Jason Mraz - 09/12/2012 Starlight Theater, Kansas City, MO

I was doing a volunteer gig with Headcount to get folks to register to vote for the 2012 presidential election as well as just to register to vote in general.  We are there to answer questions and encourage people to register who are not.  So if you haven't registered or you have moved since you last registered, I would go out to Headcount and get it done.

It was a really nice night out at Starlight Theater in Kansas City.  There was a pretty sizable crowd of people mixed with young and old.  But everyone was into the show from the start and Jason really interacted well with the crowd and his band.

He started off the show with some classics, Ray of Sunshine and then into Remedy.  Throughout the set the crowd was singing and dancing along throughout the whole show.  The band really jelled together from beginning to end.  There was certainly a lot of talent within his band with a great horn section. 

I found it to be pretty entertaining show from end to end and would highly recomment seeing him play if you get a chance.

Set List:
Ray of Sunshine, The Remedy (I Won’t Worry), Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Make It Mine, Butterfly, Lucky, Up, Plane, You and I Both, Living in the Moment, 5/6, Frank D. Fixer, You (expletive) Did It, Love Looks Like, I’m Coming Over, The Woman I Love, A Beautiful Mess, 93 Million Miles, I’m Yours, Three Little Birds, All Dialed In, Distance, I Won’t Give Up

The Gaddabouts - Look Out Now!

The Gaddabouts second album Look Out Now is a follow up to the original self titled album release in 2011. The Gaddabouts are Edie Brickell, Steve Gadd, Andy Fairweather-Low and Pino Palidino. Formed out of a meeting between Steve and Edie that turned into this band that has given us some beautiful music.
The new album contains 17 songs on two cds. There is quite a variety of music styles brought out in this cd that go from soulful to bluesy to a real jazzy feel. That's really the only way I really can descripe the style as it's all over the place because of the different styles that each musician brings to the table.

Meat On Your Bones is a wonderful start to the cd with a short one minute track that gets you hopping around and then it kicks into the really jazzy style of Look Out Now, which in itself is a brilliant tune with fulll interaction of the whole band.

Wicked William was started with Edie working on her finger picking techniques and evolved into a wonderful full band version that I really enjoy as my son's name is William even though he isn't wicked. This is by far my favorite song on the double album.

House on Fire was originally played by the New Bohemians live I believe, but certainly is a song that fits really well with the style of The Gaddabouts. Very blusey and the style of the song really brings out with Edie's beautiful voice. I'm A Van is slow paced tune with a really nice beat.

This album is full of great songs from funny tunes like The Horses Mouth to the soulful tune Blessed Day as well as Down and we haven't even gotten to the second cd of music.

The second cd starts off with a sort of samba style beginning tune that sounds like something you'd hear in a lounge bar. The song Free mixes piano, horns along with some really nice beats. Then is continues on that softer style with the song The Mountain mixing again a nice acoustic guitar in with a great compliment from the piano.

The album continues with a nice acoustic jazz feel with the mellow sone Don't Take All Day. This tracks into a really nice acoustic pop style song called How I Love You that keeps a real nice clapping type beat through the song.

Things pick up with a really nice upbeat song Can You Feel It that has a nice Sax solo and Steve Keeps you with a bouncing beat on the snare that keeps your foot tapping. Younger Woman is really sort of bluesy tune that seems like something that should be in one of those old mystery movies or that's how I picture it.

The album finished off with the song Corruption which has a nice beat and seems to tell a little story about the corruption of the world and where does the money go. But has a good message about the good people. This whole album has a great feel from end to end. I love to play it while sitting on the porch on a nice night with a fire in the fireplace and a cold beer in my hand. Scotch would actually fit this album a little better I think.

For more information about The Gaddabouts you can go to
www.thegaddabouts.com and to learn more avout what Edie Brickell is up to thise days check her website out at www.ediebrickell.com. Pick this new album up today and if you don't have the first one I would suggest getting that one as well.

 

Track Listing:

1. Meat On Your Bones 1:01

2. Look Out Now! 3:41
3. Wicked William 2:56
4. House On Fire 4:31
5. I'm A Van 3:49
6. River Rises 5:50
7. The Horse's Mouth 3:34
8. Blessed Days 4:01
9. Devil's Story 5:47
10. Down 4:04
11. Free 4:22
12. The Mountain 4:29
13. Don't Take All Day 4:37
14. How I Love You 3:00
15. Can You Feel It 3:14
16. Younger Woman 4:08
17. Corruption 4:36

Dave Matthews Band - Away From The World

Dave Matthews Band’s new CD was produced by Steve Lilywhite, who produced their first three cds as well as the unreleased Lilywhite Sessions that eventually became Busted Stuff. The new CD goes a bit back to the style of the first 3 CDs that Lilywhite produced. Broken Things is a nice start to the CD kicking in with a typical Dave style with the horns, strings, drums all predominate in it.

Second song Belly Belly Nice to me is a big funky and odd. It really doesn’t fit the style of what I would expect. Mercy has been released early to get tested as well as being played live for the past year. Pretty mellow, soft style but a nice blend to the CD. Gaucho as a nice mix of the guitar and violin slowly building up at the start and building the song up. A really nice one to have on this collection. A little electric guitar kicks in there as well.

