Paul’s choice of the great Matthew Sweet song “Girlfriend“ put me in mind of the early 90s and what I was listening to then. This band spent a lot of time in my CD player in the early to mid 90s. While grunge was taking off these guys were more like a throwback to 80s “jangle rock”.
Couple weeks ago I went to see the smithereens. They did not disappoint. Loved the concert. One of the revelations though was the opening act, Jeremiah Tall. He played banjo, guitar and drums with a company asked who played bass and on one song, a chain (you’d have to see it to believe it). Really cool interesting music. Here’s one of my favorite songs from his short set.
Like last week’s song in the series, for me, this song is both a road song and a summer song.
The Wild Feathers have dominated my song playlist for the past 4 summers .
A forgotten great song from 1979.
a little musical history lesson from Frank in his latest
For me, good summer song and a good driving song are one and the same. Sun shining, windows down, sunglasses on with just the right tune. This all checks all the boxes for me. Mike Campbell’s killer guitar Solo at the end of the song is not to be missed.
of course
something else that’s 55 years old. (Not bad!)
Last night I got to see some live music. That’s not a shocking statement for me. I love live music. A friend and I went to see the Smithereens play at musikfest café in Bethlehem. It’s a small venue seating about 350 people.
The Smithereens made a name for them selves locally mostly in the late 80s and early 90s. They had several top 50 hits and a few videos on VH1 and MTV. They never made it really big but over the years they’ve continued to record on and off.
Founding member, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Pat DiNizio unfortunately passed away in 2017 after a series of injuries and other health problems. That was seemingly the end of the band however they are embarking on a tour this year and recruited veteran singer Marshall Crenshaw,who had done some work with the band in its early days, to take over as lead vocalist. After watching their two hour plus show last night I can say that they made the right choice.
The band sounded great, they were tight and the vocals were terrific. The show felt like part tribute to their lost brother and part pure celebration of the music. They spoke lovingly at times of Pat and how some of the songs were created. They still played with the passion and joy that often seems to elude musicians who’ve been playing much of the same music for 30+ years. These guys were childhood friends and it still shows.
They of course played their hits, including “Only a Memory”, and closed the show with “A Girl Like You” their biggest hit but the stand out for me was “Blood and Roses” They also threw in a couple covers including the Beatles and Interlude in the middle of one long guitar solo where the Who popped in.
By now, people my age are used to seeing their rock ‘n’ roll heroes perform and tour well into their 60s and 70s. Jagger and Springsteen and Townsend though, are playing in front of 50,000+ fans and are getting PAID.
These guys are playing in front of 350 really appreciative fans. They’re not getting rich and they’re not going to be famous* but they’re doing it for the love of the music. They are soldiering on without a key founding member and that’s pretty cool
Absolutely captures that summer party feel. Not the highest quality audio/video clip but one that I think best captures the pure energy and joy of this song in concert.
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