Wednesday, July 31, 2002
"What color are his eyes?" "I don't know; he's always wearing shades ..." No, the image at right isn't from an audition for the latest ersatz lineup of the Shangri-La's, but, rather, a rare shot of Caren and me mid-trivia, taken by my friend Roy Currlin.
 Likewise, I know I look like I'm singing "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" here, but I'm really deeply involved in the act of stumping a room full of trivia hounds. Caren and I do this every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at The Baggot Inn, 82 W. 3rd St. (between Thompson and Sullivan). By the way, there's supposed to be a story about Tuesday Night Trivia coming up in New York magazine, maybe this week.
1:42 AM
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Saturday, July 27, 2002
 Making a Racket: That's my friend Steve Espinola at right, and, yes, he is playing a tennis racket. A 19-string "Grand Slam" electric tennis racket, to be exact, which he made himself (the electric part, that is). He is also a virtuoso at the "Melodic Lafayette Shortwave Radio". And I owe him a cherry lime rickey (more on that in a moment).
As you might guess, Steve Espinola is my kind of bloke. He would be even if the electric tennis racket were his only claim to fame. But, as it happens, Steve, who is based in New York City, is also a genuinely talented songwriter, with his own MP3.com page to prove it.
A good deal of Steve's tunes are too ironic for my tastes--not that fans of They Might Be Giants or Steve's friends the Moldy Peaches would mind. Perhaps he's afraid of letting his guard down because he knows that, beneath his acidic armor lies a sentimental streak that runs from his heart to his gut. Witness "Whoop Dee Doo," which, despite its title, conveys the sense of absolute bereftitude that one normally hears in the most intimate songs of Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, and Biff Rose, also jokesters who used humor to shield their sensitive hearts.
Newman and Rose also came from the New Orleans piano tradition, which Steve follows--you'll hear the influence clearly in "Whoop Dee Doo" and "Flipside of the Sun". The melancholy, haunting "Flipside of the Sun," as its title suggests, evokes the end of an idealized Brian Wilson-style summer love affair. Good, atmospheric stuff, and not what one might expect from a denizen of the concrete jungle.
About that cherry lime rickey: The last time I saw Steve was a few months ago when we lunched at Veggie Heaven, a diner on 14th Street in Manhattan that has fair-to-middling food and delicious cherry lime rickeys. Someone there has great musical tastes, as they always have good, offbeat pop music coming out of their speakers. When Steve and I were there, we heard the song "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"--I think it was the Buckinghams' version.
As the vast majority of my musical knowledge is in the area of '60s pop, I can be a little too eager to show off when I know something about jazz. So I took the opportunity to inform Steve that "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" was a Cannonball Adderly tune (something I only knew in the first place because of the Buckinghams connection).
Steve politely corrected me that the song was in fact written by Joe Zawinul. I disagreed, and we agreed that whoever was right would have to buy the other a cherry lime rickey.
Later that day, Steve dropped me an e-mail to let me know that a Web search showed that Zawinul was indeed the author of the song. (He included the relevant URLs as proof.) He also discovered the interesting information that Johnny Guitar Watson and Larry Williams (author of "Bad Boy" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," among others) wrote the lyrics to the version that the Buckinghams covered.
If you'd like to try your hand at stumping Steve, I can't promise that he'll make the cherry-lime-rickey offer, but you can catch him at one of his live shows. His next one is at an eclectic event called "Foo Foo Galushka" this Monday night, July 29, at Tonic.
8:33 AM
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Saturday, July 20, 2002
Be Stiff at Maxwell's! As loyal Dawn Patrol and Gaits of Eden readers know, I'm making my Maxwell's debut on Saturday, August 3 at the record-release celebration for The Stiff Generation. Backed by the marvelous modness of the Anderson Council, I'll sing my Stiff Generation contribution, "They Don't Know," plus a mystery bonus tune. Here's the press release I wrote for the event:
ON AUGUST 3, BE STIFF AT MAXWELL'S!
Amy Rigby, Michael Shelley, The Bigger Lovers, & more celebrate
THE STIFF GENERATION!
On Saturday, August 3, Maxwell's hosts the record-release celebration for The Stiff Generation (Groove Disques), a multi-artist tribute to the Stiff Records, the legendary British indie that spawned Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Madness, and Ian Dury (to name a few). Performers include Amy Rigby, Michael Shelley (with Rumour/"Watching the Detectives" drummer Steven Goulding), the Bigger Lovers, Huw Gower (from the Records), Nixon's Head, the Anderson Council, Photon Band, David Byron Ragsdale, Ennui Malaise Experience, and Dawn Eden. The show starts at 9 pm and admission is $7.
Although The Stiff Generation (which also includes tracks by Matthew Sweet, Bill Lloyd, and others, as well as rarities by original Stiff artists Ian Gomm and Clive Gregson) doesn't hit stores until July 30, it is already receiving heavy airplay on WFMU. The album is the brainchild of Philadelphia rockers Nixon's Head, whom Salon calls "exceedingly choosy epicures of pure pop."
"Back when we were high school rock 'n roll obsessives, Stiff Records and its artists served as the most reliable bridge from our love of energetic, inventive '60s pop to the energetic, inventive punk rock we were discovering," says Nixon's Head guitarist and Groove Disques founder Jim Slade. "Back then, Stiff was a rare place in rock 'n roll where we felt welcome."
For The Stiff Generation, Groove Disques sought out artists who understood the vibe of Stiff and its releases?something that, given the label's many contradictions, was not always an easy task. The Book of Rock Lists calls Stiff one of the "Five Most Innovative Record Companies," yet the label's releases were heavy with covers of 1960s classics. But if Stiff represented a moving target for Stiff Generation contributors, their task was made easier by the fact that the target was shaped like a 45-rpm single.
"At Stiff, they knew how to make records, these little creatures that ran loose for three minutes and made you feel something," Slade exults. "Behind it all was a firm sense of craft, pop history, and showmanship."
The Stiff Generation hits Maxwell's on August 3 with Amy Rigby, Michael Shelley, the Bigger Lovers, Huw Gower, Nixon's Head, Photon Band, the Anderson Council, David Byron Ragsdale, Ennui Malaise Experience, and Dawn Eden. Showtime is 9 pm. Admission is $7. Maxwell's is at 1039 Washington St, Hoboken, NJ. Phone: (201) 798-0406. On the Web: www.maxwellsnj.com.
12:42 AM
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