A 1992 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

I made a roster earlier this year of who I thought would be an Olympic basketball team if it were still made up of college players. And I talked about making retro teams as well, and well' here I am eight months later, finally getting down to it.
Coach K would have been the coach, based on his strong run of being the dominant and consistent program in college basketball in the late 80s and early 90s.

Starters

• C Shaquille O'Neal (Louisiana State)
• PF Christian Laettner (Duke)
• SF/SG Calbert Cheaney (Indiana)
• SG Jim Jackson (Ohio State)
• PG Bobby Hurley (Duke)

Bench

• C Alonzo Mourning (Georgetown)
• PF Chris Webber (Michigan)
• F Jamal Mashburn (Kentucky)
• SF/G Grant Hill (Duke)
• G/SF Anfernee Hardaway (Memphis) 
• SG Allan Houston (Tennessee) 
• G Anthony Peeler (Missouri)

 This was pretty hard and straight forward at the same time. There was a lot of talent, but likely not all of these stars would have wanted to play for Team USA, to pick from, but pretty easy to figure out the best of the best, plus a few to fill in roles.
Laettner was the easiest choice(he was already on the Dream Team. Hahaha!). There's a good balance of guards, forwards and centers and a lot of overall mid height athletic guys. Though, like the roster I made for a 2012 team, not a lot whole lot of true point guards, but quite a few capable of running the point. But the Dream Team itself only had one true point guard.
I think if Collegians would have still been playing in 1992 they would have had one of the stronger teams in USA history. With the athletes and talent pool, whoever they had, they would have been right there with the 1960 and 1984 teams.

