Inspired by SeaDick’s blog of yesterday covering the latest music, I planted myself in front of my laptop and ridiculously giant extra screen to blog about the Sopranos’ anniversary.  Figured I would acknowledge the truth of SeaDick’s allegations regarding my musical proclivities, and move on with some deep thoughts about the greatest television show of all time.  Having been called out by SeaDick, I had to at least give him the goddamn common courtesy of checking out this “Spotify” thing, and the new music he is promoting.  Anyway, this is awesome!

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Nothing reminds you more of your mortality than when one of your Rock and Roll idols shuffles off this mortal coil (that’s a Shakespeare reference Gnoobs). It was a punch to the gut yesterday when I heard the news that Tom Petty had passed away. That was followed by a brief period of hope as I heard that Tom was clinging to life. That news was further punctuated by Tom’s daughter’s response to Rolling Stone’s report that he had passed.

Let this be a warning to not fuck with Tom Petty’s daughter. That would be about as smart as playing Mississippi Stud (or as Mango has renamed it, Mississippi Dumbass). How’d that work out for you Pipes?

Alas, the good news was only temporary, as we lost one of the greatest American rock artists (not band IJ, artist) later in the evening.  In any event, I’m not here to make fun of Pipes, well not primarily, but to remember Mr. Petty in the way we do around here at the Monkey, with a list of his greatest. Without further ado, here are the top 5 Tom Petty songs of all time. YMMV.

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In the ongoing effort to drag Pipes out of the 80’s as far as music goes, I bring your attention to The National’s new album, Sleep Well Beast.

It’s great from top to bottom and, Pipes, if that doesn’t get your attention, take note that it rips all over your President.

If you like it, then as an additional bonus, check out the band’s live performance of the album, start to finish, from NPR, which is available for streaming for a limited time.

One bit of warning, play “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness” at your peril.  I can’t get that freaking guitar riff out of my head.

As I am sure most of you know, Walter Becker, one half of Steely Dan, passed away on September 3, 2017.  He was 67.  Here is a Rolling Stone article on his passing.  Because ranking things is one of our favorite things here at the Monkey, without further ado, here are the top 10 Steely Dan songs of all time.  There can be no argument (and yes Pipes they are ranked, not listed). Continue reading →

So IJ (and our better halves) took in a concert to start the Labor Day weekend.  First we had a little dinner at The Dearborn.  Solid meal, especially if you like strong drinks and two pounds of butter in your mashed potatoes.  IJ and I had the short ribs.  I know, I know, you are shocked.  We then headed over to the Chicago Theater.

If you told me that I could see any two musical acts on the planet right now, I would respond Jason Isbell and Frank Turner.  Well guess what Mrs. SeaDick got me for my birthday sports fans, that’s right, tickets to see Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls open for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.  It really doesn’t get any better than that.

What can I say about the show other than it lived up to my expectations.  Absolutely freaking awesome.  The only complaint I have is that the bartenders at the Chicago Theatre wouldn’t pour a double.  WTF?  Have no fear sports fans, there is a solution to every problem.  You know what you have when you order two Captain and Diets and tell them to hold the diet in one of them?  Problem solved, that’s what.

So even though I just said that I couldn’t say anything else about the show besides it living up to expectations, in typical Monkey fashion, I am going to say some more.  For those of you unfamiliar with Frank Turner (or Frank Mother*&king Turner as IJ likes to say) he is an amazing performer and one of the hardest working guys in showbiz.  I saw him at Lolla last year where he did 4 shows in less than 24 hours.  This was show 2092 for he and his band.  Frank ain’t lazy.  Originally part of a UK punk band (Million Dead), he now fronts the band with an acoustic (hey Muni, please note the proper spelling of that word) guitar, writes some of the best lyrics ever and plays some of the best straight up rock and roll on the planet.  That would be pretty cool alone, but as I mentioned previously, Frank and his band are performers.  He knows how to engage an audience and his shows are some of the best you can see.  Go. See. Frank. Motherfooking. Turner.

You can get more info and find his music here if you like Spotify:

Or here if you prefer iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/frank-turner/id108696785

If you are a music geek like me, then you probably hit SetList.fm both before you go to a concert and afterwards so that you can see the set list for the performer you are going to see or make sure you remember what you heard, especially if you manage the double C&D work around to perfection and parts of the evening get a little hazy.  So here is the set list for Frank from Friday.  Good info, but pretty boring right?  Not to mention that I had to correct it because the asshat who posted it the first time forgot a fooking song.  How can you forget a fooking song?  Time to do it right.  I decided to record a short video clip of each of the songs performed.  The full SeaDick Set List is below, enjoy.  (Song titles are links to the songs in iTunes.) Continue reading →