underneath the bunker

Resistance: Fall of Man; or, White Guy Gets All The Credit

2011-11-17T10:06:00.001-06:00

Husband and I have been playing a first-person shooter RPG called “Resistance: Fall of Man.” We’re both loving the game. It’s a traditional split-screen cooperative mission-based game featuring soldiers trying to fight off an alien invasion (in a nutshell).

However, it’s a game with one main character. Husband took Player 1 and I took Player 2 and, as I said, it’s a first-person POV, so we’re looking out through our character’s eyes. Fairly early in the game, we saw that Husband’s character is a white male soldier and mine is a black male soldier.

At the end of various stages, the narrative – sometimes another character in dialogue, sometimes an explicit narrator – explains how there was only one survivor, or only one soldier accomplished something, or the protagonist was the only man who … meaning Player 1, of course. The white guy.

I’m making a real stink about this.

Narrator: “He was the only surviving soldier from that unit …”
Me: “Hel – LO!! What am I?? Oh, I get it, I’M not important!! Sure, acknowledge Whitey! Typical! Etc.”

Heh.

It was especially hurtful after a couple of levels during which I had some great marksmanship and was, like, shooting the robot drone bombers while husband was turned around or not yet at the battle scene or just a bit slower on the draw that particular time or whatever.

Our playing styles are pretty complimentary, but there are times when our personalities really show through. We’ll be doing the same mission at the same time (of course), but there’ll come a point where we’ve looked carefully through a room and husband is still methodically looking around the perimeter while I’m standing impatiently at the door ready for the next room.

Husband tends to find all the clues that are just sitting there waiting to be picked up.

I tend to trigger most of the ambushes.

Works for us.

Chickpea tikka masala

2011-05-19T09:58:00.001-05:00

I read something like this recipe in a blog a few months ago, which is why I had the jar of sauce on hand.

Olive oil
1 carrot, finely diced
up to ½ bell pepper, chopped
up to ½ smallish onion, chopped
1 can chickpeas
1 small jar Tikka Masala sauce (from Food Fantasies)
Spices to taste

In saucepan, saute carrot until softened. Add pepper and onion and sauté until softened. (I used a red pepper because it’s what I happened to have on hand.)

During the vegetable sauté, add salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste.

Drain chickpeas and add to pan; sauté until hot. Add sauce and simmer briskly for five or ten minutes. Season to taste. (This is where I realized the sauce wasn’t quite as spicy as I’d imagined, so I added a bit of “Cajun seasoning” and chili powder, along with more salt, pepper, and garlic.)

That’s it! Serve over rice or pasta or whatever.

The good: pretty easy to make and super yummy. Also versatile, depending on what veggies you have on hand. This could be a great “don’t waste that last tired carrot” kind of dish. You could also try it with one of the other jarred Indian sauces available.

The bad: The only thing I can think of is that you have to chop up a couple of veggies.

Verdict: Awesome, would make again, looking forward to leftovers.

Posole adventure

2011-04-19T13:35:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law gave us a can of hominy. She was cleaning out her pantry, didn’t want the hominy, and thought we might.

I hadn’t eaten hominy in … I don’t know how long; perhaps since trying it once or twice in elementary school and deciding it wasn’t for me.

Years later, there aren’t many vegetables I still don’t like (I’m looking at you, turnips), so I did some searching for hominy recipes. (I was hesitant to just dump it in a bowl, microwave it, and call it a side dish.) Many of the results were for posole, a Mexican chicken and hominy soup.

Coincidentally (OR IS IT?), not long after, a blogger acquaintance of mine posted all about her own posole discovery, complete with recipe.

Well, why not? I decided to give it a try, making very few changes to her recipe.

Ingredients:
8 to 9 cups chicken stock
2 cups chopped onion
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut into 4-5 pieces
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 30-oz can white hominy, drained
16-oz jar tomatillo salsa
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped cilantro if desired

My modifications/comments:
I had less onion than that on hand (oddly, for me), but used what I had
*I used about 2 pounds of chicken, not 3
I used about 5 garlic cloves, but you really couldn’t taste it in the end
I used about 1 ½ jalapenos, but would use more next time
I had a 15-ish oz can of white hominy; I bought a similar can of yellow and used both because, in the store, I couldn’t remember which color I had at home or which color I was supposed to use.
The tomatillo salsa I used was labeled “medium,” the only type I found at the store, but the soup was by no means too spicy.

*backstory: Around a year ago I started eating meat after being vegetarian for 10 years. I was surprised to see how expensive chicken was, even the non-organic kind. We decided to go with two pounds instead of three based on cost. I was glad we did when I saw the meat counter guy piling up the chicken for me! It was a lot. I could cut it down still more if I made this again. Raw chicken was just as disgusting as I remember. I feel like I ended with a trash can full of veins and fat. Yuck! And that’s the clean, skinless, boneless, pristine meat counter specimens.

Put first 6 ingredients (stock through hominy) in a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 35 minutes or until chicken is done. (The original instructions allow for chicken on the bone, which is then removed, boned, and shredded at this point. I fished out some of the bigger chicken pieces and shredded them up, but I wasn’t totally sure if I should or not.) Stir in tomatillo sauce and salt; cook for 5 minutes or until hot.

The recipe said to serve with cilantro, sour cream, and lime wedges.

The good: Usually when I make soup I make “freezer soup,” which has no specific recipe and has everything in it. It was nice to make a specific kind of soup from a recipe. It seemed extremely full of chicken even with the reduced quantity. The tomatillos added a nice flavor. It was a very comforting dish; a Mexican version of chicken noodle soup? This soup was very hearty but seemed very healthy at the same time, had great if somewhat muted flavors, and provided lots of leftovers

The bad: It seemed like this soup took forever to make, mostly because I work more slowly when making a new recipe, was paranoid about working with raw chicken and had to switch knives, had to scrub after chopping the garlic and again after chopping the jalapenos, etc. The proportions seemed a little odd, but I’m not sure in what way – maybe just that the chicken kind of floated, the hominy kind of sank, and everything else seemed to get lost. It didn’t seem spicy at all aside from a nice tomatillo whang, and I would have used more garlic, more onion, and more jalapenos next time. We both felt like it needed something, perhaps beans or more veggies? Bell peppers?

We had cornbread on the side for a yummy bonus.

Even though I’d bough cilantro, we skipped it because, by the time the soup was finished, I was tired of standing around waiting for soup and didn’t want to rinse and chop anything else. We’ll probably have it with the leftovers tonight. I didn’t serve it with lime wedges or sour cream because I didn’t want to buy either one just for this. If you could purchase sour cream in two-tablespoonful-packages, I would!

Verdict: I’m not totally sure I felt like it was worth the prep work, especially dealing with chicken, which totally grosses me out. Your response to chicken may vary. When it was done, though, the chicken was nice and flavorful. I would totally eat this in a restaurant if available, or make it on a weekend instead of weeknight.

U2, human nature, hope, and stuff

2011-03-29T12:07:00.002-05:00

When I was younger, I was a raging optimist. Well, with qualifiers. I guess I didn’t think things would be okay for everyone, or for the whole world, but everything always worked out okay for me personally. I wouldn't change a thing. When I got my heart broken, I cherished the pre-heartbreak experience and tried to look at the whole thing as a learning experience. When I wasn’t sure what path to take, I tried to relax, secure in the belief that things would pretty much be okay for me if I listened to my heart, or to my gut (most of my other organs are smarter than my brain, with the possible exceptions of my lungs (asthma) and my appendix, which committed suicide).

When I got out of college and had to live, though, I started to feel differently. Paying for college left me flat broke, and starter-level salaries didn’t do anything to improve my situation. I lived in small, sad, telephoneless apartments, learned what “Murphy beds” were, accumulated debt, and tended to despair. Over the years, I came to believe that life was a frustrating sequence of mindless tedium punctuated by refreshing periods of bleak despair. Unless you’re rich, or have a much bolder personality than I do, you’re pretty much going to drag yourself to work, drag yourself home, and most likely plant yourself on the couch with a bag of Fat Rind and wait for oblivion while trembling in fear at the thought of your retirement budget. You get less and less healthy and realize gradually that not only do you have no idea how to accomplish any of your youthful dreams, but you hardly even have dreams any more. Your life slips away, and you miss large chunks of it, and then there’s nothing.

I don’t mean to drive anyone to despair with reading this, but hey, it’s been a long winter!

Anyway. One of the things that’s always helped me out a little has been music. My parents were uninterested in music, for the most part. Occasionally my mom would listen to the gospel station while ironing, but otherwise the radio was used to find out whether we had a snow day from school. They didn’t own a stereo, didn’t listen to records, didn’t sing in the church choir, didn’t attend my high school band concerts – nothing. To this day, my mother will set out on a road trip and never turn on the radio.

What saved me from a musicless existence was really my big sister. We shared a room and she had an old pink radio that got better reception if you piled things on top of it. Three cheers for 1970s album-rock A.M. radio. From earliest memory, the Beatles, Queen, and, God forbid, Black Betty (blam-a-lam) were my companions.

Unlike my husband – whose parents both liked music, and whose father in particular accumulated albums by the score – I feel like I had to start from scratch in my popular music education. In many ways, I feel like I’m still struggling to catch up, but it’s a labor of love. I listen to music every day; I subscribe to a number of concert listing e-mail services. It’s a passion.

I’m the type to rebut political speeches on TV with side remarks along the lines of “yeah, right” or “sure, if you don’t count THOSE civilian deaths” or cheery remarks of that nature. I’m not as intelligently cynical as many of my coworkers in the news industry, but I have a pretty low opinion of human nature.

Except at U2 concerts.

It’s impossible to be cynical at a U2 show.

When I go to a U2 show, I get a general admission ticket, if possible. U2 always charges less for floor – remember when you’re sitting in those $200 seats that the people on the ground paid a quarter as much to be much closer. What that means, though, is a lot more work getting there. For the Vertigo tour, we tried to get to the venue around 6 or 7 in the morning. For the current stadium tour, it’s more like 5 – and that’s just me, just the lazy, same-day experience; the best I’ve ever gotten with that is around 25th in line, and for that I had to stop by the stadium the night before and be numbered. So, travel to a strange city, stay in a hotel, get up around 4 a.m., rush to get ready and assemble your daylong needs – money, camera, ticket, food, water – grab a cab, get in line, and wait. And wait. And wait. If you’re lucky, you can grab a few Zs. Depending on the weather, you might be uncomfortable; you’ll almost certainly be uncomfortable depending on where you’re sitting. Starbucks isn’t even open yet. You spend the day pacing yourself. I know I need to eat and drink – some folks tough it out, but I’m too old for that. You might need sunscreen and a hat, or rain poncho, or even long underwear. Toward mid-afternoon you have to regulate your liquid intake and output – remember, you’re going to be unable to leave the line, and inside the stadium and probably unable to leave your post, from maybe 4 or 5 to about 10 p.m. By the time you enter the venue, you’ve been in line for 12 hours. Hungry, thirsty, sleepy, oh so tired. And you still have to run, run toward the stage and hope for a spot at the railing, and then wait while the setup gets finished, and wait through the opening band (usually bad), and wait during the set break. And then.

I do it for those couple of solid hours completely free of cynicism and anger. Free of criticism and negativity. Just me and 50,000 or so of my closest friends. Maybe this is the kind of ecstasy that charismatic church members feel, the shared passion and uplift. Something to believe in. Me and my kind, jumping up and down to “Until the End of the World.” Screaming to “Vertigo.” Crying during “MLK” and “Walk On.” Raising our hands and vowing to sign, to vote, to click, to text, to help, to hope. Hoping together that group passion can translate to group power; believing in it, for the moment. Impossible to be negative. Things that make you cringe later on the bootleg, or on the DVD – you believe in them utterly in the moment. No political speech seems overly long or out of place, no appeal to act seems misguided or wrong. It’s all the same thing, the same experience. It’s not jarring, not intrusive, it’s part of the experience. Because you believe.

I’ll be a gloomy cynic again soon enough.

Recipe: black bean dip

2011-03-07T12:22:00.000-06:00

We needed a large snack over the weekend, and I made this could-have-been-better but very simple bean dip.

1. I medium-small chopped a medium-small onion and sautéed it in a pan with olive oil plus salt, pepper, and dashes of garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and parsley.

2. While the onion softened, I mostly drained a can of organic black beans just using the lid, poured the can in a bowl, and rinsed the can with a couple of tablespoons of water and added that to the bowl. Then I mashed up the beans with the back of a heavy spoon, not worrying about getting all the beans or how well they got mashed up. I started out using a fork, but it wasn’t getting the job done.

3. I added the beans to the pan with onions and continued cooking medium-low until the beans were hot and bubbly, stirring well to incorporate the onions and adjusting the seasonings and adding some ‘Louisiana’ spice blend. At the last minute I stirred in a toss or two of shredded cheddar, which was enough to make it gooier but not enough to make it too cheesy or stringy.

4. Poured it in a bowl, scooped up with organic blue corn chips. The two of us ate the whole thing.

The good: easy, inexpensive, had the ingredients on hand, relatively healthy, hearty.
The bad: underseasoned, needed something.

We didn’t have jalapenos, sour cream (which we NEVER have on hand), or even bell peppers on hand; the dip needed a whang. The beans sucked up all the salt and even the cumin and chili powder even though I re-seasoned a couple of times while heating. Husband was surprised to hear that there was a whole onion in it; they kind of disappeared too even though I tried not to make them too soft. Maybe I could have saved a handful of raw onions to add at the end.

Verdict: Would try again with some adjustments.

Weird childhood memories

2011-02-23T12:37:00.001-06:00

For some reason I was just thinking about the time I sprained my ankle.

I know, totally mundane. I was lucky enough to live a largely injury-free childhood apart from the usual skinned knees and elbows, so this event was pretty significant to me. I’m not sure how old I was, but I’m thinking probably fourth or fifth grade. We were called in from recess and I was running to get in line, and wham! Got up, hopped to the line, realized my foot wasn’t working, got sent to the nurse’s office.

I remember that a man was in the nurse’s office chatting with her – not a teacher, who I would have recognized, so maybe a janitor or something? The nurse moved my foot around, and it hurt like hell, and I made little “ow” sounds, and the guy mocked me. Um, thanks a lot, why are you even in here? (Remember how kids didn’t have rights? It wasn’t any use to complain, no matter how much injustice you felt.)

Anyway, the nurse thought nothing was broken and wrapped it up, and I remember for a few days I couldn’t put any weight on it. My big brother carried me between the school bus and house, and my teacher assigned a couple of other kids to help me – I had to lean on someone while hopping to, you know, music class or whatever, and a couple of helpers and I got to leave for lunch a couple of minutes early because I was slow. I remember waking up every morning trying to flex it a little, or tentatively putting my foot to the floor to see if it could bear any weight yet.

In retrospect, I can’t help but wonder why my parents didn’t take me to the doctor or something. Crutches would have made my life SO much easier for those days. Jesus Christ, people. I’m hopping around on one foot for the greater part of a week! A little help here? Thanks for nothin’!

Which is the general feeling I have when I think about being a kid, really – thanks for nothin’, you know?

Seriously. You gotta laugh.

Unrefrigerated madness

2011-01-07T09:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday my husband took the afternoon off work so he could be home for a refrigerator delivery. He came home at noon, shut our cat in the bedroom, and waited.

Going on 5:00, they called to alert him that they were on the way. Fifteen minutes later, they called asking why nobody was home – apparently our landlord who owns our house sent them to the wrong address entirely.

When they finally got to our house – or, rather, when he got to our place – and discovered that our stairs have a turn or two in them, he said that he can singlehandedly deliver refrigerators up stairs that do not have turns in them, but help is required for fancy stairs. Strangely, although he called for help, none of his coworkers were willing to respond.

They’re allegedly coming back Saturday, at which point we will have been without a fridge for going on a week. We called our landlord about this last Sunday. I am really angry about this – and I’m not even the one who sat around all afternoon for no reason while work piled up at my office, or the one who was shut into the bedroom all afternoon for no reason. ARGH.

Next time any appliance goes down, I’m just going to leave town. It’s easier.

The Edge

2010-09-16T18:27:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine turned me on to this compilation: ten minutes of various guitar solos by The Edge. enjoy.

2010-09-07T22:34:00.002-05:00

We saw Rush a few weeks ago in St. Louis, and it was one of those concerts you keep talking about for a while. Unbelievably, it was my first Rush show. We decided kind of late in the game that we'd go - let me tell you, next year, we're springing for good seats if I have anything to say about it. Which I kind of do.

Not a lot of shows coming up for the rest of the year. Drive By Truckers at the beginning of October, and Roger Waters at the end of October. I really feel like seeing Wilco - when is that not true, of course?

THIS weekend, a quick overnight to Chicago to meet up with a friend I don't get to see very often. Fun!

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, 7/10/10

2010-07-12T13:25:00.004-05:00

Here's the setlist from Jason Isbell's set at the Taste of Downtown Saturday:

Grown
Decoration Day
Streetlights
Dock of the Bay
Try
Goddamn Lonely Love
Psycho Killer
Outfit
7 Mile Island
Hurricanes & Hand Grenades
American Girl (Tom Petty)
Dress Blues
Never Gonna Change
Danko/Manuel (I got my wish!)
(encore)
Instrumental
Atlantic City (Bruuuuuce)

I thought the show was great. First of all, it's so nice, and so rare, to see an actual touring band I'm really a fan of, of Jason Isbell's caliber, here in Springfield. For me, the setlist was great - a lot of my favorite of his Truckers songs and a lot of my favorite of his solo work. Got tears in my eyes during "Dress Blues." Also loved their version of Atlantic City - I thought it rocked it up nicely while retaining the song's essential mood.

Also, at one point while jamming, they broke into a riff that sounded really, really familiar, but we couldn't place it until the next day when my husband said, "That was Wilco!" It was the breakout riff from Spiders (Kidsmoke), I'm pretty sure! That was a hoot.

Jason was really gracious - as always; we've actually met him twice before, briefly, and he's always quite gracious. We hung around for a minute afterward to say hi, and he was pleasant and accommodating to many people before us, and to us as well. We heard him say he was going to the Brewhaus afterward, but, let's face it, we were totally done in by that point. Had a blast.

Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157624354662443/

Woefully neglectful blogger is woefully neglectful

2010-06-23T22:29:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's true. So this spring we went to Rodrigo y Gabriela and Mark Knopfler in St. Louis and the Drive By Truckers in Chicago. All were a blast, although we had the misfortune to be next to Continually Shrieking Girl at Rod y Gab, and honestly, while ideally everyone would enjoy themselves at a show, this jerkwad nearly ruined it for us. I would cheerfully see her dead. The show, though, was great.

Coming up, we have the third Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago and Jason Isbell right here at the Taste of Downtown in July. The big news for me was the postponement of the next U.S. leg of the U2 tour because Bono hurt his back and had to have emergency surgery; the leg would have started already, and my show would have been July 6. However, I'm not too heartbroken about the whole thing, because I prefer anticipation to "oh, no, it's over already." Now my next U2 show is still ahead by a good stretch.

Bellefontaine Cemetery, STL

2009-12-02T21:11:00.004-06:00

While we were in St. Louis last month J indulged me and we went to Bellefontaine Cemetery on Nov. 6. I really just wanted to see William S. Burroughs' grave - he was from St. Louis - but the cemetery office had a map and informative guidebook, the suggested route through the cemetery was easy to follow and made sense, and it was a lovely day, so we ended up spending at least a couple of hours. It was a gorgeous fall day and we saw a lot of interesting stuff.

I hadn't seen families gathered in a circle this way.

I love cemetery statuary; if I had more time on my hands I'd totally study up on it.

This is the top of Augustus Busch's tomb (of Anheuser-Busch)

William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame)

I love this kind of stuff.

at last:

Plain, simple, looks like most of the gravestones in my family, actually. For the record, William S. Burroughs the writer wasn't mentioned in the guidebook. His grandfather, William S. Burroughs, right next to him, was the advertised William S. Burroughs.

How's that for an epitaph?

Grandfather on the left, WSB the writer on the right.

WSB had at least nine lives, like Keith Richards, and for many of the same reasons. I can hear his voice clearly in my head - but not that of, say, my late father, whose voice I doubt I'd recognize. That's pop culture for ya.

It was a neat day at the cemetery, though; I'm glad we went. Lots more pictures in my flickr set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157622796491582/
You can see lots of ladybugs dotting the statuary in many of 'em.

U2 Washington, DC, part 2

2009-11-03T22:24:00.001-06:00

Anyway, I knew it would be okay, because our numbers were good and the line was really pretty orderly and calm all day. A really good line. Nevertheless, you get that late afternoon panic disorder syndrome sometimes. Or at least I do. Getting to the venue and then the final final final lineup are big major stress points for me! But E. and I talked about where to be, and we decided on outer rail, and I selfishly hoped we’d be able to be more left on Edge’s side because I never get to be on Edge’s side, but center would be totally great too because E is a big Bono fan too, but of course on the third hand anywhere on outer rail is awesome, right? Right. We were both breathing into paper bags, though, you know how it is.

Eventually they started to move a first group of us to the turnstile area. The security people letting us into that next area used our lineup numbers to kind of regulate how many of us there were, which was great. However, and this is as hilarious to me in retrospect as I’d hoped, as they let us in I like turned my ankle or something and took a mighty tumble. I’m BEYOND lucky that I didn’t actually injure myself or break my camera! It was totally in SLO-MO as I kind of staggered forward trying to get my balance, but momentum won, and I went down fairly hard, knees, then hands, then (oh shit no) I bumped my face on the pavement a pretty good one, too. Luckily I only got from it a skinned knee, some great bruises, sore hand-heels for half an hour, and a sore nose for a few days. MANY people asked me if I was all right, which was awesome, AND since we were so near the front I totally didn’t harm my place in line much by it. E. ended up in the line next to my line, and once she made sure I was okay she was like “Dude, I looked over and you were DOWN.” Secretly I was kind of hoping for a black eye – I bumped my brow, nose, mouth – so at work I could be all ‘totally got a shiner in the pit at the show, losers,’ but to no avail. Hah.

Anyway, then of course it was stand and wait there, too. One security guy told us that he THOUGHT we’d go in and turn left and come out behind the stage – which I thought was weird – and another guy kind of counted down the minutes, telling us we had nine minutes, four minutes – then after it was time, of course, another five or so. God, the tension, you know? Finally what did it was E. asked me for a Tic Tac, and when I passed them to her, it was GO TIME. Scan, in, mob, pack, go left, wait, jam into the usual tunnel, shuffle shuffle, hold up your ticket and wristband, GO. Down steps I did not fall down (been there, fell down that!), and I felt really disoriented for a minute; we weren’t behind the stage, we were in the adam-side corner at the back of the field, LOTS of security, so we hardly even were running. Speed walk speed walk, I headed for the middle, and there was E just ahead of me, heading a bit left, looking at me for confirmation, and WE ARE THERE, rail, Edge side, exactly at the corner before where the rail starts to slope away. Perfection!! Just what I wanted.

I felt like FedEx Field was much smaller than Soldier Field, it seemed like such a short run, but E. said FedEx is actually one of the largest football stadiums. Perhaps it’s because my last memory of entering Soldier Field is running down the whole field and THEN all the way around and into the pit, which is a lot further than just to the rail. Anyway, at that point every anxiety had been hurdled and it was time to just generally freak out. I sat down for just a bit, but not a lot of people were, which makes it awkward, and the douche next to me at the rail seemed to think he could hold like five spaces for people who “should be here in like half an hour,” and E. was too psyched to sit, so there we were, looking around.

And let me tell you, my brothers, it was, once again, wonderful. Watching the field fill up, eventually people coming into the stands, the crews at work. You know how security usually kind of ignores you and like pretends they’re in the military? Our security actually greeted US and was all “how you-all doing this evening?” and we started chatting and found out that all the numerous young, wiry guys at rail security were in fact Marines – I’m not sure if they were getting extra credit or something, but they were so great and so polite. They took a jillion pictures of people for them, “Ma’am”-ed us to no end, had all kinds of conversation, gave each other a hard time, and generally were Dear Boys Far From Home and all that. One from Atlanta, we talked baseball for a few minutes; one from Detroit; I don’t even remember. One of them was telling us how they had some kind of special muster or something and President Obama came to it and shook his hand. So of course I stuck out MY hand and shook HIS hand, and that was kind of cool. They were telling us stories about training and trying to sleep all piled up like frozen puppies in the snow and Quantico and trying to get an Embassy post and hoping for Ireland. Not big U2 fans, but one of them was like “Oh MAN!! MUSE is opening?? Really??” Crack me up. They were a welcome distraction, too, because it was getting pretty cold and windy about then! Brrrrrt.

So we waited and we waited and Muse came and went and we were freezing and shivering and everything. Then it was Energy Drink and SoyJoy Bar time, and I’d managed an extra soyjoy for E., although she’d had her own energy drink earlier in line out of search-fear. The search wasn’t much, though, and besides two food bars and an energy shot, I had the lifesaving bottle of water too, so whew. During the break they fixed one of the light panels that had been on the fritz during Muse; we’d speculated whether they would.

Then, finally, finally the Bowie and the smoke and the hooting and the anticipation and suddenly I forgot to be cold for the next couple of hours and it was TIME. Happy happy happy. E.and I jumped up and down and sang and yelled and shrieked and perhaps wiped away a tear every now and then. One of my early favorite moments was when the bridges started moving for the first time, and gradually … swung … toward us … and stopped. Right in front of us. Our eyes were like saucers. I think E. thought I’d somehow known that THAT was the precise spot, but of course I hadn’t; my geography was shaky. I’d HOPED, yes, I admit to that; I knew where I’d been in Chicago, and adjusted my rail goal a bit, accordingly, but I never thought it would work out so well. For once I could see Edge really well for most of the show:

And Bono, well, and everyone, really. Great views the whole time. Larry stopped right in front of us for the djembe section; actually too close for good pictures, so I stopped trying and just enjoyed it!

A great view afterward of Larry running back to his kit, making an accurate and athletic throw (of the djembe) to his tech.

And as much as we enjoyed everything, and as amazing as Adam was again as always, I think the high point for both of us had to be when Bono came and knelt pretty much in front of E. and rocked back and forth and sang and was there for like A WHILE.

I’ve never been to a show with quite so much paramedic activity. Someone worked their way to the rail quite near us (because they felt ill) and promptly fainted. And those 100 pound 19 year old Marines turned out to be prompt, decisive, and very fast, let me tell you. Someone else went down behind us somewhere. At one point there was a hubbub off to the left and one of the Marines told us that a couple had gotten engaged over there! Can you imagine? And there was even what rumor held to be something of a domestic disturbance not that far from us either. I mean, really.

But I mustn’t forget to mention that Bono gestured down to someone who was trying to toss him an American flag, and got his hands on that, and then pulled Amp – remember him from earlier? – up on stage, and gave him the flag, and there was singing and dancing and some devil horns and flag-waving and general useful symbolism

and at the end Amp and Bono hugged and – remember that morning? About snubbing Bono and stuff? Well, E. and I were laughing our butts off, but who among us is above that kind of participating? Dude, not me.

Also even though we were further from Adam this time and I got fewer good pics of him, here is one, just to prove I still love him too.

Anyway, amazing again. Brilliant again. Uplifting again. Funny and moving and solemn and marvelous again. I’m sorry I thought the Ang Saang Suu Kyii masks were creepy before I saw what actually happened with them live, by the way. As always, everything’s cool with me!

Afterward we ‘omg omg omg’ for a while and watched one of our security guards take a ride on one of the bridges (wheee!). This is how awesome they were; a number of people (including us) waited afterward to say goodbye and shake some of their hands.

After, E. and I found our way out to the loading docks; the first one just didn’t feel very promising, but there were already a few fans hanging out at the other one, so we staked a spot out there and tried to see what was what. Earlier in the day I’d been talking to a security person who’d told me that the band was going to do a runner straight to the airport after, but of course I’m always skeptical. But the ring road around the stadium was packed with pedestrians and buses and trucks and people leaving. So either they were already gone, or else it would be a couple of hours. While we waited, Amp showed up, and I couldn’t resist hassling him. “Oh, screw YOU, Bono,” etc. and to his credit he just laughed and said, “Yeah, I sold out!” Someone else recognized him as the guy who’d been onstage and asked to take a picture with him, and I didn’t hear what they said, but I heard him answer, “Yeah, I gave him some man love.” Crack me UP.

After a while, with busy traffic and staff and security and traffic and paramedics leaving and everything, we talked it over and mutually agreed that, while meeting them would be awesome, it was going to be a long wait to even find out if there was a chance, and we had a “mile” walk in the dark back to the car in the highest crime county in the country, and it might be smart to take that walk while there were still plenty of people around. So that’s what we did, with a lot less gear to haul this time.

