A week and a day ago, I left work a couple hours early and drove down to Nashville to see Charly Bliss in concert at the Exit/In. They were awesome, as I knew they would be.
A dude like me, in his late 50s, has no business driving four hours each way to see an power pop group of 20-somethings. But I love Charly Bliss’ music. And Nashville was the closest city to Cincy on their tour itinerary. Sometimes you have to roll before you can rock.
And as the cherry on top, Marc from the band Len did their song “Steal My Sunshine” with the band as part of the encore:
$25 for the ticket
$67 for the hotel room in Franklin, KY (free breakfast the next morning too!)
$30 for gas
Totally worth it – I’d do it again in a heartbeat. In my humble opinion, Charly Bliss deserves as much attention as Taylor Swift, if not more. Better lyrics, more energy on stage, and a true band vs. a singer with backing musicians. (Put your ears on their new album Forever before you come at me, Swifties!)
Two days ago, my friend Ken and I went up to Columbus to see Superchunk at Scully’s Music Diner. They were awesome, as I knew they would be.
Dudes like us, in our late 50s, have no business driving 100 miles each way on a Monday evening to see a concert. But — and stop me if you’ve heard this before — this tour stop was the closest they’d come to Cincinnati.
I was treated to a fantastic opening band, Quivers:
I’m a sucker for Aussie indie pop, and they were great. Their set included a cover of a Lucinda Williams song, which melted my heart. (The song is called “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad” which seemed especially appropriate given our road trip.)
I talked to the band members (Mike, Holly, Bella and Sam) at the merch booth after the show and they were super-nice and fun. (Mike took extra care in cutting the plastic album covering off so they could slide it back on after they autographed a vinyl copy of their new album Oyster Cuts.)
And Superchunk is one of my favorite bands of all time. They’ve been doing their thing for 35 years, but they still have that raw energy that makes their live show so brilliant.
And as the cherry on top, Kelley Deal (from The Breeders and R. Ring) and Mike Montgomery (R. Ring) came up on stage to do an R. Ring tune during the encore:
$30 ticket
$26 for a round of beers for Ken, his friend Dave, and me (Ken drove to the show)
Totally worth it – I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
One good minute could last me a whole year One good minute will last me a whole year
Superchunk “The First Part”
I’m not, I’m not dead Even if I was I’d wish that I f*cked up ‘least twice as much And had like double the fun But I’m not dead I’m not, I’m not done I’m looking down from starlight, glass-eyed I still got some time left, I’m not dead
I love live music, but I’m not really a stadium tour kinda guy. I’ve really only been to two stadium concerts in my life – the first was in 1986 (I think) at Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium to see The Who on the first of their gazillion “farewell” tours. The second was two nights ago – Foo Fighters at the Reds stadium. The opening acts were Mammoth – the band led by Wolfie Van Halen, son of Eddie and Valerie Bertinelli – and the Pretenders, a band I adore.
I wasn’t planning to attend – the ticket prices for those big shows are waaay too high to suit me. I’d rather spend $200 on eight $25 club shows. But my friend Paul had an extra ticket. And I’d always wanted to see the Foo Fighters live. How could I refuse?
Photo credit: Sam Greene, The Cincinnati Enquirer
I’m really glad I went. I see what all the Foo fuss is about. Dave Grohl is incredibly energetic and charismatic, his band mates are extremely talented, and they put on a heck of a show. Their song catalog is perfect for stadiums too – a lot of singalong anthems. I don’t know how Grohl is able to scream his way through two-and-a-half-hour shows on a regular basis. My vocal cords would be shredded into sawdust.
Photo credit: Sam Greene, The Cincinnati Enquirer
I have some high-fidelity noise-reducing earplugs (as a regular concert goer, I highly recommend them – here’s my brand) but didn’t bring them because I didn’t think I’d need them in an open-air stadium. I was wrong. It was LOUD.
The Foos hit the stage at 8 p.m. and wrapped up their main set at around 10:15, then came back for an encore. As my friend Paul said, “Now there’s a guy (Dave Grohl) who loves his job!”
Photo credit: Sam Greene, The Cincinnati Enquirer
It was really cool to see a show like that where 38,000 fans were singing along. But after the sun set, I found it hard to keep my eyes from straying from the band on stage to the giant TV screens to the left and right of the stage. It’s hard to not look… but then you’re essentially watching a show on TV vs. seeing a concert.
Net-net: I loved it and I’m really glad I got a chance to see them live. But I think I’ll go back to my club shows. Stadiums are cool, but I’m a “small ball” music dude at heart.