Sweet is a nice little tune that kicks off with a nice acoustic sound and moved out to full band. I haven’t seen Dave Matthews Band in many years as he really seems to sound the same and plays the same tunes every time I attend. I used to really enjoy seeing him until there was a rash of young 13-16 year old girls yelling out the lyrics to every song at the shows and awfully out of tune. But getting back to this CD I like the style and the sound a bunch. The Riff is a sweet soulful tune and Belly Full is a nice acoustic tune that could be one of those nice tunes to throw on in the car as you are driving at night or just sitting and looking at the stars. Sort of Paul Simon like. Actually I would love to hear Paul record that one.

If Only is a nice back to the standard slow style DMB tune that you would hear off Under The Table or Crash. Rooftop gets a really funky feel to it, great beat and pretty cool. Snow Outside is a nice acoustic style mixing in the horns and drums to give it a nice feel throughout. There’s a nice slide guitar in there as part of the mix. The last song is called Drunken Soldier – you hears some guitar play at the beginning with low volume vocals that kicks into the typical jam sound of DMB. It is about a 10 minute tune with some nice instrumental parts as well as vocals. Nice finish to the CD.

This CD has a deluxe bonus version that has 3 live versions of Gaucho, Mercy and Sweet from the 2012 tour.

Dave Matthews Band is Carter Beauford (drums), Stefan Lessard (bass), Dave Matthews (vocals, guitar) and Boyd Tinsley (violin).

Track Listing:

1. Broken Things

2. Belly Belly Nice

3. Mercy

4. Gaucho

5. Sweet

6. The Riff

7. Belly Full

8. If Only

9. Rooftop

10. Snow Outside

11. Drunken Solider

12. Gaucho (Hartford, CT- 5.25.12)

13. Mercy (Bristow, VA-6.12.12)

14. Sweet (Cleveland, OH-6.3.12)

Phish 8-22-2012 Starlight Theater, Kansas City, MO

It's been quite a while since Phish have played in the KC area and it was really good to have them back.  The Starlight Theater is a nice venue with a capacity of around 7,800 people.  It has a nice sloping grade from bottom to top so everyone can see the show and from all angles.

Phish came on just before dusk to kick off the night with a Chalk Dust Torture and the crowd erupted.  There wasn't a single space open in the venue, the isles were crammed with dancers and the whole from area was as well.  I started off the night about 10 rows back just joining in the one big dance that was going on.

There were some really good highlights flowing through the first set with The Momo Dance getting everyone dancing.  From end to end there was hardly a person sitting in a seat anywhere at the show.  I love a nice Bathtub Gin and is was good to hear one tonight at the show along with a Stash getting everyone interacting with some clapping.  I feel like every time I see them they play Kill Devil Falls and this was no exception.  Still a great energetic version.

Finally I found my way back to my seat at the intermission of the show.  They took about a 30 minute break inbetween the two 90 minute sets.  When they came back out they ripped it into a Tweezer which only meant that they were going to reprise it at some point, probably the end.  They did a few other newer tunes along the way with a classic harmonizing Bouncing Around the Room to get the folks stirred up.

The best of the show was still to come as they tore into a Weekapaug Groove and continues to get the crowd going with a Harry Hood and into a Suzy Greenburg where somewhere in that tune the was an added line "Todd Akin's a neurologist" yes a nice close to the set to come out and really finish strong with a cover of Loving Cup that was hot and right on as it flowed into the reprise of Tweezer and it was goodnight!

Great energetic show from end to end.  the venue was amazing as it was easy to get in and out of and loads of people just hung out, had beers and talked about previous shows and what they wanted and didn't want to hear that night.  I was quite satisfied with what I heard from end to end.

If you are interested in hearing this show live, you can pick a copy up at LivePhish.com KC Show.



Setlist: Chalk Dust Torture; Skin It Back; The Moma Dance; Rift; Bathtub Gin; Stash; The Ballad of Curtis Loew; Kill Devil Falls; Funky Bitch; Run Like an Antelope. Intermission. Tweezer; Piper; Mike’s Song; Bouncing Around the Room; Backwards Down the Number Line; Heavy Things; If I Could; Weekapaug Groove; Harry Hood; Suzy Greenburg. Encore: Loving Cup/Tweezer Reprise.

Steve Martin - Born Stanfing Up - A Review

As he prefers to call this a biography even though it's his autobiography.  This is from a period in Steve Martin's life where he broke into comedy and made a name for himself as one of the best out there.  This is a great story of how he got started in stand up from working at Knotts Berry Farm to getting gigs at various clubs throughout the Los Angeles area.

The other thing I like about this book is that there is no fluff he talks about when he bombs or struggles. He even talks about an issue he had dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. It's great to see that he was able to get past the issues and how it can really affect you day to day life.

There's some good insight into how he had to go from using borrowed type materials to all original. Taking a 5 minute bit turning it into 20 and more.

Somewhere along the line Steve wrote a movie called The Jerk and that took him from a world of standup to acting and performing music with his band.

I never knew Steve was an accomplished banjo player, but from it being a part his comedy act all the way to selling loads of CDs and touring all over the US.

Great book to read. I highly recommend picking it up.

Death Cab For Cutie 07/08/2012 Crossroads KC

Sunday night prior to the MLB All Star game one of the many events happening in KC was the Death Cab For Cutie show at The Crossroads KC right behind Grinders.  I've heard their music over the past 10-15 years and was there as part of headcount.org volunteering to get people registered to vote who have either moved recently or have never registered.

