Petty at the Greek
DGDevin
yourselves some tickets, seriously. We saw an absolutely smoking concert
last night at The Greek in Berkeley, superb musicianship, great song
selection, stunning stagecraft, an absolute delight.
Naturally they played many of their radio hits, but in between they played
old tunes they've left aside for years, and a new song not even on an album
yet, plus a couple of covers of other people's music. They also altered
arrangements and instrumentation on well-known songs, got to make them a bit
more fun for the band. And while they sure are not a jam band, they know
how to improvise, keyboard player Benmont Tench did a long solo on piano
that tipped its hat to Dave Brubeck, lovely. But somebody has to tell
guitarist Mike Campbell that dreads on an aging white guy maybe aren't such
a great idea, and anyone who can play guitar like he can doesn't have to
worry about *looking* like a rock star.
The staging was stunning, the lightshow you have to see to believe, it
involves giant digital projectors throwing images on a backdrop that is also
backlit and has computer-operated lights peeking though it, the whole effect
is a knockout. And Petty fans know which choruses to sing, and I don't
think I've ever heard an audience sing that loud, quite impressive. Plus
the Black Crowes as a warmup act, talk about a double-header.
If you've never been to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, take a thick stadium
seat-cushion or those concrete terraces will bust your ass, do not count on
being able to get to a bathroom (a bunch of porta-porties up the hill where
the frat boys are getting drunk) during the concert, and be prepared for a
high percentage of yuppie scum who will carry on cell-phone conversations in
the middle of the show, unbelievable.
Still, a terrific show, highly recommended. Maybe a tad too commercial for
those with theatrically elitist tastes, but if you've ever tapped your foot
to a Petty tune on the radio, you're gonna like it.
JC Martin
> Still, a terrific show, highly recommended. Maybe a tad too commercial for
> those with theatrically elitist tastes, but if you've ever tapped your foot
> to a Petty tune on the radio, you're gonna like it.
I used to be a huge Petty fan. Have seen him well over 10 times. But
I'm assuming this is first Petty show, cause the dude has definitely
lost a step or two over the years. And without Stan the man on the kit
with his swampy Ringo-like fills, there just ain't no shuffle to the
band's step no more. I'm sure it was workman-like but fun evening
nonetheless.
-JC
Bzl.
"JC Martin" <jcma...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:4h9Qe.10826$p%3.4...@typhoon.sonic.net...
The most-recent Petty I've seen is from the new "Soundstage" DVD. It kicks
serious ass; the Heartbreakers and Tom have rarely sounded better. I don't
have it yet (I've watched a chunk of it and it's on order), but it's very
worth checking out; there's a song on there that's almost a blatant Other
One ripoff... that's a good thing.
Scheduling prevented me from catching this tour, but the last one was mighty
fine and I'm sure the Greek show was fantastic.
Bzl.
bill fletcher
"Bzl." <bzl...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:3ndool...@individual.net...
i saw it on PBS one night and had to order it. the band is smoking and they
stretch out a little bit, which was surprising. i've always love steve
ferrone's drumming too. recommended.... bill
>
JC Martin
Yeah, nothing like having a fusion/funk drummer in a rock'n'roll band.
#### Screw that. Stand was the MAN.
Peas,
JC
bill fletcher
opinions are like assholes.......stan lynch was a plodder....ringo-like
isn't always a good thing
JC Martin
Stan Lynch was perfect for the Heartbreakers and he swung. Ferone is a
fine technician with monster chops doooooood. Wrong band however.
Nuff said.
-JC
bill fletcher
BUT, if you watch/listen to him play w/ petty, he plays w/o all the chops.
on some songs, he doesn't even play a fill. he's playing for the song
"doooooooood" ............
>
>
JC Martin
I've seen Petty with Ferrone, even once at a private party. I don't dig
it. Ferrone just plays it too straight. But Lynch is a real
rock'n'roll drummer, the kind that knows how to play a shuffle beat, and
there ain't many of those left anymore unfortunately. I might add with
Petty, his voice isn't what it used to be and his songwriting is much
weaker. Of course some people believe U2 makes their best music today.
So what do I know.
-JC
The Lord of Eltingville
From what I've read about him, he's also a miserable SOB to be around
most of the time.
bill fletcher
playing a shuffle is a lost art w/ most drummers. i just never really got
much from stan lynch's playing. it always felt slow and clumsy. i met steve
ferrone back in the day when he played with the average white band. he was a
very cool guy and what a funk player! i agree that
session-playing-technical-type drummers can sound too precise and lose some
of the feel of a rock drummer, but i don't get that w/ steve. i wonder how
jim keltner would sound w/ those guys? he's so greasy that he can play in
about any situation and make it work.....
DGDevin
>
> I might add with Petty, his voice isn't what it used to be and his
> songwriting is much weaker. Of course some people believe U2 makes their
> best music today. So what do I know.
>
> -JC
In a "Is the glass half empty or half full" debate, it's safe to bet the
rent money on you taking the half-empty position, isn't it.
Bzl.
"JC Martin" <jcma...@sonic.net> wrote in message I might add with
> Petty, his voice isn't what it used to be and his songwriting is much
> weaker. Of course some people believe U2 makes their best music today. So
> what do I know.
>
> -JC
As far as his voice, it was never much... seems to be holding up okay to me.
As far as songwriting, virtually everything from 1989 through 2001 was
pretty great imo: I think Echo is the great, underrated Petty album. Last
DJ is pretty trite, though.
sacha
"The Lord of Eltingville" <tthomas@[REMOVE_TO_REPLY]ogre.net> wrote in
message news:desp1...@news1.newsguy.com...
And when I met Jerry he throttled me to within an inch of my life!
Seriously you guys are too much. Simply said the original poster had it
right, they are a delight and a revelation. Petty/Heartbreakers are now the
definitive American rock band, they are truly great and they have earned it.
JC drop the SF Bay attitude, dig the Weathermen and Petty and get down!
You are more fun when u r not so pompous
........ddddddddddddddoooooooooooooooooodddddddddddd
.
Patrick
--
The best things in life aren't things
Olompali4
Decent radio pop with a rural (sub urban?) twist played with
precision.
Good box sets. I can skip the gigs.
Josh
"Olompali4" <Olom...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1125274201.1...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Based on reports from people I trust and the few live shows I have, I'd say
that's not such a good decision...
-Josh
JC Martin
Bill, absolutely. That would be tremendous. Yeah, Stan a poor man's
Keltner some ways...or maybe a more advanced Ringo, who I still maintain
was the perfect player for the Beatles. But Stan played damn fine with
the Heartbreakers back in the 70's and slightly into the 80's. Sure
he's one-dimensional and even a bit clumsy, but then rock'n'roll is one
dimensional and clumsy in its purest form anyway. A friend of my wife's
tried out a Mike Campbell project that never happened several years ago.
His name is Brian MacLeod, who wrote with Sheryl Crow and has done a
lot of session work. Now THAT dude can play a shuffle beat AND a
monster groove. Great, great player. Ferrone is a great player as well
and he has serious chops. But his feel sounds a little too straight and
precise for me in this format. Different strokes.
BTW, if you haven't heard Arlo Guthrie's "Hobo's Lullaby", do yourself a
favor and check her out. Keltner's work on it is pure shuffle genius.
Peas,
JC
JC Martin
First Petty show or not? ;-)
-JC
Ken Fortenberry
I don't know about the Eagles, but some of Joe Walsh's
gigs (the ones when he was sober) seriously kicked ass.
--
Ken Fortenberry
JC Martin
Did the Weathermen become old and corporate too? ;-)
Peas,
-JC
Olompali4
>that's not such a good decision...
Seen the band live more than a few times...I'm cool with the decision.
JC Martin
...and even more so, John Hiatt's "Bring The Family". But that one I'm
sure you know well.
-JC
bill fletcher
i've herard of brian mcleod from somewhere? yeah, i'm a major keltner fan.
he and steve jordan are two of my fave skin bashers. its all about the
groove with those guys, but w/ personality. i love keltner's work on
clapton's 'from the cradle'. some great blues drumming! don't get me wrong,
ringo and buddy rich are the two reasons i sat behind a drum kit for the
first time over thirty years ago. i mean, charlie watts is my MAIN man and
he's jerky and sloppy as hell. but who could you imagine playing drums for
the stones but "chawlie"??
bill fletcher
yes, more keltner genius! what a band that was....nick lowe, ry cooder and
hiatt. wow!
JC Martin
He's was part of that Tuesday Night Music Club scene and he's been on a
lot of albums, including Hiatt's "Perfectly Good Guitar". He also had a
band called Toy Matinee and Kaviar way back when with Kevin Gilbert, the
Tuesday Night Music Club dude that killed himself after Sheryl Crow took
credit for his song's lyrics on the David Letterman show. Brian really
is a great drummer.
>yeah, i'm a major keltner fan.
> he and steve jordan are two of my fave skin bashers. its all about the
> groove with those guys, but w/ personality.
What I love about Keltner also though is that he can weave behind and
ahead of the beat without losing the groove. Especially on that Arlo
record. Insane.
>i love keltner's work on
> clapton's 'from the cradle'. some great blues drumming! don't get me wrong,
> ringo and buddy rich are the two reasons i sat behind a drum kit for the
> first time over thirty years ago. i mean, charlie watts is my MAIN man and
> he's jerky and sloppy as hell. but who could you imagine playing drums for
> the stones but "chawlie"??
No one. What a crime that would be.
Peas,
JC
DGDevin
> First Petty show or not? ;-)
>
> -JC
I've never seen him with anyone but Ferrone on drums, but then I wasn't
disputing any of your points, just wondering why you always gotta look at it
from the half-empty side, do you keep your critical chops up to speed by
reminding your wife she doesn't look as good now as she did when you married
her? ;-) Not many bands that have been around that long are as good as
they once were, hell, there are probably folks here today who will tell us
anyone who got on the bus post-Pigpen never heard the *real* Dead, but how
seriously should the rest of the world take that?
