Ivy Brings ‘Traces’ of Adam Schlesinger to Sony Hall

Damian and I had the pleasure of seeing onetime indie pop darlings Ivy on Thursday at Sony Hall, something that once seemed highly improbable given the band's travails.

The trio (unofficially) broke up (officially) acrimoniously around 2011 -- with Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger closing their recording studio and becoming estranged for many years -- but had discussed making a new album after reconnecting in February 2020, only for Schlesinger to die of Covid-19 six weeks later. 

Devastated by his death, Chase and Dominique Durand reconnected with former Ivy champion Mark Lipsitz -- now CEO of Bar/None Records -- to give the band the proper sendoff it deserved. The plan was to reissue Ivy’s first three albums with unreleased bonus material, but while combing through the archives in 2021, the pair uncovered a treasure trove of unfinished songs spanning the band’s entire career.

With the blessing of Schlesinger’s family and estate, Chase and Durand enlisted longtime touring keyboardist Bruce Driscoll to help complete the material. The result was last year’s “Traces of You,” featuring contributions from Schlesinger drawn from demos and fragments recorded between 1995 and 2012. The album included 10 newly finished songs, with the remaining tracks set to arrive on a second collection later this year.

Which brings us to Thursday, the second date (after Chicago) following a 15-year hiatus. And rather than awkwardly trying to replace Schlesinger, Ivy built the show around him, using his pre-recorded bass tracks throughout the performance while projecting playful archival videos during songs like “Worry About You” and dedicating “I Think of You” to their late bandmate. (Durand also got emotional noting that Lipsitz, who had "discovered" the band even though she had refused to ever perform live, died before the album's release. He was just 61.)

The low-key, emotional set mixed classics from across the band’s catalog (“I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Edge of the Ocean,” “Get Enough”) with four songs from “Traces of You,” with Chase and Driscoll handling backing vocals and a trumpet player popping in for a couple of numbers, while Durand charmed the crowd with intimate banter in her trademark accent, singing as if a day hadn’t passed.

Dominique Durand

Ex-husband Andy Chase 

Bruce Driscoll

Catholic priest on drums?

Before the show began, Damian and I met up with our friends Brian and Toby -- whom we'd run into at the Beacon Theatre last November just as news circulated that Ivy would perform live again. Brian mentioned he’d peeked at the setlist and noticed it covered a lot of ground -- though notably absent were any songs from the “breakup” album, “All Night,” which Chase hated because he didn't like the electronic direction Schlesinger was going in. I was perfectly fine with that, having always felt it and its predecessor, “In the Clear,” were weaker than the band’s earlier work.

Later, while autopsying the show with Brian via Messenger in the days that followed, I mentioned this and he responded that he "came in" with "Long Distance" (the band's third album) and felt each album since "had its moments" -- and that, in fact, he actually knew the first two albums the least. 

It got me thinking about how the point at which one "comes in" with an artist can have such an oversized effect, remembering that my husband "came in" with “Bedtime Stories,” so to me his view of Madonna is completely warped. (And don't get me started about his relationship with Blondie and “No Exit”!)

Given that I'm actually an Ivy-come-lately, having only discovered the mid-90s band in the early aughts through a New York Times colleague, the irony is not lost on me that I'm hardly in a position to be a purist about their "early good" stuff. But then I remembered that once I found out about them, I made a point of learning the albums in chronological order, so maybe the whole "came in" theory still holds.

With this in mind, I proceeded to play "In the Clear" and "All Night" over and over and it wasn't long before I was asking myself: what's my fucking problem? These albums are incredible and fully on par with everything else Ivy has done -- the former is refreshing and the latter’s dance groove is pure joy and proof that Andy was out of his mind to be angry with Adam for wanting to experiment with that genre. (I believe Chase has since gotten sober, but not enough to perform songs from it!)

So, it was an incredible evening buoyed by the fact that my go-to Ivy catalog just increased by 40 percent or so -- with more TK -- even if I still think "Wish It All Away" is by far their best song. 😀

Watch: Ivy: A Tribute to Adam Schlesinger

Read: My "Adam" moment back in 2016

Adam Schlesinger: Not Just The Guy On The Right

Listen: Both releases by Paco -- Andy and Dominique's Ivy-esque side project -- are available to stream. Hear their 2001 self-titled extended play HERE and 2004 album, "This Is Where We Live," HERE. 

Oh, Susanna!

 

As I mentioned earlier in the week, three very Kenneth events happened while Damian and I were on the coast, including a performance by Susanna Hoffs. Ironically, the last time I was in L.A. was exactly 10 years ago, when I made a special trip to see the Bangles beauty perform ... at Largo! 