It was a good experience walking around before the show talking to people who were in town for the show and those who were in town for the MLB All Star game.  The band certainly has a diverse group of followers from young 15-17 year olds all the way up to the 40+ crowd.  I found the crowd of approximately 2000 to be very friendly and supportive of getting people to register to vote for the upcoming elections.

As far as the performace it started out with Ben Gibbard doing a solo tune "Will Follow You Into the Dark" and then set into a full band session the rest of the way through.  The band had a lot of enery and really sounded good on a hot KC night.  The crowd was energetic as well and really sang along and took part in the show.

It was a good night for Headcount in collecting some new voter registrations and a good night of music.  I would recommend checking them out if they play near you.

Set list:

Will Follow You Into the Dark
Home Is a Fire
I Will Possess Your Heart
Crooked Teeth
Why You’d Want to Live Here
Photobooth
Doors Unlocked and Open
Grapevine Fires
Lightness
You Are a Tourist
The New Year
A Movie Script Ending
Pictures in an Exhibition
Cath
We Looked Like Giants
Soul Meets Body
Blacking Out the Friction
Marching Bands of Manhattan

Fiona Apple 07/17/1012 Midland Theater, KCMO

Fiona Apple played Kansas City on her new tour supporting her new album with a name so long I couldn't remember it if you asked. It was an almost full venue with a lot of women and a lot of true fans who knew the songs and sang along.

Fiona herself looks like she could put on a few pounds, cheeks are sunken and way too skinny.  Still her voice sounded as good as always.  She danced around, played some drums and had little interaction with the crowd over her 90 minute set.

The best thing to me about the show was her drummer Amy Wood.  She kept a great beat and was quite impressive in her small kit she played.  Amy is from LA and plays with The Donnies and The Amys as well as The Broken Remotes.  Check out her stuff for sure - I bet she will be a top drummer.

A show well worth seeing as this tour will cross over the whole US.

Set list:
Fast As You Can; On the Bound; Shadowboxer; Paper Bag; Anything We Want; Get Gone; Sleep to Dream; Extraordinary Machine; Werewolf; Tymps; Daredevil; I Know; Every Single Night; Not About Love; Carrion; Criminal; It’s Only Make Believe.

The Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

Mike "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz and Adam "MCA" Yauch have completed their eighth studio release Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. The Beastie Boys have been at it for a long time and continue to put out some quality music. The new CD is a good collection of tunes. They seem to have taken a mix of styles from the years and combine them to make the new album.

With a little help from NAS the first single released last year was Too Many Rappers. A pretty killer tune that keeps a great beat as they all rap throughout it. The whole album has some great beats and really rocks you to it. Keeps you pumped up through out. They use many of the old effects that they used with some of the fuzz noise as well as various others. Still there is a lot of regular instruments being played and is in classic form.

Santigold joins in for the song Don't Plan No Game I Can't Win. A nice beat with a little bit of a reggae sort of feel to me. It's great to hear the boys back at it and to hear MCA rapping again after his battle with cancer. Sounds just as good as he did before.

It's been a few years since I've seen them live, but they would certainly be on the list of bands I would really love to see live this coming year. Pick this album up for sure!

Have a listen to the stream here: http://beastieboys.com/preorder/

Track List:

1. Make Some Noise
2. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
3. OK
4. Too Many Rappers [new reactionaries version] (featuring NAS)
5. Say It
6. The Bill Harper Collection
7. Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (featuring Santigold)
8. Long Burn The Fire
9. Funky Donkey
10. The Larry Routine
11. Tadlock's Glasses
12. Lee Majors Come Again
13. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
14. Here's A Little Something For Ya
15. Crazy Ass Shit
16. The Lisa Lisa/Full Force Routine

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Album Review

The new Foo Fighters album was produced by Butch Vig and was recorded fully on analog tape in Dave Grohl's garage in San Fernando Valley, CA. There's a really good mix of songs on this CD, from some songs that sound like classic Foo's to some new sounds with a different touch. They certainly put their time into putting together a really nice collection of tunes for this one.

"Bridges Burning" starts you off with a really good pumped up song that keeps you rolling from the start with the heavy guitars and beats. The first single off the album was released early on iTunes, "Rope" has a different feel to it. Sort of a funky rock feel to start and gets into a really good rockin' song. There are a few ballad type songs as well as a few really all out rock songs that might make your head spin.

"Dear Rosemary" is a slowing song with a nice tempo and then you kick into "White Limo" which is more of a screaming metal type song that seems a bit out of place for this album, but still has a bit of a entertaining Rob Zombie feel to it. "Alandria" goes back to a typical Foo Fighters song with Dave starting out with a little yelling voice into the slow melodic sound that kicks it in with a jam. Quite an awesome song.

"These Days" is like the ballad song that goes from mellow to the rocked out chorus and back to mellow. Great tune for sure.

Most of the album follows a typical format of the Foo's over the years. It really is another really nice to hear summer CD. I would guess that we might even see them out on a tour this summer to support the new CD. Hope they come back to Kansas City. Last show here was a total blast.

Track Listing:
1. Bridge Burning 4:46
2. Rope 4:19
3. Dear Rosemary 4:26
4. White Limo 3:22
5. Arlandria 4:27
6. These Days 4:58
7. Back & Forth 3:51
8. A Matter Of Time 4:36
9. Miss The Misery 4:32
10. I Should Have Known 4:15
11. Walk 4:16

Radiohead - The King of Limbs Album Review

Radiohead is Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway and Thom Yorke.

