Dodging Lions and Wasting Time

I Never Saw Albert Pujols Play

2011-12-31T23:10:00.002-06:00

It's been almost a month since Albert Pujols, brought the hatred of Cardinal fans upon him. Naturally I don't like him leaving for another team, but it is the free market; get as much as you can.

The only thing that makes me dislike him, is the attitude he carried. He made mention multiple times, it wasn't about the money. It was about wanting to be in St. Louis, playing for a winning/contending team, etc. There were more important things, he said. But if that was true he would have had a deal done two years ago. In the end, him and his wife can say what they want about a long-term deal and lack of respect, but it was about the money.

Good riddance, then. The Cardinals made the right decision, in not outbidding any other teams. Continue building and developing young players and St. Louis will continue to field decent teams. The Yankees did just fine after Babe Ruth....

But the only thing I got to thinking about the other day was I never got to see Pujols play. I mean I could still see him, but not in a Cardinal uniform, unless something drastic happens. I haven't been to a game in 11 years. Heck I only saw LaRussa manage one game and McGwire take one at bat in that game, but I can say I saw them in Cardinal uniforms. I was planning on going to a game this summer, but didn't want to go by myself.

Thinking about it, the only remedy is winning multiple championships in the coming years

I'll Never Date a Woman Who Pays $10 For Beer

2011-12-11T01:36:00.002-06:00

As I talked about at the Bob Seger concert in the post below, people were buying multiple glasses of beer at $10 bucks a pop. And I just thought this to myself later, "there's no way I could date a girl who would pay that." I don't care if she drinks or not, it's just the principle behind it. How could I be with someone who could justify spending that? Maybe it's just a psychosis of my thought process or more likely my conservative nature, but it doesn't matter, we wouldn't be compatible.

The only loophole in this is if she is loaded financially.

The Real Rock and Roll Poet of the Working Class; 12/9 Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band concert review

2011-12-11T01:33:00.003-06:00

Bob Seger is one of favorite artists and had been wanting to see him and he has rarely toured much the past 15 years save for couple of treks. He last toured in in 2006 behind his previous album. I didn't really pay attention and wasn't feeling the best at the time. Plus it was in December as well, but I was kicking myself for not going.
This Spring he kicked off another tour behind a potential new album(which turned out to be another Greatest Hits collection) and played KC. I dragged my feet again and only had nosebleeds left, plus there were open dates around it and I figured he'd be in St. Louis a day or two around then. No date and I was kicking myself again. But thankfully the rumors of a Fall tour turned out true and St. Louis got a date. I even joined his fan club to get presale access, which was a total fucking joke, for the most part they gave people shitty selections farther away. I screwed around and came back an hour later and got pretty good floor seats, 12 rows back on the right side. I knew Bob didn't use large video screens, so I knew I better get a good view.

Me and Dad got there before seven and they wouldn't let people in til then so we were freezing our asses off, in partially closed area. Finally they started lining us up a little, when it started getting crowded. They also started scanning tickets and then moving us around and only asking us later, if they were already scanned. Dad said, "I think if you planned it right you could have gotten in without a ticket."
The other part, people were already buying beer at ten bucks a pop. This was a nice common theme throughout the night. The people that wound up setting in front of us, a group of four made at least three trips for alcohol. How the hell do you people do this? I think I've made up my mind I couldn't date anyone stupid enough to pay that, unless of course they are totally loaded financially.
We made our way to our seats, waiting the hour before start time and saw the second drum kit, meaning there was an opening act. I guess with a hockey game the next night, they were keeping it colder, but it was freezing down there.
And the other part I've mentioned before, it's amazing with a metro area of 3 million or more? and probably with other people traveling for afar like us, how is it that in an audience of 15,000 all these idiots know one another? I guess it's just the 1% thing, maybe those occupier nut-jobs are on to something.

At 8PM Whitey Morgan and the 78's came out. The group is a country rock group(two Telecasters and a pedal steel, baby) from Flint, Michigan and they played 9 songs for 35 minutes or so. And overall they were enjoyable, they had a good sound. He gave a shout to St. Louis club venue Off-Broadway. "We love coming here. Everybody says that, but we're not bullshitting." He threw in some covers that were nice, Springsteen's I'm On Fire("This one's for the ladies...who I'm kidding, they're all for the ladies."), Merle's Workin' Man Blues, a snippet of John Prine's Paradise and closing with a song by Dale Watson, Where Do You Want It?

Set list I copied from the Philly set list, but think there's a song missing

Crapped Out Again
(Stay Away From) The Cocaine Train
Crazy
I'm On Fire
Another Round
Paradise (snippet)
Workin' Man Blues
Sinner
Where Do Ya Want It?

The set change was done fairly briskly and ready for a Nine o'clock start time, with an announcement that Bob would be on stage in five minutes, though it was a few minutes after. But the lights dimmed and the man appeared with his band.
On the opening number, Roll Me Away, I was a little worried as the sound sounded muddied and Bob's voice was hard to understand. It didn't help he kept getting the crowd to do the chorus. But by the second song, Tryin' To Live My Life Without You, it wasn't as bad. And overall it stood up during the nearly two hour, 22 song show.
But there were times his voice wasn't as strong. He was fighting a cold, coughing quite a bit and smoking habit doesn't help. Overall it was fine, but to me his voice sounded best on the slower and softer numbers, like Mainstreet, Turn the Page and We've Got Tonight, which he introduced saying he was inspired by a scene in the movie The Sting.
It also didn't help, he had a wall of sound behind him. There were three female back-up singers, plus a group of four horn players augmenting his six man band. There's definitely the feel of a Motown influence, which Seger said himself that he loved the blues.
The band was polished and stellar, featuring long time members Chris Campbell and his version of Clarance Clemons, Alto Reed. Or maybe Clarance Clemons is Bruce Springsteen's version of Alto Reed, since Alto and Bob were together first. Plus Grand Funk Railroad members Don Brewer and Craig Frost were part of the band and Jamey Johnson producer Jim "Moose" Brown.
Set List

Roll Me Away
Tryin' to Live My Life Without You
The Fire Down Below
Mainstreet
Old Time Rock and Roll
Downtown Train
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Hey Hey Hey Hey (Going Back to Birmingham)
Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser
We've Got Tonight
Nutbush City Limits
Come to Poppa
Her Strut
Real Mean Bottle
Turn the Page
Sunspot Baby
Katmandu
-----------------
Against the Wind
Hollywood Nights
---------------
Night Moves
Rock and Roll Never Forgets

Highlights for me, well seeing Bob Seger mainly and with his catalog of songs, he got most of the ones I wanted to hear. I knew full well after looking at previous set lists, that Like A Rock wouldn't get played. Of course that was the one my dad most wanted to hear. You'll Accomp'ny Me is probably my favorite of his that he didn't play.
But he played Sunspot Baby, the song I was waiting for, that I just love to hear over and over. Against the Wind, was probably the best song of the evening and he was still cutting the vocals lose with "Let the Cowboys Ride!" during the choruses at the end. Turn the Page was up there too, which he played at the piano, where he usually gave some insights into the songs. That one was written in a motel, not a hotel, in Wisconsin in 1971 and later recorded in Leon Russell's studio in Oklahoma. Her Strut was inspired by Jane Fonda. And usually featured some of his clearest vocals. And the whole band shined on the Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser segue.
And of course, once that piano intro of Old Time Rock and Roll came, the whole place was wild.

The only minor complaint about the performance was that the banter seemed too automated, many times at the beginning he'd give the album and asked us, "If we remember this one?" I was more worried about him forgetting them. And his shout to St. Louis was just a prefunctionary mention of how he loved flying here and seeing the Arch.
I'm curious if he gets his lyrics fed to him through an ear piece, because during Tryin' To Live My Life Without You, he gave pretty much verbatim of the talking part of the live version on Nine Tonight.
Of course the other people at a concert are the worst part. And I think the older ones are the worst when they're drunk. Dancing around, falling on one another, raising their glasses trying to sing along. Sigh....

But overall it was great. It was pretty neat for most of the songs, everyone was singing along. I haven't been to many shows like that. True at times I wish Seger himself would have been heard more clearly, but still special. And at 66, he was still up there giving it his all. This is the real Rock and Roll poet of the American working class, not that guy from Jersey.

St. Louis Post Dispatch Review
Riverfront Times Review

The Singing Mailman Came to St. Louis; John Prine 12/3 Concert Review

2011-12-04T23:00:00.003-06:00

Recently I've started listening to John Prine and his songs(mostly due to my dad playing one of his hilarious songs ad nausem, In Spite of Ourselves) and when I saw there was a date in St. Louis, I said, "Might as well check him out, I've got vacation days to use."
The concert was at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. Doors were supposed to be open at 7 PM for the 8:00 staring time, but they didn't open 'til 7:30 or a little later. Much to the chagrin of my dad, who used the time to splurge on the $5 sandwiches and soda. It was a pretty nice auditorium, mostly due to being pretty new.
When I ordered the tickets the only good seats together or showing up were 20 rows back, so I said heck with it and bought a couple with one seat a row in front of the other one.

Opening act Jason Isbell came on at 8 PM or pretty close. I was pretty sure he used to be in the Drive-By Truckers and was confirmed with the last song he sang, Outfit, which was the only one I was familiar with. Except for the last number, he was rather ho-hum for me. Not bad, but just seemed to run together a little too much. He joked around with the audience, especially about the sixth songs title, Goddamn Lonely Love, about how a producer or executive wanted him to change the title to 'gawl darn' or something similar. He played 8 songs for around 35 minutes.
His set list:

Daisy Mae
Alabama Pines
Tour of Duty
Streetlights
Dress Blues
Goddamn Lonely Love
Razor Town
Outfit

After around a 2o minute set change(more like dicking around there was nothing that should have needed to be changed, with a solo acoustic performer opening), the house lights dimmed and John Prine came onstage with his two backing musicians.
The opening two numbers were pretty rocking, and the second song Picture Show was an enjoyable song. His guitarist, Jason Wilber, is flat out talented. He played electric mandolin and harmonica, but when he was bending those Telecaster strings, he was on fire. There were multiple songs he was stand out on and got many applause's throughout the evening.

Set List

Spanish Pipedream
Picture Show
Humidity Built the Snowman
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
Six O'clock News
Souvenirs
Grandpa Was a Carpenter
Storm Windows
Christmas in Prison
Fish and Whistle
Crazy as a Loon
Glory of True Love
Angel From Montgomery
Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
That's The Way That the World Goes 'Round
Dear Abby
Mexican Home
Sam Stone
Bear Creek Blues
Ain't Hurtin' Nobody
Hello in There
Lake Marie

---------------
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Paradise

The earliest highlight was Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore, which he prefaced with claiming, "I forgot which war I wrote it about." Then one of the funniest moments happened during the next song, Six O'clock News, " which had a line about "Come On Baby Spend the night with me," and a child cried out audible for the whole audience to hear and brought a smile to Prine's face.
Another was hearing Souvenirs, a song he mentioned he played with Steve Goodman, who "had a finger picking style that made it sound like Prine was playing good."
Starting about 2/3's through the main set, the two other musicians left and Prine played solo for a few numbers before, they returned halfway through Sam Stone, adding beautiful accompaniments.
Prine, dealt with the audience members shouting out requests all night. Illegal Smile was the most prominent request. At one point Prine replied, "No, we're gonna do the next song," and later before starting a song, "You requested this one about an hour ago. Sorry it took so long to get your order....Would you like fries with that?"
One of his lines that also gave me a chuckle was in Dear Abby, when he got to the verse, "Dear Abby, Dear Abby, well I never though that me and my girlfriend would ever get caught. We were sittin' in the back seat just shootin' the breeze, with her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees Signed Just Re-Married."

He did a nice job of mixing it up with his songs running the whole gamut of emotions, but maybe it was I was getting hungry and the heat in the auditorium, but found it starting to lull somewhat, waiting on more familiar songs. The only songs I wouldn't have minded hearing was The Late John Garfield Blues and Speed the Sound of Loneliness, were two he didn't play. No biggie though he played the other major ones.
And while he was in good spirits and clearly enjoyed being there, he didn't tell many stories or give many introductions to songs, he let the songs speak for themselves.

He ended up playing 25 total songs, coming back for an encore with a surprising I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and with Isbell joining the band for the close Paradise, another highlight for the evening.
Overall it was a pretty good performance. I wasn't super familiar with a lot of Prine's material, though I had been listening to several of his albums and recognized more songs that I thought I would. Though I wish he would have had a female opening act so he would have played, In Spite of Ourselves...

The Riverfront Times review

Don't Know Why...

2011-10-31T00:31:00.005-05:00

How did I get stuck again being around and having to listen to "educated" idiots and morons? Either this fall weather when constantly changing, does something to my body to make me fatigued and inhospitable, or I think it's time for a change of some kind...

Songs To Be Played When I Die...

2011-10-15T23:15:00.004-05:00

I did this when I started my MySpace blog and figured it was time for an update/repost of my favorite song or relevant songs.
I'd still rather have some kind of gathering concert, rent out the old Perry Gym or some other hall, than an actual funeral, like the Concert for George, though I don't know how many of friends are musically talented. Just make it a big old party and a good time. And it'd still be better than an actual funeral, especially when it costs $20-30,000 to die. Fucking unbelievable. Put me on a stick in the front yard and let the vultures claw me up. Or better yet, go the Gram Parsons route and somebody steal the body and set it on fire.

But here's the songs I'd like played/performed. Mostly favorites and favorite artists, but some darker relevant ones tossed in. I always think of the funeral scene in The Big Chill, where they preform the departed's favorite hymn, You Can't Always Get What You Want.
The last two would have to be Knockin' on Heaven's Door and The Weight.

Positively 4th Street, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Like A Rolling Stone, Knockin' On Heaven's Door- Bob Dylan
The Weight, I Shall Be Released- The Band
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?- Waylon Jennings
Poor, Poor Pitiful Me- Warren Zevon
House of Gold- Hank Williams
Lola- The Kinks
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For- U2
I'm One, Long Live Rock, Substitute - The Who
Don't Cry No Tears, Harvest- Neil Young
Against the Wind- Bob Seger
Wide River to Cross- Buddy Miller

And something for sure by Jamey Johnson and Shooter Jennings. And I'll probably be adding to this list ad nauseum...