And the gates were open to exit the parking lot, meaning my friend didn’t have to swipe her card, meaning we didn’t have to pay! And we hooted and giggled and babbled all the way home, and again, the advantages of being in a real house – microwaved leftovers afterward, and the chance to look at pictures immediately. And all manner of things were well.

Complete Flickr set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157622415023943/

Set list:
Breathe
Magnificent
Get On Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Your Blue Room, Beautiful Day
New Year's Day
Stuck In A Moment
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
Encore1
One
Amazing Grace
Where the Streets Have No Name
Encore 2
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

(just remembered that I didn’t put set lists in my previous posts, so I’m gonna go back and add them in a bit.)

U2, FedEx Field, Washington, DC, 9/29/09, part 1

2009-11-03T22:21:00.002-06:00

Yes, yes, I'm very late. Let's get to it.

I ended up writing a ridiculously long account of my day and night at the show with my friend E., so I'm cutting it into two parts: here's the first half.

On Tuesday 9/29 my friend E. and I went to the U2 show at FedEx Field in Landover, MD (aka the Washington, DC show). We hit the dollar store the night before for snacks and stuff but failed to find those foldy chairs/camp chairs we were looking for. (from what we could tell, neither of us having been to the stadium before, it’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere all by itself – no running across the street to McDonald’s for us, so we had to bring food for the whole day.)

First thing I’m gonna say is that it’s a whole different thing to wake up in someone’s house to get in line. I didn’t have to share the bathroom! AND my friend made us a quick breakfast! It’s very different having some eggs and toast and coffee inside when you’re on the way to it.

We were initially aiming for a bit earlier but got swept up in an epic quest for said chairs. The first couple of stores we hit – drugstore and grocery store – weren’t open, but we finally found one that was; it didn’t have lawn/foldy chairs, but we spotted pet beds and the light bulb went off and we each grabbed one. Better than sitting on concrete all day if it came to that. (In Chicago I was SO stiff and sore the first day.) Then E. saw that they also had milk crates. Pet bed atop milk crate = luxury seating! I admit, I nearly didn’t get a crate for myself, but I’m so glad I did. It was an inspired idea. We were amazingly comfortable all day in our improvised seats, and the crates were handy to carry our stuff TO the stadium in, AND the pet beds made for respectable pillows when we tried to nap later on in the morning.

Anyway, we found the place, and the internet said there was a metro station “less than a mile away” where we planned to park (although it was supposed to be an extra $25 payable on the way out, I believe). We drove past the station on purpose to see if we could get a glimpse or get near the stadium (and, you never know, maybe there was early parking that was open already, or something), but the street was all blocked off and there were a couple of cop cars up there, so we turned around (and we weren’t the only ones) and went back to the parking.

Well. It wasn’t light yet, and it sure seemed like more than a mile to ME. We grabbed our crates and beds and stuff and hiked and hiked. A few joggers passed us, and then one guy passed us, jogging but not a jogger – I knew he was one of us somehow, not dressed like a jogger, had a backpack, etc. It was kind of a deserted area, and even though we were going past normal/nice seeming townhouses, my friend did mention that we were in the county with the highest crime rate in the country. *ulp*

When we got to the grounds, after what seemed like a two-mile hike at least, what with hauling our gear and the early morning haste and pre-line anxiety – the cops/security still had the street closed off a good distance from the stadium, and our jogger was the only person there waiting. So we met him and of course he said there had been a line the night before, etc., but we couldn’t figure out how to get around to consolidate – they wouldn’t let us go TO the stadium, which we’d have to do to get PAST the stadium. We noted our arrival times in case we had to wait there forever, maybe we could try some kind of consolidating later, or something.

Anyway the guy talked to the cops and eventually one of them gave him a ride somewhere, like as the cop went to talk to the other cops – I was kind of confused by this – anyway, so I went and talked to the remaining cop (heat coming out of his car window! Yay!) for awhile and he said they weren’t going to let anyone on the property until – I don’t even remember, until noon? Wasn’t up to him. (he said people kept running over his flares driving up to look, like we had; he’d been through boxes of the things. In fact, I thought I remembered feeling something under the tires, but I kept that to myself.) We talked about it for awhile, and finally the other car came back and said to let us in. WOOT. So my friend and I grabbed our stuff and hustled. A long way, and then around, and then we spotted Jogger again; hmph! Why didn’t the cops give US a ride? It was a long way! A few minutes later the LINE came to join us, with the number people and everything, so we got numbered (wristbands) – my friend and I got 57 and 58, and by that time it was probably quarter till 7:00 at least – and I was like WHEW. I mean, once I get a number, I feel SO much better, you know? Until then I feel like everything’s in doubt.

So we spread down the sidewalk, grass behind us, facing a big empty parking lot and the sun, and the girls behind us offered us blueberry muffins, and we said HELL YEAH to that. It was chilly, but I was giddy at that point, and my friend saw it and totally understood. Once you’re actually on the property, half the anxiety and unknowns and doubt just melt away, right? Ahhhhh. So we had our muffins and they talked about moving the line and taking another roll call and stuff. Some of you probably know the fan named Amp; I didn’t know his name till later, although we’d hung out for a bit in Chicago. (he’s in some of my Chicago pictures, actually.) He came and was talking to the muffin girls, and was totally cracking us up with his rendition of Why I’ve Had It Up To Here With Bono. He said that when they were doing the Letterman stint, he’d been in a fan line with a picture of himself with Bono that he hoped to have autographed, and basically Bono snubbed him somehow, like looked right at him and/or the picture and refrained from signing it even though he was going down the line doing the meet and greet. So Amp was all “Bono is dead to me! I’m here for the other three guys. If I see Bono I’ll just be like ‘Fuck YOU, Bono,’ etc., etc.” It was very funny.

Anyway, after awhile they moved us up steps, onto concrete, and into the cattle chutes, BUT, my friend and I were close enough to the front that we got to be on the end, in the first chute, and that means GRASS. Again. How lucky could we be? I had told E. how everything seemed to work out in Chicago that we were just in the nick of time, if we’d been ten minutes later it would have been too bad, etc., and this was another example of that fine principle coming to fruition. When they moved us up, and when people came into that area throughout the day, that waiting area became a wristband/floor access area; they checked our tix and gave us venue wristbands as we went into the chutes, and then to back-and-forth all day we could just show wristband.

The line went back and forth in the chutes in an extended “S” pattern. Later in the morning there was actually shade, even, although not later still in the afternoon. Everyone was pretty mellow. We weren’t really next to the most awesome people ever, conversation-wise, but they weren’t terrible either; we had some nice moments. E. and I were a party of two, so we had lots of time to sleep and rest and stuff.

There was a circle drive around the stadium, and it filled with red trucks later in the day. I took a walk in the morning around to find the loading docks, and there were not one but two, rather near each other, but still!! Thanks for adding an extra level of wtf to my day, FedEx Field.

Starting in the early afternoon – or even around noon, I guess – they had some vendors outside, with soda and water and coffee and even, I think, hot dogs, although *shudder* it’s hard to imagine ever eating a hot dog again. The coffee guy came by just as it was getting hot: “hot coffee!” No takers. So just a bit later he came past again: “iced coffee!” Crack me up. It was nice that they were there, though; it was port-a-johns all day, so no running water, and (furthermore) I really need some caffeine through the day to feed my addiction and prevent headache and dozing. Even if it’s coke. One thing I learned in DC is that my preference for Pepsi over Coke is getting stronger; I’ve always liked Pepsi quite a bit better, but after a few days of having to settle for Coke, the next time I had a Pepsi it was SUCH a pleasure. Ummmm.

Anyway, the vendors and staff and everyone were really nice to us all day, chatting and joking and such. Except the one I overheard talking about bombs and stuff because we were in DC and Bono and world leaders and so on. Yikes. Yeah, um, we were trying not to think about that? Dude? The Coke guy said he’d worked the Chicago shows – said they transport the workers around to different venues. Which doesn’t make sense to me, but he said he’d been up in the stands for the shows and how neat looking it was and everything. That dude had a long day – I saw him hawking drinks in the inner pit later.

So, you guys know the drill – wait, wait, wait, eat, drink, get nervous, wait. Zooropababy was there too; we weren’t near each other in line, but we had the chance to visit a few times during the day, and I swear she gets cuter every time I see her (which hasn’t been many, but still). That was nice! I don’t think anyone else I really know was there, although I saw a familiar face or two just from fandom and other lines generally.

In the afternoon, you know, it was getting pretty crowded; they had us scooch up a few times as the line threatened to overflow the area they’d reserved for us. My friend E. took to line life like an old hand. She’s really awesome and a U2 fan from way back, and had seen them a few times before, including the inauguration party because she rocks like that, but she hadn’t really done the ga line all day like this before. She was like a real pro the whole time. That said, at the same time I felt a lot of pressure for things to work out really well for us, because it was her only 2009 show and I had done it a few times and knew about the line numbers and stuff. So I had taken advantage of the Chicago shows to job shadow Ally and get a better feel for the whole thing, since I don’t get to do it very often myself. (My husband thinks I’m all insane and extravagant with the shows, and I’m the one of my flist who goes to the fewest shows and is the lamest! Life is pain. But it’s not fair to spend OUR money on my passion; we might want to buy another car or, you know, retire one day, after all. But I digress.)

Washington, DC, 9/28/09

2009-10-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

I went to Washington, DC at the end of September to visit several old friends and, of course, to go to a U2 show with one of them.

I’d never been to DC before, and Monday before the show my friend and host spent a day taking me to some of the major attractions. Since it was a Tourism Blitz, we didn’t really go into any of the museums or anything – just hit the high points. It was amazing! I had no idea it was possible to see so many monumental sites (really, no pun intended) in one day, so close together.

First, I learned to ride the Metro, DC’s light rail system, which seemed like a great system run sensibly – buy a card, prepay it, scan it when you get on and when you get off, and it deducts you for that ride. Fill it up at a kiosk at the station with your atm card. How much more convenient could it be?

We started at Arlington National Cemetery, the national cemetery for war dead, home of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and several Kennedys. Our ‘hit the high points’ agenda included the grave of John F. Kennedy (now with more Jacqueline and eternal flame).

It was smaller and flatter than I imagined – I think I was thinking of something more like the tomb of the unknowns. I liked it, though – relatively plain and simple – and I liked the stonework.

Nearby is Robert Kennedy’s much simpler grave, then Teddy’s.

You can see the outline of the new sod.

Arlington itself was a good place to visit, too. I’d like to go back when I have more time. A cemetery is a very effective monument to the glories of war. Imho.

One long walk across a long bridge later (well, the bridge was long if you’re walking it) and we came up behind the Lincoln Memorial. You know it, you love it.

Looking over the national mall from the Lincoln Memorial:

From there, on the right is the Korean War Memorial, and on the left is the Vietnam War Memorial. (and, of course, straight ahead is the Washington Monument, and waaay past that, the Capitol.) We went to the Korean memorial first; apparently I have never seen any pictures of it – it was amazing. I’d never seen anything like it. The pictures don’t really do it justice. A striking kind of diorama of a unit of soldiers with all their gear, looking tired and brave.

And then, of course, the Vietnam Memorial. I liked how one’s path sank gradually, as into a grave. You read one name, another name, and another, and they go on and on, and it’s like the rows and rows of tombstones at Arlington. Absolutely overwhelming.

We went on to the World War II memorial, which was gigantic with a plinth for each state and lot of water. I don’t know that I’ve ever used the word “plinth” before, by the way. Then we walked several blocks away – past many important government buildings and the Red Cross headquarters – to the White House’s back yard. Which, wow. One of the many, many places it was very difficult to tear myself away from.

At this point we were hot and tired and footsore, so we went a few blocks further to the Press Club and had lunch at a little sandwich place there (and did a bit of touristy shopping, too) before heading back to the mall and eyeing the Washington Monument from yet another angle before admitting we were too pooped to go right up to it. We also admired many great views of the Capitol and various places where Josh Lyman went jogging on “The West Wing.” Finally we limped into the Air and Space Museum just to use their bathroom, but on the way to the facilities I touched a moon rock that’s on exhibit for that purpose, so that was cool.

Here’s my whole flickr set for the day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157622420923223/

U2, Chicago, Soldier Field, 9/13/09

2009-10-13T18:05:00.002-05:00

U2 in Chicago: the madness continues

As stated, after the 9/12 show my friend Ally and I got numbers 46 and 47, which was awesome. We went back to our group by the loading dock and eventually ended up asking a cab driver where we could get something to eat near our hotel at that hour; eight or ten of us ended up with late-night subs, also availing ourselves of the opportunity to buy some pastry and/or chips for the next day.

After the first day, some of us were really tired (okay, ALL of us were really tired), and some of us felt less urgency for the second day. However, Ally and I planned to hit it hard again; we wanted to be there about 4:30. Unfortunately, we overslept – I can’t imagine why, besides the exhaustion, other than the fact that four educated, intelligent, capable women from three continents apparently can’t figure out how to work a hotel alarm clock. At any rate, the two of us got to the off-site underpass encampment around 5:30 (again, the venue wouldn’t let people line up overnight on the property, but with security’s knowledge they lined up very nearby). We were just in the nick of time, AGAIN, because (as happens) some people were missing, and security was getting ready to move us to the on-site line again – the underpass. So the line organizers were going down the line taking roll again and renumbering to skip over the absentees. Ally and I bumped up to 35 and 36, which is the best number I’ve ever had and could not be more awesome. Then security let us on site to the real line, which, again, it wasn’t a single-file waiting area, so the numbers weren’t kept as strictly as at other lines I’ve seen, but it worked for us. The wait was much more pleasant Sunday because we’d been there before, we knew the ropes, we had more room because it wasn’t a line-merging rush at the last minute. Time seemed to pass much faster.

The day went very similarly. People looked familiar; we tried to save our strength. I was exhausted from the day before and from lack of sleep, but I can’t really fall asleep in line very well. I can relax and rest and come very close to dozing, but not really sleep. I was so tired, I kept thinking that if I kept eating, it would be the same as sleep – energy acquisition, right? I ate everything I could. You also end up analyzing your liquid intake in strange ways. Like, I have to have caffeine to live and to not have a headache. And it’s very important to keep hydrated all day so you don’t faint during the show. But after 3:30 or 4:00 you can’t go to the bathroom from the line, and you don’t want to have to go once you’re inside – it’s such a madhouse. So you drink a lot at some times, cut yourself off at others – it’s kind of weird.

The first night, however, I discovered my secret weapons to surviving, even tired and/or hungry, which is that I sneaked a water bottle into the place each night – later you need that water! – as well as a soyjoy bar and one of those “5-hour energy drinks,” which I don’t usually have. I don’t know whether it’s a psychological thing – certainly those drinks taste horrible – but having the bar and drinking the thing after the opening band gives you just that extra bit of energy to get through.

The second day, the head security guy (“Tony”) told us he’d been trying to get us better organized and safer, because the charge into the stadium had been kind of a dangerous cluster the night before. This time they roped us off again, but a phalanx of security actually walked us through the first area to the turnstiles. Again there was some confusion – people in all the other lines were getting wristbands, and the staff person in our line was holding a bunch of them, so going through, we all stopped and asked, “Don’t we need wristbands?” and he said “No – don’t hold up the line!” so we went ahead without them, because, what can you do? A guy after him hole-punched our tickets for reasons I don’t understand. We ran inside and around the corner and waited again. Then we were supposed to hold up our tickets and wristbands as we ran past security. I HAVE NO WRISTBAND. but it was a mob scene, there was no way they could see or could have stopped me, so I just held up my ticket with the rest and ran ran ran. Again Ally and I wanted the same spot and she promised to hold a space for me, so I ran and looked for her and ran and walked past security and ran-walked and nearly died - football fields are BIG - and there she was as promised, so there we were!

This second night we decided to try for the inner pit – in past tours this was lottery-based or random, but on this tour it’s strictly first come first serve, which, frankly, is the only way I’ll ever get in there. So with Ally’s superior running skills coming into play once again, we got inside the pit at the stage rail right in front of Adam Clayton. Hooray!

Sunday night's show was even better than Saturday’s. It has to be the best concert I've ever seen. they made a few changes in the set list and took out 'Pride' for the first time in years but added back in "until the end of the world," which made me very very happy. That’s not only a song I love a ton, but it’s one of my favorite U2 songs live. Ally and I had a great time jumping up and down and singing and cheering and taking pictures.

At first I didn’t feel that way; I was kind of discouraged, because from that close to the stage, your view is most excellent of some of the stage but very limited when it comes to other parts of the show. And when the bridge swung out and was almost directly over us, it was so chaotic, security had to come out into the crowd, you couldn’t really see anything – I felt kind of less than 100 percent thrilled about our choice.

But the bridge was only right over us for one song, and security got out of our way, and we were right at the stage, and the sound was amazing, and the show was amazing, and everything went right. Oh, not only that, but they played a rare track “Your Blue Room” live for the first time ever anywhere that night. It’s not even on my short list of favorite U2 songs, but it joins many less-than-my-favorite U2 songs that is totally redeemed live (I never liked Miss Sarejevo that much until I saw it live on the Vertigo tour, for instance). Plus it was such a rare experience.

Sometimes something happens at a concert that you really can’t explain. It’s the same people doing the same thing, but everything just kind of clicks and comes together, and the audience is better and pushes the band a little further, and they give a little more and provokes the audience to respond a little more – this was that kind of night. Afterward people were just kind of gasping, “amazing – wow – WOW.”

Afterward we went back out to the loading dock again. Let me mention here that, regardless of the facts, venue staff will invariably tell you that the band left a long time ago and that you are wasting your time waiting. Sometimes this is true and sometimes it isn’t. However, this time there weren’t really any security people around, and someone came and took down some barriers, so it didn’t look good for stalking on this particular occasion. So we gave up and went away – exhausted and satisfied.

My flickr set from 9/13/09:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157622310971887/

set list:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Elevation
Your Blue Room
Unknown Caller
Until the End of the World
Stay (Faraway, So Close)
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy
Encore 1:One
Where the Streets Have No Name
Encore 2:
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

U2, Sept. 12, 2009, Soldier Field, Chicago

2009-10-13T16:31:00.003-05:00

I’ve totally neglected this blog for forever – the result of too much other ‘social media,’ I think.

But I have some shows to tell you about – in September I went to three U2 shows and got some great pics.

First I went to the two Chicago shows on Sept. 12 and 13th; I met a bunch of friends from across the country and abroad for the occasion, which was great – some I hadn’t seen in a few years, and some I hadn’t met in person before, so it was loads of fun catching up and/or getting to know one another. (California, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Vermont, Illinois, Indiana, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden, and I know I’m forgetting some. There was a large California contingent.)

I had general admission tickets, as one does. The Sept. 12 show (Chicago 1) was the North American tour opener, so it was a big draw. There’s a tradition at U2 shows that the fans organize the line, so it’s first come first serve and you get on a numbered list. This allows you to come and go during the day with a measure of security and makes it harder to cut in line (until chaos happens). However, it’s considered good form and good manners to be physically present in the line for most of the day; that way you’ve done your time and earned it, and also the people around you in line recognize you; it eliminates misunderstandings and hard feelings.

So, since it was the tour leg opener, we heard that people had lined up a day or two earlier – to begin establishing the line and the numbering, although the facility (Soldier Field) wouldn’t allow them on the property overnight, so they had to leave, come back, stand across the street, etc. When we got there at 5 a.m. there was a bit of confusion; the ‘two days earlier’ group apparently had wristbands they were giving out to establish the order, but a different group seemed to be giving out numbers, as is the custom, so there seemed to be two lines. We were in a tunnel under a street, so the lines formed on opposite sides, and we got in the non-wristband line and got the numbers chick to give us some numbers (we got in the 60s, which is pretty good). One always does worry that there’ll be some kind of drama, and I never feel secure until I have my number – although this case was particularly worrisome! As it turned out, the tunnel area was used heavily by bikers, joggers, etc., so security had us all move over to one side, and the lines really kind of merged and fell apart at that point. At that point it really worked to our benefit; people kind of ignored the numbers and our group probably ended up further ahead in line than we would have. However, given the awkward scramble, we ended up more crowded under there than we should have, which made for some discomfort during a long day of sitting on cement. (oh, my elderly joints!)

Once in our proper places, we were well launched into the ‘hurry up and wait’ cycle. It’s always an anxious rush to get there and get your space established, and then you just wait and wait and wait, anxious for the next rush. People brought blankets, lawn chairs, etc; there was a lot of resting and sleeping, and some card playing, and a lot of chatting. It was a very long day for me, because I hadn’t done it in almost exactly four years and because it was the first show of the season; we didn’t know what to expect, most of us hadn’t seen the stage yet, hadn’t been to the venue before, etc. It was cold there under our bridge in the early hours, but the weather actually was great all weekend, and later we were so glad not to be out in the hot sun all day. It worked out really well for us (my U2 experiences often seem to revolve around having gotten somewhere in the nick of time; in this case, to the shade!).

but it was easy to get out of line and walk around, etc. I made a big effort to save my strength - but also we had a thin blanket, and the concrete really started to hurt our joints and ass bones after a while, so it was good to stand up. The best thing was that there was a food kiosk near the field museum north of the stadium, and also a real bathroom with plumbing in the parking garage - and they had staff people there all day both days, stocking and cleaning it - with water fountains and even a vending machine with water and coke. LUXURY. It was so much less horrible just having plumbing and water. I remember some GA lines with only port-a-johns and no vending, and it makes a huge difference. I brought a water bottle to smuggle in and refilled it a few times during the day. the rest of the time, it was just boring. we checked our phones for the time like every three minutes all day long.

Sometimes one can accost the band at the loading dock when they arrive in the afternoon for soundcheck (as well as after the show), but given that there had been some confusion over the line earlier, and the band usually arrives mid-afternoon when things are starting to get anxious at the line, we didn’t really go over there to wait. Apparently they signed some autographs at the hotel but not at the venue anyway.

As stated, things get anxious starting around 3:00, and people started taking things to their cars, going to the bathroom for the last time, ditching extraneous baggage, and so on, as more security people gather and you can see the ticket takers and staff members getting organized. finally they roped off the first like hundred people or so, and then the second, so they could let us in in groups. However, as soon as they dropped the ropes, we ran across a plaza to the turnstiles, where we waited for another minute. they let some of us through with nothing, and gave some people wristbands, and had some thing where they were hole punching some of the tickets, too. we ran inside and around a corner where we waited for 15 or 20 minutes while they made announcements we couldn't hear. do we need wristbands? nobody knows? etc. during the running there was pushing and shoving and I think they were really lucky nobody was hurt. Then they let the second group follow us in before we'd gotten to progress, so it got very crowded and pushy. It wasn't very well organized at all. Finally they let us through this narrow hallway toward the field. I saw a guy holding a bunch of wristbands and asked him for one. running running running across the field, looking for my friend Ally, who is little and spry and runs much faster. You know you’re going to get separated; the way to go is to agree on what general location you want and then whoever gets there first tries to save a bit of space, so you’re running and looking around for each other, passing security telling you to walk every few steps, slower faster slower faster. There was no way to stay together; it was kind of a madhouse. Ally got at the outside railing in the center and saved as much space as she could, so some 6 or 8 of us got to stand all more or less together. and then I finally had a chance to look up at the monstrous canopy over the stage and just go "holy shit" for a while.

The stage is just amazing. I don’t know what to say about it. It looks kind of ridiculous at first, too much, incomprehensible, but then you start to get used to it a little, and then when U2 are actually on, it’s such a part of the show, the lights, the smoke, the sound, it seems Just Exactly Right.

When you get up at 4 in the morning and haven’t had much sleep, it seems like nothing could be worth all this. And when you get to the venue before dawn and join the ragtag band of folks, with their odds and ends and sleeping bags and supplies and layers and sleeplessness and everything, you know it’s just going to be a big pain. And when you wait in line all day, dealing with whatever the weather throws you, and often physically uncomfortable, eating whatever comes your way, trying to get a nap, well, I seriously thought this might be the last time for me. Why do I do this? Why do I put myself through this? It’s such a hassle, and it’s so ridiculous. Sure, it’s a lot cheaper than seats, but maybe I’m getting to That Age, you know? A good night’s sleep, decent meals throughout the day, getting to the venue at a leisurely 6 p.m. … all that sounded pretty good.

And then the smoke and the lights, and the band comes out, and the music starts, and it’s all worth it just at that moment, much less throughout the night. It’s divine madness. At one point several of us had a good cry. And you jump up and down and scream and sing and cheer and wave. And they come around and stand right in front of you, and that would never happen if you hadn’t sacrificed for it.

And as soon as it’s over, you start thinking madly of how you can do it again, how soon, when, where, there must be a way, this can’t end. It’s more than a concert. It’s an amazing experience. I’ve seen U2 from the seats, and they’re amazing, but it’s not the same. In line, it’s a community. People share their resources, pass water and food around. You don’t have to explain why or convince anyone; everyone in line left a crowd of family, spouses, friends, coworkers who don’t get it and came here where everyone gets it. You see someone you think you recognize everywhere. Didn’t that chick get up on stage that one time; I know that guy’s in some of my pictures from that other show. It’s a different country.

Yeah, I’m kind of nuts that way.

Did I mention outside rail at the center??

Amazing.

After the show we went around to the loading docks, where a number of people were waiting around. We saw some of U2's crew, and some of them seemed to be carrying wine into the place, which did not indicate the band making their getaway anytime soon. While we waited, one guy (who’d been in line all day with us) told us that the next day’s numbers were being given out. Ally and I, who planned to come back early the next day (our group broke up and came at different times according to sleepiness and insanity), ran to find them. Around the stadium, under the bridge, under another bridge, around the corner, and they were just about to leave for a few hours’ sleep when we found them and got the last two numbers of the night, 46 and 47, which is very, very good. And so off to get something to eat, and so to bed for a few hours.

Here’s my flickr set from Sept. 12, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_lynch/sets/72157622289275337/

set list:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment
Unknown Caller
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride
MLK
Walk On
Encore 1:
Where the Streets Have No Name
One, Bad
Encore 2: Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Robert Cray Band, 7/7/09, The Pageant, STL

2009-07-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

I never posted about the Robert Cray Band July 7!

we didn't take off early from work, so we weren't exactly early. the seats were full and the floor was empty, but J didn't want to be down front this time, so we found what seemed like a good standing spot behind a younger couple who were saving a couple of seats. Unfortunately several friends ended up joining them and they had one or two fewer seats than people, and they all got up and sat down and milled about and went out and came back and talked and yapped and talked and talked and jesus christ. On our way out afterward, J said, "I can never own a gun," and I laughed, and he said, "you think I'm kidding?" and I said "no, I KNOW you're not."

anyway, that was really really really freaking maddening. there's nothing more maddening than hearing those stupid voices cutting through the music and going on and on. we were really upset because we could see so well and we could tell that the show was really good. people in St. Louis must have a lot of money to spend, but I just don't understand why they don't go to a cheaper bar to talk instead of spending the money on tickets when they clearly aren't interested in music.

but I digress.

the show was really good and a couple of songs before the encore we saw an older couple with good seats apparently hugging their friends goodbye and leaving, so we hiked right on down there (checking with the remaining people to make sure the seats were now really vacant). ahhhhh, what a freaking improvement. I wish I could've dragged J down to the floor, but he didn't have earplugs, and of course you can hear better from further back, and I guess I understand that he doesn't always want to have to deal with being all crowded and hemmed in - I don't like it either.

I didn't keep a set list and I haven't been able to find one, but he played pretty much everything you know except Twenty and and Walkin': Poor Johnny, Smokin' Gun, Because of Me, 12 year old boy, Our Last Time, Nothin' but a Woman, and a couple of new songs, too.

Here are 13 pictures, very similar to each other! furthest to closest, more or less

Willie Nelson, John Mellancamp, Bob Dylan, Sauget ball park, 7/2/09

2009-07-06T20:49:00.003-05:00

Had a great time at the Dylan-Mellancamp-Nelson show last week.

