the organist from steppenwolf

i’ve been reading a lot of punk articles as of late…

…it started when david johansen died. it’s been ages since i’ve listed to the [new york] dolls and i wanted to make a playlist, so i went after a rolling stone article on his twelve best tracks, each coming with a lovely bit of history in the article, and made that. then i got an email from stubhub (not sure why, i’ve never used them) and that talked about buzzcocks tickets.

i am not, or so i’m told, easy to shop for when it comes to gifts. so when something presents itself, nik tends to jump on it. such was the case for tickets to see wu-tang clan and run the jewels. while i love me some wu, i’ve NEVER seen run the jewels, so that woulda been way cool. but tickets were fairly pricey on the face value, and then adding in service charges, quite honestly, made them ridiculous.

so we’re passing on that.

but after the thought of seeing live music again got in my brainus, i decided that seeing the buzzcocks for the first time EVER wouldn’t be bad, until i remember pete shelley, principle singer and songwriter, was dead. that prompted me to look up their current touring lineup, which is literally ONE for four of the band members if from their heyday. the rest are guys that joined in, like, 2012…versus the late 1970’s when the band formed and started churning out pop punk classics.

it’s like the organist for steppenwolf touring as “steppenwolf”. sorry, but you’re more of a glorified cover band at that point. the exception, i feel, is when the vocalist does it. when dave gahan of depeche mode toured for his solo project, the set included a couple of depeche tunes that sounded legit. likewise when morrissey performs smiths tracks. but no matter how well you rock out that guitar solo, it’s still gonna sound like a cover band when the vocals ain’t right…

…see “jump” as performed by van HAGAR in the 1990’s. and that was 75% the original band!

so, yeah, that’s a pass as well…will i end up concert free for 2025? i can’t remember the last time it happened, but i guess this might be it!