Billy Bragg is back !!!

Billy is back….well he never really went away. He wrote a novel after all and also has worked on fund-raising for the Jail Guitar Doors project and toured as always.

I’m thrilled to learn Billy Bragg is going to be releasing a new album in 2008. It’s been far too long and I can’t wait to hear it. A couple of tracks are available online so I will scribble a review this week.

Billy launches his new album, Mr Love & Justice (released on 3 March 2008), with a gig at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London, on 4 March 2008 He is also heading dan sarf (down South if you are not Cockney) to Australia and N.Z. in Jan/Feb so hopefully he will be over here in the Spring/Summer. In fact I would guarantee it – it’s an election year and he should be ready to help kick over the statues following the 8 year farce we’ve all endured.

Cheers

Tim

Marquee Madness – how a concert venue can hold a full house yet still lose

The live concert ’scene’ in Phoenix is a strange affair. We have a host of smaller intimate venues, and pubs masquerading as live clubs. At the other end of the spectrum there are a good number of large arenas for the rare dates when a U2 or a Britney comes to town. What Phoenix lacks is the clubs which can accommodate 700-1200 people and be centrally located in the valley.

There is only one contender ‘The Marquee Theater’ in Tempe on N Mill avenue at Washington. The Marquee is now 14 years old but has only served as a rock venue  for about 5 years, it formerly operated as the ‘Red River Music Hall’ catering almost exclusively to Jazz and Country music.

So here is the perplexing issue: you have a venue with such a large number of attributes how could it all go wrong?

• Exclusivity – with a capacity of 1,050 it is the only game in town for audiences of 700-1500
• Location – Only 1/2 mile from downtown Tempe and 8 miles East of downtown Phoenix, the venue sits on the corner of where Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale meet on the map
• Access – Excellent freeway access, very close to the 202/101/51/10 – just yards away from light rail when it opens next year
• Space – Ample parking throughout the surrounding area

So faced with all these positives – how could the owners get it all so wrong? Let me count the ways….

1. Identity: I agree that Phoenix is a hard town to gauge, I’ve been to shows expecting a sell out to find less than 20% of tickets sold and also events which are not on the radar that are packed. For a large city concert attendance is spotty and seemingly can be effected by weather, the Phoenix Suns, the latest episode of “The Biggest Loser” – you name it. But, that’s no excuse – The Marquee doesn’t (even after 5 years) have an identity of any sort. I never hear anyone excited when an act announces they are playing there, coupled with the chameleon status of the venues promoters. Heavy Metal, Indie, Alternative, Funk, Emo, you name it, Nothing wrong with diversity – but I see it as chaotic booking strategies. The venue seems content to try and appeal to everyone and offend them all simultaneously.

2. Staff: I’ve seen concerts at venues and cities around the world – never before have I seen a venue as overstaffed as this one. On nights where the audience barely reaches 200 it’s easy to hand count 40-50 employees just milling around trying to look busy. To add to the illusion they also select staff who seem to have zero interest in music or customer service. The security lines make the airport seem efficient and the ‘bar’ makes you wonder if they are just trying to keep the streets safe for others. Slow disinterested service is the order of the day

3.  Apathy – In five years not one discernible positive change has been made to the venue.  Access, lighting, sound, cleanliness, marketing, staffing all remain as they were. I would estimate I’ve been to about 30-35 concerts at the venue over that span and the feeling that the venue just ‘doesn’t care’ could not be more pronounced. I’m not looking for Wi-Fi access in the lobby or the best bottles of Belgian Ale in the bar – just a feeling that the club will occasionally get out a paintbrush, or better enable the audiences access to the ticket booth, security checks etc.

4. Greed – I am fully conversant with the fact that tickets to shows have risen by 40-100% since the decade began. This being due to higher travel costs, downloaded music and general inflation. I’ve no issue with that – I will always support live music. The venue – which should be feel like ‘our’ venue further alienate their customers by seemingly squeezing every last dollar out of the wallets of it’s clientele. Parking – there must be 1200 spaces within 300 yards of the venue that are not in use. When the Marquee opened it cost nothing to park – now it costs $5 – the only other thing in the lots are empty beer bottles and Jack Rabbits. Ticket fees – again, when the venue opened fees would make up a 7-15% surcharge – now its 20-30%. Here comes the masterstroke: I saw Art Brut at the Marquee last Friday night – at the T-Shirt stand the band had written a sign that said the following “Art Brut regret we are not selling any T-Shirts or other concert merchandise due to the 28% (!!!) addition being collected by the venue on every item, Art Brut do not want to abuse our audience in this fashion.” 28% ? for what ?? Writing the songs? Organizing the tour? Conceiving the artwork? No…for allowing a dirty table in the lobby to be used to sell these items. I was offended but won’t punish the band as the same items are available online for more normal rates.

As for the future of the Marquee….I want it to succeed….I like the size of it, I like the location of it and I sincerely feel Phoenix needs it. Based on the evidence of ever dwindling audiences, terrible promotion/booking and advertising coupled with the desire to rip off the paying customers I see tough days ahead. I hope I’m wrong, I hope the public can show more than the same apathy that the venue displays, I hope live music in Phoenix can have a medium sized venue it can be proud of. I don’t need the Hammersmith Palais, just a place to see a band.

Cheers

Whatever happened to…Paul Heaton (ex The Beautiful South, The Housemartins)

Sometimes when a band splits up it seems that the members disappear into the debris of society never to be heard from again. When The Beautiful South came to a conclusion earlier this year after 18+ years of fantastic output I hoped it didn’t signal the end of Paul Heaton’s recording career.