9th Street After 8 PM; Robert Earl Keen 9/14 Concert Review

2011-09-15T01:31:00.003-05:00

How is it the Blue Note seems to have better free shows than paying shows? It's been two years since I've been to show there, but last year they had Chuck Berry playing outside for free and Jimmie Vaughan last month. So, when they announced that Robert Earl Keen was going to be playing the final free outdoor concert of the year, me and Zane made plans to go.
Of course you can never plan anything with him. And he came down with a cold and didn't want to do anything. Typical. I was trying to decide whether I wanted to go or not then. I saw that it was moved indoors because of the cold and earlier rain of the day and said I might as well do something, I lobbied to get this as my day off instead of Friday...
And my fun getting there issue, was getting five miles down the road and realizing I left my cell phone charging at home. So, after returning home, I also remembered to pick up my dad's camera. And I think I only managed to save one photo I took and only got a minute or so worth of video because the cards full. Now if I can only figure out to get the video's off there...
The Doors opened at 6 and show started at 7. I got there about half an hour before and it wasn't very full and honestly didn't get much til closer to 8 when Robert Earl Keen too the stage. I didn't feel like standing alone for awhile, so I took a seat in the balcony(Which are some of the most cramped seats for anyone short or tall. Thankfully I was able to stretch out longways...) And I think they had free beer, according to the guys behind me, so my brother missed out...

Deke Dickerson was the opening act, who was a Columbia native before moving elsewhere. He recounted the last time he played at the Blue Note was opening for Steppenwolf and couldn't hardly move due to Steppenwolf's keyboard player having a mountain of keys.
It was just him, a standup bass player and drummer, and they all switched instruments multiple times. Their style of music, I would classify as 1950's in general, sounding rockabilly, vintage country and Texas Swing of the era. They did a Johnny Cash cover and There Stands the Glass made famous by Webb Pierce. And a hilarious original called Misshapen Hillbilly Gal.
They were loud and it was actually pretty good. They played for 45 minutes but packed a bunch of songs in, not drawing them out too much. They did some some theatrics with the switching around, but they kept it entertaining.

Within 15 minutes they pretty much had everything changed over and the main act came out. I'm not super familiar with Keen, I just like some of his main songs and got turned onto him a little by my brother. So, I was probably with most of the people waiting to hear the Road Goes on Forever. I'm not sure about titles, I'm pretty sure he opened with the Rose Hotel, but i remember the 4th, 8th and 9th songs he played were pretty good.
Keen's came out in a hat and sports jacket, looking like some combination of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. And his movements while playing guitar suggested a little Neil Young as well...
His band was good, but seemed to draw too much away from Keen, who after the tenth song, preformed a couple of numbers by himself including a spoken word/singing about being from College Station. It was ripe for booing as he mentioned he want to Texas A&M, the school who has gained the most recent scorn from the Big 12 for whoring itself out to the SEC, then playing Merry Christmas From the Family. I wish the show would have featured more solo Keen or at least lighter sound from the band.
But anyways after this the show seemed to pick up, several tracks from his new album were good, I Gotta Go and the the title track Ready for Confetti. He also played Copenhagen with another song about New Braunfuels in the middle and Gringo Honeymoon. And there was a hilarious song, maybe titled He's an Asshole, that he said, They've never recorded and never will."
He finished up and came back out for an 2 song encore, with The Road Goes on Forever as the last song, which he played sped up and had a lengthy jam at the end. They then left the stage, but with quickly returned and played a surprising cover of You Can't Always Get What You Want, in slower blues style. It wasn't too bad.

Overall it wasn't bad, hey it was a free concert. I wished he would have played the Man Behind the Drums, his tribute song to Levon Helm and featured more storytelling/solo songs. Other than the storytelling song, he didn't have too much of a rapport with the audience. Though he did say, "Thanks," after almost every song. And he did get the crowd to sing along to some of the parts. And I wish I would have listened to a few more of his songs to have gotten more familiar with them, than I did...
More to come if a set list turns up or I can recall more later.

Sunday, A Bloody Hot Sunday; 7/17 U2 at Busch Stadium Concert Review

2011-07-19T02:05:00.012-05:00

This was a no-brainer for me, a chance to see the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band. (Yes, I realize the Stones are still alive and kicking, but since 1987 or so U2 has been the one to hold this title. Or a better title I guess would be the World's Most Popular Band.) I guess I'm glad Bono hurt his back last year and had to reschedule shows and they added St. Louis. Otherwise I wouldn't have seen them.
And it was held in beautiful Busch Stadium, the first time I've ever been in the new one. The "Claw" stage that looked like a spaceship, is so big and tall(over 150 feet) that it couldn't have fit into the Edward Jones Dome, like most of the other shows on the U2 360° Tour have been in football or soccer stadiums worldwide. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City would have been the likely choice I thought. More seats more money. Or even Faurot Field in Columbia could have gotten more people. Heck they played in Norman Oklahoma and East Lansing Michigan...

This was the first stadium show I've ever been too. But I bought general admission field tickets because a) it was cheaper and b) closer than most of the other seats, unless I wanted to sit in the upper decks.The gates opened at 5 and thanks to my brother dicking around we didn't get there until 5:30 or so, but thankfully the heat scared away a lot of people. We didn't get into the inner part closest to the stage, but were about 8 "rows" back from the access ramp.
And the heat was torture. One good thing was they let us bring in water or soda, so we could stay hydrated without paying the astronomical prices. It was 92° when we got there and the sun blaring at our backs. Thankfully by around time Interpol, got around to playing at 7:30(supposed to start at 7:00) the sun was behind the stands.
Interpol came out, with one member dressed in a full suit in this heat, and played nine songs over 40 minutes or so. Probably the heat, and the fact I've never heard anything of theirs, I wasn't that impressed, except for how quick they were done. The lead singer looked like 1990's Brad Pitt, with a mullet and he sounded like Michael Stipe...

Then came the set-change, which took over an hour. The neatest part was watching the 3 camera operators on each of the claw legs get hoisted up. Finally the speakers started playing David Bowie's A Space Oddity, and the band came out. They had the fans going with the two opening songs rocking, but as soon as the Edge hit the distinctive opening tones and notes of Mysterious Ways it sent the crowd into a frenzy. The first four songs were from Achtung Baby, I would guess being as it's the 20 year anniversary of the album...
Set List
Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For> Many Rivers To Cross
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day > Space Oddity
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight > Discothèque > Life During Wartime > Psycho Killer
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On
One
Hallelujah > Where The Streets Have No Name
------------
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender

The highlight for me was seeing my favorite song of theirs I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Bono had the crowd sing some of the lines in the first verse and choruses. During the song, it got me caught up in the moment, forgetting that I was stuck at an outdoor concert in the middle of summer. Plus it was cool being able to look up and over and see the Arch. If I was more centered or more on the right side, I guess they would've been in the background.
Before, the song Bono made mention of how long they've been at this and thanked the audience for being with them all these years. "Adam (Clayton, bassist) still believes being in a band is a great way to meet girls.... And it is." He joked about Larry Mullen the drummer, still being upset at the band not being named after and lauded the Edge as the greatest guitar player of his generation. And for Bono himself, "...As for me, I'm a man of simple means: 200 trucks, 400 tons of equipment, is all I need..."
He also mentioned that they'd been in St. Louis before 30 years ago, where they played at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus, which the Post had reprinted an review of earlier this year. He read the set list for that night which was humorous in that the first three songs, were repeated as the last three songs in the encore. He also mentioned several time the lights being on in the Hilton and that the people needed to get to sleep over there.
Other highlights were seeing another personal favorite the Batman Forever soundtrack song Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. And they played all of their hits, or the ones I wanted to hear. Pride (In the Name of Love) was another standout for me that seemed to get the crowd into it. The only real absent song was ,New Year's Day (Angel of Harlem, Desire, All Because of You, Stuck in A Moment, if you want to get picky), but I could live without hearing it.
They used a video of astronaut Mark Kelly(Gabrielle Giffords husband) setting up Beautiful Day and I liked the wise segue of playing a bit of A Space Oddity, which related perfect to the couple.
The stage and video screen were used. They had to ramps to the outer catwalk, that were moved several times, that brought Bono and the Edge close and taken back. And the video screen was brought down like "a space ship getting ready to lift off," during the later part of the main set and trapping the band at one point
And Bono kept the politicalnesss out of it for the most part. He mentioned a bit about Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma and gave a shout out to Amnesty International. He even joked before telling the audience to keep the people of Joplin in our hearts and prayers, that "... I want to think before I talk. I don't always do that...," before Moment of Surrender, a song which seemed anti-climatic and took the wind out of the sails. The group left the stage to Rocket Man playing over the loudspeaker.
The Edge, is the master of getting tones and sounds out of his guitars. He naturally did the guitar switch after virtually every song, but listening to U2's songs it's easy to see why, they almost all have different sonics and they generally kept the same sounds that the recorded versions have. And in It Might Get Loud, he says 'he tries to play as few notes as possible.' So, what he does with foot pedals, synths or whatever, is amazing.
The worst part was the people. There was almost a fight ten feet in front of us. Some guy was fucked up on something and tried starting something with a huge guy(I think the guy could have taken him and his two friends). Then having to listen to hipster/hippie chicks talking with their friends and having their friends come up and help block my view. I didn't mind them dancing or enjoying the show. And a woman in front of us passed out about halfway through U2's set. How do you pay money for tickets, then pay shitloads more for beer and have fun like that? Guess I'm just a conservative.
On the plus side of people, there was something that even made me crack a smile, watching couple young kids sitting of their parents/grandparents shoulders next to me, smiling and clapping along to the music.

There was no major surprises, nothing much different from previous set lists(which I hadn't looked at except for South American dates earlier this year), but U2 is able to conjure up enough magic to make it feel like you're watching something special. Maybe that's why they are the greatest rock and roll band in the world. One of the best I've been too...

Post Dispatch review
and Riverfront Times review
And a write up on the U2 site

St. Louis Friday Night; 6/17 Brad Paisley Concert Review

2011-06-19T00:05:00.010-05:00

My mom has always gently chided me to go and see Brad Paisley again(We'd seen him at Mizzou Arena in December 2006) in concert with her and I've never wanted to waste one of my vacation days to do so. Lo and behold my off day this week was on Friday the 17th, the same day his H20 II Tour was coming to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis and she decided she wanted to go.

We arrived there around 4:30 and could hear Blake Shelton doing his soundcheck singing Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, while all the lawn seat people were lining up waiting to get their spots. The gates opened at 4, due to the fact that Paisley had all sorts of water themed activities to partake in as well, as a smaller stage with three acts playing, which was the only reason we arrived that early.
Eden's Edge, a bluegrass/gospel tinged pop country act was the first one to hit the stage. They played seven songs. I guess their best known song was called Amen, which has just hit the Top 40 Country chart. They were enjoyable and played an interesting cover of something. I can't recall at the moment...EDIT: They played covers of Hey, Soul Sister and Boondocks, if i remember correctly.
Next up was Sunny Sweeney, the one I was most interested in seeing. Best known for her song, From A Table Away and I'd heard a few of her other songs. She has a really nice voice and little bit of rowdy attitude, which matches her band's sound. It was a good mix, as the guitarist was rocking pretty hard, but you could hear the steel player and the fiddler at times. The fiddler as I thought I recognized was mid-Missouri's own Jake Clayton. She had another good tune, Everyone Else Can Kiss My Ass ?. If I Could, Staying's Worse Than Leaving and Drink Myself Single were other songs. She played eight songs total and I was really impressed with her...
Finally was the JaneDear Girls, best known for their song Wildflower. They have more of a pop country sound in the vein of Taylor Swift and have the teenage girl sounding voices though too. I think they played seven songs, including covers of Goodbye Earl, and She's Country. Their band looked like some kind of hybrid of styles and they did a bunch of hopping around. The funniest part was during the first song, the blonde of the duo, who were both wearing four-inch heels was coming down from a riser in front of the drums, fell down and about busted her face...

Then with about 40 minutes until the acts hit the main stage, we went and found our seats. They were about 30 some rows back straightaway center, not bad, but if I would have waited until Friday, could have got some about 20 rows back... One thing I noticed was that there were black people in the audience, which I don't think I've ever seen at a country show. Heck that was more than I've seen at Springsteen's show!...
Jerrod Niemann came out first before 7:30 I believe and did roughly a seven song, half an hour set. To me he was a Scott Bakula look alike and had a frat boy party country sound, with several songs about drinking. One was a humorous story about college and waking up with a professor. He also preformed a cover of Steive Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy, Good Ride Cowboy which he wrote with Garth Brooks and left with his song Lover, Lover a cover of You Don't Treat Me No Good. But he was a pretty good entertainer and I was surprised I enjoyed his set.
After a 15 minute set change, Mr. Miranda Lambert, oops... I mean Blake Shelton came up. He played an 11 song set four about 5o minutes. Overall I was disappointed in his part. He started off fine with All About Tonight and Some Beach getting the crowd going. He then went into a story about the different kinds of music his family all listened too, preforming a medley of Play That Funky Music White Boy/Centerfold/My Prerogative before jumping into Kiss My Country Ass. Then he shifted into some of his ballads, right in a row, which drew a lot of energy out of the show, none of which I can really recall. Toward the end he played Austin and his current single Honey Bee, then Hillbilly Bone and closed with Ol' Red. And he also seemed to play up the country and redneck angles, delivering the same diatribes he probably does at every show, which of course the crowd eats up. And sounding like my old man, he didn't play The Baby, Playboys of the Southwestern World, Nobody But Me or The More I Drink... Or maybe he's ready for a longer slot or his own headlining gig...
Set List
All About Tonight
Some Beach
Play That Funky Music/Centerfold/My Prerogative
Kiss My Country Ass
Who Are You When I'm Not Looking
She Wouldn't Be Gone
Home
Austin
Honey Bee
Hillbilly Bone
Ol' Red

Finally, at around 9:20 the lights dimmed and and a video version of Brad Paisley started singing This Is Country Music, before the real Brad came from somewhere off to the side or back of the seats and made his way to the stage opening with Mud on the Tires. He kept the energy going early and I got one early favorite with Ticks, that wasn't out yet when I'd see him in Columbia. At the very stat his voice sounded very squeaky and the bass was very loud in the mix. He ended up playing 22 songs for around 100 minutes.