And what the hell, at least the Heartbreakers have their old bass player
back. ;-) And if I didn't make it clear enough, this is a highly
commercial show, flashy lights and mostly songs that even the tourists will
recognize, but it's still one of the better large-scale shows to be seen
this year.
Besides, if for no other reason than "The Last DJ," Mr. Petty deserves a
truckload of respect. There aren't a lot of commercially successful
musicians out there who will spit in the music industry's eye like that, he
knew when he wrote those lyrics that at least two-thirds of the rock
stations in America weren't going to touch that album regardless of how well
it sold.
DGDevin
news:1125274201.1...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers kinda' remind me of The Eagles.
I can see how you could get that impression listening only to their Top 40
stuff, but there is a lot more depth to them than that. Get ahold of the
High Grass Dogs video if you haven't seen it yet, there is some beautiful
but highly un-commercial music there.
JC Martin
> "JC Martin" <jcma...@sonic.net> wrote in message
> news:lqtQe.10930$p%3.4...@typhoon.sonic.net...
>
>
>>First Petty show or not? ;-)
>>
>>-JC
>
>
> I've never seen him with anyone but Ferrone on drums, but then I wasn't
> disputing any of your points, just wondering why you always gotta look at it
> from the half-empty side, do you keep your critical chops up to speed by
> reminding your wife she doesn't look as good now as she did when you married
> her? ;-)
Well, she looks better actually. Get back to me in 5-10 years. Doh!
>Not many bands that have been around that long are as good as
> they once were, hell, there are probably folks here today who will tell us
> anyone who got on the bus post-Pigpen never heard the *real* Dead, but how
> seriously should the rest of the world take that?
>
> And what the hell, at least the Heartbreakers have their old bass player
> back. ;-) And if I didn't make it clear enough, this is a highly
> commercial show, flashy lights and mostly songs that even the tourists will
> recognize, but it's still one of the better large-scale shows to be seen
> this year.
>
> Besides, if for no other reason than "The Last DJ," Mr. Petty deserves a
> truckload of respect. There aren't a lot of commercially successful
> musicians out there who will spit in the music industry's eye like that, he
> knew when he wrote those lyrics that at least two-thirds of the rock
> stations in America weren't going to touch that album regardless of how well
> it sold.
Cut me some slack man. I have to play up to my snob reputation and your
reviews are very edible in that respect. RE: "The Last DJ"...it's easy
for Petty to write a song like that now. The old curmudgeon lamenting
the horrid state of rock and pop radio. That speaks to his classic rock
base.
Anyway, sounds like it was fun time.
Peas,
JC
DGDevin
> Well, she looks better actually. Get back to me in 5-10 years. Doh!
Dude, the first half of that sentence was a work of art, but you should have
stopped there. ;-)
DGDevin
Review: Tom Petty, Black Crowes deserve the hype in Friday concert
By Tony Hicks
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
I want Tom Petty to be my uncle.
But I want the Black Crowes to be my band.
Rarely does a double bill like this -- which rolled into UC Berkeley's
Greek Theatre on Friday -- live up to the hype, especially when you
have two acts so seeped into a rock orthodoxy, allowing them to
withstand decades of trends. But both acts were superb Friday by simply
showing up and being themselves.
For the Black Crowes, that means balancing their Stones-meets-Faces
boogie with plenty of jamming, allowing them to stretch their musical
wings and have some fun.
For Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, it means doing what they've
always done: play sneaky-good music and be one of the planet's most
likable group of musicians. They can somehow make even the stiffest
starched-shirt type in the crowd yell along with every chorus.
Petty can fool you with his laid-back stoner, class clown persona. It
just sets up the moments when you realize (again) how good his band
really is. As for the Crowes, they showed their four-year-layoff was a
good idea, not to mention bringing back guitar great Marc Ford after
eight years.
By the Crowes' second song, "Sting Me," scruffy singer Chris Robinson
was in full Jagger mode, running in place, clapping his hands and
waving his arms. There's such an obscene amount of natural groove in
this band, especially when drummer Steve Gorman is on (he put on one of
the biggest and best kick drum sounds the Greek has heard in years).
While Chris Robinson drew everybody's attention, Ford showed he has
rekindled his musical relationship with the band's other guitarist,
Rich Robinson. At least a half-dozen songs featured long jams centered
on the pair trading licks and noises, taking the band through drastic
peaks and valleys. Ford, who spent the past few years playing with Ben
Harper, smoothly goes from tasty blues licks a la Mick Taylor, to
soaring Eric Clapton-like leads, reminiscent of his pre-Crowes days in
the L.A. band Burning Tree (a trio known for sounding like Cream).
The Crowes can jam forever, but as opposed to other jam bands, who
seemingly spend days going nowhere, the Crowes are usually anchored to
a blues progression or a bottom-heavy riff.
The song "Sometimes Salvation" just teased the crowd through the brief
pauses, with drummer Gorman playing so forcefully slow, one would
almost lurch out of their chair anticipating the next guitar stroke.
They took the song through a couple of volume-dynamic jam parts before
circling back.
They did the same with "Thorn in My Pride" (the set list went heavy on
the band's second album, 1992's classic "Southern Harmony and Musical
Companion"). After rolling through a comfortable and thick version of
the single "Jealous Again," they ended with a charged-up "Remedy."
The crowd went from dancing with the Crowes to standing on chairs for
Petty, especially by the time he was done with opener "Listen to her
Heart." Petty's at the point in his career where he can just go out,
rock his old stuff, and enjoy the crowd's love. It's so easy to like a
band that is so reliably good, yet so unconcerned with flash or
spectacle.
Petty writes songs that fool people. Just because he walks around with
his eyes half-closed and that frozen half-smile on his face, don't
think the guy doesn't know what he's doing. As usual, Friday was just a
landslide of great songs, with some of the most memorable sing-along
choruses ever written (yeah, tell me you've never yelled the chorus to
"American Girl" at the top of your lungs when no one was around). It
sounds so easy, because he doesn't take it all too seriously. His fans,
mostly middle-aged working types, feel it. It's like they have
permission to let loose and have a good time.
At one point, Petty paid tribute to San Francisco radio station KSAN,
which he said jump-started his career in the 1970s by playing first
single "Breakdown," after no one else would touch it for months. It was
the first of a hand full of massive sing-alongs ("Won't Back Down,"
"Free Fallin'," "Mary Jane's Last Dance," "Learning to Fly," "Don't
Come Around Here No More," "Refugee," "Running Down a Dream") that
dominated the two-hour set, making for a big communal feel throughout
the Greek.
Great songs have so many identifiers. One would know "Breakdown," for
example, by hearing any one part of it alone -- the drums, guitar riff,
organ, the first hint of lyrics. That's the mark of a great songwriter,
even if it sneaks up on you.
The Heartbreakers played great, as usual. Longtime guitarist Mike
Campbell, who may have the world's best guitar collection (even if his
new short dreadlocks make him look like Pauly Shore), was Petty's
perfect complement, offering bending vibrato solos to Petty's more
traditional, melodic picking. Campbell replicated perfectly all the
George Harrison slide parts from the Traveling Wilbury's "Handle with
Care," pointing his guitar skyward in tribute at the end.
The Heartbreakers ended the show demonstrating how a great band can
somehow seem loose and play tight on a big version of "American Girl."
Neither the Heartbreakers nor the Crowes has a new record to sell, but
Friday's sold-out concert wasn't about selling records. It was two real
rock 'n' roll bands delivering one of the year's great shows. Which is
exactly why they endure as rock icons. It just never gets old when it's
that good.
AirtimeJunkie
JC
Why? Are you trying to impress yourself or everyone else in the
newsgroup?
Kevin
leftie
While there are elements of truth in what both DGD and JC say, both are
also partly wrong.
The show was a very good, solid show. The drummer, btw, is excellent,
regardless of how he does or does not compare to any earlier drummer.
Petty's written some great songs. He's also extremely well versed in
rock history, covering known and obscure songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s
as well as his own strong catalogue. The Black Crowes were way better
than they were at the Fillmore two or three weeks ago, if only because
the sound was clear enough to actually hear the words Chris Robinson
sang. Petty's sound was also superb.
The show had the feel of a bigtime mainstream American rock concert,
which it was. Sold out two nights running, something like 7 or 8 tour
busses and many many semis full of equipment lug this thing around.
Excitement in the Greek was high even before the show started.
The light show/video display was competent, but is hardly anything to
write home about. Railroad Earth fans have done a *far* more interesting
display of visuals with one camera, a few computers, vcrs, a video
switcher and LCD projector. String Cheese Incident & Peak Productions
were *far* more interesting with their display of laser lights and fire
dancing in the Oregon woods earlier in the month. Both those shows were
also produced on a fraction of the cost of Petty's budget, to be sure.
All that said, the show was a little like cocaine. Some of Petty's best
grooves, like the song about Melinda and the window (?) were allowed to
last all of 2minutes45seconds, just like on the albums. Just got going
and boom, over like that, now you need another hit. On the other hand,
some of the more pedestrian, anthemic stuff was allowed to drag on
longer than need be. The people who shelled out to sit on the floor were
not unlike Robin Williams' description of those who do cocaine. If you
paid $125 a seat for that show, then perhaps it's God's way of telling
you that you have too much money.
And it is ironic, at best, to hear the people who paid this kind of cash
singing "you don't have to live like a refugee!" Well maybe THEY don't,
but millions of people around the word in fact DO have to live like
refugees because they ARE refugees. It is no less a part of Tom Petty's,
(and his audience's) celebrated "Americanness" that they seemed
blissfully oblivious to this most basic fact than are the tunes about
streetwise young, working class lovers from Indiana.
In the final analysis, it was a good mainstream American rock show. Was
it worth the money? To the 8,500 people who paid either 125, 80 or 50
bucks a piece to be inside (and drink Bud Lights at 7.50 a pop), they
most certainly thought so. The roar of the crowd was deafening at times.
