So Many Things

The Phillies got to the World Series, in spectacular fashion. And lost. To a better team. Which I suppose I have to live with. Six trips to the World Series in my lifetime (1980, 1983, 1993, 2008, 2009, 2022). Two wins in six attempts. Not a great winning percentage, but at least we have those two wins.

The Eagles play for the NFC championship tomorrow (as favorites and at home), and a ticket to the Super Bowl. Result TBD. Again, in my lifetime, we lost the Super Bowl in 1980 and 2004 (to the cheating Patriots). Won in 2017 for the first time ever....

In music we have lost in recent years (among my favorites)...Greg Lake, Keith Emerson, Graeme Edge, John Wetton...and now Jeff Beck and David Crosby.

Jeff Beck reminds me of brother Dave, and a musician I would not learn to love until many years later. Somewhere Over the Rainbow. LPs on vinyl and Dad's stereo in the living room.

David Crosby reminds me of a live show in a very small venue in Wilmington where Amp and I got to see Graham Nash in 2013, sparking a renewed interest in CSN and CSNY. And a surprising recognition (for me) that Stephen Stills was the bedrock of CSN. Full stop. And Crosby was the mid-range anchor between Still's gruff lower range and Nash's higher end. In respect to Crosby, I can't go back to a CSN or a Byrds video and not recognize what he contributed... He had a significant reputation for a reason.

Flynn. Sleepy boy.

Grace is rounding out the first semester of her first year at Delaware. Honors College Deans List. But more importantly, finding her own way. Fly little bird...

Hobby stuff continues, and may be posted here in the future... or not.

Feelings on these things come and go, but today I find the thought of posting updates here to be more of an afterthought than a priority.

Ryder. Also sleepy...

Be well.

Twenty One Pilots - Bandito Redux

Grace's favorite band is Twenty One Pilots, and when they announced they were coming around again on a later leg of their very long Bandito tour she wanted to go again. I had fun last time so I had no problem taking her. I ended up driving two of her older neighborhood friends, making us a group of four. The link to my post about last year's show is here. For a description of the show, reference that post, as this show was very similar to that one, with a few minor differences. But basically the same. And just as good this time as last time.

Don't drop Tyler...

Like last time, the crowd was young, and leaning female.

Finale - Trees

The energy in the place was amazing, and other than an interlude of a few slower songs in the middle, everybody stood all night. Which I suppose works better when you are 15 than when you are 50+.

Taking a bow on the crowd

The only bad part of the show was getting trapped in a back corner of the Wells Fargo Center parking lot and taking a long time to get out and on the road. Oh well. Small price to pay for an evening of fun and a happy daughter.

Next year if they are still doing the Bandito tour, we'll probably go again...

Twenty One Pilots - Bandito Tour

Grace and I went to the Wells Fargo Center last night to see Twenty One Pilots (TOP to save me typing), her favorite band, and her first concert. We went with our good friend neighbors from across the street, their daughter, and another neighborhood girl. They are in college now, but share the love of TOP with Grace. We drove down together, did the apparently mandatory yellow duct tape thing, and got there plenty early. We had the ritual pre-concert slice of pizza, and were impatient for things to start.

Grace (middle) and older neighborhood friends

The show started at 7. Or more accurately, the first of two opening acts started at 7. Opening acts were Max Frost (meh) and Awolnation (which started meh and grew on me). Each played 25-30 minutes, with a half hour-ish in between, and then another half hour to ready the stage for TOP.

Awolnation

The crowd was very young, being mostly high school, college aged and young adults, with a healthy scattering of parents such as yours truly escorting the younger ones. When the band (of two people) took the stage there was Beatle-esque squealing and screaming and some crying. Not at all like the subdued old-guy classic rock geezer band shows I usually attend these days. Very different. And refreshing. Grace did her share of squealing, and screaming, and a bit of crying. Fun. Lots of energy. Opening song was Jumpsuit.

Opening number with burning car

The show was a lot different than what I am used to, much of which is a reflection of the nature of the band. Twenty One Pilots these days is a drummer (Josh Dunn) and a guy who writes the songs and does everything else (Tyler Joseph). Obviously, a live show with two people requires lots of recorded tracks, which my generation would have largely regarded as cheating/sacrilege, but... it was done very well.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, but the show was amazing. Great music, fantastic lights, props and stage show. Good banter between songs. A tremendously fanatic and dedicated fan base. And a lot of very creative things. At one point, a figure on stage believed to be Tyler Joseph (but who hadn't sung or played anything in a little while) did a back-flop into a hole in the stage. Seconds later he appeared on a small platform in our section, about 6 rows and 20 feet behind us. So the figure on stage was obviously a faked stand in. People went nuts (Grace included). He was so close... :-)

Tyler Joseph appears 6 rows behind us

Without going into any great detail, I liked the music more than I expected to. Grace's favorite song is The Judge (our show's version here).

Lights and Screens

Clever staging also made for a great viewing experience. At one point, a big long rack of lights lowered from the ceiling, and proved to be a bridge from the main stage to the "B" stage on its upper surface.

Lights lowered to make a bridge to the "B" stage

Tyler used the bridge to get to the "B" stage right in front of us, and Josh worked his way through the crowd to join him. They did a nice quiet set from the "B" stage.

"B" stage right in front of section 102

Tyler was very good at the in between song banter with the audience, and there were a number of cute running themes throughout the concert. One of them was the challenge to be the best audience on the tour, and to remember that it was't simply being the loudest single crowd moment, but that "it's an average". The teasing about "remember, it's an average" ran through the show and was amusing (you can hear him say it during "Trees" below at about the 1:24 mark...).

They played a solid two hours, and really were terrific. A highlight was their final number "Trees".

