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.

Concert Review: Morrissey, Radio City Music Hall

Morrissey at 2006 SXSW. ©2006 Charlie Llewellin.

On October 10th, 2012, I watched Stephen Patrick Morrissey slog his way through a halfhearted set at Radio City Music Hall only to find himself at a loss when his apathetic audience failed to shower him with the kind of warm adoration he's become accustomed to. When you bask in the glow of the faithful, it's hard not to give them what they want. When their response is so tepid you have to ask them if "they are alive" and "if so, how do they know?," the give-and-take has started its swirling descent around the live show drain.

Listen, I know Moz is older, wiser, and less apt to pogo around with wild abandon, but the strong-arm tactics of the intimidating line of security up front and the whining of the giant, diaper-wearing, man baby behind me who kept crying about us being "too loud" made the show difficult to enjoy. The number of people checking baseball scores on their iPhones was equal to those trying to kick start the excitement for the rest of us desperate to dance around and enjoy ourselves. This was supposed to be a rock concert, not a night at the ballet.

You're probably wondering why any Smiths fan would expect more juice from a still spry Morrissey, but I promise you I've seen him fire on all cylinders and this wasn't one of those nights. He sounded good, the song choice was decent (Smiths favorite "Still Ill" was performed instead of "How Soon Is Now?" during the encore), and the venue seemed like the perfect touch of old world nostalgia. But he lost everyone's attention midway during the bloody drawn-out video montage behind the droning funeral dirge that was "Meat Is Murder," and had to work to get it back.

Don't get me wrong, there were a handful of shining moments. Perhaps the most exciting development was the number of smart-looking button-down shirts (four!) he had to go through in between songs and his propensity for throwing them sweat-soaked into a thrilled front row.

It's a safe bet that the older, more reserved king of mope that inhabits the dreams of Morrissey fans world wide bears little resemblance to the sullen outsider and wordsmith I remember from my youth, but I just wish he'd provided the spark that was needed to fully ignite an audience waiting to be engulfed in flames.

[photo]

Morrissey Performs "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" On The Colbert Report

Yeah, the title pretty much gives it away.

When Childhood Idols Say Stupid Things

I came dangerously close to becoming a Smiths fanatic. You know, one of those painfully intellectual misanthropes who comb through Morrissey's lyrics for all life's answers? That could have been me, had I not spent my youth rocking out to Warrant and Poison. It should have been me: I was that weird, arty, vegan kid who despised pretty much everything, only my music didn't match up. I was still listening to party rock. Morrissey's songs of self-loathing would have been perfectly tailored to my teenage angst.

I did eventually discover The Smiths and, by then, Moz's solo records, but I was well into my twenties by then and all that self-loathing had lost much of its appeal. Still, I appreciated the music. And I actually liked the guy. He was clever, self-deprecating, sexually ambiguous, and very English. Plus, he was a huge supporter of animal rights. He also had a bad habit of running off at the mouth. Reading his latest interview for The Guardian, I see nothing's changed. I think Gawker came out of this kerfuffle with the best headline, though: Washed-Up Morrissey: Still Racist, Still Worshiped:

Besides the depressing fact that Morrissey still makes music, he always gets a pass for making racist remarks just because he's Morrissey. He's back at it in a new interview with Guardian Weekend, where he calls Chinese people "a subspecies."

In a separate article in The Guardian , Tom Clark says:

It's an unfortunate facet of a complex character, but we fans should not feel obliged to disown the music we love, any more than opera enthusiasts should have to close their ears to Wagner because of his objectionable views.

I don't know. I've disowned many a "great artist" for behavior I, and many others, find reprehensible. (Polanski anyone?) I'm not an opera buff, but I can't listen to Wagner. I wrote a post years ago for another website asking, "Where do you draw the line when one of your idols screws up royally?" Can you separate the art from the artist, or are some things too egregious to ignore?