I reviewed the stand-up comedian/talk show host/author Chelsea Handler last week at a sold-out Shea’s. I’ve never found her to be all that funny – her pop culture observations are unoriginal, and her “I’m a drunk with loose morals” act is a bit transparent. But while much of her set was what I’d expected it to be, with stale jokes about Angelina’s adopted brood and how romantic comedies are unrealistic, Handler was an ingratiating performer who’s way more comfortable behind a mic stand than in front of the camera. The crowd absolutely ate her up, screaming and yelling things like “Vodka!” and “Grey Goose!” all night long. Handler may have mined her love of alcohol for jokes, but these audience members reminded us all that most drunk people are stupid.

Mom and dad,

I reviewed an acoustic country showcase a few weeks ago, featuring American Idol alum Bucky Covington and fellow up-and-comers Justin Moore and Chris Young. Sorry it’s taken me so long to post – I was too busy forgetting mom’s birthday.

Young was very impressive, with a strong voice, compelling songs and an excellent lead guitarist in tow; Moore was fearless and flag-waving, showcasing some great pipes and one tune that bordered on hate-mongering; Covington was a pathetic joke.

The other two guys exemplified what’s great about the country music mystique – hard-working, salt-of-the-earth dudes with sensitive sides the size of Wyoming. Especially in this context, Bucky’s pop ballads just sounded silly; the final version of my review describes his hit “I’ll Walk” as “saccharine,” but my original draft described it as a “saccharine turd,” which is closer to the mark.

I reviewed Ben Folds’ performance last week with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. While it threatened to be a snoozer early, it ended up being quite a memorable evening, even though the crowd’s rapturous request for a second encore was denied (probably because the BPO had gone through all the charts it had learned).

Nerd-do-Well
Ben Folds hits it off with the BPO.
October 9, 2009, edition of The Buffalo News

At its peak in the mid-’90s, the Ben Folds Five had all the makings of a great nerd-rock band — cathartic, catchy songs that rage about childhood bullies and mean girls one second, and express openhearted sensitivity the next. Oh yeah, and these guys had no use for that most popular, and intimidatingly phallic, of rock instruments — the guitar. The bandleader and namesake of the snarkily named trio wasn’t some beautiful, testosterone-soaked ax-slinger. He was a piano man.

But not in the Billy Joel sense, thank god. When Ben Folds shared his copious gifts with the ornate backing of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in Kleinhans Music Hall on Thursday night, the resulting sounds had more depth, personality and charming irreverence than your average ivory-tickling pop star.

Folds, now almost a decade into his solo career, has always been a two-trick pony. For the most part, he’ll give you key-punishing, supercharged rockers or big, dramatic ballads, with all of it dripping in irony, teen angst, or both. And while some of his more elegant compositions are knock-you-on-yourtuchis great, especially his early Ali ode “Boxing,” the North Carolina native is at his best when he’s beating his piano into oblivion, a Jerry Lee Lewis in cappuccino frames that’s none too afraid of pop hooks and huge blasts of harmony.

I bring up Folds’ occasional weakness for sappy balladry because it negatively affected this show, if only slightly. Naturally, when putting together a set list to perform with full orchestral arrangements, Folds leaned more toward his softer side. But as a result, he shared some of the most boring tunes of his career, like “Smoke,” an overlong snorer of a relationship eulogy on the otherwise incredible “Whatever and Ever Amen” album, and “Cologne,” another unremarkable ballad off his most recent solo effort “Way to Normal.”

This was still a very good concert, however. Some frolicking woodwinds and somber strings made “Smoke” more interesting, and Folds eventually injected some energy into the night with far more pleasing selections. “Lullabye” was the first win, a gentle, bluesy and ultimately explosive gem that showcases all of the artist’s talents — simple, ingratiating chords and lyrics, some dramatic flair as the tension builds, thrilling lower-octave key bashing and unforgettable jazz soloing.

“Not the Same” was another dizzying high point. The artist stepped away from the piano on this one, letting the BPO take center stage with a playful arrangement of the song, which Folds described as being “about a guy who climbed a tree on acid.” But most memorably, the artist turned the Kleinhans audience into an “instant choir,” teaching us the main refrain beforehand by stacking the harmonies on his piano. Every time the chorus came around, the entire building was singing in three-part harmony — it was as spine-tingling as audience participation gets.

Folds also shared a pair of songs from a new album in progress, which will feature lyrics by novelist and established music geek Nick Hornby. One of these, a tale about a fictional aging rock star who had a hit in the ’70s called “Belinda” and can’t stand singing it every night for the memories it dredges up, was fantastically clever.

From this point, it was all golden. The big-band groove of “Steven’s Last Night in Town” was ideal for the setting; “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” combined the punch of the recording with some frantic string section bowing. For the encore, Folds saved the best.

“Narcolepsy” was the opening track on Ben Folds Five’s last, most ambitious album, 1999’s “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.” It’s a huge, bombastic, Queen-like production with stunning dynamic shifts, and to hear it performed by a live orchestra was a treat indeed.

As Folds walked toward the wings to a standing ovation, there was no doubt about it. The guy can still nerd-rock our socks off.

