The National @ Beacon Theater (Or Part 1in an On-going Joke of How Elwood Is No Longer With It)

The National; So Percussion
@ Beacon Theater
New York, NY - December 14, 2011

Sure I could write about how the National have AMPED up. How they are more of a full-on rock band than ever before without actually changing their songs or their sound. How they are now halfway to being a rock spectacle like their old forerunners the Arcade Fire. How Padma and Doveman weren't there but the horn section is a permanent component of the band. How Berninger was as playfully fun as he's ever been (A Dessner mess-up to the opening of "Fake Empire" prompted a faux "WHAT THE FUCK!" that I found endlessly hilarious for reasons I am still unclear on). And how they do not forget their Fine Arts-y affiliations (witness the Steve Reich-playing Blue Man Group/Stomp for the Caviar set opener called So Percussion).
But nah. Let's talk about me! It's the Internet, you know.

It wasn't that long ago that seeing the National was regular "Pennypacker-on-the-town" business. I was the first person through the door at Terminal 5 when they christened it. I was at the great BAM shows. Etc. Etc. The National were (and still are) part of my elite favorites that I go to on a regular listening basis when nothing else will suffice (you know the crew - the Hold Steady, Metric, and my beloved misfit Dirtbombs). But that's just it. The National were (are) part of the last wave of bands-of-the-moment that I attached myself to. I've been musically stuck in 2007, 2008 for all these years. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have been great. Grinderman/Nick Cave and Tom Waits have been the most exciting musical stories to me of late. See my upcoming Year in Review for more on the few new bands and much older bands that Pennypacker has been listening to.

I spent more time listening to the Replacements this year than any other band.
This is why this blog is no longer relevant.

But that's OK.

I didn't mean for this to happen. I meant to stay hip and cutting edge for a long time. I've already blamed myself and others (bad concert audiences, the Chillwave scene) for this as being a problem. But maybe it isn't a problem. Maybe it's perfectly reasonable stasis. There is nothing wrong with a band like the National being part of the apex, the climax, the ne plus ultra, of a music-learning life. Especially if part of the change is life around you.

The National, maybe more than any other band in the Pennypacker Trust, provide a soundtrack. Matt Berninger's seemingly non-sensical but probing lyrics have the right kind of mature ambiguity to narrate that time you went to a party and felt out of place (or worse, went to a party and felt completely IN place!), the time you went to buy a dryer with your girlfriend's mother, the time you told your friend about having this exact kind of pretentious meta-conversation with yourself and share it on an obscure slice of the Internet. And of course the soundtrack for when they don't have Ewephoria cheese at Fairway and you belt out a Berninger-style "WHAT THE FUCK!".
So this review should not serve as a final goodbye letter to Pennypacker the Schmuck Who Likes Rock n Roll. But it looks like it is the final goodbye to Pennypacker the Schmuck Who Thinks He Can Tell You Which Band to See Right Now. You're on your own. Good luck.

Deniz Tek; Ivan Julian @ the Bell House

Deniz Tek; Ivan Julian
@ the Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - August 26, 2011

Why is punk rock n roll so good? I don't know. Well I do. But for tonight, let's just say the reason is that punk rock fears not an impending hurricane. It was Good Night, Irene at the Bell House as first Voidoid Ivan Julian and then Radio Birdman Deniz Tek, the Iceman himself, gave this tropical storm the middle finger. Ivan Julian ran the gamut of punk rock, shuffling his boots through the classic approach as well as through some blues, country, and that No Wave Blank Generation vibe (yes, that song was played). Deniz Tek didn't mess around, slashing between punk rock and some sludgy blues, backed by some pomade-happy, tatooed-up twins with some extra help by Keith from the Fuzztones. The "New Race" ending was smashing.

And in the ultimate expression of why it's ok to be a punk rock elitist: There were more people in the front bar at the 80's dance party (few if any of the participants appeared to be old enough to remember the 80's) than there were in the back room for the gig. These bubble gumming yuppie hipsters had no idea who exactly was back there. You know what? That's OK.

Tommy Stinson @ Bowery Electric

Tommy Stinson; the Jay Vons
@ Bowery Electric
New York, NY - August 25, 2011

Someone shouted out "Replacements!" when Tommy Stinson speculated on what to play next. His response was as follows: "I will forever be. But I will never play again. Unless Paul decides he wants to have fun again maybe." And that's all there is to say about that.

I mean...I could take this opportunity to write about my long winding come-around to loving the music of the Replacements in the last couple of years. How I only liked a few songs for a good while but liked them more as an idea, as more than the sum of their parts. And that only in the last few months have I finally gone over and decided that the entire catalog is actually worth a damn. But whatever...that's just what someone, somewhere would want me to do and in true 'mats fashion, I'll do something else instead.