Set List
Mud on the Tires
Welcome to the Future
Ticks
Working on a Tan
She's My Everything
Celebrity
Don't Drink the Water
Country Boy Can Survive>I'm Still a Guy
Waitin' on a Woman
When I Get Where I'm Going
The World
Camouflage
Letter to Me
I'm Gonna Miss Her
This is Country Music
Eastwood (Instrumental)
Online
American Saturday Night
Then
Water
---------
Old Alabama
Alcohol

He had a nice mix of hits, album cuts of his current album which were enjoyable and songs I hadn't seen before. I think the only I was disappointed he didn't play was Whiskey Lullaby, which he probably didn't do because he didn't have a female singer on the main bill to sing the female part. Though I guess he could have pulled Sweeney or one of the the girls from the earlier groups....
Highlights for me were the aforementioned Ticks, American Saturday Night, and his current single Old Alabama which I kept waiting and waiting for...Another highlight was Don't Drink the Water, which Blake Shelton came back out and reprised his role on vocals from the album version. This is usually the crap I hate, where one of the previous artists comes back out and they star acts like its a surprise. But here I enjoyed it and like I said it's actually Shelton who does the song with him on the record...
About midway through on Letter to Me and half of I'm Gonna Miss Her, he made his way to the makeshift stage about 10 rows in front of us. He gave the same spiel he did on the live version of the song on his Hits Alive! album about doing songs for the people in the back and that's as close as he used to get going to concerts..The fact he was 10 rows away was a nice bonus, but the fact that I was 10 rows away and couldn't get a good picture with my camera, either tells me I need to learn to take better ones or it's time to get a new phone...
I agree with the Post Dispatch review, in that he seems to rely too much on videos and images, and it takes away from his performance. Paisley is a hell of a guitar player, showing his chops and muscle on the first few numbers. But a lot of it gets lost with all of the distractions...

The bad parts? It seemed like a lot of paint by numbers, same show/dialogue, different city, where it seemed a little to effortless. And during When I Get Where I'm Going, he used the same gimmick he did five years ago, showing pictures of dead and recently deceased celebs, playing the emotion card(But for the record I don't mind the 9/11 pics and solider pics at the very end). And to be fair country concerts/artists set themselves up for all this crap, repeating the same verbatim at most shows. But if the fans wouldn't lap it up, they wouldn't have to do the same dumb them down moves and speeches... Sorry, just the cynical nature...
2nd aside on the subject, I can't stand it when artists play one of their duet songs and they use video of who performed the it on record. He did on Old Alabama, but he's far from the only act that does this. Why is it monkey see, monkey do with the country concert industry?...
And one more aside, can they break themselves away from the three tier act concerts? It's the same old formula, up and comer does their 20 min, then a mid range star or up and coming headliner gets the 50 min set and finally the main act, which to be fair is the only one people really care about. Audiences are too polite though these days, in the old days opening acts better be good or they'd boo you off the stage....

During the finale Alcohol, he brought out a makeshift bar, and a giant headed Brad Paisley mascot as well as all the other performers from throughout the day.
Paisley even with some of my gripes, put on a good concert, played what I wanted to see and for seeing all the acts I did, he was well worth the ticket price. And after a few years and another ten good songs, I'd go see him again.

The worst part was the leaving the parking lot. We wound up waiting 40 minutes before we finally got out. Thankfully most acts I want to see play elsewhere...

Top 10 Favorite Dylan Songs

2011-06-06T00:41:00.001-05:00

I did my version of the 10 Greatest Dylan songs a few entries ago, so I figured I'd do my 10 Favorite Dylan Songs.

1. Positively 4th Street- The haunting organ driving the melody and vitriolic Dylan lyrics makes me like this song. Plus it's the ultimate put down song, who hasn't known someone (or to be fair been this person themselves) they'd like to tell words like these to? " Do you take me for such a fool, to think I’d make contact, with the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?..." Priceless

2. When I Paint My Masterpiece- Well, no surprise this one's on here judging from the title of the blog... There's a whimsical quality and air to this tune presumably about the quirks of artistry and being on the road. Though I've always gotta change the lyrics to "...in the land of Pepsi Cola."

3. Like A Rolling Stone- Like it's sibling song at #1 on my list, it's part of "the same one-sided" argument," complete with the country sounding organ that adds so much to the texture of the song . One of the greatest rock songs ever and every time it comes on the radio, it gets cranked up.

4. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere- A complete 180 from the thin wild mercury sound of 1966 Dylan, this Americana tune was the part of the legendary Basement Tapes made with the Band. Simple lyrics to fit the rhyme, nothing radical, just a footprint for what direction the Band would go into and where Dylan would be the next few years.

5. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You- Another simple love song, I read somebody call "a throwaway love song." I agree, but it's a very good one and not to mention he's backed by killer Nashville pros on the studio version.

6. Knockin' On Heaven's Door- Another greatest hit, and still in his country sounding period(Notice a bunch of them on this list?). Even greater when you see the context of it in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, with Slim Pickens heading to watch the sunset...

7. To Ramona- Some of Dylan's best poetry and and a love song to a girl that he fears will "turn into a meaningless ring," at the end. And this is probably higher too, because I love the Flying Burritos version of it as well...

8. Tweeter and the Monkey Man- You gotta love this song from his Wilbury days. There are obvious Springsteen song references and just the style of the story seems like a wink to the Boss. Not to mention the gender changing throughout of the main characters. Bob at some of his funniest...

9. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues- Another Highway 61 Revisited era song(which if you can't tell is my other favorite Dylan period). I like the hazed out imagery and "Sweet Melinda, they call her the goddess of gloom," who couldn't love that? Well, by the end Dylan did and had to get back to New York City...

10. Forever Young- It's a jaunty feel good song that gives a timeless wish for Bob's children, that everyone should strive for. Never lose the desire to learn, be happy and do what you want with your life.

Top 10 Greatest Dylan Songs

2011-06-04T23:47:00.003-05:00

Rolling Stone recently did their Top 70 Bob Dylan songs in honor of Bob's 70th birthday. They did a fair job, but Blowin' in the Wind at number 20. Yeah, right... Here's my take, on the combination of most popular, most influencing, and well best overall.

1. Like A Rolling Stone- Well, they got the first one right. And I'd hope so, based on the name of the magazine and arguably the greatest rock song ever, it's for sure in the Top 5. This combination of blues, rock and structure, changed the nature of what a pop song was. The opening snare drum was Dylan bursting further into the rock and roll conscience of America, changing everything, again.

2. Blowin' in the Wind- You could argue this is his greatest song by the fact that it will be relevant as long as there are still people on the planet...

3. Mr. Tambourine Man- This is Dylan the poet. "Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand, Vanished from my hand." The majesty and the magic in the rhymes, make this song, it's beautiful without music. And who or what is he singing about? Who knows, another part of it's beauty and poetry.

4. All Along the Watchtower- Dylan's most played live song. This song and lyrics sound like it's setting is straight out of the Book of Revelation and the end of days. And you can take it several ways. The verses and the song is told in reverse with the first verse being the end of the tale, or that we're left hanging at the end of the song with "two riders approaching..."

5. Subterranean Homesick Blues- It's probably most famous for being a proto-music video from the film Don't Look Back, with Dylan holding the lyrics to the song on various cue cards, which has aped a bunch of times. Again it's another example of Dylan combing the blues and rock(with a heavy Chuck Berry influence as well from Too Much Monkey Business) , at a super-charged pace of lyrics being spat out, as well as being his first electric song.

6. Positively 4th Street- My personal favorite, the ultimate put down song. Often called "Dylan at his most vitriolic," who hasn't felt this way about somebody (and honestly probably been that way themselves towards people)? That backing organ song helps pace the songs mood and anger. "You say you lost your faith, But that’s not where it’s at. You had no faith to lose And you know it." Masterful...

7. Tangled Up in Blue- Another example of masterful storytelling, mixing in Dylan's own personal feelings of a relationship going down. Like Watchtower, this song doesn't follow a linear pattern or really the same narrator, but ones who faced similar problems. I doubt there there were too many topless joints, when the dealing of slaves was going on. But then again, we just might be assuming it's referring to African Americans and maybe it is a linear story from point A to Z...

8. Desolation Row- Another example of is he just trying to fit the rhyme scheme and come up with surreal juxtapositions, or have the names of all these wacky characters been changed? "The Phantom of the Opera, a perfect image of a priest, they’re spoonfeeding Casanova, To get him to feel more assured, Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence, After poisoning him with words..." Probably a bit of both, but I doubt Bob will ever talk...

9. Mississippi- The best of example of Bob's later works. Here is Bob writing about life and experiences in his mid-50's and pushing 60. Lyrically it's up there with his earlier output. The "older voice" he wrote in as a 22 year old, though wouldn't have the life experiences though...

10 . Rainy Day Women #12 and 35- Yeah, yeah, the party anthem(but blues based in sound) where "Everybody Must Get Stoned!" and Dylan was pretty hopped up on amphetamines at the time. But is just a simple song about getting stoned on drugs? Or is it about getting literally getting stoned to death? Is there some reference to the bible and/or some significance with the numbers 12 and 35? With Bob things are seldom black and white or direct..

Is It the Clothes That Get the Title?...

2011-06-01T23:44:00.002-05:00

I guess history was made when a cross dressing high school student got voted Prom Queen, after being voted for by his(her?) classmates. But is this saying King and Queen need to be based on clothes and gender roles? So would a female not wearing a dress, not be eligible, or say could a heterosexual male in a suit run for Queen title just because he wanted to?

And I thought high school politics were silly before. Then again, it's no wonder I skipped going to both my proms all together...

The 5 Musical Acts I Want to See.... Version 2.0

2011-05-30T23:11:00.003-05:00

I did this I guess about four years ago on my MySpace blog, but in those four years, I've seen a couple of the acts(twice actually) and if all goes right will see U2 in less than two months... And to some degree my tastes or preferences have changed to who I think I'd rather see given a choice...

1. The Who- Same as before, even though they aren't really "the Who," its still Daltrey and Townshend, a very good remnant of arguably the greatest cohesive group. Those two are the soul of the group, while Entwistle and Moon were the heart of it. I guess I could go see Daltrey this fall do Tommy, but without Townshend....

2. Bob Seger- Still number two and again one of my personal favorites. He's still underrated compared to Mr. Springsteen. He's a treasure trove of classic rock era songs and like I said the beauty of his songwriting gets lost. He played in Kansas City earlier this month, but I balked because I figured St. Louis was naturally going to have a date. Now, I'm hoping he does hit the road again this summer or fall, which is supposed to be his last hurrah for touring...

3. Billy Joe Shaver- One of the best country songwriters of all time. He's best known for his ties to the Outlaw movement and Waylon Jennings recording an entire album of his songs. He's just another older voice that I'd love to see while he's still around, like I did with Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard earlier this year. And he's supposed to be in KC sometime this summer, but I can't figure out why the hell he's never been to Columbia, with the rednecks and redneck posers in Central Missouri...

4. Van Morrison- I just want to see him for his voice, one of the most unique and strongest voices out there along with Joe Cocker. Even knowing he's of the singer/songwriter variety who only plays about half the stuff you want/expect to hear, I would enjoy seeing him in concert...

5. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young- I've seen the godfather of grunge twice, now I want to see him with these guys. Hopefully they'll get it back together one more time in the near future. Heck Crosby is pushing 70, if he's not already there and lucky to be alive. I'd love to hear the harmonies, the acoustic and the electric and everything about the meshing of four headstrong personalities. Heck I could even tolerate a couple left-wing rants in exchange for hearing Ohio, Helpless, Southern Cross, etc....

They Ain't Making Jews, or Anyone for that Matter Like Kinky Anymore ; 4/29 Kinky Friedman concert review

2011-04-30T12:57:00.011-05:00

The Springtime for Kinky 2011 tour made its stop in St. Louis at Off-Broadway, in the Cherokee district. Me and the old man got there pretty early even with doors opening at 7:30 and not knowing if I had to actually pick up tickets(I didn't I guess everybody's were "will call".) And as we were heading back out to kill some time the Kinkster himself was arriving out of a taxi and he spent a portion of time outside smoking a cigar.
After doors opened the show was supposed to start at 8 but didn't until close til 9, as Kinky was in the back signing stuff for people. I didn't think about it or I would have brought a cd and we couldn't find some any posters to grab. But Off-Broadway was sort of like Mojo's in Columbia, a pretty sparse in area place.
Here is the approximate set list I knew he did 16 songs, I'm not sure of the exact order and there is one song I can't remember...

1. Before All Hell Breaks Lose
2. Lady Yesterday ?
3. Autograph
4. Homo Erectus
5. Old Ben Lucas
6. Rapid City, South Dakota
7. Nashville Casualty and Life
8. Waitret, Please Waitret
9. Sold American
10. They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore
11. Silver Eagle Express
Reading from his book of Texas Heroes
12. Asshole From El Paso
13. Marilyn and Joe
14. Ballad of Ira Hayes
15. Ballad of Charles Whitman
16. Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd

Overall it was two hours of entertainment. Between most songs or even in the middle of some he would go on monologues or telling jokes. My dad was annoyed at the late start, but by halfway through he was giggling uncontrollably. "... had a Yom Kippur Cadillac. It could stop on a dime and pick it up." Right after the second song, he tried doing a little instrumental vamp, but messed up and said, "Aw, Fuck it!" And he was talking a bit about losing his hearing, and relating about an older man who couldn't hear and was asking his wife what she did with the rake. He said, "she pointed at her, then her ass and then her privates. The old man couldn't understand and she finally said, ' I left it behind the bush.' "
He did go on some political topics and politics in general. "Break down the word politcs. Poly many many and ticks as in blood sucking animals." And he said the only three in Congress he believes aren't corrupt are Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinch, but everyone else thinks are a little nuts. Kinky also when talking to the audience spent most of the time fumbling around with cigars, presumably because he couldn't smoke inside...

Musically he was joined midway by one of his former Jewboys, bassist Sky Cap Adams who apparently lives in the St. Louis area and is his homosexual lover. (He later told us "they weren't" , but Sky Cap added "Not any more.")
And Kinky added to the humor not just in his songs, but forgetting lyrics and where to go time and time again. At one point during Silver Eagle Express, Sky Cap pulled out his phone to look up song lyrics and asked "What song is this again?" And he couldn't remember what the people were doing during Ballad of Charles Whitman. "No they weren't laughing." During They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore, he asked the crowd if he forgot to be derogatory to any ethnic group and told a story about an audience member who'd always shout out "Albinos!" in New York City.
The only major disappointment for me was he didn't play Get Your Biscuits in the Oven. He also didn't play We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You.
But Homo Erectus and Waitret, Please, Waitret, an ode to cunnilingus were riots, as well as hearing his other well known songs Ballad of Charles Whitman, Old Ben Lucas and Asshole from El Paso.
He also had a lot reverence for Willie Nelson, mentioning him and talking about him multiple times. "There are three things he cares about, music, drugs and gold. I only care about two Libya and Charlie Sheen."
Overall it was a fun night and worth it with all the laughs and fun songs. More to come as I remember other parts and funny bits...

