web analytics

Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • Jon Huntsman: Presidential Candidate, Rock Critic

    Jon Huntsman loves this stuff! And he's a Republican!
    One of my favorite news items from the 2008 presidential campaign was a story in which bluegrass great Ralph Stanley endorsed then Senator Barack Obama for President. If I remember correctly, Mr. Obama, in thanking Mr. Stanley for his support, mentioned that he had some of Stanley’s music on his iPod, thereby confusing the hell out of the octogenarian banjo-plucker (“What’s an iPod?”). Sadly no one ever followed up with Barack Obama on, say, which of the Stanley Brothers’ songs he liked best, or what initially drew him to bluegrass music in the first place.

    That would have been a fun read – it would have been cool to see if the future president was just paying lip service to a national treasure, or if he really had some serious bluegrass cred. We may never know. Thanks be, then, to blogger Dave Weigel. You see, awhile back, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman tweaked his small-ish Twitter following by professing his love for Captain Beefheart. And this last weekend, while Weigel was covering the Republican campaign in New Hampshire, he took a bit of time to talk Beefheart with Huntsman. The verdict: Jon Huntsman Passes the Beefheart Test!

    Now, generally speaking, and I admit to some shameless stereotyping here, when I think of the musical tastes of Republicans – especially those of the Presidential candidate persuasion – I generally think country: Toby Keith’s big ol’ boot up the rest of the world’s collective ass, Miranda Lambert’s hybrid of domestic sentimentality and gun-toting girl-power, Lady Antebellum’s popular (and thereby sacrosanct) blandness, or the Charlie Daniels Band’s aggressively Southern take-no-shit-itude.

    There’s also classic rock. Ted Nugent, for instance, had been a walking manifesto for the Tea Party’s wild-eyed, take-no-prisoners brand of pseudo-libertarianism for decades before anyone had ever heard of Glenn Beck. Wisconsin’s own governor Scott Walker has been playing John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” at his recent speaking engagements and Sarah Palin clearly [hearts] Heart although the feeling is emphatically not mutual. (Don Van Vliet, the artist formerly known as Captain Beefheart, died last December, and is thus unable to weigh in on Huntsman.)

    To my mind, then, loving Captain Beefheart is the sort of thing that only one of the people Sarah Palin sneeringly dismisses as an elitist would ever cop to so openly. Who’s ever even heard of Captain Beefheart? And among those who have heard of Captain Beefheart, who could say that they love his music? I’ll tell you who: rock critics. And people who wish they were rock critics. Only true music snobs love Captain Beefheart. Captain Beefheart is not the music of the conservative primary voter. Then again, maybe Huntsman isn’t trying to win the hearts and minds of Rick Perry devotees. After all, in that same Twitter feed, he admitted to *gulp* believing in evolution and trusting scientists.

    I have to admit. I’m no fan of Captain Beefheart. I am a fan of a lot of artists who cite Captain Beefheart as an influence, and because of that, I have tried on numerous occasions to “get into” Captain Beefheart, and on all such occasions so far, I have failed. I’m also not a fan of the current roster of Republican presidential frontrunners, but Huntsman has given me the tiniest bit of hope. Not only does he say he likes Captain Beefheart. He actually does like Captain Beefheart. Also – and again: not a big fan here – but how awesome would it be to hear Captain Beefheart played at a Republican campaign rally?

    I’m not typically the kind of guy who votes into office the candidate I’d most want to have a beer with. After all, the likelihood of my having a beer with the President, while not exactly zero, do lie somewhere between winning the Powerball and lightning striking three times. But Jon Huntsman is a Presidential candidate I would love to talk music with, and I have to say, that may have given me reason enough to vote for him in the primary. It’s not like he’s going to win.

  • Awesome Free Download! The Postelles “Summer Undercovers”

    The Postelles ''Summer Undercovers''
    The Postelles are one of my favorite new bands – a New York City quartet who play great little three minute rock ‘n’ roll tunes that sound like they were made to be heard on 45s. They have all the big beats and melodic guitar lines of a Ventures instrumental, circa ’63; and in lead singer Daniel Balk’s vocals, all the boyish sweetness and vulnerability of the 1910 Fruitgum Co., that illustrious Kama Sutra Records bubblegum group who had a huge hit in ’68 with a song called “1,2,3, Red Light”. The latest single by The Postelles is called “123 Stop”. I don’t think that’s purely coincidental.

    Just weeks after the long-anticipated release of The Postelles’ self-titled debut album, the band has released a new EP called “Summer Undercovers” for free download via their website. And it’s exactly what the title would suggest: four covers that together sound like a ten-minute day at the beach with Frankie and Annette(‘s grandkids).

    It starts with a surfed-up version of The Smiths’ “Ask”, a song that Morrissey first sang in a languid moan 25 years ago (probably before these guys were born) – spending warm summer days indoors writing frightening verse to a bucktoothed girl in Luxembourg. The Postelles play it like a teen idol love letter, and follow it up with an appropriately rawkin’ take on Joe Jones’ (by way of The Rivieras) “California Sun” (an actual surf-rock classic), and UK pub-rocker Wreckless Eric’s yearning “Whole Wild World”. Capping it all off is a live version of The Ramones’ “Beat on the Brat”. Not only is it great to hear these songs given such a fresh treatment, it’s a nice taste of what the band does on their originals, which sound like covers of classic surf-bubblegum-punk-new-wave songs from an alternate universe.

  • American Idol Season 10 – And The Winner Is …

    Like I said yesterday in my American Idol recap on Popblerd!, this season is a bit anticlimactic. It’s reminiscent of the Jordin Sparks/Blake Lewis clash. Neither contestant was super interesting or had a great story and they were simply nice kids. That’s how I feel about this year’s finale.

    Based on last night, Lauren clearly out-performed Scotty, but really, it’s not about what happened last night. What’s more important is how much of a fanbase each was able to create throughout the season. I’ve pegged Lauren as this season’s winner from day one based on how I think they can market her. She’s much more in the Kelly Clarkson/Carrie Underwood zone than anyone else they’ve had in the past several years. But Scotty has those girly girls voting for him in droves. And that could prove to be the difference.

    I received this tweet from elliehempleman which made me excited for the show.

    @roheblius you finally got to see @JLo shake her money maker. Worth the wait?

    (She’s on the East Coast so she was able to see the show before I was.)

    Wait, I just saw Aunt Becky (lesser known as Dixon’s and Annie’s mom) in the audience! That woman never ages.

    We’re going to do this a little differently tonight. Here come the bullet points!

    – The top 13 is singing Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. Are they trying to tell us something?
    – If Pia dressed like this during the season, she would’ve never lost.
    – Haley is wearing some of the hottest hot pants I’ve ever seen.
    – Hey, Karen Rodriguez, thanks for reminding me what you look like.
    – James Durbin is performing with Judas Priest. He’s wearing a captain’s hat and a sleeveless vest, looking like he wants to bring back The Village People.
    – Jacob Lusk and Kurt Franklin are performing together. Gladys Knight just came on stage to sing with them, but without the Pimps. Oprah Winfrey is shaking her head for not thinking of this trio for her final week of shows.
    – Casey and Jack Black are on stage together and they both have new movies coming out this weekend. For Black’s it’s Kung Fu Panda 2 and for Casey, The Hangover 2.
    – The girls of American Idol performed a flurry of Beyonce’s hits and it really made you appreciate Beyonce as both a singer and a performer. Haley has a little funk in her though. Pia, not so much.
    – Beyonce came out and just killed everything. They’ve had some fantastic performers on this show before, but she leaves most in the dust. And who doesn’t enjoy that Beyonce shake? I’ll take two.
    – They rolled out the corpse of Tony Bennett to sing with Haley. Who am I kidding? This dude has more life than I do.
    – In the “5 Years Late” department, Lil’ Jon came out on the stage. And in the “15 Years Late” department, TLC came out. But damn, Chili is still fine. The moral of the story is and always will be, “Don’t go chasin’ waterfalls, y’all.”
    – Tim McGraw came out to sing with Scotty, but really, he just should’ve started bench pressing him. Scotty’s a little light in the ass to be on stage with McGraw.
    – So this is what happens when your wife is the star of the show. Marc Anthony is out singing and I’ll be fine with this if J. Lo comes out and dances for him. If not, it’s a waste of my five minutes.
    – If Marc wasn’t a Grammy winning singer and was just some dude from the hood, wouldn’t he look like someone who kidnaps children?
    – J. Lo is out with him and she is shaking what her momma gave her. I think Beyonce threw down the gauntlet and J. Lo answered the challenge.
    – Sheila E. was banging on some drums too. It’s always great to see Sheila.
    – While the Idol dudes were out performing, my son says, “How does Scotty do it? Did he hypnotize the judges. I just don’t think he’s very good.”
    – Tom Jones came out to sing It’s Not Unusual. If Carlton comes out dancing, I will declare this show the greatest of all time.
    – It didn’t happen, though Jacob tried his hardest to channel his inner Carlton.
    – Hey, it’s Lady Gaga. At least this time, she’s actually on stage, rather than from her own concert like a couple of weeks ago.
    – Lauren started to sing some Carrie (you know, that song about Tony Romo) and you just knew Carrie was coming out to sing with her. Someone needs to feed Carrie a couple sammiches. She still has that terrible case of noassatall.
    – Beyonce is out again singing her new single 1 Plus 1. Let’s just say that this is a smidgen better than Beyonce’s current single about the girls who are running the world. Ok, maybe 100 times better.
    – Finally, we get some Steven Tyler live. Sing it Stevie!

    It’s now time. Who wins season 10 of American Idol?

    And the winner is … Scotty McCreery!

    Well, 10 years of American Idol are in the books. And I’m tired. See you next year.

    Photo of Carrie Underwood is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license