Don’t Miss: Careless Memories @ Dodge City, 6/8/17

Posted on 06/08/2017 by Mickey McCarter

Howard Jones performs at The Hamilton on Sept. 3, 2016.

Tonight — don’t crack up, bend your brain, see both sides, and throw off your mental chains with Careless Memories! And dance the evening away as if we were at a summer music festival. Starting at 8pm at Dodge City, I’ll play artists like Howard Jones, The English Beat, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Bow Wow Wow, Katrina and The Waves, Thompson Twins, Midge Ure, and others, inspired by the summer Retro Futura Tour.

To get ready for all of it, I chatted with Howard Jones himself last week! Revisit our Parklife DC interview with Howard, and then join our listening party at Careless Memories tonight.

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Interview: Howard Jones (on Retro Futura Tour @ Pier Six Pavilion [Baltimore, Md.], 7/30/17)

Posted on 06/01/2017 by Mickey McCarter

Howard Jones performs at The Hamilton in DC on Sept. 3, 2016.

“Do you feel scared? I do, but I won’t stop and falter.”

So, sang Howard Jones in his smashing 1985 hit “Things Can Only Get Better,” which in my opinion perfectly framed Howard’s ethos. The Englishman is unflappably upbeat and optimistic, and he makes fantastically irresistible music still today.

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Around Town: Careless Memories @ Dodge City, 6/8/17

Posted on 05/22/2017 by Mickey McCarter

Howard Jones at Rewind Festival in 2013. (Photo courtesy Universal News and Sport)

Editors Note: This event was originally scheduled for May 25, but we have moved it to June 8. On May 25, we will present an evening of music dedicated to bands from Manchester in solidarity with the city after this week’s tragedy.

For the last several years, an ’80s festival called Retro Futura has presented some of our favorite artists, including Howard Jones, The English Beat, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Katrina (of The Waves), Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins, Midge Ure, and many others.

We’ll celebrate the ’80s festival circuit with these artists and others, alongside your requests, at the next edition of Careless Memories: A New Wave Party, this Thursday, May 25.

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Snapshots: Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow (@ Retro Futura Tour [Pier Six Pavilion, Baltimore, Md.], 7/30/17)

Posted on 04/12/2017 by Mickey McCarter

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Annabella Lwin at Dreamland in San Francisco on Sept. 28, 1981. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

The fascinating thing about hitting pop stardom in 1980 when you’re aged 13 — like Annabella Lwin, former lead singer of Bow Wow Wow — is that some 37 years later you might still have energy and creativity yet to tour anew. In the case of Annabella, Baltimore receives a treat when she appears on the bill of the Retro Futura Tour, replacing Paul Young on one of the dates for the traveling ’80s festival, on Sunday, July 30.

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Don’t Miss: Retro Futura Tour @ Pier Six Pavilion (Baltimore, Md.), 7/30/17

Posted on 03/09/2017 by Mickey McCarter

Today is a presale for the touring ’80s festival known as the Retro Futura Tour, which stops at Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore on Sunday, July 30. DC folks may remember it as The Regeneration Tour, but it has been reshaped and rebranded since its visits to Wolf Trap a few years back!

Visit Live Nation and use the presale code MAGIC until 10pm today to get advance tickets to see the 2017 tour with Howard Jones, The English Beat, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Katrina (formerly of Katrina and the Waves), and Annabella Lwin (formerly of Bow Wow Wow, standing in for Paul Young on July 30). Tickets become available to the public on Friday.

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Don’t Miss: Modern English @ Rock and Roll Hotel, 4/10/17

Posted on 02/15/2017 by Mickey McCarter

Modern English (Photo courtesy Kartel Music Group)

March 28 Update: Modern English have canceled this show due to the sudden hospitalization of their guitarist Gary McDowell.

From the band: “All of us, Gary especially, are very sorry to have to announce the sudden cancellation of our Take Me To The Trees US and Canadian dates. This is due to a serious illness and urgent surgery required for our guitarist Gary. Obviously we are very upset and disappointed to have to come to this decision, but without Gary we can’t play any concerts. After recovering from surgery, Gary will be flown home to England for further treatment.”

Legendary post-punk rockers Modern English are set to release their first album by original members of the band in 30 years. The band successfully funded the album via PledgeMusic.

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Music Park: 10 Top Live Bowie Covers of 2016

Posted on 12/20/2016 by Mickey McCarter

Duran Duran perform a medley of “Planet Earth”/”Space Oddity” at the Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park in Miami on April 1, 2016. (Photo courtesy YouTube)

In the past year, I’ve reminisced much on the passing of David Bowie, whose unexpected death in January marked a year of remembrances of the great musician and his legacy.

And many of these remembrances involved a good deal of dancing and absorbing live performances from wonderful artists that took the time to remember Bowie as well. Here then are 10 top Bowie covers that I saw in my time reviewing shows for Parklife DC in 2016.

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