Year In Review (Apocalypse Now Version)

 Man, it's been a crazy year.... two years.... whatever. Time is a construct and means nothing anymore.  

January 2021. Humanity peeks its head out from underneath a crusty blanket and wonders if the time has come to try and sort out all those refunds from the fifty concerts and sporting events that have repeatedly gotten canceled, or is there hope of a rescheduled date in the future...

February 2021. This isn't too bad! *Goes and screams in the woods* One or two performers are doing small venues! Our favorite restaurants are allowing us to eat outside in the frigid arctic air with a space heater and we don't even mind the cold because we are seeing other humans and practicing our Wim Hof extreme endurance skills. Framing Britney Spears is released and within days the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl.  We all decide to re-read Cormac McCarthy's The Road and immediately regret it. 

March 2021. A guy who forgot the most basic principles of a k-turn gets stuck in the Suez Canal and we all collectively wonder if he's going to get fired for basically snarling the supply chain and causing a huge big boat back up. This is our life now.  Godzilla vs. Kong is released on the final day of March and we put on our hazmat gear and go to the movies. IT IS EPIC.

April 2021. Someone promises us that Rage Against The Machine is touring. They've been saying that since last year and we don't believe them anymore.  We are no longer incensed when movies clearly meant for the big screen start popping up on HBO Max but somewhere deep inside we know this can't last forever.....right? Christopher Nolan will not allow this. 

May 2021. Things are looking up! People are getting out of the house! It's getting warmer and everyone is getting on flights to destinations previously unavailable to them. The Friends Reunion show is released on HBO Max ( we are all becoming vaguely suspicious of HBO Max ). A Quiet Place II knocks it out of the box office park while we root for that Top Gun Maverick premiere that Tom Cruise has been promising us for months. Mare of Easttown reminds us why Kate Winslet is an international treasure. 

June 2021.  Disney + proves to be a must-see-tv hitmaker after WandaVision, The Mandalorian, and now this month's binge-worthy series featuring the God of Mischief, Loki. We're enjoying shrimp cocktails and mojitos on the beach when we overhear some killjoy talking about "delta". Whatever sir, stop using the Greek alphabet to appear smarter than you are. This is the (almost) pandemic-free, summer of YES.

July 2021. AAAAHHHHHHHH. We all brace for impact and find out that the zombie movies we've been watching since the early 80s have equipped us with the skills to pivot and find the bright spot in any disaster. Life goes on. Enjoying giant pyrotechnic displays in the sky has never felt so liberating and someone in public relations coins the term "summer of freedom".  We're eating INDOORS. 

August 2021. Damn it's hot. Hurricane Ida cuts a swath through the gulf. That promised Bikini Kill tour is rescheduled for 2022 and we all invest in some K 95 masks because Gen X knows that unless you completely destroy any villain by setting them on fire and throwing them off a hundred story building, they're going to pop back up to wreak havoc in the final scene. *Keeps wary eye on pandemic*

September 2021. The Foo Fighters play the 9:30 Club in Washington DC as a "surprise artist" and the world begins to right itself after over a year of being completely off-kilter.  We say goodbye to funnyman Norm Macdonald and watch as our kids head out the door and back to school. Billionaires Elon and Jeff duke it out in front of federal regulators over space-based internet and we listen as projects like Starlink and Kuiper get discussed and remind us that Star Wars showcased why capitalism in space leads to the building of the Death Star.

October 2021. Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Denis Villeneuve's Dune help kick off the fall box office excitement. Tori Amos reappears and drops her sixteenth album, Ocean to Ocean- and we all love it. Colin Powell shuffles off the mortal coil and for Halloween we all prepare to dress up in our tracksuits emulating player 456 (Seong Gi-hun) from the terrifyingly addictictive Squid Game. Red light, green light will never be the same. 

November 2021. On November 12, 2021, Britney Jean Spears wins her long legal battle to end her thirteen year conservatorship. VIVA BRITNEY.  Meghan Markle sits down with Oprah Winfrey and spills the royal tea. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez get back together, leaving the public scratching their heads. They Might Be Giants release BOOK. Which at first is confusing, because it has photographs and lyrics but no music and then you realize there's a CD, or you can download it digitally, and you're suddenly in need of your kids to enjoy a collectors item from one of your favorite 80s bands, so now you're just sad. A conspiracy theorist claims a rise in turkey prices is part of a plot to ruin Thanksgiving and we all buy extra stuffing and mashed potatoes just in case. 

