If you're thinking Hegazy, guess again. There's a new twin sister band in town.
Meet the Spinners!
No, not the legendary 1970's R&B group, but Stephanie and Cheryl Lynn Spinner, born and raised in the Garden State, and their band, "Spinn". Oh, and they play some great country music.
When you think of that genre, New Jersey is probably the last place you think of. Yes, Eddie Rabbitt (from East Orange, no less), was a major star in the late 1970's and early '80s, but it's hard to come up with another. Of course, if you're a longtime reader of Scenes 'n' Soundwaves, you'll know that After the Reign and especially Rachel Allyn come from our state. And while those acts are awesome, wait until you hear these girls play.
We had the opportunity to hear them last month at the Chester (NJ) Food Truck festival, as they provided much of the entertainment (a legendary band from the state, Kinderhook, also played as well). While much of the material were covers (as is usually the case during gigs like this), there were some originals as well, and I knew they would be more than a cover band when I checked out their work. They have a unique country vibe to them, with Cheryl Lynn playing the autoharp.
They won a regional competition on New York's NASH-FM country radio station (Rachel Allyn, I believe had also competed in it), and took a trip to Nashville to play in the finals, along with ten other bands. Kix Brooks, of the duo Brooks & Dunn was reportedly a fan and joined the Spinn fan club.
They have been around for a few years, and have released three EPs to date. "Crazy for You" is their latest single. They have played many of the area clubs and festivals, including the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Maxwells in Hoboken (before it closed earlier this year), all the way down to places like the Angry Orchard winery in New York state. In fact, this Saturday, October 6, they will be playing at Krogh's brewpub in Sparta, a favorite spot, just down the road a piece.
While a prospect of touring with my other favorite pair of twins, Hegazy, seems far fetched, given the big differences in their music, it would be a cool idea, giving fans a taste of other musical styles. But, as they use to say in the lottery, "hey, ya never know'.
JERSEY RULES: While Spinn is doing well on the SNS 100 playlist this week, they're only the third highest Jersey act this week. Donna Missal still leads the pack in her fourth week with "Keep Lying", still bulleting. Neither she nor the song has showed up on the Billboard charts as of yet, but she is touring with a few name acts, so there's a good chance that before long, you'll see her name on the Billboard charts. Ridgewood's Real Estate storms from 23-10 with "Time" to take the runner up spot among Garden State acts.
The competition is fierce this week, with the top six songs all bulleted, four of them by females, incidentally. Missal, Elle King (who inches up to #3 on the Triple-A chart) and The James Hunter Six are still well ahead of the rest of the pack, but Real Estate and The Revivalists (an 18 to 5 jump with "All My Friends", still #1 on Triple-A) should close that gap pretty quickly. While there's a chance that Missal could stay at the top for several weeks to come (especially if she makes the charts), there could be a dogfight among the other moving songs to grab a brass ring themselves soon.
GOODBYE MARTY: I guess in this day and age, it's something that we have to come to expect as all the musicians we grew up with are in their sixties and seventies or beyond. Late last week, we lost another, Marty Balin, who co-founded the seminal acid rock group Jefferson Airplane and was the lead singer on many hits by its offshoot band Jefferson Starship, passed at age 76. He also had some solo success as well.
Balin founded the Airplane with Paul Kantner (who also passed recently, in 2016) when the members were playing at a nightclub that he started. During the band's peak years, he performed as co-lead singer with Grace Slick (although Slick was the primary vocalist and the voice behind their hits). As a member, he played at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. He also played at Altamont later that year when he was attacked by members of Hells Angels who "policed" that free concert, and was knocked unconscious.
It was perhaps because of that incident that Balin wasn't too much of a fan of performing live. The passing of friend Janis Joplin around that time contributed to his withdrawal. He left the Airplane late in 1970 after a tour, while the band labored on for a couple more years.
By 1974 many of the key members of Jefferson Airplane evolved into Jefferson Starship, headed by Kantner and Slick, and that band's first album, Dragonfly (1974) included a song by Balin on it (even though he wasn't a member). But Balin joined the band in 1975 for their second album, Red Octopus.
That album served as that band's breakthrough, and in contrast to Slick being the voice of the Airplane, much of the Jefferson Starship's hits were sung by Balin. That included "Miracles" a #3 hit in the autumn of 1975, "With Your Love" (#12 in 1976, from Spitfire), ""Count on Me" (#8, 1978) and "Runaway" (#12, 1978). Following the latter two hits (off of Earth), Balin left the band as there was confrontation among the members (Slick would leave later that year, albeit temporarily).
Balin would release his official solo debut, titled simply Balin, in 1981. The first single "Hearts", hit #8 that year and wound up #45 on my year end list for 1981 as well. "Atlanta Lady" was also a worthwhile follow-up, as was "What Love Is" from early 1983's second album Lucky.
When the other members were gradually leaving Jefferson Starship (and its spin-off, Starship), Balin reunited with former members Kantner and Jack Casady to form the KBC Band in 1986), and had a rock radio hit with "It's Not You, It's Not Me" in early 1987. But again, Balin lost interest shortly thereafter and there was no follow-up. Balin did participate in a Jefferson Airplane reunion in 1989 (and released an eponymous album that year) and then was part of a reunited Jefferson Starship in the early 1990's. Balin stayed with that unit until 2003 and then occasionally performed with them onstage until 2008.
WHAT'S NEW: Florence + The Machine's "Patricia', the second single from the current album High As Hope, leads the debuts at #58 and is another worthy track from Ms. Welch and the band. Also entering are Kungs' follow to his #1 "This Girl" from that 2016 album Layers; Two Feet's follow to "I Feel Like Drowning", "Hurt People", and new entries from Panic! At the Disco, Kurt Vile, 30 Seconds to Mars, and the Greeting Committee.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
September 30, 2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"Keep Lying"
Album: This Time
(4 weeks at #1)
|
8 |
| 2 | 2 | Elle King - Shame | 7 |
| 3 | 3 | James Hunter Six - I Don't Wanna Be Without You | 6 |
| 4 | 6 | Shannon Marsyada - Tough Girl | 7 |
| 5 | 18 | MOVER OF THE WEEK:
"All My
Friends"
Album: Take Good Care
|
3 |
| 6 | 8 | King Princess - 1950 | 10 |
| 7 | 4 | Weezer - Africa | 12 |
| 8 | 9 | The Kooks - Four Leaf Clover | 7 |
| 9 | 5 | Greta Van Fleet - When the Curtain Falls | 9 |
| 10 | 23 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Time"
Album: In Mind
|
3 |
| 11 | 10 | Jeff Rosenstock - 9/10 | 6 |
| 12 | 15 | Ed Sheeran - Happier | 7 |
| 13 | 21 | Nick Waterhouse f. Leon Bridges- Katchi | 4 |
| 14 | 17 | Spinn - Crazy For You | 7 |
| 15 | 13 | Metric - Dark Saturday | 8 |
| 16 | 7 | The Regrettes - Come Through● | 19 |
| 17 | 11 | Franz Ferdinand -Paper Cages | 11 |
| 18 | 16 | St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Apollo | 11 |
| 19 | 32 | Lord Huron - Never Ever | 4 |
| 20 | 12 | Portugal. The Man - Tidal Wave | 11 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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