By The Beachwood Fooled Again Affairs Desk

Wow, that was brutal.
Let’s take a look.
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Jim DeRogatis: Super Bowl XLIV gave us the saddest, most tired musical spectacle yet: the band that pretends to be the Who . . . The newest song on that set list was 32 years old; the oldest was 41. But it wasn’t even the tunes’ over-familiarity that was the biggest problem.
Townshend (64) and Daltrey (65) were woefully flat and way out of sync during the unison vocal parts, and they relied on empty theatrics to convey the musical energy of the Who when the Who really were the Who. But the lasers, fireworks, geysers of flame and an elaborate illuminated stage that put U2’s current tour setup to shame couldn’t disguise the fact that these were two grizzled old pros going through the motions for a high-profile payday, with barely a hint of the powers they possessed at their peak.
Greg Kot: The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend huffed and puffed as they tried to match the energy and bravado of songs originally recorded more than 30 years ago Sunday in their showcase slot as Super Bowl halftime headliners . . . Daltrey and Townshend keep pushing the brand and have licensed their music to countless advertisers to keep it alive. Their set list played like a compendium of TV commercials from the last decade as much as a classic-rock primer.

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Posted on February 8, 2010

By Matt Harness

* The Deadstring Brothers‘ Sao Paulo hits American shelves on February 23rd. Here’s what the band’s hometown critic writes in the Metro Times:
“Throughout their career thus far, this band has been regularly compared to such whiskey-sotted rockers as the Stones and the Black Crowes, and it’s fair to say that they’ve never sounded more like Exile on Main Street than they do here on the title track and the phenomenal “The River Song.”
* On the literary front, Andre Williams is out with the juiced-up memoir Sweets. He took some time to talk to the Village Voice:
“It took a couple of days to get Williams on the phone because of his emergency trips to the hospital. During the wait, this quote from Marah Eakin, one of his recording label’s publicists, took on new meaning: ‘Andre is truly a mystery to us all. He just graces our presence with his suits and cologne and songs.”

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Posted on February 5, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

1. THE GRAMMYS: I feel like I’ve been reading this article my whole life. Anyone who takes the Grammys seriously as a measure of musical greatness is a tool, a dupe, or both. Paying attention is only important insofar as the ongoing importance of monitoring the enemy. Just consider: Neil Young won his first Grammy ever last night – and it was for the packaging of his boxed set. As several observers have noted, that ties him with Britney Spears – whose win was actually for a recording.

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Posted on February 1, 2010

By Don Jacobson

In this installment of Chicago In Song, two great country singer/songwriters highlight one of the city’s most characteristic portrayals in song lyrics – its status as a magnet for poor, often homeless, migrants. Call them tramps, hobos, bums or economic refugees, Chicago’s continuing attraction to the country’s (and the world’s) down-and-out gets an artistic workout from Merle Haggard and Dwight Yoakam.
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Merle Haggard/I Take a Lot of Pride In What I Am
Usually when we’re talking about Chicago’s place of infamy in song lyrics in this space, it’s something along the lines of poverty, despair or some other offshoot of misery. One rich vein in that category that we look for the first time here is the city’s longtime identification with homelessness, courtesy of Merle Haggard and his 1969 classic, “I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am.”

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Posted on February 1, 2010