AIMEE MANN'S (GENTLY) ROLLING THUNDER (X-MAS) REVIEW

Last night I caught the NY stop on Aimee Mann's second annual Christmas tour. It was a great show - really well-thought out and put together, and everyone there had fun.

Which is a bit weird, as most people who are vaguely familiar with Aimee's music probably wouldn't associate her, or her music, with fun.

I am a huge fan of Aimee's. Yes, her music can be depressing, and her sense of humor isn't totally apparent if you just listen to her music. A few years ago, Aimee and her husband, Michael Penn, toured together and hired the comedian Patton Oswald to not only open the shows, also to provide the in-between songs banter. What was funny about that is that Aimee and Michael were hilarious on thier own, and Mr. Oswald just added to the general hilarity. Also, I've always felt that theres some undercurrent of optimism in her music. Like, maybe the wrecks that she sings about have some chance of redemption or improvement.

Last year, Aimee released a Christmas album, One More Drifter In The Snow, and decided to do a Christmas tour. I missed it, but read about how great it was, so I was sure to catch this year's. Aimee and her great band played a few Christmas songs, plus some of her other stuff, like "Jacob Marley's Chain" and her classic "Save Me." But she also gave the stage over to a cast of special guests: comedian Paul F. Thompkins (probably most well known as a "talking head" on VH1's Best Week Ever), and singer-songwriters Ben Lee, Josh Ritter and Nellie McKay, as well as "The Hannukkah Fairy" who did a pretty hilarious rap about the meaning of Hannukkah. The show made me curious to check out more of all of their music.

Aimee also had a three part film which showed her quest to get "special guests" for her Christmas show, including Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Weird Al, Patton Oswald and someone from CSI: Miami (Emily Proctor?), and a few others. It was really funny. Aimee has great comic timing, I'm surprised she hasn't done more film work (although let's not forget her toe-sacrificing role in the classic Big Lebowski). I guess it's probably because in movies, you don't have much control, and after spending years fighting labels, she isn't prepared to sign over a few months to corporate movie studio. Still, she was really funny.

On another Aimee note, I saw her show at Warsaw in Brooklyn over the summer, and she played a few new songs - apparently, there's no electric guitar on the next album. That's cool: her new album is one of the records I'm most looking forward to in the '08.

ROCKET 88

How do you remember someone who maybe wasn't a great person in life, but whose work was undeniably great? And why is it that so many great artists have a dark streak - even a cruel streak - to them?  You can't deny the greatness and the impact of the work of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, for instance. But when you read about some of the things they have (allegedly) done, it makes it hard to like them. Still, their music is awesome, and they belong on pop music's Mount Rushmore. 

Ike Turner generally isn't thought of in the same light, but he is credited with what many think is the first rock and roll song of all time, "Rocket 88." Of course, most people know him as the "Ike" in Ike & Tina Turner... and how awful he was to her. 

I guess I'm grateful that the helped to invent rock and roll, and if he didn't get his credit, well maybe it was karma. I'm glad he introduced Tina to the world, and that she got out of that situation. 

CONGRATS TO JOHN MELLENCAMP

I've previously complained about The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's ballot for this year. Today, they announced the inductees for this year, and the one artist who I thought was a lock - The Beastie Boys - didn't make the cut. Then again, the genres they represent - hip-hop, punk and funk - don't get a ton of love from the Hall. It took Grandmaster Flash and George Clinton years on the ballot before being voted in. 

But I am happy to see John Mellencamp being inducted.  I've been a fan forever.  He just has so many classic songs - and there's lots of great things he's written that never got airplay for some reason: I'd cite "Minutes To Memories," "Between A Laugh And A Tear," "Life Is Hard" and "French Shoes" as some songs that deserved more radio time than they got. I think that "Walk Tall" from his greatest hits album is one of his finest moments. I know he loves his current band, but man, it would be cool if he played at the ceremony with his current band, but also some of the guys from his earlier days, like drummer Kenny Aronoff and violinist Lisa Germano. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I don't have a problem with Madonna getting in, I just might not have voted for her. Leonard Cohen? I know he's influenced some of my favorites, like U2 and R.E.M.  but I don't know.  Great poet/lyricist, no question. But I wouldn't have voted for him either. I think someone like, say, Willie Nelson or Peter Tosh is more deserving, if you want to go outside the rock and roll norm. 

I once did a long interview with Little Steven about why The Dave Clark 5 deserve to be in. In fact, I bet his ceaseless campaigning is why they finally got voted in. I don't know enough about them or The Ventures to really comment on them.  Other than to say that you can't really overstate the value and influence of the artists who were forging the path in the early days.  

