Blondie Follows Parallel Lines In New York City

By: David Schultz

It’s hard watching some of your idols get old. When I was younger, I had a poster of Deborah Harry on my bedroom wall and she’s part of the reason I hit puberty. In my fondest printable memories of Deborah Harry, she’s fronting Blondie with a blank expression on her face that I would later learn was likely the result of excessive drug use. Three decades later at New York City’s Nokia Theater, the thousand yard stare is still there, only now it’s permanently Botoxed in place. Tarted up a bit like an inappropriately dressed granny, the 63-year-old Harry may no longer be the subject of teenage fantasies, but at the Nokia she showed glimpses of the foxy young thing she used to be. Even if her slightly retro, dance moves are a little stiff and awkward, she, Clem Burke and Chris Stein had enough left in their collective tank to remind an enthusiastic crowd that their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was no fluke.

In the haze of the post Studio 54 era, Blondie had a three album swing - Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat and Autoamerican – that ranks up there with the finest prolific creative output of that era. On “Call Me” and other songs, Blondie incorporated synthesizers well before the 80s made them a joke, mixed reggae rhythms with punk attitude to score a #1 hit with their cover of “The Tide Is High” and on “Rapture,” became the first act to integrate rap into a song and introduce it to mainstream audiences as more than an urban novelty. At the Nokia, they showed glimpses of the inventiveness that carried them from the New York underground to national TV appearances like Dick Clark’s New Year Eve. There were moments when Blondie’s sound was as fresh as it was three decades ago and during these spots; it was easy to remember that Blondie was part of the same CBGB scene that spawned Television, The Talking Heads and Patti Smith.

Their 90 minute set, focused primarily on commemorating the 30th anniversary of Parallel Lines, touched on some of their best songs moments but didn’t quite cover everything. Criminally missing from the set list were “Atomic,” “Union City Blue” and “Dreaming,” arguably their best work from Eat To The Beat. Were they moved out of the set for time constraints, all could be forgiven. However, they were omitted to make room for a misguided albeit punked up cover of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and a tepid cover of “Get Off My Cloud.” Many people waited nearly 30 years to see Blondie play their songs on stage and to fill their encore with bar band style, time wasting covers robbed the audience of what many truly wanted to hear.

Age may have robbed some of the ragged punky glory from the tempo and delivery of the songs and Harry’s call and response during “One Way Or Another” seemed a bit cliché and slightly beneath her but this is still a band that knows what to do with a song. During “Rapture,” Harry moved to the side of the stage while the band drifted into some blues improvisation that segued into a near obligatory couple verses of “Hey Bo Diddley.” Strutting the stage while belting out the song’s oddball rap about a man from Mars who eats cars and finally guitars, Harry showed the poise and brash demeanor that made her the poster girl for the new wave era.

Harry may be little older but at heart not much has changed. Once she finished “Just Go Away,” Harry declared they were finished with the album and that she was also finished with her high heels, ripping them off her feet and tossing them into the audience. You may be able to dress up the old punk rocker but inside she’s still the same old hellcat.

George Carlin (1937-2008)

This is a voice that will surely be missed:

"The wisest man I ever knew taught me something I never forgot. And although I never forgot it, I never quite memorized it either. So what I'm left with is the memory of having learned something very wise that I can't quite remember"

"When they print the year's of someone's birth and death, can you resist figuring out how old they were?"

"If a man smiles all the time he's probably selling something that doesn't work."

"Some see the glass as half-empty, some see the glass as half-full. I see the glass as too big."

"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music."

"The word bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out."

"Things you never hear: 'Please stop sucking my dick or I'll call the police.'"

"I think it would be fun to go on Jeopardy and never buzz in. Just stand there for half an hour, never talk, and then go home."

"A lot of these people who keep a gun at home for safety are the same ones who refuse to wear a seat belt."

"They said on the news that tests on monkeys showed HIV can be transmitted through oral sex. What I want to know is, who had to blow the monkeys?"

"I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore."

"I get a nice safe feeling when I see a police car, and I realize I'm not driving around with a trunkful of cocaine."

