In an age of epidemic remakes, reboots, cloning and sampling, it can feel like no one creates anything original anymore—and a whollotta people don’t seem to care. For belly-aching Gen-Xers, however, parodies and tributes can offer a fresh spin on old material, if done respectfully, and in the same way that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies delighted Austen lovers as well as less-literary-savvy culties, Scott Bradlee’s mission to reinvigorate popular music with an injection from yesteryear is a big win. Merging time-honored genres such as ragtime, swing, jazz and more, Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox uplifts simpleton songs by infusing them with complex orchestration, alternate melodies and stylized vocal interpretations. Successful transformations have befallen Bon Jovi’s “Livin' on a Prayer” (elevated to grand dame jazz), “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (as a 1912 Waltz), and “Get Lucky” (Irish pub tenor croon). Yep, they’re killing it, so go get your playlist rewired and quell that inner “everyone’s ruining my childhood memories” turmoil.
Tue., Nov. 11, 7 p.m., 2014
