Expresso Joe (Bonamassa)

Well if two Frampton shows is better than one, and two Buckingham shows is better than one ... two Bonamassa shows are in order!

Wow, what a difference a week makes! Some artists react differently to different venues, and as many times as I have seen Joe Bonamassa, I've never seen him perform at the level he did at BB King's in New York. He joined the stage (to quote one of my old trading buddies, always liked that turn of phrase) with his hair slicked back, a great pair of Ray-Bans, and an even better suit. That set the tone for the evening and we were totally off to the races:



The show was sold out and the place was *packed* - way to go Joe!

As always, there are more vids for your viewing pleasure ... enjoy!

~G

Good Things Come in ... Twos?

As I suggested earlier this summer, "what's better than one Frampton show? TWO Frampton shows!", and continuing in that vein, if one Lindsey Buckingham show is good, two must be better, right?

Buckingham chose to end his tour at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. Stylistically from the decor it appears to be a classic from the early part of the century, but once you walk into the theater proper (which only seats 1,650) it's clear that it's totally a 21st century venue, with custom designed acoustic tile, and an incredible PA system that has to be heard to be believed. Really, it's almost more of a TV studio than a typical venue.

The crowd stayed seated (assisted in this by the zealous security) which led to the energy level from the band being a bit more muted than in the previous gig in Atlantic City but it certainly didn't reflect on the artist. There's a common thread that draws people to that athlete that throws themselves into harm's way with reckless abandon, the writer that suffers for the craft, and it comes through in Buckingham's sincerity. He spoke again about the commercial nature of the Fleetwood Mac "machine" (as he called it) and really seemed to enjoy just playing things he really wanted to play, with no real need to "sell" to this audience.

This is totally sickening guitar playing!

As usual we "personally upgraded" our seats, being familiar with the setlist we dodged the security (complete with going out one door, turning around, and coming back in as if we were returning to our seats!) and made it right up front.

Quite often I'll be at a show and hear a performer do something extraordinary, and there's part of me thinking "I sure hope this is being recorded for posterity". Then again, being a few feet away from Lindsey as he performed the final encore of
"Time Precious Time" was totally mesmerizing, and as we left, that was my first thought ... I don't *need* a recording of that. It'll be in my mind as if it were live, for the rest of my life!

It was a great show, also check out the other clips on youtube.

~G

A Shot of Joe

On Wednesday, October 15, it was time for a shot of Joe at "The National" in Richmond, Virginia. This is a cool old theatre that has been recently restored. Muchos Gracias to a buddy who hooked me up front row center (seriously, the only way for a better seat would be on stage). Joe just keeps getting better every year, but it's nice to see that in some ways he's still "the same old Joe" ... humble, and easily one of the nicest, most genuine people in show business.

Tonally, Joe has changed over the years, and if anything he's gotten even more totally in control of the instrument ... but with finesse and ultimate attention to detail, down to the "Gibbons Wrap" on the tailpiece of his signature Les Paul.



As always, Joe reminds me a bit of the late (and sorely missed) Danny Gatton in the eclectic nature of his influences, and Joe always tosses in little bits of esoterica for the fans to spot. Notably on this night, it was a few notes from Eric Clapton's soundtrack work in the BBC miniseries "Edge of Darkness". Gear-wise, Joe's got a new toy to play with, but as with all great players, the sound isn't so much in the gear, as in the fingertips, as he amply demonstrated with just an acoustic ... enjoy!



~G

(And as usual there are more photos for you to check out!

The Great Mac Attack

After a weekend off for a musical break, on Saturday October 11 it was off to Atlantic City to meet up with the Dynamic (and sleep deprived) duo to see Lindsey Buckingham at the Xanadu Theater at Trump Casino.