Tommy Stinson played his solo work, wrapping up his residency at Jesse Malin's Bowery Electric. After years of Minnesota nice, classic rock upbringing, 80's non-stardom, his own post-non-stardom project, and an addendum in Los Angeles that has included something that used to be Guns n Roses, the result is a very-understandable, easy-to-like, sound. Tommy Stinson is just a guy that wants to play nice sounding rock music. And he succeeds. He has an able voice to go with the reserve of hooks and melodies. There's a nice run of across-the-board rock, not surprisingly absorbing country and blues in its essence. And the backing band, assembled for the residency, may as well have been his full time band.

The Jay Vons are a local soul-garage band that made me nostalgic not for the era of music they play (I can't be nostalgic for that, I wasn't born yet), but for about 5 to 10 years ago when this kind of retro-fitting rock n roll was all the rage. Before the 80's synths and the bearded folkies came back full blown, there was a lot of this going on. And it was up my alley. Boy howdy. To fit in with today's crowds, the Jay Vons have a guy with a mighty beard on the order of Garth Hudson or a Winter brother. But they don't need to fit in. They need to keep doing what they are doing.

Cheap Trick @ Coney Island

Cheap Trick
@ Coney Island
August 18, 2011

Cheap Trick is often a duality, a yin-yang unto itself. Back in the day, they were both a pretty-boy-pop-band and a classic rock n roll phenom. In the later years, this translated to being both a perceived-has-been-relic and a reliable-still-damn-cool-almost-punk-in-their-spirit legend. And let's not forget the time they did a hair band ballad better than any hair band could muster on their best day ("The Flame").

I used to hate this band. "I Want You to Want Me" was ruined for me by smug, suburban assholes of America. This was all I knew. Then in 2003, "Scent of a Woman" was released. Who would have thunk that not only did Cheap Trick make a song of the year, they made a song of my life? To this day and beyond, that recording will be one of perennial favorites. When that broke, I had no choice but to give the band a second chance. And it worked. They even made That 70's Show tolerable.

That duality remains. This is a band arrogant enough to come out on stage to the tune of their own music, but also a band humble enough to come out to the audio of all of the references made to the band on The Simpsons.

Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen hide behind sunglasses at night and their usual off-kilter fashion senses. Nevertheless, the pretension drops when the riffs wail, and the band pumps rock n roll like "Rocket '88" never went out of style.

Now a dose of reality: the truth on this August night is that Cheap Trick is freaked out. We nearly lost them at a storm-caused stage collapse last month in Ottawa. They made no bones about that in this abridged set, still feeling it from that incident (and not helped by last weekend's deadly stage collapse in Indiana and today's deadly stage collapse at Pukklepop in Belgium). "Union rules" caused the storm-threatened show to cut short (and there was no opener to boot because of the storms) but I gathered from Zander's emotional distance and Nielsen's "make the best of it" earnestness, that the band was a bit rattled. Also, no Bun E. Carlos on the drums. That doesn't help (not that Nielsen's son Daxx is a slouch). I briefly worried Bun was still in Tinted Windows. Someone assure me that is not the case.

So only a handful of songs. But there's that Cheap Trick duality. It wouldn't surprise me as I walked away that the band would come back for a full set. They are that kind of band. They always have been.

U2 @ New Meadowlands Stadium

U2
@ New Meadowlands Stadium
East Rutherford, NJ - July 20, 2011

On this date in 1969, man stepped onto the Moon. It's all been underwhelming since then. July 21, 2011 marks the end of the American space program as a leading national endeavor. U2 appears to be aware of this. They took the occasion to make a more space-oriented version of their on-going 360 tour. Expanding the use of Bowie's "Space Oddity" throughout the show, there was a definite theme of interstellar exploration mixed in with the usual array of good-cause-down-your-throat Bonoism (now under the philosophical heading of "What time is it in the world?"). The NASA lover in me was moved when "Beautiful Day" was set-up by a message from Mark Kelly, NASA Commander, and husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Despite both Bono's mistitling of the man's recent role in Space,and despite his creepy similarity to Terry O'Quinn (John Locke) from Lost, it was unnervingly dramatic. Hearing a real life space commander whose wife was nearly killed by a deranged maniac say "tell my wife I love her very much, she knows" was a Kubrickian/Adamsian (as in Douglas) moment of seriously absurdly wonderful proportions (I'm getting a little choked up just retelling it).

