The Giant Panther Report:

Click here to go to TGP to check Ian Hunter “Cleveland Rocks”, “Wild East”, and “Just Another Night”…allllll taaasty!

Of all our year-end best-of lists (the 100 Best Songs of 2009 and 50 Best Albums of 2009 included), this is our favorite, because it’s the most individual (everybody has a different list) and it’s closest to our raison d’etre, live music in New York. Last year’s was difficult enough to narrow down to twenty; this year’s is criminally short. We could have put up a top 100 concerts list and it would be five times as good. 

This was the year of the Beast – Small Beast at the Delancey, New York’s most exciting weekly rock event. We caught onto this slowly - the concert series ran for about a month before we discovered it – but when we did we were there almost every week. Occasionally someone will ask, since you have a music blog, why don’t you start booking shows? With Small Beast, there’s no need: it’s your weekly chance to discover the edgiest, smartest rock-ish talent from Gotham and across the globe. You’ll see a lot of those shows on this list.

Yet 2009 was a weird year for us - running a New York live music blog and not being in town much of the time made it problematic, to say the least. Week after week, we watched from a distance, enviously as half the city got to see stuff we never did. In August, the Brooklyn What did a killer triple bill with Palmyra Delran’s garage band and amazing latin ska-punk-gypsy rockers Escarioka at Trash Bar, but we weren’t there. The second night of the Gypsy Tabor Festival just a few weeks later looked like a great time, but we missed that one too. As the year winds down and we finally (hopefully!) start to reap the rewards of a whole lot of hard work, it appears, pending some absolutely transcendent show exploding onto the radar, that this is it for our Best Shows of 09 list. Needless to say, we can’t wait for 2010.

Since any attempt to rank these shows in any kind of order would be an exercise in futility, we just listed them as they happened:

The Brooklyn What at Fat Baby, 1/15/09 – since we’d just reviewed a couple of their shows in the fall of 08, we didn’t even review this one, fearing overkill. But on what was the coldest night of the winter up to that point, they packed the club and burned through a characteristically fun, ferocious set, maybe fueled by the knowledge that one of their idols, Ron Asheton, had left us.

Kerry Kennedy at Rose Bar, 1/21/09 – the noir chanteuse was at the absolute top of her game as quietly resilient siren and southwestern gothic bandleader.

Paul Wallfisch and Larkin Grimm at Small Beast at the Delancey, 4/9/09 – the Botanica frontman (who books Small Beast) turned in a typically fiery set, followed by the avant-chanteuse who battled and finally lashed out at a crowd of clueless yuppie puppies who just didn’t get what the show was all about.

Kotorino at Pete’s Candy Store, 4/13/09 – the quietly multistylistic, gypsyish band filled the place on a Monday night and kept the crowd riveted as they all switched instruments and flipped the script over and over.

The New Collisions at Arlene’s, 4/23/09 – Boston’s best new band blazed through an early 80s inflected set of edgy powerpop.

Paul Wallfisch, the Ulrich-Ziegler Duo and McGinty and White at Small Beast at the Delancey, 4/23/09 – after Wallfisch had set the tone for the night, Big Lazy’s Steve Ulrich and Pink Noise’s Itamar Ziegler played hypnotic, macabre guitar soundscapes followed by the ferociously lyrical retro 60s chamber pop of Joe McGinty and Ward White.

The American String Quartet playing Irving Fine and Robert Sirota’s Triptych at Bargemusic, 4/26/09 – a sinister ride through one of the leading lights of the 1950s avant garde followed by a haunting, intense performance of contemporary composer Sirota’s 9/11 suite.

Paul Wallfisch, Vera Beren’s Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble, Spottiswoode and Steve Wynn at Small Beast at the Delancey, 4/30/09 – after Wallfisch got the night started, Beren roared and scorched her way through a pummeling, macabre set. Then Spottiswoode impressed with a subtle set of nocturnes, setting the stage for Wynn, playing together with his friend and ex-lead guitarist Chris Brokaw for the first time in several years, a feast of swirling, otherworldly guitar overtones.

The Friggs and the Chrome Cranks at Santos Party House, 5/8/09 – a triumphant return for the popular 90s garage girl rockers followed by the equally triumphant, reinvigorated, snarling sonic attack of another one of NYC’s best bands of the 90s.

The French Exit at Local 269, 5/13/09 – NYC’s best new dark rockers playing one of their first shows as a four-piece, rich with reverb, tersely incisive piano, haunting vocals and defiant lyricism.

