Reading and Leads - Day One

Watching the coverage of Reading and Leeds this year is bittersweet since I had the opportunity to cover Reading and had to turn it down. But I have to say, with a nasty summer cold, I’m glad to be enjoying the coverage wrapped in a blanket on the sofa instead of queuing at a port-a-potty with thousands of people.

Day One Coverage Included:

The Enemy
Jack Penate
The Fratellis
Biffy Clyro
Dizzee Rascal
Ida Maria
MGMT
Friendly Fires
Vampire Weekend
Queens of the Stone Age
Tom Morello and Serj Tankian (acoustic)
One Night Only
The Wombats
Babyshambles
Glasvegas

I hope this link to the Friendly Fires’ BBC3 performance can be seen in the States. The dance moves and the shoes with no socks make the performance.

What band was not televised? Rage Against the Machine. They have been making the festival rounds but nowhere have they allowed camera crews to officially cover them from what I have heard. This is unfortunate. I’m still not sure what to make of MGMT. The presentation is a bit on the hippie side but the music doesn’t match that look. Maybe I need to hear the whole record to understand it. The Enemy sounded great and so did Queens of the Stone Age. When being interviewed by Zane after the set, Josh Homme told him he was feeling sexy and then took the joke further offering to have sex with Zane. An awkward giggle from Zane wrapped up the interview. --J

Madonna Turns 50

I used to love her back in the day. Now, although occasionally I still like one of her tunes, her public image annoys me. They ran this clip on one of the UK music video show countdowns as an example of a "stunning debut". It made me laugh out loud, not because of Madonna but because this had to be the beginning of the end for Solid Gold. The dancer's disco costumes just look so out of date compared to Madonna's. You think it can't get any cheesier until host Marilyn McCoo comes on.

Here's where mainstream exposure began for Madonna in America. Enjoy! --J

Seasonal Music

Now that there is an ocean between K and I, we just don’t have those five hour road trips to discuss music like we used to. Now it’s usually a quick chat here or there over IM. I mentioned to her that one of the highlights from V Festival coverage was Travis. I am not that familiar with their stuff but now I’ll check it out. K mentioned that Travis is a fall/winter band for her. That got me thinking, (cue the Sex and the City clip as Carrie types on her laptop), “are some bands seasonal?”

Well, I would say that missing a real summer this year is making me gravitate towards breezy pop music. Check out Alphabeat’s latest single. This is sooo summer and so 80s to me. --J

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time...

How often do you see a slam dancer in a pink tutu? You would have seen it at V this weekend, hahahaha. --J

Hit the FF Button

I whizzed through about ten hours of V Festival coverage last night that included sets by

Air Traffic
The Stereophonics
The Futureheads
The Pigeon Detectives
The Kooks
The Hoosiers
The Prodigy
Ian Brown
Muse
Estelle
The Script
The Pogues
Maximo Park
Duffy
Sugababes

Wow, there’s a lot of really boring guitar rock on the main stage. The Prodigy and Muse were by far the best acts. It made me once again appreciate the Muse show at The Pageant in St. Louis that Judakris attended awhile back. When they launched into Hysteria, the massive crowd went wild. --J

Un-Summer Playlist

The only truly hot summer days I’ve experienced were outside of my new home country. Therefore, I consider this the un-summer of 2008. Here are the songs that have amused me, captivated me, and annoyed me in the last few months. M, this one’s for you since in Houston, it’s summer all year round! --J

Many Shades of Black – The Raconteurs
Let’s Dance to Joy Division – The Wombats
Sex on Fire – Kings of Leon
Strange Times – The Black Keys
Going On – Gnarls Barkley
Closer – Ne-Yo
Like This - GirlTalk

(In the annoyed me category…)
I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You – The Black Kids
I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry
No Air – Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown

Red-State, Jock Rock Hell

For the first time in my life I left a show before seeing the headliner. It happened here in Huntsville when I got hold of a free ticket to see Alter Bridge. If you don’t know them, they are Creed without Scott Stapp. I assure you I would not have paid to see these guys.

The doors to the venue were to open at 7:00 PM, but standing in line to enter Sammy T’s it was about 7:30 before we actually started moving. I think I made it inside the venue around 8. That seemed ridiculous.

There were a few funny moments, but the best happened while I was in line. There was a “healthy” couple behind me who were pretty clearly wasted- or at least on their way. One of them noticed musicians driving by. The man said “next time they drive by show ‘em your tits”. She said “Hell no, I’m too old. You show ‘em yours.”

