Powerpop News: A Chevelles single, Jamie & Steve on StageIt, & The Bangles & The Archies sing Sgt Pepper
If you felt a buzz in the powerpop air recently, it wasn’t your imagination. There is a plethora of activity. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be including updates on the bands from both yesterday and today, the ones that matter most to powerpop fans.
Just over the past several days, these noteworthy events have come to my attention:
There’s A New Chevelles Single!
Australia’s Chevelles have a single out on Wicked Cool Records called “Bettie Page”. The first I’d heard of it was this weekend so I think it’s new.
Co-written by The Chevelles’ guitarist/vocalist Duane Smith and Little Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band, it’s the first of more to come soon, we’re told.
For those of us old enough to remember her, the real life Bettie Page was the first Marilyn Monroe or Farah Fawcett. To borrow the words of Jean Shepard’s Ralphie from the movie A Christmas story, she was every bit the “soft glow of electric sex”. And now Bettie has been immortalized by Australia’s greatest powerpop band (apologies to Mariani who’s equally awesome).
While the cover art (photographed quite ably by Peter Ellery) captures the essence of the Bettie Page look, the model is in fact an also very beautiful Denise Trethewey…but not Bettie herself. Check out the real Bettie Page here.
You can buy the Chevelle’s “new” single as a download here.
Hear the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper and Rubber Soul performed in their entirety…by The Bangles, The Archies, and Three Dog Night!
This coming Saturday night (Feb 16th), drop by the El Portal Theatre in LA and you’ll have a rare opportunity to see more talent on one evening than one normally sees in a month of Sundays. A star studded line-up will be performing The Beatles’ SGT Pepper and Rubber Soul albums to benefit the Autism Think Tank. Get a load of this list of performers: Matthew Sweet, Debbi & Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), John Wicks (The Records), Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night), Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello), and Ron Dante (The Archies!!). What a buttload o’ talent. HOLY CRAP!!
It’s for a great cause, so if you’re in the LA area, check it out. You can get your tickets here.
Jamie & Steve on StageIt
Finally, you’ve hopefully read my review of Jamie & Steve’s (of Spongetones fame) new CD and recent show at Charlotte’s Chop Shop. This past Thursday, they performed a virtual concert through a platform known as StageIt. Jamie Hoover and Steve Steockel were in great form and the StageIt platform enables folks like you and I who can’t make it out to see their favorite musical performers to catch some great music in the comfort of our own homes. And the sound quality was surprisingly good. This platforms has it’s limitations as the feed would occasionally buffer in the middle of a song, but generally speaking, I found the StageIt presentation to be pretty satisfying.
While Jamie & Steve performed the favorites from their past two EPs, Imaginary Cafe and Next Big Thing, their encore was memorable….and more fun than should be allowed by the internet police. Have you ever heard McCartney’s Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey performed LIVE? Well, if you tuned in to this broadcast, you were privvy to quite a treat.
Check out a StageIt concert and let me know your thoughts on its viability as an online concert venue.
