Not That One! Syndrome

The other day I was in a store and heard Naked Eyes’ Always Something There to Remind Me overhead. It’s an okay cover of a Burt Bacharach song but it made me wonder why some songs get picked to be part of the perpetual playlist on the radio. For example the song Rock Steady by The Whispers can still be heard regularly on U.S. radio, but when it comes on, I have never heard anyone proclaim “Oh, I LOVE this song!” Yet, it’s just always there.

The Naked Eyes version of Always Something There To Remind Me can often be heard on radio too. What I find frustrating about this is if they are going to play a Naked Eyes song on the radio (they only had three singles that did anything) why is it always this one? I always liked their song Promises, Promises. It has that jangly Nile Rodgers guitar sound in it. You can’t even download Promises, Promises anywhere. It’s as if it never existed.

But it did, and it had one of those artsy Brit 80’s music videos to go along with it (the swimming pool that really isn’t a swimming pool). Enjoy! --J

Bon Jovi - Sommet Center, Nashville, TN

Bon Jovi was my first concert experience back in 1987 during Slippery When Wet. I saw them again at a sold-out performance at Giants Stadium in 1989 during the New Jersey tour. Flash forward 21 years later and I’m at a sold out Bon Jovi concert at the sweltering Sommet Center in Nashville, TN.
As Daughtry finished his set (I will review him in a separate post) I started to feel the fluttering anticipatory sensations in my belly. The arena was packed. Women and men of all ages were clapping their hands with excitement, I fiddled with my camera to make sure the settings were right, old friends two rows down found each other after a few years and were hugging and sharing baby pics on their iPhones. There was a row of men behind me that looked like they could use a good ass-kicking show. And, what song was on the overhead while Bon Jovi’s minimalist stage was being set up? “I Write Sins not Tragedies” by Panic! At the Disco. Hmmm. That’s unexpected. Secretly, I had hoped that they wouldn’t be sick of playing the classics. I was a Slippery When Wet/New Jersey fan after all, but I haven’t been so keen on the country mood they’ve been in lately. I was a little worried that it would be all new material with a sprinkling of classics. Regardless, Bon Jovi always get good reviews for their shows. It was going to be a good time and let’s face it, these guys were my first love. I owed it to them.
Suddenly, the houselights went down, the flashing of cameras began and the Bon Jovi ripped into what was to become a three hour set opening with a rocking version of “Lost Highway”and immediately slid into “Born to be My Baby” then “You Give Love a Bad Name”. Hell yes.
During the entire set that covered classics like Born to Be My Baby and Raise Your Hands to recent country hits like ‘Til We Ain’t Strangers Anymore, JBJ bounced onstage with an energy that comes from doing what you were born to do. Despite the heat inside the arena, the energy coming off the stage never waned. JBJ ate up our admiration and love and literally demanded we give him more. We responded with fervor by singing harmony (or just Richie’s part at times) to his melody and even took over when he gave us the cue. Some of the songs I hadn’t heard in years and yet I still remembered every lyric, every riff, every pulsing blip-bloop of David Bryan’s keyboards!
It was good to see Richie onstage. He had recently been arrested for DUI in Laguna Beach and I was a little concerned that he would not be at the show Thursday night. But thankfully, he was there, and sang a fantastic solo version of “I’ll Be There For You” with David Bryan on keyboards as backup. He brought out a couple Fender Strats, a vintage Gibson Les Paul, and his trademark twin neck acoustic/electric. The chemistry between he and JBJ is still there and it was so good to see.
Twice the band was joined by fellow country musicians: Big & Rich came out to sing the song they wrote together, ‘We Got it Goin’ On”. Later, LeAnn Rimes, appearing in a tight black tube mini dress, joined JBJ to sing their recently CMT awarded “Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore”. This was a bonus, but Bon Jovi was the star of the show.