Having only known Buckingham's music through the pop prism of Fleetwood Mac, I was unfamiliar with his solo material. I've observed over the years that at any "arena rock" show with 20,000 fans, there really are probably 2,500 real "fans" there, and the others are the casual fans just familiar with what they hear on the radio. During the heyday of the giant touring machine known as Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler used to refer to those masses as "the tourists", i.e. those who are really attending just to check out what the fuss is all about. Buckingham was really upfront about the conflicting needs of those groups, and spoke at length about how playing these solo shows in a more intimate venue was a necessary part of the creative process ... and for us, a fun one, too! I went in a Tourist, and walked out a Fan.

The first part of the show was a bit tame, as casio shows can be as the front section where we were was clearly a comp area for "high rollers". The preshow announcement had clearly stated "no personal seat upgrades" but that is exactly what the REAL fans did, and by midshow the front of the stage was packed and the energy level of the band really went into the stratosphere.

Of course I took some pictures for you, dear reader, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, the following video is worth a million, and as good as this is, it was about a million times better in person ... make sure you play this in "high quality" mode - enjoy!



~G

A Triple Shot

Obviously double headers and two-fers were busy, but not busy enough! So on the weekend of September 26-27, we set out not for a double, but a triple!



Friday night started off at the legendary Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, NJ, with one of my favorite artists - who, coincidentally, I've never seen live - Popa Chubby. The Park Blog has all the cool details, it was a fantastic night of red hot blues-rock.

Here are more pix from the show and of course we have more video as well!

Saturday morning, we were off to MSG for a preseason game between the New Jersey Devils and the infamous New York Rangers. New York fans have unfairly gotten a bum rap for being awful audiences at music performances, and after seeing so many gigs in other venues, I have now realized, it's not New York fandom, it's that shows at the Garden are infested with asshole Rangers fans that have tainted the place. Don't believe me? Ask Kevin Smith.

Not being a sports guy, at first I thought this blanket charge about Rangers fans was a little overblown, but after experiencing it firsthand even as far out as Cape Cod, I constructed a handy little Venn Diagram as a visual aid:



So with this graphic it is much easier to see how this works: not all assholes are Rangers fans, and not all Rangers fans are assholes. BUT, if you are a Rangers fan, it's statistically very likely that you are an asshole. Glad to help clear that up!

After a nice dinner, we headed to New York's legendary Carnegie Hall to see Italian mega-rock star Zucchero. I was concerned before the show that the crowd might be too staid in such a august place, and was reassured by friends that we would be surrounded by "crazy Italians" and boy did they deliver! It was an awesome show, and the crowd was up out of their seats dancing and having a great time for the majority of the evening.



There's not a bad seat in the house, and the famed acoustics are all they are supposed to be, although for some reason that doesn't come out well in the recording from my camera. I would have taken more video but I had an irresistible urge to dance, sorry!

I've got to admit, musically, this was a hard duo to beat! Some punter in the audience once asked Pete Townshend "how do you follow that?" to which he replied "play another song!" so ... onto the next gig!

~G

Squeezing It Out

On Friday, September 19 we took a trip to New York's famous Radio City Music Hall to see Squeeze. This was a little off the beaten path for me, musically. Although I have my "guilty pleasure" pop that I secretly enjoy (hey, I did get to see Colin Hay play several "Men at Work" songs with Ringo Starr earlier this summer!), I was really only familiar with the ubiquitous "Tempted".

My main surprise was that these guys can not only play, but really got into some totally deep fried southern chickin' pickin' telecaster, with a British bent of course. Having listened to the studio work - which, frankly, bores me - I can't figure out why people with this much musical talent would go out of their way to hide it when recording! They really stepped it up Nashville style with songs like "Annie Get Your Gun".

Check it out:



And, please, whatever you do ... don't mention "Black Coffee in Bed" T-Shirts!

~G

Another Two-Fer

Talk about a two-fer / double header (even the headers come in twos!).

First was Robert Randolph and the Family Band on the "Music Builds" tour at the Virginia Beach Ampitheater. I was so excited to snap up 3rd row center tickets at the presale that I didn't notice that RRFB were on a bill with a bunch of other artists that ... I'd hate. Well, not hate, just be bored to tears by! Robert's set was a bit constrained by time and he did his best to get people up and out of their seats, but it was an uphill battle and I can't wait to see Robert again in a solo gig like I did back in June.



