Henry Rollins: Provoked - Spoken Word Show at La Zona Rosa

Last night I went with a friend to see famed musician, Henry Rollins, do his one man, spoken word show at La Zona Rosa, Provoked. I had seen Henry perform live on TV, caught a few of his shows on the Independent Film Channel, and watched a Punk Rock documentary, that he had hosted. I can't really say I was a big fan of his music, but he always left me with the impression that he was an articulate and a deep thinker. His viewpoints were often anti-authoritarian and contrarian.

We arrived around 7:15 or so and there was already a respectable crowd of approximately 200 people. It was surprising to see a merch-table with multiple books for sale, rather than just the normal fare of T-shirts and CDs. I picked up one of his books and realized that we were exactly the same age, both from the Baltimore/Washington area, and listened to a lot of the same music in the late 70's (such as Devo). My expectations for the night had been elevated.

Henry walked out promptly near the advertised 8PM start time, and launched into his monologue which lasted close to 3 hours. He spent the first few of minutes talking to the crowd like his friends, and about his great love of Austin with its unique quirkiness and the number of kindred spirits. This praise seemed very genuine, and he claimed that he didn't hand this type praise out very often or lightly.

He covered a lot of politics and the action in Iraq, his invitation to fill-in as leader singer for a reunion of the Ruts in London, his USO tours, and travels in the Middle East to Iran, Syria, and Lebanon (He seems to target places he's not supposed to go to). In all the 3 hours went by way too fast, and nobody left early. He is very engaging, sometimes self deprecating, and extremely humorous.

Great show. I will gladly go see him perform Music or Spoken Word again, when the opportunity presents itself. Will also have to look and see if his IFC show is available on DVD, from Netflix.

Ravens vs. Jets

My Ravens beat the Jets in their home opener, yesterday, but it looks as though there's much to worry about. Two more injuries, Trevor Pryce and Demetrius Williams. Ouch!

In addition, the Defense gave up 177 yards passing in the fourth quarter and almost blew the game. Our ability to hold on to a victory was in doubt, up until the last minute. On the plus side, the much derided, Kyle Boller had a respectable outing and Figurs looked good returning kicks.

ACL for the 3rd and Final Time

I decided today to catch the Ravens game in its entirety, before trekking down to Zilker Park today. As a result, I was only able to catch 2 acts since I arrived at 6PM, and unable to catch a third.

As I entered the grounds, Austin native, Guy Forsyth was playing the BMI stage near the front gate. He was already halfway through his set. He always sounds good, and did last night, as well. I have heard him enough locally, that I decided to attempt to get near Ziggy Marley's show.

After seeing the crowd about 100 rows deep outside of the WaMu pavilion, I gave up. So, rather than fret, I went to go find a decent position for Bob Dylan. Not having a chair, I managed to get about 150-200 ft from the stage. I could have gotten closer, but I don't enjoy standing shoulder to shoulder.

Dylan played for over 90 minutes. He started the set with Rainy Day Woman #12 and 35 (aka. Everybody Must Get Stoned). Other recognizable songs for me were Tangled Up In Blue, and Like A Rolling Stone. His voice was even more gravelly than even I remember, and he spent the bulk of the set playing an Organ. His band was absolutely phenomenal, and I would have liked to have found out who was in it. I unfortunately opted to start heading out of the park 9:50, and heard the last 2 songs headed towards the shuttles back to republic square.

All in all, ACL was good this year. Other than the heat, the weather mostly cooperated.

The Front Gate

The ATT Stage 2 Hours Before Bob

Bob Dylan Closing ACL 2007

It's pretty difficult to get a good shot at night, I see

ACL Day 2

I stayed for a much shorter time today, because the heat was stifling. I saw the following acts today:

• Sylvia St. James
• Dax Riggs
• Back Door Slam
• Railroad Earth
• Stephen Marley
• BeauSoliel
• and a smidgen of Artic Monkeys

The highlights of the day were Back Door Slam, Railroad Earth and Stephen Marley. The only thumbs down went to Dax Riggs. (I'm mystified how he was booked for the festival to be bluntly honest).

