. Who wouldn’t relish the opportunity to hear B.B. King sing to them over the telephone? “Here’s the way it went,” he says, before singing a laidback rendition of “Pepticon sure is good / Pepticon sure […]
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Hour of power
I was in the presence of greatness. Times three. It was J.S. Bach‘s birthday (319 years young). I was listening to the Master’s voice on a masterpiece of an organ, the Fisk “Opus 83” at Downtown United Presbyterian Church. And one of the Bach works on the program was the “Great” G minor fugue. […]
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Cowboys and cowgirls
Ol’ gravel throat himself, Bryan Adams, sounds a lot better live than he ever did on the radio. His show at the Auditorium Theatre on March 9 brought out more stonewashed jeans and mullets than there were in the summer of ’69 (sorry, I couldn’t resist — cuts like a knife, doesn’t it?) Adams looked […]
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Now is the time
I don’t know. Maybe the blues just ain’t fair. It’s not like anyone with a harmonica or a guitar and a dream was ever promised a fair shake. But it just seems sometimes the cream doesn’t rise to the top. Cream like British blues legend John Mayall. Mayall has been playing the blues for […]
