Jason Falkner at the Roxy

Thursday night I saw Jason Falkner here in LA. My good friend Dean Truitt continues to be in his band. He is actually getting ready to do a small tour of Japan as part of Jason's touring band next week.

I arrived at the show around 9:45. The first band was a female solo artist named Annie Stela. She was backed by bass and drums. She had both good songs and a good voice. The only critique is the band needed a guitar player. The songs sounded a little empty with keyboards as the primary instrument.

The second band up was Castledoor. They were entertaining and had a great full sound. The had some unique instrumentation including xylophone/bells. I liked their up tempo songs more so then the laid back ones.

Jason Falkner hit the stage right at 11:30 and played an hour and a half set. I stood in front of Dean for most of the set and was able to get some good pictures at the start of the show. I think I worried Dean's girlfriend because I was taking pictures of only Dean and not Jason. Probably thought I was some gay stalker of Dean's, haha!

Since I left my camera's memory card on my desk at home, I was limited to a small number of pictures.

Highlights for me included the songs The Neighbor, and They Put Her In The Movies, I Don't Mind, and Stephanie Tells Me. I can still vividly remembering hearing Dean play the little keyboard riff on guitar at the Viper Room the first time I saw Falkner perform They Put Her In The Movies. A great song.

A good portion of the set consisted of new material so after few songs into the set I walked over to the merch booth to get the new disc. I am not that familiar with Jason's older material other than the Bliss ep but I find I like the newer songs more so than his older material.

The show was great, definitely the best of the three times I've seen them. Jason's voice was spot on and the band was tight. This was also the first time I had been to the Roxy where the sound was crystal clear. Always a treat to be at a great sounding show!

Jason Falkner
September 13, 2007
The Roxy Theatre
Los Angeles, CA

This Time
NYC
The Neighbor
Stephanie Tells Me
The Put Her In The Movies
Runaway
Anondah
Komplicated Man
The Knew
Princessa
Holiday
Contact
I Don't Mind
All God's Creatures
Honey

Encore
This Life
Goodnight Sweet Night
Gimmi Gimmi
Miss Understanding

I met Dean's girlfriend during my picture taking and was able to talk to Dean for a bit after the show. While we talked Jason's mother came over and said hi to Dean. She mistakenly thought I was the guitar player so I had to point her towards Dean. While talking with her and Dean I found out that Jason's brother is the dancer in Beck's touring band. And to think we watched the Beck Saturday Night Live performance over and over because of the dancing.

I ended up talking with Dean and his friends until the club kicked us out. I got home a little after 2am.

Steve Vai at the Wiltern

Last Tuesday I went to the Steve Vai show at the Wiltern. The first opening act was Orianthi, a female singer/guitarist from Australia. She was a good looking girl in her early 20s that could shred on guitar but I was put off by her not acknowledging her band and her repeated references to this is "my" song, and this is the last song "I'm" going to play. I suspect the band were hired guns for the tour but regardless it turned me off. She was still developing her own identity but the crows liked her and she looks to have a bright future in the US.

Second act was Zack Wiesinger. Very entertaining. He played his set solo during the set change, so while crew was on stage removing the first acts gear he was going from mic, to guitar, to amp that was available at that time and playing. Covers included The Munsters theme, James Bond theme, and Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). He also sat in on guitar during some of Steve's set.

Right as Steve's set was about to start I spotted John 5 in the balcony on the first row. Steve's set lasted right at 2 1/2 hours with virtually no breaks. With two violin players, and the arrival of a new bass player I wasn't sure what to expect. The start of the set was unfamiliar to me which was surprising considered I've followed his music very closely since the mid 80s. As he settled into the set things were familiar once again and he had good cross section of material including selections from two of my favorites Real Illusions: Reflections and Fire Garden Suite.

Highlights for me were Firewall, including a great reading of the intro lyric by Steve, The Crying Machine, Bryan was able to play some killer bass, the intro to Damn Good, and as always For The Love Of God.

Steve Vai
September 11, 2007
The Wiltern
Los Angeles, CA

Now We Run
Oooo
Building The Church
Tender Surrender
Band Introductions - with a James Brown Bit with Steve saying in a James Brown voice I gotta kiss myself.
Firewall
The Crying Machine
Dave's Solo
I'm Becoming
Die To Live
Freak Show Excess w/ bass solo
The "Vai-oi-lins" Solo w/ excerpt from Crossroads

Acoustic Set
At start of set Steve mentions 9/11
Damn Good intro ->
All About Eve
Steve and Jeremy (drummer) banter with Jeremy showing off "The Beast"
Angel Food
Drum Solo
Audience Is Listening
The Murder
Juice
Whispering a Prayer
Taurus Bulba

Encore
Liberty
Answers
For The Love of God

I received a meet and greet pass through a promotion on his website. So after the show I headed to the meet and greet line. The line was extremely long by the time I found where I needed to be so it took a little over an hour just to say hi to Steve. I also had his most recent cd signed and was able to get a picture with him.

While waiting I was able to talk to Bryan Beller his new bass player. Bryan remembered me from seeing and talking to him at many of the Keneally shows. He was telling me about now that he has both moved to Nashville and is on tour with Vai he is getting more gig offers in LA than he ever had previously. Feast or famine for the musicians. He seems to be having a great time and I also saw him catching up with many of his LA friends after we talked. He said he'll be back in LA for some gigs at the start of the year but will be booked on Vai's tour until then.

It was a long night but well worth it.

Rocky Mountains

On the final day of our trip the family ventured out to Rocky Mountain National Park. I had mis-booked our flights so when I attempted to reschedule the flights on Labor Day were booked so we had an extra day in Denver. Unfortunately Jacki wasn't feeling well so she tried her best to support Darian and I on our outing.

We set off around 10am towards Estes Park. Along the way we drove through Boulder and made it to Estes shortly after noon. The road between Boulder and Estes Park was full of bicyclists. Some of the cyclists were cruising along and others looked as though they were struggling to make it up some of the hills. Needless to say I would have been in the struggling camp. I was surprised that they shared the road with cars driving 55-65 mph.

