Dumbek's Random Stuff

Well, Hello

2011-06-19T11:57:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I wish I had a blog. Oh, wait...

Twitter

2010-06-05T22:19:00.003-04:00

I've decided my personal Twitter account is getting too clogged with music stuff, so I'm creating a separate Twitter account just for that. I'll post most of my music-related tweets over there, so as not to bore the hell out of my friends. I'll also probably transfer most of the music-related accounts I follow over to this account, too.

http://twitter.com/dumbekstuff

Don't get too excited - there's nothing there yet.

April Dead (Part 2 - Spring '89)

2010-04-25T08:08:00.018-04:00

4/2/89 - Grateful Dead @ Civic Arena - Pittsburgh, PA

This was the first show that Steve and I drove a long way to get to. Only about 4-5 hours, but at the time it seemed like a big deal. I remember passing a VW bus full of hippies on the PA Turnpike and thinking how silly they looked. We had a good laugh over that. "We'll never get like that," I remember saying to Steve. See any of my Spring '90 posts to see how we were doing a year later. Yeah. So anyway...

The show was on a Sunday. We drove up a day early and stayed with our good friend Diane. That would be a recurring event every time we headed into the midwest in the coming years. She was quite a trooper to put up with us. We still owe her for all of the trouble we caused.

Another typically great Spring '89 show. They opened with a killer "Iko Iko" and never really let up. That second set is still a favorite. A total dance-fest. The closest thing to a ballad would be "Dear Mr. Fantasy" in the typical slow-Jerry slot. "Shakedown," "Women Are Smarter," "Foolish Heart," "GDTRFB," "Lovelight"...yowza. I seem to recall we spent most of this set dancing in the hallways.

This was also the first time we would have a long drive home after a show so we could get back to work the next morning. We'd get very used to that. Diane later reported that there were all kinds of problems at the arena. People smashing in a door or something and lots of people rushing in. I don't think The Dead ever played here again.

This show was one of the few they released as part of their short-lived (and over-priced) download series. It the only one of these downloads I purchased. Nice upgrade from the multiple crappy audience tapes I went through over the years.

Update: I just realized you can download this show (and the next night) at Amazon. Two shows - 42-songs - for $18. That's not bad at all - if you don't mind mp3s.

4/8/89 - Grateful Dead @ Riverfront Arena - Cincinnati, OH

The following weekend we were on the road again - this time much further to Cincinnati. Drove to Pittsburgh Friday - stayed with Diane (see?) and off to Cincinnati on Saturday.

Cold and rainy. Blech. We were in a parking garage rather than a parking lot. That was a mixed-blessing. It kept us out of the rain, but the vending was spread over multiple levels of the garage, giving the whole place a hippie-mall kind of feel.

Steve's 3rd show and the 3rd time he's seen them cover Dylan's "Queen Jane". He commented on that, just as Bob got to the line "When you find yourself sick of all this repetition..." heh. More Dead synchronicity. They were at the beginning of a renaissance in early '89. Strong playing all-around. Highlights were "Blow Away" "China->Rider" and an unexpected (though appropriate) "Box Of Rain" encore.

We had a fantastic time at this one. We didn't want it to end. In one of our many acts of complete irresponsibility, we said "fuck it" and decided to go to the Louisville show the following day. We didn't have tickets, we were broke and there was no way we'd get back to work on Monday. We didn't care. We wanted more.

4/9/89 - Grateful Dead @ Freedom Hall - Louisville, KY

We weren't prepared for this one at all. We had no place to stay and no idea where we were going. We literally decided to just follow any VW bus we saw leaving Cincinnati, or any car with a lot of Dead stickers on it. That actually got us to Louisville at around 3am. We stopped at a mini-mart store and asked for directions to the arena. We finally found it a short while later. The parking lot was already open and there were a few dozen cars/buses full of deadheads there. A lucky break for us, but not entirely unexpected. They still allowed camping at shows in early '89, so it wasn't uncommon for people to show up the night before a show. We just parked the car ("The Awesome Apollo") and crashed. I can't say I recommend trying to sleep in the front seat of a Buick Apollo.

We woke up to find that the parking lot was shared by another venue that was holding some sort of giant flea market that Sunday morning. That created a very fun mix of little old southern ladies and sleepy, smelly hippies.

We found a tiny grocery store down the street and got some food. Most likely just cheese, bread and beer. We asked the guy at the store what he thought of the circus that just arrived. He said he loved it. He thought we were generally very polite and business couldn't be better. Come back anytime. That was nice to hear for a change.

We spent most of the day unsuccessfully looking for tickets. None to be found - not even the regular scalpers seemed to be around. Weekend shows were always tough to get extras. Fairly close to showtime we saw one guy with a small crowd around him. He had a huge stack of tickets. We were able to get tickets for (I think) $35 each. Twice face value, but worth it, considering how far we had come. That left us a bit short on cash, but we were in. That's all that we cared about.

I seem to recall thinking the tickets were fake though. I don't remember if it was the row or the seat numbers that were off, but we had a hard time finding our seats. So did quite a few other people. It didn't matter though. They were good enough to get us in the door. I eventually settled for sitting at the very top of our section and just taking it all in. I would never buy another ticket from a scalper though.

This show was quite laid-back compared to the rocker of the night before. Lots of sweet slow songs tonight - "It Must've Been The Roses," "Ship Of Fools," "Desolation Row," "Sugaree" and our first "Knockin' On Heaven's Door." This show was the first time I noticed there were speakers setup in the hallway - so it even sounded great if you were out there dancing or grabbing a bite to eat. The big surprise came at the start of the second set. They opened with a slow, bluesy version of "Louie Louie." Really. "Louie Louie" in Louisville. Get it? haha. That alone was worth the irresponsibility of going to this show.

Speaking of irresponsibility.... we were out of money. We each thought the other had enough money to get us gas for the trip home. We were both completely broke. Our only hope was that my severely over-the-limit credit card could get us a tank of gas. So we went to the gas station and the guy tells us that his credit card scanner is broken, and he'd have to do the old-school carbon paper thing and look us up in one of those old paper "these cards are invalid" books. No problem there, so we got the gas and also loaded-up with enough food and drinks to get us home. The lack of reliable technology in Kentucky got us home just fine. :-)

April-ish Dead (Part 1)

2010-04-10T09:03:00.025-04:00

3/30/90 - Grateful Dead @ Nassau Coliseum - Uniondale, NY

So we last left-off with us in Albany... We drove home that Monday, only to leave work early on Friday and head to New York again. This time we were off to Long Island. We took my car rather than the bus, since speed and reliability were important. This was more of a mad-dash trip than one of our regular journeys. We picked up Mike in Princeton and arrived at Nassau Coliseum around 6:00. Just enough time for a beer or 3 before the show.

I don't remember anything particularly bad happening, but I also remember hating this place and vowing never to go back. My guess is because their security sucked and the crowd was obnoxious. Go figure. Anyway - we held true to that and never returned there.

The show, however, was fantastic. It often gets over-shadowed by the previous night, when Branford Marsalis sat-in with the band. Dammit. We missed another legendary gig by one day. Oh well...This show definitely holds its own.

Opening with a nice, slippery "Help->Slip->Franklin's" is always a treat. While there are some songs we always seem to miss, we saw this combo a helluva lot. No complaints here. Otherwise, lots of semi-rarities tonight. "China Doll", "It's All Over Now", "Tom Thumb", "Dire Wolf"...all played very well. The highlight was the encore - the only time we ever got to see "Attics Of My Life." The tape reveals that the harmonies were a little shaky at times, but it sounded perfect at the time. I wouldn't trade that one for anything. The "Help->Slip->Franklin's" ended up on "Without A Net".

This show was broadcast live over the radio (something they did quite a bit in early '90), so there were plenty of great sounding tapes available almost immediately. This show got a ton of play over the years. It's one of those I can identify after hearing about 10 seconds of it. Bad venue. Great show.

Back to the car as soon as they were done. Zipped back to Jersey. Dropped off Mike and headed straight home. We probably got home around 5:00am. We got a few hours sleep, packed a bag and loaded up the bus. It was time to hit the road again.

4/1/90 - Grateful Dead @ The Omni - Atlanta, GA

We picked up Joby in College Park, then drove into Virginia to grab Pete. We were officially on the road to Atlanta by noon. Pete's a drummer/percussionist, so he brought lots of musical toys for us to play with. It was quite the gin-soaked, musical drive to Atlanta.

Steve's girlfriend actually lived in FL at the time, so she drove up to meet us. She insisted that we get a hotel room and made reservations for us at a Hilton not too far from downtown. So we roll-up to the Hilton in our VW bus, stinking drunk, exhausted and haggard from only a few hours sleep and driving up and down the east coast in the last 24 hours or so. Did I mention it was Prom Night? We were surrounded by teenagers in tuxedos and tacky dresses. Steve's girlfriend was horribly embarrassed. We thought it was hilarious. She wanted to scuttle us off to the room, but we were hungry. We decided to slip into one of the proms and grab some snacks. We were promptly asked to leave.

Remember when I said I had a sign in Albany saying we were looking for Atlanta tickets? Well, we never found them, so we were short 2 tickets (for Steve's gf and her friend). Steve was a nice guy and gave his ticket to her friend and skipped the show to hang with his gf. awww. This must be serious - lol. (Actually it was serious - they eventually got married.)

The show was swell. It was my 28th and the first time I could say I had seen every song before. Up until this point they managed to pull-out at least one tune I had never seen before. Impressive. Another fine Spring '90 show. We were on the back of the floor. The last row, I think. Long first set - 10 songs - including one of my favorite transitions: "Victim->To Lay Me Down->Music Never Stopped". Wow. I don't even like "Victim" very much, but it was perfect in this context. The crazy, dischordant, psychedelic chaos melted into a super slow and sweet "To Lay Me Down". A rarity for that one (I only saw it twice) and perfectly placed. The slow, sweet melancholy of TLMD went straight into the the fun, bouncy dance-fest that is "Music Never Stopped". Wow. What a twisting of sound and emotion. Just exactly perfect. I love this band. The second set was typically great for '90. Nothing really sticks-out, but it was solid and a really good time. Steve's gf's friend had a great time and was a blast to hang out with. "China Cat Sunflower->I Know You Rider" and "Dear Mr. Fantasy" ended up on "Without A Net."

4/2/90 - Grateful Dead @ The Omni - Atlanta, GA

The next day was more of the same. Steve's gf and her friend headed back to FL, so it was just the boys hanging out today. I remember there were men walking around with bagpipes...a billboard with the largest 3-D Chuck Taylor I'd ever seen....hippies all over town. I remember riding around in the bus when it started making horrendous pounding noises. Loud enough that everyone would stop and turn to see where the hell it was coming from. Steve was driving through the streets of ATL with a very drunk Pete hanging his head out of the open sliding door, trying to look underneath the bus to see what it was. Upon reflection - quite dangerous. Did I mention the gin? It was flowing quite freely. Eventually the noise subsided. I'm not sure if we ever figured it out, but it went away. (shrug)

Anyway....show #2. Another all-time fave. I listened to crappy audience tapes of this one for years. Never did find a really good copy.

We were on Phil's side about halfway back, just off the floor. Perfect. I love when they open with "Stranger"... "You know it's gonna get stranger, so let's get on with the show!" and this one was no slouch. Followed-right up by probably the best "Mississippi Half-Step" I've seen. They nailed the "Rio Grande" ending. The highlight of the night came next, when they took the last chord of "Half-Step" and dropped right into a cover of The Band's "The Weight". The place just erupted. It was only the 2nd time they had ever played it - the first being last week at Nassau. What a great sing-a-long that was. They'd end up playing this a lot, but the reaction to this version puts it at the top for me.

The rest of the show was also top-notch. a "Foolish Heart" that just rolled on-and-on (in a good way!), probably the best non-Donna version of "Looks Like Rain" I've ever heard - complete with thunder! They played the last-ever version of "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and my final time seeing "Black Muddy River." This was one of those shows that had a great mix of rarities, but even the old standbys were bumped-up a notch. Shows like this were the reason we kept coming back for more.

I think we drove home right after the show. Steve drove through Georgia and South Carolina. We stopped at a Waffle House in Charlotte, where Steve opted for sleep rather than food. I took over the driving duties for a while from there, although every time we stopped for coffee (which was often) I had to wake up Steve. There was some trick to putting the bus in reverse that I never quite mastered.

I used to love driving the bus late a night like that. I'd do it quite a few more times - in several different buses - over the next few years. Nobody on the road...long stretches of nothing...The Dead quietly playing in the background while everyone else slept. It's little things like that that I tend to miss a lot.

Spring '90 comes to an end. Gone are the days...

Update: I found the flyer for the Atlanta shows:

"I Can't See Myself At 30..."

2010-04-05T09:35:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to R.E.M., who turn 30 today.

Albany '90

2010-03-28T18:06:00.013-04:00

3/24/90 - Grateful Dead @ Knickerbocker Arena - Albany, NY
3/25/90 - Grateful Dead @ Knickerbocker Arena - Albany, NY

Again - They were playing on a Saturday, so we decided to make a weekend of it. Steve's girlfriend (now wife) had a friend in Albany, so we had a free place to stay. It would be silly for us NOT to go - right?

Steve was driving "Stella" at the time - his late-60s/early 70s VW Transporter. It was basically a VW Bus without windows on the side - although it did have a skylight. It looked like a VW cargo van, but the inside was quite nice, with the fold out bed, table, seating, etc. Classy. It was always a struggle to keep it running, but it did fine this trip.

Back in 1990 I used to distribute Dupree's Diamond News pretty regularly. I gave out most of them before the show on 3/24, but I had a bunch leftover at showtime that I figured I'd just distribute inside. The security folks would have none of that. They told me I couldn't bring them inside. Ummm....It's just about 50 sheets of paper. You've got people bringing in their entire campsites on their back and I can't bring in a stack of paper? Fine. I stood right beside the woman and handed them to people as they walked in. I ended up missing the first two songs, walking in in the middle of "Slipknot". Dammit.

This show goes down as a classic. I've discussed the awesomeness of Spring '90 in the past, but the 3/24 show is one of the best of the best for the period. This run is documented on the Dozin' At The Knick cd.

The whole first set was incredibly solid - the highlight being "Loser" from Jerry. I'm still amazed that didn't make the cd. There was an oddly placed "One More Saturday Night" to close the first set, too. But the meat and potatoes of this show comes in the 2nd set, which was just jaw-dropping from start to finish. The "Playin'-> Uncle John-> Terrapin-> Mind Left Body Jam" was an amazing 45-minutes or so of perfection. Holy crap. The rest of the set didn't suck either, as evidenced by the fact that they included the entire set on the Dozin' cd. The "Bid You Goodnight" encore was the perfect ending to a sublime evening.

Back to the friend's place, where 2 things happened: 1) the girl's cat gave me a rather severe asthma attack, and 2) Steve slept with a down comforter, which caused his allergies to go completely haywire. We were both miserable the next day and just wanted to get things over with.

Our seats for 3/25 were directly behind the stage, which was fine by us. We had a great view of the drummers and were actually very close to the band. It's always very relaxed behind the stage, which was exactly what we needed, considering we both felt like crap.

3/25 often gets overlooked in favor of 3/24, but this one's no slouch either. An odd, but totally rocking "Greatest Story > Touch of Grey" opener... a rare "Never Trust a Woman" and BOTH "Bird Song" and "Let it Grow" in the first set. Yowza. That's one killer setlist.

Set 2 opened with "Eyes", which they just NEVER did. Steve and I just gave each other this "Are you kidding me?" look. A nice, slow, rollicking "Eyes" kicked-off yet another terrific Spring '90 set. Not a bad song in the bunch. The rockers rocked. The ballads were slow, soulful and pretty. A rare (for us) "Mighty Quinn" encore capped another great run.

Random memory: We ran into Sean, an old college friend in the parking lot. He would pop-up at various shows from time to time.

I think I could pinpoint 3/25 as the night I finally realized that we weren't just dressing up and playing deadhead any more. I remember after the show, feeling miserable, sitting in the bus, freezing, wrapped up in my poncho, putting my sign up in the window that indicated I was looking for Atlanta tickets for the following weekend , waiting for Steve and his girlfriend to get back so we could get a decent night sleep before the 7+ hour drive home. This girl walked by, looked at me, pointed me out to her friends and they all went "Awwww." simultaneously. I think I just chuckled to myself at the absurdity of it all, but apparently my life had taken a bit of a turn somewhere - haha.

The entire second set from 3/24 is on Dozin', as are 8 songs from 3/25. "One More Saturday Night" from 3/24 is also on Without a Net.

Hamilton 1992

2010-03-28T15:02:00.018-04:00

I know this has been Dead-heavy lately, but Spring Tour hits pretty hard in March. I'll get back to other shows soon. Hell - I'm not even posting all of the March Dead shows. There are just too many. Maybe next year.

3/20/92 - Grateful Dead @ Copps Coliseum - Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA
3/21/92 - Grateful Dead @ Copps Coliseum - Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA

As much as I rag on 1992, this was one of my favorite runs. Our logic in attending these shows was simply "Well... We've never been to Canada and they're playing on a Saturday. What the hell. Let's go." Our friend of ours went with us. He had a friend that lived up there, so he figured it would be a good chance to catch up with her.

It never even occurred to us that there might be a problem crossing the border. That the authorities would just be waiting for the droves of hippies to come crossing over with all kinds of contraband. It didn't occur to us until we were sitting in line waiting to cross the border and saw car after car getting pulled over and searched. Crap. We weren't doing anything wrong, but it would make for a huge hassle to have all our stuff thrown on the side of the road while the authorities went through it. There was no slipping through under their radar either. Steve and I each had shoulder-length hair at the time. We were pretty much dressed head-to-toe in Guatemalan clothes. The car reeked of incense and sage and it was covered with about 20 or so Grateful Dead stickers. It was pretty obvious where we were headed.

But somehow we got through. Several cars in front of us got pulled over to be searched. The border patrol asked us why we were coming to Canada. We just said we were going to a show. They just kind of peeked through the windows, told us to have a good time and waved us through. Whew.

We got to the hotel, checked-in and drove off to the show. Time was closing-in though. There wasn't a lot of time left and the traffic was horrendous. The line to get into the parking lot went on forever. We eventually bailed and tried to find a parking place in a nearby neighborhood. After driving around for about 30 minutes somebody sitting in their front yard flagged us down. They told us we could park in their driveway for $20US. Awesome. We were only a few blocks from the arena with about an hour to spare. Sweet!

The 3/20 show was just fantastic. One of my favorites. The first set was nice enough, but the second set was just exactly perfect. A "Shakedown" that had the whole place dancing. Nice and long and relaxed. I love it when they just play and don't try to force it. Nice. Probably the best "Women Are Smarter" I've heard. No - seriously! Jerry was using the trumpet sounds and the whole song had this bouncy Mexican vibe to it. Great moment. A nice, spacey "Dark Star" - one verse sang, the other verse played by Jerry on guitar - nice. "Standing On The Moon" was another "best I've seen" version. They finally showed what a powerhouse ballad this can be. Wow. "Lovelight" has us all dancing and cheering again. And what better way to end a show in Canada than with a "U.S. Blues" encore. Ha! We were all thrilled after this one. There was no way they'd be able to match it the next night. (They didn't.)

We got back to our car after the show to find a note on our window. It said that if we wanted to come back again tomorrow, just park in the driveway and leave $20 in the mailbox. We were more than happy to do that. We came back the next day and left the money along with a note expressing our gratitude.

The next day we met up with J's friend in the parking lot. What a treat she was. It was too cold. The hippies were too dirty. She wanted to sit down. She didn't like the food. She didn't like the beer selections. Ugh. Steve and I just left them and told them we'd find them after the show. We didn't come all the way to Canada to have to deal with all that.

As expected, the second night didn't measure up to night #1. That's fine. We wandered around the arena, checking things out from various vantage points. Security was pretty non-existent. Good show. Good time.

After the show there was a HUGE bonfire in the parking lot. Eventually there was a big-ass drum circle, so we ran off to the car to get our drums (mine being the dumbek for which this blog is named.) We stayed there drumming for an hour or two. Everyone was playing, dancing, singing - just having a blast. The cops didn't care. They seemed to be kind of enjoying it. Somehow we ended up following a bunch of people over to a local mall, which was open, despite the fact that the stores were all closed. Inside the mall there were hundreds of deadheads - playing in the fountains, vending, drumming... just having a good ol' time. Again - the cops didn't seem to care. What a great f--ing time.

Drove home Sunday. I seem to recall there being a bit of a blizzard on the way home, which added about 3 extra hours to our trip. Ugh. It didn't matter though. Slow and steady got us home just fine.

Here's the flyer that came with the tickets. The bottom is torn, so I guess I made a donation to the cause - although I don't recall ever getting a cd. hrpmh.

Landover '92

2010-03-20T12:06:00.004-04:00

3-8-1992 Grateful Dead @ Capital Centre - Landover, MD
3-9-1992 Grateful Dead @ Capital Centre - Landover, MD

Oops - Looks like I skipped these. Not too surprising, really. 1992 kinda sucked.

These were the first 2 of 7 shows I'd see in the Spring of '92. I do recall these shows weren't really all that bad - especially for 1992. I have tapes somewhere, but I'm too lazy to dig them up. I never bothered to get digital copies. I should probably do that someday.

The only thing that sticks out from this run was the fact that I finally got to see "Big Railroad Blues" - a song they only played like once a year. This was the only time I ever saw it. The encores were a treat, too. "Mighty Quinn" and a cover of The Stones' "Satisfaction". I recall that one being sloppy, but lots of fun. I think that was the only time I got to see that one, too.

I was able to dig up some old USENET posts where I mention several times that I loved these shows. hmm... I remember thinking they were pretty good for 1992, but "loved" seems a bit strong. Maybe I do need to download these and re-evaluate.

You can stream the shows at the links below.

3/8/92
--------
Let The Good Times Roll
Touch Of Grey
New Minglewood Blues
Ramble On Rose
Black-Throated Wind
Loose Lucy
Desolation Row
Big Railroad Blues
The Music Never Stopped

Samson And Delilah
Way To Go Home
Foolish Heart
Looks Like Rain
Wave To The Wind
Drums > Space
All Along The Watchtower
So Many Roads
Throwing Stones
Not Fade Away

Mighty Quinn

3/9/92
--------
Jack Straw
West L.A. Fadeaway
Me And My Uncle
Big River
Row Jimmy
Cassidy
Deal

Victim Or The Crime
Iko Iko
Corrina
Dark Star
Drums > Space
I Need A Miracle
Morning Dew

Satisfaction

Landover '90

2010-03-16T21:34:00.014-04:00

3/14/90
3/15/90 Grateful Dead @ Capital Centre - Landover, MD
3/16/90

Holy crap. Please tell me it hasn't been 20 years since these shows.

There was always a lot of excitement surrounding the start of Spring Tour. It was always on the east coast, where most people hadn't seen the band in 4-5 months. For some reason they liked starting the Spring in my backyard - Landover, MD - about 15 minutes from where I lived at the time. Fine by me. No preconceptions with setlists. No recent shows. Anything could happen.

1990 was my favorite year of following the band around. It's the year when we had changed from ex-college kids who didn't want to grow up - to full-blown Deadheads. And they were just killing it in 1990. Every show was just fantastic. These 3 were no exception.

I'm listening to 3-14-90 as I type. Damn they were good then. Our seats this night were at the very back of the floor - on the riser 3 rows up - straight back from the stage. We were just behind the tapers, which mean we had some mic stands in our way, but the sound was terrific there.

