Kendra manages your payroll. She's also six weeks pregnant. Maybe it's time for a group dental plan with extra TLC for moms to be. Green from within, United Concordia Dental. Learn more at greenwithucd.com products under written by United Concordia Insurance Company. They're back! Verizon's small business days are here, October 14th to the 20th. Meet with our experts. Get one-on-one advice, a free tech check, and special offers, like a free 5G phone when you switch. Don't miss out. Call 1-800-483-4428 or go to verizon.com/smallbusiness. Offer available for select 5G phones. New device payment purchase agreement and select Biz Unlimited Plan required. Credit applied over agreement term up to 36 months. Term supply, limited time offer. This is Sound Up with Mark Goodman and Alan Light, the only music podcast that matters. Alright, that's the truth. Hey, I'm Mark Goodman. And hey, I'm Alan Light. On Sound Up, singer-songwriter and guitarist Miles Kennedy joins us to discuss his new solo album, The Art of Letting Go. And the art of juggling being a solo artist and a member of two bands, Alte Bridge and Slash and the Conspirators. Plus, we got news from Motley Crue and the Cure and all the musical madness, including an Oasis spoof from this past weekend's episode of Saturday Night Live. Awesome, all this. Plus, we've got our new Music Picks of the Week as always in some reviews from us and from you, the Pod Squad. But before we get to any of that, the clock ticking down to our first in-person podcast taping, we got our tickets, we got a hotel room. Hope so. Well, we each have hotel rooms even better. So we are days away from our first ever in-person live podcast taping, a special Rock Hall-themed episode from the actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, Saturday, the 19th, this Saturday. At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the day of the ceremony, we are there. Join us, please, won't you, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday as we tape a special Rock Hall episode of Sound Up with special guests, including you, the Sound Up, Pod Squad. Hell yeah, you better be there. Sound Up Live from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Saturday, October 19th, 10 a.m. Eastern. We hope to see you there. You can email us and let us know if you're coming. And connect at sounduppod.com. Please do let us know if you plan to be there. Got to make sure the lists are all full, everybody's taken care of. This is going to be so much fun. There's not required separate ticket, just the regular admission into the museum, and then we'll see you there. Really cannot wait. It's going to be great. All right, what do you think? Should we dive into some concert reviews? You went to a pretty awesome one. I'm so anxious to hear this concert review. I'm bummed that I wasn't able to make it to this show. Very excited that last week I was able to go see the one and only truly the one and the only Stevie Wonder in an appearance at Madison Square Garden. He's doing a brief tour, a few shows. This was the second he had opened in Pittsburgh and then this was the second night of a hand, just a handful of shows, maybe a half a dozen shows, I think that he's doing. And I've been in a big Stevie Wonder space anyway. I never know the rules of whether we're able to plug other podcasts out there, if that's good or bad. But there's a podcast up right now called The Wonder of Stevie. That's just a six part series. Wesley Morris from The New York Times did on Stevie's five album run in the '70s. That is pretty universally recognized as the greatest run of music that anybody's ever put together. So been thinking about him a lot, this show came up and he sounded great. Look, we could all come up with our version of a set list for a Stevie Wonder show, 15 different ways and still end up leaving 20 songs we want to hear on the table. So of course, you're going to second guess, you know, well, he didn't do this or that. He opened with the new song that he recently put out. Can we fix donations, Broken Heart? And then pretty quickly settled into just playing all the hits. And look, Stevie has not been in great health in recent years. He's had some. It's good to have that shot. He put on a bunch of weight, he lost a bunch of weight. I know that there were, you know, some some issues. And so that was sort of the question. But he looked good and he sounded fantastic. And I don't know, like, which song is going to hit you on which night? Yeah. Really is the question, right? Huge. He had 10-piece string section, five-piece horn section, six or seven backup singers, plus a band with two drummers. There were, like, 400 musicians on stage. Oh, man, that's amazing. So he could really kind of do all the stuff. I don't know why does one take the one thing that just leveled me was he played for Once in My Life. Now, I love that. I love his version of Once in My Life. I don't sit around thinking, man, one of my favorite Stevie Wonder songs is him doing Once in My Life. He sounded so great. And he sounded, you know, this song done pushing, you know, more than 55 years ago. And it just sounded effortless. It just sounded like Stevie Wonder singing that song. And it was just all the things you would hope it was such joy. He spoke a lot about the need for unity, about the need for truth. He didn't do us. He kept saying, I don't want to talk about, like, politics. I just want to talk about how we need to listen to each other, to be together with each other. And that really felt like the theme. I mean, of course, that's the theme of what he does all the time. It's his life, for sure. But it sort of gave a backbone to the show. When I've seen Stevie Wonder be less than great is what he just sort of everything turns into a medley, that it doesn't feel that focused. And still, there's too much audience sing along. There's too much, OK, you guys do, you know. But since we know every word of every song, like, yeah, that ain't that hard. And just the mood in the room was really, really beautiful. And he did a ton of stuff from songs in the key of life. I mean, if I was just going to rattle it off, but he did, of course, Sir Duke, and I wish. And isn't she lovely, but he did Village Ghetto Land, and he did As, and he did another star. And he, you know, so he did As. He did As. Jeez. And it was really, I feel so lucky and blessed and as we talked about with these guys, you kind of start to feel like, OK, if that's the last time I see him, because he doesn't tour that much. And he doesn't play out that much. So if that's the last time I see him, how's that going to feel? And it's going to feel great because he really did still feel as strong as ever. That's amazing. Did he do fingertips? He didn't do fingertips. He did for once in my life. He did my Shariya Moore. Those were sort of the earliest. He didn't do, I was made to love her or uptight or fingertips. Though he played a lot of harmonica. I've been thinking a lot, not to get, we got to move on. But yeah, I've just been thinking about it. It's brought up in that podcast. The way the harmonica figures into Stevie Wonder's music really is a fascinating thing to think about. I mean, what an unlikely, you think about, is this great soul singer and R&B, like a harmonica? Like, what the hell? But it really is sort of this other voice for him and this other-- And his harmonica in particular. You can identify it in two notes, that tone. And it's another way that he uses his breath. It's just such a specific and personal thing for him to feature so prominently. So I was really paying attention to that through this. But you could pay attention to his keyboard playing. You could pay attention to, of course, to the voice, to the songwriting. Look, he's, you know, he's 74 years old. He may still be going for a while. But he doesn't tour a whole lot. And again, it was just if you can make it to one of these dates that's coming