Artist Review: BILLY CONAHAN

 (Billy Conahan performing to a full house at Highline Ballroom. Photo courtesy Pedro Gonzalez, Waltz-Astoria via Facebook.)

Been meaning to drop a line for the boy who spits rhymes, though not for his impromptu at the Highline - but for the night he dropped Episode One at Sully on the Lower East Side.

::clears throat::

While I find his on stage presence to be sublime,
A warrior of rhythm and rhyme,
I admit I was disappointed at first
because that burst of energy he showed
didn't match that thirst
for originality I knew he's had boiling inside.
But for piece of mind
I stayed on for the whole ride
in which I'd expected to be flipped.
Unfortunately, I ended up feeling gypped.

Now, here was a person who made turning tricks feel like turning tables. It even made me wonder if the tables were turned and everyone were singing some pop song while calling my name if I would have such lofty aspirations for fame and not be ashamed to put aside childish games and follow the trends for more profitable ends. Are we as artists so desperate for attendance that our tendency is penitence, resigning ourselves to the regiment of
One Part You
and Five Parts Top 40?
Dude.

Or maybe I didn't understand that it was just part of the master plan
of this ingenue
for him to catch a break or two
and then transition
to a position
where his image
could be of his own design.
Because in my mind,
this boy's talent is unbounded,
founded in an ancient tradition
of poetry; and ambition,
while a power of it's own,
is known
to clone the creator
until the counterfeit
is a poor man's Maker.
In a recession,
perhaps we all have to inflate
our impressions with hot air,
and our market value
is based on what avenue
of avarice
we live.
Because it's not easy to quantify
a profit for a prophet,
easier to please
with a teaser
and intermittent
pop reference
and reverence,
pay homage to an era
of epic proportions,
where artiste after artiste was aborted
because some
chromosomes
were not supported
by the sums
and sons
of the board of
malicious trustees
or the capricious
"taste"
of Vox Populi...

So for his sake, I would ask, is Episode One his demise? Or just a carefully crafted disguise, meant to surprise at the right time?

Because while you karaoke, I bleed,
for the time you waltzed to a hundred improvised stories
in 3/4 time. Concoctions only a cocky teen could surmise.

And before you make a claim
that this is character assassination,
stand corrected.
These are only the words of critique
meant to instill a young mind
with a portion of true, unadulterated
peer assessment.
Homemade, and with the
love and faith of a mother
whose pride is not biased
But rooted
in intimately knowing
the true potential
of her talented kin.

SO...in lieu of the above commentary, one part complaint, one part admirate...

I bid you adieu and wait with bated breath for Episode Two.
And if you intend to be the true voice of the Chorus, please do.

To stream or download Billy Conahan's Episode One FOR FREE:

http://billyconahan.bandcamp.com