3-14-90

What better way to ring-in Spring Tour than with a song called "Cold Rain and Snow." Always a favorite. Get everyone bouncing and singing along right off the bat. Here we go.... I got my first version (of only 2 that I ever saw) of "Never Trust A Woman." Some people hated that one, but I loved it. Good, dirty blues. The highlight, of course, came a bit later when they broke out "Loose Lucy" for the first time in about 15 years. The song is very different live than on record - slowed down to a bouncy, mid-tempo shuffle. It wasn't until the lyrics came that most of us recognized it and the place just freakin' exploded. It was one of those cheers of joy I've rarely heard since. Everyone was just elated and singing REALLY loud when Jerry sang "Thank You.......For a real good time!" And everyone lost it again. What a great moment. The rest of the show was a typically great 1990 gig. The "Let It Grow" from this show is included on "Without A Net."

3-15-90

This may have been the most anticipated show of the tour - Phil's 50th birthday. If you hold this ticket under a blacklight it reads "Happy 50th Phil!" Even the tickets were fun in 1990! Actually, all of these tickets say something under a blacklight - I just don't have a blacklight handy.

This show had quite a few highlights as well. Enough that The Dead eventually released it in its entirety as Terrapin, Ltd. The show opened with "Jack Straw" - complete with Bobby screwing up the lyrics, much to our delight. We got another breakout tonight - "Easy To Love You" - a Brent tune that hadn't been played in about 10 years. Lots of "We Want Phil" chants during the first set. Phil finally gave-in and sang Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" - complete with the line "I'm going back to Foggy Bottom, I do believe I've had enough!" Nice. That "China>Rider" certainly didn't suck. The musical centerpiece of the night was the "Terrapin" that clocked-in at over 20 minutes. Yowza. No wonder they released this show. One more musical surprise for the night - the encore was a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution." First time in about 5 years for that one. They'd only play it one more time before they'd retire it forever.

"Walkin' Blues" and "Althea" from this show are also included on "Without A Net."

3-16-90

The last night of the Landover run. Our seats were exactly one row in front of where they were the night before. We were surrounded by the same people from the previous night. I used to love it when that happened. You could end up with new best friends for 2-3 nights in a row, sometimes it even happened in multiple cities.

This was the most mellow of the 3 nights. Things actually started a bit slow, but turned around quickly when the broke out "Black-Throated Wind" for the first time in 15 years. Damn - they did it again. So many tricks up their sleeves. They followed that with a nice trippy "Bird Song" followed by an unexpected "Blow Away" to end the set. Wow. The rest of the show was standard 1990 awesomeness, with the encore being a cover of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" It was only the 2nd time they had ever played that one, so we were thrilled to hear it.

We walked out of that last show thinking we had already seen what would be the best shows of the tour. Not even close. There was so much more to come.

Oh - I found the flyer sent with my tickets. Back in the pre-internet days these seating charts were awesome to have handy.

Is Radio Really This Bad?

2010-03-14T20:30:00.005-04:00

I know it's not exactly news that regular radio sucks, but it's really getting ridiculous.

I have 5 music stations programmed on my car radio - all rock-oriented, if you count the pop-rock-oldies-mishmash of JACK-FM. I only listen to/from work (about 30min each way) , to/from the gym (about 10min) and out to lunch a few times a week (maybe 10 minutes total) . Even then my morning listening is mostly talk-radio and I often listen to my iPod on the way home from work. Still, even with these limited listening times, it's incredibly apparent that the playlists on these stations are absurdly small.

My new theory is that I can't make a single trip in my car - at any time of the day or night - without hearing at least one of these 5 bands:

Led Zeppelin
AC/DC
Tom Petty
The Who
U2

I can pretty much guarantee that if the radio is on for more than 10 minutes I can find at least one of these bands on the 5-preset music stations in my car. There are other bands that pop-up a lot (I'm looking at you, Aerosmith) , but these seem to be the most pervasive.

So I'm going to conduct an experiment where I try to write down every time I hear one of these bands on the radio. I'm not going to get too detailed re: stations, times, etc. After all, I'm lazy and I'm driving. But I'll try to make a note of how long I was in the car and what songs I heard.

So starting Friday 3/12 : On the drive home from work (about 30min) I heard parts of:

AC/DC - "Back In Black"
U2 - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
U2 - "Desire"
Led Zeppelin - "Dancin' Days"

Today - 3/14 - On the way to the gym (10 min) I heard:

Led Zeppelin - "Communication Breakdown"

and on the way home (10 min):

The Who - "Who Are You"
AC/DC - "Thunderstruck"

So far my theory is holding up quite well. We'll see how it goes.

Don't get me wrong - I love all of these bands. I just think it's sad that after 50+ years of rock music, we can't go 15 minutes without hearing these 5 bands.

Long Live Rock.

Here's To Bob

2010-03-06T20:06:00.001-05:00

Chinese New Year 1994

2010-03-06T10:28:00.010-05:00

2/25/94
2/26/94 Grateful Dead @ Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA
2/27/94

Worst. Mail order. Tickets. EVER.

I'm not sure why I skipped Oakland in '93. You'd think I would have been anxious, having not seen Jerry post-coma yet, but I skipped it that year. Anyway...I made it back in '94. The band had been really hit or miss in '93. I decided if I was going to stay on the bus, I was going to make '94 special - focusing on "destination shows" rather than just seeing as many as possible. The most obvious starting point was to kick off the year in Oakland for the Chinese New Year run.

As expected, the shows really weren't all that special. I've been listening to 2/26 and 2/27 for the last couple days. Just when I think "wow - this is a lot better than I remember," Jerry forgets the next verse, or the band gets a little lost - kinda ruining it. But all-in-all, I think I was a little harsh on these shows. Maybe I'm just letting the nostalgia get to me today, but they're really not that bad - just not that great.

Random thoughts...

The "Cosmic Charlie" campaign was in full swing for these shows. They were a group that used to go to great lengths to try to get the Dead to bring back this song. Posters, fliers, buttons, shirts, etc. The band hadn't played it since 9/25/76 and there was little to no chance of it ever returning. That didn't stop them from trying though.

We saw a couple get married at one of the shows.

A guy in the row in front of us on the 27th had a video camera, which was extremely forbidden at the time. For as lax as they were about audio taping, video was absolutely forbidden. Yet this guy had a tripod with him. Go figure. Not quite as impressive as the time I some folks with a hookah inside a show, but that's a different story altogether. Gotta love the west coast. Anyway... This clip may or may not have been from that video guy. The location is about right (halfway back on Jerry's side, halfway up), but he's obviously not using a tripod. Could be though.

Jerry had just gotten remarried a couple weeks before these shows. The lyrics "Well I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life" (from "Cold Rain and Snow") and "I was born to be a bachelor" (from "Althea") got lots of applause. Recent listening reveals that while Jerry was a bit forgetful with lyrics, the jamming in these shows was quite good at times. "Estimated," "Terrapin," and "Uncle John's Band" has some pretty serious stuff going on.

The big highlight of the run came in the Jerry-ballad spot on the 27th. They finished up "The Other One" and I figured they'd just go into "Wharf Rat" or "Black Peter" or maybe (if we were lucky) "Morning Dew." But Jerry started playing something on his own. A quiet little melody that slowly grew. By the time he was finished with the first stanza of the intro, the crowd had figured it out. It was "Cosmic F--king Charlie." For the first time in nearly 20 years. We all started going nuts as Jerry played the intro (really the melody) again - this time with the whole band. It was moments like this that made you never want to miss a show. One of my career highlights, to be sure.

That is....until about 30 seconds later. After the second round of the intro/melody, Jerry slid down the neck of his guitar and slipped in to "Wharf Rat." They didn't play "Cosmic Charlie" after all. It was just a tease. A nod to the Cosmic Charlie Campaign, but we didn't get the song. Cruel. Absolutely cruel. Audio here. You can hear the people groaning when they go into "Wharf Rat". sigh... so close.

This was my last Dead-related trip to California. Gone are the days.

Mardi Gras 1992

2010-03-02T20:21:00.012-05:00

2/22/92
2/23/92 Grateful Dead @ Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA
2/24/92

Another February Grateful Dead tradition was a Mardi Gras celebration. In 1992 they did this instead of a Chinese New Year celebration.

I seem to recall initially heading out to this one on my own. I think I met up with my friend Joby later in the trip. Meanwhile, Joby's friend, Jeff - the guy we stayed with for the CNY run - did me a huge favor and picked me up at the airport and I stayed with him up in Larkspur for a few days. What a nice guy.

The Dead were at the start of their final downhill slide at this point. I don't really recall anything terribly special about these shows. In fact - They were pretty lame. The main exception to that being Drums on 2/23, which featured Hamza El Din. Absolutely amazing.

The other interesting thing about these shows was the introduction of 4 new songs: "So Many Roads" and "Wave To The Wind" on 2/22 and "Corinna" and "Way To Go Home" on 2/23. They played these in the first set on each night, then they played all 4 in the second sat of 2/24. That's a pretty lame batch of new songs. Getting each of them twice in 3 nights was a drag.

It was especially lame on night #3. The first set was possibly the shortest Dead set I'd ever seen - 6 songs. It ended with "Cassidy". They ALWAYS play something after "Cassidy" to end the set, but tonight they left us hanging.

Set 2 started out great. That's when the Mardi Gras parade came through, while the band played "Iko Iko". That was just awesome. The parade rolled through the floor of the coliseum - people throwing beads, noisemakers...all kinds of things. What a great party - matched only by the new years celebrations of years past. This 10 minutes or so was worth the whole trip.

And what would they follow "Iko" with? Maybe "Women Are Smarter" or "Hey Pocky Way?" Nope. Bob broke out "Corinna" - one of the dragging new songs they just introduced. Way to kill the party, Bob. That just sucked the fun out of everything. They loaded up the rest of the set with the other new songs and a few standards. What should have been a 90-minute party turned into a bit of a bummer.

I had a better time than the text above indicates. It was still a good time. But I had been to California enough now that just being there wasn't enough. The band didn't step up this time. That would become a more common occurrence in the coming years.

Here are a few pics from the parade. Note that this was pre-digital cams and I was using a disposable, cardboard camera with a flash that went about 4 feet. Believe it or not, these are the best pictures of my batch.

I'm pretty sure Bart was smoking a joint. Seriously. I also seem to recall Wavy Gravy on one of the floats. That tiny white figure in the distance of the last pic is Phil Lesh, I think.

I Hate When That Happens

2010-02-28T20:59:00.002-05:00

Pet Peeve: Bands that show up late. If I make it a point to show up early to see your second-rate, lame-ass band, the least you can do is show up on time. Otherwise, you're wasting my time. You probably won't get a second chance.

And seeing you hang out at the bar, downing your comped drinks, when I've been waiting over an hour for you to show up just pisses me off. Get your ass on stage and hang out with your friends later.

Chinese New Year 1991

2010-02-22T20:05:00.009-05:00

2/19-21/91 Grateful Dead @ Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA

As much fun as the New Years Eve runs were, I wanted to try something a little different, so I headed out to the '91 Chinese New Years shows in Oakland. While still a big deal, there wasn't nearly as much hype for these annual February runs. I figured it would be a nice, low-key way to spend some time with the Dead in their home environment.

We stayed with Jeff - a friend of my co-worker's up in Larkspur, just north of San Francisco. Jeff was renting a beautiful house up in the hills. Jeff would pop in and out of my Dead experiences in California over the next couple years. Great guy and a very gracious host.

The shows were a blast. Bruce Hornsby wasn't there, but that was fine with me. I wanted to hear Vince on his own for a change. These were the first shows of the year - a time when it's not uncommon for them to pull out a surprise or two. This time was no different.

On the first night, after a fun, solid opening set, they wound down with a nice "Cassidy" that rolled nicely into a completely unexpected "New Speedway Boogie." Holy crap. "Unexpected" doesn't even come close. They hadn't played that one in over 20 years. The crowd went apeshit. Jerry belted it out like they had never stopped playing it. The "One way or another..." part was a giant sing-a-long. One of my all-time favorite Dead moments. For the rest of the night we kept hearing this guy in the crowd yelling "BBBBBBBBOOOOGIEEEEEEE!!!! between every song. In fact - we heard him the next 2 nights, too. Funny. Annoying. Mostly funny. The rest of night #1 was a treat, but this night was all about NSB.

Night #2 was fun, but uneventful, with the exception of the Drums segment, which featured the legendary Babatunde Olatunji and Sikiru Adepoju sitting in. Good lord. Talk about masters. These guys are amazing. They had the crowd mesmerized. Fantastic.

Night #3 was the big Chinese New Years celebration. My co-worker/travel companion headed off to visit family for the day. We'd meet up later at the show. I called-up a tape-trading buddy of mine, Matt, who flew down from Seattle for the show. We had never actually met, but since I was carless, he volunteered to come pick me up and give me a ride to the show. I know it sounds cheesy, but I miss those days when I was less cynical and more trusting of people. I did some things I'd never do now (like let complete strangers stay in my apartment for a few days), but I was also repaid in kindness many times over. Ah, to be young, fool-hardy and happy.

Anyway...

We got there pretty early, getting a good spot on the floor, about 1/3 of the way back. The show was great. The Chinese Symphony Orchestra opened. No - really. It was awesome. The Dead were terrific, as well, pulling out a lot of the big guns - "Help->Slip->Franklin's", "Playin' ", "Terrapin", "Eyes", etc. Very nice. The highlight was during Drums when they had the Chinese New Year parade. I don't remember too much about what was going on, other than the giant dragon running around the floor of the coliseum and this HUGE orange bird on a stick that was swooping around. It was kind of like a kite, I guess, but the guy was swinging it around like crazy. Somehow he managed to keep it swooping down over us - coming seemingly inches from our heads, then having it soar back up and around in circles. All while Mickey, Billy and Airto were drumming like crazy. Another magical Grateful Dead moment when everything seems completely insane, yet perfect at the same time. The world needs more of that.

I had a blast at this run. It was nice to experience a regular west coast run without the insanity of New Years Eve surrounding you. I decided that this was going to be an annual trip.

2010-02-17T21:24:00.015-05:00

2/16/89 They Might Be Giants @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

I think They Might Be Giants is one of those bands that everyone goes through a phase with, then eventually grows out of. I discovered them in college - as I imagine everyone does. They were quirky, funny and just odd enough that they could stay in the "alternative" realm - whatever that means. I remember buying their first cd when it came out. I used to call their dial-a-song hotline a couple times a week. I thought "We're The Replacements" was hilarious. "Don't Let's Start" is still catchy as hell. By the time this show came around I had discovered The Grateful Dead and was generally preoccupied with them. Still - It was a quick way to flashback to college for a couple hours, so we went to the show. It was fun, but the songs didn't seem as clever, the music seemed pretty tame now and I felt a bit old in the crowd. The show was fine, but I realized that I had grown out of TMBG. I haven't paid much attention to them since. They're still around though. I never would have guessed that to be the case, 20+ years later.

2/14/93 Inspiral Carpets @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

I went to this one with my then-boyfriend. He wanted to go, so I went along. All I remember is that I hated it and wanted it to end. Just not my thing at all. I just didn't get that whole Manchester thing. (shrug)

2/19/96 The Next Step @ The Bayou - Washington, DC

The Next Step were a local Grateful Dead cover band. At least I think they were local. Anyway - they had some kind of Mardi Gras party at the Bayou, so I went with this really cute guy. We had met at a bar a couple days prior and this was our very first "real" date. 14 years later, we're still together. In fact - today is our anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Baby.

2/21/03 Mission Of Burma/Oxes @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

The return of Mission of Burma. I never saw them back in the day, so I wasn't about to miss this. Oxes opened. As I recall they're an instrumental band from Baltimore. I recall thinking they were really good, but I don't think I've heard anything from them since. Too bad. I'd definitely check them out again, simply on that vague memory.

Burma was really good. My knowledge of them had been limited to that Ryko compilation that came out many years ago. They played enough from that to keep me happy. I'm not sure if it was them or me, but I didn't really "get it" this night. I thought the show was fine and I was very glad I went, but I just didn't see the fire that so many reviews of their past seemed to rave about. I left thinking they were a really good band, who were doing a respectable job of a comeback tour.

Of course, they're still around and now they tend to blow the roof off of everywhere they play. I'm glad I gave them another chance after this show, because I certainly "get it" now. They're an amazing live band. In fact - I'm going to see them on Saturday. You should go, too.

There's a lot more to come for February. One week where I saw 6 shows in a row and a ton of Dead shows from various trips to Oakland. I'll try to spread those out over the next couple weeks.

Furthur

2010-02-15T20:36:00.012-05:00

2/13/10 Furthur @ Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA

1st Set
-------
Jam >
Playin' In The Band
Wang Dang Doodle
Friend Of The Devil
Greatest Story Ever Told
Ship of Fools
Sittin' On Top Of The World >
New Speedway Boogie

2nd Set
--------
Help on the Way >
Slipknot! >
Franklin’s Tower
Cassidy >
Lovelight
St. Stephen >
Revolution >
The Eleven >
So Many Roads
Let It Grow >
Playin' In The Band (reprise)

Encore: Johnny B. Goode

Despite the fact that the show was nearly sold-out and a large portion of the parking lot was filled with giant mountains of snow, we got in and got a great parking spot with no problem. We hooked up with one of Don's friends before the show, had a couple beers and we were inside at around 7:40.

I guess the stage was bigger than the seating chart indicated, because rather than being one section out from the stage, we were right at the front corner. We actually had a great view of everyone except the backup singers, but the sound was a bit lacking. Still, you couldn't get much closer than we were without being at the very front of the floor.

This was my first real Dead-related event since the Obama benefit gig back in 2008. The big change with this line-up is the addition of John Kadlecik of Dark Star Orchestra on guitar and vocals. I've seen John a bunch of times with DSO and he can totally nail Jerry's sound - both vocally and his guitar style. Hopes were high that they finally got it right.

The first set was quite nice, but a bit of a mixed-bag. The opening "Playin' " was ok, but I don't like it in the opening slot. It's one of those balls-out jamming songs that they do better after they've warmed-up a bit. "Wang Dang" was pretty forgettable, as it usually is. We finally got John singing on "FOTD". They played the fast version, which I had never heard the Dead do before. I'm pretty sure there was a major vocal miscue in there, but it otherwise sounded fine. I still wanted more from John though. "Greatest Story" was a bit perfunctory and seemed to drag a bit.

But then things took a turn. They did "Ship of Fools" (with John singing) in a different manner than I'm used to. It was quite bouncy and fun, with a vibe almost like "Loose Lucy" used to have. They did a great job with it and John started getting approval from those around us. They followed this with the highlight of the set - "Sittin' On Top Of The World" - a song from The Dead's very first album that the Dead stopped playing many, many years ago. And they nailed it. John's guitar playing was fast and furious - almost a bluegrass-style - and the rest of the band played with a fire that hadn't been seen yet in the show. Sweet. The set ended with a rocking "New Speedway Boogie" which turned into quite the sing-a-long by the end. The first set started a little slow, but ended on a great note, leaving me anxious for the 2nd set.

Set 2 started out with what turned into the highlight of the evening - possibly one of the best "Help->Slip"s I've ever heard. Certainly the best post-Jerry one I've heard. John took the vocals for this one. The "Help On The Way" was tight, fun and had the drive needed to push the song to "fantastic" status. Then came the "Slipknot". Holy crap. Tight when it needed to be. Loose and spacey when it needed to be. It was perfect Grateful Dead music. I just closed my eyes and got lost in it. [Lucky for you I deleted the long, hippy-dippy description of what the song was doing to me at the time and my related thoughts. You're welcome. ] It really was absolutely perfect.

And, as expected, after the lengthy jam, "Slipknot" tightened up, ended and fell seamlessly into "Franklin's Tower". The crowd went nuts. Everyone dancing, smiling and jumping around, knowing they're in the middle of a great version of one of the quintessential Grateful Dead combos.

And then Phil started to sing.

Phil Lesh has got to be completely tone deaf. The man can't sing for sh-t. With the exception of the few songs he used to rarely sing with the Dead, he completely ruins everything he tries to sing. He really just needs to play bass (which he is masterful at) and otherwise STFU.

So in a matter of seconds I switched from one of the greatest post-Jerry musical moments I've ever experienced, to cringing at the sound of this terrible voice ruining what should have been a stellar moment. It was painful. Soul-crushing. I had to leave. I went out to the concourse and walked around until the song was finished.

"Cassidy" and "Lovelight" were good, but I hadn't quite recovered yet. It was around this time that Don was wandering around the arena and we discovered just how bad the sound was where we were. Oh well...

"St. Stephen" started out ok, but they seemed to keep dropping it down to a real quiet and slow mode. Every time they got it built-up to a new level, they'd drop it down again. They'd build it up again to an exciting apex, then bring it down. Frustrating. Seemingly out of nowhere they went into The Beatles' "Revolution". It was an OK version, but there's really not much to the song and I thought the placement was odd.

THEN they went into The Eleven. A terrific version of a difficult song. Bob pulled-off the lyrics just find and John sounded really nice. But I have to wonder about this combo. Why on earth would you split one of the classic combos ("Stephen-> The 11") by inserting a mediocre cover song? The playing on all of them was fine - especially "The 11" - but "Revolution" killed the flow and the power the other 2 songs usually develop.

As "The Eleven" wound down we recognized the opening notes to "So Many Roads" - a nice latter day Jerry ballad. Don and I just looked at each other and went "Oh no." Please don't let Bob sing this and PLEASE don't let Phil get anywhere near it. Luckily, John stepped up to the mic. And he f--king nailed it. Just beautiful. The voice, the guitar - close enough, but not quite imitating Jerry. One of the high points of the show. This is what this band has been missing. Well done. More of this, please.

We were expecting this to go into "One More Saturday Night" and were a bit shocked to hear the opening chords to "Let It Grow." A very nice version and a great way to end the set. Or so we thought. From there they went into a "Playing Reprise." To be honest - I was dead tired at this point and just wanted it to be over. It seemed a bit superfluous, since they did a complete version "Playin'" to open the show. It sounded fine, but I was done.

We were even more surprised to the the "JBG" encore. It's a bit of a throwaway, but it's always a rockin' good time. This may be the first Saturday "Dead" show I've seen where they didn't play "One More Saturday Night."

So the show was a mixed-bag, but overall I'd say it was very good. I really hope they let John stay for a while, let him gel with the band a bit and let him open things up. This lineup has the best potential the band has seen in a while. When they're hitting everything just right, it's absolutely incredible. I'd definitely go see this lineup again.

Just don't let Phil sing any more.

February Continued...

2010-02-12T20:01:00.027-05:00

2/ 7/90 The Residents @ Lisner Auditorium-GWU - Washington, DC

This was the first time I had seen The Residents - and definitely my favorite show of theirs. This was on the "Cube E" tour. The premise was basically that Cowboy music + Blues/Slave music = Elvis. As the formula suggests, the show was in 3 parts and each focused on a highly bastardized interpretation of the 3 genres of music. The first 2 parts were a bit disturbing, but the Elvis part was just freaky. Completely Residents-ized versions of Elvis classics. Familiar, yet downright frightening. The King and Eye came out around this time. If you want to scare people - put it on at a party.

Here's a nice little medley of "Teddy Bear" and "Viva Las Vegas."

Great show. I love The Residents. I hate the fact that they play at 9:30 these days. They deserve to be seen in real theaters and auditoriums. It's just not the same with bar-noise and distracting movement and lighting. It's a performance - not a gig.

2/ 7/97 JGB @ The Bayou - Washington, DC

This band was basically the remains of The Jerry Garcia Band, which had obviously stopped playing when Jerry died back in 1995. I remember Melvin and the girls, but I'm not sure if anyone else from the original band was there. I don't remember anything they played, but I do remember the emotional wallop we took hearing Melvin play that organ and the girls singing those backup vocals. I was kind of surprised it hit me so hard. I remember thinking the guy singing and playing Jerry's parts was adequate, but it really wasn't about him. This was all about Melvin, Jackie and Gloria and saying goodbye to the JGB. It hit the spot perfectly.

2/10/04 The Shins/Cass McCombs @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I remember nothing about Cass McCombs. Nothing.

