TVOTR, as we all surely know, rules; so too do Arctic Monkeys and Warpaint. We don’t often claim that shows are a must-see but this show is a must-see! If you want to buy tickets from L.A. Phil, go here. But if you are a gambling man or woman and think you might be able to win tickets to go for free, just email rsvp@larecord.com with subject TV and a link to the most ridiculous TV commercial you can find on YouTube Here’s a taste of what you’re in for if you win!

TV ON THE RADIO

Here’s a great live video of the band on Letterman playing the song “Will Do” from their album Nine Types of Light. Sound is solid, performance is pitch-perfect!

WARPAINT

Check out Warpaint playing “Elephant”. Hypnotic vocals, syncopated drums, intricate guitar lines fits together to make a mix of psyche and shoegazery 90s rock and everything in between…

ARCTIC MONKEYS

I wish I had this drummer’s energy. Seriously. Drummers among you, behold the constant 16th notes on the cymbals; guitarists, enjoy the Dick Dale influenced guitar line; everyone else, rock out.

PANDA BEAR

What else but awesomeness could you ever expect from a founding member of Animal Collective?

TV ON THE RADIO PLAY WITH ARCTIC MONKEYS + WARPAINT+ SMITH WESTERNS + ON SUN., SEPT. 25, AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 NORTH HIGHLAND AVE., HOLLYWOOD. GO HERE FOR TICKET INFO AND ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

“Put in your article that the girls behind you masturbated to ‘Sara Smile.’” The American BBC reporter behind me, crammed into a Hollywood Bowl cement cubicle with me and our two friends, is being a little sarcastic, but she’s glowing brighter than the lights on stage. “He finger-banged my earholes.”

And indeed, Daryl Hall is going into full over-drive, as romantic as Barry White, but with a tight, smooth, soulful sound propelled forward silkily by his crack backing band (of which I include John Oates). There is a throb to this music that you can feel in your orifices. This is America, and sex sells. And nothing in an arena this big, short of a Roman orgy, could possibly be sexier than what we’re hearing right now.

Of course, the Hollywood Bowl orchestra itself, led by conductor and Ben Vereen-impersonator Thomas Wilkins, has not been the sexiest thing we’ve ever seen—we knew it was the 4^th of July, but we thought the orchestra would be accompanying Hall and Oates, not the other way around. Alas, the string section’s sound-check segued right into a litany of patriotic instrumentals such as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and a whole messy medley of George M. Cohan songs (the “Yankee Doodle Dandy” guy), with no blue-eyed Philly soul singers in sight.

But it was fun. I was glad to have Ryan Fuller from Fort King as my man-date: he’s a folkie who appreciates Americana and knows how to belt the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” along with me and the buzz of a good American Sauvignon Blanc (the Bowl, classiest venue on earth, lets you cart in your own hooch). It wasn’t exactly crowd-pleasing music, but the grinning grannies in the rows above us charmed me as the Uncle Sam vibe animated them like happy little puppets. And hell, if you can’t play marching band music at the Hollywood Bowl on the 4^th of July and get people to pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege, well, I guess the terrorists have already won.  

After the soft-strains of John Philip Sousa and John Williams (his song, taken from the movie 1941, a surprisingly hip choice), the most successful rock duo in history finally did make their appearance. The first Hall and Oates song, “Maneater,” was barely dialed in, with Daryl Hall only punctuating his delivery with short staccato Al Jarreau bursts. But by the time they hit their third song, “Las Vegas Turnaround,” they had gotten hot enough that at least a dozen discreet women in that 14,000 person amphitheater must have dropped their panties. While it’s hard to beat the deity-killing delivery off the actual Abandoned Luncheonette album, Daryl Hall and the far-less-loud John Oates were belting, holding, pealing, and soaring! And the band—well, it was better than the album. This is what we came to see. This is why Hall and Oates are having a renaissance while Paul Young and Peter Cetera will never escape the cage of the 80s.

They didn’t even leave their youth in the 80s: these guys look sexier now than they ever did in their years of metal-mullets and parachute pants. Clearly both Hall and Oates have had a little Botox-and-tuck, but the Botox puffiness goes well with the clean-cut scruffiness of Hall’s 12 day stubble. The sunglasses he wears at night, undoubtedly so you can’t see the artificial Asian tug on his lifted lids, give him great “private eyes” that lend him a cool biker uncle vibe. He is mature sex personified, so sexy that even the long-haired sax-player/keyboardist/flautist who looks like Penn Gillette in purple seems cool by association.