My directions said the exit would be closed at 4:00 but well before that I was forced to drive past it to the detour, going right past the venue and seeing a dismayingly large number of cars there already (dammit!). the detour wound through a small town via large 'CONCERT TRAFFIC' signs that I hoped to heavens would be there on the way out - it was very confusing. anyway, finally got there around 3:30. I was surprised to see that a lot of people seemed to be tailgating or something - at an all GA show that you care enough about to get there early, why hang around in the parking lot? GET IN LINE IDIOTS. the line was disconcertingly long but I went 'hmmm' and asked a security guy whether there was a different line for 'early entry' internet presale holders, and YES, it is around the building, where the line is much much shorter and we even have our own portajohn so yay! during all this, could plainly hear Mellancamp soundchecking Pink Houses and Rain on the Scarecrow.

anyhoo, I do okay in line with hidden water bottle and sun hat and all, and I get second-back at the rail at what I hope is still Bob's side eventually. However, it's only like 4:45 p.m. at this point! long night ensues. I asked the guy next to me to watch my spot - this early, people have blankets spread out and stuff, so it's not like pushing and shoving anyway - and he asks me to get him a bottle of water, which No Prob. so I have the chance to hit the real bathrooms, refill my bottle at a fountain, buy his water, buy me a pepsi, get a handful of ice out of the cooler, yay. lots of time to sit around, and the crowd seems way less annoying than last time, fewer already-drunk guys, although this one guy takes his shirt off and lies on a blanket and he's like a walrus out there. dude. your boobs. cover them.

finally finally after the chick right in front of me and the guy says she got there at 5 a.m. about a hundred times (and for what? she's right in front of us) the opener opened, and I can't remember their name at all, but they were like a more gimmicky Old Crow Medicine Show, the guy had a washboard with like little cymbals and horns and aooogahs and megaphones and stuff hanging off him, he was a little much, but it was neat. it was like string band plus pedal steel kind of combo. I always like a mando-banjo.

then a quick break and Willie Nelson and his Elderly Band. I've seen Willie FOUR times now, three times opening for Dylan and once at Crossroads. SIGH. I mean, fine, he's a legend, he wrote great songs, but enough. so anyway, I decided to just jot down what I knew, which was:
whisky river
beer/horses
mama, don't let your
funny how time slips/crazy
money honey/time
blue eyes cryin'
georgia
take all of me
on road again
always on my mind
circle be unbroken/I'll fly away
I ain't superman
I saw the light
and here's the real list from the STL paper:
1. Whiskey River
2. Still Is Still Movin' to Me
3. Beer for My Horses
4. Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
5. Funny How Time Slips Away/Crazy/Night Life
6. Down Yonder
7. Me and Paul
8. If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time
9. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
10. I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train
11. Georgia
12. All of Me
13. On the Road Again
14. Always on My Mind
15. Will the Circle Be Unbroken/I'll Fly Away
16. I Ain't Superman
17. You Asked Me To
18. Nowhere Road
19. I Saw the Light
He was fine, he made a big deal out of waving to a little girl and making sure she got his bandanna, and he's just a fun guy, basically. really really old. but fun. his sister still plays a pretty mean pianny and his harmonica player still looks like Mandy Patinkin.

after that there seemed like a kind of long break before Mellancamp. I have to admit that Mellancamp is one of those guys like Melissa Etheridge, I like their hits, I recognize their import, and still I just never really got into them and bought the albums and stuff. I don't really know why; it just happens that way with some people. anyway he brought a really fun show, high energy but not annoyingly so, venue-appropriate, he had a 7-piece with a violist and accordian/KB, and his guitar player who looked like a young Jeff Beck was really good. Of course I was in front of the rhythm guy, I'm never in front of the lead guy if I'd like to watch him, but still, good stuff indeed.
Here's a phone picture of him over in our area:

Here's what I wrote down for his list
pink houses
paper & fire
check it out
small town (acoustic)
rain scarecrow
what if I came knockin'
walls tumblin' down
authority
there were kind of a lot of songs I didn't know, so I guessed they might be newer, but the ones I didn't recognize, I thought were really good. and I really like 'rain on the scarecrow' and the whole neil young farm aid alt country thing. as J said, it's funny how we never really got into him but he sounds just like everything we listen to now. here's his 'official' set from the STL paper again:
1. Pink Houses
2. Paper in Fire
3. Deep Blue Heart
4. Check It Out
5. Don't Need This Body
6. Small Town
7. Old Rugged Cross
8. Rain on the Scarecrow
9. The Real Life
10. If I Die Sudden
11. What If I Came Knocking
12. Crumblin' Down
13. Authority Song
Small Town was really good, although I share the experience without the sentiment of the song. also there was a cameraman and also a still photographer, and the photographer was a hot blond chick, and she also handed him water sometimes when he ran over to the side, and during Small Town he sang 'my wife was 13 years old when I wrote this song,' and she cracked up and he cracked up and it was evident that's who hot babe was. anyway, he was personable and stuff too. would see again for cheap.

at that point I was feeling pretty tired and also anticipatory, because I am (as you might know) a big and long-time Dylan fan and this was maybe my eighth or ninth time seeing him over the years and I always always always really really look forward to it. Bob is ... I mean, he's my hero, man. DUDE. He's Bob Freaking Dylan. also it was time for a bit of a crowd press forward and this really tiny wee chick hurtled herself forward and tried to claim the rail between the three teenage boys in front of me. she was totally wasted but she wasn't like 'is there room for me to squeeze in here, I'm so short' she was more like 'let me in front of you, asshole, you're a foot taller than me! fuck you.' so she backed away and cursed and bothered everyone, and the kids called security over, and they left and she cursed and bothered everyone, and rinse and repeat a few times and security was really great about it and told her she simply had to move away either far to the right or far to the left because of all the complaints, or else leave. and there she went, away, and there was much rejoicing, because I do so hate having to deal with that crap for a whole show. I hate assholes - regardless of height - who feel entitled to push and shove to the front. if you want it so badly, get there earlier, for the love of god. It's not that hard for most shows.

anyway, finally, there was time to observe that Bob's had really a lot of the same roadies for 15 or 20 years now, I especially always recognize this one guy with a pronounced limp, even though he's had so many different bands, shoot, I've seen him with Charlie Sexton and G.E. Smith and so on and on. but this band he's had for the last few years is really hot and happening. Bob, now, he's, well, yes, his voice, obviously, that's been problematic for some years, has it not? yes. but I am happy to say that Bob was in relatively strong voice. coming off a month off with only one show the night before, so a little rested after Europe, and honestly his voice has gotten stronger over the last few years, he has strength to play harmonica more and more, so that's good too. so here's the list from bobdylan.com:

1. Watching the River Flow
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
3. The Levee's Gonna Break
4. Spirit on the Water
5. Things Have Changed
6. Just Like a Woman
7. Honest With Me
8. Forgetful Heart (apparently first live performance of)
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. This Dream of You
11. Thunder on the Mountain
12. Like a Rolling Stone
(encore)
13. Jolene
14. All Along the Watchtower

In fact, speaking of good voice, this is a rarity, but I was surprised, and pleased to realize that I was able to recognize nearly all the songs immediately. I must've been standing in a sweet spot; I could understand most of the words, even. the songs I didn't really recognize immediately were the new ones, too. context: bob is legendary for rearrangements, wandering off melody, etc. in addition to the voice and vocal mannerisms. but this time, woah. the first two are great classics, but Just Like A Woman was a real high point for me, and Highway 61 was righteous, and Rolling Stone and Watchtower were smokin' too. and I noted this last time, but last time I was busy with heatstroke and so couldn't fully appreciate it, but when you're really close you can see that Bob is interacting with the audience in an extremely small and eccentric way, and you can see him signal the band and even SMILE yes he was smiling OFTEN. SHOCKING. He also said "Thank you! Right now I'd like to introduce the band," before he did so. (Bob is also known for not speaking to the audience AT ALL when not in the mood, so "thank you" is awesome!)

I know, I'm making him sound like an asshole, but no, he's just bob dylan, and in my book he's totally entitled. when you've shaped modern culture then you can bitch.

so there you go, a happy happy time for me, good show, and bless his elderly heart, bob just keeps doing it. so yeah. I grinned a lot. the end.

Here Bob is in the middle of the stage; I think he must've been doing 'Forgetful Heart' here:

and here he is over at the keyboard; you can see his oscar on the amp at right (blurry glow):

U2 tour sneak peeks

2009-06-18T09:59:00.002-05:00

It's not long until the U2 tour starts up in Europe! They've been building the stage and rehearsing in Barcelona.

Here are some looks at the stage, which they're calling "the claw" but which I think also looks like 1. "the tentacles" and 2. "the dangerous carnival ride." It's supposed to rotate, but I'm having a little trouble envisioning exactly to which part the rotation will be confined to. I'm also imagining how many of us it'll kill when it collapses, and how many times Bono will get stranded outside the rotation zone by wandering off script.

http://www.u2eastlink.com/

http://www.u2eastlink.com/foro/read.php?18,1000503300,1000503338#msg-1000503338

http://forum.atu2.com/index.php/topic,6363.0.html

Qualms aside - my husband said it looks PopMart-y, which *shudder* - it looks pretty cool.

Secondly, here are a couple of rumored set lists from rehearsals. A few interesting things on there, but sadly it looks like they plan on doing "unknown caller" - the one song I always skip on the new cd. have a look:

http://forum.atu2.com/index.php/topic,6366.0.html

http://www.u2gigs.com/

dbt, stl, 3/28/09

2009-04-09T13:22:00.000-05:00

So I never posted about the Drive By Truckers show from a couple of weeks ago, so here it is: some comments and 25 pictures (new camera!)

The Truckers show was supposed to be in February, but Patterson had pneumonia and they had to postpone it a month. I was really really looking forward to it in February, so imagine how much more I was anticipating it in March!

We got there before the doors were supposed to open, but imagine our surprise when it became evident that the doors had opened early! At least this year I didn't let J entrust me with the tickets, and therefore I did not lose them! anyhoo, when we got there, a lot of the seats were taken already, but the floor was still pretty open except right in the middle right at the stage. We had debated seats-versus-floor for a while and did find seats right in the middle in front of the sound board, from where one assumes the sound will be best. However, once we sat, we realized we were right behind the guys who were recording audio, so their mic stands were right in front of us and would be in all my photos too. We hemmed and hawed for a bit and finally decided to get our butts down on the floor where they belonged before it was too late. So we did. I think this was our fifth Truckers show, and we’ve been further back twice, right in the middle in front of Patterson once, and on the left right in front of Neff once. This time: Cooleyville! That’s right! We were right in front of the man, between some kids from Minnesooota who were driving back that night and a guy and his little daughter from the message boards.

So. Also for some reason the venue wasn’t letting booze on the floor. Which, for me, was great. Although I enjoy - and miss! - having a few beers at a show, I often don’t bother slithering out of my spot, going to fetch drinks, slithering back in, and the inevitable having to pee out three bottles of beer for every one consumed. At that point you’re missing a lot of the show. However, although I thought the rule was strange, I think it did two things: first, kept the floor open longer than it would have been, and second, kept the stupid annoying loud shouter drunks from shoving up right behind us and bawling a particular song name in our ear at inappropriate times all night, which is what happens all too often.

I know it has a lot to do with being down front, but … this show was great. Definitely better than last year, and perhaps better than the show at Mississippi Nights, which was an incredible show in itself. The band just seemed like they were having a great time all night, and that really translates into fun for all. Patterson was himself, Shonna got D-R-U-N-K (say in Animal House ‘that boy is a P-I-G pig’ voice for maximum fun), and Cooley turned out to be … a camera whore! Who knew? Shonna also smiled and waved at the little girl on my right a few times, and at the end Cooley came directly to her and shook her hand, then shook several of our hands too (big; warm; dry). So that was nice!

Set list:
1. Uncle Frank
2. Lookout Mountain

I’m gonna stop you there. THEY OPENED WITH UNCLE FRANK FOLLOWED BY LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. At that point I knew it was gonna be a great show, even good enough to make up for not playing Zip City.

I begin again:

1. Uncle Frank
2. Lookout Mountain
3. Three Dimes Down
4. Hell No, I Ain't Happy
5. Home Field Advantage
6. When the Pin Hits the Shell
7. Wednesday
8. Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife
9. A Ghost to Most
10. Righteous Path
11. Women without Whiskey
12. Opening Act
13. Checkout Time in Vegas
14. Sinkhole
15. I'm Sorry Huston
16. Where the Devil Don't Stay
17. Puttin' People on the Moon
18. Eighteen
19. Ronnie and Neil
encore
1. Assholes
2. Shut Up and Get On the Plane
3. Let there be Rock
4. Buttholeville

When Cooley started Pin Hits the Shell I was astonished. What a treat! I almost expected Patterson to follow up with Do It Yourself! Women Without Whiskey and Where the Devil Don’t Stay were the big Cooley-flavored treats of the night. Utterly satisfying. Puttin’ People on the Moon was another highlight - the place just exploded at that point. We were totally in their hands.

"Assholes" was a new one, too - it was pretty funny. I strongly suspect it was about their former label New West.

The only down spot might be “Wednesday” - I guess I just haven’t taken to that one. If they’re gonna do one from that album, I’d prefer Feb. 14 or Aftermath, personally. But ah well. And of course I always want to hear Zip City. Uncle Frank and Zip City are always high on my list.

Here are 25 pictures. I took some of these, and J took the camera for a while and took some really good shots too, so a lot of these are probably his

The band:

Neff:

Shonna:

I love Shonna. She’s such a cutie.

Cooley:

This was one of my favorite shots:

patterson:

patterson & shonna

cooley & shonna

No Line on the Horizon

2009-03-04T13:41:00.002-06:00

I love this album already.

If you know me, you probably know that I'm a big U2 fan. (ask me about the time I met Larry Mullen Jr.)

So I tried to brace myself. I've been anticipating this album since approximately the day the Vertigo tour ended, and one hears strange updates from time to time. I've had so many fears about this album, especially hearing the word 'experimental' used so many times. I have nothing against racket - one of the things I love about Wilco is what an unholy NOISE they can make - but production-wise I guess I like a cleaner, less dense sonic signature than some. Generally. Like I'll always prefer 'All That You Can't Leave Behind' to 'Zooropa' and 'Pop.' that might sound self-evident, but there are those who disagree!

so I was fairly frightened of this album. 'Get On Your Boots' didn't reassure me very much - it was pretty thick and, well, not a great song.

I've been through the album only one time so far, and it's silly to love it already, but I do. Not really in spite of the production, and certainly not because of the production, but kind of existing alongside the production.

Bono really sounds like he's singing all-out sometimes here. I like how (as on the last two albums) they've refrained from fixing up his voice; it's getting a little worn sometimes, but it sounds very honest and true when it cracks a bit here and there (not too much, thankfully). While there is a lot of noise going on sometimes, it's not all the sound of eight guitar tracks and loops; there's totally a 'Joshua Tree' guitar tone to be found here and there, and some tasty stuff that verges on the semi-clean. and I have no complaints about the drums and bass. I think Adam Clayton gets better all the time. (My husband would mention here how far he had to go, of course, to which I say 'hmph'.)

so there's my preliminary $.02.

big head todd & the monsters, the pageant, 1/31/09

2009-02-03T21:23:00.001-06:00

Big Head Todd was our second show at The Pageant since they closed down the second stretch of I-40/64 for the big repair project. I'd been dreading that so much! We used to take the Clayon exit, turn right on Skinker, and then we'd turn right on Delmar and circle around to the parking lot.

So at Cheech & Chong we took the MLK and did a kind of convoluted route through downtown to Market and then Lindell, over to Skinker. It wasn't bad, but (1) it seemed to take so much longer, because we got off the highway so soon/didn't get back on the highway for so long, and (2) really would be a terrible idea if there was a football or baseball game that day - we could get tied up in that traffic mess and really be screwed.

So this time we took the grand/forest park exit and took forest park parkway to DeBaliviere, then left on Delmar and into the parking lot from the other side - we had trouble deciding where to turn off Delmar, but it worked out great. Then on the way home instead of trying to go left out of the parking lot and go back to Delmar, we turned right and then took a left on Skinker as always, then turned left on Forest Park by the coffee shop there (we could've taken Lindell, I guess, too) and took Forest Park all the way back out to the highway. That worked really well. I was hoping to find a route where we could stay on the highway a little longer, and also one that wasn't too cumbersome, because we're going to have to use it for the rest of the year.

I miss my Clayton exit!

Anyway, the seats were filling up when we got there, but the floor was open. We grabbed a seat in the under-21 section at the aisle and waited, with some other guys who were obv. waiting to move to the floor too- it's weird there, nobody wants to be the first guy standing out there all alone, but once the seal breaks, it's broken. finally at about 7:30 we moved down front and center right in front of Todd again, which is cool. Last year we chose seats, but the year before we were front/center. it's such a trade-off, because the sound isn't great up close - in fact, it's the opposite problem you have at a lot of shows, because Todd's in this phase where he's not playing through an amp, so you don't get a blast of guitar at your head - you get stage sound, but not enough guitar, from so close. however, it wasn't as loud as a lot of shows there from that angle, so that was okay too.

Great set, too: they went kind of long, which was awesome.

1. Julianna
2. How Easy
3. Heart of Wilderness
4. Love Betsy
5. Strategem
6. Spanish Highway
7. I'll Play the Blues for You (albert king cover)
8. Conquistador
9. Broken Hearted Savior
10. Wearing Only Flowers
11. Fortune Teller
12. Love Transmission
13. Silvery Moon
14. It's Alright
15. Runaway Train
16. Dirty Juice
17. Ellis Island
18. Please Don't Tell Her
19. Flanders Fields
20. Bittersweet
21. Helpless
22. Secret Mission
23. Cruel Fate
24. Her Own Kind of Woman
25. Circle
encore
1. All the Love You Need
2. Rocky Mtn. Way

I saw a set list online and it had Resignation Superman and something else instead of Bittersweet and Helpless. I would have loved to hear Resignation Superman, but NOT at the expense of Bittersweet! They also had something else for the second encore song, but Todd broke into Joe Walsh, which apparently I can name in ONE NOTE.

There was a nine year old kid behind us, and it wasn't even his first concert. The guy next to me and I stood a little apart so he could see - he was too short to get right up by the stage and be able to see anything! The stage is kind of high there. There was one of those annoying entitled drunk chicks who barged in front of him for like one song and seemed like she was arguing with the guy next to her. then she tried to talk to me but twice I was like "I can't understand what you're saying" and the third time I just ignored her. It was 'Circle,' for christ's sake. she was really slurring. then she popped up behind J taking pictures with her cell phone, but holding it kind of over his shoulder and in his face, so he finally pushed it away and she got all irate. (drunk girl voice) 'you roooned my video! I wasssnt even touschin you!!' *eyeroll*

I just loathe people who feel so entitled and have no conception of other people's space. I mean, I sound like I feel entitled too - I feel entitled that you keep your freaking hands off me and not cut in front of me or ruin the show for me by hooting in my ear or whatever. But secondly, if you want to be down in front, try showing up early like I did. it's totally uncool and cheating to weasel your way through and try to squeeze in and then be all 'giggle giggle, whatever I do is okay because I'm a princess.' screw that.

at the end I asked for a set list and the guy said "sure, just a second, I'll see if I can find you one." then he went over to the bassist Rob's area and carefully pulled up his set list and handed it to another chick. I hope he just forgot which chick was where, but I was VERY disappointed.

anyway, good show, and my new camera did okay. The majority of the pictures are still pretty bad, but the good ones are better than the good ones on my old camera. If anyone has any concert photo tips, PLEASE SHARE THEM. This is like my main photography interest, not to say obsession, and I'm tired of disappointment. I have a fairly good point and shoot, but it's still not an SLR. I think looking up into the bright lights and shooting a moving subject is just too much for a less-than-professional rig, but I'd love any advice or insights. how do you fare, taking concert pictures? what's your experience been?

these are a few 'bad' pictures, which were pretty standard with my old camera too:

and these are the best ones:

my favorite huckster

2009-01-29T21:43:00.000-06:00

Okay, yes, the SHAMWOW!! infomercials have been all the rage for a while now.

At first I rolled my eyes and tuned out VINCE. Another annoying pitchman, another 'not sold in stores' item nobody needs that they do carry in stores. I have astonished my husband with my inability to hear or notice something on TV right in front of my face if I'm not interested, so it was easy enough to Not Pay Attention to VINCE.

Then one day I actually watched some of it. And again. And suddenly it was hilarious! I couldn't believe such a shady-looking, shyster-type huckster (thanks for the word idea, shannon!) was LEGIT. Who would buy anything from this guy?? My favorite bits are when he says "I'm gonna do this in real time!" As though one can do something NOT in real time - what is he, a time traveler? EVIDENTLY NOT. Plus "You know the Germans always make good stuff!" and just the pace of the whole thing. Cut it in half, use it on your dog, olympic divers use these, and incessant use of the word COLA.

Suddenly I LOVE it!

Then my husband said he thought he saw VINCE in another infomercial pitching some OTHER product. NO NO VINCE would not two-time his beloved SHAMWOW!!, I thought.

Then on metafilter the other day someone posted some links! all about VINCE!

First of all, of course, there's VINCE's wikipedia entry. Imagine my surprise when I learned that VINCE apparently OWNS SHAMWOW!! and the other thing, which is THE SLAPCHOP!!

Coincidentally, just a day or two later friend Shannon sent me the youtube link to VINCE'S commercial for THE SLAPCHOP!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs

I will not even ruin it for you by quoting my very favorite line of the whole thing. But my other favorite thing is when VINCE offers to throw in a second gadget for free if you buy THE SLAPCHOP!! When I saw the name of this second gadget, I had to pause the video while I laughed for a while. HYSTERICAL.

Going back to the metafilter links, I was surprised to see two very different takes on VINCE and his life and career:

This person portrays VINCE as 1. maker of one of the worst movies ever and 2. a loser who deals with failure by blaming others via lawsuit.

Whereas this person offers a VERY DIFFERENT TAKE on VINCE and portrays him as a budding filmmaker and entrepreneur STRUCK DOWN IN HIS PRIME by a prudish CULT!

The hell of it is that I now feel the overwhelming need for both the SHAMWOW!! and THE SLAPCHOP!! based on VINCE's superior pitchman skills. Not to mention the Second Gadget referenced above!!!

Chong, featuring Cheech

2009-01-19T20:58:00.004-06:00

Last night we went to see Cheech & Chong in STL. Reunion tour = Light Up America. heh.

This is the first event we've had after a slow couple of months, which is often the case in the dead of winter - but things are starting to pick up, we have tickets to a couple of things in Feb. already, so the usual late winter/early spring rebirth of my recreational life has begun.

We stopped to grab a bite less than halfway there, and the weather wasn't great - kind of sleety - so we debated turning back, but the tickets cost kind of a lot (considering!), and I hate to be chicken, so ...

turns out the worst of the weather was behind us, and on the way home we drove into it again and drove the last hour in falling snow, but the "roads were clear," as they say, and more importantly dry and non-slippery.

anyway. I had fun and I'm glad we went. Tommy Chong's wife opened, and while I liked her in the documentary about his trip to jail, she really wasn't all that funny - let's face it. She did have a funny crack about, when he was in jail, thank goodness for conjugal visits - if Cheech hadn't come by every week, I'd have gone crazy! ha ha ha. anyway, short but sweet, and then the main event.

let me say, it's so surreal sometimes when you see in person people who are really famous and have been for nearly as long as you can remember. you get used to them fast, but it was a funny moment for me when Cheech came out. He was wearing his up in smoke garb - undershirt, red hat, you know - so first they did the 'cheech gives chong a ride and they smoke a big one and then chong accidentally gives him a massive dose of acid' bit from up in smoke, which was awesome. they also did Let's Make A Dope Deal, which went off really well too. there was a sketch where chong was the husband and cheech was the wife and they went to a porn movie, which was fairly funny, and sounded kind of familiar - especially when, after describing various fairly icky debaucheries they were supposedly watching, chong said "oh, man, don't look at the screen, they've totally ruined it - they brought in a black guy," which was such an awesome commentary on the whole race thing that we really were too uncomfortable to laugh as heartily as it deserves, but I say Bravo.

what else, OH and one where Chong was an old man on a park bench and Cheech was an unsavory type who came and sat next to him and they bickered until Chong pretended to have a heart attack and freaked cheech out ("I'm on probation, you f***r!") a bit where Cheech was an astronaut, and a sketch where the two of them were dogs (cue the poop and humping jokes), and a number of musical interludes, including a classic Blind Melon Chitlin bit (two songs, I think) and something J recognized where Cheech was a character from one of the movies where he'd played his own cousin, a kind of country singer? with the most hilarious American Accent? which was very funny (okay, I know, my 'haven't really seen that much of their stuff' is showing, but really I knew more of it than I thought I would, even if my descriptions are really Killing The Funny). also the bit where Cheech is the rock star in the tutu, oh, you know what I'm talking about (" ... but I don't listen to her 'cause my mind is like a sieve!", oh, how I love that line), and Cheech's song "Mexican-Americans," which ought not be funny (like so much other stuff). There were several kind of Tommy Alone doing some standup parts scattered throughout, enough so we felt like it was less cheech and chong than Chong, Sometimes With Cheech. a lot of that was the real pot advocacy, though. I respect cheech for getting over himself and letting himself get back to his roots and enjoy a little healthy pot humor, but the real advocacy portion of the proceedings was all Tommy (predictably), and he talked a little bit about the going to jail thing, too (I was in jail with my fan club, man, all I did was sign autographs and pose for pictures).

overall I had a good time, I was mostly there for the majority of the show, which was the pot jokes and music. like many of us, I have mixed feelings on the mexican humor generally, but let's face it, some of it was very funny. Also, I feel like we as a society should be past the 'black guys are well endowed' jokes, but ... hey, a hundred percent of any performance doesn't hit home with a hundred percent of the audience, right? I mean, this is coming from a chick who just paid roughly a dollar a minute for an evening of bong jokes, so ...

so we had a nice ending with the traditional singalong. I took my smaller camera and most of the few pics I took were disappointing, but here are a couple at the end:

Also, you know, Cheech is Hurley's dad, so that was funny.

more fla photos

2008-11-22T17:25:00.001-06:00

Here's a batch of about 13 pictures from my florida trip last month.

At Sea World we went to the killer whale show, which was pretty neat (despite my mixed feelings about zoos, aquariums, and like exhibits)

They had a manatee rehab zone at sea world. I nearly flipped seeing manatees for the first time. I could have stayed there all day. I've had an adopted manatee with the Save the Manatee Foundation for like 15 years now. (Her name is Dana.)

At Busch Gardens, the tiger had its eyes closed when I approached, then peeked at me for a second. Like the big whatsis in jurassic park with the pupils and all.

This is the view from our hotel room at Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island. Step out on the balcony and snap.

Contrariwise, this is looking up at the hotel from the beach.

This is the pier at fort myers beach.

Some people were fishing off the pier and this guy was hanging around stealing their catch. Not a great shot, but I was happy to get it. I mean, jeez - we saw wild dolphins AND I was able to get a photo of one? Score.

Across the street from the pier, basically.

When I was making a list of pix to post I called this one "pretty blue beach."

... and this one "even prettier."

Some dork in a sun hat on Sanibel Island.

J and I, just before we left for home. (We had way fewer pictures of us together than usual because of the circumstances, traveling with other people I never wanted to make then wait while I got out the tripod or make the whole parade stop so someone else could snap one for me.)

photo post - bird nerd edition

2008-11-22T17:21:00.000-06:00

Husband and I went on a trip to Florida last month with his parents. I had never been to Florida before and couldn't get over the adorable little shorebirds and the way ibis and herons hung out at outdoor cafes hoping for errant french fries the way sparrows do here. thus a post of photos of birds I saw on the trip.

These first several, we saw in Orlando at Sea World - not in captivity, except the scarlet ibis, but just hanging around stealing fish and being cute.
white ibis

scarlet ibis

snowy egret (check the feet!)

wood stork

great egret (right)

I took this one at Busch Gardens in St. Pete.
great blue heron

And the rest are from Fort Myers Beach. I took this one from the pier and couldn't decide: cormorant or anhinga?

plovers and sandpipers (probably!)

wee whatevers (I love these guys!) Every time we went to the beach, which was like four or five times a day, there were crowds of all these guys.

plus gulls

We also saw assorted gulls and terns, black skimmers (!!) - those were more skittish, less photo-able - brown pelicans, of course, and also common gallinule.

summer in review

2008-09-22T21:55:00.002-05:00

I might never catch up on talking about various activities from the past couple of months, so here's a quick summary in several-photo-form.

tom waits 6/26

tom petty 8/7 (video screen, obv)

butter cow at the state fair, early august

obama, 8/23

bruuuce, 8/23 (long day!) (video screen, obv)

braves game, 8/24 (we lost)

chicago buildings, 9/5

derek trucks, 9/6

Also, here's some stuff on my cat Tyler. She is overweight, but honestly, she looks way fatter than usual in this particular photo. I swear.

more wilco

2008-06-18T23:08:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, May 17, we went back to the Pageant for the closing night of the tour leg.

Between being the end of a leg and the band having like a month off afterward, and it being St. Louis - which, I say again, is a freaking great place to see Wilco - we knew the show was going to be good. Did I say Thursday's show was good? Saturday's show pushed Thursday's show around in front of the girls, took its lunch money, and pretty much gave it a swirly.