More lights and screens

It was a great night for Grace, and would have been worth it to me even if I hadn't liked the show at all. The fact that I liked it as much as I did was a nice bonus. The joy on her face was priceless.

I think she will remember this for a long time.

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

I get caught down the rathole of YouTube live music every so often (OK, a lot), but the one thing that always makes my jaw drop is this one. Perhaps the greatest piece of live guitar work I have ever come across.

I've probably posted this before, but so be it.

Eric Johnson, Cliffs of Dover.

I was lucky enough to see Eric in Phoenixville with Brother Dave a bunch of years back. He played this, which made me happy. And didn't play SRV, which made me sad.

Oh well. Life is a compromise.

Moody Blues 50th Anniversary Tour

The Moodies are doing a brief North American tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the Days of Future Passed album from 1967 (their first album). So I bought two tickets, of course, knowing that I would need to find someone to take the second seat (Amp has been to a number of these shows with me over the years, but I have exceeded her limit at this point, and am well into "if you can find someone else who wants to go, please do" territory).

John, my other non-brother brother was happy enough to go, so on a beautiful mid-July day/evening, off we went to the Mann Music Center in Fairmount Park. The Mann is a great semi-outdoor covered amphitheater with a terrific view of the Philadelphia skyline. I have great memories of shows at this venue, including my only Dire Straits concert (c. 1985/86), two different Moodies shows (including a probable 1983 show for "The Present" album), and a Mark Knopfler solo show in 2008.

Mann Music Center and Philly skyline

The show was to be in two parts, with a "greatest hits" set followed by an intermission, followed by the Days of Future Passed album played in its entirety.

I could gush at length, but the short version is that I got to see my favorite band (for the ??? time; probably 12-15 or so...) with my best and oldest friend in perhaps my favorite venue. It's hard to top that. And for a bunch of ~70 year olds, they sounded pretty darn good. For someone who has seen them so many times over the years, seeing them do some of the DoFP songs live, songs that they haven't done live since the 1960's, was pretty special.

A good day. A very good day.

I've linked some videos below, but if you search for Moody Blues 7/15/17 you can find multiple versions of most songs from the whole show...

Set List:

1. I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)
2. The Voice
3. Stepping in a Slide Zone
4. Say It With Love
5. Nervous
6. Your Wildest Dreams
7. Isn't Life Strange
8. I Know You're Out There Somewhere
9. The Story in Your Eyes
10. (Intermission)
11. Days of Future Passed album in its entirety
12. Encore: Question and Ride My See Saw

Opening number:

I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)

I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)

Resurrecting the 1960's:

Dawn is a Feeling

Dawn is a Feeling

My happy place:

Nights in White Satin (with Jeremy Irons)

Nights in White Satin

End of show encore (normally the pre-encore exit song, and the encore):

Question and Ride My See Saw.

Question

Good stuff. And thanks John.

Upcoming Concerts

After not having done a great job in getting to concerts over the last couple of years, there are a number of shows on the horizon.

Tickets have been purchased for the Moody Blues 50th anniversary concert for the Days of Future Passed album at the Mann Music Center in the summer. This will be me and (someone?). They are old. I go. Period.

Amp and I will be going to see James Taylor and special guest Bonnie Raitt at the Wells Fargo Center also in the summer.

Ticket purchase is pending for me and Grace to see the Philadelphia Orchestra play the score live while the film Return of the King (last of the Peter Jackson/Tolkien Lord of the Rings movies) shows on a huge screen behind them. Grace is really excited about this (apparently they also do Harry Potter movies, etc...). This is also at the Mann, which is a fantastic outdoor amphitheater which holds many great summer memories for me.

Brother Dave and I have also briefly discussed the possibility of Little Feat at the Keswick in May. I hope that can happen.

All exciting stuff...

Australian Pink Floyd

I had an interesting concert experience yesterday. Anthony and I saw Australian Pink Floyd at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby.

This is my second experience with a tribute band (the first being The Musical Box doing a Genesis show), and to be honest, I went into it with modest expectations. I like Pink Floyd music quite a bit, but will admit to not knowing too much of their less famous stuff. I don't own any of their albums, and never have (which I think makes me one of the few rock music fans in the world that never owned Dark Side of the Moon).

All in all, it was a great show. They had drummer and keyboards in the back. Three backing vocalists (some of whom tour with real Pink Floyd). A lead guitarist on each side, a bass player who sang a lot of the David Gilmour parts, and a vocalist who played some guitar and sang a lot of the Roger Waters parts.

Aussie Pink Floyd

These guys are famous for a reason (having been doing this for a long time). Musicianship was fantastic. Vocals were good. Stage show, video screens and lighting were elaborate and terrific. The lead guitarists in specific were unbelievably good.

Aussie Pink Floyd again

A few links from the show I was at:

• Comfortably Numb
• Wish You Were Here

Thanks to Anthony and a couple of good shows, I think I might be getting over my inherent aversion to tribute bands. I got to see a great concert, hear the Pink Floyd greatest hits catalog performed live, saw a great stage show, and only paid a modest ticket price. Sure, it was't Pink Floyd, but it was a very enjoyable evening in its own right. Take it for what it is.

The Carl Palmer Band at World Cafe Live

I had the tremendous good fortune to have been gifted with a ticket to see the Carl Palmer Band with a friend last night at the World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington (6/6/16). Carl Palmer (wikipedia entry here) is one of the legendary rock drummers, having been a part of the progressive art rock band Emerson Lake and Palmer, and later the drummer for the supergroup Asia.

This particular show was the third (?, started June 2 in NY) in a 25 show tour called "Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy Tour 2016". The shows would be an entire set of instrumental music, almost entirely of ELP classics.