Once in Estes Park Darian and I ate at a KFC/Taco Bell combo place, and we picked Jacki up subway. While waiting in the parking lot I took a picture of some lightning from a storm that was passing through. We waited the storm out and then got back on the road to the park.

Our first stop was the Park and Ride to Bear Lake. Jacki stayed in the car and slept and Darian and I took the bus to the Lake. We walked around the entire lake and took quite a few pictures. It was an overcast day with drizzling so it wasn't as picturesque as I was hoping. On the way back we walked through Glacier Gorge and then took the bus back to the park and ride.

Our next stop was Sprague lake. Park buses didn't take visitors so there was a lot less traffic and people walking around. In some ways that made this a better lake to visit. The pictures also came out better at this lake then at Bear Lake. Darian kept Jacki company. As I walked the 1/2 mile around the lake I saw a chipmunk and some ducks. Once I got back to the car Jacki was feeling better.

Our next stop was Fern Lake. The guide I printed off of the internet mentioned we may even see some Elk. On the way to the lake we noticed a number of cars pulled over to the side of the road. We decided to stop and noticed that there were two giant elk in the meadows. The horns on these elk looked as large as some of the small trees they were standing by. No one ventured close and kept their distance and took photos. They had to have been at least 50-75 yards from the road.

Further down the road we drove through a pack of close to 10 female elk. There was even a smaller baby elk in the herd. They were eating leaves from trees that lined the road. After driving through I walked back and took some more pictures. We were able to get within about 10 feet of these elk. Jacki said seeing the elk made the trip worthwhile.

As we headed back to US 34 we saw a coyote running on the top of a small hill close to where the two male Elk were that we originally spotted. Darian said the coyote runs and looks like a dog. We got back onto US 34 and drove through Deer Junction. Jacki spotted a deer running on one of the hills. Giant antelers but looked a little on the thin side.

Once up the road we accidentally made a wrong turn and ended outside of the park. After a u-turn and a visit to the information area we got back on track for Old Falls road. The family wasn't all that fond of driving up a one way dirt road in the rain on the side of a mountain, although I found it easier to navigate than the roads on Pike's Peak.

At the end of the 10 mile road we made it to the top of one of the peaks. I took some cool pictures and then we were off to our final destination in the park, Millner's Pass at the Continental Divide. The divide is the point where bodies of water drain to. On one side of the divide about 50 yards from the sign the water drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other side with a small lake about a 100 yards away the lake drains into the Pacific Ocean.

At this point the sun was going down and entering into dusk. We drove through the backside of the park, saw a few more elk, and believe we saw some moose as we exited the park. After dinner in Winter Park we made it back to Denver. When it was all said and done it was right at a 12 hour day. By 10:30pm we were back in our hotel room packing for our flight the next morning.

Pictures from our trip to Colorado

Here are pictures from our weekend in Colorado. The first album are pictures from the wedding events of Brett and Sandy McGarity. Including rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.

Brett And Sandy McGarity Wedding

The second album includes pictures from Pike's Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Colorado Mountains

Kings Of Leon at the Greek

The entire family ventured out Friday evening to the Greek Theatre to see Kings Of Leon. I left work a little early to pick up D. After sitting in traffic for over an hour we met Jacki for a quick dinner at Chipotle and then headed to the show.

Kings Of Leon
Greek Theatre
Los Angeles, CA
September 7, 2007

started at 9:17pm
intro music
Black Thumbnail
Charmer
Taper Jean Girl (?)
King Of The Rodeo
My Party
Soft
True Love Way
Fans
Arizona
McFearless
Molly's Chambers
The Bucket
Milk
On Call
California Waiting
Spiral Staircase
Trani

encore
Knocked Up
Four Kicks
Slow Night, So Long
Ends 10:37pm

I mistyped Taper Jean Girl on my Helio so I'm not positive I have it in the correct place in the set list. It either came before Charmer or after Charmer. I think I have it in the right place based on previous KOL set lists.

Opening acts were Manchester Orchestra and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Manchester was from Atlanta and we only caught their last song. BRMC played a solid set but probably didn't make any new fans. The lighting made it next to impossible to see the band and their energy level on stage didn't extend to the crowd.

KOL has now reached the big time in the US. I remember seeing them play a small tent at Bonnaroo back in 2004 and now they are packing the Greek in LA that holds 6000+. The band still has a bad habit of playing with their backs to the crowd but Caleb has become a much better front man and no longer looks intimidated by the audience.

They had a minimal headlining stage that featured the light bulb from their new album cover. They had 4 giant light bulb tapestries that were evenly spaced on stage behind the band and amps. They even brought a set of 4 disco balls out on tour that lowered a couple of times during the show. Oddly they didn't put a spotlight on the disco balls so it didn't become part of the light show. The stage backdrop featured a giant Kings Of Leon logo in the same style as that on the Aha Shake Heartbreak album.

Although their energy level wasn't as high as when I had seen them previously, they did perform a strong show that had the audience rocking along for the entirety of their short 80 minute set.

Brett and Sandy

We just wrapped a weekend of wedding festivities for Brett and Sandy. We took a lazy Saturday and headed to the rehearsal shortly after lunch. We did two full run throughs of the the ceremony so we could see what the cues were as well as see how things would be laid out. I had a reading near the beginning of the ceremony. I read the following piece, and after the wedding ceremony I received many compliments for the piece, although I did not choose the selection.

Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love,” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
And when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches,
They find that they are one tree and not two.
(Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres)

After the rehearsal we drove around, checked out Red Rocks, and then headed to the rehearsal dinner at Cool River Cafe. Brett and I went to Cool River Cafe years ago when I was in Denver for business so it was neat to see he selected the same place for rehearsal dinner.

There were many tributes to Brett and Sandy from friends and family. Of course I was expected to say something and ended up being the emotional one for the evening. Well at least I tried to speak from the heart. After the dinner Mac, Brett's dad, took a small group of us out to Dave and Busters for some beers and to shoot pool.

