59 and 82

Respectively. All I spun today (with the exception of Woody Guthrie in class as we study the Depression and all of its 'teachable moments' with the disastrous Clinton-Bush deregulation failures of historic proportion) was the Boss and Coltrane. School wraps up on Friday, thank God. Looking forward to a couple of weeks of not grading homework and spending time with books at night and children in the day. Maybe Twain Harte and the zoo; beautiful morning walks and jazz evenings. Maybe even a couple of weeks making out-of-state phone calls to swing voters on behalf of the Obama campaign. And, some blogging!

Spun within the last twenty-six hours in honor of the great men today:

10/23/96 Saroyan Theater, Fresno bootleg. A primary document of the decade!!!
Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
Magic
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Devils & Dust

Giant Steps
Interstellar Space (Steve, have you heard this?)
Crescent
Newport, '63
A Love Supreme

Still buzzing from beautiful Sheryl's Saturday knock-out performance.

Real Gone!!!

Attended the weird concert, A Musical Tribute to Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck. A nine-hour show with a lineup that appeared intruiging and exciting. I was worried about what exactly to expect as I noticed very little public advertising. Only a couple of e-mails from Live Nation and Ticketmaster. All the well, we lined up a babysitter (my wife's friend who ended up taking the kids for the entire day and night!!!!) and shot off to the Concord Pavilion. I had a feeling things were going to be odd when pulling into the parking lot at two that afternoon with the 2:00 showime and our car was in the front parking lot. We wandered up the concourse and towards our seats and found a venue that was maybe, MAYBE 1/10th full. I've actually never attended a concert with such low attendance. People SLOWLY trickled in all afternoon, not reaching maximum capacity until the headliner, Sheryl Crow, hit the stage at 9:00 at night. Even then, since her performance was a rescheduling, the Pavilion was no more than 3/4 full. This was just the crowd. Then there were the performers:

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irions - an acoustic folk duo; Arlo's daughter and husband. Beautiful harmonies and wonderful family-style songs.

Henry Rollins - spoken word; brilliant forty-five minute rant about the state of the nation and American culture. Typical Rollins; insightful and witty, piercing and hysterical. Thought of you, Tony Holt, all afternoon.

Son Volt - was really looking forward to hearing this band as it had always been talked up as "one of those bands" that you never listened to but always should be listening to. Actually, I won't be listening to them. Their performance, while solid, was pretty non-descript and I was pretty non-plussed with their set. Their sound was rock and roll for rock and roll's sake but I have found plenty of other bands to hit me harder and more emotionally than Son Volt. Sorry, guys.

The Mike Ness Band - I was really sweating Ness's performance as I can't stand Social Distortion. I've seen them once and they were good for a live punk band. That's like saying your doctor pulled off your barium enema without a hitch. Ness's band still incorporated the crotch-level Les Paul-eighth-note-strumming-loud-lack-of-dynamic-power-chording-monotonous-singing garbage that I can't stand. However, he also had a lap steel guitar player and the band played several classic country tunes that were quite good. Overall, the punk sound over-ruled the alt-punk/country and by closing with a Social D song, I had had enough. Wife and I ended up being able to walk up to the lawn, lie down and catch a much-needed cat nap!!!

Cat Power and the Dirty Delta Blues Band - Cat was one I was really interested in catching. Her band's great - very Pink Floyd-y with solid blues leanings. Cat's stage presence is quirky and idiosynchratic; she walked all over the stage and in and out of the audience. I do know she played a dirge-like "Fortunate Son" which was great. The biggest bummer was that her vocals were so low in the mix that I couldn't make out a single word she sang the entire hour. I was curious about what she had to say; I only had the chance to hear the tone of her voice. Bummer.

The Black Keys - I've heard their last record; I've read the reviews. Hoping not to see the White Stripes' competition. I caught the White Stripes' competition. What they do, they do very well but these guys are basically a one trick pony. Fifteen minutes and you've heard their entire discography. Oh well.

