The view outside a certain Shady Dame's building right now. New York City, as you can see, only got hit with 4-8 inches.
4-8 inches, of course, is more than enough for a lady, if you know what I mean, but that's a subject for another discussion.
In any case, we were so frightened of the storm yesterday that I quite forgot to get anything together for posting today; normal freshly plowed and clement musical stuff resumes tomorrow.
The story so far: Last week I got an e-mail from a band -- called The Tomboys -- that I was unfamiliar with (which is far from an unusual occurrence around here, obviously).
And the message of which was -- hey, we're pretty cool, we think we're up your alley, and if you agree, will you write about us?
So having (as usual) far too much time on hands, I gave 'em a listen, and what do you know -- they really WERE terrific. Great early 80s retro guitar driven power pop sound, and very very accomplished; comparisons to Elvis Costello or Any Trouble would not have been inappropriate.
Here's a representative song.
I got back to them immediately and asked who they were and how long had they been doing this?
Drummer Joe Alonso promptly filled me in:
We’re from South Florida – Miami, specifically. The band formed in 1979 and had a nice run thru 1986. We were literally freshmen in high school - very young teens - when we started performing and songwriting. We finally hit the studio in 1982. We had our “moments”, locally and regionally. Several showcases and “label-auditions” later, we were right back in Miami. Power-pop, from Miami, by teenagers… it was a mix they just couldn’t wrap their heads around. Perhaps if we were from the mid-west, already in our mid-twenties, and lived out of a van – then maybe. LOL.
Well, that explained the retro sound, and given that (despite being older than those guys) I had a similar sort of story in my own musical past, I decided to sing their praises. Hence this posting.
Anyway, while getting the piece together I noticed they'd included a considerably longer bio and while reading it I was almost knocked out of my Barcalounger to learn that The Tomboys' bass player was none other than the incredibly great Raul Malo, who'd gone on to be the singer for the also incredibly great (and considerably more commercially successful) The Mavericks. A band, coincidentally, which I'd written about a few weeks earlier after chancing upon this fabulous video.
(I should add that Tomboys guitarist/vocalist Tommy Anthony also has a resume that's not too shabby; in fact, he's been a member of Santana since 2005. But enough about me.)
In any case, you can and should get a free download of their remixed and remastered vintage EP over HERE. Trust me -- you won't be sorry for making the effort.
Have I mentioned that freaking Raul Malo? I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!!!
So I happened to hear Cyndi Lauper's signature hit in the supermarket yesterday, and it occurred to me that I had never listened to the original version by its composer Robert Hazard. Which led me to finding it on YouTube.
And I shouldn't have bothered.
Man, that sucks. Seriously, even as a New Wave period piece, that's just flat out awful, and kudos to Lauper for realizing the song's potential nonetheless.
Meanwhile, here's a sort of obscure Lauper song that I've loved since forever, or at least since I chanced across Vibes -- the very underrated comedy 80s Lauper starred in with Jeff Goldblum and the late great Peter Falk from whence it comes -- one afternoon on HBO.
You know, it's funny, but as recently as five years ago I used to tell everybody -- and I mean that literally; I used to stop strangers on the street and rant at them -- that it was really really unfair that Lauper hadn't had Madonna's career. Since the success of Kinky Boots, however, I've had to stop doing that.
In all seriousness, I have been on record for many years as saying that the most beautifully occurring sound in nature is a Rickenbacker 12-string well played.
Here's a guy named Mark Agnesi -- playing a bunch of Tom Petty songs -- and completely proving that thesis.
I can't tell you how many of the riffs he's demonstrating here that I'm gonna learn in the next few weeks (now that I've got access to an electric 12-string, albeit a Danelectro and not a Rick.)
However, I should mention that back in the late 80s -- i.e., when I was toiling at the much missed Video Review magazine, with kids who were sorta fifteen years younger than me -- I was totally gobsmacked to find out that there were lots of folks who thought Tom Petty totally sucks.
Okay, this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the mission statement of this here blog, but it's just fantastic and I had to post it.
That's from the Rick Rubin produced Johnny Cash album American V: A Hundred Highways, which I last listened to at the time of its release (2006). Perhaps as a result, I'd forgotten this particular track until I heard it on the radio last Friday.
Turns out, not surprisingly, that it's a folk/gospel number previously recorded by Odetta and Elvis, among others.
Cash makes it totally his own here, of course.
In any case, regular already dressed and peppy pop postings resume on the morrow.
From Los Angeles in 1989, please enjoy Aussie power pop gods Crowded House, with special guest Roger McGuinn, and spirited live versions of The Byrds' classics "Mr. Tambourine Man"....
...and "Eight Miles High."
As you may recall, I recently acquired a Danelectro 12-string guitar...
...and in fact, just last Monday, I was in the studio with long-time garage band chums The Weasels and laid down a solo on a new song that I felt sounded quite splendidly McGuinn-esque.
Listening to the master at work on the above two tracks, however, was thus a pretty humbling experience. Let's face it -- nobody has ever done it quite as majestically as Roger and his Rickenbacker.
Just to clarify what I was saying yesterday about Van Morrison's Astral Weeks -- I don't dislike Van generally. In fact, I absolutely love all his radio hits that followed, and if there's a more gorgeous song than "Into the Mystic" I for one have never heard it.
Besides, without Van...
...this song wouldn't exist.
Of course, without this one...
...neither would "Domino" and "Blinded," but that's a discussion for another time.
An idiosyncratic blog dedicated to the precursors, the practioners, and the descendants of power pop.
All suggestions for postings and sidebar links welcome, contact any of us.
