Tony Powers: Press

By: Manq -- Rate Your Music Blog<> <>
Here is the disclaimer right here. Let’s just get this out in the open. This is my review of Who Could Imagine from Tony Powers. An album that contains a reworked, rerecorded version of a song so great, that if I wound up on deserted island dodging Komodo Dragons and busting open coconuts I would want it with me by whatever means available, IPOD, cd, cassette tape, etc. That song being, "Don’t Nobody Move (This is A Heist)." It’s just become a part of me. No matter how many times I hear it, it makes me laugh, it makes me sing, it makes me shake my tookus around, and damned if it doesn’t make me think abut shit too. Could you ask for more in a five minute pop song?

I came across this song around 2001 or 2002 while hooking up with a pal in Vegas. He graciously offered to let me hook up my IPOD to his laptop and click and drag as many songs as my little portable hard drive would hold. So, I proceeded, asking a ton of questions about this artist and that. When I asked about Tony Powers, he laughed and said that DNMTIAH was an old classic that they would sometimes throw on at bar time in First Avenue after the club music, perhaps to chase the sheep out, perhaps to celebrate the end of the dance music madness and to usher in whatever the after hours may hold for those willing to seek out more for themselves. Well, I took to the song like a shark to chum and haven’t released my grip ever since. It’s a a keeper. It’s a fav. You get the point.

So, not long after that Mr. Powers name would come up in my conversation tween me and my pal. He became an enigma of sorts. Every once in awhile. after hearing my song, I’d go on a manic search. But each time I didn’t get very far. I usually wound up on some long neglected message board with a few other fans of the man and his music looking for more info, more music, a copy of a video that had been played on USA’s “Up All Night” program, etc.... Perhaps it was the time. Because this was a time before youtube, before myspace became a thriving musical tour de force. Perhaps I was one or two digits from finding the info I was looking for. I did learn that Tony established a niche for himself as an actor in some notable TV shows and films such as Goodfellas. But all this was an after taste for a meal I hadn’t sat down to eat yet. Sheesh.

Well, fast forward to 2008 and please extend my gratitude for the umpteenth time to Al Gore for ahem..inventing the internet. In some kinda weird Truman Show-esque turn of events I actually got a a hello notice from one Tony Powers right here on RYM. I was a little blown away. And happy to find out that he is alive and well right here in sunny Los Angeles, CA. It gets better...he is still creating music. A little care package arrived in the post for me. And I promised Tony that I would write something delicious about him and his new opus right here.

The new opus being 2007’s Who Could Imagine on Virtual Goose Records. 17 songs....I’m not really into numbers but I’ve always had a thing for 17. But I digress and that’s for another time kids. I’ve been a busy little buddy lately mostly with the jobby job keeping me glued to my chair and being stressed out over the usual mundane workplace madness. If you read up Tony Powers at tonypowersmusic.com or what have you, you will learn that he is an established songwriter from back in the day. So, I was very curious to hear what has been cooking up on this new full length collection.

The disc starts out on a serious note with the opener How Do Ya. I was driving down Sunset one nite drinking it, coming up with my own meaning. You know..making it all about me. As, it stands I gave the companion video a viewing just hours later and saw the intended message behind the song. It’s a reality sammich for all of us. Served up cold. Tony’s grave, nearly speaking voice lets you draw your own conclusions. But the video is a compelling piece, a state of the nation address. Shame on George Bush. Shame on You. It’s a song to be absorbed more than enjoyed. A ballsy first song. But it sets the tone and let’s you know that there is some serious shit up ahead.

Song # 2, Cartoon, jumps head first out your speakers. It’s got the big band swing and beat. David Lee Roth never had it so good. It’s the street smart Tony we know we know from DNMTIAH, calling us all baboons and asking is this the feature or is this a cartoon? Ha Ha. Funny stuff and toe tapping good. You got themes of the everyman in Disposable. What’s up with this guy...has he been spying on me? It’s equal parts espionage and admonishment...“We simply toss and replace.” Disposable times indeed. The song has a straight ahead rock feel but cleverly morphs into a near circus parade sendup as the outro.