This night the place filled up earlier - whether because it was a Saturday or because of the final night thing, I'm not sure. However, we were still able to get rail - precisely the opposite of Thursday, at the other side of the stage in front of the other guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, who is totally talented and looks like he's about fifteen years old and is Beck. He's not as fun to watch as Nels Cline, but nothin' wrong with him.

In fact - these two shows were the first time we got so close for Wilco - and really I've only been able to SEE Pat maybe once before in Cincinnati. Since he's at the end, and goes back to the keyboard a lot, he ducks out of sight depending on where you are.

If I hadn't been profoundly depressed and barely able to speak - long story; I'm over it - I would have had a lot more fun and would also be able to remember a lot more about the show. (We have a bootleg coming, which will help!) However, nothing could have kept me from hooting when Jeff came out in his Grand Ol' Opry Suit.

Set list from http://wilcobase.com/:

1. Misunderstood
2. Blood Of The Lamb
3. You Are My Face
4. Hummingbird
5. A Shot In The Arm
6. ELT
7. Pot Kettle Black
8. Handshake Drugs
9. Side With The Seeds
10. She's A Jar
11. Box Full Of Letters
12. Airline To Heaven
13. Jesus, Etc.
14. Impossible Germany
15. Pick Up The Change
16. Too Far Apart
17. Theologians
18. I'm The Man Who Loves You
encore 1:
1. Hate It Here
2. Walken
3. Monday
4. Kingpin
encore 2:
1. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard
2. Heavy Metal Drummer
3. Just A Kid
4. Red-Eyed And Blue
5. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
6. Casino Queen
7. Hoodoo Voodoo
8. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
encore THREE!
1. I'm A Wheel

I don't even know what to say about that set list. THREE ENCORES. THIRTY SONGS. Three songs from the woody guthrie projects. She's a Jar - I love that song with all my being. Kingpin! I'm the man who loves you! I mean, I'm basically speechless. That show kicked my ass and took my name.

some snaps (don't forget to check out Jeff's suit!!) Oh, and they all wore Obama buttons.:

jeff & nels

ditto

john

~~Beck~~ Pat

john

jeff

playing catchup with wilco (5/15, the pageant)

2008-06-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

So Wilco did a three-night stand in St. Louis at our favorite venue on a thursday, friday, and saturday may 15-17. J and I went to the 15th and 17th (I messed up the presale date for the thursday show, but then they added the friday show later yay!). Wilco is a Chicago band - yes - but St. Louis claims them very heartily. Jeff Tweedy's from St. Louis (basically; he's famously from Belleville on the Illinois side, but still) and the band is deeply embraced by STL.

So on the 15th we were thinking about finding seats, but even though we weren't exactly early, the Pageant continues it's weird-ass trend of everyone finding seats early and then filling up the floor slowly and late, and so J and I went down on the floor and, although the middle was pretty full, we had leisure to check out the right side and the left side before settling at the rail on the left, directly before guitarist Nels Cline.

It's not like I didn't respect Nels Cline before, but seeing him play from that vantage point was amazing. He moved abruptly far up my short list of guitarists. I mean, talented, yes, innovative, yes, but also just so freaking into it and crazy. You could tell he wasn't throwing himself and his guitars around to showboat, but just because he was so swept up by it. And no wonder. Cat got skilz yo.

I didn't keep a setlist because, well, once in a while I just want to have fun, dammit. Between taking pictures and keeping a list, sometimes my concert tasks get kind of annoying, or at least a bit distracting. Here's a review from the RFT, where I yoinked the setlist until I found that it was screwed up, so I went to wilcobase, which did not let me down:

1. Sunken Treasure
2. You Are My Face
3. Hummingbird
4. Ashes of American Flags
5. Company In My Back
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Pot Kettle Black
8. A Shot in the Arm
9. On and On and On
10. Misunderstood
11. Far, Far Away
12. Impossible Germany
13. New Madrid
14. Jesus, Etc.
15. California Stars
16. Walken
17. I’m the Man Who Loves You
18. Heavy Metal Drummer
Encore one:
1. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
2. Hate It Here
3. Kingpin
Encore two:
1. Passenger Side
2. Red-Eyed and Blue
3. I Got You (At the End of the Century)
4. Casino Queen
5. Outtasite (Outta Mind)

I mean just look at that freaking list will you?!? My god. We were virtually speechless when we got out of there what seemed like six hours later. It was fantastic, the best (up to that date) of the wilco shows we'd seen and just brilliant all the way around.

Nels' pedal board

Nels himself

Nels w/lap steel

He was like a Dr. Seuss character, sort of, and seemed like he was about nine feet tall. Weird sumbitch.

Jeff w/acoustic

jeff & john singing

jeff acoustic

Jeff

jeff & john

Awesome awesome show. Jeff makes the most hilarious audience banter. You feel like he's perpetually amused but always ready to tell you to fuck off if you need it. Or, in one case, "Sir. Please. put your shirt back on." He always gives his family a couple of shoutouts and usually plays Casino Queen for his dad. He said his dad had requested New Madrid this time because of the earthquakes this spring. "It woke us up in Chicago too."

Pere Marquette State Park

2008-06-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

Still catching up!

Here's a bit of a recap of our early March eagle-watching trip to Pere Marquette State Park.

After the Feb. 29 DBT show, we’d spent the night near STL and got up the next day and headed over to the Grafton area. Grafton itself is a part-quaint, part-dilapidated little town right on the river and very near our further destination, Pere Marquette State Park.

On the way, we drove through Alton, Illinois, home of Robert Wadlow, whom my dad once met.

We also saw the Piasa Bird .

In Grafton we went down to the water. The first day, there was visible ice in the river, and we did spot a mob of (american white) pelicans hanging around out by little islands as well as soaring around, as well as a few eagles on the far bank (thanks, binoculars!).

We walked around a little, watched the ferry come and go, and had an awesome late lunch at a little bar/restaurant overlooking the new marina. Sweet!

The state park is where we had an aborted visit last winter just before J’s mom got sick and we had to hurry away. This time we were able to hike some of the trails and get some awesome eagle spotting. I also ID’d a group of male canvasback ducks in the river by the lodge.

The trails were far more, not rugged exactly, but primitive than the ones at Starved Rock State Park, and some of them were pretty muddy. There were times I really thought, geez, they should have some kind of rail here so people don’t PLUMMET to their DEATHS, but we hung on to trees for dear life and made it through all right. The weather was all over the place because it was bright and sunny the whole time, but then we’d be right on the water or atop a totally unprotected hilltop overlook with cold wind howling in our faces. But that, too, was enjoyable, because really the weather was just right – cold enough that the eagles were still there, warm enough for us to get out and hike and look. The second day there was noticeably less ice in the river, so we just made it!

These pictures aren't really in order, so here's just a bunch of 'em:

river view, with pelicans

J on trail

View, with J

our room at the lodge was huge. Much more awesome than the tiny room we had at Starved Rock, although we were in the 'old' wing there, in fairness. Starved Rock is a more awesome park overall and the lodge restaurant is better, but I like the Pere Marquette lodge better generally.

The lodge has an awesome stone terrace overlooking the water down below.

hey, eagles! I named 'em Sam and Abe. :-)

bird nerd!

The lodge from down by the water

The statue of Pere Marquette at the park – J and I always think it looks like he’s chasing geese or shooing kids off his lawn. *snort* Hey! You geese!

grafton - love those cliffs

nerdsville at grafton

We also went to the army corps of engineers museum at the lock and dam near Alton. The views around the lock itself weren’t all that, because we couldn’t really get up and above, but it was interesting, and it was a nice little museum.

With a small Jay Farrar display.

Eagles overhead! Best picture of the trip.

Except maybe this one at the museum. Haha! We had to take individual pics, because there are just two of us, and J merged them later.

Thanks, Bo

2008-06-02T22:25:00.001-05:00

I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,
I use a cobra snake for a necktie,
I got a brand new house on the roadside
Made from rattlesnake hide,
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of a human skull,
Now come on take a walk with me, Arlene,
And tell me, who do you love?

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

I got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind,
I'm just 22 and I don't mind dying.

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

I rode a lion to town, use a rattlesnake whip,
Take it easy arlene, don't give me no lip,

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

Night was dark, but the sky was blue,
Down the alley the ice-wagon flew,
Heard a bump, and somebody screamed,
You should have heard just what I seen.

Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

bhtm

2008-05-28T21:45:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of Where Dave Is, it's never too late to play a little catchup.

That said, here are a couple of pictures and a setlist from Big Head Todd at the Pageant March 7.

J and I went to BHTM with our friend and his drummer P, with whom we went a few years ago - she really likes 'em too, which is awesome. Last time she was with us, we were on the floor, but this time we got seats, so the pictures weren't as great. But the performance was! Floor next year.

setlist:
1. Cashbox
2. Please Don't Tell Her
3. Again & Again
4. Ellis Island
5. Broken Hearted Savior
6. Fortune Teller
7. Ever Since You Pulled Me Under
8. Angela Dangerlove
9. Tangerine
10. Blue Sky
11. Cruel Fate
12. Sister Sweetly
13. I Will Carry
14. the Moose song
15. Spanish Highway
16. Dirty Juice
17. Bittersweet
18. Easy Love
19. Silvery Moon
20. Conquistador
21. Boom Boom
22. Circle
encore
1. All the Love You Need
2. Beautiful Rain
3. Her Own Kind of Woman

Hearing them do their awesome version of Zeppelin's 'Tangerine' again was great. I love that one. And the Moose song! Have I ever gotten to hear the moose song? It was strange not to hear Vincent of Jersey/The Leaving Song - this has to be the first time I've seen them not perform that one. But that's what happens - bands put out new albums and have to shuffle things around. But in the shuffling, sometimes you get a Monument in Green or a Flanders Field or a Moose Song.

That said, they were just as ever, Rob's longhorn horns on his amp, Brian playing hard, Todd's seductive vocals, etc., etc. I love that false sense of being old friends you have from seeing a band repeatedly through the years.

Coupla pix (basically the same pic):

Beatle Bob in Blender Magazine! plus Patterson Hood.

2008-03-10T22:43:00.000-05:00

Although I can't seem to find the actual article on their web site, Blender magazine has a respectably large profile of Beatle Bob this month!

I'm dying laughing. I swear, I like that man more and more.

google results for Beatle Bob

Beatle Bob's myspace page!

Beatle Bob at wikipedia.

Totally unrelatedly, husband J pointed me to this interview with Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers in Harp magazine. The interview seems to take place in a record store; it's not too long, but is amusing.

Drive By Truckers, STL, feb 29, 2008

2008-03-04T21:34:00.002-06:00

Our fourth Drive By Truckers show was as wonderful as ever (okay, technically it probably tied for second, but the feelings I'm left with are as wonderful as ever).

We were early enough to run by a hotel we used to like; it used to be a Pear Tree (is that ramada?) but we couldn't find it online this time. Explanation: it's now a Motel 6. well, it was cheap, but ... they offered me a choice and I made the mistake of asking for a smoking room, because a lingering aroma of cigarette smoke doesn't bother me. Ugh, this room seriously reeked. Also dig this crazy bedspread.

OUCH MY EYES IT BURNS ME

Well, now we know. It's too bad; we liked that place. I was also quite unimpressed by the lobby staff and their creepiness and general lack of teeth.

Anyhoo, the Pageant has a floor that's oddly slow to fill (I think we go to geezer shows) and GA seating behind that. We were hoping to get decent seats. We've been up close and personal with the truckers twice now and, honestly, we wanted to get to hear them; it's a tradeoff, but up close you can't make out the vocals because you're getting all stage sound and no mains. But I digress. The parking lot wasn't very full yet, and we hadn't walked far when J decided to leave his coat in the car. He took my keys and handed me the tickets; I tore the pair of them apart and tucked them away. We walked past a scalper or two and around the corner and to the door, where I found that I'd managed to lose the tickets. In less than a block. Well. We backtracked and found one of them, and the scalpers were still there, and the tickets were only $20 anyway, so all was not lost, but ... *FACEPALM*. I mean, really. We all learned a valuable lesson: I learned that I can't be trusted with tickets, and J learned why I always make him be in charge of the tickets!

Anyway, the seats were fairly full, but we managed to find a great little area with unobstructed view and right at the edge of the section instead of the middle. The opening act - no pun intended - the Felice Brothers were interesting. I would really like to hear more of them. They were a five-piece, three of whom I think were actual brothers: drummer, bass, singer/guitarist, big John Popper-like party who played accordian and keyboard, and auxiliary singer who played washboard and stomp board (although you couldn't really hear the stomp board well). They were kind of hard-driving like the Avett Brothers or Old Crow Medicine Show.

Truckers set list:

1. The Man I Shot
2. Three Dimes Down
3. Putting People on the Moon
4. Carl Perkins' Cadillac
5. Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife
6. Daddy Needs a Drink
7. A Ghost to Most
8. I'm Sorry Huston
9. Sinkhole
10. Ronnie & Neil
11. Self Destructive Zones
12. Home Field Advantage
13. Road Cases
14. Checkout Time in Vegas
15. The Righteous Path
16. Lisa's Birthday
17. The Living Bubba
18. Shut Up & Get On the Plane
19. Lookout Mountain
20. Let There Be Rock
-encore-
1. Marry Me
2. 18 Wheels of Love
3. Women Without Whiskey
4. Eighteen (Alice Cooper cover)
5. Buttholeville/State Trooper
6. People Who Died

I always like the classics: People on the Moon, Carl Perkins, Sinkhole, Ronnie & Neil, Living Bubba, Shut Up & Get on the Plane, Lookout Mountain, and Let There Be Rock. I LOVE Sinkhole and Lookout Mountain. Among the new stuff, 3 Dimes worked really well, and I love Ghost To Most, it's one of my favorite of the newer ones. I'm Sorry Huston went well too.

The encore was exciting and very traditional Truckers. I had never gotten to see '18 Wheels of Love' before. Actually I filmed it, but it was pretty dark, and, well, we have dialup, so it would take forever to load, and it's like 12 minutes long, and youtube has a ten-minute limit, so we'll see. (I also filmed The Living Bubba, but I'm having trouble getting it to load despite leaving it to do so overnight and again this morning while I was at work.) Patterson added a whole section before the 'song' kicked in about Chester and a health crisis he'd had and recovered from. It was awesome. They were really smoking. I could live without Buttholeville/State Trooper, but they were really into it, Patterson passing the bottle of Jack out to the crowd (and getting it back), Shonna on her knees at one point, Brad kicked a cymbal and drum off the riser, and just when you thought they'd left it all on the stage Patterson whipped into People Who Died in a speedy frenzy. I mean, I couldn't really understand a word except DIED! DIED! It seemed really unplanned, and it was great.

Man, I love the Truckers.

Here are a few pictures and a (dark, but it lightens up toward the end) film of Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife.

Cooley

Patterson, showing the backdrop

Two Daughters

R.I.P. - Jeff Healey

2008-03-03T21:42:00.001-06:00

Jeff Healey died.

R.E.M., Pollstar

2008-02-11T20:51:00.000-06:00

R.E.M. has added more dates, but not in St. Louis as yet. *frets*

Tom Petty's at what I persist in thinking of as Riverport Amphitheater in August, and tickets already went on sale. Seems like when I was younger and even poorer, we'd hear about upcoming concerts, then weeks later tickets would go on sale. (and we'd call ticketmaster and hit 'redial' for 45 minutes at best and a couple of hours at worst!) These days we hear about a concert and it's like "and tickets go on sale tomorrow! No time to decide! Don't even get me started on the presales and fan clubs and passwords and stuff. By the time tickets go on sale to the general public, they've been on sale for weeks.

Anyway, I sent an e-mail to Pollstar lamenting their cessation of service, and got a response:

We are in the midst of a total site redesign and expect that with it's
launch sometime later this year that a new Premium subscription product
will be introduced. In the meantime, we hope that you will be able to
use our Free Auto Notify service to keep you up to date on your 10 most
important artists or venues.
Thank You For Using Pollstar!

So yay! It can't come to soon. I'd pay substantially more than the $10 a year they were charging.

DBT, BHTM, REM, and junk

2008-01-25T23:45:00.000-06:00

I finally picked up the new Drive By Truckers" album, "Brighter Than Creation's Dark," today - I made the mistake of not calling ahead to reserve a copy at Recycled, so they were out Tuesday, which is good for the Truckers but bad for me. Mark said they had like four other people on the list for the batch he ordered for today. It's good to know that there are, you know, a half-dozen truckers fans in this town.

Anyway, on first listen, I liked it a lot. We'd heard several songs from the album already, some live and some bootlegged. I think Patterson's stuff is especially strong, but in the reviews, I think Cooley and Shonna are getting all the praise - Shonna for finally writing and singing, bless her (I'm of the firm opinion that she's a sweety), and Cooley for his material. Don't get me wrong, I love Cooley's stuff generally, but a couple of them sounded a lot alike on first mention - and a lot like "Panties in Your Purse" musically. Which isn't a bad thing, and I find that songs that sound alike on first listen tend to differentiate themselves after I've heard them a few times, unless they're by Coldplay. Anyway, I join Rolling Stone and Paste magazines in giving it four stars.

I mean, I am a fan.

We liked the new Big Head Todd album, All The Love You Need, a lot too. I remain a faithful BHTM fan and will continue to purchase and attend, but that went without saying. Let's face it, the album could totally blow and I'd say the same. Still, if you're not a Todd-Head, do check them out. You probably at least know something from "Sister Sweetly," like "Broken Hearted Saviour."

It's been a long winter, but with Truckers and Big Head Todd tickets sitting in their wee ticketmaster envelopes just waiting for the end of February, I see a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel that is the punishment that is a central illinois winter.

Not only that, but I have a new R.E.M. album to anticipate. I know they've had their ups and downs, but I will always be faithful. R.E.M. is the first band - and maybe the only band - that I've liked from day one, from the first stuff I heard from their first album when it was new. Which would have been "Catapult" from Murmur. A lot of bands, I might like their whole ouvre, but I was late getting there, or the wrong age to have been in on it from the first album, or something.

(edit: I liked Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains and Soundgarden beginning with their first albums, for instance, but I didn't stick with them loyally through all the ups and downs like I have R.E.M.)

And a new R.E.M. album implies a tour, of course. We've seen them the last three tours - last time at the Fox we had really good seats, too.

And, non-musically, I reread Jane Austen's Persuasion not too long ago to get the taste of a really bad book out of my head, and just finished finally reading The French Lieutenant's Woman for the first time, and now I'm all about visiting Lyme Regis some day. (That's Lyme Regis.)

2008-01-01T14:17:00.000-06:00

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Wikipedia entry on "auld lang syne."

DBT in STL

2007-12-12T15:58:00.000-06:00

Pollstar.com says Drive By Truckers at the Pageant Feb. 29!! Oh, yesss.

2007-12-11T18:49:00.000-06:00

omg! They have an Original Pancake House in St. Louis now???

Why was I not informed?

I am SO THERE.

year in review

2007-12-06T18:16:00.000-06:00

In January we went to Big Head Todd's annual show at the Pageant. (well, it's been four or five years in a row now, anyhoo.)

In February I went to the Obama announcement here in town.

J's band's cd release party was at the Hoogland at the end of March and it was awesome.

Our first wedding anniversary was April 19. However, come May we'd been cohabitating for 16 years all told.

We went to Son Volt at the Pageant in April. I stood next to Beatle Bob.

J and I spent a couple of great days hiking and relaxing at Starved Rock State Park around May 21-22

J's oldest nephew graduated from high school on June 1, making us quite ancient indeed.

In July we saw the Police in St. Louis. Bottle Rockets and later the Avett Brothers here in town. We went to Toad the Wet Sprocket in Chicago and hung out with friends, then to Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival the next day, which was ... incomparable. I thought nothing could top Pink Floyd, but if anything could, that did.

In August, Joe Walsh at the state fair, and the Braves series in St. Louis. I'm seriously missing baseball right now.

In October, Dylan and Elvis Costello in Bloomington, then the Drive By Truckers in Chicago the next day.

In November, Jason Isbell, then the Smokies, and then Neil Young.

That's probably about it for us this year, but I see that Big Head Todd, Jay Farrar, and R.E.M. are announcing dates.

Neil Young at the Fox, St. Louis, 11/19/07

2007-11-27T20:58:00.000-06:00

At first we couldn't decide whether to go to Neil or not. Okay, actually, J couldn't decide. I'm the one who always wants to go, irrespective of scheduling, finances, and other minor considerations, and I'm acutely aware that we haven't seen Neil nearly enough. With some of these legends you gotta keep one eye on the clock and take advantage of any opportunity you get. At least, that's my philosophy. Secondly, tickets were kind of steep. And thirdly, the show was on a Sunday night, the last night of a vacation that involved a lot of driving before we had to go back to work.

Nevertheless, I perservered.

It struck me around Saturday, though - I realized I didn't want to spend a couple of hours in the car Sunday either. However, I'm glad we had something to do even had the show not been awesome - it kept us from just moping on the couch watching the hours tick away, you know?

Anyhow, I do love the Fox. Our seats weren't too great but they weren't too bad. Actually, I think they were just far enough back that Neil didn't seem like such a geezer, you know, but close enough that we could see quite well and unobstructedly. As always, we sat in front of a group of talkative dumbasses. I exercised great restraint and only shushed them once during the acoustic set, but come on, dude, shut the fuck up during the quiet parts. You know the people who have to comment on the stupidest stuff. "He's gonna sit in a chair!!" "I bet he plays harmonica!!" You just want to kill 'em. We didn't notice them so much during the second set, of course.

There was an announcement before he started, asking us not only to refrain from recording and photos, but to refrain also from cell phones and from shouting out song titles. "Tonight's set list has been pre-selected by Neil Young." That didn't stop everyone, but it did cut down on it a lot. Oh, and if I ever meet the "I LOVE YOU, NEIL" chick from halfway back in the balcony, I am going to choke her with a low 'E' string. Because what she was really saying was "I love myself more than I love you, Neil!"

The acoustic set was great. I love Neil's acoustic playing. It's so full and rugged and fierce. Sometimes between songs he'd get up and kind of wander between the organ on one side, the piano on the other side, and back to the guitar station, cogitating. I always forget how low his speaking voice is. He did lose his place during "After the Gold Rush" and started again on "Well I dreamed ... no I didn't," and played until it came around again. He talked about how hard it was sometimes to play a song you're so familiar with and play so often because it has so many memories and so much weight on it from all the times you've played it before, whereas newer songs are easier to remember. It kind of reminded me of the NPR interview when he said that he can only write one song at a time, otherwise "they fight." And when he started playing "Love is a Rose," he stopped and said, "You oughtta be clapping your ass off, man." Died laughing. and "Harvest" and "After the Gold Rush" was one blissful back-to-backer. His voice was a little shaky on some of the highest bits of "Gold Rush," but as I said, only Neil and bats could sing that bit to start with, and he's always had that weird light skinny voice sometimes anyway that heads for the stratosphere of its own accord, so it was cool.

acoustic set:
1. From Hank To Hendrix
2. Ambulance Blues
3. Sad Movies
4. A Man Needs a Maid
5. No One Seems To Know
6. Harvest
7. After the Gold Rush
8. Mellow My Mind
9. Love Art Blues
10. Love Is A Rose
11. Heart of Gold

For the electric set ... well, let me say that the stage set was a bit odd. It had the stage qua stage around the front, but behind that was a kind of artist's warehouse loft theme, including a guy on the back left - in a red suit and panama hat kind of getup - actually painting. So during the second set, the artist guy presented each song by coming to the front where there was an easel and putting up a painting sort of that song with the title written on it, then going back to his area and painting during the song. um, it was pretty strange, but he knew his business, so there wasn't a lot of waiting for him or anything.

Anyway, if you've been hesitating to go to Neil Young because he's old, or if you've been thinking a guy his age doesn't BRING IT anymore, think again, because I'm here to tell you that Neil BROUGHT IT. It was great to see him kind of randomly thrash and stagger about the stage in his patented Neil Young lurch, and he didn't stint on the playing, either, although to be brutally frank, I could have done without at least five minutes of the at least 15 minute version of "No Hidden Path" he closed with. But it was awesome nevertheless. "Dirty Old Man" was particularly pleasing.
And wait till you see the encore.

Electric set:
1. The Loner
2. Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
3. Dirty Old Man
4. Spirit Road
5. Bad Fog of Loneliness
6. Winterlong
7. Oh, Lonesome Me
8. The Believer
9. No Hidden Path
Encore 1
Cinnamon Girl
Cortez the Killer
Encore 2
The Sultan

After Cinnamon Girl, Neil went over to the bassist and talked about what he wanted to play for several moments, and you could tell he was going off list. We waited ... waited ... and then the first note sneaked out and J and I flipped out. If you'd asked me what single-but-unlikely Neil Young song I'd have liked to hear, well, I'd have most likely said "Cortez." It was that moment at a concert where you think, I really could die happily now, for lo, I am fulfilled. If you're unfamiliar with "Cortez the Killer," shame on you. Try to find a live version. So that was a fabulous surprise. Then to our surprise he came out for the second encore, and they brought out a gong, and a guy ... dressed kind of like ... a sultan ... with the turban, and the flowing trou, and the boots, and the gong mallet, came out and stood serenely by the gong, near the easel that said "THE SULTAN," and, well, he played his part with tempered enthusiasm, and it was very strange, but very good.

Here's a review from the St. Louis paper (I am beholden for parts of my set list, for it was very, very dark in there and I honestly can't read some of my own writing).
click here.

Cortez the Killer

He came dancing across the water
with his galleons and guns
looking for the new world
in that palace in the sun

On the shore lay Montezuma
with his coca leaves and pearls
in his halls he often wondered
with the secrets of the worlds

And his subjects gathered round him
like the leaves around a tree
in their clothes of many colors
for the angry gods to see

And the women all were beautiful
the men stood straight and strong
they offered life in sacrifice
so that others could go on

Hate was just a legend
war was never known
the people worked together
and they lifted many stones

They carried them to the flatlands
and they died along the way
they built up with their bare hands
what we still can't do today.

And I know she's living there
she loves me to this day
I still can't remember when
or how I lost my way

He came dancing across the water
Cortez, Cortez
what a killer

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit/St Louis 11/11/07

2007-11-26T18:53:00.000-06:00

Jason Isbell: guitarist, singer, songwriter, former Drive By Trucker.

Jason Isbell dot com.
Jason at Wikipedia

After we bought the tickets, we were disappointed to learn that Jason was opening for Cracker. I don't mean to disparage Cracker, but the plain truth is that I don't know anything about them at all and don't know any of their music. We wanted to see a whole night of Isbell. On the plus side, we were starting a vacation, so making an early night of it meant we could make some miles after the show - we ended up leaving shortly after Jason's set, didn't hear any of Cracker, and spent the night in Marion, Ill on our way to the Smokies, so it was good.

Side note: Jason's keyboardist is that Derry De Borja from Son Volt. Added bonus!

Set list:
1. Grown
2. Ain't Never Gonna Change
3. Chicago Promenade
4. Down in a Hole
5. Assassin
6. Goddamn Lonely Love
7. Psycho Killer
8. Razor Town
9. Magician
then with guy from Cracker
10. Hurricanes & Hand Grenades
11. Outfit
12. Try

It was a pretty healthy mix of his own solo stuff and some of his Truckers stuff. I was happy to hear Goddamn Lonely Love, but Outfit really made my night and that of a lot of people, I think. Assassin, of course, is a track from Trucker Patterson Hood's solo album, and it's a good song, so it was good to hear. It wasn't a huge crowd, and the floor was mostly empty at first, so we stood kind of at the back of the floor with about eight people. It was a clear view and also much better sound than right up against the stage. As the show went on more people came out on the floor and we shuffled forward until around "Outfit" we ended up against the stage and there were, oh, twenty or thirty people on the floor? After Jason's set he came to the edge of the stage and talked to people and signed a few autographs. Really nice guy to his fans, just like when we saw the truckers at mississippi nights (our last show there! wail!). He asked each person their name and signed "Thanks, (whoever!)" and his name. Not the best photo conditions, my poor little camera, but it's plucky, and so am I. Jason gave a good show, he played hard and the band was really together and smokin'. He really held his own as a solo artist.

with guy from cracker (david lowery or johnny hickman, I guess)

signing autographs

Pollstar hates me.

2007-11-16T23:57:00.000-06:00

Dear Pollstar Premium Subscriber,

Pollstar.com is in the process of upgrading our site, including many of our online features. Because the changes to Pollstar.com will be substantial, new or renewed Premium memberships are no longer available.