Here we go starting it all off with the old electronic drum machine repeating the samples for a minure before Thom Yorke joins in to the first song "Bloom". He does bring it together really well with a melodic sound playing as he sings in a really mellow tone. Still I would much prefer to hear the boys get out some instruments and play like a band! After three years since their last album, Radiohead started this one out as an electronic copy for sale on their site and a limited edition package as well. It has been officially released on all other media outlets as of April 5th.

There are only eight songs on this collection and about 36 minutes of music. I would have hoped that after the gap in time they would have put a few more together for the fans, but I certainly will take what i can get. They are all relatively mellow tunes and lots of repeating beats through the songs. Overall I really enjoy the feel of the whole album and really hope we will see a tour come out of this one. Please make your way to Kansas City!


Track Listing:1. Bloom 5:14
2. Morning Mr Magpie 4:40
3. Little By Little 4:27
4. Feral 3:12
5. Lotus Flower 5:00
6. Codex 4:46
7. Give Up The Ghost 4:50
8. Separator 5:20

The Gaddabouts - The Gaddabouts Album Review

The Gaddabouts are Edie Brickell, Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino and Andy Fairweather-Low. Their first CD has been 10 years in the making and now in 2011 finally is officially released. From the stories and interviews it sounds like Edie ran into Steve and they decided to get together and do some songs. I for one can certainly say that I'm happy that they have done so. This is an allstar band in my mind having work with so many accomplished artista over the years.

Edie's lyrics tied into the music writing skills of these guys really all comes together in this eleven song collection. There's a great vibe about this whole cd from accoustics playing, blues, jazz and so many other styles hit this album. You can check a little more about the band out at www.thegaddabouts.com. They will be playing their first and at this point, only show on Friday, April 8th at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. It's all sold out, but if you have a ticket, enjoy something you may never see again.

This album is fun, everything from slow paced songs to bouncing up and down songs. My favorite of the bunch are "Mad Dog", "Let It Slide" "They Say Everything". "Mad Dog" is really a good old fun song and makes me want to get up and clap along and dance every time I hear it. The bluesy guitar of a song like "Gonna Hold On" is another one of those that make you want to dance around as well.

There's a lot of maturity in this album. I think there is in many of Edie's songs but this album really shows a nice touch of the different flavors of what she is capable of putting out. "Feelin' Better" just finishes it off with some great energy.

I say go get this NOW! What an awesome collection of songs.

Track Listing:
1. Never So Far Away
2. Let It Slide
3. Remind Me
4. My Heart 5:07
5. They Say Everything
6. Mad Dog
7. Gonna Hold On
8. Good Day
9. Good For Me
10. More Than Anybody
11. Feelin' Better

Edie Brickell - Edie Brickell Album Review

I keep hearing it's good to see Edie making a comeback! Well from what I see she's been around the whole time or at least actively writing and releasing music since 2004's Volcano. In 2006 she put out an album with New Bohemians called Stranger Things and then in 2008 it was Heavy Circles with Harper Simon under the name Heavy Circles. In 2011 we get two releases and a handfull of live performance dates. The first is the self titled album Edie Brickell and the second in The Gaddabouts.

Edie's first release this year the self titled album Edie Brickell is produced by Charlie Sexton and contains many songs that were written over the past ten or so years. She originally started writing the songs with Carter Albrecht, a close friend and member of New Bohemians. Carter was killed near his home in Texas and Edie put down the tracks until she felt ready to get back to them. The Album is dedicated to Carter and he performs on most of the tracks.

Edie worked with Charlie Sexton, Dave Monsey, Jim Oblon and Carter in making this album. She currently is performing several shows with Charlie Sexton, Dave Monsey, Dave Palmer and Aaron Comess as her backing musicians. This includes a date in Austin on May 4th at The Continental Club as well as two nights in New Orleans on May 6&7th. Last January Edie played a sold out at Radio City Music Hall opening for Iron & Wine as well as an appearence on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

The new cd is filled with fun upbeat songs and really catchy tunes. The CD itself has 10 songs and Amazon.com has an exclusive download of the song "Go". "Give It Another Day" starts it off with a really nice song to get you hopping along and some good guitar play. "Pill" has a good message about how crazy our world has become that you can take a pill for everything.

"Been So Good" has a nice soulful beat and is one of my favorite song on the CD. Good old rock song that just makes you feel good. "Always" has a pretty funny start, not sure what's going on exactly, but it's a fun song and really has some great Carter piano in it. "2 O'Clock" slows it down a bit with a nice mellow beat starting it off and just flows really well.

"On the Avenue" is a fun upbeat song starting off with some good bass and drums and comes along really nice. Makes you feel like you are hanging out on the porch on a really lovely night in the city. Reminds me of the house I grew up in back in Milwaukee, WI. "Waiting For Me" has good vibes from the start, quite enjoyable from the start. Really nice guitar play through out the song.

"You Come Back" adds a bit of a pop feel with the piano at the start and the drums. Sort of a romantic sound about it that I can't quite hit. The next song is quite a beautiful song, "It Takes Love" is a nice ballad that really brings out Edie's beautiful voice with her brilliant writing abilities. "Bad Way" keeps a bluesy beat and is once again a really fine song. I love Edie with the songs that start a little slower and work into a nice beat.