The big day was Sunday. The morning started early with a wedding breakfast. The group was a little larger than the dinner the night before and I was able to see Nicole, a college friend of Brett's, who I hadn't seen in years. I also met her husband and they ended up sitting with us at the breakfast. The breakfast provided a good opportunity to talk to Linda, Brett's mother, about the infamous fire incident. After all these years she had never heard that story. I was also able to catch up with many other of Brett's family and friends. My mom and Marvin were also there so they were making the rounds with Jacki. Brett showed up early and left after about 30 minutes and Sandy showed up after Brett left for the last half.

The wedding was in the afternoon. We arrived about 30 minutes before the wedding. Mac escorted Jacki to her seat and Darian was escorted as well. I followed them and we were seated on the third row. Frank, a friend of Brett's from highschool, also sat on our row. The ceremony went off without a hitch, I was able to get through my reading without problem and then Brett and Sandy were officially married. It was great to see how happy the two of them are.

The reception ended the night with dinner and dancing. For those of you that know me well I'm not much of a dancer. I enjoy myself by taking pictures and just hanging back. Well after much prodding by my family and even Brett I had to give in when the last song of the night ended up being "I Could Not Ask For More" by Edwin McCain. This was mine and Jacki's wedding song and afterwards we talked to Brett and he mentioned that he liked that song from our wedding and wanted it to be their first song at his wedding. Sandy ended up picking the first song so Brett made it the final dance of the evening. It was very touching to know that we had touched his wedding in such a special way.

We said our goodbyes to Brett, his family, and to my Mom and Marvin. A very rewarding trip and we are grateful to have been included in both the wedding itself and all of the weekend's festivities.

The top of Colorado

Yesterday we ventured out in Colorado. We took a drive up to the top of Pike's Peak yesterday. The summit is 14,110 feet. It was a stunning view from the top although at the high altitude I felt both light headed and sluggish. At one point I nearly feel trying to get into the car. Darian had no problems and Jacki felt a little like me just not as severe.

I also learned I don't know how to drive a giant SUV down a mountain. We rented a Trailblazer for the trip. At the break check about 1/3rd of the way back down the mountain they had us pull our car over because the brake oil was over 450 degrees. They said they stop cars over 300 degrees. We hung out for about 20-30 minutes and then proceeded to drive in first gear the majority of the trip down to the bottom.

After Pike's Peak we went to the Garden Of The Gods. This was the coolest looking exposed Red Rock I have ever seen. The write ups in the tour guides don't do it justice. We saw a picture on a postcard at the top of Pike's Peak and decided we needed to check it out. The shapes of the rock were very unique and it was remarkable that all of this occurred naturally. This is highly recommended if you ever make it to the Denver or Colorado Springs area. Many of the grounds around the red rock was landscaped with both hiking trails and sidewalk trails that also had the same color as the red rock.

We walked around for about an hour and checked out some of the different areas of the park. After a quick trip through the vistor's center we headed back to Denver.

We met up wtih my Mom and Marvin for dinner at Old Chicago and afterwards I was able to meet up with Brett and catch up. It was good to have some one on one time to catch up before all of the wedding activities. Today we have the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and tomorrow is the big day.

Now we are off to get ready.

To Denver

We are currently sitting at the airport heading off for a wedding and brief vacation. One of my best friends Brett is finally getting married. I'm looking forward to catching up with him tomorrow since it has been nearly 5 years since we've seen one another.

More later...

Zappa Plays the Wiltern

This past Thursday Jacki and went to the Wiltern to see the second year of the Zappa Plays Zappa tour led by Dweezil Zappa. As we were driving up to the show we saw a former co-worker of mine, JT, walking down the street about a block from the venue. After a quick hello through the car window we headed to the venue to get parked.

Once inside we did a quick run through merch. I purchased the recently released cds, The Dub Room Special, MOFO Project / Object, and Buffalo and saw they had a number of autographed tour programs so I also purchased one of those.

Once inside the venue we made our way down front. Our tickets were for the pit section right in front of the stage. The Wiltern security gives the pit people a wrist band and then they take your ticket. At the end of the night they return tickets randomly so you don't get the actual ticket you purchased. The scan to the right is of our purchased ticket.

We picked our place against the rail just to the left of center stage. Prior to the show we saw world famous guitar tech Thomas Nordegg tuning guitars and performing last minute prep on stage. We also saw Joe Travers, drummer for ZPZ, standing on the side of the stage. He recognized Jacki and I and waved to us from the wings.

The show started shortly after 8pm. Dweezil walked out alone and then the rest of the band quickly took their places on stage. As I saw some other reviews mention the special guests of last year were both highlights of that tour and a distraction from the show. This year Ray White was the only special guest and played an integral part of the show. As a result this show was all about Frank's music.

I was familiar with only 1/3rd of the set. I knew more of last year's material so this year's set list will be a good jumping off point to discover more Zappa. The band was much tighter this year. Up against the stage we could hear a combination of the side fills, the live percussion from the stage and Dweezil's amps that were only 10 feet in front of us. This was one of the first times where I could tell that the tone coming from the live amp was integral to the music being performed. Another surprise was Dweezil is a much better player this year. Although when Dweezil is trading off leads with Frank (on the big video screen), Frank still has the upper hand, both in tone and in the creativity of the solos.

My favorite moment of the set was when Dweezil and Frank were trading solos in Cosmik Debris during the solos. Dweezil's solo was one of his best of the show and then for Frank to close out the song was surreal. The integration between the live band and the video footage of Frank was much better this year. Other highlights included the improv section of Dupree's Paradise, Uncle Remus and Joe's Garage. During the improv Scheila performed a stunt where she was playing to saxes at the same time holding a low note on one and soloing with another. Dweezil even tried to add a flute to the mix but she wasn't having it. Another highlight during the improv was when Jamie Kime started riffing on this great funky guitar. It didn't build nearly as long as it could have but was a great run during the improv section.

At the end of the show when the band came out for their final bow Joe came out and handed me one of his drumsticks. A beat up Vater 5a stick. It was nice to see he remembered us from the numerous Keneally shows we've seen him at over the past two years.

The show was a solid effort by the band. They played 3 hours with no breaks. The playing was better this year as were the improv sections. We can only guess who the special guests will be next year. And let's hope Dweezil keeps the same band line up in place for next year.