That outing was nearly derailed by an epic snowstorm here in NYC -- my flight kept getting canceled and eventually I made it there for only one of the two shows I had tickets for, which both featured guest Belinda Carlisle.

This time around, we were fortunate that my friend and former roommate James was available to join us. He happened to work on (Susanna's husband) Jay Roach's "High Desert," so we chatted with him after the show and found it adorable how the famed director went out of his way to make sure James's selfie was to his liking. 

Before the concert, we ran into our mutual pal and film reviewer extraordinaire Glenn Gaylord, whose write-up is so spot-on I will just share it with you here. 

He writes:

I went to see Susanna Hoffs & Friends at Largo last night. She did a wonderful 14 song set of Bangles classics, a couple of new songs, and, to our delight, she and her small band performed the first 7 songs off of The Beatles' classic album, HELP! She sounded as good as ever, with that angelic yet raspy voice which always cuts through. If you've never been to Largo, it's a small, intimate 200+ seat venue and artists keep things SUPER casual. No photos or recording was allowed, which made it feel evern more special. 

Susanna, admittedly scattered, gave off a "you're in my living room" vibe, stopping and restarting songs, forgetting lyrics, changing tempos, all while being beyond adorable. In the biggest surprise of the evening, Conan O'Brien came out to workshop jokes from his upcoming Oscar monologue. If the jokes he told are any indication of what he's gonna do, this will be one for the books. I really hope he goes there with the Timothee Chalamet bit.

As much as I love The Bangles...and why, oh why, are they not in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame yet????...I have really worshipped her three cover songs albums she recorded with Matthew Sweet (another favorite of mine). Their voices blend together so well. Did I mention I'm a huge power pop fan?  Each album covers a specific decade in music....60s, 70s, and 80s.  

I have been hungering for their 90s collaboration, but tragedy struck Matthew in October 2024 when he suffered a debilitating stroke while on tour in Toronto. It's been a long, slow road to recovery and it's not clear he'll ever be able to play guitar or sing again. Visit his GO FUND ME page for more details and if you have felt he (and Susanna) have enriched your life with their artistry, maybe consider donating. 

In the meantime, here's the setlist from Susanna's concert last night.

  1. In Your Room

  2. None of Them Were You (The List)

  3. Bad Case of Loneliness

  4. Help!

  5. The Night Before  

  6. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

  7. I Need You  

  8. Another Girl

  9. You're Going to Lose That Girl

10. Ticket to Ride  

11. Manic Monday

12. Hero Takes a Fall

13. Hazy Shade of Winter

14. Encore: Eternal Flame

Kenneth and James on the real Melrose Place, circa 1992

We finished the night off with James by cruising Melrose Avenue before getting a bite at Canter's. xo

Bow Wow Wowed: An ’80s Queen Braves Totally Tubular

Like, ohmygod! The 2025 Totally Tubular Festival was totally not as grody as I thought it might be! (OK, enough of that -- I'm already exhausted.) Despite my well-earned reputation as an '80s fanatic, these kinds of things are (totally) not my style: A) I hate festivals/drawn-out concerts; B) I'm very selective about the music I listen to -- especially to see performed live; and C) These things invariably pick the wrong nostalgia acts (think Animotion, the Escape Club or a Stuart Adamson-less Big Country). 

But as it would happen, not one but two of my favorite artists -- Bow Wow Wow and the Motels -- were included in this lineup. And then they started to give tickets away -- $22(!) -- with the venue all but walking distance from my apartment, at which point I decided: Why not? 

Security was a nightmare, so we ended up arriving as Tommy Tutone was performing a (not surprisingly extended) version of "867-5309/Jenny." Given the fact that the next couple acts did just three songs each, the most we missed was two, which was a bit of a shame given that front man Tommy Heath was in fine form at 78. Shockingly, I learned that the band had actually scored another Top 40 pre-"Jenny," in 1980's "Angel Say No," which has to be the answer to the hardest question in the Trivial Pursuit Totally '80s edition. (You're welcome.) 

Next up was Bow Wow Wow, aka Annabella Lwin. With guitarist Matthew Ashman six feet under since 1995 and her relationships with drummer David Barbarossa and bassist Leigh Gorman also long dead, Annabella has had to fight to keep performing as Bow Wow Wow since Gorman likes to perform under the moniker with singer Chloe Demetria, which sounds about as sad as the Culture Club sans Boy George and Divinyls sans Chrissy Amphlett attempts of recent memory. Annabella looked and sounded great as she came out to the band's second single, "W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah, No No My Daddy Don't)," the 1981 protest song satirizing the Thatcherite push for work in austerity-era Britain. From this deep cut they pivoted to "Do You Want to Hold Me?" and "I Want Candy," the group's two highest-charting singles in the U.S. Always a pleasure to see that one but boy would I have liked more.  

