I never bought a Foreigner album. Somehow "Head Games" wound up in my collection, but I don't remember buying it. It's not that I didn't like Foreigner, I just never felt the need to give the band any more rotation than it was already getting on the radio. In my early teens, if I bought a band's album, that band was mine; my discovery, my soundtrack, part of my identity. Foreigner was everywhere. And though those songs were never mine, hearing Lou Gramm and his band bang them out Friday night in front of huge crowd of aging rock fans

Last night at Potential Life Studios (34 Elton St), the duo Insects with Tits (from Richmond, Virginia) generated raspy, reedy waves of noise, that, even when they built in volume, sounded thin and insect-like, as though millions of its namesakes were about to take over the audience. The duo pushed and pulled, twisted, and subtly bent their bodies as they pressed buttons and turned knobs. By the time they'd worked me out of the trance I'd been sucked into, I had unwittingly (as always happens at these sorts of shows) created a shifting series of pictures in my mind. This kind of

We spent the Fourth of July staggering ‘round NYC, from 6:30 in the morning (when our bus rolled into Chinatown) until 3 p.m. or so, when we hit Battery Park. We joined hundreds of others snaking through the park to catch a free show by The Feelies (who formed in '76 and haven't played together since something like '92; I guess they ran through a gig or two at Maxwell's a week or so ago to get warmed up) and Sonic Youth. I'm going to admit that I hadn't heard of the The Feelies before, but I need to go

I'm just like you; I wanna be cool. I wanna know a little bit about cars - not necessarily how to gap sparkplugs, but at least how to change a tire. I wanna know how to bank my shots, tell the difference between Ripple and Riesling, and know where the g-spot is. But moreover, I don't wanna be treated like a kid. Thursday night's Party in the Park was a Rochester grand-slam blues explosion starring Joe Beard. This was my first time at the new riverside locale, and man is it spacious. But you gotta show up with ID, or

I'm pretty accustomed to the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" vibe. I can count on it just about every winter in Rochester, and just about anytime three or more bands perform back-to-back on one stage.  But Thursday's "Party in the Park" must have forgotten to schedule the lamb and instead booked three bands -- each headliners in their own right -- that punched out gritty shuffles and distorted riffs all night long. And if the size of the crowd is any indication, I am certainly not alone in my thoughts.First up was the White Devils, with City Newspaper's own

In a tight, midnight-fringed cocktail dress, DC darling and honky-tonk hottie Marti Brom rocked the Bug Jar with her Albany backing band, Rocky Velvet. Like a spitfire version of Patsy Cline or Wanda Jackson at her most atomic, Brom is both demon vixen and girl next door. I can easily envision her baking cookies or stabbing some fella in the neck. It was already hot and sweaty in the joint Wednesday, July 9 - thanks to The Hi-Risers, who closed with "ATM Inside" twice - when Brom hit the stage. Her band rocked steady to a big beat counted out

It kinda looked like play for pay; starting nearly 45 minutes late, Stone Temple Pilots played CMAC as four musicians, not as a quartet. It wasn't tense exactly, but the interplay seemed somewhat forced. The glue that kept them together was the band's incredible catalogue. Kings of 90's rock, this band become the casualty of all the excesses and bullshit drama that makes for great music, but destroys bands. The selection of last night's tunes was essentially a romp through the hits, as the band has nothing currently on deck. Singer Scott Weiland pranced, preened, and prowled the stage like a fabulous rock

Believe me, I've heard the hype. Hell, I've been listening to Frank De Blase talk about the band for months now. And after finally seeing Black August perform for the first time at Thursday's Party in the Park, I believe every bit of it. The band emitted this classical soul vibe with short, almost choppy, chords jumping from the guitar. Never mind the vocals -- singer Danielle Ponder belted out sounds of pure elation while jumping, dancing, and doing just about any sort of movement or facial contortion that helped pump the sound out even further.There was a rap group (listed

You know me; I love surprises. Friday night, I copped a squat on Boulder Coffee's comfy couch to catch Tell The Cold Wall, a new rootsy project fronted by ex-BML drummer Ronnie Lickers (now on guitar). The band was incredible - not just because of Lickers' beater-to-strummer change up, or the fact that it couldn't have been more removed from BML if it had bagpipes - but also because of the harmonies, and the powerful, bittersweet Americana dirge. Old Boy followed with Brian Mason (another BML alum) playing some incredible atmospheric lap steel. Could these bands

My Warped Tour drill: set out to see some of the old-school cats that make the most sense to me (like, in years past, bands like Bad Religion and Helmet), see what all the fuss is about with some of the new bands, and try to limit the amount of times I say, "What is this bullshit?" while admiring all the nubile teen parade (without looking like a creep). Plus, take a few pictures, get a tattoo, do a little dance, make a little love, and get down tonight.Let's work our way from the top down. LA's Aggrolites were my absolute faves playing

[ HARDCORE ] Hate Machine w/Inherence, Caustic, Astropimp, The Pheromones Friday, August 8, Water Street Music Hall, 204 North Water Street, 325-5600, 8 p.m., $10-$12 [ BLUES/ROCK ] Blues Traveler Post-game concert at Frontier Field, Sunday, August 10, 423-WING, $6.50-$16 [ ROCK ] Ryan Adams and the Cardinals Saturday, September 27, Auditorium Theatre, 875 E Main St, 222-5000, 8 p.m., call for info

I guess I'm torn between juke joint and concert hall, between bare-bone rock in a bucket of blood and the splendid spectacle of an arena. Some artists are capable of cramming the big show in the dive, and others bring the corner bar to the big stage. But I'm not sure too many bands can do both simultaneously. OK, maybe The Stones... and now definitely The Foo Fighters. What an absolutely incredible show from this band Monday night at Blue Cross Arena. Completely unpretentious on an uncluttered stage, the band pounded out a generous two-hour

The Dark Star Orchestra originally scheduled for Sunday, August 3, at High Falls Brewing Company has been moved to Water Street Music Hall, 204 North Water Street. Tickets cost $20-$25 and the show begins at 5 p.m. For tickets call Ticketmaster at 232-1900.