Last night in Tarrytown, Graham Parker and the Rumour, reunited after 30 or so years, opened their new tour, debuting live the material from their new album Three Chords Good, plus a big beautiful pile of old classics. With no aspersions cast on his recent backing band, Saratoga's 2nd finest, The Figgs, seeing him with the Rumour was a revelation. Do yourself a favor and see them perform if you can. I really enjoyed watching these old hands in action.
Boys are back in Town---Tarrytown!
Well despite the title of this blog post, they did not perform Saturday Night is Dead, my lone regret. There were regrets around me that he did not perform "I Want You Back", the Jackson 5 nugget. As much as I love his take on it, with the number of fantastic songs he's penned, it would have felt to me like a novelty song, in all honesty.
Though small in stature, Graham Parker has a huge voice and charisma--he seemed to get bigger and bigger, growing to behemoth size as the night progressed. The band was tight as could be expected after all this time, though collaborating on a new album surely must have helped their timing. Excluding Graham, there were at least three original Rumours, Stephen Goulding on drums, Brinsley Schwarz and Martin Belmont on guitars.
No warmup band. Little disappointed because I'm often surprised about warmups. At Tarrytown I've seen Tift Merritt, John Wesley Harding, Duke Robillard, Cash Brothers, The Acorn, Chris Smither...
Oh, yeah, and Graham Parker.
I saw him in a warmup capacity in Tarrytown, performing solo, supporting his recent album Imaginary Television. Seemed like a real gent, very funny. It was the first time I've seen him live.
He is an artist I've always identified with greatly, loved his songwriting, and emotional soulful singing. And as a young man, all the anger. Seeing him live many years later, I choose not to see him as the artist "formerly known as an Angry Young Man", but rather a mature adult man who merely makes more efficient use of his anger. I'm sure he is aware of the perils of climate change.
Yeah,I couldn't have been happier to see Graham and Co, short of hopping in a time machine back to 1980, which technology we haven't quite worked out yet. I guess what is amazing is that it was the entire Rumour backing him. As I said before Graham was in fine voice, and I was surprised that he played a few songs that occurred between the bookends of the era of the Rumour, and a few from prior which was less surprising. And seeing them live finally, I have to say, Stephen Goulding is a remarkable drummer, incredibly fluid, setting beats in interesting ways. With Andrew Bodnar, a great rhythm section. Martin Belmont was particularly excited to be back, jumping up and down with enthusiasm, which I thought was great. Brinsley Schwarz was also superb,laying down riffs and leads like a consummate pro. Bob Andrews was particulary impressive on keyboards....wish I could play like that.
Though I have not purchase the new album, Three Chords Good, which was released a little over a week ago, what I heard last night impressed me. Maybe not quite on the level of his best work, but there is little to no discernible drop in quality. People were not walking out to use the bathroom or make a phone call during the songs. Probably more like the music prior to Squeezing Out Sparks.
Overall they mixed it up pretty well, promoting the new one plus paying homage to the older material. He started his set with Fool's Gold, saving most of the Squeezing out Sparks material for the second half and the two encores. He played Protection, Passion is no Ordinary Word, Discovering Japan, You Can't Be Too Strong, Local Girls from SOS. Also Don't Ask Me Question, Soul Shoes, from Howling Wind, and Start a Fire from Mona Lisa's Sister.
Rumor has it, the band is featured in the new Judd Apatow comedy This is 40. So this is a big year for Graham Parker. I have to say it was a real blast to see Graham Parker and the Rumour live. Don't pass up the opportunity to see them--You
Won't Regret It!!!!
Well, Black Friday has rolled around once more. The day after Thanksgiving is a day I try to stay away from shops. But here's one thing I finally did today.
I'm a pretty good procrastinator, and people who know me pretty well would concur. But I finally made a small contribution to a good cause. I made a donation to help Bobby Sutliff, an extraordinarily great musician/songwriter, who was once in the Windbreakers with great musician/songwriter Tim Lee.
Here's what happened. From the ChipIn site created on his behalf:
Helping Bobby Sutliff
On Friday, June 15, our friend Bobby Sutliff was involved in a serious single-vehicle accident near his home in Powell, Ohio. He sustained several serious injuries, and as of the 29th was still in the SICU at the Ohio State University hospital. Due to the severity of his wounds, Bobby faces a very long uphill climb to recovery. Fortunately, he has good health insurance through his employer, but faces many months of recuperation, and thus will likely require some very real help with his living expenses and other expenditures.Whether you know Bobby personally or through his music, we request that you donate what you can to help a beloved musician and friend in his time of need.Also, please share this page with your friends. Bobby needs all the assistance he can get. Thank you.
I spoke about this before, but didn't do anything about it myself until this morning. While their are innumerable causes people could donate to (certainly victims of Hurricane Sandy), and there are many people who do not have any disposable income at all that they could spare, I think this is a worthy one.
