Some stuff etc blah blah blah
The Pretty Reckless – Oct 4th – House of Blues – Dallas, TX
Let’s get what you probably already know out of the way: Yes, Taylor Momsen was most previously known primarily for her role on the teen drama show Gossip Girl, yes this is a former actress trying to make it music, yes she was Cindy Lou Hoo as a child in the live action remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
What you may not know is that Taylor has transformed into one of the sexiest and most confrontational front women in Rock and Roll that we have seen since the late 1970s with The Runaways and Debbie Harry. Furthermore in spite of the skepticisms that her pedigree might inspire, Taylor Momsen is the real deal. A bona ride Rock Goddess that can sing her ass off, with more swagger than you can handle and is overwhelmingly sexual.
Fresh off her controversial & viral Maxim magazine shoot, 20-year-old Taylor Momsen performed with her band The Pretty Reckless in support of the new album Going to Hell.
Taking the stage to a prerecorded track of her having an orgasm and securing her star status by coming out last, strutting to the stage to Beatles’ like screams with more strength than most entire bands combined. Rock and Roll, sin and sex just seem to pour out of her – new songs reflect as such, starting with Follow me Down, then Kill Me, the title track from the new LP Going to Hell and ending with another new song simply called Fucked.
Taylor takes on the role of front-woman with ease, interacting with the crowd and wowing us with her incredible vocal range and smouldering good looks. She’s literally perfect in every possible sense of the word.
What a great fucking title for an album from someone that wants to exhibit rebellion incarnate. The album should have already been out, however they were recording the LP in New Jersey as the time that Hurricane Sandy hit, and lost literally everything and had to start over pushing the official release of the LP to sometime in the beginning of next year.
The title track featured a tight Van Halen-worthy riff from guitarist Ben Phillips, who also shined on Cold Blooded with he and Momsen both providing beautifully toned down vocals. The band shone brightest when channeling 1970s rock in the vein of Black Sabbath, rather than the likes of recent tour mates Marilyn Manson and Evanescence. The theme of the music is largely about honesty, even as brutal as it can be sometimes, and she carries that honesty into the
live performance, as the audience experience the same range of emotions as the band on stage.
The first time I saw them was in this very building almost three years ago, headlining in the smaller room upstairs, playing a set of about half covers. This time though they graduated to the big room downstairs as headliners, the show could have still easily been held in the smaller room as I put the attendance at around 150. It might not have been sold out, but the crowd was more than what most bands could ask for—seriously dedicated fans of all ages, colors and gender who knew every word to every song and handed money by the fistful over to the merch table.
Setlist:
Follow Me Down
Since You’re Gone
Miss Nothing
Hit Me Like A Man
Zombie
Sweet Things
Cold Blooded
Kill Me
My Medicine
Goin’ Down
Make Me Wanna Die
Going To Hell
Encore:
Just Tonight (Partially Acoustic)
Fucked
This was such a great show and am still reeling from how powerful she is – Now that she has her stage precence down and her songwriting has even matured I can’t wait to see what comes next. Seriously, if your thinking this is just another actress trying to make it in music, forget it – this is someone that always been a musician, who did the acting thing for awhile and is now at home where she belongs. And it looks fucking good on her.
Queens of the Stone Age – Oct 5th – Verizon Theater – Grand Prairie, TX
Ok, so night two of this awesome 1-2-3 punch of a fun weekend. We were celebrating my oldest friends milestone bday tonight – He and I have worshipped at the altar of Kyuss together for 20 years now so it was fitting that Josh and the gang were in town for his bday.
However I despise this venue and they force you to (over) pay for parking and once your inside it feels like your in a mall. The band is completely seperated from the audience so their is zero chance of intimacy.
Another issue I have with this venue is that when I get to Will Call, my stuff never seems to be there and theirs always a problem. I think I may have gotten to the bottom of it this time as of course when I got there, my tickets weren’t there and then on the other side of the glass I see this girl that I’ve never gotten along with for reasons that are entirely not my fault – I learned shortly after this show that she is the Talent Buyer for this venue – she was smirking at me like she was in on it. Coincidence? Who knows? regardless it proves that some people never grow up and are beyond reproach.
No worries, I contacted Queens’ Tour Manager and she came and gave me my pass and in I go.
At one time there was an air of invincibility surrounding both Josh Homme and Queens.
In the years since, however, fissures have started to show in this once unbreakable force. Bassist and Kyuss alumni Nick Oliveri was fired from the band in 2004 in the wake of a felony domestic violence charge — a departure that coincided with a stretch of albums where the once-mighty crew sounded weary and adrift
(especially Lullabies to Paralyze in 2005). Then, in 2010, Homme died. Well, briefly anyway, as he tells it, he had surgery on his leg and there were complications, and died on the operating table.
Considering these circumstances, it shouldn’t surprise that mortality emerged as a focal point of the group’s long-in-the-works comeback album …Like Clockwork, surfacing everywhere from the cover art (an artist’s depiction of a woman wrapped in the Grim Reaper’s embrace) to Homme’s words.