The Shins were touring for Chutes Too Narrow, which I love. I believe they played 2 shows at The Cat and they both sold out really quick. I remember thinking they were good, but not great. They just didn't seem to have any fire to them. Like they were just going through the motions. I came away thinking they were a decent band that made great records. There's nothing wrong with that, but the show came off a bit lackluster to me. My one sentence review from my original entry for this show kind of backs up my memory. As does my next time seeing them in 2009.

2/11/05 The Wrens/Army Of Me @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

The Wrens are a good band, but why, oh why, don't they put out any new music? I don't think they're released anything since this show, but they still tour. They were really good, but my main memory of this show was the chatty chatty chatty crowd. I know people complain about noisy crowds all the time, but this was just ridiculous. STFU already. Much more can be found in my original review.

2/ 9/06 Mary Timony Band/The Aquarium @ The Black Cat Backstage - Washington, DC

I love The Aquarium. I haven't seen them in a while, but they sued to be primarily instrumental and would play before screens showing a variety of movies behind them. Not Hollywood-type movies, but the kinds of movies we used to see in school back in the day. I'm not sure why they don't get more attention here in DC. They're a great band.

Mary was good - as always. The BF was there with me for this one. I think we met up with this guy, as well. Original review here.

2/ 9/07 Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

I can't believe it took me this long to see Jonathan Richman. I've been a fan for over 20 years, but never got around to seeing him. He didn't disappoint. He only played a few songs I knew - but it didn't matter. His story-telling and charm were thoroughly entertaining. I'll gladly see him again anytime. I thought it was cool that people brought their kids. What a perfect show to bring your kids out to. The only bad thing I remember about this show was when the "whooping guy" showed up late and started yelling "Roadrunner, Roadrunner!" very loudly in the middle of one of Jonathan's other, more quiet songs. Congratulations. You've been promoted from being a general annoyance to being a full-blown dick.

2/ 9/09 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart/The Depreciation Guild @ Black Cat Backstage - Washington, DC

This show was a last-minute decision. I totally fell for the Pitchfork hype. Normally that's a disaster for me, but this time they were spot-on. Both bands have a shoegazey sound with some very melodic, happy-sounding tunes going on underneath. This show sold out at the door and was jam-packed. I may have actually liked Depreciation Guild a little better, but both bands were terrific. DG didn't have a cd yet, but they gave everyone who wanted one a website link where you could download their record for free. I got it as soon as I got home. Good stuff. I love it when I walk into a show knowing next-to-nothing about the bands and walk out a fan of every band that plays. It's nice to know that can still happen.

Both bands are worth checking out. If you like one, you'll like the other.

Early February Stuff

2010-02-09T21:58:00.013-05:00

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------.

So Long, Butterstick!

2010-02-04T20:59:00.003-05:00

Heartless commie bastards! Taking away our panda. F-You!

We'll miss you, Butterstick.

Random Stuff

2010-02-01T06:44:00.005-05:00

I actually watched the Grammys in their entirety last night. I came to the conclusion that we're all doomed. The Lady Gaga/Elton John duet was really good - and I'm not exactly a big Gaga fan...although I admit I'm becoming intrigued by her. Cirque du Pink was pretty damn awesome. Wow. But beyond that I thought it was pretty much a disaster.

My last entry made me realize that I'm totally falling out of touch with the local music scene. One of my resolutions this year is to start paying more attention again. Casper Bangs has been sending me emails for a few months. I finally gave in and ordered their new 7". It's pretty darn good. I did a little research and discovered their connection to The Hard Tomorrows, who I used to love. That explains how I got on CB's mailing list. Anyway - Buy the 2-song 7" and get a download code for 5 tracks. Not a bad deal. I missed their show on Friday, but I'll make it a point to be there next time.

Any other suggestions who I should start back in with?

My big news for the week is that Joe's Record Paradise is moving to downtown Silver Spring. In fact - The grand opening is today. I'm totally excited about this. No more trekking out to Rockville to go vinyl shopping. The new location is about 10 minutes from my house and walking distance from both my gym and my favorite bar in town. I totally see me going to the gym...rewarding myself with record shopping...then blowing my workout by going to The Quarry House, loading up on tater tots and reviewing my purchases with greasy fingers and a few cold ones. Sweeeet.

More Late January Stuff

2010-01-30T12:18:00.024-05:00

1/19/09 Beastie Boys/Sheryl Crow/Citizen Cope/Justin Jones @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

The day before Obama's inauguration. I knew this was going to be a very late night, followed by a VERY early morning. No way I was going to miss this though. I know it's not cool to say it, but I really like Sheryl Crow. There's nothing wrong with good pop songs. She played about an hour, opening with "A Change Will Do You Good'" I think. Appropriate. Citizen Cope played a solo acoustic set, which was much better than I expected - although I didn't really expect anything, being completely unfamiliar with him. The Beasties were fun - as usual. This whole show was really just a big party. Not as crowded as you'd expect, considering the show sold out in about 30 seconds. Plenty of room to dance, mill about and basically just celebrate the future. I think I got home around 2:30 and was up by about 4:00am to head down for the inauguration.

1/20/07 Exit Clov/De Novo Dahl/Middle Distance Runner Black Cat Washington, DC

I went to this one mainly to see De Novo Dahl. As I recall, they played in their pajamas. Again - I could be mis-remembering. They're always fun live. Fun, danceable pop. Middle Distance Runner is another local indie band. One of the better ones, actually. I think they're still together, but they don't play out much these days. Every time I notice them on a bill, it's in VA. That ain't gonna happen. I think I left early, during Exit Clov's set. They've got an incredibly unique sound, but I find it boring after about 15 minutes and grating after about 30. I seem to be in the minority in that opinion though. The kids love 'em. shrug.

1/22/07 Camera Obscura/The Essex Green @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Speaking of fun, danceable pop, Camera Obscura was quite fun. Kinda twee, which I like, but it always has the potential to get on my nerves after a while. Too much sweetness can eventually turn into a bad thing. They were fine though. The Essex Green is one of those bands that put out a really nice, kinda mellow record, but almost put me to sleep live. I like them a lot, but they're not the kind of band that's exactly exciting - or even terribly interesting - to watch. Most bands step it up a notch live. They didn't.

hmm...I just listened to a bit of The Cannibal Sea for the first time in a while. Not as quiet as I remembered. Maybe I need to revisit them. Anyway - That's still how I remember it.

1/26/07 Washington Social Club/These United States @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

One of the many WSC shows I saw. I don't remember anything in particular, but These United States was always good to see, so this was quite a good local bill.

1/27/06 Bicycle Thieves/Cedars/Nethers 9:30 Club Washington, DC

Back in the day the old 9:30 used to have local music nights all the time. Not so in the new, larger space. I guess it's just not practical. So when they decided to try it again I figured I'd go support it. I had wanted to see Nethers for a while and Cedars was one of my favorites at the time. I couldn't lose.

My original review is here.

In short: Nethers was quite impressive. The went from the garage-rockness of The Carlsonics and turned into this quiet, acousticy-drony sound, but it really worked. I guess they broke up, since I never hear anything about them anymore. Too bad. They were great.

Cedars was awesome - as usual. Great to see them on a big stage in front of an impressive crowd. I really thought they were going to make it. :(
Bicycle Thieves weren't my thing. They sounded like every other mainstream indie band out there. Not bad by any means, but nothing special. I bought their cd anyway.

I need to start paying more attention to local music again. I've fallen out of that habit.

1/30/05 Arcade Fire @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Now this is what I'm talking about. I know I sound like a grump sometimes - getting bored easily and not being impressed with every flavor-of-the-month band that comes along. But when I get hit by something like this, it reminds me what got me to this space in the first place. I hold the bar rather high. This show jumped WAY over that bar, crushed it, kept going and never looked back. Holy Crap was this a good show. I went in a doubter - fully expecting them to not live up to the hype. Wrong Wrong Wrong. This show (along with their DAR show in 2007) were among my favorites of the DECADE. Whatever great things you hear about Arcade Fire's live shows - believe it. They're the real deal.

My full, more detailed original review is here. I sound like a total fanboy in that one.

1/30/09 Thievery Corporation @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

And the opposite end of the spectrum... Here's a show that I think was ruined by all the hype. I knew of Thievery Corporation, but didn't really know much about them, other than they're a hugely popular, local dance band. I kept hearing about these near religious experiences people were having at their shows and how they're just this giant party with people dancing and having the time of their lives. That - and they can apparently sellout 5 nights at the 9:30 Club. Wow. I need to see any band that can do that.

With hype like that - there's really nowhere to go but down. I actually liked them quite a bit. I was really selling them short by calling them a "dance band". They've got this great world-music vibe to them that makes their groove quite infectious. They were incredibly interesting and fun to watch, but it wasn't this insanely amazing performance I had been promised. People seemed to be having fun, but it wasn't the dance-fest I had heard about. That's possibly due to the ridiculous overcrowding of sold-out 9:30 shows. They kept me entertained though. I seem to recall them playing for a LONG time (2-3 hours?), but I never got bored or frustrated. That says a lot. They were actually quite good, but the hype almost ruined it for me.

I'll go see them again, eventually (although I skipped this year's 5-night run), but I'll go in with a different mindset.

Late January Stuff

2010-01-27T20:03:00.018-05:00

Holy crap there are a lot of shows to cover for the end of January. I'm gonna have to spread this one out over a couple posts.

1/25/86 Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble/Fabulous Thunderbirds @ University Hall - UVA - Charlottesville, VA

I was one of the few guys in my fraternity that had a car. When it came time for our pledges to go on their bolt, they asked me to drive them. The deal was that they pay for gas and all of my food and drink for the weekend and in return I'd drive them to UVA. Sounded good to me. Off we went.

My friend Tom and I found a local paper and started looking for things to do. As luck would have it SRV was playing that night. Much to our amazement it wasn't sold out. We got there early and for a measly $10 we found ourselves 10 feet from the stage, directly in front of Stevie.

The show was just ridiculous. The man was amazing. It was one of those nights where you just stood and stared and occasionally remembered to pick your jaw up off the floor. I feel incredibly lucky that I just happened to stumble into this show. I have no idea what he played or what he was touring for. I just remember being completely awestruck. I should see if there's a recording of this out there.

The Fabulous T-Birds opened. I didn't know Stevie's brother was in the band at the time, so I thought it was an odd pairing at first. They kicked some ass though. Don't judge them by that "Tuff Enuff" song. They were quite the rockin' band.

1/27/88 The Meatmen @ 9:30 Club Washington, DC

This show was billed as their "Final Appearance". I'm not sure how long that lasted, but they're definitely still around. They were supposedly recording a live album, too, but I'm not sure if that ever came out. Typical dirty, rockin' Meatmen gig. Fun was had by all.

1/25/03 Camper Van Beethoven @ 9:30 Club Washington, DC

This was the big CVB reunion tour. I was a big fan of the first couple records back in the early/mid-80s. I saw them a few times back then (including once opening for R.E.M.) and they were always great, but I lost track of them after college. There was a lot of hype about this show. They were fun, but there was so much material I didn't know, I found myself wanting more. It was good to see them, although I don't think I need to do it again. Maybe if they just play Telephone Free Landslide Victory from start-to-finish (minus bonus tracks) with an "Interstellar Overdrive" encore. That would get me there for sure. They're still around. I think they were here a week or two ago.

1/22/04 Washington Social Club/Peelander-Z Velvet Lounge Washington, DC

Everyone should see Peelander-Z once. "Japanese Action Comic Punk." Once may be enough, but I guarantee it's a show you'll never forget. This was one of our earlier WSC shows. Tiny venue. Lots of dancing. Great party. It was great being able to watch them grow from small venues like this to selling out The Black Cat and even doing a decent job of filling 9:30. God I miss them. Still a little bitter about not getting a farewell show. hrmph.

1/21/05 Dave Attell @ DC Improv - Washington, DC

My first trip to a comedy club. I think I almost peed myself I was laughing so hard. I totally wish Insomniac had come to DC. My original review mentions that this was the first stand-up comic I had seen, but I forgot about seeing Robin Williams back in the 80s. oops.

1/22/05 Hoover/Medications/City Goats @ Black Cat Washington, DC

Great bill, but I found myself bored with Hoover by the end of the night. I'll chalk that up to sitting through all 3 bands alone and not being familiar with Hoover's material. I left early.

Are City Goats still around? They were fun. I wouldn't mind seeing them again.

My original thoughts on both the Hoover and Dave Attell gigs can be found here.

1/25/05 Carlsonics/(The Sounds Of) Kaleidoscope @ DC9 - Washington, DC

The Carlsonics were a hard-rocking garage-type band that used to play around town a lot. I seem to recall this being part of a month long residency @ DC9. I could be wrong about that. This was the last time I saw them. I wish I had seen them more before they broke up. Check out their cd. Gritty rock-and-roll goodness.

TSOK still pop-up every now and then. Psychedelic Indie Rock. Good stuff. It's been too long since I've seen them. This show was a great double-bill.

More "End of January Stuff" to come...

Mid-January Stuff

2010-01-18T20:52:00.021-05:00

1/18/87 The Pretenders/Iggy Pop @ Rec Hall - Penn State - State College, PA

My senior year of college. We didn't get many shows in Bumf--k, PA back then, Getting a double-bill this solid was huge. The show was 100% reserved, but as soon as the lights went out a bunch of us rushed the stage. We weren't about to watch Iggy from the back of the basketball arena. There were only a couple dozen of us, so they kept trying to clear us out. They couldn't keep up though, We'd just loop back around and come back when they were clearing put the others. They eventually gave up and let us stay for Iggy's set. I didn't know most of the songs at the time, but it was a helluva show. He was touring for Blah Blah Blah, which I like probably more than I should - probably the result of seeing this show. Iggy Is King. All hail Iggy.

I loved The Pretenders at the time, too, but didn't want to bother trying to go up front again. I just stayed in my seat. I think they were touring for Get Close, so it wasn't the classic Pretenders line-up. They still sounded great though. I remember Chrissie Hynde coming out and saying that before she started, she wanted to kiss the stage that Iggy just performed on (and she did). I thought that was cool as hell at the time. Nice show - lots of hits plus the new record. After the show we went over to the Sheraton (the only decent hotel in town at the time) hoping to meet the band. We were in the lobby when they walked-in, but opted to not bother going up to them. I'm not sure if we were trying to be respectful or we just chickened-out. My guess is the latter.

1/16/93 B-52's/Juliana Hatfield @ Smith Center - GWU - Washington, DC

Juliana may have been billed as "The Juliana Hatfield 3". Not sure. The B's were touring for Good Stuff, which pretty much sucked. No Cindy. Enough said. By far the lamest B's show I've ever seen.

1/14/95 Pearl Jam/Neil Young/L7 @ Constitution Hall - Washington, DC

This was a Voters for Choice benefit. PJ was trying to avoid TicketMaster and did a mail-order-only ticket lottery. I didn't get tickets. I did what any deadhead would do and went anyway - holding my finger in the air and begging for someone to sell me a ticket. I had exactly one offer for several hundred dollars. No thanks. A while later this girl came up to me and said she didn't have a ticket, but was wondering what they were going for. We both agreed that the previous offer was ludicrous. She asked me what I thought was a reasonable price and I answered "face value". She just laughed and asked me if I really expected to get a face-value ticket. I said no, but I'd try again the next night. If I don't find one, then I'll just come back the next time they're in town. Pearl Jam was trying to help their fans by avoiding TicketMaster and by doing the mail-order thing to try to thwart scalpers. I felt it was kind of a slap in their face to spend a fortune on scalped tickets. She agreed. We talked for a while about various other things, then she left to go inside to see the show. About 10 minutes later she came back. She said she had lied about not having an extra ticket. She just wanted to make sure it went to someone who really "got" what PJ was doing. She sold me the ticket for face value. Within 10 minutes I was inside.

It was my first time seeing Pearl Jam. I had tickets to see them in '94, but opted to go see The Grateful Dead in Miami instead. I kind of regret that, as the PJ show was the night that Kurt Cobain died.

1/18/06 We Are Scientists/Oxford Collapse @ Sonar - Baltimore, MD

I think this is the only time I've been to Sonar. I had seen We Are Scientists on 2005, but never Oxford Collapse. I'd see this same line-up several more times over the years. Oxford Collapse was a great band. The played that same slightly-awkward yet danceable rock music that WAS played. They were a great pairing. WAS came onstage for "The Boys Go Home" and looked like they were having a helluva time. I left with a handful of their stuff and vowed to see them again ASAP.

We Are Scientists were, once again, a great f--king time. Having seen them before, my hopes were high and they met them easily. Their first record was finally out, so I was slightly familiar with some of their songs. After this show I was positive they were going to be the next-big-thing.

1/15/08 Editors/Hot Hot Heat @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

I posted my thoughts about this one before. I keep forgetting about Editors. Every time I hear them I think "Damn they're good. I should listen to them more often" and never do. Another great band I don't pay enough attention to. They're coming to town in February. I may have to go. You should too, but wait until I get my tickets first.

So Long, Penguin

2010-01-16T13:28:00.002-05:00

Goodbye to the Silver Spring Penguin, who closed-up shop yesterday. The Penguin did a great job of keeping me up-to-date on things in my hood. I guess I need to start paying better attention on my own now.

Good Luck, Penguin. You'll be missed!

Jay Reatard - R.I.P.

2010-01-13T22:03:00.002-05:00

Jay Reatard was found dead today. Only 29 years old. How sad.

I got to see Jay twice in 2007. Once opening for The Ponys on the Backstage and once opening for The Meat Puppets on the Mainstage (both at The Black Cat). He was incredible. His music came in these short, manic bursts of energy that were hard to keep up with, yet his band was nice and tight. Each song was a little snapshot of controlled chaos. Rarely 2 minutes long and only enough time after one song to count-off the next one. He could zip through a dozen songs in 20-25 minutes, easily. His Blood Visions album is one of my favorites of the last few years. Highly recommended. Go buy it and see what you missed.

And he played a Flying-V. How cool is that?

Early January Stuff

2010-01-07T19:32:00.008-05:00

1/ 4/87 The Ramones @ The Bayou - Washington, DC

Not the first time I saw The Ramones. Certainly not the last. I saw The Ramones 4 times at The Bayou. To tell you the truth, the only distinguishing factor I remember from any of them was when The Smithereens opened for them. I think that was '86 though. Anyway...I remember hating The Bayou. They treated all the hippies like low-lifes and the punks like...well...punks. Anything close to pogo-ing would get you tossed in a flash. Plus it was in Georgetown, so there were always annoying people around, both inside and outside the club.

1/ 8/87 The Meatmen @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Oh, Tesco, you little scamp. The Meatmen were rude, loud and all kinds of awesome. Just when you thought they couldn't get any more offensive, they went a little further. They offended just about everyone eventually. How can you not love a band obsessed with poop and gays and with songs like "Mr. Tapeworm", "Crippled Children Suck" and "Orgy Of One"? They were a semi-local band - having moved here from Michigan a few years after getting started. That's fine. I have no problem claiming them as our own. Their shows are always a blast. They're reformed again and are still playing around. Highly recommended, but you've been warned. Stud Powercock... is a must-have for anyone who claims to like punk rock.

Yet another reason I heart the interwebs:

1/ 3/2003 Patti Smith @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Patti is one of those people I always felt like I should like, but didn't really get into for a long time. I finally decided it was time to check her out. I bought Horses, figuring she'd have to play at least a few tracks off of that one. Nothing prepared me for the show though. Holy mother of God - What took me so long? She was absolutely mesmerizing. One moment she'd seem to bare her soul to us, appearing vulnerable and weak....then 10 minutes later she's got everyone jumping up and down, hands in the air, having me convinced she could take on the world (and most likely win). Such power and emotion - not to mention mixed-in with a little fun. Part revival - part poetry reading - part rock and roll show. Amazing. I'll be back every time.

Patti has a new book out this month, documenting her life with Robert Mappelthorpe in the late-60s/early-70s. Looks pretty interesting. While you're buying that - buy Horses, too. Everyone should own that. Everyone.

1/ 7/09 Edie Sedgwick @ Black Cat Backstage - Washington, DC

I don't really know what to say about Edie Sedgwick other than he's my hero. His band seems to be a revolving line-up of various local indie-rock musicians, but the records sounds kind of electro-punk-dancy-weird. I've seen live shows where he's jumping around like a crazy person and another show where it's just him and some beats sitting in front of a dvd-fireplace. You never know what you're going to get. This show was my first. Edie and a band of locals cranking out some quirky Q And Not U - style dance tunes. It's always a not-to-be-missed event. I really don't understand why he's not a superstar.

You should follow him on Twitter, too. It's a real treat.

12/31

2010-01-02T10:08:00.005-05:00

I've chronicled New Years-past previously, so I won't bother with that again.

12/31/09 - Dark Star Orchestra/The Bridge @ Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD

This year we headed up to Baltimore again to see Dark Star Orchestra. We did the same thing last year and had a great time. It was the obvious choice for this year.

We got there just after 9:00. The coat-check was already full. Dammit. We caught the last song from The Bridge, who seemed pretty fun. They seem to open for DSO around here often. Maybe next time we'll head in earlier to see them.

This was our first time seeing DSO with their new "Jerry." Their previous "Jerry" was so good he got snatched-up by Phil Lesh and Bob Weir for their current Furthur project. Not a bad gig.

They opened with a short acoustic set which was fun, but not terribly exciting. The electric sets were much better. The new guy didn't disappoint at all. Holy crap is he good. Right off the bat they opened the electric sets with a "Help->Slip->Franklin's" that had quite a few jaws dropping. Wow. Donna Jean Godchaux was in the house and sat in with the band for a few songs. As a former Donna-skeptic I have to admit it was great seeing her again. She sounded fine and looked like she was having a blast. Quite a kick to see her dancing with Father Time at midnight. We left the show early - a little after 1:00am when they went into "Alligator". That indicated to us that they probably had at least 20-30 minutes left and we're too old and tired to hang out that much longer.

The band sounded fine all night. It was an "original setlist" show, which brings me to my beef with DSO. Their schtick is that they cover Grateful Dead shows in their entirety - basically recreating the whole Grateful Dead concert experience. Once in a while they mix things up by playing "original setlist" shows, but they got where they are by covering entire shows (and doing it very well.) I've seen them about 7 times now, and I'm pretty sure 5 of those have been "original setlist" shows. They always sound good, but I find the way they mix things up to be too jarring. I find myself thinking "The Dead would never do that" and it throws me off. It makes me think of them as just another cover band, rather than something unique. Don't get me wrong - the music is always top-notch - but I always leave thinking I didn't quite get what I paid for.

The walk back to the hotel was pretty cold, wet and miserable, but we were treated to the sight of quite a few drunken women (and one guy) throwing-up or being carried home by their friends. Awesome.

12/30

2009-12-30T18:50:00.005-05:00

12/30/88 Hot Tuna @ The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA

I remember what we did on our night off now...We went to see Hot Tuna at The Fillmore. I think it was an acoustic show. Another nice surprise where everything just fell into place. The Fillmore was awesome. I know it's not at the original location and it may have moved since I was last there. I'm not sure. Free apples!

12/30/89 Grateful Dead @ Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA

We actually planned ahead this time and bought tickets in advance for the night before New Year's. I flew out west with a couple folks from work on 12/28. We stayed at the wonderful Jack London Inn. Unexpectedly, my roommate and next door neighbor decided to drive cross-country and meet us there. We weren't aware of this plan until they showed-up on our doorstep. I recall being woke up by some hippie playing a really bad version of "Sugaree" just outside our window by the pool. We managed to get locked out of our room at one point, only to discover our next-door-neighbors could easily crawl across the balcony and into our room. Note to self - always lock the balcony door.

