AMY RIP

Another painting hanging near the foot of my bed by New Mexico artist James Jimenez.

Gosh another week gone by.  It started off with a sunrise that left me with this feeling of dread.  A beautiful red ball hanging in smoke haze sky.  Like an evil eye offering a warning.  I would have preferred pulling the car over and enjoy such a rare spectacle, but work was calling.  Jack Jensen saw the same thing while walking his dog that same morning, being filled with a similar feeling of dread.

My wife had a scare when she began experiencing chest pains at work, leading to a trip to the hospital emergency room where her condition improved.  The doctors could find nothing of concern and we were sent home late in the afternoon.  Not so lucky for the guy next door to us:

Stares as he's wheeled by
Doctors jump to beeping sounds
Chaplain at his side

I made the mistake of watching another "911 Truth" video on the public television station.  It's depressing to know how easily we are fooled and manipulated.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zezEZ90Rl_w

Boredom sanding/polyurathaning the bookcase and then building the shelving.  It feels like it goes on forever.

Is this what it feels like when one is depressed?

The weekend started with an excellent audience recording of Van Halen's show at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA on March 5, 2012.  An excellent show for the two hours I stood outside with the truck stereo blasting.

It is written:

The band wasted very little time showcasing their new material from the month-old ‘A Different Kind of Truth.’ ‘She’s the Woman’ (an old club song dating back to the 70’s) and the album’s first single ‘Tattoo’ blended well next to concert favorites ‘Everybody Wants Some,’ ‘Somebody Get Me a Doctor,’ and ‘The Full Bug’ from 1982’s Diver Down, a rarity that until recently hadn’t seen the light of day since 1983’s US Festival.

Back where he properly belongs for his second consecutive tour is David Lee Roth, whose demeanor has gone from “Squirt me one more time and I'll F$%K your girlfriend” to more of a circus ringmaster. Maintaining an ear to ear grin for most of the hour and fifty minute set, the upbeat Roth threw in some slightly comedic tempo changes (a la James Brown, which the band jumped right on) as well as some candy to the audience during ‘Hot For Teacher.’ Roth even showed a video of his sheepdogs while playing the acoustic intro to ‘Ice Cream Man’ (That is Roth playing on the original recording by the way).

Despite abandoning the Garth Brooks-like head set that was used earlier in the tour, there were times when Roth appeared to be trying too hard vocally (mainly on ‘Dance the Night Away’) as he sang (as well as talked) his way through the set. Despite the occasional vocal shortcomings however, Roth held his own on new track ‘The Trouble With Never,’ ‘Beautiful Girls,’ ‘Panama,’ ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ and set closer ‘Jump.’

Read it all here:
http://www.philly2philly.com/entertainment/entertainment_articles/2012/3/6/28620/van_halen_maintains_status_rock_legends_philadel

Download the flac file here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/c376b67/n/2012-03-05vh.rar

Saturday night started off with a relatively short set by Amy Winehouse at the Canal Plus, French TV, on November 2, 2007, a soundboard quality recording.  It set up the mood for what followed.

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?rdh0rcc75ckwg38

Back to London with Echo and the Bunnymen, their December 9, 2010 show at the O2 in Brixton.  See the events of that experience here:
http://whatatemper.blogspot.com/2010/12/london-calling.html

Download it here:
https://rapidshare.com/files/1781271954/Echo%20-%20London%20December%209_%202010%20MP3.rar

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Did a little skiing earlier in the week, Loveland and the snow field and old ski area at St. Mary's.  There is a sever lack of snow in the mountains and we are all praying for more to come in the next month before the Jackson Hole/Teton's trip.  Gale force winds swept down off the Continental Divide at St. Mary's, ice crystals stinging the face.  Got away without putting a few more deep gouges in the bottom of the skis.

White sheets on the bed
Antiseptic in the air
Beeping says there's life

Becoming a shadow
Remembers back to the start
Weep that we must part

Clouds before his eyes
White clad nurse like an angel
Comes to set him free

The dearest of friends
Loved our short time together
Handshake says goodbye

All the false alarms
Saved from what appears the brink
This time its over

Their campaign slogans
Give us what we want to hear
Serve up paradise

New Years Eve at home.  The early part of the evening was spent outside listening to music, only to come inside and find Cold Play performing a live set on Austin City Limits on the television.  Chris Martin counted down the arrival of the new year.  Then it was onto fireworks outside and then more time in front of the television watching a new ski movie with superb photography I recently acquired.

THEM CROOKED VULTURES

What was special about this show was that Dave Grohl helped the band by playing the drums for this live performance at the Hoedern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia on January 26, 2010, an FM broadcast recording. This gig in Sydney was part of the extensive touring the trio did around the release of their excellent first album.

Download it here:

http://www.fileserve.com/file/JNf7cPZ/themcroo10fl.rar

 IAN McCULLOCH

Ian at his best on NY Spin acoustic on January 5, 2009.

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QSCO69CD

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED

Public Image Limited at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland on May 28, 1986.

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?5ahzmuuwfuw

COLD PLAY

Having enjoyed their New Years Eve performance, I was looking for more from them, choosing to listen to their live performance at the Glastonbury Festival on June 25, 2005, this being an excellent sounding recording.

