Postcard from Down Under

I haven’t posted for awhile because I’ve been consumed with work in Melbourne, Australia. I haven’t gotten to listen to any radio to be able to comment on what’s popular and I have no live shows planned. The closest I’ve gotten to a show is walking past the Forum the night that Ween was playing. I noticed that the Black Crowes have an upcoming gig here and was thinking about checking that out just to see an American band in Australia but the tickets are freakin 99 bucks! All the American acts that play here are expensive. I guess they’re passing along their travel costs to the fan.

This weekend I was at a café where a cover band was playing in Apollo Bay, Australia. It’s officially the beginning of autumn here and the band played Don Henley’s Boys of Summer, one of my all time guilty pleasure songs. The next morning as I walked along the beach watching the holidaymakers enjoy their last bit of summer, I had to play it again on my iPod. --J

Skynrd!

K’s story about the rowdy Southern crowd at the Jackson Browne show made me think of a similar funny. I think it was the last time I attended Big Spring Jam, Huntsville’s big music festival my last year living there. It was a Friday night and it was almost time for the headliners of that night to take the stage. I don’t remember who was on every stage but there was a big contemporary Christian act on one, Nickelback on one, and Lynrd Skynrd on another. There was a really long line to the one bathroom that was not a porta-john and my friend T went to get in that line. I waited for her outside and when she came out, she said that as she passed the long line of ladies waiting their turn, you could probably guess with 99% accuracy which stage each lady was headed to. She said just when she was thinking that, a drunk woman at the back of the line yelled to the others, “Ya’ll hurry up! I gotta take a piss and go see Skynrd!!! --J

P.S. Their set did not disappoint, but our drunk friend was probably passed out by the end.

You Take Sally and I'll Take Sue: A Night with Jackson Browne

Photo courtesy of musiccitytexas.org


Monday night my friend and I went to see Jackson Browne perform at the VBC Concert Hall here in Huntsville. The hall quickly filled up with a pretty homogenous group of fans looking to rekindle that old feeling. For me, I have always had a soft spot for this singer/songwriter from California who always reminded me of some guy who could have been one of my brother's friends in high school.

The stage was set up with two persian rugs, a keyboard, and an impressive set-up of 14 acoustic guitars. At the number of guitars my friend and I were dumbfounded. As JB explained it, the number suggests versatility where there in fact is none. In fact, the number of guitars onstage was really so that he could perform efficiently without having to spend time before each song tuning the guitar.

JB's vocals were impeccable as was his playing, but he seemed to forget lyrics frequently. Indeed, before beginning one song he stopped and asked a woman up front if she could tell him the words to the second verse because he didn't want to have to stop later, haha. Sans setlist, he seemed to get a little lost amidst all the requests coming in from the crowd. See, with a southern crowd, if you’re going to admit that you don’t have a setlist they’ll take it upon themselves to tell you exactly what you need to play. Of course, the obligatory drunks were in the audience responding to everyone’s requests by saying “PLAY JAY-KSUN BRAY-AWN!” and “PLAY HWAT YEW HWANT!” In some way this made the performance seem very natural and intimate. On the other hand, it made it seem a little aimless and drag on a bit.

I think my friend and I would also have liked to hear more upbeat tunes like Boulevard to keep the energy going, but honestly I have to work at finding anything truly negative to say. JB is a legend and it was a great night. Well, except for the one woman who kept yelling “TELL IT!” and screaming “YEEEAAAAHHH!!!” behind me. Every time JB would begin introducing a song I was anticipating a banshee-like scream coming from behind so I spent a good portion of the night waiting for those moments.

Jackson played crowd favorites Rosie (to this request he stated that in his experience it’s best to not delay haha), Running on Empty, Cocaine, The Pretender and my personal favorite Somebody’s Baby. He also threw in new material as well as a cover of Take It Easy. He did not play Doctor My Eyes, which my concert mate was hoping for. I give this one an Unexpected. -K

Tickets Anyone?

While K has some shows lined up, my lineup has just been shot to hell since I’m now in Australia for a month. I’ve sold the Panic at the Disco tickets since A is not yet in London. I’m fine with that one now that I have money in my pocket! And now I’m giving up my ticket to see The Gossip at the end of the month. I really wanted to see The Gossip live.

Since I can’t see them live, let me give their album “Standing in the Way of Control” an unbelievable rating. The instrumentation is very stripped down which gives Beth Ditto’s voice the room to fill in any gaps. I think the title song off the record says it all. I understand that Rick Rubin is big on this band. It will be interesting to see if they have the same success as they do in the UK. Beth Ditto is queen there.

P.S. I’ve been in Australia for about three days and the only music I have heard was overhead last night at a café. What was it? Of all things a single off of the new Britney record, the one where she complains about the media. Can’t remember the name and don’t want to spend the time looking it up. Usually when someone sings about themselves in third person it ain’t good! I was kind of surprised to hear her, since like the rest of the world it’s been kind of difficult with all the other press remembering that singing is supposedly her day job. --J

WTF?