up. Just go. I just want to hit my head against the wall because I blew this day. You saw something I'm going to pull. I'm going to back off and leave you to talk about what you saw this week because, again, I could go for hours talking about the play that you went to see. And I don't want you to back off too far. So I saw the play called Stereophonic. And I mean, people can see here. This is, this is, if you're watching us on YouTube, this is the set. Stop, check, please. That's it. The whole thing takes place in a recording studio. Where do I go with this? It's the story of the making of rumors. I mean, let's just come out with it and say that as much as the playwright is denying it. And as much as we know noted last week that is headed to court? Exactly. He is being sued by Ken Kelly, who was the engineer and ultimately sort of co-produced, really, with Lindsey. And here's the thing. It's not a musical. And I think that was part of, I loved it. I enjoyed it, but the people that I was with were disappointed because they're not huge Fleetwood Mac fans necessarily. And yeah, the music was fun. But there's not that much music in it. There's, you know, you hear them doing backing vocals and you see them cutting part of a song and adding the guitar or arguing over. So that part of it, the songs that are there from Will from Arcade Fire are really good. I'd like to hear full-blown songs. The difficulty, I think, is for me trying to separate myself from the reality of this story. I wanted it to be fiction. I wanted, let's just see, you know, what it's like. I couldn't get away because it is so clearly Lindsey, Stevie, John and Christine. I mean, it's so clear and meck, you know, the founding guy and he's trying to keep everybody together. I mean, it's too exact. So if that's the case, then how do I look at this play? Is it a mockumentary? What is it? Having said all of that, the performances were really, really good. I thought that the woman who played basically Stevie, I think that's Rebecca, Rebecca Jones, everyone had a great voice. Rebecca Naomi Jones, you're a curious sound that I throw you with. - They switched over some of the cast recently. - Ah, okay. - No, I'm just trying to see who's in which slots now. (laughs) - So, I mean, I would still recommend it highly. It's really great fun. It's not a musical. And if you go in looking for that, you'll be disappointed. If you go in looking for the machinations of a band crumbling, really, although they don't, it doesn't show that they break up, but the machinations of that, it's really fascinating. And to get a sense of how the dynamic is in studio with the person who's the creator and the person who's not being as creative and all of those little, little battles and all those little victories, that was all fascinating. So, I would recommend it as far as that goes. What did you think? You've seen it several times. - It's long. - It's way long. The first part of it is an hour and 45 minutes. That's just the first section. - You're just trapped in a room with these people, by sort of the nature of it is kind of nothing happens. That's what it is. And I know people who have said this is really boring. Did you feel like you have to sort of be inside it and know, okay, this is what a recording studio like? - Yes. - Do you feel like you need a level of entry to not be bored stiff? - I wouldn't have guessed that going in 'cause the people that I went with, I went with my wife and I went with some friends. We all love music. We all go to shows. It's not like they're, you know, they hate music. But yes, I think that that helps because God, for anybody listening who has been in a recording studio when it's actually happening, oh my God. I was in on some mixing sessions where they'll spend an hour, two hours, three hours mixing, 14 seconds. - It is a hurry up and wait situation when you're in a recording studio. - It is. And I mean, is it good that they create that reality? - Well, you know, aren't we? - It's the stage, aren't we supposed to sort of indicate? Because it is long and it didn't have to be. And I also think it was overwritten. - So you've both seen this now. So if they went back and changed the names of the characters to the actual names of the members of Fleetwood Mac and put the actual songs in those parts, is that all that needs to be done for this to actually be the story of Ruiz? Is it that close? - In some ways, yes. In terms of if it's just about, you know, these finite periods of the recording, in some ways, yes, that's true. I'll just say, and I don't want to go on forever 'cause I have talked about it. I saw it off Broadway and then I saw it on Broadway. I think the performances were fantastic. I think the staging and the atmosphere is... - The way that they change scenes, I thought was really interesting. - And just the feel of the room that you're in, I think is incredibly well done. The thing that fell short to me, in addition to how distracting it is to the like down to the details of the rumor stuff in ways that if you know it, I think it makes it really difficult to watch. Leaving that aside, the place that it came up short for me, the songs I think are quite good. It's Will Butler from Arcade Fire, who did these songs. And I think the songs are good enough. But I think that the songs don't connect to the personal drama enough. I mean, if you're gonna do the rumor story, the point of the rumor story is, out of all of this turmoil, this amazing work comes out. They're writing about what's happening in their lives. They're singing to each other about what's happening in their lives. You're seeing, you know, when you listen, you're hearing the back and forth between off stage and on stage. And here it's like, okay, it's time we gotta go record now and they go do a song. But you don't feel enough of these songs are coming out of the experience. And that to me is the whole, like, why would you do it if you're not gonna get that across? - That's a really, really good point. I wasn't able to articulate it in that way, but you are absolutely right. That's it. - It isn't that the songs are bad songs and that the songs don't work in the performances, the fact that they're able to carry off playing like a band when none of them were musicians, you know, before this, like when it was for the actors to do this. But I don't think you feel enough of the connection between what's going on, between them and what the songs are. And that is the magic of whether you're gonna say it's rumors or not. That is the magic of what that music is. And I don't think you get enough of that sense. - I, a thousand percent agree. And that is the connection that I did not articulate in my mind. That was, that's why this part of why this album is so incredible. Because it's a document of these relationships exploding. There's no secondhand news, you know, where are those songs that were the soundtrack to these guys, their divorces and their affairs that you're absolutely right. Having said that, go see it. - Well Stevie was in town, you know, to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Since this play started, have any of the members of Fleetwood Max said they've seen this play or anything? - None of them have weighed in on this at all. No, the first, you know, 'cause we've all been waiting to see like what's gonna happen? Is there gonna be a suit? And we talked about it last week. I don't wanna reiterate it. I do feel like it's very clear that Ken Kalei's book was source material. There are specific stories. We'd have to go into them, but there's specific details that he wrote in his book about making rumors, called Making Rumors, that show up on the stage. That's, you know, clearly I think the strongest specific action to take was from him even more than from the band. And, you know, we'll see, wow, this unfolds and how this settles. And there was talk about, I don't, movie rights were sold to Brad