12-28-2007, 07:10 PM
Best, worst of year in music
Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic
(December 27, 2007) — Lucinda Williams wraps up her show at the Main Street Armory and drives down to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que to sit in with Steve Grills and the Roadmasters to sing a few old blues songs. Los Straitjackets and Big Sandy fill the garden outside of the George Eastman House with reverb-drenched instrumentals and then trade their Mexican wrestling masks for sombreros to pick guitars deep into the night on the beach at Marge's Lakeside Inn.
So who says this isn't a happening town? Looking back, here's the year in reviews:
Dr. Lonnie Smith at Venu, Feb. 22. "He confined himself to sweet scat singing through Thelonious Monk's 'Bemsha Swing,' or vocalizing in such quiet tones that the crowd had to lean forward just to determine whether it was him or some tuneful component of the room's heating system."
B.B. King at the Auditorium Theatre, March 2. "Getting old is B.B.'s favorite subject. We heard about his diabetes, cataracts and Viagra. If he had ventured toward his prostate, I was leaving."
The Tragically Hip at the Harro East Ballroom, March 8. "A rock band ripping on all cylinders in front of a beered-up crowd is an awesome sight. You're not a spectator, you're a participant. It's like feeling the engines at Daytona, as hands-on as dissecting your first worm in biology class. It's visceral."
Modest Mouse at Main Street Armory, April 27. "How odd it was that the biggest concert of the year thus far was absent of true rock-star moments. Except three-quarters of the way through the show, when Modest Mouse's head cheese, Isaac Brock, played the guitar with his teeth during 'Education.' It's debatable as to what he got out of the instrument with that move, except a really rugged flossing."
+44, featuring former members of blink-182, at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, May 29. "Yes, pop stardom is a cruel mistress. It wasn't so long ago that blink-182 was headlining shows at this very venue for thousands of teens and young guys experimenting with beer for the first time. And now, here were Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, begging to be taken back by you, the fickle music consumer."
Final day of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, June 16. "The old saying goes, 'It ain't over till the fat lady sings,' which this jazz fest translates as Mordecai Lipshutz crooning the final song at the Crowne Plaza Hotel jam session."
Diana Krall at Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center, July 9. "She and trumpeter Chris Botti drew 4,500 people, a very nice crowd for a high-priced jazz show. Fortunately for them, by the time Krall hit the stage, the day's stifling heat had cooled a few degrees, maybe to the level of that scene where Bambi is trapped in the forest fire."
Roger Waters at Darien Lake, July 12. "When the extra speakers scattered around the pavilion began picking up the chiming clocks at the opening of 'Time' in a dizzying crescendo, with Waters duplicating a ticking clock on his bass and clock faces flying from the huge video screen behind the band, I can't have been the only one there who was grateful that I'd pass any drug test my employers could throw at me in the morning. Aurally and visually, it was a monstrous moment."
Big City Summerfest in the High Falls, July 20. "Big City Summerfest re-opened for business about 6:15 p.m. Friday, with Papa Mali beneath beautiful skies and 20 people watching. At the end of his set, the crowd had swelled to almost ... twice as many. On the gospel-influenced 'True Religion,' Papa Mali conceded that while not religious, he was nonetheless a spiritual guy, and his audience was the congregation. Thankfully, Papa Mali didn't have to pass the collection plate for gas money, or they'd be stuck in Batavia this morning."
Liza Minnelli at CMAC, Aug. 30. "She has been Liza with a Z and Liza with AA. That tells us that the 61-year-old diva knows how to live with flair — or as a human train wreck."
Alison Krauss at CMAC, Aug. 3. "With her clear, mountain-stream voice, Alison Krauss could etch the Stanley Brothers catalog on a bottle of moonshine."
Vans Warped Tour at Darien Lake, Aug. 10. "As the sun set, small condom zeppelins drifted lazily overhead, people batting them about as though they were confident they knew where they'd been. And in the gravel parking lot, barefoot guys who'd lobbed their shoes and sandals over the mosh pits were limping their way to their cars."
Eddie Money at CMAC, Aug. 15. "Every morning, Eddie Money must wake up with 'Two Tickets to Paradise' faintly echoing somewhere in the back of his head. He stumbles to the bathroom, looks in the mirror, sees his well-earned 58 years, and knows: The trip is over."
Los Lobos opening for John Mellencamp at Auditorium Theatre, Dec. 4: "'La Bamba' was one of three songs done in Spanish by the band from East L.A., and the Rochester audience struggled a bit with the Spanish singalong part. But not the singalong to the song that Los Lobos smoothly shifted to midway through, the blue-eyed soul of the Rascals' 'Good Lovin'.' It was a testimonial to rock's inbreeding — or perhaps a reminder in the midst of the anti-immigration shouting match — that the two hits share the same groove."
Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic
(December 27, 2007) — Lucinda Williams wraps up her show at the Main Street Armory and drives down to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que to sit in with Steve Grills and the Roadmasters to sing a few old blues songs. Los Straitjackets and Big Sandy fill the garden outside of the George Eastman House with reverb-drenched instrumentals and then trade their Mexican wrestling masks for sombreros to pick guitars deep into the night on the beach at Marge's Lakeside Inn.
So who says this isn't a happening town? Looking back, here's the year in reviews:
Dr. Lonnie Smith at Venu, Feb. 22. "He confined himself to sweet scat singing through Thelonious Monk's 'Bemsha Swing,' or vocalizing in such quiet tones that the crowd had to lean forward just to determine whether it was him or some tuneful component of the room's heating system."
B.B. King at the Auditorium Theatre, March 2. "Getting old is B.B.'s favorite subject. We heard about his diabetes, cataracts and Viagra. If he had ventured toward his prostate, I was leaving."
The Tragically Hip at the Harro East Ballroom, March 8. "A rock band ripping on all cylinders in front of a beered-up crowd is an awesome sight. You're not a spectator, you're a participant. It's like feeling the engines at Daytona, as hands-on as dissecting your first worm in biology class. It's visceral."
Modest Mouse at Main Street Armory, April 27. "How odd it was that the biggest concert of the year thus far was absent of true rock-star moments. Except three-quarters of the way through the show, when Modest Mouse's head cheese, Isaac Brock, played the guitar with his teeth during 'Education.' It's debatable as to what he got out of the instrument with that move, except a really rugged flossing."
+44, featuring former members of blink-182, at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, May 29. "Yes, pop stardom is a cruel mistress. It wasn't so long ago that blink-182 was headlining shows at this very venue for thousands of teens and young guys experimenting with beer for the first time. And now, here were Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, begging to be taken back by you, the fickle music consumer."
Final day of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, June 16. "The old saying goes, 'It ain't over till the fat lady sings,' which this jazz fest translates as Mordecai Lipshutz crooning the final song at the Crowne Plaza Hotel jam session."
Diana Krall at Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center, July 9. "She and trumpeter Chris Botti drew 4,500 people, a very nice crowd for a high-priced jazz show. Fortunately for them, by the time Krall hit the stage, the day's stifling heat had cooled a few degrees, maybe to the level of that scene where Bambi is trapped in the forest fire."
Roger Waters at Darien Lake, July 12. "When the extra speakers scattered around the pavilion began picking up the chiming clocks at the opening of 'Time' in a dizzying crescendo, with Waters duplicating a ticking clock on his bass and clock faces flying from the huge video screen behind the band, I can't have been the only one there who was grateful that I'd pass any drug test my employers could throw at me in the morning. Aurally and visually, it was a monstrous moment."
Big City Summerfest in the High Falls, July 20. "Big City Summerfest re-opened for business about 6:15 p.m. Friday, with Papa Mali beneath beautiful skies and 20 people watching. At the end of his set, the crowd had swelled to almost ... twice as many. On the gospel-influenced 'True Religion,' Papa Mali conceded that while not religious, he was nonetheless a spiritual guy, and his audience was the congregation. Thankfully, Papa Mali didn't have to pass the collection plate for gas money, or they'd be stuck in Batavia this morning."
Liza Minnelli at CMAC, Aug. 30. "She has been Liza with a Z and Liza with AA. That tells us that the 61-year-old diva knows how to live with flair — or as a human train wreck."
Alison Krauss at CMAC, Aug. 3. "With her clear, mountain-stream voice, Alison Krauss could etch the Stanley Brothers catalog on a bottle of moonshine."
Vans Warped Tour at Darien Lake, Aug. 10. "As the sun set, small condom zeppelins drifted lazily overhead, people batting them about as though they were confident they knew where they'd been. And in the gravel parking lot, barefoot guys who'd lobbed their shoes and sandals over the mosh pits were limping their way to their cars."
Eddie Money at CMAC, Aug. 15. "Every morning, Eddie Money must wake up with 'Two Tickets to Paradise' faintly echoing somewhere in the back of his head. He stumbles to the bathroom, looks in the mirror, sees his well-earned 58 years, and knows: The trip is over."
Los Lobos opening for John Mellencamp at Auditorium Theatre, Dec. 4: "'La Bamba' was one of three songs done in Spanish by the band from East L.A., and the Rochester audience struggled a bit with the Spanish singalong part. But not the singalong to the song that Los Lobos smoothly shifted to midway through, the blue-eyed soul of the Rascals' 'Good Lovin'.' It was a testimonial to rock's inbreeding — or perhaps a reminder in the midst of the anti-immigration shouting match — that the two hits share the same groove."