Category: Music

From my favorite Irish band, the Waxies!

Check out the band’s site for club dates all over Western Michigan in the next couple months! Slainte!

To celebrate the wearin’ of the green, I present here a video of me nephew’s band, Grand Rapids’ most popular Irish band, The Waxies! Give em hell, me boyos, and one fer Uncle Jamie!

Branden blames me for getting him hooked on Irish music and history, because one night I went on too long with snippets I remembered from college history class. Didn’t know I had the rabble rouser in me, but maybe it just takes the right audience. I can take the blame for the black cap as well. I lent it to him once, and have given up hope it will ever make it back (not that I’d want it at this point).

For more on the Waxies, check out their Facebook page and their MySpace page.

Slainte!

My Brother Hungerdunger Stu Shea has started a new project to harness the awesome power of Youtube. Every day, he plans to post a video with information about that day in Beatles history. Here’s the first installment:

We ‘Dungers have been talking for months about how to take advantage of the brave new world to further our book sales, careers and general income levels. Stu is the first to dive head first into the video posting scene, to help promote his Beatles book FAB FOUR FAQ, plus the other Beatles books that will be bubbling out of him in the years to come. I think it’s an excellent synthesis of his skills at reporting, writing, singing and playing. So please tune him in. There might not be a lot of funny shots to the crotch, but you never know.

Sorry, Mark, I had to post this on my blog first.

I was unfamiliar with Al “Jazzbo” Collins until I saw this clip. Now I’ve got some new recordings to pursue. Check out this video from the folks at Crooks & Liars:

Such sad news that Luciano Pavarotti, blessed with such a divine voice, finally succumbed to the fate of all mortals. Can any of us imagine what it would be like to be born with a voice like that? To be the greatest tenor in the past 70 years? Since I don’t run an opera company, his diva antics and his unreliability don’t have any effect on me (I might feel differently if I’d had opening night tix and he couldn’t haul his carcass out of the bathtub to perform.) I’d say we’re lucky that the diva antics were as predictable as they were, given the temptations of celebrity these days. At least they didn’t ruin his voice.

Oh what a thrill it must have been to see a titan like that in his prime, on stage in “Turandot” or “La Boheme”. That’s one big reason I love opera, and live performing in general: The chance to see finely trained talent at its peak, bring down a spark from the heavens. I saw John Malkovich and Gary Sinise in “True West” many years ago–so long ago that Malkovich still had some of his hair. Stupendous. And I’ve been lucky enough to see Sam Ramey a number of times at the Lyric Opera, along with Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming and many others. Vita brevis, baby. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to see someone as electrifying as Pavarotti cross the stage again. I doubt I will, but it’s fun watching and waiting.

His passing has had one bright spot: continuous programming on WFMT featuring his operas, concerts, and interviews. Check out their home page for highlights.

What’s playing, not on my iPod, but on a continuous loop in my fleshy brain that will only stop replaying by the merciful intercession of Death:

“Hell is for Children” by Pat Benatar

(Thank you, oh-so-ironic college deejays at WLUW. Wait till someone pulls this kind of crap on you when you’re 45 with a Britney Spears song.)

People in the greater Grand Rapids area, you are hereby advised to check out the Hibernian hotness of that great new band, THE MOLLY MAGUIRES, playing this Saturday at Dillenbeck’s Coffee House at 7 pm. (Dillenbeck‘s is located at 1059 W. Fulton, on the west side of town by John Ball Park.) Recently recovered from their St. Paddy’s festivities, the Molly Maguires will rock the house with their own songs, plus (I’m guessing) some Pogues, Black 47, and Dropkick Murphy ditties.

Why am I hotter than an Irish landlord about the Mollies? Because my nephew and godson Brandon is their guitar hero and songwriter. He’s got the chops, and not just the mutton chops.

This will be their first public performance, so get out there and shout your encouragement. You can check out the band’s myspace page here. Slainte, boyos, Slainte!

Iggy, that is. Once again, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame passed over inducting Iggy and the Stooges and gone for the really controversial acts, like the Ronnettes and REM. Way to go out on a limb, fellas.

I’ve got nothing against the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It does give a person something to do while visiting Cleveland, beyond reenacting scenes from “Stranger Than Paradise.” I just wish the design was a little more interesting. Check out my suggested design in this previous post.

For a real hoot, check out the YouTube flick posted on pandagon. At this 1970 Stooges concert, you get to see the young and virile Iggy toss himself into the crowd numerous times while singing “TV Eye” and smear himself with peanut butter. And in a hilarious touch, the concert is narrated by a broadcaster in a suit and crew cut who tries to explain what is happening on the screen. “Iggy seems to have disappeared from view…Nope, there he is….”

Ach, the music these kids listen to today…it’s just noise.