We get a reworked Don’t Nobody Move that is fuller sounding. A little snappier. Damn. Maybe even ....better? It’s pretty faithful to the original. Still among the finest songs ever written. I had it on one day at work and one of the twenty somethings sauntered in while the sax solo was blowing. “What is the closing music to SNL?”, he piped. Move along youngster!!!

You won’t find any Political Correctness on “The Old Right Winger Blues” as Tony Powers drops the “N” word. Holy shit. He said it. I doubt many of today’s young tatted up wannabe hipsters have the stugatts to pull that off. But damn it you’ll hear it right here in this fine blusey send up.

The sweet ballad Lorraine contains something. Some slight smidgen of melody or something, maybe the pretty acoustic guitar solo that totally reminds me of Willie Nelson’s September Song off of Stardust. Beautiful.

The barrel house swagger of Etiquette is another golden nugget with a lot of quotable lyrics about farting in elevators and KY jelly while the drunken background sing along pleading for “Abby” of Dear Abby fame is priceless.

Sadly is another reflective ballad with a sweet electric guitar solo from Peter Andrews. It’s good thought provoking albeit heavy stuff. No punches are being pulled here. And sadly it is an apt description of where the USA finds itself on unsavory footing these days.

Man...Goin’ Into Space...if there was any justice this would be played n MTV all day long. Does MTV even show any videos anymore? I ditched my TV four years ago and haven’t looked back. Tony’s voice so suits this music. Kriminey.....is that samba???? It’s party music carrying on the desolate theme. “It’s great day for the human race. We are all done here. Let’s go fuck up some other place. La La La La.....” Fooking classic. And how fooking sad of me to say so.

The existential, “The Answer” is pure poetry. All I can say is that you are not alone Tony!!!! Joe’s Theme and Cradle To Grave continue on with some fine balladry and Tony really exercises his pipes on Joes’ Theme. Who Could Imagine concludes with a simple yet grand statement with Nothin’ But My Time. I read the lyrics and I think I learned something. Now to just hold on to that lesson every single day..... Ha. I’ll have to play this over and over.

I’ll wrap this up with saying that this is a very cohesive record, it’s got sharp insights and grand statements, it’s got melody, it’s got a range of musical styles spanning the pop spectrum, it’s got a unique vocalist with quite a lot to say. And speaking of vocalist...Tony’s got an interesting style. He’s no doubt got the pipes to be a crooner of the standards from a time bore I was born. But...when he intones with that Leon Redbone like warble laying it down like a wizened alley cat, man......he’s the best.

Yeah baby....

Thursday, May 8, 2008
Powers That Be: New album and videos on YT from Tony Powers

A few weeks back I wrote a blog entry about my decades-long fascination with Tony Powers’ great song and video ”Don’t’ Nobody Move (This is a Heist).” I should note that Tony’s latest album is a welcome return for this “mystery” figure whom I had thought of as a “character actor who occasionally makes music,” but is really a one-time million-selling pop tunesmith who has been doubling as both an actor and a singer-songwriter who’s equal parts bright and literate, and streetsmart wiseass.

The album, called Who Could Imagine, finds Powers working in a number of pop genres, from old-fashioned ballad (“Lorraine”) to proto-Calypso (“Goin’ into Space”). As such, the album functions almost like an actor’s “demo reel,” showing how Tony the songwriter can channel his talent to fit a number of different moods. In reading about Tony online, I found that some of the songs were in fact written a few years back (and, yes, the classic “Don’t Nobody Move” gets an ever-so-slight update here), but they fit right in with these ever-so-fucked-up times. In line with the current era, Powers aims for the jugular with a few socially-conscious songs, including “Sadly.”

