The Beastie Boys opened their U.S. tour at Festival Pier last night. Before the show in a backstage press conference, Mike D., Ad-Rock and MCA reminisced about seeing Run-D.M.C., the Fat Boys and Whodini at the Spectrum back in the day, said they were considering following up The Mix-Up, their new lyric-less instrumental album with an a capella album of nothing but lyrics, and admitted how upset they were to not be considered as Rosie O'Donnell's replacement on The View.
Tonight, the Beasties play a "gala event" show at the Borgata in Atlantic City. No flip-flops allowed. More about all this in Saturday's Inquirer. Meantime, here's the video for "Sabotage," wheich Messrs. Diamond, Horovitz and Yauch encored with at the Pier.
It's been twenty years (twenty one, actually), so I suppose it's time for a Graceland revival. And it may only be Thursday, but the Vampire Weekend starts early tonight at Johnny Brenda's. The four preppy guys pictured above don't hail from Transylvania, however: they're Columbia grads who cheekily refer to their music as "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," a reference to an album title by the African soukous star Kanda Bongo Man. And like Paul Simon did, these preppy white guys pair music pulled from Afro-pop sources with lyrical concerns native to their self-described "Upper West Side Soweto" milieu. There's no album out yet, but an EP is for sale on iTunes, and their music can be heard here. Tonight, the Vampires open for Tokyo Police Club and Ra Ra Riot, two indie bands whose buzz they've eclipsed.
1. Nouveau Riche, "OH OH OH." Collaboration between rapper Dice Raw of the Roots and former Minnaeapolis- now Philadelphia-based songwriter Nikki Jean that splits the difference between hip-hop and pop in a satisfyingly trippy way. Sample their stuff here, check them out at Tritone on Friday, or on August 25 at The Fire, where they'll play at a benefit to buy musical instrments for inner city kids. .
2. Eve, "Tambourine." E-V-E, who's helped out with Swizz Beats on this head nodder, looks like she's left West Philadelphia a long way behind as she shakes the titular percussion instrument in this clip. I was remiss in not putting this on my summer mix last week.
3. Justice, "D.A.N.C.E." These French disco dudes are up against Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Kanye West and Rihanna for video of the year at the VMAs in Las Vegas on Sept. 9. Which means they don't have a chance, no matter how cool their T-shirts are.
4. Going Undergound. Ted Warren, Denis Murphy, Frank Brown, Rich Kaufmann, plus Jon Houlon, who's pictured. Five top-of-the-line rootsy songwriters in a free show on Wednesday Aug. 15. Houlon leads John Train, whose excellent collection of protest songs, Mesopotamia Blues, comes out in September. Warren is from the late great Go To Blazes, Murphy fronts the Knife and Fork Band, and Brown use to lead power poppers Flight of Mavis and Buzz Zeemer. And Kaufmann formerly fronted the Rolling Hayseeds and now leads the excellent and excellently named Foxycontin. Any would be worth hearing alone, all five play at the Underground in West Philadelphia on Wednesday.
5. Giant Drag, "Wicked Game." Suitably evil sounding cover of Chris Isaak, from Annie Hardy, L.A. guitarist who, along with a rotating cast of musicians, is Giant Drag. It turns up regularly on promos for the upcoming L.A. based season of Nip/Tuck, that dastardly plastic surgery show on FX.
Not only does Chuck Treece sport excellent tube socks, he can play some music for you too. For those unfamiliar with the Philadelphia skatepunk-hardcore-ska-session musician scene, Treece (pictured above, on the half pipe, in 1984) is the only multiinstrumentalist around town who's plied his trade for the Bad Brains, Busta Rhymes and Billy Joel (he played bass on "River of Dreams"), not to mention such Philadelphia luminaries as the Goats, Stiffed, Nancy Falkow, G. Love, Jeffrey Gaines, King Britt and Stiffed.
But though Treece is the kind of guy who's mostly known by those in the know, he steps into the spotlight every now and again. Back in the day, the former Black Lily house drummer fronted a rap-rock outfit called Black Beans, and in 1991 he released Dream'n, his sole solo album. And these days, besides being the man behind the curtain for rugged pop-punk singer Leiana, whose 2006 overlooked album No Going Back contains the not unfamiliar credit line "all songs written, arrranged, produced and performed by Chuck Treece," Treece is back out front with his original Philadelphia punk band, McRad.