Strait Forward- 4/8 George Strait/Reba McEntire with LeeAnn Womack Concert at Mizzou Arena

2011-04-09T13:18:00.006-05:00

My mom's always wanted to see George Strait, but never wanted to pay up or always asked my dad if he wanted to go(He'd say 'No,' but if she bought the tickets he would have went...). So when they announced a date for Columbia, I figured what the hey, its George Strait, even if it meant having to sit through Reba's set...
Getting there was a hoot as my sinuses were acting up and with little sleep. Plus my car had been overheating at times lately and the drive on I-70 and setting in long traffic lines on Stadium exasperated the problem. So after Quizno's a quick detour to Wal-Mart for coolant happened before we headed to Mizzou Arena. We got in and seated with about 10 minutes before start time.
When I bought my tickets I thought it was going to be end stage and was going to lined up next to the stage, but they had a diamond shape and I figured I might be staring at George Strait's ass all night...Thankfully the performers were rotating singing spots all night.
And this being a country concert, it started on time at 7 PM when the lights went out and LeeAnn Womack came out. I'd seen her before, being the middle act when I saw Toby Keith at UMB Bank Pavilion in St. Louis in '05. Here she came out in her five inch heels and had to helped up and off the stage every time and did a compact eight song 30 minute set. Only main song of her's she didn't do that I like was He Oughta Know That By Now... Set List gleamed from another concert date

Buckaroo
You've Got to Talk to Me
San Antonio Rose
Last Call
I May Hate Myself in the Morning
I'll Think Of A Reason Later
I Hope You Dance
Ashes by Now

Then after LeeAnn's set, a quick set change and Reba was out by 7:45. This was the part of the show I was telling my mom we should get hammered drunk too to make it more interesting. The first few songs she wasn't bad and I guess I knew more of her songs than I realized, but halfway though her set it started to drag. She ended up doing 19 songs I think and playing for 90 minutes. Womack returned to duet on Does He Love You? with McEntire which helped draw some of my attention back.
Right towards the end before she did I'm A Survivor the theme to her television show, the actress/comedian, Melissa Peterman that played on there with her came out and did a comedy bit that seemed to go on forever. It had it's funny moments, but does she not have anything else on her plate? The bad part was it was probably the most unique part out of all three acts though I know each city has variations on the references. She name dropped Harpo's, Club Vogue and the "M-I-Z" "Z-O-U" call and response to the sheep...oops I mean fans in the audiences...
After her main set she came back for an encore out of a Mini-taxi and a wardrobe change to play Fancy. Full assumed set list

Can't Even Get The Blues
The Fear Of Being Alone
Strange
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
Is There Life Out There
If I Were A Boy
The Bridge You Burn
Fallin' Out Of Love
Nothing To Lose
Somebody Should Leave/For My Broken Heart
Does He Love You?
I Want A Cowboy
When You Have a Child
Consider Me Gone
Why Haven't I Heard From You
Because Of You
I'm A Survivor
Turn On The Radio
-------
Fancy

Then following a 20 minute or so set change, it was finally time for King George and his Ace in the Hole band. He was quite the contrast to Womack and McEntire and almost 95% of every other performer out there. He doesn't play up the crowd or jump around like a total idiot, other than a few waves and finger pointings.
The downside is he is almost a jukebox on stage, playing song for song the way they were recorded. That's not always a bad thing, but a few variations on lyrics or add-ons are nice, or letting the band stretch out and jam a little bit. I'm not even talking about Neil Young 10 min solos here.
But as I said he did give the fans their money's worth 31 songs in almost 2 hours. With 57 #1 songs(that's not even counting his other hits) I knew he couldn't play everything. The only ones i was disappointed to not get were Write This Down and Murder on Music Row. The only surprising omission was Love Without End, Amen. But I got my favorites Blue Clear Sky and Give it Away, plus other favorites Ocean Front Property, I Hate Everything and his cover version of Merle Haggard's Seashores of Old Mexico. Plus his signature song Amarillo By Morning, one of those songs not a #1.
Some of the other highlights was Check Yes or No, probably the song that got the audience going the most. And Arkansas Dave a song written by son and on his latest album wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. He played seven songs by count off of Twang, his latest album.
He came back out for a four song encore, featuring a couple of hits in Heartland and All My Exes, a cover of Folsom Prison Blues, with a neat "gunshot" sound with turning up the volume on snare drum with some reverb while drowning everything else out and the fitting The Cowboy Rides Away to close out the night.
Overall a good show, nothing fancy (at least on Geroge's part) and well worth the money seeing a legendary performer in concert.
Set List

Twang
Ocean Front Property
Honk If You Honky Tonk
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Hate Everything
Wrapped
Run
The Seashores of Old Mexico
Check Yes Or No
The Fireman
Same Kind Of Crazy
Blue Clear Sky
A Fire I Can't Put Out
Arkansas Dave
Where Have I Been All My Life
How 'Bout Them Cowgirls?
The Breath You Take
River Of Love
The Chair
I Gotta Get to You
I Cross My Heart
I Saw God Today
Amarillo By Morning
Living For The Night
Give It Away
Troubadour
Unwound

-------
Heartland
All My Ex's Live In Texas
Folsom Prison Blues
The Cowboy Rides Away

"We don't shoot that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do"; Merle and Kris 3/9/11 Concert Review

2011-03-10T23:44:00.008-06:00

Two country music legends, one I'd seen before, one I hadn't. I scooped up a pair of tickets when I read that Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson were coming to the Fox Theater in St. Louis, a couple months ago. I saw Kris last Winter, but the chance to see the two of them together on the same stage at the same time I probably wouldn't have too many more chances to do so...
Me and my mom braved the crappy rainy weather to get there. The house lights dimmed on cue at 8 o'clock, country artists don't fuck around. Kris came out by himself with guitar and harmonica and sang Shipwrecked in the Eighties, before introducing Merle and the Strangers, who tore into Silver Wings, then a couple of more numbers.
The two did shows similar last year and the set lists and reviews I read, said they alternated songs, Merle would do one then Kris would. But either Kris was ceded the stage to Merle or Kris was again suffering from a bad cold. He shouldn't do many winter shows or he's spent too many years in Hawaii... But the pattern of the night would be Kris would do one, then Merle would do two or three. Which actually worked fine for me, as I'd already seen Kris do most of his hits, and the more Merle the better.
Highlights for me were Are The Good Times Really Over For Good?, where Merle did his ad libs. He changed "When a man could still work and steal wood" instead of 'still would" and "When a girl could still cook and chop wood." He also stopped and changed, "where a joint was a bad place to be", to "where a joint was a nice place to be."
Merle's guitar solo on Kris' Loving Her Was Easier, added to one of my favorite songs as well. And Kris added "It's feels like I'm dying," after the lyric "...as I lay dying," in reference to his cold.
And the sheer fact he played Okie from Muskogee with very liberal Kristofferson standing two feet from him was a sight to see. Merle gave an introduction about how things have changed and how his life was a licensed medical marijuana grower(He neglected to mention the fact he started smoking after facing lung cancer a while back). And he stopped the song, because the audience didn't give enough reaction to the opening line. Then the line "We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy..." was a hoot, with Merle's fiddle player pointing towards Kris, and Merle pointing toward his longtime steel guitar player and bald headed Norman Hamlett. And the real treat was Kris sang a verse, of his version which you can hear on his live cd Live at the Philharmonic. "...We don't shoot that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do."
It was interesting watching Kris on stage was Merle was playing, he would sing some harmony and play harmonica and guitar. But even when he wasn't, you could see him singing along, I think that says a lot about his respect for Merle.
The only real bad part was it was too brief at 90 minutes. Sure, they did play 23 songs, but for two performers, a few more songs would have been nice to lengthen it out a little more. It was also interesting they didn't do an encore, after Merle announced the "last song of the evening," which it turned out to be. The only song I was really disappointed not to get to hear was Ramblin' Fever and maybe Rainbow Stew a little bit. The legendary Norman Hamlett didn't seem to do much, Merle mentioned once that they'd had trouble with his amp for his Dobro and they could never get the sound going right.
Overall it was a solid show. Merle was in good spirits joking with the audience a lot. "It's nice to see people my age coming out...Everyone else so why not us." And he also joked that " It's hard to write these songs, I wrote at it sea level in my Twenties, here in winter and in my Forties!" And during the band introductions, he had the band shake hands and "introduce" themselves to one another, before the band intro proper.
This was one of the better show's I've attended. I got most of my favorites and never knew for sure what was coming next from two living legends. A couple of more songs might have made this one of the very best shows I've seen, but still a very good and enjoyable night. Here's the Post Dispatch's review and the Riverfront Time's review.

Set List

1. Shipwrecked in the Eighties

2. Silver Wings

3. Going Where The Lonely Go

4. The Bottle Let Me Down

5. Me and Bobby McGee

6. The Other Side of Nowhere

7. Mama Tried

8. Back to Earth

9. Are the Good Times Really Over? (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)

10. The Pilgrim: Chapter 33

11. It's Been a Great Afternoon

12. Big City

13. Help Me Make it Through The Night

14. Workingman Blues

15. They're Tearing the Labor Camps Down

16. Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)

17. I'll Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink

18. Mama's Prayer

19. Okie from Muskogee

20. Sunday Morning Coming Down

21. I Am What I Am

22. Why Me Lord?

23. Pancho and Lefty

This streak is over...

2010-12-11T11:57:00.002-06:00

March 23, 2007- December 10, 2010 Not as long as my other previous streak, but a long time nonetheless. Still tired and sore and wondering if it was flu, bad food, or a bad mix of medicines. And wondering if other people go these long periods without puking?

The 20 Hottest Conservative Women In The New Media

2010-12-08T11:52:00.002-06:00

From Right Wing News

I don't see how Ann Coulter is that high. She's alright looking, but there have got to be more attractive conservative women out there. At least Sarah Palin wasn't on there. I still say Christine O'Donnell is more attractive. She looks like she shouldn't be allowed in bars...

10/21 Bob Dylan Concert Review

2010-10-22T01:26:00.009-05:00

Last night was my third time seeing Mr. Dylan in concert, this time at Chaifetz Arena on the St. Louis University campus. My dad is still working the fields and I couldn't find anyone else to go, so I wound up going with my mom(surprisingly she didn't mind the show, except the standing) . Chaifetz seems pretty cozy for a b-ball arena, though I guess it made for a better concert view, if you were stuck afar...
We got there really early and had to wait over an hour for scheduled start time, which ended up being about 8-10 mins after 8. I got floor seats in the eighth row the first two seats on the far side of Bob. They were pretty good seats and we thought better than the first row where you couldn't see anything sitting. The most entertaining pre-show activity was the drunken guy, singing Subterranean Homesick Blues at the top of his lungs from the other side of the arena.
I knew not to expect nothing out of the ordinary or radical, the best I was hoping for was an extra song in the encore or one of my faves in the rotating #2 surprise slot. I wound up getting neither...
Set List

Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat
Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Just Like a Woman
The Levee's Gonna Break
I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
Honest With Me
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Cold Irons Bound
Love Sick
Highway 61 Revisited
Nettie Moore
Thunder on the Mountain
Ballad of the Thin Man
-------
Jolene
Like a Rolling Stone

Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat and Senor were good, and I enjoyed seeing I'll Be Your Baby Tonight again, though it was very bluesy sounding rather than country-fied, when I saw it with Larry Campbell playing steel. The intro jamming to Just Like A Woman was a strong point of the night. The way Bob and the band layed out the sound and melody was beautiful. Bob even relented halfway though to allow the audience sing along. We did end up standing the whole night, at least all of us on the floor did, which was a little surprising. Bob seemed to be a in good mood, grinning and bopping around all night...
The first seven numbers and really everything except Hard Rain and Nettie Moore, were hard rocking in sound. I guess this is the influence of Charlie Sexton. This was my first time seeing him. The lanky Texan just seems to be ready unleash his guitar maelstrom at any moment. And most fans seem to love this version of Bob's band and sound. I'd have just preferred a little more subtly and intricate numbers throughout the night like the two I mentioned were. Donnie Herron's steel guitar was lost in the mix. Personally, I think Bob has one too many band members up there, at least with this hard rocking sound Charlie brings in addition to his organ sound...
One thing I liked was the sort of alternating backdrops on the curtain behind the band. They had some kind of overhead wide shot camera, which every few numbers was seen on the curtain. But I liked it more when the altered the lighting, and you could see their, mostly Bob and Charlie's silhouettes on the curtain as they were playing.
Cold Iron Bounds was another stronger number, Highway 61 was sort of blah, until they cranked it up speed wise during the jam and then it took off. This was followed by Nettie Moore, which was one of the clearer sounding songs to me.
Probably the best song of the night? The rocking Ballad of a Thin Man, go figure. I've seen it both other times I've seen Bob and knew it was coming. But the light settings and background on stage, seemed to fit with the mood of the lyrics perfectly and the hard rocking guitars, plus it was Bob's best harp playing of the night.
After the smoke break, I mean encore break, they come back out, George with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, and delivered Jolene, which was okay. There was a big rush over by us to the side of the stage. After that it was "Thank You Friends..." and band intros and then the obligatory Like A Rolling Stone, which made me and everyone else happy. The band did the line up and left, it stayed dark for a few minutes. I was thinking we might get one more, or if this was just to distract us while the guys were already heading down the interstate. But lots of people were already leaving and the crowd was pretty low-key to begin with, so there was not much to entice them to come back...
It was good show, a little over an hour and a half. A few minor complaints, only one song on guitar and he didn't play Tangled Up in Blue, which he's played at most every other show. But it was a Bob show unique in its own way and I got 8 songs I hadn't seen yet and a venue I'd never been to.

Here's the Post's Review of the show and the Riverfront Times Review

A Dream and Proverbs

2010-10-13T00:34:00.002-05:00

A week or two ago during one of my dreams, I had someone telling me to pay attention or something about a verse from Proverbs. I couldn't remember if it was Proverbs 8:5 or Proverbs 5:8. A lot of my dreams are partially surreal. Things are never exactly like they are in real life, there is always some details which are different. And I tend to jump from one setting to another out of nowhere.
But I did end up remembering that dream the other day. I think the person telling me, was a guy I work with, who hadn't started on my line yet. But I went and looked up the verses, first 8:5, "You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding." I like to think I've got a pretty good handle on that...
For 5:8, "Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house," which after reading the heading at the start is about adultery. And the metaphor is pretty clear. And I think I have an even better handle on this one....or at least I hope so....

Hey, Let's Lower the Voting Age to 8!