The bonus track is a song called "Go" that I believe might be from The Gaddabouts but put on this as an exclusive bonus. It might actually be one that they, but really seems to fit along with the Gaddabouts. Still I really like the rocking feel and the guitar playing as well as the drums are really prominant in this one. A good way to finish off the album. A brilliant album in my mind and well worth going out and getting or downloading on iTunes. Follow what Edie is up to on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ediebrickell with the latest on performances as well as interviews and other stuff.

Track List: 1. Give It Another Day 4:18 2. Pill 3:48 3. Been So Good 4:17 4. Always 2:58 5. 2 O'Clock In The Morning 5:01 6. On The Avenue 4:38 7. Waiting For Me 3:25 8. You Come Back 5:57 9. It Takes Love 3:19 10. Bad Way 5:03 11. Go (Exclusive Bonus Track) 3:53

Soundgarden - Live On I-5

Soundgarden was on a 13 year abscence from the music scene as a band. They reunited in 2010 for a couple of shows and a CD release of various songs as well as one unreleased new recording "Black Rain". Now they have released their first live recording from various shows on the 1996 tour that were played on the West Coast along I-5. This collection of live recordings hits a good mix of the different cds as well as a couple of covers they did.

There are the ever classic songs like "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman" and "Burden In My Hand" as well as some other really rockin' stuff like "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Slaves and Bulldozers". The covers they did were The Beatles "Helter Skelter" and The Stooges' "Search & Destroy".

It's good hearing the band at the height of their carrer and when they sounded their best. Chris Cornell is hitting the highs and lows without losing his voice. From what I heard about some of the shows of the past, it was hit or miss when you saw them, but these songs are really the hits in the sense that they picked a good collection of songs where the whole band is on. They collectively sound great and as much as I want to see them come back and do some tour dates, I sort of like to keep the sound of old in my head. Still a great CD and hope we do hear more from them in the coming year.

Track Listing: 1. Spoonman 4:23 2. Searching With My Good Eye Closed 4:13 3. Let Me Drown 4:10 4. Head Down 6:25 5. Outshined 5:13 6. Rusty Cage 4:39 7. Burden In My Hand 5:02 8. Helter Skelter 2:09 9. Boot Camp 3:16 10. Nothing To Say 4:25 11. Slaves & Bulldozers 9:16 12. Dusty 4:32 13. Fell On Black Days 4:55 14. Search And Destroy 3:10 15. Ty Cobb 2:42 16. Black Hole Sun 3:01 17. Jesus Christ Pose 6:24

Stone Temple Pilots - CD Review

I'm not sure when the last time a Stone Temple Pilots CD came out and I'm surprised to actually see them get back together and put something out after such a long time. It certainly is a typical sound for them with the heavy guitar and drums playing while Scott Weiland does his typical vocal tracks and sounds like he did 15 years ago.

I would say that overall this is a relatively average CD when it comes to comparison of what has been coming out this year. There are a few songs that do make it worth a listen. "Take A Load Off" has a good beat to it and "Dare If You Dare" is pretty good as well. I think "Hazy Daze" is a good rockin' tune as well.

There's one song that really doesn't make sense to be on this CD and that's "Cinnamon". It really doesn't fit and sounds like something out of an 80's band and not STP. "First Kiss On Mars" must be some sort of tribute to David Bowie. It's different in style, but not so bad as a song.

Overall I think this CD was an attempt to see if they still have it and I would say the answer is no. Just continue to tour off your old classics and stick to those and only play a couple of the songs from this CD and people will still be there in support.

Track List:

01. Between The Lines 2:50
02. Take A Load Off 3:11
03. Huckleberry Crumble 3:10
04. Hickory Dichotomy 3:22
05. Dare If You Dare 4:29
06. Cinnamon 3:33
07. Hazy Daze 2:59
08. Bagman 2:45
09. Peacoat 3:29
10. Fast As I Can 3:33
11. First Kiss On Mars 3:03
12. Maver 4:52

Pearl Jam - 05-06-2010 Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO

It has been a good seven years since Pearl Jam last played Kansas City and it's been almost four since my last show in San Diego. Since that time they put out Backspacer and toured throughout 2009 but skipped KC until now. This was the second show on the tour just after the New Orleans Jazz Festival. They played at the relatively new Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City, MO.

The night was filled with a pretty good mix of songs through out the years going some 20 years back to the breakout CD of the time Ten and played a little bit of everything including several new songs from Backspacer. The sprint Center wasn't sold out, but there was certainly a pretty large and lively crowd out for this one. The only section of seats not sold were straight back in the upper deck. The line-up for tonight's show was it's standard for years now with Eddie Vedder on vocals, Stone Gossard on guitar, Jeff Ament on bass, Mike McCready on lead guitar, Matt Cameron on drums and Boom Gaspar on keys.

Everything was as it was four years ago as far as the stage setup with Mike out left, Jeff next to him, Eddie in the middle with Matt behind, Stone on the right and Boom in the back right. Eddie still with his bottle of wine in his hand and sneaking off from time to time for a smoke. The only difference was that I was much closer for tonight's show and the sound was really good.

They started the night off with "Of The Girl" and jumped into "Animal" as Eddie really seemed into it tonight. He sang a really nice version and from there it was into "World Wide Suicide" and "Got Some" from there it was a mix of fast and slow through the next series of songs that included "Unthought Unknown", "Elderly Woman", "MFC" and "Johnny Guitar".