The Only Boss I Listen To; 11/17 Bruce Springsteen Concert Review

      A Bruce Springsteen concert is an experience, with no show being exactly the same and each show having it's own personality. He changes the set lists up nightly, has numerous false endings on songs, plays sign requests and calls audibles to the set list on the fly. Let's see any other stadium and arena acts, do this with their same "show" every city, with pre-programmed lights, choreography, etc., do something unplanned or unrehearsed. 
    Yes, there are parts and set pieces that fall into the same pattern. And yes, he has routines and schticks he uses. But they can and do go off-key, which is usually just laughed off and makes the concert experience better. Bruce is still a musician in addition to being a showman.
     I saw Mr. Springsteen for third time, this time in Kansas City at the Sprint Center, Saturday night. I was hoping for a St. Louis date, but one never materialized (at least this year) on his Wrecking Ball Tour. Well, with the vacation days I had and not doing much else, I would have probably double dipped anyway. 
     Me and my dad got there about 6:30, just at they were opening the doors for the 7:30 show, which we knew wouldn't start until about 8:20. Once we got to our seats and having just seen McCartney at Scottrade a week ago, we noticed, even though having been there before, that the Sprint Center was smaller seating wise. And the fact the opposite side of the arena wasn't as far away as the Scottrade Center.
     I got decent seats this time, 19 rows back  in the second section over stage right and still a nice view of the video screen. There was an older guy, with a green shirt, who was totally psyched once it started getting close to start time. He was jumping around in his seat, clapping and chanting, "Bruuuuuuuce." And once the concert started he was jumping around playing air drums.
    The lights went out and Big Boss Man started playing, it was time to rock. And he opened up with a song that me and my dad talked about him likely playing and Bruce said, "We can't resist playing this one whenever we come to Kansas City, so we're going to start off with it," and the E Street Band launched into Kansas City.  With the horns(including Curt Ramm a native Kansas Cityian and who's played on a lot of Springsteen records tours)  and back up singers he's now carrying it was cooking jazz version with a little Hey Hey Hey Hey thrown in like the Beatles did. It also set the mood for the show, in that it was going to be a festive affair. Then it was right into the Roy Bittan's piano introduction of one of my favorites, Prove It All Night. I knew it was going to be a good show.
   After his march to the middle platform during the singalong that was Hungry Heart, he asked, "Is there any strong men in Kansas City?" before doing his crowd surfing back to the front. Apparently not, as he almost got dropped.
   The new songs off of Wrecking Ball, held up pretty good. Though the title track wasn't "new." He opened with it when I saw him in the 2009 in St. Louis and Land of Hope and Dreams dates back to the reunion tour. Death to My Hometown with his Irish brogue singing sounded better live than on record.
   Before My City of Ruins, he asked, "....Kansas City, Missouri right? The Show-me State?....We've traveled all this way, we're gonna fucking show you something tonight!" He also saw a jawbreaker on stage, "We don't have Twinkies, but we still have Jawbreakers. I had to turn my three-year-old upside down once to stop him from choking on one of these." Then someone threw up a large blue bra with a song request on it, which he replied, "Now, that's a jawbreaker and a surefire way to get your request played. We'll get to it later." I could make out the word "me" and got a chuckle when I figured it out.
   A few songs later the sign gathering started, and after going through some, Bruce said, "Little Steven pointed this one out," which on a bright orange sign was Fire, which pleased the crowd. The next request played was Incident on 57th Street, which seemed to go against the mood and flow of the show.  Before it started,  Bruce hollered at Nils, "Are you ready Nils?" before telling us, "Last time we played it Nils fucked it up badly." It was a good performance, but just seemed sort of out of place being one of his more epic story songs. But that lead into another of my and a crowd whipping frenzy of Because the Night.
   Then the bright blue bra made its return which read, Cover Me. Heh-heh. That lead straight into two more Born in the USA songs, Downbound Train and I'm On Fire. Bruce had to cancel KC in 2009 after his cousin and crew member was found dead in the hotel, but he was originally planning to play the entire album of Born in the USA that night.
   Waitin' on a Sunny Day in concert features Bruce pulling out a young kid form the audience to sing along with the chorus. This night he pulled a young girl probably around four or five, and her parents said she could pull it off. But once up on the walk with Bruce, she froze up, just mustering a few whispers, even with encouragement from the audience. Bruce laughed it off, "She'll be scarred for life." Like I said, not everything in concerts is planned or panned out right.
    During Raise Your Hand he made his way back to the middle platform and picked up Santa Clause hat on his way back, foreshadowing a song later on. Then it was on to the rock and roll fire of favorites The Rising and Badlands to start closing down the main set, with Land of Hope and Dreams and Light of Day.
    The encore started off with a shout out of to the local charity helping out homeless for the KC area and am mention of the canceling the last time and a dedication to his cousin, with My Beautiful Reward. A slower song that didn't seem as out of place in this spot. Then it was house lights on with classics the rest of the night Born to Run and Dancing in the Dark. During the "dancing" part, signs requested to dance with Jake Clemons and Nils Lofgren were granted. And Bruce got one for a mother and daughter to dance with, which lead to a comical struggle to get the mother pulled up with help from Steven. As well as the Bruce and Steven having to herd the women off stage.
    Speaking of Jake, having big shoes to fill in for his uncle, the Big Man, he did a marvelous job on playing.  He might not be a stage presence like him, but playing wise gets the job done.  And speaking of excellent playing, Max is still a firebrand of a drummer. Anything the video screen was on him, you could just see the focus on Bruce and where the song was going. And as my dad said, he has to be on it, when Bruce calls to start a new song with no break in between. And he was pounding away as Mad Max every time I  looked at him on stage.
   After that the Santa Hat returned, which led into Santa Claus is Coming to Town, which fit the mood of the show and was another treat. Then it was my personal favorite Springsteen song, as well as my dads and the finale of Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. Before the song Bruce, yanked his shirt off, down to his undershirt. It was a struggle for the roadie to get his shirt off (even though I knew he was going to be wearing a tie, there's just something un-rock and roll about it. Even though it was common pre1970's rock. That and I don't trust people in or who wear ties.), with Bruce almost falling down. He started the song atop the piano and made his way to the middle platform again, and after the important part of, "...when the change was made uptown the Big Man joined the band," the band stopped and the video screens showed pictures of Clarance, which led to applause and cheers for a couple of minutes, before the band picked it back up, then Bruce brought it home.
   Another awesome show, at a hair over three hours. I don't know if it's the best one I've seen out of the three, but as I've become a bigger fan, I probably enjoyed it a lot more. Even if he is a Obama supporting liberal, you'd still have fun at his show. Probably helps more if you are though, but thankfully he saved any liberal clap trap talk from us.
   Now I'm just ready for a St. Louis date in the Spring... 





 Backstreets review and KC Star Review   

  Set List 

Kansas City
Prove It All Night
Candy's Room
She's the One (with Not Fade Away intro)
Hungry Heart
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
The E Street Shuffle
Fire
Incident on 57th Street
Because the Night
Cover Me
Downbound Train
I'm on Fire
Shackled and Drawn
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Raise Your Hand
The Rising
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
Light of Day
----------------
My Beautiful Reward
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out

