SLCene Suggests: Marshall Crenshaw at The State Room

MARSHALL CRENSHAW, THE STATE ROOM, Monday, March 4, 8 p.m., $20

When Marshall Crenshaw first hit the public eye roughly 30 years ago, he came on like a power-pop maestro along the likes of Alex Chilton or Buddy Holly, who Crenshaw portrayed in the Richie Valens bio-pic La Bamba. And while he did score a huge hit with “Someday, Someway” on his 1982 debut album–check out his performance from the early days of David Letterman’s show below–the hits stopped coming, at least in his own name. Other artists like Ronnie Specter and the Gin Blossoms scored hits with tunes penned by Crenshaw. And even though his commercial success has been hit-and-miss for much of the past three decades, Crenshaw never stopped writing songs full of great hooks–songs that SHOULD be hits, if there were any justice in the world. His latest project is a series of self-produced and distributed EPs–each consisting of a new song, a cover of a rock classic, and a reworking of one of his own old favorites. It’s a cool idea, and hopefully one that keeps Crenshaw on the road and in the recording studio for many more years.