Pitt's production company to, you know, potentially develop a film out of this. So what does the money look like? - Out of the play. - Out of the play. - Out of the play. - Yeah, yeah. - So, you know, stay tuned to see how that's gonna, all of that's gonna shake out. And if you've seen it, and I know some of you have seen this play, certainly feel free to hit us up and let us know your thoughts. - Yeah. - First of all, if you thought it was any good or you were bored to tears, second of all, you know, all of this will call it controversy around what the inspiration is here. There's a lot going on. - Yes. - But we haven't said it won the Tony Award for Best Play of the Year. It got 14 nominations, I believe is the most nominations ever for a dramatic, for a play from the Tony Awards. I mean, this isn't just like, oh, it's this thing that's up there that, you know, some people care about with their music fans, it is a very, you know, acclaimed, hot commodity. And I still don't understand how they would have let this through without doing the due diligence to brace themselves for a response. But we'll find out. - Go see it. That's my review. All right. So... - We got a couple of stories we wanna hit. - Music news. All right. I'm excited. Actually, yeah, the cure. Remember when we had Robert Smith on our show five years or more ago who promised us an album by the end of the year? - Well, it's here. And the big news kind of blows my mind, actually. He has a reveal, Robert has revealed that he has a time window in mind for the Ben's retirement. He did a long interview with a guy named Matt Everett that's published on the website. And he talked about his final plans for the cure. They revolve around the respective 50th anniversary celebrations of the group in 2028 and their debut in 2029. The final lap begins with the cure's next world tours, which Robert aims to start autumn of next year after completing the follow up to Songs of the Lost World, which is the next album coming up. After that, the band is gonna play quite regularly, says Robert through their 50th anniversary, which they'll also mark with a previously teased documentary. Seriously, he says, I have to finish the second album. We're going to play festivals next year, but a couple of weeks ago I decided that we weren't going to play anything next summer. Next time we go out on stage, we'll be autumn of next year. And once all of these machinations and these celebrations and these anniversaries happen, he's done. He's 70 in 2029, that's the 50th anniversary of the first cure album. If I make it that far, that's it. That's the end of the cure. - New album is out November 1st. We got a second single last week, a fragile thing, another one of the songs that they'd been playing in concert, fantastic song. - I was gonna say, yeah, I love it. - There's a November 1st YouTube broadcast from London, which he says is the one show that they'll be doing for now in honor of the album coming out. And now we got the five year plan. Now, if we'd held him to the last five year plan, we got from him, we wasn't even close. So we'll see what it is for Robert to put this out in the world, but nearing completion on the second album, he had said they were, he was working on a third album. - Right. - At one point, maybe that's then the bridge to that final. Maybe it's this, these three take us to that final lap and then a bunch of touring and then 50th anniversary is where the Yang's it up. So we shall see if this is what actually unfolds. - Who do we know that is actually retired? - Bob Seager, I was just having this conversation recently with somebody who's actually done it. Bob Seager was sort of the one we could come up with who has kind of done it and held to it. - Said, yeah, I'm done and he was done. That's true, disappointing as that is. Yeah, we'll be curious. - Speaking of such things, the previously retired Motley crew back in the news, Motley crew, last week did a Hollywood takeover, a series of club shows back on the sunset strip in LA, where the band got their start more than 40 years ago. They played the troubadour on October seven, the Roxy on October 9th and the Whiskey-a-Go-Go on October 11. - Just like the old days. - Just like the old days. For the first Hollywood takeover show, which was the troubadour appearance, a garbage truck deposited them on the street outside the club before a crowd of several hundred fans. I'll just leave that statement right there. They will perform at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, which is their last currently scheduled show of the year. And then in March, we'll return to Las Vegas for their third residency, 11 shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM. - I don't know anyone who has been to any of these shows. - And I haven't seen a review, have you? - No, I haven't seen any actual coverage of what the club shows were. - Which is kind of amazing. They do three shows in their hometown, nobody's writing about it. That in and of itself is a little scary. - They did one here in New York a few months ago and people said it was pretty good. And I think this is just, they seem to be having a lot of fun, but for John V, who is the newest member of the group, this has gotta be a blast for him 'cause he's getting to experience the stadium version of Motley crew, the club version of Motley crew. He's getting to do all the things. Listen, it's a band that clearly doesn't need to go play clubs. They're doing this because it's a lot of fun. They're doing this because that's where they started. And I think for their die hard fans, it's a really cool thing. - All right. - Fine. I'm not gonna say anything about the problems with certain members. - Let them have their fun. - All good, because I know, I know how rabid Motley crew fans are and it's great, hooray. Are we gonna talk about Saturday Night Live? - Heavy music episode. - It was so good this weekend. Do you wanna start with Oasis? - Start with Oasis. - Start with Oasis reuniting in quotes on SNL and promises not to break up before their tour. It's not a hard no, it's a maybe. - Pretty fantastic imitation of our beloved Gallagher brothers from Sarah Sherman and James Austin Johnson. - Really, really good. - Sarah's accent was not great. - No, but the visual was so good. - The visual was great. - And they couldn't keep it together. They were, they were struggling. - They were laughing, they were hysterical also. It's true. - Nicely done, sure. - What was great about it though, was that they're bickering like you expect them to, but the only things they agree on during the whole skit are things that would have happened when they were like seven. - Yes. - You know, like our favorite Ninja Turner. - Right, cartoon. It was great, that was great. That was the sort of loving, but oh, they're brothers. - Closable Liam and Noel, so yes, okay. - And then Ariana Grande as the host. And she does a whole thing in the opening monologue about her not singing, which she sings. And she's great in that. And she's in pretty much every bit, every one. - I knowed off as I guess she's done previously on late night appearances, her musical impressionist skills. - Her impressions. - Oh my God. - Her Brittany, Miley, yeah. And then a whole other bit. - Her Celine. - And then her Celine Dion in a whole other bit. - Right. - Listen. - I mean, they need to hire her. She needs to be on the show. I mean, I didn't realize that she was that funny. She, it's not people, you know, people may watch and think she's funny and everything. It's not easy to do that. - And she did a lot. - Plus, she did a lot. And I didn't see her reading. You know, a lot of times you see the guests reading off the cards. - Especially if they're not actors. - Right. And people don't realize, like Monday and Tuesday, they're still writing the show. Wednesday and Thursday, like Friday things could change completely. So how do you memorize? And she's