Southern Rocktoberfest hits the NYCB Theatre at Westbury tonight and based on what I saw on Ticketmaster it will be asparsely attended event. I bought a twenty dollar ticket a few months back for this show which now looks like a promoters nightmare. This venue in the “full round” is going to be as empty as it’s ever been. There are some great songs in these bands’ catalogues but I fully expect most original members to be long gone. Lower ticket prices or a change in location such as The Paramount might have increased crowd size and the sudden chill in the air on a late October Thursday will not help walk up business. Whoever is paying the performers For tonight’s festivities is flirting with  (financial) disaster.

The second sold out night of the Tribute to T. Rex concert at City Winery Monday, while well intentioned and enthusiastically performed by a mostly little known group of artists with the Patti Smith Group rhythm section on bass and drums, ran too long and, after veering off track midway through for a variety of reasons, ultimately left me flat. Suzanne Vega and Loyd Cole were the best known artists of the bunch and while the acts seemed to be having fun I began to get bored as the show wore on. A teenager from the great Northwest flew in to perform after apparently being “discovered” performing Marc Bolan songs on You Tube, which was an interesting twist but I bailed before the encores and headed home having seen enough this night.

Telegram Sam

Rock on!

GQ