A fine, fun show. The highlight may have been the opener of "Bertha->Good Lovin'" - a combo they used to play all the time in the late 70s but had dropped in the 80s. First time in about 8 years for that combo. Sweet! "Jack Straw" to open the second set was an odd surprise. Sort of the calm-before-the-storm of the frantic "China-Rider" that followed. They closed with Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," which was one of those just-exactly-perfect moments. Overall this was probably better than the New Year's show, but that's pretty standard, really.

Another of my favorite shows. The band was sounding great...I was in California again...I was surrounded by my best friend, my neighbor and my favorite co-worker-buds. And we still had NYE to look forward to. Great night.

12/30/06 The Slickee Boys/The Howling Mad/Chelsea Graveyard and the Screams at Midnight @ The Ottobar - Baltimore, MD

Another Slickees reunion - this time at The Ottobar. hmmm...maybe this was the one where my friend came up from NC? Could be. Incidentally, my NC friend is the same one that drove cross-country for the above Dead show. He's a trooper, that one.

12/29

2009-12-29T22:09:00.018-05:00

Oh, I'm fine. Thanks for asking.

12/29/88 The Grateful Dead @ Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA

The first time I ever traveled for a show. My first time in California. I went out with a co-worker. We had tickets for New Years Eve, but not this night. We had come all this way, so we had to at least try to get in. This is always the hottest run of the year. Tickets are incredibly hard to come by. We wandered around the vending area for a couple hours, but didn't have any luck. Disappointing, but not surprising. The show was about to start, so we decided to just head-out and see if we could find a place to stay.

Walking back to the car we walked past the loading dock of the arena. As we were walking past the ramp that goes under the arena, a couple of guys were walking up in our direction. As they walked by we heard one of them say "I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to get rid of these tickets." Ummm...hello...excuse me.... 5 minutes and $20 later we were on our way into the show. That Grateful Dead magic comes through again.

There was nothing terribly special about this show, but then again it was only my 5th show, so it was all special. I got to meet Willie the usher - someone who was a bit of an Oakland Arena fixture, as I would discover in the coming years. A few firsts for me, including "Sugaree," "Mighty Quinn" and "To Lay Me Down." Completely general admission. Something unheard of for a big arena show on the east coast at the time (thanks to The Who @ Cincinnati). The whole night was an unexpected treat.

After the show we were too tired to go find a place to stay, so we just slept in the rental car in the parking lot. You were allowed to do that back then. The next day we picked up my college buddy, Tom, at the airport. I forget what we did all day, but we ended up camping somewhere up in Marin that night. Setting up a tent in the rain = no fun. 3 of us in the small tent wasn't great either, but it beat sleeping in the car again. The next day was New Year's Eve, which I've discussed in a previous post.

This was by far one of my all-time favorite trips.

12/29/95-01-05-06-07 The Slickee Boys @ various locations

The Slickees usually do 1-off reunion shows between Xmas and New Years. I don't have the patience to review them all, but here's a one-liner for each:

12/29/95 @ 9:30 Club Washington, DC

My last show at the old 9:30 Club. I was furious it was moving. This show was a combination great time and total bummer.

12/29/01 w/The Beatnik Flies @ 8x10 Club - Baltimore, MD

A bunch of my old friends I used to see The Slickees with back in the mid-80s came up for this one. Just like the good old days.

12/29/05 The Mojo Room - Baltimore, MD

Tiny, dark, grubby club in a questionable part of town. The stage area was smaller than my living room. I have the print-at-home ticket for this, but it's a .pdf and I'm too lazy to convert it.

12/29/06 @ Iota - Fairfax, VA

We got there before the opening band came on, but the show was already sold-out. We hung out at the bar in the connected restaurant where we could hear, but not see the band. About 2/3 through the show, they let us into the main room. At full-price, of course.

12/29/07 @ Ottobar - Baltimore, MD

My best old college roommate came up from NC for this one. I love The Ottobar.

June Stuff

2009-06-24T22:02:00.009-04:00

First and foremost - Everyone should go see Pansy Division at The Velvet Lounge tomorrow night (6/25). They were onstage singing about banging other guys when you were still hiding in your closet. Get out there and show 'em some love. They've earned it. Troll Tax is opening. I've never heard them, but they included members of Partyline and Mess Up The Mess, so you know it's gonna be a big ol' party.

A few quickies from June:

6/5/09 - A Place To Bury Strangers/Caverns @ The Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC

Caverns is a hard rocking, instrumental DC band. I've only seen them twice, but they've really come through both times. It was a video-release party for them. They showed the video after their impressive set, but they were a bit slow getting it going. By the time it was working, most people were outside smoking or at the bar upstairs. Oh well. They're playing Fort Reno this summer. Check 'em out.

A Place To Bury Strangers is one of my current favorites. LOUD shoegazey stuff. They play in complete darkness - the only light coming from films or other images projected directly into the band. It creates this slightly disorienting effect that totally adds to the experience of listening to them. It's hard to describe, really. Thanks to the merch dude who gave me a discount on the 7" box set. Great band. Dumbek says "two thumbs up!" (Did I mention how loud they were?)

6/9/09 - Beastie Boys/Biz Markie - Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD

I hated this show. I had a decent spot just to the left of the main floor area. I could see and hear just fine. Unfortunatley, Biz Markie was an absolute disaster. I want those 25 minutes back, please. After about 10 minutes I couldn't take it anymore and went to get a drink and wander around. I came back before the Beasties came on and was about 5 feet behind my previous spot - just a little further out into the other bar area. The Beasties came out and I couldn't hear a thing. They didn't have the speakers on in the bar room and the sound from the main area wasn't travelling under the balcony at all. It was like trying to listen with your head wrapped in a pillow. Like your next-door neighbors are having a party and you can hear the music through the wall. Completely muffled and blurred. I went to the back bar with straight view of the stage. Same problem. Same on the right side, too. These spots sounded great for X and The B-52's. Miserable for the Beasties. I finally went upstairs and the sound was crystal clear. Unfortunately, unless you're right on the rail, you can't see ANYTHING from the balcony. Nothing. And considering the rail was 5 people-deep, there was no chance of seeing. So I hung upstairs - listening and dancing a little, but seeing nothing. Back downstairs - same thing. Decent view, but the sound seemed even worse to me now - knowing how good it sounded upstairs. I ran up and downstairs a few times - alternating sight for sound - but that got old after a while. After realizing they were halfway through "Check It Out" before I could even recognize it - and seeing that MCA looked bored as hell - like he'd rather be home watching TV or something - I decided to bail. I was having a crappy time, losing sleep on a worknight and had a 30-40 minute drive ahead of me. buh-bye.

6/29/09 - Frodus @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I was only vaguely familiar with Frodus, but I knew they had an amazing reputation as a live band and this would probably be my only shot to see them. They did not disappoint. Not exactly my kind of music - a little too screamo for me - but there's no denying the power this band brings. Wow. I'll look into their records a little more now, but I have to believe they'll be disappointing compared to their show. Good old hard-rocking DC post-punk. Excellent.

6/21/09 - Phoenix @ Rock And Roll Hotel - Washington, DC

Yeah - I bailed on this one. I ended up up spending the day with my folks (it was Father's Day, after all) and there was just no way I was going to be able to get there at a reasonable time. I knew parking would suck and it would be horrendously crowded. I didn't want to go and have a bad time (a la The Beastie Boys) so I just went home. All accounts say the show was just over-the-top fantastic. They could have easily played a venue 3-4 times this size. Oh well. My loss. Getting old sucks sometimes.

Late May Stuff

2009-05-28T20:50:00.012-04:00

5/18/09 - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band @ The Verizon Center - Washington, DC

It seems I'm the only person in the MD/DC/VA area that had no problem at all getting Springsteen tickets. It quite literally sold-out in a matter of seconds. Even people that bought scalped tickets via TicketsNow were turned away. sheesh.

But our good luck didn't end there. Like last year - there was a lottery for the pit - an area at the very front of the floor that's restricted to 400 people. We managed to get lucky again and were among the first 150 or so people in the building. We spent the evening about 10 feet from the stage. Sweeeet.

The show was excellent - as expected. I liked last year's setlist a little better, but it didn't really matter. Bruce turns everything into a party and this show was no exception. Right off the bat we got "Badlands". Unexpected highlights included "Johnny 99" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - two quiet acoustic numbers that were transformed into rockin' rave-ups. We got a rare "Blinded By The Light", "Kitty's Back", "Rosalita" and, of course, "Born To Run." "BTR" is one of those moments everyone should experience at least once. Killer show from Bruce - as always.

Setlist - stolen from Backstreets:

Badlands
No Surrender
Outlaw Pete
She's the One
Working on a Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
Out in the Street
Little Latin Lupe Lu
Hava Nagila/Blinded By the Light
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
The Wrestler
Kingdom of Days
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
* * *
Hard Times
Kitty's Back
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land
Rosalita

Yes - He played a bit of "Hava Nagila".

5/19/09 Edie Sedgwick/Olivia and the Mates @ The Black Cat Backstage - Washington, DC

Yeah - ummm...note that the ticket isn't ripped. I bailed on this one. This would have been something like my 7th show in 10 days. I'm too old for that. I ate the ticket, stayed home and slept. Feel free to mock.

5/27/09 - Holy Fuck/Crocodiles @ The Rock And Roll Hotel - Washington, DC

I really hate the Rock and Roll Hotel sometimes. Just once I'd like them to start a show at the time they advertise on their website. What's the point of putting up showtimes if they're never correct? Doors at 8. Showtime: 8:30. You'd think that by 9:20 the first band would have at least started - but no.

Anyway - that was a mixed blessing, because I really like the new Crocodiles record. I managed to catch their entire set after all. I didn't realize it was just 2 guys - a singer who looks exactly like Bob Dylan circa 1966 and a guitar player who looks just like Tim Butler from The Psychedelic Furs circa 1981. They turned out a brief, but very powerful set. I highly recommend their new record. Their influences are all over the place, but the do them all justice. My only complaint was that they were insanely loud at times. You're not My Bloody Valentine - tone it down a bit. When people are leaving the room with their fingers in their ears - you're too loud.

Holy Fuck didn't disappoint. On paper, they're a band I should hate. Lots of electro-wizardry, knob twiddling, just short of laptop-stuff that I usually can't stand. But they have a real live rhythm section that keeps things going and use lots of wacky things to make noise. It gives them this great, funky vibe that ties the rest together in a completely different way. I totally dig their sound. They should be much bigger than they are. If there's any justice, they'll break through soon - although their name is going to eventually cause problems for them. If you ever see them, I suggest getting up close so you can watch everything they're doing. It's actually pretty fascinating to watch. Highly recommended.

Whew

2009-05-17T21:12:00.021-04:00

I think I've finally caught my breath. Here's what I was up to last week.

5/11/09 - Leonard Cohen @ Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD

I'll admit that I had heard more about Leonard Cohen than I had actually heard his music. But everyone was peeing themselves over this tour, so I figured I'd check it out. Ummm...yeah. Wow. Is it too early to declare this "Show of the Year"? He just has this amazing presence that's just mesmerizing. That voice - so low and commanding of your attention. Lyrics that are poetic, charming, funny and powerful. He's one of those people that now I'm familiar with his music, I hear his influence everywhere. Simply a fantastic show. Run, don't walk to this one - if it's not too late.

My only complaint was that it was a tiny bit too long. The time just flew by and it was all wonderful, but he played like 7 encore songs - including skipping off the stage at least 3 times and each song being followed by a lengthy standing ovation. It's 50 degrees, pouring down rain and you've been playing for nearly 3 hours. Nobody really wants to hear anything with a bass solo and there's no need to introduce every member of the band for a second time. But, really, the show was fantastic. Believe the hype.

5/12/09 - The Damned/The Bellrays @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

The Bellrays should be the biggest plan on the planet. It's like if Tina Turner was fronting the MC5. They never disappoint. Check this out.

The Damned are down to Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian these says, but they can still bring it. "Anti-Pope" was pretty impressive. Does it really get any better than "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" followed by "Smash It Up?" Awesome. "Alone Again Or" was a great surprise. The band may not be all they used to be, but they still put on a fun show. The double-bill made for a great night out.

5/13/09 - The B-52's @ Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD

If you don't like the B-52's, you're no fun. Period. Yeah - Their shows never really change much. You always know what you're gonna get. But it's always a blast. Tonight was no exception. We ended up about 8 feet from the left corner of the stage, providing a great view of Cindy. Dinger took a ton of pics. Cindy was acting like quite the vixen - flirting with everyone in her sexy push-up vinyl outfit. Fred was Fred. He forgot the words to "Love Shack" at one point He looked embarrassed as hell. Probably the only time I've ever seen Fred look humbled. The show was a non-stop party - as usual. I never get tired of them. I'll go see them every chance I get. We met up with Bubala and Mumi at the show. They got married this weekend! Congrats guys!

5/14/09 The Shins @ 9:30 Club

The Shins had a few tough shows to follow. To be honest - they didn't hold up. The club was packed and the A/C was off. Hotter than hell. The Shins sounded ok, but they were really nothing special. I wish they had played more from Chutes Too Narrow. They weren't bad by any stretch. They just weren't terribly engaging. Based on the number of people who were chatting their way through the entire show, I'd say they probably agreed. I had similar thoughts when I saw them at The Black Cat a few years back. I think maybe The Shins are just a good band who makes great albums. Their live show just doesn't hold up to those records.

Saturday found us at Blowoff. I think the rain kept all but the faithful away, but it made for fun crowd and a great night. Thanks to Bob, Rich and Nick for another fun time.

Things aren't quite so hectic this week. Springsteen tomorrow and Edie Sedgwick/Olivia and the Mates on Tuesday. I think that's it. Daddy needs some rest.

Catching Up

2009-05-07T22:11:00.010-04:00

This is going to be one of those "I'm too old for this" weeks.

Friday/Saturday: possibly Sharon Jones
Sunday: possibly Fischerspooner
Monday: Leonard Cohen
Tuesday: The Damned
Wednesday: The B-52s
Thursday: The Shins

Anyway....

So it's been a few months. A quick recap:

Dinger and I stood in the freezing cold for about 9 hours to watch Obama get inaugurated. Worth every frostbitten moment. We were smack in the middle of the crowd, halfway between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Perfect.

I got a netbook - my first laptop. Increased mobility = more typos.

I'm kinda sorta following American Idol for the first time. I want the cute Hal Sparks lookalike to win, but he won't. I don't like Adam at all. At some point in every song he sounds like someone stepped on a cat. blech.

The big show highlight this so far this year was the R.E.M. tribute at Carnegie Hall. Bob Mould, Patti Smith, Apples In Stereo, The dB's, The Feelies and a slew of others each came out and played an R.E.M. tune. Oh yeah - R.E.M. closed the show with a great version of "E-Bow The Letter" complete with Patti Smith. So awesome.

Other shows/Mini-reviews:

Beastie Boys/Sheryl Crow (9:30 Club): surprisingly not overcrowded and tons o' fun. The night before the inauguration. Made for a very late night before a very early, cold morning.

I've seen Edie Sedgwick twice already and I'm going again in a couple weeks. My latest obsession. Love him.

Pains of Being Pure At Heart/Deprecation Guild (Black Cat Backstage). Went at the very last minute, having never heard either band. Both were fantastic. PoBPaH are turning up everywhere now, but I think Deprecation Guild may have been a little better.

The Whigs (Black Cat) were slightly disappointing.

Medications are back. I've seen the latest version twice now. I'm just not feeling it any more. They were such a powerful force with their old drummer. Now they're just another good band. I hope they put a record out though. I'm curious what they can do in the studio.

Bob Mould (Birchmere). Bob doesn't disappoint. Mostly an acoustic gig with Jason on bass, but we also got Rich Morel on keys and Amy Domingues on cello. Sweet. Old stuff, new stuff, solo, Sugar and Husker Du stuff. Rocktastic. Go buy his new record.

Death Cab For Cutie. I surprised Dinger with 2nd row seats for this one. Directly in front of Ben. I love these guys. They put on a simple, but very good show.

Plenty more shows coming up this summer. I'll get to those later.

That's about it for now. Too lazy for links. (Gimme a break - I'm just getting back into this.)

Oh yeah - and my washing machine broke today. hrmph.

4/28

2009-04-28T20:04:00.015-04:00

I wasn't really planning on jumping in with old shows, but there were some good ones on this date.

4/28/86 - Black Flag/Gone/Painted Willie HUB Ballroom - Penn State - University Park, PA.

What a godsend this show was. We didn't get many punk shows in rural PA in the mid-80s - much less punk legends like Black Flag. The HUB was our student union. The ballroom just a big empty room. Probably a couple hundred people there.

The day started out with both Gone and Painted Willie playing at City Lights - a local record store. I seem to remember liking Painted Willie better than Gone, but I don't think I've heard much from either band since, so I wouldn't put much faith in that opinion. Greg Ginn was also in Gone. I managed to get him to autograph my Jealous Again EP.

This was one of Black Flag's final shows. They were done a few months later. Their final phase was filled with heavy, darker music. Kind of like Black Sabbath on speed. They didn't disappoint though. What a powerful band. Ginn is just an insane player. Henry Rollins is still one of the most intense performers out there. I only got to see them twice. I should have tried harder.

The only mention of this show in Get In The Van is from the 4-30-86 entry. Henry mentions that he got bit by a spider after the Penn State show and his foot swelled to the size of a potato. Sorry about that. Welcome to Pennsylvania. Even the list of shows in the back of the book mistakenly places this show in Pittsburgh. hrmph.

4/28/97 - George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

The P-Funk shows all blend together. They were good. They were funky. There was a dude in a diaper. About 3 hours of non-stop fun. Ain't no party like a P-Funk party. I think it's time I go see them again. It's been a while. Everybody should see them at least once.

4/28/07 - Dismemberment Plan/Beauty Pill/Owls and Crows @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

Oh, D-Plan, I love you so. You'll never replace the sentimental value of my beloved Slickee Boys as my favorite DC band, but you're right up there.

This was a reunion show - a benefit for Callum Robbins. I wrote a rather lengthy fan-boy review a while back. I still stand by that. The recording I got holds-up pretty well. One of my all-time favorite shows.

ahem....

2009-04-28T07:58:00.002-04:00

Well, I remember the password. That's a good sign.

"What's new?" you ask? Well...Half of the blogs to your left are dead. Most of the bands listed have either broken up or have been idle for a long, long time. Blogrolling was unavailable for months, preventing me from updating any links. Geocities is closing, so I need to move my show list and music collection pages (stop laughing). Yet somehow I've managed to avoid being placed in Jimbo's "Dead Blogs" list. Excellent.

Like many bloggers, I seem to have fallen into the black hole known as Facebook and let my blog slip away. I think it's time to change that. I'm still in DC. Still going to shows. Still slightly cranky.

I'll be back. Probably with a new template, since I need to update all of the links anyway.

Anyway - I'm not quite dead yet.

Dead Spring '09

2009-01-11T17:42:00.002-05:00

The Dead are reuniting for a Spring Tour in April/May. Good tickets are $100 each.

$100 - Are you kidding me? You know Jerry's dead, right? I never even paid 1/3 of that when Jerry was in the band. I was hoping to see 4-5 of these shows, but at these prices I might just go to the DC show and call it a day. Even then I might opt for a cheap seat. I just can't bring myself to pay $100 for this.

hrmph.

Beastie Inaugural Party

2009-01-10T10:57:00.003-05:00

Well, this won't suck.

So This Is The New Year

2008-12-31T08:26:00.002-05:00

We're off to see DSO in Baltimore tonight. Here's a repost from 1/1/05. I've added links where you can stream these shows in their entirety. I'll get back to new content next week.

------

New Year's Eve is always a big disappointment to me. It very rarely lives up to the hype, and it usually turns out to be more of a drag than it is fun. I think maybe I've set the bar too high though. I've had 4 incredible New Year's Eves. 12-31-88/89/90/99.

The first 3 involved me going to see The Grateful Dead in Oakland, CA.

12-31-88. There ain't no place I'd rather be. Best. Party. Ever. My first trip to California. My first huge road-trip to see the Dead. Tom Tom Club opened. Clarence Clemons sat-in for a good part of the show. Babatunde Olatunji and Sikiru Adepoju taught me about the power of drums. Bill Graham entered the arena at midnight, dressed at Father Time, flying across the length of the arena on a giant disco ball. An amazing night.

12-31-89. After hearing me gush over 12-31-88 for a year, I convinced friends, neighbors and co-workers to head west with me. My roommate and next-door-neighbor drove from Greenbelt, MD to Oakland, CA in just under 48 hours. I wasn't even sure they were going. They got tickets, but they were both totally broke and couldn't afford to fly out there. Two days later, there's a knock on our hotel room door. They made it in plenty of time. One of my all-time favorite concert experiences. On the road with a ton of friends, the biggest New Year's party I've ever been to and 2 nights of The Grateful Dead. Oh yeah, Bonnie Raitt opened and sat-in on "Big Boss Man." That didn't suck. The midnight festivities included Bill Graham dressed as a giant psychedelic chicken dropping from the ceiling onto an huge egg, then traveling the length of the floor during the countdown. The egg broke open and there was Baby New Year. Maybe even a few of them. I forget.

12-31-90. Quickest trip to California I've ever done. I got to SFO at about 11:00pm on 12/30. Checked-in at the hotel. Got the rundown on that night's show and went to bed. Up early on 12/31...at the show by 2:00 or 3:00. Branford Marsalis opened. Bruce Hornsby sat in. Hamza El Din sat in too. Damn - he was amazing. A little parking lot time. Back to the hotel. Back to SFO at about 6:00am and headed home. Total California time approx. 32 hours. It was at this point my friends and family realized that this was more an addiction than just another musical phase I was going through. Now they're all jealous they didn't go with me. Midnight included Bill Graham dressed as some sort of tribal chief/witch doctor, a flaming cauldron and hot bungee jumpers dropping from the ceiling. I never understood that one. I have an old cassette of this show. It's pretty funny listening to the radio announcers trying to describe this one. Those pics are from this site.

That was my last NYE with the Dead. They only did it one more time. Uncle Bobo died in late '91.

The last great NYE I had was the big one - 12/31/99. Don and I went up to NYC for the festivities. We didn't go down to Times Square, but we did watch the ball drop from WAY up near Central Park. We were pretty far away from the madness, but even that far away, there were probably a couple thousand people around us. We had a great few days of drunken debauchery and celebrated harder than we had since we met a few years earlier. Great, great time.

Ever since these events, NYE is always a let-down. We decided to just skip it altogether this year. No parties. No bars. We spent the night taking down our Xmas decorations. Had one beer. Got the best kiss of the year at midnight, then went to bed. Probably the best NYE I've had in years.

Happy New Year.

12/8/80

2008-12-08T06:34:00.004-05:00

Repost from 12/8/04.

I was surprised how much this bothered me. Elvis had died a few years earlier, but I didn't see what the big deal was. He was just an old singer. But then John Lennon died. He was murdered, actually. Maybe that's why it hurt so much more.

I was exactly 15 years and 3 days old. I was starting to branch out a bit musically. I was growing out of the cartoon antics of KISS and the remnants of disco just weren't cutting it. I was starting to take music a little more seriously. The Beatles were a big part of that. I was the only kid I knew that owned The White Album and Abbey Road. I adored the Beatles.

My mom woke me up and told me. We watched TV all morning and I cried a bit. My mom didn't make me go to school that day. I didn't have to ask her - she just didn't say anything. I always thought that was very cool of her.

Imagine. I can't help but think of John every time I hear that word - regardless of the context.

R.I.P.

11/10

2008-12-07T17:44:00.007-05:00

11/10/2000 - Prince @ Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA

I remember struggling over this one. I had heard for ages that Prince was just ridiculously good in concert, but I really didn't want to pay that much $$$ to see him. After service charges at was close to $100/ticket. Ouch. That's a lot of money for someone I'm merely curious about. But then tickets went on sale and I had the opportunity to get "Purple Circle" seats - 13th row center - so I jumped on them. Dinger wasn't thrilled about the cost, but he begrudgingly went with me.

