Weekly Agenda: John Mayer vs. functioning rock-band couples
We say this all the time, and it’s weird. But some weeks, we just can’t escape Lily Tomlin. Or is that Lily Allen? Either way, Tomlin will be in town this weekend, onstage at the Paramount on Friday and onscreen at the Starz FilmCenter Friday and Saturday for a late-night showing of Joel Schumacher’s The Incredible Shrinking Woman. We’re glad it’s the former Lily who’ll be performing, and not the cutesy pop-star Brit—there’s only so much of that we can take. Although a Tomlin and Allen stage collaboration would be weirdly mesmerizing. Or it would be just weird, like an awkward Taylor Swift/Stevie Nicks forced duet at the Grammys.
Teams of two can work well, though. Take The Dutchess & The Duke, who play Tuesday at the Walnut Room. The Seattle-based duo is an entrancing folk-pop pairing that uses dual male/female vocals for an effect that is beating and emotional. The ’60s-influenced act so far has released two excellent albums—the debut She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke and last year’s Sunrise/Sunset—and toured nonstop between recording sessions. The Dutchess & The Duke was just here in November, but we’re not complaining. Nor are we irked that the Pacific Northwest and its rock-band couples are apparently all over Tuesday and Larimer/Walnut Street this week: Long-standing indie-rock act Quasi, which originated in ’93 as a boy/girl duo and has since added a bassist, appears Tuesday as well just down the street at the Larimer Lounge. Maybe Denver is the next Seattle. Or not. Perhaps Quasi can tell us: We’ll post a full interview with the band next week online.
If singledom is your thing—or just constantly dating drama-wrought A-listers—then John Mayer is the show for you. Mayer plays Tuesday, and in spite of his constant tabloid antics, he’s apparently still able to pull in a Pepsi Center-sized audience. He’s no Jay-Z, though. The Jigga-man will be at the Pepsi Center also this week on Monday. He doesn’t grab nearly as many headlines as Mayer does, but his hip-hop demigod control of a crowd is probably just as incredible. Behold, the power of celebrity. It’s hard to escape it.