"One of the best expressions in the English language is, 'Who says so?' I guarantee, if you keep saying, 'Who says so?' long enough, sooner or later someone will take you into custody."

"By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth."

"In the United States, anybody can be president. That's the problem."

"I made a bargain with the devil: I would get to be famous, and he would get to fuck my sister."

"I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it."

"I hope reincarnation is a fact so I can comeback and fuck teenagers again."

No Longer Laying Low: My Morning Jacket Blows Away Radio City

By: David Schultz

In all the talk, hype and buzz currently swirling around My Morning Jacket, everyone appears loathe to say anything negative about the band. Given all the love being showered on the band, no one is willing to go against the grain and say anything critical lest they be ostracized. Until now. At their Friday night show at New York City’s hallowed Radio City Music Hall, one thing became quite evident. Jim James is absolutely horrible at sliding across a stage on his knees. He tried it twice and came close to tearing the ligaments in both knees each time. It was simply awkward and dreadful . . . and that is pretty much the only thing you could criticize about their nearly three hour show. Everything else was damn near perfect.

About three months ago, I was able to see My Morning Jacket at SXSW from right behind the rail at the Austin Music Hall. My seats for Radio City Music Hall weren’t that good, in fact I think the difference in distance could best be expressed in yards rather than feet in terms of both length and height. From this vantage point, it was quite clear that proximity to the band poses little difficulty for pulling the audience into the show. While the excellent sound and acoustics of Radio City surely help, My Morning Jacket remains one of the most enthralling, engaging bands playing today.

There is something about My Morning Jacket that comes alive when you see them in person; it’s an intangible factor that simply doesn’t get conveyed in the studio or captured on the numerous bootlegs that can be found on the InterWeb. Every beat from Patrick Hallahan’s drums resounded boldly throughout the hall and he and “Two Tone” Tommy give many of MMJ’s songs a menacing undercurrent of tension that crackles in a live setting. Without being refined in the techniques of Rock Star 101, Jim James has an offbeat, earnest charisma that most lead singers would kill for. He may one of the few rock stars that can get away with making a cape look cool. Addressing the crowd in his now signature deliberate drawl, he’s reached the point where people are hanging on his every clearly enunciated word. Before launching into a beautifully rendered solo version of “Bermuda Highway,” he expressed how excited he was to be on the very stage where Aretha Franklin played a couple months earlier before bending down to pat the ground where she stood. It was a gesture that resounded in its lack of affectation; even if James didn’t come close to covering the actual acreage the Queen of Soul now covers. Perhaps the one drawback to James’ persona is that when guitarist Carl Broemel works one of his hypnotically repetitive riffs or tears into a guitar solo seemingly torn from some inner torment, it’s tempting to look over at James to see if he’s the one playing.

On the heels of their always well-received performance at Bonnaroo and the release of Evil Urges, their long awaited follow-up to Z, the Radio City show kicked off My Morning Jacket’s summer tour but marks their last U.S. appearance until mid-August. Much of the first hour of the show roughly mimicked the set list from their Austin showcase with the songs having a slightly more polished feel. Jim James surely made good use of the access to Radio City’s opera box style platforms that line the sides of the theater. On multiple occasions, James sprinted as far and as high as he could up towards the balcony – once to escape a couple hyperactive female fans that flounced their way on to the stage – to dig the view from up high and solo a bit from the rafters.

On songs like “It Beats For You” and “Steam Engine,” Hallahan works the snare drums like Nick Mason and with “Two Tone” playing a pulsing bass and Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster adding the right flourishes, My Morning Jacket creates the same dreamlike atmosphere as Pink Floyd, albeit at a quicker pace. When people talk about the invigorating feel of a My Morning Jacket show, it’s in large part to their ability to mesmerize the crowd with the dual emotional punch of James’ higher-toned vocals and the band’s ability to create a enveloping sound that reverberates around the arena and through you soul. The classic vibe of newer songs like "I'm Amazed" and the outstanding "Aluminum Park" are overpowering and they have a deft ability for easing into powerful instrumental stretches that bound along with Crazy Horse abandon, notably the multiple mood changes and solos contained in “Run Thru.” Even when they pause for reflective material like “What A Wonderful Man” and “Golden” or easy, loping material like “Sec Walkin” and “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt 1,” the visceral impact of the song hardly declines. Even though they had been going for close to three hours by the time they hit the final notes of “One Big Holiday,” they had the crowd eager for more. The excitement spilled into the austere Radio City lobby as the lingering crowd simply didn’t want to leave the building after the astounding show.

