Seen & Heard vol. 4

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 – Leon Bridges at Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA)

Time Life launched an advertising campaign in the 1980's to coincide with the release of their "Mysteries of the Unknown" series.  One commercial began with a voice-over narration: "How can you explain it? A woman in Wisconsin is doing the dishes, while suddenly she has a feeling that her daughter has been just been in an accident. She gets a desperate phone call and finds out her feeling has just become true."   Now in 2016, I find out that my cousin Jason is attending the Charles Bradley show at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC and the next night I am watching Leon Bridges at Stage AE in Pittsburgh.  Charles Bradley, a 67 year old funk/soul/R&B singer, who according to Paste Magazine "echoes the evocative delivery of Otis Redding".  Meanwhile Leon Bridges is a 26 year old gospel and soul singer and songwriter who has been tagged as the "next Sam Cooke". 

Compare him to whoever you would like, the one thing that is undeniable is that Bridges' has soul.  According to my friend Jon H, Bridges also channels all of those who have walked before him in the New Orleans' Jazz Fest Gospel Tent.  From the fifth song "Brown Skin Girl" all the way thru the 10th song "Hold On", Bridges and his band kept the groove going to a sold out crowd in Pittsburgh.  And although the show fell somewhere between satisfying soundtrack to a 1960s retrospective and the polished showmanship of James Brown, the entire crowd remain engaged throughout his set.

Bridges smooth voice is a gift and he has a potentially long career in front of him.  Looking forward to hearing what's next for Mr. Bridges, something along the lines of one of his latest singles "River" or his collaboration with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on the track "Kevin". 

MONDAY, JUNE 20 – Barenaked Ladies at Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA)

Redefining my personal definition of corporate rock, I attended the Barenaked Ladies show with colleagues in the music industry.  In town for a conference, I thought an entertaining night out would be to check out the Juno-award winning band.  And although BNL is no longer breaking any new ground and it was extremely hard to tell if the band or the crowd missed original member/singer Steven Page, no one can debate that they continue to be extremely entertaining.   Known for their humorous banter, the band had the approximately 2,000 loyal Pittsburgh/hockey fans in attendance eating out of their hands with Phil Kessel references and a number of their hits.

And although most people came for songs like "One Week", a distinct highlight of the show for me was when they called out Howard Jones to join them onstage for "No One is to Blame".  I also enjoyed the upright bass playing of Jim Creeggan and the BNL Classic, "Brian Wilson" which I learned later on has been covered by the real Brian Wilson. 

25 years later, the Barenaked Ladies are still a fun band and not leaving any questions unanswered.  However, I left wondering if I am somewhat psychotic for including the song "The Old Apartment" on a mix tape that I made for my wife before we were married.   "Broke into the old apartment /This is where we used to live / Broken glass, broke and hungry / Broken hearts and broken bones / This is where we used to live."