ANONYMOUS COLLECTIVE

We went to see Japanese pop collective AKB48 at the Lincoln Theater the other night. Their performance was the ceremonial closing of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC.

How to explain AKB48...

Well, first off, there are actually more than 48 of them, when you count the “trainee” members.

While they are literally big anywhere they go, they are figuratively huge in Japan. Their bubbly J-pop dominates the charts, and they are as ubiquitous in the country as sashimi and Shiba Inus.

In a more churlish mood, I'd be inclined to point out the identikit nature of their aggressively chirpy songs. I might also have a thing or two to say about their whole sapphic schoolgirl vibe...

But my critical impulses were dulled considerably by a few glances down the aisle at Lana, who was pumping glow-stick studded fists, singing along, and screaming herself hoarse for a solid hour.

It was, she reported later, the “most exciting night of my life!”

And how on earth could I argue with that?

BANGING LIKE CHARLIE WATTS

Trouser Press, June 1982
John Hiatt
Doll Hospital/Some Fun Now



I'm afraid I have to admit that I don't know much about John Hiatt, subject of this sky-blue flexi.

I know he's been at it since the mid '70s, and continues to this day.

I imagine that if he came to your midsize town, he'd probably sell out the local. You'd go on the advice of a friend who swears by him, maybe have a couple of domestics and something off the bar menu and have a great time that you'd remember for a week.

Hiatt's impact on my listening life has been limited to Drive South, Slow Turning, and Perfectly Good Guitar, of which Slow Turning definitely takes the prize.

It's a (w)ry, Stones-referencing reflection on growing old/up that sounded swell in 1988 and still does today...