Zappa Plays Zappa
August 23, 2007
The Wiltern
Los Angeles, CA

Black Napkins (w/ Video of FZ)
Tiny Lights
Advance Romance
Dumb All Over (w/ Video of FZ)
Baltimore
Carolina
Dog Meat
Suzy Creemcheese
Brown Shoes
America Drinks
Peaches En Regalia
Pygmy Twylyte
Dupree's Paradise
Uncle Remus
Willie The Pimp
Joe's Garage
Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station
San Berdino
I'm The Slime
Illinois Enema Bandit
Wild Love
Yo Mama

Encore
Cosmik Debris (w/ Video of FZ)
G Spot Tornado
Muffin Man (w/ Video of FZ)

A special thanks to the fan that came up after the show and gave me his email address for some pictures. The picture of Dweezil was taken by him. The security people were being camera nazis so we weren't able to get any good pictures during the set.

Poison, Ratt and Vains of Jenna in Irvine

Saturday night after Jacki and I returned from the movies I logged into Ticketmaster and saw they had just released a batch of tickets 7 rows behind the pit. This ended up being 12th row center. After a brief check that everyone could go I purchased tickets for the family. The very next night we headed down to Irvine to see the show. I had wanted to see the show in LA the night before but poor seat selection and high ticket prices kept me from going. We were able to get 3 tickets in Irvine for the price of a single ticket in LA.

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine is about 60 miles from where we live in Santa Monica. Never one to underestimate the unpredictability of LA traffic we headed out about 4:30pm for a 7pm show. Fortunately the traffic wasn't bad and we arrived at the venue around 5:45pm. A quick bite at Burger King, the only open restaurant near the venue, and then we were off to the show.

The venue was a nice outdoor venue. I assumed there would be covered seating, instead it was an open air venue with a pretty steep slope for the seats, a bit steeper than the Hollywood Bowl. Since the sun was already setting behind the hill we didn't have to worry about Jacki getting sun burned. We were sitting 7 rows off the floor nearly eye level with the bands. These were fantastic seats and a nice surprise considering the last minute ticket purchase.

First up was Vains of Jenna. Our expectations were set high for a band we had never heard. There is a good buzz in the LA hard rock scene for these guys from Sweden. Their set was short and sweet and even included a surprise cover of Tom Petty's Refugee. Now its time to order their cds.

Next up was Ratt. Stephen Pearcy's voice was much better than at Rocklahoma and the band seemed pumped to be playing to a full house. Towards the end of the night Warren broke a string right before starting You're In Love. One chorus in he finally had a break in the guitar parts to be able to do a quick switch out of guitars. Their set was non-stop hits. You can't beat the back to back combination of Lay It Down and You're In Love.

Ratt

August 12, 2007
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Irvine California

Intro Music (We Will Rock You - Queen)
Dangerous But Worth The Risk
I'm Insane
You Think You're Tough
Wanted Man
Slip Of The Lip
Way Cool Jr.
Nobody Rides For Free
Back For More
Lovin' You's A Dirty Job
Lack Of Communication
Lay It Down
You're In Love
Body Talk
Round And Round

Next up was Poison. These guys know how to entertain a big crowd. The last couple of years I've seen them they have put on a consistently good live show. The crowd in Irvine stayed on their feet for the entire set. Bret mentioned that one of Poison's historic highlights was filming the Ride The Wind video at this venue when it was called Irvine Meadows. At the end of the Poison set I saw CC throw a guitar pic into the crowd. The crowd didn't seem to see it so at the end of the show I walked to the general vicinity of where he threw the pic and was able to find it. A nice score considering we were out of pic throwing range.

Our celeb sighting was when Jacki and Darian spotted Dilana from the RockStar Supernova show.

Poison
August 12, 2007
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Irvine, California

Intro Music (Highway To Hell AC/DC)
Look What The Cat Dragged In
I Want Action
Ride The Wind
I Won't Forget You
What I Like About You (Romantics cover)
CC Guitar Solo (Ray Charles Tribute)
I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine (CC on vocals)
Something To Believe In
Your Mama Don't Dance
I Need To Know (Tom Petty cover)
Rikki Drum Solo
Unskinny Bop
Every Rose Has It's Thorn
Fallen Angel
Talk Dirty To Me
Encore
Nothin' But A Good Time

Oddly both the Ratt and Poison setlists were slightly shorter than at Rocklahoma. Ratt cut three songs from their set but retained the same set list order. Poison had dropped the Marshall Tucker cover Can't You See, otherwise their set was identical. Another surprise at the show is who would have thought you would have heard two Tom Petty covers at a hard rock concert. Having Stephen nail the vocals for Ratt at this show made their set sound much better than Rocklahoma. Poison seems to never disappoint and put in another great effort. And thanks to the sound guys for making a great sounding show, I dread going to arena shows these days because the sound is often poor but they had this place set up as if you were listening on a great home stereo.

Dinner and movie

Jacki and I took in a movie and dinner Saturday night. Darian had run off with friends to see her new favorite band Take The Crown. So on our night alone we took in Ratatouille at my favorite theater in LA the Arclight. The movie is highly recommended as Pixar never disappoints. The digital animation keeps getting better as do the story lines. And seeing a movie at the Arclight with their caramel popcorn is always a treat.

After a quick run to Amoeba Music we decided to try out something new to eat on the Sunset Strip. We ended up at Carney's, a train that has been converted into a long hot dog stand. Jacki and I agree that this may be the best hot dog we've had in LA.

Earthquake

D and I just felt an earthquake. There is nothing quite like having the entire house rock back and forth. A magnitude 4.5 about 10-15 miles from where we live.

A night at Molly Malone's

Last night Jacki and I went to Molly Malone's to see Smug. We first heard about Smug because their guitarist Rick Musallam plays with Mike Keneally, and held double duty playing both with Smug and later in the night with Mike's band.

As their debut cd was approaching release Jacki befriended their singer/bass player Bret Helm via email. She was looking forward to meeting him since their cd had finally been release. We walked in and saw him standing near the back of the room, went over introduced ourselves, and were able to talk for a few minutes before the next band started.

