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Tonic,
Candid Daydream
Northern
Lights, Friday
Tonic
have had a tough spring: They were forced to record their
upcoming album on that hellhole island, Maui—an album for
which they had to use producer Bob Rock, who’s worked with
such unknowns as Metallica and Veruca Salt. And this fall
they’re off to some stupid World Outside Festival, where they’ll
share the bill with the unfamiliar Sheryl Crow and Train.
Who’s managing these guys? Irony aside, the Los Angeles-based
alt-rock band, coming to Northern Lights tomorrow (Friday),
began way back in ’94 and have steadily been gaining attention
since their 1996 debut, Lemon Parade (sounds like a
Prince album, but it’s not)—with “Open Up Your Eyes” from
that release receiving mucho airplay. They toured for
a couple years behind that release, scooping up fans in the
process, and in 1999 released Sugar. The album was
packed with angsty ditties that made the kids crazy, namely
the guitar-rock hit “You Wanted More” from the American
Pie soundtrack. That brings us up to speed (although we
didn’t mention their Internet release, the EP Live and
Enhanced, but this is a free weekly, after all).
Candid Daydream will open the show. (July 5, 7:30 PM doors,
$14, $12 advance, 371-0012)
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Rush
Saratoga
Performing Arts Center, Saturday
If
you read up on Rush, you’ll find that the kings of quasi-geeky,
virtuosic pop formed officially in 1969; however, when you
then read that their debut single, in 1973, was a cover of
Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” you may be a bit confused—nobody,
but nobody, associates Rush with the Bo Diddley beat. See,
there are two Rushes: There’s Rush B.P., and Rush A.P.—before
and after Peart. Before drummer-lyricist Neil Peart hooked
up with bassist-vocalist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson
in 1974, Rush were just another Cream-inspired bar band; it
wasn’t until Peart signed on that the band became the Rush
we all know and disagree about. Critics slag them as slick
pseudo-intellectuals, targeting the questionable philosophy
of Ayn Rand-beholden lyrics particularly (“Each of us, a cell
of awareness, imperfect and incomplete/Genetic blends with
uncertain ends on a fortune hunt that’s far too fleet”), while
fans lap up the band’s brainy sci-fi/fantasy-fueled imagery
and undeniable chops. But if mad fretboard skills, speedy
roto-tom fills and faux-objectivist thrills are your cup of
tea, there’s no argument: Rush are your boys. (July 6,
7:30 PM, $30-$85, 476-1000)
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Inner
Circle, the Trinidad & Tobago Steel Band
Central
Park, Sunday
Inner
Circle may be best known for writing the hit theme song for
Cops, “Bad Boys,” but the group’s history actually
dates back to the late 1960s. Formed in Jamaica by brothers
Ian and Roger Lewis, Michael “Ibo” Cooper, Steven “Cat” Coore
and Richard Daley, Inner Circle mixes Jamaican reggae with
rock and pop. In the early 1970s, Lewis, Copper and Coore
left to form popular reggae act Third World, and singer Jacob
Miller was added to the group’s lineup. Miller helped the
group craft their own material, and Inner Circle soon landed
a job working for KC and the Sunshine Band during the height
of the disco era. In 1980, Miller died in a car accident,
and the Lewis brothers moved to Miami, where they hooked up
with lead singer Carlton Coffie and, in the early 1990s, recorded
their first hit “Sweat (A La La La La Long).” The song became
an international success, going on to become the most played
record in the history of Germany. Inner Circle’s music became
a household novelty in 1993 when “Bad Boys” was chosen as
the Cops theme song, going on to earn a Grammy and
selling 7 million copies worldwide. Inner Circle will kick
off Schenectady’s free Central Park Sunday Afternoon series
on Sunday. (July 7, 3 PM, free, 800-776-2992)
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Circuits
of Steel
Fuze
Box, Monday
Rumor
has it that in Pittsburgh there’s “a vibrant community of
forward-thinking artists . . . who are no longer looking to
the tired clichés of rock & roll and disco for their inspiration,”
and experimental-music label SSS Records has released a double-disc
compilation featuring the works of 30 experimental electronic
artists to back up that very claim. This is of interest to
you primarily because you’re an open-minded sort of hipster,
fascinated by the prospect of a post-rock musical landscape:
You’re down with paradigm shifts. Plus, a handful of the artists
on the compilation are coming to our humble burg, and some
of them have really cool-sounding names. Xanopticon, Colongib,
Girl Talk, Clockworm, My Boyfriend the Pilot and Manherringbone
will unleash the newness, from “complex breakcore a la Venetian
Snares” to laptop sound collage to “spooky, dark power electronics
influenced by anime” to “pop music glitch and plunderphonics
a la Evolution Control Committee”—and we’re thrilled in our
ignorance of what, exactly, all of that means. (July 8,
8 PM, $5, 432-4472)
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 Steve
Earle, Jess Klein
Washington
Park Lakehouse, Monday
From
the liner notes of Steve Earle’s album Transcendental Blues:
“I once heard that ‘Transcendence is the act of going through
something.’ Ouch. I see plate glass windows and divorces.