The Carl Palmer Band (picture by me)

Our seats were in the fourth row, just left of center stage, and the view of Palmer and his two band mates from that close was amazing. Band members were guitarist Paul Bielatowicz and bassist Simon Fitzpatrick, both of who were also terrific. Palmer's energy at age 66 is astounding, and being as close as we were you could clearly see how physically demanding 2 hours of drumming is.

Carl Palmer... (picture by me)

The music was phenomenal, but would admittedly not be everyone's cup of tea. Prog rock/art rock isn't to everyone's taste, and listening to hard rock versions of classical music like Pictures at an Exhibition and Carmina Burana might be more akin to torture to some. But I thought it was great.

This tour is, in part, a tribute to Keith Emerson, the keyboard player from ELP, who committed suicide in March of this year at the age of 71. He suffered from depression, brought on at least in part by nerve damage that affected his ability to play. A very sad story, and a reminder that rich and famous people who would seem to have it all have their burdens as well.

Anyway, Emerson's keyboards were the foundation of much of ELP's music, and upon arriving at the venue, I couldn't understand how they were going to do ELP music without any keyboards (which it was obvious they didn't have). It turns out that the guitarist played pretty much all of what would have been the keyboard parts. I was a bit skeptical at first, and it was different (no question), but it worked.

A few tidbits from YouTube:

• Hoedown (Aaron Copeland), ELP 1973 and the brilliance that was Keith Emerson.
• Hoedown played by the Carl Palmer Band (same lineup we saw) in November 2015.
• The Nutrocker (apologies to Tchaikovsky) - this is the show I saw. My head is probably in this shot somewhere on the left, 4th row, directly in front of the guitarist.

Live music of any kind is terrific, and as I have said many times before, you can't beat a venue this size (capacity is maybe 500-600 if I had to guess).

Autographed promo shot

After the show, the band had tables in the lobby to greet fans and sign things, so I got to fist-bump Carl Palmer and get him to sign a famous (reprinted) ELP promo picture from the early 1970s. Pretty cool.

An American in Paris

25th Anniversary - Saturday - Part 2.

Having gotten out of Wicked a little before 5pm, we had some time to kill (and an errand to run) before seeing an evening show of An American in Paris at 8pm.

Amp had bought the tickets for AAiP through Stub Hub a few days earlier, with the requirement that we had to physically pick them up at a Stub Hub store front a few blocks south of Times Square. I didn't even know that such a thing existed. But sure enough, after wading through the absolute freak show that is Times Square, we found the store front and got our tickets.

With a good two and a half hours still to go before the show, we decided to head a couple blocks west of  Broadway and try to find a place to eat, preferably an ethnic place of some sort. After fighting our way back through Times Square (and passing the evening's theater, the Palace, right on the Square), we found a Thai place named Qi on 8th Avenue. We weren't all that hungry (or so we thought), but we would be busy from 7:30 until about 11, and it was now-or-never for dinner. As it turned out, the food was fabulous, and we split a fried sesame-crusted tofu appetizer. Amp followed up with a marinated citrus chicken dish of some sort, and I had a Massaman chicken curry, one of my favorites. Both were terrific, and again surprisingly-not-ridiculously-expensive. I guess that I had been expecting to spend a fortune on basic meals in the city, and got off better than I expected.

Fried Sesame Crusted Tofu

We were back in Times Square by maybe 7pm, and spent some time wandering through the street festival du jour, which was a "get to know France" themed event. This was basically a two block long tourism advertisement, with live music and food samples. Odd but interesting was the display of the successful attempt at breaking the Guinness Book of World Records mark for largest one piece butter sculpture. As we say around the kitchen at home, butter makes everything better...

World Record Butter Sculpture

Having finished with the Paris skyline in butter, and all things French, we headed into the Palace Theater. The first and most obvious thing that struck us was that this was an older (or less well renovated) and smaller theater than the Gershwin. It was narrow, tight, and tall. Having watched a show in the spaciousness of the Gershwin mere hours before, this felt a bit like watching a show from the top of an elevator shaft. That notwithstanding, our seats were OK, and we had a good top-down look at the stage.

An American in Paris - Palace Theater Stage

An American In Paris is a stage production/adaptation of the Gene Kelly/Leslie Caron movie from 1951, with music by George and Ira Gershwin. I had vague memories of the movie, but know the music very well, playing it at home from time to time. Anyone who watches TV and has ever seen a car commercial will know some of the music.

The show was excellent, but couldn't have been much more different than Wicked, in that it revolved completely around dance. There was acting, there was singing, but the dancing was the focal point. Amp had read up on the production, and the leads were apparently played by professional ballet dancers who could also act and sing very well. Amp's main interest in the show was becauseof the ballet, which I went into with a little bit of trepidation, but I really ended up enjoying it. The cast was great, the music was terrific, and the staging and dance numbers were amazing.

The show was done by about 10:45, we were back at the car by 11:00 or so, and out of the city and back at our in-laws' house by a little before 12:30am.

What a fabulous day, and thanks to the in-laws for watching the kids for us.

Wicked

25th Anniversary - Saturday - Part 1

After a late night Friday, we had the luxury of being able to sleep in a bit before getting ready and heading into New York for our day without the kids. The first half of the day would be lunch and a matinee showing of Wicked, a show that I have been wanting to see for a long time. I know many people that have seen it, and nobody has ever had anything bad to say about it.

Wicked - Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel

We got into the city around 11:30am or so, with no leftover traffic from the Pope leaving that morning (heading to Philly!) that we could tell. We parked relatively near the Gershwin Theater, and looked for a place for lunch. We settled for an obvious choice a block or so away from the theater: the Stardust Diner. This is the place where all the waitstaff are Broadway wannabe's, and sing throughout the restaurant while serving. It was cliche, and touristy, and terrific. The food was good, not grossly overpriced for New York (a rarity), and the entertainment was very good. It might be cliche, but it's cliche for a reason.

