Goodbye All

I think we've bonded with each other. Reached a deep understanding. Unfortunately my last post here as a Dizzy is a downer.

If one wants to witness the death of rock music in America (and prove that country, hip-hop, and pop are the only things worth listening to), go to McCarren Pool on a Sunday afternoon in Williamsburg. There one will see the most preening, self-obsessed narcissists this side of happy hour on Wall Street (crowd and bands). I saw two acts, "The Harlem Shakes", and "Apollo Sunshine." What happened to the rock 'n' roll vocalist? When did nasal whining become the prevelant style? Why do they try to sing falsetto when their voices are incapable of it? It's all so confusing, especially since the finely quaffed crowd seemed so into it. The Harlem Shakes were especially bad, tuneless affable youngsters searching for grand hooky choruses but ending up with shapeless walls of sound. Perhaps part of the fault lies with the crappy audio - they brought on two sax players who were remarkably inaudible. But I think that's being kind - they simply didn't have any energy. I also question whether they've been to Harlem or ever performed the dance in their name.

Apollo Sunshine had a couple of decent fake blues tunes, loud chunky riffs, gravelly yelling, and some tentative attempts at feedback. I can enjoy that on a nice day. It didn't last long. The rest was off-key crooning over stock indie chord changes. It's all so boring.

The saddest part was that the most accomplished musician on the bill, Questlove of the Roots, was ignored as he DJ'd between sets (mainly old-school hip-hop, which was like manna from heaven compared to the live acts).

I hear that Deerhoof, the headliner, is not as terrible, but I had to leave before I could make any more damning judgments.

Brad Paisley could show these punks a thing or two about showmanship.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me for the week - I'm sure Hua Hsu will liven things up tomorrow.