Last week, I saw Styx for the second time in two years. I’ve always hated their music, but seeing them the first time was kind of fun, in that so-bad-it’s-good kind of way. This second exposure to the cheese rock kings was a bit tougher to swallow, however.

Styx’s Schtick
Band’s familiar sound might be overkill, but it comes off great
September 18, 2009, edition of The Buffalo News

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — It’s easy for music nerds to cry foul about the kinds of concerts that our area tends to attract. After all, there’s always some too-hip-for-you-to-have-heard-of indie rock band out there that’s never played Western New York or Southern Ontario. But there’s at least one niche of the concert-going population that has absolutely nothing to complain about — fans of big, dumb arena rock from the ’70s and ’80s.

As I settled into my seat in Niagara Fallsview Casino’s Avalon Theatre on Thursday night, getting ready to take in the first show of a two-night stand from Styx, I wondered if fans of this type of band are more religiously devout than the rest of us. God has certainly answered their prayers lately — it’s been less than a year since the last pair of Styx shows at Fallsview; REO Speedwagon played there in April; Journey performed at Darien Lake a few weeks ago. But when Tommy Shaw & Co. hit the stage to a cacophony of worshipful cheers, it became clear that the answer to my cheese-rock quandary wasn’t of a spiritual nature. These guys just rake it in when they hit our neck of the woods.

While I’m not going to pretend I don’t find Styx’s concepts corny and their approach to hard rock laboriously polished, it would be ridiculous to bash them unmercifully. Because even though original lead singer Dennis DeYoung left the group awhile back, the quintet sounds excellent, re-creating the shameless bombast of their most popular recordings with energy and flair.

A lot of Styx’s seamless live sound has to do with two relatively newer additions to the lineup — keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan and drummer Todd Sucherman. Gowan is a rock star in his own right, whose Canadian Top 10 singles include the 1985 smash “A Criminal Mind.” As he shared his classically trained piano chops and John Lennon-esque voice, his countrymen in the crowd showed their appreciation. Sucherman’s drum kit was a massive thing, and he used every inch of it on his wild, commanding fills.

The group was firing on all cylinders, and it was a shame that such synergy was wasted on junk like “Lady” (I’ve never thought a girl would be smitten by a guy that calls her “lady,” but whatever). And for the folks who saw their last tour, it’s too bad that they haven’t changed things up all that much. Their “Styx-ified” cover of “I Am the Walrus” was pretty impressive the first time around, but it felt like old news Thursday, and the story Shaw told leading into “Crystal Ball” was pretty much identical as the one he told in ’08.

The positives — “Too Much Time on My Hands” was as catchy as ever; the watered-down Who riffage of “Grand Illusion” was silly in a good way, and “Suite Madame Blue” was performed beautifully, even though it’s a complete rip-off of Zeppelin’s “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You.”

And if you’re a sucker for cliched rock star moves like guitarists showing you their instrument while they solo, screams of “Are you ready to rock!” and gratuitous pick tossing, Styx’s schtick would have you begging for more.

I saw those princes of Newfoundland, kings of Canada, Great Big Sea over Labor Day Weekend at the Erie Basin Marina. They were aight – the Irish drinking song stuff was fun, but the standard pop songs were pretty bland. Opening act Kathleen Edwards was fantastic, combining sturdy country-rock tunes with rich, Neko Case-ish harmonies. Check the review, complete with Moxy Fruvous shout-out:

City offers Great Big homecoming
September 06, 2009, issue of The Buffalo News

When music is distinctly regional, it can be as helpful as a travel agent. And like the gritty realism of a New York City rapper or the no-frills charm of a Buffalo bar band, Great Big Sea’s music gives some deep insight into its place of origin — the open skies and frowning, ocean cliffs of Newfoundland.

The band is touring in support of its ninth album, “Fortune’s Favour,” a collection of tracks released this past June that continues to explore the spaces between modern rock, Celtic music and traditional Newfoundlander folk songs—a unique place on the musical atlas that has defined the group since its independently released debut album in 1993.

It came as no surprise that Great Big Sea’s performance at Erie Canal Harbor on Saturday night was stuffed to the gills with fans, bouncing along in unison to the band’s high-powered drinking songs and singing along to the poppier stuff — our city has long been a big supporter of the group, boasting the kind of following that they’re used to seeing north of the border. So it was that a band from the northern tip of Canada played a show in Western New York that felt like a homecoming.

Led by a trio of original members, including Bob Hallett, who is a wizard of a multi-instrumentalist, the band gave a hungry Labor Day weekend audience the stomping singalongs and sea shanties they came for, along with more straight-ahead modern rock favorites like “When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down).” The more rollicking stuff was a smashing success, especially the salty and spirited “Captain Kidd.” And it was wonderful to see Murray Foster on bass — a former member of the sadly defunct Moxy Fruvous. But when they put the fiddles and accordions away and tried to sing pop songs like “Something Beautiful,” things got a little schmaltzy. I couldn’t help but wish that Foster’s old band was on stage, doing their brilliant vaudevillian-pop-folk thing once again.

Great Big Sea was preceded by Kathleen Edwards, who led her three-piece band through a mesmerizing set of haunting, country-tinged rock songs.