Gershwin Theater Marquee

As for Wicked, I can't say enough good about it. I have the soundtrack, and know the music pretty well, but without having seen the show (or read the book by Gregory Maguire), the gaps between some of the songs didn't make much sense. Now they do. The Gershwin Theater, where the show has been running for about 12 years, was a really nice theater - fairly modern (at least in its renovation), spacious, with comfortable seats and good leg room. Sight lines were good and the stage was huge (both tall and wide). The stage was so wide that they had room for purely gratuitous decoration flanking both sides of the wide stage.

Wicked, Gershwin Theater Stage

For the show itself, the music was great, singing was fantastic, acting was good, and the effects were terrific. The show was very cleverly written to tie backwards into The Wizard of Oz in so many different ways, but to also turn all of the old story on its head. It was funny, engaging, and moving. We loved it. Rachel Turner, apparently relatively new to the cast, was fabulous as Elphaba. Kara Lindsay was beyond great as Galinda/Glinda. I couldn't help but thinking throughout the show that she was doing an over the top impression of Kristen Chenoweth (she probably was, like they mostly all probably do), but it was great.

A few clips:

• Defying Gravity at the 2004 (?) Tony awards, with original cast members Kristin Chenoweth (Galinda/Glinda, the "Good" Witch) and Idina Menzel (Elphaba, the "Wicked" Witch). Simply brilliant. One of my favorite songs from a musical.
• Popular - Kristin Chenoweth's last performance with Idina Menzel before Chenoweth left the show. Interesting due to all the ad-libs added in the middle that aren't in the scene, including Chenoweth telling Menzel she's beautiful. They can't stop cracking up...

Overall, I would say that this has might have become my second favorite musical, taking everything into account. Les Miserables is the best, of course. For pure non-stop unrelenting entertainment, Aladdin is tops. For innovation and spectacle, it's hard to beat Lion King. But this is very very good in every aspect.

Next...Saturday part 2.

Chick Corea and Bela Fleck

This past weekend we celebrated our upcoming 25th wedding anniversary by going up to north Jersey to leave the kids with my inlaws, and then going off on our own to so some things without them. The original plan was to go into New York city Saturday morning, see a show, eat a good meal, spend the night, do something Sunday and then pick up the kids and drive home. We ended up deciding to spend more money on shows and less on hotel, but more on that later.

The first part of the weekend was to get to north Jersey Friday afternoon (avoiding the Pope's visit to Philly that weekend, and the resulting mismanagement by the mayor with regards to shutting the whole city down for 4 days, but that's also another story...). We would leave the kids with a babysitter, and us, my sister in law and her husband, and another couple would go to the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown NJ to see a jazz concert by Chick Corea (piano) and Bela Fleck (banjo). I like jazz very much, and have quite a bit of it on CD, but I am no expert by any means, and there are a great many people whose names I recognize but know little about. These were two of those.

Bela Fleck and Chick Corea

A clip from last year is here:

• Mountain - Chick Corea and Bela Fleck, 2014, Los Angeles.

The short version of the story is that we had a nice (but very rushed) bite to eat before the concert at an Irish pub across the street, a fabulous concert, and a nice drink and snack at another nearby place after.

As for the concert itself, it was a mix of "classic" style jazz, bluegrass influenced stuff, classical influenced stuff, and a whole lot else in between. Taking out an intermission, they played for about an hour and forty minutes. Not tremendously long, but certainly long enough to get your money's worth. Both were amazing musicians, and they played off of each other very well (as can be seen in the clip linked above). Corea was amazing, all the more so considering that he is 74 years old, and Fleck was a blur on banjo. His was lightning fast, and unbelievably clean. They seemed to enjoy themselves on stage, and had good banter and rapport with the crowd.

I would give this show the highest possible marks, even more so considering that the tickets were about $28 each after all fees and taxes. Hard to believe. Perhaps the best thing I could say about the show is that I have every intention of picking up the two albums that these guys have done together (one studio, one live), and looking into their other stuff as well.

A great start to a great weekend...

The Sing-Off Live Tour at the Grand Opera

Last night, seven of us (us and the neighbors) went down to Wilmington for dinner and a concert: the Sing-Off Live Tour. The Sing-Off is a competition singing TV show featuring entirely a cappella groups. It has short "seasons" every now and then that are more like a miniseries (or in the case of this year, a single long episode). Every sound they make (and the percussion and other sounds are amazing) are entirely done with voice. This is one of the few shows that everyone in the family likes, so going to see the show seemed like a natural choice. We like any kind of live music, this would be something different, and we try to expose the kids to as much as possible...

In addition to a brief appearance by a collegiate group from Vanderbilt University, the bulk of the show was made up of approximately half-hour sets by The ExChange (from this year's single episode season 5), VoicePlay (from season 4) and Street Corner Symphony (from season 2). The concert totaled 2 hours across the various groups, and was interspersed with a bunch of mix-and-match combined numbers. Each of the three main groups had 5 or 6 members, and generated an amazing amount of sound.

All of the groups were terrific, and we all loved the show, including the kids. The kids liked the fact that many of the songs were arrangements of pop tunes that they knew. The vocals were terrific, they had good stage presence, and there was a good amount of humor and crowd interaction mixed in between the actual songs. Especially hilarious was the mixed number where the "percussionists" from each group got together on stage to play a phantom game of ping pong. Hilarious and impressive stuff...

We bought a CD from each group on the way out of the theater.

They said this was 10 dates into a 60 date tour, and anyone who likes this kind of thing would do well to see them if they come to a venue near you.

The Year in Review 2014 - Distractions and Diversions

Having covered the most important stuff - family - in an earlier post, I'll cover the remaining odds and ends here...