He stated he wished the album had come out sooner and plans to have a new Smug disc out before the end of the year. His description of the new music was interesting. He described that instead of the sound going more outward, it would instead be a more focused forward sound, and more lo-fi. He said think White Stripes and Beck. At least it made sense when he was telling us about it.

The first band we saw was Loop!Station. A female singer, a cello player and a bunch of loops recorded in real time as part of the performance. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, the creation of loops on the cello isn't something you see everyday, but after about 20 minutes of their set I was ready to see what we had come for. They had a good response from the audience and seemed to have brought the biggest crowd.

Unfortunately after their set the crowd thinned significantly. At one point during Smug's show Bret made the comment about how he thinks there are more people in the audience than on stage.

The other times we've seen Smug they came off more as an indie rock heavily influenced by punk. Tonight their set was less punk and included some elements of improvisation with extended jams during several of the songs.

Their set was awkward at times with silence between songs, although about half way through their set they loosened up and were able to allow for some of the extended jams to breathe. But just as they got going their 45-50 minute set was over.

Highlights included a great impromptu bass performance of Happy Birthday by Bret. What Jimi Hendrix did for the Star Spangled Banner, Bret did for Happy Birthday. During one of the awkward moments of silence someone suggested the band sing Happy Birthday while waiting for Rick to re-tune his guitar.

Other highlights included Jacki's favorite 3 States, It's Me and Most Of All. Check out the pic of Bret using the mic stand for slide bass!

Smug
August 5, 2007
Molly Malone's
Los Angeles, CA

Short Jam (Instrumental) ->
Doubtful
Graham & Liz
Passing You By
(Happy Birthday - Bret on bass)
3 States 6 Days 1200 Miles
Shoulda Wrote A Ballad
It's Me
Most Of All
Passin You By
???

More photos available at
http://picasaweb.google.com/dhoward/SmugMollyMaloneS

Dream Theater goes Platinum

I just got back from seeing Dream Theater at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City. For this event I bought the DT Platinum experience which included a meet and greet, a picture with the band and a great seat for the show, more on that later.

Being a Friday afternoon I ended up leaving work early in the event of a worst case scenario with traffic. Fortunately it wasn't that bad and only took about an hour to get to the venue. Once at the venue the DT fans began to congregate outside of the gates and then the Platinum pass holders ended up finding one another.

I picked up my backstage pass around 7pm and headed into the venue. The meet and greet was nothing special. They ended up having about 50 people backstage and just ran us through. First run through was to get a picture. No idea how mine turned out, the person taking the photo said the shots looked fun and I could tell Mike Portnoy was having fun in the pic so I'm hoping it will be a fun picture.

The second run through was to get an item signed. I brought a copy of their most recent cd and had the band sign their picture in the booklet. They also gave us a signed 8x10 of the band as we left the meet and greet. All in all I probably had 90 seconds with the band. If you are wondering if the Platinum pass is worth it, I would say no and stick with the gold ticket that will get you a seat in the first few rows. Maybe it was just LA... The one nice moment during the signing was when the guy in front of me asked Mike what was in the setlist tonight and I said don't tell him. Mike laughed and thanked me so he could tell the other guy he can't say because of me.

Outside of the meet and greet I went and purchased their newest official bootleg of Deep Purple's Made In Japan. I passed on the other merch and made it to my seat. The seat was second row dead center. Can't get much better than that. I caught the last half of the second opener Redemption, featuring Ray Alder from Fates Warning.

During the set break a guy sitting first row center said the subs were too loud and he was going to move back to the second row. I ended up swapping seats with him and ended up front row dead center. The best seat in the house. At this point the camera and I were ready for the show to start.

Once the band came out they had a very clean stage with giant ants hanging off amps, sitting on the ground and hanging on Jordan's keyboard rig. Pretty wild and tied into the theme of the new album cover. They ran through some of the new cd, avoided their hits, and picked some deep tracks from previous albums. A very creative setlist. Although the sound wasn't great due to the subwoofer problem, you could tell the band was spot on and were as tight as ever. At one point I saw Jordan give John Myung a sign of approval after John nailed the closing of a song on bass.

Highlights of the set for me were Surrounded, Lines In The Sand, The Spirit Carries On, and from the medley Learning To Live and Octavarium.

Dream Theater
July 27, 2007
Gibson Amphitheater
Los Angeles, CA

Intro Movie
Constant Motion
Panic Attack
Scarred
Surrounded
The Dark Eternal Night
Keyboard Solo
Lines In The Sand
Misunderstood
The Spirit Carries On
In The Presence Of Enemies

Encore
Medley
i. Trial Of Tears
ii. Finally Free
iii. Learning To Live
iv. In The Name Of God
v. Octavarium

Dream Theater July 27, 2007

Amp'd Mobile RIP

One of our competitors is terminating customer support today and will shut off service in a matter of days. They recently filed for bankruptcy and were not able to secure additional financing. It is never good to hear of a competitors failure, but it is encouraging to see that our different approach to the space is yielding much more positive results.


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Rush at the Hollywood Bowl

The month of concerts continues. Last night I made it out to the Hollywood Bowl to see Rush. I had the best seat I've ever had at the Bowl and Rush came out and delivered a great set. I ended up meeting a guy named Rick from Houston, Texas that had come out for the show. It was nice to talk about Houston and all of those past Rush shows in the Woodlands, at the Summit and even the Texas Jam show at the Astrodome.

The band looked fresh and sounded great. This was one of the best performances I'd seen Rush give. I remember they were also very good on the R30 tour so maybe they are one of those few bands that get better with age. The show started while the sun was still up and by several songs into the set the sun had set. The sound was perfect, you could hear all the instruments and Geddy's vocals clearly. Although Alex appeared to be singing as loud as he could into his mic you couldn't hear him, and that is probably a good thing.

During the intermission Dave Foley walked over to talk to some friends of his that were sitting in the same box I was. I wanted to get a picture with him but he wasn't making eye contact with anyone other than his friends. He said a pleasant hi as he walked up and that was it. As he walked back to his seat a guy one box over did get him to autograph his Rush ticket. Kind of an odd thing to get autographed, but since Dave is Canadian I guess it works.