Chicha Libre on the Rocks Off Concert Cruise Boat, 5/15/09 – definitely the best party of the year that we were party to, a swaying excursion through psychedelic, surfy cumbia music, past and present.

Paul Wallfisch, Darren Gaines & the Key Party and Alice Texas at Small Beast at the Delancey, 6/4/09 – Wallfisch kicked it off, Gaines and a stripped-down trio impressed with gutter-poet, Lou Reed/Tom Waits rock and then Alice Texas turned in a swirling, incandescent, gently assaultive show that reminded how much we miss Tonic, the club where she used to play before it was torn down t0 put up plastic luxury condos.

Paul Wallfisch, Marni Rice and the Snow at Small Beast at the Delancey, 6/22/09 – another Wallfisch night, this one featuring the great LES accordionist/chanteuse/cabaret scholar and then Pierre de Gaillande’s clever, haunting art-r0ck crew.

Ian Hunter at Rockefeller Park, 6/24/09 – the former Mott the Hoople frontman, at age 70, has simply never written, played, or sung better. This show was a real revelation.

Daniel Bernstein at Sidewalk, 7/9/09 – the underground songwriter/lyricist/tunesmith casually burned through one haunting, haunted, ridiculously catchy tune after another.

Randi Russo and the Oxygen Ponies at the Saltmines, 7/10/09 - another haunting show opened with the absolute master of the outsider anthem, who did double duty playing in Paul Megna’s equally dark, intense, lyrical indie band.

The Main Squeeze Accordion Festival: Musette Explosion, Suspenso del Norte, Hector Del Curto’s Eternal Tango Quintet, the Main Squeeze Orchestra, Roberto Cassan and John Munatore, Liony Parra y la Mega Mafia Tipica and Peter Stan at Pier One, 7/11/09 – squeezebox heaven.

Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble and the Dave Brubeck Quartet at Damrosch Park, 8/5/09 – cutting-edge Middle Eastern-inflected jazz followed by one of the great ones, undiminished and still inventive at 89.

Jenifer Jackson at Rockwood Music Hall, 11/19/09 – the panstylistic rock goddess played several good New York shows this past year, but this one with Matt Kanelos on piano and glockenspiel and Billy Doughty on drums and melodica was pure transcendence.

Carol Lipnik, Bonfire Madigan, Rachelle Garniez, Vera Beren’s Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble and McGinty and White at Small Beast at the Delancey, 11/23/09 – what seems at this point to be the single best show of the year (if only because it’s the most recent one on the list) matched Lipnik’s phantasmagoria to Madigan’s equally artful chamber pop, Garniez’ irresistible charisma and ferocity, Beren’s contralto classical punk assault and then Ward White took over where the sirens had been and sang what could have been his best show ever.

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The Pointer Sisters had an enviable run at the top of the charts in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Their hits included “Neutron Dance” and the most famous cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire.”  The albums that all of these songs appeared on were produced by 1970s über-producer Richard Perry.   One of the most successful music producers ever, Perry was no stranger to the upper reaches of the charts – he produced the hit albums Ringo (1973) for Ringo Starr, No Secrets (1972) for Carly Simon and many others.

Oddly, one Pointer Sisters album with Perry at the helm made no impression at all – in fact, when Priority was released in 1979, it disappeared virtually without a trace.  The sisters were still riding high off the No. 1 smash “Fire” and its album Energy from the previous year when Perry took them into the studio for this followup.

Priority is of interest because its songs are all rock covers – the Pointers tackle tunes by Ian Hunter, Bob Seger, Graham Parker, Richard Thompson, the Band and the Rolling Stones.  And Perry surrounded them with hot L.A. session musicians like guitarists Waddy Wachtel and Dan Dugmore, drummer Rick Marotta (all of them played with Linda Ronstadt), Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne and, on a few songs, Stones pianist Nicky Hopkins.

Of course, with all of this high-powered artillery, the songs do rock.  After the intro to Seger’s “All Your Love,” you expect Ronstadt to start belting it out.  But the Pointer Sisters (they take turns on lead vocals) get lost in the shuffle – they seem rather clueless as to what to do with Hunter’s “Who Do You Love” or Keith Richards’ signature “Happy.”  The one that does seem to work is “The Fever” by their old buddy Bruce Springsteen.