Hiking and Outdoors
I spent less time doing short little hikes around home than I have in any recent year, but there were two very good trips that did happen. The first was an overnight trip to Rickett's Glen State Park in northeastern PA in April, and the second was a three day trip to West Virginia in June.

Rickett's Glen was a two day trip, the second day to actually hike the park, the first day to drive up. Dave and I left early and did a bunch of geocaching on the way to the hotel, which was one of my more interesting caching expeditions of the year. The hike itself was truly spectacular, and everything it was hyped up to be.

Rickett's Glen

The West Virginia trip was also memorable for the scenery, the companionship, the hikes, and the marvelous campsite with a view of Sunset Rocks.

Sunset Rocks WV

The Sunday we spent hiking in the Dolly Sods Wilderness was a hot and grueling day, but the scenery was some of the prettiest I have seen in the East. I would gladly go back to that area again.

Dolly Sods Wilderness WV

With one of our regulars planning a big trip to Ireland for his 50th, there will not be a big trip this year, but the plan is to make up for that by squeezing in a few long-weekend trips, like West Virginia was this year. There are a multitude of nice places to go within a 4-5 hour driving radius, and I'm sure we can come up with something good.

Music and Concerts
I didn't get to see as much live music as I would have liked this year (not counting musicals and special events with the family). Anthony and I saw The Musical Box in Wilmington in January, and I saw Justin Hayward again in Wilmington in May.

Justin Hayward in Wilmington at the World Cafe

The Tedeschi Trucks Band near home in Aston in June was the last concert of the year.

Tedeschi Trucks Band in Aston PA

2014 also saw the arrival of yet another guitar in the house, an Epiphone EJ-200CE acoustic electric. I'm still a hack, but perhaps a little better than before. Actual practice would improve that, but for whatever reason, it never seems to happen. So you get what you get. And speaking of getting - no more guitars. Probably.

Epiphone EJ-200CE

Reading
As always, I read a ton this year, with only the tip of the iceberg getting documented here. Fifteen fiction books (posted about separately), lots of short stories, lots of history and wargaming materials, and lastly (and quite unexpected) I think I read through an entire file box of old Dungeons and Dragons stuff I had kept from years ago. That jaunt down memory lane sure brought back a lot of fond memories.

Writing
Blogging would also have to be considered a hobby unto itself given the time and effort put into it. All told, across three blogs, I have written more than ever before. This will be post number 138 for this, my main blog, and I have also managed to squeeze in 28 posts on the D&D campaign blog and 19 more on the food blog. Perhaps I should do more and write less, although I certainly do enjoy the writing on its own merits. It's a balance I guess. Most of these posts are fairly easy and quick to write, and it has proven very nice to be able to go back and reread posts and look at pictures from as far back as 2009, when I first began.

Dungeons and Dragons

From a hobby/fun-time activity perspective, this is the year I remembered how much I loved playing D&D as a kid, and started playing again as an adult. Five of us have played four sessions beginning in October, and may get one more in over the holidays. I love the pure unfettered creativity of it, and we all seem to be having a good time, which is all that counts.

Kingdom of Alsberg

Cooking
I may not have blogged about too many recipes, but I think I probably did a better job this year than usual in actually trying new and different recipes out of all the cookbooks we have accumulated over the years. Most used book of the year was without question Giada at Home by Giada de Laurentiis. Every one we make turns out great so we just keep trying more. Grace continues to show some interest in cooking, so it is nice to have a helper in the kitchen with me sometimes.

25 Year Old Easter Treat

Geocaching
It's pretty safe to say that I have become an occasional geocacher at best. I still enjoy it, but more often than not it's really only something that hits my radar screen when I will be traveling to someplace new or unusual and have a chance to grab a new state or a new county. The modicum of interest that the kids had in the first year or two that I did this has worn off for them, and they have no interest in going out with me, so that limits my interest in going out just to go out. Geocaching as a solo endeavor doesn't hold much appeal anymore, although if I have an opportunity to get out in the woods for a walk somewhere, I would still rather pick a place that has geocaches than not. I guess in that regard, I have become a geocacher very much like brother Dave has always been. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Geocaching our way to Rickett's Glen

Perhaps the best part of writing these year end posts is not in the remembering of what has gone before, but to begin to think about the future; not what have we done this year, but what experiences are yet to come. Places to go. Things to see and do. Interests to explore. In other words, life to live.

Appreciating Genius - Simon and Garfunkel

Time seems to catch up with some faster than others. And if you close your eyes, maybe some not so much at all.

From the performance at the 25th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert (2009):

• The Boxer
• The Sound of Silence
• Bridge Over Troubled Water

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Aston PA 6/11/14

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Aston PA, 6/11/14

My thoughts have been primarily around getting ready for the upcoming West Virginia camping weekend, but we squeezed in a concert last night with our neighbors. Amp and I had seen the Tedeschi Trucks Band back in 2011 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby (blog post is here), and loved them. We were surprised to see an upcoming show announcement that they would be coming to the Sun Center in Aston PA, very close to home. I had no idea the Sun Center did concerts, and hadn't been there since our high school graduation was held there...well...a long time ago. I had trouble imagining how that big warehouse-y place would be set up for a concert. I figured they had built a new auditorium for shows like this.

I was wrong. The four of us showed up at the Sun Center at around 6:45 or so for a 7:30 show, and it became immediately obvious that there was no new concert theater. In fact, there wasn't an auditorium at all. There was a stage, a temporary tent roof over the stage, and 1,200 folding chairs on the lawn and part of the parking lot next to the building. Hmmm.

