ROBERT JOHNSON AT 100 - THE BLUES LIVE ON

After months of not going to concerts, last night I went to my first show since the fall, and boy did I pick a good one.  The Robert Johnson tribute concert at the Apollo Theater, celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday. As you can see by the image to the left, it was a pretty great bill, with lots of my favorite acts there.

I already wrote a review, which you can read here: but it was very classic rock-oriented, as I wrote it for that format. But to reiterate, Living Colour killed it. They kind of reminded everyone just how exciting, explosive and vibrant it can be when the blues is brought to life with LOUD electric guitars.  But I have to ask how it is that Corey Glover seems to age in reverse?  His voice is amazing, and he seems to have more control of it now than he did two decades ago. Vernon Reid is just a monster on guitar. Their performance by themselves was great, as were their collaborations with Shemekia Copeland and Sarah Dash.

The Roots were amazing as always: Black Thought wasn't with them. Instead, guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas took the vocals on "Milkcow's Calf Blues."  I love Black Thought, but they could have a parallel career as a rock band if they wanted to. Macy Gray did a great take on "Come On In My Kitchen." Taj Majal and Bettye Lavette were commanding presences every time they hit the stage, and what a treat to get to see both Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) and Allen Toussaint perform.  Most of these artists wouldn't be who you'd expect at a Robert Johnson tribute, but that's what made it cool. It showed that his influence extends far beyond "blues rock" artists.

It was also nice to see some younger artists:  The Dough Rollers are a traditional country blues-ish duo who were amazing, and The Pedrito Martinez Group were pretty exciting also.  I plan on checking them both out. Proof that, as I often say, the blues is alive and well.

REVIEW: LIVING COLOUR AT MEXICALI LIVE

For the second night in a row, I went to Mexicali Live in Teaneck, New Jersey to see one of my favorite bands.  This time it was Living Colour. I've seen them at The Ritz, The Beacon Theater, Shea Stadium (opening for The Rolling Stones), Central Park Summerstage (where they are playing this weekend), Roseland and The Academy, to name a few venues of the top of my head. Tonight was kind of a weird one: Mexicali is sort of a restraunt, LC were playing the early show, and people were still at their tables.  Frontman Corey Glover wasn't happy about it. Understandably: but I was worried that he'd have an attitude about it and that it would effect the show.

Luckily, that didn't happen.  Although he voiced his sort of discomfort about the show throughout the night, seemingly blaming it on guitarist Vernon Reid, he still gave a great performance, if not the best one I've ever seen. I've always thought of him as a star, and he performs like one. The thing about Corey is that he could have just as easily joined another more commercial band, and been just as happy.  Whereas Vernon Reid is so avant-garde with his playing, I could just as easily see him playing a guitar through a computer on the ground floor of an art museum that receives grants from David Bowie. It is almost surprising that he has ended up being in a band as popular as Living Colour, he could have ended up doing Phillip Glass type stuff. So it is a weird combination of two very different guys in the band. (That said, Vernon could also play guitar for Dionne Warwick or someone real mainstream also). The other guys, bassist Doug Wimbush and drummer Will Calhoun, could play any kind of music, but like Vernon, left to their own devices they could be doing Knitting Factory art stuff. All that being the case, I think Vernon, Doug and Will are happy to play thier music and get paid for it, even if they aren't playing huge rooms. This is all my perception of the band.

Anyway, they were great. It wasn't the best Living Colour show I've seen (Will was having drum pedal issues) but they were great, and after a slow start, the crowd got into it. Maybe half the crowd were familiar with the new album, The Chair In The Doorway, which came out last year. It has definitely been growing on me. The song "Bless Those" holds up to anything they've ever done.  Check out a video below of them performing it in 2008, before The Chair was released (on this version, Doug took most of the lead vocals, but now Corey sings it). They played a bunch of other new songs, but of course the best reaction was the oldre songs, "Cult of Personality," their cover of Talking Heads' "Memories Can't Wait," "Love Rears It's Ugly Head," "Go Away," "Middle Man" and "Type." They also did the lovely "Solace Of You" by request for a couple who had it played at their wedding. Another nice moment: Doug Wimbush calling out original bassist Muzz Skillings who was in the audience. Nice moments aside, I wish  I could go to Central Park this weekend, I bet it will be a way better show, and when they are on thier game, Living Colour is hard to beat.

2010: A BIG YEAR FOR THE WHO

By now, everyone knows that The Who are playing the Super Bowl in January. (When I first wrote about it, it was a rumor, now it has been confirmed.) And they are supposed to be putting out a new album and touring as well. But I just found out that on March 2, there's going to be a big tribute concert to The 'Oo at Carnegie Hall in New York City, featuring Gov't Mule, Living Colour, Frank Black of The Pixies, Bob Mould, The Smithereens, The Gaslight Anthem and... Bobby McFerrin. I wonder if the organizers will go after any of the artists who paid tribute to The Who at The Kennedy Center Honors last year (including Chris Cornell, Joss Stone, Jack Black and Dave Grohl) or the VH1 Rock Honors show which featured Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Tenacious D and Flaming Lips.