Of course, I feel silly about all that now, because the show was just amazing. I had one of those moments when I just wanted to slap myself in the head and say "What was I thinking?" for all those years when I blew him off. Hit after hit after hit. I knew Prince played guitar, but I didn't know he was that f--king good at it. Wow. He's just amazing to watch, seeing him in control of the band as well as the audience. James Brown comparisons are very easy to make here. My only complaint would be that a bunch of the songs were incomplete. It seemed like there were several medley's, rather than full songs. It worked well, but there were a few times he left us wanting more. Maybe that was the whole point.

Not sure if this is a Top 10 show, but I'd readily put this in the top 20 or so. Oh - And Dinger finally came around and agreed that it was worth every penny.

11/10/06 - Wreckless Eric @ The Velvet Lounge - Washington, DC

I consider Wreckless Eric to be a semi-legend. I was kinda crushed when there were only a couple dozen people at his Velvet Lounge show. I think he was, too. He played his hits and a bunch of stuff I didn't know, but the most interesting parts were when he told stories between the songs. Some were pretty cool - stories of "back-in-the-day" when he was part of the whole Stiff crowd. But there were also stories where you could tell he was a little angry or bitter about how things played out for him.

Very fun, intimate show. I'd see him again in a heartbeat. Shame on you all for not going. Everyone should have a copy of Greatest Stiffs. Believe it or not - he also has a new record out. Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby. Go buy it.

11/9

2008-12-07T17:05:00.005-05:00

11/9/2004 - Interpol @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Like Muse the night before, my first live introduction to Interpol was at the Curiosa festival earlier in the summer. The big difference was that Interpol was on the main stage, rather than the side stage. They really stepped-up to the plate and put on a great show that day. My hopes were high for the 9:30 show. They ended up being pretty good, but there was no real "wow" factor at play here. They faithfully played the songs and gave us our money's worth. They were absolutely worth seeing, but I thought the Curiosa set was better. Maybe at Curiosa they knew they had to try harder to win over some new fans, while at 9:30 they were playing to a devoted sold-out crowd. Anyway - It was a good show, but twice in one year was plenty. I ended up skipping them the last time they came through town. I'd like to see them again now, but they've probably hit that level where I'm not willing to put up with an annoying, oversold club show, yet I don't think they're worth the larger venue prices. Who knows - maybe I'll change my mind whenever they turn up again.

My original review for this one is here.

11/9/2006 Rustbuckit @ The Red And The Black - Washington, DC

This is the only show I've seen at The Red And The Black. Tiny, tiny, tiny venue. My second Rustbuckit show. There were maybe 15 people there, which meant it was kind of crowded. They sounded better than the 1st time - and they continue to get better with each show. Boyd gave me a free beer at this one. I'm a big fan of bribing your audience with free drinks. :)

Random Stuff

2008-12-06T09:50:00.015-05:00

This concert review stuff was originally an idea to force me to blog every day. It's a lot more work than I expected. I thought I could easily pull off one quick post a day, but for days that had 3+ shows, it's more like writing 3+ posts a day - all rolled into one. Now I'm way behind. Oh well. It's kinda fun going back in time, even if I don't always remember much. Maybe I'll catch up over the holidays.

There's a big R.E.M. tribute happening in March. At Carnegie Hall, no less. Bob Mould, Patti Smith, Throwing Muses, The Feelies (!), The dB's (!!) and a bunch of other folks will be playing. My guess is that R.E.M. will be there, but they won't play. I went ahead and bought tickets last week. The VIP tickets were a little steep, but I got great average-Joe tickets. It sucks that it's on a Wednesday though. The things I do for them... shhhh... I haven't told Don yet.

I just signed-up on Facebook. Welcome to 2005. I'm trying hard not to be that guy that sends messages to people he hasn't seen in 20+ years. No guarantees though. It's amazing how many people have the same name. Now that I've joined, I officially declare Facebook to be over.

Upcoming stuff...The Damned at The Black Cat. I can't wait for this one. I hope The Captain wears his pink fuzzy pants. The Slickee Boys are doing their annual end of the year reunion gigs - one at The Surf Club and one at The Ottobar. I plan on hitting both.

Tonight I'm planning on finally seeing 7 Door Sedan at The Velvet Lounge. It's only taken me about a year. Pup Tent and The Howling Mad are also playing. Great lineup. You should go. I'll probably end up at Nellie's, too, at some point - since it's right across the street.

hmmm....that's it. Move along.

11/8

2008-12-05T19:23:00.019-05:00

whoa - busy day.

11/8/99 - Bob Dylan/Phil Lesh And Friends @ Baltimore Arena - Baltimore, MD

Dylan was the headliner, but the main draw for me was Phil. I don't think I had seen his solo band yet. Looking back, this was probably my favorite Phil-incarnation - with both Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes on guitar. We had seen Bobby play with Ratdog and those various versions of "The Other Ones," but this was PHIL's band. A different beast altogether. Musically, they were great. They were hitting the improvisational peaks that Bobby's bands never could, yet they didn't have the pressure of being the "remains of the Dead" that The Other Ones had thrust upon them. However - the one thing that hasn't changed over the years....Phil can't sing. At all. He's horrible. My only real memory of this show was the opening "Morning Dew." The music was beautiful, but Phil's singing....ugh. We were still missing Jerry pretty bad. Hearing the opening notes of this song brought up all kinds of emotions. But then he started singing and it was just cringe-worthy. The notes...The phrasing....Please stop. Listening to the rest of the show (at the link above) pretty much reinforces the above. The playing is wonderful - as long as Phil isn't singing.

Jam > Morning Dew > The Wheel > Playing In The Band > Just A Little Light > Playin' Jam > Get Together > Cold Rain & Snow

I recall Dylan being quite good. He played lots of hits, along with a few songs the Dead used to play, which made all the heads happy. I wasn't used to Dylan's new sound yet, but once I got into it, he was great. He was still playing guitar then, which made him a little more mobile and fun to watch. This was the first time I had seen Dylan in quite a while. He had gotten about 1000x better than before. I wish he had played more from Time Out Of Mind though.

I Am The Man, Thomas/Visions Of Johanna/Ring Them Bells/Tangled Up In Blue/Big River/Joey/Down Along The Cove/Man In The Long Black Coat/Tombstone Blues/Like A Rolling Stone/Love Sick/Rainy Day Women #12 and 35/Friend Of The Devil/Not Fade Away

Here's a vid from the show.

11/8/03 Washington Social Club/Paper Doll/??? @ The Fleming Center - Washington, DC

About a week after our first WSC show, they were playing a benefit gig for Positive Force DC at their activity center. It was kind of like seeing a bunch of bands playing of your office's break room. VERY small. Only a handful of people there. There were different tables setup with different types of political action literature, books, clothes and records. Did I mention the records? I walked out with an armful of them. The biggest score of the day was an early pressing of the Rites Of Spring LP. Sweet.

Anyway - I walked in on a band who's name I didn't catch. It was either The Delorean or 4-Chamber Heart. Not sure. Paper Doll was next. I liked them a lot. I think they may have been an all-girl band, but I'm too lazy to go dig up my CD and I can't find anything about them online. I think there are other bands with the same name. Anyway - They were good. Never heard from them again though.

WSC was a blast, of course, playing to about 15 people in Positive Force's office space. No stage - they just setup in a corner. I remember one of them (Marty?) saying they'd rather play a ton of these gigs than shows at the Black Cat. Of course within a couple years they'd be packing them in at The Cat. This may have been the show that made them one of my "can't miss" bands.

11/8/2004 - Muse @ 9:30 - Washington, DC

My original review of this one is over here.

I had seen Muse earlier that summer and thought they were awesome. I jumped at the chance to see them at the club. I was kind of surprised that they sold out 9:30. Just 3 months earlier they played at the side-stage at Curiosa - The Cure's traveling festival - to a rather sparse, semi-interested crowd. I had no problem walking right up to the front for that one. The club was packed tonight though.

I had mixed feelings about this one. I really liked what I heard, but it all started to sound the same after a while. I haven't seen them since, but that's mostly because they've gotten huge and I don't want to deal with the bigger venues. They're a good band. They just outgrew me too fast. I hear they play arenas in Europe. sheesh. Good for them.

11/8/2007 - Partyline/Fierce Perm/Mess Up The Mess @ Velvet Lounge - Washington, DC

One of my favorite shows of 2007. This show was just one non-stop party. The crowd seemed to consist of whatever two bands weren't on stage at the time, a bunch of their friends and me. It was Alison's birthday and silliness all around. Silly String, a pinata and lots of drunken mayhem. And all 3 bands just f--king rocked. I highly recommend all of them. Especially Partyline. They play every once in a while, but it usually seems to be tiny benefit gigs in out-of-the-way places. I wish they would advertise them better. I'd show up more often if I had a little advanced notice. Partyline will rock your world. Or make you laugh. Either way - you'll love 'em.

11/8/2008 Elton John "The Red Piano" @ The Colosseum at Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, NV

That's right. VEGAS, BABY! Don is a HUGE Elton fan. For years we kept saying that as soon as his job situation stabilized we'd head to Vegas and see Elton. Well, his job situation is pretty damn good now and they announced that Elton was going to end his Vegas run soon. If we're gonna do this - now is the time.

I had never been to Vegas before. We stayed at The Venetian, which was so over-the-top swanky it was almost cheesy. That's what Vegas is all about though. Elton's show was a lot of fun. He knows what the crowd wants. Hit after hit after hit. None of that Lion King business. Oh yeah - lots of inflatable things resembling penises and a giant inflatable set of boobs. Oddly, I would be seeing an even larger set of inflatable boobs within about a week. More on that later. Elton was much more talkative than I expected - telling jokes about Celine Dion, stories about the songs, etc. I think he's a little afraid of Bette Midler. "She'll hit me." He played for like 2 hours and it went by in a flash. To be honest - It was a good, fun show - but not really great. Even Don admits that, so I don't feel bad saying it. Definitely worth the trip though.

Vegas was fun. Too many people though. I don't like crowds like that. We were just there for the weekend, so we didn't go out to the Hoover Dam or to the Grand Canyon. We did make it out to the old part of town though. I think they called it "Glitter Gulch." That's where U2 filmed "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." I had fun, but I don't know if I'd go back without a good reason.

If you ever want to go gambling, call me. If I sit at your table, I guarantee I'll suck all the bad luck in my direction, leaving the good luck for everyone around me to share.

11/7

2008-11-30T18:59:00.012-05:00

Wow - Lots of Dead-related stuff on this day.

11/7/90 - Robert Hunter @ Lisner Auditorium - Washington, DC

Unlike my last post, where I said the novelty of his shows was wearing off, this was my very first Robert Hunter show. I was obviously familiar with his songs. He wrote pretty much all the words to every original song Jerry sang, but I was completely unfamiliar with the songs as performed by him. I still don't have any of his albums - an embarrassment I need to fix ASAP. I'm not sure I was quite prepared for this night. I knew about 80% of the songs he sang - thanks to Jerry - but they were completely reworked from what I was used to. The music, the phrasing, even the melody was different. There were different verses, different breaks - other than the lyrics, some of the songs were just completely different.

But then it hit me that HE actually wrote these songs. THIS is how he envisioned them when he wrote them. THESE are the original interpretations. Jerry and The Dead's versions were nothing more than reworkings of THESE versions of the songs. Once I had that breakthrough, I was able to enjoy this show more. By the time it was over, I was just in awe. I'll readily put Hunter's lyrics up there with Dylan. Just brilliant. Very fun and enlightening night.

11/7/91 - Jerry Garcia Band @ The Capital Centre - Landover, MD

Night 2 of the '91 JGB east coast swing. Jerry shows were just so much fun. The environment was like all of the good stuff that came with a Dead show, but only about 10% of the usual hassles. Everything was just taken down a notch - smaller crowds, less security... everyone just seemed to be there for the music rather than the scene or to party. Everyone just wanted to see Jerry. I miss these shows a lot.

When it comes down to it - JGB was really just a ridiculously good cover band. At least 10 of the 14 songs played tonight were covers. Possibly more, but I'm too lazy to look them up. But Jerry made them his own. We got the debut of Van Morrison's "Bright Side of The Road" tonight. A rare "Rubin and Cherise," another stunning "Shining Star," some Stones, Clapton, Chuck Berry and, of course, some Dylan. No encore tonight.

I had a really crappy tape of this one. So crappy that I think I only listened to it a few times. I've got it in a box somewhere around here. Maybe I'll give it another play this week.

I: How Sweet It Is/They Love Each Other/Forever Young/Let It Rock/Lay Down Sally/And It Stoned Me/Let's Spend The Night Together
II: Bright Side Of The Road/Shining Star/Tore Up Over You/Rubin and Cherise/Like A Road/Breadbox/Tangled Up In Blue

11/7/93 - Jerry Garcia Band @ USAir Arena - Landover, MD

Same band. Same venue (albeit with a different name). Exactly 2 years later.

Once again Jerry had avoided the east coast for a couple years and returned in the Fall of '93, about a month after The Dead's annual Fall tour. This was a pretty standard JGB show for the time. Nothing out of the ordinary, but nicely played and another amazing show. I vaguely remember running to the bathroom during Senor - a Dylan song I thought was quite boring at the time. What an idiot. I'd kill to see Jerry play that song now.

Unfortunately, this was the last time I'd get to see the Jerry Garcia Band.

I: How Sweet It Is/Stop That Train/You Never Can Tell/Run For The Roses/Senor/My Sisters and Brothers/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
II: The Way You Do The Things You Do/Waiting For A Miracle/Money Honey/Knockin' On Heaven's Door/Don't Let Go/Mississippi Moon/Tangled Up In Blue

11/7/2004 - R.E.M. @ The A.J. Palumbo Center - Pittsburgh, PA

My more detailed original post about this one is here.

5th Row, right in front of Peter. Excellent. Without repeating everything from my original post, it was a pretty standard night for the tour. The rocking songs rocked. The Around The Sun songs were dull, while still being better than on the cd. They were more talkative and seemed to generally be in a better mood than they were in NYC. I wish Peter would bring back the banjo. Not much old stuff tonight.

This would be my last R.E.M. show until 2008. boooooo.

Finest Worksong / Begin The Begin / The Wake-Up Bomb / Animal / Boy In The Well / Imitation Of Life / High Speed Train / So. Central Rain / The Outsiders / Electrolite / I've Been High / The One I Love / I Wanted To Be Wrong / (Don't Go Back To) Rockville / Final Straw / Losing My Religion / Walk Unafraid / Life And How To Live It
encore: What's The Frequency, Kenneth? / Drive / Sweetness Follows / Leaving New York / Permanent Vacation / I'm Gonna DJ / Man On The Moon

(as usual - setlist courtesy of the awesome R.E.M. Timeline.)

11/6

2008-11-30T15:00:00.006-05:00

11/6/91 - The Jerry Garcia Band @ The Capital Centre - Landover, MD

I hadn't seen the JGB in a couple years. They didn't play out east all that often. This was the first stop on Jerry's brief east coast tour. Man, I wish I had seen Jerry more often. This show kind of blends together with the show the next night, but there were a couple of interesting things of note here. First - the debut of "Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox - a bouncy little tune that quickly became a favorite. There was also my first "Shining Star" - an absolutely beautiful version. Nice and slow and looong. Wow. But the real highlight of the night was the encore - a cover of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." The JGB was kind of famous for rarely playing encores at all. Once the set was over - that's it. So we were pretty happy to have him come back and give us anything. But this song....wow... It's such a perfect song for Jerry. So sweet and pretty. Perfect for his now aging voice. It's hard to listen to this one without tearing up a bit.

I don't think I ever found a copy of this one. Jerry didn't allow taping, so quality copies were hard to come by. I'd love to track one down.

I: Cats Under The Stars/Stop That Train/You Never Can Tell/Run For The Roses/Simple Twist Of Fate/Breadbox/My Sisters And Brothers/Deal
II: The Way You Do The Things You Do/Waiting For A Miracle/Money Honey/Shining Star/Struggling Man/Don't Let Go/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
E: What A Wonderful World

11/6/98 Robert Hunter @ Lithuanian Hall - Baltimore, MD

My only real memory of this one was what an odd venue choice it was. It looked like we should have been at a wedding reception or something. There was just an open floor, but there were folding chairs available, so people were just grabbing chairs and setting them up wherever they pleased. So there were people sitting on the floor, some in chairs, some standing right against the stage, some inappropriately dancing all over the place. They were selling drinks off of a folding table in the back. Odd night. Hunter is a lot like modern Dylan. You have to really be in the mood for him and know that his style is very different from they way you're used to hearing his songs. I remember thinking he was pretty good, but the novelty of seeing him was wearing off.

11/5

2008-11-29T21:43:00.006-05:00

11/5/79 - The Eagles @ The Capital Centre - Landover, MD

One of my very first concerts. For my 14th birthday I really really really wanted to go see Billy Joel. He was touring for 52nd Street - one of my favorite records at the time. My sister agreed to take me to that show. We drove up to Hecht's in beautiful Marlow Heights to get tickets. The only seats they had left were waaaaayyy up at the top near the back. Ugh. Even back then I didn't want crappy seats. My sister asked the woman behind the counter if there were any other shows coming up and she suggested The Eagles. My sister and I both loved The Eagles, so we decided to check what was left for that show. There was a pair of seats in 110 - directly on the side about 12 rows from the stage. Perfect.

The Eagles were touring for The Long Run, which was pretty damn big at the time. They played hit after hit - and they had plenty of them. "Hotel California," "Life In The Fast Lane," "Heartache Tonight," "Take It Easy" and on and on. Joe Walsh even played "Life's Been Good." Didn't expect that one. I was quite possibly the happiest soon-to-be-14-year-old on the planet. Thanks, Sis.

I have to admit I still have a soft spot for The Eagles' music, but I can't bring myself to go see them again or even buy any of their music. I blame them for single-handedly pushing ticket prices over the $100 mark. But I'll admit I almost caved-in this last time they came around. And I know it's only a matter of time before I pick up Hotel California and The Long Run. I'm weak like that.

11/5/2006 - The Slits/Apes @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I remember hearing that The Slits were one of the most important bands in the history of the world, so I figured I should see them on their big reunion tour. They always seemed to me to be one of those bands people liked talking about, yet nobody ever listened to. Based on the small crowd that turned up, I'd say I was right. In short - they were booooring. I'm not sure what I expected, but I sure didn't get it.

The Apes (is there a "The" in there?") however were out of control. Holy crap what a fantastic opening set they put on. My original review described them as "Space-Age Psychedelia over-powered by Black Sabbath". All kinds of awesome all rolled into one. Great band. Don't miss them, if you get a chance to check them out.

11/4

2008-11-26T20:09:00.017-05:00

11/4/2004 - R.E.M. @ Madison Square Garden - New York, NY

This was the first show after Bush won for the second time. The band didn't hesitate to let their feelings be known, opening the show with "It's The End Of The World As We Know It." That's a first. What a completely different vibe from the DC show just a few nights before. All of the hope and optimism had vanished. Still a fun show though. That may have had something to do with meeting my friend Kevin before the show. He's trouble - but in a good way.

A few too many slow ones in this set. New York deserves an all-out rocking show. Highlights were "Begin The Begin" and "Life And How To Live It." Those never get old. Note that they were playing "I'm Gonna DJ" every night. That song wouldn't show up on a record until 2008's Accelerate.

It's too bad we didn't get to stay longer, but we had to get back home the next day. I really need to stop with these hit-and-run trips to NYC.

More details over at my original post about this one. I forgot that Stipe dropped his pants. I don't think I've seen the Ernie puppet since this show.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) / Begin The Begin / So Fast, So Numb / Animal / Boy In The Well / Welcome To The Occupation / The Outsiders / Get Up / High Speed Train / Cuyahoga / Sweetness Follows / The One I Love / I Wanted To Be Wrong / Imitation Of Life / Final Straw / Losing My Religion / Walk Unafraid / Life And How To Live It
encore: What's The Frequency, Kenneth? / Drive / Leaving New York / Electrolite / Permanent Vacation / I'm Gonna DJ / Man On The Moon

11/4/2005 - Monopoli/Routineers/Washington Social Club (Acoustic) @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

We went to this one to catch WSC play an acoustic set. It was interesting, if a bit awkward. I don't think it really gelled. More annoying - I seem to remember them playing for about 30 minutes or so. Really short. hrmph.

Stuck around for Routineers, who I liked more than I did at the Fort Reno show earlier in the summer. They've got that typical Dischord hard-rocking sound, but Amanda's voice sets them apart form the standard Dischord fare a little. Comparisons to Fire Party are inevitable, if not completely fair. Especially when Amanda isn't singing. duh. Good band. I don't know if they still exist. I haven't heard anything from them in a long time. I highly recommend their cd.

Monopoli....hmmm...I remember them being fairly generic sounding, but that's about it. Not bad, but not terribly intriguing. I think we left early. Dinger doesn't have the patience for checking out many bands he's not familiar with and I got him to stay through Routineers, so I agreed to head out.

11/4/2006 - These Arms Are Snakes/French Toast @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I didn't really remember much about this show until I looked-up my original review. Turns out I thought These Arms Are Snakes were pretty much fantastic live. Doesn't sound like I really dug their music much (which explains why I forgot about them), but their live show was killer. It's for reasons like that that I started a blog - to help me remember crap like that. I'm old, you know. I forget things.

French Toast never disappoints. Have they officially broken up? They're never around anymore.

11/4/2008 - Bad Brains @ 9:30 - Washington, DC

Hey HR - I hope we didn't interrupt any other important plans you had tonight. God forbid you do more than stand there with a really apathetic look on your face, talking your way through the songs, not even pretending to be interested in the show. The crowd didn't have anything else to do anyway - being election night and all. We were more than happy to watch you barely go through the motions. Thanks a ton!

At least the band sounded great. hrmph.

11/3

2008-11-25T20:20:00.004-05:00

11/3/2007 The Thermals/Reporter @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I went to this one based on the recommendation of the folks on the 9:30 Forum. I remember thinking The Thermals were good, but I didn't get what all the hype was about. I need to look into them again. I think these guys just got lost in the shuffle of me going to a bunch of shows in late October/early November. Busy busy busy.

Yeah - Not a terribly useful entry. It's all I've got for 11/3 though. Oh well...

11/2

2008-11-25T19:42:00.007-05:00

11/2/91 - The Psychedelic Furs @ The Smith Center, GWU - Washington, DC

Were The Furs even putting out records at this point? They were my favorite band in the early 80's, until R.E.M. took over that spot sometime around 1985 or so. Their records were seriously lacking by the late 80's, but I still saw them every chance I got. Mostly out of obligation, I guess. Maybe I was just growing out of them. I remember being bored at this show. I sat in the back of the half-empty arena wondering why I didn't really seem to like them much anymore.

I probably like them more now than I did in the early 90's. And it turns out those late 80's records really weren't all that bad.

11/2/96 - George Clinton & The P-Funk All-Stars @ DAR Constitution Hall - Washington, DC

For a while in the mid-90's I thought P-Funk was the greatest band on the planet. On a good night, they probably were. Great jams and the Funk that was just impossible to stand still for. After a few hours the lights came up and the band kept playing until they got cutoff. I thought that was the coolest. Later I learned that this was just part of their schtick, but it was fun at the time. This show was one of the few times I actually got to see The Mothership in its full glory. Give up the funk.

11/2/2001 Iggy Pop @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

I hadn't seen Iggy in about 15 years - not since the Blah Blah Blah tour. Back then I didn't know too much of his material back then, but was pretty much amazed at watching him perform. This time was different. Last time was in a small basketball arena, where he was the opening act and very few people even knew who he was. But this show was in a club - jam-packed with rabid fans that were all craving some Iggy. He did not disappoint. Everyone needs to see Iggy at least once. The man is just amazing to watch. The crowd was just crazy. The show was a mix of solo stuff and a handful of Stooges songs. At some point the stage was completely taken over by the crowd - at Iggy's request. I wasn't expecting that. I was too far back to make my way up there. You can bet I'll be there next time.