There's a new McRad album coming out on Sept. 4 on Uprising Records. It's called F.D.R. after the skatepark in South Philly where the 43 year old Treece, who was a sponsored professional skater from 1982 to 1990, still skates. And last Thursday, McRad headlined a show at the Khyber that was a benefit for the Paine's Park Project, the planned skate park that's to be built near the Art Museum along the banks of the Schuykill that's meant to make up for the city's egregious sin of banning skateboarding in Love Park.
(From Love Comes Paine is the motto of the proposed park, which takes its name from Thomas Paine, because it would only make common sense for their to be a Center City park that extend Love's legacy. Check it out at painesparkproject.org.)
But I digress. Back to McRad, who were the fifth band onstage at the Khyber on Thursday, and, this being the Khyber, didn't hit the stage until about twenty past 1 on Friday. Was it worth the wait, to see a band who along with other hardcore acts like Trained Attack Dogs and Pagan Babies played a crucial role in the Philadelphia hardcore scene in the '80s?
Sure thing. First of all, I got to check out a couple of worthwhile punk bands who came on earlier. Sicu is a tight, driving Philadelphia four piece with a sense of humor and a bunch of concise songs that leave you gasping for air, like "Maryann and Wally" which promises the landlord: "I'm not going to pay the rent this month!" And Jump Ship was a New Jersey three piece with a big bruising sound who've got some gigs coming up in a cheese shop in Atlantic City called Le Grand Fromage.
When McRad hit, the half full house burst into action like ping pong balls in a lottery machine. (Rock and roll may not be all that dangerous in a socio-political sense anymore, but watch out when some punk rock enthusiast finally seeing the band of his dreams comes running at you like a human battering ram...)
The music was pulverizing enough in its physicality to warrant the hyperactivity. Once Treece took off the backpack he'd been toting around all night and strapped on a guitar, he delivered a to-the-point bruising set of convulsive F.D.R. songs like "Weakness," "McShred," and the contemplative yet fierce "Words of Life," that rocked hard but while blending punk and metal with elements of reggae and dub, and were filled with roiling guitar solos. (F.D.R. also contains one really superb pop-rocker called "Son," that buried at Track 14.)
Even by punk standards, the set was brief - about half an hour - but properly cathartic, as if the peripatetic Treece needed to get this order of business out of the way before moving on. Thankfully, though, he's got more McRad on his plate, with a show at the North Star tonight that's a Katrina benefit, and another on Sept. 9 at the Starlight Ballroom with Ursula Rucker and King Britt, among others.
Here's a video clip of McRad playing at the The Fire earlier this year:
It remains to be seen whether the Spingsteen magic will return this fall, but "Radio Nowhere," the first single from Magic, Bruce Springsteen's new album with the E Street Band that's due Oct. 2 (and Sept. 25 on vinyl) is available for free. Last week, the track leaked on the Internet, this week it's gratis on iTunes, with no preorder required. It's a hard driving rocker, complete with a Clarence Clemons saxophone break, that's meant to get Bruceniks up out of their seats at arenas, though on first listen it doesn't sound like the Boss' most distinctive work. Listen to it The Hype Machine or just go get it at iTunes.
And speaking of arenas, the Springsteen and E Street Band tour anouncement has just arrived. The tour starts on Oct. 2, then heads to the Wachovia Center here in Philadelphia on Oct. 5. (The rumor mill has another show being added the next night.) Tickets go on sale Sept. 8.
Los Straitjackets are the instrumental surf-rock band from Nashville who perform wearing Mexican wrestling masks. Don't ask why. Their rockabilly singing pal Big Sandy and East L.A. legend Little Willie G. joined up with them for this year's Rock En Espanol, Vol. 1, produced by Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos. The album is a set of covers of Mexican versions of '60s hits by the Kinks, Arthur Alexander and Larry Williams, among others, if you're following me. Trust me, it's a hoot. And Big Sandy joins the Straitjackets at Rittenhouse Square at 8 tonight (that's Aug. 29). It's free.
