Uncategorized – Warped Reality Magazine

The Feelies play White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey, to celebrate 50 years as a band.

Night of the Living Feelies

On May 27, 2026

The Feelies
White Eagle Hall, Jersey City
May 23, 2026

Last Saturday, I saw the Feelies play for roughly 3-and-a-half hours to an enraptured audience (me included) to celebrate 50 years of the band. The show was at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City — a favorite spot of the band to play now that Maxwell’s, the center of the Hoboken scene that spawned them, is no more. Rumors circulated that it would be their last show.

For a long time, I never thought I’d see the Feelies. I first read about them when I started to get into music, around 1988 or 1989. Spin was, at the time, an early Bible for discovering important bands to investigate. For example, I first read about No Wave in Spin, thanks to Byron Coley’s unmissable “Underground” column. I can’t recall who wrote about the Feelies, but I remember that bassist Brenda Sauter was quoted as recommending choline for touring bands to keep fatigue at bay. I’ve never toured but the advice has stayed with me ever since.

Rock n’ Roll Heart: A Tribute to Blondie Drummer Clem Burke

By andrea

On March 31, 2026

In In Memoriam, Uncategorized

The history of rock n’ roll is littered with broken hearts and betrayals. Less common are those who leave their music community better off than they found it. Clem Burke, who died last year after a cancer battle, was one of those rare birds: An indefatigable and soulful drummer who quietly, effortlessly, made it his mission to elevate and support his fellow musicians. And he didn’t do it to score points – he just did it.

Clem’s friends and comrades-in-arms put together a tribute to him this past week at Jesse Malin’s Bowery Palace, a two-night affair filled to the brim with great songs and stories of Clem’s humble largesse. (The below is only applicable to Wednesday night, as Thursday sold out in five minutes flat.) Malin and Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s got out the old Rolodex and rounded up a who’s who of Clem’s tour mates and admirers to give him a proper Bowery send-off, from his Blondie bandmate Glen Matlock to Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Gail Greenwood (Belly, L7, Gang of Four) and Tommy Stinson (Replacements).

Upstairs at the Palace, there were Clem-themed drink specials like the X-Offender (vodka, St. Germain, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda) and Empty Heart (a prosecco-and-strawberry vodka affair). The small downstairs space was crammed with well-wishers, fans, and musicians with their own fond memories of Clem.

Visualising Rema-Rema

By andrea

On February 22, 2023

In 4AD, Interviews, Reissues, Uncategorized

Rema-Rema group photo by Paul Stahl, 1979. — Rema-Rema in front of Royal Albert Hall, 1979. Photo by Paul Stahl. Left-right: Mark Cox, Mick Allen, Gary Asquith, Marco Pirroni, Max.

Until 2019, the sole recorded evidence of the short-lived London quintet Rema-Rema was a 4-song, 12” EP released by iconic label 4AD. (BAD 5, for those taking notes.) Wrapped in a striking George Rodger photo of Korongo Nuba tribesmen, Wheel in the Roses grabs you by the lapels with “Feedback Song,” which opens with a chorus of voices (no instruments) chanting the band’s name — this is the band as a gang, with a signature schoolyard chant.* At 30 seconds, the voices drop out, and a lone bass note booms out, setting an insistent rhythm met 45 seconds later by a skeletal drum pattern filling in the wide-open space. A clarion-call synth snakes through, then ringing feedback. The feral vocals return at the 3-minute mark, sailing over the grinding backdrop with staccato insistence. Each band member gets their introduction before the song builds up to a weird, gripping groove that’s as bracing now as it was in 1980, when it served as Exhibit A for a promising band with an ignominious end.

What You Could Not Visualise trailer (2023)

Category: Uncategorized Page 1 of 65

Night of the Living Feelies

Rock n’ Roll Heart: A Tribute to Blondie Drummer Clem Burke

Visualising Rema-Rema