Iggy is King.

Mark My Words...

2008-11-25T06:19:00.001-05:00

At some point this weekend I'm going to hurt myself imitating Tina's "Proud Mary" dancing.

Rose Bowl!

2008-11-22T19:08:00.002-05:00

11/1

2008-11-20T20:10:00.007-05:00

11/1/2004 - R.E.M. @ DAR Constitution Hall - Washington, DC

R.E.M. in DC the evening before Election Day 2004. They were just here a few weeks earlier on the Vote For Change tour. Everyone was in a great mood. Everyone was optimistic about the election. Surely America wouldn't make the same mistake twice!

Unfortunately, they were touring for Around The Sun - easily my least favorite R.E.M. record. BOOORRIIINNNGGG!!! Yes, the songs sound far better live than on the record, but still....you can only do so much with them. We got to see the first performance of "The Ascent of Man." Cool, I guess. The show was tons of fun though. It's always fun seeing them in DC, because I usually know a bunch of people at the show, rather than being the stranger in town. Nice selection of songs. You can't go wrong when the set includes "These Days", "Cuyahoga", "So. Central Rain", "Life And How To Live It", etc. We even got a brief, sloppy version of Springsteen's "Born To Run." 7th row seats. Thanks, fan club.

Even supporting their worst record, R.E.M. puts on a great show.

Around The Sun / Begin The Begin / These Days / Animal / Boy In The Well / Cuyahoga / High Speed Train / So. Central Rain / Electron Blue / Imitation Of Life / Ascent Of Man / Bad Day / I Wanted To Be Wrong / The One I Love / Final Straw / Losing My Religion / Walk Unafraid / Life and How To Live It

encore: What's The Frequency, Kenneth? / Country Feedback / Leaving New York / Born To Run / Permanent Vacation / I'm Gonna DJ / Man On The Moon

Old post on this one here.

11/ 1/2006 Oxford Collapse/Chin Up Chin Up @ The Black Cat Backstage

I heart Oxford Collapse. I've seen them a few times now and they've never disappointed. Similar in style to We Are Scientists, who they always seem to be on tour with. That makes for a great double-bill. Their music makes me want to jump around. That's always a good thing. Rock music you can dance to. Love it. Plus they always look like they're giving it their all and having a great time doing it. That goes a long way. I recall liking Chin Up Chin Up, but I don't really remember why and I never looked into them any further. Terrible name. At least there are no exclamation points in their name!!!

No stub. They didn't sell Backstage tickets for shows at this point.

11/ 1/2007 Van Halen @ The Verizon Center - Washington, DC

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN!!!

I told myself that if David Lee Roth ever got back together with Van Halen I'd be there, come hell-or-high-water. Of course, I never expected it to happen. Even after it was announced I didn't believe it. Even after I bought tickets I just assumed they'd implode and I'd need a refund. That's happened to me before (I'm looking at you, Courtney.) But Lo, Behold, they actually showed up.

And they f--king rocked.

All the hits. None of that Hagar crap. If these guys hate each other, you'd never know it. DLR is one of the all-time great rock frontmen. He's all about the show. I forgot how many great songs they had - and they just kept coming. Great night.

10/31

2008-11-19T22:03:00.005-05:00

10/31/93 - Jerry Garcia Band @ The Meadowlands - East Rutherford, NJ

A friend of mine got married on 10/30 in Reading, PA - my tour buddy Steve's hometown. We drove up there for the wedding and crashed at his parents' place. The next morning we got up bright and early and headed for NYC. We parked the car in The Village and spend the day eating and drinking our way around Manhattan. I was kind of surprised to be approached by kids trick-or-treating in the bars - basically asking for change. At least they had costumes on. Cute. I guess we left around 5:00 or so and headed out to Jersey for the show.

I remember running into my friends David, Barb and Nancy inside. David was dressed as Bullwinkle, Nance as some ghost-like thing.

I didn't get to see the JGB enough. It just never seemed like a priority. Every show I did see was killer, but I always waited for Jerry to come to me rather than go to him. Bad decision. This show was wonderful. Probably the best seats I ever had for a JGB show. We hadn't seen the JGB in a couple years. Every song was a treat. From the rollicking "How Sweet It Is" to the georgeous "Shining Star" and "Lucky Old Sun," to the expected "Werewolves of London" encore, this show was perfect from start to finish. I couldn't wait for next week's show at the Capital Centre.

We had to work the next day, so after the show we bolted to the car, ready to jump on the Turnpike for the mad dash home. It was a little chilly, so I went into the trunk to get our jackets. Much to my surprise, they were gone. Along with our bags of clothes, my suit I brought for the wedding, my toolbox - everything. Gone. Someone stole it all. Dammit. A closer look showed that someone had damaged (but didn't break) the lock to my trunk. My guess is that people saw us park in Manhattan, watched us load everything into the trunk and broke-in after we left. Crappy way to spend an otherwise awesome weekend.

I: How Sweet It Is, He Ain't Give You None, Forever Young, Run For The Roses, Money Honey, Lay Down Sally, My Sisters And Brothers, Deal
II: Shining Star, The Maker, Tore Up Over You, Wonderful World, Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox, Lucky Old Sun, Midnight Moonlight
E: Werewolves of London

10/31/03 The Phobes/The Whips/Washington Social Club @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I may actually have these in reverse order. I don't really remember. I can't remember if I primarily went to this show to see The Phobes or WSC. I had never seen any of them before. All I know is I came away really liking The Phobes, but I totally fell in love with WSC. I think Olivia was dressed as an angel. She was definitely wearing wings. She looked cute as hell jumping around, totally rocking-out with these wings flapping around on her back. They barely survived the set. One of the other guys was dressed as a devil, I think. They put on a helluva show for a not-too-full Black Cat. Dinger and I became instant fans and tried to see them every chance we got over the next few years. It was interesting to watch them and their audience grow over those few years. I wish I had the stub from this one.

10/29

2008-11-17T22:50:00.004-05:00

10/29/05 - Medications @ The Black Cat

Don and I had tickets to this one, but we didn't end up going. I seem to recall that the plan was to stop by a party at this guy's place, then leave early to hit the show. We ended up staying at the party and never made it to the show.

10/28

2008-11-17T22:07:00.003-05:00

Nothing on 10/27. What's up with that?

10/28/05 - The Fleshtones/The Kissers @ Iota - Arlington, VA

I hate Iota. The stage is about 5-inches tall (is there even a stage? I can't remember). There's a divider in the middle of the room that blocks your view unless you're 2 feet from the stage or way off to the right. They allow smoking. They don't do advance tickets, so you need to get there really early to get in for anyone with any name recognition. It's in Virginia. I hate Virginia, too. So if I make the effort to go to Iota, you know it's a can't-miss show for me.

The Fleshtones are consistently one of the best rock and roll bands out there. Even in the small, stuffy room that is Iota, The Fleshtones are dancing in the middle of the crowd, standing on the soundboard and eventually ending up jumping around on the bar - all while totally rocking out. It's a non-stop party. They've got that mid-60's garage rock sound, with a slight 80's punk ethos about them. It's criminal that their record Hexbreaker never made it to cd.

Oh - You old folks may recognize their singer, Peter Zaremba, as the host of MTV's really old, but super-awesome show The Cutting Edge.

I just noticed they release a Xmas record this year called Stocking Stuffer. I need to get on that one ASAP.

10/26

2008-11-17T21:50:00.005-05:00

10/26/98 - Planet Drum @ Lisner Auditorium - Washington, DC

The first Planet Drum tour was a life-changing experience. For a fleeting moment I considered quitting my job, getting in the car and running away to follow them around. I didn't, of course, but it was very, very tempting. So I was really excited for this show, when it came around some 7 years later. Maybe my expectations were too high, but this version fell flat. The first Planet Drum was all about the rhythm, while this version seemed to be more about the groove. I don't know if it's because there were more electronics involved or what, but I wasn't feeling that "global drum circle" vibe I had from the first tour. It seemed less communal and more structured and polished. The cd they were supporting was Supralingua. I kind of tossed it aside at the time, but it sounds ok now. Nowhere close to Planet Drum or At The Edge though.

Mickey's Global Drum Project show last year (see my 10/11 post) blew this PD show away by a mile. I'll go see Mickey any chance I get though.

10/25

2008-11-17T21:32:00.003-05:00

10/25/05 - Social Distortion @ 9:30

Social D is one of those bands that has been around forever, I had heard about for years, but I never bothered to listen to. The only song of theirs I knew of was "Ball and Chain" and for years I thought that was a lame Replacements track. But a friend of mine is a Social D fanatic, had an extra ticket and pretty much insisted that I go. He made me a compilation CD and I watched Another State Of Mind (one of many of DVDs I've bought and never got around to for years) the week of the show.

It turned into a really fun night. Social D was a good punk band that has turned into a really good rock band - the same way X and The Ramones were really just rock bands at heart. I had a great time and the crowd was really into it. They put on a great, fun show. I can see where they'd be the kind of band that's fun to see on a Saturday night after having a few too many beers. I'm not sure I see why some people are so insane for them, but I'd gladly go see them again.

10/24

2008-11-13T21:24:00.013-05:00

10/24/86 - R.E.M./Camper Van Beethoven @ The Syria Mosque - Pittsburgh, PA

My 2nd and favorite R.E.M. show.

My senior year in college. There were 7 of us that wanted to make the 3+ hour trip to Pittsburgh for this show, so we had to take 2 cars. I drove one car and another guy borrowed a car from one of our frat brothers. We were kind of an odd collection of guys - all in the same fraternity, but we weren't the best of friends at the time. But a few of them needed rides and cars were scarce, so we all went to the show together.

The trip was pretty uneventful. Our seats for the show were in the balcony waaaayyy off to the side. So far that we couldn't see the whole stage. We sat there through Camper Van Beethoven - who were terrific. They played a big chunk of Telephone Free Landslide Victory and threw in a cover of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive". Excellent.

Then R.E.M. came on and everyone on the floor rushed the stage. That, in turn, caused a bunch of people to leave the balcony for better seats. We moved over to the center of the balcony and had a perfect view, without having to deal with the crowd.

They were touring for Lifes Rich Pageant. The setlist was most of that, plus a smattering of songs from each of their other records. There wasn't a lot of downtime at this show. They just rocked rocked rocked. I'd kill for a setlist like this again. Opening with "These Days," "Harborcoat" and "Sitting Still" was just insane. We were all jumping around like idiots. I remember during "West of the Fields" I was dancing so hard that my glasses flew off my face and down a couple rows. Songs of note included "The One I Love" and "Oddfellows Local 151," both of which would appear on Document a year later. Also covers of "Radar Love" and Iggy's "Funtime." This may have been the only time I got to see "Flowers of Guatemala" and "Shaking Through." I should look that up.

Anyway - the show was just amazing. Afterwards, the guys I drove wanted to head home, but the other guys wanted to stay and hang out in Pittsburgh for the night. I gave my friends my keys and told them to go - I'd come back with the other guys. We ended up at one of their friends' apartments, drinking and listening to records all night. We wandered around Pittsburgh the next morning and headed home. I vaguely remember giving the only 21 year old $10 and he came back with a case of warm Red, White & Blue beer, which we consumed on the way home. I also remember us driving the borrowed car through a corn field at some point. Ah, college. We got back just in time to watch PSU stomp Alabama on tv.

This show also ended up being one of the first bootlegs I ever owned. This show was released as the "Rolling Stone" bootleg. Bootlegs were hard to find back then. Any R.E.M. boot was a real find, but a show I was at? I was more than thrilled - not matter how bad the sound quality.

These Days / Harborcoat / Sitting Still / The One I Love / West Of The Fields / Shaking Through / Feeling Gravitys Pull / White Tornado / The Flowers Of Guatemala / Maps And Legends / Driver 8 / I Believe / Seven Chinese Brothers / Unknown Instrumental / Superman / Can't Get There From Here / Pretty Persuasion / Auctioneer (Another Engine) / Little America
encore 1: Cushy Tush / Fall On Me / Cuyahoga / 1,000,000
encore 2: Oddfellows Local 151 / Radar Love / Funtime

10/24/03 - The Weakerthans/Maritime/Mico @ The Black Cat

I wanted to check out Maritime and had nothing better to do, so I swung by the club. For some reason I want to say I liked Mico, but I really don't remember anything about them. I didn't know them then. I don't know them now. Just a feeling. Maritime was good, once I got over the fact that they weren't The Dismemberment Plan. The place was pretty packed for The Weakerthans - a band I had never even heard of. I left early. I didn't leave early very often in 2003. They must have really, really bored me.

10/24/04 - Blogjam @ DC9 - Washington, DC

Not a concert, but a bunch of bloggers reading some of their more entertaining stuff. Jimbo, Chrisafer, Andrew Sullivan, JoeMyGod, Geekslut and a few others read. Bob hosted. Very fun night.

10/23

2008-11-12T20:18:00.008-05:00

10/23/03 - Q And Not U/French Toast @ Warehouse Next Door

This was my first time seeing Q And Not U. First time for French Toast. First time at The Warehouse.

I miss the Warehouse Next Door. It was small. Really small. Like seeing a band in your living room small. When it was packed to the gills it held maybe 100 people. French Toast opened. They were a duo back then, playing this weird, experimental, kind of electric-indie-rock-hybrid mix of music. They were just pretty mesmerizing. I picked up their Bugman EP and they became my new favorite local band. For a while anyway.

I didn't really know much about Q And Not U yet. I knew they were local favorites and I had heard a few interesting tracks online. I was debating whether or not to go when an online friend insisted that I go, because I'd never have a chance to see them in a venue this small again. They were correct. I'd love to say that they totally blew me away and it was a life-changing show and I became an instant hardcore fan - but none of that would be true. I thought they were good. Not great, but good. Definitely worth looking into further, but I didn't quite "get it" yet. My loss.

Over time I definitely "got it" though. They were a pretty incredible band. I wish I could go back and see this show again. I'll bet they were actually pretty amazing. I wasn't really a good judge at the time, being so unfamiliar with them. At least I got to see them a handful of times after I fully appreciated them. I hope they eventually come back. I'm not holding my breath though.

No ticket stub. The Warehouse didn't sell advanced tickets. I really liked the Warehouse. DC needs more places like that.

10/23/04 - Death Cab For Cutie/Pretty Girls Make Graves @ 9:30
10/23/05 - Death Cab For Cutie/Stars @ 9:30

Same date two years in a row. Interesting. Anyway - These kind of blend together. I remember thinking Pretty Girls Make Graves were pretty fantastic. I remember thinking Stars didn't live up to the hype. The '04 show was my second show on the Transatlanticism tour. Damn, I love that record. The '05 show was on the Plans tour. There seemed to be a lot more Jennifer-types at the '05 gig. Lots of singing along loudly to the new record. I remember thinking they had already outgrown 9:30 and should be playing bigger halls. I think I was hanging out with Chrisafer at this one.

10/22

2008-11-05T19:51:00.007-05:00

10/22/89 - The Grateful Dead @ Charlotte Coliseum - Charlotte, NC

Our last show of Fall Tour 1989. This one was a bit of a haul - Philly Friday/Charlotte Sunday. We drove down on Saturday and stayed in the nastiest motel I've ever been in. The windows were broken, it was dirty and it was about 25 feet from the airport runway. Ugh.

The Coliseum was brand new. Nice and shiny. I seem to remember sort of an inner concourse around the top. Kind of a walkway that went around the whole arena. That gave us the ability to go up to the concourse and have plenty of dancing room, all while staying inside the arena and getting to see the band at the same time. It was nice to be able to do both. We'd usually have to choose.

I always liked Sunday shows. They were always a bit mellower and had more of a family vibe to them. This was a really nice show. Nothing incredibly amazing, yet nothing less than very, very good. "Johnny B. Goode" was a nice way to end the first set. That never happens. It's always the encore. We got "Beat It On Down The Line" - my 2nd of only 4 times I'd ever get to see that one. Verrry nice "Bird Song." We got the expected "Samson and Delilah" - a standard Sunday sermon. Then it happened again. "chunk chunka-chunk chunka-chunk BAM!" "Help One The Way" again. After not playing it for years, we saw every comeback occurrence of it on the Fall Tour. Most people were lucky to get it once. We got it four times. Conversely, we missed every "Dark Star" and "Attics." This one came just before drums. How weird is that? I don't think they've ever done that before. Always a surprise with these guys. Typically great '89 show. We had no idea how spoiled we were at this time. The band was consistently fantastic.

We had to work on Monday, so we drove home right after the show. It took about 8 hours, I think. Lots of coffee stops. I remember getting stuck in rush hour traffic in Virginia on our way home. I thought for sure I was going to fall asleep while driving. We made it though. Home. Shower. Work by 10:00. Not bad.

1: Foolish Heart, Minglewood, 1/2 Step, Queen Jane, Ramble On Rose, BIODTL, Bird Song, JBG
2: Blow Away, Samson, Help>Slip>Franklin's, Drums/Space, Miracle, Stella Blue, Throwing Stones,Not Fade Away
e: Black Muddy River

10/22/2005 - Ambulance Ltd./We Are Scientists @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

Original review here. This was my 3rd time seeing Ambulance, Ltd. They hadn't put out anything new in a long time. They were good, but I was starting to get bored with them. You can only tour for that one album for so long. We Are Scientists opened and completely blew them away. Fun, frantic, dance-rock. They had the whole place hopping. They instantly became one of my favorite new bands and they didn't even have an album out yet.

Oh - Ambulance still hasn't put out a new album yet. sheesh.

10/22/2008 - A Place To Bury Strangers @ 9:30 - Washington, DC

I'm not sure how they went from being an opening act at The Rock and Roll Hotel to headlining 9:30 in just a few months. Not that it matters, because I ended up bailing on this one. A late show with 2 opening acts? On a Wednesday? There was no way they would be coming on before midnight. I'm too old for that sh*t. I decided to just eat the $12 and get a decent night's sleep.

Turned out to be a good decision. They didn't come on until after midnight and played for less than an hour. I would have been tired and totally pissed off, had I gone. They're a great band though. I was looking forward to this one. If it wasn't for the logistics I definitely would have gone.

10/21

2008-11-02T08:20:00.009-05:00

10/21/2001 - The Damned/Swingin' Utters @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

The previous time The Damned came to town I blew them off to see The Grateful Dead. I'll bet I'm the only person in town that had a problem choosing between those shows. Anyway - I wasn't going to miss this chance. I called up a couple of my old high school buddies for this one - they guys I used to hit all the hardcore shows with back in the day. They're married with kids these days and rarely go to shows. Even they weren't gonna miss this one though.

I was totally unfamiliar with the Swingin' Utters. I'm not sure if they were an old band that The Damned just brought along for old-times sake, or if they're a new band that just sounded like the old-school stuff. I guess it doesn't matter. They sounded great and were tons of fun. Good choice for an opener. Glad we got there early.

I don't remember everything The Damned played. I just remember it was a mix of the classics and a few tracks off of Grave Disorder, which just came out. I think the Captain played a bit of "Happy Talk," too, but I could be wrong about that. My college buddy, Mike, told me that the last time he saw The Damned Captain Sensible played naked for a while. Unfortunately (fortunately?) that didn't happen. I think there were fuzzy pants though. I remember my friend David being excited to be in the pit again. Unfortunately, he forgot to have us hold his glasses and they ended up getting stomped on. Oops.

The show was really undersold. A shame. The Damned are one of the best and they still put on a great show. They have a new record coming out this month. They're coming back to the Cat in December. I'm all over that one. You should be, too. Don't miss this one.

10/21/2004 - Laurie Anderson @ Lisner Auditorium - Washington, DC

My old, longer review of this one is here. Laurie had become , NASA's "Artist in Residence" so she talked a bit about that. No real songs tonight, other than some violin solos. I was in the front row - right on the center aisle. Great seat (obviously), but it was a little awkward having her stare right at me when she was talking. Laurie never disappoints. I'll see her every time she comes to town.

10/20

2008-11-01T18:53:00.004-04:00

10/20/81 - Foreigner/Billy Squier - Capital Centre - Landover, MD

Foreigner was one of the biggest bands in the land at the time. Touring for 4 , this was a show not to be missed.

Billy Squier opened. Not very surprising - he was opening for just about everybody back then. I loved him at the time. I still kinda do, actually. Don't Say No is a pretty kick-ass rock record. It didn't hurt that I thought he was kinda hot. (Insert "Stroke Me" joke here.)

This was actually the second time I had seen Foreigner. I was quite the fanboy at the time. Fun show - all the hits. "Jukebox Hero," "Urgent," "Cold As Ice," "Double Vision"... We were the envy of all my little high school friends. Great time, even though...ummm...I think my mom took me and my friends. And not "I'll come back and pick you up later." More like "I have a ticket and I'll be sitting with you all night." For the most part my mom was cool about stuff like that though. The only time she was annoying was when people were lighting up around us. At least she was willing to take us, since we couldn't drive ourselves yet. That would change soon though.

10/20/89 - The Grateful Dead @ The Spectrum - Philly, PA

Nice, long first set on this one - 10 songs. That ..."Memphis Blues..." is just crazy. Bob at his sqwawkiest. "OHHHH! OOHHHH MAMA!!!! " hehe. Love that song. The big surprise tonight came at the end of the set. They had just finished "Promised Land" - which is always the last song of the set (if they play it), but they didn't leave the stage. Jerry finally hit a few chords than started playing something unfamiliar. It turned out to be a country song called "California Earthquake," originally by Rodney Crowell. The big SF earthquake was just a few days earlier. There was talk of the band going home and bailing on the tour, but they stuck it out. This was their first acknowledgement of the disaster that was going on at home. This was the first of only two times they'd play it. The chorus:

California earthquake you just don't know what you've done
We may fall off in the ocean, but you'll never make us run
You're a partner of the devil, but we ain't afraid of him
We'll build ourselves another town so you can tear it down again

brought lots of cheers from the crowd. Nice moment.

The second set was a totally rockin' dance-fest if there ever was one. "Hey Pocky Way" opened the set - the only time I'd ever get to see that one. "Scarlet>Fire>Truckin'" kept things going quite nicely. There's always a nice long jam after "Truckin'" and we were expecting "Space" to follow, but they started hinting at "The Other One." They never play that song pre-drums anymore, so we figured it was just a hint of things to come. But it kept going and going. They never actually got to the song, but they danced around the overall theme of it in all kinds of different ways. And it went on for like 10 minutes. Wow. I know it sounds pretty dorky if you're not into it - but that was a pretty exciting little jam they pulled out. They finally got to the song post-space. Actually, it was after "I Will Take You Home". God, I used to hate when they played that song right after space. buzz-kill. And, of course, the encore was "Brokedown Palace," as usual for the Spectrum.

Another classic 1989 show. The band is kicking these days. One more show for us and our Fall Tour '89 is over.

10/20/2007 - Bob Mould "Circle of Friends" movie/solo performance.

As part of the Reel Affirmations Film Festival last year they had a showing of Bob's new Circle Of Friends DVD. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It kicks some serious butt. And I'm not just saying that because I was there when they filmed it. Anyway - after the screening Bob came out and did a handful of songs. It's the only time I've asked Bob for an autograph. I felt a little awkward about that.

10/19

2008-10-31T21:09:00.012-04:00

10/19/89 - The Grateful Dead @ The Spectrum - Philly, PA

My 17th Dead show in just over a year.

Philly loves them some Grateful Dead. This show started slow. The first 5 songs were either from their mega-hit record In The Dark or from their forthcoming Built To Last record. They sounded ok, but we were ready for some of the classics. "Victim" in the first set was always a drag. I really hated this song at the time - even though the Hampton version had given me a glimmer of hope. Let's get this party started already. Things picked up with "Cumberland" and we were on our way. Love love love that song.