Besides the flaccid nature of the venue, I’m not a big fan of the new record and at this show, that was an issue as they played almost the entire thing. Six years is a long time to wait for a new LP and the results feel like something that is largely inspired by Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. I’m all for maturity and growth but the songs don’t exactly rawk...and live they were dramatic and full but I can’t say that I was still inspired to run home and give the LP another shot.
The visual treat at this show however was really something to behold and easily the biggest production I’ve ever seen them undertake. By comparison, the last time I saw them just two years ago, they were re-visiting the first LP in its entireity and playing a zero-bullshit balls out rock show.
Josh is such a badass and someone that we became friends with way back in the Kyuss days and continues to be a captivating performer in everything that he does, and QOTSA deservedly remains one of the most important band currently touring, but I can’t say that I really recognized the guy onstage playing piano this time. He’s also etched out this other persona that I know that I am defintely not down with, where at some point in the show, he’s going to berate someone, usually security, or someone in the audience. Check Youtube – their are entire montages of him over-reacting and dressing someone down – it always gets a huge pop and now has become something that is expected and encouraged at the Queens shows, but to me it always feels like a dick-move and is uncomfortable.
This show was no different as he literally went out of his way to stop the show at one point to tell security “to remember who your working for tonight”.
I’m def not down with how he handled the recent dispute with the other Kyuss guys (but then again I’m not down with how ANY of them handled it, and it was sad to see). But to be clear, this is not a denouncement – I can’t imagine not following his career and he’s still someone that I enjoy speaking with when we run into each other occasionally. Sharp wit and always quick with a laugh or some insight and whom I will forever be in debt to for the years of musical bliss – I’m just being honest about how I felt about this show and a few other things and I know he respects that.
Setlist –
Keep Your Eyes Peeled
Misfit Love
You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire
No One Knows
My God Is the Sun
Burn the Witch
I Sat by the Ocean
…Like Clockwork
In the Fade
If I Had a Tail
Kalopsia
Little Sister
Make It Wit Chu
Smooth Sailing
Sick, Sick, Sick
Go With the Flow
Encore:
The Vampyre of Time and Memory
I Appear Missing
A Song for the Dead
Since I had a pass and not an actual ticket, a gentlemen named Justin, super rad dude I guess to be in his early 50s offered the seat next to his and he and I proceeded to rock out all night – My friend and his wife were in the GA section on the floor but I wanted to avoid that section at all costs,and after the show, they told me that I made the right choice. As I was saying goodbye to them and gonna go say hello to the gang backstage I spot this girl Vanessa I recognize approaching the merch booth. I’m trying to recall where I know her as I’m watching her like buy practically one of everything that their selling, not to mention she’s already wearing QOTSA merch from head to toe. Then it hits me: A few years ago a girl I knew from Texas wanted to introduce me to Vanessa as she knew of my connections to QOTSA – I agreed as Vanessa is super freaking cute – We were both living in NYC at the time, but our schedules never seemed to match and it never happened.
As I was visiting Texas about six months later we finally met up for drinks and it was disastrous – she seemed as unstable as she was cute.
I had already approached her as she was leaving the merch booth before all of this started flooding back to me – I mention her and all of this to tell you the tale of her fascinating yet seemingly unhinged fandom.
I say hello and she remembers me and proceeds to tell me some truly odd things:
a) She drove down and stood outside ACL Live in Austin on Thurs (today was Sat) all day to get into the QOTSA taping and finally made it in about half-way though the show.
b) She had also won tickets to the big ACL Fest weekend where she saw QOTSA last night.
c) In spite of winning these very pricey tickets that were good for all three days of music, she sacrificed tonight to come back to Dallas just to see QOTSA again and will be returning to Austin tomorrow for the final day of the festival.
d) Something about how all 4′ 10″ of her 90 lb frame got a job as a truck driver and their was a latent motif of how the motivation behind this was it would greatly maximize the number of QOTSA shows she would now be able to catch nationwide and began to tell me of the few she had recently seen out of state.
I was scared to tell her I had a pass after hearing all of this and pretended to walk to my car but then I see her not going to her car but to walk to the fence surrounding the backstage area – I asked “Your not really just gonna go cling to that fence are you?” – Her answer = ” Hey, I always do” – Good times.
Silversun Pickups – Oct 6th – Trees – Dallas, TX
So again, this was my bff milestone birthday weekend and the 3rd and final punch came with another band, the Silversun Pickups, that was simply doing a pickup date after finishing up their first weekend at Austin City Limits.
Full disclosure: I know literally nothing of this band and was just being supportive of my friend who is super into them. Since this show was at a venue about a 4th of the size that they would normally play, the show quickly sold-out. The band is on the same label as a band I work with so I was able to pull some strings and get us tickets and a gift to him for his birthday.
Second full disclosure: This isn’t something that I would ever willingly patronize again on my own – That’s not a straight diss to the band and this show was enjoyable and I was happy to be there for my friend, but its just def not for me.
I had began to think they were going to be one of those bands that’s more comfortable playing rather than talking to the fans, but their singer Brian started a very entertaining conversation with everyone.