I Saw A Beatle; Paul McCartney 11/11 Concert Review

     There are very few people from the early Rock and Roll era that still have the stature and drawing capability of Paul McCartney. Heck, few contemporaries have his stature. And at 70 years old, he still has a lot of the charm and attitude that he had 50 years ago. "
     These days he mostly plays small runs of five to seven dates and mostly baseball stadiums in America. But along with Minute Maid Park in Houston and a few dates in Canada, he placed St. Louis at Scottrade Center on his "On the Run" tour, with it being the first date and first in St. Louis since 2002. And his drawing power was strong, "selling out" within minutes. Though I went a week later on Ticketmaster and got seats. Expensive, but worth it to see Macca. 
    And naturally it was raining steadily Sunday night. Paul must bring something when he comes to St. Louis as when the Beatles played the original Busch Stadium in 1966,  it was a down pour that helped spur the Beatles away from live gigs on the road. And to make matters even better, I-64 was out and traffic on Market street was backed up horrendously. I eventually got out of the car, so I wouldn't miss anything.
    I marched through the rain, made it in, got a piss in a still had ten minutes to spare til 8 PM. I knew I was going to be "behind" the stage, but thought more parallel. Oh, well, still fairly close and a video screen right up top for us. And my dad was able to verve off and find a parking spot and made it in, before McCartney hit the stage, a little before 8:30 and the place looked very much sold out, even in the upper levels all around.
    He came out, energetically and opened with Magical Mystery Tour, a pretty good choice for an opening song for him and his four piece band. Macca  spent most of the night playing his Hofner bass, but also played electric guitar, acoustic, piano for several numbers throughout the night switching back and forth and he played the ukulele on Something, which I was expecting in his tribute to George Harrison.
     And he still had the humor from his Beatle days to match his energy. In greeting the audience, he was saying St. Louie instead of St. Louis, till he asked the proper way to say it. The crowed roared, "Yes," when he said, "St. Louis." To which he replied, "Okay, now I know." Which I told my dad later, he probably got, from listening to Chuck Berry. Listen to Sweet Little Sixteen and Back in the USA...
     And my favorite moment was during a guitar switch, he took a good natured swipe at the practice of constantly switching guitars out. "...It's just to show off. We have them...And this guitar was used on the recordings..um for this next song, before kicking into Paperback Writer..."
      He took his jacket off after about six songs, saying, " This is the only wardrobe change of the evening." And later when his drummer was dancing, he said, "The only choreography of the evening," and later added, "Wardrobe changes and choreography what more do you need?
      A real shock was the only pyrotechnics, which blasted away during Live and Let Die, which really made sure everyone was paying attention. Afterwards, running down the stairs, he tripped to the ground.
      One other cool feature was during Band on the Run, they set the lights up to make it look like a bunch of bars around the stage. Then, during the tempo change after, "...If we ever get out of here," they busted down.
    Set List 

Magical Mystery Tour
Junior's Farm
All My Loving
Jet
Drive My Car
Sing The Changes
The Night Before
Let Me Roll It> Foxy Lady(instrumental)
Paperback Writer
The Long & Winding Road 
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen A Face
And I Love Her
My Valentine
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vandebilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Band on the Run 
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the USSR
I've Got A Feeling
A Day In The Life>Give Peace a Chance
Let It Be
Live & Let Die
Hey Jude
- - - - - - - - - - -
Lady Madonna
Birthday
Day Tripper
Get Back
- - - - - - - - - -
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End

      The biggest highlights for me, was that he played one of my very favorite Beatles songs, I've Got A Feeling, and my favorite solo song of his, Jet and the biggest surprise song, was Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, which I wasn't expecting. And he still kept the lyric flub as in the original recording, "...And Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face..."
      Naturally after we were on our way home, Dad did his usual figuring out which songs, McCartney didn't play. With "his" Beatles songs, Wings and solo songs, there was going to be no way he hit all of them. Even at nearly three hours and 37 songs. The only real surprising omission was he didn't play I Saw Her Standing There. 
     He played the majors, Yesterday and Hey Jude, which everybody was rightfully singing along to. There would be something seriously wrong with you if you weren't. And he left on the very appropriate Abbey Road medley of Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End, another highlight for me. "There's a point which the show has to end." To which some crowd members were shouting, "No," to which Paul cheerfully replied, "Yes," several times.
     It was a good time, even with shoddy weather and not super great seats. Again, I don't know what sane person, could hate these songs. And in the end, I've seen a Beatle.

Post Dispatch review and Riverfront Times review.

I Despise the Saying, "It Is What It Is."

I despise the saying, "It is what it is." Bad. I don't know why, but when people use it, it drives me up a wall.
Maybe I just disagree with the philosophy or the logic behind it. It's makes it seem like someone or something is resigned to fate. I'll stand by, "It's never what it is." And if something isn't how you like it, you go out and fix it.
So, if you're around me, please don't use it. It might make me want to strangle you.