Then came Martha Davis and the Motels, which included longtime keyboardist/saxophonist Marty Jouard, the brother of lead guitarist Jeff Jouard, who was booted from the band back in the day in favor of Martha's then-boyfriend Tim McGovern. (Those were some awkward holidays!) Martha wasted no time in singing "Only the Lonely," followed by a haunting version of "So L.A." (great choice!), "Suddenly Last Summer" and "Strange Days." Martha is the main reason I decided to go -- interviewing her in 2008 remains a blogging highlight -- because she's 74 and recently had a second bout of breast cancer, which first struck her at the height of the Motels' popularity in the early '80s. (Producer/manager Val Garay says she also had early stage cervical cancer.) I'd love to see her perform a full set, but at this point any Martha is better than no Martha. Unlike so many of my legacy artists, Martha is still making music that stands up to her heyday output, and I'm hearing 2026 will see the birth of even more. Here's hoping she's in the mood to travel again to celebrate that. (Listen to the albums "This," "Beautiful Life" or "The Last Few Beautiful Days" if you don't believe me.)

UPDATE: I ended up rewatching their episode of VH1 "Bands Reunited" (adorable) and finding a full concert from earlier this year at the House of Blues in Anaheim, which was the perfect salve. It's 18 songs, with the perfect combination of early material ("Dressing Up," "People, Places, Things," "Counting," "Closets & Bullets") along with the tracks that made them famous. (She even does "Remember the Nights"!) Good to know that Martha is still up for a full set. I guess the caveat is that I'll probably need to go West if I want to experience it again ... they're playing the Whisky A Go Go in April!

The Motels were followed by Thomas Dolby, who hilariously announced that he was the only artist on the bill who had "never broken up and gotten back together" and still had all its original members. I've always been a fan, but even I was surprised by how terrific his set was, bolstered by his doing "Europa and the Pirate Twins" and "One of Our Submarines," two of the best songs of the 1980s. He also did "Hyperactive" and, of course, "She Blinded Me With Science," the projected video of which featured a surprise cameo by Hillary Rodham Clinton, to the delight of the crowd. 

This is where I got a little confused. Because they were billed toward the top, I somehow had it in my head that Men at Work was next. If this makes me sound like an idiot, please note that neither the Aussies nor Men Without Hats were ever bands I ever got particularly excited about -- but I definitely know the former was way bigger than the latter, so at least I knew something was off. The Canadian synthpop-sters got off to a bad start, with singer Ivan Doroschuk bouncing around like a Super Ball to what turned out to be "The Safety Dance," only the microphone malfunctioned, so it took a good minute or so before it was fixed. Next, they did songs called "Moonbeam," "Where Do the Boys Go?" and "Antarctica" before performing their other hit, the delightful "Pop Goes the Word." From there they announced that they were doing what every '80s fan dreads hearing -- "a new song" -- before launching into the on-the-nose "I Love the '80s," which by the end had the crowd singing along. (OK, it was kinda cute.) To the producers' credit, they then allowed the band to take "Safety Dance" from the top -- which took me back to when I saw A Flock of Seagulls in 1983 and they did "I Ran" twice ... without sound problems! -- announcing that this was for "anyone who'd arrived late"! Worth noting that one of the band members wasn't a man and one of them was in fact wearing a hat, yet they charmed me in an unexpected way. 

*I would argue that the Motels are the second biggest band on the bill, but I've read that Martha prefers to go on early -- plus Men Without Hats are more lively, so perhaps it makes sense for them to go on later.

So while I'm still not sure how Men Without Hats ranks "second" among the artists on the bill, the fact that they're not the at-work men explained how A Flock of Seagulls soared to the top of the bill. Fondly remembered as the quintessential one-hit wonder of the new wave era, the group did in fact have a few chart hits, so it was great hearing "Space Age Love Song" (my personal favorite), "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph)" and "The More You Live, the More You Love" -- as well as "Say You Love Me" and "Some Dreams" -- before closing the night out with ruckus version of "I Ran." Although grumpy frontman Mike Score is the only original member -- even his drummer brother has long flown the coup -- touring bassist Pando(TM), who reminded me of Toni Basil if Toni Basil had an eating disorder, knows how to keep the crowd engaged. 