I wouldn't have been there if I wasn't able to be walked in, and while
I'm glad I saw it and I had a good time, I am not of the opinion that
most folks couldn't find a lot better music around for a lot less money,
no matter how good this show was.
YMMV
Ray
> If Tom Petty hasn't come to your neck of the woods yet, ya'll need to get
> yourselves some tickets, seriously. We saw an absolutely smoking concert
> last night at The Greek in Berkeley, superb musicianship, great song
> selection, stunning stagecraft, an absolute delight.
I had considered Petty and the Heartbreakers to be a decent but
unremarkable act until I saw them live - both times they kicked serious
ass. If one only knows them from their records then one is missing
much of the picture there. I haven't seen them in years but I'm not
surprised that they're still strong live, different drummer
notwithstanding.
> If you've never been to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, take a thick stadium
> seat-cushion or those concrete terraces will bust your ass,
Yes - this is key.
> do not count on
> being able to get to a bathroom (a bunch of porta-porties up the hill where
> the frat boys are getting drunk) during the concert,
There are real bathrooms under the concrete terraces as well. I agree
that bathrooms are a pain there during a sold out show, but in my
experience no more than at comparable venues.
> and be prepared for a
> high percentage of yuppie scum who will carry on cell-phone conversations in
> the middle of the show, unbelievable.
Any bigtime mainstream classic rock show that charges $50-$125 per
ticket is going to have a high percentage of yuppie scum, at the Greek
or any venue.
Ray
DGDevin
news:1125357944.4...@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> and be prepared for a
>> high percentage of yuppie scum who will carry on cell-phone conversations
>> in
>> the middle of the show, unbelievable.
>
> Any bigtime mainstream classic rock show that charges $50-$125 per
> ticket is going to have a high percentage of yuppie scum, at the Greek
> or any venue.
>
> Ray
The Greek was the worst I've ever seen, and folks who've spent more time
there than I confirm it attracts that sort of crowd moreso than most venues
in the bay area, well, maybe except for the Mountain Winery. It's a safe
bet that asking these concert-goers which songs were played in the encore
upon pain of death for getting it wrong would result in a lot of fatalities,
whatever they're paying for, it doesn't seem to be primarily the music. You
sure won't see that many folks yakking on phones during the music at a ZZ
Top show, blue-collar audiences seem to be there for the music rather than
social profiling. And the dancing, Oh, My, Gawd, middle-aged white folks
with more money than sense and a few beers on board trying to boogie down,
it looked like great raw material for a Chris Rock comedy routine.
Ray
DGDevin wrote:
> "Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1125357944.4...@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> >> and be prepared for a
> >> high percentage of yuppie scum who will carry on cell-phone conversations
> >> in
> >> the middle of the show, unbelievable.
> >
> > Any bigtime mainstream classic rock show that charges $50-$125 per
> > ticket is going to have a high percentage of yuppie scum, at the Greek
> > or any venue.
>
> there than I confirm it attracts that sort of crowd moreso than most venues
> in the bay area, well, maybe except for the Mountain Winery.
I used to work at the Greek, and I've been to dozens if not hundreds of
performances there (and I've been countless shows at other bay area
venues as well). And I can assure you that the percentage of yuppie
scum in the audience is very much dependent on the type and the cost of
the performance. And the type of show you were at -- established,
mainstream, non-edgy classic rock that people remember from their youth
and now costs an arm and a leg to see live -- ranks right up at the top
of the list re- audience yuppie scuminess, except for contemporary jazz
performances (however jazz fans are generally much more conscientious
re- cell phones and such).
FWIW I have no doubt that the show was very enjoyable, and I'm happy
for you that you had a good time. But with few exceptions for that
kind of money I'd rather (and do) go to multiple club shows or a
multiple act music festival instead, which has the added advantage of
having a much lower percentage of yuppie scum audience. YMMV.
Ray
DGDevin
>
> And the type of show you were at -- established,
> mainstream, non-edgy classic rock that people remember from their youth
> and now costs an arm and a leg to see live -- ranks right up at the top
> of the list re- audience yuppie scuminess, except for contemporary jazz
> performances (however jazz fans are generally much more conscientious
> re- cell phones and such).
Good point.
> FWIW I have no doubt that the show was very enjoyable, and I'm happy
> for you that you had a good time. But with few exceptions for that
> kind of money I'd rather (and do) go to multiple club shows or a
> multiple act music festival instead, which has the added advantage of
> having a much lower percentage of yuppie scum audience. YMMV.
>
> Ray
It wasn't what I think of as especially expensive, which is a sad commentary
in itself, when eighty or a hundred bucks a pop is reasonably-priced. I
have a ticket stub someplace from a Who show in the 70s, six and a half
bucks, wouldn't buy a beer at a concert these days. Mind you, I don't work
for a buck an hour anymore either.
DGDevin
Tom Petty delivers the goods at the Greek -- what else would an
understated rock icon do?
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Monday, August 29, 2005
He hasn't put out a new record in years, but Tom Petty is rock
aristocracy. He doesn't get the big-time media play of Springsteen or
Dylan, but in front of his audience, no rock musician is more
convincing or powerful than Petty.
"We got the genuine all-American rock 'n' roll show," he promised the
audience Friday at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre, the first of two sold-
out shows last weekend. And so he did.
For two hours, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played old favorites
and rolled out some forgotten nuggets from the back catalog, all
glistening numbers that come from the heart and soul of 1965, when
groups like the Byrds, the Zombies, the Rolling Stones -- not to
mention Bob Dylan -- were inventing an art form Petty perfected. It
was no surprise to hear Petty and company dust off an old Animals
album track, "I'm Crying," and rock the place with it.
Wearing a forest green velvet jacket and faded jeans, a colored scarf
tied around his neck, Petty basked in the overwhelming ovation that
followed his opening number and then charged into "Around and
Around," a Chuck Berry song the Stones used to do. Pianist Benmont
Tench skillfully burnished the edges. Behind the band, a huge wall of
neon lights, geometric shapes and giant video projections flashed and
sparkled.
For all the rock star trappings, Petty somehow remains a real guy,
authentic and enthusiastic. He maintains an unerring human
perspective. He recalled to the crowd how his first single lay
dormant for four months after its release until it was picked up by
the legendary San Francisco radio station KSAN. "It all really began
right here," he said, introducing "Breakdown," one of several
selections back in the book after many years.
He gets his songs across with an arched eyebrow, a flicker of a grin
and ringing choruses that gleamed in the exquisite audio production.
Guitarist Mike Campbell, "co-captain," Petty said, colored the sound
with tightly woven rhythm figures. Utility man Scott Thurston, once a
sideman, now an official Heartbreaker, gave Petty some strong
harmonies and switched off between guitar, harmonica and keyboards.
Petty played the sweet "It'll All Work Out," an obscure track off the
1987 album, "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)," that even he admitted he'd
forgotten about until director Cameron Crowe tabbed him to reprise
the song for his latest feature, "Elizabethtown." He also introduced
an acoustic- flavored song, "Melinda," that has only been released on
a live DVD by saying, "We're rather fond of it and we think you'll
like it, too."
The audience got into the act, singing along without prompting.
Petty, whose records have become staples on classic rock radio,
attracted an across- the-board age range that showered him with
adulation. Ever the man of the people, he kept ticket prices at a
relatively modest $60 top, did two smaller shows for independent
promoters Another Planet rather than working a Clear Channel shed and
brought along a substantial supporting act -- not just some anonymous
cannon fodder -- the reunited Black Crowes, who put on a 90-minute
performance that was ancient history at the first chords of Petty's
show.
It was also touching to have Petty invoke the late George Harrison
and Roy Orbison of the Traveling Wilburys by singing the group's
first hit, "Handle With Care," as he had on the record, with Thurston
covering Orbison's vocal part and Campbell playing Harrison's slide
guitar break. The band brought the show to critical mass with a hard-
driving "Don't Come Around Here No More," Campbell lighting up the
rhythm on funky sitar-guitar, and a roaring "Refugee." The encore
of "Gloria" brought back a wispy memory from an epic 1979 Winterland
performance that he closed with the same number.
Since his Bay Area debut 29 years ago, when he and the band played
Keystone Palo Alto shortly after the release of their first album,
Petty has never put on a bad show in town. He played a historic
series of shows in 1997 at the Fillmore -- nobody who was there will
ever forget. But something in his nonchalance, his unprepossessing
character, his becoming modesty, has left him oddly underrated. Make
no mistake, however, Petty is truly one of rock's great princes.
tim_ratdog
DGDevin wrote:
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/29/DDGJ2EDLCF1.DTL
>
> Tom Petty delivers the goods at the Greek -- what else would an
> understated rock icon do?
> Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
>
> Monday, August 29, 2005
>
> It was also touching to have Petty invoke the late George Harrison
> and Roy Orbison of the Traveling Wilburys by singing the group's
> first hit, "Handle With Care," as he had on the record, with Thurston
George sang it on the record. Not sure if that's what he meant or not.
Color me stingy but $60 still doesn't seem modest to me (refering to a
comment in the review).
-tim
Olompali4
Petty's on harmonies
>Color me stingy but $60 still doesn't seem modest to me
It's all relative.
Since Petty only changes his setlist by a few songs each tour, just cop
the inevitable dvd and or cd for 12.99 when released.
Spend the 60 bucks catching 4-6 artists rippin' up local clubs with
new music.
Greatest hits, classic rock concerts are a thing of the past unless I'm
comped.
DGDevin
news:1125416202....@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> George sang it on the record. Not sure if that's what he meant or not.
> Color me stingy but $60 still doesn't seem modest to me (refering to a
> comment in the review).
>
> -tim
These days that's a bargain for a show by a big-name band.
JimK
wrote:
It's 2005. $60 bucks for a show with two major acts may not be cheap
and I wouldn't pay it for these particular acts, but it's not
outrageous either, comparatively speaking.