Powers is working in the same vein as Carole King, Leonard Cohen and (especially) Tom Waits throughout, but I have to aim my focus squarely one more time on his ability as an urban sketch artist. His “Cartoon” offers a very nice and quite accurate review of livin’ in this very burg (although I hear that now TP inhabits the car-choked climes of L.A.): “The train is late 'n the/air-conditioning’s broke./And I’m wedged between/these two fat fucks whose/clothes are soaked./Is this the life?/All the people in Commercials/have so much fun,/a bunch of happy baboons/Is this the life?/Or are we just in rehearsal?/Excuse me — is this the feature/or is this the cartoon?”

Powers is a cult figure and, from what I’ve been reading, a “musician’s musician.” As such, I guess Who Could Imagine confirms that he is indeed a very cool tree falling in a very hip forest. Yez all should give a listen — the lyrics are on Tony’s site, and you can hear the first 2 minutes or so of each song on via the CD Baby site.

And just because this is a visually-oriented blog, I’m happy to report that the other two music-vids that Powers made back in the Eighties are up on YouTube. The first is a whole ’nother slice of NYC location shooting: Tony in a romantic mood with actress Lois Chiles on the Staten Island Ferry for the song “Odyssey” — which was later covered by KISS!



“Midnite Trampoline” is a two-part gem (at least on YouTube) that finds Powers playing a gigolo who isn’t quite… up to the demands of his profession (check out his ginzo buds, one of whom is played by a very young and svelte John Goodman). The video may not be as much of a shock to the system as “Don’t Nobody Move,” but it’s a nice piece’a lightly comic filmmaking that harkens back to the time when videos could be unpredictable in wonderful ways

Who Could Imagine
author: Jan Raczycki

What adjectives are left beyond those already employed above to describe this sonic tour de force of a madcap cabaret performance? This disc belongs in every thinking person's CD collection, no exceptions. Mr. Powers delivers his keen insights into the social ills of of our modern world through a spectrum from suave, nuanced urbanity to up-front, in your face, ballsy Noo Yawk swagger. The lyricism is infused with unparalleled wit and the musicianship is tight, crisp and uber-cool. If you don't comprehend the message after just one or two listens you just aren't paying attention to the real world. Do yourself a favour and buy this record and then play it for all of your friends. Is it too late for you folks in the USA to nominate Mr. Powers as an independent presidential candidate?

"...recalls the collaborations of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht, and later, Randy Newman..."

<> <> Let us all bow down to Tony Powers
For those who weren't around NYC in the early '80s, I humbly recommend this awesome bit of music video, which has been burrowed into my brain since I saw it in the late 1980s on U68, a UHF music-video channel in the NYC area that had a helluva playlist (Ramones, Kate Bush, Jimmy Somerville).

Powers is a character actor — you might remember him as "Jimmy Two-Times" in a bit at the beginning of Goodfellas — who blew me outta the water with this song and video. It has the sense of humor I like, some catchy damned lyrics, and a great bizarre vocal performance. I thought Powers was simply doing this on the side, but was surprised to see on his website (www.tonypowersmusic.com) that he actually co-wrote two hits for Phil Spector ('Today I Met the Boy I'm Going to Marry," "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts?"), the terrific doo-wop ditty "Remember When," the blissful "Lazy Day" by Spanky and Our Gang (damn, float me back to my childhood!), and one of my ALL-time fave one-hit wonder songs (dig those horns, man), "98.6" by Keith. Tony indeed is a multi-talented person whose face is familiar but whose name sadly isn't. He's got a new CD out (at www.cdbaby.com), and I eagerly await any and all film/video projects he may attempt in the future.

In the meantime, check out "Don't Nobody Move (This is a Heist)." The guest stars are all over the place (the oddest being a thin John Goodman, whose ass ends up in Powers' face), but the finale (Tony just sitting there, making mouth noises on the Square at night)... well, that's what NYC music is all about.

..."the 15 song set contained a blend of jazz and blues with rock highlights. However the lyrics were the forte of the show...the dissonance of Powers' strong but rough voice against the haunting melodies imparted a distinctive quality."