Setlist
Lost Highway

Born to Be My Baby

You Give Love a Bad Name

Raise Your Hands

Older

Sleep

Summertime

In These Arms (I had forgotten what a great song this is)

Blood Money

Blaze of Glory

Whole Lot of Leavin'

Saturday Night

We Got it Goin' On (with Big & Rich)

It’s My Life (reminds me of M. God, we loved this song!)

Bad Medicine

I'll Be There For You

(You Want To) Make A Memory (this he sang from inside the audience)

‘Til We Ain’t Strangers Anymore ( with LeAnn Rimes)

Who Says You Can’t Go Home

Have a Nice Day
Faith

Livin’ On a Prayer


ENCORE:

I Love This Town

Wanted Dead or Alive


If I was to compare the audience reaction to another Jersey band, who JBJ recently called the”next generation of Jersey band”, I’d have to say that Livin’ On a Prayer does to Bon Jovi fans what Helena does to My Chemical Romance fans: makes them go apeshit.
Also, Blaze of Glory was probably the most amazing part of the evening in regards to audience participation. During its chorus, you heard the voices of 1,000s of men singing ‘I’M GOIN DOOOOOOWN IN A BLAZE OF GLOREH...” and just as many half-empty cups of beer raised up in the air. Country boys luv that shit, but I had not seen so many showing their admiration at one time. Pretty spectacular.
For the row of men behind me, who were well lit by the end of the show, Wanted Dead or Alive was the most anticipated song. I kept hoping for their sakes that the band would play it because I sure had to hear about it a lot that evening. There was one guy who assured his friends often by saying “I’m tellin’ yew, they’re gawna play it. They got to.” When JBJ introduced the last song as their national anthem, I knew which one they were talking about and felt relief. The happy boys shot out a redneck war cry and sang every word. I love the South so much.
Despite the sweltering heat of the sold out arena, the 17,000 + Music City fans drank beer like it was water, sang so loud the Lord above could hear, and made sure that Bon Jovi knew we were just where we wanted to be. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if my mom had been there with me. I’ve always been a fan, but she is the superfan in the family. Having recently decided that her concert days are over, I went alone and thought of her every minute. -K

SCHWINNNG. Rock of Love 2 Ends

I love “I Won’t Forget You” and “Talk Dirty To Me”, but I wasn’t into Poison. Their image back in the day consisted of a predictable mishmash of glam and debauchery and seemed believeable to a point since they were an LA-based hair metal band. This meant that they were obviously being supported by strippers and booze so there had to be a healthy amount of debauchery. But, they also seemed too ambitious to lose themselves in the lifestyle TOO much. At least Bret Michaels did. CC, I know had issues with drugs later in life, but the rest seemed very clear headed. Bret always seemed like a doer. He spent his time after hair metal died becoming a director and resisting becoming a cliched has been. I wasn’t that surprised then, to see him jumpstart his career with Rock of Love and then later with Rock of Love 2, which has become VH1s most successful celebreality show, apparently. Coworkers that didn’t feel they knew him like I did as a tween LOVED that show. How could you not? Bret, who my friends and I considered a poseur back in the 80s, suddenly was likeable. Every Sunday our DVRs or Tivos would record the latest episode in which there would be a stripping contest, a girl on girl football mud bowl, and a drinking contest (which might be every episode). You would think this would get old, but it didn’t. In every episode Bret never pretended that he wasn’t turned on by crazy chicks, thought about sex a lot, or had a sense of humor. He was an open book, self-deprecating, and ready to help out when the girls would drink far too much and puke on everything. There was something refreshingly simple and honest about it.