December 2021. Keanu helps us through the last month of the year with The Matrix Resurrections. The Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes looks like it's going to happen....and then.... no. A malicious variant that sounds like a particularly vengeful Transformer villain starts shutting everything down. *breathes into bag*. Our neighbors build a greenhouse and begin homesteading and I now have a book on trading and the barter system because apparently society is going to collapse. But hey, Netflix has seasons 1-4 of the original Knight Rider and a new Tiger King spinoff installment- The Doc Antle Story. And as a final kick in the gut, 2021waited until New Years Eve to take everyones favorite iconic Golden Girl, Betty White, from us. Thank you for being a friend!

So, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times but , *looks around* living on the brink of the apocalypse has sharpened our senses and given us a keen appreciation for all good things. Here's to an eventful (the good kind) 2022.

Back At It

 Admit it. You're still in sweatpants eating Entenmann's crumb coffee cake straight from the box with your hands between zoom meetings. It's ok.  You are all of us. As we take our first tentative steps back into a changing world, here is a smattering of upcoming big-ticket and small venue events that might help bridge the gap between your quarantine couch sitting and the full-tilt social blowout you aren't quite ready for yet.

Uncle Hank is at it once again. Everyone's favorite punk godfather is on tour after being temporarily sidelined by the entertainment venue apocalypse that befell nearly all showmen and the stages that they performed on.  Now he's back at the tip of the spear headlining dates in Europe starting after the new year and in the US this spring.  As avid fans, we advise you to catch one of his hard-hitting stream of consciousness monologues live and up close. You won't be disappointed.  For more on dates and times and to buy tickets go to https://www.henryrollins.com/tour

Did you know that Duran Duran released a new album? Did you also know that it's pretty damn good? Future Past is the band's fifteenth studio album, coming nearly forty years after their debut.  It doesn't matter if you were an out of control screaming Duranie in 1983 clutching your newly purchased albums and dreaming of running away with Simon or if you were one of the Johnny-come-lately fans from the 90s, you will enjoy this new release AND you should jump on the opportunity to see them on their mini-tour of Europe. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing this band at the height of their popularity in New York a total of four times and it was spectacular. And although I'll never be fourteen again, I can try to recapture my youth screaming along with all the other die-hard Duran lovers. Keep an eye out for possible future dates in the US. https://duranduran.com/tour/

Sowing the seeds of love. I've never understood why Tears for Fears isn't included on the "best of" rotating playlist inside of everyone's head.  In 2004 they released Everybody Loves a Happy Ending and I thought for sure that was the last we'd see of Smith and Orzabal. Even the album title sounded like a swan song. Come to find out, after all the hiatuses and unfulfilled wishes the band is releasing The Tipping Point on February 25th, 2022 and they are going to tour in support of it. Music to our ears. http://tearsforfears.com

Think back to a time when we were sure we were coming out of pandemic mode but jumped the gun prematurely and started scheduling all sorts of events and concerts only to have our new plans canceled because wave after wave of new sinister variants, each with whimsical greek names, put us back in our hazmat suits and bunkers. In that brief moment of early hope, the Cruel World festival was born, and then true to its name, it ended up on the trash heap of events that never happened. Well, guess what? Cruel World has risen from the ashes with most of its original lineup intact (only Gary Numan and Marc Almond are gone from the bill). So if you want your dose of Blondie, Bauhaus, Devo, Morrissey, Psychedelic Furs, Violent Femmes, Echo & the Bunnymen, English Beat, Public Image Limited.. etc, etc, etc, then get yourself to Pasadena, California's rescheduled festival. http://cruelworldfest.com

Not ready yet? That's ok too. Netflix & Amazon prime video will be cranking out content until the end of time and we'll be here waiting for you.

What Makes Taylor Swift A Star?

Recently, I saw Taylor Swift perform and as the more than two-hour show progressed I was struck with a stunning thought: how does a girl with very limited singing ability, and even more limited dancing ability, sell out a 45,000-seat baseball stadium two nights in a row?

I don't mean to hate on Ms. Swift. She seems like a nice person, and obviously I forked over the cash to see her, so I must be a fan. She is currently in the midst of her 1989 World Tour, to support its namesake album that has sold more than 5 million copies to date in the US, a feat unheard of in an era where people would rather listen to albums for free, or maybe a small monthly subscription on Spotify. Not even Beyoncé is moving those kind of units.