Chances are, 99 out of every 100 people won’t recognize those names. Heck, it might be more like 999 out of 1,000. And that’s a shame. Because those are the dudes that have been together in the band Los Lobos for more than 50 years. They were joined by the “newbie” Steve Berlin in 1982, and have been a fantastic five-some ever since.
If you’ve never heard of Los Lobos, that’s a shame. If you’ve only heard their cover of “La Bamba” that’s OK, but you’re still missing out on so much great music.
They are a self-proclaimed “Just another band from East L.A.” But they’re so much more than that. This paragraph from their bio really sums them up nicely:
Los Lobos has sold millions of records, won prestigious awards and made fans around the world. But perhaps its most lasting impact will be how well its music embodies the idea of America as a cultural melting pot. In it, styles like son jarocho, norteño, Tejano, folk, country, doo-wop, soul, R&B, rock ’n’ roll and punk all come together to create a new sound that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
Amen to that! You could rightfully argue that they are the quintessential American band. Children of immigrants (Conrad, Louie, David) or immigrants themselves (Cesar), joined by a kid from the East Coast (Philly) who had moved to the West Coast to pursue his music dreams.
Last night I saw Los Lobos in concert. I’ve seen them many times and they always crush it.
They opened for Little Feat, a band that has only one original member left. If it were up to me, the roles would be reversed. But I get the sense that the members of Los Lobos don’t really care about “headliner” status. They’ve come a long way from being a wedding band.
“If you were married between 1973 and 1980 in East L.A., we probably played your wedding.”
Louie Pérez
They’re not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Now there’s a real shame.
While regarded as highly influential and deserving by many, the iconic East L.A. band Los Lobos has surprisingly not yet been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being eligible for almost 20 years
They haven’t gotten what they deserve – but that’s out of their hands. Instead, they use their hands, hearts and voices to always give the fans what they deserve: a stellar set of music.
Will the Wolf survive? Heck yeah! Not just survive, but thrive!
Gather round, kids. Grandpa Dubbatrubba’s gonna tell you about a time when there was this thing called “radio.” You could listen to “stations” that played different types of music – you know, like those Spotify “Daily Mix” playlists.
And certain stations — they were usually the small ones, semi-neglected ones, with weak signals, would play all sorts of music that other stations wouldn’t. Up-and-coming bands with weird names. It was called “college rock” and it was amazing.
And if you were a “college rock” band and you wanted to tour, you had to make connections with other like-minded bands. And maybe your parents helped out:
So much has changed about the music business. But there’s still room for “college rock” bands. And they still need friends and family to help promote them.
Buffalo Tom‘s new album Jump Rope came out on May 31st.
They’re still great.
They’re doing a bit of touring, mostly the East and West Coasts, with some European dates, and then a three-night homecoming festival near their Boston hometown.
Tell a buddy, and bring a friend.
Oh, and a bit closer to home, a band called The Collies has been added to the bill for a show at Madison Live in Covington, KY this Sunday. Father’s Day. My oldest son is in that band. They get a cut of the tickets they sell. Want one? Call the drummer’s dad. If you sound like you’re from the South, I’ll talk to you for an hour.
Wussy rocks! Tonight, they’re going to bring their amazing songwriting to life in an intimate setting. And that gets me right where I live.
The show is part of Chuck and Lisa’s house concert tour. A company called Undertow organizes these tours for Wussy and several other artists. They take care of ticket sales and all the other details. You can host a show… or see one. Check out the current roster here. In my email exchanges with Jayne from Undertow, I thanked her for what Undertow is doing to bring great artists to folks all over the country. Her response:
She’s right, I do give a damn about artists like Mark, Lisa, and Chuck. (They also happen to be super-kind human beings… a huge bonus!)
Music is my happy place. Home is where the heart is. Tonight, I get the best of both worlds. It’s gonna be beautiful.
It’s not my podcast, actually. It’s the podcast that Dave Tellmann and I do… or did, rather. But we’re still hauling in the hardware (“we’d like to thank the members of the academy…”) and reaping the accolades (“none of this would’ve been possible without your support…”).
The latest shout-out came courtesy of Cincinnati CityBeat.
Our “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast has run its course. (We did do a bonus episode recently after Mojo Nixon passed away.) But maybe a few more fans of the station will find their way to our little ol’ show. Which is the point.
“Rumblings” has a lot in common with a kid’s fort.
You can tell a lot of time and effort went into the construction of it, but it’s still clearly quite amateur. And that’s OK. For the few folks that tuned in, it was a time capsule from a time in their lives when the music and the people who shared it mattered a great deal to them. Those connections still matter.
We appreciate the recognition from CityBeat. Now if you’ll excuse us, Dave and I have to go put on our tuxedos for the awards ceremony.
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