This season, I loved the volatile superfan named Destiny who almost made it to the end. During the first episode she told him in a drunken stupor that meeting him was a lifelong dream, that she had his photo on her wall, etc. I immediately became engaged. If I was in the position to do it, I would SO try to be Nikki Sixx’s Rock of Love, though I would probably not have the courage to say that I fantasized about him during his heroin-addicted heyday dressed up as a harlequin. Anyway, the episode where the parents came to visit was very heartwarming. Destiny’s dad, a biker, revealed during the episode that he had cancer. Knowing that Destiny’s father loved Harleys so much, he gave her dad a bike and they spent the day riding. During the reunion, after Destiny discussed the fact that everyone considered her a groupie (which pisses me off!), there was a segment about her dad, who passed away two weeks before the taping. During the clip in which her dad is shown riding with Bret down the streets of LA Destiny, Bret, the girls, and I were in tears. What really touched me was the fact that Destiny thanked Bret for giving her dad such a wonderful day before he succumbed to the cancer. Anyone who would have walked into the room seeing me folding my laundry and crying would have thought I had finally lost it. But no, was just watching Rock of Love 2’s Reunion. WHat I liked about her was that she was so freaking up front about everything. First, she did admit that she is and always will be a fan. Second, when asked during the season if she loved Bret Michaels she admitted that she didn’t, but that if given the chance to get to know the man behind the persona she might. Bless her. Who else had the balls to admit something like that?

I was telling J that I thought it ironic that I spent my teen years unimpressed by Poison, only to now feel that Bret Michaels symbolizes everything about that era that I loved: fun times, electric guitars, skipping school, getting loaded (when I could handle it), and hair. I’m even going to see them play down in B’ham this summer (along with Dokken, another band I ignored back in the day). I may never know what lies beneath those hats and those doo rags (perhaps it’s best left undiscovered) and perhaps the show was more for him to reveal his solo career. Who cares. It was hilarious TV. Recently I read this quote from him in an article after season 2 ended. When asked what he took away from doing these shows he said "one good lesson that I have learned is patience.  Even if you are not listening, act like you are listening". (Shh. Hear that? That’s the sound of every man that may be reading this nodding their heads.) -K

Nürnberg, Germany 1988. I'm on the left in my 80s rocker uniform: skinny jeans tucked into ankle boots, permed hair, and jeans jacket. I refuse to be embarrassed by this look.

My Chemical Romance at The Great Saltair

I’ve been on three continents in the past two months and was beginning to wonder if seeing a concert was a thing of the past. Being stuck in Utah for the past two weeks didn’t improve the situation. As I was about to shut down my laptop on Friday afternoon, thinking about how I would occupy myself for the weekend a message in my email popped up that said “Don’t miss My Chem at the Great Saltair tonight. Tickets still available!” Two thoughts went through my head. The first was that I would finally get a chance to see the show that got away from me last year. The second was, is this really happening? The Great Saltair is a small dumpy venue out in the middle of nowhere on the banks of The Great Salt Lake. Salt Lake City being such a conservative town I wondered if city leaders were trying to bait all of the freaks out to this remote location and then lock the doors behind them!

Having seen MCR twice before and comparing those experiences to this one, this show had a relaxed vibe, letting the music, instead of costumes or an elaborate set, take center stage. Early in the set, Gerard mentioned that they had were ending two years of touring behind The Black Parade but wanted to come out again before going home to do small venues. It felt very much like this was the for fans only tour and the crowd couldn’t have been happier. Here I was in the balcony, which is a private club (don’t get me started on the Utah liquor laws!) watching the kids go mad down below. There was a no cameras policy but I took a picture of the line of kids out the door waiting to get in with my phone. Like at Warped, I felt really old at this show standing with the parents, but once the music starts, who cares?

The setlist had a really different feel, starting a bit mellow with Sleep off of The Black Parade. It also included the big hits from Three Cheers, a few from the first record, some B sides, and almost every song from The Black Parade interspersed. The encore started with Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home, moved to Cancer and then ended with Helena. The only song they didn’t do that I wish they had was Cemetary Drive. I thought that barn of a building with its bad acoustics might fall down around us at some point during Helena. I’m sure the elders all the way in town could hear us.

The next day I went into work and I was asked by my co-workers how my night at the Hampton Inn was. I just smiled and said it was fine. Really, it was unbelievable and it had nothing to do with the Hampton Inn. They just wouldn’t understand. --J

Madonna- 4 Minutes

I finally saw Madonna's new video for 4 Minutes. I love the chemistry between Justin and Madonna in this fast-paced dance video. The song is pretty amazing, too. -K

Check out the video here.