nothing but praise. - She's gonna have a big year with Wicked and all of this stuff. She's gonna be all over the place. - And finally, musical guest returning after 41 years, speaking of rumors, Stevie Nix was back to do the new song, The Lighthouse that came out a couple of weeks ago. We talked about that when it came out. - I love that song. And the live version of it, she's great. - Yeah, complicated arrangement to do live. - And obviously, she hasn't done it before. I don't think there's anything in the last couple weeks. And then Edge of 17, for the question, was what was the second song gonna be? Would she put out a new song we knew, okay, that'll be the first one. What's the second song gonna be? So she went for Edge of 17. Following a weird technical glitch, what do you think about that? When it froze on her, the T's photo of her coming in was up for a full minute back to ads, back to her, something misfired. - Right, I wasn't sure what the hell was going on. - Live TV, baby, something could still go wrong. - Yeah, but the fact that it is live TV, Stevie sounded great, was thrilled to see the new song. - I think it was Jim Gaffigan's post. Somebody posted saying, in all the years I've been coming to and seeing this show, I have never seen more cast and crew come out to watch a performance than was there for Stevie. - I love that, that's great. The excitement on set was more than anything they'd ever seen. - She's the superstar's superstar, you know? - You know, I've been working, we'll get there. I've been working on this book about rumors, doing this research. I believe it was one of the Rolling Stone editors. I think it was Angie Martell Chio, who we've spoken to before, said on a podcast recently, if you ask anybody under the age of 20 to name a rock star, to name a musician over the age of 50, the only one they're going to say is Stevie Nix. - Yeah, I believe that. (laughs) All right, man, oh man. So a lot of stuff going on. That's why you listen to us. We're keeping you up to date on all of that. Plus, Miles Kennedy joins us to talk about his new record, The Art of Letting Go, next. - There are lots of good reasons to get far away from something. If a dog is growling, get away. If an old acquaintance tells you they've got a great business opportunity for you to share with all your friends on social media, get very, very far away. And if something smells sulphur-y or like rotten eggs, you should definitely get away. That smell could mean there's a natural gas leak, and those are dangerous. If you smell a rotten eggs or sulphur odor, get far away and then call 911. Learn more at excelenergy.com/safety. - Your business needs a network it can count on, even when your power goes out. Comcast Business has you covered, with Wi-Fi backup to help keep your business up in mind. - Everybody good, lights are out. With the Wi-Fi's up, let's power on. - It's from the company with 99.9% network reliability. Comcast Business, Powering Possibilities. - Restrictions apply. Requires Comcast Business Internet, Connection Pro and Compatible Least Router. Wi-Fi feature must be enabled for wireless devices. Backup time varies and is not guaranteed. - Welcome, Miles Kennedy. It is great to have you. It's been a minute since last we spoke. - It's been quite some time. - Yeah, you've been doing some stuff. With this new record, "The Art of Letting Go," you know, I sort of find myself going to the title right away. What has led to this sort of, do I say a new approach to life? How has your attitude changed or evolved since the last record or since you were younger? What are you telling us here, yeah? - "The Art of Letting Go" is a major philosophical statement, and you can't get to that without going through some shit. - Yeah, I feel like I'm kind of starting to grow up. And so with that, trying to embrace certain philosophies, to help me navigate life a little better, you know, I think that when I was younger, maybe a little more reactive than I am now and attached to certain things. And as I've evolved, I've discovered things to help me just be more content, you know? And a lot of that is just learning this art of letting go, which is something that I wish I would have discovered 30 years ago, 'cause it's been great. - How does it manifest, dare I ask? What is this? Sounds like it's more than just about the music. How do we hear it in the music? But what does that actually mean? Rubber hits the road for you. - Yeah, well, it just means really being present and being in this state of gratitude as much as humanly possible. And I think that through doing that, it really has, I don't wanna say inform me, it's informed me to a point, but it's freed me up because I can get out of my own way now creatively. So I feel like as a writer, as a musician, as a performer, I'm not tethered to things that had the potential to kind of either derail me or just keep me from reaching my full potential, you know? And so that's something that has been extremely liberating. And once again, it's something I wish I would have discovered a long time ago, because these are things that seem, it seems so simple to some degree. Why can't I figured this out when I was in my mid-20s as opposed to somebody in his 50s? - Saving a lot of aggravation and anxiety, yeah. - It's such a simple thing, you know, the art of letting go. And that's, I've learned to let go, I mean, I hear you and we can be sort of cynical and go, oh, look, hashtag grateful, you know, ah, goth, you know? But at the same time, as you say, it is something that somehow informs your life as you get older. So sort of what Alan was going for, how did that happen? I mean, it could be, I started meditating or I started to not give a shit or I started taking smoking more pot or, I mean, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it's not something that you just, oh, wow, now I'm all of a sudden more present. - Right, what happened? - Well, it started about, probably around 2018 for me, and it was right around when I was getting ready to release the first solo record, "Year of the Tiger." And I remember I was on tour with Alterbridge, I believe, and I watched this documentary on the bus in Europe and it was about Steve Jobs, who I've always been very fascinated with. But it was a college buddy of his that, you know, they was talking about Steve when they were in college and how they both were into this book called "Be Here Now" by this guy named Rom Doss. And I was like, well, who's, if Steve Jobs is into Rom Doss, then I gotta figure out, I gotta learn about this guy. So that's kind of, that was kind of a gateway drug for me to kind of expose me to this way of thinking. And then I just started reading and listening to everything I could, you know, Alan Watts, and you know, I just kept going and trying to, just trying to improve. And then I really, yeah, meditation has been a very important part of it, just being mindful in the gratitude that, yeah, I agree, it's funny, 'cause you know, hashtag, you know, blessed gratitude, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It does kind of make me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit when I, when I, you know, 'cause sometimes people, it just becomes a thing, right? But there is something to it. I will say that. So I try not to be so cynical in that respect. - I love that the Rom Doss and the Alan Watts and all that still works. That's really, that's wild to hear. Any conversation with you rapidly turns into a conversation about logistics, because you're, as noted, constantly juggling three bands, three projects at least at any given moment between the Alter Bridge work and the Slash work and the Miles work. So, you know, this that you have an idea, you have this idea for a theme, for an approach, for an album, what do you then have to gnat, like what's the slalom that gets you to a place where you can then do that work that you've been thinking