Category Archives: Pop and Rock

The Feelies, from left, Stanley Demeski, Glenn Mercer, Bill Million and Brenda Sauter, at the Wellmont Theater, Montclair, N.J., on New Year's Eve 2008. (Copyright Steven P. Marsh)

The Feelies are used to playing in clubs and concert halls. But next week, the band’s modern musical art will be on display in an unusual setting: The Whitney Museum of American Art.

The band —  comprising guitarists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million, along with Brenda Sauter on bass, Stanley Demeski on drums and Dave Weckerman on percussion — is giving a rare acoustic performance at the Whitney a week from Friday in the museum’s lower-level store and cafe area.

The space, which regularly hosts rock and classical ensembles, is tight and seating is limited. But this should still be a good warm-up (or more likely, a dress rehearsal) for their Fourth of July weekend shows at Maxwell’s in Hoboken.

The Feelies' percussionist Dave Weckerman hard at work. (Copyright Steven P. Marsh)

The Feelies perform at 7 p.m. Friday, June 26. At the Whitey Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave., Manhattan. Free with museum admission, tickets are available on day of show only, starting at 1 p.m. For more information, click here.

The Feelies also perform July 2-4 at Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St., Hoboken. July 3 is sold out, but tickets remain for the other two shows. $25. Click here to buy.

Satan and Adam, aka Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee, center, and Adam Gussow, right, at Preservation Pub in Knoxville, Tenn.

I’ve been anticipating the return of hometown heroes Satan and Adam — the blues duo comprising an authentic Southern bluesman, Sterling Magee, and Adam Gussow, a younger native of Rockland County, NY.

The duo, who got together in 1986, share a gritty and spirited vision of the blues. They made their name busking on the streets, with Mister Satan on guitar and kickboard percussion and Adam on blues harmonica. In their heyday, they found time for touring and made three studio albums together. (A fourth album, Word on the Street, is a compilation of the duo’s early street recordings that was released last year.) They got their 15 minutes of fame when the members of U2 encountered them during the making of their movie Rattle and Hum, and included a few seconds of Satan and Adam in the film.

They had seven dates lined up for this month — the first of them today at Kiawah Island, S.C., with plans to perform at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia on Wednesday, B.B. King’s in NYC on Thursday, and The Turning Point in Piermont, N.Y., near where Adam grew up, on Friday.

Satan and Adam

Mister Satan, as Magee is known, who had a nervous breakdown that robbed him of his ability to play guitar a decade ago, has been living in a Medicare-funded retirement home in Boca Ciega, Fla. He’s been on the mend, has slowly regained his guitar-playing ability, and even performed a few shows last year.  The playing seemed to help Mister Satan’s overall well-being, so Adam worked hard to set up this short tour, because he was eager to get back on the road with his partner for a real tour.

It looked like things were all set, until they encountered a last-minute bureaucratic snafu at Mister Satan’s retirement home that dashed their hopes — for now.

I got word of the tour cancellation just as I was preparing to write up the great interview I had with Adam a few weeks ago. While they won’t be on the road this month, Adam says he hopes to reschedule for mid-August. I’ll post the interview in the weeks before the rescheduled dates.

Click through to the jump to read Adam’s explanation of exactly what went wrong, posted to his web site on Friday: Continue reading →

The dB's in New York City in 2007.

Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, founders of the legendary Eighties band The dB’s, release their new album, Here and Now, tomorrow.

While it holds out promise, it’s very much NOT a dB’s album. It’s a followup to Mavericks, the album the pair made 18 years ago.

Now Magnetmagazine.com, which Holsapple and Stamey are guest editing for a week, confirms what has been rumored for some time: The pair have really have begun recording again with The dB’s original bassist Gene Holder and drummer Will Rigby.

If there’s an album, a tour will certainly follow, right? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s no guarantee. But the guys do seem to enjoy playing live, so it seems likely.

There’s more evidence on the band’s web site:

The dB’s continue (slowly) working on their long-promised reunion album. Now tentatively slated for release in winter 2009…

This is not the first time that reunion-album news has popped up. And The dB’s have done a few reunion gigs here and there.

But given the direct involvement of Holsapple and Stamey in these reports, it seems pretty likely that we really will be hearing a dB’s album sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, Holsapple and Stamey are performing on the day of release, tomorrow, at City Winery,  155 Varick Street, NYC. (212) 608-0555 • info@citywinery.com

The show is 9 p.m., and tickets, priced at $20 and $25, are still available. Click here to purchase.

Here’s hoping.

Vintage La's

I hope it’s true this time, but if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t wager much cash on the latest reports that the legendary Liverpool pop band The La’s will re-form, tour and finally record a second album later this year.

Frontman Lee Mavers is planning to revive the revered band, whose 1990 hit “There She Goes” made waves with its throwback sunny guitar jangle and its carefree sound, according to new reports.

Drew McConnell, bassist for the latest lineup of The La's.

Drew McConnell, the bass player in Pete Doherty‘s Babyshambles, broke the news, saying he’s joined Mavers and they’re looking for another guitarist and a drummer for a UK tour and to record an album that has already been written. Given that Mavers has been playing with Babyshambles lately, none of this comes as a complete surprise. But given Mavers’ history with The La’s, there’s a huge question mark whether any of this information is credible.

There’s no word on whether the planned new album will comprise new material or songs  written for The La’s never-released (and presumably never finished) second album that was started in late 1991. Its failure to drop was credited to the extreme perfectionism of Mavers, the band’s songwriter, singer and lead guitarist, who had complete creative control at that time.

After that album failed to materialize, The La’s disappeared for awhile. The band reemerged in 1995 with a different  lineup, playing some shows before dropping out of sight again. Mavers and original bass player John Power reunited in 2005 for a handful of shows, but no official recordings emerged from that effort.

McConnell’s announcement is raising hopes among The La’s fan base, but even the true believers on the band’s internet discussion board seem skeptical.

I’m skeptical, too. But hope springs eternal.

Jeff Tweedy

Wilco founder Jeff Tweedy has spoken out about the death of former bandmate Jay Bennett at age 45, saying he is “deeply saddened.”

This statement was posted behind a tiny link in the upper righthand corner of the homepage of the Wilco web site today:

We are all deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will miss Jay as we remember him — as a truly unique and gifted human being and one who made welcome and significant contributions to the band’s songs and evolution. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends in this very difficult time.

Jeff Tweedy

Jay Bennett

Rock musician Jay Bennett, a multi-instrumentalist best known for his seven-year stint playing with  Wilco, died in his sleep at home in Urbana, Ill., yesterday. He was 45 years old.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Jay played a key role in the band during that time. The breakdown of his relationship with his bandmates — particularly with its mercurial founder, Jeff Tweedy — was vividly recorded in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco, a black-and-white movie that set out to document the creation of the band’s 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

After leaving Wilco, Jay went on to release a series of albums, the first of which, The Palace at 4am, was a quietly beautiful collaboration with Edward Burch. Jay was at work on Kicking the Perfumed Air at the time of his death.

He went to his MySpace blog last month to update fans about a serious hip injury that was handicapping him and about his struggle to find a way to get the surgery he needed but for which he had no insurance coverage.

Jay filed a breach-of-contract suit against Tweedy earlier this month, seeking “in excess of $50,000.00” for his work in Wilco.

A reader points out that Jay’s most recent solo album, Whatever Happened, I Apologize, is quite good and remains available for free via Rock Proper. (Thanks for pointing this out, Jim!)

And read to the jump for a video of Jay and Jeff playing “Misunderstood.” Continue reading →