By the time Baton Rouge natives and opener Meriwhether took to the stage and delivered a mediocre set I had heard Hinder’s Lips of an Angel three times overhead. When they left the stage that song plus a short playlist of other hardly discernible songs played over and over. It was 10:00 P.M. and the headliners had not come on. It was a Tuesday night and I had an 8:30 AM meeting the following morning. I put my beer down and with a sigh of relief exited the venue.

The audience was in good spirits, but mostly wasted by the time I left Sammy T’s. I’m not impressed with this venue. It’s much too loud and gets too hot too quickly with only a few good vantage points if you’re below average height (coughs). You’d be surprised how often my height has not been an issue! For being so convenient, I wish the venue would have better air ventilation and offer a wider variety of bands.

Because I work across the street, I walk past the venue whenever I walk up to the local cafe and grab my morning latte. Whenever bands are playing that evening you’ll see the buses and equipment trucks parked in the street and the flurry of activity is kind of fun to walk past. That morning I noticed a few people who were camped out determined to be first in line. It was a brutally hot day and I don’t know how they did it. Good on them. I do hope that they weren’t disappointed at the end of the night after their efforts, but something tells me their expectations were FAR different from mine. -K

Glasvegas Open for Kings of Leon

How would one describe their music? Maybe morose 50’s doo-wop (without any harmonies). They sounded good, and looked good on stage. I love the chick drummer who plays standing up. But to me, going to a concert should be an adrenaline-inducing experience so I would probably not intentionally buy a ticket to see a band with somber music. They were good at what they do but it wasn’t my cup of tea. I might check out the record, but I don’t need the live performance. --J

The Best Seat in the House and The Worst Seat in the House

I had the great fortune of covering the sold out Kings of Leon gig at Brixton’s Carling Academy last night for a web publication. On paper it sounds like the perfect night. I get to be in the photographer’s pit, the front of the front row, for one of my favorite bands for the first three songs of their set. But being a fan can have its problems in such a situation. You could tell that for the other photographers, this was just a job. While they were snapping away, trying to get the best shot to sell to the highest bidder, I would have moments of distraction wanting to sing along with the music and wanting to step away from behind the camera to take the moment in.

K and I have talked many times about the thrill of that moment when the lights get turned off and the crowd goes wild as you see the shadowy figures of a favorite band take the stage. It is such a rush. Standing up against the stage and hearing the roar of the crowd behind me, it did let me feel for a fraction of a moment what the guys on stage might be experiencing. It is amazing. But alas, I had a job to do and I think I scored some good pictures.

After being in the pit, I had to find a place to stand to enjoy the rest of the show. I found myself at the far back corner of the bottom floor of the theatre, where I could see nothing and the sound was not very good. Caleb was more talkative than usual, but I couldn’t make out what was being said.

The Followills really seemed to be enjoying themselves and they sounded great. They opened with Crawl, which has kind of a slow and sexy beginning that totally set the tone for the rest of the set. The setlist combined all of best of their records, and the new single, Sex on Fire, had everyone screaming along. I have a ticket for their sold out arena show at the O2 in London in December and I can’t wait to see how the set changes in that huge arena with the new record then released. I will be all fan that night, not worrying about anything but enjoying the music.

Sex on Fire is available on iTunes. Go get it now! --J

Jackson Browne Sues John McCain, Entire Rep Nat'l Committee

Liberal political activist Jackson Browne has filed a lawsuit against Senator John McCain and the whole Republican National Committee alleging that McCain's group used Browne's hit "Running On Empty" in a political ad without his permission.
The suit alleges that a license was never obtained and that it infringes upon the artist's right to publicity in the state of California. He's seeking permanent injunction of any Jackson Browne song AND damages (of course). I wonder how we're quantifying damages in dollar signs in this case.

Remember when Born In The USA was used by Reagan's camp? I ran across this on wikipedia and thought it was interesting and kind of funny...

Born in the U.S.A. album was selling very well, its songs were all over the radio, and the associated tour was drawing considerable press. Springsteen shows at the Capital Centre outside of Washington, D.C. thus attracted even more media attention, in particular from CBS Evening News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, who saw Springsteen as a modern-day Horatio Alger story. Yet more notably, the widely-read conservative columnist George Will, after attending a show, published on September 13, 1984 a piece entitled "A Yankee Doodle Springsteen" in which he praised Springsteen as an exemplar of classic American values. He wrote: "I have not got a clue about Springsteen's politics, if any, but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: 'Born in the U.S.A.!'"[3] The 1984 presidential campaign was in full stride at the time, and Will had connections to President Ronald Reagan's re-election organization. Will thought that Springsteen might endorse Reagan, and got the notion pushed up to high-level Reagan advisor Michael Deaver's office. Those staffers made inquiries to Springsteen's management which were politely rebuffed.

