Skip to main content

Erasure - Love To Hate You

Last night, in an unknown karaoke bar on the edge of a small town in America, I committed the ultimate party foul. In the midst of a slightly flamboyant performance of Love To Hate You by Erasure, I stepped out of the designated singing area in an effort to bring the full performance closer to the audience. This short video captures that moment:



Unfortunately, upon my return to the stage, I unknowingly stepped on one of the floor lights. My attention was drawn to this unfortunate error as I gazed into the faces of the regulars seated near the stage. They were aghast and angry. Hoping I could redeem myself with an impassioned vocal delivery,  I continued the song. At the tune's conclusion, my mic shut off sharply. An audience member, with long Robert Plant-like hair, rushed to the stage and investigated the light. The stand mechanism was broken. "You gotta look out for the lights, man. What were you thinking? There are lights up here, y'know!" Embarrassed, I apologized. As I exited the stage, I passed by the karaoke DJ and offered a further apology, "I'm so sorry. I didn't see the light." He shook his head. "Yeah! You broke it buddy. Sit down, sir! Take a seat!"

I won't burden you with the absurd details of what followed. Let's just say that this was not my crowd, this wasn't their kind of music and it was not my finest moment. I won't be welcome at this karaoke bar for a long, long while. 2017 ends in bitter shambles and it's all my fault. Love To Hate You. What a fitting end to this strange year.






Comments

Post a Comment

Trending Tracks

U.K. - In The Dead of Night

In the late 70s, as punk and post-punk bands spiraled towards their new wave destinies, prog dinosaurs stood paralyzed in the shadows. Bands like the Sex Pistols were meteors, igniting a global firestorm that would trigger prog's extinction. The British music press (Melody Maker, Sounds, NME, etc.), once proponents of prog darlings Genesis, Yes and ELP, now bashed any band releasing songs in odd time signatures and singing about aliens and whales. The punk revolution had turned the U.K. music industry and press on its head within a year (1976-1977). For me, this is one of the most interesting times in pop music. Although prog groups saw their audiences rapidly dwindle (Yes audiences had dropped from 20,000 to 3,000 by 1980's Drama tour), many record labels had built fortunes on the works of prog artists and were willing to foot the bill for some interesting transitional experiments. Yes' Drama , ELPs' Works , Genesis' . ..And Then There Were Three... were p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Patti Smith - My Generation (Live)

It's National Women's History Month. If Suzi Quatro was the queen of rock & roll, then Patti Smith was the leader of the female punk insurgency that redefined the genre. The 30th anniversary addition of Horses includes a bonus disc of the album recorded live in 2005 with Tom Verlaine (Television) on guitar and Flea on bass and trumpet. Tucked at the end of the disc is a sublime, nearly seven minute rendition of The Who's "My Generation." Whereas Roger Daltrey's version looked towards the possibilities of the future, Smith's looks back, exuding regret and anger. "My generation. We had dreams... We had dreams, man! And we fucking created George Bush! New generations! Rise up! Rise up! Take to the streets! Make change! The world is yours! Change it! Change it!" Black Lives Matter. Women's March. #MeToo. #Enough. #NeverAgain. This one's for the people in the streets! Change will come.
Post a Comment
Read more