about? You know, how does it back up around, okay, well, we're doing the Alter Bridge stuff now. I'm writing towards this or Slash is going to call, you know, this time around Slash went and did the Blues album. So, okay, maybe we've got an open window. You said this is 2018, you start this, but to get to this as an album, what are the pieces that sort of have to fall into place to get there? - Yeah, you want to know you have an open lane, obviously. And so I had an idea about a year, but, you know, early January of 2023, I knew there would be this nice window that was going to open up. So I needed to start preparing for, you know, what that was going to be. And I didn't really go into it with a theme. You know, I just started because this is more of a rock record, it's riff based. I just started coming up with the music and then trying to figure out what was going to be the narrative. I just, you know, I didn't want it to be a concept record. I didn't want the, I'd done that with "Year of the Tiger" to a point I'd done that with "Eids of March." And so I just wanted to kind of have a snapshot of where I was in any given day, but a lot of the snapshots were revolving around this thing. And more than anything, it was what I talked about earlier where it was just freeing me up. I just didn't feel any sort of, I don't want to, yeah, I didn't really feel a pressure. I didn't really, I just was just, I kind of have learned the art of not giving an F, you know. And so that's been great 'cause you just do what you want to do. And what's been nice about this, this time period is 'cause everybody's gotten, you know, they have their various projects. And so this is the first time I'm really going to have a clear lane to go out and tour this and really continue to build the solo brand. So, you know, quote unquote. So that's been exciting for me. Song for song, I want to go to this new record. And there's some stuff on there that strikes me as so not what one would expect from Miles Kennedy, you know, whether it's the nature. I don't want to say just a ballad because obviously you do ballads, but the nature of the ballads on this record, I think are different. I also think for the rockers, compared to your last solo records, I'm hearing a lot more like smoke and lead guitar, not that you didn't, I mean, obviously, you made rock records before, but you know what I'm saying? Am I just perceiving that or is that real or what's happening there? - Yeah, you know, and the first two records, the first record in particular in "Year of the Tiger," I was afraid of playing too much, you know, rock guitar. - Because that's what you did elsewhere? - Exactly, it's kind of what I was known for. And I wanted to explore the acoustic thing. And I always loved acoustic music. And then on the second record, it was definitely, it had more of that, but it also had more of a blues thing and more of like Southern rock and Americana here and there. But on this one, yeah, I just felt like, wait, you know what, let's make a rock record. And I had all these, you know, as a writer, you know, I have all of these ideas and these things I wanna use, but I have a finite amount of places to use them, you know, with Altered Bridge, you know, it's Mark Turmani and I putting the music together, but obviously there's a finite amount of space for the amount of riffs, so to speak there. And then with Slash, I'm not gonna go on and present riffs. Like it's just, I come up with the melodies and come up with the lyrics, but he's got that cover. - Not that Mark wouldn't either, but it's just a different writing dynamic. - Right. - So yeah, that was a big part of it, but also you touched on the guitar thing. And this has really become kind of an excuse for me to play lead guitar. You know, I started as a lead player. I wanted to get back to just, you know, improvising and doing what I love arguably more than singing. I like singing, don't get me wrong, but I love playing guitar. - You're in a trio. - Yes. - You shine. - But did you have to talk yourself, I mean, did you find yourself going like, wait, but that's, I could do that with Altered, I can hold that, maybe that's an Altered Bridge thing. Maybe that's the thing I bring to Mark. Maybe this, you know, it's not a riff, but there's a thing like, it sounds like you sort of put some rules around yourself on the previous solo projects. Was it tough to take those away and say, this is where this is going? Okay, that's what it's going to be. - Well, yeah, because you're not, because stylistically it's closer, you run the wrist of like, you know, the lines get blurred, but I had to look at myself and go, you know what, that's okay. You're one of the writers in this one entity and you're one of the writers in the other and you have your voice, you have your guitar playing. And so they're going to be these hallmarks of the sound that are going to make their way into this if you're going to make this kind of record. And that's okay, you know, I think that for me, part of it was I was doing a lot of interviews for the prior records and I would bring, I would say, you know, I can't do that when it would come to the rock thing. I can't do that in this realm. And then I found myself getting off the phone or off the video call and going, why am I saying like, who says? Well, once again, all part of the art of letting go, you know, letting go of these prior restrictions. - I wanna talk specifically about some of the songs that where these ideas really sort of presented themselves, the single, I guess, miss you when you're gone is just vague enough. That's the right word. So it can be applied, there's a universality to it. But it's a song about impermanence. It's a song about things changing, which certainly you mentioned, you know, you're in your fifties now, it's, you know, you got some miles on you, dare I say it. So how did that hit you? And how did that get translated? You know, where did that song start from? - Interestingly enough, the song actually started when I was writing "Year of the Tiger." So I had that, you know, do onto others as they do to you. That whole thing, I had sitting there, but I always knew like, that's an important little thing. I gotta develop that at some point. So, you know, it took years for me to finish the song and, you know, coming up with the lyric was a challenge because I did want it to be vague. I wanted to be ambiguous and have multiple meanings. And it does, you know, deal with the idea of impermanence and the transitory nature of life, so on and so forth. But, you know, it's something that, you know, when it was all said and done, it just, it finally felt right, you know. And I think that that was something that I, because I knew it was important and I didn't want to just throw any lyric at it. Now, what's interesting about the lyric from my standpoint is it's actually written kind of from a muse's perspective of like talking to an artist and saying, 'cause I'm getting to a point in life now where it's like, I don't know how much longer. I want to do this forever, but you never know. And what if you just, what if you were to walk away from it? You know, part of the art of letting go, right? And, but it's the muse saying, well, are you sure, you know, are you sure about this? Are you gonna, you know, look at everything. And, and if I'm not around or if you don't have the ability to create anymore, how's that gonna work for you? So that's kind of where I'm coming from. I try to be careful here 'cause I want it to apply to a number of different things. And people are like, oh, who did you lose? Or is this about a relationship? And I want it to apply to that as well. But at least my psychology as I was creating that was, it was a little different. - The team that you worked on with on this album, are guys you've been working with for a long, long, long time. I know you're, see how you're a drummer for decades. Elvis Baskett