Thanks to The Wife for this link. It's a collection of Metromix Nashville's Guitar Face Hall of Fame. Some glaring omissions, but still it's fun to look through anyway.
See here for the full list.
Since it's a Nashville-produced list, I was mildly surprised not to find J.D. Simo on it. Maybe he got edited out because there are no words to describe some of the faces he pulls.
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Last night the Wife took me on a bit of a date night. Via work, she'd acquired two tickets to the taping of an upcoming 'Crossroads' with Keith Urban and John Mayer.
As for the date itself, it went to 10. I was feeling good in a new black long-sleeve tee that I scored in New Hampshire for $19 tax-free, and my best fitting jeans. They get mentioned because good jeans don't see the light of day much when you have a little one who is apt to puke on them at any moment with no notice. The Wife looked ravishing as usual.
We get a point off on the date for choosing Mellow Mushroom as our eating place. We were on a tight schedule and thought it would be the quickest option that didn't leave us at McDonald's or Captain D's. But we forgot that everyone that works there is a stoner, so 'we're in a hurry' to them means 'we'd like to be out of here within two hours.'
Now on to the music. I didn't really know much about either of these guys going on, Mayer less so. At least because of the Wife, I'd seen Keith Urban perform live three or four times, and we have all of his music. I just rarely think to listen to it, and it's not on the usual iPod playlists. Not saying it shouldn't be, it just hasn't been.
With Mayer, I know the tunes that have seen a lot of radio play, but that's about it. Most of what I know about him stems from the fact that he is on this week's cover of Rolling Stone. Not an insignificant article. There are some crazy quotes pulled out of a two-day interview that would make you think he was high or drunk the whole time. Or maybe the writer just misrepresented things by using the durtiest stuff. Whatever, he certainly came off looking like a bad-a$$.
While that probably only earned him points in my book, it didn't endear him to everyone, probably especially including the Nashville community. At the end of the day, the Mayer camp is playing damage control these days, and no media were officially allowed to report on last night's gig. The Wife was lucky to get the tickets.
I offer a breakdown of the mano-a-mano results in these categories:
Playing: Keith -- I may get some heat for this claim, but that's the way I saw it last night. Mayer had a moving solo on 'Gravity' but apart from that it was 'just OK for me, Dawg'. Keith was consistently the more creative player.
Pipes: Keith -- John Mayer is an excellent vocalist, and I'm sure he is the favorite of plenty out there. But Keith is technically better, and more pleasing in at least my ear.
Songs: John -- This is admittedly only based on my own preference. For the record, the tracks they played from Urban were 'Sweet Thing', 'Til Summer Comes Around', 'Tonight I Wanna Cry' & 'If Ever I Could Love'. From Mayer they played 'Gravity', 'Perfectly Lonely', 'Say' & 'Slow Dancing In A Burning Room'.
Wit: John -- Keith is a funny and intelligent guy, but John Mayer could make a go of it as a stand-up comedian if he wanted to. There was a lot of down-time banter between songs as various TV-recording necessities were seen to, make-up artists wiped sweat off of the guys, etc.
Tattoos: John -- For country musicians, Urban is one decorated fellow. But Mayer has more artwork than the National Gallery.
Band: John -- His guys sported a richer sound all around, thanks largely to a couple of backup singers.
Neither of these guys plays as well as Brad Paisley or Jonny Lang. But as total packages you won't find a lot better. They finished the set with a cover of George Michael's 'Faith' -- both were brilliant for that one.
The gig went to 10. Having a ticket -- free! -- to see two world-class guitarists/songwriters/vocalists going head-to-head six miles from my home goes to 11.
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Thanks to Brother Don for passing along this parking garage security footage, hearkening back to some classic Wayne and Garth material.
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Yes! And he has explained the earthquake in Haiti. See here for full details.
I guess you can disregard that appeal to help out in the last post.
Hmph. I figured it was probably the queers that caused the quake.
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Compassionate thoughts and actions are in order for our brothers and sisters down in Haiti. What a terrible plight has befallen them. BBC coverage here.
Get involved to help out. Oxfam. Red Cross. UNICEF. Something.
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No, not that VW, and not that bug. It's the bug that I'm putting in your ear about Vampire Weekend.
The NYC foursome released their sophomore studio album (in the US) today, Contra. I'm going through it now, and it sounds promising after one pass. 'Holiday' and 'Run' seem to be the most attention grabbing tracks on first listen, in the ilk of their first huge single, 'Oxford Comma'. The latter is probably my favorite one so far.
The first single from this new album, 'Cousins', sounds hearkens back to 'Mansard Roof' off of the first one. Overall, this is clever and refreshing music, original and instantly recognizable as VW.
Rolling Stone gave this record a 4 out of 5. See their review here. They allude to this having a 'California sound' -- which is either way off-bsae or just proves that I have no idea what the California sound is.
These guys are going to be at the Ryman on Feb 5. The Wife & I can't commit to that at this point as I could have to travel for work, and that is the stinkiest night of the week for her magazine cycle. But we would if we could. If you aren't familiar with this VW, get on it.
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I love a video of a butchered classic as much as the next man. Especially, for some reason, when kids are doing it. Thanks to Brother Don for passing this one along:
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Kudos to this 83-year-old granny who cuts a rug like no other.
And kudos to Shawn for passing this along.
Man, just think what would happen if this lady were paired up with Brown Shirt Guy. Spontaneous combustion.
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