Someone else told me that it was ‘rising above whatever one
encountered in one’s path’ but at this point in my life that
smacks of avoidance as well of elitism of some sort. . . .
I find that for me, for now, transcendence is about being
still enough long enough to know when it’s time to move on.
Fuck me.” So, how cool is this guy? You can probably hear
Earle’s devotees hollering in response right now, because
though he never attained the Springsteen/Mellencamp level
of celebrity his early handlers anticipated, Earle’s work—which
blends rock, country, folk, bluegrass, transcendence and broken
plate glass—has earned him the respect (bordering on adoration)
of music lovers both amateur and professional (Earle’s been
nominated for a whopping seven Grammy awards) the world round.
Singer-songwriter-dub-poet Jess Klein will open. (July
8, 7:30 PM, free, 292-0368)
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Jesus
“Chucho” Valdes
Skidmore
College, Tuesday
Cuban composer Jesus “Chucho” Valdes has been playing the
piano since he was 3, and has since pursued a career as both
a bandleader and music professor. Tuesday, Valdes will showcase
both sides of his music persona when he performs at Skidmore’s
Jazz Institute. In 1973, Valdes formed the Cuban jazz orchestra
Irakere, and has fronted the group since. During the 1970s
and ’80s, Irakere became one of Cuba’s top jazz ensembles,
fusing Latin and Cuban music with bop and African rhythms.
For most of their career, Irakere were not allowed to perform
in the United States, but in 1986 they finally did. Still
a Cuban resident, Valdes has toured internationally, both
with Irakere and as a solo pianist. Last year, Valdes released
the archival Solo: Live in New York, which was recorded
at Lincoln Center in 1998. One of the many noted jazz musicians
performing during the institute’s concert series, Valdes will
both perform and explain jazz music to the institute’s students
and the general public. Other noted musicians performing at
the Jazz Institute include Wycliffe Gordon on July 6, and
the Jazz Institute’s Faculty Sextet on July 11. (July 9,
8 PM, free, 580-5736)
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also
noted
The
Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Mass., will kick off its
Troubadour Concert Series tomorrow (Thursday, July 4). The
center, a not-for-profit founded by Arlo Guthrie, will present
live music at 8 PM every Thursday, Friday and Saturday through
Aug. 31. There’s food and drink offered, and all you’ve gotta
do is bring along a nonperishable food item to get yourself
in (413-528-1955). . . . On Friday, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
will play SPAC, and neo-swingers and rockabillies alike
will be pleased to hear that they’ve got the Brian Setzer
Trio in tow on this swing through (7:30 PM, $55, $19.50
lawn, 476-1000). . . . Also Friday, Greatdayforup and
Spinecar team up to raise the roof at the Lark Tavern
(10 PM, $3, 463-9779). . . . Though there was some talk of
the Anti Freeze Rock Out being held in July this year—don’t
ask—the rumors appear to be unfounded. Organizers aren’t leaving
you in the lurch though: On Friday, Club Caroline brings you
Act II, Queen V and Farewell to Reason;
and Saturday night, the Wait, the Sixfifteens,
Green to Think and the 1234’s (580-0155). .
. . Also Saturday, the brand-spanking-new warehouse-turned-concert
venue the Port of Hudson, in conjunction with Club Helsinki,
hosts a huge show to benefit Friends of Hudson. Poet Laureate
John Ashbery will start the night with a reading, then the
Tom Tom Club, featuring ex-Talking Heads Chris Frantz
and Tina Weymouth, and the Hotheads featuring Julee
Cruise will do their respective things (8 PM, $30, 413-528-3394).
. . . A whopping Doo Wop Extravaganza hits SPAC on Sunday,
featuring the Tokens, the Shangri-la’s, Frankie
Lyman’s Teenagers, the Del-Vikings and more (7:30
PM, $38.50, $28.50, 476-1000). . . . Former Hüsker Düde
Grant Hart hits Valentine’s on Wednesday, with former
Dugan Rob Skane opening (8 PM, $8, 432-6572). . . .
Joyous Lake gives you your dose of fake “Titties and Beer”
when Zappa tribute act Project/Object featuring Ike Willis
checks in on Wednesday (9 PM, $20, 845-679-1107).
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Columns
& Opinions