I saw her show at the Nationals Park in DC and as I stood there watching her perform, I started to think a lot about the importance of the ever elusive x-factor. Vocally, it's not that Swift sounded terrible she sang on key the whole time. It's just it was nothing to write home about, I would say she is a good as a random high cool student who practices for a few weeks before the big spring recital. A friend of my later suggested poor acoustics could have been the reason for the less than strong singing, so who knows? Dancing wise, well she didn't dance per se. It was more fast-paced walking, and poses that inferred dancing. Yet still the audience was raptured.

So how could this be? I would say the x-factor, a nearly indefinable thing that makes a person interesting, so interesting that you want to spend your hard earned money on concert tickets, merchandise or their albums.

This same quality would explain how fellow pop star Britney Spears, whose Vegas residency show I saw earlier this year, can sit down on some steps, look bored, wait for the CD version of a song she recorded when she was a teenager to start and mouth along YouTube "Lucky" and "Piece of Me," and you'll see what I'm talking about. Yet Spears has one of the most successful shows on the strip, and its run has been extended multiple times.

The importance of the x-factor was very apparent even during the sets of the opening acts for Ms. Swift's show. Shawn Mendes was one of her openers. He sings pretty well and could play a guitar, but the audience was paying him dust. They were looking at phones, talking to friends, giving him little attention

He seemed noticeably irritated by this, at one point saying, "you guys probably don’t know who I am" and he was right. He was so desperate to have a stadium singing along with him than he sprinkled his set with covers of Ed Sheeran and Plain White Ts songs to get some sort of audience participation. While people sang along, he seemed to win over few fans. "Why doesn't he sing his own music?" a mother of two middle-school aged girls asked aloud next to me.

Minutes later, Swift had people shouting back every word to her songs, even the filler tracks that have yet to be released as singles.

Swift may be able to do a bit more than carry a tune, but she is a masterful performer. A key strategy is to make every show unique, even if it's her second night in a city, as was the case with the show I saw. At one point she decided to perform one of her old hits, "You Belong to Me," instead of a new song called "You Are In Love." She did this she said, because she sensed the audience would have preferred listening to that song.

She also does something I haven't really seen any other pop star do, randomly fly in other performers and duet with them on one of their hits. Day one in DC it was Lorde, and a rendition of "Royals." Day 2 in DC it was Jason Deru;o and they belted out his summer jam "Want To Want Me." Fans know when an artist is phoning it in and going through the motions, and Swift expertly avoids falling into that trap.

She also knows her audience is still mostly high school and teenage girls and it's this awareness that makes me want to compare Swift to a Pixar movie. She writes songs that are emotionally general enough that they can be about any time in a person'’s life. Her hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" could easily be about a middle school break up as much it could be about a broken engagement of someone in their thirties.

But it's a tightrope to walk, and sometimes you see Swift break a sweat while doing so. For the 1989 tour, she had a troupe of all male dancers. While other pop stars may have had these guys shirtless or even less clothing during their shows, these guys were always modestly dressed as not to offend anyone. When Derulo surprised Swift and removed his shirt, she laughed nervously and her faced tightened. "Would the Dads with their little girls in the audience be upset?" her expression seemed to say

This awareness of her audience could be the key to longevity for Swift career wise. Far too often after a child act enters into their 20s, songs become about wild club nights and sex leading to limited commercial success. I’m thinking of Miley Cyrus here. Bangerz and its namesake tour may have been modest successes but nowhere near Swift's level.

Concert Review: Lissie, 9:30 Club

Sunday evening I faced down the moral dilemma of two epic entertainment choices: the unhinged madman, also known as The Governor, was poised to unleash the crazy on that evening's episode of The Walking Dead, while at the same time I was the holder of one ticket to Lissie's much buzzed-about show at the 9:30 Club.

I set my DVR, made my family promise to call if bloodshed occurred, and ran down the street knowing I'd walked the right path.

Despite the still air of contemplation filling the venue when I arrived, the swelling crowd summoned some serious interest and plenty of energy for Nashville, Tennessee openers Kopecky Family Band. They managed to get a rousing singalong right after wowing everyone with the best rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" that I've ever seen.

With the floor warmed up, Lissie took the stage and bounced from one well-crafted tune to another while the audience hung on her every sung word and each story told between songs.

What can I say about Lissie?