2010-09-28T00:19:00.003-05:00

Obama wants to expand the school year for kids? Holy hell, is he trying to screw the youth vote against Democrats for the next ten years? I know his intentions and meanings are in the right spot, but in this case I'm glad I'm not young anymore. Not to mention, it would piss off teachers who'd lose their three consecutive(in theory) months off, who tend to be liberal too...

Pearl Jam is Okay and God Bless Bob Dylan

2010-09-09T23:53:00.004-05:00

I went on Pearl Jam's fan site and was wanting to buy a cd of the St. Louis concert I went to this May. I tried buying it from their store, but it said I had to register. No Problem, I did. But then when I tried it again, it came up "Access Denied." After some looking I figured I have to pay $20 to join "Ten Club" so I can buy their stuff. You do get some stuff with the membership, a newsletter or something, and first access to tickets(which is kind of pointless since they probably won't tour in the next year or be anywhere near me...)
But I'm confused, who they're really screwing over. It's pretty stupid to me. Someone like me who just drops by and wants to buy something from them, I have to pay $20 just for that right? So, they're milking their true fans for everything? And by not selling directly I'm going to go to eBay and buy it from someone who buys multiple copies and jacks up the price?
I guess my choices are to pay $37 (plus shipping I'd imagine) to buy from Pearl Jam or buy on eBay from someone who bought multiple copies for about ten dollars less. As a conservative I think I'll take the cheaper route.
If I'm wrong about this and fouled something up, I'll gladly buy a ten club membership.
But God bless Bob Dylan. Many of his fans complain about his doing anything for money and having high price deluxe editions. But you know what he charges for his fan club ticket pre-sales? Nothing.

ADDENDUM: Well, I did some checking on message boards and was told that site frequently has "hiccups." So, I tried again and was at least able to get an order through to get processed. So, Pearl Jam is alright, apparently it's just technology that is bad.

8/10 Jackson Browne Concert Review

2010-08-11T13:36:00.006-05:00

I went and saw Jackson Browne with David Lindley at the Fox Theater in St. Louis last night with the old man. It was sort of a hit and miss affair overall, or lack of hits to be precise.
The show was scheduled to start at 7:30, but didn't get going til about quarter after. At the beginning it was just Browne and Lindley, the stringed instrument virtuoso for the first five songs then, Lindley by himself for a couple this was about 50 minutes total. They opened with a Warren Zevon cover followed by Springsteen cover, both were well done. And Lindley was masterful in his playing. I wish I was a bit closer to the stage. We were about 20 rows back tilted right. After Browne left and Lindley performed two songs, the second of which when he started I thought was sounding like Steve Earle's Copperhead Road, which it turned out to be. Another good version and Lindley does have a nice voice as well. Come to think of it, Lindley sort of looks like Earle these days as well and Earle plays the bouzouki too, when I saw him last fall. Then came a fifteen minute break, in which Browne returned with a full band for around an hour and forty minutes worth of songs.
Here's the overall set list, as best I can piece together. I couldn't find an exact total list, but pieced together from the Post Dispatch's Review and from the KC Star's review of the Kansas City show, which did have a review.

Seminole Bingo
Brothers Under the Bridge
For Everyman
Looking East
Our Lady of the Well
What Is the Soul of a Man?
Copperhead Road
-----------
Off of Wonderland
Giving That Heaven Away
Just Say Yeah
In the Shape of a Heart
Your Bright Baby Blues
Fountain of Sorrow
The Pretender
For A Dancer
My Problem Is You
Too Many Angels
I'm Alive
Doctor My Eyes
Rock Me on the Water
Running on Empty

------------
Mercury Blues
I Am Patriot

I would have been happy with songs between just Browne and Lindley acoustically, but I know it was about to put dad to sleep. Heck I was too after the first couple of songs with his band. It's not that they were preformed bad, but I'm more of a casual fan. So, I was waiting for more familiar songs with long gaps between In the Shape of a Heart and The Pretender. And I think the rest of audience as well, there were all kind of beer runs and lots of lots of chatter I heard throughout. I'm probably not enough of a moderate Browne fan to enjoy his so-so known songs...
Browne did mention how he'd always loved St. Louis and tried to remember where they used to play before the Fox and I think someone shouted out Kiel Auditorium, which jogged his memory. He had a little banter, talking about songs and their inspirations in the first few in the electric set.
The energy finally picked up on the last three songs in the main set, which got the crowd on its feet. There were catcalls all night with song requests, which Browne continuously replied "We'll get to that one later," whether they did or not. I knew not to expect all of his hits Somebody's Baby, Take It Easy (which he did play in KC), Boulevard, but I most expected to hear The Load Out/Stay, with Lindley on tour with him. Lindley is the one who has the high falsetto voice on the original recording. That was probably the most disappointing thing for me and the song I was most looking forward to hearing. Oh, those singer/songwriters....
Though it had a period of lull, it was enjoyable by the end. For his age, Browne still has a great sounding voice and an attitude that he actually enjoys being there playing for people.

ADDENDUM: The Riverfront Times Blog, had a review and set list which confirmed the order of what I had. Their reviewer had similar thoughts to mine, that the real enjoyment was watching Browne and Lindley up there alone. Except for a few moments, when Lindley joined the band a lot of his playing was lost in the mix and more subtle.

Good Mojo? Bad Mojo? 7/13 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Concert Review

2010-07-15T00:49:00.006-05:00

I bought tickets for Tom Petty's Kansas City date for his Mojo Tour a couple of months ago, when it looked like there wasn't going to be anymore dates added(i.e. no St. Louis date). Lo and behold after I bought mine, maybe a month and a half ago, St. Louis got a date. And it was on a Sunday night to boot, meaning I probably wouldn't have had to used a vacation day and they were about ten bucks cheaper a ticket. But on the major plus side we were in nice indoor air conditioning. My dad was complaining about it being too cold in there...

The seats were pretty kick ass. Eight rows back to the right side and pretty eye level, so that was another plus. We'd seen Petty two years ago at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis.
The Drive-By Truckers were the opening act. They played 12 songs over an hour.
Set List

After the Scene Dies
Marry Me
Drag the Lake Charlie
Birthday Boy
Santa Fe
Carl Perkins Cadillac
Heathen
Ghost to Most
The Flying Wallendas
Zip City
Sink Hole
Shut Up and Get On the Plane

I'd gotten one of their cds and have enjoyed listening to it, but the didn't play their main track from it, This Fucking Job. They were okay but were cramped together and a muddy sound from our hearing on the side. My dad was about to fall asleep and the other fan reports go along with him. They brought out a friend who played the fiddle for a few songs, cramping the stage even more. I liked Mike Cooley's songs better than Patterson Hood's singing and the last song Shut Up and Get on the Plane was probably the best one.

After a half- hour set change, the lights dimmed and the main attraction came out, the familiar jangly Listen to Her Heart, one of my faves of his. I don't know what it is about KC crowds, but they don't like to stand up. The few rows ahead of us sat for almost the whole show, and I sat for the first four or five numbers. Hey, I had a good view and didn't need to.
Set List

------------------------------------------

The Highlights for me, were the bluesy Fleetwood Mac cover Oh, Well, which was a short and sweet jam. And You Don't Know How It Feels, another song he didn't do two years ago.
The set list was packed with a five song block from the new album, which the crowd was naturally lukewarm to. I Should Have Known It was probably the jewel out of these, though Good Enough had it's moments, no pun intended. I think they would have been better served broken up a little, and served between some hits or more well known songs.
And the biggest disappointment for me was the fact that aside from the new songs and two other I mentioned above, everything he played he'd played in St. Louis. A little more mix up with different songs would have been nice. Heck, a lot of his routine was the same, like they were on auto-pilot the last four-five numbers. I guess they all can't be like Dylan or Springsteen...
Several more songs period would have been nice. The set started a little after 9 PM and was over before 11 PM. Not even two hours....

That said it was still the kick-ass Heartbreakers making it look easy. We were on the same side as Benmont Tench, jumping around from piano, to keyboard to organ and Mike Campbell the "co-Captain of the team" on lead guitar. During the new songs he was probably the main attraction with his playing. The funniest thing was after every song, we saw him scratching his head like crazy. Good drugs or just a bad itch with his long hair in this heat?
Petty and Co., played the ones you expected and a few of the others. This was still a high performance show, with a few drawbacks. St. Louis two years ago probably was a little better. Tuesday night the view helped though. But I do know if I had never seen the group before, I probably would have had fewer problems and gripes. KC Star Review here

We're officially back to not giving a shit about soccer

2010-06-26T16:15:00.002-05:00

Let the Europeans and other nations have their sport of flopping, wasting time and offsides.

"Soccer was invented by European ladies to keep them busy while their husbands did the cooking."
-Hank Hill

5/4 Pearl Jam Concert Review

2010-05-05T14:45:00.005-05:00

Me and my brother went to see Pearl Jam last night at the Scottrade Center, in St. Louis. I had bought tickets on the Ticketsnow site, basically Ticketmaster's jack up the price page, because when I looked on the regular site, they only had crap nosebleed seats showing. So I ended up paying more and I was screwing around yesterday and saw I could have gotten floor seats on the regular ticketmaster site. They are a bunch of crooks... But anyway, I'd already taken the day off, so I was wanting to go anyway.. Plus, they weren't actually tickets, but the ones you print off at home. So, when they scanned them in, I was glad, because I got to thinking I better not have gotten screwed on this...
But me and Zane, got there with a half an hour to spare and the show actually started on time(Not like a Springsteen show....). Band of Horses opened. They didn't sound bad. A combination of 70's rock and 90s Alternative, the singer having a bit of Dave Matthews kind of annoyance. I wasn't at all familiar with them. They had a sound of everything except Southern Rock, irony being they are from South Carolina. They played nine songs for about 45 brief minutes.
And after around 45 mins of moving the stage around Pearl Jam came out to an X-Files theme-like intro music. The most surprising thing to me, was that they didn't have giant video screens up. I know they don't like the glitz and glamour, but heck even Neil Young used them when I saw him in Kansas City. They did have a backdrop with the Pearl Jam logo on a typewriter. A "Backspacer" in reference to their last albums name.
I'm sort of a moderate Pearl Jam fan. I think I became more interested in them after I found out Eddie Vedder was a huge fan of the Who. Anyway, they came out rocking. Vedder was on guitar for the first two songs of the night and intermittently after that. Song number two Corduroy was a stomping that kept the momentum going the whole night.
After the third of fourth number, he said something along the lines, " Its been six long years since we've been here..." I think more like 5 and half years. They played in St. Louis during the Vote for Change(Aka We Hate George Bush) Tour in 04. And he also tried challenging the audience by saying how hard it was going to be to top the previous nights audience in Kansas City, knowing it would rile up the Eastern Missouri faithful. But he was also full of shit, saying how long they intended to play, they had everything setlisted and all the encores are part of the "Show."
Heres the Set List

Sometimes
Corduroy
All Night
Do The Evolution
Why Go
Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town
In Hiding
Even Flow
Unthought Known
Save You
Down
Pilate
Severed Hand
Not For You
Glorified G
1/2 Full
Daughter
The Fixer
-------
Inside Job
Just Breathe
Jeremy
Got Some
Rearviewmirror
-----------
Garden
Alive
Baba O’Riley
Yellow Ledbetter>Little Wing

It was a good mixture. I think they most of their hits. Elderly Woman... and Save You were two more strong points in the main set. Better Man and Black were the only two missing ones. And I honestly would have rather gotten one of them instead of Jeremy. I've never been a major fan of it. But the one-two punch of Daughter and the Fixer, were a great way to end the regular portion of the show.
And honestly with most of the non familiar/radio friendly tracks its tough to follow along. The band rocks, but very loud and Vedder still has his garbled vocal. But his acoustic performance of Just Breathe was another strong point. During Even Flow, with the guitarists were jamming away, Vedder went to back to take a mid-set smoke break. And during the very end of the Show during Little Wing, he was setting on the amp in front smoking while Mike McCready was blaring his solo.
McCready is a powerhouse guitarist, providing all kind of mesmerizing solos. During one little jig where he played a blues riff, Vedder claimed "How appropriate in the home of the St. Louis Blues?"
The highlight for me was the final three of the night, the sonic guitar work of Alive , probably my favorite Pearl Jam song. Then the Who cover Baba O'Riley was a surprise. Was figuring a Neil Young cover or something else, but gladly to see it. I think McCready accidentally started on Yellow Ledbetter, at first before Vedder corrected him. And then going into the finale with its also signature guitar riff and unintelligible lyrics. The full band had left save Vedder and McCready, who was wailing away into Little Wing. Then Vedder wished everyone a good night and promised to be back soon. Here's the Post Dispatch's review and other piece

All in all, a true rock blowout. Hits, surprises and good music...

Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends; 2/11 Kris Kristofferson Concert Review

2010-02-12T00:46:00.012-06:00

I saw Kris Kristofferson tonight in concert at Jesse Auditorium on the University of Missouri Campus in Columbia with my dad. I'd been in Jesse Hall many times, but never in the Auditorium as far as I could remember. It's a pretty intimate venue. I got tickets that were about 13 rows back and right in the middle. A little far back, but a great view still.
The time on the tickets said 7 PM so we got there a little around 6. I wasn't sure if that was opening door time or the actual start time. We had to wait around awhile, and even ran into people we know from our hometown, small world and the doors opened at 6:30. And right around 7 or a little after the house lights dimmed and a local dj came out and did the intro and announcements. And then Kris came out. I didn't know how the set-up would be, if it'd be him or a band or something else. But throughout the whole night, it was just Kris, his guitar and harmonica.
Here's a partial set list, based on an earlier tour stop. It's pretty close to the same order, but he played 33 songs by my count tonight. Will be reedited if I see another set-list. Here's a link to another set list from another earlier stop

Shipwrecked in the 80's
Closer To The Bone
Darby's Castle
Me and Bobby McGee
Best Of All Possible Worlds
Here Comes That Rainbow
Help Me Make It Through the Night
Casey's Last Ride
Nobody Wins
Daddy's Song
The Heart
Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)

---Intermission----

Jesus Was A Capricorn
Come Sundown
Duvalier's Dream
Just the Other Side of Nowhere
Jody and The Kid
The Pilgrim Chapter 33
To Beat The Devil
The Promise
The Final Attraction
Sunday Morning Coming Down
The Silver Tongued Devil and I
For The Good Times
-----encore------
A Moment Of Forever
Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends
Why Me Lord?

