white people dancing is funny...

Well. I saw Bob Dylan for the first time ever last night at the Fillmore in Denver. I wasn't really sure what to expect... I've heard stories of people leaving his shows partway through because the show was so poor. I've heard stories of people who insist he still has it. Last night, Bob had it.

Our night started with the task of finding parking. Usually when I go to the Fillmore I'm able to park on the street. However, usually the Fillmore isn't sold out when I go. We managed to find a lot just a couple of blocks away for $5. Not bad considering we saw a lot not much closer for $20. $20!!!!!! Insanity. While circling the theatre we caught a glimpse of the line to get in. Holy shit. People stretched back and around the corner... I think we were a good three or four blocks away when we got to the back of the line. It moved pretty quickly though and we were inside before 8:00.

Getting a decent view was a different story. We tried hanging out on the side, a bit raised up from the floor, but were pretty thoroughly obstructed by people. And poles. When the show started we actually moved down to the floor, toward the back, and were able to get some glimpses of Bob and the band through the crowd. Plus, there was some good dancing room back there which was good both for dancing and for watching other people dance. Lots of good entertainment for when the stage view was blocked. We also got to see two really really wasted guys get kicked out. After one of them tried to take on the incredibly tall security guard, he fell down and was promptly ushered out, his friend right behind. Good times.

The band came out about 8:40, only 40 minutes late. But there was no opener, which I was really happy about. Here's the setlist... no I didn't remember this all by myself, it's courtesy of Bob Links.

Absolutely Sweet Marie
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis
Blues Again
Under The Red Sky
Honest With Me
Joey
Workingman's Blues #2
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
This Wheel's On
Fire
Shooting Star
Things Have Changed
Masters Of War
Rollin' And Tumblin'
(encore)
Thunder On The Mountain
Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower

Becky met a guy while I was in the bathroom. He bet her $50 that Bob would play until midnight. He still owes her the $50. I told her to collect it in beer. He also complained that Bob played "too much from the new album". Hmm... 3 of 16 doesn't seem like too much to me. He may or may not have been drunk though... we were never quite sure.

Anyway, it was a really great show. The band was on fire, and by the end of the show, everyone was dancing and having a good time. I am very pleased that Becky enjoyed the show... since I feel a bit like I dragged her along. But seeing Bob Dylan is something that everyone should do, at least once in their lives... :)

hotel cafe tour!

Caught the Hotel Cafe Tour in Boulder last night. Check out more about the project here:

Hotel Cafe Tour

First, let me say I discovered that I definitely DO spend too much time at the Fox Theatre... see my Ben Kweller review for a bit of background. I went to pick up my ticket at the box office last night and the woman working said something about how I should enter their Halloween contest, with as much money as I spend there... I was going to ask her about this Halloween thing, but there were several people behind me and I thought I'd be polite. I figured I could learn about it on their website, but I can't find anything. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be there again before the end of the month.

I have been in charge of my sister's kids this week, and they tend to wake me up before 7:00 in the morning so I decided not to drink last night. Well, my favorite bar wench came by 3 or 4 times to see if anyone needed drinks. After telling her I was OK the last time she came by, she said "well, that's surprising!". Ha ha. I swear I am not a drunk. I just love the Fox.

Anyway, tonight the Hotel Cafe Tour featured 6 artists. There were no set breaks, and everyone got about a 25 minute time slot. Except for Brett Dennen, who went for about an hour.

First up: Schuyler Fisk. As soon as she came out on stage a feeling came over me that she was so familiar. Then Leah told me that she's Sissy Spacek's daughter. It's pretty obvious, she looks just like Sissy. But still, I really thought I recognized her from somewhere, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe I was thinking of Carrie... I mean:

Schuyler -

Sissy -

Nevertheless, I couldn't help but IMDB her when I got home. Sure enough, she was in an episode of Law & Order SVU last season. She's also acted in a lot of other stuff, but I'm certain that SVU is where I recognize her from. Yeah, I watch SVU. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I enjoyed her set - nothing earth shattering as far as her songwriting, but she has a fabulous voice.