The Workingman's Poet; Merle Haggard and Marty Stuart 6/24 Concert Review

   Even though I just saw Mr. Haggard, a year and a half ago, it was well worth it to go see the legend again, with a fairly big name opener in Marty Stuart. Plus he didn't play my favorite song last time....
   I'd never been to the Family Arena in St. Charles, so this was a first. It's sort of off by itself in a forested area near the Missouri River I believe. And it's basically just a small arena.
    I forked over the few extra dollars for the good seats.  The old man came along this time, probably more than seeing Haggard again(he saw him in the early 70s at Kiel Auditorium with Loretta Lynn) he wanted to see Marty Stuart. And we were in the fifth row, dead center from the stage. And being a country concert, it stared close enough to being on time at 7:30.
   Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives came out firing with Stop the World (And Let Me Off). His claim to recent fame, is his own show on the RFD Network in the vein of the Porter Wagoner Show and Wilburn  Brothers shows of old, which he mentioned, "is the only place you can see them, and buy a cow and a tractor in the same place."
   Stuart and company made it a hard act for Haggard to follow. 'Cousin' Kenny Vaughan on guitar(who looks even weirder in person) was hot on guitar, 'Apostle Paul' on bass and 'Handsome' Harry Stinson on drums are the Fabulous Superlatives and they can cook, with different styles of country. Stuart let each of them have one song to sing, giving them a part of the spotlight.
  They played 15 songs over an hour, hitting his most well known hits, The Whiskey Ain't Working, This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long Long Time), Tempted(Which I've always thought sounds like a Springsteen song) and the set closer Hillbilly Rock(which he ad libbed in St. Charles during a verse). And he gave several stories about Johnny Cash and what the man meant to him, before preforming Dark Bird.
  Other songs they played included Hummingbyrd, Farmer's Blues, a mandolin solo by Marty, Country Music Got A Hold On Me(Kenny Vaughan singing), Heaven.
  Stuart kept the crowd entertained, with quips like, "People ask what's it like to be married to a big time country star. I tell them 'I think Connie's getting used to it'."  And early in the show, "I hope you like our show. If you don't...too bad, we've already got your money!"  And after the final number Stuart left to the band playing the outro to his television show.

  After a thirty minute set changeover, the lights dimmed and the Strangers played Merle on, who opened with the same song as last time I saw him, Silver Wings, along with Marty Stuart coming out introducing the Hag.
   After the first two songs, I was worried about Merle's voice as it sounded shaky and light and both songs were over quickly. But I guess the got the sound and volume up and with the third song, it got the place really pumping. And it was also my favorite song of his, Ramblin' Fever, which is the one I wanted to hear him do most, especially since he didn't play it last year at the Fox. He also played my second choice of songs, he didn't play then, Today I Started Loving You Again, as well as That's The Way Love Goes. I think out of the 20 songs he played, 11 were different ones than he played at the Fox. I've read he before he usually doesn't plan out too much of a set list and it varies to good degrees each night, which it looked like at times, he was telling the band which song to go to next.

Set List

Silver Wings
Mama Tried
Ramblin' Fever
Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
Kern River
T.B. Blues
Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
Big City
Workin' Man Blues
If I Could Only Fly
That's the Way Love Goes
Motorcycle Cowboy
Today I Started Loving You Again
Folsom Prison Blues
Working in Tennessee
Take Me Back to Tulsa
Thirty Again
Momma's Prayers
Okie From Muskogee

   Merle didn't talk as much this time with the audience, his first words were, "Here's a song for the drunks," before Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down. And he recited the same joke from last year about, 'writing all these songs at sea level in my 20s and here I am in my 40s'. And he gave intros to a few of the other songs, including showing his own reverence for Johnny Cash, breaking out Folsom Prison Blues. He also did the same joke with 'introducing the Strangers' by having them all shake hands like they're introducing themselves to each other for the first time.
   He brought out his fiddle, for Working in Tennessee and Take Me Back to Tulsa.  And Thirty Again was a fun song, that I don't think I'd ever heard before. And like last time he did no encore, leaving after Okie From Muskogee. He used my favorite line from Kris Kristofferson's version of the song, "We don't smoke that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do." Love it. 
   He only played for 70 minutes, but he got 20 songs in there, which is pretty stout for a 75 year old performer. The heat might have had some influence for that maybe. I know the seats were bunched together and I had little room to maneuver around.
    I know the old man had a good time as well, even if he didn't get the certain song he was looking for. He was hooping and hollering throughout, cheering and signing along. Merle and the Strangers and Marty and the Superlatives gave us some good old fashioned country and some real music.

I Need to Get a Woman...

...After buying my brother's ticket for the Jamey Johnson concert last night, see review below. He bought six bottles and a pitcher of beer and said he couldn't remember much from the later part of the concert. Glad I wasted my money, so he could waste a bunch of his...
   Or I just need to stop taking him places where he can afford alcohol...