Concert Review: Pixies, Bowery Ballroom

There is just no good way to write a review for the Pixies without first lamenting the loss of Kim Deal and David Lovering's sturdy and sure rhythm unit forged from years of familiarity and hard work. That said, I will tell you that their Friday night concert at New York's Bowery Ballroom was fantastic.

Gone was the attitude of smug indifference that permeated the air when I caught their show in Asbury Park on the Doolittle Lost Cities tour back in 2011, and in its place, there was new energy and a mutual feeding frenzy between audience and band. New bassist Kim Shattuck (formerly of the Muffs and The Pandoras) did a fine job; I daresay from the back of the venue and without your glasses on, you might not have noticed the lack of the beloved Deal. Will Frank Black ever pour his heart out between songs and chat lovingly with audience members? Probably not. But they plowed through plenty of Pixies favorites with gusto and even managed to deliver the newly-released songs to the crowd, making them sound as solid and well-worn as the favorites we grew up on. Joey Santiago, who never fails to impress me, even with his lack of stage interaction, managed to crack at least two knowing smirks during the show. The evening's set list was wildly varied with "Velouria," "Allison," "Nimrod's Son," and "Vamos" firing up the floor of the Bowery Ballroom into a jumping hothouse and whipping its sweaty patrons (myself included) into delighted frenzy.

There is something to be said for what I assume was the strange tension-fueled and thinly-veiled aggression that sometimes spilled over into their studio albums and live shows, making us love the chaotic uncertainty of their very existence (would they even be a band in the morning?). But seeing them together onstage offered proof that their face-punching delivery and skills haven't waned much with the passage of time and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Concert Review: AM & Shawn Lee, U Street Music Hall

The first time I stepped foot into U Street Music Hall, I made a mental note to myself while exiting that it would be a great place to see thrashing garage bands trying to claw their way to the top. The cavernous underground labyrinth you wind through on your way down eventually spits you out into a surprisingly roomy and well set up show area with excellent sound. That is probably why I had my doubts about a band that, while interesting and noteworthy coming over my earbuds, seemed like such an unlikely fit for this grungy gutsy space.

Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong.

AM & Shawn Lee may specialize in foot-tapping retro electronic tunes but if I expected that not to translate well live, I was quickly reeducated. The set was crisp, pleasantly aggressive but not too reliant on the resonant noise that sometimes permeates live music when the synthesizer is too involved. The pair, touring with a full band, switched styles and showcased tunes off of La Musique Numerique and even a few off of Celestial Electric which I'd been enticed to listen to only hours before showtime.

Demonstrating a cool ease and a real joy in performing these tracks live in front of a delighted and receptive audience, they won over even an old bitter curmudgeon like myself and even had me humming their infectious melodies on my way back up to the street.

Upcoming Shows

06.20 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory
06.21 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
06.22 Rochester, NY @ Lovin' Cup
06,26 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
06.27 Westwood, CA @ KCRW Summer Nights Hammer Museum
06.28 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
06.29 San Diego, CA @ The Griffin

More AM & Shawn Lee: Official | Facebook | Twitter

Concert Review: Flogging Molly, The Fillmore Silver Spring

Flogging Molly's specialty is reconciling the nonconformity and the mainstream so often at odds with each other in music.

When their album Speed Of Darkness was released, it raged against a flawed system while still somehow participating in it fully, making its listeners feel a little better about the way of the world. Their songs are still powerful and forthright. Their themes speak to the common folks who have been banged up and spit out by the world. The L.A. based Irish group has taken it on the road again. Flogging Molly's stage show contains some of that chest-thumping indignation, but the level of energy and bursts of musical frivolity that accompany it turn out to be a real delight for fans.

Last Tuesday, I spent my evening at The Fillmore in the company of these guys in the midst of their Green 17 tour listening to the rousing anthems and loud powerful lyrics while watching as an audience of mostly upper-middle-class locals and young kids joined together to belt out the urgent punk-tinged songs and stamp loudly on the floor.

Clearly teaching a master class on how to put on a show properly, Dave King and company put their infectious energy and impish goodwill to use and let the vibe waft out over the crowd as even drunken patrons paid the proper respect to fellow audience members and to the band themselves. Pulling the set list from old favorites and newer more powerful songs, they kept old fans and new ones happy and the energy level at full blast from the beginning to the end. In addition to making the lives of all of us in the standing-room-only crowd more exciting, they have clearly worked hard to let us know they are listening.

