I didn't really expect Elvis Costello to get all schmaltzy about the departure of 2007. And sure enough, his show at the House of Blues in Atlantic City on Monday (where the crowd was a wee bit older than for the Roots the night before) was an "Auld Lang Syne"-free zone. However, after warning patrons to not go too heavy on the Hurricanes or Cosmopolitans, lest they "wake up married to a porn star, or a reality TV star" he did ring in 2008 with "The Sharpest Thorn," an Allen Toussaint collaboration from 2006's A River In Reverse set amid a New Year's Eve celebration that does allow itself a semi-sentimental look back: "And it's the same most every year, ghosts of the dear departed are near/We raise our glasses and we cheer, should old acquaintance disappear/Just as we wipe away a tear." (Memo to self: Add it to the short list of newish NYE's songs as a lead candidate for a future holiday mix, along with "New Year's Kiss," by Casiotone For the Painfully Alone.)
"Thorn" was one of only a handful of songs that were largely unfamiliar to the audience that the bespectacled Costello - backed by Imposters Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher - strategically blended into a crackling career-spanning set that pulled heavily from two of his best, early 1980s albums, Get Happy and Imperial Bedroom. And though Costello, who showed off what a steadily improving guitarist he is and was properly pumped up throughout his hour and forty minutes on stage, didn't announce them as such, there were a few songs unveiled that were brand new, or at least new to me. One was a slinky "I Want You"-style sinister ballad that rhymed "You don't have to go so far?/'Cause I love you as you are." And another was a rocked-out, politically pointed pop song - "I'd rather go blind, for speaking my mind" - that doesn't have anything to do with Jay-Z, Ridley Scott or Denzel Washington, though it's called "American Gangster Time."
Not the Daniel Day Lewis kind, the James "Blood" Ulmer kind. New York Doll David Johansen invoked the title of P.T. Anderson's new movie in introducing Ulmer at a terrific show I caught on Saturday night at the Jazz Standard in Manhattan that was a dual tribute to Hubert Sumlin and Howlin' Wolf. That's Wolf, who died in 1976, on the right, and Sumlin, who's very much alive, on the left.
Wolf, of course, is one of the the three great W's that recorded for Chess Records in the 1950s and '60s, along with Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson. Sumlin was his right hand man, the guitarist who elegantly snarling lines were the backbone of Wolf standards like "Goin' Down Slow" and "Little Red Rooster," which were aped by British blues boys such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones.
Sumlin is a revered figure in blues circles, and the show at the Jazz Standard, billed as "Howlin' For Hubert," featured a fabulous band of well-dressed guys in hats (besides the hirsute Johansen) who were delighted to be on stage seated next to the man who once stood next to Wolf. Not only Johansen, and Ulmer, but also bassist Tony Garnier, who leads Bob Dylan's band, and Jimmy Vivino, who plays guitar in Max Weinberg's band on the Conan O'Brien show. The 76 year old Sumlin, with a feather in his fedora, was the nattiest among them.
Sumlin's never been much of a singer, though he handled himself fine on his one turn at the mic on "Sittin' On Top Of The World." But he can still turn a concise, memorable phrase on his axe. And it was thrilling to see him takes turns with Vivino, who, besides being the younger brother of Uncle Floyd is no slouch on his instrument, and Ulmer, a hellacious guitarist with a stabbing style who took the emphasis off of Wolf's catalog briefly with a version of Muddy Water's "I Just Want To Make Love To You" and "Katrina," from Bad Blood In The City: The Piety Street Sessions, his ornery Vernon Reid produced platter that came out last year on the late Joel Dorn's Hyena Records.
But along with all the guitar players, the guy who really made the show work was Johansen. Wolf was a marvel when he was alive, feral, ferocious and funny, with a powerful voice that seemed to emanate from a deep, deep well. But while Johansen, when soaking wet, might weigh about one-third of what the blues great born Chester Burnett did, he has a pretty marvelous croak of his own.
And while Johansen may be better known for other things, like his Buster Poindexter lounge lizard days or his years with the glam-punk Dolls both back in the 1970s and ever since he and Syl Sylvain reformed the band with the underrated 2006 comeback One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, he's always had an affection and a feel for the blues. The Dolls covered Sonny Boy's "Don't Start Me Talkin'" on their second LP, and one of Johansen's most successful incarnations has been as David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, a unit whose metier is ancient blues and folk.
All this is to say that Johansen leading this group was about a vivid and vital of an homage to Wolf as I could imagine. And Johansen's mixture of camp theatricality and thoroughly engaged musical sincerity, along with a driving rhythm section, three terrific guitarists and a set list that included "300 Pounds Of Joy," "Built For Comfort" and "Evil" all added up to a stinging, swinging show, a freewheeling celebration that also left some blood on the floor.
If you have a hankering to catch Sumlin sometime soon, his schedule is here. A blues cruise that leaves from Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday along with Rosie Ledet, Shemekia Copeland and Taj Mahal seems as good a place as any to hear him.
There's an excellent DVD called The Howlin' Wolf Story that came out in 2003 I highly recommend you can pick up here.