A Man of Few Words; 5/4 Jamey Johnson Concert Review

    Jamey Johnson is the man. The Blue Note announced this show about a month ago and I found the show to use the gift certificate, I got at work during our Secret Santa gift exchange. I had also been weighing whether I wanted to go see the Ozark Mountain Daredevils with Big Smith, at the Missouri Theater, which was happening the same night. I'd already seen Mr. Johnson at this very same venue in the Fall of 2009 and it was probably the best show I've ever been to. That night he played over three hours and about 39 songs.
     The doors opened at 7:30 and the show was supposed to start at Eight. By the time me and Zane got there, the line was halfway through the alley. We wound up with a spot roughly three or four bodies or "rows" back from the stage on the right side. My biggest fear was that it was going to be sweltering with the huge crowd and having to stand for two plus hours. But they had some air circulating in which made it cooler than the balcony. Plus I was right in front of the house speakers which put out more air. Of course I still can't hardly hear anything the next night...
    Crowd wise, there seemed to be more older folks than last time and maybe being up near the front away from people, a lot tamer rednecks. Of course $35 tickets this time, might have kept some away...
    And my brother downed the beer. He drank six bottles and a pitcher there, plus the two tall boys he had on the way there and he bought a six pack on the way home. And he didn't remember much about the later part of the concert. So he's a drunk concert idiot, I can't stand. The type that pays for(though I did here) a ticket, yet spend more money on that in beer and can't remember shit. Stay fucking home...


    At 8:15, my biggest fears were confirmed; an opening act. It was a three piece outfit called Indian Rodeo. The singer, sporting a Cardinals shirt, proudly claimed being from St. Louis before moving to Arkansas. He also mentioned he used to be in a metal band, which image wise makes sense, but now he's a country rocker. The group played seven songs for thirty minutes, including a cover of Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up(To Be Cowboys). The singer had a high squeak pitch, higher than Eric Church's. Overall they weren't spectacular, but were entertaining for half an hour.

    By 9:10, the Kent Hardly Playboys were already set up and the main attraction and his six man band, took the stage, with the High Cost of Living, which the crowd was signing along the whole way. Jamey was smiling by the end and for his whole act of tough rugged outlaw, there were countless times throughout the night he was trying to hold back smiles.
   The songs I was most looking forward to were the ones off of The Guitar Song, which he hadn't released when I saw him in 2009. And he played a couple of my favorites including the title track, one that I'm always playing. And By the Seat of Your Pants after listening to the album a lot last week, became one that I liked a lot more.
   And once again, he played a bunch of covers, tributes to the artists who inspired him. We got three Waylon songs, Waymore's Blues, The Freedom to Stay and Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?, my favorite Waylon song. And Jamey did it justice, picking up the intensity in the vocals and music as the verses went on.  Probably my favorite song of the night. Set 'em Up Joe was another hit with the crowd and song I've grown to love as well.
    Here's the Set List from the best of my memory. I know he played 25 songs, though some are in the wrong order. I'm just not sure of one song. I could have swore he opened with four of his songs before Long Black Veil, I'm just not sure which though. And I'm not sure of the song I have in the 4 spot being played at all. It might have a cover song somewhere or a song of his I wasn't familiar with.  For whatever reason my mind says it was songs 8 and 11, that I didn't know. And looking at lyrics, I found one was Haggard's My Favorite Memory...

1. High Cost of Living
2. Place Out on the Ocean
3. That Lonesome Song
?????4. Good Morning Sunrise????
5. Long Black Veil
6. Waymore's Blues
7. Thankful for the Rain
8.  My Favorite Memory
9. The Guitar Song
10. Mowin' Down the Roses
11. Can't Cash My Checks
12. Ain't Misbehavin'
13. Playing the Part
14. The Last Cowboy
15. Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
16. The Freedom to Stay
17. Still Doing Time
18. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?
19. That's the Way Love Goes
20. By the Seat of Your Pants
21. In Color
22. Set 'Em Up Joe
23. Macon
24. Give It Away
25. I Saw the Light


   I tried not to have super high expectations, as the last concert was epic. In all he played slightly under two hours, which seemed slightly short. And Jamey didn't address the crowd, except to say thank you at the very end of the show.
    The only lyrics changes I noticed was a reference to smoking up all of Willie's weed in Mowin' Down the Roses and in Set 'em up Joe, he changed the line to, "...my Missouri neighbors like what I play..."
   By the last five songs, the crowd was signing along with every one, including his most known hit In Color. He sang my personal favorite, made famous by George Strait, Give It Away. I loved seeing him sing it again, though he didn't seem as pissed off this time. And for the finale, we got a hard rocking version of I Saw the Light, which was very neat. After that he left and the lights stayed down, like he was coming back, but the roadies were tearing things down. We stuck around a few minutes, before heading out while 75% of the crowd was still hanging around.
    And that's another reason to love Jamey Johnson, for not doing the fake encore bit. He plays what he had planned or wanted to and left.  If you want a real encore you gotta deserve it as fans.
    One other cool thing, was the lead singer for Indian Rodeo was sitting in the back on stage just watching Jamey like us. He also looked pretty stoned too...And it looked like over the last few numbers, one who I'd assume to be the bus driver, was clapping along having a good time, especially on the rocking I Saw the Light.
   The show was great, not as good as last time, but great. I was disappointed he didn't play California Riots, another track off of The Guitar Song, that's one of my faves. But the good covers, and others songs of his made up for it. I'll definitely see this man again, even if it's a couple months from now. Though I would rather get a Shooter fix....

