ThisOneGoesToEleven

Face the music

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.

The Joshua Tree of 'Crossroads'

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.

Bohemian Idiot

Thanks to Brother Don for passing along this parking garage security footage, hearkening back to some classic Wayne and Garth material.

Pat Robertson is still alive?

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.

Haitian mess

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.

VW Bug

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.

Journey ...to hell.

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:

�Caliente!

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.

Merry Christmas from us to you

So we had a photographer around the other day. Some of the shots came out pretty decent, methinks. We never got any 6-month photos of Keats done up properly, so I guess these kind of count for that as well.

Whatever the case though, I swear this is pretty much the cutest kid I have ever seen. And that comes without an ounce of bias. See, here's another item I would like to submit as evidence:

There are only six photos in there right now, but soon I will dump some more from the shoot into the Photo Gallery.

Wherever you are, whoever you are, we hope you have the happiest of holidays.

Bruce Springsteen * 18 November 2009 * Sommet Center

Second concert in the same week. We were animals.

The good points: The Boss was fit and energetic. Vocally, he did a good job in that he sounded like his recordings. He interacted with the crowd, inviting giggly girls and little tykes up onto the stage at various points. He made a conga line with what appeared to be a bachelorette party, and the band donned the girls' pink cowboy hats for it. He even did a bit of crowd-surfing. The show was unchoreographed and spontaneous. Requests were taken, and Springsteen even worked in a seemingly impromptu version of 'Ring Of Fire' with a nod to Johnny Cash. He played for about three hours with no break.

The opportunities for improvement: I'm not a huge fan of Springsteen to start with. His songs start sounding alike a bit more quickly than most other artists' do, in my ear. Or at least artist that I like. I respect him and recognize that he's got throngs of loyal fans, The Wife being one, but that's the way it is for me. That said, I *am* a fairly big fan of *some* of his stuff. Most of that stuff is on Born In The USA. And most of that -- including the title track -- didn't surface at this gig. Looking through the set list of other recent shows, that's just the way he rolls. (The full set list of this show, and others, can be found here.)

I got into some minor trouble with The Wife for not being on my feet and dancing. Part of the time I was not on my feet and dancing was when literally nobody else in our section was on their feet and dancing. Except for The Wife.

This show was pretty expensive by our standards. Glad that Eileen has now had the opportunity to see The Boss, and I guess I'm glad I can say I did. But I won't be paying the same price to do it again.

This one went to 8.

Toddler sucks - even at being a toddler

Even as a dad now, I for some reason don't have a problem with this kind of humor. Maybe my competitive nature is more dominant than my paternal one.

Thanks to Shawn for sharing this one:

Regina Spektor * 16 November 2009 * Ryman Auditorium

First off, thanks again to a pair of ace Davids: to DavidW for securing four primo tickets to this show. Ryman balcony, front and center. And to DavidP for turning me on to Regina Spektor in the first place.

After a fast bite with DW (Harriet was busy serving the community) we headed over to the mother church. With minimal wait after the opening band left the stage, Regina came out in a frumpy old lady dress ... and delighted. She only had three players in support: a drummer, a violinist, and a cellist. That being said, she played probably 40% of the show solo. Two or three numbers were even a cappella, and one featured her doubling as the percussionist (using a chair as the object of her striking hand).

From a set list standpoint, there were no omissions of great numbers. The highlight in my book was 'On The Radio' -- bit of a surprise really since that wasn't previously one of my favorite tracks. 'Fidelity' and 'Hotel Song' (two of my personal faves) were solid, as was her solo performance (and one of the only ones featuring Spektor on the guitar) of 'That Time'. Regina succeeded in replicating all the quirkiness that you get in her recordings without sounding like she was just spitting out the same material for the thousandth time.

An amusing aside was that there were a couple of old lesbians in the front row who were a bit over-zealous with their admiration -- to the point where Regina's comfort level was compromised. And she had them removed from the facilities between the main set and encore.

This was a simple show, where the quality of music and execution was so high that nothing needed to be hidden behind volume or distortion. Provocative lyrics, top-notch vocals, and spot-on playing = 10.5. Half a point off for chucking out those two women, whom I found to be pretty darn entertaining.

