Song of the Week 7/23/10

Fastball - "The Way"



I found myself listening to All The Pain that Money Can Buy a couple weeks ago while walking through my beloved borough of Brooklyn, and I'll be damned that the entire album holds up 12 years later. Every song is a power pop gem. So I was pleasantly surprised when this 90s cover band, The Bayside Tigers, broke into it at the Saved By the Bell House event Saturday night. I actually found myself getting into their kind of hokey performance after they busted out "The Way" and then followed it with "Lump."

Reality quickly returned when they did Spin Doctors "Two Prince," which I despised long before it became a hit. (Shudder.) That song still makes my stomach ball up. Ugh.

Song of the Week 7/16/10

Firenza - "Waterloo Sunset"

Not much time to write this week's post as it's been packed with work and apartment wrecking. But I couldn't let the week go by without noting the great debut gig of Firenza, the new band featuring my friends Michael Boyd and Chris Powers and their monster of a drummer Eric Slovin. Powers has a knack for great hooks, and this new outfit gives his songs a muscular sheen that I haven't heard before. And as strong as the originals were, the cover of The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset" was, hands down, the highlight of the night. It sounded like Ray Davies joining The Who to perform the song.



I can't wait to hear what's next from these guys.

Song of the Week 7/9/10

Christina Aguilera - "Hurt"



I went to the funeral for my cousin's 17 year old son on Saturday. I can say that -- without a doubt -- it was the most emotionally heart-wrenching thing I've experienced this year. Watching one kid after another well up in tears describing how great their friend was and how much they would miss him is something I would not wish upon my worst enemy. Their pain really put into perspective that what I thought were bad things that have happened to me this summer are pretty fucking minor in comparison, and that I really should fucking cowboy up and move on and be happy with the great things that have touched my life in 2010. And I definitely am.

The service included the playing of this ballad, and it took on a whole new meaning as the 17 year old kid's girlfriend sobbed uncontrollably through it. I'll never think of it as a lightweight pop ever again.

Song of the Week 7/2/10

Elton John - "Rocket Man"

These three things happened in a span of 14 hours, making this Sir Elton classic an obvious SOTW choice:

1) I met Bunnie England's drummer Scott at Bonnies in Park Slope for a pre-gig dinner. "Rocket Man" came on as we were getting ready to leave, which caused Scott to mention that he thought "Rocket Man" was a great karaoke song. Alas, it's too piano based for us to tackle.

2) I got home from the gig and put on CBS-FM. They didn't have their Fourth of July A to Z countdown going overnight, instead sticking with their usual syndicate show Rewind with Gary Bryan. That show was doing a flashback to man landing on the moon and they played a special remix of "Rocket Man" that utilized clips from the July 1969 launch and landing.

3) This morning I'm listening to CBS-FM as I installed a new router and did some paperwork cleanup. The countdown was in the R's, and of course "Rocket Man" came on again.

If Old 97s break out a cover of it in a few hours at South Street Seaport, I'm totally going to freak out.