Monday, July 06, 2009
"This Monstrous Box"
A thirteen year old ponders the Walkman on its thirtieth anniversary. "It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape."
Sunday, July 05, 2009
It Takes Two
Tonight, with my iPod on shuffle, “This Beat Goes On” by The Kings flowed into . . . “Scream & Scream Again” from the new Wussy album? It was a jarring bit of incongruity, as disorienting as hearing a cat recite Shakespeare. I had never encountered “This Beat Goes On” without it slamming headlong into “Switchin’ to Glide,” the only other Kings’ tune known to vast swaths of mankind.
It made me wonder what has happened to the two-fer, the rock radio convention that recognized that certain songs simply cannot be played without also playing the next song on the album. You know, “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions.” “Eruption”/”You Really Got Me.” “Hearbreaker/Living Loving Maid.”
But all of those examples are at least a quarter century old, and I’m having a hard time thinking of any of a more recent vintage. So I ask, whither the two-fer? When was the last time two separate songs merged into one perfect whole? Anyone?
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Idle Hands are the Devil's Playthings
And by the evidence of their new single "Loaded" The Idle Hands are a pretty fair rock and roll band, too. Check out how they stumbled into heavy rotation at our old pal Jim McGuinn's station The Current in Minneapolis.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Angel and the King
On July 4, 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two architects of the republic, died exactly fifty years after the nation’s birth. On June 25, 2009, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, two architects of the modern culture, died approximately forty-one years after mine. While the former duo may have meant more to world history, the latter stood as pillars of my own personal history. Excuse me, Michael, HIStory.
When I was eleven, I treasured nothing more than my Farrah poster and my Off the Wall LP. Each spawned an awakening in me. It’s hard to articulate just how beautiful Farrah seemed then; if you made a movie of my memory, you’d have to represent her face as a luminous glow, a physical form that could not be replicated or represented. I didn’t know much about women then, but she made me certain that I wanted to be near them. Farrah filled me with a wonder that is reserved for the young.
Michael simply filled me with awe. I had known him since I knew anything. When I first discovered music, he was still fronting the Jackson Five, and he was the most electrifying thing I’d ever seen. To watch him tear into “The Love You Save” on Flip Wilson’s show was to understand that music had mystical, magical powers. It was alchemy and electricity. It was the power of possibility. At a time when we were still visiting the moon, I’d watch astronauts and Michael Jackson with equal slack-jawed amazement, in wide-eyed wonder that mankind could do that.
That Michael Jackson vanished twenty years ago or more. The damaged shell that walked around that past couple of decades bore no resemblance to the force of nature that came before. In 1983, during the Motown 25th anniversary show, an entire nation gasped and cheered, held riveted while he performed “Billie Jean.” And he was lip-synching. Dressed like Sgt. Pepper, he was the new Elvis, able to move the earth with the tiniest twitch.
Michael Jackson-Billie Jean-Motown 25 live
Uploaded by sitting25. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
What followed was a sad descent to madness, interrupted by occasional flashes of brilliance. But no matter how weird it got – and it got really, really, uncomfortably weird – the memory of what he once was remained. The big afro and million-watt smile are frozen in time. That Michael Jackson never grew up, never got old. That Michael never left Neverland.
When I was eleven, I treasured nothing more than my Farrah poster and my Off the Wall LP. Each spawned an awakening in me. It’s hard to articulate just how beautiful Farrah seemed then; if you made a movie of my memory, you’d have to represent her face as a luminous glow, a physical form that could not be replicated or represented. I didn’t know much about women then, but she made me certain that I wanted to be near them. Farrah filled me with a wonder that is reserved for the young.
Michael simply filled me with awe. I had known him since I knew anything. When I first discovered music, he was still fronting the Jackson Five, and he was the most electrifying thing I’d ever seen. To watch him tear into “The Love You Save” on Flip Wilson’s show was to understand that music had mystical, magical powers. It was alchemy and electricity. It was the power of possibility. At a time when we were still visiting the moon, I’d watch astronauts and Michael Jackson with equal slack-jawed amazement, in wide-eyed wonder that mankind could do that.
That Michael Jackson vanished twenty years ago or more. The damaged shell that walked around that past couple of decades bore no resemblance to the force of nature that came before. In 1983, during the Motown 25th anniversary show, an entire nation gasped and cheered, held riveted while he performed “Billie Jean.” And he was lip-synching. Dressed like Sgt. Pepper, he was the new Elvis, able to move the earth with the tiniest twitch.
Michael Jackson-Billie Jean-Motown 25 live
Uploaded by sitting25. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
What followed was a sad descent to madness, interrupted by occasional flashes of brilliance. But no matter how weird it got – and it got really, really, uncomfortably weird – the memory of what he once was remained. The big afro and million-watt smile are frozen in time. That Michael Jackson never grew up, never got old. That Michael never left Neverland.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Ike Reilly News! New Album in September!
Here's a little blurb sent out from Ike Reilly's label - make room in your top 10 for this one.
New Record Coming Soon!
A record that exploits the talent of all the members of the Assassination as well as members of the Libertyville High School Choir, World War II and Gulf War veterans, landscapers, pot growers, David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of the band Cracker, rock and country music star Shooter Jennings, infamous Barrel House Chuck and more....
Please participate in naming Ike's new record. Select one of the following titles. Your vote will be considered but not necessarily counted:
Click here to cast your vote!
1. Don't Go Round Breaking People's Tambourines
2. The Half Black Jesus Story
3. First Thing Monday Morning
4. PlexiGlass or Plastic
5. The Halftime Wreck
6. The Windy City Blows For Me and You
Here's an interview from last week right here!
And a concert review from Minneapolis!
Ike... come to Philly soon.
Some vintage Ike to tide you over:
Hip Hop Thighs # 17 (from Salesmen And Racists)
Garbage Day (from Sparkle in The Finish)
Valentine's Day in Jaurez (from We Belong To The Staggering Evening)
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Battle of The Blogs - Part 2 on 6/18/09 @ The North Star
Teenage Kicks is proud to be part of this Thursday's second installment of Heyday Entertainment's Battle of The Blogs at The North Star. Last month local heroes The Robes prevailed in a ferocious round one battle.
Teenage Kicks entry in this month's battle are Langhorne's Splash1, who caught our ear at the M Room a couple months back. Splash1's melodic alt country mixed with strummy power pop and sunny harmonies is just the tonic to fire up a warm June night. Fans of Elvis Costello, The Shins, The Byrds and big pop hooks will be overjoyed.
Also on tap are Philly's Victor Victor band (presented by the awesome popwreckoning) and New Jersey's Lima Research Society (presented by champion of local music and all around superbly nice guy Bag of Songs Tom - he's also in one of the bands - see if you can tell which one.
SO COME ON OUT THIS THURSDAY!!! My sources tell me set times are 9 (Lima), 10 (Splash1) and 11 (Victor). Tickets are $8.00. The North Star is at 27th & Poplar.
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