'Best Music Video of the year. Don't Nobody Move (This is a Heist)"

"...your video is one of my favorites...I thought your performance was perfect...I've become a fan."

"This is music for our time and beyond."

"I am sending you this letter to make you aware of the overwhelming reaction we have experienced regarding your video of Tony Powers.It has reached number ten in a country wide over all popularity poll, and number seven in it's category. This is a first for an unknown artist without an album release. Phone calls have been pouring in from various individuals, clubs, and even record stores wanting to know how they can see and hear more of Tony Powers..."

Tony Powers has composed, scored, performed and produced a strikingly original and powerfully rhythmical collection of new songs. Powers is surely modern-day America's own version of Kurt Weil and Bertotl Brecht. We were amazed by the breadth of musical styles, compelling lyrics, and diverse melodies, all performed with a gusto of absolutely first-rate backup musicians, that made this CD unforgettable. "Unique" is one of the most overused and trite adjectives in the English language. However, in the case of "Who Could Imagine," the word "unique" is the only one that perfectly fits this CD. Two thumbs up. Way up!!!

This is exceptional in every way; words and music, as well as phenomenal musicianship. Tony reminds me of Leonard Cohen, Kurt Weil, Brecht, and Dylan as well as the Beatles. They are all different from each other, and everyone else, but unique and exceptional in every way. Tony has all that going on and this CD is as good as it gets. It stands up with the best of the best. All the crazy assorted and sundry fans of Tony are going to love the new songs and updates of his classic great stuff on this. Bravo to the musicians who are EXCELLENT!!!

Tony Powers can sing and write and listening to his cd, Who Could Imagine, he is demonically crazy. No. Better his cd is crazy. Mad. In the
original sense of the word. Mad meaning original.
Power's searing lyrics puts heart in the ache. This is something only the rare artist can do, but
this listener is richer for Powers having mined such depths.

author: Mike Parker
re: Who Could Imagine
Yes, I'm one of many who got into Mr. Power's work from seeing his videos on USA Network's Night Flight program, then rediscovering him on YouTube. Back when I first heard it, HEIST was one of those songs that took a few listens to get ahold of me, but when it did, it never left my memory and I've loved it ever since. Besides, if you're anything like me, your favorite songs/artists are the ones that take more than one listen to appreciate. Listening to 'Who Could Imagine' sounds like Mr. Powers picked up where he left off more than 20 years ago without losing a step. The difference is that he now has a much more scary world, and numb-skull society to write about. Stinging sarcasm, wit, and intellectual cynicism adorn this CD from start to finish, along with a lot of humor that had me laughing. Add brilliant words and music to some of the best sounding musicians around and you've got one of the most brilliant releases in well over a decade. Would I like to try for more??? YES I WOULD!!! LOL!!!

*
Who Could Imagine
author: Rob Lewine

This is a clever, delightful collection of tunes.
Musically and lyrically sophisticated, funny, unsentimental, sardonic and smart!
*
Who Could Imagine
author: Jan Raczycki

What adjectives are left beyond those already employed above to describe this sonic tour de force of a madcap cabaret performance? This disc belongs in every thinking person's CD collection, no exceptions. Mr. Powers delivers his keen insights into the social ills of of our modern world through a spectrum from suave, nuanced urbanity to up-front, in your face, ballsy Noo Yawk swagger. The lyricism is infused with unparalleled wit and the musicianship is tight, crisp and uber-cool. If you don't comprehend the message after just one or two listens you just aren't paying attention to the real world. Do yourself a favour and buy this record and then play it for all of your friends. Is it too late for you folks in the USA to nominate Mr. Powers as an independent presidential candidate?
*
Who Could Imagine
author: david bean

I know what I could imagine, seeing the smooth Mr. POWERS and this terrific ensemble live at, say, Catalina Bar and Grill? Buy this album at your peril, my wife and I did and now we're addicted!! Subversive and delightful.
*
Who Could Imagine
author: Dick Kalich