All in all, a fun night in a roomful of like-minded fans, some of whom were more dedicated to the cause than others. 

If you hurry, you can see clips from most of the artists on my Instagram stories HERE.

At Le Poisson Rouge, Susanna Hoffs Lets the Songs (and Others) Talk

Susanna Hoffs was in fine form on Friday night at Le Poisson Rouge, performing Bangles classics, a couple covers (Jimmy Cliff's “Sitting in Limbo” and Nesmith/Stone Poneys/Ronstadt's “Different Drum”) and trying out a bunch of new songs from a forthcoming album -- “Casablanca,” “None of Them Were You,” “Sometimes You Gotta Learn Your Lesson Twice,” “Bad Case of Loneliness” and “Good Luck” -- as well as one (“It’s My Time”) from a possible musical (with Edie Brickell!) based on the diminutive Bangle’s debut novel.

It’s been a particularly prolific era for Hoffs -- who released just two solo albums in the 1990s, zero in the 2000s, and one in the 2010s*, but has put out three in the past four years -- so any disappointment I felt about the set list was largely assuaged by my gratefulness for where she is now.

It was a delightful, low-key evening with just Sue and the two young men she’s currently collaborating with -- CJ Camerieri (horns; piano) and Ryan Lerman (guitar; clarinet) -- on stage, and she only played guitar during the one-song encore. As ever, she was her usual diffident self, deferring to these young guys the audience had never seen or heard of before to tell her own 40-year-old stories(!), and repeatedly re-doing guitar parts until she got them just right. (My friend Greg felt that perhaps she was a bit too low-key, half-joking that “she looks great, but that basic black Ann Taylor pantsuit infuriates me. It’s a show, not a TED talk.”)

Then, in a sweet moment, she choked up while preparing to perform a new song about her husband of over 30 years, Jay Roach, who looked equally overcome as he filmed her on his phone from the sidelines -- which struck me as particularly poignant given that he’s a world-famous filmmaker. (“Directors -- they’re just like us!”)

When I told my childhood best friend about the concert, he mentioned that he was in the middle of reading Jennifer Otter Bickerdike’s authorized biography of the Bangles, which inspired me to follow suit. I’d kind of dismissed the book at first, thinking there couldn’t be anything I didn’t already know about this group I’ve followed religiously since I was a kid. 

But boy, was I wrong -- Annette Zilinskas was in the band twice before exiting prior to “All Over the Place” and had never played bass before joining, a la Kathy Valentine! Maria McKee’s mom responded to one of Susanna Hoffs’s flyers for bandmates but then abruptly hung up when she was told Maria couldn’t be the singer! Thomas Newman is the person who got the Bangles involved in "Less Than Zero"! -- even if it also annoyingly confirmed what I had long suspected about the issues within the band, which seem to plague them to this day.

Yes, I can understand why the Peterson sisters -- whom I adore and think are incredibly talented -- were unhappy that the “everything is split evenly four ways” idea fell apart. But are they really naive enough to believe this kind of success would have ever come their way if not for Sue’s distinctive voice and star quality? If that were the case, why didn’t Crista Galli, Aishi, the Muze, the Fans or Those Girls -- the pre-Hoffs incarnations of the group -- ever get signed and shoot to the top of the charts the way the Bangles did? And it cuts both ways: Susanna bombed as a solo artist -- so it clearly was about alchemy. (See also: Mac, Fleetwood.)

So instead of being so bitter (especially Debbi) about how it happened, why not be grateful -- because, as the Go-Go’s bassist will tell you, lightning rarely strikes twice.

* Children, Matthew Sweet and the reformation of the Bangles all being limiting factors, of course.

 

 Venue note: LPR has always been a general admission venue, but perhaps because of the, um, maturity of the crowd they decided to have tables and chairs. Somehow they sold out before I could get one, so we were forced to get “standing at the bar” tickets, which were horrendous. In addition to being quite far from the stage, the path to the bathroom runs right through that section, so we spent the entire night being jostled and having our view obstructed. Buyer beware!

P.S.

Just learned that Sue does a duet of "Happy Together" with Rufus Wainwright and "Love Hurts" with Eric D. Johnson on the soundtrack of "The Roses." 

Also: 

Damian and I have been wanting to try this Georgian restaurant near our gym on the Upper West Side then noticed the very cute looking Old Tbilisi Garden on Bleecker Street near the concert venue -- so ate there instead. As you can see, I didn't like it at all! 

