Concert Review:
Flight of the Conchords
On their TV show, Flight of the Conchords, the New Zealand
folk/pop/rock duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie seldom play to a
crowd that includes anyone other than their one stalker fan. Sunday
night at Kent State University’s MAC Center, they played in front of a
capacity crowd of several thousand.
Opening with the synth-poppy “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor,”
the Conchords took a stripped-down approach, sitting on bar stools and
playing acoustic guitars for the majority of their 90-minute set. While
it’s easy to dismiss the band as a novelty (the hilarious “Bowie” is a
spot-on spoof of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust phase), the music manages
to work on several levels. “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros” and “Mutha
Uckas” featured tongue-twisting raps that showed off the duo’s
extensive vocabulary. And ballads like “The Most Beautiful Girl (in the
Room)” and “A Kiss Is Not a Contract” are kinda tender, despite their
goofy lyrics. — Jeff Niesel
Eric Carmen Goes All
the Way … To Jail!
Eric Carmen, the awesome-haired former Raspberries frontman, pleaded
no contest last week to drunken driving and failing to control his car.
He’s been sentenced to a month in jail. Carmen, who lives in upscale
Gates Mills, plowed his car into a fire hydrant last September. His
blood-alcohol limit was nearly three times the legal limit. “Make Me
Lose Control” indeed!
The singer — who also had huge solo hits in the ’70s and ’80s
with “All By Myself” and the Dirty Dancing smash “Hungry Eyes”
— will begin his jail stint on April 25, says a Bedford Municipal
Court judge. Maybe Carmen can sing “Go All the Way” to some of his
cellmates? —Michael Gallucci
Kate Voegele’s New Video
Our favorite local pop-minded singer-songwriter, Kate Voegele, is
shooting a new video with some guy from Dancing With the Stars I
never heard of. His name is Derek Hough and he’s currently paired with
titty-flasher Lil’ Kim on the dancing program. He’ll co-star with
Voegele in the “99 Times” video. It’s the first single off Voegele’s
new album, A Fine Mess, which comes out on May 19.
Apparently Hough is also a singer in the Ballas Hough Band, which I
also never heard of. Either way, “99 Times” is a pretty good song
— Voegele’s poppiest and peppiest. Hopefully it’ll break her big
this time. Her debut, Don’t Look Away, had a slow and steady
climb, netting her tons of road time and a gig on the tween drama
One Tree Hill, where she plays a singer who sings Voegele’s
songs. On the April 27 episode, she’ll perform “99 Times.”
—Gallucci
Road Trip!
About a decade ago, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
organized a series of trips that were more than mere tourism, delving
into the music-related culture of such regions as the Mississippi
Delta, Louisiana and San Francisco. Now Beachland owners Cindy Barber
and Mark Leddy are planning to replicate the experience of those tours.
They’ll be the guides for a rock ‘n’ roll excursion to London and
Liverpool from October 2-9. The trip is organized around a five-night
set of reunion shows at London’s Apollo Hammersmith Theatre by the
original Mott the Hoople lineup. Barber and Leddy scored tickets for
the October 5 show. In addition, they’re planning some rock
history-oriented sightseeing, a pub crawl, and special events and
meetings with some of the musicians they’ve gotten to know through
booking the club. Call Kollander Travel at 216.692.1000 for more
details or to register for the trip.
—Anastasia Pantsios
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2009.
