First Concert (of the year)

#1: I believe it was three weeks ago that on a spur of the moment decision I went to the Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings concert. I didn't even know they were playing until the night before, and made my decision to go about 2 hours before showtime. I called one friend who I thought would be interested, but he was unable to go due to a prior commitment. No worries, I'm not afraid to fly solo. The show was at the Palladium Showroom. The Palladium has two different places for shows: the Ballroom and the Showroom. This one was at the Palladium Showroom which is the smaller of the two.

The show was supposed to "start" at 7:30. Now I'm not naïve enough to actually think the concert will start then, but I do expect the doors to be open. They weren't, and the doors to the place are down a long 4 foot wide tunnel surrounded by brick walls. Brick walls that had been taking the Texas sun all day. It was almost a 30 minute wait to get inside and the heat was brutal.

The actual concert though was absolutely fantastic. The opening act was Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. They were a great band that seems to cross several genres in their music, and Grace Potter is quite the honey. They were throwing down an unusual look. Grace was wearing a Tina Turner like outfit, and the Nocturnals looked like a '70s garage band.

Now I had never seen a picture of Binky Griptite of the Dap-Kings, but once I saw this dude come out in a maroon suit with a fedora cocked on the side of his head, I knew exactly who it was. I was right. The Dap-Kings sang a few songs by themselves before Sharon Jones came out.

Binky played up to the crowd a bit with,"You know I've been in Texas for two days now, and I ain't heard no one say 'yee-ha', so how is everyone out here tonight?" With the crowd giving a resounding "YEE-HA!" Including me.

Once Sharon Jones did come out the energy just amped up. She is just so enthusiastic. I told one of my friends that I hope to have her energy when I am her age, but I don't even have that level now. During a couple of different songs she brought people up on the stage with her. I was literally 3 feet from the stage, and it was electric. Smaller venues like that really do it for me.

PS Within 5 seconds of Sharon Jones appearing on the stage I could smell the weed.

Credit Union Underground

I heard of this car chase on the radio, and kind of paid attention when I actually knew where the chase was taking place. I later found out it ended right in the neighborhood I grew up in. When I finally watched it I was like, "Hey I went to that day care! There's Dairy Queen." CRASH!!!!
The bad guy was hurt pretty bad, the truck driver seems to be okay. The bad news for him is that was his second accident in two days.

Moving in stereo: In other news. My old stereo has been broken for years. The only reason I haven't chunked it yet is that it has 6 CDs in it. I was debating to either get it fixed or just rebuy the CDs. The first few I looked at I could get real cheap, one I found for a penny. Then came the doozy. One of the CDs I could not find for less than $35.00 (as high as $60.00). Apparently it has become a collector's item. I am gonna try and see if I can get the damn things out myself.

Changing my ways...

I have started to change my idea on how I buy music. I was always one of those people who wanted the CD. I want to read the liner notes, and get all of the info packed inside. A few things have altered my thinking on that.I usually just read the liner notes once. If even that, sometimes I store the CD away and never get around to reading the liner notes.

On Amazon it is usually cheaper, sometimes a lot cheaper to buy the whole album digitally. I downloaded one "CD" 11 bucks cheaper than if I had bought the physical product from the store. Seriously, 11 dollars!!!! Just glancing through it seems like around a 5 dollar average in savings. A couple of those and I can buy a book on the musician I am interested in. Another benefit is that I get the music pretty much instantaneously.

Now if what I am looking for isn't available for download, I will still buy CD, but I figure that will be getting rarer as companies open up more of their catalogs.

The digital age indeed.

Take Me Back Tuesday 2/27/07

What songs make you think of spring break, or make you want to take a spring break.

Geez, I dunno. How about:

"Steal My Sunshine" by Len

Anything from 1984 by Van Halen. Any of those pop/rock bands from the '80s. That is what reminds me of Spring Break.

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" something like that.

Did you ever take a break/vacation just to see a concert? Did you ever want to?

Nope, and not really

How far would you travel to see a band?

Maybe a couple of hours.

What would be your dream spring break concert?

If Brad Nowell was still alive: Sublime.

Otherwise the Beastie Boys