Besides Bowie, many others were honored by Bono and the boys. Springsteen (and Clarence of course), and Sinatra, per the Jersey rule, were cited and quoted. Talking Heads and Leonard Cohen also made the grade. And in the "I'll-never-actually-dislike-these-guys" moment of rock n roll for the night, Bono read out the setlist from a show at the Fast Lane in Asbury Park, a gig some 30 years ago. U2 ended the show with their very first single, as they played it at the Fast Lane, "Out of Control". The fact that for all the spectacle, all the causes, the mission statement and agenda of this NGO called U2, they still remember being four semi-punky Irish lads hopping the pond to play the swamps of Jersey, is endearing beyond anything I could normally stomach. Exceptions can be made.

Adam and Larry never seem happier than when they are doing those early songs. Hell, Bono and Edge never seem happier too for that matter, but they also rely on the big later hits and everything else to get by. I still can't explain though that house remix of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight". I don't know what any of them are thinking. (No more disco U2 heads on the screen please).

Almost 10 years ago, in the ass of the Philadelphia Spectrum, Bono looked at me and kicked a cup at me (this is not some cleaned-up recreation of the scene in American Psycho). He's not the only one for nostalgia and memories. They may be doing Spider-Man Broadway shows, they may be a never-depleted source of Human Rights Campaigns, they may be the most un-rock biggest rock band in the world to still be a rock band, but after all that - they really are just a bunch of Irish guys who kick cups at their fans. That's good enough for me. That and Interstellar Space Exploration.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts @ Coney Island

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts; Girl in a Coma
@ Coney Island
Brooklyn, NY - July 14, 2011

You wouldn't think it going in, but the Battle of Brooklyn played itself out at the free Joan Jett concert in Coney Island. After 32 years in a nice park, Borough President Marty Markowitz's concert series had to relocate to a concrete parking lot to appease angry locals of a religious sort. But now the concert series basks in the glory of the Parachute Jump, and the new ball park, and the landmarked Childs restaurant, and all the back-and-forth of the Warriors' old playground. A gallery of old natives, Pratt school hipsters, over-the-hill tramps drunkenly cursing out Marty, washed-up scuzz, and plain ol' families populated the parking lot. When an old native put his finger into the face of a phoning-it-in fake gutterpunk blocking his view and cramping his space, I thought Do The Right Thing 2011 Edition was about to break out.

Marty Markowitz himself helped showcase the disconnect in New York's multi-cultural melange when (among other things he's done over the last couple of years) he introduced "Rick Russo" from "WRKP" when he actually meant RicH Russo from WRXP which, unknown to Marty, was going off air this very day. The bittersweet mood from those who knew of the demise of the last non-classic rock station on the main dial in New York, emanated from the crowd. Who would sing up for those without a voice? Who would release the battle cry of those who like their rock n roll pure, independent, spirited, and unadulterated? Joan Jett, that's who.

Though she was friendly and even (sort of) sweet, Joan Jett, at 53 - in studded leather attire - is still intimidating. With her ice black hair, iron arms, working class accent, and of course her domination of all-things rock n roll, she is still a force to be reckoned with, even if the Blackhearts play a little bit slower than their heyday.

The open secret of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts is that they are, in some respects, a covers band. They pay tribute to those before and along side of them. But Joan's ability to make songs her own quickly makes one forget that tidbit. With exceptions like "Bad Reputation" (the opener tonight), "I Hate Myself For Loving You" (the closer tonight), and "Love is Pain", it certainly seems that most of the canon is indeed from a canon. Even "I Love Rock n Roll", her anthem that has Joan in the rock n roll history books, is a cover of the band Arrows. Songs spanning the history of rock n roll - Sly and the Family Stone, Tommy James and the Shondells, the Stooges, the Sweet, the Replacements - all re-done and made anew by Joan Jett. And for good measure, she threw a couple of Runaways songs in there too.

When all was said and done, Joan Jett tore Coney Island up. There was a peace because of it. And a realization. The Battle of Brooklyn is on going but at least we're all in the fight together.

Girl in a Coma, the band named after Morrissey song, who I once saw open for Moz, and on the Blackhearts label, are exactly as I remember: well-meaning but just not doing anything for me.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists; Screaming Females @ South Street Seaport

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists; Screaming Females
@ South Street Seaport
New York, NY - July 9, 2011

Exactly 51 weeks ago, in-what-proved-to-be the last Siren festival at Coney Island, the collective mind of a couple thousand people was blown away by several bands. Yours truly had his slice of the overmind utterly wiped out by two acts - Screaming Females and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. Marissa from Screaming Females helped Ted Leo at one point during his set, proving that the chemistry was in the air. That certainly proved to be the case as now, a year later, the bands are back together, once again under the flag of the Village Voice.

