Tampa Calling

She’s the snarky sexpot responsible for the Jill Sobule rip-off “I Kissed a Girl,” which just topped the Billboard Hot 100 again.

I’m not a big fan of the girl-on-girl-action tune but do find myself chuckling at Perry’s hipster-hating ditty, “Ur So Gay.” It features the chorus, “You’re so gay and you don’t even like boys” and other delectable lines like:

You don’t eat meat
And drive electrical cars
You’re so indie rock it’s almost an art
You need SPF 45 just to stay alive

You’re so sad maybe you should buy a happy meal
You’re so skinny you should really Super Size the deal
Secretly you’re so amused
That nobody understands you

Katy Perry performs with Against Me! and many, many others at Vans Warped Tour, Fri., July 11, Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg.

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The gutter that runs beside the road of rock history is littered with artists who squandered their talent, who flamed out, washed up, went in the tank. The reasons are many, the most popular being some manner of self-destructiveness. Artists who were real good at that sort of thing — from Hendrix to Cobain — left this mortal coil with their legacies intact.

But that’s an old rock ’n’ roll saw.

For today’s discussion, I’m interested in a more subtle type of squandering, the type whose reasons are not always easy to pinpoint. Often times, it’s little more than running out of ideas but continuing to hang on. In the process, they’ve ruined their legacies, or at the very least put them in serious peril.

So who in rock annals are the biggest talent-squanderers, who have authored the biggest falls from artist grace? Let me nominate a few, and pick a winner. As always, feel free to weigh in.

Elton John — From vibrant singer/songwriter and firebrand showman to chubby old queen with a braying voice. Elton reached his artistic pinnacle in 1973 with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road — that’s 35 years ago for those who don’t feel like doing the math — and was basically done two years later with Rock of the Westies.
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This arrived too late to make it in Music Week, so I’m just going to drop a lazy blog post (hey, I’ve got an Against Me! cover story to write, folks, and it’s due tomorrow and tonight I’m going to the Trop to watch the Rays once again humiliate the BoSox). Anyway, here’s the skinny from THX MGMT:

(TAMPA, FL) - Rising independent U.K. rock band Dead Maids, a group currently drawing comparisons to such revered acts as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sonic Youth and Explosions in the Sky, will perform at storied Ybor City music venue New World Brewery on Saturday, July 5. The group is wrapping up its first U.S. tour.
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An interview with the frontman of Harry and the Potters, Bar Tab, Music Week, Spins … Here’s what I have running in the new issue of Creative Loafing:

Bar Tab: You are what you drink. The men’s edition.

Harry and the Potters conjure up wizard rock.

Celebrate Independence Fest at State Theatre.

Fleet Foxes are a breath of sonic fresh air (Spins, CD review).

Take an All Music Guide through rap and hip-hop (book review).

KRS-One, The Radiators, Pat Benatar, Red Room Cinema, Hot Dog Show, Tribal Style and more in Music Week.

Click here to peruse entire Music Section.

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Internationally acclaimed Tampa singer/songwriter Ronny Elliott has again been selected to perform at The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, July 9-13, Okemah, Oklahoma (Guthrie’s birthplace). Judy Collins, Jimmy LaFave, Amy Speace, Ramsay Midwood, Butch HancockThe Flatlanders), Annie Guthrie and many more are also on the lineup.

There will be a “Help send Ronny to Okemah” house concert 4 p.m. Sun., July 6 in the Westshore/Gandy area of South Tampa. It’s free but donations for Elliott are “encouraged and appreciated!” Space for the concert is limited. If you’re interested in attending RSVP to Gloria at gshello@tampabay.rr.com.

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Which would you choose as Florida’s greatest rock act of all time?

Senior Editor Eric Snider nearly choked on a piece of apple when I told him Skynyrd. He’s a Petty guy. I like Petty but prefer pre-airplane crash Skynyrd. Plus, it’s fun to debate Snider, who despises the band responsible for “Free Bird.”

“We’re gonna have to pick up this conversation when I finish eating,” he barked. “You’re turning my stomach.”

Snider and I were in agreement, though, that the Allman Brothers Band should receive the honor if you count them as a Florida act (formed in Jacksonville).

Best Florida rock band right now? Against Me! (scroll down). All the way. Look for my interview with the band’s lead singer, Tom Gabel, in the Creative Loafing that hits newsstands July 9.