Tony Powers can sing and write and listening to his cd, Who Could Imagine, he is demonically crazy. No. Better his cd is crazy. Mad. In the
original sense of the word. Mad meaning original.
Power's searing lyrics puts heart in the ache. This is something only the rare artist can do, but
this listener is richer for Powers having mined such depths.
*
who could imagine
author: rick stoff

Finally, something to really listen to. Great music, words, THOUGHTS, politics, angry and funny.
The first thing I played over and over since...in too damn long.
*
who could imagine
author: lisa

great!
*
Who Could Imagine
author: marc thorner

Time has *not* dulled Tony Powers.
*
Who Could Imagine
author: Linda Kraus

This is exceptional in every way; words and music, as well as phenomenal musicianship. Tony reminds me of Leonard Cohen, Kurt Weil, Brecht, and Dylan as well as the Beatles. They are all different from each other, and everyone else, but unique and exceptional in every way. Tony has all that going on and this CD is as good as it gets. It stands up with the best of the best. All the crazy assorted and sundry fans of Tony are going to love the new songs and updates of his classic great stuff on this. Bravo to the musicians who are EXCELLENT!!!
*
Who Could Imagine
author: Jonathan and Maria Klar

Tony Powers has composed, scored, performed and produced a strikingly original and powerfully rhythmical collection of new songs. Powers is surely modern-day America's own version of Kurt Weil and Bertotl Brecht. We were amazed by the breadth of musical styles, compelling lyrics, and diverse melodies, all performed with a gusto of absolutely first-rate backup musicians, that made this CD unforgettable. "Unique" is one of the most overused and trite adjectives in the English language. However, in the case of "Who Could Imagine," the word "unique" is the only one that perfectly fits this CD. Two thumbs up. Way up!!!

"Wow! I've been looking for this video for years! It was one of the best videos...Maybe *the* best! It was aggessively strange!

Is that really you, Tony? Here on Youtube? You were too cool for MTV, dude!"

"WOW! I've been longing for this video since I first heard it many moons ago. I fell in love with Tony and the video then, now I play it ALL the time. Come to Las Vegas and make one here. I teach at UNLV and show it to the students...
Absolutely, no doubt, hands down the best video ever made!"

"So ahead of its time, it's scary. Cool beyond measure."

What a great video! I remember watching it on Video Jukebox... Luckily a few years ago I bought a copy online. This video influenced the fledgling art of music videos. Back then most music videos were just a new form of marketing. In this case, the video was the product, and a work of art. This helped elevate the concept of videos above advertisement. I wonder if Thriller would have been such a big production if it hadn't been for this. It really was a product of the future.

"This is one of my favorite songs. I am glad to see you are releasing a new album and I can't wait for the new video."

" I LOVE this video. It stands the test of time. The music is GREAT! Visuals are FUN, HOT and SO COOL. I am happy to see it up here. If you want to hear/see something excellent, give a listen. Watch."

"...concerning HBO subscriber feedback received in response to Tony Powers' Don't Nobody Move (This is a Heist)...the reaction was unanimous, highly complimentary of Mr. Powers' musical artistry and craftsmanship...this is one of the largest responses received concerning any performer appearing on Video Jukebox...noteworthy."

"This video, a superb work of art, portrays the essence of NYC and highlights the hypocrisy of the criminal injustice system with the phrase : " in my court you don't chew gum"

Rantings and musings from a pixel pusher
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Let's go back in time. Before there was the internet. Before Youtube. Before DVD's.CD's were justing coming in their own. Laser Disks were exotic. When the idea of owning a "personal computer" was still a novel idea. Before MTV was international, let alone the darling of Viacom. When "music videos" could only be seen in a few places. When the idea of actually owning a copy of music videos was exotic.

