Went to go see the magnificent Black Pumas last Saturday night, one of five straight sold-out shows at Stubb's here in Austin, which is a pretty big place to sell out for five nights. But hey, hometown band featuring a key member (Adrian Quesada) of an iconic local music group (Grupo Fantasma) and a great underdog story (Eric Burton), a song that caught fire, and live music in person for the first time in many, many months for a lot of people was the recipe for a fun night.
We set ourselves up for the show all the way in the back. The main disadvantage is obvious: we were pretty far from the stage and despite being on high ground did not have a great view. But there were advantages to our spot. Since we were up against the deck for the VIP lounge, we could lean back when needed to give our feet a rest. Better yet, the doors between the inside of the lounge and the deck were open, so air conditioned cool air was flowing toward us on a hot night.
But best of all was the unexpected treat during the encore, when suddenly there was a lot of excitement around us in the back. We looked up, and Eric had set up a mic on the VIP deck to do a solo version of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car. He nailed it, and we had a great view for the affair. Here's a shot I got:
So this morning, I was curious if there were any videos from the show posted on Youtube and found the following. If you look closely starting at around the 1:00 mark, you'll notice a guy in a grey Low Cut Connie t-shirt and glasses with his arms folded right in the front of the crowd shot. That guy is me, with my wife in front of me and friends Jeff and Becky next to me. Look carefully at other times and you may spot a sweaty bald-headed guy down in the crowd near us. If you know Jeff and ever run into him, try to remember to ask him about that guy and the bar towel.
Well, stuck here in self-imposed isolated quarantinization as many of us have experienced throughout most of 2020, there's been plenty of time to listen to music. Here are a few songs I picked for my 2020 list--I hesitate to say "favorite songs" because my taste is pretty fluid, and sometimes I pick songs just cuz they sound interesting, rather than exceptional. I also try to stay away from big-time hits that everybody else will have on their lists. That way, my list can be more of an exploratory memoranda on the musical possibilities of 2020, rather than another "best of" list (I think we have enough of those. Anyhow--or as my father prefers to say, at any rate--here are a dozen or so picks from this past year. I stuck to songs that have videos, which eliminated some tunes I had on repeat and really wanted to include, like "I Just Want to Dance" by SAULT, "Weed in LA" by the Koreatown Oddity, and many others. But don't twist your knickers--my whole 2020 list is up on the FBtA homepage!
I just listened to the rest of NNAMDÏ's album and didn't love it, but this is a pretty and unusual song that isn't easy to pigeonhole, which is a quality I have a weakness for. Off-beat, you know?
I love the album this is from, the somewhat-lamely titled Amazones Power. Les Amazones are a collective, and (sort of like another more famous collective, Animal Collective), not every member is on each album. Featured vocalists on Amazones Power are pretty numerous and represent a breadth of talent: Amadou Démbéle, Boy-Fall, Tiguidanké Di(allo a.k.a Niariu) Jon Grace, Kandy Guira, Mamani Keïta, Rokia Koné, Nacera Ouali Mesbah, Fafa Ruffino and Ami Yerewolo.
Alt-rap collaboration on this song that would sound nice coming out of a good car audio system. As your narrator told you on Midnight Marauders: "Keep bouncing!"
Eric Copeland is described in his Wikipedia entry as "an American experimental musician based in New York City" who is "a core member of Black Dice and forms half of the duo Terrestrial Tones with Animal Collective's Avey Tare." This minimalist song is a little repetitive but sneakily catchy. The cool animated video is directed by Aaron Anderson.
Freddie throws down a great rap, and Tyler helps out with his usual unusual. The beat conjures up a mid-90s west coast number (Today Was a Good Day perhaps?).
I remember reading somewhere about Roger Ebert having said "This is all an elaborate hoax!" as he was dying, and now that I think about it, it seems like a perfect framing of a song by one of those artists who's perhaps a bit too sincere. But although the lead singer's voice isn't for everyone, I think this song is great. And Roger Ebert was pretty okay too. And Scott Avett is hunky-dory as well.
Ocean Bridges was possibly my favorite album of 2020. So many artists have tried to hit that sweet spot between jazz and hip-hop and haven't quite been able to do it, but free jazz vet Archie Shepp, the amusingly-monickered Damu the Fudgemunk, and Raw Poetic (Shepp's nephew) do as good a job as anyone I can think of since The Low End Theory came out.
I should have at least one Austin representative, so Pottery gets the nod with this instant party classic that would make even The Bright Light Social Hour jealous. Dance!
Not sure what this sounds like. Maybe early Shins? Catchy though, and I've been a sucker for mellow, chill stuff since COVID-19 forced us into solitary (or small group) confinement, at least when the isolation and anxiety isn't making me want to dance, dance, dance, which seems to be my list's other main theme this year.
Jangly guitars + simple bass and drums, minimalist production, and a mod rock/stoner punk feel make me think '90s. No, not an instant classic, but catchy.