I’ve been a huge fan of Paul since  the earliest singles by The Housemartins back in 1983. Never a band to overstay their welcome the Housemartins disbanded after just 2 albums, a clutch of memorable singles and some brilliant live shows. When they ended in 1988 Paul, Dave Hemingway and former roadie Sean Welch formed The Beautiful South.

TBS were superb for such a long time, as I look back now to the debut album - it was wonderful to see the evolution of the band over a nearly two decade span that featured 11 albums plus 3 greatest hits collections. In fact ‘Carry On Up The Charts’ was one of the best selling albums of the 90’s in the U.K.

Sadly The Beautiful South never experienced great success in the U.S. – of all major British acts of the last 30 years, TBS plus the Jam and Madness have never made it big in the States – and I think the common reason being that they were simply too English.

As for Paul, he actually released a solo album as ‘Biscuit Boy’ in 2001 – backed by members of Joe Strummer’s Mescaleros.

Well, it’s taken less than 9 months for Paul to be back on the road and recording. He is currently on a U.K. tour and might be heading to the States next year. If you take time to visit his site there are audio and video links to some of the new material. The new recordings sound wonderfully stripped down and as always lyrically without equal.

It’s great to see Paul back in the picture – not a shock at all…and destined not to vanish for long. If you’ve not got his back catalogue – I’d suggest ‘Painting it Red’ by the Beautiful South, and the recently released ‘BBC Sessions’ for The Housemartins. For getting to know Paul – I highly recommend ‘Paul’s Gang’ on you tube. A brilliant BBC documentary about the making of ‘Painting it Red’ filmed in 1999 and 2000.

“Too many Florence Nightingales, not enough Robin Hoods”  Flag Day – 1986 

Cheers

Billy Bragg in Canada – Mick Jones coming to the States !!

Although the recent scope of North American dates by Billy Bragg was somewhat limited I’ve read a number of impressive comments. reviews and blog entries.

Seems the nearly 50 year old Billy (I can’t believe he is 50 in December…how did that happen?) is still mixing the banter and brilliant back catalogue to amazing effect. It’s also great to read that he has included 4 or 5 new songs on the mini-tour which apparently will see a new year release. My main reason to write was to direct Bragg fans to a great audio recording of a recent show by CBC. About seven songs are available online and the sound quality is really first class. Tracks include really radical reworkings of “A New England”, “Valentine’s Day Is Over”, “Sexuality” and the almost 80% reworded “Great Leap Forwards” my favourite line being “I don’t believe you can defeat no axis of evil by putting smart bombs in the hands of stupid people”.

Anyway – check out the link to the songs, the article is good also.

In other news I was very excited to read Carbon Silicon (Mick Jones of the Clash-B.A.D & Tony James of Gen X) are going to be playing their first ever dates in the U.S.

Concerts have been announced for Los Angeles Dec 3rd and New York Dec 5th. I really hope to get to the Los Angeles concert and will write more afterwards. Hopefully it’s a test the water situation to gauge the interest in the States as their debut album ‘The Last Post’ (after working together for 2.5 years) has just been released). If you are in L.A. or NYC try and get to the shows as these two are legends who need no introduction – not to mention that the new stuff sounds pretty good. One idea Mick…..the CSi band tee-shirts will have people in America thinking that you watch too much primetime TV – not that you are following an iconic band from London !!

Cheers for now

Phoenix – live music scene – weather cools…bands return!

Living here in the desert the Summer can be a bit brutal, endless days going from air-conditioned home to work in air-conditioned cars. You end up feeling a bit like a gerbil by the time our Autumn arrives. Today is the first day under 100f in months it seems and coincidentally going out at night is more tempting once again to see some bands.

It just so happens that the weeks ahead have some really interesting shows coming to town as the the locals venture out again I guess touring bands don’t avoid us as readily. It could just be coincidence, but if I was a promoter I’d omit AZ and TX from a tour unless the logistics insisted it had to be on the itinerary. Couple that with audiences that somehow only impress with the complete apathy (I’m glad you met your fricking friends from ASU and you really enjoyed this season of Lost – can I please listen to the band) and an ever decreasing choice of venues. We are heading to a situation where there is essentially nothing in the 400-1,000 capacity which also hurts the Phoenix concert calendar.

But on to brighter thoughts – the week ahead looks better- just wanted to mention some good shows to try and see (in date order)

Tonight – Sep 18 – VHS or Beta / The Rhythm Room – only $10
Sep 19 – Pinback / The Marquee – $15
Sep 20 – Besnard Lakes / Modified – $10
Sep 21 – Arctic Monkeys and The Coral / The Marquee $25 (due to the dollar/pound exchange rate!)
Sep 23 – Maria Taylor (Azure Ray) / Modified $9

I’ll update October in a few weeks – but treat yourself to a great night at one of these shows – and bring your jacket – the evenings are down in the low 80’s now.

Cheers

Tim

Coming to America….Billy Bragg

I was excited to read that Billy Bragg had confirmed some US tour dates, then my heart sank when I noted that none of the scheduled shows were to be away from the East Coast. Billy hasn’t been out West for many years – please join me in contacting Billy to insist/request/beg that he considers some dates in the Southwest.

If you’ve never seen Billy Bragg live it’s a show you would never forget. Billy walks the talk and whether you agree with his politics or not he is firm to his beliefs. Actually even if you are Right wing in your views I guarantee you will laugh your arse off at his between song banter. Billy has some new material and as ever is extremely active with causes such as the Jail Guitar Doors program. He also has written a book ‘The Progressive Patriot’ which examines what being British means in the new multi-cultural UK.

Lastly, if you’re not a fan yet – try starting with “Don’t try this at home” or even splash out on one of the two box sets he released recently. Each studio album contains a bonus disc of rarities and demo tracks.

http://www.billybragg.co.uk/