I thought Robert was the total high energy guy, and after a long train ride I was totally unprepared for how much I'd love Dana Fuchs and her great band. Totally blown away, and ladies and gentlemen, do not walk, RUN to grab tickets the next time this gal is in your neighborhood. As usual, the Park Blog contains all the salient details better than I can, so check it out!

~G

A Double Header!

This week, we head to yet another landmark and attend one of the final games to be held at Yankee Stadium. It's amazing to me that something with this much history can be just torn down and turned into a parking lot!

One of the tricks in life is, at times, knowing when not to push back against fate too much, and learning that sometimes things aren't meant to happen. This was the case back when Jerry Lee Lewis canceled his show at BB King's in Manhattan - we couldn't even head to the bar to get the drinks we wanted, and clearly we were not meant to be there!

So on the 30th, the opposite was true and as our other plans fell through, it was totally obvious that we were *meant* to be at BB's to see the reincarnation of The Motels.



Martha is sounding better than ever, and has put a lot of work into reinventing her earlier material. A fine time was had by all including Martha who was really moved by the response of the crowd, saying "Stop it, you're gonna make me f-in cry!"

As always, the photos here as well as video clips by my trusty camera.

Enjoy!
~G

Amusements of a Different Kind

This week, Park took a break from music for a trip to the REAL Nathan's Famous on the boardwalk at New York's Coney Island. With the summer season winding down, this was possibly our last chance to visit this famous landmark before the seas of change swept it away for good.

As always, here are the pictures, as well as the Official Park Review. Enjoy!

Next Week ... the Grim Reapers of Tourism visit another landmark slated to fade into history ...

~G

Do You Feel (Like We Do?)

What's better than being right in front of the stage and seeing Peter Frampton on a beautiful summer night?

Seeing Peter Frampton on TWO beautiful summer nights!

On August 16 and 17, Frampton closed out his summer tour with two back-to-back shows at Williamsburg, Virginia's Busch Gardens. Having recently inducted the "Funk Brothers" into the songwriter's Hall of Fame, Frampton opened the set with "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and "Shotgun / The Jerk", and then veered into both classics and some newer songs and instrumentals. One of the more interesting songs of the evening for me was Frampton's take on Chris Cornell's (Soundgarden) "Black Hole Sun" which he really made his own.

Always a tone hound, Frampton played a variety of guitars, including a Frampton signature issue Les Paul, a Goldtop, a '59 (60?) Reissue LP, and best of all, a sweet sounding cherry red ES-335. Peter's golden locks may have gone gray, but his fingers are fast as ever, and the tone still fat and sassy! One interesting change from years past is that "Show Me The Way" is played with a fat, Gibson sound rather than the crisp Fender-y sound of the past ... it works!

With many classic artists, the scariest seven words they can say are "here's a song from my new album" but Frampton never disappoints. The close on both nights was a sweet version of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

Here's the setlist:

Shotgun / The Jerk
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Lines On My Face
Show Me the Way
By Your Side
Float
Boot it Up
Black Hole Sun
Baby, I Love Your Way
(I'll Give You) Money
Do You Feel Like We Do?
Off the Hook >
While My Guitar Gently Weeps

You can see my photos from the shows here.

Next week ... Park goes to Coney Island!

~G

Riding (to see) The King

On Saturday, August 9, we went to see B.B. King at the Ferguson Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va.

At 82, he doesn't play much - but when he does, he's still got "the tone" and can hit "the note". That incredible vibrato is always there, and the voice ... oh, my.

Click Here For Photos

In other news, with help of The Organized One, I finally got started on cabinets to house the music collection (Ikea HOPEN, not in the catalog) and the sorting process has begun!

So perhaps for the first time in years ... I'll actually be able to FIND STUFF??

~G

Setlist acquisition ...

Setlist from the Trucks / Tedeschi "Soul Stew" show at the "Melody Tent", Hyannis, Cape Cod, 2 August 2008.