Can I see some hands? Because LCC is schvitzing for you. There was no way I was leaving Low Cut off my 2020 list, as I have become a devoted Tough Cookie and attendee of their weekly Saturday night free live stream where Will strums his hollow body and stomps out the beat while Adam bangs his piano and croons, slowly disrobes until he's in tight briefs, a torn tank top and a fluffy bathrobe, and occasionally interviews music icons and interesting figures. I could have picked any song from the album, Private Lives--many are pretty good--but this heartfelt piano-based soul-rock number got stuck in my head while I was making this list.
Self-isolation is a bit tough to embrace, although most of us are trying. Way, way back in 2019, this song by West Coast kooks FIDLAR was on my favorites list, as I posted toward the end of the year. But now, given where we are with the whole COVID-19 thing, it really is on the spot. I mean, the first line is about crackin' one open with the boys, by myself, which is basically what my sister described doing with her buds the other night, except replace "boys" with "middle-aged foodies" and think wine instead of beer. And if you've been on as many video calls as I have, you're starting to see life as a grid of faces.
Sort of a hellish Brady Bunch. I mean, no Alice = hellish, right?
Plus, the video makes me laugh. (Just a warning, there's one F-bomb at the beginning, so cover the toddlers' ears).
Stuck inside for hours on end, I suspect a lot of us are overdosing on viewable entertainment. One of the big attention-getters (in addition to my personal fave, Low Cut Connie), has been ESPN's The Last Dance documentary about Michael Jordan's final championship season with the Chicago Bulls. Setting aside any controversy about Jordan's role in producing the film, it makes for a good diversion while stuck here in self-isolation.
Naturally, the focus of The Last Dance is Mike. The expected ones--Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman--get a good amount of supporting air time. But because the documentary clocks in at about 10 hours, even role players and lesser personalities in the Bulls orbit are getting decent attention. So along with B.J. Armstrong and Bill Wennington, you also get a few bites of Carmen Electra and the Sniff Brothers.
Among the Bulls bench players who shows up here and there (often to be belittled by Mike in some way) is Scott Burrell, a 3-and-D kind of player who suited up for the Bulls only that one season, but made a decent contribution in his limited playing time, averaging a touch over 5 points per game and a 2.2 Defensive Box Plus/Minus (yeah, I'm a bit of a stat geek). Some viewers have even pegged Scott as one of the key side characters in the epic Mike-Fest that is The Last Dance.
One thing Scott and Mike shared was a fondness for baseball. But while the idea of Michael Jordan as a legit Major Leaguer may be fun to speculate about, it seems a bit far fetched. Not so with Scott Burrell. Not only was Scott a legit baseball prospect, he was a baseball draft pick. In the first round. In fact, I am pretty sure he's the only person ever to be picked in the first rounds of both the NBA and MLB drafts (according to his Wikipedia entry, which cannot possibly be wrong, he was the first American athlete drafted in the first rounds of any two major sports league drafts). Scott actually pursued both sports for a while, and pitched in the Blue Jays organization during the summer while attending and playing hoops for UConn during the school year. Oh, remember Scott at UConn? I think Elden Campbell does.
So yeah, we're talking about a major athlete up there with Bo and Deion. Injuries took a bit from him in his basketball career, but in terms of natural ability, Scott truly could have excelled in about any sport. Trust me.
Why? Scott and I actually graduated high school together in 1989. I was around when scouts from all but one or two major league teams attended his first baseball game his senior year and formed a line of radar-gunners along the third base line. I saw some epic basketball battles with Bassick, Harding and Hillhouse. Plus, I actually was in gym with him one year, and saw what he could do in sports he had barely played before, like tennis. After a few games he was good enough to be a top player on our tennis team, if he had time between other sports seasons to bother. Playing volleyball with Scott was truly frightening for some of us, and I swear I am not lying when I tell you he once served the ball about 85 miles-per-hour right into the side of this poor girl Laura's face.
And football. Believe it or not, I played Pop Warner with Scott Burrell for a year, and even at that young age he was in a class by himself. A quarterback with height, a sturdy body, fast legs and a fastball-pitcher's arm, he was like a young Randall Cunningham, and had people talking about Division I football before he was in high school. That year our Junior Midget team was undefeated in the regular season (but lost to a tough team from Prospect-Naugatuck in the championship game). The next year, he moved up to Midgets, but I was still too small and stayed with the Junior Midgets. The Midgets went from about 2-6 the year before to undefeated.
1983-83 Hamden Junior Midgets. Your author is the small spaced-out looking one middle row third from right. Scott is easy to pick out.