We still offer all users our free auto-notify accounts for five artists or venues. If you wish to continue to receive these free notifications after your Premium expiration date you will need to edit your list down to five selections.

We anticipate launching more new features in the near future and hope you will continue to enjoy using Pollstar.com during our time of transition.

Thank you for using Pollstar!

Bloody hell, I get 95 percent of my concert info from pollstar! This can't be happening.

DBT: Welcome to the dirt underneath, y'all

2007-10-25T12:47:00.000-05:00

A few comments, links, set list, and a few photos from Drive by Truckers acoustic show at the Park West in Chicago Monday night, Oct. 22.

I know y'all have heard me talk about this before, but this year the Truckers went on an extended acoustic tour. To differentiate, they call their usual electrified concerts The Rockshow (as in, "Welcome to the rockshow y'all!") and their acoustic shows The Dirt Underneath (tdu), which is from a lyric.

Official dbt web site.

J and I had never been to the Park West before. It's impossible for me to think about the Park West without thinking of whichever Vertigo show (and bootleg) where Bono was trying to remember the name of it and failing and not able to hear the people telling him. ("The Park! ... The Park West.")

While I'm at it,
about the Park West.
and just a bit more.

So anyhoo, J and I really loved the venue. It reminded us of a narrower Pageant built in a kind of octagon with a great disco ball. And it seemed very clean. The booths made it like a supper club instead of a skanky venue. A lot of personality. Also my approximately second 'washroom attendant' ever.

We got there during the opener, got drinks, found the bathroom, and waited for our friend Other J, who'd dropped us off at the door and had to park quite a ways away on a chilly wet night (bless 'm!). The floor was pretty empty when we got there and filled up quite a bit during the opener, but we were still able to skate right up to the stage during the break, albeit over toward the end.

Yes, it was strange without Jason Isbell, but perhaps not as strange as I'd anticipated - maybe that's because of the dirt underneath setting, which is a rare and lucky privilege for us to get to see. Or perhaps it was stranger to miss the songs more than the person. Plus it was a rather small stage and rather full, with more people on it than when we saw them before.

set list:
1. Home Front (new)
2. Ghost to Most (new)
3. The Living Bubba
4. Gravity
5. The Opening Act (new)
6. Panties in Your Purse
7. My Sweet Annette
8. Tales Facing Up
9. Daddy's Cup
10. I'm Your Puppet (Kelly Hogan on vocals)
11. Zip City
12. Daddy Needs a Drink
13. Uncle Frank
14. Carl Perkins' Cadillac
15. Tornadoes
16. Women Without Whiskey
17. Let There Be Rock
(encore)
1. 9 bullets
2. Shut Up & Get on the Plane
3. Angels and Fuselage (with Kelly Hogan)
4. Buttholeville/State Trooper

Dudes, it was a great show. J and I had a good view the whole time, the sound was teriffic, the band gave like they always do, we absolutely love these songs and this band. And our friends really loved it too, which was great. They haven't seen the truckers before and we think they'd like the rockshow even better, but they both really were into it, and we were pleased.

Bits:
Patterson was talking about how they'd have a special surprise later (he was talking about Kelly Hogan coming on to sing a couple of songs with them) and he said it would be as great as a girl jumping out of a birthday cake. Then he felt compelled to clarify: "It won't actually be a girl jumping out of a birthday cake!"

They continue to play without a set list, taking turns picking the next song, but so smoothly and quickly that one would never know that they aren't going from a list. I don't know how they do it.

Neat to see the fabled Spooner Oldham. He looked like if Einstein and Walter Mattheau had a baby or something, smoking nonstop, kind of huddled over his keyboard, smiling at the antics, drinking, very laid back. You know him from everywhere. I didn't realize that he wrote the song "I'm Your Puppet," either.

Patterson was introducing The Opening Act and he said it was the short film portion of the evening. "It's long for a song, but it's short for a movie," he said, and rambled about how the first half was about trying to do what you have to do, and finally Cooley said in that low sardon of his, "Don't look at me, I don't know what the hell he's talking about."

Someone yelled for Space City right after they'd done Zip City, and Patterson was like, "That won't work, we can't do back to back Cities!"

The Truckers have this great song called "18 Wheels of Love" about how Patterson's mom met her husband Chester, who's a truck driver. Someone yelled out and asked how his mom was, and he said she's doing great, and someone else asked how Chester was, and Patterson said he'd been on his deathbed in May but was fine now and back driving trucks again, which (as he said) is kind of scary.

The Truckers specialize in awesome kind of southern gothic story songs in a dylanesque kind of mode that's not really like dylan at all. I was particularly thrilled to hear Tails Facing Up, Zip City, Uncle Frank, People on the Moon, Carl Perkins' Cadillac, Let There Be Rock, and 9 Bullets. I know that's a lot, but those are some of my favorite Truckers songs ever. The only non-Isbell elements I particularly missed were maybe Lookout Mountain and Sinkhole, which are both Patterson's and both dreadfully awesome, and also Bulldozers and Dirt, which is the song that has the phrase "the dirt underneath" in it and is also totally killer. But that's not really a complaint.

Here's a review from the Chicago Tribune (I couldn't find one in the Sun-Times, so let me know if you know of one).

Patterson Hood's Web site.

Spooner Oldham's official site.

Wes Freed's site. Check out the artist who does great album art and posters for the band.

Here are a few pictures:
John Neff (played with them off and on for a long time, and now an official Trucker)

Spooner Oldham

Patterson Hood

Shonna Tucker, and Mike Cooley on banjo

Dude. Those aren't devil horns.

Elvis Costello & Bob Dylan

2007-10-23T17:41:00.000-05:00

I got out of town just a bit later than I wanted Saturday evening, but I made very good time to Bloomington. I pulled into a parking garage when I knew I was near, but there weren't a lot of people about, and I'd checked a map I printed out of downtown Bloomington and figured out that this garage was really a few blocks further than I wanted to have to walk afterwards. So I pulled back out and drove a few more blocks and around the corner and into a busier, better, better lit and closer garage. It wasn't too hard to find the venue and I took care to remember the name of the street the parking garage was on.

The opener Amos Lee wasn't too bad. He had a full band and was more rootsy than bluesy; I liked his set, but it didn't really spark me to go buy the cd or anything.

Since I had a single ticket I ended up sitting next to another single guy who was recording. I often seem to end up next to the guy who's recording Dylan. So that meant I hooted and yelled less than I would have because I didn't want to screw up the recording - you know how annoying it is when there's a hooter on the bootleg! So I had a bit more subdued of a time than I might otherwise have had.

There were "no pictures" signs about, and although there was no patdown or search whatsoever, not even the pretence of peeking into purses, I did see security halt the picturetaking of a number of people during Elvis Costello. In fact, I called a friend during "Alison," and although it was difficult to hear, I'm pretty sure I got her voice mail, and while I was holding the phone, security came and made me hang up! I've never in my life seen that happen before. dude wtf.

Anyway, I don't know a ton about Elvis Costello. I mean, I know who he is and we have a couple of albums, but I'm not exactly a fan, so I didn't know what I was hearing a lot of the time. I jotted down the names of songs I knew or ones that seemed pretty obvious. This list is in order but doesn't indicate blanks where I didn't write down stuff I didn't know.

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
Watching the Detectives
Wake Me Up
"At Last"
Can You Hear Me
Sugar Cane
Alison
Radio Sweetheart
Not Fade Away
(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding
Scarlet Tide

The sound was good and I liked his (solo acoustic) set. He did a bit of talking and said it was his father's 80th birthday, and so he played "At Last," which I recognized but don't know anything about except that it's probably from the 40s. "Scarlet Tide" was awesome too. It was about a war widow. "Admit you lied and bring the boys home." Amen.

Here's one of the few pictures I snuck; hard to get a good one because everyone was sitting and security was roaming.

There was a pretty quick changeover to Bob (who's had some of the same roadies for these 15 or 20 years, bless'm).

Here are a couple of reviews.

Bob's set list:
1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
3. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on guitar first three songs)
4. Tangled Up In Blue (awesome version; I was very happy)
5. 'Til I Fell In Love With You
6. When The Deal Goes Down
7. The Levee's Gonna Break
8. Workingman's Blues #2
9. High Water (For Charlie Patton)
10. Spirit On The Water
11. Highway 61 Revisited
12. Ain't Talkin'
13. Summer Days
14. Masters Of War
(encore)
15. Thunder On The Mountain
16. All Along The Watchtower

I guess my only complaints were that I'd have liked a couple more big classics (e.g. Like A Rolling Stone). I was also hoping for Hattie Carroll because I've never heard him do that one and I saw it was in some of the recent set lists. Also I expected Bob to come out and do a song with Elvis or vice versa, as happens on some of the dates this leg, but it didn't happen in Bloomington.

However, the sound was good, the band was smokin' as usual, I love bassist Tony Garnier more every day, and Bob was in very fine voice. Don't get me wrong: while I'm a big huge big Dylan fan, I do have ears, and I do know that his voice is basically a wreck and has been for quite some time. So 'Bob's voice was really good!' is pretty subjective or whatever. But he had quite a bit of strength and used a lot of range, and particularly he was strong in his upper range, which is where his voice breaks less, so I was very, very pleased. He didn't tell any jokes this time, but he did introduce the band, and he pointed at the audience with both hands a few times, and I did see some minimal shimmying over there behind the keyboard. He also glanced at the audience a few times, which is his way of smiling and giving everyone high-fives, so Bob was having a good night.

I'll keep doing it as long as Bob does. I just wish we could have gone also to the St. Louis show, but alas. I never have enough Bob.

Here are a few pictures I sneaked of Bob:

Then I drove to Decatur - after Mapquest made it much more more confusing than it should have been to get out of Bloomington - and hit J's last set and a few beers on an empty stomach. We grabbed a bit of fast food on the way out of town and were probably in bed by 2:30, ready to get up and get ready and hitch our ride to Chicago. More on that bit later.

Xroads festival

2007-10-15T22:58:00.000-05:00

I put this off for a long time, at first because I didn’t want it to be over, and then because, you know, where the hell do you start?

However, we've got a few more concerts on the horizon now, so I'd better get this out of the way! Sorry this is so lengthy; I don't know how to hide posts behind a cut like you can on livejournal.

Husband J and I went to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago on July 28 with our friends D and Other J. It's a fundraiser for Clapton's xroads rehab center; there was a previous concert in texas a few years ago, but it's not like a tour or even a show a year; there have only been the two.

(official xroads site
xroads at wikipedia)

Here's me and J at crossroads. Note the guy over my shoulder? A Harley guy in the complete getup (sans coat!), spent half the day reading a thick novel. Love it.

J and I had bought tickets, but our friends hadn't. Really, we barely had both feet on the ground of the parking lot before we were approached by two or three sellers, and our friends got a fairly good deal. When we got in, we saw that the seats J and I bought were far better than I had imagined (although they were at the far end of the stadium from the stage, they were fairly low toward the field (it's a soccer stadium)), not nosebleeds. Also, the seats were bleachers without arm-divisions, and our friends (and another couple who joined us later) were able to stay with us the whole time. The crowd came and went, and it being all-day, people were always going to get something to eat or drink, or see some of the exhibits, so there was usually quite a bit of room. Later in the night some people had left and people from the field came back to sit in our level - they were cool, too; we had a good time out there. We were far enough away that photos won't show the stage very well; I'll post mostly pictures of the video screens. Or more often I tried to get both, the screen so you can see what you're seeing, and the stage so you can see where they were and stuff. Not to mention how my camera is great during daylight but sucks for concerts/dim lighting. ah well.

It was HOT when we first got there. Baking. Everyone fried but me (yay sunscreen) and I fried in the part in my hair (dammit!). We were always getting water or something, but if I have one complaint about the day, it's that the venue just didn't seem ready for an all-day, big crowd. No matter which vendor you hit, they were just running out of something - no bottled water at this one, no small beer cups at that one, no beer of a particular brand at another one, different every time as they tried to restock, but it was a huge pain in the ass, and everyone was so hot and miserable and thirsty until later in the afternoon, and it was really crowded in the concourse and the lines were SO LONG, there was a LOT of complaining.

On the plus side, firstly, because they couldn't keep bottled water stocked quickly enough for it to get cold in the coolers, they started giving out a cup of ice when you bought a bottle of water. I swear, one of those cups of ice might very well have proved the difference between life and death. Also, I've never been to a festival where the place stayed so clean. The bathrooms were clean all day, always stocked, and people were taking out the trash constantly.

We were just a smidge late, so we missed some of Sonny Landreth, who was the first act. (Look, I don't think I have the gumption to look up the home page for everyone here, so just google an artist yourself if you're interested, okay? At the end of the post will be a few links, too.) We knew Bill Murray was the host/emcee, and honestly there was nothing but love for Bill Murray all day. Every artist was his very favorite. Hilariously, for many of the acts he dressed as a guitarist from the era or genre they represented, so he was at various times an acid stoner, a brit rocker, a cowboy, etc, complete with bad accents. Hysterical. When he introduced the second act, John McLaughlin, he referenced his participation in "the Mahi Mahi orchestra" (McLaughlin was in the Mahavishnu orchestra). bwah hah hah. that sort of thing.

After John McLaughlin was Alison Krauss, obviously to showcase her guitarist Jerry Douglas. (Edit: Dave's Dad quite rightly points out that Jerry Douglas should be more properly referred to as a dobro player, if not the dobro player.) J and I had seen her before, so we hung out for part of it and then went out and walkabout to look around at some of the exhibits and stuff. The lines were really long to look at the famous axes, but J played a guitar or two at some of the displays, and we went into the Digitech truck (air conditioned!!) for a while, etc.

when we came back (so hot! so thirsty! kind of sick!) we were heading to get in line for water, but then we could hear that Doyle Bramhall II was performing, and we never get to see him solo (though he's been with Roger Waters and then Eric Clapton for some years), so I shooed J away and stood in line by myself. Which wouldn't have been a big mistake if it wasn't the Slowest Line Ever. While I was waiting Doyle's set ended and I heard them introduce the Derek Trucks Band. I was in agony. I worship Derek Trucks. Finally I made it back to our seats with the agua. That's when our other friends, the third couple, had made it, so we were a little squeezed for a while. It was much later in the day that the crowds thinned out a lot. In the concession area in particular, it was like being in a GA section, trying to get to the bathrooms and stuff, constant physical contact, slowness, etc., but later you could actually stride, which was a relief. I hate thick crowds like that.

Anyway, Derek Trucks: regular readers know of my adoration for him, and today was no different. Susan Tedeschi, who's his wife as well as killer blues guitarist in her own right, came out for a couple of songs, and then they introduced Johnnny Winter and the crowd went nuts. Dear frail freakish old white Johnny Winter, huddled under a big hat, sitting down to play a smokin' version of Dylan's Highway 61. Oh, yesss. I mean, it was only like 3:00 at this point and the day had already given us complete and total satisfaction. Any day that has Derek Trucks in it is a good day anyway.

derek trucks

johnnny winter's hand

This set also set a pattern of having a whole band play their own set plus stay onstage for a while as the house band for several other artists. Like Sheryl Crow, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, they didn't bring their bands. Other groups like Jeff Beck came out with just their band and did their thing and were gone instead of hanging around. Depends on the band. The stage was two-sided revolving, so they could do a pretty fast changeover. Nearly too fast! They needed like a half hour intermission once during the day. There wasn't a schedule and you hated to go look at the exhibits or wander around because you didn't know what you'd miss.

But anyway, then what? Robert Randolph and his band. We keep bumping into him! He’s like our Kings of Leon, only good. His band did a as-smokin’-as-ever set, and then it was Robert Cray. You gotta love Robert Cray, and his “20” is one of my favorite of the current generation of antiwar songs (although Jason Isbell’s “Dress Blues” is my current fave). Cray’s band did Poor Johnny, Walkin’, and 20 for sure, and Jimmie Vaughan – obviously, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s brother, who used to be a Fabulous Thunderbird – joined them, and then, he was on the bill so it wasn’t a big surprise, but it was like everyone on the stage was a big surprise because everyone was such a treat, and Hubert Sumlin was no exception.

That’s the beauty of the crossroads show, I thought: I know it sounds hokey, but the real feeling of living history and how music was in the active process of crossing the generations … it was haunting. So revered old Hubert Sumlin – who played guitar with Howlin’ Wolf – sat and did “Killin’ Floor” – which was the dizzying historical moment of the day, for me, to be in Chicago listening to Hubert Sumlin do Killin’ Floor in the year 2007, my god – and also “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” which was lovely too.

hubert

And then B.B. King came out too, and that was Just Too Much. So they all did “Rock Me, Baby” and “The Thrill Is Gone.” It was strange to see him without the band; J and I had seen him a couple of times before. But this was so much more real. B.B. King’s band, they’re awesome, of course. But they’re also very much A Show, as well as being orchestrated to be easy on B.B. because he’s old. So to see him in daylight, without them, nakeder somehow, that was good. That was real good. Then, as for most of the day, you could see Eric Clapton hanging around on the side of the stage just watching and enjoying and taking pictures – wouldn’t I like to see those pictures! That’s when B.B. made a very moving speech about how he hoped the last sound he heard was an audience and about how great Clapton is and what a great person he is. "I've traveled all over the world, played in 90 countries. I've met queens and kings ... but I've never met a better man, a more generous man, than Eric Clapton." It looked like Eric was wiping his eyes a little at that point. I know I was.

BB

Jimmie, Hubert, Robert, and BB on stage

BB, w/ec with hat

BB, w/ec smiling

jimmie, hubert, bb, w/ec taking picture

Anyway, that was awesome. After that I think I ran to get us more water, and while I was in line the act was apparently some kind of contest winner. I don’t know what that was about really. Then John Mayer was the unlucky stiff who had to follow the real blues extravaganza. J and I hadn’t heard Mayer’s blues stuff, because frankly he’s John Mayer – we couldn’t bring ourselves to give it a chance. But he was really quite fine onstage. Kid gots some blues chops, so I’ll give him his due props, although I still don’t want to have to watch him make his faces while he plays. Ugh. Anyhoo, he did his big ‘Waiting on the World to Change’ as well as Ray Charles’ “I Don’t Need no Doctor.” It wasn’t that bad, although of course we were pretty much in the mood to love everything. It was a totally positive day all the way around.

So after that was Vince Gill and his band. Vince Gill has guitar skills, sure. But he’s just too country for me; I can’t get around it. Luckily he wasn’t out there by himself very long; like with Robert Cray, it got pretty crowded after awhile. First Albert Lee – I didn’t really know this, but J says he’s British and is the guy who pretty much pioneered the chicken-pickin’ style. Which seemed true as we watched! Then Sheryl Crow – it seemed strange that we apparently hadn’t seen her live before; I had to double-check with J. Of course, she’s not known for her guitar prowess, but she is known for having dated Clapton for awhile.

bill murray (sunglasses & vest) watching albert lee & sheryl crow

sheryl crow

Alison Krauss came out and sang “Are You Strong Enough to be My Man” with Cheryl, and then Eric came out and did “Tulsa Time” with her. And then Willie Nelson came out – again, it was strange to see him without his Very Elderly Band, because I’d sort of inadvertently seen him a couple of years in a row opening for Dylan. He did “Time Slips Away,” “Crazy,” and “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain,” starting out a little rough with kind of talky-singing and medley stuff, but then hit his stride and won the day. Good ol’ Willie.

trigger

Then that whole thing cleared off and the next thing was Los Lobos. We were looking forward to them, although we knew only a few hits of theirs, and we weren’t disappointed – good stuff!

cesar rojas of los lobos

After that was Jeff Beck, who, like Los Lobos, was one of the acts that played himself with his own band and didn’t join in the collaborative stuff. At first all the buzz was about his bassist! I said to J, “Jeff Beck’s bassist is a 12-year-old girl??” He was playing in a 3-piece and his bassist was this neat little thing:

So then a rumor kind of went through the crowd that she was a 12- or 14-year-old girl. We looked her up later and it turns out she’s like a bass prodigy from Australia named
Tal Wilkenfeld and she’s actually something like 21 years old, but still. Chick was really holding her own, and the crowd LOVED her. Jeff Beck was awesome too. When J and I saw him with Santana like ten or fourteen years ago, I couldn’t really get into him, but I’m older now, and he was much more interesting.

Jeff Beck's talcumed hands

Beck ended his set with a blistering, perfect instrumental of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” complete with the big huge noise note at the end. We were just hooting in ecstasy at that point.

After Jeff Beck – and it was the kind of day it was that I’m still thinking I’m forgetting some very important people – Bill Murray (who’d been introducing everyone all day in costume, as I said) came out as Cream-Era Clapton to introduce Clapton.

We were all saying throughout the day, because everyone was so great, “Clapton better have brought his game today!!” Well, he did. He was awesome, and of course, his band was out with him again, so more Bramhall and Trucks, yay!

As I said, my camera is great for everything except normal concert lighting conditions. Sigh.

By that time various families and groups around us and come and gone, and people who'd been down on the field all day had come to sit by us, and we ended up with a very cool little group, including people who didn't look like they were into the blues, and I usually don't like to interact with strangers at concerts, but this turned out very cool.

So eric did “Tell the Truth” and Harrison’s “Isn’t It A Pity,” and “Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad” and “Queen of Spades,” and then Robbie Robertson (of whom I’ve never been a big fan, but it was fine) came out and they did “Who Do You Love” and “Further On Up The Road.” Then Steve Winwood came out and (on piano) did “In The Presence of the Lord” (we had totally found new levels of bliss by then) and “Can’t Find My Way Home,” but then he played guitar on “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” and I swear, that was the best solo of the day. Who would have known!! It sounds totally nuts. Then Clapton finished up with “Cocaine” – I can’t get enough of that song, never could, never will (hah, it’s as addictive as its namesake, I suppose) – and “Crossroads,” which was just the topper of the topper of the topper of the night.

THEN – and honestly, I thought this was too bad, because it felt like an anticlimax after the big Clapton thing, but I totally see why Eric would have wanted it that way – Buddy Guy did a set, which included “Mary had a Little Lamb,” “Damn Right I Got The Blues,” and, with Clapton, “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Sweet Home, Chicago.” Which was totally the right thing.

Here's a recap from Rolling Stone.

Photo Gallery from Rolling Stone.

Story from billboard dot com.

and review from Chicago Tribune blogger Eric Kot.

finally, 2.0

2007-08-30T20:01:00.000-05:00

At last! Jason Isbell at The Pageant in St. Louis Nov. 11.

That's probably the week we were thinking of going to the Smokies. But it's a Sunday. We could leave Monday, no?

FINALLY

2007-08-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

Additional fall dates announced for Bob Dylan:

Thu 10/11 - Pittsburgh PA - Univ. of Ptts. Peterson Events Center
Fri 10/12 - Ypsilanti MI - Eastern MI University Convocation Center
Sat 10/13 - Columbus OH - Ohio State Univ. Schottenstein Center
Tue 10/16 - Dayton OH - Wright State Univ. Nutter Center
Wed 10/17 - Louisville KY - Freedom Hall
Fri 10/19 - Bloomington IN - Indiana Univ. Assembly Hall
Sat 10/20 - Bloomington IL - US Cellular Coliseum
Mon 10/22 - St. Louis MO - Fox Theatre
Fri 10/26 - Omaha NE - Qwest Center

Looks like it'll have to be the Bloomington, IL show for me - stag! If it works out, I can go to Bloomington, see Bob, then drive to Decatur and see the end of J's gig there, then we can come home together.

We'd definitely go to the Fox, but that's when we're planning to see the Truckers in Chicago.

I was contemplating the Bloomingon, Ind. show too, but I don't think that date will work out either.

Anyway, Bob hates me. Something will go horribly wrong.
Fact: Last time Bob played in St. Louis I was away eloping.
Fact: Before that I nearly got heatstroke at the ballpark show in Sauget and hardly remember the encore because I had my head down after chugging the (warm and open) water security brought me. And didn't have the wherewithal to try for a setlist! Even though I was Right There!
Fact: Before that there was a serious lightning storm on the way to the Peoria show
Fact: At the St. Louis show at the pageant, for which we had tickets, I got the Wish I Were Dead Flu and we couldn't go.
I mean, I've succeeded in seeing him a number of times, sure, but lately it's been a struggle! The marriage thing is working out fine, yes, but still. Always with the bad timing and such.

Nevertheless, I have that giddy sensation that only the prospect of Dylan tickets brings.

Take me out to the ball game

2007-08-27T23:17:00.000-05:00

We had a great weekend in St. Louis, except for our team losing two out of three.

J and I went to three games: Friday night we'd gotten our usual not-so-great seats a long time ago, then Saturday we splurged on Really Good Seats (padded seats! waitresses!), and fairly good ones Sunday as well.

Friday there was a long rain delay, but eventually the rain stopped and the game commenced. That's the night that 'our' team, the Atlanta Braves, actually won! Go team.

View from upper deck Friday night

Saturday we drove to a neighborhood we like (the Loop) and ate at a restaurant we like (Fitz's) and did a bit of shopping before hitting Starbucks (caffeine yay!) and heading back to the ballpark in time for batting practice. I hadn't been to BP before. It was neat.

Here are some guys hanging around the outfield during BP. Second from left is former catcher and currend Braves coach Eddie Perez, and far right is pitcher John Smoltz.

You could get WAY DOWN close to the field!

So people stood at the wall (which is padded so the players don't hurt themselves too much) and watched the players hit and field.

We almost met John Smoltz. Which was very awesome, if not quite as awesome as almost meeting The Edge. Smoltz is one of our favorite players and their number one pitcher. He's really great.

But pitcher Lance Cormier - who only got his first win of the season tonight, he's our five-spot guy with like a nine-something ERA - was the only Brave to come sign autographs, and he did so for like half an hour and joked and teased with the kids, talked to people, etc. He was super nice, signed our tickets, teased people who hadn't brought a Sharpie ("What ya doin' coming to the ballpark without a Sharpie, dude?"), etc. First time I've met a ball player. Here's J with him.

Then we were able to peek into the dugout as the game was starting. You can see Matt Diaz and Reyes on the left, then center fielder Andruw Jones with his foot up, manager Bobby Cox, trainer Jeff Porter, coach Glen Hubbard talking to (hidden) famed third baseman Chipper Jones on the bench, and, closer, right fielder Jeff Francouer.

It was a beeeyoootiful night for baseball, though.

Starting pitcher Tim Hudson and catcher Brian McCann coming back from the bullpen to start the game.

Unfortunately, though it was a beautiful night for baseball, soon enough it was time for J to put on the rally cap.

We lost Saturday and lost again Sunday. ugh. Sunday it was blistering hot. I slathered on the sunscreed and lucked out on the sunburn front. Poor J won't use my spf 55 because he wants some color, and if normal people used my sunscreen they'd probably actually get whiter. *is albino* I always say my people evolved in an overcast climate. So he got burned, but I only got burned in the part in my hair. I actually went inside and looked at baseball hats, it was so hot, but the caps were all like $25-30, so no. It was too hot for beer, even. I never thought I'd hear myself say that. But we stayed hydrated with water, cokes, and (later) lifesaving frozen lemonades.

The boy in front of us cooled down with a refreshing iced drink.

I find Fredbird kind of demonic.

One more note: Busch Stadium has the best veggie burgers I've ever had. They're so good J orders 'em, and he's not a vegetarian. They're meaty style in the fashion of Boca, but thicker and actually more beefy and realistic. And you can even get 'em with lettuce, pickle, onion, and stuff. omg. I told J on Friday night that I was going to have one of 'em every day, although I didn't. PLUS they're only like $4.50, which is less than beer, closer to the cost of nachos or a mere pretzel, but healthy and yummy! I wish I could buy this brand at the grocery store. umm.

Joe Walsh

2007-08-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

State Fair checklist:
-Walk around, get irritated at people
-Eat fried food
-Drink some beers, listen to some music
-Get rained on.
Check-check-check-aaaand-check!

The good thing about Joe Walsh, besides that he's written some awesome riffs, is that he has both the kind of guitar chops and the kind of voice that you really don't lose. He's not a youngster, he's more like Randy Quaid meets Wavy Gravy, but it's all good.

Oddly, he didn't have a spotlight on him at all - although there were spotlights and they did work, as on the forgettable opening band. Dude, maybe you could just try sunglasses. Made it hard to get a decent photo.

We knew about half his list, I'd say (which is a pretty shameful ratio, I know):
1. (don't know)
2. Ordinary Average Guy
3. In the City
4. (don't know - a slower song he played keyboard on)
5. (don't know)
6. (don't know - he said it was James Gang, and played a section from 'Bolero' in the middle)
7. Walk Away
8. (don't know)
9. Funk #49
10. Life's Been Good
(encore)
11. Rocky Mountain Way
12. Life in the Fast Lane (which one of the backup singers sang)

It looks like a short list, but a number of the songs were pretty darned long.

