Good morning!
I've held in the good news (news...oh, the many, many terrible news jokes to be made here) about this year's birthday surprise... MATTHEW GOT US FABULOUS, FABULOUS TICKETS TO SEE HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS IN AUGUST AT THE SCHERMERHORN! AAAAH, I'M GONNA SEE HUEY IN REAL-O-VISION! AAAAAAH!
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| Huey! I'm comin' for ya, Hugh! |
No, seriously, these tickets are amazing. I have been checking the official Huey Lewis and the News website (which is some modified wiki-like page? It's the darnedest thing trying to get news from it) for about five years, patiently waiting for HLN to come anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Once, he played in the middle of Kentucky, but I heard about it the night after the concert. I'm sure it's a nostalgia-circuit thing, but you're mostly likely to see bookings in casinos in Utah or the upper Midwest, or state fairs in Ohio, than anything closer to home...the man tours something like eight months out of the year, but never within reasonable driving distance of me! Now, in support of the 30th anniversary of his seminal eighties'-pop album Sports, he's coming to NASHVILLE, TN, to play at THE SYMPHONY HOUSE. Could it be any more perfect? Check out how close we are:
Background of the true love tale of Huey and me---around 2008, I got r-e-e-e-eally into karaoke. I was teaching 10th grade French at a really rough and tumble high school in Metro, was about as miserable as a human could be at that task, and DEFINITELY needed the gettin'-away, gettin'-to-be-somebody aspect of Friday and Saturday night karaoke. We went EVERY. SINGLE. WEEKEND. Matthew and our pals met up at a local bar and just ran amok for two nights a week-- who knew how into singing and being up on stage I was before this life-changing experience of bringing down the house on "Edge of Seventeen"? It was really kind of personality-defining for me. Huey is a big part of this period, the good parts anyway, as I was trying to brainstorm crowd pleasing songs for Matthew to sing and found that eighties' pop is pretty much his forte (if you've met him, I mean, this was kind of a "duh", but it's fun to see a theory work out in practice!). "If This is It" became one of his barnstorming songs, and we delved deep into the News musical catalog. Everybody knows the highlights, but I'm telling you, pretty much 90% of the HLN output circa 1978-1990 is FANTASTIC. "Trouble in Paradise"? "Perfect World"? This greatest hits CD, pulled out of a $5 bin at Walmart, included a DVD of all the videos for the hits to boot! EVERY. SINGLE. VIDEO. IS GOOFY. G-O-O-F-Y. And so eighties'. I loved the silly spirit and real musical chops of this band, but HARD.
Here is a really cool picture of Matthew from March of 2011, when he sat in as lead singer and key-tarist in Jerry Pentecost's group MAYHEM's full album cover of Sports at the Five Spot. To say this was really cool for me...well, quite the understatement. We spent all day at different Goodwills looking for the perfect primary color blazer, and finally found this electric blue one at Music City Thrift. Sadly, the best photo of him from the event is in black and white. Use your imagination!
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| ATTA BAB! |
Fun fact: I was once the only person in the entire Flying Saucer trivia night, in a room of maybe 200 competing people, to correctly match the lost lyrics "At two o'clock this morning, if she should come a-callin', I wouldn't dream of turnin' her away" to my very favorite HLN song, "Heart and Soul" (it's a competitive category, and there are some close seconds, but oh my God I love that song). He read the question and I was like, "Girl, please." One of my proudest trivia moments.
Anyway, if you yourself are a Huey fan, or just interested in what kind of memorabilia is out there, I managed to round up a couple things I like from Ebay and Etsy, to celebrate my eternal devotion to this blue eyed soul practitioner.
1) ZOMBIE HUEY T-SHIRT-- I don't think that was the shirtmaker's intention, but what is going on with his eyes here?!
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| Vintage 1980s Huey Lewis And The News Popular Prep Rock Concert Tour Mall T-Shirt |
Huey Lewis + The News T-Shirt from the 80's. Be the man AND beat the man. There are two minor holes back collar that are barely noticeable. Especially with one arm draped around the head cheerleader and your other shoulder adorned by your ill varsity jacket.
2) BUSINESS HUEY T-SHIRT: As in, I may or may not have bought this moments after finding it yesterday in preparation for today's post. I'm only human! LOOK AT THAT HAIR!
