Tonight I'm with the almost-birthday boy seeing the Psychedelic Furs, a band I first saw live 40 years ago(!) at the Mesa Amphitheatre with my brother Bill.
The Furs were having an MTV moment with “Mirror Moves” (“The Ghost in You” and “Heaven” videos were in medium rotation, as was “Love My Way” from two years prior) and the Bangles opened, supporting their debut LP, “All Over the Place.” (Jesus and Mary Chain, about whom I somehow know nothing, are opening tonight.)
Crowd this time is less patchouli oil and clove cigarettes and more Bengay rub and hip replacements — Damian’s never felt younger! 🎂❤️🙏
UPDATE:
A fellow concertgoer's clip of "Heaven," which may have reduced me to tears, as well as the equally wonderful "Ghost in You."
Couldn't decide if Blondie's "Sound Asleep" or this gem from the Furs' 1982 album was more fitting -- but ended up with the latter when I discovered there was a low-budget video I don't recall ever seeing before!
P.S.
I see Nick Heyward and the boys are in NYC, including at my quasi-beloved Empire Diner! I'm not attending any of the area shows -- which sadly I read won't include any meetups with fans -- but would love to hear from you if you go!
Fun to see that two of my favorite bands as a teen -- the Psychedelic Furs and X -- are hitting the road together, with stops in my hometown (at the Rooftop at Pier 17, where I've not yet seen a show here) and my birthplace (at the Royal Oak Music Theatre). I first saw X at an all-ages show at the Devil House in Tempe, Ariz., in 1983 on the "More Fun in the New World" tour, and the Furs at Mesa Amphitheatre in 1984 (the Bangles opened, promoting "All Over the Place"). I'm tempted to go, but how much do you wanna bet crackpot Exene Cervenka has a policy intact that forbids attendees from being vaccinated?
Slicing Up Eyeballs reports that my beloved Psychedelic Furs have announced a 13-date spring U.S. tour ahead of the release of "Made of Rain," the band’s eighth studio album and their first full-length in nearly 30 years.
The tour will open April 13 in Key West, Fla., and includes six dates in Florida, as well as four shows in Texas. Other stops include New Orleans and two shows in Arizona, wrapping up April 30 in Scottsdale. The band then heads to England, where it will perform its new album in its entirety at London’s Royal Albert Hall on May 14. Visit the Furs’ website for full ticket information.
The Furs’ current lineup includes mainstays, and brothers, Richard and Tim Butler on vocals and bass, respectively, as well as sax player Mars Williams (Waitresses), drummer Paul Garisto, keyboard player Amanda Kramer (Information Society, Golden Palominos) and guitarist Rich Good (the Pleased).
"Made of Rain" will be the Furs’ first new album in nearly three decades, since the 1991 release of "World Outside," which spawned the modern-rock radio hit “Until She Comes."
Finally saw the much-hyped "Call Me by Your Name" yesterday, at the Paris Theater, surrounded by enough gay men to fill the dream prom I never attended. I went in expecting to love it, but several of the plot points didn't seem to track, and Armie Hammer's cerebral frat boy character's attraction to a smart-alecky 17-year-old seemed sort of out of left field to me. (It took forever to happen, yet there seemed to be very little buildup let alone chemistry.) Hammer also seemed a bit too old for the part. And as attractive as I find him, I couldn't help but wonder if a gay/bi actor would have been more believable in the role. Damian and I jokingly wrote poster reviews for it as we walked out that read:
"Clumsy but well-meaning" -- Damian
"Sorely lacking anal." -- Kenneth
And then I imagined the Men on Films boys saying: "Hated it! Should have been called 'Kettle of Fish'" for all the straight sex these two seemed to endure for the "affair" they finally had. (Elio's dad talked about it longer than it actually lasted.) Still, I enjoyed it enough and am very glad stories like this are being told, even if I must confess I found the romance between Meryl Streep and a 100-year-old Clint Eastwood in "The Bridges of Madison County" to be more compelling.
Here's a fun interview with Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs. Had no idea he lives in Beacon, N.Y., has a daughter and considers himself "more a painter who sings than a singer who paints." He says he started off being a painter, but then followed "thousands of other kids" in the punk scene and started a band -- and "it became really successful." These days, he says he'd pick painting over music if he had to choose. See what he's up to HERE.
Am writing this drunk and just in from seeing the Lemonheads and Psychedelic Furs in concert at the Best Buy Theater (formerly Nokia) in Times Square. Evan Dando kept it short and sober -- unlike his "It's a Shame About Ray" 20th anniversary tour -- but it was the Psych Furs who dazzled the crowd with a catalogue of material dating back 32 years, each composition as revolutionary as when they were first played. All the well-known songs were covered -- "Pretty in Pink," "Love My Way," "Run and Run," "The Ghost in You," "Heaven," "Heartbreak Beat" -- but it was their inclusion of "She Is Mine" that made the evening for me. The standout album track from "Talk Talk Talk," I almost forgave myself for not being old enough to have attended the band's 1981 gig at the Ritz,, only their second time playing in New York. And, yes: I sang Richard's "backup" parts for him. No one else int he sparse crowd hardly seemed qualified. Enjoy:
The Psychedelic Furs
Setlist at Best Buy Theater
New York, NY, Oct. 21, 2012
Only You and I
Love My Way
Run and Run
Mr. Jones
Heartbreak Beat
The Ghost in You
No Easy Street
She Is Mine
Little Miss World
All of This and Nothing
Believe
(Love Spit Love cover)
Danger
Pretty in Pink
Highwire Days
Heaven
Kinda fitting that I should learn about a concert featuring three great acts from the '80s and '90s -- the Psychedelic Furs, Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield -- via a poster on the street.this week! (I should have rounded it out by calling Ticketmaster, but opted to go online.)