Undaunted, Perry and the sisters would rebound in 1980 with “He’s So Shy,” in 1981 with “Slow Hand,” and in 1984 with the blockbuster album Break Out (with “Neutron Dance,” “Jump (For My Love)” and “I’m So Excited.”   I once gave a cassette copy of Priority to somebody in a bar band, suggesting they learn some of these songs; after doing so, they did rather well for themselves.  But they eventually broke up – like the Pointer Sisters.

MP3: “Who Do You Love?”

MP3: “Happy”

MP3: “Blind Faith”

MP3: “(She’s Got) The Fever”

The Pointer Sisters official website

Older than your last car and still going strong

Bucketfull of Brains, that is.

The new issue is out! My reviews include the new efforts from Cheap Trick, Ian Hunter, Cracker and Muck and the Mires. No features from me this time, but check out these gems from my mates:

• Lucky Soul: ‘It sounds like the Supremes, but inside out. Surely you understand that?!’ Interview by Terry Hermon
• John Wesley Harding: Then, now, and whenever. Wesley Stace speaks to Nick West
• ‘I never travel far without a little Big Star’ Simon Wright hears the box set, sees the band in Hyde Park, and converses with John Fry, Jody Stephens and Alex Chilton.
• ‘We oppose all rock’n’roll’. Phil King hears from Rob Symmons of Subway Sect and Fallen Leaves about 1976, how the Sect formed, and the 100 Club Festival (with unseen pics of the Sex Pistols).
• Mavericks In Maturity. Jeremy Gluck talks to Peter Holsapple about working with Chris Stamey again

All that plus a ton of news and reviews and some great pictures. So head on over to the Bucketfull of Brains site, nab a subscription (or try a single issue) and enjoy the wonder of a great print magazine – music’s endangered species!

Tower of London (1939) black-and-white historical film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. Vincent Price appears as George, Duke of Clarence. Actor John Rodion, who appears in a small role, is actually Rodion Rathbone, Basil’s son.

The film is based on the traditional depiction of Richard rising to become King of England by eliminating everyone ahead of him. Each time Richard accomplishes a murder, he removes one figurine from a dollhouse resembling a throneroom. Once he has completed his task, he now needs to defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain the throne.

The plot was not derived from Shakespeare’s Richard III, but rather was written by Robert N. Lee (director Rowland V. Lee’s brother) after reading a great deal of British history. George, Duke of Clarence (one of Richard’s brothers) is depicted as something less than the tragically noble figure found in Shakespeare. Ian Hunter portrays Edward IV, who is not depicted here as the feeble, dying King found in Laurence Olivier’s 1955 film version of Shakespeare’s play. The exterior castle sets constructed for this film became a staple of the Universal backlot and could be seen time and time again in subsequent films (most prominently in the 1952’s The Black Castle).

The film inspired a 1962 remake with Vincent Price now in the lead role. The remake was made on an extremely low budget, was shot in black-and-white with a small cast (and used stock footage from the 1939 version for the battle sequences), and placed far more of an emphasis on genuine horror. Price later told Rathbone’s biographer Michael Druxman that he felt Rathbone’s performance as Richard was probably more historically genuine than either Laurence Olivier’s or his own.

Cast
  Basil Rathbone … Richard – Duke of Gloucester
  Boris Karloff … Mord
  Barbara O’Neil … Queen Elyzabeth
  Ian Hunter … King Edward IV
  Vincent Price … Duke of Clarence
  Nan Grey … Lady Alice Barton
  Ernest Cossart … Tom Clink
  John Sutton … John Wyatt
  Leo G. Carroll … Lord Hastings
  Miles Mander … King Henry VI

Make Up Department
  Sam Kaufman … makeup artist
  Otto Lederer … makeup artist
  Jack P. Pierce … makeup artist

Amazon Specials!

ANA Blog Report:

Click here to go to ANA Blog to check some solo Ian Hunter “You Nearly Did Me In”

Moistworks Report:

Click here to go to Moistworks to check Ian Hunter “Life After Death”, and “Stretch”…plus Graham Parker “Don’t Get Excited”, and “All Being Well”

Dear David,

Today I thought I’d examine what exactly makes up a Cook Tard Frau. Thinking of the various attributes of your middle aged ‘fan’s’ I am reminded of the words of singer Ian Hunter in his outstanding, unflinching look at a touring band playing rock and roll around the USA, “Diary of a Rock n Roll Star’ You really should consider getting your hands on a copy, Baldy, and reading it cover to cover. I’m sure you’d chuckle over the stories of the grinding boredom of travel, trying to evade the attentions of the groupies and the weird things that happen.