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| Vintage Huey Lewis and the News T-Shirt Tee |
3) HUEY AND THE NEWS BUTTONS: What better expression of your vintage love than through the outdated format of buttons! In high school, I remember Great Escape got a huge shipment of deadstock eighties' buttons and I TOOK. ADVANTAGE. OF THAT, SON. I have buttons and keychains for the Eurthymics, Pet Shop Boys, Bowie, Thompson Twins, Michael Jackson, Madness... there's a small box of swag in my closet that looks a little like an MTV promoter threw up in it. But no NEWS buttons! Some shipping clerk in 1983 dropped the ball on that one!
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| 1980s Huey Lewis and the New Buttons Pins - Set of 3 |
4) HUEY AND THE BAND T-SHIRT: One of the funniest things about their videos to me is the rampant usage of the ENTIRE band in the plot/execution of the clip. While Huey's "the star", the rest of the band gets more than enough air time to show their mothers or girlfriends or wives that they are actually in a commercially successful band. And that's nice!
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| Original HUEY LEWIS vintage 1985 Europe tour T SHIRT |
5) NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A HUEY SHIRT: In which the man shows off all his best attributes-- hair, eyes, eyebrows, tight black t-shirt, SUIT. Look at the wild eighties' graphic in the background too! I wish this one wasn't $100.
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| VINTAGE 80S 1984 HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS HEART OF ROCK & ROLL CONCERT TOUR T SHIRT |
6) HUEY ROLLING STONE COVER: I have this in a frame in my house somewhere. Who can resist that little face!
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| Rolling Stone Magazine Huey Lewis and the News No Labels Exc Cond 1984 |
Anyway, I am super, all the way, almost too excited about getting to see the man himself just a week and a half after my birthday in August. Some of those "Before I Turn Thirty" goals are coming along nicely! Plus I still have two full years to fit in the rest....David Bowie, I'mma need you tour, sir.
Do you have any not-even-that-guilty guilty listening pleasures? Did you have any crazy, all the way, seventies' or eighties' crushes on pop sensations? Are you a karaoke-ist? Let's talk!
That's all for today, see you kids back here tomorrow. Til then!
I hardcore loved the Back to the Future soundtrack as a kid, and it's got HLN!!
ReplyDeleteSUCH a good movie, and SUCH a good soundtrack!!
DeleteI heard a great interview with Huey Lewis on NPR not too long ago. He just seems like such a cool guy. I'd be surprised if the Mister and I don't end up at this show; the Mister's a fan.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look that up! And if you go to the show and see me falling out on the fifth row from sheer heart palpitations, you'd better say hey! :)
DeleteNever one to crush anyone's passions, this tickles me to no end. You're gonna shriek like a little girl during the whole concert! My eighties crushes were always Paul Young (does anyone know who he is anymore?) and John Taylor from Duran Duran. And many sundry New Wave boys - oh, the hair. Y'all have fun and sing along like you mean it.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, I ain't got no shame. I probably will definitely be doing some shrieking. I had to look up Paul Young ("Every Time You Gooooo....Away", right?) but Lord knows I remember Duran Duran. Hey, if Huey forgets any of the words, we're close enough to help him out in a pinch! :)
DeleteHuey Lewis was one of my first tapes. I thought as a child that the music was totally hardcore
ReplyDeleteHE'S THE MAN!
DeleteMy favourite part of Back to the Future is when Huey disses Marty's band...."You're just too darn loud."
ReplyDeleteIt really doesn't hurt my musical crush on HL at all that he happens to be cute as a button. I need to rewatch Back to the Future (for the 1,000,000 time) before the show!
DeleteMy whole family loves HL&TN! I've yet to see him in concert but I know he has played our county fair a time or two; I'm hoping that he comes back this year! Have fun!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll let you know how the show is! I always try to not get my hopes sky high in case it's an "off" night, but I am very excited to see him!!
DeleteOMG! How exciting!!!!! I think Matthew looks like a young Johnny Cash!
ReplyDeleteBTW-There are NO casinos in Utah, gambling is against the law. The casinos are located in Wendover Nevada that is approx a 2 hr drive from Salt Lake City Utah. LOL-so a large majority of people from Utah are there having a helluva time gambling & partyin-THEN they go to church on Sunday-lol!!!!!'
Aw, thanks! He's a bonafide cutie, for sure. :)
DeleteI didn't know that about casinos in Utah!! That's really funny that you can pop over the border to play Friday night and then stagger back in time for church on Sunday!