Scott's arm was a cannon. Our Junior Midget team would play against teams that wouldn't even attempt more than a couple of passes per game, and we'd be airing it out downfield, although the running back tandem of the Barnes brothers was pretty dynamic in its own right. We won most of our games by a wide margin. Scott was also our best linebacker plus a great long snapper, which would have been nice except he was also our best punter. He just kept getting better, and was a rare freshman to make the Hamden High School varsity football team. His high school football coach described him like this in a book about UConn basketball:
(Peter F. Burns, Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era)
Scott gave up football before his senior year, tired of the physical toll and recognizing his potential in less damaging sports, which was undoubtedly smart. But as a personal witness, I say with conviction he could have been a pro football player, or great at volleyball, tennis, track and field, or just about anything that doesn't involve ice or snow or driving (although who knows?).
On top of this, he was a swell dude. As nice a guy as anyone on our Junior Midget squad. He stayed that way through high school. I won't lie and claim we hung out or were buds, but he was something of a celebrity even then, and his reputation was pretty spotless. He is now a beloved figure in the New Haven area and among UConn basketball fans, and a rising basketball coach leading Southern Connecticut State University. The sense you get hearing Michael Jordan talk about Scott or watching the two interact is that Michael thought Scott was TOO nice. And if you watched the doc or know anything about Mike, that will not do for Mike. He wants every teammate to be ruthless, and was willing, for better or worse, to take pretty strong measures to toughen them up (ask Will Perdue or Steve Kerr, who got punched in practice).
There is only one Michael Jordan. His Airness. MJ. Mike. He is beyond great at the game of basketball. But at the end of the day--and athletes and sports fans have a tough time realizing this sometimes--he played a ball game for a living. Sure, he was badass at said ball game, and basketball is swell, but that's all it is, a ball game. It would be silly for me to judge Michael Jordan as a person. Unlike Scott, I've never played on a team with him. But let's just say he doesn't have the warmest reputation. When all is said and done, would you rather be remembered for being great at a ball game or be beloved by your base?
Just sayin'.
If you think Scott Burrell is less of a person for not "standing up" to Michael Jordan--who, by the way, he counts as a friend and gives credit for pushing him as a teammate--here's what he had to say in a recent interview about his portrayal in The Last Dance:
And as for comments from some that Burrell should have confronted (or fought) Jordan with as much venom as he attacked him?
“There’s nothing wrong with being a good person.”
That speaks to Burrell’s enduring character, and the way he was able to hear what Jordan was saying to him, not just how he said it. To this day, the two remain fast friends.
Well, this sucks, but we'll get through it. Austin is a place where people love to gather. There are festivals every weekend, sometimes dozens. And this time of year is one of the best times of year to get outside. Usually, South by Southwest descends on Austin in mid-March and dominates the cultural headlines for weeks.
Not this year.
But we'll bounce back. And I guarantee you that the first concert held at Stubb's/Emo's/Moody Theater/Continental Club/Scoot Inn/Ginny's Little Longhorn/Mohawk/etc. will be a celebration. I really hope that somehow, we'll come out of this thing stronger than before, with lessons learned. I guess we'll see. In the meantime, hunker down. Which Texans are good at.
In addition to the songs mentioned in my August post, here are a few other songs I keep going back to as the year comes to a close. In no particular order.
FIDLAR - By Myself
The most fun song of the year, an ode to being alone and sorta not giving a rat's ass. Sort of like if Beck had discovered his Midnight Vultures-era boogie back when he was writing Loser. Now I'm off to go crack one open while I finish my post, by myself.
Ian Noe - Letter to Madeline
The influences are pretty obvious, and the style isn't the most original, but this is a pretty song by this fresh Kentucky artist.
Jake Xerxes Fussell - The River St. Johns
Sticking with the rootsy theme, another pretty song by an artist that's been around a bit but I hadn't heard before this year.
Danny Brown - Dirty Laundry
Moving all the way over to the hip-hop side of my brain, Danny Brown's Q-Tip (and others)-produced uknowhatimsayin¿ is one of my late-year heavy rotation LPs. Solid stuff from a veteran.
John Batiste - Blacck (Live)
This is from Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard, which I've had on repeat lately. When I'm prepping dinner, for some reason, this is a go-to.
Rozi Plain - Swing Shut
This is pretty unique-sounding, although I can probably offer up a few influences. Lovely guitar.
Stef Chura - Scream
My top songs list this year is full of women, which I admit isn't typical for me. Stef Chura's whole album Midnight is catchy. It sometimes screams "90s!" like here, when she dons the cheerleader uniform and invites obvious nods to Nirvana, but I don't mind the shift in indie over the last few years from 80s-obsessed to 90s-obsessed.
Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II
Seems like a lot of young women these days are rocking like it's 1995. Here's a good one, with nice swirling guitars a la Smashing Pumpkins or something.
(Sandy) Alex G - Gretel
Another LP I've been spinning a lot is Alex G's House of Sugar. He's carved out space of his own built on classic ingredients like melody, hooks, production, words, etc. Gretel is a stand-out, but the LP is good all the way through.