Steve and I decided that for the second set we would just hang out in on the concourse and dance. The Spectrum's floor was perfect for dancing. I guess there were so many years of muck built-in to them that after a while they just became slippery as hell. You had to be careful when walking around, but it was great for spinning around and dancing.

The lights went down and they started tuning. There it was again..."chunk chunka-chunk chunka-chunk...BAM!" "Help On The Way!" The place went nuts. We couldn't believe our luck getting this song yet again. We certainly picked the right time to dance in the hallway. We were quickly joined by dozens of others. The party had started. A typically wonderful 1989 second set. "Estimated," "Eyes," "The Wheel"...awesome. After the "Fantasy>Jude" combo we expected "Lovelight" or "Sugar Mag" to close the set, but Jerry hit a riff that sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place it. Then he starts the opening verse of "Death Don't Have No Mercy" an ancient blues tune that the Dead used to play a lot circa 1969. Everyone ran back inside to listen. This was only the 3rd time they've played it since 1970. The guys traded off verses and pulled it off great. It was one of those "not a chance in hell" songs. They would only play it one more time before retiring it forever. Typically great 1989 evening with the boys.

Hell In A Bucket
West LA Fadeaway
Victim Or The Crime
Built To Last
Blow Away
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Cumberland Blues
Cassidy
Don't Ease Me In

Help On The Way
Slipknot!
Franklin's Tower
Estimated Prophet
Eyes of The World
Drums/Space
The Wheel
Dear Mr. Fantasy
Hey Jude (finale)
Death Don't Have No Mercy
Lovelight

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

10/19/97 - Ratdog @ The Ballroom - Washington, DC

For those of you that don't know - The Ballroom later became Nation.

This was a good era to see Ratdog. We were starving for anything Dead related and Ratdog was a nice mix of the classics and some new stuff. Rob Wasserman was still in the band at the time. He added a lot that was sorely missed in the later (read: current) incarnations of the band. There were still enough of the Family around that made these shows feel like a homecoming of sorts. I don't remember anything specific about the music from this night, but I always loved seeing The Dog back then.

10/19/2004 - The Libertines @ 9:30

I can't remember if I even had Up The Bracket yet, but there was so much hype around this band, I wasn't going to miss it. I remember having a really good time, but they definitely didn't like up to the hype. They were good - just not OMG-they're-the-best-thing-since-the-Clash good, like they were being hyped. I really do like this band though. I vaguely remember there being lots of room at this show. I thought for sure this one would sellout, but it didn't. I'd love to see them with train-wreck-Pete, but somehow I doubt that's gonna happen.

I somehow managed to lose my copy of Up The Bracket. I have the case, but no disc. I'll bet it's just doubled-up with another disc somewhere. I'll probably find it a week after I finally breakdown and buy another one.

10/18

2008-10-31T19:33:00.007-04:00

10/18/95 - R.E.M. @ Nissan Pavilion - East Bumf--k, VA

14th row center. Not bad for getting the ticket at the box office the night of the show.

Nobody plays both DC AND Nissan. Well, Jimmy Buffet plays both Merriweather and Nissan, but he's really the only one. But for some reason R.E.M. decided to follow 2 nights in DC with a show in Virginia - about 30 miles away. I was thrilled, but the nearly-empty lawn showed that this was probably not a very good idea.

They gave us a few treats, but it was pretty much the same stuff they've been playing all year. I seem to recall Stipe apologizing for forgetting to play "Country Feedback" the night before. We got "Welcome To The Occupation," which I hadn't seen in a while. Other than that the only real interesting thing about this one was the fact that we got "Zither," an instrumental from the yet-to-be-released Hi-Fi record. A nice little ditty, but not terribly exciting - especially since none of us knew it. I remember being kind of excited that we got not one, but TWO songs from Lifes Rich Pageant. I was pretty desperate for old songs by this point. I had seen them 7 times on this tour. As much as I loved it - that was enough. I was Monstered-out. If nothing else, I had become a master at running to the bathroom and back during the 5:00 of "Everybody Hurts." Mad skillz I've got.

Grant Lee Buffalo opened again. All I remember about them is that they covered the Stones' "Moonlight Mile."

I coincidentally ended up sitting right next to a girl I knew from the early days of rec.music.rem. She was going to UofMD and recounted the horrible ride she had to the show with some fratboy she found on a ride-board. UofMD was pretty much right on my way home, so I offered her a ride back. We spent the hour geeking-out on the shows we had seen and the bootlegs we were listening to. Always reassuring to know that I'm not alone in my obsessions.

10/18/2000 - John Waters @ Lisner Auditorium - Washington, DC

Front row. I just remember thinking "Please don't come over and talk to me." He was incredibly funny though. I vaguely remember a story about the gay strip clubs in Baltimore. Not that I could relate to that - since I've never been to them. Nope. Not me. ahem. Quote of the evening, "Oh, Christ, I'm bloated." I'm not sure why I remember that.

10/18/2005 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

Whatever. Tick. Tick. Tick. Time's up.

10/17

2008-10-29T21:45:00.009-04:00

10/17/95 - R.E.M. @ USAir Arena - Landover, MD

Like I said - This one blends together with the previous night. I was on the same side of the floor, but about 15 rows closer, in the back of Section 1. Right on the aisle though, which gave me plenty of room to jump around. Nothing radically different from the night before. Tonight we got "Half A World Away" and "So. Central Rain" - one of the very few early songs played on this tour. One thing we didn't get tonight was "Country Feedback." Bummer. One of my all-time faves. This was one of the only times (if not the only time) they didn't play this song on this our. We also got a brief version of America's "Horse With No Name." Really. I never did track down copies of these Landover shows. I should probably do that someday. I tried to get a setlist from the soundboard guy. Denied.

10/17/2006 - Joan Jett/Eagles Of Death Metal @ 9:30

I louurrve me some Joan Jett. This show rocked from start to finish.

My only exposure to the Eagles Of Death Metal was their appearance on one of those late-night shows - Conan maybe? - but they were impressive enough that I made a note to check them out when I got the chance. Well, this was my chance, so I made sure to get there super early. Best. decision. ever. They were f--king amazing. Rock and Roll presented with crunchy riffs, lots of attitude and swagger, bad-ass through and through. So much so that it's kind of hard to tell if they're making fun of the genre, or they're heralding the comeback of good old rock and roll. Who cares. Either way they're pulling it off. And you can't help but shake your ass to it. They're coming back to to the 9:30 Club in December. I already have my ticket. You really, really need to go. Let's rock.

Joan Jett was her typical kick-ass rock and roll self. A hit-laden set, but plenty of songs from Sinner, too. Not a bad record by any stretch. Go buy it. One of the highlights of this show was her cover of the Replacements' "Androgynous." How awesome is that?

I'll go see Joan every time she makes it to DC-proper, or even in Baltimore. I just wish she'd stop making her DC tour stop those lame summer town-fest things, like Celebrate Fairfax. I just can't bring myself to go to those things. Joan needs to be seen in a dark, dirty crowded bar. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

My old review of this one is here.

10/17/2007 - The Hives @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I got tired of people telling me that The Hives were the greatest live band on the planet. I finally broke down and decided to go - ready to be disappointed. But I wasn't disappointed. They were pretty rocktastic. The singer totally has a Mick Jagger thing going, if Mick played punky-garagey (post-garage?) stuff. Short, tight songs that had the crowd jumping, dancing and generally rocking-out. I didn't know a single song, but it was hard to not get caught up in it. Super fun stuff. I definitely wouldn't say they're the greatest live band on the planet - although on some nights, I wouldn't doubt it. And snappy dressers to boot. Highly recommended.

10/16

2008-10-28T19:05:00.008-04:00

10/16/95 - R.E.M. @ USAir Arena - Landover, MD

This show and the next night blur together. 2 nights in a row. Same venue. Similar seats. Similar setlists. And it was 13 years ago.

Anyhoo...Nearing the end of the Monster tour. My 5th R.E.M. show of the year. I never really liked "I Took Your Name" as an opener. It wasn't powerful enough. The real show started with "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" and it took off from there. Typical Monster setlist. A good chunk of that record...a few songs from the yet-to-be-released New Adventures In Hi-Fi..."Revolution" (another unreleased track)...The setlist was almost exclusively Warner Bros.-era tracks, with the exception of "The One I Love, "Begin The Begin" and "ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF)". The good news on this tour was that they were rocking again. The bad news was they were completely ignoring the I.R.S. years. That's not all bad though. "Country Feedback" is just mesmerizing live. "Drive" is totally rocked-up, giving it a nice hard groove. "Star 69" f--king slayed.

I remember being near the back of the floor, directly to the right of the soundboard. Plenty of room and great sound.

I Took Your Name / What's The Frequency, Kenneth? / Crush With Eyeliner / Drive / Wake-Up Bomb / Binky The Doormat / Losing My Religion / Begin The Begin / Undertow / Bang And Blame / Strange Currencies / Revolution / Tongue / Man On The Moon / Country Feedback / The One I Love / Pop Song 89 / Get Up / Star 69

encore: Let Me In / Everybody Hurts / Java - Band Intro / Orange Crush / Departure / Stars N Stripes / It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

According to the R.E.M. Timeline (where I got the setlist), "Stars N Stripes" is a Grant Lee Buffalo song. OK. (shrug)

10/16/2005 - Henry Rollins (Spoken Word) @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

Yeah...well...I didn't actually go to this one. I ended up going to see the Foo Fighters instead. w00t!

10/16/2005 - Foo Fighters @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

Oh, hell yeah!

I have a talent for getting tickets to tough shows. I'm really good at working the ticket system to my advantage...I know lots of people who are avid concert goers...I basically know how the ticket game is played. That's all worthless, though, when the tickets are only given away via a radio station. Ugh. I was forced to listen to DC101 for a week, trying to get tickets for this one. I failed miserably. I got through exactly once and was the wrong caller. Dammit.

Anyway - long story short - a friend called in a favor from someone and managed to get me a ticket. Dumb luck - all at the very, very last minute. Whew. My friends rule.

Another all-time favorite show. The setlist was perfect. The crowd was rockin'. Dave was totally charming and ...dare I say it...kinda hot. Seeing him playing guitar while standing on the bar and doing a shot is one of those moments I'll never forget. I f--king love this band.

My full review is here. A bunch of pics, too.

10/15

2008-10-26T18:31:00.004-04:00

10/15/89 - Grateful Dead @ Brendan Byrne Arena (The Meadowlands) - East Rutherford, NJ

This was the 4th of 5 nights (our 2nd) at The Meadowlands. Surely tonight we'd get the "Dark Star" or "Attics" or even "And We Bid You Goodnight" that everyone was hoping for. Nope. If there's one thing you could always count on with The Grateful Dead, it was the fact that they never did what you'd expect. A very mixed-blessing that was. We got none of those songs tonight, but we got yet another expectedly solid, if not wonderful show.

I always love hearing "Iko Iko" and this time was no different. We got a rare (for me, anyway) "Far From Me". "Victim" is slowly changing from a complete downer to an interesting jamming vehicle. I'm still not sure I actually like it, but it's becoming more and more interesting. They closed the first set with "Standing On The Moon". An odd choice to close with a Jerry ballad, but whatever. It's a really nice song. Always welcome.

5 songs pre-drums was nice - after getting 6 songs total the previous night. I could hear "Eyes of the World" every night and I wouldn't complain. The second set ended with "Not Fade Away." The crowd kept the chant going throughout the set break - not even stopping when the band came back on stage. The band picked it up again, giving us a sort of "Not Fade Away (Reprise)." Fun. From there Phil jumped into "Box Of Rain" for the real encore. Nice way to send us off. Very, very nice show.

Of course, the next night had it all and rivaled the Warlocks show that we missed as one of the greates shows ever. They played all of the other breakout songs we wanted to see - "Dark Star", "Attics", "And We Bid You Goodnight". Dammit. It was after we learned this news, Steve invoked the "500-mile" rule. "We will never miss another show within a 500-mile radius of home." Of course, that would be impossible to do without quitting our jobs, so we added "on Saturdays" to the rule. I'm not sure how well we stuck to that, but I think we came pretty close.

10/15/2006 Pet Shop Boys @ DAR Constitution Hall - Washington, DC

When I pulled up tickets for this I thought they said Row A - front row. It wasn't until I re-read my confirmation email that I realized it was Row AA - not Row A. oops. These seats didn't exactly suck though. No regrets.

Hell of a show. Lots of hits. Lots of theatrics. Lots of 80s/90s flashbacks. Lots of gay gay gay going on. And I mean that in a good way.

Dinger had seen PSB years ago and insisted that we go to this. It didn't take much convincing - I was all for it. I'm not sure I need to see them again, but I'm VERY glad I went. Everybody should see them at least once.

Old review here.

10/14

2008-10-26T17:42:00.003-04:00

10/14/89 - Grateful Dead - Brendan Byrne Arena (The Meadowlands) - East Rutherford, NJ

I remember being disappointed with this show at the time. I think that's just another example of how spoiled we were back then. They were consistently very, very good and we were going to A LOT of shows. The slightest dip in anything seemed disappointing. That being said...I can't really find much at fault with this show at all. It stands on its own quite well. I would have killed for a show like this in the last few years.

A few shows had passed since the Warlocks shows and they hadn't played any of the breakout songs again. That could mean 2 things. 1) They were due to pull them out again, or 2) They were just one-offs and we'd never see them again. The first set was played well - but everything was played well in 1989, so it didn't seem terribly special That is, until the end of the set. They were tuning and you could hear that "chunk chunka-chunk chunka-chunk" again. All of a sudden BAM! "Help On The Way" - the song we saw them break out last week in Hampton. In the first set? They never did that - even back when they played this song a lot. And a fine version it was. The crowd was pretty electric during the break. We now knew that the "new" songs were not only a possibility - they could turn up anywhere in the show. That was always one of my favorite things about Dead shows. Anything could happen.

But, of course, that never came to be. The second set was really good, but there were no more surprises to be had. It was also incredibly short - only 6 songs plus drums/space. I think that was the basis for my initial disappointment. But the first half was quite the dance-fest. "Scarlet" and "Foolish Heart" were tons of fun. "China Doll" was excellent. This success of this song depends on Jerry hitting the high notes at the end and he nailed it. I always loved "Black Muddy River," too. Nice closer.

I went to this show with a few friends from college and stayed with one of them in Jersey. Shows are always better when surrounded by a bunch of friends.

10/14/04 - Mission Of Burma/Channels @ The Black Cat - Washington, DC

I guess I lost my stub for this one. :(

I had seen Mission of Burma's big return at the 9:30 Club in 2003. I remember thinking they were really good, but it wasn't the OMG! show I was hoping for. This show, however, was IT. They were just on fire. They blasted through song after song like it was going to be their last show ever. I finally "got it" with them. Pure guitar craziness. They could have gone on all night, as far as I was concerned. My very similar thoughts on my original review here.

J. Robbins' latest band Channels opened. Impressive. I'd love to see them again, but I don't think they play many shows. Check out Waiting For The Next End Of The World. It's totally Dumbek approved.

10/13

2008-10-25T18:13:00.016-04:00

10/13/04 - PJ Harvey @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

You'd think I'd be a huge PJ Harvey fan. You know I love me some rock chicks. She's angry, kind of dark and a little disturbing. Right up my alley. But for some reason she never clicked with me. I haven't really made an effort though. I'll admit that. I did pick up To Bring You My Love just before this show. I do like it, but I didn't give it enough to settle-in. So I ended up going into this show pretty cold.

I thought she was really good, but not quite the goddess some of her fans seem to think. My friends seemed to think she was having a slightly off-night. My old review is here. I'd gladly go see her again but this show was kind of pricey. $35. Ouch. Maybe I'll dig into her catalog more before making that decision.

10/13/2008 - Change Rocks (The Dead and The Allman Brothers Band) - Bryce Jordan Center - Penn State

Like the 10/11/87 R.E.M. show, this was the perfect storm of events. The Dead are reuniting. The Allman Brothers are opening. It's at Penn State. It's on a holiday weekend. It's a benefit for Obama. The only way this could get any better would be if they gave out free beer. (They didn't.)

My old college roommate/Dead touring buddy drove up from NC for this. We got in town mid-day Sunday. Spent the afternoon wandering around campus. Perfect day - unseasonably warm and sunny. As with most visits to PSU, our evening ended at Zeno's. We were surprised to see that it wasn't very crowded. Sunday used to be a big night there. No live entertainment either. Oh well. We met some people that came down from Canada for the show and had a fun night.

Doors for the show were at 5:30, so we got to the parking lot early - like just before noon, I think. Early enough that I decided to head to The Creamery for coffee, rather than getting the party started immediately. We got a great parking spot on the edge of the lot in the shade, with a clear view of Mt. Nittany. As luck would have it, we parked a few cars away from Uncle Sam.

The lot was fun. Nothing nearly like it was in the old days, but a very familiar vibe. Hung out in a drum circle for a while. Talked with our neighbors who had come from Vermont. Found myself a spiffy Penn State Stealie shirt. Nice, relaxing, sunny afternoon, filled with good beer, music and fun.

We didn't want to miss the Allmans, so we headed in a little before 5:00. We stood in line for our wristbands and learned that we had to go to the exact opposite side of the arena to get to the floor. Good planning. Luckily, that single stairwell was really tight and crowded, too. You may want to re-think that one. Anyway, we were walking across the floor as the lights went down for the Allmans. Most people stayed outside and we easily secured a spot about 10 feet back on the right. Excellent.

The Allman Brothers played for about 2 hours, I guess. Mostly a greatest-hits set, which was fine by me. Susan Tedeschi (Derek's wife, I think) came out and sang a few songs, too, including a cover of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice..." The Allman Brothers sounded fine, but I still have a hard time watching them without Dickey. Warren is great. Derek is great. It just seems incomplete though. They're never anything less than fun these days, but it ain't like it used to be. Not for me anyway. Oddly, the highight of the set for me may have been Warren covering Van Morrison's "And It Stoned Me." Anyway - They were fun, sounded good and the 2 hours flew by.

Setlist: Revival, Statesboro, Who's Been Talking, Midnight Rider, One Way Out, And It Stoned Me (Warren), Dreams, Don't Think Twice (Susan), Any Day (Susan), Melissa, Trouble No More, Ain't Wasting Time No More, Jessica Encore: Whipping Post.

A lengthy set break, then we got some of the local "Get out the vote" folks up there talking to us for a bit. Jaypa came out with a few guys from the team and they pretty much did the same. Everyone seemed pretty generic with their messages. It was mostly "Go Vote" rather than "Go Vote For Obama." Finally, we got a video from Obama thanking The Dead and the Allmans for their support. He threw in a line about having a "touch of grey" (a Dead reference) and how he hopes we're not "wasting time no more" (an Allman reference), which got lots of applause. Nice gesture on his part. Getting a raving endorsement from The Grateful Dead can be a mixed blessing for a political candidate.

On came The Dead. They played one long 2+ hour set. The setlist was a deadhead's dream. They pretty much ignored anything that might be considered a 1st set song and just hit the jamming songs all night. Warren filled-in on guitar. Here's the setlist:

Truckin'
US Blues
Help On The Way
Slipknot
Franklin's Tower
Playin' in the Band
Dark Star
St. Stephen
Unbroken Chain
The Other One
Throwing Stones
Playin' Reprise

Touch Of Grey
Not Fade Away

Unfortunately, I don't think the playing held up to the killer setlist. At times they were amazing, but there were also plenty of times that they weren't. "Truckin'" went on about 5 minutes too long. The jam kind of fell apart before the end. Rather than rolling into the next song, it's like they started a completely unrelated jam and went on for about another 5 minutes. That jam also fell apart. "US Blues" was expected, but nothing special. It sounds like it's been demoted from "fun, bouncy rock-song" to "lazy shuffle." One of my pet peeves: If you don't remember the first line, don't start the song. That was the case when Bobby jumped up for the opening line of "Help On The Way." Like the "Truckin'" jam, "Slipknot" seemed to fall apart - to the point the when it was time to wind-up the jam section, they came to a complete stop and Bobby had to count them off to pick it up again.

The "Playin'" and "Dark Star" were quite nice, with the latter having a nice, long, drippy intro and each member taking a couple lines from the verses. The jamming here was very, very nice. My favorite of the night was probably "Unbroken Chain." It's one of the few songs that Phil sings that actually sounds good. I thought they nailed it. The rest of the songs were quite good. No Drums though, which was a little disappointing.

Maybe I just needed to adjust my expectations. Maybe I was hoping for too much. But to me it just seemed like they hadn't rehearsed enough. Maybe they didn't, because of Bob's bus accident. The jamming was pretty unfocused. The transitions between songs were sloppy or non-existent. Don't get me wrong. I had a great time. It was wonderful to hear those songs again. And when they were on, they were on. I think my review paints a more negative picture than what I really think. Overall, they were really good. There were just some rough spots. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

There are rumors of a Spring Tour. I'd be up for hitting a few shows. With a little more rehearsal, they could be amazing.

Great weekend. Great cause. Good show.

I reserve the right to completely change my mind about everything after I go back and listen to the show. :)

10/12

2008-10-25T11:39:00.005-04:00

10/12/97 - David Bowie - Capitol Ballroom - Washington, DC

I'll admit this one blurs together with the 1996 show at the same location. This was the Earthling tour. Still not playing many real hits, but enough to keep things interesting. "I'm Afraid of Americans," "Panic In Detroit," "Stay," "Hallo Spaceboy," "All The Young Dudes" and a bunch more. Nice covers of "White Light, White Heat" and "O Superman." There are bootlegs of both of these shows floating around. I should really try to track them down.

David Bowie is one of my musical heroes (no pun intended.) I thought seeing him in a club would be a once in a lifetime chance. To get a second chance just one year after the last time was pretty f--king awesome. This was my last Bowie show until 2004.

10/11

2008-10-21T20:18:00.016-04:00

Wow - Another really busy day.

10/11/87 - R.E.M./10,000 Maniacs @ Rec Hall - Penn State University

My all-time favorite R.E.M. show.

I actually had a ticket to see R.E.M. on 10/10/87 at The Patriot Center, but I ended up giving that ticket to a friend of mine instead. I had just graduated from college in the Spring of '87. I was torn between seeing R.E.M. at The Patriot Center and returning to PSU for my first Homecoming as an alumni. That dilemma was solved when they announced that R.E.M. would be playing at PSU for Homecoming. And lucky me - I didn't even have to do anything. My friends who were still in school had already bought me a ticket before I even knew about the show. My friends rule.

Not only do they rule - but they're also R.E.M. freaks. About 10 of them camped-out in line for tickets. Between them all, we pretty much occupied the entire 4th-5th rows. (The first few rows were always reserved for the concert committee, special guests, etc.) Excellent.

10K Maniacs hadn't quite broken yet, but a bunch of us had the new record and were pretty much the only people dancing throughout their set. Stipe came out and sang on "A Campfire Song." It didn't suck.

The lights came down for R.E.M. and we all immediately rushed the stage. I found myself pressed right against the barrier, just between Michael and Peter. So here I am - as close to the stage as physically possible, literally surrounded by about 30 of my best friends, watching my favorite band on the planet. It doesn't get much better than that.

No big surprise - I loved the show. I don't remember the setlist (and this is oddly one of the 3-4 from 1987 missing from the R.E.M. Timeline), but I remember a few things. They opened with "Finest Worksong" and went right into "These Days." That's a helluva 1-2 opening punch. "Feeling Gravitys Pull," "King of Birds," a silly cover of Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue" and a raucous cover of Television's "See No Evil." "Begin The Begin" and, of course, "It's The End of the World As We Know It...". I don't think that had been released as a single yet. We thought we were so clever screaming out "Leonard Bernstein!" I remember everyone along the barrier doing the "Superman" move - where you slowly raise your arms over your head like you're about to take off, while Mills sings "I am, I am Superman." I wish they'd bring that song back. I remember them playing a song that none of us knew. Being right against the stage we asked Peter what the name of it was. Turns out it was "Orange Crush".

