Monday, December 26, 2011

CHRISTMAS WITH THE BUNNYMEN










Christmas 2011.  Something was missing this year, waiting for the spirit to arrive.  But it never did.  One year anniversary of the death of John.  Conflict.  Money woes.  A year of perpetual, bitter campaigning ahead.  I tried to find the silver ling but all I saw were the dark storm clouds.  This has to be the year of real New Years resolutions.  But on the bright side, Van Halen announced they are going to release a new album in February and go on tour in 2012!


I had time Friday night for only one show, Green Day performing at Irving Plaza in NYC on September 21, 2004.  An excellent soundboard recording of a show with a great setlist.  This was "Irving Plaza" weekend, with all shows taped from that particular theater.  I had plenty of good shows to choose from, limited primarily by available time.

Raised with such vision
Monuments rise in the sky
Crumble in the wind

Walking on the clouds
Weighed down by normality
Lost in the mooing herd

He's always fighting
Alone with the fire burning
So worn down inside


Download it here:
www.megaupload.com/es/?d=ZJSZT3SD


An unusual selection for me but I do admire the work of "The Man In Black," the iconic American singer-songwriter who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.  Johnny Cash opened up the show for me this Christmas Eve evening under a cold, star lit sky with his performance at Irving Plaza on September 7, 1996.  Another excellent soundboard recording that got me pumped for this evenings headliner.




Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CSKSMU4M


I spent two nights with Echo and the Bunnymen in May of 2010 when they performed at Irving Plaza.  Tonight's show was my excellent recording of that night on May 1, 2010 my last time with John before he passed away suddenly seven months later.  Listening to it for the first time since that night brought back memories of that wonderful experience.  Christmas Day arrived before it was all over.

Find all the pictures from that night here:
http://whatatemper.blogspot.com/2010/05/bunnymen-bounce-through-new-york.html



Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4KZSFD8A

Monday, December 19, 2011

BIG BALLS AND BACK IN LIVERPOOL

The holidays are upon us and this was the week of parties at the office.  It's turning into an annual tradition for us to go bowling for at least one of those parties.  For this special occasion Jack Jensen introduced me to a screen print artist who made a handful of T-shirts with an image I designed of all the team members, done in Shepard Fairey style, reminiscent of the famed 2008 Obama presidential campaign poster.  What was great is that the 10th frame of the very last game I got three strikes in a row, achieving the XXX that our team was named after.  Pure luck!

This weekend Echo and the Bunnymen were playing the O2 Academy in Liverpool, this time without me.  I had neither the time nor money to make this particular journey, and perhaps a good thing because the reviews of the two shows suggested Mac was not having a good weekend, behaved badly to the disappointment of his fans.  I guess I lucked out.  As a consolation prize I picked up tickets to see Ian perform two nights in Chicago.  I have yet to commit by making all other necessary travel arrangements. 

Mr. Gorbachev
Tear down this wall and build it
In Arizona

New faces in town
Mocha brown, black and yellow
Start building the wall

They cross the border
Travel from a distant land
Joseph and Mary

Blame them for coming
To satisfy our demand
For Walmart prices

Jesus says a prayer
Mourns for other peoples loss
All their gods are dead


Friday night started off with an excellent recording of Echo and the Bunnymen performing a show on November 18, 1980 in Paris, probably a radio broadcast based on the fact some Frenchman spoke between most of the songs.  Ian sounds so good back in the day!


Download it here:
http://theultimatebootlegexperience2.blogspot.com/2010/09/echo-and-bunnymen-1980-11-18-paris_9948.html


The headlining act of the evening were the Sex Pistols performing at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on November 16, 1996. This was part of the Filthy Lucre Tour, the 1996 reunion tour of the pioneering British Punk rock band Sex Pistols. The 78-date world tour lasted for almost six months.

Considering the language barrier, Uncle Johnny was not very talkative with the audience, most of his effort spent trying to coax more enthusiasm from the crowd, at one time calling them "Fucking limp dicks" when the response was less than adequate.   A great show, what I presume is a soundboard recording.




Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XJWO9NPL

Saturday night started off with Fugazi performing a show at Irving Plaza in NYC on April 3, 1995, the first night of a three night run at this theater.  Excellent soundboard recording.  Ian Mackaye once again cautions the audience about getting too crazy, under threat of setting up the barricades in front of the stage.  He goes into his experience meeting a ticket scalper before the show, a big wad of tickets being sold above their original asking price.  Lots of banter with the audience.  Loved the show!



Download the show here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zt4s5mm2njatli7

It was Saturday night, December 17th so what better way to spent the night celebrating the fact the Bunnymen were performing across an ocean in Liverpool than by playing their December 17, 2009 show I recorded at the O2 Academy?  An excellent recording if I don't say so myself!  I was stoked for this occasion and danced outside in the frigid night air until midnight.  Listening to the recording brought back memories of the evening, the people I met on that trip and the after party where Will DJ'ed at a club across town..  See the pictures here:

http://whatatemper.blogspot.com/2009/12/liverpool-first-show.html


Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E8X8J30K