The Fastest Girl in Columbia; 4/15 Miranda Lambert Concert Review

I was going to swear off "big name" country tours with the three tiered acts, after seeing Tom Russell a few years ago, as well as Kris Kristofferson. Well, I guess I broke that last year seeing George Strait(The King of "Country" music) and Brad Paisley(another throwback, though with modern traits). But Miranda Lambert is another modern talent, who has great songs and the merit that most artists in the Country Music stable don't have.
Lambert's On Fire Tour announced a Columbia date at Mizzou Arena and my brother was interested in going and I took the day off(or asked to have that be my off day). I wanted to get GA standing at the front, but Zane would have rather had seats. So, I played the waiting game and wound up getting third row seats(which actually wound up being 2nd row) and were about half way in the first section on the left side. They turned out to be pretty good seats, and a good view when the singers went to the extreme left platform. There ended up being quite a few empty seats, including two to my left. During one of the changeover's between acts, I ran to the bathroom, which was completely empty if that tells you anything...

The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30, but opening act Jerrod Niemann actually came out a little bit before then. I had seen him last summer when he held the same opening slot on Brad Paisley's tour and I think he regurgitated the same lines and antics of crowd banter he did then. We got it, drinking or referencing drinking is your schtick. He played a seven song set for half an hour. It wasn't bad, but I'd seen it before.
Set List

Guessing Games
One More Drinkin' Song
Get On Up
What Do You Want
Sun Shining On Me
Pride and Joy
Lover, Lover

Next up was Chris Young, who was my brother's main reason for coming. He played a ten or eleven song set for about 50 minutes. The biggest thing I noticed about him is voice was several octaves higher than he sounds on record, which was sort of a disappointment, as his deep sounding voice helped distinguish him a bit. But personality wise he seemed to be another "forced" redneck type, playing up the same old things. Sort of like another version of Blake Shelton, a pretty boy type with voice and not much else.
During one of his songs that name-dropped Conway Twitty, he stopped the songs and asked why there wasn't a bigger reaction to his name. Well, for starters we couldn't understand it and most didn't know the song. But he chastised the audience and gave a short bit of I'd Love to Lay You Down. I kept thinking this is something Peter Griffin would do. Aside from the song Gettin' You Home, Young's not really my cup of tea. The best part about the opening acts, was they seemed to be over pretty quickly.
Set List

Save Water, Drink Beer
Gettin' You Home
Lost
The Man I Want to Be
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours
Voices
Neon
You
I Can Take It From There
Who's Gonna Take Me Home
Tomorrow

After a fairly quick changeover, the lights dimmed and the curtain dropped and Miranda Lambert took to the stage sporting a pink Telecaster playing The Fastest Girl in Town. The whole stage was pretty deep, I'm thinking this had really poor ticket sales, as the two sections nearest the stage were roped off, because even with my decent seats, the drummer seemed miles away.
She wound up playing twenty-one songs, I believe, getting everything I wanted to hear. Kerosene kept the show going and throughout the show she kept dancing and shaking her ass. Someone I work with, who also went to the concert, said she acted drunk, which probably had a little to do with it as well.
The whole show was pretty rocking, but still maintained enough of the country edge. Heart Like Mine and White Liar seemed like they were they played faster than the recorded versions, but probably just had a lot more instrumentation turned up. Here's the Set List from looking at previous shows, though I think there's one song here she didn't play.

Fastest Girl in Town
Kerosene
Heart Like Mine
New Strings
Over You
More Like Her
Baggage Claim
Fine Tune
Yoü and I
Maintain the Pain
Dead Flowers
Famous in a Small Town
Only Prettier
Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo
Mama's Broken Heart
All Kinds of Kinds
The House That Built Me
That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round
Gunpowder and Lead
White Liar
---------------------
Misery and Gin
King of the Road