A Song for Spring

Check out The Ting Tings' "That's Not My Name" on their myspace page. --J

Pretty.Odd - Unmoving?

When I got back to St. Louis I had to ask my daughter A if she had purchased the latest Panic at the Disco record. It was her favorite band (note the word ‘was’). I brought her back the one Australian music magazine I could find with them on the cover. She told me she had bought Pretty.Odd but hadn’t listened to it all the way through. This is not a good sign since she has had it for about a week.

She quickly read the article in the magazine and told me, “Did you know they like dropped the exclamation point? It like wasn’t like a conscious decision according to that article. They didn’t like sit down and decide”. Actually she might have used ‘like’ one more time.

So on my way to and from work I have been listening to it and unlike Maxim, I’ve given it two thorough listens and I haven’t read any of the reviews. In my opinion, this record is their tribute to the Beatles. As I said to K, there are worse things a young band could do instead of move into a Beatles phase. Besides the single Nine in the Afternoon, nothing sounds terribly radio friendly. The one good thing about their Beatles phase is they have expanded vocals to both Brendan and Ryan. Ryan Ross’ voice is the polar opposite of Brendan Urie. While Brendan is almost Broadway polished, Ryan’s sounds a bit unconfident and natural. It is a nice change of pace. It’s very orchestral and some of the lyrics are trying too hard.

I was very glad when A announced that she has been listening to My Chemical Romance’ s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. That means that my two thorough listens may be the end of the PATD rotation. --J

Dave Grohl for President

I have officially had the longest travel day in my life, flying from Melbourne, Australia to St. Louis via London. The first U.S. airport that I stepped foot in during the trip was Washington’s Dulles Airport. The first thing I noticed in the airport gift shops were Obama and Hilary t-shirts. Today I made my way to the local bookstore to check out the latest music magazines and had to pick up HARP because of the cover story. My favorite quote from the article is this:

“There’s 10,000 people that woke up this morning and felt like America is the right place to be because at our show last night they were spilling beer all over themselves and tongue kissing for two hours. What other candidate can do that?!”

And my favorite Q&A:

HARP: As Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee pardoned Keith Richards for a minor traffic offense in 1975. As president, who would you pardon first?

Well, Foxy Brown has been in the clink for a while now. I know she has a temper, but come on! And what about Boy George? Is he still doing community service?


Check out the article here. --J

AC/DC

Even before I came out to Australia, AC/DC has been on my mind. One night when I was back in the UK I sent K this YouTube clip of them performing Highway to Hell in The Netherlands and there is no doubt from watching the clip what decade it came from. Hahaha. K said she was in high school in Germany, her health class was taught by the gym teacher and inevitably as health class tends to do, drugs were a topic of study. She said when discussing methamphetamines, her teacher brought up Angus Young. She said that all you had to do was look at Angus doing those repetitious movements to know that that was methamphetamines. K ALWAYS things about this when listening or watching AC/DC. I mentioned this to an AC/DC fan in Australia who quickly told me that the Young family has always been anti-drug. They didn’t find the humor in the story like I did.

Anyway, I was able to walk the streets where this video was filmed many years ago. The song is timeless. --J

Love and Marriage in St. Louis

Well, two friends of mine tied the knot in St. Louis last weekend and a bunch of us from Huntsville drove up to take part in the celebration. I didn’t expect to tear up as often as I did, but then I realized what a milestone this was. I’ve known the groom for 8-9 years and he is my frequent Starbucks companion. The bride was a dear friend when we worked together in St. Louis and I will always wonder if we were indeed related due to some rather uncanny similarities in our lives. I was around when they started dating and watched them grow into the couple they are now. Their first song as a married couple? “Real Love” by John Lennon. Perfect.
Anyway, many of the international guests, who came from the Philippines, UK, Germany, Africa, and the American South were University of Alabama alumni (including the groom) and at some point almost everyone sang along to “Sweet Home Alabama” on the dance floor. Surreal, but fun as hell.-K