Prime Dead

I love this show; there's something here for everyone.



This was when the keyboardist, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, was fooling around with Janis Joplin. They had two things in common: love of liquor and song. She sings on this one, and a great song choice.

The Dead have gone through keyboardists like Spinal Tap drummers. But the lawr of averages says the next one should be OK.

Horne & Corden

A friend of mine showed some of these skits to me, and for the most part, they're really funny. The diving and gymnastics ones are great, too.

SHE CAN'T HIT!

In my excitement to be going to stay in Los Angeles for a while the day after tomorrow, I have been thinking about LA bands. Although I can't put my finger on an "LA sound" like I can with New York, and even some places in the South, there are some bands that are quintessentially "LA" to me. Jane's Addiction is the first one that pops in my head. Strange, since Perry Farrell is from NYC (born Peretz Bernstein) and Flea is from Australia, and I don't know where the other guys are from. Perry Farrell must be one of the strangest people around, which I guess if I looked like that it's the only direction I could go in also: "weird."

I can totally buy that these guys were surfer/slackers in LA and liked to rock. Stop! is one of my favorites, and there intermittently will be a video of them playing it back in the 80's with some nice surf clips. Also, my favorite version of the song provided is constantly being put up and taken down (at NBC's insistence) which was them playing it on SNL and Peretz Bernstein outdoing himself.



This is the longest intro to any song I've ever heard.

Funny Update: I was just in L.A. last weekend (9/4/09), and went to pick up some italian food to take back to the house for dinner, and Dave Navarro was eating with a chick at a table on the sidewalk at the restaurant. I performed one of my award-winning parallel parking jobs right beside him and his date.

What I found today

While rummaging through several dozen CD cases that contain CDs with images of events I'd rather forget, I stumbled upon these, which I hadn't seen in a very long time.



I saw many more shows than these indicate, but these have survived time. Some better than others. These were from Atlanta, D.C., Charlotte and St. Petersburg. I was on the road a lot in 1989 it seems. They didn't play much around where I lived; they only played once in S.C., and despite them playing many songs that mention Alabama, only played in AL once.

The top red one was a great show. The guest was Bruce Hornsby and when they played ILLR, it's started lightly raining. $21 to be on the 8th row to see the Grateful Dead on the field where the Redskins play as well isn't a bad deal. There was a Super-Weirdo on the train going there with us.

I included a (upside-down) Drivin' N Cryin' ticket that was stuck in there for some reason. When I went to see them at the King Street Palace, which was a small arena in Charleston, I ran into a childhood friend I hadn't seen in ages(to a 19 year old) while we were waiting for the band to take the stage. As I was talking to him with the house lights up, someone launched a combat boot across the place. Guess who didn't even see it coming and was hit in the side of the head with it? I'm sure that was memorable for him as well. Someone also fell out of the balcony and cracked their head open on the floor where we were. I wouldn't have thought a DNC show would have been so dangerous.

Why I hate Hyatt

I once owned a franchise which required extensive training to be given to me, specifically in-store, in the other corner of the state. For the two months I trained, I stayed at a Hyatt hotel, which was conveniently located on Main Street in downtown Greenville, SC, across from the store I trained in. I cut a deal with them for staying there for so long, but it still amounted to a pretty large bill. (I did get the best rooms, however, which were surprisingly nice and very cool, such as a long triangular room with all glass on 2 sides).

What I should have negotiated was free Wi-Fi. I couldn't believe I was expected to pay $10 a day for internet service at a hotel that normally charges $200/night for a standard room. I stayed there so sporadically, it wouldn't have benefitted me to purchase more "air time." The entire area of Main Street has free Wi-Fi, but it's cleverly blocked from the hotel that sits on Main St. I wouldn't recommend hanging around on Main Street after midnight with an expensive laptop.

So I was stuck there one weekend, and had been there for days, and was going stir crazy. I don't drink, and was married at the time, so that limited my options for recreation. Greenville doesn't have much of a nightlife to begin with. Friday night I stayed in and watched probably my 1,000th episode of "Forensics Files," in order to save $10 and not bother with the cyber world.

I love bluegrass, and was up near bluegrass country, so Saturday I paid the $10, and looked online for open mikes, jams, gigs, anything to go to for some local amateur entertainment. I discovered Del McCoury made an appearance and gave a free show at a coffeehouse/CD store 1 block from my hotel the night before. That's when depression set in. The problem, you see, is that if I had paid the ridiculous $10 surcharge the previous night, I would have seen the gig, and been set. Instead I missed probably my only chance I'll ever have to see Del, who I consider a legend, do what he does best.



Those are his sons that play with him. I couldn't imagine playing and touring with my dad for as long as they have. But he seems like a really nice guy. He's a big Christian, and forbids swearing on tour. His band is probably in a very small minority that doesn't tolerate any cursing on their tours. And you don't see hair like that much anymore.

His cover of Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning is my favorite by him. Slow bluegrass doesn't do much for me most of the time.

Oneupsmanship

Someone sent me the transcript to this, and I'm pretty sure it's the hardest I've ever laughed from reading something. This pretty much takes care of any joke about oneupsmanship(I like that word), because it's perfect.



Apparently, not everyone likes Monty Python. I can appreciate that; it's just as some people don't like cartoons, or science fiction, or fantasy. I hate horror movies and pretty much any movie that spends over 1/4 of it dealing with a romantic relationship or just talking. Those camps are pretty well separated into male/female, although there are exceptions. Finding a girl who is an exception is nice.

The Boss has retired.

Man, what happened to Bruce Springsteen? When he was young, he was the crazy New Jersyer from ovah by the shoah, that sang for the working man, belted out some heartfelt rock and wrote 'The River' and this awesome (my favorite) ballad. I like the lyrics and Clarence's red suit(always) and Bruce jumping off the damn piano and just wearing it out. Not to mention I wonder what it would be like for a strange woman to approach you and touch you as if you were some god, as done in this video (Don't you hate when embedding is disabled?): Stuck somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

Then, next thing you know he's bopping around with Courtney Cox after hitting GNC, hard. Other than hitting the gym, he released "Born in the USA," not to be confused with "Born to Run." Although I must admit it was a pretty good album and was a unifying piece of work, but it's when he crossed the line. I grew up near Darlington County, so he had 15,000 sure sales right there.

Now when I see him it's usually for some democrat fundraiser or on a commercial for AIDS or something. Whatever mellowed him out, I don't want.