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?j0b5k12tabc6a20

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN

EATB perform an excellent show at the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim in Benicassim, Spain on July 21, 2001. Ian's voice still sounds beautiful!

Download it here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/b319b4e/n/EcThBu.2006-07-21.Benicassim.rar

U2

Continuing on the Irving Plaza NYC theme, I pulled up U2's excellent performance at this music venue on December 5, 2000. 

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?g435czmiazx

AMY WINEHOUSE

The holiday weekend was closed with my listening to Amy from atop the roof on the house as I watched the sunset, the lawn chair perched on the crest of the roof.

Download it here:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/tEvERVk/AMWINEHMod_Club_Theatre,_Toronto,_12_May_2007FL.rar

RUTS, ELECTRAFIXION, TELEVISION, BUNNYMEN, AMY

Friday night starts off with an excellent quality show by The Ruts, live at The Marquee Club in London on July 19, 1979. 

Download it here:

http://sharebee.com/f5799cb6

The main act late this evening was Electrafixion, an alternative rock band, formed by former Echo & the Bunnymen members Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant in 1994, joined by bass guitarist Leon de Sylva and drummer Tony McGuigan.  They were at the La Route du Rock Festival in St. Malo France on August 14 in 1994, the day after my birthday.  It was broadcast over the radio because the announcer would come on periodically and speak in French, interuppting the flow of the show.

Download it here:
http://sharebee.com/9228be2b

Saturday night staterd off with Television, their second night at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, CA on April 14, 1977. 

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=109FO28Q

Steve the Bunnymen bootleg archivest released a recording of his of a very recent show of theirs.  Echo and the Bunnymen at the London Palladium on September 26, 2011.  The band is tight and Ian is chatty with the audience who willing provides him with suggestions or comments that invariably bring on a witty reply.  At least when you can understand what he's saying, a difficulty for us folks over here in the states.  I still enjoyed the show of their clasic numbers, although I was stunned when they performed "The Fountain" from beginning to end.  I had commented to Will last May in Anaheim that Ian should do this, avoiding the usuals lame response when he beckons the audience to finish a line in the song, his way of gauging our interest in a particular number.

"If these whole-album playbacks are all about bloodless nostalgia, no one has told Ian McCulloch. During a lull in the title track of tonight's offering, Ocean Rain, he orders the bouncers to turf out a pair of chatty punters for disturbing the contemplative atmosphere."

"A jarring reminder, then, that Echo and the Bunnymen's frontman remains the bristling autodidact who brought swagger to an early-Eighties new-wave scene in Liverpool that already brimmed with characters. His band arguably reached their peak with the escapism and aching romance of this, their fourth album."

"Having already revisited Ocean Rain three years ago, and after recently playing earlier works Crocodiles and Heaven up Here, the band should now be about ready to disinter 1999's misfiring What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? Instead, they play two sets, opening with a mixed bag that takes in both ends of their career. Of more recent material, though, only a driving "Stormy Weather" can hold its own with an impassioned "Rescue", Macca's wracked vocal sounding better than his attempts at smooth crooning."

Read it all here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/echo-amp-the-bunnymen-london-palladium-2365487.html

Download it here:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/2X85EqY/EATB26SEP2011.zip
Thank you Steve!

Sunday night was spent with Amy on the overlook with the mountain view at sunset.  The show was from the Astoria in London, UK from February 19, 2007.

"Amy Winehouse- brilliant rock and roll star, a voice like gloopy syrup and an bunch of songs that makes you weep with pleasure. Her jazz-tastic 8 piece band brought the songs from ‘Back To Black’ to life- the Brit award winning singer played to a packed house, closing the set with a surprise cover of The Zutons ‘Valerie’."

And:

"Her eight-piece band are all suited and booted. Two jiving male backing vocalists keep up terrific dance moves to the right of the stage. A couple of brass players honk atmospherically on the left. The set is studded with red lampshades and ruched curtains, like some Prohibition-era jazz club. Winehouse arrives into this vintage set-up without fanfare and just opens her mouth and starts to sing."

"Her voice is a thing of wonder. Unlike all the ghastly, ululating soul manglers out there, Winehouse doesn't care about showing off her range. She just chews up syllables to suit her mood, reducing 'Addicted', her playful weed ode, to a kind of soulful Klingon tonight. Her rich, murky, weathered voice follows her instincts without effort or obvious manipulation. She is offhand, almost unpremeditated, crooning out 'Wake up Alone' in a waltz-time blur of words."

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/feb/25/popandrock.features3)

"Never the most salubrious of venues, the Astoria seems to have been transformed into a brothel for the night. Pearly-grey satin hangs in swags down the back of the stage, illuminated by red velvet lamps. It's a glorious setting for Amy Winehouse's impeccably suited backing band, who could have arrived here from the 1965 Motown UK tour. In fact, the only person who hasn't dressed up for the occasion is Winehouse herself. Beneath a vertiginous beehive she wears a greying T-shirt, faded jeans and trainers. Maxine Powell, head of Motown's finishing school, would be horrified."

"Still, Winehouse can afford to be blasé. It apparently requires no effort whatsoever to produce the seductive, furious vocals that last week won her the best solo female artist award at the Brits. Between songs, she scampers about the stage like a child; singing, she sounds decades older, reminiscent of Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, yet entirely herself."

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/feb/21/popandrock.amywinehouse)

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WJCZIG9I