Thighs Wide Shut

Graham Coxon
Bowery Ballroom
September 24

Graham Coxon is the forgotten man.  The Blur guitarist has released EIGHT solo albums, and all anyone ever wants to talk about is what Damon Albarn’s doing with whichever Damon Albarn side project is goings on at the moment (and for good reason).  But Graham is no slouch.  Sure, I only really know one of those solo albums (the first one), but after getting super-Super-SUPER into his latest and definitely his GREATEST – the soundtrack to the Netflix show The End Of The F***ing World – I was wrapped up in only one Blur side project for the last 2 months – the Graham Coxon-Graham Coxon side project!

Treated to 25 ditties, including two Blur songs, and two covers, Graham and his sharp guitar (and some fantastic sounding pre-recorded backing audio) enraptured the crowd from start to finish.  His motions and emotions on stage were filled with obvious nervousness and timidness.  This, from a guy who’s probably played every kind of giant festival stage imaginable, but I guess he’s used to disappearing into the background, while Damon sucked all the attention upfront.  But shyness aside, his charm and smile won the night and us all

Graham, once forgotten, now, unforgettable

Setlist – R U Lonely? / Latte / Way Up High (Ram John Holder cover) / Falling / All Over Me / That Someone Ain’t You / Alright / Don’t Believe Anything I Say / Flights to the Sea (Lovely Rain) / Angry Me / Saturday Night / It’s All Blue / She Left the Light On / Roaming Star / Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith cover) / Miss America (Blur song) / All The Rage / Brave The Storm / Walking All Day

Encore – In The Morning / You’re So Great (Blur song) / There’s Something in the Way That You Cry / See A Better Day / Sorrow’s Army

Jessie Reyez
The Bowery Ballroom
November 28

There is just something about Jessie Reyez.  She commanded everyone’s attention with a brief, but brilliant stint at the Tidal X marathon concert back in October, and I wanted MORE, and so I got it – in 45 glorious moments at the Bowery Ballroom.  The crowd was more her age than mine, and they seemed to know every single one of her songs… even the unreleased ones.  This even came as a surprise to Ms Reyez herself.  It was zero surprise how fresh and fantastic her show was, which alternated between roaming and rapping the stage, to sitting on a stool and strumming, while everyone hummed and hollered along, loving EVERY single minute of it all!!!!!    

Man, love this girl.  Her future is so bright, but next time, I want 90 minutes of show!

@JessieReyez is the truth, yo!

A post shared by Thigh Master (@thighmaster) on Nov 28, 2017 at 8:07pm PST

Setlist – Phone Calls / Shutter Island / F#ck Being Friends / Hard to Love / Cocoa Butter Kisses (Chance the Rapper cover) / Colombian King & Queen / Gatekeeper / Figures

Encore – F#ck It / Blue Ribbon / Happy Birthday

crowd surfing will never die. long live @JessieReyez!

A post shared by Thigh Master (@thighmaster) on Nov 29, 2017 at 4:36am PST

Adam Graham Parsons of the Detroit Tigers Newspaper gots me thinkings after I read over his solid ‘Five songs to remember the White Stripes by‘.  I’m (yes, no ‘we’ this time) 900% with you Grahamster on ‘Jolene’ & ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’, but here be some of my choice Stripes’ cuts to remember 9ever:

‘Fell In Love With A Girl’

I came late to the Stripes party, but instantly fell in love with them the very first time I heard this.  wish I came much earlier (pun intended???), cause honestly, I woulda given up all 9 of my testicles to have seen em at the Bowery Ballroom (although the Union Square Park show was quite the shaz!!!)

‘Candy Cane Children’

more raw than the rawest raw thing on earth or Uranus.  it oozes White Stripes white stripedness from head to mistletoe

‘Forever For Her (Over For Me)’

makes you feel like nothing AND everything is possible.  they own ‘Just do it’ more than Nike does!!

‘Seven Nation Army’

dude, SEVENNNNNNNNNNN NATION ARMY, not SIX!!!!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMM BARUMMPPP BUMMMMP BUMM BUMMMMMMM BUMMMM

‘Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn’

the best Led Zeppelin III song not on Led Zeppelin III

‘This Protector’

feels like we’re in the room with Jack & Meg as they play it.  still looking for that one song that feels like we’re feeling up Meg White

+ bonus shout out to

‘White Moon’

for making Meg, and me, cry

miss you guys SOOOOOO munch!!!

Amy Winehouse•

Bowery Ballroom
March 13th

What is it with brassy UK ladies sproutin up these days like the rats on my block? I haven’t a clue, but unlike the rodents lookin for my fried chicken scraps, I don’t want this pond crossin influx to ever end. Whilst Lily Allen has been wowen our chops for over a year, it’s Amy Winehouse that’s bewitching us like a Bewitched marathon on TV Land for the time being (sorry, but we don’t give 2 massive2shits about Joss Stone). While many try to coronate a queen between these two Mark Ronson backed bitties, I say why choose since both are equally worth enjoying for their own greatnesseses.

I was raised on the oldies of the 50s and 60s and one thing that always bothered me was that no one in today’s modern world can create music that sounded like that golden age. That was of course before I learned that Ms Winehouse stole Doc’s DeLorean in 1955 and traveled to the future to prove me wrong. This girl has the mos classic voice I’ve heard in a long arsed time. Her pipes are so special that it doesn’t even matter much if her songs are any good or not. Rumor has it that she’s in line to do the next Bond theme, which I hope not only comes true, but comes true several times over. That would make her the only other artist to record multiple Bond theme songs since Winehouse’s 60s doppelgänger Shirley Bassey dropped ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, and ‘Moonraker’.

Wine’s set at the beyond sold out Bowery show was short, but it was certainly sweet. While she seemed a bit uneasy on stage at times, looking at the floor, forgetting a few lines, she did get the usual tame and lame NYC crowd to get their effin groove in. If that’s not an accomplishment, then I don’t know what is. Anywho, Jenna Maroney was there, and so was Susic Mobbery, who also was at TGTB&TU the night before. To my knowledge, there was no leg humping, although, had I had a few mo beers in me, Jenna‘s legs woulda been humped fo sho!

‘You Know I’m No Good’ [d]

what, you lookin for something from the future and not the past? try this on for thighs

‘One Hell of a Party’ featuring Jarvis Cocker [d]