Anyway, proceeds from the show go to six different charities, which you can learn about at the concert's webpage.

Meanwhile, Roger Daltrey who has been doing a solo tour this year, will be doing at least some dates next year: Eric Clapton said Roger would be opening some shows for him. I heard Roger's shows have been pretty cool. I wonder if he will put out a live album. What I really would love to hear is his version of The Who's "Blue, Red and Grey," which he wasn't originally on (Pete Townshend sang that one, and it is one of The Who's most underrated songs).

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: PEARL JAM, LIVING COLOUR AND ALICE IN CHAINS

Tomorrow on OutQ, I'll be talking about
three icons of the '90s/Lollapalooza era who have brand new albums and they all have something to prove.

Pearl Jam have just released Backspacer, their first album without any label at all. They made seperate deals with Target, Guitar Hero, Verizon for different ways to distribute it. Which I'm cool with: it's no more of a sell-out than signing to a worldwide corporation. And they have more control of thier career this way. But I think it does sting them that many people aren't familar with much of thier music from the past decade, and I think they want to change that with this album. Eddie Vedder used to romanticize bands that didn't sell a lot of albums, but these days, many of his peers have returned to having day jobs. I think he feels fortunate to be where he is, and I think he's rather have a Sprinsteen-ian or Neil Young-ish career than have to work in a warehouse to support himself.

Living Colour reunited in 1999, and not that many people noticed, which is a shame. The Chair In The Doorway is their second album since getting back together, and I hope more people notice. I just think that thier first single, "Cult Of Personality," was so perfect, they've never been able to duplicate its success.

Out of the three bands, Alice In Chains easily has the most to prove: their new album Black Gives Way To Blue, is thier first without their late, great singer Layne Staley. It is much better than you would think, you should check it out if you are a fan.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: A REAL "ROCK" REPORT

Larry Flick often refers to my weekly contribution to his morning program as a "rock" report, but often times it isn't rock, like when I recently discussed Whitney and Reba. Tomorrow, however, the report will indeed rock.


I will be talking about Muse 's new album, The Resistance, which came out today, and is maybe the most highly anticipated rock album of the year. They are so huge in England that they sold out two nights at Wembley Stadium (not the arena) and they even sold out MSG in New York last year - I would imagine a lot of tickets went to relocated NYC Brits. They're opening for U2 and they just rocked the VMAs, I really think this will be their year, it's a very exciting time to see them. I hope U2 is on their game at Giants Stadium!


Living Colour has a new album The Chair In The Doorway, which also came out today. They reunited in 2000 and this is their second album since then. I haven't had much time to spend with it, but I am a big enough fan to buy it regardless. There's lots of credits for songwriting and producing, like everyone was trying to get theirs, which may not be a great sign, but I bet there will be some great songs.


The Reverend Horton Heat just released Laughin' & Cryin' With The Reverend Horton Heat and it is one of my favorite albums of the year. More on the country side of rockabilly than his usual stuff (which is more punkabilly) and it also has lots of songs with hilarious lyrics like "Death Metal Guys" and "Just Let Me Hold My Paycheck." Highly recommended.


The Arctic Monkeys are like the new Oasis in England, and they're pretty big here also. I liked their first two albums: their latest one, Humbug, was produced by Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures. Homeboy gets around! They wanted to get a bit more weird on this album and they went to the right guy to achieve that.


Crown Of Thorns is a hard rock band led by Jean Beauvoir, who is a former member of Wendy O. Williams' Plasmatics and also Little Steven's Disciples Of Soul. They are the first band on Steven's new hard rock label Lost Cathedral (as they wouldn't really fit in on Wicked Cool).

So, that's the lowdown for tomorrow, get ready to rock!

LIVING COLOUR TO RELEASE THE CHAIR IN THE DOORWAY IN SEPTEMBER

Last year, I wrote about Living Colour working on their next album, The Chair In The Doorway. Well, they've announced on their blog that it is coming out in September on Megaforce Records, and that they're going to support it with a world tour. Living Colour performed with true fury back in the day, and I've seen some great shows by them since they reunited in 2001, so I hope to see some more.  I liked their reunion album Collideoscope, and I'm looking forward to this one. 

LIVING COLOUR WORKING ON THE CHAIR IN THE DOORWAY

I'm glad to hear that the great Living Colour is working on the follow up to their reunion album, CollidOscope, which I thought was a really good album that didn't get its due. They are actually having a contest with fans -- they want a fan to create the album art. Find out more at their MySpace page. They also have a new live album recorded at CBGB in 2005 on their reunion tour, and also a live DVD recorded in Paris (also from the reunion era). It's weird how critics fell over themselves praising Living Colour back in the day, and now they sort of don't pay them the respect that they are due. I think they were one of the top bands of the '80s/'90s "alternative rock" era, although they weren't contrarian enough to think of themselves that way. They were as comfortable playing with Bad Brains as they were with The Rolling Stones, and that was one of the great things about them.