JimK
neurodancer
Leftie
Can you email me? The hotmail addy works. I have a question about the
SCI gathering in Oregon you mentioned. BTW nice review on Petty.
ND
Ray
> "Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > And the type of show you were at -- established,
> > mainstream, non-edgy classic rock that people remember from their youth
> > and now costs an arm and a leg to see live -- ranks right up at the top
> > of the list re- audience yuppie scuminess, except for contemporary jazz
> > performances (however jazz fans are generally much more conscientious
> > re- cell phones and such).
>
> Good point.
>
> > FWIW I have no doubt that the show was very enjoyable, and I'm happy
> > for you that you had a good time. But with few exceptions for that
> > kind of money I'd rather (and do) go to multiple club shows or a
> > multiple act music festival instead, which has the added advantage of
> > having a much lower percentage of yuppie scum audience. YMMV.
>
> in itself, when eighty or a hundred bucks a pop is reasonably-priced. I
> have a ticket stub someplace from a Who show in the 70s, six and a half
> bucks, wouldn't buy a beer at a concert these days. Mind you, I don't work
> for a buck an hour anymore either.
See that's exactly it - only those who make good salaries can afford to
see these types of shows with any regularity. And of course yuppie
scum generally make good salaries, so there'll be more of them at these
types of shows.
It's partly a matter of taste for me as well. These days, generally
speaking I prefer smaller clubs and festivals to large EVENT shows -
I've done the EVENT shows enough, and back when they were a better
value. These days the acts that I gravitate towards are usually
playing in the clubs - for example I couple of weeks back I saw a
killer Robert Walter/Skerik/Johnny Vicodovich show at the Independent
(in SF, a relatively small club), and for $16. And there were no heavy
crowds to deal with, and the beers were both tasty and reasonably
priced. And I can see several of these types of shows -- with
top-quality musicians who are pushing the boundaries -- for the same
cost of an EVENT show.
There are exceptions of course - I'll fork out the big bucks and endure
the crowds and the nickel-and-diming to see Neil Young for example.
However where the exceptions are concerned it's usually where the
artist(s) keep pushing the music forward, like Neil, as opposed to the
greatest hits shows - been there, done that.
That said, I'll see shows at the Greek that I wouldn't consider seeing
at most comparable venues - a solid line-up like Petty and the Crows at
the Greek is certainly a damn nice way to spend a beautiful summer
evening.
Ray
AirtimeJunkie
I have also given up on the large festivals. I have much more fun at
smaller venues and paying much less $$$.
To each his own, though.
Kevin
Ray
> Ray,
>
> I have also given up on the large festivals. I have much more fun at
> smaller venues and paying much less $$$.
Most larger festivals don't do it for me either - too many people, and
too much nickel-and-diming, and for too much $$$.
There are some notable exceptions, however. For example the High
Sierra Music Festival is IMO a great bargain: 4+ stages playing great
music from ~10am-11pm for 4 days straight, all for ~$125. (The late
night shows extra, but no more than you'd pay for a club show.) And
the crowd is great, and the beers are tasty and reasonably priced. And
you can bring your own alcohol (no glass). Then there's the New
Orleans Jazz Festival - ~ 10 stages from ~10am-5pm each day for ~$25
per day - can't beat that. (Though the beer selection leaves much to
be desired - my only significant criticism of JazzFest.) Reggae On The
River is also a deal and a great time.
Then there's Burning Man. Not a music festival (though there are a
number of live music acts there, spanning the quality spectrum), but
certainly a great (and surreal) time. There's no place else on earth
like Black Rock City - it's where the weird turn pro. And I'm leaving
for BRC after work - woo hoo!
Ray
DGDevin
news:devu7a$2thf$1...@agate.berkeley.edu...
> And it is ironic, at best, to hear the people who paid this kind of cash
> singing "you don't have to live like a refugee!" Well maybe THEY don't,
> but millions of people around the word in fact DO have to live like
> refugees because they ARE refugees. It is no less a part of Tom Petty's,
> (and his audience's) celebrated "Americanness" that they seemed blissfully
> oblivious to this most basic fact than are the tunes about streetwise
> young, working class lovers from Indiana.
Maybe there should be a law that every concert has to have at least two
songs about suffering in the third world. How *dare* these people have a
good time listening to music they've loved since they were in school like
that, how typically *American* of them, you'd never see anything like that
in Europe.
> In the final analysis, it was a good mainstream American rock show. Was it
> worth the money? To the 8,500 people who paid either 125, 80 or 50 bucks a
> piece to be inside (and drink Bud Lights at 7.50 a pop), they most
> certainly thought so. The roar of the crowd was deafening at times. I
> wouldn't have been there if I wasn't able to be walked in, and while I'm
> glad I saw it and I had a good time, I am not of the opinion that most
> folks couldn't find a lot better music around for a lot less money, no
> matter how good this show was.
>
> YMMV
You pays your money and you takes your choice, telling people who think they
just saw a terrific show and had a hell of a good time they could have done
better at the Student Union Bar where they could have heard the Berkeley
Confrontational Lesbian Alt.metal Chorus for only a five-dollar cover is
pretty much a waste of your time. People can learn to appreciate new forms
of music, but nothing ever means more to them than the music of their youth,
anybody who grew up listening to Hendrix and Joplin and Garcia and says that
music doesn't move them more than any other is lying.
DGDevin
> It's partly a matter of taste for me as well. These days, generally
> speaking I prefer smaller clubs and festivals to large EVENT shows -
> I've done the EVENT shows enough, and back when they were a better
> value.
I did a zillion such shows as a kid, but during the dreaded 80s I thought
rock had largely become a joke and mostly stopped attending rock concerts, I
did way more classical and jazz and folk than rock. Mid-way through the 90s
things happened that snapped my head around, Garcia dying would be a good
example, I realized that I really loved a lot of this music and the people
who played it when I was a kid were cashing in their chips, there weren't
that many chances left to see them live. I went to a show on the Stones'
Voodoo Lounge tour and was blown away, I couldn't believe how they had moved
beyond all the crap they did in the late 70s and 80s. And the Who, I almost
reluctantly went to see them in 2000 and was stunned, Townshend looked like
he was hunting prey with his guitar, they had fire in their eye once again,
it was magnificient. So several times a year, when we aren't at some club
or small amphitheatre seeing a performer who hasn't had a Top 40 hit and
probably never will, you can find us at an "event" show, some better than
others to be sure, but at their best they are still worth seeing even with
the overpriced tickets and overpriced souvenirs and overpriced beer and
yuppie scum making cell calls to impress their friends.
> That said, I'll see shows at the Greek that I wouldn't consider seeing
> at most comparable venues - a solid line-up like Petty and the Crows at
> the Greek is certainly a damn nice way to spend a beautiful summer
> evening.
>
> Ray
It was a pretty good time, though there is something to be said for seating
made of a material other than concrete.... ;-)
Tom Beck
> "Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1125422464.2...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>>It's partly a matter of taste for me as well. These days, generally
>>speaking I prefer smaller clubs and festivals to large EVENT shows -
>>I've done the EVENT shows enough, and back when they were a better
>>value.
>
>
> I did a zillion such shows as a kid, but during the dreaded 80s I thought
> rock had largely become a joke and mostly stopped attending rock concerts, I
> did way more classical and jazz and folk than rock. Mid-way through the 90s
> things happened that snapped my head around, Garcia dying would be a good
> example, I realized that I really loved a lot of this music and the people
> who played it when I was a kid were cashing in their chips, there weren't
> that many chances left to see them live. I went to a show on the Stones'
> Voodoo Lounge tour and was blown away, I couldn't believe how they had moved
> beyond all the crap they did in the late 70s and 80s. And the Who, I almost
> reluctantly went to see them in 2000 and was stunned, Townshend looked like
> he was hunting prey with his guitar, they had fire in their eye once again,
> it was magnificient. So several times a year, when we aren't at some club
> or small amphitheatre seeing a performer who hasn't had a Top 40 hit and
> probably never will, you can find us at an "event" show, some better than
> others to be sure, but at their best they are still worth seeing even with
> the overpriced tickets and overpriced souvenirs and overpriced beer and
> yuppie scum making cell calls to impress their friends.
I respectfully disagree with this last sentence.
>
>
>>That said, I'll see shows at the Greek that I wouldn't consider seeing
>>at most comparable venues - a solid line-up like Petty and the Crows at
>>the Greek is certainly a damn nice way to spend a beautiful summer
>>evening.
>>
>>Ray
>
>
> It was a pretty good time, though there is something to be said for seating
> made of a material other than concrete.... ;-)
Pobrecito, you got 'roids too?
Bill
"Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote
> These days the acts that I gravitate towards are usually
> playing in the clubs - for example I couple of weeks back I saw a
> killer Robert Walter/Skerik/Johnny Vicodovich show at the Independent
> (in SF, a relatively small club), and for $16.
God fucking damn - was that the most awesome show ever??!! After that show
I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest musician alive right
now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!! Skerik and the bassist and drummer were
excellent but Robert Walter! Wow!
All the Greyboy Allstars fans know him (he's the organist in the GA) but as
great as he is with the Greyboy Allstars, one must see him in his own band
to appreciate what a fuckin truly musical genius the guy is. There were
times I thought I was hearing three different people playing behind that
killer organ - at the same time!
He gets more sounds, more tones, out of that damn organ than one could ever
imagine. At times I thought I was hearing a killer rock guitarist! I know
he's playing with Kimock for several months starting in September but if you
really want to see just what a musical genius he is, catch him with his own
band where he doesn't have to play second fiddle to anyone (not that he's
necessarily playing second fiddle to Kimock). Anyone that good should be
the leader of the band like he was that night.
I shouldn't downplay how good the other three musicians in the band were
because together, all four musicians that night were making music on the
level of the 51 minute Weather Report jam from 6-28-74, in other words,
making music as good as it can get. They were really clicking with each
other. I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere close to the level of the
Greyboy Allstars but it sure was.