producing is, you know, however long. What's the, you know, I can see that as, that's a sort of a safe space to go to for the solo stuff and work with people who know you that, that long and that intimately. But also, again, art of letting go, is there a pole to say, the others are set bands that are not in my control. This one, I could go wherever I wanna go. You know, was there a pole to stick with the guys that you've been riding with and, and any interest in exploring other directions and other collaborators? - It's a great question. Was Zia, because of the history, you know, Z and I, and this is really gonna throw it, throw it, you know, just throw it, how long we've been doing this. We started playing together as kids in like, 1986. So, which is crazy. So, once again, another reason I keep wanting to make these solo records is his excuse to play with my buddy, you know, and my, and, and Tim as well. He's like a brother to me. I'd love this guy, I genuinely love him. So, I didn't want to abandon that. But with that said, you know, the idea of mixing it up with like different producer or whatever. Yeah, it sure crosses your mind, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And I trust Elvis and Elvis, we've been making records together now for 20 plus years. So, it's a relationship and it's a relationship that I know that works. Now, in the future, as a solo artist, are the wheel spin in about what else could be done? Sure, you know, there are a lot of things I'd like to maybe dip my toes in and creatively and see how that would play out. But for the time being, I'm very content with this particular arrangement. As you went into this project with this sort of, you know, this sort of new realism, this new sort of sensibility, I'm curious if you noticed something specific about how you wound up coming up with songs. Did things affect you differently? Did you find that you wanted to write about different things? How did it manifest in your writing? I think that because I didn't want to make a concept record, I allowed myself the luxury of just taking a snapshot of whatever was going on at that period at that moment. So, you know, that was certainly different 'cause then you're not beholden to a certain, oh, I have to, it has to be congruent with this theme, right? So that was kind of nice. It's funny, with every record, I'm always afraid as the well dried up, you know, musically and creatively, everything, lyrically. - Do you go through that like every record? It's like, oh my God, do I have anything? - Yes. - Can I have a begin? - Yeah. - Yes. Absolutely. I'm always, as I'm about to embark on the journey, like is the well gonna be bone dry? And it was funny with this one, I was pleasantly surprised there were, there was plenty of stuff to pull from, almost too much, you know, and that's kind of what this has also become to a point is it's an exercise. So for me, because I still feel like all the ideas are coming, it's a matter of what are the ideas and you're not writing with people, you know, I'm not working with Mark, I'm not working with Slash, what are the ideas that are worth continuing to develop? So in a lot of ways, this is like a strengthening exercise for my filter, for my editing skills, like because I'm left to my own devices. So what's this song, you know, is this good enough? And there were plenty that I started, I spent a lot of time developing that after a few weeks, I was like, yeah, this sucks. What am I doing? - That's always good, though, that's okay. - Yeah, you gotta go through that, right? It's just part of the editing process. - And then I'm really curious, on the other side of the job, I'm really curious, people certainly talk so much just vocally, you know, people talk about Miles Kennedy as one of the great voices in rock. And with these three different outlets, again, these three different bands, do you approach them differently as purely as a singer? And again, the material, the selection, whatever it is, obviously you slot in differently in a different way within these bands. But do you feel like, whether it's Alter Bridge or Slash or this, like, hey, I'm just gonna get up there to sing like Miles Kennedy, that's what it is, that's why we're here. Or do you go in with a different sort of performance attack for the different projects? - I used to do more, I used to kind of partition everything, go, okay, in this realm, I'm gonna do this, in this realm, I'm gonna do this. Now I'm comfortable just being me. And this is what I do, this is how, this is my voice, this is what it doesn't do, and I'm gonna embrace that. Now as a performer, that's an interesting question, 'cause it's like touring. So there'll be a little bit of a different approach, just obviously with Slash, I'm not playing guitar. And so there's a, you know, I'm trying, keyword being trying to be more of a front man. I'm no Iggy pop, but I do the best I can. And with Slash and with Alter Bridge, obviously they're having the guitar, then they're kind of in my, it's my comfort zone. You know, it's like getting to go on stage and wear a pair of pants. So, but I've gotten more comfortable with Slash over the years as far as that goes, as far as being the guy without a guitar in the middle of the stage. And I enjoy it, actually, I love doing that. So yeah, I guess as time has gone on, I've allowed myself the luxury of just, you know, just do what you do. You don't have to be a chameleon vocally in these different, if you'd asked me that question 10 years ago, I would have said, "Oh yeah, I'm doing it different with each project." - You're facing a tour that is up next in support of this record. And at this point, you have, I've seen what like 25 dates or so? - I believe so. Something like that. Are we gonna expand here more US dates? I know you have some in Europe, I guess. - Yeah, yeah, we're gonna start in Europe and like two weeks I fly out. And then, so that'll go into early December and then we just start the states in the middle of January. And then, yeah, we'll see how it plays out. I mean, hopefully everything will go well and I can keep doing this, you know, for a few more months. - Keep doing the solo thing, 'cause I was gonna say, so what, you know, is there like, okay, this is the drop dead date when we're gonna start working on the next alter bridge record or working with Slash again. I mean, yeah. - How far, you know, do you have a three year plan? Do you have like, how does it have to work? - Actually, as a matter of fact, it is kind of a three year plan. Yeah, it's kind of everything is, which is nice as a musician is that you have, it's that, you know, kind of guaranteed. Yeah, exactly. So that's a beautiful thing. Yeah. We're trying to figure it out logistically with everything, you know, with Slash and the conspirators, you know, working on new material and trying to figure out when that's all gonna be on my end, trying to figure out when I'm gonna be able to get in and actually record my parts, 'cause I've got all this touring coming up. I know they have plans coming up in the near future, but as far as alter bridge go, it's the same sort of thing. The create thing is doing great. So they're doing that and then we'll figure out when we can get in the studio and knock out another record as well. So yeah, what's going on? One last question. I went to see Slash on his blues tour and that guy can play guitar, right? Did you wish that you were on that tour? I kind of missed you, I have to say. Well, I did get to do, he came to Spokane back in July and it was funny, like I was in my garage cleaning some stuff and I get this text, he goes, "Hey, what'd you wanna come up and play tonight?