Highlights of the set Entre Nous, Natural Science, the South Park intro to Tom Sawyer and they fact that Rush played no medleys. All full songs for a change!

Rush
Hollywood Bowl
Los Angeles, CA
July 23, 2007

Intro Movie
Limelight
Digital Man
Entre Nous
Mission
Freewill
The Main Monkey Business (guy comes on stage to baste the chicken's that are rotating behind Geddy)
Bob and Dough McKenzie from the Great White North introduce
The Larger Bowl
Secret Touch
Circumstances
Between The Wheels
Dreamline

Intermission

Intro Movie
Far Cry (w/ pyro as Geddy sings "circuits blowing")
Workin' Them Angels
Armor And Sword
Spindrift
The Way The Wind Blows
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Witch Hunt (w/ more pyro)
Malignant Narcissism
Neil's Drum Solo
Hope (Alex Solo)
Distant Early Warning
The Spirit Of Radio
South Park Video introducing
Tom Sawyer
Encore
One Little Victory (w/ Pyro)
Passage To Bangkok
YYZ

Click below for a few more pictures.

Rush - July 23, 2007

Ozzfest 2007

Darian and I went to the first free Ozzfest in San Bernardino, CA yesterday. 15 bands played and we caught 8 of them. Although I didn't enjoy the music as much as some of the other shows I've recently seen I must commend Ozzy and Sharon for making this a free event.

Second Stage
Daath - First band of the day we saw. They were playing the second stage and the crowd seemed to be into them.

3 Inches Of Blood - Next up, and until the 2nd stage headliners they had the greatest demand of the crowd.

Mondo Generator (featuring Nick Oliveri) - I was expecting more from these guys, but I've always expected more from Nick's other band Queens Of The Stone Age. Crowd seemed to mellow during their set.

Behemoth - European metal with guys decked out in makeup. Intense set, their drummer could play double bass like I've never seen.

Hatebreed - Crowd went absolutely crazy. Multiple pits in front of the stage which resulted in this huge dust cloud over the crowd. We were by the mixing board and could barely see the band because of all of the dust.

At this point D and I headed over to the merch booth to get her a Hatebreed shirt. In the merch area we ran into a couple of her friends a friend that works at Hot Topic in Santa Monica and another friend from her school. We hang out with them for about 20-30 minutes, saw a couple of fights, saw a guy get arrested and quite a bit of blood. Its unfortunate that crowds like this get out of hand. To think 50K plus people at Rocklahoma I didn't see one fight and there were no reports of any arrests. Not the case at Ozzfest.

Towards the end of the Hatebreed set we headed over to the main stage to find our seats.

First up on the Main Stage was Lordi.

Main Stage
Lordi - Pyro galore. This is one of the bands I wanted to see, more for the spectacle. They definitely delivered.

Lordi - Set List
Intro - SCG3 Special Report
Bringing Back The Balls To Rock
The Kids Who Wanna Play With The Dead
Who's Your Daddy
Blood Red Sandman
The Deadite Girls Gone Wild
Devil Is A Loser
They Only Come Out At Night
Would You Love A Monsterman
Hard Rock Hallelujah

Static-X - They earned the best performance of the day. For their song Cannibal John 5 came out, decked out in makeup and played lead guitar for the song. Outside of Ozzy I enjoyed their set the best out of the day.

Lamb Of God - I have heard good things about this band but due to very poor sound during the set I didn't get to enjoy it. Crowd loved it and they did play Laid To Rest, the one song of their's I knew. From where I was sitting Redneck was the biggest crowd pleaser.

Ozzy Osbourne - What can you say about Ozzy, he is the reason Ozzfest exists and if royalty existed in metal he would be at the top. This was my second Ozzfest, the first being 10 years ago in 1997. This was the one tour Zakk didn't play with Ozzy so it had been 16 years since I had seen Zakk. This was a great set. Ozzy's newest lineup grooves much better than the lineup with Rob Trujillo, who went to Metallica. Blasko - Bass
Adam Wakeman - Keyboards (Rick Wakeman's son - Rick is in Yes)
Zakk Wylde - Guitar
Mike Bordin - Drums
Ozzy

Ozzy Setlist
Intro movie with Ozzy integrated into various TV show, music video and movie clips.
Intro music - Carmina Burana
Bark At The Moon - Zakk wearing a black kilt / skirt
Mr. Crowley
Not Going Away
War Pigs
Road To Nowhere
Band Introduction
Suicide Solution
Zakk Guitar Solo w/ Star Spangled Banner
I Don't Know
I Don't Want To Change The World
Mama I'm Coming Home
Encore
Crazy Train
2nd Encore
Paranoid - During the final encore Zakk tripped on his cord, fell on the ground and unplugged his guitar.

Ozzy closed the show saying tickets will cost twice as much next year.

Ozzy made the event worthwhile. I'm not into the new, underground heavier metal out today so I don't see myself getting into the majority of the bands we saw. The only band I might check out would be Static-X.

After the high point of the night with Ozzy we then had to deal with the hell of the venue. It took 2 hours, no exaggeration, to get out of the parking lot. Show let out at 11pm and we get home at 2am.

Rocklahoma Pictures and Wrap Up

Day 1 Pictures


Day 2 Pictures


Day 3 Pictures

It is very hard to sum up how great this event was. The music was great and hanging out and catching up with Terry made it that much better. We were able to relive some of those old times where we would take a road trip or fly somewhere to see some great bands.

Everyone we met was fantastic, from the group on the 10th row that let us hang outin their seats the entire time, to the security guys that always welcomed me to the front of the stage to take pictures, to the people we met at the hotel and restaurants that were just excited to know we came to their little town in Oklahoma to experience Rocklahoma.

The event was the most organized big event I had been to. Reserved seating also made a big difference in making this a very enjoyable event. All said and done we caught 20 bands in a 3 day period. It is quickly becoming a blur and can't wait to do it all over again next year.

Day 3 Rocklahoma Set Lists

Here is a recap and the set lists from the final day of Rocklahoma. Wrap up and pictures will be posted next.