So I did wish there had been more time for more songs by these talented cats. Alas, the Bowl used up all that time for their opening orchestra Americana, and for the bombastic fireworks display after the second set, and to have the members of our Armed forces in the audience stand up for a well-deserved audience cheer—and all this by 10 p.m., which meant Hall and Oates had no time for extended B-sides or even big hits like “Method of Modern Love.”

But the choice nuggets we did get from Hall and Oates were as soulful as Shuggie Otis, as smooth as the Spinners, and as riveting as the best modern soul, be it Chromeo or Bart Davenport or whatever passes for neo-soul in 2011. When a leisurely flute-driven intro became a coasting vehicle for Daryl Hall’s “aahs,” but then sharply veered into the bump-and-grind of “I Can’t Go for That,” and the rim of the bowl turned all the colors of the rainbow (mostly red, white, and blue), and Hall started scatting back and forth on the “no no no no no”s like a self-amused cherub with percussionist Everett Bradley, well, goddam, it felt good to be an American.

After more than a decade of wandering aimlessly, Hall and Oates have made a spectacular return to form in this new century. Though they will probably never write another hit song together, they’re still as explosive as fireworks, and the blazing lights all around us at the Hollywood Bowl this night were just one more jewel in their crown—a new crown, but just as splendid. And after it was over, I sat in my cubby-hole with Ryan, smelling the gunpowder in the air, waiting for the crowd to thin so we could get to our stack-parked Scion, and I wondered if America could take a few pointers in how to make a comeback.

-Dan Collins

—Devon Williams

Playing their first show at the Hollywood Bowl, Vampire Weekend entered the stage to DJ Kholed’s “All I Do Is Win” featuring Ludacris and T-Pain. The crowd was on its feet cheering the moment the band made their grand entrance. The appropriate introduction ran straight into opening song “Holiday.”  After a couple songs, singer Ezra Koenig addressed the crowd, “I know we’re just meeting each other for the first time.  I don’t want to rush things but if you want to sing along, this is a pretty easy song.  Don’t be shy, that’s what big amphitheaters like this are for!”

Their songs were energetic and lively, keeping everyone dancing.  The show was heavily impacted by the stage production: flashing colors, strobes, rolling lights, spotlights and even chandeliers illustrated the music visually by responding thematically to every note and inflection.  Spotlights directed attention and intensified the individual contribution of each band member. The elaborate array of colorful lights made the stage pulse, incorporating unique sequences like the staccato of hypnotizing flashes of blue and red to create a 3D effect.

Vampire Weekend’s unique qualities, such as Koenig’s quick vocals and Chris Tomson’s spot-on drums, are much more striking live. Seeing the musicians perform their complex sequences and instrumentals, such as Rostam Batmanglij’s piano solo in “Taxi Cab,” makes the music sound even better. The songs were faster-paced and much more zealous than their recordings, livening things up and intensifying the crowd’s response. The set was well arranged, interchanging smoothly between strong danceable beats and slower paced ballads, increasing the stamina of both the band and the audience.  They debuted “I Think You’re A Contra” for the first time in L.A. and got an excited, illustrious response.

Koenig encouraged a lot of crowd interaction, amiably announcing to ‘let inhibitions go’ and just ‘do what you feel.’  The audience excitedly cooperated in the call and return chorus of Blake’s “Got A New Face” and even held their hands in the air wiggling their fingers (as demonstrated by Koenig) for the entirety of “Mansard Roof.”  “This is the largest crowd we’ve ever attempted this with. Thank you. You’ve got some beautiful arms,” Koenig called out at the end of the song.

Each member illustrated their acute musicianship during solos and instrumentals, demonstrating the strength of their current grasp on contemporary music. Despite Vampire Weekend’s strong hour long set, the sold-out crowd still cried for an encore, welcoming the band back to the stage with an ear-piercing roar.  They ended their Los Angeles show with their traditional finale song, “Walcott.”  Producing a wall of sound matched by the crowd’s enthusiasm, Vampire Weekend finished on a vigorous note.

—Britt Witt

After the departure of wonderfully dreamy openers Grizzly Bear, upon the first footfalls of Phoenix to the stage, the entire audience merged as one oddly shaped amoeba and leaped to its feet. Groups of friends oscillated arm in arm, hollering along to their favorite tunes, and not an ass landed back down on the bench from whence it sprung for the entire hour-and-a-half set.