Forgetting the insult that this bill was the "kick-off show" to the new, Seaport-based 4Knots Festival of July 16 (Ted Leo is no pre-show show! Ted Leo IS the show!), the bands so thoroughly slayed the mix of hipsters, rockers, and tourists, they no doubt will prove to have outshone the coming roster on Saturday.

Screaming Females' devotion to 70's rock and Dinosaur Jr-inspired revivalism of that sound, make for mongo riffs and shred of the highest order, with a gift ribbon of Marissa's Corin Tucker-heavy vocals (with occasional screaming).

What can I say about Ted Leo? It's been a long time coming. Ten years after his first Pharmacists-record, The Tyranny of Distance, yours truly is finally appreciating what this dude has been slinging. To demonstrate what I had been lacking for so long before last year's monster set, Ted played all of the Tyranny record between some select rockers, and wrapped it all up with "Where Was My Brain?", two and a half killer minutes from his last triumph, The Brutalist Bricks.

Did I mention these bands are from Jersey? Uh oh...this Jersey thing I've been hearing about...man, don't make me like Jersey man...uh oh....too late?

The Dirtbombs; Dennis Coffey @ The Bell House

The Dirtbombs; Dennis Coffey; the Step Kids
@ The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - June 4, 2011

Remember when the Dirtbombs played New York every few months? Yes those were indeed the days. Certainly those were the days for this particular publication. But nowadays the Dirtbombs come around only ever so often. Here came that sound again, but affixed to a new record, a techno-covers LP called Party Store and a new bass player, Chris Sutton, thereby creating Line-Up Number 20.
The first half hour of the set was devoted to the new, and admittedly challenging, record. The conversion of digital music to analog instrumentation is an impressive feat to pull off but if this isn't your thing then it can wear on you. The second half of the show was, at Mick called it to the crowd, "the hits". A quick mix of songs from the other LP's and their treasure trove of singles - driven forcefully by both the change-up from playing Party Store and the long time since the last time playing live - felt very, very right.


Mick smiling about something as the Dirtbombs return to Brooklyn (maybe it was being subject of the first Sonic Parthenon-taken photo at a concert in several years).

Motor City session man Dennis Coffey played some very cruising funk, soul, and jam Jazz with his large band. Made for driving a big car down a big avenue and cool all the way. This is not a style of music I hear live very often but it's certainly something to love each time.

The Step Kids out of Connecticut play some tripped-out psych soul and funk, aided by visual effects. The more sludgey stuff wasn't for me but the faster and more pop stuff reminded me of a good night on the old Soul Train with Don Cornelius.

The Thermals @ le Poisson Rouge

The Thermals
@ le Poisson Rouge
New York, NY - May 5, 2011

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since I first/last saw the Thermals live, when they opened for Sleater-Kinney. It's hard to believe that the Thermals have been a going concern for over 7 years and have as many as albums as they do. It seems like only yesterday they were young punk kids turning heads. They certainly still look the part - though they do play insanely well together as should be expected after all this time. And they're still turning heads because of it.

If the tight, fierce playing wasn't enough, the fantastically named Hutch Harris drives through the vocals with an off-kilter, discordant tone that nevertheless sounds like pop finesse. My show-going buddy Jason said Hutch sounds like John Darnielle, which is practically a revelation yet also makes perfect sense. That Mountain Goats-meets-Ramones, Nirvana-meets-the Buzzcocks mix also explains how the Thermals come from the Northwest, but specifically Portland, and plant their flag as Portland's truest hard rocking band.

"A Stare Like Yours", "St. Rosa and the Swallows", and "Now We Can See", three tracks from three different Thermals albums, as played live, show a steady devotion to the band's sound but also an evolution from their wound-up punk to pop (without ever sounding like a "pop-punk" band, as that label is exampled).

7 years. Woah daddy.

The Joy Formidable; The Lonely Forest @ Webster Hall

The Joy Formidable; The Lonely Forest
@ Webster Hall
New York, NY - April 29, 2011

Going by my Ipod and the history it contains, it appears I listened to a song called "Whirring" by a band called the Joy Formidable in January of 2010 and didn't think much of it. About 4 or 5 months later, I heard it again and thought it one of the greatest songs of the year. Now all these months later, I finally saw the Welsh band on their second big headlining tour in a year, on the march upward, and now equipped with a new LP, The Big Roar, that includes a more epochal version of "Whirring". The new version is more in keeping with the live sound alluded to on A Balloon Called Moaning.

The Joy Formidable are fans of, and masters of, intense, thundering, crashing riffs. Headbanging, fist pumping, crazed jumping riffs. A little grunge, a little Brit 90's, a little arena. But to get there and back, they obsess over long build-ups and send-offs, that showcase their unquestionable talent and ability to keep pace with each other. But the trade off for showcasing this skill to the degree that they do it, leads to "OK already where's the riff, where's the next song" questioning.