I'm going mostly for the Furs -- one of my all-time favorite bands -- but I have had my flirtations with Evan Dano and Juliana. "The Outdoor Type" boasts one of the best lines in the history of pop music -- "I can't go away with you on a rock climbing weekend / What if something's on TV and it's never shown again?" -- which is to say nothing of "Big Gay Heart." And I nearly got killed going to see the former Blake Baby at Hammerjacks in Baltimore in the mid-'90s when my friend Paul's car suddenly started spinning around on the BW Parkway thanks to black ice. (The mosh pit seemed rather tame after that!) Hope to see some of you at the Best Buy Theater (formerly the Nokia) tomorrow night. Tickets available HERE. I've got my beard trimmer out, so I'll be the new wave geek trying to fit in behind the goatee and the plaid shirt, realizing even that's 20 years old now!
The Psychedelic Furs' first three albums were edgier, and arguably better than the fourth. But "Mirror Moves" satisfied in a way none of them had before, thanks to the infectious singles "The Ghost in You" and "Heaven," which is glorious enough to make a believer out of the biggest cynic.
In a lot of ways, the Psychedelic Furs are the Rodney Dangerfield of my music collection. I own and love all their albums, and have seen them in concert twice -- two of the best shows I've ever seen. Yet for some reason, I rarely cite them as one of my "favorite bands ever," a term I (admittedly) use rather loosely. (Hey, it's not my fault Blondie, Bananarama and the Go-Go's are still around!) It wasn't until my brother Bill posed a hitherto unseen video of of the Furs last week on his Facebook page -- "Run and Run" from their 1982 masterpiece, "Forever Now," which contains what is arguably the greatest single of the new wave era, "Love My Way" -- that I really had to look myself in the mirror (moves) and admit that the Psychedelic Furs really are my favorite band ever. (Did I mention that I also have both Love Spit Love albums and Richard Butler's solo disc from 2006?)
When I saw them the first time, as a 17-year-old at the Mesa Amphitheatre back in '84, they were riding high on the success of their more pop "Mirror Moves" album, which had two huge video hits on it, the lovely "Ghost in You" and the unusually upbeat "Heaven," plus the high-energy dance favorite, "Hearbeat." Along with "Forever Now," the band's darker early albums were also in heavy rotation on my trusty Yorx stereo in my West Kiva bedroom, with "Imitation of Christ" and "Into You Like a Train" my particular faves.
Although I was definitely a bonafide fan, at the time I was even more excited about the night's opening act -- the Bangles! I was a HUGE fan of their eponymous debut EP, and by the time their full-length LP, "All Over the Place," came out that summer, I was head over heels. (Oh, wait.) Songs like "Hero Takes a Fall," "Going Down to Liverpool," "James" and "Dover Beach" had firmly established the gals as one of my faves, so that sweltering night in Mesa was a memorable evening from beginning to end.
Jump ahead 20 years and the reformed Furs played a club gig not far from where we live in Manhattan. As it happens, Michael is also a HUGE fan, so we jumped at the chance to see them together. Although it wasn't quite the same as having the Bangles open, we were tickled to have the Alarm start off the show -- even if it probably was just Mike Peters and a bunch of guys who are younger than I am. (Peters definitely has a loyal following because while the Furs were warmly received throughout, the Alarm had some of the place in a complete tizzy as they ripped through an impressive catalog that included "The Stand," "Strength," "Rescue Me," "Spirit of '76," "Presence of Love" and, of course, the biggest hit, "Sixty-Eight Guns.")
But for me the night was all Richard Butler, who came on stage in dark shades and a cigarette in hand,still weighing 98 pounds and looking and sounding exactly as he did in his 1980s heyday. Covering ample ground from "India" and "Sister Europe" to "President Gas" and "Heartbreak Beat," there wasn't a moment that didn't make me happy to be lost in the '80s ...
And speaking of which, check out this unbelievably cool clip of the boys exiting the Gramercy Park Hotel (where Debbie Harry and Chris Stein once lived), signing album covers at Venus Records, playing in Battery Park -- right where Roberta was later so Desperately Seeking Susan -- and playing around on the streets of Manhattan circa 1982. The mock (pre-tabloid) Village Voice is the best! I'm not sure how I missed this video for "Run and Run" back in the day, but the fact that it was only added to YouTube on June 30 of this year makes me wonder if it's from a long-lost vault or something. Thanks to my brother for finding it, which is fitting since he was always finding the coolest new bands and bringing them home from college.
"Run and Run": Go on get Tarzan, go on get Jane ...
"Love My Way": There's an army on the dance floor, it's a fashion with a gun, my love ...
"The Ghost in You": I'm in a mood for you (or running away) ...
This week's rag 'n' mag roundup features Harry Jowsey, Michael Scanlon, Judy Gold, Lenny Kravitz, Alan Ritchson, the "best ...
Fake Jan Alert
My blog is featured in Susan Olsen's tell-all about the ill-fated "Brady Bunch Variety Hour"!
Little Kenny
Growing up in Madison Heights, Mich.
Back to the Old House
The Web leads to an unexpected return to a house I grew up in.
Oceans 11
Carlsbad, Calif. (2008)
1983
Go Behind the Music of my high-school band, A La Plage
A Death in the Family
Little Larry left us too soon.
Once I Had a Love
With Debbie Harry
'Jungle' Fever
With Robert Buckley
Roger & Me
With Roger Federer
Step Brother McMullen
With Ed Burns
Headline News
With Thomas Roberts
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