Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my dream event!!!  That’s right, Austinist is sponsoring a Yacht Rock Hoot Night at the Mohawk on Wednesday.  It’s good to know that young people are keeping this shamefully awesome genre alive.  As you may know, yacht rock is soft rock that was created by mostly Southern California studio musician-types in the mid 70s to early 80s.   The most prominent yacht rock artists include Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Toto, Hall & Oates, and my personal favorite, Michael McDonald.  I think of it as dentist office music, but research shows that it may also be referred to as “grocery store music”.

I love yacht rock and I bet you do too…you’re just ashamed to admit it.  Open Hawaiian shirts, deck shoes, and smooth music.  What’s not to like?  So, come down to the Mohawk on Wednesday night for some live yacht rock covers, costumes, yacht rock karaoke, and prizes.
Cross your fingers that someone will cover “Eye in the Sky” by the Alan Parsons Project.  Oh, and leave your shame at home!

Follow up note:  I never do reviews on here, but I think this event needs a public shaming.

Pop quiz:  Which of these things is not like the others: Kenny Loggins, Human League, Michael McDonald, Hall & Oates?  If you guessed Human League, you’d be right, but that didn’t stop the organizers of the Austinist/Mohawk Yacht Rock Hoot Night from letting people sing outside the theme.  I was really excited about the Yacht Rock Hoot Night, and it started out great (a little Toto, Michael McDonald, a great karaoke version of “Eye in the Sky”, and some excellent costumes), but quickly turned into a lame, regular karaoke night with a duet of “I Had the Time of My Life” followed by “Proud Mary”.  Yacht rock?  I think not.
 
If you want to host a regular karaoke night, fine.  However, if you claim to be hosting a Yacht Rock event, try and stick with the theme and send those cheese ball karaoke regulars up the road to Common Interest if they want to sing “More Than a Feeling”.  It’s as simple as limiting the karaoke song choices to yacht rock only.  I came for some very smooth tunes, and left very disappointed.    Next time, stick with the theme – or don’t have one.

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If you can get past the grammatically incorrect title, you should go see Can’t Hardly Wait at Alamo Ritz Girlie Night this Tuesday (I realize that “Can’t Hardly Wait” is also the title of a Replacements song, but that doesn’t make it ok).  I don’t like this movie as much as the last Girlie Night screening I attended, Empire Records, but I think anyone who went to high school in the 90’s will probably enjoy it.

Can’t Hardly Wait stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, post- Kids Incorporated and Party of Five and pre- Ghost Whisperer.  Ethan Embry co-stars, and who doesn’t love him?   You also have Seth Green, Melissa Joan Hart, Lauren Ambrose, a slew of other jocks, nerds, and cheerleaders, an end of high school party, and some unrequited love.   What does that spell?  Predictable and fun high school movie!

p.s.  Soundtrack is 90s-tastic.

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I’m not ashamed to say on a public website that I love Jack’s Mannequin.  Sure, their music is kind of emo.  Yes, they appeared on “One Tree Hill” (hey, Sonic Youth was on “Gilmore Girls” which proves that cool bands can appear on CW shows).   But, I think the band, mostly driven by frontman and songwriter Andrew McMahon, is really good.   If you like piano pop rock, you might think so too.  Lucky for us, Jack’s Mannequin is playing Sunday at Stubb’s with openers Matt Nathanson and Erin McCarley.

The shows are high energy, the songs are catchy, and the newest album, The Glass Passenger, is solid from beginning to end.  It seems like they’re gaining popularity fast, since they’ve gone from a sold out show at Antone’s to playing at Stubb’s in just 6 short months.

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