The songs other than "Whirring" include a couple of stand-outs, namely "Cradle" but nothing has yet to imitate or recast the unnerving power of "Whirring". But having a gong on stage helps (a gong amidst a strange set-up of furniture and a couch and lamps, and Chinese cats, including a blow-up cat brought out during "Whirring").

The Lonely Forest, out of Anacortes, Washington, have been on my radar for a couple of months now because of their song "Coyote". As it turns out, the Lonely Forest are everything that song hints at. They share with the Joy Formidable a love of the thundering riffs but the Lonely Forest care more to create pop songs with that love. Considering they come from the very tip of the Northwest, and considering their age, there is a healthy respectful ode to some of that Northwest sound we've come to known over the years but combined with some Buddy Holly style machismo to go with it. There is terrific songwriting at work here and the kind of talent it takes to convey it. This is a band to keep an eye on for the long haul.

The Blasters; Robert Gordon @ The Bell House

The Blasters; Robert Gordon
@ The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - March 12, 2011

No one did it better than the Blasters - brothers Phil and Dave Alvin brought back pure, unadulterated, and original 1950's rock n roll in 1980's California. Phil Alvin continues to smile that big demented Bob's Big Boy-esque grin as he leads the Blasters in their latest go-round. Phil's voice is mostly unchanged from the glory days and the band is as crackin' as on those perfect records of old. Kicking off with a power chugging of "Dark Knight" and making their way through "Border Radio", "Marie, Marie", "So Long Baby Goodbye" (a few minutes of some of the greatest stuff ever made), and a batch of other boogie woogie bops before wrapping it up with "American Music", the Blasters prove to still be something of a lost treasure, a slice of Americana only known to a select few. The glorious pity of it all.

Robert Gordon's slick, veteran rockabilly voice was so classical that he almost made it seem too easy. Playing from the great rock n roll songbook, this old silvering fox crooned his way through his set backed by an able band.

Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt @ Beacon Theater

Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt
@ Beacon Theater
New York, NY - January 22, 2011

When I was in college about ten years ago, and I began my massive expansion of music exploration through the Internet, I rather quickly got into the catalogs of both Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt. Even when the middle of the last decade centered almost exclusively on ear splitting feedbacking whiskey-drenched jams, I still set aside time for a helpin' of "That's Right You're Not From Texas" or "Etheleyne". I was especially drawn to Hiatt over the years due to his ability to cross over from country and singer-songwriter territory into straight out rock n roll. And even as late as last year, he was STILL putting out songs to be eaten up like "The Open Road".

So this bill was a sort of dream ticket long coming, even though it was a special acoustic set-up and not two full bands with dedicated sets. The fellas made the Beacon feel rather intimate as they traded songs, helped each other out a bit, and fed each other stories and questions. If this had been at Rockwood Music Hall or the Mercury Lounge, this would have been nothing short of perfect. Nevertheless, hearing songs like "L.A. County" and "Drive South" stripped down to their essence at the Beacon was something very special.

It had an unscripted feel to it despite this being a semi-regular tour for these two. An overzealous fan's throwing out of "perfectly good" during a discussion on guitars led to Hiatt choosing to play his imperial "Perfectly Good Guitar". The story highlight of the night also stemmed from a shout-out: it came in the form of Lovett's "Fat Babies", a ridiculous mock-folk song from early in his career that he used in Houston clubs to trick folkies into singing with him.

Though I hadn't given these guys much fanfare in the last few years (despite Hiatt's continued output), this needed to be - another rite of passage. A few weeks ago, hearing "She's No Lady" coming over the PA while waiting for cold cuts, sent me into a small jig, scaring the shoppers around me. This music still speaks.

Shwa Losben; Bryan Dunn; Luke Wesley @ Rockwood Music Hall

Shwa Losben; Bryan Dunn; Luke Wesley
@ Rockwood Music Hall
New York, NY - January 13, 2010

A friend of Pennypacker decided to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her expunging from the womb with some old friends including a trio of musicians and their cohorts well known around here. Shwa did a version of "So Cry" that gave this old black heart the chills. Bryan Dunn, who I last saw perform at the final reviewed gig of 2009, took part in the first reviewed gig of 2011 with his usual array of impeccably crafted tunes. And I was finally introduced to the work of Luke Wesley who has the same instinct to make these sharp, savvy songs. An inserted cover of Cohen's "Hallelujah" was an added benefit.

