John Mellencamp has carried a chip on his shoulder for several years now.\u00a0 Hell, probably all of his life.\u00a0 Mellencamp tried to make nice will Bill Maher on \u201cReal Time\u201d a couple of weeks ago, but he seemed to be as uncomfortable as a tweed suit in the summertime.\u00a0 By the time he appeared on Maher\u2019s podcast \u201cClub Random\u201d several days later, Mellencamp was perhaps no more relaxed in an interview setting, but he was (surprise!) ready to cut loose with some opinions.<\/p>\n
After lighting Maher\u2019s pre-roll, Mellencamp offered up his take on smoking (he\u2019s for it) and then followed Maher into a discussion on the subject of hypocrisy, particularly as it applies to rock stars.\u00a0 \u201cIf someone called me a hypocrite, I\u2019d look at them and go, \u2018Yeah.\u00a0 Call me anything you like.\u00a0 I don\u2019t give a shit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Sufficiently warmed up, the ever-iconoclastic singer took on the Grammy Awards.\u00a0 Mellencamp is not a fan.\u00a0 \u201cI have never been to the Grammys in my life,\u201d he declared.\u00a0 After Maher said that he had attended the Golden Globes a few weeks ago, Mellencamp snapped back with, \u201cDo you know what a Golden Globe is, or a Grammy? It\u2019s fucking nothing, It means nothing.\u00a0 It means less than nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attaboy, John.\u00a0 There\u2019s no room for BS in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n
Ticket Alert<\/p>\n
As my dad used to say, Don Toliver \u201ccame by it honestly,\u201d growing up in Houston in a house where music played almost constantly, since his father was part of the Swishahouse chopped and screwed scene.\u00a0 Mixing singing and rapping, Toliver has catapulted from local to national star status, releasing multiple platinum albums and headlining a series of concert tours.\u00a0 Get ready for Toliver\u2019s homecoming concert on Thursday, May 14, at Toyota Center<\/a>, which should be quite the party. Tickets are available now, so don\u2019t wait around and be disappointed.<\/p>\n Several years back, a Flaming Lips documentary was released with the title The Fearless Freaks.\u00a0 And that pretty much sums up what you need to know about the band.\u00a0 After a hardscrabble upbringing in Oklahoma City, Wayne Coyne and company hatched a band that moved from punk into psychedelia and art rock, notching a hit with 1993\u2019s \u201cShe Don\u2019t Use Jelly.\u201d\u00a0 Since that time, the Lips have released a string of critically admired albums but have never again approached the Top 40.\u00a0 Tickets are on sale now for their concert on Thursday, May 7, at the White Oak Music Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you can book two consecutive nights at Toyota Center, you\u2019re doing something right.\u00a0\u00a0 First up, Rapper J. Cole<\/a> will perform on Wednesday and Thursday, September 16 and 17. After a night off for the crew at Toyota Center to recover, Kevin Parker\u2019s rave aggregation Tame Impala<\/a> will roll in for shows on Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20. Tickets for all concerts are on sale now and going fast.<\/p>\n During the New Wave era, the Psychedelic Furs always had a distinctive sound, with Richard Butler\u2019s vocals enveloped in an appealingly murky instrumentation.\u00a0 No warbling tenors with funny haircuts here!\u00a0 Presales are in progress for the band\u2019s show at the House of Blues<\/a> on Saturday, May 23, with the general ticket sale coming up on Friday.<\/p>\n British traditionalists Mumford and Sons will perform at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion<\/a> on Thursday, October 1, in support of their latest album, Prizefighter.\u00a0\u00a0 The record represents something of a departure for the band, including collaborations with artists like Christ Stapleton, Hozier and Finneas (Billie Eilish\u2019s older brother and songwriting partner).\u00a0 Presales are currently available online, and ticket access for those without the proper type of credit card begins on Friday.\u00a0 By the way, Marcus King, a tremendous young blues singer and guitarist, will be opening the show, so get there early.<\/p>\n Concerts This Week<\/p>\n Sue Foley is known as \u201cthe Ice Queen,\u201d but not because she is aloof and unemotional.\u00a0 No, it\u2019s just a reference to her admiration for Houston bluesman (Yates HS, represent!) Albert Collins, who made his mark with songs like \u201cFrosty,\u201d \u201cThaw-Out\u201d and \u201cSno-Cone.\u201d\u00a0 Foley and her pink paisley Telecaster have loomed large on the Texas blues scene for years, but recently she has begun to explore acoustic sounds played on a flamenco-style guitar.\u00a0 You can hear both sides of Foley\u2019s musical personality on Thursday at the Mucky Duck<\/a>, where she will play two shows, early and late, so those who don\u2019t like to stay out on a school night can still make curfew.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Friday, guitarist Ana Popovi\u0107, the \u201cSerbian Scorcher,\u201d will play a concert at the Dosey Doe Big Barn<\/a>.\u00a0 While she never strays too far from her blues roots, Popovi\u0107 is not afraid to mix things up a bit, throwing in dollops of funk and rock as circumstances dictate.<\/p>\n After establishing herself with a stint fronting the Boston band \u2018Til Tuesday (\u201cVoices Carry\u201d), Aimee Mann embarked on a solo career, initially recording for Epic and Geffen Records before telling the latter to honk off after the company refused to release her album Bachelor No. 2, believing that it was not sufficiently commercial.\u00a0<\/p>\n Consequently, Mann began selling records at her shows, EP\u2019s that she had pressed herself, characterizing the strategy as a \u201cDIY fuck-you-record-company-I\u2019m-selling-it-myself move\u201d in an interview with Stereogum.\u00a0 Never afraid to chart her own course, Mann will perform on Saturday at the Heights Theater<\/a>.\u00a0 \u2018Cause Knowledge is Power:\u00a0 Mann has appeared as an actress in The Big Lebowski (she was one of the nihilists), \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer,\u201d \u201cThe West Wing\u201d and \u201cPortlandia.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n