Nevertheless, on September 19, 1984, at a campaign stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, Reagan added the following to his usual stump speech:

"America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."

The campaign press immediately expressed skepticism that Reagan knew anything about Springsteen, and asked what his favorite Springsteen song was; "Born to Run" was the tardy response from staffers. Johnny Carson then joked on The Tonight Show, "If you believe that, I've got a couple of tickets to the Mondale-Ferraro inaugural ball I'd like to sell you."

During a September 22 concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen responded negatively by introducing his song "Johnny 99", a song about an unemployed auto worker who turns to murder, "The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one."

A few days after that, presidential challenger Walter Mondale said, "Bruce Springsteen may have been born to run but he wasn't born yesterday," and then claimed to have been endorsed by Springsteen. Springsteen manager Jon Landau denied any such endorsement, and the Mondale campaign issued a correction.

-K

Musical Prozac

For the past few years I’ve seen bits and pieces of press on Girl Talk but shrugged it off until I heard Greg Gillis on Sound Opinions a few months ago. I’ve been dragging ass since I got back from the States this weekend. I downloaded Girl Talk’s new record, Feed The Animals, which can be downloaded for whatever price you want to pay. While I went to catch my bus to work this morning, I felt much better after hearing this on the iPod. Don’t like what you hear at the moment, don’t worry, it will change in seconds. It’s a great way to hear little snippets of favorite guilty pleasures in ways you never imagined. Check it out. You can download for free if you are skeptical. --J

You Might Be...

OK, it's been about 3 years and I'm still checking in with a live journal site dedicated to Ville Valo on a daily basis. It's weird. I've never been so committed to anything in my life. Despite the fact that M and I got in trouble with the site for this post, the ladies at the site and I have corresponded about our travels for this band a few times in the last few years and it's not something I see stopping anytime soon.

Usually, I don't enjoy reading lists like "you know you might be obsessed when…", but when I came across this one on the aforementioned site, by the end I was almost crying from laughter. I pointed some of these out to my friend M, with whom I've shared few wine-soaked HIM nights and he added a couple of subpoints to number 25. The ones we have been laughing at are numbers 25, 52&53, 61,124.

Number 44 is especially poignant to me and M and J know this firsthand. As a fan, it was shocking to see pictures, interviews, and performances become increasingly worse. Thank god he got help is alls I'm sayin. ANYWAY there are so many other things in this list that are wickedly true. Sigh. So, ladies and gentlemen, THE list that made me realize exactly how painfully devoted I am.

You Know You Might Be Obsessed with HIM and Ville Valo When:


1. Tattooing the portraits of dead poets on your body makes perfect sense.
2. You know EXACTLY what DILLIGAF means.
3. In fact, you might even have DILLIGAF somewhere on your skin.
4. November 22nd is an International holiday and should be celebrated by all.
5. If you see anything with a heartagram on it, you either buy it, or resist the urge because your house is already covered in them.
6. Your favorite colors are red, black, and purple. And sometimes hot pink.
7. You know who Daniel Lioneye actually is.
8. Someone says Our Lord and you instantly say, “Oh, you’re a fan of HIM, too?!”
9. You considered purchasing a chicken foot.
10. $50 seems completely reasonable for a Limited Edition CD.
11. Your internet screen name has one or more of the following in it- heartagram, 666, 616, Valo, razorblade, sin, poison, redemption, or any other HIM lyric reference.
12. Getting Ville Valo’s water bottle at a concert is the equivalent of the Holy Grail.
13. And you swear up and down that it has magical healing powers, too.
14. You buy a soundtrack to a movie that you have never seen just because it has a HIM song on it.
15. You say, on a regular basis, kiitos and hei…and you’re NOT Finnish.
16. When sitting next to a campfire, you say “I’m so close to the flame.”
17. You’ve seen Mige‘s naughty bits. And not on purpose.
18. You would practically sell your soul for the GOOD pics of the Bam and Ville Huck photo shoot.
19. And then you would lock yourself in your room for 24 hours or so with said pictures.
20. At some point during the day, you find yourself quoting HIM songs, completely subconsciously.
21. You remember a time when Linde DIDN’T have dreads.
22. You became enraged that a teacher lost her job because of playing a HIM song in her classroom.
23. You have taken duct tape and a black Sharpie and covered a street sign with Dead Lover’s Lane.
24. It’s a religious matter!!!
25. You can’t recall ever seeing Ville kiss a girlfriend in public…but you have all of the pics of him kissing boys in public.
And hence: 25.1 You've discussed with a friend the plausibility it would be for Ville Valo and Gerard Way to hook up
25.2 And quasi-seriously over wine discussed entry points for fan-fic even though fan-fic is denounced while sober
26. Photobucket is your own personal HIM gallery.
27. You call your friends nidiots.
28. You don’t just have a Ville Valo poster…you have a Ville Valo WALL.
29. You know who Sylvester is.
30. Even though you may like Bam, he did NOT invent the heartagram.
31. The Tavastia is your version of Mecca.
32. You’ve given a microphone a blowjob.
33. And it gave you negative feedback.
34. You have made the Love Metal drink.
35. And you liked it.
36. You realize a tower is a PERFECT place to live, and now you want one of your own.
37. You have to have a blood test done and you say to the nurse, “I bleed well.”
38. At one point in your life, you have been in love and lonely.
39. Out of Ville and Linde, you know who has the deeper voice.
40. Your life since 1997 can be separated into the following categories- When Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 came out, when Razorblade Romance came out, when Deep Shadows & Brilliant Highlights came out……
41. Your personal mantra is “Life is short and love is over in the morning.”
42. You would die tonight for love.
43. You paid $35 for an empty Coke can on eBay…because it was designed by Ville Valo.
44. You started tearing up when you saw the pics of Ville right before he checked himself into rehab.
45. You wear a beanie even in the middle of summer.
46. You’re jealous of Bam Margera.
47. You see someone wearing a HIM t-shirt and find it a turn-on.
48. You know that all men think with their dick’s, but Ville Valo’s dick is different.
49. You had a heartagram cake for one of your birthdays.
50. And you almost couldn’t eat it because it was so damn pretty.
51. Just one look from his eyes, one look and you’re dying, because he’s so beautiful.
52. You didn’t throw panties onstage at the HIM concert. You threw a book of Baudelaire’s poetry.
53. With your phone number on the inside cover. (just in case)
54. You have a drawing of Homer Simpson wearing a HIM shirt.
55. At school, you studied ethics instead of religion.
56. You can recall basically every piece of Ville Valo’s wardrobe. Especially the leather pants.
57. As far as greatness goes, you compare Sleepwalking Past Hope with Stairway to Heaven.
58. Your idea of the PERFECT vacation spot is Finland.
59. You would happily accept an autograph from Ville Valo in sperm or blood.
60. You have crossed oceans of wine to find a HIM concert.
61. You find yourself singing “Like a wirgin, touched for the wery first time…”
62. You’re not addicted to HERoin, you’re addicted to HIMoin.
63. Your dog is named Sami.
64. Love Metal is considered by you to be a very real genre of music. (which it is, thankyouverymuch)
65. It’s been years since you went a single day without listening to at least one HIM song.
66. Your wedding vows consisted of, or will consist of, “In sickness and in health, in joy and sorrow, until love and death embrace.”
67. When the moon is full and shining, you refer to it as Dark Light.
68. During a game of tug-of-war, you yell to your teammates “Please don’t let it go! Because if you won’t let it, I won’t let it go!”
69. The first trick you taught your dog, Sami, was to Play Dead.
70. It’s not peace, love, and harmony. It’s peace, love, and VEGETABLES.
71. Every time you hear the word Venus, you think Doom.
72. You have been jealous of Ville’s cigarettes, because damn it all if you don’t want to be pressed between his lips.
73. You know for a fact that I love you is eight letters….and so is bullshit.
74. While meeting HIM, you blurt out “I’m waiting for you to drown in my love!”
75. Like myself, you took the actual time to write a list like this. XD
76. You have more pictures of Ville Valo and HIM than you do your family.
77. In fact, you have seen HIM in person more than you have some members of your family.
78. You made Ville Valo a birthday cake……and you live 8,000 miles from him.
79. While blowing out the candles for him on said birthday cake, you wished FOR Ville Valo.
80. You suddenly find yourself thinking about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as dinner.
81. Your Mp3 player consists of the following- HIM songs, HIM acoustic songs, cover songs done by HIM, tributes to HIM, collaborations with HIM, HIM bootlegs……and Daniel Lioneye.
82. You bought the book “Finnish for Dummies”.
83. And you drew a heartagram on it.
84. On the list of places to see before you die is a certain sex shop in Helsinki.
85. You took your Rolling Stones t-shirt with the lips and tongue and cut off the sleeves.
86. You think that the footage of Ville Valo flashing the audience his abs should win an Academy Award for “Best Short Film“.
87. A friend gives you hell about smoking, and you calmly say “Smoking kills, but only love will break your heart.”
88. You fear for the best, and hope for the worst.
89. You’re asked where you are going to take a walk, and you reply “The Path.”
90. You wish that razorblades came with heart cut-outs in the middle.
91. You have taken pictures of yourself snarling at the camera.
92. With massive amounts of black eyeliner and lip gloss.
93. And you’re a guy.
94. You truly believe that Ville Valo’s smile is the ACTUAL cause of global warming.
95. You have pet names for Ville’s “pecker”. *COUGH*
96. For Halloween, you went as one of the guys from HIM.
97. And you’re a girl.
98. It’s been raining for weeks, your lover just broke your heart, your kitty just died…..and looking at Ville still makes you smile.
99. You go to karaoke with your friends, and upon singing a HIM song, you grab the mic stand, hop onto the speaker, lean back, bend the mic stand, and fall flat on your ass…..but you still looked wicked cool doing it.
100. Upon walking into a dark house, you think to yourself “I’ve got to light this endless dark.”
101. You know that there are two guys in HIM named Mikko in real life.
102. And you know who they are.
103. You made out for the first time with the person you liked while piss drunk, and then threw up on their bed……and felt quietly proud because now you and Ville had something in common.
104. Your friends now call you (your name) Valo.
105. Instead of OMG, it’s OMV.
106. You know that the beginning of the end isn’t really the end…because then there’s Don’t Fear The Reaper and a hidden track.
107. You want to paint the outside of your bedroom door crimson, so that when you are in your room and it’s closed, you can say you are behind it.
the peace sign, but you do use the live long and prosper sign.
113. And you never watched Star Trek a day in your life.
114. You sent Ville a rubber duck.
115. You know who’s milkshake REALLY brings all the girls to the yard.
116. And some boys, too.
117. Your favorite phrase is “the pot calling the kettle black”.
118. Gorgeous, beautiful, handsome, sexy, and any other adjective in that genre do him no real justice.
119. You get annoyed when someone asks AGAIN what Love Metal is.
120. You know ALL the words to Valo Yossa…..but you have no fucking clue what you’re saying.
121. You bought a bass guitar.
122. And you named it Rambo.
123. You know that the song Razorblade Kiss is actually about fucking.
124. You have poured beer on a hotel room bed for your homies….and then fell off the bed.
125. You understand everything that I have just taken 2 days to write….and you want me to keep going.