Speaking of the GA, I sure wish they'd get back together again and do some
more gigs. There's few guitarists out there that play as interesting as the
guitarist in that band and there's few bands that play as well together as
those guys.
Bill
Joe
>that show I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest
>musician alive right now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!! Skerik
>and the bassist and drummer were excellent but Robert Walter!
>Wow!
Here were 2 rmgd'ers at the same venue, sharing the same music.
Who knows how it could have gomne from there if only they'd known?
They could have been sharing the women and the wine...
Joe
Olompali4
>just saw a terrific show and had a hell of a good time they could have done
>better at the Student Union Bar where they could have heard the Berkeley
>Confrontational Lesbian Alt.metal Chorus for only a five-dollar cover is
>pretty much a waste of your time. People can learn to appreciate new >forms
>of music, but nothing ever means more to them than the music of their >youth,
>anybody who grew up listening to Hendrix and Joplin and Garcia and >says that
>music doesn't move them more than any other is lying.
Of course the music of my youth still moves me. Just not enough to to
lay out a hundreds for my wife and I to watch the old performers play
the same old, same old night after night, year after year. Regardless
if they have "fire" that particular season or not. I can blast their
inevitable DVD on my home system and avoid the ridiculous costs and
nuisances.
Btw, I don't recall anyone writing about student union gigs with
lesbian activist artists but hey if you wanna' think a Wilco or
Railroad Earth or Bill Frisell gig at the Park West or Warfield is of
comparable caliber perhaps you are better off sticking with FM
hitmakers of the 70's.
Olompali4
> the overpriced tickets and overpriced souvenirs and overpriced beer and
> yuppie scum making cell calls to impress their friends.
>I respectfully disagree with this last sentence.
Me too.
Greg Sasso
Bill wrote:
> "Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote
>
> > These days the acts that I gravitate towards are usually
> > playing in the clubs - for example I couple of weeks back I saw a
> > killer Robert Walter/Skerik/Johnny Vicodovich show at the Independent
> > (in SF, a relatively small club), and for $16.
>
> God fucking damn - was that the most awesome show ever??!! After that show
> I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest musician alive right
> now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!! Skerik and the bassist and drummer were
> excellent but Robert Walter! Wow!
>
I saw Robert Walter with the Headhunters a month ago. Headhunters
rhythm section w/ Walter and a sax guy. WOW was that a show. Hot
damn!
JC Martin
> "Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote
>
>
>> These days the acts that I gravitate towards are usually
>>playing in the clubs - for example I couple of weeks back I saw a
>>killer Robert Walter/Skerik/Johnny Vicodovich show at the Independent
>>(in SF, a relatively small club), and for $16.
>
>
> God fucking damn - was that the most awesome show ever??!! After that show
> I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest musician alive right
> now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!!
That's an overstatement of monstrous proportions. But then, what's new?
-JC
tim_ratdog
Bill wrote:
> God fucking damn - was that the most awesome show ever??!! After that show
> I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest musician alive right
> now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!! Skerik and the bassist and drummer were
> excellent but Robert Walter! Wow!
>
> All the Greyboy Allstars fans know him (he's the organist in the GA) but as
Any recommendations from archive available for this guy? I'd like to
check out his music if possible.
-tim
DGDevin
news:43153FA5...@pclink.com...
>> So several times a year, when we aren't at some club or small
>> amphitheatre seeing a performer who hasn't had a Top 40 hit and probably
>> never will, you can find us at an "event" show, some better than others
>> to be sure, but at their best they are still worth seeing even with the
>> overpriced tickets and overpriced souvenirs and overpriced beer and
>> yuppie scum making cell calls to impress their friends.
>
> I respectfully disagree with this last sentence.
It's all relative, I don't *like" paying over a hundred bucks to see any
band, but sometimes the band is so hot and the performance so spectacular
and it is such a special night that the money becomes irrelevant, at least
to me. There was one Stones concert on the last tour, Oakland Arena,
everyone I know who was there from grizzled hardcore fans to guys seeing
their first Stones show were gobsmacked, it was like the band and the
audience linked nervous system and took each other higher with every song.
They played songs nobody expected to hear like "Heart of Stone" and "Mannish
Boy" and "All Down the Line" and *nailed* them, you could *see* the band
members reacting, Charlie Watts raising his eyebrows and grinning at Keith
Richards as the crowd went berserk during the B-stage set, it was right at
the high end of the scale. And that's without Jagger's roadie, apparently
embarrassed that he might have been blocking my old lady's view right beside
the B-stage, that he turned around and handed her a guitar pick and Jagger's
copy of the setlist. Not all Stones shows are like that these days, but
that one was worth every penny, we'll never forget that night.
DGDevin
news:1125485886.4...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Of course the music of my youth still moves me. Just not enough to to
> lay out a hundreds for my wife and I to watch the old performers play
> the same old, same old night after night, year after year. Regardless
> if they have "fire" that particular season or not. I can blast their
> inevitable DVD on my home system and avoid the ridiculous costs and
> nuisances.
And spending the evening with friends, making dinner for the mob before the
show and then sharing music you've all loved for decades and going to bed
tired but happy, that's a DVD experience for sure. Real life vs.
television, damn, I didn't even think that was open to discussion.
> Btw, I don't recall anyone writing about student union gigs with
> lesbian activist artists but hey if you wanna' think a Wilco or
> Railroad Earth or Bill Frisell gig at the Park West or Warfield is of
> comparable caliber perhaps you are better off sticking with FM
> hitmakers of the 70's.
Is that how you felt when you went to see the Dead, just another tired old
70s band? If it were possible to see them again with Garcia up there, would
you begrudge the cost and wait for the DVD? Puhlease.
JonP
wrote:
Me too, i have a strong dislike for "fests"...
Concerts should be held indoors, in the dark like god meant them to
be....
JonP
Ken Fortenberry
>
> Me too, i have a strong dislike for "fests"...
> Concerts should be held indoors, in the dark like god meant them to
> be....
Sittin' on a hillside in southern Wisconsin during a
gentle, intermittent summer rain while the boys played
Franklin's Tower is as close to god's own fine concert
experience as I'm likely to have in my lifetime.
Roll away the dew ...
--
Ken Fortenberry
The Iron Muffin
> People can learn to appreciate new forms of music, but nothing
> ever means more to them than the music of their youth, anybody
> who grew up listening to Hendrix and Joplin and Garcia and says
> that music doesn't move them more than any other is lying.
*Your* experience has been such. Claiming that anybody who
disagrees with you is "lying" is fuckwittery of the highest degree.
Not that I expected anything more. For someone with very little
of value to say, you sure do post a whole hell of a lot.
--
The Iron Muffin
DEAD FREAKS UNITE
Who are you? Where are you?
How are you?
mjd
>with Kevin Gilbert, the Tuesday Night Music Club dude that killed himself after Sheryl Crow took
>credit for his song's lyrics on the David Letterman show.
??? did he kill himself for some other reason and it was just
coincidentally after she pinched his song, or did he do it because of
the pinching? talk about taking a permanent solution to a temporary
problem! weird story - never knew about it...
JC Martin
> DGDevin wrote:
>
>
>>People can learn to appreciate new forms of music, but nothing
>>ever means more to them than the music of their youth, anybody
>>who grew up listening to Hendrix and Joplin and Garcia and says
>>that music doesn't move them more than any other is lying.
>
>
> *Your* experience has been such. Claiming that anybody who
> disagrees with you is "lying" is fuckwittery of the highest degree.
Yeah, I disagree with DG highly, but then what is new? My best musical
experiences have come in my 30's. Not only has my musical palette
increased, but I've also been able to connect musical forms and
influences that I didn't even know existed in my 20's. One of the best
shows I've seen in my life I saw last year...Joao Bosco. I was
completely blown away. And then there's Nels Cline. He completely
changed my life. Six years ago I also turned onto the songwriting of
Tom T. Hall. His songs speak to me like no other in my youth, including
Dylan (no, I'm saying he's better than Dylan).
Next up...Billy Joe Shaver in Sebastopol, Studio B. Who's going?
Peas,
JC
JC Martin
Shit, I thought I deleted this. I got the story wrong. O'Brien
committed suicide after Crow took credit for David Baerwald's song.
Gilbert (Crow's boyfriend and collaborator...and a musical genius I
might add) killed himself 2 years later by choking himself, though I'm
not sure if anyone knows whether that was a suicide or not. Crow
basically screwed a lot of people over. Many of them had to sue Crow
for songwriting credit and all won as far as I know. She's a corporate
whore in my book. Another Courtney Love, but with better PR and
self-control.
-JC
Olompali4
>tired but happy, that's a DVD experience for sure. Real life vs.
>television, damn, I didn't even think that was open to discussion.
Quit cherry picking through the discussion to make yourself feel
better.
Why do you get this insulting? Where did I write that I don't see any
live music?
I go out and see extremely talented artists.
If going to see 70's hitmakers in arenas for hundreds of dollars is how
you constitute "real life" ..good luck.
Perhaps you're just younger than I thought. Most of my friends have
been there and done that when it comes to Tom Petty, The Who, The
Stones, etc...
And there ain't nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.
Of course, I'd go. How insipid are you?
Look up at the top ^^
It reads: rec.music.gdead.
JimK
Except for bluegrass, which is just fine outdoors and in the daylight.
preferably somewhere out in the countryside.
JimK
The Iron Muffin
> DGDevin wrote:
> > And spending the evening with friends, making dinner for the mob
> > before the show and then sharing music you've all loved for decades
> > and going to bed tired but happy, that's a DVD experience for sure.
> > Real life vs. television, damn, I didn't even think that was open to
> > discussion.
>
> Quit cherry picking through the discussion to make yourself feel
> better. Why do you get this insulting?
Because he has nothing of any substance to say.
> Where did I write that I don't see any live music?
You didn't, but that won't stop him from pretending that you did!