Turning the audience frenzy up full force right out of the gate, Phoenix kicked off the set with the energetic “Lisztomania.” The spectacular lighting was just as impressive as the band’s performance, and they power-housed through a set full of goodies like “Long Distance Call,” “Rome,” “Girlfriend,” and “Everything is Everything.” And while it may be hard to imagine the boyfriend of Sofia Coppola pulling the humility card, Mars seemed genuinely humbled by the adoration oozing from the audience, ranging from 20- and 30-somethings and sprinkled with a good number of pre-teens accompanied by mom and dad, themselves singing along to the band’s accessible jangly electro-pop.

I was delighted to substantiate that Mars’ shimmering vocals are not the result of studio magic; his silvery timbre is all his own, and it sounded downright gorgeous booming through the Bowl’s massive speakers. When one could manage to avert their eyes from the lead singer’s adorable boyish visage, they were glued to phenomenal drummer Thomas Hedlund, an apogee of rock might. The rest of the Gallic sextet—bassist Deck D’Arcy, keyboardist Robin Coudert, and guitarists Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz—weren’t too shabby, either.

The final encore can only be described as epic, if not a tad absurd: The stage fell dark, and slowly the house lights flooded the front rows, revealing the band smack in the middle of a sea of stunned fans. Phoenix of course rolled out what everyone had long been waiting for: You guessed it, that one from the car commercial. Meanwhile, the awestruck fans who found themselves within reach of their beloved demigods timidly outstretched their arms to brush against a bit of glory. The band hamming up their newfound fame may be construed by some as tacky…but not by me. I’d do it, too.

—Linda Rapka

Back up dancers?  An organic drummer? Guitarist? Pole dancer? Hooters worker carrying a scoreboard sign? Anything, anything…paallleasse to at least remind me why I’m not seeing this at home on a computer.

Thankfully, The Hollywood Bowl is the consummate iconic setting that is majestic enough to negate not so gripping onstage antics. This, combined with multiple lasers and the innovative and artistic backdrop projections created by now  TV producer/directors Marcus Lyall and Adam Smith, helped turn things around.

With latter day electronica (such as that demonstrated by Chromeo) seeing a melding of organic convention (they move and have a few backing musicians), The Chem’s hark from an era when doodling in an onstage bunker was tolerable. Pre- mainstreaming of internet and cross-genre homogenization, doodling with gadgets was innovative, enigmatic and kinda subversive—though since they achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s  this needs a little updating.

OK, solid moments? 99’s “Under the Influence” and “Out of Control,” “Don’t Think,” and “Escape Velocity,” and genius silhouette visuals of a twee young girl confronting various symbols of chaos, businessman, burley threatening guy, etc. Not so solid? No star guests (Liam Gallagher, Richard Ashcroft, Tim Burgess), and no encore.

There has been speculation over how much of The Chemical Brothers live gigs are pre-recorded, though they insist (on their official website FAQ) that they have a mere outline of track order and the rest is mixed live. This would seem to be confirmed by concertgoers who have seen gigs on consecutive nights and have posted notable differences between the sets played. So, at least for your ticket investment, you can seek comfort in that they were in fact playing keyboard riffs rather than launching pre-programmed songs with a single click.

—Craig Stephens

Ennio Morricone can match a riff to a twitching cheek or imbue a drifting tumbleweed with a sense of doom. He’s the composer who gave Clint Eastwood his walking soundtrack in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but he’s got more than 500 film scores under his belt. He has just canceled his only U.S. show this year and his first-ever performance in Los Angeles, but he surprised L.A. RECORD recently with a last-minute phone interview after we spent days compiling questions from our staff. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

