2014: A Year In Pictures

A year of rock n’ roll, in pictures, including two shows from late December 2013, which I shot after I posted last years’ Year in Pictures.

Tonight I’m headed out to dance the New Year in with Erasure (!); have fun and be safe, y’all, and I’ll see you on the other side.

The Districts, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 30, 2013

The Felice Brothers, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 30, 2013

Team Spirit, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2013

Andrew W.K., Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2013

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, NGHBRS, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, States and Kingdoms, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, Frank Iero, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, The Gay Blades, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Fred Mascharino, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, States and Kingdoms, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Geoff Rickley, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, … Continue reading

Mixtape Time Capsules: Driving Mix, c. 1992

A mix-tape, whatever its intended purpose, is also always a time capsule. A record of a person, a place, a set of feelings, a time that felt like forever, and then wasn’t.

Last week I opened a box and a little piece of the ’90s fell out: the first driving mix-tape I ever made. There’s no date on it, but I’m pretty sure it’s from the spring of 1992, since that is approximately when I would have gotten my license. Fun trivia fact: I learned to drive on the Beltway. In a Chevette.

Anyway it is a hilarious cultural trainwreck and I kind of love it, not least because a mix that starts with Dwight Yoakam, dips heavily into, among other things, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Elvis Costello in the middle, and ends with Ashokan Farewell probably does still sum me up as a person reasonably well.

Also, I have a terrible pop music problem and every time I listen to Five Seconds of Summer’s She Looks So Perfect I start laughing when they get to I got a mix tape straight out of ’94 because, dudes, I was there, I remember, and … Continue reading

Video: Alice Cooper, Teenage Frankenstein

This is the video for Teenage Frankenstein, by Alice Cooper, the grand-daddy of shock-rock.

It originally appeared on Constrictor (1986), though I came to it via Prince of Darkness (1989), the compilation record he put out in 1989 for, I’m guessing, all of the new fans like me that he acquired when Trash (1989) blew up.

Also, I totally just fell down a YouTube hole just now while looking for this video, and while we’re on the subject of Trash, man I had forgotten how much I really loved House of Fire. Poison was so good, too, I still listen to that one frequently. But if you just want a quick overview of his back catalog, Prince of Darkness works pretty well; my other super-creepy favorite from that one was Roses on White Lace.

Anyway, back to Teenage Frankenstein, which I am sharing because it is great and has an immensely satisfying chorus to shout along to, especially if you are fourteen and feel really awkward. And it’s still fun when you are way older than fourteen, too.

 
Alice Cooper – Teenage FrankensteinAlice Cooper - Teenage Frankenstein
Watch this …
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