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah, but what are we gonna play?" So I just had to scramble. Warren Haines was on the bill as well. So we did Soul Shine and Slash got on that as well. And then later on, then we did with Slash, we did Crossroads. So yeah, it was-- Got a little blues in there. Yeah, it was great and I got to play guitar. So in fact, I even, I felt kind of weird. Like, I even took a solo and I was like-- Stand back, I got this. Right, right, you're looking over at Slash, like, "Is this cool?" But that was really cool. I actually really enjoyed that and I'm stoked for him 'cause I know he's wanted to do this for a while and he does it so well in the blue. He speaks the blues language legitimately. So it's been great to see this. I especially missed you when Slash introduces somebody else to introduce the band. I'm like, "Come on, if Miles was here, you know, he could step up to the mic." But, you know, it's like that I didn't realize, I mean, I know that he doesn't talk much but I thought, "Shit, introducing the band." You can, but no, apparently not. Man a few words, but I will say this. He speaks volumes through that through the guitar, right? That's what's so amazing about the way he plays is that it's just there, it's all there. Like, he's just, he has so much more profound wisdom that he spits out through that guitar, I love it. You feel like you know the guy, whether or not. - Right? - Say it in a play. - Exactly. Well, get to know Miles Kennedy, the new solo album, The Art of Letting Go. Perhaps it will be your doorway into a new life. Letting Go. - In a birthday present for Mark Goodman. - In a little birthday present for me coming up on Friday, October 11th. That's when the record is out. Thank you so much, Miles Kennedy. - Thank you, great to see you guys. - Dave's your supply chain wizard. He also has diabetes. Maybe it's time for a group dental plan with support for chronic conditions. Grin from within, United Concordia Dental. Learn more at grinwithucd.com products under written by United Concordia Insurance Company. This episode is brought to you by AARP. 18 years from tonight, Grant Gill will become a comedy legend when he totally kills it at his improv class's graduation performance. Knees will be slapped. Hilarity will ensue. That's why he's already keeping himself in shape and razor sharp today with wellness tips and tools from AARP to help make sure his health lives as long as he does because the younger you are, the more you need AARP. Learn more at aarp.org/healthyliving. - All right, welcome back to Sound Up. - Each week we turn to you, the Sound Up Pod Squad to send us your questions, your concert reviews, album reviews, whatever's on your mind to get involved. Join our Facebook page at Sound Up Pod. Stay connected to everything Sound Up related, including future live shows. - Send in your comments or reviews as text or audio messages to connect@sounduppod.com and become part of our podcast. We did receive this email from Gretchen in Texas. Gretchen from Texas writes, "It's Wednesday, October 9th, "roughly 3.40 central time that I'm writing this. "Myself and Victor spent an hour and a half "on the BBC channel waiting for the premiere "of a fragile thing from the cure. "And it was worth the wait." We then each listened to it about 25 times on repeat when the song officially dropped a few minutes later. I've been waiting for this since they played it on their last tour. Everything from Robert's lyrics to the haunting guitar solo to Roger and Simon's respective parts, complimenting each other is cure affection. That's cure perfection, by the way. Getting very wish vibes from that song and I'm here for it. If Robert was going to make us wait 18 years, at least he delivered. Awesome job, Saint Bob. Mary Kuremas to all who observe and see you guys in Cleveland, Gretchen from Texas. - Excellent. Yeah, I don't know what to say. It's great. - All right, who else? So we have a concert review, concert and venue review. This one comes from Evan. Hey guys, I finally made it to Mecca. Ever since Mark was hosting on MTV and I saw you two at Red Rocks, all I wanted to do was see a show there. Well, 40 years later, I finally did. From what I've heard of the venue, I can't say that some 41 would be the act I would expect to see there first, but they and the venue absolutely delivered. Interesting. The opening band was Many Eyes. When they first came on, the first song sounded a bit out of tune and all I could think of is their short set is going to feel very long. As they got into their set, they seemed more along the lines of a thrash band. Definitely heavier and kind of out of place with the other bands. Overall, I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again. Next up were the Interrupters. Ooh, I like that. This is my second time seeing them. They put on an absolutely amazing show. If you don't know about them, they are along the lines of Ska Punk and just bring it to every show they do. For some 41, of course, I knew their hits and listened to other tracks just to get ready for the show. I feel kind of bad that the first time I'm seeing them is for their farewell tour, but they also put on a great show. There was definitely a lot of fanservice and I think the majority of people there went way back with the band and were really enjoying themselves. I had a great time, even not knowing a good amount of the songs. That being said, the main reason I went there was because of Red Rocks and all I could say is holy F, the three bands and me all agree that that was just amazing. The way the venue and the seating are just make the acoustics second to none. I can't say enough about Red Rocks. I am so jealous of anyone that gets to call that place their home concert venue. Really, you don't have to wait for the perfect act to go there. You just have to go. You'll absolutely not regret the trip. - Yeah, I have never been to a concert at Red Rocks, have you? - I have never been to Red Rocks. - It is a bucket box. Do you have any either, Roger? - No, we might have to do our next live taping from Red Rocks. - You know what? - That'd be awesome. What a great idea. - I'll get on that. - Some 41, and that bill is a pretty funny first show to see in Red Rocks, but hey, look, whatever gets you there. - I'm sure that night was a tad different than when YouTube played there. (laughing) - Ron, I'm glad you got there. And look, that's why they do those farewell tours is for the people who've never seen them. - True enough. - Gives you a fair warning to get your shot. Don't feel bad about that. - All right, so that's the reviews. That's all we've got. The only thing we got to do here before we wrap up, new music. Let's give you some new music picks. - So Alan, let's start with you, huh? - Well, immediately I can start, okay, a couple of songs. I'm glad we've got the cure covered. And we've already had the first single is up there on our sound up soundtrack playlist, which we should remind you is there to listen to all the stuff we talk about over on Spotify. So I got two songs. One is a new single for Maggie Rogers. And I like Maggie a lot. Sometimes the songs are a little boring. Sometimes the songs are a little boring. Sometimes the songs are better than others. This is an interesting song, just a single. There was an album out earlier this year back pretty quickly with a song called "In the Living Room." That's definitely a more sort of rock, like kind of '90s alts, like almost in a Lannis thing to it, almost that sort of, you know, little affair rock band feel to this one. - Yeah, yeah. - A little louder guitars, a little louder drums, a little danceier. And it's really good. And I like this a lot. It's not the usual direction. That's a little more singer-songwriter-y. That's a little quieter from her. You know, she turns this up and I think this is a nice version of that. So I would say to check it out. And then somebody who we talked to once upon a time way back when on our Sirius XM show was Jacob Collier, this teenage phenom wonderkind when we first, you know, he was making songs in his bedroom or he was playing all the instruments. And then touring, playing