Falling James

(Illustration by Ronald Kurniawan)

Best Mask Since the Masque

Falling James
Best Mask Since the Masque If you’re in any sort of serious rock band, the only thing worse than playing ?late on a weeknight in an empty club is not getting to play at all. Backbiter singer-guitarist Jonathan Hall and his wife, Marea Katopodis, who fronts Motorcycle Black Madonnas, got......
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Revolution Rock

Falling James
Manu Chao, Kinky at the Shrine Auditorium, August 1 This packed international friendly pitted Mexican techno-rock contenders Kinky against French-Spanish-Basque rebel Manu Chao, making his second L.A. appearance in 20 years. And though the Shrine’s muddy acoustics and poor ventilation weren’t designed for midsummer rock concerts such as this, the......
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Fiona Apple, The Wiltern, November 26

Falling James
Fiona AppleThe Wiltern, November 26 Who was the real prince who awoke sleeping-beauty Fiona Apple from her six-year slumber and brought her back down to Earth? Was it producer Mike Elizondo, who (along with Brian Kehew) added fullness and heft to most of the tracks on Apple’s enchanting comeback, Extraordinary......
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Got Live Stones! (If Ya Want It)

Falling James
The Rolling Stones Angel Stadium, November 4, and the Hollywood Bowl, November 6 With a massive stage set and a lurid frenzy of fireworks, the Rolling Stones’ show at Angel Stadium was almost as much about the bigger bang than it was about A Bigger Bang. In the end, though,......
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Wild Horses

Falling James
Photo by Jeff BenderPerhaps it’s ironic that the incubator for the slam and fury of punk rock — and everything rock & wild that came after — was that most intimate and subdued of public-performance settings, the poetry recital. In the vacuum between the New York Dolls and the Ramones,......
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Saved… by Rock & Roll

Falling James
Lou Reed once sang about a girl whose life was metaphorically saved by rock & roll, but in the case of accidental hurricane refugees Karie Jacobson and Drew Kowalski — a.k.a. the febrile-pop duo the Dagons — it may not be an exaggeration to say that their lives were literally......
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Alt They Ain't

Falling James
Photo by Wild Don Lewis Kingsizemaybe singer-guitarist Gary Eaton writes catchy, unpretentious classic-rock songs that would go over well in the heartland with their feel-good, anthemic choruses and his easygoing, room-filling vocals. He’s backed by a sympathetically tight group of friends and family who bring it all home — aching......
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Dynamic Dualities

Falling James
Photo by Kelly Davidson “I’M JUST A DAY OFF,” the Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer says about her autobiographical rant “Girl Anachronism,” a hyperventilating blur of rapid-fire self-recriminations (“You can tell from . . . the dents in my car/and the blisters on my lip/that I’m not the carefullest of girls”)......

Pryor Uncut

Falling James
Just about everybody living in America had their own TV variety series at some point during the 1970s. Anyone remotely connected to the show-biz industry was given, at minimum, a summer-replacement slot to see if his or her talent as a grizzled lounge lizard, B-movie has-been or one-hit pop wonder......