So there I was, one weekend afternoon over at Marc Cerasini and Charles Hoffman's Red Hook apartment, with CJ Henderson (look up these amazing writers if you want to know why I find it important to mention them by name. In fact, buy their books dammit!) for the purpose of hanging out and watching videos. Marc had something special to show us. He couldn't rent DEVO's Video, (The Truth about De-Evolution) so the store clerk recommended something else. This was what I saw:
A full out sensory assault. With stream of consciousness lyrics that somehow moved between the works of Herbert Selby Jr. and William S. Burroughs via Ring Lardner and a visual style that was, and remains, between a waking nightmare and the best of the French New Wave and Sam Fuller. This was the 80's version of a New York that I remember. And then there was the star of it all. A thin dude with a profile that Lamont Cranston would be familiar with and an accent somewhere between North Yonkers and South Brooklyn, Tony Powers and his conspirators take us on a little evening stroll around some old haunts in Manhattan.

And that was only the first of three. Tony himself has posted Don't Nobody Move (This is a Heist) for us to view on youtube . Maybe soon, he will post the other two--"Odyssey" (with Lois Chiles", and "Midnite Trampoline" (with Corine Loraine).

Tony Powers. Buy his new CD:
Who Could Imagine
Posted by marcoshark on MySpace at 10:55 AM

When John Lurie was guest host for the 2 hour VH1 New Visions in 1988 he played this video. Guest hosts could play whatever music videos they wanted and Lurie said he did not know where Tony Powers was at that time or what he was doing but liked the video a lot.

Back in the day, the USA Network used to carry this show called Night Flight, which ran from midnight till 3:00am or so and showed all sorts of weird, underground and cultish music videos -- stuff you'd never see on MTV, which, at the time, was too busy pushing Huey Lewis and Lionel Richie on an unsuspecting public. While most other red-blooded American kids were out drinking cheap beer in mall parking lots and chasing tail, I was glued to Night Flight. And my all-time favorite Night Flight video was a six-minute smorgasbord of downtown NYC surreality called "Don't Nobody Move (This is a Heist)" by Tony Powers. Now, through the miracle of YouTube, this video is available to the general public once again.

I don't know a lot about Powers, other than he played "Jimmy Two Times" in GoodFellas [the gangster who said everything twice, as in "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers"] and was also in a couple of Caruso-era NYPD Blues as a mob boss. But "Heist" should have made him a superstar, if for no other reason than it's simply one of the coolest and weirdest things ever committed to video. Check it out below and watch Powers -- who looks like Michael Richards' slightly dangerous younger brother -- chain-smoking his way through Times Square, fraternizing with the homeless and other transients, haunting late-night cafes, and feeling up mannequins. Just like your Uncle Pietro, only Powers was getting paid for it.

And even if you don't like the song -- which kinda recalls Leonard Cohen and every drunken Saturday night you've ever experienced -- you gotta admire the goofy cameos in this vid. Look! There's Peter "Boon from Animal House" Riegert as a mild-mannered hot dog stand patron! And Marcia Strassman -- Mrs. freakin' Kotter, fer chrissakes -- as a bubble-gum blowing hooker! And, hey, isn't that Stephen "7th Heaven" Collins as her would-be john? You'll also see Treat Williams in the all-important roll of "Guy in the Shower Who Gets Surprised by Tony Powers." And, if you look closely, you'll spot a young but impressively bulky John Goodman [sitting at a cafe table in a blue Hawaiian shirt] in an inexplicably bizarre bit that I can only hope Powers got paid a lot of money for.

So, please, I ask you: Watch this video. Bask in its weirdness. Embrace Tony Powers. And journey with me back to a better time.

Tony Powers
Don't Nobody Move, This Is a Heist (1984) [Single]

I was clicking and dragging songs out of a buddy's Ipod onto I Tunes for me to then click and drag onto my 60 gig player. I came across the name Tony Powers. I was like, who is this, man? Tony Powers? Do I need that? He explained that, "Don't Nobody Move, This Is A Heist" was a tune First Ave in Minneapolis would crank up at bar time when they wanted to get everybody out years and years ago. He said it was funny and would always crack him and his pal up. Years later, he snagged it from Napster or what have you.

