Vanessa's Birthday 6/19/09

Wow, what a wild night this was--musically and, um, otherwise at Sharlene's. Here's perhaps the most diverse playlist I have ever spun in the borough of Brooklyn.

Bad Company - "Can't Get Enough"
Blue Oyster Cult - "Burning For You"
The Move - "Lightning Never Strikes Twice"
Cheap Trick - "Southern Girls"
The Faces - "Stay With Me"
J. Geils Band - "Love Stinks"
Rolling Stones - "Monkey Man"
Humble Pie - "30 Days in the Hole"
The Velvet Underground - "Sweet Jane"
Led Zeppelin - "Hot Dog"
Detroit Cobras - "Hot Dog"
PJ Harvey - "Good Fortune"
The Pretenders - "Mystery Achievement"
Blondie - "X Offender"
Big Star - "When My Baby's Beside Me"
Elvis Costello & the Attractions - "Olivers Army"
Wilco - "Monday"
Bob Mould - "See a Little Light"
Matthew Sweet - "Sick of Myself"
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - "Care of Cell #44"
The Zombies - "This Will Be Our Year"
Jenny Lewis - "Rise Up With Fists"
Billy Bragg - "The Milkman of Human Kindness"
Pavement - "Summer Babe (Winter Version)"
Nada Surf - "Always Love"
The Raspberries - "Go All the Way"
Dr Hook and The Medicine Show - "Cover of the Rolling Stone"
Todd Rundgren - "Hello Its Me"
Boz Scaggs - "Lowdown"
10CC - "The Things We Do For Love"
Badfinger - "Come And Get It"
Bee Gees - "Massachusetts"
Sam & Dave - "I Thank You"
Wilson Pickett - "Funky Broadway"
Stevie Wonder - "I Wish"
War - "Why Can't We Be Friends"
Curtis Mayfield - "Pusherman"
Earth, Wind & Fire - "That's the Way of the World"
Marvin Gaye - "Inner City Blues"
Prince - "Little Red Corvette"
Beck - "Debra"
MGMT - "Electric Feel"
LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
Electric Six - "Danger! High Voltage"
Devo - "Whip It"
Bow Wow Wow - "I Want Candy"
Men at Work - "Who Can It Be Now"
Tears For Fears - "Head Over Heels"
The Outfield - "Your Love"
Duran Duran - "Girls on Film"
Psychedelic Furs - "Pretty in Pink"
Asia - "Heat of the Moment"
REO Speedwagon - "Keep On Loving You"
Ratt - "Round and Round"
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - "Do You Wanna Touch Me"
The Motels - "Only the Lonely"
ABC - "The Look of Love"
Kim Wilde - "Kids in America"
Wall of Voodoo - "Mexican Radio"
Nik Kershaw - "Wouldn't It be Good"
Toto - "Africa"
Hall & Oates - "Kiss on My List"
Pat Benetar - "Hit me With Your Best Shot"
Big Country - "In a Big Country"
The Cars - "Bye Bye Love"
ZZ Top - "Waiting for the Bus"/"Jesus Just Left Chicago"
Elvis Presley - "Suspicious Minds"
Sly & the Family Stone - "Family Affair"
Bee Gees - "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)"
Kiss - "Beth"
Led Zeppelin - "Fool in the Rain"
Mott the Hoople - "All the Young Dudes"
Fine Young Cannibals - "Suspicious Minds"
Urge Overkill - "Sister Havana"
Stone Roses - "She Bangs the Drums"
AC/DC - "TNT"
Motorhead - "Ace of Spades"
Sex Pistols - "Problems"
Ramones - "Today You Love, Tomorrow the World"
Black Flag - "TV Party"
Dead Kennedys - "Too Drunk to Fuck"
Fear - "I Love Living in the City"
Husker Du - "Makes No Sense at All"
Killing Joke - "Eighties"
Replacements - "Left of the Dial"
Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On"
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - "Flesh # 1"
Big Star - "Thirteen"
Hall and Oates - "One on One"
Beirut - "Rhineland (Heartland)"
Magnetic Fields - "Kiss me Like You Mean It"
Neil Young - "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
Elvis Costello - "Brilliant Mistake"
Wilco - "Jesus, Etc"
Flaming Lips - "Waiting for a Superman"
White Stripes - 'We're Going to be Friends"
Stevie Wonder - "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will be Forever)"
Lindsey Buckingham - "Trouble"
Fleetwood Mac - "Think About Me"
Michael Jackson - "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough"
Bee Gees - "Love You Inside Out"
David Bowie - "Modern Love"
Prince - "1999"
Hall and Oates - "Private Eyes"
Hall and Oates - "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"
Nada Surf - "Inside of Love"

Song fo the Week 6/19/09

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Who'll Stop the Rain"

I heard this song twice in the middle of the night over the past week. Thanks for pissing me off at 3am, CBS-FM. It's a question we New Yorkers have asked all throughout June.

BONUS: There's no footage of the CCR performing this song on You Tube, but there is a great clip of John Fogerty finally breaking 15 years of silence and performing CCR songs at the Vietnam Vet benefit on the Fourth of July 1987. This show is pretty legendary because Fogerty vowed to never do CCR songs again, and for him to break that vow at an event honoring a group which strongly identified with songs like "Fortunate Son"...well, by all accounts many tears were shed that day.



Bruce Springsteen likes breaking this song out at outdoor shows to reward fans waiting through inclement weather. He did it last month in Stockholm, Sweden.

Song of the Week 6/12/09

The Posies - "Flavor of the Month"

I must give a shout out to my pal Jack McFadden (a.k.a. Skippy) for booking such great back-to-back nights of rock at The Bell House. Thursday it was a stellar set from Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. Friday it was The Posies, performing their great 1993 album Frosting on the Beater in its entirety. I mean, wow, what joy each of these nights brought me. It was the fourth time I've seen Hitchcock and the Venus 3, and it was by far the best. And I haven't seen The Posies since 1996 at Coney Island High on St. Mark's...which just makes me feel old. When the Beater set was over, Ken Stringfellow, Jon Auer and company came back and did a great miniset of songs from their albums--and they played every single one of my favorites from their catalog (save the production heavy "Golden Blunders.") Oh, how I love power pop heaven.

I suppose I choose "Flavor of the Month" for this week because that has always been my favorite song on Frosting on the Beater, but realistically it could have been any song either of these two bands played over the two nights.

EDIT: I just saw that The Posies did this show last night at the Gramercy Theater. Shit, if I had known that I probably would have done back-to-back Posies nights. Oh well.

BONUS: Oh yeah, I had the camera working overtime at these shows.
The Posies - "Flavor of the Month"


Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 - "NY Doll"


Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 - "Roadhouse Blues"

Song of the Week 6/5/09

The Decemberists - "Crazy on You" (Live)

I must admit that I'm not a fan of The Decemberists new album The Hazards of Love, which is why I passed twice on offers of tickets to see them at Radio City Music Hall on June 10th. Colin Meloy and company are doing the entire puzzling (and at times, pompous) concept album straight through at each show, and I'm pretty sure that would drive me to distraction.

But if I had known that at the end of the night Meloy would be using guest vocalists Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) and Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond ) -- they play key female characters on The Hazards of Love -- to tackle a great song by a fellow Northwestern band, I might have reconsidered.



Jeebus, they sing the shit out of that. I've watched it 10 times this week, and two more times just embedding it in this post. Let's hope a proper live recording is released at some point.

(HT to Stereogum and You Ain't No Picasso for discovering this gem)