What stood out to me in relation to the old ladies that troop around hopelessly after you are Ian’s thoughts on American ladies in that certain age group, “We find American women from 35-45 exceedingly loud-mouthed, stupid and coarse. No Englishman would stand for them.” Now if he had only added ‘dressed inappropriately, behaving in manners unbefitting their ages and without any sense of decent societal boundaries’ I would say he pegged your herd exactly.

They…

…abandon family, responsibility, children and work to chase you.

…dress either in clothing too young, too tight, too wrong in every way.

…violate most rules of a polite society in order to ‘get close’ to you.

…devolve into a mob mentality that could potentially turn dangerous.

…plunge their families in debt to follow you from pillar to post.

…intrude on your personal space when you’re not busy being that guy up on the stage or tv.

…ply band members with liquor and rumored sex in an attempt to get to you.

…make very inappropriate sexual remarks and innuendo online and at your concerts.

…and the list goes on, I’m sure I missed several million other distinctive characteristics…

I admit I don’t totally get the ‘why’ of what they’re doing but if I had to haphazard a guess I would say that at some point each has found her life to be very seriously lacking something. But instead of addressing the underlying issue, dealing with it and embarking on a course of self-improvement they focus on you. It’s not uncommon to reach the stage of middle age and ask “Is this all that there is?” but most people seek to change those things in their life they don’t like. Except for the frau. Instead they seem to emotionally separate from the things, people and places that make up the bulk of their lives to fixate on some guy that they saw on television.  Before you it was Clay and Constantine and after you it’s Adam Lambert and whoever the next possessor of a dick that wins American Idol.

I’d guess that what they have is a newer, unnamed in the DSM IV, mental disorder. I’ve been contemplating studying it as part of my coursework on mental counseling. I could write a hell of an interesting thesis on this subject I’d bet.

I find it fascinating that they all seem to come from middle class housewife America, no real ambitions or life accomplishments or education, living off the bread earned by some poor slob that doesn’t have a clue what the silly wifey-poo is doing. You don’t seem to find many younger ladies, educated people, those from upper or lower socioeconomic classes, guys or anyone with any alternative creative outlets following you. Your followers are strictly Oprah-watching, chain restaurant eating, Betty Crocker baking, going to the mall, wearing Wal Mart fashion types that Ian Hunter negatively referred to a number of times in his book. I guess the only upside is that they keep selling out your concerts and spending oodles of money buying your CD.

Tomorrow I shall deconstruct more of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ you can possibly break out from this mess. Oh, and the lists of excuses the fraus make to justify their bad behavior.

Rock God Cred Report:

Click here to check the 80’s lost classic from Ian Hunter “We Gotta Get Out of Here”…a must have tune.

Buy “Live! Welcome to The Club”…ya get live versions of some of Hunters best.

Rock

• Ian Hunter – Man overboard / zanger “Mott The Hoople” – Dikke *****
• Peter Hammill – Thin air / ”Van der Graaf Generator” – ****
• Mitch Ryder – Detroit ain’t dead (the promise)
• Chris Cacavas – Love’s been discontinued
• Devil On The Wind – The men they couldn’t hang – **** Goede cd, country rock met folk invloeden, een verrassing!

Experimenteel

• David Sylvian – Manafon / zanger van de band ”Japan” – **** rustige experimentele muziek, na hem 2 maal beluisterd te hebben ben ik een beetje aan het geluid gewend, de teksten zijn wel erg raar maar wel goed.

Folk/Blues

• Otis Taylor – Pentatonic wars and love songs – *** goede cd van Otis, Gary Moore speelt er ook op mee. op http://www.altcountryforum.nl/2009/05/13/otis-taylor-pentatonic-wars-and-love-songs/ staat een goede recencie!
• This Leo Sunrise – The Boat Ashore – **** Nederlandse band, eerste studioplaat, CD is te bestellen via http://www.velvetmusic.nl/shopping/product_details.php?id=66101157&lang=nl
• John Mayall – Tough – ****

Pop

• David Gray – Draw the line

Pay attention, puppy bands.  Ian Hunter is 70 years old and he still releases new music! Jerry Lee Lewis is 74 and Chuck Berry is going to be 83 next week! So you’d better be bringing it when you saddle up, boyo, because there are still some old dogs running wild down that street. Of the group below only Graham Parker is on the short side of sixty; compared to Chuck and The Killer he’s a mere tot!