How would you compare the myths of the Western, the Greek hero, and the gangster?
Ennio Morricone: These myths exist in completely different realities, ascribed by their times and the cultures that invented them. The Greek hero uses force to define and defend home, family and land. The gangster is concerned with his own interests and what he has. Usually a Western character is seeking his own interest but they are not really criminals—they are not truly bad people. Nor are they truly good. Sometimes they are defenders of the weak. Sometimes they are a Robin Hood.
How do you compose music for these characters?
Ennio Morricone: The Greek hero is always composed with music that is epic. For the gangster, I make dark music. For the Western, I think of something simple and plain with a melody in it. If we’re talking about theme music, then there has to be something symbolic. I never thought about the music for an American Western when I composed the music for my own Westerns. For me, it has always been about what the character symbolizes in terms of good and bad and the life they live.
Which of these myths serves reality as we know it most accurately?
Ennio Morricone: For the Greek needs, they are not modern anymore because of what they were defending—their ideals are confounded in our society. They couldn’t fit. Gangsters are the more realistic now because they defend their own interests against the law. There have always been and will always be criminals. The gangsters can be considered modern people. Western people existed over a hundred years ago and that sort of ideal has mostly disappeared now. The only ones that have resisted throughout time are the gangsters.
What might be the new archetype fifty years from now?
Ennio Morricone: Criminals will always exist. They’ll never cease to be. There will always be the fight of good versus bad, law versus outlaw, goodness against evil. The gangster is an eternal archetype. Good and bad or evil are what we are made of. We are partly good and partly bad. Sometimes you are better, sometimes less.
How has the shift in emphasis from the concert hall to the movie screen affected arranged orchestral pieces? How has it affected the listener’s relationship to the music? How do you feel about that?
Ennio Morricone: I was distracted by a piece of music I am working on. Can you repeat the question? The difference is that in arranging the score of a film, you have to respect the timing of the film, the length of the scene, whether there’s dialogue or not. Whereas when I conduct on stage with an orchestra, the sound becomes clear—there is no image to be matched with the sound. It is only the music that you hear which may create some sort of images in the listener’s mind, or it may just float around without any attachment to words or narrative ideas, despite there being an emotion that can be pointed out.
So sometimes music can be used like language?
Ennio Morricone: It can be meant as language and conceived as language. Or it can be conceived as an object of sound. It depends on what kind of music you listen to. In a greater notion of meaning that is placed on a timeline, contemporary music is an object of sound. Ancient music has been consolidated by history. History has shown its strength and spoken and so that music speaks of a certain time. Similarly in the smaller scale of a film, it might speak for the scene it represents.
Do you view your whole body of work as a connected piece—almost like one long composition?
Ennio Morricone: When I move from one project or piece to the next, there is not necessarily a line where one ends and the other begins. All of my body of work mingles together. Once I’ve composed something or discovered something new, that part comes with me or stays with me and enters my new work.
In looking at music, is there a definitive good or bad or best? Being a music maker and not just a listener, how does that inform your perception?
Ennio Morricone: This is a very complex question that needs a long time to think about and an even longer time to answer! The judgement a composer has on his music or the music of others depends on his culture and education. According to my character and the way I am and my musical culture—when I listen to music I can tell if the composer is an amateur or professional. It can also be that a skilled composer creates a music but doesn’t achieve success—it does not become great either by not fitting what it is trying to capture, or it musically is not good, even if it has all the parts it should. You can also feel an amateur is not a professional but can write a successful piece of music, but the style is not professional—it does not show the mark of training. Judging music, I have an opinion, but generally composers should have a unique line of behavior. They should know how to judge a piece of music all together. It also depends on personal characteristics. If a composer has a historically correct musical education, they can have a common opinion on things.
Must the greatest piece of music come from someone who has studied?
Ennio Morricone: That’s what I mean. It may happen that a great composer and professional writes an unsuccessful piece of music but you can tell he is a pro. On the other hand, the amateur is not skilled but it is great. And creates something beautiful. Of course this is difficult to judge.
What is your most successful piece of music—is that something you’ve decided?
Ennio Morricone: I’ve thought about it but I don’t know. I have composed a lot of successful music. I don’t think saying the one name or saying one is really possible. I wouldn’t be able to say there is one.

ENNIO MORRICONE’S PERFORMANCE ON SUN., OCT. 25, AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL HAS BEEN POSTPONED. VISIT ENNIO MORRICONE AT ENNIOMORRICONE.COM.

Wednesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, from the first chord to the final drumstick tossed in the air, the crowd was held captive by the band’s electrifying melodrama. That, and lots and lots of lights.

A sure sign of staggering fame is having an opener like the Psychedelic Furs, who were to the ‘80s, well, what Molly Ringwald was to the ‘80s. A second sign is that you can fill an enormous amphitheater with people who know all of your songs by heart.

During the 90-minute show, the Killers blasted through most of their singles, including a few B-sides and hits from their newest album, Day & Age. They didn’t ease their maniacal pace for a second, turning even their slower ballads like “Dustland Fairytale” into showstoppers.

The band showed its Vegas origins through the set design, with pyrotechnics, confetti and puffs of smoke bursting out in time with the synth beats. And, of course, there were the necessary glam-rock histrionics—bassist Mark Stoermer and guitarist Dave Keuning alternated between leaping onto the set pieces and tossing their heads to anchoring their hyperactive frontman.