Laziness wins again

For three or four months now, I have been following a Twitterer -- Tweeter? I am still new at this -- named Justin who goes by Sh*tMyDadSays. Here's his bio from his site:

I'm 29. I live with my 73-year-old dad. He is awesome. I just write down sh*t that he says.

Evidently I'm not the only one, as his following has now swelled to 700,000+. Basically, you get something like this every day or two:

'Just pay the parking ticket. Don't be so outraged. You're not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double parked.' -- or -- 'I wanted to see Detroit win. I've been there. It's like God took a sh*t on a parking lot. They deserve some good news.'

It's normally quite a bit more laced with profanity than that, but you get the picture. Anyway, this guy has now gotten a book deal. What's more, CBS has picked up his story as a sitcom. Seems at first glance like it could be funny but would be about nothing ...where have we seen that done before? As for what they'd possibly name it, who knows? A lot of the punch would go out of it if you changed the title, if you ask me.

Whatever the case, look for the show and/or the book coming soon. Meanwhile, hop on over to twitter/sh*tmydadsays to see what words of wisdom await you today.

Jewel in Southampton's Crown

Until my lawsuit against these chaps for stealing my idea puts them out of business, enjoy a look at this guitar shop online: http://theguitarstoreonline.co.uk

If you're lucky enough to live near Southampton, i.e., in Western Europe, it looks like it would be worth a look in person as well. I definitely like the cut of their jib.

Thanks to Ben W for sending this in.

Kings of Leon * 16 October 2009 * Sommet Center

How did this show differ from last year's at the Municipal Auditorium? Let me count the ways.

1. Jared was not using the white bass that I hate.
2. They played one different song.
3. Caleb was slightly testier.
4. There were about twice as many shrieking teenagers.

That's about it really. Actually, looking at that last review now, there were four songs in the encore. Only two this time around. And the main set this time was only an hour and 25 minutes.

They sounded great, the light show was good, etc. Kids who were seeing them for the first time doubtless had a terrific time. Everyone was standing the whole time, and there was a lot of singing along. But Mary, Chris, The Wife & I are KoL veterans now, and we recognized the mediocrity in terms of doing anything new, and the lack of overall effort.

I was at least pleased that they (well, Caleb really) didn't totally melt down, having read an extremely poor but fair-sounding review of a show in Iowa from the Friday before.

The Wife says it was a ripoff and she's done with them. Mary & I will be back every time though ...which means Eileen and Chris will too.

The show went to 10 last year. But with a shorter main set, a crappy encore, a dearth of old material (just Molly's Chambers from Y&YM) ... this one went to 7.

Make that 6.5 -- still no Trani.

Jonny Lang * 16 Sept 2009 * Ryman Auditorium

As an early birthday gift, I took Kristen - that's my niece, in case you didn't know -- to see a Jonny Lang gig a the Ryman. He's high on her list of musicians.

You might recall that back in April I was going to play guitar in support of Kristen for a talent show. I ended up not being able to make it because Keats decided to come crashing into the world a month early. (He and I have since talked through this issue and are getting along splendidly.) Anyway, Kristen sang a Jonny Lang number for that show, 'Bump In The Road'.

That song, and two others, were the only knowledge I had of this fellow going into the show in September. And those three recordings I'd say were about 6 or 7 stars out of 10 in my book, taken collectively.

Out of a combination of ignorance and a poor memory, I won't go into great detail on the concert. Let's just say that I am proud of Kristen's taste. Lang was fantastic from start to finish. He both looks and talks as if he were the kid next door, home on a break from his freshman year at a Christian college. But when he sings, it's like you're in a durty Chicago bar listening to a 60-year-old black dude.

And the guitar work. Crikey, this is one of those guys that you just know can make any sound he wants to come out of an axe. From the opening note he struck, we were in for a great night. And not only is he technically flawless, he was going at 110% for the whole show. He was drenched at the end of it.

I have no idea what tracks he played (none of the three I knew), except for one: 'Lie To Me'. This one started off as a solo acoustic performance, but it gradually built up steam until the full band joined Lang onstage and he went just completely berserk on the guitar. Amazing.

Like I implied before, the recorded stuff I don't find particularly moving -- although I will check it out a bit more in-depth. But live, this guy goes to 11, and I'll be happy to see/hear him again when I get a chance.