Stephen Marley sounds eerily like his father, Bob. He did a full hour of Reggae with his own music, as well as three of his father's songs, Buffalo Soldier, No Woman No Cry, and Could You Be Loved. The band was tight, and the very large crowd was into it.

I don't hate Bluegrass, but I don't listen to a lot of it either. If all Bluegrass Bands sounded like Railroad, I would listen to a lot more. There was some shredding going on with between the mandolin, banjo, and violin players. They were trading 8's like it was going out of style.

Back Door Slam was an English Blues Rock Trio, reminiscent of Cream. The leader of the band, sings like Jack Bruce and plays like Clapton. I'd go see them in a heartbeat again, too!

Railroad Earth

Stephen Marley's Band

ACL Day 1

Well I just returned from my first grueling day at the Austin City Limits Festival. I'm covered with sweat, tired and have blisters on my feet. I saw the following bands:

• One Mississippi
• The Greyhounds
• Asleep at the Wheel with Austin Celebrity, Ray Benson
• Jesse Malin
• Heartless Bastards
• Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
• Blonde Redhead
• Big Sam's Funky Nation
• Joss Stone
• Spoon
• Andy Palacio and the Garfina Collective
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Gotan Project
• The Killers

For me the highlights of the day were Bela Fleck, Gotan, Big Sam's, and Andy Palacio. Bela and company are still amazing, with Future Man appearing to have some new tricks. At times during their set, he now plays a traditional drum kit with his right arm and foot, while keeping his left hand on the Drumitar. All I can say is wow!

Gotan was another surprise. They're a unique fusion of Tango, Nu Jazz, and Electronica. They drew a big crowd and with good reason. The other two bands were Funk/Gospel groups that just kicked ass, and took no prisoners. Everyone was bopping along.

I enjoyed the rest of the day. Although I would be hard pressed to say what I liked about Hearrtless Bastard and One Mississippi. The Killers were good, but had a larger buzz than I thought they deserved. I'm not sure what the fuss is all about.

I had wanted to see Bjork, but found myself too tired to last it out for the end of the night show. I know now that I will be exhausted when ACL ends in two nights.

The Calm Before the Storm

Asleep at the Wheel

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones setting up

T-minus 5 hours

I have my wristband, and ACL starts in approximately 5 hours. Will hopefully be able to report on things daily. My main objective today is to catch Bela Fleck.

More to follow ...

MNF Follow Up

The NFL acknowledged that the ref made a bad call in Monday's game. To add to the week1 strangeness, the Patriots were busted this week trying to intercept the Jets' defensive signals and were fined heavily by the league and docked a draft pick.

In both cases however, the L stays put for both the Ravens and the Jets. Gee, thanks NFL, I know fans in Baltimore and NY are much happier now!

RIP: Joe Zawinul

Another of my Jazz heros passed away on this past Tuesday (9/11), Joe Zawinul. Once again, the hustle and bustle of normal life resulted in my missing the news, two days ago. Thanks to the Sonic Talk Podcast for mentioning this.

Fortunately, I was able to see the Zawinul Syndicate once. I would have loved to have seen him with Weather Report and Cannonball Adderley, however! I'll have to listen to Birdland and Mercy, Mercy, Mercy sometime this weekend.

NPR did a wonderful job looking at his life and art.

Ravens vs. the Bengals on MNF

Well my Ravens opened their season with a Prime Time game this past Monday, against the Bengals. In keeping with their recent tradition of playing shitty on MNF and in the rain, they managed to turn the ball over 6 times and amass a ton of injuries. B.J. Sams our ProBowl caliber kick returner, has had a season ending injury at Paul Brown stadium for the last 2 years. (Talk about Bad Kharma!) Unfortunately, the special teams drop-off will hurt us.

Despite all of this, our D played fantastically in the 2nd half, and the Ravens took the lead in the 4th quarter, only to blow it on a stupid interception. Then, they almost tied the game with less than 90 seconds with a TD Pass from Kyle Boller to Todd Heap. Unfortunately, in what will go down as the worst fucking call I have ever seen in an NFL game, Heap was called for Offensive PI. The referee responsible needs to go back to officiating Pop Warner games. Of course, Billick sealed the deal, snatching defeat from the jaws of a tie, with some very questionable play calling.

