Graham Parker

Friday, May 2, 2025 at 8pm at The Bull Run

Graham Parker

on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 8pm at The Baby Grand

Sometimes an artist is anointed a "legend." Sometimes this artist's body of work is so consistently lauded, of such ongoing interest and creativity, audiences might be tempted to take the level of craft for granted. Sometimes, such an artist, after a time of flying beneath the radar, emerges with a run of stunning material ascending beyond time and genre. Graham Parker is such an artist and this is his time. Decades into a storied career in rock 'n' roll that began with his band, The Rumour, (presaging new wave, pub rock, and punk) Parker finds himself at the absolute top of his game and in the midst of an extended creative hot streak.

Graham Parker

Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 7:30PM at SOPAC

The bands’ classic 1979 release Squeezing Out Sparks cemented their position as one of Britain’s top live acts and ensured sold out concerts on their seemingly endless world tours. The Up Escalator followed in 1980, reaching #11 on the UK charts and sold well throughout the world.

Graham Parker and The Rumour disbanded after Escalator and Parker went on to forge a solo career that continues to produce powerful work including 1988’s The Mona Lisa’s Sister, 1991’s Struck By Lightning and the hard rocking Acid Bubblegum, released in 1996.

A talented writer on all fronts, Graham Parker released Carp Fishing On Valium, a collection of short fiction published by St. Martin’s Press (US) and Simon & Schuster (UK). He composed songs to complement the stories and took Carp Fishing On Valium– the Stories, the Songs on the road in 2000.

Parker unexpectedly reunited his original backing band The Rumour in 2011, in part due to the intervention of longtime fan and filmmaker Judd Apatow, who made the group a plot point in his film This Is Forty. After appearing in the movie, the group recorded an album of new material, Three Chords Good, which arrived in November 2012, around the same time Apatow’s movie was released. A concert shot for the film also received a stand-alone release on DVD and Blu-Ray under the title This Is Live. Parker and The Rumour took advantage of their new place in the spotlight by touring America and the UK in support of Three Chords Good, and in May 2015 they returned with another new LP, Mystery Glue,recorded during a six-day sprint at London’s RAK Studios.

Nick Lowe and Alejandro Escovedo | Tarrytown Music Hall | June 16th | 8 PM

But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he has no equal. Starting with 1995’s ‘The Impossible Bird’ through to 2011’s ‘The Old Magic,’ Nick has turned out a fantastic string of albums, each one devised in his West London home, and recorded with a core of musicians who possess the same veteran savvy. Lowe brings wit and understated excellence to every performance, leading Ben Ratliff of the New York Times to describe his live show as “elegant and nearly devastating.” Best known for his hits “Cruel to be Kind” and “I Love the Sound of Broken Glass”. In a trailblazing career that began with The Nuns, San Francisco’s famed punk innovators, to the Austin-based-based alt-country rock pioneers, Rank & File, to Texas bred darlings, True Believers, through countless all-star collaborations and tribute album appearances and finally a series of beloved solo albums beginning with 1992’s acclaimed Gravity,  Alejandro Escovedo has earned a surplus of distinctions: No Depression magazine’s Artist of the Decade Award in 1998 and the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing in 2006, just to name two.

Nick Lowe at South Orange Performing Arts CenterThurs | June 15th | 8 PM

Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello-Graham Parker-Pretenders-The Damned), songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart, short-lived career as a pop star, and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician. But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he has no equal. Starting with 1995’s ‘The Impossible Bird’ through to 2011’s ‘The Old Magic,’ Nick has turned out a fantastic string of albums, each one devised in his West London home, and recorded with a core of musicians who possess the same veteran savvy. Lowe brings wit and understated excellence to every performance, leading Ben Ratliff of the New York Times to describe his live show as “elegant and nearly devastating.”