Joan Jett is a name synonymous with rock. A musical legend, she topped charts with such hits as, Bad Reputation, Do You Want to Touch Me, and her cover of Crimson and Clover to just name a few. Not knowing what to expect, I headed out to NorthSix, a small venue that ended a mini-tour (Bowery, CBGB, Southpaw) before she embarked to go on Warped Tour. The crowd was sold out and anxiously awaiting Joan. She came out to a large applause in black leather pants and a black leather top, showing she still has the body to go with the voice of rock. With a mischievous grin and giant smiling eyes, Jett said hello to the crowd. It seemed that after playing to enormous crowds her whole career, this little audience was in the palm of her hands. Mixing in songs from her new album SINNER, Jett showed her concern with the war in Iraq in her song, Riddles, even sampling Donald Rumsfeld, who she reportedly gave a piece of her mind to when sitting next to him at a dinner function. With other songs like A.C.D.C. and Fetish, SINNER is an album that throws sexuality back in the face of society and shows that Joan Jett is still relevant in this music world that puts out female dancers and lip synching pop stars instead of the rockers of yesteryears. Jett was happy to play her most famous hit to the crowd, and took her time, starting to put the dime in the jukebox, stopping to tune the guitar, changing her guitar, tuning again, amplifying the energy in the room before giving the people what they were calling for. Covering Sly and the Family Stone's 'Everyday People' for the encore, Jett brought the crowd back to the New York City roots that made her a star. Check out Joan Jett on the Warped Tour this summer
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Joan Jett and the blackhearts, Northsix
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Posted on 7/13/2006
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The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is located in Agra, India and is a complex structure. Taj Mahal is also a famous roots blues musician, borrn Henry St. Claire Fredericks in Harlem circa 1942. He grew up in Massachusetts and later changed his name to Taj Mahal, a thought that came to him in a dream when he was attending Amherst College. Playing his mix of blues and world music, he finally won a Grammy in 1997 and again in 2000. He came to New York, now touring with The Taj Mahal Trio, playing guitar, piano and banjo himself, Bill Rich on bass, and Kester Smith on drum. The show was at The Blue Note, down in the West Village. The place is kind of cheesy with mirrors over the walls, it might be in need of a modern renovations. Taj came out to a large applause and opened up with “Annie Mae.” He told the audience at one point he traveled to East Africa and fell in love with the style of music that had influences pouring in from all directions. He was playing an instrumental and didn’t have a name for the piece until he arrived in and named the song after Zanzibar. Another amazing song was “Luvin’ in My Babies Eyes,” one that he recalled playing in Austria after much to his surprise, a visiting class from the University of Mississippi showed up and requested the song. An amazing show, Taj is coming back to play Lincoln center with a mixture of Jazz greats and African drum masters. Check him out!
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the blue note, the taj mahal trio
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Posted on 6/12/2006
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It was a stormy night; the rain was about to fall hard on the streets of New York City, I was late to Carnegie Hall and the electricity was in the air. I was drawn uptown by the live performance of Katya Grineva on NPR. She was playing the compositions of the Viennese composer Marcel Tyberg, whose music was safe kept after he died at the hands of Nazi Germany. Touched but the story and the depth of the piano, I called up Carnegie Hall the next day to inquire about covering Grineva’s upcoming performance. They gave me her people’s contact number, or so I thought. To my surprise, Katya picked up the other end of the receiver (tsk tsk Carnegie Hall) and we had a nice conversation about Tyberg and her piano playing. She agreed to leave me tickets and that puts me back in the cab, the rain pouring down. It was a fitting mood to start the evening. With the humidity high, the air conditioning pouring out into the backseat, the cab had enough and sputtered to a stop. Luckily, another cab pulled up right up beside and I switched instant chariots and continued my journey. My friend Laura was waiting under the marquee and we slipped into the Hall right before Grineva started a piece of Rachmaninoff’s. Sitting in the back row, we slowly played musical chairs from the turmoil of Rachmaninoff to the depths of Tchaikovsky, from the floating of Liszt to the mourning of Tyberg. Grineva was intense in her performance; at one point the white rose in her hair flying onto the floor, as she pressed hard against the white and black keys. As an encore she played some Chopin, to give the people what they want. A wonderful journey through the Romantics, Katya Grineva will be back next year to again grace Carnegie Hall. I know I’ll be there, will you?
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Posted on 6/6/2006
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Film School traveled across this great country and made it all the way to the East Village to perform at The Mercury Lounge. Right down the road from me, I crutched my way over to meet my bro and see what kind of rock is coming out of the west coast. Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos played before, boasting two drummers, one who also acted as the hype by playing the tambourine and dancing to incite the crowd. The lead singer singing songs of girls doing coke in bathrooms and lost love, while the Rhodes keyboard was delicately guided by the cute redhead, I assume Margot. Film School came out with the singer stage right, setting the tone that the night was not about the ego of the individuals, but about the sound they produce. On tour to promote their new self-titled album, not even having all their equipment stolen could stop the momentum of Film School. The band used reverb and sweet bass lines to engulf the crowd in the west coast noise that’s propelled the band across the country. Check them out.
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film school, margot and the nuclear so and sos, the mercury lounge
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Posted on 6/6/2006
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So I've been a bit hobbled recently with a fractured fibula, aka broken leg, and am often faced with the cripple's conundrum, how do I get to shows? The answer is slowly. I made it out to see The Concretes, a sweet pop band who made the trip all the way from Sweden, (that relaxing country in northern Europe) to the Bowery Ballroom. I figured that they had flown across the Atlantic, the least I could do was hop five or six blocks. The security was nice enough to let me in the back way, avoiding those dastardly steps around nyc has been a new pastime of mine. The band filled with the stage with their eight members, and sang simple songs in English about unrequited love, mountains, and the sky. They even played a waltz in their encore and asked the audience to grab a partner and dance. I looked around for cripple girl to dance with but didn't find one. During my peformance of the difficult three-legged waltz I noticed an old Swedish friend and after the show asked for her thought. She said she enjoyed the show but the lead singer, who often seemed childlike, nervous, confused, and spacey was putting on act for the Americans, and that when playing in Sweden, has a totally different stage presence. My friend seemed offended by it. I enjoyed when the horns would chirp and they reminded me of a lighter poppy Belle and Sebastian. My cool waiter Danny, at the local organic eat spot described them as soft, precious harps. Check out the Concretes if you feel like floating for a while, I know I do.
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bowery ballroom, the concretes
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Posted on 5/22/2006
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