Welcome back to Pop Loser! This week, the former CEO of the Onion bought the Crocodile (good news, I think!), Phoebe Bridgers says “no phones” at her upcoming tour, and Madonna opened a dance floor in the middle of Times Square. I will share dispatches from the Bob Dylan concert. Plus, I’ll let you in on the most underrated pop song of the 1960s.
Subscribe to Pop Loser here!
This Week in Music:
The Crocodile Plots Its Future: Stranger contributor Dave Segal investigated the sale of the Crocodile this week to talent manager Jimmy Miller and the former CEO of the Onion, Mike McAvoy. Among the plans for the venue are stabilizing finances (the club is currently $1.6 million in debt) and reopening the basement venues (fka Madame Lou’s and Here-After). The new owners maintain that programming will not be affected and that the Crocodile will remain a music venue, with occasional comedy shows.
Bob Dylan brought his Long Hot Summer tour to Woodinville over the weekend, gagging fans by opening with “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” on night one, a track from The Basement Tapes, which he hasn’t played in 14 years. Unfortunately, he didn’t play it when I saw him on night two, but he did not disappoint. Dylan shuffled out on stage from the shadows in a white windbreaker with his hood up—his signature look these days. The bulk of his setlist consisted of songs from Rough and Rowdy Ways and a few covers (Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Eddie Cochran). The real treat was that he pulled his guitar out four times, which is almost unheard of for Dylan, who largely stopped playing guitar at his live shows in the 2010s. (He’s claimed this is because he can’t find a pianist that he likes to play with, but others speculate that arthritis and/or back pain are the primary reasons he sticks to the keyboard.) A refreshing element of the show was the strict no-phone policy. Instead of my view being blocked by hundreds of fans watching through their phone screens, I saw people with binoculars. I love to see it!
Smash your cell phone. Phoebe Bridgers closed out her mini tour at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, which featured $1 tickets and a strict no-phone policy. “If any of you figured out how to stick an Apple Watch up your ass or whatever to record, just please don’t put it on the internet,” Bridgers pleaded to fans. The indie folk angel has since announced the Lost Tour, which is coming to the Climate Pledge Arena on Oct 23. It’s unclear whether the ticket prices will remain $1, but Bridgers has made it clear that there will be no phones.
Do you disagree with no-phone policies? Allow Chrissie Hynde to bully you into submission. “It reminds me of monkeys wanking in full view of the people standing around their enclosure,” wrote Hynde in a letter to her fans. “And frankly, in that case, people deserve to be wanked at because monkeys should not be in an enclosure in the first place… however, an artist on stage…?”
This Week in Madonna: The queen of pop debuted the newest track from Confessions II (out July 3),“Love Sensation,” with a free live performance in Times Square, in collaboration with Grindr. Then, on Monday, Madge premiered a 10-minute short film to accompany the upcoming album. Chock-full of celebrity cameos (Kate Moss, Sabrina Carpenter, and Julia Garner, to name a few) and Easter eggs, the film is a meditation on her legacy and her future.
Music Events Worth Your Hard-Earned Money This Week:
Hunx and His Punx, Slippers June 10, Clock-Out Lounge, 8:30 pm, 21+
lowercase, Thrones, Caustic Resin June 10, Barboza, 7 pm, 21+
Cherry Pick, Rat Utopia Experiment June 11, Black Lodge, 7 pm, all ages
The Lemon Twigs June 11, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Pansy, GOOD GRIEF, Aimee Lefkowicz June 11, Conor Byrne, 8 pm, 21+
Ghost Fetish June 12, Clock-Out Lounge, 9 pm, 21+
Plash, Lemon Boy, séhee June 12, Baba Yaga, 6:30 pm, all ages
Belle & Sebastian: 30th Anniversary Tour, Performing “Tigermilk” June 13, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
DJ Baby Van Beezly Presents: Pu$$y Paradise June 13, Baba Yaga, 10 pm, 21+
Belle and Sebastian 30th Anniversary Tour, Performing “If You’re Feeling Sinister” June 14, Woodland Park Zoo, 6 pm, all ages
TsuShiMaMiRe June 14, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+
Choker June 15, Neumos, 7 pm, all ages
Kid Cudi, Big Boi, Dot da Genius June 16, White River Amphitheater, 6:30 pm, all ages
The Songs That Keep Me Up at Night:
This single from English producer, DJ, and singer-songwriter Nia Archives evokes early Windows screensavers, Poo-Chi robodogs, and Y2K futurism (as one YouTube commenter put it, “This sounds like that early 2000’s future we were promised but never got.”). I’m so excited to hear the rest of the album, Emotional Junglist, out July 24, and I think you will, too, especially if you like any of the following: PinkPantheress’s to hell with it, PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, or Björk’s Telegram.
“I’m Coolin’ No Foolin’” by Lesley Gore
I first heard this song sampled in “Stay Monkey” by Julie Ruin (Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna’s 1997 solo project) when I was a teenager. Nowadays, I have to be in a very specific mood to pull out my riot grrl records, but my love of Lesley Gore is evergreen. Her 1964 song “I’m Coolin’ No Foolin’” is mysterious, sexy, timeless, and deeply underrated. The ideal way to listen to this song is in an elegant nightgown whilst sipping a martini.