Next up - Joshua Radin. I like Josh, I really do. I think he's a good singer-songwriter. But his songs put me to sleep. I don't mean that in a bad way, but he's so mellow... he did 20 minutes of music that really did make me want to sleep, then a great rendition of "Cecilia" with Brett Dennen.

Next was Cary Brothers. That's Cary Brothers, not THE Cary Brothers... lol. Guess you had to be there. Holy shit, that boy has a set of pipes. I was introduced to him via the Garden State soundtrack and promptly checked out his EPs from last year - All The Rage & Waiting For Your Letter. Good stuff, but he's so so so much better live. As it should be. I enjoyed his set a lot.

It occured to me that the first half of the show could have easily been called the "Zach Braff Soundtrack Tour". All 3 artists have been featured on the Garden State soundtrack, the Last Kiss soundtrack, and/or Scrubs.

After Cary was The Weepies. I was not familiar with them at all. Apparently they had a song featured in Grey's Anatomy. They were a fun, folksy duo.

It was during The Weepies set that we migrated over to a spot that would have been perfect if not for the crazy dancing woman in front of me. Now, I have no issues with people dancing and having a good time at a show. But. This woman seemed to feel that she was entitled to a 3 foot radius in which to dance. I started out standing a good two feet behind her, yet she still managed to step on my feet no less than 3 times, hit me with her elbow at least half a dozen times, and back right up into me several more times. On top of that, she never even acknowledged the fact that she kept hitting me!! I don't even think she was drunk.... unless she has really really good drunken balance.

Anyway, after The Weepies was Joe Purdy. His set was great, really rocking. More of the crazy dancing lady invading my personal space.

Last up was Brett Dennen, his last night on the tour. He put on a great show - got the crowd involved and was clearly having a great time. Cary came out about halfway through his set and talked him into doing the "Galapagos Turtle". It took Brett a moment to get into character (Terry, the Galapagos Turtle) then he proceeded to eat corn chips out of Cary's hand. I can't really describe the spectacle, but as Leah said, that alone was worth the $15... lol.

So, the Hotel Cafe Tour was fabulous. And for a good cause. Hooray.

clap clap clap clap... yeah.

This will be a very short review - I have to get up early in the morning. Ugh.

Tonight was Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ the Gothic! w00t! There were two opening bands, but I missed the first. I did catch Architecture In Helsinki though, a band from Australia. They were amazing. There were 6 of them (sometimes 7 even), and it seemed that everyone in the band played on at least 8 instruments. They had a trombone and lots and lots of percussion. They had a lot of fans there already, but the whole theatre was dancing and really into the show by the end of their set.

CYHSY were tight, they sounded really good. I won't even attempt a setlist, but I think they played nearly everything from CYHSY plus a handful of new songs. I really like the new stuff, can't wait for the album!

And that's pretty much it. Pretty pointless, I know, but what the hell.....

Now playing:

tim is an asshole

Ben Kweller gets to be my top friend for the day... for many reasons:

1) The kid puts on a fucking great show! I don't think he's even old enough to drink yet. Just kidding. Barely.

2) He wrote Penny On The Train Track.

3) This YouTube video - I mean, blood spattered guitars & keyboards AND a tampon up the nose. Now that's rock n' roll, baby.

4) "She goes above and beyond her call of duty. She is a slut but her ex thinks it's sexy. Sex reminds her of eating spaghetti. I am wasted but I'm ready!"

5) It knocks Tim off my top 8 friends for at least a day. Because, as you are now aware, Tim is an asshole.

So, for some reason, tonight was my first Ben Kweller show. Ever. I don't really know how this happened, as I've been a fan of his for... well, I guess since Sha Sha came out in 2002. It's been so long I can't even remember how I was introduced to him. I'm fairly certain that it was somehow Guster-related though.