JC Martin
>>And spending the evening with friends, making dinner for the mob before >the show and then sharing music you've all loved for decades and going to >bed
>>tired but happy, that's a DVD experience for sure. Real life vs.
>>television, damn, I didn't even think that was open to discussion.
>
>
> Quit cherry picking through the discussion to make yourself feel
> better.
> Why do you get this insulting? Where did I write that I don't see any
> live music?
> I go out and see extremely talented artists.
> If going to see 70's hitmakers in arenas for hundreds of dollars is how
> you constitute "real life" ..good luck.
> Perhaps you're just younger than I thought. Most of my friends have
> been there and done that when it comes to Tom Petty, The Who, The
> Stones, etc...
I'm still fairly young and I've been there, done that. Classic rock
escapes me for the part these days. But my mom decided for her
birthday she wants to take her husband, my wife and I to the Rolling
Stones (18th row I believe). Who am I to argue with a birthday girl?
:-) Besides, the Stones are one of those few corporate bands you can
make an exception for.
-JC
JC Martin
> The Iron Muffin wrote:
>
>> DGDevin wrote:
>>
>>
>>> People can learn to appreciate new forms of music, but nothing
>>> ever means more to them than the music of their youth, anybody
>>> who grew up listening to Hendrix and Joplin and Garcia and says
>>> that music doesn't move them more than any other is lying.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Your* experience has been such. Claiming that anybody who
>> disagrees with you is "lying" is fuckwittery of the highest degree.
>
>
>
> Yeah, I disagree with DG highly, but then what is new?
<snip>
As an example, in junior high U2 was a band I became a rabid fan of.
Really, they were one of the first rock groups that really grabbed me
emotionally. My first record was "October", and then I went and bought
"Boy". I wore those records out man! "War" then came out and I went to
see them in concert. Wow! This was the first rock show I had ever
attended with just a friend, no parents (I had been to rock festivals
and concerts with my mom previously). I went on to see the band live a
good 12-15 times. "The Unforgettable Fire" was the last record I really
loved. But my interest in them faded over the years, so much so that I
literally can't stand them now and it's rare that I can even listen to
the songs I once loved. I stopped being a believer. Now I'd much
rather listen to Radiohead.
-JC
Olompali4
gift me some Petty tix, I'll be there.
Saw both Santana and Steve Winwood last month.
Free.
I still would have liked more challenging setlists but.....
No way would I pay 60-100 bucks to see them.
$300 for the Stones' latest tour with what amounts to a set they could
have played anytime since 1969? Umm..nah.
Btw, DG! I saw your idols, Pearl Jam, in a club in late '91/ early
'92 ($8.00) while you were probably checking out..I dunno, The Who on
their second to last third final tour. LOL!
Tom Beck
How 'bout "Watchtowers" from (I think) Alpine '87?
Bill
"tim_ratdog" wrote
Below is a link to a show last year at the same venue the show I described
above took place (the place has great sound). And it's with his own band,
Robert Walter's 20th Congress (but different than the one I saw). It has an
Average User Rating of 5 stars for whatever that's worth:
http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=10855
I haven't downloaded it but I will have to soon since I don't have any of
his live stuff.
Bill
>
> -tim
>
Cassady Ginsberg
} <Jper...@aol.com> wrote:
}
} >Me too, i have a strong dislike for "fests"...
} >Concerts should be held indoors, in the dark like
} god meant them to
} >be....
} >JonP
}
} Except for bluegrass, which is just fine outdoors
} and in the daylight.
} preferably somewhere out in the countryside.
Bluegrass works well in a big park in the big city,
too, especially when it's outdoors and free!
http://hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2005/artists.shtml
____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
JimK
<fpun...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>JimK <jkezwind@comcastDOTnet> wrote:
>
>} <Jper...@aol.com> wrote:
>}
>} >Me too, i have a strong dislike for "fests"...
>} >Concerts should be held indoors, in the dark like
>} god meant them to
>} >be....
>} >JonP
>}
>} Except for bluegrass, which is just fine outdoors
>} and in the daylight.
>} preferably somewhere out in the countryside.
>
>Bluegrass works well in a big park in the big city,
>too, especially when it's outdoors and free!
>
>http://hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2005/artists.shtml
>
Wow! That's gotta be one of the greatest lineups of any festival of
any kind.....and free!! Man, I wish I lived anywhere near San
Francisco right about now.
JimK
Blood, Sweat & Tears
> Shit, I thought I deleted this. I got the story wrong. O'Brien
> committed suicide after Crow took credit for David Baerwald's song.
O'Brien killed himself *20* days after. April 11st, 1994, for
accuracy.
A couple of allegations :
"I don't think anything at all having to do with this Sheryl Crow
business was even one block in the foundation of suicide," O'Brien
father told Rolling Stone, while John's sister described "the problems
that drove him toward the end" as "long, long bloody trip."
O'Brien's family knew he was deeply troubled (alcohol and socio-psycho
issues...) and did not blame Crow for his suicide, but Sheryl was deeply
effected by the incident and became a more private person as a result.
On the Letterman. It was her first national appearance and she was very
nervous. Having performed the number, she sat down with the host for the
obligatory two minutes interview that close out the show : "Hey, great
song! What's it about?" That kind of thing. In this case, Letterman
asked if 'Leaving Las Vegas' was autobiographical. "Yes", came the
answer, before Sheryl then compounded the white lie by saying "I've
never been to las Vegas. I wrote it about Los Angeles. It's really
metaphorical."
> Gilbert (Crow's boyfriend and collaborator...and a musical genius I
> might add) killed himself 2 years later by choking himself, though I'm
> not sure if anyone knows whether that was a suicide or not.
He died of autoerotic asphyxia, accidentally (according to coroner).
Anyway, I agree with you, Gilbert was a great musician.
> Crow
> basically screwed a lot of people over.
> Many of them had to sue Crow
> for songwriting credit and all won as far as I know.
Untrue!
Screwed? Sue? The members of TNMC made a LOT of money from that album,
also thanks to the *official credits* (BMI/album booklet).
Dan Schwartz remember :
"The decision made by any members of TNMC not to continue with Sheryl
was entirely *personal* and *individual*. We all made plenty of money.
I've been able to spend a few years raising my daughter and ignoring any
phone calls I cared to ignore."
About the jam sessions. Only "Leaving Las Vegas", along with "Strong
Enough" represent the *true* collaborative nature of the early TMC
(Tuesday Music Collective) sessions. For instance, the big hit "Run Baby
Run" wasn't Tuesday Night Music Club. This song came out (with music and
words partially pre-existing) from a session with Sheryl, David Baerwald
and Bill Bottrell (the producer).
Again, "What I Can Do For You" was a song pre-TMC, composed by Sheryl
and David Baerwald in Venice Beach, and completed at Toad Hall Studio
(Pasadena) along with Mr. Bottrell. "I Shall Believe" and "Can't Cry
Anymore" were originated by Sheryl and then completed by her and Bill.
Bill Bottrell also remarks :
"on a lot of songs, Sheryl and I played all of the instruments, and that
goes against the myth". "I mean, the album did grow out of the musicians
meeting once a week, but man, there were just months and months of sweat
put me, trying to choose the songs, put them in an order, and mix them."
> Another Courtney Love, but with better PR and
> self-control.
Negative sir. Very different background, attitude, and career. Sheryl
Crow sings, plays instruments and writes songs since childhood. She has
a bachelor's degree in voice and classical piano, she has been a music
teacher, a semi-pro musician (for years and years), and a pro backup
singer for many artists. Definitively, her credentials and background
were more than decent, before her first recording contract with A&M.
She's also a multi-instrumentalist, producer and author (not co-author)
of many tens of songs, like 'Redemption Day', 'Home', 'Anything but
Down', 'Riverwide', 'Weather Channel', 'Safe and Sound', 'The Difficult
Kind', 'Am I Getting Trought', 'Ordinary Morning', 'Carolina', 'In
Need'. Yeah, a lot of songs are co-written, especially with Jeff Trott
(former Wire Train), but where's the sin? Who care? She can write songs,
period.
These are *facts*, the rest, often, is only meat (or shit) for
gossipers. ;-)
Regards
BS&T
JC Martin
> JC Martin wrote:
<snip>
> Bill Bottrell also remarks :
>
> "on a lot of songs, Sheryl and I played all of the instruments, and that
> goes against the myth". "I mean, the album did grow out of the musicians
> meeting once a week, but man, there were just months and months of sweat
> put me, trying to choose the songs, put them in an order, and mix them."
Bill Bottrell is by far the superior instrumentalist. I can play as
well as Crow.
>> Another Courtney Love, but with better PR and
>> self-control.
>
>
> Negative sir. Very different background, attitude, and career. Sheryl
> Crow sings, plays instruments and writes songs since childhood.
So what? So have I and so has my wife. What would that prove?
>She has
> a bachelor's degree in voice and classical piano, she has been a music
> teacher, a semi-pro musician (for years and years), and a pro backup
> singer for many artists.
Yip the fuck yee!
Definitively, her credentials and background
> were more than decent, before her first recording contract with A&M.
> She's also a multi-instrumentalist, producer and author (not co-author)
> of many tens of songs, like 'Redemption Day', 'Home', 'Anything but
> Down', 'Riverwide', 'Weather Channel', 'Safe and Sound', 'The Difficult
> Kind', 'Am I Getting Trought', 'Ordinary Morning', 'Carolina', 'In
> Need'. Yeah, a lot of songs are co-written, especially with Jeff Trott
> (former Wire Train), but where's the sin? Who care? She can write songs,
> period.
She can't write a song without help and her contributions to those tunes
are far more minimal than advertised. She even took production credit
for an album Mitchell Froom/Tchad Blake essentially produced.
>
> These are *facts*, the rest, often, is only meat (or shit) for
> gossipers. ;-)
No facts at all. I have a friend that had to sue her for songwriting
credit, credit which doesn't appear on the album. He's not the only
one. Man, you are quite the shill. Are you in marketing?