I love an outdoor show. Usually. But part of loving an outdoor show is knowing that it IS an outdoor show and preparing accordingly. On a chilly, blustery evening like today where it is threatening to rain, this would mean sweatshirt, rain jacket, hat, etc... None of which any of us had. In order to minimize the amount of things to bring/wear/carry the girls had specifically not brought extra sweaters, jackets or anything of the sort. So when the rains came (and a very light drizzle of rain did indeed start partway through the show), we would end up chilly and slightly uncomfortable, but nothing too bad.

The gang, the lawn and the stage

As for the show itself, there was a solo opening act whose name I no longer recall writing this well after the fact. He played guitar and sang, and was good if not great. The TTB took the stage at close to 8:30 and played for a solid two hours. This tour was in support of their recent album Made Up Mind, and was a good mix of new material, earlier TTB and solo act songs, and a variety of covers.

I gushed about the quality of the show, the large and excellent complement of backing musicians, Susan's guitar playing and vocals, and Derek's virtuoso playing in my prior post. All of this is still true. The band is still great, Derek is still brilliant, and the outdoor temporary setup at the Sun Center had good sound and good sight lines. Great show.

YouTube clips of our show:

• Setting up the Show....
• Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning, a Blind Willie Johnson cover.
• More and More, a Blood Sweat and Tears cover.
• Encore - Darling Be Home Soon and The Storm

Other highlights included Keep on Growing. The only real disappointment for me was that they didn't do Anyday, my favorite song that Derek did in his solo band days.

A fantastic if chilly evening, and now off to pack for West Virginia.

Justin Hayward Solo Tour - 5/20/14 - Wilmington DE

Tuesday evening was another fabulous Justin Hayward solo show at the World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington. Or perhaps Tuesday (very late) Afternoon if you prefer...

This tour is basically another small batch of shows in support of Justin's 2013 album Spirits of the Western Sky, wedged in between Moody Blues tours. After a Moodies spring tour leg, this show was the sixth in eight days (out of I don't know how many planned in total...). My write up of the August 5, 2013 show is here, and I won't repeat everything that I wrote there, as much/most of the same still applies. This time around we were in the second row of the balcony instead of the first. Brother Dave's Darling Wife and a friend were there again as well.

The backing band this time consisted of only two people, Mike Dawes on acoustic and electric guitars (and percussion on the guitar body), and the hyper-talented Julie Ragins on backing vocals, keyboards (bass parts with the left hand) and percussion. Alan Hewitt, the Moodies keyboard player, was not here this time around. This minimalist setup produced an amazing amount of good clear sound, and everyone sounded terrific.

Same as last time, Mike Dawes opened with a set of four songs by himself, and I was just as amazed this time around. You have to see this guy to believe it... Boogie Shred. And here is 10 minutes of his very first American performance opening for the first Justin show August 2, 2013... I know he did Boogie Shred, The Impossible, and Someone That I Used to Know. I think the fourth song may have been Somewhere Home, but I'm not sure.

Following a 20 minute break (to force a run up of the bar tab I think), Justin came out and played for about 90 minutes, doing 14 songs plus one more for an encore.

Set List: (links are to YouTube videos of the exact performance we saw)

1. Tuesday Afternoon
2. It's Up to You
3. Lovely to See You
4. In Your Blue Eyes (SofWS)
5. The Western Sky (SofWS)
6. I Dreamed Last Night
7. In the Beginning (SofWS)
8. One Day, Someday (SofWS)
9. The Eastern Sun (SofWS)
10. What You Resist Persists (SofWS)
11. Your Wildest Dreams
12. Forever Autumn (as an esoteric aside that Brother Dave might appreciate, the cutaway guitar in this is a James A. Olson handmade custom one of kind, prices starting at $12,000 and going up from there...)
13. Question
14. Nights in White Satin
15. I Know You're Out There Somewhere [Encore]

Someone had posted a set list on SetList from one of the shows a week or so before, and it was exactly this show, but with New Horizons after I Dreamed Last Night. We didn't get New Horizons, which was a mild disappointment, but at least it wasn't I Dreamed Last Night that got dropped. In all of the dozen-plus times I have seen the Moodies or Justin, I had never seen that one live (to my recollection).
It is a beautiful song recorded on the Blue Jays album that Justin did with fellow Moodie John Lodge (while the band was on a multi-year hiatus in the mid 70's). The set list was almost identical to last year's, with only two changes (Land of Make Believe and It's Cold Outside of Your Heart out, and I Dreamed Last Night and What You Resist Persists in).

Anyway...seeing my idol in a small theater setting like this is a slice of heaven. I'd pay the ticket price for Forever Autumn alone. Or any one of a number of other songs for that matter... There is nothing like a small venue like this. Justin was telling stories, interacting with the audience, and seemed to be having a great time. As was I.

Following the show, Julie and Mike were at a table in the lobby signing autographs, so I bought a CD of each of their solo work and had them signed. So in addition to memories, I have some souvenirs (and the CDs are really good too).

Fanboy 2014

Happy happy. I am in pre-concert prep mode as my top musical idol, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, is set to come to the World Cafe Live at the Queen this week, and I will be there (of course). Amp and I saw him at the same place last August (blog post is here), and it was a great little venue to see a show.

It doesn't matter that Justin is closing in on 70 years old. He always puts on a great show, and I relish every chance to see him while he is still touring, whether it be with the Moodies, or in a solo show like this.

I expect that the show will be similar to what we saw last summer, since he is apparently touring with the same three other musicians.

A few clips I have found while doing my "prep work":

• August 9, 2013 (solo) - It's Up to You and Lovely to See You medley.
• The Voice (2007, with the Moodies)
• The Story in Your Eyes at the same show (the perfect song...)
• Justin and Norda Mullen doing Voices in the Sky on the Moodies cruise.
• Last but not least, a very young Justin with the Moodies at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 (bigger than Woodstock). Gypsy at 20 minutes. Question at 38 minutes. Nights in White Satin at 55 minutes.