Eddie did a little talking and then told a story of the drum tech getting married in Florida the week before on a boat and kicked into "Amongst The Waves" from the new CD. Eddie started to chat a little more as he played the next few songs, he called "Evenflow" something else, but it escapes me now and then talked about how the next song had many different names before it became "Gods' Dice"

From there it went into Present Tense" then slowed up into "Daughter" following through with a few others before the break. Mike continues to run from the back to the front and threw lots of picks into the crowd. Eddie talked more and drank his wine as he shared a bottle with others as well, pouring it into their glasses. Typical of a live show.

The first part after the encore break brought out the acoustic slower stuff with "Off He Goes" and "Just Breathe". One of my favorites was next as he dedicated it to one of the KC Royals he met and told about his night at the ballpark and he went into "Given To Fly". That was really a highlight for me of the night. They rocked out the rest of the set with "The Fixer", " Life Wasted" and "Porch", which was another highlight to the night.

Coming back they brought a wounded soldier who Eddie had written a song for a documentary called "No More" He sang it to the soldier as he was on stage and then as he went off they jumped into "Black", "Better Man" followed up by a "Happy Birthday" and then closed the night with three very familiar songs in "Alive", "Rockin' In The Free World" and "Yellow Ledbetter".

Overall I really enjoyed the show and will certainly go see them again when they come around. The band kept up the enthusiasm all night and was really tight. A show well worth seeing if you get a chance. I really hope to get to see Eddie Vedder solo one of these years.

Set List:

Of The Girl
Animal
World Wide Suicide
Got Some
Unthought Known
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
MFC
Johnny Guitar
Amongst The Waves
Even Flow
Gods' Dice
Present Tense
Daughter
Wishlist
Insignificance
Do The Evolution

Encore 1
Off He Goes
Just Breathe
Given To Fly
The Fixer
Life Wasted
Porch

Encore 2
No More
Black
Better Man
Happy Birthday
Alive
Rockin' In The Free World
Yellow Ledbetter

Jack Johnson - To The Sea Review

It's nice to hear Jack back with a new Cd and one filled with a little more flavor and a few songs about something he knows so well, the sea. I know Jack originally said he wasn't going to write about the ocean, but why not use the thing you know well to write about. It's been a crazy year for Jack, losing his father and having a new daughter born. This is always a recipe for putting together the music Jack writes. Some upbeat and happy and others down and sad, but they always mix well together for him. Recorded once again between Mango Tree in Hawaii and Solar Powered Plastic Plant in LA, this CD was made with 100% solar energy.

The first single to be release, "You and Your Heart" has a little more upbeat backing music and once again brings out the electric guitar we started hearing on the last "Sleep Through The Static". "To The Sea" is a nice funky tune that has a classic sound and really rips through some nice beats at the end being filled in with some strong guitar, drums bass and piano complimenting each other. Right now one of my two favorite songs on the CD. "No Good With Faces" brings us into a more mellow acoustic sound we are used to hearing.

"At Or With Me" starts with Zach on piano and kicks into a good rockin' song that is really jazzed up with electric guitar, strong drum beats and some good keys going on. Overall sounds like a cross between a Beach Boys, Beatles type with some classic rock style. I love the solo section/jam on this one. I heard him play this live the other day and loved it. This one sounds like G. Love maybe playing with him from the style. I love this tune, a lot of fun.

"When I Look Up" starts with some rain and acoustic guitar and then brings some background singing with Paula Fuga that adds a really nice taste. It's a quick one but a good one. "From The Clouds" brings it back up and sounds so much like a classic beach rock song you would imagine being played by a band in front of a big fire at the beach with all the women dancing around the beach. This is a really fun song and has a wonderful beat to it. I dig it for sure.

"My Little Girl" is a short and sweet song with Jack and his guitar. I imagine this is probably all about his daughter and his quite a nice little one. If it's not, it sure seems like it would be when they say "You stole my heart and made it your own" very sweet. "Turn Your Love" has a nice beat with some back singing by Paula Fuga again. One it starts off it starts to sound a little like a Sublime beat, but Jack takes it further and adds to the guitar with the backing vocals and the piano.
"The Upsetter" starts out with a nice little funk, Shaft beat and then the guitar kicks in and as it starts it really rolls along with a nice vibe with a sound very similar to what we have heard from Jack before. It has a nice little mellow jam to it with some hand drumming, cool guitar work and overall just a nice tune to hear. "Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology" kicks off with some harmonica and piano ready to jazz it up. Nice acoustic guitar with Jack jumping in and then as the harmonica plays, Zach joins in the harmonies and sings along. Good jamming and quite fun to hear.

"Pictures Of People Taking Pictures" seems like a title of a song Jack would write as he comes up with some interesting titles at times. This is a nice song tune with good beats, sounding pretty much acoustic outside of Merlo's bass. Song flows along really nicely and is just another good one to compliment this CD. "Anything But The Truth" would be one of those songs you would see Jack just sitting in a chair on the beach with his guitar, plucking away with a little message of the sea as well as other nature descriptions. Soft, mellow type tune that rolls along nicely and is is classic Jack.

"Only The Ocean" finished off the thirteen song cd with some nice classic guitar work and has that beach vibe again to it. Something you would slow dance at the end of the night or hear at the end of some romantic type film. Reminds me of a 50's rock style ballad song.