But don't let these nice fellas fool you. There is rock n roll punk danger here. After all, who else could bring on a RAID BY THE NYPD?! OK it wasn't a raid. It was a mere regulatory building inspection. But the unit was led by a well manicured man in a wide-brimmed fedora and trench coat (I shit you not on this people). So it COULD have been dangerous, dangerous circa 1946.

If you read this blog regularly, you know there's been a little whining around here lately about a dearth of excitement on the concert calendar. This is what happens when you get spoiled. And it's very easy to get spoiled in New York where on seemingly any night of the week you can find guys like these guys (and plenty of gals too) doing what they do. Sometimes the hack that writes this blog needs a reality check and needs to be reminded of what he's got right here in front of him in the Big Apple. And what better way to get that dose of medicine? Playing these artists on The Sonic Parthenon Show. THAT'S RIGHT, WE'RE PLUGGING! Shwa, Bryan, Luke, and the rest of New York's best and brightest will be heard on Pennypacker's trampling of all things internet radio streaming in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Grinderman @ Best Buy Theater

Grinderman; Armen Ra
@ Best Buy Theater
New York, NY - November 14, 2010

Grinderman can best be described in the moment in which Nick Cave casually threw his tambourine behind him in a moment of rock n roll swagger...only to have that tambourine thwack Warren Ellis right in his face. That lovingly hilarious half-assed cockrockery encapsulates this glorious side project, the Id of the Bad Seeds that first reared its serpentine head in 2007. Back then, Grinderman only appeared at shows in New York and San Francisco. This time, in support of their album sequel, they are embarking on an actual tour and they began their American Sojourn back in the city where they stole the show out from under the White Stripes all those years ago.

The bawdy, delirious, rantings of Cave, combined with the tomfoolery of Ellis - who presumably is holding a family hostage in some Outback shack - and driven by the punk speed thundering of Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos - make for the fittingly disjointed, incongruous, malcontented sounds of Grinderman. Ellis is screaming "Evil" from the floor while Sclavunos is murdering his drums. Cave is changing (or forgetting - as middle aged men are known to do) his lyrics while Casey...well...while Casey discovers his new found beard.

The new record has a sense of epic about it - "Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man", "Worm Tamer", and "Evil" sound big. Live, these songs were quick, bashed, and thrown at the audience. The same treatment was given to songs from the first record - "Get It On", "No Pussy Blues", "Grinderman", "When My Love Comes Down to Meet You" and "Love Bomb". But just when it seemed that Cave and co. were going to level you to the ground, they take "Palaces of Montezuma" and give it the Lanois/Eno-ish mystique (as in Joshua Tree) and prop up the extra cut "My Daddy is an Astronaut" with a shocking sense of grace - the kind of grace that adds a severe twist to the work of the Bad Seeds - the grace that keeps Nick from going back to the Birthday Party.

Armen Ra played the theremin for a half hour. He was the first act that I witnessed get heckled in quite a while. But then he played the theme from The Godfather and that seemed to appease the ruffled.

The Hold Steady @ Beacon Theater

The Hold Steady; Wintersleep
@ Beacon Theater
New York, NY - October 7, 2010

During "Little Hoodrat Friend", Craig remarked how it has now been ten years since he first moved to New York at the age of 29 to work in an office. Then he got tired of that and got into a rock n roll band. How nice. Pennypacker is facing down the barrel of the 30 gun these days and not only works in an office, he's entrenched in it. In fact, the Hold Steady had no idea that their debut at the Beacon (which incidentally was also Pennypacker's debut, a shande considering all the years) was also the send-off show for Pennypacker's trip to London (itself unprecedented). A vacation well earned from all the toiling and travails. And it's a job based in the fact that there are a lot of people out there, not working, not as lucky as a Craig Finn or an Elwood D. Heck, Pennypacker is so lucky - his girlfriend is packing his suitcase for him right now.

So yes there was a gig, sorry about that. The sound at the Beacon was a little off for the boys. They sounded like they were coming out of a treble-less radio. Like an old FM transistor. But they played well of course. Tad now shreds on just about any song. And in the great Hold Steady tradition of never giving up on the back catalog, "You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came With)" and "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night" were home runs (meanwhile poor Craig's Twins were getting beaten by Pennypacker's Yankees).

It was also pointed to out Pennypacker that he blended right in with the crowd, a rare but increasingly common occurence. A bunch of stiffs - of all ages but generally around his - watching a bunch of guys living the dream. Uh oh - this may be adulthood. And this is our Springsteen.

Wintersleep fared much better with the Beacon acoustics but their music would have been more fitting with a headliner like David Gray or the Killers. Pennypacker nearly fell asleep. Not the boys' fault. Just after a hard day's work, and enthused by the very adult prospect of a cushioned seat, it was unavoidable.

