On Friday the 24th, Glen, Mondale and I saw Billy Bragg at the Ethical Culture Society. A fun place to see a show. The crowd mostly consisted of thirty and forty something Upper West Siders who used to think they were socialists. Bragg is on tour promoting a box set of his early career so his set was a nice retrospective. I had never seen him before so I had a great time.
Mondale enjoyed it and forgave Bragg for sucking so much the last time he saw him twelve years ago. Bragg was like the grumpy but fun loving uncle who can play the guitar but also tells really bad jokes. I found out the next day that Mooney had sat next to him on the flight to Austin (or was it from Austin?) a few days before and that Bragg talked his ear off. Mondale's dream came true for Mooney.
On Saturday, Dave, Jen, and I saw Bob Newhart perform at Brooklyn College. What a time warp that show was. It felt like it was 1962. His bits were so dated, it was awesome. Polish jokes! Japanese are short and can't see out the cockpit of a plane, Tammy Faye Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Asians are good at math and eat dogs, women aren't good drivers. The list goes on and on. He did have one timely bit about that pimp song from Hustle and Flow. His timing was exquisite and I got into it even though I was hoping to hear more newer material. Doesn't he get sick of telling the same jokes for forty years?
The crowd - mostly the sixty five and up set. The parking lot scene after the show was very very slooooowww.
Sunday night - Ray Davies
Wow! The man is amazing. Still sounds great. Still looks great. None of this sit down Town Hall bullshit, the man wants a real rock club. Granted, I would have preferred to sit down but I'm much older than Davies is.
His set was heavy on Kinks favorites. Some of his new stuff was okay, some was terrible but it was a small price to pay to get to hear "Sunny Afternoon," "Oklahoma USA," "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" "Set Me Free," and "Lola" amongst others performed live. My major complaint was that he didn't do "Waterloo Sunset" but I guess with a songbook as amazing as his, not everything was going to be played. The crowd was mostly a mix of 70's East Village types (Handsome Dick Manitoba almost knocked Youthlarge over trying to get in to hear the first song "I'm Not Like Everybody Else", music industry types, and fifty something suburbanites. Oh yeah, Rufus Wainwright was there too but I don't think he stayed for the whole show.
Bob Pollard still has nothing on this guy.
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4 comments:
I was going to blog about the Billy Bragg show but life got in the way. I shall have to make do by tacking my twopenn'uth to your entry.
I've always loved the man. Loved his music and pretty much loved his outlook on life. I love the fact that he is a total geek, badly dressed, tea drinking loony who plays his guitar too loudly and can't really sing. He's the type of bloke who gets drunk twice a year and makes a complete unashamed fool of himself. I love that.
Most of all, down the years, I've loved his fantastic lyrics.
Then the nineties hit. They got to him. I wont go into details on someone else's blog but he turned shit. His solo albums since 1990 up to the Wilco collaborations were pretty much bollocks. The few shows I saw in the nineties were tired, apologetic affairs, he seemed to have little of value to say. God, was he losing his edge?
Therefore it was great to see him, older, maybe even wiser but still thrashing about and playing his back catalogue. I'm an unashamed fan of the eighties Billy and the Wilco stuff. With a couple of exceptions (at one point I took the chance to nip out to the bathroom during 'NWPA' or whatever it's called) he delivered the goods.
Also, the ethical center place, a great venue.
Apologies, I should have blogged all this on my own, still, it's nice to have reconciled with Uncle bill.
that bastard ray davies has been playing waterloo sunset for the brits and not the natives of his new homeland!
What's on deck for next week? Richard Thompson, Tommy Smothers, and Dave Clark?
I'm just jealous as this would have been close to my ideal of a fun entertainment weekend in New York.
weasel, that sounds like an ideal lineup of shows.
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