I'm also glad to see Philly songwriters/producers Gamble & Huff and the amazing blues harmonica player Little Walter being inducted. 

It doesn't seem like the most exciting induction class, but I'll be watching spinner or whoever airs the ceremony.  Meanwhile, I remain hopeful that these voters get a clue and induct The Stooges at some point.  (And KISS, and Alice Cooper, and Motorhead, and The Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC and Metallica...) 

NEIL YOUNG NIGHT 1: HALF A SHOW IS STILL AWESOME

Why just half a show?  

For those who haven't read about it, Neil Young's first of six nights at the United Palace in Washington Heights, NY (right by the George Washington Bridge) was last night, and although the ticket said 8:00, they didn't open the doors until 9:30, because "someone" called the fire department to report some kind of safety issue, and they took quite a while to determine that the venue was safe. Who could that someone have been?  I don't know - but the timing sure was odd. I'm guessing someone must have pissed off someone at a union or something. 

Without going into the details, the show ended up starting at about 10, I think.  Pegi Young, Neil's wife, was supposed to open, but she rightfully didn't perform, so Neil could get started. His first set was solo acoustic - he played guitar, but also some banjo and piano as well. He opened, as he has every show on the tour, with the classic "From Hank To Hendrix" from Harvest Moon, one of his best albums, and that was followed by "Ambulance Blues," from On The Beach, one of his most underrated.  The rest of the set featured lots of songs from Harvest, including "A Man Needs A Maid," "Old Man," "Harvest" (one of my favorites, and one I'd never seen him perform before) and of course, "Heart Of Gold"; then there were some really obscure songs like "Love Art Blues" and "No One Seems To Know." Despite all the Harvest tunes, it wasn't a "greatest hits" deal at all. Lots of people were yelling out requests - Neil has never been one to play songs by request - but he dealt with them with his combination  of wit and crankiness. The set was unbelievable, but I was surprised that he didn't play any new songs in the set. 

I only got to see four songs from the electric set: since the show started so late, I needed to catch my bus. His band, featured Ben Keith, a multi-instrumentalist who plays on most of Neil's non-Crazy Horse stuff (and has played on some Crazy Horse records too), Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Rick Rosas, who played with Neil in the late '80s and has worked on Neil's last few albums. They were rocking: I saw "The Loner," "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and two new songs, "Dirty Old Man" and "Spirit Road." 

Luckily, I have a ticket for one of Neil's shows next week, so I'll be able to review the electric set after I see the whole thing.  This time I'm driving in, so I can stay till the last note. 

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN GETS TULL-ED!

Well, the Grammys have done it again! I've often argued that the Grammy Awards are, in fact, credible. Indeed, I'm a voter - I've voted for the past few years.

I'm not a fan of the myriad of award ceremonies that seem to crop up week after week. But the Grammys seem to have (to me) a prestige to them, plus there's the fact that they are given out by an organization that works year round to support music.

Yes, it's a corporate thing, yes, the major labels have lots of influence, yes, critical favorites are often overlooked, blah, blah, blah. But I think that they've done a good job of getting a clue since the days that Jethro Tull beat Metallica for the heavy metal Grammy or DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince beat Public Enemy. At it's best, the Grammys award artists who combine artistic merit (which, of course, is subjective) and sales.

And that's why I was floored (like a lot of other people) when I saw that Bruce Springsteen was shut out of the "major" categories of Album, Record and Song of the Year. I figured Bruce, along with Kanye West and Amy Winehouse were going to be the big nominees, and I was right in two out of the three. Where The Grammys used to be more about older artists, now it favors younger ones (probably in no small part because of the TV ratings). But Bruce is the type of artist the voters seem to love: he's older but (unlike Steely Dan, who won a big Grammy a few years ago), sells a lot of records, and is a big influence on younger artists, from Pearl Jam to Arcade Fire.

"Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is such a great song and production, I was really surprised that it wasn't nominated for Record and Song. Although I don't write about mainstream pop too often, I like a lot of big pop hits: so I have no problem with Justin Timberlake's "What Comes Around... Goes Around" being nominated for Record. I love Amy Winehouse's "Rehab." I haven't heard the new songs by Beyonce or Rihanna (who seems very Beyonce-like). And I am definitely a Foo Fighters fan. But from a production standpoint, I can't see how the Foo Fighters' "The Pretender" is a great production - it sounds like the producer stayed out of the way and let the band rip. Rightfully so. But "Girls..." is a great wall of sound production.