Metric @ Juicy Couture

Metric
@ Juicy Couture
New York, NY - September 10, 2010

In the weirdest fucking gig I've ever been to, Metric took part in Fashion Week's second annual Fashion Night Out in which fashion houses put on events like this. Emily and Mr. S did "Gimme Sympathy", "Twilight Galaxy", and the Strokes' "The End Has No End" in a simple piano/acoustic set-up in the back of the store. At first it seemed like nobody was going to be there for this thing, everyone else milling about the clothes while boys in eye pink served glasses of champagne. But suddenly the placed flooded moments before the duo took the stage. Where did these people come from? How did they time it so right? No matter. A fake stuffed-fox wore a beret and a I stood next to Emily Haines while she played piano. Something like that is unlikely to ever happen again.

The Wedding Present; Savoir Adore @ South Street Seaport

The Wedding Present; Savoir Adore
@ South Street Seaport
New York, NY - August 13, 2010

Admittedly, up until a month or two ago, I had never heard of the Wedding Present but was taken with a radio performance they did. I made no effort to brush up, get acquainted, or do anything else in the build-up to this performance so I have no knowledge of the band except that their well-received record Bizarro was released 21 years ago. I cannot even begin to fake any sort of context for the band, or the review. Except to say that I had a great time watching band that seems to have straddled the point in between early 80's power pop and today's jangly slightly distorted plethora of bands. In other words, they seem to come from exactly the period that they did. And they know their place. The lead singer (whose name I just learned moments ago is David Gedge) said after one song, "I'd like to see the XX write a song like that." Ouch.

I only caught the last couple of songs by Savoir Adore but they sounded as sweetly fine tuned as they did at CMJ last year. The kids are on the move.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings; The Budos Band @ Prospect Park

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings; The Budos Band
@ Prospect Park
Brooklyn, NY - August 7, 2010

I didn't catch much of this show because it was insanely crowded and you had to get there early so there was a lot of walking around the area between the bands performances. But I did catch something, a bit of insight: Sharon Jones is worth it. Sometimes, with the Dap Kings records, I get a little "ahhhh it's nice but ehhhh it's a bit dry and toooo much like the great vintage soul it wants to be but not always with that oomph and baaaaaah....". Forget all that. She's great. And this is how soul is meant to sound. You know - New York is not the kind of place that needs to rely on that "hey a local boy/girl made good!" mentality that The Real America has because this city doesn't have a chip on its shoulder or that boonies/sticks way of life. But in the case of Sharon Jones, it's irresistible to say. The former Rikers Island corrections officer really is a remarkable story of success and how sweet it is.

The Budos Band alternated between a great soul/funk wham and a lengthy psychedelic jam. They should have stuck to the former.

CORRECTED: Metric; Joan as Police Woman; Holly Miranda @ Prospect Park

Metric; Joan as Police Woman; Holly Miranda
@ Prospect Park
Brooklyn, NY - August 5, 2010

Mammoth Correction (August 10th, 2010) - You know why "Eclipse" sounded so much better live than on the record? Because it wasn't "Eclipse"! It was the great song "Black Sheep" from the upcoming and less derision-inducing looking Scott Pilgrim film, thereby making all of my oh-so-witty slams about Twilight completely irrelevant. They didn't even play that damn song. Goes to show what I know when I listen to things one or two times in this mp3-of-the-moment world. And for further ass-kicking, I'm not even entirely confident that they didn't play "Black Sheep" as the kick off at the Terminal 5 show. And what really hurts is that I went back and listened to "Eclipse" after the concert to see if that really is what I heard because I had only heard the song once before. I totally forgot about the OTHER NEW SONG that I had only listened to once but actually liked. But "actually liked" still only counts for one or two listenings in this don't-have-time-to-actually-love-music-gotta-blog-about-it-fast-though 21st century life (see "mp3-of-the-moment" lament above). So the original opening paragraph of the review is modified below. Apologies to the band, apologies to "Black Sheep", and thanks to the Brooklyn Vegan commenters who pointed out a clear bone headed mistake.

Amended review follows:

Metric played pretty much the exact same set (shaved a song or two) in the exact same way as they did at Terminal 5 a few months ago but with I think two big differences.The first was they kicked off with "Black Sheep" - the imposing single from the upcoming film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - NOT the song "Eclipse (All Yours)" - their single from the Twilight soundtrack, which is nevertheless still some big deal with a lot of people (and despite my original error, I still wouldn't know, because I refuse to watch anything in which vampires sparkle in the sun instead of burn - why should my lack of ability as a hack writer get in the way of protecting sound vampire logic?).