Ah, to be young again....

Michael Jackson The Immortal Tour - Cirque de Soleil

Desiree Bassett (non-Cirque de Soleil)

Julia goes to various events with one of her teen groups, and the most recent one was to see Cirque de Soleil's "Michael Jackson the Immoral Tour" last night in Philadelphia. None of us had ever seen a Cirque de Soleil show, but everybody seems to rave about them, so we all got tickets and went.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but assumed there would be lots of acrobatics and costumes involved. As it turns out, that much was true, but it was different than that; better in some ways but a tiny bit disappointing in others. On the plus side, it was a live music concert with a full (and very good) band of perhaps 12 musicians. The costumes were nice overall, and in some cases very cool (such as LED light-up suits in the dark). The acrobatics were excellent, but somewhat predictable and got a little boring after two hours. The stage show was OK, with some bits that were pretty flat. The show relied very much on a ton of video shown on screens, dropdowns, pop ups and sheets all throughout the show. In other words, it was a Cirque de Soleil show. Despite a few lulls in the show, I can certainly see why people have so many good things to say about these productions.

Desiree Bassett in costume

The best aspect of the show for me was a terrific live band, with a very good lead guitarist (who I looked up after the show and found to be a 22-year old young lady named Desiree Bassett). I wouldn't say I am a big Michael Jackson fan, but there is no denying the amount of "everybody knows that song" music that he created, and certainly there were no shortage of great songs for them to pick from. It was Greatest Hits in a way, and performed very well, with a singer who sounded very much like Jackson.

I don't think I would have minded at all if they skipped the video, the costumes and the acrobatics and simply did the concert piece with the band front and center (instead of behind screens and in the dark much of the time). I understand, of course, that my take on this would be different from pretty much everybody else, who would not pay a lot of money to go to a Cirque de Soleil show and then hope that the acrobats and other performers would get out of the way of the musicians. But...

As for Desiree Bassett, there are a ton of YouTube videos out there of her playing with all sorts of famous people from about the age of 15 on. She certainly seems like a very marketable package; a very good musician with nice stage presence, not to mention attractive (although I can't say that the furry headdress thing from the show is really my thing).

A few video clips of Desiree Bassett:

• Performing Layla in 2008 (at the age of 16)
• Performing Peace of Mind with Boston in 2011 (at the age of 19)
• In the 10 minute long Cirque de Soleil promo video (this clip also gives a terrific overview of what this show was all about). Bassett and her crazy fake hair are shown clearly, if briefly, during the Billy Jean segment of this video at the 9:30, 9:50 and 10:15 marks. Also shown in this sequence is Mariko, an electric cellist who was also amazing.

Despite being a late evening for the kids, they both loved it, as did Amp and I. We all had different favorite parts, but it was well worth the expensive tickets.

The Musical Box - Selling England by the Pound

I had a fun but partly surreal experience last night. My good friend Anthony is a huge Genesis fan from back in the day, and he has told me about a group called The Musical Box, which is a Genesis tribute band. At one point back in the Fall, I saw that they were coming to the Grand Opera in Wilmington and so I bought two tickets for he and I. I got the tickets online right when they went on sale, and pretty much could have had my pick of the house, so I took the center two seats of the first row of the balcony (this is a small theater, and the balcony is right near the stage).

So last night we drove down to Wilmington and watched Genesis perform the Selling England by the Pound tour show in 1974. Or we saw The Musical Box (TMB) perform the show in 2014. One or the other. Frankly, at times, it was hard to tell. The whole schtick of TMB (and they are quite famous at this) is that they recreate early-era Genesis tour shows, with the band's blessing, down to the stage decorations, hair styles, costumes, instruments and the video shown on the screens behind the stage.

For all intents and purposes, the show I saw last night was the Genesis show from that tour in 1974. They looked like them, sounded like them, played the same set, acted like them, and looked suitably retro (vintage or vintage looking instruments, old style amp systems etc). Peter Gabriel was the lead singer back in that era, and the lead singer looked passably enough like Gabriel, and sounded just like him. Gabriel was apparently a bit of an oddball (being generous here), and was famous for loads of costume changes between and during songs, whacky spoken song introductions, and a compelling (if peculiar) stage presence. This guy had all that. It was fun. The musicianship was excellent, and while only a couple of the songs sounded even vaguely familiar, it was a very good time. Not everyone likes progressive rock of that era, with the long meandering songs, etc, but I do. Maybe 23 minutes of "Supper's Ready" wouldn't be everyones' cup of tea, but it didn't phase me at all.

The band in that era was Peter Gabriel singing, Phil Collins on drums, Tony Banks on keyboards, Mike Rutherford on bass and guitars (12 string and 6 string acoustics, electrics, and a lot of time spent on a double-neck bass and guitar combo), and Steve Hackett on lead guitar. The Genesis most well known to people in the early MTV years was the "and then there were three" bunch of Collins, Rutherford and Banks.

Two hours of something different, something that I probably wouldn't have gone to if not prompted by a friend, but that I enjoyed very much, is a good start to the concert going season of 2014.

Next up - Justin Hayward's solo tour returns to the World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington in May, and Amp and I will be in the balcony again...

Concert History

Recent discussions with some friends over a glass of wine about concerts we had seen over the years turned into some list making, memory searching, and ultimately a "Concerts" page at the upper right of my blog.