More Like Her, she went to the ramp and sang from here knees, a perfect contrast along with the tone of the lyrics about not being able to take a cheater back. Though Fine Tune, was her only real schtick, where she sat on a psychiatrist couch with a vintage type microphone trying to sound like a 1950's style song and singing, seemed like a waste of time, and hard to understand, even though the entendres are clever.
And she either was really into the songs emotionally or a good actress/performer, but she brought great sincerity and emotion to The House That Built Me and Over You.
She played several covers in the main set, including ones by John Prine, That's the Way That the World Goes Round (which she's recorded), Lady Gaga's Yoü and I, and Rick Derringer's Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo. Seeing as all three acts played a classic rock song in their set list, is it mandatory for today's country artists to do so? I know modern country is more classic rock and 60s pop than what passes for Pop and Modern Rock, but geez...
She mentioned being at the Grammy's behind Lady Gaga and striking up a conversation and wound up talking about rivalries. Apparently Gaga asked her if they had rivalries in Country like they do in Pop? Lambert replied "...ummm...Noooo," before stating though there are a couple of other blondes I'd really like to beat at this ceremony. A nice dig at Carrie and Taylor, who are questionable in being true "Country" music artists. Yeah, I like to throw that term around...
And it sounded like she ad-libbed a couple of lines, with "Come get your shit," at the end of Baggage Claim and changed the lyric of White Liar to, "..with a red haired skank named Bernice."
She came back out for her encore, with just her guitar player and played Merle's Misery and Gin, and with Chris Young, Jerrod Niemann and their entire bands, traded off verses on Roger Miller's King of the Road.
Miranda's performance was more than worth it. She played her hit songs, showed emotion and her country roots and influences. This is one Redneck girl you can't help but love.

Comics I Wish Existed

I guess this is making the rounds and it sounds fun. Here are a few I would think would be a hoot to read.

Amalgam Comics Presents by Various- A monthly book, featuring the same characters and continuity from the original universe created by Marvel and DC in 1996 and 1997. The publishers would alternate each month who "actually" published it or every couple of months if there are multi-parters. One issue might feature the Judgement League Avengers by Kurt Busiek and George Perez, the next might be Challengers of Fantastic by Dan Jurgens and Tom Grummett.

Batman by Neil Gaiman and Neal Adams- The master Bat artist and master writer, I think would combine to create an awesome Bat book.

Desolation Row by Grant Morrison and J. H. Williams III- A comic that features super hero versions of characters from Bob Dylan's songs. The surrealness of the characters and lyrics would make it a perfect fit for Grant Morrison. I mean we've got Miss Lonely, Mr. Tambourine Man, and a whole slew of characters from the song Desolation Row, itself.

Freaks and Geeks Season II by Paul Feig, Scott Lobdell and Tom Grummett- The brilliant but canceled show only made it one season, so this would be the best thing to see what happened in the second season. Feig was one of the show's creators and Lobdell and Grummett are mainstream comic creators who've done great work with teenage characters.

1973 by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Dave Gibbons, Bernie Wrightson and Stephen Bissette- A sequel/continuation to Moore's 1963 mini-series, would be interesting to see. How did the characters from 1963 change by the early 1970s as comics were changing? What other characters would he come up with?

Superman & Batman: In the Beginning by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale- I'd like to see the creators of Batman: The Long Halloween and Superman: For All Seasons, tackle an early/first meeting of the two iconic characters.

The Secret Soldiers by Kurt Busiek and Kieron Dwyer - A book that would explore the history of U.S. Presidents and their involvement, with various super hero, supernatural and vigilantism throughout the history of our country and often sanctioned by the Commander In Chief. What was so nefarious with the Clanton Gang, that Doc Holliday had to be sent to in to take care of the problem? What really happened to Amelia Earhart? So many possibilities to play with history, legends and super hero archetypes.

A 2012 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team Roster

With the Olympics coming up this summer and being in the wake of the NCAA Tournament, I got to thinking about who would be on the roster if the team was still made up of amateurs? I think the Coach would still be Coach K. Going on guesstimations, with using only college players I think it would have been Coack K in 1992, Rick Pitino in 1996, Coach K again in 2000, Roy Williams in 2004 and Ben Howland in 2008. As for the team?

Starters

• C Anthony Davis (Kentucky)
  
• PF Thomas Robinson (Kansas)
• SF Draymond Green (Michigan State)
  
• G Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas)
• PG Kendall Marshall (North Carolina)

Bench

• C Tyler Zeller (North Carolina)
• PF/C Mason Plumlee (Duke)
• PF Jared Sullinger (Ohio State)
• SF Robbie Hummel (Purdue)
  
• SF Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Kentucky)
• SG Marcus Denmon (Missouri)
• SG Michael Snaer (Florida State)

The year in college basketball was ruled by the big men and this roster reflects that. Marshall and Taylor would be the only point guards and at times their probably would only be one guard on the floor. And as a Mizzou fan I'm of course biased in picking Marcus Denmon, but he's a sharp shooting senior as well as an All-American.