Other songs I know he played were Johnny Lobo, Sky King.
For a man of 73 and the life and times he's lived and experienced, he looks pretty good. And he was in good spirits, joking around with the crowd all night. After the first song he said, "...I used to work at Columbia Records. I have a son named Jesse. Coincidence? I think not." Then following the next couple of songs, he mentioned how he was battling a cold and in self-deprecating manner said, "...Not like you can really tell the difference... I know just what you all paid good money for, to see an old fart up here blowing his nose." He did have to wipe his nose quite a bit. And through the later part of the first set, didn't use his harmonica, because "No way I can reach that, so I guess I won't use it."
He added all kinds of ad-libs throughout the night during the songs. Toward the end of Best of All Possible Worlds, he said that Roger Miller could do a great outro-guitar part, but that he can't, "...So the song ends here." And I can't remember the song, but it was inspired by Roger McGuinn keeping a camera watching the front of his driveway and Kris and some others wanting to play a prank by letting his neighbors know about it.
Kris' voice is no longer gravelly like it used to be, but now it's more of a weathered voice that has lived through the songs and into old age. You can feel the emotion he still pours out, straining to get some of those notes. I already mentioned the wit and wryness that comes out in some of his songs, but he runs the whole gamut. You can feel the pain and sorrow, he sings then watch as he turns in ballads of redemption and takes on freedom and love.
He didn't say very much political. He did mention during one song about America having 'the most people in prison of anywhere else in the world,' and after Nobody Wins, said "This is what Dick Cheney said to George Bush in the shower." But I'd read a review from a show a year before and it looked like he said the same thing then.
In the second part of the set he had a song called Sky King, to the tune of Big Bad John about his army flight instructor that was hilarious. And a song called the Final Attraction, he said was about watching Willie Nelson perform from the side of the stage and later mentioned heroes and friends that have fallen (Hank, Johnny and June, Roger Miller, Mickey Newbury) and accidentally mentioned Willie, when he meant Waylon. He also in the first part of the show mentioned his friend and guitar player Stephen Bruton who recently passed away.
Highlights for me, were seeing the classics of course, but my faves in particular of his are, The Pilgrim Chapter 33, The Silver Tongued Devil and I and Loving Her Was Easier. Before the Silver Tongued Devil, he played Sunday Morning Coming Down and mentioned why he was wandering the streets on a Sunday morning, was because the bars were all closed on Sunday mornings in Nashville. "But by sundown," led him going into the Tallyho Tavern. He stopped after the first verse and related how his son at age five, heard him playing it, and told him it was a bad song, because "You're trying to blame your problems on someone else!" Gotta love it because he picked that up, but still too young to get the dual nature of the song. He didn't play the second verse though, don't know if he forgot or what...
But for the encore he was gone maybe 2 minutes, and came back, "Guess you could tell I wasn't going very far," or something along those lines.
All in all a great performance. I talked with a guy sitting next to me, who'd seen him the year before and said me and my dad would enjoy it. Said, he'd play his hits, some new stuff and not draw songs out, which he didn't. He played for a little under 2 hours, with the 10 min or so intermission("Get whatever you can get done in 15 minutes" Kris said before the break).
Another legend that everyone should see while he's still with us...

The End is Nigh! A Republican Win in Massachusetts

2010-01-20T13:16:00.003-06:00

Scott Brown wins the special Senate election in Massachusetts! And the former seat that was held by Ted Kennedy, no less! Sure he may be a RINO, but puts the breaks on the Democratic machine from going full-speed ahead. But still A Republican state-wide win in probably the most liberal die-hard Democrat state there is(Sorry Vermont, you have elected several Republican officials and independents in the last few years). What's next, South Carolina voting for a pro-Abortion, tax raising, Atheist?

Should Indianapolis even bother showing up next weekend?

2009-12-28T00:17:00.002-06:00

They might as well just forfeit. It would hurt them anything, except maybe Peyton Manning's consecutive start streak, but hey after today its apparent they don't care about anything like that.
And it would be smart. They'd save money from having to fly the team and all the personnel to Buffalo and it wouldn't cost them anything. Plus, they'd be sure not to risk any kind of injuries to anybody. And it would give the Bills, a potential A.F.C. rival, a later pick in the draft. It's win win!

To me it boggles the mind, why you wouldn't try to keep the streak going and try for the perfect season. You could see the fire and desire in Manning's eyes, with his helmet on throughout. I hope if they don't win the Super Bowl, whoever had the final say in this is canned.

Bands that should get back together(Original Members!)

2009-12-26T23:32:00.003-06:00

There are always bands breaking up and going on reunion tours. Half the time acts from the 70s and 80s, you see might have two original members at best and are usually playing casino's and other venues that should be way too small for them. I'm looking at you Foreigner.
I'm talking about groups that should get back together and hit the road and studio for new material, with the original members or at least a lineup that was considered its best.

1. The Kinks - This would be my personal fave to see happen. All the principal members are still alive and kicking. With the passing of Pink Floyd's Rick Wright, no other major band of the 60's can make this claim. The Kinks are probably the most underrated band in the history of rock music. They've been called the "quintessential British band" and have the eccentricities and kitschy-ness that make them unique. Although I'm not a die-hard fan, there's just something in their songs and melodies that jump out for me. They go all over the spectrum from their early British Invasion type songs, then into the concept albums and of course one of my favorite songs Lola(It's not a cross-dressing man... or it doesn't have to be). If they would go out on the road again, I'd make it a point to catch them.

2. Van Halen- I'm talking about the 4 original members, not with little Eddie playing bass and making it a Van Halen family affair. For the record I don't mind "Van Hagar." I guess Sammy gives 'em a little more guitar sound if need be. Get Michael Anthony back on bass on their next go round though. I'm not a big fan of the group(Way to overplayed on a local rock station), but it'd be interesting to the lineup...

3. Guns and Roses- And you thought there'd be drama with that one above. I highly doubt they could ever recapture their glory of the late 80s, but if it could last they'd be a blast to see. They weren't a hair band, more a really, really hard rock band, but even before their break-up felt the effects of Nirvana. But Aerosmith came back with a bang after 10 years or so in the dark and fragmented...

4. Alabama- Yeah, they went on a "Farewell Tour" in 2004, but do you honestly expect to never preform together again? Sort of like Brooks & Dunn's farewell for 2010. They will regroup. Hell, Garth Brooks came out and did a run of shows in Kansas City. The boredom, money and sense of camaraderie will come out in time. Just get it done with.

5. The Eagles- They need to get Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner back for a tour. It'd be hard because they don't really seem concerned with making a bunch of more cash like Henley and Frey seem to do. But I'd love to see them return more to their country-rock roots of the first couple of albums. It'd be cool to see them do "Desperado" the album in concert, which seems to be one of the trends these days. They are the forefathers of the music on country radio today after all. You notice they don't stand a chance on any kind of rock stations...
They don't even have to get rid of Joe Walsh and Timothy Schmidt. Willie Nelson has two bass players or I'm sure one could play piano/keyboards or another guitar, while Frey or Leadon plays other instruments at different times. Just lose the other 10 guys they have on stage..

Changing fonts constantly. Why?

2009-10-26T04:02:00.002-05:00

Why does this thing always want to change Fonts, when I'm in the middle of writing something? And it never edits correctly and I wind up having three different fonts in a post, because it won't change the fonts and sizes even though I change the whole thing. Aggravating...

10/25 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Concert Review

2009-10-26T02:23:00.008-05:00

On this rainy Sunday night the Boss returned to St. Louis and the Scottrade Center, a little more than a year after his last appearance at the same venue. Like last year, which was sort of a mixed bag for me, I went with my dad. I wasn't a real big Springsteen fan then and the general consensus was it was the best show of the Magic Tour. Since then I've become a bigger and more familiar Springsteen fan. So how did the Working on A Dream Tour stop go?...
We got there about 40 minutes before the "scheduled" start time of 7:30, but like last year it wasn't anywhere close to starting then. I had better seats, 22 rows back, but right to the side of the stage. A little difficult to see the video screen, but a great view of the Big Man and nice view of seeing the whole band. While waiting we noticed a yellow foam cowboy hat with Cadillac Ranch written on it. I was hoping maybe an early request that might get honored, but alas it wasn't meant to be...
It was a little before 8:30 before Springsteen & Co. took to the stage(Better than last year's hour and a half wait, but still pissed my old man off) with Big Boss Man playing on the loud speakers. About a month ago it was announced that here and other concert stops he'd be playing complete albums in concert and it was Born to Run for St. Louis. Tomorrow night KC gets Born in the U.S.A., a flip of the coin for me, the latter has more friendly songs, but the former has my favorite song... And last year he did play 5 of the songs off Born to Run here...
The opening song was his recently written one about the closing of Giants Stadium, Wrecking Ball. It was alright, maybe its also possible thoughts on the future of the E Street Band...
Like I said I'm a lot more familiar with Bruce now, and overall this was a better experience. He played a few more hits and I recognized a lot more. Heck, except for a few moments during the Born to Run album sequence, the whole night flew by. I couldn't believe it had been three hours...
Set List

Wrecking Ball
Seeds
Prove It All Night
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (with Curt Ramm)
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
She's the One
Meeting Across the River (with Curt Ramm)
Jungleland
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Working on the Highway
The Promised Land
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
No Surrender
* * *
For You (solo piano)
Raise Your Hand (instrumental)
Roll Over Beethoven
Surprise, Surprise
Detroit Medley
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (with Curt Ramm)

During Hungry Heart, he made his way to the back of the front GA pit and did his usual crowd surfing back to the stage which was a hoot. His wife, like last year, wasn't with the band. He didn't do much talking except at the very beginning saying "Hey St. Louis!" and he yelled out "How are you doing Sophie?" at one point remembering the sign which read 'Sophie Loves Bruce' from last year, which gave him the push to play one more song, Twist and Shout, last year. And before introducing Born to Run and a little of the history about it and its importance. At the end he gathered Max Weinberg, Clarence Clemons, Garry Tallent, Steven Van Zandt, Roy Bittan and the spirit of the late Danny Federici, acknowledging the men who made the album with him.
Thunder Road was cool to see again, but didn't really get me excited. The second song of the album is my fave and was glad to hear after not getting hit with a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out last year. That's where it started cooking for me. The drumming of Mighty Max starting Night was simply amazing work and made me appreciate that song more than I normally do. Like last year, he's the driving force and constantly working. Backstreets was a stellar emotional performance, one of the best of the night. Then the house lights came up mid set for usual set closer Born to Run, which had a lot of added jamming. She's the One, not my favorite and while Meeting Across the River and the start of Jungleland was one where everyone sat and you could hear a pin drop, 2-5 songs were the heart of the album performance.
Waitin' on a Sunny Day, Bruce did his usual routine of gathering a little kid to help sing the chorus and the little kid did a heck of a job, and with Bruce's help at the end, shouting out "Take it Big Man!" After that hearing Working on the Highway and No Surrender were treats for the fans. The only songs I couldn't figure out were Seeds and shamefully The Promised Land.
There really wasn't much of a encore break. The gathered after No Surrender and Bruce collected a sign that read "Bruce Play the Piano," which he did while everyone else left the stage. For You was another one where everyone in the arena was quiet. He added some more humor by having trouble with the lyrics(they were on front and back) and getting sound to the piano. It was another good moment, though he did play the song by sign request last year with the whole band...
And once again he picked up a Chuck Berry inspired sign request, "We always get Chuck Berry requests when we play in St. Louis," and played Roll Over Beethoven, "Like We do it on E Street!" which was another blast of the night. After that for a girls fifteenth birthday Surprise, Surprise was played by request. And the final request was for "Devil in A Blue Dress", which turned into the Detroit Medley, another song played last year, but another rocking tune which got everyone cheering, even my dad. Other sign requests not honored I could see and remember were for, A Night with the Jersey Devil (from Sophie), Because the Night, Pink Cadillac, Blinded by the Light, Candy's Room, Mary's Place, Paradise by the "C", and Held Up Without A Gun. Dancing in the Dark not one of my faves, would have much, much rather gotten a Glory Days. But it was fun and house lights up, with Bruce grabbing up several younger women to dance, as well as a woman with a Red Headed Woman sign. And Rosalita brought the rock & roll show to a rollicking ending.
One of the other best moments came during the band intros. When finally getting to Clarence, he added "...Bigger than Shakespeare!" while the Big Man was holding a copy of his new book. Priceless.
Like I said, for me, this was a much better experience(I got to him do my fave song of his!), but to the expectations from last year and the fact that this tour was winding down as well, especially after rave reviews from his recent Philly shows, it probably was disappointing for the really die-hards. I know Backstreets.com echoed this thought in their review, while the Post Dispatch review was quite the opposite. I think the playing of the album cut down on some of the spontaneity and set changing. Plus last year was the penultimate show to the Magic Tour and it was still late summer. I mean the crowd was into it, but after Rosalita, there wasn't a real hard push for "one more." Maybe Bruce just wasn't feeling it tonight, not to mention possibly fighting a cold.
Obviously, there could have been one or two more, another hit some place, but I had a ball. I'm tempted to call in tomorrow and go to KC...

