Had a great weekend of music starting off with the Sarnia Bayfest and the Scorpions. Friday saw me in Mt Clemens by the waterfront gazebo to see R&B singer Spyder Turner. Next week they have the Vandellas (Of Martha Reeves fame) and if you go I suggest sitting on the opposite side of the water due to the quality of the sound. Sitting on the same side can get you some odd distortion at times. Saturday took me to Steve Winwood and Santana while Sunday had me at Hole to watch Courtney Love crash and burn. OK, so it wasn't that bad. This was the first show on the tour in which she showed up on time (actually 10 minutes early) and played a decent set of new and old, along with two Rolling Stones covers. The new band is a bit disappointing since they don't have the chops of Erlandson or Auf der Maur and Love seemed to forget the lyrics a couple of times. Either that or she was easily distracted by the people in the front row. Whatever was going on in her brain, she seemed to have a good time amazed that she made it to 46 and had a good time collecting bras and panties from the audience. Judging by the size of the panties, it is no wonder that Michigan is one of the most obese states in the union.
The highlight of the night however was the opener and my band of the week, Foxy Shazam. I have their new self-titled album which wasn't overly appealing, but their live show blew me away. Remember when rock-n-roll used to be fun and bands went crazy onstage. This band brought that back in spades. The band started off in high gear as lead singer Eric Sean Nally was jumping around the stage, surfing on the equipment and eventually jumped onto his guitarist back in spastic energy. I was also amazed by Alex Nauth's horn which adds a special element to the bands sound and the manic energy of keyboardist Sky White (who reminds me of an amalgamation of the 70's wrestler Ivan and Dr Teeth of the Muppets) who during the last song jumped onto his keyboard and was playing with his feet. They only played a mere 30 minutes and eight songs, but it was one of the best sets of live music I have had the pleasure of seeing this year. I don't often see bands multiple times by choice, preferring to see as many different bands as possible in this short life, but I would be very excited to see Foxy again. Nally claims to want to see their band become the biggest in the world and while that might not happen, they might just become the most exciting live band in the world.
I interviewed Nally before the show and he was a very cool and we talked about his relationship with his kids (you can go to www.foxyshazam.com and see a video contest he did with one of his kids where the winner can win an autographed poster of the band), the music of Cincinnati and his musical influences such as live theatre and Elton John. He also co-wrote two new songs for Meatloaf's new album and their album is enjoying a nice run on the billboard charts. Here are a couple of live clips from Foxy Shazam and I highly recommend seeing them the next time they come around.