And just because I REALLY love me some beanie...
Please go here to see more of this list and to see what the lovely ladies at v_d have for you…-K

Comic Book Tattoo

This is fascinating. Apparently, over 80 writers contributed 50 stories to produce “Comic Book Tattoo”, an anthology graphic novel inspired by Tori Amos songs, which boasts an introduction by my personal favorite graphic novelist, Neil Gaiman with whom Tori has always had an artistic connection. I found the complete list of collaborators online:

David Mack, Josh Hechinger, Matthew Humphreys, Jonathan Tsuei, Eric Canete, Jason Horn, Dean Trippe, Sara Ryan, Jonathan Case, Rantz A. Hoseley, James Stokoe, Tristan Crane, Atticus Wolrab, Kako, Nikki Cook, Drew Bell, Kevin Mellon, Jeff Carroll, Mike May, Jeremy Haun, Amber Stone, Leif Jones, Elizabeth Genco, Carla Speed Mcneil, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Andy Macdonald, Nick Filardi, Cat Mihos, Andre Szymanowicz, Gabe Bautista, C.B. Cebulksi, Ethan Young, Joey Weltjens & Lee Duhig, Omaha Perez, Irma Page, Mark Buckingham, Rantz A. Hoseley, Ming Doyle, Mike Maihack, John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, Alice Hunt, Trudy Cooper, Jonathan Hickman, Matthew S. Armstrong, Neil Kleid, Christopher Mitten, Kristyn Ferretti, Stephanie Leong, Sonia Leong, Peov, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Laurenn Mccubbin, John Bivens, Hope Larson, Emma Vieceli, Faye Yong, Chris Arrant, Star St.Germain, Mike Dringenberg, Paul Maybury, Jim Bricker, Craig Taillefer, Dame Darcy, G. Willow Wilson, Steve Sampson, Neal Shaffer, Daniel Krall, Adisakdi Tantimedh, Ken Meyer Jr., Mark Sable, Salgood Sam, Tom Williams, James Owen, Seth Peck, Daniel Heard, Ivan Brandon, Callum Alexander Watt, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Pia Guerra, Mark Sweeney, Kristyn Ferretti, Jessica Staley, Shane White, Ted Mckeever, Chris Chuckry, Jimmie Robinson, Lea Hernandez Derek Mcculloch, Colleen Doran and Jason Hanley.