all the instruments live on a stage, Quincy Jones really took him under his wing, Herbie Hancock. Those guys really pushed him forward. And other musicians love him. And he's now worked with a huge range of people. So he set out a bunch of years ago, he's done this four-part project that I think has pronounced Jesse, D-G-E-S-S-E. That's this sort of, I'm gonna work in all the different musics of the world. And he's done four volumes and John Mayer is on it, but the Bulgarian women's choir is on it. And it's all, it's everything. Last Friday, the expanded version of Volume 4 came out, which concludes the project. So it's five or six years that he's been working nominally on putting out different versions of this thing. This is now the end of that project. I think it's four new songs. One of them, which I will point you to is a song called Magic, which features Emily King, a sort of neo-soul R&B singer who I like a lot and have talked about before. And like a lot of things he does, it's kind of weird. It's sort of like an Erica Badu kind of feel to it, but it's got different parts and different weird pieces of the arrangements. And I don't fully have my brain wrapped around Jacob Collier. He's immensely crazily super talented. Other musicians say like, this is our Mozart. Sometimes I can follow the song. Sometimes I can't. Everybody in the world wants to work with him. Definitely worth kind of swimming in and seeing where it takes you. And I like this song quite a lot. I like Emily a lot and like how she sings it. But it's a lot to explore and very interested to see where this guy goes next, because this has been this sort of all consuming project for a long time. So it's the expanded version of volume four of Jesse. The song is called Magic with Emily King from Jacob Collier, and that's my other song. - Great. I haven't heard that the Jacob Collier song or better call. I'm gonna hear that one. Roger. - All right, so I know you guys are both huge metal prog fans, so I thought I'd bring this one to you. - I know you will. - All right, so we got a new song ahead, way ahead of Dream Theater's new album, which is coming out in February of 2025, called Parasomnia. But the thing about this new song is this song reunites them with original drummer, Mike Portnoy, for the first time. And I think like 13 or 14 years that they've been kind of estranged, got back together, I think last year, started working on new music, and this is the first song from that album. And it's called Night Terror, they released a video for it as well. It is a almost 10 minute opus with a six minute, of course, but they did do like a six minute radio edit. And, you know, another song where there's like two minutes of just amazing clock-like precision playing off time signature chairs and just that band truly locked in. And then, and you get all that before, you know, their lead singer comes in, James LeBury, and then you've got another eight minutes of this incredible song with some just really great grooves in it. You know, if you're a fan of bands like Russian or missing that type of stuff, they're a little heavier, but they're a musician's band. I mean, the time changes and just how locked in they are together, the performance on this song is, and it's just a really great song. So I'm really interested to see what the rest of this album is and how fans react to, you know, this, the main lineup of this band being back together after all this time. - All right. - Lark, what do you got? - I got a couple. And what I slipped into doing is I feel like I'm going like different genres each week, like last week I did all dance stuff. And I'm not, I fit in kind of perfectly between you two guys 'cause when I, this is rock. It's not, it's not heavy metal. It's not, you know, 12 minute guitar solos or anything like that. The first band is a band called The Blue Stones. They're a Canadian band and I had never heard of them. This is, I just listened to the stuff that says, "This is new music. "That's where I go." And I listen. If something grabs me, then I go for it. And these guys are a blues rock band. I never would have imagined that I was going to go back to the 70s, but these guys aren't the 70s. That's what I like about them. They are our Windsor Ontario band and I got not a ton on them except for that. Your Master is the name of the new single. So again, as Alan mentioned, it's going to be on our playlist on Spotify. We can't play the Tuck of the Tunes here, but go and check these out, all the ones that we've been talking about. The other band, this is a weird one. Trauma Ray is the name of the band. They are a Texas based band and there's sort of a revival of Shoegaze, which I always loved. And these guys are part of that new wave. This is the third single to come ahead of their debut album, which is called "Kameleon." That's out October 25th. And it's good for this time of year, this particular song called "Bardo." It's really kind of creepy and doomy. And it kind of works for as we head up to Halloween. And they are, as I said, they are a band out of Texas and they have this new record and they aren't going to come out on tour. The, let's see, do I have the band? I don't even know, it's Tarik Jafar and Justin Tessier. So there you go. Trauma Ray and the Blue Stones. - Nice, fine. - That's where we go. - Okay. All right, that's going to wrap it up for this edition. But don't forget, just days away, we are going to be live in Cleveland looking for you. If you got some time, maybe you're already in the neighborhood, we are looking for you at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We will be there from 10 until noon on Saturday morning, this coming Saturday morning, recording a live version with a live audience of sound up. - That'll be next week's episode. That's what you'll hear a week from right now is whatever it is that happens there. - And we don't really know what's going to happen. So come and see what happens. We appreciate you listening. As always, please like us on our Facebook page, subscribe to our YouTube page, email us at connect@sounduppod.com. We thank you for listening and supporting us here on Sound Up with Mark Goodman and Alan Light. (upbeat music) Sound Up is hosted by Mark Goodman and Alan Light, produced by Roger Coletti for Roger That Media, and distributed by Revolver Podcasts, theme music by Smile from Tokyo. (upbeat music) Roger That. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - At Tiro Price, our curiosity likes the way to help you plan ahead for what matters to you most. Work directly with us, and together, we can help uncover the right investments for you at every stage of your life, whatever your goals. That's the power of curiosity. Better questions, better outcomes. Tiro Price, invest with confidence. Visit tiroprice.com/investdirect to learn more. (upbeat music) - They're back. Verizon Small Business Days are here. October 14th to the 20th. Meet with our experts. Get one-on-one advice, a free tech check, and special offers, like a free 5G phone when you switch. Don't miss out. Call 1-800-483-4428, or go to verizon.com/smallbusiness. Offer available for select 5G phones. New device payment purchase agreement and select biz unlimited plan required. Credit apply to our agreement term up to 36 months. Turn supply, limited time offer.
On episode #63 of “Sound Up!,” Mark and Alan welcome Myles Kennedy to discuss his new album “The Art of Letting Go” and his ongoing work with Alter Bridge and with Slash. Alan reviews Stevie Wonder at Madison Square Garden and Mark gives his take on the Tony-winning play “Stereophonic.” In music news, the Cure announce their retirement plans, Motley Crue take over the Sunset Strip, and “Saturday Night Live” was full of music from Stevie Nicks, Ariana Grande, and an Oasis spoof. Our new music picks this week feature tracks from Maggie Rogers, Jacob Collier, Dream Theater, the Blue Stones, and Trauma Ray.