It really picked up for me around 'Walk Away' - because it got more uptempo and because I recognized most of the stuff from then on, of course. Funk #49 was cool, but Life's Been Good and Rocky Mountain Way were especially satisfying to me. Rocky Mt Way rules, yo. How long's it been since I witnessed a good talk box session? Too long. Life in the Fast Lane was good too.

Really couldn't get good pix.
video screen:

dark stage

bit closer

Oh, yeah, and then we got rained on walking back to the car. It wasn't so bad, though, we'd only parked across at the APL, and it wasn't raining that hard.

The only real bummer was that - at the fair, the vendors grab the same spots year after year. So there's this place that has fried mozzarella that's just beyond fantastic. It's still there. but next to it used to be The Best Ice Cream in the World, and this year? The Best Ice Cream In The World was GONE. WOES.

VH followup/flashback

2007-08-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

Anonymous Communist led me to look up what I'd written when we saw Van Halen before ("we" being my husband and myself, not Mr. Communist and myself).

Setlist:
1. You Really Got Me
2. Round & Round
3. Human Being
4. Up for Breakfast
5. the dreaded bass solo
6. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
7. Pound Cake
8. It's About Time
9. the drum solo
10. Dreams
11. Unchained
12. Why Can't This Be Love
13. Where Eagles Fly (Sammy solo and on electric)
14. The Seventh Seal
15. Best of Both Worlds
16. guitar solo
17. Standin' on top of the World
18. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love
19. Right Now
-Encore 1
1. Jump
2. Panama
-Encore 2
When It's Love

That show was more like three years ago than the year and a half or so that it feels like. At the time, I wrote that the opening band, Shinedown, sucked and that our show was the second of two nights and hadn't sold all that well, so they closed the upper sections and upgraded our seats, which was nice. I noted that Alex looked more like the killer from 'Silence of the Lambs' than ever, but at the time I didn't think Eddie looked too bad, although he wasn't playing all that well.

He'd say stuff and you couldn't quite hear him but it would be like "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing" and "Thanks for putting up with my shit" and stuff. ... So Sammy can't sing that great anymore most of the time, but luckily Michael Anthony has a high voice. And Eddie can't actually play that well anymore either. Which is kind of heartbreaking. However, I'm totally glad we went to see them. I had a good time and they didn't suck or anything, they just weren't all that great. But we knew going in that they're past their prime, so it was all right.

Thanks, 2004 Occ! Huh, I'd forgotten that about Michael Anthony taking some of the high parts. Maybe Wolfgang can sing ... ?

van halen?

2007-08-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

Since we started hearing the reborn pre-announcement rumors a few days ago, I have to confess we've been pondering going to see Van Halen. They' re-planning the tour with Roth but without Anthony that they cancelled when Eddie went into rehab this latest time.

Now, firstly, we both have a strong policy against going to see bands that are way past their prime/half dead (except the Allmans)/reformed with a new singer who sucks/never were good live anyway (etc.). There's nothing like that "Wow, dude really can't sing/play anymore" disappointment, and we've felt it too many times. Of course, there are always exceptions. We'll never see the Stones or the Who, it's just too late, but I don't regret going to B.B.King or Buddy Guy. And I will always see Dylan when I can no matter what. Whereas Bo Diddley was heartbreaking, more than anything.

However, neither of us ever saw VH with Roth, for one reason or another. (Which seems odd - I know J went to Monsters of Rock, but that must've been Hagar). Even though J started going to larger concerts way before I did (he's not a hillbilly). J saw them at least a couple-three times with Hagar originally, and then the two of us went to see 'em like a year and a half ago with Hagar. It was almost like the Police in that I felt I had to see them once, given the chance. And it was very much a mixed review. I mean, Hagar's Hagar, he still sang all right, it was fun, party party and all that, but Eddie was so very clearly in need of a successful rehab stint. Dude just really didn't have his chops anymore, and was drinking.

And the Eddie Van Halen story - whether you're a fan or not - is really horrible. It's like the prime example of an extremely talented cat actively throwing away and totally wasting all that talent. Yes, wealth, fame, hits, etc., but think of what he could have been doing all this time, in the studio, other projects, producing, actually being able to keep a good version of VH together, maybe writing and playing new material that was worth a crap ... but he couldn't and didn't, and it's horribly sad to me.

Now that he's been through rehab - and looks a lot better, I have to say - there's the enticing possibility that he might be able to play. If we went, it might wash away some of the bad taste from when we saw them last.

On the other hand, although it was totally appropriate in the 80s, David Lee Roth has never been anything but a parody of himself, and nobody can convince me that that cat has any pipes left at all. There's no freaking way he can still sing VH worth a crap. And, of course, he's old, so ... at least he was relatively easy on the eyes at one point, and relatively acrobatic, if totally not my type at all.

Then there's having your teenage son play bass. That just smacks of total desperation.

But still.

Maybe it depends on how much tickets are ...

In other news, we're most likely going to the Drive By Truckers at the Park West in Chicago in October. Their normal show is called "the rock show," but they also occasionally do a semi-acoustic, sit-down show called "the dirt underneath." J and I have been lucky enough to catch the rockshow, which is truly a marvelous thing, but it'll be a rare treat to be able to see a dirt underneath show. I only wish the friends we're going with had a chance to see the rock show. They haven't seen the truckers before and I think they'd like the rock show better. But this will be good.

bottle rockets, avett bros, etc

2007-07-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

We've had a good week or so for music. Saturday we hit the Taste of Downtown - for awhile during the day, then we went back at night. The Romantics were so much worse than we'd even anticipated, but that's not really what we were there for - I really wanted to see the Bottle Rockets. Even though we love alt-country and roots music, and even though we both love Tupelo and Wilco, for some reason we've just never really given the BR that chance. Well, at first we thought their songs were a little undifferentiated, the way things sometimes are when you're not familiar with any of a band's work. But as the night went on (did I mention we were drinking?) some songs did stand out from others for me and I liked them more and more, so I'll definitely check them out again/buy a cd/whatever.

Then the Jason Isbell solo album came out. I haven't even had a chance to listen to that yet, but I'm thrilled to have it. While I was at Recycled, I picked up the Amy Winehouse cd - I know my mother does not (and will never) have it, so I'm not the last person on earth to have it, so that's good. I've been listening to that in the car. I especially liked the first two tracks, Rehab and You Know I'm No Good. I also snagged Delores O'Riordan's solo cd - she's the lead singer from The Cranberries. I haven't had a chance to put that one in either.

Tuesday we went to the Avett Brothers show. I only knew what I'd read in No Depression, so I guess I was expecting a kind of Old Crow Medicine Show. Which I'd have liked. Also, knowing nothing about them and having heard nothing, we hesitated to spend $20 EACH on tickets, so I entered us both to win a pair at WUIS.

We both won.

So I asked WUIS to give the extra pair back to someone who hadn't won, and they did so.

Anyway. No disrespect, I do like to support local music, but I'll just say that Big Fur seemed miscast as opener for that lineup, and their sound wasn't very good either, I'm afraid.

"My name is 'Chittlin,'" the girl in a dress and pretty Mohawk said.

She was really good and an immediate contrast: a serious singer/songwriter following a bar band, a clean, simple sound and clear voice following a kind of muddy busyness. She was shy and quiet afterward when we bought her cd and told her we liked it, too.

The Avett Brothers won me over immediately. Granted, playing so hard that you go out of tune all the time, break strings all the time, and lose your fingerpicks all the time indicates that your sound is suffering. But their harmonies and professionalism and energy were just outstanding. And their sound was smoking. I noticed that their own sound guy took over. They had a blistering hot mix. And enthusiastic fans who'd followed them from Ohio and Missouri and wherever, breaking out into hooting and screaming and requests at every opportunity.

J said they were like a civil war punk band. What kind of bluegrass band has a kick drum? What kind of rock band has a cellist? I don't have the least idea what the hell they are, except exactly what I like. Color me converted, yo. I'd keep an eye out for these guys; they'll be at big festivals in no time.

Edit: what the heck is up with my links? blogger "help" was no help.

the police, scottrade center, 7/2/07

2007-07-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

Comments on the 7/2 Police show, set list, four bad pictures, and links to some other reviews and stuff.

We got a nice early start, and luckily we thought of the possibility of there also being a baseball game, because the ballpark and the venue, while not right next to each other, are both kind of downtown. So there was some traffic, but at a certain point we passed the stadium and were heading away from it, so that helped. We parked in kind of a dubious area - it saved $5, but next time I'll probably splurge.

Our seats were pretty bad. If our seats had been really great, I'd keep mentioning it, as in "I can't believe what good seats we got" and "we were so lucky" and so forth, without intending solely to boast - it makes a big difference in how you perceive the whole event, so I hope I can continue to mention that our seats were pretty bad without intending solely to bitch. Anyway, I was pleased to see that there was a nice open stage and our view was pretty unobstructed, although one corner of a video screen was cut off by a bank of speakers. I like the open stage setup.

The opening band, Fiction Plane, was a three-piece with Sting's son on bass and vocals. We weren't very enthusiastic - way to lose credibility, really, to open for your father's really big huge famous band - and the first couple of songs didn't really grab me, but then they kind of found a groove and won me over, at least to a not-going-to-rush-out-and-buy-the-cd kind of extent. The kid's voice was pretty good; if he wasn't Sting's kid, I might not have made the connection, but knowing it, he sounded kind of stinglike in the way Jakob Dylan reminds you of the old man without really sounding like him. The songs that I really liked, I hate to admit, were kind of Police-like; changes, movements, beats, kind of progressive. But they had a, not grungier, but a more straight-ahead rock sound generally. The kid had a good presence, but it was almost too much for the circumstances - he jumped off the drum riser a couple of times and actually off his bass stack twice. Enjoy your original set of knees while you still have 'em, son! I assume most of their stuff was original, but they did actually do one Sting song. Neither of us knew what it was, but we both knew it was a Sting song (and I think the kid announced it. He was talking, we couldn't understand, and he said 'and this is one of those songs' or 'and this is one of his songs' or something).

The Police really did a good show. We knew that Andy and Stewart had had projects but hadn't been really playing for some time (it's funny, actually, I read an interview with Stewart in which he said they basically hadn't touched their instruments in years, but I thought Andy Summers had put out some jazz albums, and there was the whole Oysterhead project and the aborted Doors thing from Stewart, but anyway). Neither of us are really Sting fans, so we'd heard his solo hits that used to be inescapable on the radio from the early 90s and that's about it. So it was a relief that the musicianship was high and that Sting's voice was all right. By which I mean, he still sings very well, and he still sounds very much like Sting. It wasn't one of those circumstances where you go, "Boy, he really can't sing anymore." But also many of the songs were in a lower key or had the vocal line rearranged to accommodate the changes his voice has undeniably undergone. You couldn't say "Wow, he really still hits 'em!"

In fact, a lot of the reviews we're reading have discussed how "Don't Stand" hasn't been working really well, and although I think it might benefit from a more straightforward arrangement just for kicks - J (who can hear music stuff I can't) said he thinks a lot of why it seems strange is that Sting seems to be singing a lower harmony part instead of a melody line, which (after he said it) I think is true.

Nevertheless, his voice is still unmistakeably his, and it was nice to have an occasional brief reminder of why I thought he was extremely sexy nearly 20 years ago. He roamed a little on the stage walkways, but not a ton, and turned around to the back-crowd sometimes too, with an occasional smile. Andy played with a pretty serious face, but he hopped around and jumped off the drum riser and went over to Sting (and got a small Bono-type nuzzle or two, but less extravagant) and generally had a good time of it.

Stewart had me mentally practicing writing "Mrs. Occula Copeland" in fancy cursive all day. :-) So everything I say here is with affection.

I mean no disrespect to the other two when I say that, for me, the Police is most definitely The Stewart Copeland Show. He came out in some kind of ... track suit from 1980 ... wearing gloves and a black headband and a headset mike and glasses and ... basically, he had a lot going on in the head region. I love that he plays traditional grip, I've always liked to see people use traditional rather than matched. Our tyrannical band teacher would never have let us use matched grip even for a moment. Hell no. Anyway, Stewart is the same old enthusiastic madman I've always found so endearing. He had a platform behind him with two racks of percussion (on either side) and a big gong and stuff. The layout and setup of all that stuff is pictured, listed, and described here, so take a look! It's a hoot. The platform raised when it was needed and he had to scramble back and forth pretty hastily.

The set list was wonderful. For some reason "de do do do" particularly pushed my buttons. I told J maybe I just finally 'got' "de do do do" or something. hah. and "King of Pain" reminded me of the day I sat down with the cassette player and wrote down the words. Boy, did that take a long time. I remember the sections that gave me particular trouble, too.

I do love "Canary in a Coal Mine" and "Murder By Numbers," which they didn't do but those aren't ones I expected them to do anyway. I'm just sayin'. the only real big number missing was probably "Spirits in the Material World." On the other hand, the reviews I've seen have described two encores, and they did three in St. Louis, although the first one was only one song. I wondered whether there was some kind of glitch, but if so you couldn't tell. It only made the encores seem longer, so that was cool. Overall we'd have felt more involved if we had better seats, of course. Bad seats make us both feel more detached, more like spectators than participants. And the sound wasn't that great from so far. You really couldn't tell what people were saying when they spoke. And you're watching the video screens a lot and have to remind yourself to actually look at the real live band with your real eyes. but the show was good and we had a good time and were happy we went. And we were in the car by 11:00 and home by 12:30.

Of course, these are all just opinions based on what I experienced and what I particularly like and dislike.

PSA: shirts were $35.

I was so excited at first that I just wrote down whatever crap I thought of for the songs because I knew I'd know what I meant. Such as "SOS" for "message in a bottle." lol.

set list
1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking on the Moon
4. Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down
5. Don't Stand So Close to Me
6. Driven to Tears
7. Bed's Too Big Without You
8. Truth Hits Everybody
9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
10. Wrapped Around Your Finger
11. De do do do, de da da da
12. Invisible Sun
13. Walking in Your Footsteps
14. Can't Stand Losing You
----
15. Roxanne
----
16. King of Pain
17. So Lonely
18. Every Breath You Take
----
19. Next to You

The view from our seats. We were a little early. *crickets*

Links
a review of recent show in New Orleans from the New Orleans Time-Picayune.

Interview with Stewart Copeland from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch some time before the show.

Review of Monday's show from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

stewart copeland dot net

Stewart's drum and percussion setup, also linked above.

a walk in the woods

2007-07-01T18:08:00.000-05:00

Lincoln Memorial Garden was absolutely lovely today, and the weather was perfect.

flowers

butterfly (moth?)

blue heron

blue heron, closer

Mother and baby deer

check check it

2007-06-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

Oh, man, the St. Louis The Police show is Monday. We'd been thinking it was the following week, but I had it written on the calendar, and I happened to turn the page to peek - saw I'd written it, then checked the tickets. wowie. I'm not too excited about the opening act - Sting's son, for heaven's sake - but I might take off work an hour or two early to give us enough time to grab a breadstretcher's and make it through the traffic jam before the parking garage is full.

The Avett Bros are in town soon, but I saw an ad that said they'll be $20. I dunno. I'd pay $10 based on the spread in No Depression, but $20 for a band I've heard nothing of ...

After that, Bottle Rockets at the taste of downtown. (Someone tell me why the great downtown restaurants that have vegetarian choices pick Taste of Downtown to trot out their boring, meaty, state-fair type food. YAWN.)

End of July is the Crossroads festival. We have seats, lousy ones, but still.

AND my husband J's rescheduled gig got rescheduled again, so now we're apparently going to Joe Walsh. Which is great. I'd pay state fair ticket prices just to get beered up and shout along to "Funk #49." Am I right, people?

The Police in L.A.

2007-06-24T20:36:00.000-05:00

A friend provides the following setlist from the Police at Dodger Stadium last night:

message in a bottle
synchronicity II
walking on the moon
voices in my head/
when the world is running down
don't stand so close to me/
driven to tears
bed's too big without you
truth hits everybody
every little thing she does is magic
wrapped around your finger
de do do do, de da da da
invisible sun
walking in your footsteps
can't stand losing you
roxanne
++
king of pain
so lonely
++
every breath you take
++
next to you

Invisible Sun! Awesome. Our seats for the Police in St. Louis are horrible, but I'm still glad to be going to see them.

Marty Robbins/Steve Martin mashup

2007-06-12T18:05:00.000-05:00

Our conversation over dinner last night: Los Straightjackets led to Freddy Fender, Freddy Fender led to Marty Robbins, and a vague-but-hilarious childhood memory led me to the wikipedia and the imdb and, eventually, to the google and this video from Steve Martin's 1980 TV special. How I can possibly remember it I don't know, and truthfully I'd always envisioned Galapagos tortoises instead of a much larger animal, but here it is! I'm just glad to have its existence confirmed.

As when I was 12, I'm still not sure whether it's the most hilarious thing ever or not. But it's, well, different.

(also my first attempt to embed a youtube video, so good luck to us all.)

Driveshaft

2007-06-05T21:12:00.000-05:00

If you're a Lost fan at all, or if you're a fan of the band Driveshaft, do check out the website created by my insane friend marie siu and an equally insane friend of hers, driveshaftband.com.

From the beginning, they designed the site with complete straightforwardness, as though Charlie-from-Lost's band Driveshaft were real and he were a real rock star who'd gone missing in a real airplane accident. I love the idea of a site reflecting events around the TV show, but never seen on the show - just in the same universe, kind of, but as consistent as they could make it. As events unfolded in the TV series, they went back and recreated backstory to match. Which made things quite hectic for them sometimes! Shannon even got to meet hobbit-guy once and gave him a mix cd she'd made, and the site got a bit of national attention.

Particularly hilarious are guestbook entries insisting "it's just a TV show! What's the matter with you FREEKS!!!11".

Anyhow, due to recent events, the site has seen its last update. But what a brilliant, cracked, twisted, and totally mad idea.

starved rock

2007-05-27T12:53:00.000-05:00

Husband and I spent a couple of days at Starved Rock State Park at the beginning of the week. We'd never been there before; it was marvelous.

Still a gunslinger

2007-05-17T20:27:00.000-05:00

Good news and bad news - Bo Diddley had a stroke recently, but this recent story indicates that he's already improving and apparently not dying.

Like the blues isn't depressing enough already without everybody dying, man.

thornhill, wilco

2007-05-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

The new Wilco album Sky Blue Sky dropped yesterday. I had time to pick it up at noon but haven't gotten to listen to it yet. I know that I will love it, though. It's also fun that a couple of the songs are already familiar from hearing them live (namely, "Impossible Germany" and "Walken"). I know I'll like the DVD, too. (If you haven't seen Jeff Tweedy's live solo acoustic dvd Sunken Treasure, check it out here, at amazon.

In other news, my husband J's band Thornhill's cd Center of Town is now available at cd baby right here.

Son Volt, April 21, 2007

2007-05-11T22:28:00.000-05:00

Obviously I have some catching up to do!

So that Saturday when we got to St. Louis for Son Volt, there'd been a horrid traffic jam and detour and everything. We finally made it to the hotel and checked in and relaxed for a minute. I called the venue to ask about cameras - it's a place that lets artists set the policy - and today was a "no camera" day. dammit. At that point, we didn't have enough time to skate back downtown and eat at one of the places we'd been considering, so we eventually just hit the venue's neighborhood, hoping to get lucky and get into Fitz's, but we could see people waiting outside, and the nearby big free parking lot was more than full, so I turned around and hit the small $3 parking garage nearby.

"Let's just see what's closest," I said.

In that neighborhood there are tons of little restaurants and bars and sidewalk dining in nice weather, which this was. We came across Riddle's; the sidewalk tables were packed, but there was space inside, and we got a booth immediately. Which was good, because it was pretty much time for doors to open over at the Pageant. ARGH. Well, if there's one thing I hate, it's being late to a GA show, especially when J had agreed to hit the floor for once instead of trying for a table, but there was nothing to be done but enjoy dinner and remember that we'd seen Son Volt a couple of times before and Jay Farrar a number of times - heck, met him, had him autograph our Trace liner notes, so if we had to get a seat like we did last October, well, it wouldn't actually be a tragedy.

So we enjoyed a nice dinner and then zipped over to the pageant, which has the awesomest parking of any venue ever, pretty much. Behind the venue and across the street, there's a parking lot for some kind of municipal transportation - buses, I guess, or shuttle, whatever - and concertgoers can park there. FREE. We picked up our tickets and got inside, and went in, and the place was humming, people filling up many of the tables -

and nobody on the floor.

I swear, you'd think I'd learn. It's a late crowd at the pageant, and for some reason it's an extra-late floor crowd. Unless it's Wilco, and then it's madness personified, but for most of the rest, it's just strange. I never get used to it. So we looked at merchandise and I bought a teeshirt, and J picked a table for us to loiter at while waiting - he was like, no hurry, we'll get on the floor as soon as we see people start to hit it. Good chance for a potty break and that kind of thing, and when I got back, it was starting, so we went ahead and got rail just to audience-left of Jay - which was awesome, so we were between him and the guitarist and could watch the guitarist, which we did. I don't even know who this guy is, he's new, but my god, he's good.
*checks son volt web site*
He's Chris Masterson.
I can't quite figure out who he is, apparently there's an actor by the same name (thanks for nothing, google!). He was a strange one, sporting a vivid white studio tan and weird hair and the kind of tattoos you get when you suddenly realize you'll be making your living as a musician, and scrawny. But cat could play a fucking guitar. J and I both felt that we watched him more than we watched Jay. I love applauding a solo.
Anyway. There we were at the rail, and who should join us, on my left, but the notorious Beatle Bob.

Beatle Bob is a guy from St. Louis who's known for going to concerts and "dancing." He ... well, just watch a video; it's hard to describe. I know a few of you encountered him at Lollapalooza last year and, frankly, I was surprised shannon and I didn't see him at Tallstacks last fall!

google results for Beatle Bob

Beatle Bob's myspace page!

Beatle Bob at wikipedia.

We've seen him around - at Son Volt in the past, and at the Jayhawks and Emmylou Harris and Springsteen and others I can't remember, but we've never met. I'm pretty sure he gave me a thumbs-up all my own, but otherwise we didn't really interact, except for inadvertantly doing the bump kind of often. However, this was my first up close and personal extended time as Beatle Bob's rail companion, and I must say:

Firstly, he seemed nicer and less of a freak than I expected. You hear so many terrible things about the guy. When people came up to greet him he was super-gracious and nice, made conversation with a guy who was in a band, talked about a party later for someone's birthday, really was normal. In retrospect I kind of wished I'd said hello or something, as we're bound to meet again, but I don't usually talk much to people in line or at the rail. After all, you're stuck together for hours, and once you start something, you're trapped. But if I'd had my camera I'd have asked him if he'd let J take our picture together. For posterity.

The opening band was Jason Molina's project. They didn't suck, they weren't bad, but they didn't grab us, either. Bob loved 'em, though. heh. I have to admit, it's kind of entertaining to see bands register him for the first time. He totally threw out some new moves I hadn't seen before, either. Very impressive.

Son Volt was great, just great.
Set list:
1. Satellite
2. Who
3. The Search
4. Circadian Rhythm
5. The Picture
6. Underground Dream
7. Beacon
8. Highway & cigarettes
9. Jet Pilot
10. Automatic Society
11. Exurbia
12. Methamphetamine
13. Damn Shame
14. Voodoo Candle
15. Medication
16. Medicine Hat
17. Tear Stained Eye
18. Action
19. Bandages & Scars
20. Drown
21. Afterglow 61
encore:
1. 2000 light years from home
2. Windfall
3. Life Worth Livin'
4. Chickamauga

Let the record show that it's very difficult to keep a list for Farrar; he loves to name a song NOT from the chorus. Let the record further show that I will never NOT freak out from happiness upon hearing "Medicine Hat," "Tear Stained Eye," "Windfall," and "Chickamauga." And (the one song some of you might have heard of) "Drown" was particularly kick ass this evening as well. That guitarist!! my GOD. "Drown" was HUGE.

"Jet Pilot" makes me happy too. Especially when a guy behind us yelled "Impeach the fucker!" at the end. har har.

Afterward, I held steady to try for a set list, and a couple of other guys drifted in to do the same. Competition!! I held tough, and when the roadie came out he went straight for the guitarist's list and turned and we all reached out. Usually I try "Could I please get a set list?" but he was clearly intending to give a set list, so I stuck with something like "Please, please!" and he came straight to me. He actually said something to the guys, some kind of NO!, and gave it to me as though we knew each other or something. Which, strangely, is exactly what happened in October, except that I hadn't been on the rail all night and the guys were a little grabby and he snatched it back away from them to make sure I got it safely. It's kind of funny. Maybe he just likes women? He'd been busy with guitar changes all night, we hadn't interacted, we don't know each other, but that's twice in a row I've been really lucky with him. so yay!! I don't know what to do with them once I get them, but I really do love the thrill of the chase. That's two son volt, one big head todd, and a security copy - not stage copy - from U2.

*shakes fist once more at memory of unfeeling allman bros crew*

Also, after I got the set list, the freelancer for the Post-Dispatch who was writing the review asked to look at it and made a few notes. Glad to help, guy!

I'm making my own Son Volt's Best compilation cd to introduce them to my friend Tenner, so if anyone else wants a copy, that's doable.

U2 memories - two years ago

2007-05-11T21:52:00.000-05:00

Two years ago I hit my first two Vertigo shows in Chicago. I took the train up May 10 and met a bunch of my online friends for the first time at the United Center. It was a beautiful warm day to spend in line. After a day off, the 12th was cold and rainy, but we persevered.

A few pictures.

May 10, 2005:
Larry

adam

bono

bono and edge

And May 12.
cold!

stalking edge

larry

adam

everything

U2 odds, ends

2007-04-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a billboard.com article about the U2 3D movie.

Also some in-depth interviews and stuff with The Edge's guitar tech Dallas Schoo, including some youtube links I haven't tried out because I have dialup. Quit laughing. Do you think it's easy, being a cheapskate?

Here's a brief: The Edge will receive an honorary degree from Berklee this spring.

At @u2.com, check out the U2 cartoon achtoon baby.

Jason Isbell and the DBT

2007-04-09T22:30:00.000-05:00

Drive By Truckers land brims with trepidation and disappointment as it is announced at the DBT site and at Jason Isbell's myspace page that guitarist/songwriter Jason Isbell and the Drive By Truckers have parted ways.

Discussions are ongoing at the Nine Bullets talkboards.

I've always said that the great thing about the Truckers is that they ~~have~~ had three killer songwriter-guitarists. I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to hear all of them more. The next DBT album will have more songs by Cooley and Patterson, and Jason Isbell's forthcoming solo album will be all him, obviously. But I'm very sad. I love the Truckers in their previous incarnations, but their albums with Isbell have really been on the next level.

They'll keep on Truckin' - they've had lineup changes before. And I'm glad I got to see them with him a couple of times. But I'm really disappointed that it happened.

By and large, though, I agree with posts at this blog. If the comment thing would ever load, I'd comment.

Obama announcement

2007-02-13T18:17:00.000-06:00

There were a lot of rumors flying around Friday before the Obama announcement. The official word – the only official word – was that tickets were not needed for entry to the free event. There was some buzz about free ‘souvenir’ tickets being given out by ‘some groups.’

In the afternoon, my sidekick at work, JP, was on the phone to a friend or two and to her mother, and there were rumors and rumbles that there was some kind of VIP section or “A-level” ticketing. Later she gleaned that a friend of hers was working on getting said tickets just in case and she would try to get me an extra one and would leave me a message about it that night (while I was at gig with J). She did – her message was that tickets were in fact necessary so *whew* she’d gotten some.

The next morning I got up about the usual time I’d go to work and got out of the house a bit before 8:00. I figured I’d park in a nearby garage if I could, and if it was full, I could drive four blocks or so more and park in the lot at work and walk. Although a lot of streets were closed, oddly there was a lot of space left in the $3 garage. I had jeans, two long-sleeved tee shirts, one short-sleeved tee shirt, and a sweater, along with a scarf, my leather coat with liner, earmuffs, and two pairs of gloves. And those hand warmer packet things – one (uncomfortably) in each shoe, one in each glove, and the rest in my jean pockets (one nestled alongside my camera). I started walking the two blocks; first I came to the street that was closed to auto traffic, but then the next block was closed to foot traffic as well (except credentialed media, I think).

Street full of satellite trucks and such:

Anyway, I did walk around the block to find the end of the line, and … I thought the line would be long, but dude. It was like down the block, around the corner, to the end of that block, around the corner again, and on to a point a block or two north of the starting point. HOLY CRAP.

