The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Six

On the sixth day of Gheorghemas:

Big Gheorghe gave to me…

Six old and new musical experiences

Five roadsters you can and should buy right now

FORE! An overdue update on LIV & the PGA Tour

Three Ways of Coping

Stories from two three strokes

And much needed hip-mo-bili-ty

Music is what cures the soul, at least for me.The ability to go put a record on the old turntable (or fire up Spotify) and just mellow out after a stressful day or week is my usual form of therapy these days. This year I got to check out 13 shows. 

As most of you know I have an eclectic taste in music. Six of the shows had something different going for them than the other ones, except for the Swedish death metal band I took my son and a few of his friends to.

Started the year off with seeing Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Radio City Music Hall with some Lammies (Zman, Juan Carlos, AReed) and a friend of AReed’s. The friend did something I had not witnessed at a show before. When we got to our seats he took off his sandals and did not put them back on until the end of the show. He repeatedly went to grab beers and hit the restroom during the show in his socks. But whatever floats your boat. First time seeing Isbell. Great show with great friends.

The next two shows brought back memories of one of my favorite shows from our college days, Primus and Fishbone at the Boat House. Two different shows this year but each show had a bonus. First up was Primus playing with A Perfect Circle and Pussifer. Awesome show where the bands would play 4 song sets and then switch to the next band. This repeated three times. The stage had all three drum kits setup on an elevated stage with lounge seating for the other bands to hang out and listen while the other bands played. Primus still has the goods. If you look closely at center stage you can see Les Claypool wearing a pig mask playing upright bass for the final song where all three bands were on stage together.

Second show was Fishbone opening for Madness. I did not have this show on my radar but you know who did, Whit. He happened to be in town for a day or two and thankfully dragged me out to see the show. It is always great to hang out with Whit. Show was good. Madness was on point and can still bring it. There was this musical interlude before the encore.

Funny thing is the family already had plans to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in VA Beach for our son's 16th birthday. Why RHCPs? Son’s favorite guitarist happens to be the man in the band. Fun fact, I first saw them back in 1989. Never thought a child of mine would want to see the same band I saw 35 years before. And based on the bands use of drugs, never thought they would make it that long. 

Since the show was in VA Beach I knew I would see Whit prior to this show. But it was great to have E and him join us, although sitting in the parking lot for an hour to get out of the lot was painful. Two shows with Whit! RHCPs still sound good 35 years later.

Next show was a change up from the usual rock, punk, funk wheelhouse of mine. I went full bluegrass and took a flyer on Billy Strings. His band was not a typical band setup, he played without a drummer and the drumming beat was not missed. Great show, great long jams. You got to go and see him if you get the chance.

My son has been spoiled when it comes to seeing concerts. He has seen bands at big venues or festivals. I kept trying to get him to go see shows at smaller venues but always got the teenager “I am too cool to go to a show with the old man” push back. I finally got him committed to two small venue shows.One pushed to next year (J Mascis aka Dinosaur Jr. fame) and the other is a post-punk band from Leeds, Yard Act. I had been wanting to see them after the first album but missed the chance.

I had no idea what to expect but the 7 piece band delivered in the cozy 500 person venue. They were loud and full of high energy. It is not too often you see back-up singers dance in unison as part of a post-punk band. But it worked and got him to see the light on how awesome small venue concerts can be.

The last show of note I will bore you with was MJ Lenderman & the Wind. If you like dad rock with some pedal steel guitar and extended versions of the songs, then jump on board. Hell, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it their third best album of the year. Another small venue show that rocked.The extended jams scratched my jam band itch while still giving off the indie rock vibes. It might be hard to see him in a small venue going forward but worth a flyer if you have the time. It will be interesting to see what happens with his primary gig with the band Wednesday, another indie emo darling.

Back to that Swedish death metal band, Opeth. I have never seen a death metal band, so I wanted to see how bad the GA section would be. Turns out the upper balcony GA section at the venue only had seats and everyone sat through the whole show. Not very death metal to me.

Maybe we need to have a G:TB concert outing. Someone pick a show. Or just go see a local show. It is good therapy. At least for this guy.

Merry Gheorghemas!

Public Radio Gets It Done Again

My Saturdays typically involve running errands, attending pre-school birthday parties, visiting my in-laws and numerous other activities that require schlepping my kids around in the car. In an effort to expand their musical and cultural horizons, I try to listen to public radio when driving with my children. This is also a remarkably selfish act--most children's music sucks. Just because I'm driving a family truckster doesn't mean I have to be completely miserable.

zson likes to run errands with me in large part because I tear around with the windows down and, if it's between 1 pm and 3 pm on Saturday, Rex Doane's "Fool's Paradise" show blaring on the radio. According to Doane's website, "Fool's Paradise examines recorded music located somewhere between low brow and no brow. Vintage rockabilly, R & B, blues, vocal groups, garage, instrumentals, hillbilly, soul and surf set the stage for a three hour sonic excursion to nowhere." And that doesn't even begin to do the show justice--check out 15 years of playlists here. Doane plays lots of stuff from Decca Records, Norton Records and all sorts of other stuff I never heard before. Best of all, zson digs it.

Whilst trucking north on zvacation last week, slogging through the wasteland between Hartford and the junction of 84 and the Mass Pike, I found a rockabilly show in the 89 section of the FM dial (which is really an LED readout, but whatever). At least two zfamily members liked it so I stopped scanning. A few songs into the show, this happened:



Public fucking radio!! How have I never heard of this guy before?

Later on in our jaunt around northeastern Massachusetts I heard this joint on WERS:



The Beginning of the End?!? Again, how come I haven't heard their music before? Oh wait, I have ... as has Mark, Rootsy, TR and anyone else who listened to hiphop and/or hung out with me in the early 90's. Check the first 12 seconds of this song:



So the next time you have a long road trip, try listening to some oddball radio stations instead of simply putting your iPod on shuffle. You might find some cool music you never would've heard otherwise.

Happy Tuesday - Music Interlude Edition (Something Old and Something New)

As we eagerly await Dia Ocho from the doofus overlord, allow me to share two very disparate tunes that have wormholed their way into my soggy brain in recent days.

First up is El Vy, a side project by The National frontman Matt Berninger. I know nothing about The National, other than they are called Dad Rock or something like that. Whatevs. This song has been getting a lot of play on Sirius XMU, a station I love these days.



Next up is a 36 year-old Pretenders song that I can't get out of my head these days. Chrissie Hynde is a hip, hip lady.