Dumbek's Random Stuff

I was hoping to go to a bunch of shows this week. The Residents, Title Tracks, Olivia, Furthur... Not gonna happen. Stupid blizzard. I'm hoping to get to Furthur, since it's not until Saturday. And I really don't want to eat those tickets. We'll see.

Meanwhile... On to Februaries past.




2/2/01 All Mighty Senators @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

I wish I had seen The All Mighty Senators more often. A very funky rock band out of Baltimore. I'm not sure how they got a gig headlining at 9:30. The place was maybe 1/4-full. Loaded with drunk fratboy types and their drunk dates, but it was still a great time. I think the fact that it was so empty and I was able to move around a lot helped quite a bit. Lots of dancing. Fun was had by all.
Well...At least until I got back to my car and discovered it had been broken into. Someone smashed my window and took everything - including my coat from the trunk. Bitterly cold, window down, no coat. It was a long ride home. I parked in the 9:30 parking lot for quite a while after that. hrmph.

Anyway - Good band. The only disc I have is Flow and it's well worth a listen.



2/3/01 Meat Puppets @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Ah, yes, the return of the Meat Puppets. Sort of. I think Curt was the only original member at this time. I used to love the MPs back in the day. I hadn't seen them in years and wasn't going to pass this up. As with most reunions of favorite-bands-past, it was fun, but just not the same. The mayhem was gone. They went from being a great, powerful, almighty force of a band to just being a good band. Glad I went, but I told myself I was done. That would change years later when Cris would rejoin.




2/1/06 - The Rolling Stones @ First Mariner Arena - Baltimore, MD

This was the smallest show of their tour. The smallest place I've seen them play (about 14,000). I actually joined their fan club in order to get a chance to get presale tickets. Not a cheap effort (about $100 to join), but it worked. Decent seats, straight back about half-way up. I'm pretty sure this is the most I've ever spent on a concert ticket. Definitely the most, if you include the fan club cost. And these weren't even the expensive seats.

The show was fantastic. They opened with "Jumping Jack Flash" and never let up. "Midnight Rambler", "Gimme Shelter", "Sympathy For The Devil", "Honky Tonk Woman", "Start Me Up", etc. Don said he still preferred the bigness of the stadium gig back in '02, but I thought they were on fire tonight. I think I need to make it a point to never miss them when they come around again. I usually only go once every 2-3 times they come around, but they can't be doing it much longer, right? Right?




2/3/06 - (the sounds of) kaleidoscope/French Toast @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I loved French Toast and was going to see them as often as I could. As I said in another recent post, TSOK have a great , psychedelic, buzzy, unique sound to them. I haven't heard much from either band that isn't really, really good. Another great bill of local DC bands.




2/1/07 - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band @ Verizon Center - Washington, DC

I had my doubts that Seger could still fill big arenas, but I was proven wrong. The tickets were reasonably priced, but I still told myself I'd only go if we got good seats. Halfway back on the floor was good enough for me.

I'd call this one a guilty pleasure - except I have no guilt. It just rocked from start to finish. You forget just exactly how many hits this man had. Some of them sound a bit cheesy now, but as a kid growing up in the 70s/80s his songs were everywhere and very much a part of my growing up. This was one of those shows where I went in thinking "Just don't embarrass yourself, Bob" and came out reminded what a great old-school rock and roll star he is. Good for him.



2/3/07 - Telograph/Two If By Sea/Cedars @ Black Cat - Washington, DC



Another great local lineup I wish I could see again. This was a cd release party for Telograph - a band I didn't know well at the time and don't think I've heard much from since. I never did get around to picking up their cd either. I'm not sure why. I was trying to listen to every band in town back in 2006/2007. Not sure how they slipped by. Two If By Sea and Cedars were two of my favorites at the time though. I couldn't get enough of either of them. DC had a lot going on around this time.


Damn it's snowing like a mother------.