Weekend Tunes
Do you remember when we used to dance?
And incidents arose from circumstance?
What does this couplet from Asia's "Heat of The Moment" do for you? Do you have chills, like Avinash.vora? Does it summon visions of serpants and mullets? A framed poster from Steve Carell's pad in The 40-year-old Virgin. Nausea?
Put me in the reflux camp. The supergroup Asia was Britain's version of Toto - supremely able musicians assuming the position to make a buck. I caught its members in '70s shows by Emerson Lake & Palmer and Yes - never saw King Crimson. I liked these boys better when they were shaggy noodlers. Also, put me in the minority. They were gigantic, and have sold out the Keswick Theatre Saturday night.
Steve, the lawyer-mp3 blogger who writes Baby, You Got a Stew Goin', found himself grooving to the Moment song, which he heard toward the end of a recent showing of Virgin on cable. Steve writes: "I like the song as much now as I did in the early 80's. And it's not just the ironic hipster in me talking. It's a legitimately decent song. Don't pretend you don't like it."
I ain't pretending.
Maybe if your weekend plans include live music you'll want a caustic cuppa Aussie punk. Radio Birdman is back.
These Sydney thrashers are playing at the First Unitarian Church Sunday night. They're historic treasures, combining what AllMusic calls search and destroy guitar with loud and snotty singing. Radio Birdman took off in 1976 with the EP Burn My Eye. Thirty years later they've released Zeno Beach. The Runout Groove pronounces it to be "a stunner. Really, a band who are this old have no right to sound so exciting and contemporary. I think we Brits are used to hearing our older punk heroes bringing out new albums that sound like cheap historical facsimiles, so it's great to hear how vital Radio Birdman still sound." For a blast of the Birdman, drop by I Rock Cleveland.
Tony Joe White had been recording five years when Radio Birdman formed in 1974. Louisiana-born into a part-Cherokee family, he landed in the Top Ten of the pop charts with his still-fresh "Polk Salad Annie" from his debut. Later he'd write "Rainy Night in Georgia," which Brook Benton took to the bank. He kept recording, remained popular in Europe, then went silent for much of the '80s. His recording career revitalized over here in 2000 when Hip-O released One Hot July, his first domestic product in 17 years. Since then he's been on a roll. He plays the World Cafe Live on Saturday. Trees Lounge has a live take off his "Rainy Night" classic. On his MySpace page you can stream his steaming duet with Mark Knofler.
Speaking of way back, how about Peter Tork at the Tin Angel? The daffy (but in real life smart) Monkee is coming to town Friday. The band's first two albums have just been re-released for the their 40th anniversary. Tork's been playing with a band, The Shoe Suede Blues, reworking "Last Train to Clarksville" and "For Pete's Sake," which the Winston-Salem Journal reports played each week as the Monkees TV show ended. His Tin Angel show is with James Lee Stanley. Tork offers three MP3s on his Web site.
I'm sure Tork would welcome our sending you to this groovy video timepeace from the movie 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee.
Yes, Mike's mother did invent White-Out, but Peter graduated first in his high school class and went to Carleton College. The glory ends there. He flunked out. But that was not for lack of brains.
Right. Mike was "TV smart", but Peter proved his superior intelligence by being the first one out after the show got cancelled.