Nick Lowe

[D. Scarlatti]

I picked up my Nick Lowe tickets yesterday. If anyone out there is within spitting distance of any of these dates and venues (http://www.nicklowe.net/nicktour.htm), you're strongly advised to catch this underappreciated genius' solo performance. He doesn't come around too often.

nicklowe.net (http://www.nicklowe.net)

[viscousmemories]

Looks really interesting, D. I don't think I've heard of him, but I like Elvis Costello a lot.

I mistook the name for Nick Cave when I first saw this thread. Thank god for Google or I'd have been up all night trying to think of who I was thinking of.

[D. Scarlatti]

Yeah he may be best known as an EC collaborator, and as the author of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Additionally they've covered a few other of each others' tunes and recorded a couple of duets. The story goes that Nick was a little down on his luck several years ago when the postman showed up with a seven-figure royalty check from The Bodyguard soundtrack, which sold bajillions and featured a (reportedly dismal) version of P,L & U. I imagine he picked up a few more bucks from Lost In Translation.

Since then he's put out three very cool, very low key records, and another, Untouched Takeaway,* is out this month. I've seen him several times in Toronto, once with k.d. lang, once with Rockpile (loudest band I ever heard, which may have had something to do with our peyote-induced paranoia), once with his own band, and once with Little Village, which featured John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, and the great Jim Keltner on drums. That was a great show. Actually they were all great. Nick Lowe rules.

* Jesus Of Cool, Labour Of Lust, and The Abominable Showman are a few of his other more memorable album titles.

[freemonkey]

I picked up my Nick Lowe tickets yesterday. If anyone out there is within spitting distance of any of these dates and venues (http://www.nicklowe.net/nicktour.htm), you're strongly advised to catch this underappreciated genius' solo performance. He doesn't come around too often.

nicklowe.net (http://www.nicklowe.net)

Oooh! I've been a fan of Nick Lowe's since the early 80's.

Hey, he'll be in Seattle the day before my birthday! Who wants to take me?

[D. Scarlatti]

Now there's an offer. I hope someone takes you up on it.

Here's a Nick Lowe pop classic, inspired by an anecdote in Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon about a silent film star that OD'd and was half eaten by her dog:

Marie Provost

Marie Provost did not look her best
The days the cops bust into her lonely nest
In the cheap hotel up on Hollywood west
July 29

She'd been lyin' there for two or three weeks
The neighbors said they never heard a squeak
While hungry eyes that could not speak
Said even little doggies have got to eat

Chorus:
She was a winner
That became a doggie's dinner
She never meant that much to me
Whoa oh, poor Marie

Marie Provost was a movie queen
Mysterious angel of the silent screen
And run like the wind the nation's young men steamed
When Marie crossed the silent screen

Whoa she came out west from New York
But when the talkies came Marie just couldn't cope
The public said Marie take a walk
All the way back to New York

Chorus

Those quaalude bombs didn't help her sleep
As her nights grew long and her days grew bleak
It's all downhill once you've passed your peak
Marie got ready for that last big sleep

The cops came in and they looked around
Throwin' up everywhere over what they found
The handiwork of Marie's little dachshund
That hungry little dachshund

Chorus

[D. Scarlatti]

This one, in addition to Johnny Cash's cover on American Recordings (for whom it was written), apparently appears on The Sopranos soundtrack album, so it might ring a bell for some people:

The Beast In Me

The beast in me
Is caged by frail and fragile bonds
Restless by day
And by night, rants and rages at the stars
God help the beast in me

The beast in me
Has had to learn to live with pain
And how to shelter from the rain
And in the twinkling of an eye
Might have to be restrained
God help the beast in me

Sometimes
It tries to kid me that it's just a teddy bear
Or even somehow managed
To vanish in the air
And that is when I must beware
Of the beast in me
That everybody knows
They've seen him out dressed in my clothes
Patently unclear
If it's New York or New Year
God help the beast in me
The beast in me

[D. Scarlatti]

For years I played in an Italian wedding band, and this one was always guaranteed to pack the dance floor:

I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll)

Well the bride looks a picture in the gown that her mama wore
When she was married herself nearly 27 years before
They had to change the style a little but it looked just fine
Stayed up all night but they got it finished just in time

Now on the arm of her daddy she's walkin' down the aisle
I see her catch my eye and give me a secret smile
Maybe it's too old fashioned but we once were close friends
But the way that she looks today she never could have then

Well I can see her now in her tight blue jeans
Pumpin' all her money in the record machine
Spinnin' like a top, you should have seen her go
I knew the bride when she used to rock & roll

Well the proud daddy only want to give his little girl the best
So he put down a grand on a cozy little lovers nest
You could have called the reception an unqualified success
At a flash hotel for a hundred and fifty guests

Take a look at the bridegroom smilin' pleased as pie
Shakin' hands all around with a glassy look in his eye
He's got a real good job and his shirt and tie is nice
But I remember the time when she would never even looked at him twice

I can see her now drinkin' with the boys
Breakin their hearts like they were toys
She used to do the pony, she used to do the stroll
I knew the bride when she used to rock & roll

<gtr solo>

Well I can see her now with her headphones on,
Jumpin' up and down to her favorite song.
I still remember when she used to want to make a lot of noise
Hoppin' and a boppin' with the street corner boys
She used to want to party, she used to wanna go
I knew the bride when she used to rock & roll

[D. Scarlatti]

Mr. Lowe is picking up some rave reviews during his latest foray through the U.S.

Fabulous to a revelatory degree (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091801945.html)

Casually impeccable (http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/features-1/1190817801288370.xml&coll=2)

Don't miss him if he's in your neighborhood (http://www.nicklowe.net/tourdates.php). This Friday in Milwaukee, with Ron Sexsmith.

[Blake]

What the hell! He doesn't seem to believe in the East Coast. :tmsad:

[D. Scarlatti]

Apparently he'll be on Prairie Home Companion on Saturday.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

I thought he was in Duran Duran. You know, the one with the foofy hair and lip gloss.

[Watser?]

I love the sound of breaking glass was a pretty big hit here, 30 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LWF73XTnAA

[D. Scarlatti]

I Trained Her To Love Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8VM8so2vwE)

[viscousmemories]

I don't know if I missed your comment that he wrote Peace, Love... or if I just forgot it in the three years since, but that's cool. I always thought that was an Elvis song.

[D. Scarlatti]

"Catch Nick Lowe on tour this month," sez my latest email from Yep Roc Records:

14-Apr Aspen CO Belly Up Tavern
15-Apr Boulder CO Boulder Theatre
17-Apr Dallas TX Sons of Hermann Hall
18-Apr Austin TX Antone's
21-Apr Nashville TN The Belcourt
22-Apr Atlanta GA Variety Playhouse
23-Apr Carrboro NC ArtsCenter
25-Apr Charlottesville VA Satellite Lounge
26-Apr Annapolis MD Ram's Head Tavern
27-Apr Pittsburgh PA Byham Theater
30-Apr Albany NY The Linda

I'm nowhere near any of these joints, but if y'all are, and pass it up, then endless shame upon y'all.

More dates (http://www.nicklowe.net/tourdates.php).