New Wave

The Pizazz, originally uploaded by Theresa K.

These kids, The Pizazz from Detroit, are picking up where the Modern Lovers left off.

Of course, members of the innovative and geeky Modern Lovers went on to do cool things. Jerry Harrison joined Talking Heads. David Robinson joined The Cars. That left Jonathan Richman to do his solo work, and he became increasingly and delightfully more idiosyncratic as time went on.

When I saw the Pizazz in Detroit in January, 2005, they immediately reminded me of the precious Modern Lovers and early Talking Heads with their instrumentation, their lyrics, their song structure and their stage presence. They are quirky and arty and follow their own rules. It may be 30 years later, but they've got the punk!