Concert Review: Skinny Lister, The Fillmore Silver Spring

There wasn't a dull moment to be found Tuesday night as an enthusiastic jumble of mightily excited people shuffled into the sold out Fillmore to get their weekday fix of stomping, jumping, and clinking glasses in time with the rollicking good time sounds of Skinny Lister. Wedged into the always challenging opening spot, Skinny Lister had a Herculean task ahead of them: to warm up and at the same time seduce an audience teeming with Flogging Molly die-hards. They relished the chance and took on that dare full throttle with explosively good results.

The musical forces of nature that brought a multi-generational crowd vibrating with excitement together also helped Skinny Lister take over during their set and prove their mettle. Put it to you this way: no one was checking their watches wondering when Flogging Molly would be arriving; they were all too busy singing along and clapping their hands in unison.

Folk punk front woman and critical darling Lorna Thomas practically caused a small riot when she broke through the fourth wall and catapulted herself off the stage and into the front rows. This had the same effect as if she'd grabbed concertgoers by the collar and commanded them to sit up and take notice. She needn't have worried, The Fillmore audience was already embracing the British newcomers like old friends at the pub.

They didn't get the title of "Hardest Working Band In The UK" for nothing. Oldies as well as songs off of Forge & Flagon rounded out the set and I found that the band's music is edgy enough for young indie fans and bold and unrepentant enough to hook all the aging post-punk veterans who might be listening.

Between the booming stand-up bass, the squeezebox, the thundering drums, and the magnetic and saucy stage show, I could see that they had won some hearts during the evening. They left the stage spent and happy and we stayed fired up long afterward.

Please Skinny Lister, come back and see us again, you hear?

Concert Review: Eytan & The Embassy, Knitting Factory (NYC)

I walked into a very empty Knitting Factory around 8:15 PM on Saturday night. Starting to wonder what I had been sent into, I patiently waited with my drink and notepad as the opening band played on.

Around 9, it was like someone turned on a switch: the place filled up with Brooklynites of a range of ages, all ready for some great music. One more band was on before Eytan, and while they brought some incredible energy, the crowd was buzzing as the Embassy started to take the stage. A man behind me said "they can't fill a whole hour," but something about the excitement in this crowd told me otherwise.

The first note I jotted down was "KILLER ENERGY!!!" This band turned it up to 11 immediately, and showed absolutely no signs of stopping. Somehow, they managed to find this perfect balance of a good time without being insane on stage. They got the crowd involved, keeping up a great rapport as I believe only bands playing in Brooklyn seem to be able to do.

Concert Review: The Hives, 9:30 Club

Ah, Sweden. The list of things you've so generously given us is plentiful: ABBA, Alexander Skarsgard, IKEA, and of course, The Hives.

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, if you want to witness a spectacle that will delight your senses and blow your mind, you absolutely have to put The Hives show on your must see list. Seriously, if you go to the grave without having done so, there is a high probability that you'll be stopped at the gates by St. Peter and thrust back into this world to right that wrong.

You won't believe your eyes as feats of great daring and pure kinetic energy take place while your ringleader and master of ceremonies, Pelle Almqvist, conducts the musical circus where you have become a full participant. Whether he's jumping off a stack of amps straight into the loving arms of the audience, asking you to sing part of the song, telling a crazy story about jet lag, or insisting everyone sit on the floor of the 9:30 Club to insure maximum theatrical impact when they spring up into the air during "Tick Tick Boom," you do as he says because non-compliance is not an option when The Hives are running the show.

They looked fantastic (top hats and tails everyone!) and sounded even better, living up to and bettereing the reputation that preceeded them. They seamlessly ran through the old favorites and the newer material while reminding us that five years between Hives albums is like running out of water in a bleak desert wasteland, a terrible hardship. This is something to see, a visual interactive stage performance set to the blistering soundtrack of The Hives' pounding music. Just a few minutes into the set, Pelle asked for and got an enthusiastic show of hands to give him an idea of how many people were attending their first Hives show (Hives Virgins, he called us) and then the band spent the next two hours delighting in deflowering us all. We never wanted it to end.

Let us all hope that these gentlemen stay on tour for a long long time because I know I haven't had anywhere near my fill. Bravo!

(It should be noted that for the first time ever I temporarily forgot that I was working and became fully immersed in the The Hives' frenetic funfest, resulting in photos that were not quite as cool, crisp, and plentiful as I usually manage. That's rock 'n' roll, people.)