You know, I have had to endure a steroid shot in the right butt cheek to combat an asthma attack today, a steroidal breathing treatment, and a syringe jammed into my left arm to draw blood. All this to be diagnosed with a virus that no one has had yet and therefore it can't be classified as the flu or even pleurisy which is what the doctor thought I had at first (go ahead and laugh M! I did!). So, hopefully in the next five days the prednisone I have to take will kill whatever it is making me feel like I'm 90 and calm my asthma down. I gotta say, no matter what my body went through today nothing pissed me off more than finding out about the Hip Hop Tribute to Pink Floyd. Oh, you read that right.

Let's face it, Hip Hop artists tend to self promote A LOT. None of the artists are listed on the cd case, which makes me a little suspicious that we may be talking about some less than successful contributors: DiAnne Elaine (vocals); Ernie Laviolette (drums); Ryan Arthur (background vocals); Rhashidi (vocals); Cee (vocals); Brian Bart (bass instrument); GVL (vocals). Who?

Maybe they're studio Hip Hop musicians and are known in the industry, but are you really going to take C listers and cover holy ground? Was this really an idea that Tribute Sounds execs discussed during a planning meeting and thought "let's hit the Hip Hop button on the keyboard and rerecord some Pink Floyd Classics. This is gonna be HUGE" Um no! It's not. If you don't believe me, go over to iTunes and sample it.

I could barely take Scissor Sisters, a band I love, doing Comfortably Numb back in 2004 though eventually I came around. And yeah, I was totally into Taylor Hawkins covering Have a Cigar at the Double Door in Chicago. With both artists, you know the decision to cover Floyd is coming from a place of admiration and artistic inspiration. Tribute Sounds has released several tribute albums recorded by cover bands and whatnot, which is much easier to take because the soul of the music remains. They're not changing the sound of the song, really. Though if you want to listen to a cover band don't you just usually go to a local bar, get loaded and see a cover band perform? Do you buy cds to listen to cover bands? Maybe you do if you know the people in the band or something, but not usually. Regardless, Tribute Sounds released an unnecessary cd. Maybe their whole shtick is unnecessary. Well, except that the Club Mix Tribute to Fergie could have its uses (J, you know it's true after some wine, hahaha). The longer I do this the more I realize that there really is an audience for EVERYTHING. This PF tribute cd has sold, you know? Unbelievable, but true.

If you don't know Pink Floyd, go and seek out the original Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here, all represented on this travesty. The originals might just change your life. If you like those, seek out Animals and Meddle as well.

While you're doing that I'm going to go lift my car and do some squats. -K

Finally!

I finally have some shows to look forward to. This month my gentleman friend and I will be going to see Jackson Browne perform an acoustic set. Then I have Bon Jovi at the end of April, and then My Chemical Romance at Sloss Furnace in Birmingham and in St. Louis where my friends and fellow HIM fans L and C will be joining me at The Pageant. Thank you Jesus. We have overcome. -K

What a Weekend

It's been a busy weekend. I just bought an iMac and transferred my iTunes library over from my PC to my gorgeous new thing.
I watched Once and La Vie en Rose on my 20 inch widescreen monitor (it’s a sexy beast). I became obsessed with the Once soundtrack before I saw the movie and now I understand its context. Falling Slowly--there is something about the line "take this sinking boat, and point it home/ we've still got time" that is so reassuring. How rare is it that art reassures these days? It reminds me of a story I heard once in which John Lennon mentions that when he went to see Yoko Ono's art show for the first time he had to climb a ladder and use a suspended magnifying glass to read a word that was written on the ceiling. The word was "yes". He said that if it had been negative he would have walked out, but that since it was positive he was engaged immediately. I felt the same when I first heard the song. In the same way, I was so pleased that the movie didn't paint life very rosy, yet still left me feeling optimistic. The unexpected humor was a welcome surprise, as well.
La Vie en Rose was amazing. Cotillard deserved the Oscar because she became Piaf in this movie at so many different phases and ages- incredible. I don't know how to describe the music, other than it is so "French". Just beautiful. When I watched this movie I was transported back to early 20th Century France and NYC and didn't come out until it was over.
So, then I went out last night to see a local 80s cover band called Black Eyed Susan with a couple of girlfriends. I used to go see them every other Friday night at a place called Bubba’s (now Humphrey’s). Their setlist hasn’t changed, but it’s obvious to me now that sometimes I just need a little Unskinny Bop to beat the blues. So, I’ve relocated my precious digital music to its new home, heard some raw, Irish emotional music, music that is as French as you can get, and fantastic hair metal...been a good weekend. -K

More Beatles News

I’ve been heavy on the youtube clips lately, but I have four television channels in merry old England so what else am I going to do but test the breadth of its database?

I came across a news story today that said that American Idol now has access to the entire Beatles catalog. I thought I would include a link that is Beatle-related and purposely funny, unlike the many cringe-worthy performances that are now yet to come on Idol. --J