I called JP to try to hook up, and she and her friend A. (who I quite liked, and who reminded me of another friend) were two or three blocks away and just getting there on foot. Meanwhile I was overhearing confused murmuring about tickets, this is the yellow and red ticket line, that’s the white ticket and no ticket line, and JP said she had red, which was the end of the line I had found. Yes, there were about three of those lines. Holy crap. I walked JP to where I was (“I’m at the corner of fifth and adams, I’m at the, I’m between the library and museum!” “Which side of the street?” “I’m at the southeast corner … wait, there’s a cop car in the middle of the street, I’m just gonna go stand by that!” “We see the cop car!” “I’m waving my earmuffs!” “We’re in the bank parking lot!” Etc. etc.!). I met her friend and they gave me a ticket and we got in line behind an older woman who’d brought rather a lot of homemade stuff.

She was very nice. We’d heard that you couldn’t bring signs in, which turned out to be true – they had a bunch of signs they passed out later, for uniformity, I suppose. It certainly wasn’t for safety; more about that later!

Although the gates weren’t supposed to open for like 45 minutes, the line was moving the entire time – I think because it was so long, there was just that much scrunching together to do. Sen. Durbin’s office had free donuts and coffee at certain points, but I didn’t want to have to pee!! That’s for sure. The hot pads in my shoes didn’t work very well. They’re supposed to be air-activated, and if they stop working you’re supposed to take them out and give them a shake, so that was really the problem. Plus they got compressed from being walked on, of course. The ones in my hands very probably saved my life, and I could cradle my camera and keep it from freezing too. Jesus freaking H. Christ on a pogo stick, was it cold.

We shuffled and shuffled and shuffled, people streaming past us toward the end of the line the whole time, people hawking buttons, and media, media, media. Cameras walking up and down the lines, people taking photos, print media trying to get their frozen pens to work, many of them gravitating to the woman in front of us. Hundreds of press people, all getting the person-on-the-street, what is it about obama, why are you out on such a cold day, etc. You know when you see a live news report and there are people walking past in the background? We walked past TEN THOUSAND interviews. I’ve never seen anything like it. This might sound pretty lame to those of you from bigger cities – which I think is all of you – but I’m a farm kid who went to a small college and lives in a small town where nothing ever happens, yo. This was huge. Huge to me and to this town.

When we got close to the gates at last, there were long tables set up where we were supposed to leave our coffee. And signs, large bags, etc. There were a lot of coffee cups left there, but lots of people just ignored the directives. You were supposed to have bags searched, too, but people just kind of held up their empty bags in the direction of the staffers, who peeked and nodded. No patdowns. I’m not a big fan of being patted down, but seriously, as bundled up as we were, I seriously could have taken in a machine gun or a machete. It was really kind of worrisome. There was security of the “don’t rush the stage” variety, and the “FBI on the roof” variety

… but not so much the “don’t bring in a pistol” variety.

Turns out the grounds were divided into standing sections, color-coded by tickets. Ours really were like the second-best section. Looks like the official word was correct in that tickets were not needed for entry, but if you didn’t have a ticket, I’m pretty sure you’d be on the opposite side of the building (that is, the building between you and the podium), and there weren’t any video screens up, either.

We were, from the podium, straight away from the speaker’s left hand, and halfway back, if that makes any sense.

I was surprised to see that the podium was in the middle of the grounds instead of on the steps, but I suppose more people could see him that way.

We stood around and froze for a while. Here are some of us.

There was a ‘fluffer’ tossing hats and things out into the crowd and warming us up beforehand. A church choir sang a song or two. “America the beautiful,” I think. Then there was a very long pause of like twenty minutes before Debbie Ross, a well-known local singer, did the national anthem. It was really nice; I always think of her as kind of an oversinger in the Hazel Miller mode, but she did a very pretty rendition, and everyone hushed right up (unlike for the church choir). Then another long pause, more fluffing and hats being thrown out (good distance on some of them, but nowhere near me!) There was music, and they handed out piles of signs from the front of the crowd to take one and pass them back.

Finally our state’s senior senator Dick Durbin came out to introduce Obama. I’m a big huge fan of Durbin; he’s teriffic.

He kept it surprisingly short. I think the activities were less, and less continuous, just because of the cold. Then he introduced Obama, and “City of Blinding Lights” started up. (I hope he makes that his campaign song!) We couldn’t see very well, and we didn’t see him at first; he, well, he kind of did a Bono and came from the side of the building rather than down the steps. OOH! WE SEE HIM! He did a lot of smiling and waving and some hand shaking and went to the podium. Even though there’d been staff fluffers, the cheering and chanting during the speech were spontaneous. O! Bam! A! from the far side of the yard until he laughed at us. Then he speechified, and if you’re interested, you’ve probably seen and/or heard the speech itself already. We couldn’t really see all the time, but once in a while we could get a glimpse.

We cheered at the appropriate places. The sound system could’ve been a little louder. Every time we cheered, we missed the next few words or half sentence. Couldn’t be helped. We were all holding our cameras over our heads, and people agreeing and amending and nodding and hell yeah and WOO WOO WOO WOO. It was only about a 20-minute speech, very considerate in the cold. He sounded just a little hoarse. What I liked was hearing him find his rhythm, like at the convention, and getting into his tempo and everything. He really gives good speech.

Afterward he waded down into the crowd to shake hands and press the flesh for quite a while. We craned, trying to decide whether he’d gone. When he’d gone closer to the building, we squeezed through a barricade into the main section from our secondary section. He wasn’t there anymore, but you know. I saw that his kids had come out onto the steps of the old capitol and were waiting for him there for the family goodbye wave stuff.

They were cute, all bundled up, the little one looking like her gloves were far too large, the big one helping fix her hat. Obama went and stood with them and waved for a while, then went toward the building (ducking behind those pillars out of sight), to fetch his wife, Michelle, and they all posed and waved to the crowd for a minute.

It was funny because “I Got You” was playing and it was kind of a James Brown moment, he’s gone, no, he’s coming back.

Then we started to shuffle out. The grounds are enclosed by an iron fence, with just a few gates. I’m so glad nothing happened. Seriously, it took twenty minutes to get out of the gates, and if there’d been a scare, or a health emergency, or someone had burst into flames, we could have all been killed. It was kind of a clusterfuck in many ways, from the security going in to the disorderly departure.

At one point I glanced over and saw that the governor was out shaking hands and talking to people, but there weren’t many people looking; nearly nobody even noticed. Who’s the governor next to His Obamaness? (That’s Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the right, walking away.)

There were anti-abortion protestors on a side street, the “bloody fetus sign waving” type, and one could just hear them chanting during the speech, but when I watched it on TV you couldn’t hear them on the broadcast; they weren’t much of a distraction.

My favorite sign was one that said “Lemmings for Obama.” I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a supporter.

I staggered back to my car and called J and came home. He turned on the electric blanket so the bed was warm when I got there. We usually sleep with the blanket set on one or two if it’s really cold, but on 5, I still couldn’t get warm. Finally J turned it up to like 8 and I took a nap and got my equilibrium back. Toward the end, my face had been so painful, I was worried about frostbite. I held a hand with the hot pack in the glove over my face. Later I was pooped, from shivering and from being so tensed up against the cold; I felt like I’d been mountain climbing!

It was really a fun, awesome event. I’m glad I went. I hear a lot of people say they’ve never felt this way about a candidate before. I felt very similar about Clinton, who motivated me to become a voter. The campaign’s just begun, and I also very much like John Edwards, not to mention Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but Obama, he’s something very special.

I realize belatedly that my pictures made the crowd look more overwhelmingly white than it was. I think I just happened to be standing in a section that was pretty white, but the crowd generally was a mix – race, age, gender.

Thanks for reading all this.

This; That

2006-12-06T19:33:00.000-06:00

It's flattering when someone clicks through just to set me straight.

Just to be clear, though, allowing comments, moderating comments, replying to comments, and deleting comments are all at the discretion of the blogger. You're free to say what you wish, and I'm free to do with comments as I wish. Make of that what you will; I promise not to poison your sushi with a chemical element I never heard of before a couple of weeks ago.

Actually, it's kind of like giving someone a present they don't want. You go to a lot of trouble to pick out a knick-knack, but if Aunt Sophie doesn't like it, well, she's just not obligated to put it on the mantle.

I guess five-packs of Cardinals tickets go on sale this weekend, but I think we're going to pass this year. Used to be four-packs, and we always bought them, but it's harder and harder to go to Cardinals games. It's tough to love baseball and hate the regional team, although there's no logical reason to like a team because of geographical coincidence, either. Anyway, even hating the Cardinals, at least the ugly old stadium felt like home. Now we're seeing a team we hate in an unfamiliar stadium, so that's even less fun. I miss being able to walk all the way around the perimeter at the old place - although it was nice having a large sheltered area to cower in during The Big Huge Wind Storm last summer.

Anyway, I think this time we'll focus our effort on spending more for better tickets to fewer games that we really want to attend instead of buying a pack that includes a couple of teams we really want to see and a couple we don't really care for either way.

Gov't Mule Friday! I know I should stay in town and attend a high school band performance instead, but I'm not.

Drive By Truckers, Mississippi Nights, Oct. 25, 2006

2006-11-01T21:59:00.000-06:00

I don’t know why I’ve been putting this off – maybe if I write the review, I’ll have to move on, and the show was so great that I don’t want to forget about it.

J and I had taken the afternoon off work and gotten a hotel room in a smaller town on the Illinois side (cheaper!), so we had a leisurely drive and time to check in to the room and relax before time to drive into town for the show. Despite the world series (and the game ended up being cancelled because of rain anyway), we had no hassles – took the easy bridge and were nice and early. The lot we usually park in was pretty empty, and it was drizzley, so we parked where we could see the venue and waited in the car for a few minutes to keep warm. The tour buses were parked right outside. (If you’re early, you can often see band members going in and out the door where you’re lined up at – apparently there’s no convenient back way for the band.) We saw a few people pass, and eventually saw that someone was in line, and I can’t stand to be early and NOT be in line, so we went ahead.

We bought tickets through the Truckers web site that were will-call only, so we went into the little foyer and picked them up. After us, the shutter went down and everyone else had to wait till the doors opened and get their tickets on the way in, I think. Anyway, there weren’t that many people in line, so there was room for us to wait inside – double doors with windows on either side, so we could peer at the stage and watch the staff eat dinner while we waited. J and I tend not to gab much in line because we’re shy and it seems like we always regret joining the conversation – it always turns into some kind of ‘I’m a bigger fan than you’ kind of subtle bragging match. How many times have you seen them, oh, I’ve seen them five. Not that interested. We didn’t talk much there either but the people around us were cool, and (like us) all from out of town.

When the doors opened there still wasn’t a big huge line. Late crowd, I guess? We sauntered straight down to the floor and parked ourselves square in the middle. Awesome Canadian couple (P.J. and Maria) landed next to us. Their first show, and practically our first, because we just saw them last summer opening for Black Crowes.

Opener was The Drams, three fifths of whom used to be Slobberbone. I regretted not checking out Slobberbone before, so this was redemption night, and we’d gotten the Drams album, which I’d listened to across Indiana on my way home from my Ohio Tour. It was pretty good. They were loud (duh, we were stage-side, on top of the monitors and with the amps pointed at us – I don’t mean to imply that the mix was loud, just that we were standing in a loud place) but enjoyable. I’d brought earplugs, but they make me feel strange and kind of disassociated. I think we’ll have to look into getting some more expensive ones out of a musician’s supply catalog and see if they work better; these were just foam cheapies.

After the Drams they moved the center pair of monitors apart so that Patterson (singer/guitarist) was just to our left and Shonna (bass) was a bit to our right. It was a bit too far, though; during the show he moved his stuff (yanking up tape and prompting a roadie to come help) because he was kind of jammed together on the left half of the stage.

I heard the people next to me talking about Beatle Bob: "I bet he gets onstage, he was onstage at the Flaming Lips." I knew it had to be him. I peered around but didn't see him ... but ten minutes later there he was, five people further down on the left, the one and only. Didn't get onstage, but he did have a good time.

Anyway, the Truckers were amazing. We were so close, we grinned the whole time, and they had so much energy and played so well (even though, as I said, we weren’t in the optimal place for sound; that’s the ‘being really close to the stage’ tradeoff). LOUD! So much enthusiasm. Their stage includes a velvet elvis and a velvet Jesus hovering over a semi truck. What’s not to love? Along with a big bottle of Jack Daniels that they share during the show. Especially Patterson. By the end they were all lit and Patterson was holding the bottle for the other band members. There were so many moments, eye contact, smiles, hand touches, practically moshing down there, screaming and singing even though I wasn’t supposed to because I need my lungs to live. I don’t know when I’ve seen J have such a good time, either. It was great. I’m happy when he’s happy. Great set list. Patterson at the end like if Bono were an unpretentious six-foot-fiver from Alabama all drunk and sweaty standing over us singing to the back of the house, with us leaning back away looking straight up at him and hoping he didn’t swing the mike stand and accidentally kill us. I actually ducked away from kicks. During the encore on his knees, yanking the mike cord and us all helping tilt the monitors to free it, screaming, holding the mike out for Canada Maria, and J, and then I, to scream back at him. J said later “Nobody’s ever screamed in my face like that; it was kind of weird.” But awesome. Screaming back at the top of my voice, feeling as sweaty and bold as he was. The kind of crowd interaction that just feeds the band, and the band feeds it back to the crowd, and the crowd gives it back again, and everything gets hotter and louder and drunker and bigger. Here’s a picture J found on flicker featuring the back of my head.

Set list:
1. Marry Me
2. Ronnie & Neil
3. Never Gonna Change
4. Feb. 14
5. Gravity’s Gone
6. Sinkhole (“damned if I wouldn’t go to church on Sunday and look the preacher in the eye”)
7. Goddamn Lonely Love
8. Do It Yourself
9. When the Pin Hits the Shell ("you can't lie to nobody with that cold steel in your face")
10. The Living Bubba
11. Moonlight Mile
12. Steve McQueen (“the baddest motherfucker on the silver screen”)
13. Dead, Drunk and Naked
14. Guitar Man Upstairs (“Think I’m gonna call the po-lice”)
15. The Day John Henry Died
16. Puttin’ People on the Moon (“Goddamned Bush is in the white house”)
17. Space City
18. Hell No, I Ain’t Happy (“but I ain’t too crappy!”)
19. Lookout Mountain
-encore-
20. Dress Blues
21. Let There Be Rock
22. Shut Up and Get On The Plane
23. Buttholeville (“never going back never going back never going”)
24. People Who Died (“they were my friends, and they fucking died! They fucking died!”)

They don’t make an actual set list (though I was in prime position to get one, if they did), they decide on the fly (although many of their shows do feature many of the same songs, so they have it in mind) without a lot of wasted time in between.

At the end when Patterson introduced Mike Cooley, Cooley just stood there drinking from the bottle and giving the room the finger while we applauded. One of the funniest damned things I’ve ever seen. Awesome.

Afterward, as I said, the venue doesn’t have the greatest floor plan for the band, but it’s great for the audience. The dressing room’s in a corner and its wall on one side and the edge of the stage on the other side make a kind of hallway. They have a security guy sit at the audience end, and if you want to meet the band you hang around there and hope they come out. But you’re so close, if the dressing room door opens you can call to them and see them and hopefully persuade them. That’s what we did, and they came out one at a time, Shonna first, she was so cute and sweet and totally held her own up there with the guys and why ever not? Go Shonna. EZB the drummer, Jason, then a pause. A couple of chicks had squeezed in ahead of us, but it wasn’t a line, it was like a circle. One of them kept telling the band it was her birthday would they PLEASE sign something? J brought the only sharpie anyone had, so birthday chick then would say “And it’s their sharpie so could you please sign for them too???” and we let everyone use the sharpie and it worked out well. Then I saw Patterson come out and I made eye contact and he saw us all and came over. He didn’t look so gigantic when he wasn’t towering over me on a three-foot stage. Hee. Something made him laugh, I forget, oh, J had a liner booklet and I was just having them sign my ticket, and it was so full when I handed it to Patterson that he just kind of looked at it, bemused, and I said, “You could initial it,” and he laughed a little and scrawled at it. Cooley was last and he turned it over to sign on the back because it was so full.

Also here’s the DBT fan message boards.

I think I’m kind of in love. But I don’t know with what, or whom. It was the best show I’d seen in so long, and J and I were just wrung-out exhausted after. After all the autographs and everything we limped back to the car and got to the hotel in minutes.

Next day we went back into the city and had lunch at Duff’s, my favorite restaurant in the whole world, then went window-shopping at a ‘centre’ we hadn’t been to before (high-end! Yikes!) and then came home.

My only regret really is that I didn't take a camera. I wasn't sure of the venue policy and they returned my e-mail too late. But it would've been a big distraction anyway. I was already keeping a set list, singing, moshing, standing, keeping track of our jackets and junk on the stage, breathing, yelling. I could've gotten some good ones, but me taking them with my camera, they wouldn't have been that good anyway. I'm just trying not to think about it so I'm not really pissed that I didn't take it. I said to J, next time I'm on the fence, just tell me to take it. sigh. Could've gotten a picture of me with Patterson!!

Halloweenfest

2006-10-22T22:06:00.000-05:00

Friday night husband J and I went to the Jack-o'-the-Lantern event at Washington Park, a fundraiser for the Carillon Society. Here are some pictures:

scary face!

I never would have thought of this. loved it.

I loved this one too.

This one was a lot more impressive before we saw two others just like it and figured it must've been a pattern sold somewhere. But we respected it a lot before that.

This one cracked my shit up.

Ruthie Foster, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Bo Diddley, Oct. 17, 2006

2006-10-22T22:03:00.000-05:00

The first opener was Ruthie Foster. Someone had given me a burned copy of one of her cds to prep with, but I didn't really love it. She had a good voice, but it was kind of soul gospel, which doesn't really trip me. (J called this the Keb' Mo' syndrome.) But in person, it was just her and an acoustic guitar. First of all, she could really play; she wasn't just someone who thinks of herself as a singer but has to accompany herself. Secondly, I loved her stage presence; she gave off a great, personable vibe with good, conversational rapport. Thirdly, great voice. And fourthly, her song choices were much more bluesy than I'd anticipated. She had me at Sister Rosetta Tharpe, really, but Brownie McGhee? Get outta town. Very nice. I wish her set had been longer, really.

Second was Alvin Youngblood Hart.
here's a picture:

J and I saw him open for B.B. King several years ago, but then he was doing an acoustic thing. This time he was electrified. I don't know whether he played with The Bo Diddley Band or whether his band also backed Bo, but it was the same band (including him). He was, again, really good. J and I both prefer his bluesier stuff to when he goes for a more straightforward rock sound. In particular, he did a mean version of "In My Time of Dying" dedicated to the late Freddy Fender. Good stuff.

After the break, Bo Diddley.
He began inauspiciously with pedal trouble. Strangely, it looked like he didn't have a guitar tech; the guy who came out to help is a local sound guy we know. (The place was crawling with local sound guys, actually.) He was funny, though. "I think it broke," he said, then shook his head. "A hundred and forty dollars."

Anyway, I try to cut an 80-year-old blues legend some slack. And for me the point was really to be in the same room with Bo Diddley while he's alive. The only comparable artists I've seen are B.B. King and Buddy Guy. B.B., I'd say, is physically more comparable to Bo; while obese rather than slim, he likewise sits the whole time, and his band carries a lot of the show. He does play more than Bo did, but his show is a big time kind of vegas production in some ways, very choreographed, including banter. Buddy Guy was physically vigorous and still able to play well, but he was ... instead of playing a bunch of songs, he'd play a song, then do a thing where he played and talked and made a medley and screwed around. Well, bo was like that, only much more so. If I'd really expected a lot of killer guitar playing, I'd have been sorely disappointed. He hardly played at all. He did talk a lot. From a non-legend perspective, it wasn't worth it at all. But I did 'see' Bo Diddley, and, well, I have a greatest hits cd when I need to really hear him. I just felt very sad afterward, and so did J. He seemed so old. I know he is old, but he really seemed like he should be retired. I hate to say that. sigh. stupid blues.

Here's a web site that's on tripod but looks like it wants to be his official site:
click and here's his wikipedia entry.

Here are a coupla pictures of him:

Old Crow Medicine Show and Wilco at Cincinnati's Tall Stacks Festival

2006-10-14T01:08:00.000-05:00

I went on an Ohio road trip last weekend, and on Saturday my friend Shannon, her husband, and I went to OCMS and Wilco at festival last Saturday.

We got there and got a space not five minutes before the band before Wilco started. We were there for Wilco, but I rather like OCMS, so it worked well for me.

OCMS setlist (best I could do):

1. Cocaine Habit (aka Woody Guthrie's "Take a Whiff On Me")
2. (Johnny got your gun? unsure)
3. Down Home Girl
4. Big Time in the Jungle
5. Poor Man
6. Union Maid
7. (eastbound train? unsure)
8. God's Got It
9. I Hear Them All
10. Bobcat Tracks
11. Minglewood Blues
12. Wagon Wheel
13. Hard to Tell
14. Tear It Down
15. Band Intros/Tell It To Me
encore
16. (mother earth? unsure)
17. Hard to Love

Here's how far away we were:

J and I saw OCMS in St. Louis a couple of years ago opening for Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. We had their first - only, at the time - CD, which (like the new one) was produced by David Rawlings, and he sat in with their whole set when we saw them before, which was great. In St. Louis when they did band intros he introduced them by names of well-known St. Louis Cardinals past (baseball team), and I'd forgotten all about that until, in Cincinnati, he introduced them as great 70s Cincinnati Reds players and manager. hah. Anyway, they were as frenetic as ever, but their mellower stuff held up pretty well too. I couldn't listen to them every day, but I find that I'm more tolerant of some kinds of country music as long as it's not mainstream radio country ("hat music"). If it's alt.country or bluegrass or classic old monaural or folk-thrash, I can dig it. I think it's about the authenticity. Popular country music today is the suckiest of the most unauthentic music ever.

For Wilco we squirmed half again as close, I suppose. Visibility varied, but later I got a better view when things shifted around.
Wilco set list:
1. The Late Greats
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. (I know you're not listening? unsure.bad fan!)
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
5. War on War
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Jesus etc.
8. Walken
9. Airline to Heaven
10. Theologians
11. I'm the Man Who Loves You
12. Misunderstood
13. Forget the Flowers
14. Hummingbird
(encore)
15. Heavy Metal Drummer
16. (Carried Away? unsure/new?)
17. Kingpin

Or, if you're keeping score:
Four from A Ghost is Born
Five from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Three from Being There
A shocking mere one from Summerteeth
One from the Mermaid Avenue sessions (not California Stars, either!)
And possibly three new. Walken is definitely new (although they played it last time we saw them).

Anyway, despite our difficulties seeing, they were really on, and the older stuff and the brand new stuff all got as good responses as the last couple of albums stuff, so it's good. Crowd was really into it, musicianship was smoking. Wilco just does not disappoint. I dont' know how many times I've seen them now, must be going on half a dozen, and each time I'm reminded what a really, really great band they are. They're still doing that really huge thing at the end of "Misunderstood" - if you've seen them, you know. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! It's awesome. And I always love "Kingpin." They didn't do any truly old stuff - I like when they do New Madrid, and Casino Queen is always fun, but at a festival, short set, etc. Boy, now I want to see a whole night again soon.

Some bad, distant photos:

At the end, the crew was slow to come out, so I went down to try for a set list, thinking I'd still have a chance. No such luck, it was not to be, so I tried to get a picture of pedal board instead. No luck there either - couldn't get over the monitor.

Ah, at last I figure out how to get a title

2006-09-26T00:57:00.000-05:00

Yeah. I'm dim. It's been that kind of week.

Eric Clapton/Robert Cray show

2006-09-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

We saw Eric Clapton at the newly renamed Scottrade Center Monday, Sept. 18.

Set list
Pretending
I Shot The Sheriff
Got To Get Better In A Little While
Old Love (with Robert Cray)
Everybody Oughta Make A Change
Motherless Children

(sit down set)
Back Home
I Am Yours
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
Running On Faith

After Midnight (fast version)
Little Queen Of Spades
Further On Up The Road
Wonderful Tonight
Layla
Cocaine

Encore
Crossroads (with Robert Cray)

Some Links
Here are some reviews of the show, more like fan comments really.

Opener Robert Cray:
Robert Cray dot com.
Robert Cray in wikipedia

Eric Clapton dot com
Eric Clapton in wikipedia
Where's Eric? tour site

Eric's guitarists this tour:
Doyle Bramhall II
Doyle 2nd dot com (his official site)
Not to be confused with his father, drummer Doyle Bramhall
Doyle II in wikipedia

Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks dot com
Derek Trucks in wikipedia

I encourage you to have a visit to Derek's site in particular.

As you might know, Doyle is left-handed and plays lefty-strung-righty, which means that he just flips a right-handed guitar over instead of restringing it. So instead of playing a mirror image, he's playing upside down. It's disorienting to watch, because you know that you go here for higher notes, but Doyle goes there instead.

Derek Trucks, meanwhile, is pretty much the second coming as far as I'm concerned. He's a better guitarist than anyone else who was in the house, and that includes Clapton. While Doyle uses a huge pedal board, Derek plugs straight into the amp and basically plays with his brain. He doesn't use a pick, either. He's a savant. He ... he plays straight into you. You don't know with your brain that he's a great guitarist, you know it in the part of your spirit that's why you love music to start with. Get a video, find footage of him. Seriously.

(If you also know that he's the nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks and basically replaces Duane Allman, and if you know that Duane Allman played with Clapton for the Derek and the Dominos session, well it's getting to be a pretty small world out there.)

We were in the 19th row on the floor, which could've been worse. But boy, does it look further away from the pictures I took. I also shot just a little video on the down low, and I’ve uploaded the three-minute, 61,400k “Wonderful Tonight” (all but the first verse – sorry) (posted at the end of this post). Photobucket would NOT let me load the other video, which is the entirety of "Crossroads," at 6:42, 143,000k.

Okay. Robert Cray was awesome. He really has his own very distinctive tone, so buttery and sweet and yet bluesy. Delicious. He did at least "Phone Booth," "Poor Johnny," "I'm Walkin'," and "Twenty," and a couple more for a 35-minute set. "Twenty" in particular is not only a great song but was a very heartfelt rendition. He introduced it as a song about a young man who joined the military after 9/11 to try to avenge some of the acts of 9/11 but instead was sent to Iraq. heh. Well put, Bob.

Not too close.

A bit closer.

Closer still.

Okay. Eric. Eric's set was great; he never seemed like a geezer up there, and his playing was as ever. Derek's playing was a beautiful partner to Eric's, especially as in "Layla" when he played this lovely womanly slide part on top of Eric's part.

"Pretending" was a great opener. "I Shot the Sheriff" was fun and the two female backup singers were nice and, I don't know, kind of howley like Bob Marley's singers could be. "Motherless Children" was another standout. They broke down for a semi-acoustic sit-down set in the middle, in which "Running on Faith" was one of the kickers and Derek particularly stood out again. It's not that Doyle wasn't good, but he was a little ... withdrawn, maybe? He took his solos, but he never really seemed to bust out, he was a little quieter, and he turned his back to the audience quite a bit. Maybe a bad night?

Then a ripping "After Midnight" - everyone was boogeying! - a very nice Little Queen of Spades, electrified, not the acoustic version. I've always had a kind of soft spot for "Wonderful Tonight," even though it's kind of sappy. And closing the set with "Layla" - oh, beautiful! - and straight into "Cocaine" was just *flails wordlessly*. The break before the encore was a little long, and then the encore consisted solely of "Crossroads" with Robert Cray back out with the band.

Here are some pictures. Either my camera's just not good with the crazy lighting or else I don't know how to set it to compensate for the crazy concert lighting. I'm shooting without flash, which would be silly, but J thinks maybe the lens has to stay open too long or the lights just overwhelm the camera or something. Anyway.

Doyle, Derek, Eric

With Robert Cray

Can you see the big projection of Clapton's head on the backdrop?

And the “Wonderful Tonight” clip.

Bono and Larry get haircuts

2006-09-17T19:11:00.000-05:00

Stolen from various places on the web. Bono’s new haircut looks pretty good.

Bono’s not the only one who got a haircut, though.

Historical record: Here’s what Bono looked like a year ago this week outside the United Center.

And here’s Larry a year ago this week.

It seems like so long ago, the U2 concerts in Chicago last year, but I remember it so vividly, too. Getting up before dawn to get to the United Center by 6 or 7 a.m., the sitting, the walking, the waiting, the cold, the hot, the thirst, the hunger, the uncleanliness, the thirst, the waiting, the exhaustion, the chills! The thrills!