The Killers owe their bombast largely to Brandon Flowers’ tireless showmanship. He wove through the songs, slipping effortlessly from reverberating operatic notes to near-falsetto. He jumped on the amplifiers decked in feather epaulets like some sort of crazed ostrich. He brandished his microphone stand like a sword in “All These Things that I’ve Done.”

He stopped his exuberant prancing only for a few minutes—to pop behind a bedazzled piano and deliver a soulful start to “Smile Like You Mean It,” later finishing with the familiar album version while bathed in a wall of red light.

Not to mention that Flowers’ dizzying charisma rivals that of a cult leader, so toward the end of the show, the 17,000-member audience was a unified sea of arms waving in time to “This Is Your Life.” Nothing else could make the Hollywood Bowl seem like an intimate setting.

A highlight came during the obligatory encore, during which a Jimmy Kimmel (in Kanye West sunglasses) rushed onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from Flowers, saying, “I’m going to let you finish, but I just wanted to say that the Psychedelic Furs had one of the best songs of all time.”

The Furs then joined the Killers onstage for a stirring joint rendition of “Pretty In Pink,” before the Killers ended solo, as they always do, with “When You Were Young.” For the Killers, whose roots are planted firmly in new wave, it was a fitting finale—splashy, retro, slightly over-the-top and entirely delicious.

—Olga Khazan

The famously whistling Swedes Peter, Bjorn and John were foils to the gloomy Brits but, perhaps sensing that the crowd was craving some pain, kept their set quick and to the point. Peter Morén sang the infamous “Young Folks” solo, which gave the song a (perhaps fitting) lonelier resonance, but PBJ nevertheless delivered some pep into the last rays of sunshine. Depeche Mode began with a handful of songs from their twelfth and latest studio album Sounds of the Universe, and dutifully segued into a selection of their most crowd-pleasing hits, to which said crowd, suitably pleased, sang along and occasionally took over vocal duties.

Depeche frontman Dave Gahan showed no signs of weakness resulting from the battle of Dave’s Body vs. The World Tour—in which Dave’s Body has resorted to such absurd tactics as bladder tumors and gastroenteritis in its bid to foil the band’s plans for worldwide arena domination. Gahan counter-attacked by strutting back and forth across the stage, swinging mic stand in hand, windmilling his arms and swiveling his hips like an electric eggbeater.

The band delivered a healthy double encore, rounding out the night with the throbbing, bluesy “Personal Jesus” and a lullaby, “Waiting for the Night.” After trying valiantly for a third encore, devotees resigned themselves to the inevitable, Bowl became colander and drained into the streets.

—Ayse Arf

Stream: Toots and the Maytals “Funky Kingston”

(from Funky Kingston available now on Mango)

Toots and the Maytals are one of reggae’s fundamental bands and their songs have been loved if not covered by musicians from all over the planet. L.A. RECORD wakes a gracious Toots up from a nap he politely hopes to resume soon. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