Mark Farner, 2008 -  “We’re An American Band”

Rick Derringer, 2009 – “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Coo“

Leslie West, 2007(?) – “Goin’ Down”

Graham Parker, 2009 – “Local Girls“

Johnny Winter, 2009 – “Red House“

Ray Davies, 2009 – “Sunny Afternoon“

Todd Rundgren, 2009 – “Black & White“

Ian Hunter, 2009 – “Once Bitten, Twice Shy“

Chuck Berry, 2009 – “Johnny B. Goode“

Jerry Lee Lewis, 2009 – “Roll Over, Beethoven“

And finally, a bonus cut. Ain’t new, but that is a supergroup!

Still bite with that bark

It seems that the first New York City mix was well received, so here’s another one. There will be at least one more (or two, depending on how popular this one turns out to be), next time going retro in black and white — like all the great New York photos.

* * *

TRACKLISTING
1. Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Jules Munchin – New York, New York (excerpt) (1949)
NYC hook: It’s our three sailor friends’ first time in New York, and having just arrived on shore leave (happily in New York, not in LA where they might have gone on to beat up Mexicans), they already presume it to be “a helluva town” because “the Bronx is up, but the Battery’s down”. Additionally, “the people ride in a hole in the ground” (as they do in many other cities, so big deal, chums).

2. Frank Sinatra & Tony Bennett – New York New York (1994)
NYC hook: Let’s face it, our boy from Hoboken was a promiscuous man when it came to American cities. Chicago? His kind of town! L.A.? It’s a lady he can’t say goodbye to. Las Vegas? He made it! And New York? Well, more of a challenge than a love affair; it seems. By the way, the song needs no fucking high-kicks, party goers.

3. Theme – Seinfeld (1989)
NYC hook: Would Seinfeld have worked had it been set anywhere else? Nah!

4. Klaatu – Sub-Rosa Subway (1976)
NYC hook: The song that caused speculation about a clandestine Beatles reunion. Alas, it was just a bunch of Canadians with a funny name singing about Alfred Beach, the man who built America’s first subway in New York, based on the London Underground. (More on Beach)

5. NRBQ – Boys In The City (1972)
NYC hook: You might leave New York for the country, but you’ll still sing about “the trees in the Park”.

6. Harry Nilsson – I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City (1969)
NYC hook: New York as the new Jerusalem instead of its usual role as a fetid Babylon. So Harry makes his pilgrimage to the city permanent, leaving all his sorrows behind. Same year, he soundtracked Hoffman and Voight’s exit from bad, bad NYC.

7. Mason Jennings – New York City (2002)
NYC hook: Jennings is in love in and with New York City.

8. Kevin Devine – Brooklyn Boy (2006)
NYC hook: The eponymous lad is doing coke on his birthday, prompting Kev — rarely a herald of rampant cheer — to launch into an apocalypso.

9. Ian Hunter – Central Park N West (1981)
NYC hook: Hunter obviously hates living in stinky, crime-ridden, burning New York City. Except he doesn’t: “You’ve got to be crazy to live in the city, and New York city’s the best.”

10. Donavan Frankenreiter – Spanish Harlem Incident (2007)
NYC hook: A rather decent cover of Dylan’s 1964 song about having steamy, casual interracial sex.

11. Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street (1972)
NYC hook: 110th Street is the street that divides Harlem and Manhattan. Bob is not painting a pretty picture of what lies at the other side of Manhattan: pimps and hookers, pushers and junkies jostling on the streets of “the capital of every ghetto town”.

12. Billy Joel – New York State Of Mind (1976)
NYC hook: The New Yorker might leave the city for Miami Beach or for Hollywood, but if they are anything like Bronx-born, Long Island-raised Billiam, they’ll miss the New York Times and Daily News (but not the Post, it seems) so much, they’ll feel compelled to return.

13. Ella Fitzgerald – Manhattan (1956)
NYC hook: On his wonderful radio show, Bob Dylan described the Rodgers & Hart song as a love letter to New York City. Who knew that Zimmerman had a way with words? Ella is full of giddy tenderness as she provides us with a partial road map of the city. Are pushcarts still gliding gently on Mott Street?

14. Hem – Great Houses Of New York (live) (2006)
NYC hook: Native New Yorkers Hem don’t need to mention the city in a song that incorporates its name in the title to prove that it’s set there. It suffices to refer to NYC’s winter climate as a metaphor for a dying relationship, a recurring theme in Hem’s beautiful songs..