For now, I'm telling myself it's only the first game of the season. The Jets are next, and are one of the few teams in the NFL worse off than the Ravens, injury wise. (Actually, both NY teams are in trouble already).

On the positive side, Willis McGahee looks like an upgrade from Jamal. And, the Austin City Limits Festival is less than 2 days away now!

30 years ago or Damn, I feel old

I certainly felt old when I saw this story today. I was a sophomore in high school when the Pistols launched their infamous tour of North America. In those days, your choices were Punk or Disco. My friends and I (almost of all of whom were musicians) chose Punk.

Since the Pistols came and burnt out quickly, a lot of my attention was focused on the likes of the Clash, the Ramones, Elvis Costello and Devo. I am proud to say, that my 4 nephews ages 6-12 all enjoy Blitzkrieg Bop as much as I did back in the day. Of course, hearing Devo's Freedom of Choice in a Miller Beer commercial sealed the deal.

It's amazing to think how mainstream Punk became. As they say in Texas, Gabba-gabba-hey, Y'all!

RIP: Max Roach

I guess in the process of going to all the recent shows and events, I missed the news of Max Roach's death on 8/16. He was one of the greats of the Bebop era, and arguably brings it to a close following Dizzy, Miles, Bird, and Bud into the great beyond.

RIP Max, you will be missed.

Deep Purple at the Majestic, in San Antonio

After noting this date well over 6 weeks ago, I had resigned myself to not going, because several of my friends were on vacation. I have been a fan of both Deep Purple and Steve Morse for over 30 years and have seen both live, but I have never seen them together. Somehow, fate intervened Wednesday and I was offered a ticket that some other friends (who were already going) had won in a radio, call-in contest.

My seat was great last night, unlike the last time I attended a show there and sat in the balcony. The sight lines were great since I was only 20 rows back from the stage, and the sound is very good down there also. I was about 3 chairs to the right of the line from the house soundboard to center stage.

I estimate Deep Purple played somewhere between 90 - 120 minutes. Since they were not promoting a new album (see their website as to why), they stuck to playing their hits. The night included a lot of material from Machine Head (Smoke on the Water, Lazy, Highway Star), along with Hush, and Woman from Tokyo.

The core of the band, Roger Glover and the Ians (Gillian and Paice) are still on top of their game, and can deliver the goods. The crowd and the band fed off of each other, and everyone in the house seemed to enjoy the show. Steve Morse seems to never age, and still plays in his blazing, rock-solid style. The only disappointment I had was that Jon Lord had retired due to health reasons, but Don Airey did an excellent as his permanent replacement.

A great show all around.

More Orioles

Every year for as long as it's been offered, I have subscribed to MLBTV.

Unfortunately, it's the same story over and over again.... I've usually given up on them by the All-Star Break (because they make me).

Where is Davey Johnson when you need him?

RIP: 'Wild Bill' Hagy

I spent a significant portion of the my summers during high school and home from college ('76 to '83) at Memorial Stadium, going to Orioles games. Actually, I was a Jr Oriole starting in 1968 but was obviously not able to drive myself to Memorial Stadium until years later. The O's were a force to be reckoned from 1966 until 1985, with a small resurgence in 1996 and 1997. They were one of the elite teams, and notorious Yankee killers.

On many a summer evening, my friend Porkface (aka. Fran) and I would go purchase $3.00 GA tickets, fill a Coleman Jug with the contents of a case of Busch Beer, and drag our little brothers, and/or his cousin "Sweaty" Freddy to the stadium. There was only one place to sit, Section 34!

For years, a drunken fan named 'the Big Wheel' had been spelling out C-O-L-T-S with his body, during football games at the stadium. Somewhere in the late 70's this bled over into the Baseball games, when a cab driver named 'Wild Bill' Hagy started doing the same thing by spelling out O-R-I-O-L-E-S. Wild Bill was the King of Section 34 and led us all with his battle cries. He would usually make a good show of winding up for a cheer with exaggerated arm movements, waving his Cowboy Hat, demanding that we get our asses off the seats, and followed by a quick call of Let's hear it for the Ball-team, before launching into his dance. He was usually egged on by the other denizens of the Section.