Jack hit one out of the park again with this CD. I have listened to "To The Sea" five times so far as I write this and I really like the whole thing from end to end. there isn't a single song that doesn't fit on it at all. I saw jack perform 05-24-2010 at Santa Monica Pier and really hoped to hear a couple more songs live, but was really happy with the selection of music he did chose to play. I look forward to seeing him August 16th at Sandstone in Bonner Springs, KS. It will be a fun night with my wife and two little ones to sit out under the stars and enjoy.

Track Listing:

01. You and Your Heart

02. To The Sea

03. No Good With Faces

04. At or With Me

05. When I Look Up

06. From The Clouds

07. My Little Girl

08. Turn Your Love

09. The Upsetter

10. Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology

11. Pictures of People Taking Pictures

12. Anything But The Truth

13. Only The Ocean

The Swell Season - Uptown Theater 11/30/09 KCMO

The Swell Season are the folk duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. They made their mark in the music world with the film Once, where they won the academy Award for "Falling Slowly". Prior to that Glen Hansard was the frontman for the Irish band The Frames. The rest of The Frames joined Glen and Markéta on stage for most of the evenings performance.

The show was a really good mix of old and new. They played a few songs of The Frames as well as a Tim Buckley cover. They went from starting as a duo to the full band and then Markéta played a few songs followed by Glen doing a solo session and back to the duo and then full band. They even did a new song I would call There.

There was a pretty full crowd at the Uptown Theater, possibly even sold out. Glen Hansard played well to the crowd. He told good stories and explained the meaning of some of the songs. Toward the end of the show he had the crowd interacting by singing along with a couple of songs. Even as they came out for the Encore, Glen asked the crowd to stay standing for the rest of the show.

Glen really belted out some amazing songs including an unplugged version of "Say It To Me Now" He pulled away from the mic and unplugged the guitar and played it right at the front of the stage. He told a story of a woman he met in Chicago and whose son died in the Towers on 9/11/01. It may have been a story he has told before, but it was a good one.

I didn't realize how young Markéta was, but seeing her from the 3rd row center she really looked every bit her younf age of 21 even though she sings like an experience professional of 40. Her songs were beautiful to hear as she sang and she really complimented Glen as he sang.

The show went on for about 2 hours and was really a fantastic night of music. I really wish they would have recorded the 2009 tour, but for some reason they decided to skip it for this tour. That was one show I would love to hear over and over.

All I can say is go out and see them if you get a chance. Check out their website for details at http://www.theswellseason.com/ as well as pick up their new CD Strict Joy. There is a Deluxe version with a DVD from the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee show from 2007 or 2008 as well as an extra cd with some of the highlights of that live performance.

Go see them, they are brilliant.

Setlist: Fallen From the Sky; Lies; Low Rising; Feeling the Pull; In These Arms; Strict Joy; The Rain; Look Back Now; If You Want Me; Fantasy Man; Say It To Me Now; Leave; What Happens When the Heart Just Stops (F); Buzzin' Fly (Tim Buckley cover); instrumental (Markéta Irglová and Colm Mac Con Iomaire); Alone Apart; Once; When Your Mind's Made Up.

Encore: Falling Slowly; new song ("There"); High Horses; Red Chord/The Parting Glass.

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra - Movie Review

OK - so after fully watching this film over the weekend I have to say that I really enjoyed it for the action, not the acting. Overall the story was somewhat predictable and lame, the actors were also pretty bad. Dennis Quaid makes a better Dad in a world freezing movie or a bike rider, more than General Hawk. He really is the cheese in this role which makes it fun.

Christopher Eccleston plays James McCullen, the creator of a new bio weapon that uses nano technology to eat away at metal as well as other materials and can take down tanks, cities and whatever else it needs to. Eccleston is best know, at least to me as The Doctor in season one of the revamped Doctor Who series.

So know you have the boys who are sent out to take the nano warheads to a military base, which of course will be attacked by the evil bad guys to try to steal the technology. Duke(Channing Tatum) should have stuck to his white boy dance movies as he really sucks as an actor. But since the chicks and guys must dig him, they put him in a leading role of this film. Personally a bad choice in my opinion, but for the LCD it must be perfect. Duke along with Ripchord(Marlon Wayans) end up leaning about the Joe's program as they are saved by a crew of them.

So now you learn a little more about the back story of Duke and the Baroness(Sienna Miller). The Baroness was once Dukes lady and she had a kid brother that was best friends with Duke and Duke swore to protect him in the war. so without saying more you can imagine or probably tell me the rest of the story.

The one good thing about the movie was the action sequences as well as the graphics and CGI overall. The sword fights between Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes are really good. Some of the other action fight scenes were done good as well.

Story and content were very simple for the simple mind I thought. For me it was enjoyable as a simple action adventure movie and I laughed a lot at how predictable it was and how bad the acting was for having some good actors in it.

Wait until it's on HBO or Showtime to watch or get it at the Red Box for $1.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Wilco - 10/06/2009 KCMO Crossroads

It was a chilly October night in Kansas City down in the Crossroads district, which is where they have started to create more of an art space and have a lot of artists lofts and other store fronts. Still not the greatest of places, but looks like it could be on it's way. Crossroads is a venue that sits behind Grinders, a hamburger joint. It must have been an old vacant lot or something, but there's a stage on the south end, a nice grade, so those further back can see the stage well and a lot of beer tents and other vendors. It's outdoors so in October depending on the year can be a bit of a challenge. This night it was about 49 degrees, but with a sold out show they were packed in good to keep some heat in.