Don't Nobody Move(TIAH) kicked me in the tookus. Too bad you'll never hear it.

O.K., so Rudy G did an amazing job cleaning up NYC, especially the Times Square area...still, we sometimes find ourselves disturbingly nostalgic regarding that old smut pit, once filled with drugs, whores and bums. This video captures that late night, 8th ave feeling perfectly.

The singer/ songwriter is Tony Powers who also wrote such classic hits as 98.6 and Lazy Day. Today Tony is an actor working the scene in Hollyweird and has been featured on both the big and little screens (Goodfellas and Catch Me if You Can, to name but a few).

I remember the first time I saw this video was on USA Network's Night Flight, a late night, weekend cable show that ran from midnight to 5 am and showed a lot of the stuff Mtv had yet to discover (it was actually the first place I saw Madonna). The show had an odd, decidedly underground sensibility and, for that reason, it had me hooked at "hello".

While watching this one you may spot a few celebrities in the mix so, before you ask, yes, that is Mrs. Kotter as the hooker being solicited by Reverend Eric Camden from 7th Heaven and, right you are, that's Boon from Animal House trying to eat the hotdog, Berger from Hair is the one having his shower interrupted and a much slimmer John Goodman smoking, in the Hawaian shirt who has Tony singing into his crack.

This track has the best 70's/ early 80's sax work this side of Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side and ya gotta love that shot of the late great Howard Johnsons. Tony's ultra cool vocal and take no prisoners delivery brings back all the memories of the gone but never forgotten ultra hip Greenwich Village club scene when the Talking Heads, Blondie, The Ramones and Tony ruled the earth!


This video is, easily, in my top five favorites of all time! Enjoy!

feloniousbutterfly (7 months ago)
Wow dude. Wow.

saathi88 (7 months ago)
"So they gave me the electric chair again... and then they had me shot. Ow!"

Who Could Imagine
author: Barbara C. Levin

This is the real McCoy....a poet/songwriter/singer
who tells it like it is. The more you listen to this CD the more you "get it." Tony Powers is an original and if you care about where this country is headed you need to listen up. His lyrics are funny and frightening and his voice is raw and romantic. Hurry up....buy this album!

DJ Jimmy M
post Jun 16 2003, 07:37 AM
Post #9

."..but it was "Don't Nobody Move This Is A Heist" by Tony Powers..that has gotta be the most funniest damn video I ever seen in my life. Also the song itself is pretty funny as well. The most funniest part is there is this guy that looks like Bob Dylan at a hot dog stand putting sour kraut on his hot dog and Tony Powers just walks up and starts singing and then as this Dylan look alike is about to take a bit into his hot dog Tony Powers yells right in his face and scares the living hell out of him and he throws the hot dog right at the vendor and you see the sour kraut fly and all LMGDAOF!!!!! You just gotta see it somehow if ya dont know what im talkin about LOL. Anyway, this is my first post here and I was refered here by one of the moderators who listens to my weekly 70's underground disco program I host on winmx." --Jimmy M

The Greatest Recorded Album In 21 Years
author: Jimmy Michaels

Living in a world and a society today where music and art are all but dead, Tony comes through, and gives us a light at the end of the tunnel, with this brilliantly crafted lyrical and musical masterpiece.

Real production, expression and instrumentation are brought back to life after almost 2 decades of the same old bullshit everywhere we turn (rap, hip hop/whats passing for r&b, grunge/whats passing for rock, teenie bopper garbage, computer produced noise, etc).

Tony tells it like it is in almost every cut, and with a nice hint of humor. Listen to the samples provided here, they speak for themselves. Do yourself a favor and pick up this great album and be reminded of what real musical talent and art is all about. And all this in the times we're in now...who COULD imagine??

- Jimmy Michaels