St. Louis concerts to put on the calendar

Upcoming St. Louis-area concerts to see:

Aug. 15th - Geoffrey Louis Koch - Old Rock House

http://oldrockhouse.com/event/geoffrey-louis-koch/

Aug. 23rd - El Monstero - Art Hill, Forest Park

http://www.thepageant.com/show/253/el-monstero-at-art-hill.aspx

Sept. 2nd - The Breeders - Off Broadway

http://www.offbroadwaystl.com/event/629023-breeders-st-louis/

Sept. 6th & 7th - LouFest - Forest Park
Arctic Monkeys, OutKast, Yo La Tengo, Cake, Matt & Kim, Delta Spirit and more.

http://www.loufest.com/

Sept. 12th - The Afghan Whigs - The Ready Room

http://www.thereadyroom.com/event/579187-afghan-whigs-st-louis/

Sept. 19th -Bob Mould Band w/ Cymbals Eat Guitars - Old Rock House

http://oldrockhouse.com/event/bob-mould-band/

Sept. 20th - Spoon - The Pageant
http://www.thepageant.com/show/262/spoon.aspx

Spoon's latest single, The Rent I Pay

Friday, Oct. 3rd - Pearl Jam - Scottrade Center

http://www.scottradecenter.com/events-tickets/2014/pearl-jam.html

Oct. 7th - Tune-Yards - The Ready Room

http://www.thereadyroom.com/event/622985-tune-yards-st-louis/

Oct. 12th- The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Firebird

http://www.firebirdstl.com/event/627133-rural-alberta-advantage-saint-louis/

Oct. 12th - The War on Drugs - The Ready Room

http://www.thereadyroom.com/event/575753-war-on-drugs-st-louis/

Wild Beasts - Wanderlust (Official Video)

Excellent new single off the latest Wild Beasts record, "Present Tense."

The proper way to dance to Daft Punk's "Get Lucky".

New Daft Punk - "Get Lucky"

Cool new funky track from DP with Pharrell on vocal. You can hear the Nile Rodgers rhythm guitar, very distinct style. 

Muse - Stockholm Syndrome

Kinda hard to get a sense of the skull-thumping bass in this song from the video. Moral of the story, buy a ticket and see em live. Playing tonight, March 8th, at The Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis

Five for Fighting - Earnest Piano Man

The misleadingly named Five for Fighting is set to hit the road this fall, fresh on the heels
of the release of their studio album ‘Two Lights’.  Their wistful, piano-driven pop-songs
hark an image of working-class Americans quietly pondering the state and future of their
nation.

The Band
Much like Chris Carraba is Dashboard Confessional, John Ondrasik is Five for Fighting.
He is chief singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and band member. A native-Californian,
Ondrasik studied music with his piano-teacher mother and took opera vocal lessons as a
youngster.  In melding these experiences, he sprung forth with soft and lilting melodious
tunes marked by his unmistakable falsetto.

The Songs
Most of Five for Fighting’s songs deal with that of the human condition: life, love, family
and despair. It was out of the despair of a nation, in the wake of 9/11, that Ondrasik burst
onto the public consciousness when he performed his twinkling piano ballad ‘Superman
(It’s Not That Easy)’ at the Concert for New York City. As he has become a more
outspoken opponent of the war with Iraq, Ondrasik has woven political themes into his
songs, most noticeably on the latest release ‘Two Lights.'

Five Minute Major
The name of the band is not a declaration of gang warfare but rather an indication of
Ondrasik’s love for hockey. When you get penalized for fighting in hockey you must go sit
in a box for five minutes, hurting your team’s chances in the process, thus: Five for
Fighting.

Paul Stanley - Starchild Goes Solo

A full 28 years have elapsed since his last solo album, but Paul Stanley hasn’t exactly
been resting on his laurels. Stanley has been plenty busy as frontman of hard schlock
rockers Kiss from the full-on hard rocking makeup era of theatrics in the 70’s to the
stripped down makeup-free days of the 80’s.  Still going strong at age 54, Stanley is set to
hit the road in support of his second solo effort ‘Live To Win’.

The Man
Born and raised in New York City, Stanley hooked up with fellow New Yorker and
music fan Gene Simmons in the early 70’s.  Stanley and Simmons shared songwriting
duties and were largely responsible for the band’s look and sound. It wasn’t long after
that their grease-painted faces and arena shaking anthems were resonating with the youth
of America and around the world.  The boys from Kiss won’t be joining him on this road
trip however, the house band that appeared on the reality show Rock Star: Supernova will
serve as Stanley’s backing band on the tour.

The Songs
As Stanley either wrote or co-wrote many of biggest hits in the KISS catalog, expect a
heavy dose of ‘Detroit Rock City’ ‘I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night’ and ‘Beth’ on the
set list.  The new material could be described as Kiss-lite.  You still hear those distinctive
Stanley vocals, but he isn’t shouting it out loud anymore.  Granted the man is entering
middle-age so the angst and tales of partying every day should’ve subsided by now
anyway.

Still Hip
A relentless touring schedule and constantly running from groupies can apparently take
quite a toll on the body. After two unsuccessful hip replacement surgeries, Stanley is set
to undergo a third after the fall tour.