{"id":79143,"date":"2018-06-27T21:40:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T01:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=79143"},"modified":"2018-06-27T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T01:40:11","slug":"martial-artists-acrobats-tianjin-amaze-audience-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=79143","title":{"rendered":"SUMMERTIME POP WITH NICK LOWE AND LOS STRAITJACKETS &#8211; Review &#038; Photographs by Diane Fleischman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.df-foto.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Review &amp; Photographs by Diane Fleischman<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">It was a full house at Musikfest Caf\u00e9 Tuesday night for Nick Lowe with Los Straitjacket, two acts with very different backgrounds.\u00a0 It was Lowe\u2019s first visit to the Lehigh Valley, Los Straitjackets had performed last year at Musikfest Caf\u00e9 with Marshall Crenshaw as his backing band.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<div id=\"su_carousel_69f39d5b9236b\" class=\"su-carousel su-carousel-centered su-carousel-pages-yes su-carousel-responsive-yes su-lightbox-gallery\" style=\"width:100%\" data-autoplay=\"3000\" data-speed=\"600\" data-mousewheel=\"true\" data-items=\"2\" data-scroll=\"1\"><div class=\"su-carousel-slides\"><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8520r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8520r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_8520r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8564r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8564r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_8564r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8614r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8614r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_8614r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8712r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8712r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_8712r\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-slide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8765r.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC_8765r-182x200.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_8765r\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-nav\"><div class=\"su-carousel-direction\"><span class=\"su-carousel-prev\"><\/span><span class=\"su-carousel-next\"><\/span><\/div><div class=\"su-carousel-pagination\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">It did seem like an odd combination, Lowe, who\u2019s musical career spans over forty years as one of the players in the new wave movement, a songwriter, and producer, to be paired with Los Straitjacket, a Nashville surf rock band, who\u2019s facial identities are hidden behind Mexican wrestling masks.\u00a0 But I have to believe that people once felt the same indifference between chocolate and peanut butter, fantastic on their own, but when combined, it becomes a one of a kind experience, much like this concert.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">Lowe is out on the road supporting a new release, as he explained to the crowd, \u201cthere\u2019s going to be songs that everyone knows, songs that some people know, and some songs that no one knows.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">The set started with \u201cSo it Goes\u201d, Lowe\u2019s first hit from the mid-seventies, and when Los Straitjackets added their take, the tune came out with a little less of a punchy beat, performed much softer now, and almost echoed the sounds of Buddy Holly.\u00a0 He followed up with \u201cRagin\u2019 Eyes\u201d and periodically bopped around in \u201cWithout Love\u201d. Things slowed down for a slow classic ballad with \u201cYou Inspire Me\u201d, and then flipped to a funky jam with \u201cSh-ting Sh-tang.\u201d\u00a0 Lowe included from his new release the title track, \u201cTokyo Bay\u201d, and then turned the stage over to Los Straitjacket.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">I have to admit, I really like this band.\u00a0 Los Straitjacket is very animated, somewhat synchronized, and while extremely talented, take their shows on the chin as they added some humorous moments.\u00a0 But it\u2019s the early sixties beach-like sounding twangs they are best known for in \u201cItchy Chicken\u201d, \u201cSpace\u201d and their rendition of \u201cMy Heart Will Go On.\u201d (Titanic).\u00a0 Throughout the evening it was apparent just how both acts complimented each other to musical perfection.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Cambria;\">Lowe then returned to the stage, picked up his acoustic guitar and played \u201cSensitive Man\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cSomebody Cares For Me\u201d, with an easygoing vibe, and the audience sang along to the chorus of\u00a0 \u201cHalf a Boy and Half a Man\u201d.\u00a0 A few songs later, without any introduction came \u201cCruel to Be Kind\u201d, which fell into the category of the song everyone knew. While Lowe\u2019s vocals have remained strong, there was definitely a soft maturity as he sang this song.\u00a0 The crowd rose to their feet and gave Lowe a full standing ovation. The crowd continued to sing and clap along to \u201cI Knew<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"margin: 0px; font-family: 'Cambria',serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)\u201d, which closed the set.\u00a0 The real gems were to follow in the encore, Los Straitjacket started off with the theme to \u201cBatman\u201d, and as Lowe returned to the stage for \u201cWhen I Write the Book\u201d and \u201c(What\u2019s So Funny \u2018Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner3023'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/' target=\"_blank\" data-id='3023' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner7036'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com' target=\"_blank\" data-id='7036' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?post_type=adverts_posts&p=7036\" class=\"read-more\">Click here to read more... <\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2290,69,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diane-fleischman","category-in-the-valley","category-photography"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Nick-Lowe.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}