July 15, 2007
Rocklahoma
Pryor, OK

Terry and I arrived during the Steelheart set. I think we missed two songs. I was pleasantly surprised. The singer had an amazing voice and I had forgotten that he was the singing voice of Mark Wahlberg in the movie Rockstar. The highlights for me were We All Die Young and Stand Up.

Steelheart
(missed first two songs)
Buried Unkind
Sinner (?)
I'll Never Let You Go
We All Die Young
Stand Up -> fast riff from middle of Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin)

They changed the order of the bands so I thought Britny Fox was up next but evidently they swapped set times with Steelheart, so LA Guns was up next. Terry and I were eating lunch and ended up missing the first song of the LA Guns set.

For me this was the breakout performance from the third and final day. I've now seen LA Guns three times but with radically different line ups. This line up featured Tracii Guns, his son Jeremy Guns on bass, Chad Stewart on drums, and original vocalist Paul Black.

Paul Black was a fantastic front man. He worked the crowd well, had a Chris Robinson (Black Crowes) kind of look and vibe about him and seemed very happy to be playing to the crowd. Chad Stewart was also playing with Faster Pussycat so I think he gets the distinction of being the hardest working man at Rocklahoma.

L.A. Guns
(missed first song)
No Mercy
One More reason
L.A.P.D.
You Can't Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones) -> with Sweet Child Of Mine riff (GnR)
Ballad Of Jayne -> Whole Lotta Love -> Superstition -> Ballad Of Jayne
(Paul Black invited people on stage, well over a hundred jumped on stage. This was one of the highlights of all of Rocklahoma, a great moment)
Shut The Fuck Up (Brides Of Destruction)
Sex Action -> Paint It Black (Rolling Stones)
Hells Bells (AC/DC)
Never Enough
Mean Street intro (Van Halen)
Electric Gypsy
TNT w/ Paul on Drums and Chad on vocals (AC/DC)
Children Of The Grave riff (Black Sabbath) -> Rip and Tear

One of my favorite bands Great White was up next. The played a nice selection of hits, album cuts and even played a new one off their yet to be released new album. Their set was more blues rock and laid back. Even with that said they were able to keep the audience standing on their feet the entire set. Jani Lane came out for Jumpin' Jack Flash and shared vocals with Jack Russell. Jack had one of the best punchlines on stage. After introducing the rest of the band he said if you don't know me by now then you don't know Jack.

Great White
Cant Shake It
Face The Day
Standin' On The Edge
On Your Knees -> Achilles Last Stand (Led Zeppelin) -> On Your Knees
Mista Bone
House Of Broken Love
Save Your Love
Rolling Stoned
Rock Me
Jumpin' Jack Flash w/ Jani Lane (Rolling Stones)
Once Bitten Twice Shy

Jackyl is a band with a singer that comes off as extremely arrogant and full of himself. However those are the ingredients for a great front man. Their performance was great and the crowd loved it. The music was a mix of hard rock and southern rock with a heavy dose of over the top lyrics thrown in. Of course the highlight of the set was with the chainsaw solo during The Lumberjack.

Jackyl
Sometimes I Find Myself Acting Just Like a Negro (?)
Push Comes To Shove
Just Like A Devil
She Loves My Cock
Kill The Sunshine
Down On Me
I Stand Alone
When Will It Rain
Dirty Little Mind -> Miss You reference (Rolling Stones)
Redneck Punk
Black Sabbath intro (Black Sabbath) -> The Lumberjack

I've been seeing Queensryche live since their very first tour back in 84/85. They ended up being a last minute replacement act replacing W.A.S.P. I was disappointed in losing W.A.S.P. but I think 95%+ of the audience considered the 'Ryche a huge upgrade. Their music doesn't traditionally fit in with the rest of the bands on this line up but they were able to command the audience just fine. The delivered a fairly high energy set and omitted their slower paced songs for this appearance. Geoff even hit some of the high notes in the middle of Take Hold.

Queensryche
The Whisper
Damaged
Breaking The Silence
I'm American
The Hands
Another Rainy Night (Without You)
I Don't Believe In Love
Eyes Of A Stranger
Empire
Walk In The Shadows
Take Hold Of The Flame
Jet City Woman

The last band of Rocklahoma was a group I was into very heavily as a child. I never had the chance to see them live and had to settle for a Dee Snider solo show with his band Widowmaker in the 90s, which was great. Dee and company know how to command a huge crowd. They brought their New York attitude, the makeup, the costumes and played great. This was a great send off for the first Rocklahoma and I don't think a single person in the crowd left the show dissappointed.

The surprise song of the night was Silver Bells from their Christmas CD. They brought in fake snow that fell from the lighting truss, like confetti, brought out the Santa hat and even threw out candy canes into the audience. This was also one of their best sounding songs of the entire night. This was a great send off and great to see one of the bands I so dearly loved long ago.

Twisted Sister
What You Don't Know
The Kids Are Back
Stay Hungry
Captain Howdy
Shoot 'em Down
You Can't Stop Rock And Roll
Fire Still Burns
We're Not Gonna Take It
The Price
Burn In Hell w/ Drum Solo
Silver Bells
I Wanna Rock
Encore
Come Out And Play
SMF

Day 2 Rocklahoma Set Lists

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Day 1 at Rocklahoma (Part 2)

Here is the rest of the recap including set lists from Friday night.

July 13, 2007
Rocklahoma
Pryor, OK

Quiet Riot came out and did a very high energy set. The line up included Kevin Dubrow, Fankie Banali, Alex Grossi, and Chuck Wright. They focused heavily on the hits with a couple of tracks from their most recent release. The only complaint is their songs had many false endings where the band would do an ending, Dubrow would get the audience pumped back up, and then the band would re-do the ending. It was great to see Frankie on drums and I noticed that he was playing DW this time around.

