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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | The Fleshtones |
| Date | Mon, 16 Jun 2003 14:52:16 -0500 |
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> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 13:37:14 -0500
> From: "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: new Frisbie rekkid/record release show
> Message-ID: <Law14-F42n65DWG6tAC0000f07d@hotmail.com>
>
> I'm still recovering from the second half of my Saturday night -- seeing
> The
> Fleshtones supported by The Cynics -- The Cynics have the moves, though
> their songs aren't always there -- The Fleshtones are just one of the few
> undeniable automatic pleasures in live music. Laying down a pumping
> groove,
> Peter Zaremba and Keith Streng just have a blast up on stage and it's
> contagious.
>
Referring to Zaremba and Streng as having a blast "up on stage" is a
bit of a misnomer, since everyone in the band with the exception of drummer
Bill Milhizer spent a good portion of Saturday night's show offstage,
running around in the crowd, dancing, stomping around on top of the bar,
etc. They are one of those bands for whom a stage is literally too small for
their performance.
The 'tones have been a spotty recording band over the years -- like
other dynamite stage acts (e.g., the J. Geils Band), their energy doesn't
always translate well to the studio -- but there's no denying what a
barrel-of-monkeys live act they are. It had been a good sixteen, seventeen
years since the last time I saw the Fleshtones, and I can honestly say that
they're even better as a live act now than they were back then. How many
bands can say the same thing? And the new album, *Can You Swing?*, does have
a higher batting average of good songs than the typical 'tones offering. The
one that Little Steven played on his *Underground Garage* show last weekend,
"Destination Greenpoint", is particularly tasty.
I don't know if all of the flavor-of-the-week young guns in the
garage-rock revival are goading on the older bands in that vein such as the
Fleshtones and the Cynics, but it's good to see the old dogs rising to the
challenge.
Gregory Sager
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