If you are a fan of the Windbreakers, or have heard some of Bobby's terrific solo albums, I'm sure even a small donation would be greatly appreciated.
Here is a link where you can go to help, if you are so inclined.
If you are in the Atlanta area, be advised that the Rain Parade have reunited to perform a benefit concert to help Bobby. Additionally, the Tim Lee 3 will also be on the bill. January 19th at the Earl.
Sounds like a fantastic show, where you can also contribute to a good cause.
Believe me, I'm as big a slug as the next guy, but for some reason I felt an obligation to at least help a little. It just took me a little longer to do. But I feel a lot better now that I've followed through.
Here's a band that probably ought to be remembered a little better... the Cereal Killers, from the little Westchester burb just due south of CT headquarters.....Scarsdale, NY.......
And finally, some guilty pleasure for the day after Thanksgiving....from Jellyfish...
I can breathe a sigh of relief.... finally. Let's gives props to our Commander in Chief and also to Governor Romney who fought hard right to the end. And of course to all the people who worked hard and the citizens who got out and voted so that their voices were heard.
Luckily I wore my brown pants today---the Presidential race was too close for my comfort.
But I'm happy with the outcome. Short celebration hopefully, because a lot of work remains.
Here are my sentiments as expressed by the great John Cale, one of my all-time favorites artists, the Welsh Godfather of Punk Rock and much more.
As far as pianists in rock and roll go, he is highly esteemed. If you haven't got on board yet, check out Paris 1919, or the Rhino compilation Seducing Down the Door. Or Wrong Way Up, his collaboration with Brian Eno, or Songs for Drella with Lou Reed. And I suppose if you happen to be unfamiliar with his work with the Velvet Underground and the aforementioned sweet Lou, I encourage you to slap yourself, regroup, and check out their first two albums immediately. The Velvets and the Ramones may be the most influential bands in rock since the 60's Mega bands that I need not mention here.
His new album, Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood was just released--it's probably pretty worthy. Haven't got it yet, but I've heard some things. Mostly positive. Still haven't seen him live but I maintain hope that I will step up.
But no battle exists between science and religion--the two most separate spheres of human need. A titanic struggle occurs, always has, always will, between questioning and authority, free inquiry and frozen dogma--but the institutions representing these poles are not science and religion. These struggles occur within each field, not primarily across disciplines. The general ethic of science leads to greater openness, but we have our fossils, often in positions of great power. Organized religion, as an arm of state power so frequently in history, has tended to rigidity--but theologies have also spearheaded social revolution. Official religion has not opposed evolution as a monolith. Many prominent evolutionists have been devout, an many churchmen have place evolution at the center of their personal theologies. Henry War Beecher, America's premier pulpiteer during Darwin's century, defended evolution as God's way in a striking commercial metaphor: "Design by wholesale is grander than design by retail"---better, that is, to ordain general laws of change than to make each species by separate fiat.
The struggle of free inquiry against authority is so central, so pervasive that we need all the help we can get from every side. Inquiring scientists must join hands with questioning theologians if we wish to preserve that most fragile of all reed, liberty itself. If scientists lose their natural allies by casting entire institutions as enemies, and not seeking bonds with soul mates on other paths, then we only make a difficult struggle that much harder.
Hear, hear. Articulately state by one of our great scientific authors, Stephen Jay Gould. I wish he was still alive writing the wonderful essays on evolution he so eloquently wrote for Scientific American. I can't tell how I've enjoyed reading, his essays. The paragraphs from above can be found in the book "Bully for Brontosaurus", a book I could not recommend more highly.
Yeah, it's that time again in America. I'm glad it's all winding down, but I have a lot of anxiety about this one. The election is close---and we need to keep Mr Obama in the hot seat for another term.
I know it's a little late for political jibber-jabber--if you know me I haven't been undecided about our President since he was fighting with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
Re-Paint it Black--My kind of Feng Shui
If the new kid on the block wins, I can only believe that it will be a return to the same old Pre-Obama policies. The old pay to play representation. Those are days I do not care to revisit. For all the rhetoric about Obama being "different" (black) and "European" (foreign), it's interesting to see that the Romney camp's priority is dealing with budget deficits. Austerity programs are actually what they have been reality testing in Europe these days. And it looks like they are achieving the opposite of what they were intending to do. While we can agree that surpluses trump deficits, we need to get the economy go-go cranking first. And anyway, the main difference historically between the Democrats and Republicans is not about spending levels, its about where the money is spent and to who it gets to. Who's your lobbyist, by the way?
You may want to believe Romney has embraced "Compassionate Conservatism" post Republican Primary, but there is a lot of dark money out there being thrown around by some pretty dark souls. Or maybe these high paying billionaire philanthropists just like him a whole lot personally and don't have some substantive post-electoral Letters to Santa this year. If Romney was a car, he would be defined as "pre-owned". As far as stimulus money goes, you can't fix a problem by throwing money at it, as Republicans often have chanted in unison.