The longer a band has been around changes how the audience listens to their songs, especially if the passing of time has created a mystique around the band or built significance around a certain song. It’s hard to imagine that there was a point in time when Led Zeppelin could play “Stairway To Heaven” without it being ZEPPELIN playing “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN” or that The Who could ever have played “Baba O’Riley” to a crowd that didn’t already know every little word and nuance with great intimacy. I can only imagine that it was something like this Friday’s show. During My Morning Jacket’s encore, while they moved through surefire live set pieces like “Dondante,” “Lay Low,” “Run Thru” and “Anytime,” there was a feeling that these songs will become increasingly relevant as time passes and that one day an unborn generation of fans will someday be sitting in a theater entranced and jazzed because MY MORNING JACKET is playing “DONDANTE.”

Even if My Morning Jacket aren’t the long-awaiting saviors of rock and roll we’ve been waiting for, bloggers, critics and just about everyone else seem perfectly willing to put forth a united front on this point for the time being. At the very least, if you don’t know about this band or Evil Urges, just smile and nod approvingly if either are mentioned in hip mixed company and you’ll avoid the looks of scorn and derision.

James McMurtry: Just Us Kids

By: David Schultz

Back in the late Sixties/early Seventies, when America was embroiled in an unpopular war that seemingly had no end and the President was a detested figure whose very mention prompted scorn and derision, protest songs seemed the norm. In addition to pleading with the public for social and political change, singer/songwriters seemed adept at transforming their progressive ideals into enduring anthems whose significance outlasted their creators. In that vein, James McMurtry may very well be the last angry man left in the music industry. In 2004, he wrote the virulent anti-Bush “We Can’t Make It Here,” a song that should have paved the way for his peers to unleash their vitriolic polemic and rhetoric but instead stood alone in quality and quantity.

It’s four years later and McMurtry’s fondness for George W. Bush hasn’t grown in any shape or form and from listening to “Cheney’s Toy,” his frank and bitter assessment of W’s regime, it’s possible that McMurtry has lost esteem for a leader in which he had none in the first place. Now, that’s good righteous anger. The son of novelist Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove renown, McMurtry has always been a poetic lyricist, able to capture the pathos of aging, the joys of childhood and the regret of loss in a modicum of words. On Just Us Kids, McMurtry continues along the path he began with Childish Things, voicing his disappointment while demonstrating the compassionate heart that fuels his rage.

The best moments on Just Us Kids come when McMurtry unleashes his frustrations, he mocks selective prosecution on “The Governor,” decries corporate greed on “God Bless America (Pat mAcdonald Must Die)” and eulogizes the greatness of America on “Ruins Of The Realm.” Giving an idea as to what Lou Reed would have sounded like if he’d decided to godfather outlaw country instead of alternative rock, McMurtry’s half-spoken cadence allows him to recite his lyrics like poetry, giving an emotional punch to the saga of “Ruby & Carlos.”

Dating back to his earliest albums, McMurtry has always shown a knack for finding a warmth and sympathy in the human condition. The title song speaks on retaining shades of youth in the face of growing responsibilities and “Fire Line Road” deals with escaping to the outskirts of town and civilization. It’s not all pensive reflection though: the instrumental “Brief Intermission” sizzles, “Bayou Tortous” is a throwback style rocker and the honky-tonk, juke-house feel of "Freeway View” is quite infectious. With a new regime on the way, McMurtry may need to find new targets lest the last angry man find peace. Fortunately, should he ever become content and pleased, McMurtry can do more than vent political spleen.

Amazon & Kid Rock Line Up To Take Shots At iTunes

It seems like the music business is back in grade school and everyone is whispering "don't be friends with iTunes" as everyone is lining up to take their best shot at the online giant.