The banter continued as he pointed out that Nikki, the bass player had recently giving birth, and saying he knew it was bad before she had them when he called her and she asked Brian if he knew how much her babies would be worth on the black market. “And what did you say?” he asked. Nikki came across as being fairly shy when they weren’t performing, and after a moment, she gave the typical mom answer. “I said they were priceless.” “No, that’s not what you told me.” Brian said, correcting her that she informed him kids were worth up to forty thousand dollars on the black market.
It gave way into a song that she sang this time. She’s every bit as solid and unique a singer as Brian is, however if I’m being honest I found Brian’s voice to be off-putting and how his voice sounds on their recordings, just doesn’t appeal to me, didn’t mean that we didn’t have fun.
Saturday Night Live Reunion w/ Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey & Kevin Nealon – Oct 19th – Allen Event Center – Allen, TX
If you drive up U.S. 75 long enough, you enter the most recently developed reaches of Collin County, to the Allen Event Center. Because it can seat more than 8,000, it’s usually used for indoor football, soccer and hockey. But when ex-Saturday Night Live stars Kevin Nealon, Dana Carvey and Dennis Miller rolled into town, so it became the world’s weirdest comedy club.
I never really saw the three comics in their SNL primes. I know Nealon most as the laconic man-child from Weeds, Carvey from Wayne’s World of course and Miller, I always thought was an incredible wordsmith and sharp inspite of him becoming this Rush Limbaugh type charachter talking out of his ass on Fox News.
It was a huge crowd, which we assumed was for Carvey who was, at one point, one of Hollywood’s biggest talents. But no: They were there for Miller, and shit was about to get really weird in Allen.
Kevin Nealon took to the stage first, and I expected much more. Nealon mainly riffed on the show’s location (tired), dealing with aging (yawn) and how his new status as a parent had changed him (please stop doing this). Nealon frequently checked his watch to see where he was on time, and most of the crowd did the same.
After introducing Carvey, the two did a little bit of Hans and Franz, complete with calling out various audience members for “being little girly mans.” It was the “Hey! Remember this sketch!” shtick expected from an event like this. Then Carvey took the stage for himself, and that’s when the night got dark.
Comedians riff on their locations — it’s good for a cheap pop from the audience, and you’re able to mine the minute details of the community for easy material. Allen, with its wealth, exurb status and willingness to build a high school football stadium that cost SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS, all but sets itself up to be ripped into.
That stadium was Carvey’s prime target, as he easily slipped into a drawl and started expounding on the ridiculousness of spending SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS on a stadium where a bunch of 15-year-olds play. And this is when I realized I was not at just any old comedy show. Instead of laughing at the excess displayed by the Allen ISD, the crowd would cheer the stadium’s every mention. It was like they didn’t realize it was being made fun of. Then, it got weirder.
Carvey seemed to recognize this and quickly moved to his “Grumpy Old Man” character, which led to a bit on not relating to his own kids. In the end, the whole ordeal started to feel like an exercise in Cosbian comedy.
Carvey quickly finished up and Dennis Miller rolled out to headline. For those of you who don’t know, sometime in the past decade or so, Miller morphed from being the hyper-literate comic who would routinely drop over-educated references into Monday Night Football games into the hyper-conservative version of Bill Maher. It’s as insufferable as it sounds.
They say that comedians are some of the most insecure people their are, as in their pursuit of comedy is in someway a Freudian lineage for acceptance. I feel like I actually saw it in Dennis Miller tonight – As the second the other two comedians joined him – he went from this scary bully, to being obviously nervous and unsure of himself.
Two things were made obviously clear in this segment:
a) Miller holds Carvey in such esteem that he’s literally afraid of him – that Carvey will turn that energy on Miller and make a fool of him that he can’t recover from.
b) Nealon and Miller really don’t seem to like each other and Miller seemed so intimidated by his friendship with Carvey.
When they questions came so did more uncomfortability:
For the life of me, I’ll never understand why this format, in any capacity I’ve witnessed, people seem determined to make it awkward and only those with a complete lack of self-awareness tend to be the ones that ask the questions:
Example:
This one 40-ish bourgeious woman (indignant to the geography) asked Kevin Nealon “a question” – which was just pathetically disguised as a way to bring attention to herself to tell Nealon and the crowd that they had spent some time together on a trip to Borneo and that she had “been trying to contact him” – Barf.
He didn’t sell it and his no-sell was one of the funniest moments of the night.
This was the only time Nealon got to speak and to drive home my earlier point about Miller – Everytime a question was asked that wasn’t directed at anyone of them in particular, Miller would pipe up and do that nervous thing and ramble on and on with no point or seemingly end.
It looked like he was purposely pushing Nealon out as it became so uncomfortable how much Nealon was being excluded – or he was just so nervous he wasn’t aware that he was doing it.
It’s disappointing to see a comic who was once considered A Great reduced to this: an overtly contrary, Thanksgiving-dinner-derailing, crazed uncle figure. It’s worse that it found such a huge audience in Allen.
Photos –
Roy Turner
Paul Jenkins
James Villa