Stevie Nicks: The Edge of Octogenarianism

 

Realizing that at 77 the clock was ticking for seeing Stevie Nicks live in concert, Damian and I made a last-minute decision to pay an ungodly amount of money -- the most I've ever spent -- to get good (but not great) seats for her show at the Barclays Center, and I'm here to report we've no regrets. 

To clarify, I've seen Fleetwood Mac twice -- once when Christine McVie was on hiatus and once with the classic line-up. But Stevie wasn't inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice for nothing, so getting to see her not share the spotlight three ways was something I've long wanted to do, and we've been kicking ourselves for years since passing on seeing her with Chrissie Hynde supporting because we had recently seen Fleetwood Mac and the Pretenders individually, so decided it wasn't necessary. (Don't get me started on how I felt when I learned Chrissie had filled in for Tom Petty on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," for which I'm guessing she merely had to tone down her masculinity a bit for the part.)

Wednesday's show was wonderful, with Stevie looking and sounding incredible for any age. Yes, there are songs I wish she had done ("Sara"!!!) and songs I wish she hadn't bothered with (not one, but two covers?!!!). But the woman is a living legend -- and a living legend who is still on the mend from a fall she suffered in August -- so she can do no wrong. 

Highlights of the evening: "Gypsy," which she doesn't always do on solo tours; a quasi-medley of the title tracks of her first two solo albums ("Bella Donna"/"Wild Heart"); "If Anyone Falls"; and a spirited version of "The Edge of Seventeen," which of course criminally stalled at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 when everyone knows it's a No. 1 smash! The tour continues Monday in Boston with five more cities after that. Go if you can. Painful as it is to acknowledge, we won't have our divas forever, as we were reminded by the choice of Christine's "Got a Hold on Me" as the exiting music. xo

P.S. I've avoided the Barclays Center like the plague -- I didn't move to the greatest city on earth to schlep out to Brooklyn -- but I will admit it's more intimate than its Manhattan peer (MSG), and the concessions and staff were all very civilized. Also, the 2/3 goes express from my apartment and lets out directly in front of the venue, so it could be much worse. (Kings Theatre, anyone?!) 

P.P.S. Just scored some shockingly reasonably priced tickets to see New Pornographers next year. The band is reeling from having its drummer arrested in a very unfortunate situation, but is moving on and releasing new music soon. Info HERE.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Kills at Webster Hall

We had a hoot seeing Sophie Ellis-Bextor last night at Webster Hall, a venue I used to frequent but don't think I'd seen a show since Adam Ant in 2017. I didn't know an awful lot about her. But Damian is a big fan, so I was pleasantly surprised by how many songs I recognized from his having blasted her music in the shower over the years -- I have my husband to thank for not one, but three Sophia Songs of the Day -- and possibly dancing to "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" at the Roxy back in the day. 

First off, I have to say that Sophie is such an adorable goofball -- her kick dancing! -- so it was a joy to see her basking in the newfound popularity she gained by the use of "Murder on the Dancefloor" in the closing scene of "Saltburn." (She joked that it was her biggest hit, "twice"!) Her gratitude was expressed throughout the show, which features her little brother on drums and hubby and father of her five sons on bass.

Although it seems she's been recording since the mid-90s, first with the indie band theaudience and as a solo artist since 2000, it was only last year that she was "big" enough to tour the U.S., with Tuesday's show being her second time in NYC in the past 18 months. She's just released a great new album, "Perimenopop," which is a bit of a love letter to disco from a woman of a certain age. (She's gorgeous at 46 now, which sounds young to me, but is definitely old in pop star years!) 

Because I'm not that up on her, I was shocked when she launched into a cover of Cher's "Take Me Home" as her second song, only later learning that it was a huge hit for her off her debut, the one that also included "Murder on the Dancefloor." Further confusing me, she also did "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man After Midnight" and a bit of "I Feel Love" -- and Dennis Parker's "Like an Eagle" played before her set (if you know, you know) -- so the entire set list complemented the campy, disco-party feel of it all, making for an incredibly fun and carefree outing.

She ended things by surprising the crowd after the encore by re-appearing on the balcony -- Evita style -- to do the night's only ballad: "Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone," which is also the new album's closer. She may not have, say, Pat Benatar's range. But Sophie's voice is certainly unique. And to hear her sing as the final song of the concert, on the final night of the tour, a cappella with no microphone really spoke to just how special she is. Verdict: Sophie didn’t just murder the dancefloor -- she resurrected it. Upgrade me from casual to actual fan.

Before

During

After, getting a late dinner at Veselka 

Read up on this sexpot HERE.