10/13 Tom Russell at Mojo's in Columbia Concert Review

2009-10-14T01:01:00.011-05:00

The very great and under appreciated Tom Russell played at Mojo's Tuesday night in Columbia. He played there last year I believe and I didn't go. Then when I saw on his tour schedule months ago he was going to be at the Blue Note, I started making formulative plans in the back of my mind. Well, it ended up being at Mojo's after it was announced, more on that later...
It was a pretty crappy day and night overall, raining non-stop. After a slight detour to Slacker's to kill some time(and a couple of bought cds), I made it to Mojo's a little after 7 and the show didn't start for an hour, but it took a little while to keep warmed up. I'd never been to Mojo's before, the nickname of being a "little sister" to the Blue Note is pretty accurate. It's even more confined and less space and sort of off the beaten path on the very northern edge of the downtown business district and bordering residential areas. I'm not knocking the venue, but for an artist of Tom Russell's caliber and stature(Grammy winner?) he should have at least been at the Blue Note or Jesse Auditorium or the Missouri Theater...
It made for an "intimate" show though. Heck there's no backstage and the performers came up from behind the audience, which was made of mostly over 40 people with a few gray beards. There was one kid, I saw was a minor without the Bud wristband, with his dad, so I wasn't the youngest person there, minus the staff...
Now, I thought about it there were a few more younger people in the back.
But on to the show, it was a great show. He didn't play the two songs I was most familiar with Gallo del Cielo or Navajo Rug, but I had bought his latest album "Blood and Candle Smoke," and listened to it a couple of times. He ended up playing every song off of the album throughout the evening. He played around two hours with a ten minute intermission. Here's the set list from my memory the order on the songs are probably jumbled

East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam
Mississippi River Runnin Backwards
Nina Simone
Guadalupe
Criminology
Darkness Visible
Stealing Electricity
Finding You
Who's Gonna Build Your Wall

-----Intermission--------

Don't Look Down
Santa Ana Wind
Crosses of San Carlos
The Most Dangerous Woman in America
American Rivers
a spoken poem by Charles Bukowski /poem> That's What Work Is/a story about Dave Van Ronk >Orphan Train
Blue Wing
Tower of Song>Pugilist at 59

I don't know if I have a favorite song of the evening. Pugilist at 59 was very good and Who's Gonna Build Your Wall? was hilarious. He related a story about playing it near an Arizona border town, where most of the audience up and left.Well, American Rivers stood out as it was one of the ones I liked best after listening to the album. It just captures the feeling of life, personal and societal in yesteryear and today, with rivers serving as a metaphor. Something in it just captures that nostalgia for childhood nostalgia and wanting to learn.
Throughout the night he was loose and enjoying himself, having fun with the crowd. A guy was taking some pictures and he didn't mind, "Do what you need to do," he said. He then joked that they needed security, but after earlier conversations with the staff found out they were sons of hippies, who wouldn't hit anybody...There were at least another dozen moments of hilarity...He also appeared on the Letterman show the night of the infamous sex confession or whatever. And he joked that that he was proud he was responsible for the ratings jump...He was also chiding the audience and others, by saying "Bastards!" frequently.
And he knew the area pretty well, mentioning his next tour stops in K.C., St. Louis and in Mt. Olive, Illinois and mentioning that he was going to be on 88.1 KDHX , a public radio station out of St. Louis. I know my old man always listens to it on Saturday morning/afternoon when he goes to St. Louis, when they are playing acoustic hour, bluegrass, and true country among various things. I know my dad said, Russell appeared as a guest on there last year...
His guitar player, Thad Beckman, was awesome, playing lead parts and some great fills. On the lengthier sorta jam later in the set, he played some hot guitar in various styles such as Doc Watson, Mississippi John Hurt and someone else. Russell, even chided him that it made up for a few of the earlier mistakes.
To me, Tom Russell, in addition to an uncanny songwriting ability, has one of those great recognizable unique voices, like Van Morrison or Joe Cocker. Just a well played and enjoyed show. After it was over he went to the merchandising area and was signing items for people, still in very cheery spirits and thanking people for coming. I bought one of his cds Love and Fear (cheaper than the record store even) and had him autograph it.
Anyone reading this, I highly recommend listening to some of his work and seeing him in concert, even if he doesn't play his "cowboy" songs as much anymore.

The Wasted 6 Months, Known as the St. Louis Cardinals season

2009-10-11T17:29:00.014-05:00

I know I'm not the only one, sorely disappointed with the St. Louis Cardinals sweep at the hands of the Dodgers in the Divisional series. I'm just trying to figure out where they went wrong... The anemic offense over the last month was the telltale problem. Starting with our All-Star M.V.P. first baseman. Albert Pujols didn't hit a homer for over a month and just seemed to lack his fizzle. Sure he had a good average and some R.B.I.'s, but he was never the same after the All-Star Game.
Or in my eyes after the arrival of Matt Holliday. I think he got too relaxed. Look at the first three months when Rick Ankiel, Chris Duncan and everyone else was in a slump, along with Ryan Ludwick being injured, when he was carrying the team they had some fire. I think that team they fielded in mid-June, with Ryan Ludwick coming around, would have beat the Dodgers and had that underdog fighting spirit.
But just some of Pujols late-season playing and gaffes(Think of the last game in Colorado where he was full running on a one-out pop fly and got doubled off. Never mind the second baseman dropped the ball...). If I was Tony LaRussa, I would have benched him at some point even in the playoffs. Hey, remember Scott Rolen? He might have gotten pissy about it, but you know what? He started hitting better after that. Pujols needed something to light his fire. Either that or bat him lead-off, which would give him more at-bats and if you want to walk him, an early easy base runner to help the offense get going.

Where do the Cards go for next year? They have quite a few free agents, Holliday, Mark DeRosa, Rick Ankiel, John Smoltz, Joel Piniero and Troy Glaus, among others. And the big worry in a few years, when Pujols and Chris Carpenter are up for free agency. Hopefully, they at least get DeRosa back. When he was healthly he was a solid veteran player. And if the price is right even with his gaffe, Holliday is a potential monster. But that play still eats me...
Not to mention the manager might not return. And I think the front office already pissed off the pitching coach.
They've got some solid guys and role players back in Skip Schumaker, Julio Lugo and Brendan Ryan, plus the potential in Colby Rasmus, Blake Hawksworth and Mitchell Boggs.Plus you're one-two starting punch of Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.
As for needs? A lead-off hitter, someone who can get on base, with some good speed and score. I think Julio Lugo, could be this guy if he was a little more consistent. I don't think Skip Schumaker is bad, but they need someone who can spark this offense. But unless Holliday doesn't come back, there really isn't a spot for anyone else in the line up, unless they'll be platooned, which I've never been a fan of. Potentially I think if Colby Rasmus can fine-tune his skills and base running, he could be a candidate. Now if him and Ryan would just fix their hat bills...
I'm not sure about a closer. I think Ryan Franklin just picked the worst time to falter in the season. And while he gave up everything else in game two of the series with the Dodgers, his left-fielder blew it. Wait til next season to see...Maybe some minor tweaking to the rest of pen.
I think the starters should be pretty good. Hopefully Lohse will pick up some of his better form next year
The bench actually needs some role players on it. Aside from whichever outfielder and infielder was being platooned, there wasn't much there. I swear anytime Khalil Greene was brought up it was an automatic out.
I guess there's always next year. And unlike the Cubs, the Cards will have an actual chance.

Jamey Johnson 9/15 Concert Review at the Blue Note

2009-09-16T02:41:00.009-05:00

3 hours of country music. Well, a little rock and roll in there too. But 38 songs by my count and arguably the greatest concert I've been too. I thought about writing the songs down on my ticket envelope, but didn't start and am glad I didn't. I wouldn't have had room...Unless I can find some other set list, I don't have a clue to everything that was played....But here goes my review
I got a little behind after trying to decide where to eat and finding Quizno's wasn't open, so I ended with a parking spot fairly far away. I read today on the website that the concert was a sell-out and when I got there at a little past seven, the line was all the way through the alley and into 8th Street. So, it wasn't until 7:30 that I finally got inside, but the opening act didn't start until 8:15.
This was the most rednecks I've ever seen grouped together. The opening act Josh Thompson played them into his hand playing upon the usual stereotypes of country/cowboy/redneck/etc living. The first two songs he played, both pretty decent, named dropped Johnny Cash and Waylon respectively. The second called Blame it on Waylon, was segued at the end with Lonesome, On'ry and Mean. He started to lose the crowd by the middle of his set, consisting of 8 songs for around half an hour or a little more..

There was about a half hour gap, with the roadies and techs setting everything up, before Jamey and his band came out. They opened with High Cost of Living, it and the next 3 or so songs sounded to loud to me. By Mowin' Down the Roses it got better. On the early numbers the group did a lot of vamping and just jamming on for awhile, the later numbers weren't as drawn out...
I have both his major released cds, but haven't listened to them as much as I should have, but not super familiar with a lot of the tracks. But now I'm going to have to, That Lonesome Song and Women, were great songs.
Jamey didn't say much in the first part of the show, other than a "How are you all doing?" and asking us if we knew the words to the final verse of In Color. But that changed towards the middle and end....
There were no less than five bras, thrown up on stage and decorated on guitars and speakers at one point or another. One landed right on top of Jamey's guitar. And the other cool thing was it looked like there was a cat fight or something down in the G.A. pit. From what I could tell up in the balcony it looked like a big bouncer picked somebody up and took them out the side door. And then it looked like someone else was charging after them wanting a piece of them. I could be wrong but that's what it looked like...
And then came the covers, off the top of my head in no particular order, Amanda, Dreaming My Dreams With You, A Country State of Mind, Old Habits, For the Good Times, Set Em Up Joe, That's The Way Love Goes, Midnight Rider, Turn the Page, Take This Job and Shove It, and Are the Good Times Really Over For Good ? By no means was this all of them, hard telling how many others I didn't know... But on Are the Good Times, he changed some of it around for humorous effects("Clinton, lied to us all on tv," while mimicking a smoking motion, pot or cigar your choice). I think it's obvious the showing of Jamey's influences here and for this night the greatest country bar band in the world.
By the mid-point he commented, "We'll play all fucking night as long as you all stay," which of course led to raucous cheers. And a large amount of people stayed for the duration. He made similar comments about staying and the funniest was "Let fucking Kanye West, try to take my microphone from me...I'm no fucking Taylor Swift!"
And he told us that country radio had dropped his latest single and related that "(He'll) play all damn night, because it might be the last time he comes to Columbia, Missouri...I don't care if radio doesn't like me, it's you all out there that I care about." There was some good anti-Nashville songs in there too, one was along the lines of 'Write your own songs, then.'
He also played his minor hit from a few years ago The Dollar. And he played a new song called Heaven Bound that was pretty good. One about being in this honky tar bar was another that was a hoot, but can't remember much else..
The final two songs were Between Jennings and Jones and the one I most hoped he'd play Give It Away, which had some great add ins at the end "Got a big house...2 or 3 women... a couple ACMs and CMA's... George Strait knows who I am...radio dropped my single today..." before the finale of the song. Then at 12:15, the show was over..

Just a kick ass show and this is only the stuff I can remember. I don't how much of this was done on the fly and how much was planned. The cynic in me knows that the latter has to have a lot of it, but to me it seemed like a lot of times the band was just waiting to see what Jamey was going to start singing. I got some pics, using my dad's camera, some actually looked half-way decent. I also did some video, but I think I didn't hit the record audio button, so it looks like just silent action...
After I started to leave and drove a little, I decided to go back and get a t-shirt. Thankfully they were still clearing people out and I picked up a souvenir of the evening.

I'll probably add stuff as I remember or see other things that jog my memory. But what a show...

EDIT: Here are a couple of set lists from db.etree and a blog to give an idea of what he played and order wise, but again he played a lot longer than either of those.

Killin' Nazi's: A Review of Inglourious Basterds

2009-09-10T13:23:00.005-05:00

I went and saw Inglourious Basterds the other night, figuring I'd do something fun over my three day weekend other than sitting at home. And it was a blast, one of the best rides of cinema I've seen in awhile. SPOILERS, naturally throughout the course of this post.

The main thing I thought of when I left was , "Wow, it was over that quick?" For two and a half hours it flew by. The only part that slowed it down was the opening part, which was still entertaining but did go kind of slow. The movie was divided into five parts or chapters. We meet the young Jewish girl who escapes the SS in occupied France, then we meet Lt. Aldo Raine and the Basterds, and a British officer who's to help with plots, over the chapters, before leading up to the climax.

I've read other reviews and articles where it mentions the film owes as much to Spaghetti westerns as it does World War II dangerous mission flicks(a la the Dirty Dozen, Von Ryan's Express, etc). Hell it felt just as more like a Ocean's Eleven caper flick or something too. But a Ocean's Eleven caper flick in World War II directed by Quentin Tarantino off course. You know there's going to be blood and people were going to die. You just didn't know if everyone was or not...

Brad Pitt was a hoot as Aldo Raine. It seemed more like a caricature being portrayed than acting, but you gotta love the consistency and hilariousness of one-dimensional quest for getting the job done. To me he was more of an American Cowboy or outlaw type hero. He followed his own rules, had no qualms about killing in cold blood and just his brashness that showed American know how and superiority.
The funniest part for me was when they decided to continue with the mission and act like Italians. "I don't speak any Italian." "Like I said, third best. Just keep your fuckin' mouth shut. In fact why don't you start practicing, right now." And then in the theatre in the midst of Nazi's, just a horrible not even hiding his thick Southern accent with his "Bonjouro's" and "Arrevedeci."

Without just rehashing the plot, but the other cool thing and the big SPOILER. Is that the group actually manages to help pull off the task, offing Hitler, Gobbels and the other top Nazis making some other reality. You gotta admire Tarantino for this, there's all sorts of Hitler survived tales out there, but off the top of my head this is the first or at least best one that show Hitler getting offed(well that doesn't involve time travel sci-fi elements) before his actual demise.

At the end Raine does his trademark with his knife, in carving a swastika into the head of a German solider. After all after the war, how are they going to tell who was a Nazi when they don't have their uniforms on.
Anyway, watch this movie when you can.

Addendum- The weirdest thing for me about seeing this, was before I got in. They checked me for I.D.?! I'm 25 and hadn't shaved for three or four days, do I look that young. I remember when I used to buy smokes for people after I turned 18, I'd done it 10-12 times before they actually checked my I.D. I know I've bought alcohol before without being checked.

Matt Holliday National League M.V.P.?!

2009-09-05T13:41:00.003-05:00

With all of the talking heads insisting that whoever wins the Most Valuable Player award in Major League Baseball, must be on a playoff team(a thought I feel is normally ridiculous) and should be which player has the impact numbers wise for his team.
So, in that instance shouldn't Matt Holliday be the front runner for National League M.V.P. award? Look at the all the important numbers since he came to the Cardinals in late July. He's been on a tear, racking up super numbers even with Mr. Pujols around. And most importantly look at the team's win-loss record since his arrival. He has had the most impact solidly helping push his team into October.
Granted, the man hitting in front of him is no slouch when it comes to it. The first three months he single-handidly carried this team, putting them in first place. But he's seemed to relax too much since his "protection" has arrived and his numbers have jumped down scores. But still shouldn't Matt Holliday get some respect for this award?

Do they still play the Blues in Chicago, when baseball season rolls around?

2009-09-01T02:01:00.001-05:00

10 and a half games out?