Eric Clapton

It has been fun taking this particular stroll down memory lane, insofar as reconstructing approximate years of the earlier concerts required a bunch of Wikipedia and other research to narrow shows down to which year (or two) they must have occurred in. For most of the shows in high school I remember either the album the band was touring for and/or what grade I was in school and/or who I saw them with. This exercise in historical archaeology has derived a fairly accurate list. At least in general terms. Some things were easy to find, like a Philadelphia show of Billy Joel and Elton John on the Piano Men tour. It was mid July of 1994; you can read reviews online. It was the first show of the first tour they did together. Other more recent ones I either have a clearer memory of, or are since I started blogging in 2009, and therefore have exact dates and write ups to go by. I don't think there is anything I couldn't narrow down to within a year or two. The one thing that makes counting things difficult with exactness is the fact that I have seen the Moody Blues roughly 10-12 times, but because I have seen them so many times I can't distinguish specifically when or where very well anymore. Oh well.

Some statistics and observations:

By decade:

• Shows in the 1980's - about 13.
• Shows in the 1990's - about 5.
• Shows in the 2000's - about 5.
• Shows in the 2010's - 12. With 6 more years in the decade, I am doing very well recently.
• About 35 total shows.

Acts seen multiple times:

• Moody Blues - about 10 (plus one Justin Hayward solo)
• Rush - 3
• Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler - 3 (1 DS and 2 MK). Mark Knopfler is Dire Straits...
• Asia - 2 (but 29 years apart)
• 16 different headliners seen once, and 8 opening acts that I can name, including a few that were (or became) bigger names (Stevie Ray Vaughn notably).

By venue (approximations because I can't count all the Moodies shows):

• The Spectrum (Philly) - 12
• The Corestates/First Union/Wachovia/Wells Fargo Center (Philly) - 5
• The Tower Theater (Upper Darby) - 5
• Mann Music Center (Fairmount Park Philly) - 4
• Veteran's Stadium - 2
• The Keswick Theater (Glenside) - 2
• Caesar's Palace Atlantic City, Trump Plaza Atlantic City, Grand Opera Wilmington, World Cafe Live Wilmington, Colonial Theater Phoenixille, Borgata casino Atlantic City, the Valley Forge Music Fair, and the hell hole on the Camden waterfront - 1 each.
• Between the Vet, the Spectrum and the Valley Forge Music Fair, 15 of the shows were at venues that no longer exist (the Vet having been imploded in 2004 and the Spectrum being dismantled in 2010-11). Both are now parking lots for their replacement venues. The Valley Forge Music Fair closed in 1996, was razed to put in a Giant supermarket which didn't last long, and now has a Barnes and Noble bookstore, a Wendy's fast food restaurant and a few other stores on its site. 

Tedeschi Trucks band

People seen but now dead:

• Stevie Ray Vaughn - Opening act for the Moody Blues in late 1983. Died in a helicopter crash August 27, 1990 in East Troy, Wisconsin (near Chicago), after playing with Eric Clapton and others (aged 35). His guitar virtuosity was mind numbing. Much like Hendrix, he played with his teeth, behind his back, behind his head, and basically just out this world (I know, because I saw him do all that...). Of all the people I have seen, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson and SRV are the three that made my jaw drop. Wikipedia says that in the Fall of 1983, SRV and Double Trouble opened 17 shows for the Moody Blues, and were paid $5,000 per show plus a bonus for driving up ticket sales. Wow.
• John Denver - First concert I ever saw - died October 12, 1997 in a microlite plane crash over the Pacific Ocean at Monterey Bay CA, aged 53.
• Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Delta blues legend, seen as an opening act for Eric Clapton, died September 10, 2005 of lung cancer (aged 81).
• Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons - Sax man for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band, died June 18, 2011 of of complications from a stroke eight days earlier (aged 69).

Something that occurred to me while compiling the list is that I had a preconceived notion that my high school years (the early 1980's) were by far my "golden years" of concert-going. This may be somewhat true in the sense that everybody I saw in those years was at or near their peak in terms of popularity; the prime of the musical lives. Everybody on the 1980's list is now classic rock. When I saw them then they were just rock. And some of them are no longer active, and some are dead. But in terms of variety, quality and number of shows seen, the last four years is absolutely on a par with my four high school years. A few of the bands are the same. They are mostly now classic rock, or god forbid, oldies. Many of the performers themselves have less hair, and what is left is gray. But they can still play.

Justin Hayward

Omissions and "To Do's" - Of big name bands from my formative years, there are a number of big names that I have never seen, nor frankly do/did I have any real interest in: The Rolling Stones, The Who (on any of their forty-seven farewell tours), or Queen. Led Zeppelin I would have loved to have seen and we were hoping to get tickets to see the announced show for Philly that had to be cancelled when John Bonham died (how inconvenient for us...and him). Maybe there will be a chance to see some form of Zeppelin or Page/Plant at some point. I didn't know it then, but I would have loved to have seen the Grateful Dead. I never saw Yes in their original lineup (or close to it); the 90125 tour I saw with Trevor Rabin was very very different from classic Yes. I have only seen Eric Clapton once, and since he is one of the few musicians I would consider a true idol, I would like to see him again, even in the much-subdued later years incarnation. The best wines mellow with age and change character but don't lose a thing. I would like to see Aerosmith. People on the short list of "I'd see them anytime at any price" would include repeats such as Mark Knopfler, James Taylor, Eric Johnson and The Eagles. If things worked out right I would gladly repeat Rush, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Asia or the Dixie Chicks. I would like to see Trace Adkins, a country guy, but I guess that is unlikely up here in Pennsylvania.

1/10 adds to the wish list: Buddy Guy, Ben Folds, John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr, Diana Krall...

More important than having a specific list of people I'd like to see, I guess, is the simple commitment to seeing live music. Whenever. Wherever. Big names or small (or even family). Large venues or (preferably) small ones. There really isn't anything quite like seeing people create music live. Each show is an original unique event, and something that will never be repeated. A song played a thousand times is never exactly the same; the one you heard is...the one you heard. And seeing and hearing it in person isn't at all like listening to a CD or the radio...