Sheryl Crow - finally, the headliner. I'd been wanting to catch Sheryl for nearly a decade. Things never clicked. Even had tickets for six years ago that I had to give up to move my brother to Chicago. Finally, this was going to work. She came out and KILLED the place with a solid band, a crack guitarist and a live voice that shone. She's amazing live, and she puts everything into her performances. I was bummed to see that basically Sheryl gives an 85-90 minute performance, as she's done throughout her career, but now I see why. She belts so hard that she's tired by the hour mark. Her set, however, was fantastic and I couldn't have been more pleased. Of course, I wished to have heard another ten or so tunes (including, yes, Real Gone from Cars, which is probably the one song I've listened to more in my life than any other) but was pleased as punch. The entire ensemble came out at the end to one-off (with an extremely scrambled vocal swapping) This Land Is Your Land. Great soloing with Crow's guitarist and Son Volt's. Also loved hearing Sarah Lee and Thomas Steinbeck (John's son and a dead ringer for him) introduce the events of the evening. Here's Sheryl's setlist:

GOD BLESS THIS MESS
SHINE OVER BABYLON
LOVE IS FREE (tease into I Can See Clearly Now)
LEAVING LAS VEGAS
STRONG ENOUGH
CAN'T CRY ANYMORE
MOTIVATION
MY FAVORITE MISTAKE
GASOLINE (with a killer tease into Gimme Shelter)
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD (Walk This Way tease)
DETOURS
IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY
OUT OF OUR HEADS
SOAK UP THE SUN
EVERY DAY IS A WINDING ROAD
****************************************
REDEMPTION DAY
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Was the gig worth it? You bet. Will the show be an annual, like announced? Doubt it but hope so. I wonder why other artists with longer track records shouldn't get asked, like the Boss, himself. Heck, he's covered Woody and quoted Steinbeck in his music. Maybe next year?!?!? :)

Hope For Change?

Can 2009 really be as good as it sounds? Here's the buzz: Bruce and the E Streeters doing a finale tour. I'm not quite sure what I think of the Magic tour, other than the excitement of the "what he's going to pull out of rear end tonight?" thoughts, though I would say it seems a much more loose tour than the Rising tour. Both seemed fun; I think this last one was simply a time-filler until next year. We keep hearing that he's got another album in the can, that it may see the light of day in the Spring, that Bruce's waiting for the election and that the group's going to blow the doors off of next summer.

Let's piggy-back this with the election. Am I such a worry-wort that the GOP will win? Am I correct? People, please tell me I'm wrong. John McCain's speech and the entire GOP Convention was a smarmy smugfest with no one but affluent, older white people in attendance. While I thought McCain's speech fine, I did think that Sarah Palin's speech was in the attack-dog mode that, in typical fashion, draw the attention away from the deficiencies of the candidate and towards straw man arguments against their opponents. Rudy Giuliani speaking about the cleaning up of corruption? Bernie Kerik, anyone? Here's what I know about McCain, from the RNC: he's a vet; he was shot down; he's a POW; he's a good dad and father; he's a "maverick" (whatever that is); he's going to change the way things have been run in Washington. Everything is fine and dandy, except for the fact that we need a candidate with policies, not personality. Lastly, will anyone else notice that the whole group that's McCain's so pissed off about seems to be George W. Bush, the far right and the Republican Party itself? You don't change the system by picking someone within the system, you choose outside the system. Call me a California-raised-intellectual-pluralistic-free-thinking-left-coaster-church-attending-conservative-parent-teacher-tax-payer-home-owning-pink-o-commie-liberal, but should we be electing Sarah Palin for president? The polls are in Barack's favor; the mood in the nation is showing change; the youth is jazzed for Obama; where am I going wrong? I really do think McCain will win, simply because we elect stupid people based on fear, bigotry and anti-intellectualist principles. Maybe I'm fearful because I see such hope in Obama as well as the actual chance for winning. I dunno. I need someone else to chime in here.

I'm really proud of my old man. Running for re-election as well as the first four-year mayor in the city's history. He's received the endorsements of practically every volting bloc in the city. Should my dad win? I believe so. Will he win? Probably? Has Robert "Bob" Taylor been a successful mayor for Brentwood? Just look at the growth, managed budget, crime statistics; he serves on state-wide committees; he's being endorsed by mayors from other cities; he's worked hand-in-hand with our member of the House of Representatives, Jerry McNerney. Dad's a Republican; Jerry's a Democrat. They have their own constituents and goals for their constituencies; they've connected so well that they can call each other on speed-dial on their cell phones. Dad, you ROCK!!! I'm so proud of my dad as mayor. Will he win? I sure hope so. Should he win? Let his record speak for itself.

Speaking of Jerry McNerney, I've been so impressed with my Representative that I'll be walking precincts in two weeks for the first time in my life (other than the old man, but that's a different story). Actually, I'll be doing double-duty, passing out flyers for Jerry and Bob (man, it sounds like a Grateful Dead reunion!) and with pride. Weird that I want a liberal activist member for the national seat of government but a fiscal conservative for my local executive. God bless democracy, right?

Off to bed; here's to a bump for Barack in the polls and for a sixty-day wild ride. Maybe I'll get the chance to see Obama speak here in California (doubt that; he's up by fifteen points)!!!!!