"Rehab" is also up for Song, which I have no problem with (although I prefer Amy's "You Know I'm No Good"). I really like Corinne Bailey Rae's "Like A Star," but I don't think it is as good as "Girls..." A lot of people diss American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. I don't know much about her, but "Before He Cheats" is a great song (albiet one she didn't write). Is the Plain White T's song really better than Bruce's?

Both Amy Winehouse and Kanye West are up for Album of the Year, rightfully so. I'm happy to see Foo Fighters up for it. I was suprised to see Vince Gill: I like the music that I've heard from him, but it was a quadruple album. Did it really make that much of an impact? You'd think that if the voters were in tune with country music, it would be a Keith Urban or Brad Paisley or even Carrie Underwood album, with all due respect to Mr. Gill. Finally, with all due respect to Herbie Hancock - who has some incredible music on his resume, including his stint with Miles Davis, his own band The Headhunters and the immortal "Rockit," just to name some. But how is his Joni Mitchell tribute album nominated for Album Of The Year? It just seems like block voting or something. Meanwhile, I guess Columbia Records' staff was more interested in getting nominations for Beyonce than for Bruce.

This is coming off like a whiny post. Well, Bruce did get a few nominations: Magic is up for Best Rock album, against Foo Fighters, John Fogerty, Wilco and Daughtry. As long as Daughtry doesn't win, that's cool. "Radio Nowhere" is up for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance against Beck's album-less single "Timebomb," John Mellencamp's "Our Country," Lucinda Williams' "Come On" and some Paul McCartney song. And Bruce's version of Ennio Morricone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" is up against Metallica's version of Morricone's "The Ecstasy Of Gold," Rush's "Malignant Narcissism" and songs by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai (if I were to vote, I'd go for Rush!).

It's not all about Bruce, either. I was happy to see Foo Fighters get those props. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss got a nod, as did The Beastie Boys (for their underrated The Mix-Up album), The White Stripes ("You Don't Know What Love Is [You Just Do What You're Told]" is surely one of the best songs of the year), U2 (for "Window In The Skies" from their best-of, and "Instant Karma" from the John Lennon tribute album). Green Day (for "Working Class Hero" also from the Lennon tribute), Ozzy Osbourne (for his great song "I Don't Wanna Stop"), Common and Steve Earle. Alicia Keys got some for her great song "No One" - I don't think her album will be eligible until next year's Grammys, a strategy often used by U2. Ben Harper got one for Best Instrumental for "Paris Sunrise #7" but realistically, it is probably because he is one of the few "pop" artists with an instrumental who the voters have heard of.

I guess there's no use in taking the Grammy Awards that seriously: this Friday, tickets go on sale for three Springsteen shows at Giants Stadium. Last time he did Giants Stadium (in 2003 with The E Street Band on The Rising tour) he started out by putting three shows on sale, and ended up playing ten sold out nights (followed by three at Shea Stadium weeks later). I guess it's better to have the vote of the people - that's democracy for you.

CELEBRATION DAY

If you're a member of Led Zeppelin, you have very little to prove. But apparently, at last night's reunion show, they played as if they did. If nothing else, it seems like they wanted to provide a great "last page" (no pun intended) to their story. Their prior reunions at Live Aid and the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Concert were infamous debacles. Apparently, last night was a different story.

Every review I've read has raved about how great they were. I'm glad to hear it. I wonder... can they really end it here? I'm sure Robert Plant is still committed to touring with Alison Krauss to promote their awesome Raising Sand album. But surely the temptation to at least do a few festivals has to be more real than it was before last night's show. (I've also read that Plant is planning his next album, to be produced by T-Bone Burnett, who also produced Sand). Next year could be very interesting for Zeppelin fans...

THE REUNION FEW PEOPLE WERE WAITING FOR (but it will rock anyway!)

There's been a lot of great reunions this year: The Police, Genesis and Van Halen. Not to mention Led Zeppelin.

But next year, we might see a reunion by Mudcrutch. For those of you who have never heard of them, that was the band that Tom Petty was in, before The Heartbreakers: yes, this is another mention of Tom Petty. Anyway, Mudcrutch also included future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. Probably their best song was "Don't Do Me Like That," which The Heartbreakers revisited a few years later. Tom said in a recent Rolling Stone interview that they've recorded a new album, and that they may tour - but he just wants to do festivals. I guess if they're not doing Petty's Heartbreakers material, it doesn't make sense for them to bear the burden of selling lots of tickets. I'm psyched to hear this. Of course, I'm also looking forward to his next album with The Heartbreakers.