Liam Finn was the opening Act and came on promptly at 8pm. He is a two person band from Australia, son of Neil Finn from Crowded House. He uses loops on drums and guitar to get one instrument going and then jumps on the other while one loops. He plays with Eliza Jane Barnes, who plays an electronic drum, cow bell and various other instruments to back as well as sings. They were entertaining, but not exactly my kind of music, at least in the live sense.

Wilco came on shortly after 9pm and started off with The Price is Right theme and jumped into Wilco(the song) as they seem to have been starting many of this tours shows. This is one of the songs off of Wilco(the album) that came out a few months back. I would highly recommend picking it up. It looks like I forgot to review, but there will be one to follow sometime soon if I have time.

Jeff Tweedy made some comments throughout the first couple songs asking if people were cold, but the answer was always no. I think Jeff was as the wind was certainly coming across the stage. Still it didn't stop the band from playing a 2 1/2 hour set filled with songs ranging from all the years.

Some of the highlights to me were Bull Black Nova from the new CD. They really jammed it out during Impossible Germany, it was especially cool with 3 guys playing guitar and jamming together. That's part of what makes them such a fun band to see.

Jeff used the same lines I read in reviews about trying to get everyone to sing Jesus, Etc. He compared us to Minnesota and Iowa, the two previous shows. Bother were indoor and I'm sure sounded louder. Still it was a fun sing-a-long for everyone.

One of my favorite songs was played as usual, but certainly made me happy. That was Handshake Drugs, it's been a favorite of mine for a couple years. They did a great Walken as well as Can't Stand It.

During the first Encore, Liam & EJ came out and played for a couple of songs and then Jeff had asked the crowd to elect a president and vote on what song we wanted to hear. Everyone yelled Kingpin and so he looked at the band and they jammed into it. It was a nice KC version of the tune.

All in all, it was a fun night of music and as always it was a nice place to see a show. But I do hope one of these times I get to see them play at The Uptown. The last 4 times I've seen them have all been outside, so a change to indoor would be nice.

I'm already looking forward to the next time they come to town. Check out their website at http://www.wilcoworld.net/ for tour dates and streams of live shows. Recently they have the 08/2009 Dublin show as well as the 4/2009 Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee. I love throwing them on the computer to get that live experience.

If you get a chance, do see them live as they really are a fun band to see and really have a lot of talent flowing throughout the show from Drums, Keys, Bass and Guitars. Nils really loves to jam out and is really good. Jeff has a great voice and really knows how to put it all together.


Setlist:

01. Price's Right Intro > Wilco
02. I'm Trying to Break Your Heart
03. Bull Black Nova
04. You are My Face
05. One Wing
06. Shot in the arm
07. Radio Cure
08. Impossible Germany
09. At Least That's what she said
10. One by One
11. I'll Fight
12. Handshake Drugs
13. Sonny Feeling
14. Hate it Here
15. Can't stand it
16. Jesus Etc(Sung by the Crowd)
17. Walken
18. I'm the Man Who Love You
Encore: 1
19. Misunderstood
20. I'm Always in Love
21. You Never Know
22. California Stars
23. Kingpin
Encore: 2
24. Late Greats
25. Monday > Outa Mind Outa site
26. Hoodoo
27. I'm a Wheel

Where The Wild Things Are - Movie Review

Where the Wild things are is a children's book that was written by Maurice Sendak back in 1963 that I think just about every kid has had a copy or read in their lives. This adaptation of the book is directed by Spike Jonze and the screen play was written by David Eggers. Jonze has directed two films, Adaptation and Being John Malcovich. He has mostly directed music videos through his career, so this is a big change.

The story obviously has to be adapted from the original 43 page book in order to make a 90 minute movie. The story is about Max(Max Records), who lives with his Mom and his older sister. He gets angry because of the way his sisters friends treat him and that his Mother is ignoring him as she has a date(Mark Ruffalo). So Max lashes out and bites his Mom and runs away and climbs into a boat and sails off to an island. That's where the Wild Things are.

Max comes upon the Wild Things and ends up their king. Carol is the main Wild Thing, voiced by James Gandolfini. He's sort of the leader and a bit angry as Max arrives. The story evolves from there to develop a relationship between Max and all of the Wild Things. The rest of the story is all about what they learn from Max and what he learns from them.

I really liked the way that this was written and directed. They have some fantastic views and landscapes throughout the movie. This was all filmed in Australia near Melbourne. The puppeteer work and the graphics are done really well and the story was just brilliant.

The music was scored by Karen O and The Kids and really plays well to the movie. The songs are simple and fun and fit right in. Karen O is the lead singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, she has band members as well as Racontuers guitar and bass players with a few others helping out.

From my perspective I felt that there were some scenes that were a little scary and violent for younger kids as well as some behavior that you hope they don't pick up and learn. Still my 3 1/2 year old daughter really loved the Wild Things and enjoyed the music as well. So for me it's a movie you could take the whole family too as we did.

There are points where the movie is a little slow, but overall it really does keep you wondering what's going to happen next or how are the characters going to behave. It's a fun film with a good story that shows that family is really what it's all about.

I would certainly recommend seeing this movie. It has happy and sad points and it really is just a cool story that I have always loved since I was a kid. I think that Max is a character many can identify with and the story and the imagination of all who created it is brilliant. I think I always wanted to run off to the land of the Wild Things, but the closest I got was the woods across from my families house and The Wild things weren't there.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars