Recent Articles
Music Articles
Frank De Blase on November 4th, 2009
The last time Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine and I talked was between mouthfuls of late-night breakfast. Maroon 5 had played a show at Water Street Music Hall, and we somehow found ourselves crowded in the corner booth at Mark's Texas Hots in the wee hours of the morning.
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on November 4th, 2009
My wife Deb and I have this get-out-of-jail free policy for affairs outside the marriage; each is permitted a celebrity dalliance, as remote is it may be. If the famed object of lust is available, well then, it's OK. So in my wife's case, if David Bowie or Johnny Depp
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on November 4th, 2009
We've gotten so caught up in hit-single culture that focus has been taken off the album, the LP, as a whole body of work. Whether or not there's an intentional musical theme or lyrical narrative by an artist on any given record, that's how it's listened to - front
Music Articles
Frank De Blase on October 28th, 2009
It was rather blustery outside last Tuesday night, and I was feeling rather un-blustery inside, so I invited Rochester a cappella singing sensations The Bowties to come over. Not only did they eagerly pop over to my Beachwood pad, known to our neighbors as "Disgraceland," but they sang a song
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on October 28th, 2009
It amazes me that we can actually see songwriters like Robert Earl Keen. Keen's songs are full of colorful character and a rich narrative that contains no ego or pretense. He takes a backseat to his songs and their stories even though they are, in many cases, his own. The
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on October 28th, 2009
I haven't seen this band in almost 25 years, but can still remember them distinctly. The Fadeaways, as they were known back then, played Gretsch guitars, wore leather jackets, had greasy hair, and girlfriends with grown-up parts. I wanted to be these guys, bad. The music sprang from the early
Music Articles
Frank De Blase on October 21st, 2009
"You play for years and years and years and you start to learn what's rare," says The Dan Eaton Band's bassist, Adam Wilcox. "Guys who play guitar aren't rare, drummers aren't rare, bass players aren't rare. But songwriters? Really good ones? Rare."
Wilcox fell in with Eaton three years ago when
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on October 21st, 2009
One of my late father's ravings on the evils of rock music would often end with "You don't want to wind up like Gene Cornish, do you?" You see, Cornish and my dad grew up together. My dad, the crew-cut square, Cornish the long-haired, guitar-slinging rocker. Years later my little
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on October 21st, 2009
For many of the faithful, 1977 was punk rock's Year 1, CBGBs was the dirty little manger, and the Bowery its Bethlehem. All kinds of saviors and prophets arose from this legendary NYC dive. The Ramones, The Talking Heads, Blondie, The Heartbreakers, Television, Patti Smith, The Voidoids, and more created
Choice Concerts
Frank De Blase on October 14th, 2009
Chris Hillman of The Flying Burrito Brothers was so knocked out by Emmylou Harris that he recommended her to Gramm Parsons. Harris wound up as a touring member of Parson's The Fallen Angels until his death in 1973. This legendary silver-haired country siren's soft and lovely voice has graced her
View All Articles
Recent Blog Posts
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on November 4th, 2009
Tranquilatwist tranquilatwisted the dressed-up-to-get-messed-up crowd for the Devil's Night Fetish Masquerade at Water Street Music Hall Friday. Singer Karlie Cary Lanni seduced and we succumbed as she wailed bitter and sweet beneath a pillbox hat and fire-engine red tresses. She was a captivating chanteuse within the band's potent swirl.
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 30th, 2009
Good jazz often hits me like a cool blast of eucalyptus: it gets the flow flowing, the go going, and the going gone. Drummer Harris Eisenstadt and Canada Day served up a slinky, sultry groove in the Bop Shop Atrium last night. It was just the right mix of exploratory
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 26th, 2009
Arrived at the Main Street Armory Friday night as Aussie duo An Horse pumped out a big sound a la Sleater-Kinney. Cage The Elephant followed with a frenetic strain of Kentucky-fried indie rock set to a kind of accelerated funk groove. Singer Matt Shultz raved about the stage, shaking his
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 22nd, 2009
Emmylou Harris' name was written in the big letters on the marquee, but it was Buddy Miller's show Wednesday night at The Auditorium Theatre. It isn't just the fact that I root for the underdog, spin the B-side, constantly look below the radar, and thrive on music traveling the airways
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 21st, 2009
Pushing a mix of cuts off the new "Crash Love" CD and older stuff, AFI rocked Water Street Music Hall Friday night with a full-throttle set and a lightshow that would give the planetarium penis envy.
Singer Davey Havok has changed since I saw him rock Darien Lake two
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 14th, 2009
Playing straight-up, straight-ahead, straightened-out garage rock, Phoenix quartet The Love Me Nots knocked out a super-catchy set to a modest but super enthusiastic crowd Thursday night at the Bug Jar. The two-guy, two-gal line-up was tight with its relentless 4/4 beat, choppy guitar, all just dripping with greasy Farfisa goodness.
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 7th, 2009
Let me just begin by saying, "Holy shit." I've seen the Israeli rock trio Monotonix before, I've interviewed them, I think I know what they're about. But last night's show at the Bug Jar was a cross between Caligula and the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese, and one of
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 5th, 2009
Over the rest of the weekend-long fest I caught more primo sounds. I'd heard some of Dan Eaton's stuff before, and my wife always comes running to the TV for new recipes whenever he's on, but I'd always pegged him as a mellow rocker. That's not the case at all.
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on October 2nd, 2009
I'm not defending this town, I'm not making excuses, but I've lived here long enough to know she's a fickle gal. You've gotta repeatedly ply her with bon bons and flowers and reassurances that you won't split after she puts out. And last night we barely got to first base
Music Blog
Frank De Blase on September 30th, 2009
Visiting from the land of big shoulders, singer/songwriter Dan Coyle took the Boulder Coffee stage unassuming and barefoot Thursday night. Unassuming I admire, bare feet on stage I don't get. Anyhow, Coyle fits nicely between folk insight and a clever musicality that avoided minor chords where you'd ordinarily expect them,
View All Blog Posts
Recently Reviewed Movies
This author hasn't reviewed any movies.
Recently Reviewed Restaurants
This author hasn't reviewed any restaurants.