Best new Florida band? Have Gun, Will Travel.

Here’s what The Boston Phoenix had to say about the Sunshine State in its “50 Bands, 50 States” feature:

All-Time Best Band: Lynyrd Skynyrd
All-Time Best Solo Artist: Tom Petty
Best New Band: Torche

Ooooh, that smell? It’s the unmistakable, greasy stink of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Southern-fried triple-guitar overload. You can’t wash it out of your clothes or your hair — don’t even try. Just embrace it, and wear it like a badge of honor. (Skynyrd gets bonus Florida points for fronting like they were from Alabama.) | Yes, he was the second-least-important Wilbury (ouch, Jeff Lynne), but top-hat-loving Tom Petty was the crucial missing link between the Byrds-y folk-rock of the ’60s and the R.E.M. indie-rock revolution of the ’80s. And a late-cresting 2007 documentary (Runnin’ Down a Dream, directed by Peter Bogdanovich) has recently resuscitated Petty’s reputation among hipsters. | Miami metal machine Torche marries triumphant, anthemic vocals with bottom-of-the-barrel bass-line sludge, and sends them off on a catchy, doom-pop honeymoon. For a taste, get your hands on “Grenades.”

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Jay-Z is the man. He’s chosen to headline the Glastonbury Fest, which is like the Bonnaroo of Europe, and one of the pricks from Oasis shoots his mouth off about the Brooklyn rapper not being an appropriate fit for the gig. Here’s how the class act responded. From Billboard.com:

The choice of the U.S. rapper to perform on the main stage at a festival best known for its guitar-based rock acts was widely criticized, and Oasis‘ Noel Gallagher riled the musician by saying the organizers were wrong to pick him.

Jay-Z’s response was emphatic. He opened his show with a film using Gallagher’s now infamous comments and a montage of clips parodying him, before launching into an acoustic rendition of one of Oasis’s biggest hits, “Wonderwall.” Most fans and critics were impressed.

Here’s Jay-Z’s killer encore, including a brief, off-key cover of “Wonderwall.” How’s that for the ultimate “fuck you” to those Gallagher brothers? “99 Problems” follows.

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Stay Positive
THE HOLD STEADY
Vagrant
It’s hard not to root for The Hold Steady. Especially if you’re from Tampa and regularly frequent Ybor City. The intelligent booze-rockers may call Brooklyn home but our famed entertainment district surfaces in so many of singer/songwriter Crag Finn’s tunes — most notably the band’s signature jam “Killer Parties” — that it’s like listening to one of our own. And then there are the joyous concerts The Hold Steady have thrown in Ybor, like the one in January at Czar Bar, which concluded with about 100 people joining the quintet on stage.

The band’s latest and greatest album, Stay Positive — currently available on iTunes; CD drops July 15 — also includes a couple local references. “Don’t tell ’em Ybor City almost killed us again,” Finn sings on the closing track, “Slapped Actress,” over a guitar-and-keyboard wall of sound straight from E Street. “Don’t mention Tampa, they’ll just know all the rest,” Finn sings on another verse of the same brilliant song. It’s a cinematic number inspired by the John Cassevetes flick Opening Night, which depicts a Broadway star on the verge of a nervous breakdown after witnessing the death of a fan. Finn documents desperation better than most.

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The Rage Against the Machine axe man’s solo disc, The Fabled City, will be released Sept. 30 via Epic Records. System of the Down’s Serj Tankian and Shooter Jennings (sweet) appear on the album.

Here’s the press release, which includes quotes from Morello (aka The Nightwatchman) and the CD track list:

June 30th, 2008 — New York, New York — Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine is set to release the solo album, The Fabled City, September 30th, 2008 via Epic Records.  The 11-song set is the anticipated follow up to the 2007 The Nightwatchman debut One Man Revolution.  Now being billed as Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman, the album is the first release to bear the political and social activist’s birth name. The Fabled City was produced by Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam) and features appearances by System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian and Shooter Jennings.
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Toby Keith w/Montgomery Gentry, Sat., June 28, Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa

Toby Keith looked tired Saturday at the Ford Amphitheatre. Not physically tired from, say, doing too many curls before picking up his guitar and hitting the stage, but tired from singing the same songs, writing more songs, touring extensively, and doing the same redneck schtick in the spotlight for years now while simultaneously running a record company and trying to launch a film career.

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