The big men are all self-explanatory, with the awards and accolades they've racked up this season. And with Coach K being the coach, one Duke player has to make the roster, though Ryan Kelly might be a stronger choice in a team setting, is why I have Plumlee on here.

Kidd-Gilchrist is a lock down defender and Hummel, along with Denmon, is a major shooting threat, at the small forward spots.

I might do the same for the other years since 1992, figuring out possible rosters. The hard part is that the bigger stars didn't always join the Olympic team (Alcindor, Walton) or get selected. But this is just part of the fun, of putting a roster together.

As Good As It Gets For Frank Haith?

Naturally, I'm still reeling from the loss to a 15th seed yesterday. This shit isn't supposed to happen. Especially to a senior laden team with a lot of talent(though with a lack of height). I'm just glad I had to work, otherwise I probably would have a broken tv or a hole in the wall...
But my mind is already looking to future, combined with this catastrophic disappointment. Is this as good as its going to get at Missouri for Frank Haith?

Haith came into the job inheriting a wealth of talent and seniors, Marcus Denmon, Phil Pressey, Michael Dixon, Kim English and Laurence Bowers. And when the latter had a season ending knee injury, leaving the team with little front court depth and little depth overall,with the fact of Rickey Kreklow transferring and that between Haith and Mike Anderson there were no recruits, all seemed lost for 2011-12.
But Haith did a masterful job of putting these guys in an actual system of offense and playing controlled defense, not the 40 minutes of Hell that Anderson played that likely wore out the team by March.
The 30-5 record in itself was astounding. Aside from Norfolk State, the loss at Oklahoma State was the only other "bad" loss on the season. And we should have beat Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse...

But now Marcus Denmon, Kim English, Ricardo Ratliffe, Matt Pressey and Steve Moore are gone. Coach Haith only has Michael Dixon and Phil Pressey coming back next season. This is where the question marks start...

In addition to having two great point guards coming back, is the return of Laurence Bowers. Granted there are questions if he can come back to his old self, but his return provides senior leadership as well and hopefully an athletic power forward with a good 12 foot shot...

But this is where I'm wondering if 2011-12 will be as good as it gets for Frank Haith. He put together a great regular season, won the conference tourney, but lost a chance to put an exclamation point on the season with a deep or at least decent tourney run.
Just thinking about from a national standpoint and a recruiting one, it hurts. The transfer of Kadeem Green earlier this season, gave Mizzou another scholarship opening. A good national showing might have piped some interest from a Mizzou-leaning recruit. Or even one not considering, realizing Mizzou won't have but a few returning players and at the right position and skill level could walk into a starting role...
Mizzou does have several high profile transfers, in addition to a big recruiting class, in Earnest Ross and Jabrari Brown that could help fill in some gaps. But they're all unknowns and young especially at the power forward/center spots.
With that I'm scared Coach Haith will try the four guard lineup again next year, which I think only worked this year, because of the personnel and experience we had. Next year we have height, we need to capitalize it...
And then there's the fandom/alumni happiness. The tendency of Mizzou fans is to easily think, 'here we go down this road again,' when things start rolling in the negative direction. How will Haith handle this aspect to a school that does have a decent basketball tradition certainly compared to Miami? And then there's still a few black clouds floating about from his purported ties to Nevin Shapiro, which hopefully will blow over...

When Mike Alden announced Frank Haith's hiring last Spring, I was somewhat dumbfounded, but after it set in, there was something about the hire that I liked or it just made sense. A middle of the road coach with no expectations comes to a school used to heartbreaks. His big draw was his ability to recruit, which hopefully comes to fruition. Heck if he could just start picking off one major talent out of St. Louis each year from going elsewhere(Bradley Beal, B.J. Young, etc.), he'd be ahead of every other coach Mizzou's had the past 30 years...
The only thing I've disliked about Coach Haith or his decisions, was that somehow with only eight scholarship players and a lack of depth down low, Kadeem Green, a Redshirt Freshman decided to transfer. Green is a 6'8 210 lb. athletic(purported) forward. Granted there was probably a lot of things behind the scenes and honestly probably some kind of attitude problem that we didn't know about. And if he was that good, Mike Anderson would have played him last year after getting healthy.
But Coach Haith used the excuse of only playing a seven man rotation, which seems bogus, as looking at box scores, it looked like he used eight or nine at Miami. And he said he liked/wanted to have big guys down low. As I said, just the lack of players and he can't find a role(defensive stopper against small forwards?) or way to get him experience for a few mins a game?

I'm rooting for Coach Haith. I"m just pessimistic to be optimistic. I don't want to see a continuous downward slide over the next three to four years. I don't want a return to the late/Post Quin Snyder era from 2004 to 2008. I want to see them return to the tourney next season, get the younger players experience and keep stocking up the bench with good and maybe even a few great recruits each season. MIZZOU-RAH!