Completely
Useless
By
September

8/23 Steve Earle Concert Review

2009-08-27T13:18:00.004-05:00

Steve Earle brought his solo acoustic show to the Blue Note, in Columbia, Sunday night. I got there around 7, which was the time the doors opened, but nothing started til 8. And the general admission was all seating so I could have had more free time... But apparently they had some problems getting people seated, Ticketmaster sold the seats different than they thought. So it took a little while to get it sorted out, but I wasn't going anywhere. Basically I had to switch sides from where I thought I was, 6 rows back on the far right...
Finally, Steve's wife, Allison Moorer came out at 8. A really beautiful lady with a gorgeous voice. Why she's not blasted over country radio is beyond me... Just her and an acoustic. She had a harmonica with holder on the first song, but kept falling out of place, making her yell out, "Shit!" She preformed seven songs for around half an hour. I think she played Alabama Song, but I'm not really familiar with her. But she was really talented and entertaining.
Then around 9, Mr. Earle came out. I'm not really a big fan of his the only songs I really knew were Copperhead Road and Guitar Town. I think it was just the fact he was coming to Columbia, I thought I was going to have an easy night off work and it was a solo acoustic performance.
Set List

Where I Lead Me
Colorado Girl
Rex's Blues
Ft. Worth Blues
Pancho and Lefty
Brand New Companion
Tom Ames' Prayer
My Old Friend the Blues
Someday
Taneytown
Goodbye
Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
Marie
City of Immigrants
Days Aren't Long Enough
Dixieland
Jerusalem
The Mountain
Lungs
To Live Is To Fly
------------
Guitar Town
Copperhead Road

He was pretty cool with his stories. He was touring behind his album of Townes Van Zandt covers and telling of the stories of his friend/teacher/mentor. You can tell the impact he had on Steve Earle. When he introduced Pancho and Lefty, he said, "I had 28 songs I had to narrow down to 15, but I knew where to start." He then went to a parable, "On your first day in prison, they say you find the biggest motherfucker in the yard and knock him out..." He was also humorous throughout.
Earle got political a couple of times. Once before Jerusalem going on against Obama and the Iraq War, then before The Mountain against clean coal technology(which is a pretty nasty business no matter which way you cut it). But every with a somber tone to the concert, he was pretty upbeat with his attitude.
Highlights for me included City of Immigrants where Moorer came out and joined him midway through. She dueted with him on the next song as well. Dixieland was good he was playing a mandolin here. He also played a bouzouki, a banjo-like instrument on a number, which he warned at airports to just say is a banjo. I've heard My Old Friend the Blues before as well after I started hearing it and I had listened to The Mountain album recently so I enjoyed The Mountain as well. To Live is To Fly was rousing for the ultimate song in the main set. The encores were feet stamping joys as expected.
Not writing this immediately afterwards, makes me hazy on other thoughts on songs. But here's a review from a KC show . Kind of disappointed that it looked like he told the same stories he told in Columbia, making it a paint-by-numbers sort of thing. The review gets some of the feelings on the songs played.
But just the warmth and excitedness he had while performing made it seem unique. He actually cared and not just phoning it in with the hokeyness that some artists do.

Retro Review- Shooter Jennings 10/10/2006 at the Blue Note

2009-08-17T00:05:00.004-05:00

Here's an old review I posted in an online forum, of a previous Shooter Jennings show about three years ago. Copied pretty much from a couple of posts with some editing.

It was great show overall. I went with my mom who ordered the
tickets and went because my dad had to something else. The blue note
had something going on earlier where there were tons of girls coming
out. We got in about 9:15 and Bang Bang Bang didn't start until about
9:50 or so. They played about 10 songs for forty to fifty minutes.
They didn't sound bad but I had no clue what the singer was singing
or even saying. They have a rock sound with the first few sounding
like gritty rockabilly. And like I said I couldn't understand
him very well, but it sounded like one of the their songs was
called 'Nashville' either written by or with Shooter.
After 20 or 30 minutes Shooter and the guys finally came out. And
they were great. After reading other reviews I was still somewhat
cynical or still tried to be open minded about their performance.
But they rocked out. Even the harder rocking songs I enjoyed and
don't really listen to them as much on the records.
Highlights for me were my favorite song Solid Country Gold.
Shooter doing the solo acoustic 4th of July before the rest of the
band joins in on the countryfied version with Leroy on the steel. One
of the funniest moments came during Manifesto #1 when he got to
the "kiss my ass goodbye" line, the crowd yelled out the line during
the pause and he kinda gave a WTH look or surprise and then sung the
line. Crowd was mostly filled with young college kids with the
combination of young drunken rednecks from the area. Both in some
cases...
I went around out back after the show to try and meet Shooter.
There is no 'backstage' at the Blue Note, just a curtain on the
stage and a door. I waited a few minutes before overhearing that
he'd already gone and only the drummer was left, and Shooter had
left very quickly. If I didn't have my mom with me I would have hung
out a little longer or found the bus and would have tried waiting a
little more. The only really down part of the evening I guess. I
also bought one of the Don't Cuss the Country shirt before we left.
Set List
Electric Rodeo
Gone to Carolina
Little White Lines
Solid Country Gold
Some Rowdy Women
The Song is Slipping Away
Manifesto #2
4th of July>He Stopped Loving Her Today
Steady at the Wheel
Alligator Chomp
Bad Magick
Freedom to Stay
Manifesto #1
Hair of the Dog
Busted in Baylor County
Daddy's Farm

encore
Ain't Living Long Like This
Southern Comfort

I couldn't tell what song was after Manifesto and before Baylor.
Shooter was on the keyboard. But judging from db.etree site from the
Eugene, OR show it would be It Ain't Easy. But YouTube has a video from the show and its of Hair of the Dog. So either he didn't play It Ain't Easy or The Freedom to Stay...
I haven't really talked to my mom about it to see how she liked the show. We talked in between
and agreed that Bang Bang Bang was loud and undecipherable but we
were both tired on the hour plus drive home. I know she seemed to enjoy
the more country songs and was kinda clapping around. She tends to
like Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, George Strait, so she probably
wasn't as fond of the rocking parts.
After reading it over again a few other things I forgot to mention.
Along with Manifesto #1, where the crowd sang along, there were quite a
few other times where the crowd was signing along and generally
rocking out.
And there were several tech problems, I know of one where the
keyboard before Bad Magick wasn't right. And a few times where the
tech guy had to come up front and do something. So maybe that was a
reason for the quick exit.

All my previous blogs.

2009-08-09T01:24:00.002-05:00

Here's all my old blogs on MySpace

8/6 Shooter Jennings Concert Review

2009-08-09T00:20:00.005-05:00

Thursday night I saw Shooter Jennings and his band Hierophant(formerly the 357's) at Harrah's VooDoo Lounge in St. Louis. Ended up taking my mom again. My brother couldn't get off of work and my dad was doing stuff. This was my third time seeing the group. First time was in '05 as an opening act for Toby Keith and saw him at the Blue Note in the Fall of '06.
The venue was pretty much just a bar, but kinda unique. The stage was about 8 feet up in the air and the bar was right underneath it. So when people went to get drinks they were closer to the action. I had general admission seats, so my mom thought we were going to have to stand the whole time, but they had chairs set out...
The lights went dim with the Dark Crystal starting to play on the various video screens and the backdrop. The opener was a sci-fi-like environmental warning song. Here's the full set list

Wake Up!
California via Tennessee
Gone to Carolina
Steady at the Wheel
The Breaking Point
God Bless Alabama
Manifesto No.1
Bad Magick
When the Radio Goes Dead
Don't Feed the Animals
The Wolf
All of this Could've Been Yours
Outlaw Shit
4th of July
Electric Rodeo

-------------

Black Ribbons
Daddy's Farm

Shooter in the last few years has been more of a country rocker or Southern rocker, but he's now going back to his roots with pure rock. The country elements are pretty sparse and the name change of the group is trying to go along with this. I figured I'd have been disappointed in this as I tend to like his country stuff over his harder rock, but the sound worked for me. He mixed in a bunch of new stuff with some of his older stuff and the beats and music were rocking.
Instrument wise, Shooter was either using a Flying V or an SG, only picking up the acoustic once at the end, as well as playing on his keyboard and synth.
I was right in front of Ted Russell Kamp, the bassist, who was smiling all the time and having a blast. Bryan Keeling the drummer, seemed more subdued than before. I didn't see him stand up once. The new guys, who I'm not sure of the name, on guitar and keyboard, were over on the other side, so I didn't pay as much attention to them...
The worst part was probably overall the drunks as always. No, I take that back, Ticketmaster was the worst. Add in all the convenience, facility, service, whatever fees, a $20 ticket cost almost $30 and for two it was the same as three tickets at face value.
I won't ever complain about an artist playing and trying new stuff on the road as it shows they aren't into the same old, same old and still trying out new things musically. But the hardest part was not knowing the words, add it in the with obnoxiousness of the fore mentioned drunks, and trying to follow along. I know the music is supposed to be rock and be loud, but for the newer songs it would have been better if they could have turned up Shooter's voice a little and drop the instruments in the mix some as well. My mom asked me, "Can you understand him better on records?" But when he came back for the encore with just him and an acoustic on Black Ribbons, I couldn't understand with all of the idiots making noise and screaming out "Whooo's!" and "SHOOTER!"
My favorite song of the night was probably The Wolf, I hadn't seen him do any songs off the album of the same name, as I didn't go see him last year at the Montgomery Co. Fair or the year before at the Blue Note. Of the new songs California via Tennessee was the one that sounded the best(that I could comprehend much on). Radio Goes Dead I liked the vibe on as well. The singalong on Manifesto #1 is always a hoot, especially when the audience blurts out "You can kiss my ass goodbye!" line at the very beginning during the pause. And I always like hearing 4th of July even in its full tilt rocking version.
The only one I didn't dig was Outlaw Shit a reworking of one of Waylon's songs done in a slower ballad here. To me the song is too much of an anthem and the pace is all wrong. I did love the coda at the end. If he'd play it full speed then change tempos then do the coda sort of like Layla I think it would work better...
Like I said, I still liked the show. The only other complaint of mine was that it was over too quick, it was only a little over an hour and a half in length. My mom seemed to enjoy it more too this time swaying around to the music, even with it being two or three times louder. Probably cause last time the concert didn't start til 11 PM or so.
To show what a small world it is, some of my 3rd or 4th long distance cousins, who live in the same zip code as us, were at the show too. Their girlfriend even got some of the picks and one of the set lists from the band.
I bought a shirt after it was over. It's of a sci-fi 1930's retro future look hero or something. I was going to wait and see if the guys were going to come down to the bar and mingle with the fans, but they were still packing up equipment and I could tell my mom was getting restless to leave, so we were on our way after that. Took a few pics, but they turned out pretty crappily. Cheaper phone and someone who doesn't have clue what he's doing mainly.HAHAHA!
I think the show at the Blue Note was slightly better, in the material played, but this was a better show for excitement and mood, with not knowing what was coming up.

Neil Young 4/30 Concert Review

2009-05-02T23:20:00.002-05:00

I went and saw Neil Young Thursday night with the old man in Kansas City at the Sprint Center. Originally was supposed to be Nov 4th last year on election day but it got postponed. And they cut down the seating so they had to readjust my seats. Still got pretty decent overall. Sprint Center's a pretty big monster and quite new space age looking. The worst part was the fact that I'd only had 3 hours of sleep at most...
Show started at 7 with two opening acts. The first was a band called Everest. They weren't bad, but nothing super spectacular. The lead singer sounded like Bono to me... Had a pretty good sound, but there was one or two too many guys in the group. They played for 30 mins or so.
Then came the Neville Brothers for 4o mins. I wasn't real impressed with them. The first song was good, but the rest all seemed the same. Not that much of jazz/funk fan. My dad said they didn't even do Aaron Neville's big hit "Tell It Like It Is."
Finally a little after 9 Neil and his band came on. When I saw him two years ago at the Fox in St. Louis he was solo for the first half, then had the band behind him in the second half. Here they were with him the whole time.About 2 hours and 15 mins of Rock n Roll action. Here's the set list.

Love and Only Love
When You Dance I Can Really Love
Fuel Line
Are You Ready for the Country?
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Pocahantas
Change Your Mind
Cinnamon Girl
Mother Earth
The Needle and the Damage Done
Light a Candle
Heart of Gold
Feel Your Love
Old Man
Hit the Road
Speakin' Out
Tonight's the Night
Down By the River
Get Behind the Wheel
Just Singing a Song
---------------------
A Day in the Life

I'd purposely avoided looking at any of his previous shows to see what he was playing this go around. And I'm glad I did as there were several surprises. In the second spot was "When You Dance I Can Really Love", off of After the Gold Rush. And a couple of songs later "Are You Ready For the Country?" As soon as I picked it up when he started pounded on those piano keys I knew it was going to be a great show.
He was playing a lot of material from his new album, Fork in the Road. They were all right, I thought "Just Singing a Song," was good but maybe not in the ultimate slot in the setlist. I know some of the reviews were ragging on them, but there were about the same as some of his other songs that he played that aren't as well known.
Starting with "Mother Earth" he moved from electric to acoustic mode. Here he preformed the Greatest Hits portion, which was...well, great! Even the new song "Light a Candle" and the 'kind of an obscure CSN&Y song, "Feel Your Love" sounded awesome. Then after "Old Man" it was back to the hard grunge rock style.
Young is Jekyll and Hyde. Morphing one minute into the acoustic country folk style after a blazing 15 min long guitar jam with distortion, high energy and completely turning away from the audience.
Neil didn't talk as much to the audience this time. I think the first time he talked, he apologized for the postponement. He did a little intro the CSN&Y song and he introduced his band, but other than a couple "How are you doin's?" he was pretty quiet.
The crowd was sort of laconic. Before exiting, Chad Cromwell, the drummer, asked, "if we needed caffeine?" Maybe it was the 4 hours of being there or something, but they were definitely low key. He also had a guy painting on a canvas on an easel. Don't really know why or what he was painting. Just part of the stage I guess. His whole stage setup continued the garage theme.
The only other bad things? The guitar jams can get a little tedious with so many long ones, but that's just Neil. I think its just cool to see a 63 year old up there rocking away. Was sort of surprised we didn't get Rockin' in the Free World. But I looked at some of the previous sets and see he's been mixing it up at every concert on this tour. Usually playing it in the encore, when he does perform it. That was the only thing missing that would have put it over the top.
But we got the Beatles cover, "A Day in the Life," which was good. The fade out of the song is perfect for Neil's style of hard rocking distortion sound. Which culminated with all the strings busted and a note hit on the Xylophone.
Overall, maybe the best concert I've seen. Harder to gauge right after. Still one of the best and no problem with postponing(other than the fact I had to switch shifts at work But that's not his fault). He only played 3 of the same songs he did in St. Louis(and all three were good ones, so it was win-win). I enjoyed the rock songs more too. At the Fox a lot more newer stuff and songs I wasn't as keen on. Here I got a few more "hits" and songs I heard and/or liked more.
I know my dad liked it better. He was cheering and singing along for quite a bit of it. Other reviews here and here
If anyone gets a chance to see him in his current mode go it's worth it. Don't know if I will or not. He might have to embark on a solo, with Crazy Horse, big country band or even better with Crosby, Stills and Nash tour and change the format a little.