How did you learn to do the splits?
Frederick “Toots” Hibbert (vocals): When I was just performing and to win the audience I used to split a lot. I’d look up and just—down, and I was singing and just watching them and listening to them. Split just come by abilities. If you’re a good dancer, your body’s just able to do that. And do other things. You know? I just got to do it. I can do other moves. Now I play a lot of instruments so I don’t do the split anymore. I do my thing, I split by playing instruments. [Laughs]
Did you ever split your pants?
Sometimes! Sometimes, sometimes. For a long time when the different style pants was in, close-fitting pants, and you make some moves and it gives—so all I could do is keep making the moves! And people amazing would laugh—they like it! They like, ‘Whoo!’ And laughing at me. Exactly they do. You feel the way but you got to do things to carry it off. Mmhmm.
How do you find inner peace? What makes peace for a person?
Believe in yourself, believe in what you do and believe in God. Believe in the Almighty. I think that can keep away all the fears.
Can there be success without suffering?
Mmhmm. I think a lot of people, if you born with it you don’t have to suffering. If you born with it. But if you come from the ghetto like me then you have to suffering by can’t get privilege to do a lot of things, so you just have to work hard at it and respect yourself, believe in yourself, and believe in God, and believe that you will get what you want. You may not be rich but you can get what you want and try to help others who don’t have what you have. Try to help others to have who don’t have, really. That will help you to have a lot. What the main thing—you don’t carry a grudge for those who have more than you. You don’t hate people, you don’t carry a grudge, you just respect them. Hoping that one day you will be able to have what you should have.
What are you most grateful about your heritage?
My life! And music. My family. And friends.
What’s something that will never change about Jamaica? Is there something at the heart of it that cannot change?
Something good, really. That’s something! You don’t have to be bad things, you have to be something good. Something good like the good sunshine and the warm breeze that passes. And you can see black and white people living in unity. And there are some people who don’t live in unity like everywhere else. There are good places and bad places. That will never change. You have to focus on what you do and believe in caring and sharing. That will never change.
What do you like better—sunrise or sunset?
I like everything that furnish the earth. The Almighty he keep focus on everything that’s on the land. Everything that’s on the land is fulfillment and furnish the land. The land is furnished by God. He created everything in the world. The sea, the sun, the stone, the son and the daughter. Everything he furnish. All you got to do is to be thankful to God.
In your travels, have you come across a place you’d say is the most beautiful?
Yes, I think everywhere is beautiful where people are. Where good people are is beautiful. Where bad people are is still beautiful. Bad people only try to make it bad—not unbeautiful. But it is created by the God Almighty so people have to know—keep beautiful with it in this world and to make things fair for each everyone. If you’re going to be unfair, you’re living in unbeautiful. Nobody respects you. The world is beautiful if a child living in a beautiful way. And you and me, no? You and I are beautiful, right? Yeah, so if someone get you mad, you have to try and seek beautiful and you have to leave right away. You don’t want to get hot. If someone is very wrong with you, don’t speak back that way. You say, ‘Ok, alright,’ and walk him out. Ha! Don’t speak like him, because he want you to speak like him to have a fight, something. You just look up your man, try to walk him out, try to ignore him, and say, ‘Ok, thank you.’
Have you been in a many fights?
I used to want to be a boxer. I used to train when I was a boy. Train and I was a good fighter. But I never really get to finish training boxing. I decided I want to sing. People told me I could sing. Sometimes people want to quarrel with me—because they don’t know, they don’t recognize me. And they may be drunk or something. I just take them and walk them away. I don’t want to. I don’t like to argue. Because if you argue with people, it maybe cause too much misunderstanding and break out a fight and after that [weepy] ‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’ I try to avoid these things.
What’s most important? To be respected, to be liked or to be an influence?
Well, a lot of things. To perform for the people and to be respected—that’s cool.
Despite obstacles, what’s given you a great life lesson?
Music always upgrade my life. Music and love—love and music upgrade my life. It’s musical content—it’s connecting with my audience and my performance and my composition, my everything. It’s good. It’s a good thing, to admit.
Does the performance come from within you, or is it about the connection with people?
My talent is for me, and for my audience. It’s coming from God. It’s coming from the Almighty which is God. He put it in me and give me life so I could perform and to make people happy. And to survive.
Have you always had the same relationship with God?
My parents always took me to the church when I was little. So you know it grow up in me. And all of these good singers of the world always grow up in the church. So the church our foundation.
Is the stage your church?
It’s the church of God, yes. People listen to you, they see you do good all the time, they want to listen to you. I always have a full audience, full house when I play. People always want to listen to me.
Is music a universal language?
It’s a universal language that you don’t have to—it allows you speak. You can really turn music to music. Once the rhythm is good, it saying what you say—it say in English, it say in Spanish, it say in French. You know? It say in Jamaican! So music is every languages to me. The music have them going. And my appearance, my performance. A lot of people understand me because they sing my song. When I tour in Europe or the United States, people come out that knows me —they don’t know what but they know my words and sing along with me.
What’s something you have not done that you would like to accomplish in your lifetime?
I would like to make a whole lot of money that could help people who really need help. Not just in America. Not just in Africa. All over the world. People to get good drinking water, good living, their own building. Not walking if you want to drive a car. I would like to give you open hospital. Open place that people could go and take care of when they can’t make it. I have a foundation—it’s helping people at the hospital, it’s helping the children at the hospital, so children can go to school. It helping with cancer society people. My foundation also helps Salvation Army, give them clothes. It also helps government school. A lot of things I do. But I want to do more. These are things I would like to accomplish to help people some more. [Sings] That’s my dream!

TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS WITH MICHAEL ROSE AND GREGORY ISAACS ON SUN., AUG. 9, AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. HIGHLAND AVE., HOLLYWOOD. 7 PM / $10-$98 / ALL AGES. LAPHIL.COM. VISIT TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS AT TOOTSANDTHEMAYTALS.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/TATM.