As for Johansen, he can be heard on his six hour free form Mansion Of Fun radio show on Friday afternoons on Sirius Satellite Radio's Sirius Disorder channel. And after doing a few Xmas week shows in New York, the Dolls are back on the road. The old tarts will be looking for a kiss at the New Alhambra Arena in South Philadelphia, usually the site of sweaty men pounding and clutching at one another, on Valentine's Day.
And just for fun, here's a smokin' clip of Wolf from 1964, doing "Shake It For Me." Sumlin is seated to his left, Willie Dixon is on bass and Clifton James on drums.
Who says Mayor Nutter has all the charisma of Steve Urkel? Here's a clip of Mike rocking the mic, throwing down the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," with ?uestlove on the wheels of steel. He stumbles at the start, but it's smooth sailing thereafter, with that wonkish memory coming in handy as he spits the nearly 3000 words of rhyme. And let us now praise the Mayor's interpretative skills: In the artist formerly known as Councilman Nutter's hands, the protean 1979 rap hit becomes an anthem of populist inclusion: " See, I am Wonder Mike, and I'd like to say hello/To the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow ...."
Where (and when) fore art thou, Radiohead? The Oxford, England art-rockers are such men of mystery. They will be touring, and they will be coming to Philadelphia. So we do know the where, actually. We just don't know the when. In a novel announcement, Thom Yorke and crew have released the list of U.S. cities they'll be playing, but in alphabetical, not chronological order. The 22 date list begins with Atlanta and ends with Washington, D.C. We're in between New York and San Diego. No word on what size venues, only that the In Rainbows connection will take place in two segments, one before the band's European jaunt - which runs from 6/6 to 7/8 - and one after.
In Rainbows, which was famously released as a download only in October, entered the Billboard charts this week at Number One, after it came out on CD on January 1. That's no surprise, since it encountered no competition to speak of in the slowest release week of the year. It sold a 122,000 copies - more than respectable, considering just about everyone who really wants it had already, compared to the 322,000 the band's last CD, Hail To the Thief, moved in 2003.
Oh my. I worry that Hobbits and talking trees are going to turn up anytime anybody drops the word 'dragon' in their band name. But the Dragons of Zynth don't deal in that kind of fantasy world. Coronation Thieves, the debut album produced by TV on The Radio's Dave Sitek by the Cleveland natives who (like everybody else) now live in Brooklyn, is an off the wall psychedelic head rush that moves from match rock time signature shifting trickiness to the soothing trippiness of "Anna Mae."
It's said that the Dragons are a fire breathing live band. On Saturday at Johnny Brenda's they're on a bill with Ravens and Vultures, the local laptop pop trio featuring sisters Chetana and Darshana Borah, whose music is as sweet as the Dragon's is gnarly. Ape School opens.
Suddenly, New Jersey is awash in summer music festivals.
Billboard reports this morning that AEG/Goldenvoice, the west coast promoters who do the Coachella fest every spring in the California desert, will put on a multiday event in Jersey City's Liberty State Park, across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan this summer. Dates have not yet been announced.
Last year, the Coachella lineup included Philadelphia (and Baltimore's) own Spank Rock (pictured above), as well as Rage Against The Machine, LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, Rufus Wainwright, Lupe Fiasco, and scores of others.
As you might have heard, the Vineland Music Festival, promoted by Austin, Texas' C3 Presents along with British based Festival Republic, is scheduled to take place in South Jersey on August 8-10. No word yet on the 2008 lineups for Coachella, Vineland or the as-yet-unnamed Jersey City fest, though a lineup for Coachella, in Indio, Calif. on April 25-57, is expected soon.
If I had a million dollars for every rhythm section Marah had burnt through, well then I'd have several hundred million dollars, and probably wouldn't be writing this item about the formerly Philadelphian band who have often made being a fan a frustrating experience over the years.
The latest news is that on the eve of hitting the road to promote their new album Angels of Destruction, Marah have broken in pieces again. The album, which has gotten excellent notices, came out on Jan. 8th. (My review is here , Jon Pareles of the New York Times got a little more excited and said the now Brooklyn based based sound like "Elvis Costello leading the E Street Band.")
So, naturally, just on the cusp of a tour that was supposed to bring the beloved-by-Nick Hornby band back to town to the World Cafe Live on Feb. 8, it's Marah soap opera time again. Due to "personal issues within the band," all U.S. shows have been cancelled. The upshot is that the three faces in the foreground - new keyboardist Christine Smith, along with brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko - are still in. The three guys in the back - Adam Garbinski, Kirk Henderson and Dave Peterson - are out. "Set adrift in a life boat, and I wish them luck," according to a note from Dave Bielanko posted on the band's MySpace page.
The group is in the process of re-forming with new members, who might have cause for concern that they'll have little more job security than a Spinal Tap drummer - and plans to . And according to a statement issued Tuesday, they hope to reschedule U.S. dates later in the year.
It's a Whit Stillman movie, a Rufus Wainwright song, the setting of George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. And oh yeah, the place that Bruce Springsteen: Live in Barcelona, the concert movie that will be up on the big screen at the Bryn Mawr on Wednesday, was filmed in 2002. The date from the Catalan capital was part of The Rising tour with the E Street Band, and was originally shown on MTV in Europe before being released on DVD in 2003.
