Hey hey, there’s a live chat with Travis Morrison this morning at Washingtonian.com. Ask him about the New York City tap water, or maybe how it feels being a “predecessor to the dance-rock movement,” or his days as a cab driver, or even something about computers. He knows a lot about computers.

Dim the lights and pour out a little rosé tonight for soft-rock pioneer Paul Davis, who passed away yesterday at 60. One of the formative experiences of my early musical life was listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 20 and for some reason keeping detailed lists of who was at what position each week. For a long time it was Paul Davis with his broken-heart ballad “I Go Crazy,” which was in the Top 100 for 40 weeks and on AT20 for what felt like twice that.

Here’s a video of Davis performing “I Go Crazy.” It’s instructive how little motion there is onstage.

Personally, I prefer “65 Love Affair,” (listen here) because I like to remember when rock ‘n’ roll was simple and clear.

Just like the Old Days, 9353 is gigging around town. Just like the Old Days, 9353 is making cool posters. Just like the Old Days, 9353 singer Bruce Miles Hellington is covering every available surface in said town with said posters. “9353 has never sounded better than it does at this moment! what’s that about?” Hellington says in an e-mail, adding in another that the dates on the poster are a little wonky: “the last one is cancelled and the next to the last one is iffy,” he says. Still, that’s at least three chances to catch the last shows in which 9353 will be “playing exclusively oldies” Hellington says. Below the jump, 9353’s new poster.
Read the rest of this entry »

A friend of mine was reviewing the show. I came along! And thought:

1) Far too many people in the Washington area have gone through the first two-thirds of their lives without any meaningful feedback about their wardrobe choices.
Long-sleeved black T-shirt tucked in and belted to tapered jeans plus white Reeboks? Suit jacket (not sportscoat) over white oxford and jeans? Any number of other tucking-in-and-belting offenses? Look, I know what this town is. But can we not do even a little better? Oh, and what’s with the semi-Celtic dancing?

2) Winning the “My Grammy Moment” contest is no guarantee of future results.
There she was, an emolliated beacon in the darkness of desiccation (though to be fair, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman still looked excellent; must be those “Time After Time” royalties): Ann Marie Calhoun. You know, the lady who won the Grammy contest and got to perform with the Foo Fighters as a result. Jason Bateman said her name! And now…she’s onstage at the Birchmere with the Hooters. I mean, it could be worse: She could be appearing on Larry King with Ringo Starr or guesting at Disco Biscuits shows…oh wait.

3) God help me if I ever get divorced.
A potentially all-consuming terror of dating at my age took root when I saw people even older than me doing it. Though it was pretty sweet to not be the geeziest person in the room for a change.

4) Fear a band with a short drive ahead of them.
You know they’re gonna break out the Elvis Costello covers.

5) The word “Hooters”? Still funny.
Did not see any, though. I think I’ll stick to covering country.

Muxtapes! Everyone’s making ‘em! I made a totally awesome one, which I’ve decided to share with you, our loyal readers. Muxtape doesn’t let you annotate your mixtapes, so I’m gonna do that here, after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

Sohrab Habibion, who if you’re old like me might remember from the D.C. band Edsel, is playing Friday night at Comet Ping-Pong with his new band Obits. Obits, which also features Rick Froberg from Drive Like Jehu, seems to triangulate between Sonic Youth, the Fall, and Dick Dale if the tracks on the band’s MySpace page are any indication. Edsel has a surprising presence on the Web for a band that broke up in 1997–a respectable Web site, plus a MySpace page with a bunch of friends that are similar local indie-rock ghosts: Shudder to Think, Velocity Girl, Chisel.

Hey, go see Obits! (Just like Jason told you to last week!) And listen to a little Edsel here!
DOWNLOAD:
Edsel, “Feeder” (1990)
Edsel, “Port Wood Finish” (1995)

Boston is not the kind of band that gets hung up on their singer dying. No, when life gives Boston lemonade, Boston just picks itself up, dusts itself off, and calls…the dude from Stryper? Yes, that’s correct, Michael Sweet, the man who taught bazillions of Christian kids to shout at the devil and tease their hair to unheard-of heights, is replacing poor Brad on Boston’s upcoming tour of casinos, fairs, and races. But wait! That’s not all! Sweet will be spelled by Tommy DeCarlo, who attracted the attention of Boston on MySpace, where he sung their hits.

God, what did Brad Delp ever do to you? (Press release follows the jump. Enjoy some Stryper NOW!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Larry Norman died yesterday. Norman basically invented Christian rock. Yeah, there were some earlier stabs at the stuff, but Norman actually figured out the important part of pop culture is the “pop” part (you know the “one way” finger-pointing-upward symbol beloved of athletes who’ve just scored? Norman invented that!). His 1968 Capitol LP Upon This Rock was a perfect fusion of eschatology and acid-rock; its single “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” named the Left Behind series and was covered by D.C. Talk (remember “Jesus Freak”?). More important, it was an amazing song. In this video, Norman sounds like Pat Buchanan fronting the Partridge Family. Early Christian rock was deeply, awesomely weird.

Norman eventually managed to p.o. pretty much the entire Christian rock establishment and distanced himself from the genre altogether (the feeling was mutual), though he still made Jesus music. His health declined in recent years and he threw several festivals to raise money for his medical treatment. In 2005, Frank Black, a fan of Norman’s since childhood, backed him. According to the press release, Norman was working on an album with Frank Black and Isaac Brock.

Norman endlessly tinkered with his back catalog, reissuing and repackaging his hits. If you can find Upon This Rock, it’s worth a listen, as is So Long Ago the Garden, the first album ever to be banned by Christian bookstores, for a cover that some thought depicted Norman nude. As proved to be the case often in Norman’s life, it was a misunderstanding that he facilitated.

For those of you keeping score: Tom Petty’s Super Bowl halftime show was enjoyable, though not Advanced. Mike Campbell’s last-scene of-Joe Dirt–like dreads, however? Completely Advanced.

I wrote a book about Christian rock (now available for a “bargain price”!), and while doing so met lots of people, talented and otherwise, who were convinced that the “general market” was hopelessly polluted with sex and drugs. In short, the realm of Satan. I tried to tell people that many members of the music scene where I grew up prided themselves on not drinking or doing drugs, and that with a few notable exceptions, they made excellent music. Generally, this was a conversational gambit that failed.

So I’m glad, for my Christian friends’ sake, that there’s finally a group that squares the circle, bringing hardcore fully back under Lucifer’s thumb. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for Satanic Threat? Are you ready for “Guilty of Hating Christ”? Are you ready for “Small God Big Cross”?

(Hat tip: Mike “My Sweet Satan” Kanin)