~G

Updates From the Road

Weekend last was Mark Knopfler at NJPAC in Newark, NJ. Beautiful venue, and perhaps the best sound I've ever encountered. I did pull the gig (2nd row, 2nd balcony) with a new set of Church Audio cards / Church 9100+ preamp. Haven't had time to work on it yet, this may be stellar. Next night, out to Oyster Bay on Long Island for Rick Springfield, who is the most well preserved 59 year old man I have ever seen. This goes beyond even Dick Clark standards. Puts on a good, fun show. Plus he picked on me. I'll be forever scarred by the words "Sir ... you DON'T want to do that".

This past weekend we packed up and headed to Hampton Beach, NH and Hyannis, Cape Cod, for 2 back to back Trucks / Tedeschi Soul Stew shows. Pai summed them up well:

http://whereinthefnworldispark.blogspot.com/2008/08/stewing-in-our-juices.html

I did not pull either show but the Hampton Beach show is up on archive.org for easy downloading:

http://www.archive.org/details/dtb2008-08-01.earthworks.flac16f

I got the camera unloaded fully today (it hasn't been getting along with my PC), and the photos from the trip are up, from the 2nd show at the Cape Cod Melody Tent:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AlmightyGeetarz/2008_08_02

It's a cool (well not cool, actually a little warm inside) venue with a slowly rotating stage, so every seat is fantastic. One has to wonder ... if they built the same thing in the southern hemisphere, would it rotate in the other direction? Enquiring minds and all that.

There are also selected clips from the Hyannis show up on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sLI0aB1kpQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1PM72DH9jc

Not sure what is going on with my camera, this is the 2nd time I have shot video and it's "disappeared" in the days between when it was shot and when I got home. Last time I had been fidding with the camera, this time I didn't touch it! Going to try and format the card, but there were several videos on there that have disappeared into the aether.

Last but not least, be sure to check out more of the Soul Stew shows, they are no where near as fun as they are in person but still a blast:

http://bt.etree.org/index.php?cat=60

This weekend: 3rd row for B.B. King @ the Ferguson Center in Newport News, Tuesday is Robert Randolph and the Family Band (and a bunch of bands I know nothing about), and next weekend, 2 back to back Peter Frampton shows at Busch Gardens.

See y'all on the road!

~G

P.S. Check out the new SUPERCOOL SUNGLASSES we picked up at a flea market in Cape Cod for Cody Husky .... stylin!!!!

The Incredible Disappearing Blog

During some site maintenance, the Geetarz blog was mistakenly disappeared from the server. Unfortunately, past posts have gone into the electronic ether, but now ... we begin again!

~G

Today in EC History ...

On this day in EC History ...

George Harrison - along with EC and his regular touring band - continued a tour of Japan.

A listen to recordings of this performance will make one wonder what the Suits at the label were thinking when they chose the recordings to be used for the official live CD from this tour, as the tracks used for that project have always struck some of us as some of the weaker performances from those shows.

Even more importantly, "what were they smoking" is the question at hand, when one considers that EC's solo set was also cut from the finished product. There are as many (or more) legends and rumors about the reasons why as there are about the non-release of "Nothing But the Blues". EC's management said no. The label said no. Harrison's ego said no. The boys were fighting by the end of the tour. Who knows?

Perhaps the real reason was that GH and EC realized some of the irony of EC performing not only "Wonderful Tonight" but also "Old Love" - two songs written about/for Patti Boyd HARRISON - in his set. Not to mention Harrison also performing "Something" - GH claimed he didn't write it for Patti, but we all *know* that he did. Perhaps they should have been called., the "Patti" concerts.

In order to help right this wrong, here we present to you one of the finest EC performances not only of that tour, but of that entire decade, and perhaps beyond, this one from the recording "Live in Peace" on the FrontPage label:

http://www.geetarz.org/reviews/clapton/live-in-peace.htm

http://www.geetarz.org/tunez/12-06-live-in-peace-pretending.m4a

Enjoy!