Bob Dylan - New Yorker article

2006-09-10T01:54:00.000-05:00

I was behind in my magazine reading, so I hadn't seen the thing in the last New Yorker about a collection of interviews with Bob Dylan coming out in book form.

The author (of the article) says that Dylan is, at least, a better interview than Elvis, because Elvis really just didn't have anything to say. But the thing about Dylan is, he lies. He lies like a dog. He also doesn't brook fools. But, of course, the other thing is that interviews used to be so much worse for musicians because the interviewers were a thousand years old and the music was new. I mean, you've seen the footage of interviews with the Beatles and Stones and Bob and everyone back then. Nobody in the media knew what to do.

(We saw a very funny example of this recently - a retrospective on drugs and pop culture and music, in which an interviewer asked Lou Reed whether, given that he made so many drug references in his songs, he himself used drugs. Perfectly straight, perfectly sincere, Lou replied that he was high on life, thank you very much. J and I nearly peed our pants laughing. It was nice not to hate Lou Reed for a minute.)

But back to the Dylan piece.

In one excerpt, from 1978, Bob talks about the "wild mercury" sound from Blonde on Blonde and before Highway 61, the Byrds and Beatles and "That ethereal twilight light, you know. It's the sound of the street with the sunrays, the sun shining down at a particular time, on a particular type of building. A particular type of people walking on a particular type of street. It's an outdoor sound that drifts even into open windows that you can hear. The sound of bells and distant railroad trains and arguments in apartment buildings and the clinking of silverware and knives and forks and beating with leather straps. ... All pretty natural sounds. It's water, you know water trickling down a brook. It's light flowing through the -"

Interviewer: "Late-afternoon light?"

Bob: "No, it's usually the crack of dawn. Music filters out to me in the crack of dawn."

And, at the end of the article, the author won my heart unreservedly:
"Dylan is also, despite the silly things people said about his voice when he started out, one of pop music's greatest vocalists. His chief weakness is a tendency to shout, particularly in performance (and he is, let us say, an inconsistent performer); but, when he is in control of the instrument, no one's voice, with that kind of music, is more textured or more beautiful. Ninety percent of musicianship is phrasing, and the easiest way to appreciate Dylan's genius for phrasing is to listen to him, on bootlegs or on the late albums of traditional songs, perform songs that he didn't write - "Folsom Prison Blues," or "People Get Ready," or "Froggie Went A-Courtin." He gets it all. When my children were little, we used to have a cassette around the house of songs for kids by pop stars, on which Dylan did "This Old Man" ("With a knick-knack paddywhack, give the dog a bone"). That performance had the weight of the whole world in it. I listened to it a hundred times and never got tired of it. You can refute Hegel, Yeats said, but not the Song of Sixpence."

Ahhhhh.

Nature walk, wildlife pictures

2006-09-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

Sunday we spent a wonderful morning at Lincoln Memorial Garden.

We saw and heard a number of the usual seagulls and woodpeckers that are too small or too far away to identify, your Canada goose, your probably-mallard ducks, and a little guy I remembered to look up when we got home - the white-breasted nuthatch, a cute little fellow. I showed J the picture in the book, and he confirmed. I noticed the markings on the head particularly; I think we saw a male. Then we were walking alongside the water and happened to come to an open space in the trees and look up just as a heron went by, not all that far away. They're so magnificent.

We saw spiderwebs aplenty, and walked through plenty of them too - ugh:

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Guess it's a moth.

So bright!

The trails branch off a lot, and we were walking along when we both happened to glance to the left down a fork we were passing, and froze:

The trails made a kind of triangle; we were at one end, the deer was at another, and there were other people at the third point for a while, watching the deer too. We saw several of them, but not really grouped together for pictures. They totally knew we were there, but we were quiet and kept still, so they didn't worry too much.

We walked on, and they crossed the trail in front of us after awhile. From time to time after that we could see them through the trees, but eventually we parted ways, feeling very lucky. Deer here, while common, are fairly skittish. For a hundred-pound animal, I was struck, as always, by their slim legs and tiny little hooves, their nimble grace, and their quietness in the woods.

Work with me, Pollstar

2006-08-31T20:23:00.000-05:00

I'm having trouble lately getting my Pollstar updates to load. I'm not sure, but it seems to have started around the time they added a video thing to the listing page, so that might be blocking it or something. I need my pollstar. There's a Wilco listing just sitting there right now. And a Pageant listing.

I love the heady rush when you open the e-mail and see a cross-listing of band and venue and put it all together, though.

This week the new Bob Dylan album came out, and I picked it up at Recycled Records, along with the new Old Crow Medicine Show and the remaining Drive By Truckers that we didn't yet have.

The Dylan, "Modern Times," is self-produced. Ten tracks plus 4-track dvd bonus, and I think I got the last one of those that Recycled had Tuesday. hee. I'm not the hugest Old Crow Medicine Show fan - they're very talented, but it's so hardcore, it's tough to listen to much. J and I are always talking about what a fine line and hard to define difference it can be, between country and alt-country and all. Anyway, we saw OCMS open for Gillian Welch and David Rawlings a few years ago, and they were definitely smokin'. Rawlings sat in with them the whole set, which was amazing too. Their album, "Big Iron World," has 12 tracks, and, as J observed, "Hey, there's another song with 'cocaine' in the title on this album too." hah. Then the Truckers, Gangstabilly, 11 tracks, many of which we have on later live albums. It'll be interesting to hear the original of 18 Wheels of Love. And any album with a song called "Panties In Your Purse" is okay by me.

Balloon festival!

2006-08-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

Saturday husband J and I went to the hot-air balloon festival in nearby Lincoln, Illinois. It's an annual event there, but you don't see stuff like that around otherwise, and we'd never gone, so this year, why not. It was cheap, it was a nice drive, and it was neat. I don't know anything about either ballooning or science (hot air rises?), so if you do, please have patience. But it was very nifty. There was some delay and question whether they'd inflate, as 'weather' was moving through, and it did rain a bit, but they did end up inflating, although only a few actually took off. But we were allowed to mingle freely among them and watch the whole process, so I put together a kind of timeline of it in photo form - 17 after the cut. J said the coolness stemmed from how it managed to be old-fashioned and simple, yet kind of techy too. Plus everyone likes fire. The fire blasts were loud, and also hot, like when (in olden times) you'd go to a concert and feel the heat from the pyro blasts. anyhoo.

We noticed in the paper that one of the pilots was named Jerry Garcia. We also noticed that one of the crews was lookin’ sharp all in matching tie-dye. Sadly, this was not the Garcia crew! However, we decided that a tie-dye balloon would have been righteous.

The balloons got unloaded out of surprisingly small packages and unfolded along the ground for inflation.

I’d assumed it would be a huge, intricate thing to inflate them and would take a loooong time. No, you just set up a fan and let ‘er rip, apparently.

You got yer basket; you got yer fan.

It turns into a giant cave that seriously tempts one into running inside it.

A bunch of them began to inflate

and then began to erect. I’m just guessing that the fan blows regular air into them for size and shape and the hot air from the torch blasts is what makes them, you know, floaty.

Each balloon has a guide wire or tether thing controlled by crew members as it turns to stand upright.

Everyone likes fire.

We have liftoff!

Sadly, not many of them flew because of weather and dusk. I’d have liked more pictures of them aloft.

However, we were allowed to walk freely among them, which was neat, and also like being in a room full of elephants, in a way.

The funny with this one has got to be unintentional, but woah.

This is the coolest balloon ever. I hope you can see the Pink Floyd thing as well as the peace thing.

As it got dark, they looked awesome illuminated by the torches.

Then it got dark, and they took them down not long after, and we went home.

Drive By Truckers! At Mississippi Nights!

2006-08-13T01:33:00.000-05:00

Just scored tickets for a surprise Drive By Truckers show at Mississippi Nights in STL Oct. 24. GA, and even J, who's not very fond of waiting in line, is serious about it this time, to the extent that we'll probably take a half day off work. It's going to be brutal in the pit; they play for hours all sweaty and Southern. We're disappointed it's not at The Pageant, but we'll get by. Only $17, or $21 each including fees. Really, if they'd just charge $20 for the tickets and a $1 fee, one wouldn't feel so screwed. It's not even a ticketmaster venue.

The dbt web site (above) mentions that Patterson Hood's next solo album should be released in 2007 - have I mentioned how very much I love his previous release Killers and Stars? It's one of those acoustic albums recorded in someone's kitchen that somehow comes out sounding splendid, with just a few chair-creaking kind of noises. Also Jason Isbell is releasing a solo album soon, so we'll have to check that out too. /whore

(For you Wilco fans, btw, Mississippi Nights is a club on the Landing by the river where UT and Son Volt and everybody used to play. Actually, everyone has played there at some point, including U2. It's been around forever.)

Anyway, if one more thing happens in October, it has to be a weeknight, that's for sure. We already have every weekend booked plus two weekday concerts, AND we'll have to find some other time to visit my mother this year - end of September or beginning of November instead of our usual. I'd be half tempted to try to hit Cyndi Lauper at the Pageant if I wasn't just getting back from Ohio the day before! yeesh, y'all. also yay.
D!B!T!

Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin', Wakin' Up Screamin'

2006-07-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of John Scalzi, some hilarious comments on the band Journey. I say lol, but I rarely laugh aloud when I'm reading something - this, I did.
---

In the circles I run in, Journey is looked on with something less than regard, which means that the band's cultural persistence irritates and terrifies most people I know. I remember ten years ago, when the Escape-era line-up reteamed for the Trial By Fire, Ted Rall declared that the reunion album would debut to massive indifference, so I bet him a fiver that the album would enter the charts in top five. In fact, it debuted at #3, and Ted still owes me $5. Look, people like Journey. It's like the multivitamin of rock: It's got the rockers for the boys, the ballads for the girls, Neal Schon's technically impressive fret work, Steve Perry's swoopingly expressive voice, Jonathan Cain's major-chord bell ringing keyboards, Steve Smith's thundering drums, and whatever the hell it was Ross Valory brought to the party (mostly, a droopy 'stache). Maybe it's not in the best taste, but name a multivitamin that tastes good. No, Flintstones don't count. So chalky.

The other thing, which is what I told Ted at the time, is that for the vast majority of Suburban Americans between the age of 14 and 24 in the early 80s, when it was time to make out and you put Escape on the turntable, you were automatically spotted two bases. Honestly, if you didn't have a hand under a bra or massaging a button fly by the end of "Who's Crying Now," Steve Perry would stop what he was doing, fly to your house and then beat the crap out of you for blowing a sure thing. God forbid you actually flipped the LP, because then, baby, you were going home. There's an entire generation of white 22-to-25-year olds walking around today whose moment of conception is largely coincident to the second chorus of "Open Arms." These people will be driving along with their moms, that song will come on that radio, their moms will get a small, wistful smile, and these people will spend the next three minutes, nineteen seconds uncontrollably shuddering.

Good times, good times.

Anyway, that's why all you snobs will never be rid of Journey; too many other people got lucky with Steve Perry yodeling in the background. Deal with it. It could have been worse. There's a whole bunch of 15-to-20-year-olds whose mothers were inseminated to Warrant. No amount of therapy will ever make that right.

Some Drive By Truckers lyrics

2006-07-25T18:26:00.000-05:00

The beautiful thing about the Drive By Truckers is that they have three great songwriters in the band.

Yesterday I was listening to two songs over and over. Here are the lyrics.

Lookout Mountain, by Patterson Hood
(this one's faster, with a killer hook)

If I throw myself off Lookout Mountain
No more for my soul to keep
I wonder who will drive my car
I wonder if my Mom will weep

If I throw myself off Lookout Mountain
No more pain my soul to bear
No more worries about paying taxes
What to eat, what to wear

Who will end up with my records?
Who will end up with my tapes?
Who will pay my credit card bills?
Who's gonna pay for my mistakes?

If I throw myself off Lookout Mountain
who will ever hear my songs?
Who's gonna mow the cemetery when all of my family's gone?
Who will Mom and Daddy find to continue the family name?
Who will stand there taking credit, who will lay there passing blame?

Who will lay there passing blame?

and
Goddamn Lonely Love, by Jason Isbell
(This one's slower and gorgeous)

I got green and I got blues
and everyday there's a little less difference between the two.
So I belly-up and disappear.
Well I ain't really drowning 'cause I see the beach from here.

I could take a Greyhound home but when I got there it'd be gone
along with everything a home is made up of.
So I'll take two of what you're having and I'll take all of what you got
to kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love.

Sister, listen to what your daddy says.
Don't be ashamed of things that hide behind your dress.
Belly-up and arch your back.
Well I ain't really falling asleep; I'm fading to black.

You could come to me by plane, but that wouldn't be the same
as that old motel room in Texarkana was.
So I'll take two of what you're having and I'll take all of what you got
to kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love.

Stop me if you've heard this one before:
A man walks into a bar and leaves before his ashes hit the floor.
Stop me if I ever get that far.
The sun's a desperate star that burns like every single one before.

And I could find another dream,
one that keeps me warm and clean
but I ain't dreamin' anymore, I'm waking up.
So I'll take two of what you're having and I'll take everything you got
to kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love.

All I got is this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love.

The Pink Floyd

2006-07-15T17:27:00.000-05:00

We watched the concert portion of the Pulse dvd last night. Thank goodness it's finally out on dvd. I was thinking of writing a post about all I remember about seeing the concert in real life. It was a long time ago, and there are a lot bits I remember clearly as well as a lot of bits I don't, but this stands out, really:
It was like god.

One of the bonus features (although the menu has the grace to call them "features," because, really) is the films that show in concert for certain songs. This is something I've wanted for years and years: "too bad you can't just get those films on video!" They're directed by Storm Thorgeson, who is a gawd. He's done much of their most memorable art (and many other things besides, such as that Cranberries album with the eye?). One thing I really like is that he likes to create a tangible 3d thing. Need 500 hospital beds on the beach? Storm brings 500 actual hospital beds to the actual beach. It shows; you can tell, even while you're like but how can that guy really have like an 80-foot cape? what's holding it?

While we're Floyding, Here's a link to a great story from 2002 from the Observer. It's a profile of/history of/encounter with Syd Barrett, and ... if you're wondering who Syd Barrett was, OR if you're a fan, there's a lot of information and interesting stuff here.

It looks like we won't be going to Tom Waits unless he adds a St. Louis date. The short version is that we have a scheduling conflict with the Chicago date, and the long version is that I'm willing to go to a lot more trouble and more expense to get to a concert than J is. So there's one for the great list of regretted missed concerts. I hate that list.

Jimbo Mathus in Springfield

2006-07-13T13:15:00.000-05:00

Apparently Jimbo Mathus is going to be in town tonight.
Jimbo Mathus Dot Net.
His myspace page.
Perhaps best known as a Squirrel Nut Zipper, he's now a scruffy north-Mississippi trance-blues guitarist, the zoot suit replaced by ill-fitting jeans. He'll be at the Underground City Tavern, where, unfortunately, music doesn't start till 10 even on weeknights. It's a work night, and I'm old; most nights around 10:00 I'm barely energetic enough to turn on The Daily Show, so we might or might not make it out.

Here are my not-very-in-depth comments from when we saw him open for Buddy Guy last year at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre in St. Louis:
Our tickets said "an evening with," and apparently the theater management aren't aware of what that means, because there was an opener - but that was cool, as it was Jimbo Mathus - you might know him as James Mathus from the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but he's put away the zoot suit and donned redneck gear. He worked on Buddy Guy's last couple of albums and (therefore, obviously) is big into the north Mississippi blues style - that kind of trancelike blues where you can play the same chord for the whole song, you know? Mmmmmnuh. So Jimbo was pretty good. He was kind of sloppy, but it's not a precision genre, so we forgave. Also his dog Sue was with him, and she hung out on stage most of the time, venturing out to greet the audience from time to time, or nosing at Jimbo's leg as he played. Once she started to run off with the KB volume pedal and a roadie had to save it. heh. Adorable pooch.

No word on whether the dog's with him this time.

Tom Waits tour. No, really!

2006-07-06T12:42:00.000-05:00

Big news.

Huge news.

Really big, huge news.

Tom Waits schedule as announced by Pollstar.com thus far:
Tue 08/01/06 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
Wed 08/02/06 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Fri 08/04/06 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
Sat 08/05/06 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
Mon 08/07/06 Louisville, KY Louisville Palace
Wed 08/09/06 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
Fri 08/11/06 Detroit, MI Opera House
Sun 08/13/06 Akron, OH Akron Civic Center

DBT, Robert Randolph, and Black Crowes show

2006-06-25T18:38:00.000-05:00

Drive By Truckers, Robert Randolph, and Black Crowes, Friday, June 23, IMB Bank Pavilion, St. Louis.

We made sure to be plenty early because we just saw the Crowes not that long ago and we were really in it for the Truckers, even though they were first and it would only be about half an hour. So J had gotten us seats that were pretty decent for the place, dead center but in the second section, not the very front. Still, $20, so hey. We were pretty happy.

Still, you hope a band you like gets a good reception, and there weren't many people there for the Truckers. In fact, the Good Section was very empty (although there was some sort of VIP GA action down there that we never really figured out). So I thought, you know, J and I are terrible at sneaking or boldfacing our way into better seats; I've had a large beer; I'm just going to ask. So I asked the bouncers in the front of our section, you know, we really love the Truckers and we'll move when the people come whose seats they are, but I just wondered whether my husband and I could just ...? The bouncers were kind of frowny about it, but a security guy overheard and pointed me to a security woman at another section and told me to go ask her. So I went and asked her, and she said she'd ask a manager but she didn't think it would be a problem but she'd come back and let us know. I pointed out where we were sitting and went back to wait anxiously, and about that time the Truckers started. This is where we were sitting:

Anyway, after they'd started she came back and said the manager was getting back to her and someone was sick and they had to take care of that first. But then she did come back and took us off to the side and down and into the front section and told us just to grab a seat in this particular row, so we did. She walked us in past the bouncer at the end and in front of the bouncers at the back. So yay! These were the new seats - less central, but much closer.

The Truckers were great. I'd forgotten my Set List Notepad (tm), but they started with "Heathens" and ended with "Let There Be Rock," and in between they played
Uncle Frank
John Henry
Feb. 14
Never Gonna Change
Marry Me
Aftermath and
Lookout Mountain

It was an awesome set and a nice mix from various albums, although we'd expected primarily new stuff since they have a new album. It was particularly nice to hear "Let There Be Rock," which I have a new affection for. mmm.

Here are the lyrics; maybe you have to be either a hillbilly or my age (or both) to really love this, but stick in the names of whatever bands really turn you on. Patterson Hood said something like "This is a song about how rock and roll saved my life in 1977 and every word of it is true."

"Let There Be Rock."
Dropped acid at a Blue Oyster Cult concert, fourteen years old,
And I thought them lasers were a spider chasing me.
On my way home, got pulled over in Rogersville, Alabama,
with a half-ounce of weed and a case of Sterling Big Mouth.
My buddy Gene was driving, he’d just barely turned sixteen.
And I'd like to say, I'm sorry, but we lived to tell about it
And we lived to do a whole lot more crazy, stupid shit.
And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet
With 38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band.

One night when I was seventeen, I drank a fifth of vodka on an empty stomach,
then drove over to a friend's house.
And I backed my car between his parents’ Cadillacs without a scratch.
Then crawled to the back door and slithered through the keyhole
and sneaked up the stairs and puked in the toilet.
I passed out and nearly drowned but his sister, Dee Dee, pulled me out.
And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet
And the band that I was in played The Boys are Back in Town.

Skynyrd was set to play Huntsville, Alabama, in the spring of 77
I had a ticket but it got cancelled.
So the show, it was rescheduled for the Street Survivors Tour.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
So I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Ozzy Osbourne
with Randy Rhoads in 82 Right before that plane crash.
And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw AC/DC
With Bon Scott singing, Let There Be Rock Tour.
With Bon Scott singing, let there be rock!

And considering the crowd was rather thin, they got a great reception, with lots of cheering, so we were glad of that. I can't wait to see them headline. We skipped them at Mississippi Nights a couple of years ago, but I'm just hoping they come to the Pageant soon. We'll get down there on the floor and sweat our heads off. heh.

After that we were kind of afraid to leave and go to the bathroom, because we didn't want to not be allowed back into the section, but what we did was walk out very past the bouncer and make sure she saw us, and then when we came back I made sure I had my ticket showing in my hand but didn't offer it and we just walked past her and right back to our spots. And later there was a ton of coming and going and nobody sitting anywhere near us was in the right seats, so that was all right and we relaxed about it.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band are good. They're like ... Steely Dan with Ben Harper sitting in, and Robert looks like LL Cool J's snuggly bear brother. Mmmm. However, while I respect what they do, it's not really our thing. In fact, when I see a jam band, it really kind of reinforces that the only jam band I really love is the Allman Bros. Band.

Robert Randolph:

Then the Crowes came on, finally. Their stage was a little different from when we saw them last year; instead of draperies in the back and a gazillion electric candles in the front, they went more psychadelic, with blacklights and a big backdrop. They still had a guy come out with dozens of incense sticks before they started, though. I wasn't keeping a setlist, but, like last year, they didn't play their couple of biggest hits, although they did plenty of good stuff and it was a hippie peace and love jam fest. I'm really loving how Chris Robinson is so into it. He's like walking meditation except he's doing dancing hippie meditation.

And a picture I took of the video screen near us, for good measure.

Here's about 42 seconds of video during "Thorn in my Pride."

CD acquisitions

2006-06-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's music acquisitions:
Finally, the new Neko Case;
Finally, The Little Willies;
Finally, The Wailin' Jennys;
and, on impulse, a new album by The Corrs of traditional Irish music.
That last rather repelled the hubby, who still can't figure out what I like about the Corrs. Well, I'm not sure either; sure, the voices are beautiful, and the musicianship is good, but it's still girly stuff.
How many versions of The Moorlough Shore or My Lagan Love or Peggy Gordon do I need? Apparently two or three: The Corrs, Sinead O'Connor's traditional album, and whatever Susan McKeown does. I'm a tool, I tells ya, a tool.

blah blah

2006-05-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

I believe I posted some of my U2 pictures twice, but I don't feel compelled to go back and investigate which ones.

I haven't used blogger.com for long, and I'm kind of struggling with the templates (want user info on the side, not the bottom!), so bear with me on the Ugly Factor.

Derek Trucks interview

2006-05-30T12:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to an interview with Derek Trucks that I haven't actually had time to read myself yet. J the hubby says that Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II are both in Eric Clapton's band this tour. Tickets for St. Louis go on sale Saturday - may the ticketing gods be with me.

Inarticulate babblings re: U2, St. Louis, Dec. 14, 2005

2006-05-27T12:19:00.000-05:00

1. RUNNING! The top speed b/e running and E poised in Rock Godness behind Larry as they all gather to worship!
So much I can't even start and I can't even look at my pictures because my battery's so dead and J took the camera sometimes and we have 190 pictures and our seats were exactly what I'd hoped for.
The "Sunday Bloody Sunday" kid was awesome and the "Mysterious Ways" girl was a real dud. The "Yahweh" pianist was good and ballsy enough to do a little fancy thing that made Bono beam at him from all the way across, but at the end he just couldn't hear what Bono was telling him, so Edge had to come and hang all over him and direct him very closely, and at the end during the applause Edge gave him a BIG HUG, and then he went down the ramp back to his place and he had a total "I AM SUCH A GEEK I CAN'T BELIEVE IT" Big Dork, fists in the air, I just won the olympic medal kind of moment that cracked everybody the hell UP. He must've had a sign earlier; B went out nearly to the tip just to get him. HYSTERICAL.
We were even with the end of the front video screens, basically.
Edge wasn't playing through a wireless rig until the encore, so he didn't come out on the ramp at all until then, but I'm so glad he DID play wireless then.
Bono was in such fine voice. The operatic parts were beyond HUUUUGE and great.
I DIED during instant karma. Now Melissa knows what it's like to hear a woman pee herself over the phone. DIED. Larry started the drum thing and I was like, "What's that?" and Bono said "This is a song ... we've been tryin' to do ... Lennon" and I was like "INSTANT KARMA!!!!!!!" omg.
Larry's drum fill? Not nailed. heh.
The St. Louis crowd was lame for 40. Has to be said.
There was one moment, this is why I don't do a song by song review, at the end of either Streets or SBS, I think it was SBS, when we just wouldn't stop cheering. The roar was stupendous. Bono was like "Jebus, people" and Adam was like "Holy Jebus," and Bono covered his ears and grinned at us and they had to WAIT. It was MASSIVE.
So much grinning and laughing and love and babies.
Hoh boy, am I happy. Wow. Like wow.

Leg cling!
Kiss on the mouth!
Happiness!

2. So we were a bit late and there was some hairy traffic at the last minute - the street I was gonna take was closed, so I got in a bit of a jam and had to circle around, and then the parking garage was full, but we made it into the flat lot right across - SO EXPENSIVE!! I mean, I don't mind paying for parking, but more than $10 is just greedy.
Anyway, we missed Kanye West entirely, and we were both a little disappointed, but the crew was in full swing, Dallas Dallas everywhere and my hero Batwoman with the mighty belt of gear. It's always funny to see them check things that just don't need to be checked. Still plugged in? How about now? Here's something I never noticed before, though:
Dallas got out a tape measure and measured Edge's mic placement.
J and I just stared in bemusement. It was hilar.

I'd warned J about Arcade Fire, but I thought I'd just be excited; I didn't realize it was like someone flipped the WOOT switch. It was reflexive! I just yelled "OH YEAH THIS IS IT THIS IS IT!!!" and started hooting and yelling. I grabbed my phone to call Melissa and my hands were visibly shaking!! The floor was hooting too, but people around us weren't, really, until they kind of caught on and overheard and the word kind of spread and WOO WOO WOO!

Edge was just jumping around like a lunatic. hop hop BOING BOING. Babies everywhere. Adam: Snowflake shirt. (I know, I know, humor me.) It looks like a lot of our pictures are stinkers, as always, but a lot of them turned out decent, too.

Some things I really missed about being on the floor - mostly eye contact!! - but it was kind of cool to be able to see them like ... not like the Mecca-like culmination of a mini-hajira (is that the right word??) but actually a concert you drive to and go into like normal and drive home. Only better. No mark on my ticket, no wristband, no writing on me!! So strange, these non GA customs are. I must study their ways.

What else? What else? I don't even know. Adam on the ramp getting mondo love and reaching out and touching people's hands and taking a bow and grinning with all the Adam love. Larry and Adam cracking up over something, at the beginning. I think '40' was a little shorter. Adam was having trouble getting feedback over there. Not absolutely certain whether I ever got Lisa on the phone. Maybe she has a LONG message. It would seem like there was a connection, and I'd look down later and it wouldn't be there, so I'd just call Melissa again.

Setlists: U2, September 20 and 21, 2005, Chicago

2006-05-27T12:18:00.000-05:00

More playing catchup -
Here are the setlists from the Sept. 20 and 21 Chicago U2 shows.

Sept. 20
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Electric Co.
The Ocean
Walk On
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Yahweh
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride in the Name of Love
Where the Streets Have no Name
One
(encore)
Discotheque
The Fly
With or Without You

All Because of You
The First Time
Bad

Sept. 21

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
The Electric Co.
The Ocean
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug
In A Little While
Yahweh
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
(encore)
Bad
Original Of The Species
With Or Without You

Fast Cars
All Because Of You
40

Eric Clapton dates and prices

2006-05-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

Clapton's North American dates were announced a couple of days ago:

Sat 09/16/06 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Mon 09/18/06 Saint Louis, MO Savvis Center
Wed 09/20/06 Chicago, IL United Center
Thu 09/21/06 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
Sat 09/23/06 Auburn Hills, MI Palace Of Auburn Hills
Sun 09/24/06 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
Tue 09/26/06 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
Thu 09/28/06 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Fri 09/29/06 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Tue 10/03/06 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden (Fleet Center)
Fri 10/06/06 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Casino
Sat 10/07/06 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Casino
Mon 10/09/06 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
Tue 10/10/06 Washington, DC Verizon Center
Thu 10/12/06 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
Sat 10/14/06 Duluth, GA Arena @ Gwinnett Center
Sun 10/15/06 Raleigh, NC RBC Center
Tue 10/17/06 Charlotte, NC Charlottte Bobcats Arena
Wed 10/18/06 Birmingham, AL Birm. Jefferson Arena
Fri 10/20/06 Orlando, FL TD Waterhouse Centre
Sat 10/21/06 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Mem. Arena
Mon 10/23/06 Miami, FL American Airlines Arena

From what I've seen, the top end (at least in St. Louis) is only $85, which, while nothing to sneeze at, isn't as bad as I was expecting.