Offsetting their label-friendly variable pricing system under which they sell certain individual songs for more than 99 cents, Amazon.com is offering the mp3 version of deep discounts with their "Daily Deals" and "Friday Five." Under the "Daily Deals" deal, Amazon will offer "popular" albums at bargain basement prices. To get the ball rolling, they have been featuring DRM-free Coldplay albums for $1.99. With the "Friday Five," a quintet of classic albums will be dropped in price to $5 for a period of 5 days. It's gimmicky as anything, but it will stimulate the conversation over mp3 pricing.

Further goosing the topic, Kid Rock has spoken out on his dislike for iTunes, claiming that Apple doesn't pay musicians enough money for the music they sell. One of the remaining superstars to resist selling songs on iTunes, Rock is bitter that the modern day distribution system has perpetuated an archaic business model. "We all know the stories of the Otis Reddings, Chuck Berrys and Fats Dominos who never got paid," said Rock. "The Internet was an opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money." He knows his music will end up on iTunes at some point in time but for the moment is relishing fighting the system.

New Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Song

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have been touring relentlessly since the release of their major label debut This Is Somewhere and will continue to do so this summer with major festival dates along with some shows with Dave Matthews before a stint opening for the Black Crowes.

One of the consistent additions to the spring and early summer set list has been a new song "Sugar." The band had been working on the song prior to stopping into Memphis for their Sun Studio Sessions taping but it wasn't quite finished. In the wee hours of the morning the band worked out a final arrangement and then laid down the track. You can check out the fantastic final result below:

My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges

By: David Schultz

Coldplay’s record setting pre-sales for their latest album may lead you to believe that Gwyneth Paltrow’s favorite band has the most anticipated release of the summer. You would be wrong. Unquestionably, it’s Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket’s newest disc, that is generating the most excitement and the Kentucky based band is at the center of all that will be cool and hip in the summer of 2008. If you’re not convinced about Jim James and My Morning Jacket’s growing influence, just notice how many people are calling what your reading this review on the Interweb, pay attention to the fact that this year’s hottest new desert is peanut butter pudding surprise or simply check out any music blog at random and see how much space is devoted to the band.

The eagerly awaited follow-up to 2005’s Z doesn’t disappoint. While My Morning Jacket doesn’t abandon the brooding guitar riffs and loping melodies upon which they’ve built their considerable following, working them to great effect on “I’m Amazed,” “Aluminum Park” and “Remnants,” they explore different styles and mix it up a bit by trying new things. The freaked out crunch and schizophrenic vocals of “Highly Suspicious” are funkier and more technologically based than anything MMJ has done before; “Sec Walkin,” while not a huge departure, has the easy-going pace of traditional country and “Thank You Too” and “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream (Part 1)” come close to drifting into lite-rock but the drumming of Patrick Hallahan, the fine ear of guitarist Carl Broemel and earnest spirit of Jim James carry these songs, and all of Evil Urges, up to another level.

In no small part due to lead singer and main songwriter Jim James, Evil Urges transcends genre and is an album better experienced as a whole then in parts. Whether My Morning Jacket is venturing into smoothly textured psychedelics, edgy, nearly-synthesized funk or straightforward Crazy Horse tinged rock, the mercurial James is at the eye of MMJ’s storm. His high tenor and vocal delivery mesh so perfectly with the mystical rock created behind him that it’s hard to imagine one without the other. An immensely captivating live performer, James should be this year’s breakout star, (a thought that will surely upset those who believe he has already broken out) and it’s a mystery as to why this band has yet to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone.

For anyone wondering when the next great band will emerge and reclaim music from overproduction, misguided hype and image over substance, the time is now. There is nothing about James or MMJ that is contrived, affected or disingenuous and sadly that stands out in today's culture. If Jim James, My Morning Jacket and Evil Urges are foreign words to your musical vocabulary, start cramming now. By the time they take the stage at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve, not being familiar with this band will earn you the same raised eyebrows and expressions of pity as claiming ignorance of Neil Young, Radiohead or Bob Dylan.