-JC
tim_ratdog
Bill wrote:
> "tim_ratdog" wrote
..
> > Any recommendations from archive available for this guy? I'd like to
> > check out his music if possible.
>
> Below is a link to a show last year at the same venue the show I described
> above took place (the place has great sound). And it's with his own band,
> Robert Walter's 20th Congress (but different than the one I saw). It has an
> Average User Rating of 5 stars for whatever that's worth:
>
> http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=10855
>
> I haven't downloaded it but I will have to soon since I don't have any of
> his live stuff.
>
> Bill
Thanks for the link. I downloaded this and found I couldn't really get
into it. Kind of jazzy, very on the edge stuff, but ended up taking it
off the hard drive without burning it. Great quality and playing for
those who do like it this kind of music.
-tim
Ray
> "Ray" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote
>
> > These days the acts that I gravitate towards are usually
> > playing in the clubs - for example I couple of weeks back I saw a
> > killer Robert Walter/Skerik/Johnny Vicodovich show at the Independent
> > (in SF, a relatively small club), and for $16.
>
I really enjoyed the show. It was easily the best of the roughly
1/2-dozen Robert Walter-led shows I've seen (I like the 20th Congress,
but I preferred that show to any 20th Congress show I've seen or
heard), and it's prolly in the top ten shows I've seen so far this
year.
But, and no disrespect intended, that wasn't even the best show I saw
in August, let alone ever. The best show I saw in August was Garage A
Trois at the Independent the week before, which also featured Skerik,
along with Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, and Mike Dillon. Relatively
speaking GaT was much tighter as a unit - their 5 or so years of
playing together has really started to pay off. That show, the best of
the roughly 1/2-dozen Gat shows I've seen, is perhaps my favorite show
so far this year and moreover featured the best extended percussion jam
I've seen in recent memory. (BTW their recently released 2nd CD,
"Outre Mer", is really good - recommended.)
> After that show
> I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest musician alive right
> now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!! Skerik and the bassist and drummer were
> excellent but Robert Walter! Wow!
Walter is a talented keyboardist, and he was defintely 'on' at that
show. But - and this is no knock on Walter - IMO he was the weakest of
the four musicians up there. Skerik is extremely talented, and John
Vidacovich and Jim Singleton have *way* serious chops (both are members
of New Orleans' contemporary jazz band 'Astral Project', FWIW). Indeed
seeing Singleton soloing I realized it had been a too long since I'd
seen a solo by a bassist of his caliber.
> I shouldn't downplay how good the other three musicians in the band were
> because together, all four musicians that night were making music on the
> level of the 51 minute Weather Report jam from 6-28-74, in other words,
> making music as good as it can get.
I wouldn't go quite that far, but I agree that they were making some
really good music.
> They were really clicking with each
> other. I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere close to the level of the
> Greyboy Allstars but it sure was.
>
> Speaking of the GA, I sure wish they'd get back together again and do some
> more gigs.
Yeah the Greyboys a lot of fun to see live - they got the funk, and
even though they rarely play together these days they can still turn on
a dime.
Ray
Ray
> People can learn to appreciate new forms
> of music, but nothing ever means more to them than the music of their youth,
> anybody who grew up listening to Hendrix and Joplin and Garcia and says that
> music doesn't move them more than any other is lying.
The music of my youth means a lot to me (the truly great stuff anyway),
but the music of any number of artists that I've discovered since then
moves every bit as much, and in may cases more. Nostalia aside, the
music of, say, Anouar Brahem moves me every bit as much as that of
Hendrix, and there are many 'non-youth' artists who move me
considerably more than Joplin. Garcia is a special case, but even
there Miles and Coltrane are in the running. And I'm not lying.
Ray
leftie
> Then there's Burning Man. Not a music festival (though there are a
> number of live music acts there, spanning the quality spectrum), but
> certainly a great (and surreal) time. There's no place else on earth
> like Black Rock City - it's where the weird turn pro. And I'm leaving
> for BRC after work - woo hoo!
Time for a full report! How was life on the playa, playa?
Bill
"tim_ratdog" wrote
I don't know if that group (Robert Walter's 20th Congress) is pretty
different than the group I saw. All the players are different except Robert
Walter. I don't know who is in RW's 20th Congress but I know the other
players in the show I saw are considered pretty heavy weight musicians. The
only other time I've seen Robert Walter with his own band (rather than in
the Greyboy Allstars) was in '97 I believe but the venue sucked so I didn't
even stay that long.
Ray did a post earlier where he said the show I reviewed was "easily the
best Robert Walter show" he had seen so perhaps the other band members were
a spark to Robert that he doesn't typically get with the RW's 20th Congress
but I'm just speculating.
I still haven't downloaded that show (I need to install a new hard drive
before I can download anything which I hope to do very soon) so I can't
comment on it.
Sorry it didn't click with you.
Bill
>
>
Ray
Life on the playa was, as usual, a total and surreal blast. Highlights
included Michael Franti doing an unannounced show, the Mermen playing a
cool show at 3am, an amazing several-stories-tall Mother and child(?)
sculpture made of scrap metal, exploding hydrogen bubbles, a beautiful
japanese-style temple created in honor of lost love ones, and a large
New Orleans-style brass band mourning/celebration for, well, New
Orleans. And a procession of several of the freakiest and funnest bars
that I've ever been to (at least since the last time I was in Black
Rock City). And of course the Burning of the Man.
I'm afraid I can't give you a full report however - some experiences
defy words, at least words by general left-brainers like me, and
Burning Man is one of them. That said, SF Chron columnist Mark Morford
provided the best verbal description of Burning Man that I have ever
read, back in 2001. Not much has changed except for the scale - I've
heard that 35-40k people attended this year, and the Critical Tits
parade had 1000+ participants (oh yeah - that too was a highlight).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Your Brain On Burning Man
Four amazing days deep in the Nevada desert, and your id will never be
the same
By Mark Morford
Thursday, September 6, 2001
Synapse overload.
Too many options. Too many visions and ethereal moments and luminous
images, experiences and connections and fragile sensory remnants to
choose from, dust stories and art stories and friendship stories and
party stories, beauty and artifice and light and stars and sensuality
and dust and music and drugs and camping and travel and detachment and
a general sense of otherworldliness.
The kind of transcendence you can only find, apparently, by trucking
your butt way, way out into the desert and camping under the scorching
sun for four days with approximately 22,000 like-minded neo-pagan
alt-everything open-hearted nutcases in Black Rock City, Nevada, at
Burning Man 2001.
It's the feeling of being outside yourself, of knowing and not knowing,
a delicious falling away of everything you consider normal and
acceptable and safe and replacing it with blazing heat and fierce dust
storms and raging fires and dancing and glitter and endless naked skin
and a concept of art and interactivity and community and collective
energy you have probably never experienced in your lifetime, and may
never experience again. Is that an exaggeration?
Burning Man was, for me, four straight nights of going to bed at
sunrise, getting roughly 3 hours of sleep per, and having everything I
own completely and irrevocably covered in gritty chalk-gray playa dust.
It was extraordinary. It was insane. It was strange, magical, surreal,
dusty, hot, fleshy, pagan, funny, unpretentious, open, communal, dirty,
simple, inspiring, funky, forward, and unbelievably beautiful. It was
close to what I expected, but bigger and more dazzling and more
variegated and more fun.
I still haven't removed my silver fingernail and toe polish. Or the
glitter. Or the mental images. And I'm sure I never will.
I have seen roughly 300 topless women covered in body paint and glitter
and dust, riding wildly decorated bicycles around the scorching desert
playa en masse, singing and whistling and laughing and wearing hats and
flowers and pasties and huge grins and calling themselves Critical
Tits, and no one batted an eye.
I have seen Mad Max-ish art cars that shoot colossal tongues of flame
300 feet into the ink-black night sky and you can feel the heat and
hear the thunder and taste the smoke from a quarter mile away.
I have seen enormous human mazes stuck randomly in the middle of the
desert, interactive art installations where you touch the "strings" of
a light-harp and a hidden organ plays a droning tone, 40-foot high
sculptures made of wire mesh and animal bones called the Tree of Life,
ethereal laser shows shooting emerald beams against the Nevada
mountainside, a pair of 30-foot high glowing red dice just sitting
there, surrounded by a vast nothingness, as if flung by God at the
craps table of Earth.
I have seen dozens of artistically mutated desert vehicles built like
giant cockroaches and snails and fish and birds, butterflies and human
heads and flying saucers and dystopian nightmares of mangled chainsaws
and gears and steel. Semitrucks re-imagined as floating luminescent
party wagons, motorized couches on wheels, bizarrely ornamented school
buses covered in lights and tinsel and sculptures and messages, blaring
electronica and spoken-word poetry and strange vocal music, cruising
slowly across the desert at night with small crowds of dancers
following, like a hallucination.
I have seen men dangling in cylindrical cages being zapped by wicked
electrical lightning volts from a Tesla-like coil, called Dr. Megavolt.
I have seen voice-controlled spinning lights and whirling geometric
shapes and enormous working see-saws one-hundred-feet long, domed
hula-hoop rooms and black-light emporiums and surrealist wedding
chapels made of found plastic and resin and light, a life-size
wire-steel buffalo and huge laser pyramids and enormous surrealist
humanoid figures with single spotlights for eyes, made of wood and
cloth, facing each other and pointing long thin fingers menacingly,
strangely, beautifully.
I have experienced immersive aural experiences where you're encircled
by dozens of small powerful speakers out in the middle of nowhere,
stuck like matchsticks in the cracked desert crust, and you lie down
and close your eyes and suddenly feel like the ocean waves are crashing
at your feet or that you're surrounded by jungle birds or bizarre sound
pulses or are being frantically orbited by roaring race cars.
