One of my favourite ever quotes is Keith Richards describing Mick Jagger as “a mixture of James Brown and Maria Callas” (said while talking to NPR’s Terri Gross in 2010), and it’s a phrase that stuck with me after venturing into the Stones exhibition that’s come to NYC from their hometown of London. Exhibitionism doesn’t just center on the iconic frontman, to be sure, but it does bring together many of the complements he embodies and imbues in the band – the flamboyance and the artistry, the masculine and the feminine, the low brow swirled in with the high. It’s no wonder they made up a new word for this display: from the moment…
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Rainbows and Rage
Due to an alert of “severe thunderstorms,” Governor’s Ball Day 3 – the day that acts like Gary Clark Jr, Vic Mensa, Eagles of Death Metal, Chvrches, and headliner Kanye West, on his first US The Life of Pablo show, were meant to play – was cancelled. For whatever reason the weather service got it wrong, and NYC only saw a few light showers and a gorgeous double rainbow on Sunday evening. We saw this rainbow heading into Warsaw in Brooklyn just before 8pm, having snagged tickets to the show Prophets of Rage put on in place of their “special guest” slot on the Gov Ball line-up. They’d been announced…
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Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives
“The playlist came through the door.” This is how Stretch and Bobbito’s radio show on community station KCRW back in the day became the place where New York hip hop found its feet, and beat, in the early 90s. It’s the stuff of legends for those of us who didn’t grow up in the city (especially for those of us from across the seas!) for the part it played in bringing the best emcees to the fore, names that are now well etched into the history of hip hop. Instead of just playing pre-recorded and already-mixed tracks, Stretch and Bobbito became known for featuring the best upcoming talent – artists who’d walk into their…
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Stevie Wonder Gives Love in Central Park
One way to get people to smile at you on the street in New York City is to carry a giant floating smile emoji. Another is to hum Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke. Anyone walking past me on Monday night would have had the opportunity to experience both, thanks to the wonder of Mr Wonder. Stevie Wonder played three shows in three different cities – starting in Washington DC, then moving onto Philadelphia, before finishing at Central Park. The 65-year-old’s team made the announcement on the Internet, as links and passwords spread online, for the chance to see the legend perform a free show. Online, the tickets were gone in about a minute,…
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In Living Colour – Literally.
In one of those New York moments, I found myself in a back lot in Little Italy on Sunday night, watching Corey Glover, lead singer for funk-metal pioneers Living Colour, drop his mic – and actual mic stand – to the ground, after he’d delivered a Sunday sermon that seemed to shake the very walls around us. Walls that had fresh paint on them as part of the L.I.S.A Project’s Loman Arts Festival. Walls, Glover encouraged us to look at instead of at him, but the way he was quivering and moving with the spirit of the songs he was singing, that was very hard to do. I had hoped…