Railroad Earth: Amen Corner

By: David Schultz

As if transported from another time, Railroad Earth keeps alive the essence of down-home American music, capturing the true flavor of bluegrass, country and folk by remaining loyal to the traditional ethos from which our musical heritage was born. Playing all acoustic instruments, their live shows are a remarkable forum for the marvelous interplay and put to rest any misguided thoughts that you need to be plugged in to turn on a crowd. On Amen Corner, their first studio album in four years, Railroad Earth touches on many of the same time-honored musical themes as the Grateful Dead and The Band, creating a disc that nestles nicely with American Beauty and Music From Big Pink.

Bolstered by catchy songs like the brightly gritty “Hard Livin’” and the boozy levee’s-gonna-break boogie of “Walkin’ The Dog,” Amen Corner shows why Railroad Earth has been at the center of the growing “jamgrass” movement, a scene that thrives on the festival circuit, gaining more converts each season. Lead singer Todd Sheaffer’s twangy vocals and Tim Carbone’s Opryland quality violin give Railroad Earth their distinctive sound but it’s the flourishes of John Skehan (mandolin), Johnny Grubb (bass), Corey Harmon (drums) and Andy Goessling (everything else) that add texture to everything Railroad Earth does and gives Amen Corner its well rounded finish.

Amen Corner’s best moments are when Railroad Earth puts a little bounce into their step. The opener “Been Down This Road” has an old timey feel and “Little Bit O’ Me” sashays along nicely on a spry two-step beat. They more than make up for the sometimes dreary, slow paced tunes like “You Never Know” and “Lovin’ You.” Amen Corner walks a fine line: it sounds very much like a modern-day folk album while bristling with music derived from America’s prairie days. Making Railroad Earth’s authenticity that much more amazing is that they hail from the decidedly unfolky realm of New Jersey, making them the best thing to greet people from that state since Springsteen said hi from Asbury Park.

Top Hat, Tails & My Morning Jacket

This year, New Year's Eve in New York City will have something to rival the annual Times Square ball drop as a prelude to U-Melt's traditional late-night show: My Morning Jacket will ring in 2009 with a concert at Madison Square Garden. New York City's largest arena has featured some fantastic NYE shows in the past with Phish and The Black Crowes turning in notable shows. In fact, two years ago, My Morning Jacket was slated to play MSG with The Black Crowes and the North Mississippi Allstars but had to cancel when lead singer Jim James came down with pneumonia.

The rumor mill has Yo La Tengo and M Ward opening the evening. If that bill comes to fruition, it will put together some of the most memorable pairings from this year's SXSW Festival.

In between years... Jay Reatard Single Series #2

Jay Reatard
Painted Shut b/w An Ugly Death
Matador Records
2008

****

By: Rinjo Njori

In the mid 80s, The Cure broke out with the bungee cord video for "In Between Days." More than twenty years later, they are releasing the first four singles of their record on vinyl. Oddly enough, Jay Reatard takes a similar path for his second proper solo album. Over the next few months Jay Reatard will release his album as 7-inch singles, followed by a "proper" physical CD when the single series comes to an end. The second single in the series perhaps is the best indication of where Reatard plans to go with this album. Drastically different than Blood Visions? No. Clearly though, the obvious punk influences on Reatard's music are moving into a Post-Punk phase.

"Painted Shut" oddly compares to "In Between Days." Instead of "In Between Days" employing jangly guitar on top of piano, Reatard chooses acoustic guitar over jangly guitar. Like his first solo album and the first two songs in the single series, Reatard layers his songs with 80s post-goth/ new wave/ proto-alternative/ punk stylings. "See Saw" attempted the same thing on the first single but its resemblance to IMA Robot's "Creeps Me Out" clouded the bigger picture. With so many ingredients, so many things could go wrong. Instead, "Painted Shut" chugs along at a quick fire pace and ties together what can be assumed will be the sound of the album in the next couple of singles. On "An Ugly Death," which backs this song, Reatard tones and slows things down. Except for a lone guitar solo half way through the song, it could easily be deconstructed slightly to resemble something that wouldn't be out of place in Joy Division's 1979. These elements are fleshed out mostly in the keyboards but Reatard's vocals lack the reckless abandon that usually pushes along each song. It's less Fred Schneider and more Stan Ridgeway.