By 1979, it had become the "in-thing" to go to an "O's" game. For about a decade, it seemed that baseball had unthinkably reached an equal footing with football, in Baltimore. To this day, a Baltimore crowd can not listen to the National Anthem w/o embellishing the "O" ala Wild Bill.

Those were the days. The Skankees, Red Sox, Brewers, Indians, Tigers, and Blue Jays were all in our division. (There were only 2 divisions per league back then and Milwaukee was still in the AL!) Names like Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Scott McGregor, Steve Stone, Sammy Stewart, Rick Dempsey, Elrod, Disco Dan Ford, Brother Low-low, Rhino, DeCinces, Ed=E Murray, Marc Belanger, Cal Ripken, Benny Ayala, Rich Dauer, Tippy, Dennis Martinez, come to mind. Rex Barney on the PA, play by play with Chuck Thompson, and the recap the next morning with Charlie Eckman.

Unfortunately, there has not been much to cheer about since Game 5 of the 1983 World Series. And of course, OPACY (Oriole Park at Camden Yards) never had the right feel for me. 'Wild Bill' was one of the common, blue-collar people of Bawldy-more. He seemed like he had stepped out of one of Barry Levinson's or John Waters' movies. He (and I) belonged in Memorial Stadium. If only something would convince Angelos to sell the team now, maybe the Orioles could climb out of the grave they fell into.

RIP: Wild Bill. I'm going to see if I can find a 6 Pack of Natty Boh tonight, and drink in your honor.

Ravens vs. Giants - Primetime Preseason

I was somewhat pleased because I didn't have to make special arrangements to watch the Ravens tonight. They were the Primetime game. Most likely because there's a Manning involved.

I was going to comment more on this, but it looks like both the Offense and Defense went a little backward this week. We came out on the short end, 13-12. Troy Smith looked good, Boller looks like he's done. I'm slightly worried about McNair. He doesn't do too well in the rain or the snow.

The Countdown Continues

Some great music happening this fall. I have tickets to:

• All 3 days of ACL - Bob Dylan
• 2nd leg of the Porcupine Tree tour
• Zappa plays Zappa - this time with Ray White as Special Guest.

My mood: Psyched with anticipation.

Ravens open their preseason vs. the Iggles

Watched the Ravens first preseason game against Filthadelphia. The Ravens controlled all aspects of the game throughout. McNair and Drew Olsen looked great. (Olsen probably won't make the team). The season is less than a month away, can't wait. I expect big things and a number 1 defense again.

The only downer so far, they have away games during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most likely, I will only get to see one game at M&T Bank Stadium this year, against the Rams, in October.

Rush at the Verizon Amphitheater, in San Antonio, TX

Over 15 years have passed since I last saw Rush on tour to support Roll the Bones. I had seen them multiple times in the late 70's and early 80's, with an outstanding show at Radio City Music Hall during the Signals tour, being the most memorable.

I will admit to losing interest in the band, because of the direction they had taken during the 90's. Until two days ago, I was also unaware of the tragedy that had befallen Neil Peart and thought they had just gone inactive. I was somewhat surprised when I watched and heard Far Cry on Youtube 6 months ago, and really liked this return to their old sound.

While I will admit to being a fan of the band, I was never a fan-boy. I've noticed in the past that fan-boyism seems to be rampant amongst Rush (and Dream Theater) fans, and have always been curious (and somewhat annoyed) about this phenomenon. At the conclusion of this show, I discovered that nothing has changed in this respect (and I still don't understand it).

The show was listed as starting at 7:30PM, and probably started no later than 7:45. With one 20 minute intermission at the 2 hour mark, the show went all the way up to 10:52PM. The sight-lines were good once again, since my seats were about 30 rows back from the stage, dead center. Despite the great view, the heat and humidity made things uncomfortable.

The biggest downer for the show, was the sound. It sucked. The floor is a sloped, concrete slab. Ear plugs were an absolutely necessity. A real downer for me after the One World show two nights prior! I really despise large arena shows, and this did nothing to change my opinion.

