The Brian Fallons Have a Good Week
Both the Clinton spokesman and the rock singer score wins.
Brian Fallon had a good week, more than could be fit into one person named Brian Fallon, apparently.
Fallon, the press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, got to tout his boss’ primary wins in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois and, eventually, Missouri. Then he got to bask in the attention the candidate got for her cameo on the Comedy Central hit “Broad City.”
But he wasn’t the only Brian Fallon who was crushing it. The non-political Brian Fallon, of Gaslight Anthem and Horrible Crowes fame, performed at Washington’s 9:30 Club as Tuesday’s returns were rolling in.
He started his set with the Crowes’ classic “Last Rites,” just as Clinton’s winning margins started burying her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Fallon is touring to support his just-released solo album “Painkillers.” He played a 17-song set list, which included most of his new album, sprinkled in with some Gaslight and Crowes crowd-pleasers.
“There’s not a lot of experimentation going in. This is kind of rock-and-roll 101,” Fallon said in a statement about the new album. He added, “I went completely back to the beginning of how I learned how to write songs. I listened to the records I started with, and I really looked at those songwriters and said, ‘What do they do and what do I do, and why did I get into this in the beginning?”
That could be sage advice for a candidate like Clinton who is not known for her flash or sizzle — millenial-friendly “Broad City” cameos nothwithstanding — and attempts to connect with voters on substance.
And among Fallon’s 9:30 set list, there is a cautionary song for any political campaign that gets too down and dirty in going after an opponent. “Nobody Wins,” which could be inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s oft-cited saying, “Nobody wins unless everybody wins.”
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