The only element of Reatard's singles experiment is that the casual fan will not obsess about the next single. You can only assume that some, if not all of the singles, are already recorded. Yet, Matador Records doesn't have a definitive release schedule. They are available digitally, but even in the renewed and reinvigorated singles environment a certain amount of fandom is required to pull off this experiment and keep up to date with when the next release is coming. In between releases, we can only obsess.

Nicely Cultured: The Raconteurs At Terminal 5

By: David Schultz

In a world where rock stars are becoming increasingly interchangeable commodities, Jack White has chiseled an unshakable reputation in stone. With his sister/ex-wife/third cousin, once removed Meg in tow, White has methodically worked his way from the underground clubs of Detroit, Michigan onto the cover of Rolling Stone with the Rolling Stones. Just in case he’s getting too much attention on his own, White has rejoined his don’t-call-it-a-side-project side project The Raconteurs for a summer tour that brought them back to New York City for three sold-out shows at Terminal 5. On the offhand chance there was still any debate on the subject, The Raconteurs shows established one simple fact: Jack White is a rock star, a flat-out, honest-to-God, bigger-than-life rock star.

A year ago, The Raconteurs – or The Saboteurs as far as our Australian readers are concerned - played an efficient one hour set at the Roseland Ballroom. Sounding gritty and raw, the show centered on their noteworthy debut album Broken Boy Soldiers. For their Saturday night Terminal 5 set, The Raconteurs moved well past the ninety minute mark playing, tapping into the electric blues maelstrom they unleashed on their recently released Consolers Of The Lonely.
At a White Stripes show, when he’s only accompanied by Meg on drums, White is essentially a one man inferno, prowling the stage and blowing audiences away with his charisma, energy and wild interpretations of traditional blues riffs. As a member of the Raconteurs, White still digs deep into the well of distorted blues rock, he just gets more help in rounding out the sound from bassist Jack Lawrence, drummer Patrick Keeler and guitarist Brendan Benson.

Amid the stylized curtains, unusually ornate sets, high-quality posters and identically dressed roadies, The Raconteurs seemed a little out of place within their own creation when they hit the stage in casual dress. If they’re trying to bring back Seventies style guitar-based power rock, they are doing it by bringing back the wild white-boy afros that went hand in hand with the genre. Packing arena-sized rock into the concert hall, Benson and The Greenhornes rhythm section played like they were an extension of Jack White, in tune with his penchant for electrified blues. At times they sounded a little like Black Sabbath, at others they had a touch of Robby Krieger-heavy Doors style and Keeler seemed to know the exact moment when the drumbeat from “My Doorbell” would accentuate what they were doing..

Even though their time together has been relatively short, The Racs played with veteran assurance. For “Steady As She Goes,” White and the boys set up the song as if they were leading into a classic rock powerhouse before delivering it like that’s exactly what it is. Benson and White traded lead vocals for most of the night with Benson’s sounding like a more measured and calm version of White’s excitable, often manic delivery. When they sing together, as they did on “Together,” they put forth a nice change of pace from the direct and incendiary rave ups of “Rich Kid Blues” and “Consolers Of The Lonely.”

With their opening set The Black Lips matched The Raconteurs for vintage sound, pushing the distortion levels to new highs. Heavy on garage style psychedelics, the Lips sounded a lot like a young version of The Who must have sounded in the early 60s, tearing off one fuzzy yet melodic riff after another. The only set that remained lacking was The Raconteurs encore, during which they seemed to have lost their focus. Lacking the same zip of the main set, they became mired down in plodding guitars. They did earn themselves a little bit of New York bo-ho credibility by bringing out Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who came out to trade licks with White and Benson during “Broken Boy Soldier.”

Unlike the traditional lead-in to the many tours, The Raconteurs didn’t sow the seeds of expectation by recording an album and then letting anticipation build by making people wait for an arbitrary release date. Rather than let the tracks sit and wait for the inevitable leak, The Raconteurs moved while the iron was hot and got the new album out there. It hasn’t hurt them one bit and they may have created a blueprint for other bands to follow. After all, once the album is done, why let it sit for weeks when people could be listening to it? Then again, by now we should be used to going wherever Jack White leads.