Countering this, one of the cool features of the show were 3 large screens at the rear of the stage. There were live cameras in front, at the side and above the stage, that were used to focus in on the individual band members, and supply a "bird's eye" views of Neil. They also used the screens for CGI artwork and had two funny segues to introduce songs:

• The first involved the MacKenzie Brothers from the SCTV skit the Great White North.
• The South Park crew prepared a special cartoon, with Cartman, Kyle, and Kenny as Lil' Rush playing Tom Sawyer. There are several screeners posted to Youtube right now.

The show included a mix of material, obviously including Snakes and Arrows. It was a good cross-section of their discography, including cuts from Hemispheres, Signals, Moving Pictures, Power Windows, Vapor Trails, R30, and others. Noticeably absent however, were songs from 2112 and Farewell to Kings, other than Passage to Bangkok. The most glaring omission however, was that this was the first time I had ever seen them play where they did not play Closer to the Heart.

From what I could discern in the horrible mix the playing was tight. I did notice a reliance on prerecorded tracks at various points, and am pretty certain that some backing vocal tracks were also added at various points in the show. I'm not sure how I feel about this, and was a little disappointed.

Final Verdict: Good show, not great. I'll probably go see them again in the next few years, before they get so old that it's embarrassing.

California Guitar Trio at the One World Theater

Friday night, I attended another great show, featuring Guitar Craft alumni, the California Guitar Trio at the One World Theater. Without a doubt, the One World is probably the best venue in Austin to see a show. The room holds 300 people tops and has great acoustics. My seats were in 2nd row, right on center aisle. I was within spitting distance of all three members of the band, and it was amazing to see how relaxed and precise their technique was from that vantage point.

CGT played a solid 90 minutes. They played older (Melrose Avenue) and new material (Andromeda), and were joined on stage by several guests (their soundman playing a melodica and a woman playing mandolin). During one phase of the show they got the audience singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody, and of course played an encore with the most requested live song of all time, Freebird.

The highlight of the night for me was seeing them play a Bach Prelude in Circulation, a training technique used by Robert Fripp, in the Guitar Craft courses. Of course, I am now hoping that the League of Crafty Guitarists will make it to Texas.

After the show, the Trio was available for autographs and I was able to purchase a CD of the show I had just attended. They are actually touring with a CD duplicator and were able to burn 7 disks at a time. Very cool idea.

Dream Theater at the Backyard

This past Saturday, I endured the early evening heat and opening bands Into Eternity and Redemption to see Dream Theater at the outdoor venue, the Backyard. In general, it was an enjoyable show, but as usual, I left a DT show once again unable to call myself a true fan of DT's music.

First the opening acts. Into Eternity was a Progressive Death Metal band from Canada. I found them to be cliche and boring. The speed metal licks, one singer growling, the other sounding like Iron Maiden, argh!!! I made sure my earplugs were firmly in. Sorry guys, you're weren't worth a case of tinnitus.

The second opener, Redemption from L.A., was much better. They displayed a little more creativity. The biggest problem with them was that they were basically DT Lite.

I estimated DT's show lasted 2 hours tops, but didn't really watch the clock. They played a lot of their most recent material from Octavarium and Systematic Chaos. They didn't play Metropolis, which I found surprising. I will admit that I have a hard time distinguishing a lot of their material and albums, since Jordan Rudess has joined the band. Nothing was bad, technique abounded, but there was not a single moment during the show where I would call the music soulful. I do give some props to Jordan however, who actually succeeded in looking cool playing a Keytar.

Ron Paul San Antonio Fund Raiser

I spent a grueling 22 hour day in San Antonio, Saturday, helping with a Rally and Fund Raiser for Presidential Candidate Ron Paul. Despite being understaffed from a volunteer standpoint, the event went off with very few hitches.

Coverage of the event can be found at the Ron Paul SA and Ron Paul Austin sites. All told there were between 500-600 people in attendance at the Buckhorn Museum. During the day, there crowd was sparse, but swelled to large proportions around 5PM for the rally.

For me, the highlight of the day was getting to meet Michael Badnarik and getting a picture with Ron and his wife.