Somewhere near the end (maybe during ITEOTWAWKI) Stipe came down front and started shaking hands. He eventually got to me, grabbed my hand and HE didn't let go for a good 10-15 seconds. I swear to God it wasn't me holding on. I didn't want to be "that guy," but Stipe was hanging on to my hand. All my friends were jealous. sigh.... Before the show was done I'd end up shaking Mike's and Peter's hands too. I don't think Bill ever came to the front. It seems pretty corny now, but I was thrilled at the time.

So that was my favorite R.E.M. show. More about the people and setting than the actual show - although that didn't suck either. Potentially my favorite concert ever.

10/11/94 - The Grateful Dead @ USAir Arena - Landover, MD

The last show of the final Cap Centre run. I will call this place the Capital Centre until the day I die, so don't bother correcting me on that. Great seat - The first row off the floor, halfway back, right on the aisle.

I liked this one better than the night before. They picked up the pace a bit and played a bunch of stuff I didn't get to see a lot - "High Time," "It's All Over Now," "If The Shoe Fits," "Lucy In The Sky," "China Doll"... Not necessarily my favorite songs, but they were always welcome. The second set opened with "Eyes of The World". My aisle seat in the front row of the section gave me tons of dancing room and I took full advantage of that. I caught the usher kind of making fun of my dancing, but I didn't care. I walked over and started dancing with him. He got a good chuckle out of that. "China Doll" was nice, but seemed a little rushed, like the "Comes A Time" from a couple nights ago. It was ok, but you could tell Jerry wasn't putting all that much into it. The ballads made it easy to tell he was starting to fade. I think that's why he sometimes rushed through them. At least he got all the words right and hit all the high notes. It ended up being the last time they'd ever play that song.

This was my last Dead show of 1994. My last Dead shows at the Cap Centre. I saw them there 19 times. More than anywhere else - though not by much.

10/11/2003 - R.E.M. @ Philips Arena - Atlanta, GA

Still high on that Bill Berry guest appearance the night before - we headed down to Atlanta for the last show of the US tour. Hopes were high that Bill might make another appearance - or even play the whole show - but neither of those happened. Really, really fun show though. We got the first "You Are The Everything" in over 12 years. Pete Yorn came out and sang Patti Smith's part on "E-Bow The Letter." The highlight of this one had to be the encore. First of all - it was 10 friggin' songs long. Yowza. But the killer part was the batch of songs in the middle of the encore:

Gardening At Night/Wolves, Lower/Sitting Still/Radio Free Europe/Permanent Vacation

Holy Crap. That's just sick. 5 of the oldest songs in their catalog. I thought my head was going to explode. Did I really just see "Radio Free Europe" two nights in a row, after seeing it only one other time in the last 18 years? I was smiling the whole 12-hour drive home. And by "smiling" I mean "sleeping while Dinger drove." He was a real trooper for this trip.

Finest Worksong / Begin The Begin / So Fast, So Numb / Drive / Animal / Fall On Me / You Are The Everything / Bad Day / The One I Love / Electrolite / E-Bow The Letter / (Don't Go Back To) Rockville / Find The River / Losing My Religion / At My Most Beautiful / She Just Wants To Be / Walk Unafraid / Man On The Moon

encore: Life And How To Live It / Nightswimming / Final Straw / Gardening At Night / Wolves, Lower / Sitting Still / Radio Free Europe / Permanent Vacation / Imitation Of Life / It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

10/11/07 - Mickey Hart's Global Drum Project @ Lisner Auditorium - Washington, DC

I hadn't been terribly thrilled with Mickey's more recent percussive efforts. They just left me cold. But when I saw the lineup for this one - I know there was no possible way it could be anything other than amazing. I was right.

Mickey Hart (all sorts of things)
Zakir Hussain (tabla and all sorts of things)
Giovanni Hidalgo (congas, timbales and the like)
Sikiru Adepoju (talking drum)

It's like a stripped-down version of the original "Planet Drum" tour. Amazing doesn't begin to describe it. They opened the show with Mickey and Zakir making this mind-boggling music by hammering on this old, dead tree they wheeled onto the middle of the stage. The tree was heavily miked (sp?) and they threw a few weird effects into the mix, creating this bizarro mix of percussion and electronics. All coming out of a big tree. I guess after that it got a bit more "traditional". At least as traditional as you can get with such a weird mix of instruments. They added a bit more electronic trickery to sample and twist the sounds in different ways. That's usually the kind of thing that bugs me about some of Mickey's efforts, but this time they managed to do it without taking away from the organic feeling of the music created by the actual performers and instruments.

These four musicians are each fantastic on their own. Putting them all together is just magic.

Easily one of my favorite shows of 2007. Did I mention we were in the front row?

10/11/2008 - Wire @ 9:30

Another band I know more by reputation than by actual music. I've had Pink Flag for years, but that's really all I know by them. My college roommate had The Ideal Copy back in the day, but I never really listened to it much. I remember liking "Ahead," but that's about it.

So I didn't really know much of what they played this night. It all sounded really good, but nothing revolutionary. To be honest, they were kind of boring to watch. At times they sounded great. Other times I was looking at my watch. The very small crowd (the curse of the early show?) made it easy to wander around and catch them from different angles - which I love. I ended up on the side, looking straight down at the band. Great view.

I'm sure people that know Wire far better than me probably thought it was a fantastic show. Maybe it was. I'm glad I went, but I doubt I'll go out of my way to see them again.

10/10

2008-10-19T10:48:00.013-04:00

Very busy day in Dumbek's concert history.

10/10/94 - The Grateful Dead - USAir Arena - Landover, MD

I can't remember anything in particular about this one. Looking at the setlist, it doesn't surprise me that I forgot about it. BOOORING. I haven't listened to this one in years, and I'm not about to dig out the tapes. Quite possibly the dullest 1st set ever. Other than the opening "Iko Iko" and "Althea," every other song could be considered a "bathroom song". At least it was ridiculously short at only six songs. Even the 2nd set looks dull. I know you can't always judge a show by the setlist, but given that this is 1994 my hopes aren't terribly high that they came through. Short show - 15 songs. And the encore was "I Fought The Law." That's possibly the 2nd most reviled live Dead song - 2nd only to "Day Job." At least it was close to home.

1: Iko Iko, Walkin' Blues, Althea, Desolation Row, Loose Lucy, Eternity
2: Help>Slip>Franklin's, Estimated Prophet, Terrapin>Drumz>Watchtower>Stella Blue>NFA
E: I Fought The Law

10/10/03 - R.E.M. @ Alltel Pavilion - Raleigh, NC

A handful of different songs from the previous night made this a fun one. They sounded great and appeared to be having a great time. None of that really matters though. What matters is that this show goes into the books as marking the return of Mr. Bill Berry. Bill Berry came out about halfway into the encore and joined-in on backing vocals for "Radio Free Europe". When that was finished they had a little band meeting on stage (during the thunderous applause) and within a few minutes Bill was sitting behind the drum kit. Bill counted them off and they jumped into "Permanent Vacation" - that song that dates back to the pre-Chronic Town days. This was Bill's first appearance with the band since the Monster tour in 1995. I can absolutely guarantee that I was jumping around and screaming like a little girl the whole time. One of my all-time favorite concert moments. Probably my favorite R.E.M. moment.

Finest Worksong / So Fast, So Numb / Driver 8 / Drive / Animal / Disturbance At the Heron House / So. Central Rain / Bad Day / The One I Love / Electrolite / Begin The Begin / World Leader Pretend / I've Been High / Losing My Religion / Find The River / She Just Wants To Be / Walk Unafraid / Man On The Moon

encore: Life And How To Live It / Nightswimming / Sweetness Follows / Imitation Of Life / Radio Free Europe / Permanent Vacation / It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

setlist from the awesome remtimeline

10/10/2005 Foo Fighters @ Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA

Weezer opened. We opted for the beer garden instead.

This was my first big Foo show. I had seen them twice before, but in clubs. This was the first time we got to see them in full rock-star mode. They did not disappoint. Our seats were 2 rows off the floor, but way in the back. That was fine by us. We decided to skip the GA floor. We're too old for that.

Fantastic show. I'll stand by my statement that the Foos are one of the best flat-out rock and roll bands out there today. Grohl is a terrific front-man and they always put on a helluva show.

I wish they did more regular shows around here. It seems like they play festivals, club shows, or just skip DC altogether. The club shows have been great and I know I've been very lucky to get into those, but just come to DC and put on another big rock show already.

10/10/2006 - Eric Clapton @ Verizon Center - Washington, DC

Clapton is one of those people I always forget about, but I'm always impressed when I hear him. I hadn't seen him in about 14 years. I figured it was time to check him out again. This was one of those "I'll go if I can get a great seat with minimal effort" shows. It took about 20 seconds to secure a seat on the front half of the floor. Good enough.

Robert Cray opened. In any other company I'd be gushing about how wonderful Cray was. But c'mon - I'm waiting for Clapton to come onstage. I had no idea Derek Trucks was sitting in as Eric's "other" guitarist. Holy crap. Derek is a fantastic slide player. His current gig is with the Allman Brothers. For still being in his 20's - he's keeping pretty good company.

Clapton sounded great - as expected. Seeing him and Derek go at it was incredible. Having Robert Cray sit in with both of them for a few songs was just ridiculous. I don't know much of Clapton's catalog, but he played enough hits to keep me happy - "Cocaine," "Pretending," "Wonderful Tonight," "Crossroads" and a bunch more. The highlight was probably "Layla," featuring Derek on slide guitar. Wow. He's no Duane, but that was pretty f--king sweet.

10/10/2008 - Shudder To Think - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

For some reason I never really got into Shudder To Think. I started listening to them after-the-fact, when I was trying to catch up on all the local music I had missed in the early 90's when I was chasing The Dead around. I liked most of their records - especially the Dischord ones, but there was never enough there to keep me going back. I figured if I was going to check them out - this was my chance.

I was kind of surprised to hear they were playing 9:30. I didn't realize they were that popular. Turns out my first instinct was correct. The club wasn't even half-full. That makes for a great experience for me, but that's gotta suck for the band, I'd think. Maybe people stayed away because it was an early show. Dunno. Anyway - I watched a few songs from the main floor, then moved up to the balcony where I could sit and had a fantastic view.

I was surprised how much I liked them. They brought the rock, for sure. "Rock" is a bit of a misnomer, I guess. Their music is definitely rock-based, but there's something about it that's just slightly off-kilter. It's totally accessible, but kind of quirky at the same time. It's a bit odd. I like it. At times Craig reminded me a bit of Scott Weiland. I'm not sure exactly why, but that's who kept popping up in my head as I watched. Very entertaining to watch. Despite owning a bunch of their records, I don't actually know a single song, so I have no idea what they played. I liked it all though. Enough that I'm making a conscious effort to go back and re-listen to everything.

The early time slot brought an early end. They didn't even have time to do an encore. Too bad. I wouldn't have minded a little more.

10/9

2008-10-19T10:01:00.003-04:00

10/9/94 - The Grateful Dead - USAir Arena - Landover, MD

The Dead pretty much sucked in 94 and I was almost ready to throw in the towel. Spring '94 was fun, but more for the journey than the music. The music pretty much sucked. I refused to travel for Summer Tour (hitting only RFK) and I would have skipped the Fall Tour altogether, had they not played within a few miles of where I lived.

But they did play nearby and, as usual, they pretty much came through. There's something about the Cap Centre that usually lit a fire under them. This show had possibly the best "Stagger Lee" I got to see. It practically had a jam at the end of it. Nice. "Broken Arrow" - one of the few songs that Phil actually sang well - sounded terrific. I wish they had played that one more. The highlight came post-"Miracle" when Jerry went into "Comes A Time". I had seen them 90-or-so times by this point and had never managed to catch this song. I was thrilled to get it, but to be honest, I thought they rushed through it. "Comes A Time" is one of those songs that should be played reeaaallly slow. I won't say I was disappointed by it, but I think they could have done better. Turns out they would never play it again.

10/9/95 - Blues Traveler @ Nissan Pavilion

I'm not sure exactly why we went to this one. My friend was an intern at WHFS and said he had a bunch of free tickets, but we had to leave NOW. So we all piled into his car and headed to BF Virginia. I remember we were all pretty much trashed by the time we got there. We got there after they already started and left before they finished. We probably saw them for less than an hour.

I don't even like Blues Traveler.

10/8

2008-10-18T19:58:00.012-04:00

10/8/89 The Warlocks (aka The Grateful Dead) @ Hampton Coliseum - Hampton, VA

This was a big one. The Grateful Dead had been banned from playing in Hampton. That was a fairly common occurrence in the '80s. The thousands of ticketless people coming in, the influx of drugs and the bad press were too much for some places to handle. As a result the Dead were often told to never come back.

But they made some kind of special deal with Hampton. The town agreed they could come back, but only under certain conditions. They had to play under a fake name. (They chose "The Warlocks" - the name they used before choosing The Grateful Dead.) There could be no mail-order tickets. In fact - they could use no ticket agencies at all. No TicketMaster. All tickets had to be sold locally - in person. They couldn't officially announce the show anywhere. Not even on the official Grateful Dead hotline. Not in the press. And the show couldn't even be announced locally until a few days before it happened.

Nice try.

I found out about the show the evening before tickets went on sale. I called a few people and found out that there was a record store in Norfolk selling tickets. I called the store and confirmed. I had to work the next day, but I was able to skip-out at noon. I called the record store again to confirm they hadn't sold out yet. I was assured sales were slow, but steady. If I wanted tickets, I needed to get there fast. So I hopped in the car and made the 3-hour trek to Norfolk - fingers-crossed, hoping it wouldn't sellout before I got there. Turns out I made it in plenty of time. There were only a couple people in line in front of me. I picked up the 10/8 tickets with no problem. Whew. This was mid-week - maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. The show was the following Sunday.

Then I made the biggest mistake of my Dead career. There were two shows at Hampton. 10/8-10/9. "Do you want tickets for the second night?" hmmm... I thought about it for a minute. I had enough cash in my pocket. I could easily do it.

"No thanks - I'm already hitting 5 other shows on Fall Tour. This makes 6. That's enough."

Why, oh why couldn't one of my enabler-type friends have been there? What a mistake that was. More on that later.

Anyway - The show itself was phenomenal. Easily the best show I had seen to date and still probably one of my top 5. Everything about this show was special. Hampton is the only general admission arena on the east coast. It's the smallest venue I ever saw the Dead play. I was there with a mix of friends from home, college and work. Even the weather was perfect.

And the band was ON. The first set was well-played - including a nice "Stagger Lee" - a song I never got to see much - and a long, trippy-sweet "Bird Song". I had already gotten my money's worth.

But then came the second set. It was the first show of the tour, so they could open with anything, but nothing had prepared us for the opening notes of "Help On The Way." One of their greatest songs that never got a ton of play. They did it a bunch of times in 76-77, then again from 83-84, but they hadn't played it in over 4 years. After hearing the opening notes everyone was just kind of looking at each other like "Are you sh-tting me?!" Then everyone just exploded. You could barely hear the opening of the song. When Jerry started singing the place just erupted again. They always follow "Help" with "Slipknot" - a long, jazzy-trippy instrumental that inevitably falls into the super-dance-fest that is "Franklin's Tower". I had never seen so many ecstatic people in my life. This is what it's all about, folks. This is why I kept going back time and time again.

The rest of the show was pretty stellar, as well. A scary "Victim" and a nice, rollicking "Eyes of the World" had everyone dancing up a storm again. "I Need A Miracle" and "Gimme Some Lovin'" kept the party going post-drums.

Then there was the "Dew". One of my all-time-favorite Dead moments. Absolutely beautiful from start to finish. Gentle when it needed to be. Powerful when it needed to be. Jerry's voice...the guitar solos...the emotion....absolutely perfect. The perfect way to end the show. We started gathering everyone, figuring the encore would be a throwaway. But no - wrong again. They pulled out "And We Bid You Goodnight" - an a capella gospel tune - one of their oldest songs - played for only the 6th time since 1974. Ho-ly Crap.

I've probably listened to this show more than any other in my collection. I wore out at least 3 different tapes of that 2nd set. I know every single note of it.

So we drove back to DC completely elated...knowing we had just seen something really, really special. We didn't even feel bad about missing the next night, because there was no way it could come close to matching this one.

umm...no. The next night they broke out "Dark Star," the quintessential Grateful Dead song. The ultimate jamming vehicle. The one nobody thought they'd ever play again. The one that they had only played 5 times since 1974. And remember how excited I was for the "Bid You Goodnight" encore? This show got "Attics of My Life." A song that hadn't been played in about 17 years. Oh well...

10/8/2003 R.E.M. @ Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA

For the Monster and Up tours R.E.M. pretty much focused on those records and their other Warner Bros. releases. There were a few IRS nuggets thrown in, but they were pretty sparse. In 2003 they were touring for In Time - a greatest hits compilation. They went way back into the catalog for this tour - thank God. My old band was back - proving they could still pull off the old tunes the way they used to. We got songs from nearly every album (tracks from Murmur a glaring omission) and they all sounded great. This was the band I fell in love with. Good to have them back. Even better from the 3rd row.

The big surprise for this tour was the return of "Permanent Vacation". This song is so old they dumped it before they even recorded their first single. It never even made it onto an actual record. I would have bet they'd play in my backyard before they pulled out something like this. Wrong again - although the backyard show would be pretty sweet.

Finest Worksong / Begin The Begin / Exhuming McCarthy / Drive / Animal / Fall On Me / Daysleeper / Bad Day / The One I Love / (Don't Go Back To) Rockville / Orange Crush / World Leader Pretend / I Believe / Losing My Religion / Find The River / She Just Wants To Be / Walk Unafraid / Man On The Moon

encore: Life And How To Live It / Nightswimming / Final Straw / Imitation Of Life / Permanent Vacation / It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

setlist from the awesome remtimeline

10/8/07 - Klaxons/Washington Social Club @ 9:30.

We went to this one just to see WSC. We didn't know jack about the Klaxons. It was pretty damn crowded though, so I guess they were pretty popular at the time. We stayed for a few songs and just didn't get it. A little too much on the dance side of dance-rock for me. Some people were going nutso for them though. Good for them. shrug. I'll chalk this one up to us being old.

WSC was kickin' though.

10/8/2008 - Against Me!/Ted Leo and the Pharmacists/Future Of The Left @ The Black Cat

I went to this one just to see Ted at the Black Cat again. Ted never disappoints. I kind of liked Future Of The Left - although they were too loud. Hints of No Wave and occasional bursts of power-rock. Nice. Ted was great - as always. No nonsense tonight. He just blasted through 10 or so songs without a break. Old and new. I never get tired of Ted. He brought up a special guest to sing the last song, but I have no idea who the guest was, or what the song was. Was that James Canty of French Toast playing guitar? I didn't know he was touring with Ted. Yep. Wikipedia says so, so it much be true. Excellent.

Mark Anderson of Positive Force came out and talked about one of the projects he's currently working on - We Are Family. It kind of evolved into a general "get involved - it's the punk rock thing to do" sort of speech. Unfortunately - most people just kind of ignored him. I thought it was pretty inspiring at first, but I'll admit he may have gone on a little long. But this guy does great things for the community and was putting on punk rock benefit shows before half of that crowd was even born. Show a little respect, kids. He's one of the good guys. His book Dance Of Days should be required reading.

I didn't know anything about Against Me! The kids loved 'em. I probably would have liked them better if it wasn't already late on a school night. I left after a few songs. I have 5 shows this week. I need sleep.

10/7

2008-10-18T10:19:00.011-04:00

10/7/05 - Bob Mould @ 9:30 - Washington, DC

I think this was Bob's first big rock show since moving to DC. All the boys were there. Interesting mix of people. Lots of indie types that seemed a little confused by all the gays. Lots of the Blowoff crowd that seemed a little surprised by how hard Bob rocked. Fantastic show. He definitely bumped things up a notch from the previous night in Philly. This was the gig used for the highly-recommended Circle of Friends dvd. More details at my original post here.

10/7/07 - Two Gallants/Blitzen Trapper/Songs For Moms @ Rock And Roll Hotel - Washington, DC

I didn't know anything about any of these bands. I was just in a pissy mood that night - fighting with Dinger and I needed to get out of the house. I don't remember being terribly impressed with any of them, but I also stuck around for all of them - so they had to be entertaining. Otherwise I would have left. I vaguely recall thinking Blitzen Trapper was the best of the bunch, but I probably wasn't the best audience that night. shrug. No stub. Paid at the door.

10/7/08 - The Redsidents @ 9:30

Back when I was in college, whenever I wanted to scare people I'd put on The Residents. It's a great way to clear the room fast.

The Residents recently made their way through town on their Bunny Boy tour. To be honest - I was a little disappointed. For the first half of the show the band was setup in some sort of shell on the right side of the stage, while the narrator - looking like a homeless guy wrapped in a blanket - ran back and forth telling the story and singing a few songs. They're show a few videos periodically, helping along the story of the narrator's brother getting lost and the ongoing search for clues, but that was pretty much it. The second half of the show was pretty much the same, except now the narrator was dressed in a bunny suit - still running back and forth - and there was a cot on the left side of the stage, where he'd take a nap when some more videos played. The End.

Here's a picture of the band in the shell. Note that the shell was pretty much completely dark for most of the show. It was never lit up like this, so you could rarely see the band.

The story wasn't terribly interesting and I got lost about 15 minutes from the end. The show was visually uninteresting and the songs all sounded pretty much the same after a while. meh.

I love The Residents and always look forward to seeing them. I loved them the last couple times I saw them. Bunny Boy just left me cold.

photo taken from residents.com

10/6

2008-10-17T21:27:00.009-04:00

10/6/96 - KISS @ USAir Arena

Yeah - You read that right. The hottest band in the world is back! Mother-f---ing KISS, b-tches! All four original members touring together for the first time in years. No way in hell I was gonna miss this. 4th row right in front of Ace. Suddenly I'm 14 again. Only this time I'm drunk.

KISS puts on the best show in rock. There. I said it. Fire, blood, smoke, costumes (I think from the Love Gun era) and hit after hit after hit. What's not to love? Killer show. I was in heaven.

I couldn't find the exact setlist online , but the basic tour set included everything you'd expect: "Calling Dr. Love," Firehouse," "Rock and Roll All Nite," "Detroit Rock City, "Love Gun" and a bazillion others. A-May-Zing.

Highlights? Everything. The seats. The songs. We made it on the Jumbotron. At one point I remember Gene walking to the front of the stage and telling the people in the first few rows to "Get the f--k up!" But the best part was when they came out for the encore. Ace was drinking something as he walked back onstage and he threw the cup out into the crowd. As Dinger describes it, I "dove for it like a desperate bridesmaid going for the bouquet." Oh really?

Jealous? I thought so.

10/6/05 - Bob Mould @ The Trocadero in Philly.

We're always looking for a good reason to head up to Philly. This one was a no-brainer. For some reason this was the first time I had ever seen Bob with a full band. Waiting that long was a big mistake on my part. I had kind of lost track after Husker Du broke up. Shortly after that happened, I ignored pretty much everything except The Grateful Dead. My loss.

The show was terrific. Old post about it here. The crowd wasn't as packed as the next night in DC. That made it easy to get up close and focus on the music. Perfect. Bob rocks.

10/6/06 - Medications @ The Black Cat

hmmm - I don't remember anything about this one in particular. For a while I was trying to see Medications every chance I got. One of my DC faves. I think technically they're still around, although they're kind of busy being Faraquet right now. They may still be looking for a drummer. If they pop-up again, definitely go see them. You may not get another chance. That reminds me - I need to pick up that new Faraquet comp. No stub. I just paid at the door.