I got to the Fox earlier than usual - I really wanted to get to my favorite spot at the railing. Mission accomplished. I love the Fox because they have a... ummm. server I guess who comes around and takes drink orders. I don't know what I'd call her. Waitress? Bar wench? Anyway, it's nice if you're by yourself you don't have to worry about losing your spot to hit the bar! Before the show she tapped me on the shoulder to see if I wanted anything. I turned around, she looked at me and said "Oh - ginger and whiskey?". Ummm, yeah. Heh. So it seems I spend quite a bit of time at the Fox Theatre in my favorite spot. Or it could be that she got me 2 whiskey & ginger ales just on Sunday night. Yeah, we'll go with that.

Oh - also, I somehow managed to drop my phone and spill my drink at the same time. It took talent, I'm telling you. My phone was OK, but my damn drink was almost full!!! I went to pick up the ice cubes to minimize the spillage and realized that among the whiskey and ginger ale sacrifice was a remnant of a joint. So I had the pleasure of intermittent wafts of whiskey and wet pot all night. Ha ha.

The show - it was amazing. Like I said, the kid puts on a helluva show. He's got some great moves for a skinny white boy too. The band was obviously having a blast and they sounded great, except for the awful speaker noise when Ben hit the keys too hard. Here's what I remember of the setlist:

Run (Ben solo - guitar)
On My Way (Ben solo - guitar)
Thirteen (Ben solo - keyboard)
How It Should Be (sha sha) - band joins Ben
the rest is completely out of order, just me looking at my CDs and trying to remember...
Wasted & Ready
Family Tree
Commerce, TX
Walk On Me
Make It Up
I Need You Back
My Apartment
The Rules
Nothing Happening
Sundress
Penny On The Train Track
Magic
encore:
Hospital Bed
In Other Words

I'm probably missing a couple, but oh well. I love that Sha Sha was nicely represented. Even the songs from On My Way sounded great. I realized it's been forever since I listened to that album, as there were a couple songs that I didn't even recognize. A great show, the crowd was really great and really into it. I did feel extremely old though, with all the college kids milling around. But I spotted a few other older folks, so all is good.

Yay Ben.

the prostate don't discriminate...

I love Matt Nathanson... not only is he quite adorable with a fantastic voice, but where else can you hear beautiful songs only to have the singer banter between songs with gems such as this blog subject? (subtitled "a finger in the ass is a finger in the ass"). He and his guitarist also spent much time talking about alternate words for "vagina". The one I remember is "gorilla salad". Yikes.

Early in the show, for no apparent reason, some fan decided to yell out the CU Buffs record (0-5). Matt was confused. When he finally figured out that the guy was talking about sports, he said "I don't know about sports. If I knew about sports I wouldn't be here. I'd be playing sports and sexing up some women." I, for one, am SO glad that Matt doesn't know about sports..... When he heard the team was the Buffs, he asked if it was a bunch of bodybuilders...

It was a fun night. These are the songs that I remember (in no particular order):

Sad Songs
Bare
Curve Of The Earth
Angel
Lucky Boy
Dancing With Myself
Blister In The Sun
Pictures Of You -> I Saw
Little Victories

He may also have done Bent and Weight Of It All... I'm confusing myself because I listened to Beneath These Fireworks at least 5 times in the past few days and everything's getting jumbled in my brain. lol.

There were a lot more - he played for nearly an hour 45 minutes. I think there was an eminem cover... not sure what it was as I don't listen to eminem... And a lot of songs that I wasn't familiar with. Some new, some old, all fabulous.

The downside of the night was that I had two drunken assholes behind me who would talk during every song then yell asinine things between every song. Partway through the set Matt did a handful of songs solo. One of the assholes said "oh, solo... this is the BEST part!". Then they proceeded to talk through the entire solo set as well. If it's so great, SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!! I have no problem with yelling stupid shit between songs. Matt was pretty much encouraging it anyway. But I don't get why people have to talk through songs. Not like it was a particularly quiet show either, and they were still incredibly annoying. I can't believe people pay $15 to do that shit. Here's an idea: pool your money, skip the concert, get a case of cheap beer, and get drunk at home. Talk all you want through the songs. Yell asinine things at each other. Fuckers.

Hmmmm... the cursing seems rampant tonight. Just the aftermath of a Matt Nathanson concert I guess. Apparently he said "fuck" 32 times. Before the encore. Yes, there was actually someone counting.