I have seen more exposed genitalia of both genders than at your average
porn convention but with zero pretentiousness and even less paranoia or
gawking or fear. I have seen naked tai chi and naked yoga and naked
dancing and naked bike riding and naked meditation circles and naked
painting and naked reading and naked laughing and naked walking around,
hanging out, doing nothing in particular.
By the second day I was wearing nothing but a sarong and dust-goggles
and silver nail polish and red body glitter and SPF 30 and nothing
else, and I was probably overdressed.
I have seen far too many visions and experienced far too many sensory
inputs and mental spankings and heartfelt funky communal connections to
be able to capture them all in words -- and that, I have realized, is
much of the point of Burning Man.
It not only defies you to capture its essence, it doesn't care one way
or the other, because it's all about being in the moment and letting go
and drilling down into what you think you know and realizing you've
probably been wrong all along because look over there, isn't that a
giant dusty red sailboat on wheels decorated like a giant serpent
carrying writhing neo-pagan dancers and a single musician playing an
electric cello backed by the beat of tribal drums? Why, yes it is.
Isn't that a 75-foot high golden lion being slowly pulled across the
playa by 400 participants all sweating and cheering and yelling and
laughing? Isn't that a two-story flower stuck in the ground, indicating
the presence of a makeshift dance club? Isn't that a full-size horse
skeleton half-sunk in the dust as if stranded by nomads, out in the
middle of the desert, context-free? Yes.
I wore a headlamp at night and you could float a small aircraft carrier
on all the water I drank during the week, because after all it is the
desert and it was 100 degrees during the day and dehydration is common,
and I camped with 15 wonderful and welcoming people who made all the
difference in the world, as wonderful and welcoming people always do.
You know who you are.
Like everyone else I used a bike as primary transport because that's
really the only way to see everything, even though I didn't, because
there was just so much, endless displays of creativity and
inventiveness, everywhere you turned someone imagining something unique
and colorful and anti-establishment and random, yet somehow perfect,
simple and amazing and generous and rarely stupid or insulting or
thuggish, things you'd never imagine yourself but which you take one
look at and say yes, yes of course, that's exactly as it should be.
There was no violence. There was no drunken grunting frat-boy moronism.
There was no caste system or hipster scene or dress code or clique
mentality. There was no road rage or fighting or guns. There was no
sneering or degradation. There was no meanness.
Nearly everyone decorated their tents somehow, even just a little, or
put on some sort of show, or held a twisted contest or offered to paint
your body or give you a pinwheel or spray you down in red beet juice or
serve you a free drink or a free kiss or a free shot of vodka or a free
anything, maybe just a free conversation, because at Burning Man there
is no commerce, no commercialism whatsoever.
Just a loose barter economy, many thousands of people commingling in
stress-free ways you never really imagined, with a pure and completely
open sort of laid-back, effortless, neighborly energy you never thought
possible and by the way it's not all potheads and Deadheads and
Phish-heads and nouveau hippie New Age goofballs chanting about pot and
patchouli and the Mother Goddess because then it would be annoying and
reductive and wrong.
I'm still re-orienting. Still processing. I stayed an extra night and
abused my column deadlines and lengthened my recovery time because I
wanted to watch the Mausoleum burn Sunday night, because it was by far
the most intensely felt structure, the most beautifully wrought
artistic work on the playa, created as it was as a memorial to the
dead, to, for example, anyone who succumbed to suicide or to children
who had died of disease. Just doesn't get much more intense than that.
And thousands of BM campers participated in its beauty by inscribing
their own highly personal messages of love and sadness and forgiveness
on small blocks of wood, which could be placed anywhere in the shrine,
or by way of thousands of messages written directly on the inside of
its bizarrely, intricately jigsawed walls. The building's torching was
the denouement, the quiet and more emotionally wrought apogee to
contrast the previous night's celebratory burning of the man. And it
burned hot and lucid and exquisite, like poetry.
As one camper who rode up to the event with me commented when I told
her it was my first time, she exclaimed to me how excited she was for
me, for what I was about to see and feel and experience, and shaking
her head in awe, struggling to find the right words, she finally said,
"There is nothing else like this happening in our lifetime, anywhere on
Earth."
Which may very well be an exaggeration. But somehow I don't think it
is.
Bill
"Ray" wrote
>
> Bill wrote:
> >
> > "Ray" wrote
> >
> > > These days the acts that I gravitate towards are usually
> > > playing in the clubs - for example I couple of weeks back I saw a
> > > killer Robert Walter/Skerik/Johnny Vicodovich show at the Independent
> > > (in SF, a relatively small club), and for $16.
> >
> > God fucking damn - was that the most awesome show ever??!!
>
> I really enjoyed the show. It was easily the best of the roughly
> 1/2-dozen Robert Walter-led shows I've seen (I like the 20th Congress,
> but I preferred that show to any 20th Congress show I've seen or
> heard), and it's prolly in the top ten shows I've seen so far this
> year.
>
> But, and no disrespect intended, that wasn't even the best show I saw
> in August, let alone ever.
Well I was not being completely serious when I said "was that the most
awesome show ever??!!" - just having a little fun expressing my enthusiasm
for a show I thought was awesome. In reality I could never pin down one
show as the best ever, even by one group (it's really ridiculous in the case
of the Grateful Dead IMO).
In my rating system, there's shows that are just so good I can't imagine
liking another show more (maybe as much but not more). In effect, such a
show "hits the ceiling." That Robert Walter show hit the ceiling for me.
The two Greyboy Allstars (the band I first became familiar with Robert
Walter) I saw in Dec, 2002 were also two shows that "hit the ceiling."
> The best show I saw in August was Garage A
> Trois at the Independent the week before, which also featured Skerik,
> along with Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, and Mike Dillon.
I was tempted to hit that show but a few weeks before that show, I saw
another show at The Independent with Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, Will
Bernard, and two others whose names I forget. I liked that show but it
didn't come close to "hitting the ceiling." The lineup for Garage A Trois
sounded too similar to that lineup so I was afraid I wouldn't dig it all
that much. Sounds like I made a mistake in missing it.
Robert Walter was let loose in the show with his own band compared to the
show with Stanton Moore. It was hard to believe it was the same person.
That's why I fear he'll do nothing with Kimock that he does when he's the
main guy.
> Relatively
> speaking GaT was much tighter as a unit - their 5 or so years of
> playing together has really started to pay off. That show, the best of
> the roughly 1/2-dozen Gat shows I've seen, is perhaps my favorite show
> so far this year and moreover featured the best extended percussion jam
> I've seen in recent memory. (BTW their recently released 2nd CD,
> "Outre Mer", is really good - recommended.)
I'll probably check them out soon assuming they do some gigs around here. A
band you should check out which might be in the same vein is Sex Mob or any
other band that Steve Bernstein (the leader of Sex Mob) is in. I've seen
bands with him twice in the last year or so (Sex Mob was one of them) and
both "hit the ceiling."
>
> > After that show
> > I'm ready to declare Robert Walter as the greatest musician alive right
> > now - the guy's a fuckin genius!!! Skerik and the bassist and drummer
were
> > excellent but Robert Walter! Wow!
>
> Walter is a talented keyboardist, and he was defintely 'on' at that
> show. But - and this is no knock on Walter - IMO he was the weakest of
> the four musicians up there.
We'll have to agree to disagree on that opinion. I thought he was the
driving force of the music being played at that show though I thought
everybody played great. I also thought when he was in the spotlight (so to
speak) in the show I saw with him, Stanton Moore, and Will Bernard, it was
the best part of the show. I really do think he's one of the most talented,
creative musicians out there today. He plays a lot and it's paid off IMO.
> Skerik is extremely talented, and John
> Vidacovich and Jim Singleton have *way* serious chops (both are members
> of New Orleans' contemporary jazz band 'Astral Project', FWIW). Indeed
> seeing Singleton soloing I realized it had been a too long since I'd
> seen a solo by a bassist of his caliber.
I thought he was good, really enjoyed his playing. If you want to see one
helluva bassist, then you must catch Sex Mob. That guy, Tony Scherr, is
unreal (as are the other three members in it). The drummer in that band,
Kenny Wollesen, is one of the best I've ever seen and the other horn player
besides Steve Bernstein, a guy by the name of Briggan Krauss, is an
extremely talented saxophonist. If you like Skerik, you've got to see
Briggan Krauss.
>
> > I shouldn't downplay how good the other three musicians in the band were
> > because together, all four musicians that night were making music on the
> > level of the 51 minute Weather Report jam from 6-28-74, in other words,
> > making music as good as it can get.
>
> I wouldn't go quite that far, but I agree that they were making some
> really good music.
Well as I've said, that band "hit the ceiling" for me that night. I don't
see bands jamming with that magical driving intensity very often and it's a
treat when I happen to catch such a show.
>
> > They were really clicking with each
> > other. I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere close to the level of the
> > Greyboy Allstars but it sure was.
> >
> > Speaking of the GA, I sure wish they'd get back together again and do
some
> > more gigs.
>
> Yeah the Greyboys a lot of fun to see live - they got the funk, and
> even though they rarely play together these days they can still turn on
> a dime.
Yeah there's a reason they can sell out the Fillmore two nights in a row
(like in December, 2002) despite no radio play, despite making few CDs,
despite not having played in years, despite only existing for a few years
when they were playing. And that reason is they contain some of the finest
musicians playing today who together are even greater than the sum of the
parts.
Based on the enthusiastic response they got the last time they got together
in 2002, I believe one of the days they'll get everybody together again and
do some gigs. My guess is that the only holdout to some GBA gigs is the
guitarist, Elgin Park (not his real name btw), since the other four are
either in Robert Walter's band or Karl Denson's I believe and cross paths
often.
Bill
>
> Ray
>
JC Martin
Yes he is. I've talked to him over the years and he's friends with some
of the jazz cats I know out here. Next time you see him, ask him where
Tony Williams ranks in the history of those who've gotten behind a drum
kit. Maybe you'll sober up a bit. Educate yourself. You can still
learn...one hopes anyway.
-JC