Apparently, for this crew, the only reasonable thing you can throw money at are elections.
And I will never forget how these guys used Fear as a manipulative tool so often in the Bush administration. And the divisiveness, which seems to have continued to intensify in the ensuing years. The political ads are getting completely out of hand; with the level of mudslinging, if some of these accusations are true, many of these local politicians would be ineligible for office as, they would currently be felons.
You can give businesses all the tax breaks they want, but if there is no demand companies are not going to suddenly begin to go crazy increasing their payrolls. And quite frankly, all the talk about helping small businesses, things make more sense if you merely substitute the word "big" for small. Yeah, Steve Jobs started a business in his garage, and I imagine Green Day might have also. But if Apple didn't become such a megalith of style and especially commerce, I don't think they would be coming up as a example in the political conversation. And big business and small business often are at odds. What's "good for business" isn't always good for small businesses.
The right keeps trying to blame the recession on government. But the crazy thing is that they are not critical of government policies for the right reasons. They blame government for too much regulation and unless you had your head stuck in a rabbit hole during those years, it was a lack of banking and financial regulations that led to the financial crisis. Yet they are seeking to roll back regulations and to enact policies that would increase the disparity in incomes between the elites and the middle class and poor. And not having sensible regulations in place makes no sense if you purport to be a friend to small businesses, because I don't see how you can compete when the playing fields are becoming so vastly unequal in a deregulated world. That world seems to lead to less competition and more monopoly.
Job creators. I can't argue with that concept--technically businesses do create jobs, so the statement is true. But that is not what the primary goal of a business is; their rationale for existence is to make profits, and not necessarily to create more jobs and not necessarily high paying jobs. It's just a silly ad campaign--if enough apparatchiks shout slogans into a TV camera you attain a level of market penetration through saturation. I don't like hearing it from either side of the political spectrum, like hearing people read robo-form slogans, but the right wing pundits are egregious in their endless repetitiveness. No doubt they are well compensated for their loyalties. I give them credit for being able to stare into a camera and say some of the statements they make with a straight face. It takes a special person indeed.
The bottom line is, I don't have a clue what a Romney Presidency would be like. He speaks with a lot of vagueness and contradiction. I suppose if you believe him enough to buy a car from him, he has provided a blank canvas that we can tag our dreams upon, whether it be economic recovery, or making sure only the deserving folks get stuff and not those unfortunate types the right wingers have little sympathy for, or simply going back to the old unilateralist foreign policy where we impose our own reality in our wake. Who knows for sure? Maybe just fixing the entitlement system by undermining it so that a few people can scrape off a little taste of your retirement and health care.
Of course the canard is that criticizing Romney is attacking success. I don't care about the money---it's what might happen when he is the leader of the free world. Franklin Roosevelt was probably our greatest modern president, and he came from a wealthy background. But he was a very different man than the Republican candidate who hopes to be our next president. For all the attempts to demonize him by his enemies, (those of his day and those who are attempting to rewrite American history for their own self-interested reasons), I know what Roosevelt accomplished, and I know from first hand experience the incredible reverence that the average people who lived through the Depression Era and WWII felt about this man. An extraordinary man who led this country through desperate times. Who helped the downtrodden when America was as low as it had ever been. And what we understand as the American dream has a lot to with policies enacted on his watch and which expanded over the years by Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and even Richard Nixon.
Our current President has had his share of successes in the last four years, but admittedly we are still digging our way out of a recession, one that is global in scope. President Obama inherited a host of these problems, as most fair-minded people would acknowledge. The Republicans have done nothing but stand in the way of passing legislation to help us out of this crisis, essentially taking compromise off the table. And they hope to benefit in this election by refusing to do anything in the midst of the tremendous financial hardship many Americans have had to struggle with. Maybe to them the word consensus is merely a high falootin' liberal university synonym for Socialism.
So I heartily endorse President Obama. He has earned another four years in my estimation. Sure, I wish more things could have been done on his watch, but I think the next four years will be a boon to America, that is, if a plurality of voters happens to agree with me. Believe me, there is no disappointment, and I feel nothing but pride. And our President has once again stepped up and demonstrated his leadership during this terrible Hurricane. There is a lot of work to do, but we need a President who will roll of his sleeves and tackle these problems with directness and purpose, intelligence and competence. And fight for everyone. And make the world a better safer place. To me the choice is clear in 2012. I think we are beginning to turn the corner and we need President Obama's leadership to get us to where we need to be as Country. After four more years of dedicated stewardship I truly believe he will be remembered historically as one of our greatest presidents.
But whatever your political leanings are, get out and vote. Your vote does mean something and its part of being a good citizen!
I leave you with a little bit of great wisdom to ponder from one of my favorite musicians/activists.
