by Frank De Blase A world where no Republican is safe: anywhere New York City’s Ed Hamell is performing. Hamell’s Thursday, September 11, show at Milestones was edgy and engaging. His lyrics and between-song banter were hysterical — not just with their occasional absurdity but with barefaced insight and honesty. Sure, Hamell plays acoustic, but […]
Music
Posted inMusic
You vs. terrorism
You may not think much of Rochester Gas and Electric during a blackout. But at least the utility’s helping to fight the War On Terrorism. RG&E has included a booklet recently with electric bills that should allay all your deepest fears. It proclaims “You Can Help Prevent Terrorism, Too.” Yes, now every one of you […]
Posted inMusic
A rebel within rebellion
Ed Hamell is bald. I mean Yul Brynner, cue-ball, Kojak bald. A regular guitar-wielding chrome dome. Yet when he mailed me a copy of his cool new disc, Tough Love, the package included an official Hamell On Trial comb. Yup, this Ed Hamell is an anti-folk smart aleck. Hamell, who has performed solo as […]
Posted inMusic
Playing with dolls
So I’m standing on the corner of walk and don’t walk, minding my own affair, when I get a phone call. My ears were immediately treated to squeaks and shrieks of feedback, noise, and a faint voice in the background menacingly chanting; “I stick it deep inside, I stick it deep inside… ” It was […]
Posted inMusic
The warped state of Third Estate
You’ve heard the story before: Friends hang out. Friends jam. Somehow it works. Friends start a band. Their parents and neighbors are sooo happy. The band inundates city dives, makes noise, makes fans, and eventually, a name for itself through all the hoopla. Maybe it even records a CD along the way. But vision […]
Posted inMusic
No smashing allowed
So I’m standing on the Court Street Bridge, minding my own business, when I’m approached by this obviously dressed roadie-tour manager type. Seems he needs a guitar for his band (Linkin Park), so his guitarist can smash it on stage and can I direct him to a music store, please? I immediately saw red. […]
Posted inMusic
Sang like the kang
A couple of weeks ago found me eating fish tacos in the warm California sun. I was there to witness Lucha Va Voom — masked Mexican wrestlers and strippers in the gorgeous Mayan Theatre in downtown LA. It was a super sweaty, sexy, salacious, bodacious, bombastic, violent, gravity defying, awe-inspiring, ta-ta tassle-twirling extravaganza (whew). I […]
Posted inMusic
A 30-year Journey
Any band that has survived career ups and downs, fickle music trends, and its own personal obstacles to achieve a certain degree of rock ‘n’ roll tenure has done so by making no distinctions between the past and present. Journey guitarist Neal Schon considers it all, well, one big journey: a journey where the […]
Posted inMusic
Shut up, yuppie scum
I initially got into jazz because, frankly, it didn’t always make a lot of sense to me. And I liked that. It was a soulful respite from the day-in day-out cacophony of rock ‘n’ roll. It soothed, it swung, it eluded. The second annual Rochester International Jazz Fest offered more than I could eat, but […]
Posted inMusic
Grander than you can imagine…
Excitement seemed to build higher during the final six days of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, with a full house for Tony Bennett at the Eastman Theatre on Wednesday evening and a sold-out Water Street Music Hall for Ray Barretto, despite the poor sound. Festival promoter John Nugent says the 2003 festival made a […]
Posted inMusic
A la wah-wah
It was Hell’s house band playing the Dinosaur last Wednesday. All that’s good and decent didn’t stand a chance as San Diego Diablo Eric Sardinas played some of the raunchiest, dirtiest blues you’ll ever hear, while wearing some of the tightest pants you’ll ever see. Women who looked like they were more up on Destiny’s […]
Posted inMusic
Music Review 6.4.03
Miles Davis In Person at the Blackhawk, San Francisco Sony Legacy In April, 1961, Miles Davis and his band took the stage for a two-night gig at the packed Blackhawk Club in San Francisco. At the time it might have seemed like a routine performance for the band, but in retrospect the seven sets recorded […]