The one-night-only date at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute is part of a series of high definition screenings of the 2 hour 45 minute concert flick, at old time movie houses across the country, like the Bryn Mawr and the Beach Theater in Cape May. Proceeds go to help underwrite specialty film programming at the theaters. And it's one of many choice music programming options at the Lancaster Avenue theater, which shows operas from La Scala in Milan twice monthly and will be a host theater for the Black Lily Film & Music Festival in February.
As for Live in Barcelona, which I've only seen on the small screen: As I recall, it's a ripping show with a Rising heavy set list, dotted with a few revered oldies such as "She's The One," "Spirit in the Night" and "Incident on 57th Street." And follows the same aging rock star strategy as U2 3D, the Imax concert movie shot in Buenos Aires and other Latin American capitols featuring Bono and the boys that, coincidentally, opens in King of Prussia on Wednesday. That is, film your concert movie in markets outside the U.S. where you have an appreciably younger audience that, despite the language barrier, seems to know all the lyrics to your songs. Thus, you will demonstrate the timeless univerality of your music better than you might if you chose to show celluloid images of beer-bellied baby-boomer American fans singing along to "Thunder Road" or "With or Without You."
Looks like there's going to be a North-South festival showdown in New Jersey this summer, for real. The festival being presented in Liberty State Park in Jersey City by Goldenvoice, the promoters who put on the annual Coachella fest in the California desert each April, now has a name. It's going to be called the All Points West Music & Arts Festival. And it also has dates: August 8-10, which is the same sumer weekend that the Vineland Music Festival is scheduled for in South Jersey. The web site is here.
Also: Coachella, which goes on from April 25-27 in Indio, California, has announced its lineup. Headliners include, Portishead, Love & Rockets, Cafe Tacuba (pictured), M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, Roger Waters, Justice, The Breeders, Stephen Malkmus and Dwight Yoakam, as well as locally connected acts Diplo, Spank Rock, Santogold and Man Man. Tickets go on sale Friday. Details at www.coachella.com.
It seems to be festival announcement week. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has released the lineup for its 39th incarnation, back this year to a full seven days for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. The Fest, which will run from April 25-27 and May 1-4 at the Fairgrounds racetrack, has its share of marquee names to make sure ticket sales are brisk: Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw, Santana, Diana Krall and Widespread Panic among them. But there are plenty of buzz worthies besides, including Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Roots, The Raconteurs, The Bad Plus, Lizz Wright, Randy Newman, Cassandra Wilson, Betty LaVette, Al Green, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint and, glory be, Stevie Wonder.
But as anyone who ever experienced the exquisite delirium of JazzFest knows, it's not about the headliners, so much as the whole Crescent City gestalt, whether it chowing down on crawfish etouffee or stumbling upon Trombone Shorty in a French Quarter club or taking in the Jackson Southernaires in the gospel tent. But I'll stop myself there. I wish I could go every year. Info is here.
As a young black man from Chicago who's called out George Bush as an "American Terrorist" in song, I had Lupe Fiasco pegged as a Barack Obama supporter. But as with most things with Lupe, who's as likely to sing the praises of Foreigner or Astroboy or Max Roach as he is rappers like Too Short or Spice 1, it's a little more complicated than that. (My interview with Fiasco, who plays the Fillmore on Thursday night, is here.)
On the day after Obama's big win over Hillary Clinton in South Carolina last weekend, the Muslim rapper told me he wasn't planning on voting for either of them. That's because Fiasco identifies himself as "a Chomskyite" and like lefty linguist Noam Chomsky, he feels that no individual politician can be the true "agent of change" that both candidates present themselves as. "I don't really care, because I have no faith in the system," he said.
Still, "I've been watching," Fiasco said. "I look at Barack Obama as a very powerful dude. He reminds me of Malcolm X." But Fiasco seemed more impressed by the potential impact of Clinton, should she reach office. "I look at Hillary and I think as a female figurehead, running the most powerful country in the world, what effect that would have on women around the world? Will they stand up? .... That might lead to some sort of renaissance that might be kind of fresh."
Fiasco played a downtown Baltimore club called Sonar after I talked to him at
Sound Garden records in the Fels Point section of town - an excellent shop, by the way, if you ever find yourself in Charm City. Before "American Terrorist," the 25 year old emcee brought the election up, not mentioning that he didn't plan on voting himself. "I like both of them," he said of the Dem duo. "A powerful man, and a powerful lady." But when he mentioned the candidates by name in front of his audience of potential hip-hop voters, the difference in reaction was stark. Obama got whoops, hollers and cheers; Clinton was booed as if she were Terrell Owens at Lincoln Financial Field. There was no question who won that straw poll.
You can see a video for "Us Racers," the Thom Yorke remake by Child Rebel Soldiers, the hip-hop troika of Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams here. Fiasco will be on the road with the Glow In The Dark Tour, with West, Rihanna and William's N.E.R.D. this summer. And the video for "Dumb It Down" from Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, is right here:
