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Keep It Simple

Van Morrison

Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008

Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008

Another Country

Tift Merritt

Be Your Own Pet

Get Awkward

Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)

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Various Artists

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Day and Night Driving

Seven Mary Three

InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY

No More Kings

A while ago, my partner at American Hit Network sent me an e-mail response after I had forwarded him info about No More Kings. In a nutshell, he pretty much refused to post any information about this disk on our site. I believe his exact quote was, “This would be a new low for us.” I hadn’t even heard the disk yet, so who was I to argue? And besides, his instincts seemed right – any CD that features a song about Tony Macchio as “The Karate Kid” must be ridiculously bad. Add in a song about zombies and another about Charlie Brown’s piano playing friend, Schroeder, and another that references both the Beastie Boys and Darth Vader in one couplet, and you’ve got some corny, formulaic crap, right? Don’t you think? Wouldn’t you expect?

Well, don’t jump to conclusions. I’ve finally obtained a copy of this CD, and I haven’t been able to pull this disk out of my player since I popped it in. Until then, I’d been sharpening my pen, preparing scathing observations about clueless whackos who pretend to be musicians and obviously watch too much television. Instead I found myself singing along, laughing out loud, and playing tracks for my friends. I have been sucked into their nerdy world, and I love it. For one thing, these guys are very good songwriters and excellent musicians. The songs are catchy as hell, and the strange topicality is a truckload of fun; it’s such a relief to hear new musicians who don’t feel compelled to take themselves too seriously, but play as though they mean it. The package itself is a wonderfully colorful cartoon collage of lyrics, and it captures the mood of the disk perfectly.

You want an example of what I’m talking about? Here is that couplet I mentioned above, from a track called “Someday”;

Throw on some nylon pants and bust a Hammer dance

I’m kicking moves to ‘You Can’t Touch This’

Tucked in my corduroys, I got my Beastie Boys tape

Fight for my right to party, ‘though I’m not invited.

Fell like Darth Vader with this helmet on my head (I can’t see)

I’m in there somewhere past the plastic shell…

It’s sort of as if Napoleon Dynamite made a solo record, and that’s only one track. Imagine an entire CD with lyrics as strangely engrossing as that, all accompanied by songs that you find yourself humming at inopportune moments. This CD by No More Kings may look ridiculous, and it certainly sounds ridiculous on paper, but once you hear it, you’ll be singing a different tune.
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