Quiet Riot
Metal Health (intro only)
Put Up Or Shut Up
Slick Black Cadillac
Free
South Of Heaven
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Red Light Mama, Red Hot ->I Don't Need No Doctor -> Whole Lotta Love
Drum Solo
The Wild And The Young
Let's Get Crazy
Cum On Feel The Noize
Metal Health

Next up was Ratt with one of my favorite singers, John Corabi. However John is playing guitar and is not singing lead vocals with Ratt. This line up included John Corabi, Robbi Crane, and original Ratt members Bobby Blotzer, Warren DeMartini and Stephen Pearcy. Stephen's voice sounded a little shot for the set but they showed how they can play to a large crowd. This was a great set and was very well received by the crowd.

Ratt
Sweet Cheater
Dangerous But Worth The Risk
I'm Insane
You Think You're Tough
Wanted Man
Slip Of The Lip
Way Cool Jr.
Nobody Rides For Free
Back For More
Lovin' You's a Dirty Job
Lack Of Communication
Over The Edge
Lay It Down
You're In Love
Walkin The Dog
Body Talk
Round And Round

Last up was Poison. They brought their big stage with pyro and confetti at the end of the night. Brett brought some military up from the crowd for Something To Believe In. It came across as very sincere and was dedicated to the soldiers. For the encore Gene Simmons introduced Poison over the PA. He made a joke about You Wanted The Best but we (KISS) couldn't be there, so enjoy Poison at Rocklahoma.

Poison
Look What The Cat Dragged In
I Want Action
Ride The Wind
I Won't Forget You
What I Like About You (Romantics cover)
CC guitar solo -> Georgia On My Mind
I Hate Every Bone Body In Your Body But Mine (CC on vocals)
Something To Believe In (Bret pulled military up on stage from crowd)
Can't You See (Marshall Tucker cover)
Your Mama Don't Dance
I Need To Know (Tom Petty cover)
Drum Solo
Unskinny Bop (with cool pyro)
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel
Talk Dirty To Me
Encore
Nothin' But A Good Time

Quick Day 2 Rocklahoma recap

It is Sunday morning and Terry and I are getting ready to begin day 3. I don't have time to do the write ups off all the setlists yet but will get them posted when I get back.

Yesterday we saw the following bands.

Faster Pussycat - with Taime Downe

Enuff Z'Nuff - I got a guitar pic

Firehouse - the surprise performance of the day

Warrant - unfortunately the worst set of the event so far, they really needed Jani Lane

Skid Row - no Sebastian but a great effort from Johnny Solinger

Winger - they lost the crowd and musically didn't fit in with the other acts, although they played a great set. I got a guitar pic from this set but it wasn't a signature pic

Dokken - Don's voice isn't as good as it used to be but the Dokken set with a replacement guitarist and bass player was much better than when I saw the original Dokken line up in '95

Vince Neil - This was probably the best performance I'd ever seen Vince give. He was great, his band featured Dana Strum and Jeff Blando, both formally of Slaughter, and the drummer was a monster and had more moves than Tommy Lee. I got a signature Vince Neil guitar pic and this was a great way to end the night.

Day 2 of the event didn't seem quite as crowded as the first day. Day 1 estimates were 50,000 people,. Yesterday many of the bands said the crowd was between 30,000 - 35,000. I'm expecting a smaller crowd today since some of the bands playing today don't have the wide appeal a Vince Neil or a Poison can bring.

It has been a great weekend so far, we even renewed our tickets for Rocklahoma 2008 so Terry and I will get to do this again next year.

We are off to last and final day.

Day 1 at Rocklahoma (Part 1)

Terry and I started our day with a 3 hour drive from Choctaw up to Tulsa. We ended up starting an hour later than we hoped but it wasn't a problem since we were able to eat a good breakfast and get a little extra sleep.

We checked into our hotel in Tulsa around 1:30 and headed out to Rocklahoma shortly thereafter. We got to the venue at 3pm, an hour before the first big band went on stage. We got our wristbands, found our seats and got some of the VIP buffet food.

The first band of the day was White Lion. Well only Mike Tramp from White Lion but he was billed as White Lion. We noticed the seats hadn't filled in so we claimed some seats around 10th row center. Fortunately we were able to keep these seats the entire day, so we are hopeful that we will be able to use these seats for the shows on Saturday and Sunday.

White Lion came out, and both looked good and sounded good. So good in fact we though maybe they should have been bumped to a later time. Little did we know how good the other bands were going to be.

July 13, 2007
Rocklahoma
Pryor, OK

White Lion
Hungry
Little Fighter
Tell Me
Wait
Lady Of The Valley
When The Children Cry
Radar Love

Second act out was Y & T. I've come to love several Y & T songs through the years and it was great to hear them live. I'd seen Y & T previously back in '85 and '87 when I wasn't all that familar with the material. Tonight they played all of my favorites including Don't Stop Runnin', Mean Streak and Summertime Girls. They had the best sound fidelity of the entire night. Dave's voice was perfect, the band had a great sound and was by far the tightest band that played. Although they did lose some momentum with the audience during some of their slower songs.

Y & T
Black Tiger
Lipstick And Leather
Don't Stop Runnin'
Dont stop
Dirty Girl
Mean Streak
Rescue me
Eyes Of A Stranger
guitar solo / instrumental (possibly I'll Cry For You)
Summertime Girls
Forever

The surprise act for the day was Slaughter. Only Mark Slaughter and Blas Elias are remaining from the original line up, but that didn't matter. All these years most of my friends, myself included, have joked about how bad Slaughter is, and even called them Laughter but with an S as in Slaugh-ter. They probably played the best show of the day, and Mark worked the crowd harde than any other band today.

Slaughter
The Wild Life
Burnin' Bridges
(Mark's amp not mic'd, he ends up walking around for about 3-5 minutes soloing on guitar until his guitar can be heard over PA)
Spend My Life
Mad About You
Eye To Eye ->
Heaven and hell (Black Sabbath cover) ->
Eye to Eye
Fly To The Angels
Up All Night

During the middle of the set Mark came out to the crowd to get everyone worked up. He ended up standing right over me on the 10th row and was singing from there for about 2 minutes. I have some great pictures that I'll post shortly.

That is the update for tonight. It is now 4:20am Rocklahoma time and we have a full day ahead tomorrow.

Sets for the Quiet Riot, Ratt, and Poison shows will be posted shortly along with numerous pictures.