15. The Mamas & The Papas – Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon) (1968)
NYC hook: The Mamas and the Papas lived in New York before moving to Hawaii and then to California. It seems fair to say that they didn’t dig New York — “every thing there was dark and dirty “ — and this is their fuck-you note to the city. Most likely, the Daily News won’t be enough to lure them back.

16. Odyssey – Native New Yorker (1977)
NYC hook: Two decades before Thingymajig Bradshaw in Sex And The City made her, erm, acute observations about the politics of sex, Odyssey had it already figured out: “No one opens the door for a native New Yorker.” So, like, take charge of your life yourself, girl!

17. Elkow Bones & The Racketeers – A Night In New York (1983)
NYC hook: A sadly ignored club gem whose horns sounds like New York traffic to me. Delicious.

18. Nicole with Timmy Thomas – New York Eyes (1985)
NYC hook: What in the name of all that’s ophthalmological are these New York Eyes that have short-lived soul starlet Nicole attracted to ’70s soulster Timmy Thomas (who I presume provides the groovy keyboard here)? Whatever they are, reciprocally gazing at Nicole’s NY eyes, they make Timmy feel good inside.

19. Beastie Boys – An Open Letter To NYC (2005)
NYC hook: And it’s another love letter: “Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten, from the Battery to the top of Manhattan. Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin, black, white — New York you make it happen.”

20. LL Cool J feat. Leshaun Williams – Doin’ It (1995)
NYC hook: Six people are credited with writing this droll ode to physical intimacy. None of them have sought to distance themselves from this lyrical gem which surely provides all the required evidence to support the notion that ladies really can’t help themselves but love Cool James. Mr Toddrattles off the specials on today’s hum menu: “It’s the first time together and I’m feeling kinda horny, conventional methods of makin’ love kinda bore me. I wanna knock your block off, get my rocks off, blow your socks off, make sure your G-spot’s soft” (you get hard G-spots? And, more importantly, how do you get away rhyming “off” with “soft”?). With Cool James, sex is a matter of territorial chauvinism, not unlike the so-called World Series. He points out that he represents Queens, whose residents may well jostle for prime bedside seats, the better to cheer on their local stud muffin. Cool James’ hopefully softly G-spotted friend was raised “out Brooklyn”, where she learnt to yearn for a “Big Daddy” who might “pull my hair and spank me from the back” and finish off with some “candy rain”. Just as the contender from Queens might, if his dick is as big as his braggadocio.

21. Ben Folds – Rock This Bitch (NYC version) (2004)
NYC hook: Some “motherfucker in Chicago” once shouted out “rock this bitch” at a Ben Folds gig, giving rise to a tradition whereby Folds (evidently reluctantly) improvises a new “Rock This Bitch” version on the spot. As he did in this recording from the 2004 Summerstage concert. “R.O.C.K. with your C.O.C.K. out, in N.Y.C.”

DOWNLOAD

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New York City – Any Major Mix Vol. 1

More mixes
American Road Trip

The Vinyl District Report:

Click here to go to TVD to check Kiss “Then She Kissed Me”, Sweet “Action”, David Bowie “Kooks”, T-Rex “20th Century Boy”, Mott The Hoople “Roll Away The Stone”

Sometimes heroes have feet of clay. The weight of expectation is such that the music and musicians that you grew up listening to, can only disappoint. Well not on this occasion. Mott The Hoople at the Hammersmith Apollo on Monday 5 October 2009 were nothing short of magnificent. Others have written better than I can about the reunion tour and the collective and individual ages of the band. I’ve another 20 years to go until I can compete with Ian Hunter, but last night’s performance was enough to want to dig out  my shades and let my hair grow again! (Link  here to a couple of photos of the gig if you’re interested)

Like the man says:

“…its a mighty long way down rock ‘n’ roll

As your name gets hot so your heart grows cold

‘N you gotta stay young man, you can never be old…”

Ian Hunter. Hammersmith Apollo, 2009. Image copyright John Callaway (2009)

Image copyright John Callaway 2009.
Making a virtue out of a camera working at the limits of its capability!!(Check the shutter speed!) Mott The Hoople at Hammersmith Apollo,5 October 2009. The shaky image worked in my favour here…several didn’t!
Nikon Coolpix S210: 0.3s @ f5.9: ISO 623