"Black Sheep" of course makes sense as a kick off because it fits right into the Metric mold. The other big - and for sure - difference was the band sounded better as a whole in the open air of Prospect Park than they did at the acoustic horror of Terminal 5. Same band, same performance, better venue = the awesome thunder of Metric in full display. And I thought they actually sounded fine at Terminal 5 which goes to show how bad Terminal 5 really is.

I was still reeling from Shaw's solo in "Gold Guns Girls" from the last time and now he's done it again, and now I don't know if I'll recover for the rest of the year.

Emily Haines was having almost too good a time. During the acoustic "Combat Baby" finale, she got distracted by people posturing and being silly in the crowd. But this is her way. The band may have a tight, ultra professional big time production value but they are still people just having fun playing some music. A few weeks ago she used this thing called The Twitter (another big deal I don't quite get), and wrote how it was 2 in the morning and she was sitting across from two big time rock star guys having a conversation and it was one of THOSE oh-my-god-we've-made-it moments. No ego. None. Someone tell that to the two guys having the conversation.

While the open air worked in Metric's favor, it actually backfired against the opening acts. Joan Wasser's shows have been reviewed here before and they've been great. Tonight not so much. A little too meandering for the confines. And she's tired of "To Be Loved"? Really? Holly Miranda played one perfect beautiful soul song (Otis cover?) and a whole bunch of serious alt pop that got lost in the crowd. Both acts would have sounded better in a small club.

The Gories; Death @ Lincoln Center

The Gories; Death
@ Lincoln Center
New York, NY - July 31, 2010

Well this was an odd one. A heady mix of punks young and old and aristocratic Lincoln Center patrons who shushed those punks and told them to sit down came out for the first half of the second half of the Ponderosa Stomp at Lincoln Center's Out of Doors festival at the bandshell shaped like a split-open pearl onion. This year's theme was "Detroit Breakdown" courtesy of some little old man from Lincoln Center and a jew-fro'd Motor City connoisseur named Dr. Ike. I am not making any of this up. This is not a scene in a Pynchon short.

By all rights and merits, I should be flipping my lid and doing a dance across I-80. During the Detroit Craze, there were two bands that existed some 10-15 years before that were constantly cited as the direct roots of all that was happening at that time. One of those bands were Goober & The Peas. The other were the Gories, the band that would eventually give us the Dirtbombs, the Demolition Doll Rods, and a thousand bastard sons of the Motor City garage rock scene. Both bands have reunited. If this was 2003, 4, 5, even 6, I'd be doing the curly shuffle. Instead I am merely giddy on the inside, full of nostalgia for that nostalgia of a few years ago. By coincidental aid, I recently read the trip down memory lane called We Never Learn, written by Eric Davidson of the New Bomb Turks. It paid heavy focus on the Gories, (and a little bit at the end about the retro garage craze of the early 2000's which was were I came in). I noticed Mr. Davidson in the crowd but didn't get the opportunity to tell him he wrote a good book which shares another certain writer's penchant for run-on sentences and over-the-top descriptions of rock bands.

So this is what those Gories records would sound like if they knew how to play their instruments better! Hitting the notes (all two of 'em), tight and crisp, full of that same energy and raw power but with a deference to professionalism . Hopefully, it still offended the ears of the resident patrons. But only if they knew how it once could have been - a loud, sloppy, stain-your-dress mess. It's nice to see Dan Kroha perform in actual clothes (red shirt with white polka-dots do make the man). It's nice to finally see in action the mysterious, long heard about Peg O'Neil, whose drumming style and stage presence caused some in the crowd around me to observe that she was reminiscent of a another former Detroit resident who drummed in a simple garage band. Of course that drummer arrived well after Peg left the scene so this was a chance to see how that whole puzzle came together. And of course, it's nice to see Mick Collins period.
This was a real treat. "Thunderbird ESQ" and "Nitroglycerin" LIVE and by the band who made those songs. Mick singing the blues - THE BLUES! MICK! I'd never thought I'd see the day. And while all the memories of that time flowed back (not the original time of the Gories but the time in which they were remembered), it didn't feel like a nostalgia show. It felt immediate. It felt like some things were meant to resume and pick up where you left off. If only for 45 minutes.

Death came to Lincoln Center. It was still a medium-paced set, like the one at Europa, but it got a little sweatier and a little more ferocious by the end, as the band fed off the swelling number of people choosing to stand by the barrier and in the aisles. Credit goes to one young man in a green shirt who refused to let the stiffs carry the day. A one man pep rally, the lad danced and half-moshed by his lonesome, which convinced others to at least stand with him and bob their heads. Truly, rock n roll and good decency came together. Which is kind of like Death - the ultimate sounding in loud, talented rock n roll but played by gentlemen with distinct class.