Tuesday, April 22, 2003
I'm with the Boss on this all the way. <view article>. This is something new for Bruce making a statement like this, and one of the reasons I'm a fan. Go Bruce!
Over the weekend I finally saw the Pianist. It was an excellent film, but it's hard to take. It's probably one of those films everybody should see because that sort of thing can happen again. It's definitely worth seeing.
- Dave 9:18 PM
Friday, April 18, 2003
Rock and roll. It isn't dead. Not by a long shot. I don't know who these people are whining about how rock and roll is dead. For the past several years I've been chasing down concerts of artists I consider legends like Neil Young, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, the Who, etc. Some artists aren't in their prime, but I go anyway just to see them for once. Tonight I saw a true legend. I originally wasn't going to go. I had seen the band before. I was impressed at the time, but I figured maybe I didn't need to see them again. On a whim one day I checked Ticketmaster for tickets and that was the best decision of my life. Tonight was all rock and roll alive and kicking.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are in town this week for a 5 night stand at the Vic. For those of you unfamiliar with Chicago venues, the Vic holds about 1500 people. Last time Petty was in town he sold out the United Center(20,000+ seats). So you could call these Vic shows a bit intimate. It was intimate, and it was simply incredible. I'm glad I took the balcony over camping out for the front today because I needed to sit through some of this. There is a reason Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are maybe the best band I've seen. Not my favorites, but I can't think of a better group of musicians. They've just go so much talent, yet the discipline to support the song without becoming self-indulgent. Mike Campbell is my new all-time favorite guitarist. He has the best tone I've heard in person in years, and he just played sooooo smooth.
One of the things that made the show so special is they stayed away from the hits. I'm not a Petty fanatic so I wasn't very familiar with much of what was played tonight, but there were several covers and absolutely no American Girl--it's a great song, but a close second behind Brown Eyed Girl in the category of songs you never want to have to play again in a bar. It was just so cool to see this band rock on everything they played. They are the kind of band that makes you question your motivations for ever thinking about picking up a guitar. They were just dead on.
They kicked off the show with an hour long electric set closed out with a great cover of I'm Crying by the Animals. They were walking off stage to end the set, and I was checking my watch. I couldn't believe they had played for an hour--even Springsteen had a lull last time I saw him, and that show's at the top of my list for best concerts I've seen. After a short break, the band came back on and did an acoustic set which was pretty cool. The band switched back to electric and just rocked out. I didn't know Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were a jam band. They kicked into Lost Children, the only song in the set from Petty's latest disc that I recognized. There were intertwining guitar lines and Mike Campbell just cutting loose. I don't know what the song was they played after that, but it was another Campbell fest. This was just one of those shows where I couldn't get enough. I didn't want it to end. And Tom Petty is just so gracious. This was something I noted the first time I saw Petty. They're just so thankful you're there and listening. It really makes you feel good to be in the audience and like you're a part of something special.
If you were unable to get to one of these shows this week, WXRT in Chicago is going to broadcast the entire show on Saturday which is the last night of the stand.
Tonight's show is in my top 3 concerts:
1. Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band - 09-25-02 Chicago, IL
* tie *
1. U2 - 05-16-01 Chicago, IL
3. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - 04-17-03 Chicago, IL
- Dave 1:32 AM
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Last night was good fun out at HogHeads. Lots of cool people. Michael McDermott showed up and did a couple tunes. I had a blast closing the night out with "You May Be Right" joined by Dave Ashdown and Sam from Big Bang Music Theory on backing vocals. It should be $1 bottles every night.
- Dave 11:44 AM
Monday, April 14, 2003
Now this sounds like a great idea to me. <view article>. Some of you might already know that I am a big movie buff and often spend inordinate amounts of time at the movies when I'm not doing the music thing. Unfotunately lately I haven't been going as often because everything that's out is just absolute garbage. This weekend I did go see Anger Management which I really enjoyed. For a long time we used to go to see new releases every Friday or Saturday night, but I had to stop. I just got sick of the cel phones. If you're going to see a movie, it really is best to experience it with an audience--much like live music. The problem is, audience behavior at the movies has just gotten really bad lately, and the theatres aren't doing much to fix the problem. Common courtesy is gone. Now I go in the afternoon because the audiences are generally smaller and more into the movie.
I would love to see some kind of law or ordinance happen where people could start getting fined for their cel phones. Mine has a vibrate mode that I can turn on for times when nobody should hear it and times when I won't be able to hear it. I haven't seen a cel phone put out in the last few years that didn't have a vibrate mode. If you can't figure out how to turn your ringer off, you shouldn't have a phone.
- Dave 2:05 AM
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
I have to say I'm with Paul on this one <view article>. What's really the difference if he switches his name with Lennon's in the credit? They're both still getting the credit which Lennon shouldn't even have with a song like "Yesterday". If you look at some of the later songs where things were getting tense, I'm sure both of them would have been happy to remove the other from their song credit. Do you really think Paul had a hand in "Ballad of John and Yoko"? Do you think he wanted one?
Don't get me wrong, I love Lennon's Beatles tunes, but for the sake of the history of two of the greatest songwriters I think it's a good thing for people to know who wrote the bulk of each song. The best class I ever took in college at Northwestern was all about the Beatles and typically Lennon or McCartney would bring in a song and then the other guy would add a "middle 8" or what we Americans refer to as the "bridge". "A Day in the Life" on Sgt. Pepper's is a perfect example. Lennon brought in the verse, and then you have this totally out there middle 8 section inserted by McCartney. They still worked as a band to arrange, perform, and record. Those songs would have been completely different if that wasn't the case just like most of my songs are very different compared until the band gets a hold of them.
- Dave 5:25 PM
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
My dog hates this screwball weather even more than I do. It's not supposed to snow in April. Late October to March is no problem, but come April it's supposed to be done.
It snowed a couple night's ago, and then it went above freezing and rained/drizzled a bit on the snow which then froze on top of the accumlated snow. This really wigs out the dog. She's small--maybe 15 lbs.--and so we let her out back to take care of business, and she steps out onto the ice and gets going and CRACK! One paw falls through so she immediately lifts that foot and shifts her weight to the opposite side and then that one goes through. It starts in slow motion and gets going faster until she's running all over the yard making craters. But she just keeps getting faster because now the sound of the thing is freaking her out. I wish I'd had my mini-disc handy because it was a really cool sound. Eventually she'll pause momentarily to take care of business, but then she just gets going again. The problem is I have to be extra careful around the house in case she decides to finish any unfinished business on the carpet...couch....bed....etc.
- Dave 11:28 AM
Sunday, April 06, 2003
Last night was very cool at Flatlanders in Lincolnshire. What a great room! I had a lot of fun and met a great new band in the process: Seven Day Run. If you're digging what we're doing, you should most definately check them out because they're great! Kudos to Shoeshine Boy Productions once again for setting the night up.
- Dave 3:02 PM
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
I found this amusing. Warner Brothers is afraid of the peace sign. Here's the AP story. As if the marketing for this movie is going to stop the girls from going to see it.
- Dave 1:05 PM
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