On Friday, April 29th, The Blue Note will welcome two outstanding rock and roll groups onto their stage (not simultaneously). The entertainment will begin with The Walkmen, a band deserving of a lengthy description of their talents and a persuasive essay strong enough to have you ordering tickets without even grimacing at Ticketmaster’s service charges.
The second band to perform sports a name that has caused the cancellation of at least one concert. This band, The New Pornographers, has been shunned by listeners for one of three reasons:
- The listener does not enjoy listening to smart and catchy rock and roll music.
- The listener does not approve of, or wishes to conceal their approval of, pornography.
- The listener is a staunch supporter of old pornography.
I’d like to use this opportunity to set the record straight (and then maybe you can feel comfortable setting the record spinning!). The New Pornographers are seven nice people from Canada, and also Neko Case. And though I concede one can never account for the behavior of drummers, I promise you the remainder of the band does not perform in, recruit for, or promote pornography.
Now that fears of names have been assuaged, I should close with an introduction. Eight very talented folk combine to form this melodious beast that has been kind enough to (presumably) cross-country ski from the tundra of Canada down to our relatively tropical city. Several of them have produced outstanding work in other less titillating-ly named projects: the aforementioned Neko Case’s solo albums, vocalist Dan Bejar’s band Destroyer and Keyboardist Kathryn Calder’s lovely album “Are You My Mother?”, just to name a few. Clearly it isn’t often that so much talent shares one tour bus, so after you’ve checked out a few of these fine albums from your local library, it’s a fine idea to mosey on down to The Blue Note this Friday and take in a rock and roll show.
This blog post still has me laughing a day later! Thanks for the recommendations!