For more information and a list of songs and creators go to Tori’s official website here.

Tori appeared at the San Diego Comic Con last Saturday as part of a panel and book signing. One attendee blogger who who was there, recounted that Tori said when she read the stories, she didn’t hear the songs they were based on in her head- she heard new music, which she is now working on.

The book itself became available in comic shops on July 23rd and will be everywhere on July 29th.




Tori works the Comic Con Chic look. -K

Manna - Sister

Sexy Finnish lass Manna has debuted with a sweet and mysterious album that paints the picture of a woman with a pure heart capable of witholding a secret or two. Sister is an ambient and sometimes Beatles-esque dreamscape of an album that I find perfect for these lazy summer days. Download it all, but my picks are “Just For Tonight”, “Stars” , “In the Book of Love”, and my favorite “I Gave In”. I can’t believe it, but the album is actually available on iTunes. For the complete experience, go here . -K

This is completely gratuitous of me , but I just love these green shoes...

Hit It, CC! Poison in Birmingham, AL

There was no where this former 80s rocker wanted to be Saturday night but the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Pelham, AL outside Birmingham last weekend. On the bill was Sebastian Bach, Dokken, and Poison.

When I first saw Sebastian Bach live as lead singer of Skid Row, he was opening for Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium in 1989 and he was as Kerrang! once put “a swaggering one man tornado”. He hasn’t changed. I must admit, as soon as he stepped out onstage my heart skipped a little. Supporting his new album Angel Down, he opened strongly with a remake of Aerosmith’s Back in the Saddle and then hit us with classics like 18 and Life, I Remember You (which brought me right back to summer 1988), and Youth Gone Wild. Sebastian still has the pipes he had years ago and I could tell he didn’t want to leave the stage. It seemed wrong that he was the opener of the opener and I hated that the amphitheater was not sold out.

Dokken was pretty cool to see, but the absence of guitarist George Lynch and Don’s inability to hit the high notes was a disappointment for at least one fan, who I overheard say “Don needs to give it up”. Regardless, the band’s setlist included classics such as Kiss of Death, Tooth and Nail, Breaking the Chains, Alone Again, In My Dreams, and Just Got Lucky. Don did crack me up once, commenting on how hot and humid Birmingham was that night, saying “I haven’t sweat this much since the first time I had sex!”

Poison did a fantastic job connecting with the audience. Drummer Rikki Rocket hung a Bama jersey from his drum kit, CC Deville played Amazing Grace and Georgia on my Mind, and Bret Michaels gave a shout out to our Bama boys over in Iraq and sang Something to Believe In as a dedication to our Armed Forces overseas. Poison invited everyone to join them at the Iron Horse Cafe for an after party. The last song? Bret yelled out “give me some Sweet Home Alabama” and at his command Lynyrd Skynyrd blasted through the speakers. I once mentioned to a friend once that it was funny how Poison, probably due to the success of Rock of Love, had suddenly become the symbol of the hair metal era even though at the time a lot of us who were rockers in the 80s wouldn’t admit to liking these fluffy pop metallers. The set itself wasn’t jam-packed with music. In fact, a lot of the show was Bret talking (and a reference to CC every five minutes- even a “hit it CC” which had me rolling.) I think we’re all ready for a good time in these dark days in America. Maybe I’ve mellowed in my age, but I sang every fucking song they played Saturday night and I was not the only one. I must have been paying some attention back in the 80s... I give it an UNEXPECTED. -K



















By the way, does anyone know what happened to this guy? I saw him walking north on I-65 the next morning. You can’t forget seeing a shirt that reads “Warning: choking hazard” with an arrow pointing down.