smorg

On Thursday night, my lovely bride and I attended a concert by a little band known as the ‘Foo Fighters’. Evidently the lead singer is a former band member of another band called ‘Nirvana’ and both groups have had a modicum of success in their brief lives, evidently.

Anyway, we managed to somehow end up being about 5 feet away from the stage (closer than we were at the Raconteurs show we also attended at the Tabernacle).

The show was awesome. They played for 2 hours, and the highlight was almost certainly when Dave came off stage, walked to the bar and stayed there for a good ten minutes as he and guitarist Chris Shiflett traded riffs during a badass rendition of Stacked Actors. Very, very cool.

Click this picture for a gallery of others. None are of particularly good quality, but hey…whaddya want?

Also of note:
* Pat Smear was there, which was pretty great. He looked like he was having a hell of a time, and he was all about making eye contact with the crowd. When i’d look that way he was grinning and smiling at people in the audience. It was nice to be able to see him with the Foos. There are some pics of him in the above-linked gallery.

*The chick playing ‘dazed and confused’ on the electric violin was impressive. The playing, not the chick. I mean, not that she wasn’t hot, but it’s really all about the music, right?

*Dave wears boxers. Checked ones. And no belt. Note to Dave: buy a belt.

*Holly threw pack of gum on-stage for Dave as he left the stage. He failed to notice, meaning that Holly will not be running off to Virginia to be his concubine.

Overall, it was an amazing show. This is our second time to see them (last time was with Weezer in 2005) and the experience of seeing them in somewhere as intimate as the Tabernacle was certainly worth paying 3x the face value for tickets. Note to self: become a scalper.

No, the titular subject is not an offer. It’s the name of a documentary starring Keifer Sutherland and a band on his record label. The band is Rocco DeLuca and the Burden, and they are simply amazing.

Rocco is the singer/ songwriter/ dobro playing lead of the band. His voice ranges from boy band pop mode to Chris Cornell power rage, all mixed together with some of the best harmonies and lyrics I’ve heard in, well, possibly ever.

The problem seems to be that the recording industry is so pigeonholed with such mediocrity and Nickelback’esque BS that performers like Rocco don’t stand a chance.

But after seeing the documentary (and by the way, Keifer is such a cool guy…as screwed up and full of doubt as anyone else), I immediately bought Roccos CD and then the EP from iTunes.

Oh and here a few of my favorite lines from the album:

From ‘Draw‘ comes this jewel of a verse…hearing it gives me chills.

If there’s violence in your heart
Then we have something in common
Whenever we’re apart
I want to break
If the ocean’s in our way
Then we’d better start quick-swimming
If you have something to say
Then you f*cking say it now

Then there’s this line from ‘Gift‘, which I kinda relate to…

Don’t fix me ’cause I’m broken, I was that way from the start.

Part blues, part jazz, part rock and part poet, Rocco has some serious talent…now all we need is to get it recognized.
:)

If you get a chance, check ‘em out. You won’t be sorry.

must have been something I hate.

That’s a line from the new Marilyn Manson (track: You and me and the devil makes three), which is quite seriously one of the best albums I have heard all year. Best track: They said hell’s not hot. Going to be a nice comeback for MM.

Also new and good: RUSH - Snakes and Arrows. Nice and classic and perfectly produced.

Not so good: Goon Moon, comprised of Queens of the Stone Age, Manson and Nine Inch Nails members. The album, Lickers Last Leg, is ambitious but sounds too trite to be taken seriously. It’s not like these guys have anything to prove, but they play like they’re looking for street cred. Too bad.

I went to a concert with Andy last night…we saw Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes do a 2 hour acoustic set at the Variety Playhouse in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta.

It was pretty damned awesome. Chris’ voice sounded great, Rich was playing like a seasoned bluesman, and Andy bought me a corsage and some truffles. Err, nevermind that last part.

The place is bigger than it looks from the outside, but it’s pretty small inside, very intimate with a good sound. We sat in the balcony and if I had been so inclined, I could have thrown my phone and possibly injured either of them, possibly both. Two birds with one phone, if you will.
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They didn’t play my favorite Crowes song (Sometimes Salvation) but they did play Andys (NonFiction), which was cool. Andy was clearly pretty impressed with the entire show. He’s seen them somewhere around 15 times, and he kept reiterating that ‘this is fucking awesome’. I’ll take that as a good thing.
:)

Sadly, there was a no-camera policy, so I didn’t take in my camcorder. But, as with the Raconteurs concert, once we got in there were cameras and phones and flashes galore. So I tried to take a few shots with my phone, but it was damned dark and then the camera feature of my MDA decided to lock up. Nothing like a blue screen of death on your freakin’ cell phone…

Anyway, it was a great time, and I was really honored that ‘drew asked me to go see the Brothers of a Feather show. Thanks, my brother.

Wow. Just wow…