Date: Fri 01-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Road-1998-Pumpkins-Spinelli

Full Text:

ON THE ROAD/SHANNON HICKS: The Best & Worst Of 1998

(with photos)

Like the Cranberries said years ago: Everyone Else Is Doing It, Why Can't We?

Here for your reading pleasure, the fourth annual Top Ten Best & Worst Lists

for 1998. These are in no particular order.

Good Things To Remember

(1) BILLY JOEL, who, even with a scare earlier in the fall where he had to

postpone a September show, returned in December for his fourth sold-out show

of 1998 at the Hartford Civic Center. This tour by the Piano Man was easily

one of the best concerts to visit the state this or any recent year.

(2) Also doing a fourth straight sold-out show this year, only his shows come

at a once-a-year pace, was JIMMY BUFFETT, who visited the Meadows Music

Theatre in Hartford for the fourth summer in a row. Parrotheads loved him all

over again.

(3) CORY ROBERT SPINELLI, who joined his big sister, Danielle, and the rest of

his family in this big ol' world, on May 12.

(4) The X-Files goes big screen!

(5) I'll admit when I'm wrong, and after all my kvetching about waiting

forever for HOLE's long-long- long awaited follow-up to Live Through This ,

Courtney Love and band released Celebrity Skin . Not only did the band release

an album, but it's a very good one! And not only that, but the band then hit

the road last month and came to Danbury's O'Neill Center on December 4.

(6) Moody's Diner & Motel, on Route 1 in Waldoboro, MAINE -- truly

Vacationland. (Also "discovering" Camden, Me., a few miles further north. Long

live The Smiling Cow and Cappy's Chowder House!)

(7) Whether you've always enjoyed the original recordings or just began

listening to their contemporary counterparts, zoot suit skeedoo and whoopee

doo! Let's give thanks for the return of GLENN MILLER and COUNT BASIE's

popularity thanks to a strong boogie woogie/Big Band revival led by the likes

of THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA, THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS, BIG BAD VOODOO

DADDIES and INDIGO SWING, among them.

(8) Two words: JOHN GLENN!

(9) THE LILITH FAIR, which returned not only to the Meadows Music Theatre on

July 11, but also to the top of the list of the summer's most successful

touring festivals for the second year in a row. Performances in Connecticut

came from SARAH McLACHLAN, NATALIE MERCHANT, IMANI COPPOLA, HEATHER NOVA and

even Connecticut's own DONNA MARTIN.

McLachlan not only continued a very popular festival tour, but also an

extremely gregarious donation of proceeds from ticket sales on every stop of

the tour. This year, on behalf of the tour and taking $1 from each ticket sold

before the July 11 show started, McLachlan donated over $13,000 to Hartford

Interval House.

And (10) there was also the continuation of radio 104 BIG DAY OFF events (or

the similarly themed Jingle Bell Jam in December) at places like the Meadows

Music Theatre and Bushnell Park in Hartford, and Oakdale Theatre in

Wallingford. These events, sponsored by the Hartford-based alt-rock radio

station, bring concertgoers a rather sizable roster of bands for $20 a pop. In

1998, radio 104 sponsored concerts that presented the likes of SQUIRREL NUT

ZIPPERS, MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES, GARBAGE, FUEL, THE AMAZING ROYAL CROWNS, and

a ton of others.

Because I like to see more positive than negative, let's continue with some of

the better events that marked 1998: there was the IRELAND PEACE ACCORD; hurray

for ALISA MAHER & DENNIS LYONS, who became engaged on August 8; the TOWER OF

POWER St Patrick's Day show at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury; the GREG BROWN

concert at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, November 12; a nice feather in his

cap: Newtown resident and bluegrass king ROGER SPRUNG played the opening set

for WILLIE NELSON when Nelson performed at the Ives Center in Danbury during

the summer; the smart thinking by organizers of WestConn's annual WestFest

Weekend, which moved a show by THE VIOLENT FEMMES that was to have been played

outdoors at the Ives Center indoors to Tuxedo Junction, just across town,

after a week of rain that continued the day of the show on May 9; and this

year, two sold-out shows by DAVE MATTHEWS BAND at the Meadows, July 31 &

August 1.

The Bad Parts of 1998

(1) A planned series of 20 free outdoor concerts that SMASHING PUMPKINS wanted

to put together across the country fell through. (However, the 15 charity

shows the band did manage to perform, and the $2.7 million proceeds produced

by the shows, netted donations for a number of charities across the country.)

(2) Two words: Linda Tripp. That woman gives being a so-called good friend a

bad name. The other three words that would accompany this entry would be The

Monica Ordeal.

(3) Losing FRANK SINATRA. Also ROY "The Singing Cowboy" ROGERS, who joined

Trigger in that Great Rodeo in the Sky this year, among other people who

passed away in 1998.

(4) Less than one year after music returned to The Chat House in Newtown (on

January 24), the coffeehouse's owners had to pull up stakes and close the

coffeehouse completely (Christmas weekend). That's Newtown's loss, yet again,

for a live music venue.

(5) The temporary -- one hopes! -- halt on the JAZZ SERIES AT McLAUGHLIN

VINEYARDS in Sandy Hook. That has always been a wonderful place to hear music,

relax with friends and family, and enjoy some terrific music.

(6) THE SPICE GIRLS brought their act not only to the country, but also to

Connecticut (July 3, Meadows Music Theatre) and showed us all how bad they

really are live.

(7) JOURNEY replaced its lead singer, Steve Perry, with Steve Augeri, who used

to sing with Tall Stories. Augeri was good with Tall Stories, but he's no

Steve Perry. Consequently, the band really doesn't sound like Journey any

more, which we learned in October when the band performed at the Oakdale.

(8) EL NINO, which may have given us a mild winter, but wreaked havoc

elsewhere, including statewide fires in Florida, a deadly heatwave in the

Midwest, and a brutally mortal tidal wave in New Guinea.

(9) A few abstract negatives: Gidget, a/k/a THE TACO BELL CHIHUAHUA;

TAMAGOTCHIS and FURBYS; and the continued selfishness of professional sports

players who go on strike because they want more money to play a game for a

living. I have no compassion for the NBA, neither the players nor the owners.

And (10) MARILYN MANSON.

Until next week, I'll be seeing you... on the road!