Jalalablog

Nostalgia

July 25, 2007 at 11:09 pm (Music)

On September 9, Guns and Roses and Alice and Chains are playing a concert near Portland. A dozen years ago, this would have been a life changing experience.  The only problem is, neither of these bands exist anymore.  Guns and Roses, despite what an entertainment lawyer would tell you , now consists of Duff, Izzy, Slash, and that guy who became the new drummer after Appetite for Destruction, and they tour under the name “Velvet Revolver.”  Alice in Chains is pretty much the same, except for the fact that some guy no one has ever heard of is pretending that the lead singer didn’t OD on heroin like 10 years ago.

Should I waste my money?  Or would this be like the time I saw David Gilmour and friends masquerading as Pink Floyd?

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Revelation of the day

March 22, 2006 at 9:50 pm (Music)

I have been listening to a lot of Metallica lately: old school, hard hitting Metallica, not the Napster-era Cult of Personality bullshit. And I will say this: Lars Ulrich is a terrible drummer. He sucks; I could be their drummer with a few weeks practice. I used to get into heated debates with an old roommate from college about this: he swore the guy was using Kawasaki One Man Jam, and I based my contra opinion on my experience at Lollapalooza 1996, where I was distracted by pyrotechnics, dehydration and heat stroke. But now, at this late date, I can say this: Mattdude, if you’re out there, you were right. I’m sorry. And I shouldn’t have said that about your grandma, I’m sure she’s a lovely lady.

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Weekend Roundup: Music Edition

July 6, 2005 at 12:31 am (Music)

I spent my first July 4 on the west coast soaking up some beautiful
Portland summer sun, an abnormal amount of alcohol, and a lot of
music. This weekend was of course the MegaChemCo Bluse Festival
brought to you by Faceless Financial Conglomerate LLC (otherwise known
as the Portland Blues Fest), and of course Live8. Here’s my take
on both events:

Bluesfest:
Ok, it turns out that the corporate sponsorship pretty much pays
for the whole thing, and all proceeds benefit the Oregon Food
Bank. So I’ll be publishing a retarction of my earlier criticism
on page 14C of tomorrow’s edition. In the meantime, here are some
impressions:

1. Portlanders are remarkably clean. There was so little
trash strewn about the grounds, I could hardly believe it. And
the recycle bins contained, get this, recyclable materials. Even
drunk rednecks from Gresham seem to be able to separate paper from
plastics. And yes, that was me rummaging through the garbage bins
with a look of wonderment on his face.
2. Note to event planners: Next year you need to close Naito
Parkway, set up the booths in the street, and allow the entire park to
be used by people, you know, at the festival. You shut it down
for the Memorial Day carnival, which maybe drew a few grand…there
were 25,000 people there Friday if there were a dozen.
3. Also, next year you should take advantage of the emerging
science of sound engineering. Using such techniques, speakers
aren’t just haphazardly set up in random positions, but can be
strategically placed to facilitate the movement of soundwaves from
speakers to people’s ears.
4. Whoever said Portland has fewer hot chicks per capita than most large cities was, unfortunately, spot-on.
5. On that note, I saw a bearded woman. It had more facial
hair than I do, and double-D cups. It’s not polite to stare, and
I was very, very rude.
6. I’ll take the guy with a guitar and a harmonica on the back
stage any day. If you ever get the chance to see Kenny Neal or
Billy Branch, do it.
7. Buddy Guy was really disappointing. I’m all for the
occasional dramatic pause for crowd feedback, but I bet he spent 30% of
his time on stage just standing there in silence.

Live8:
I wasn’t in Philly for this summer’s sweatfest, so I spent a few hours
Saturday afternoon streaming the London show off the web. The
only reason of course is because the one band that was never going to
get together for a reunion, Pink Floyd, got together for a
reunion. They happen to be my favorite band of all time, so it
was worth waiting through the live rendition of Mariah Carey’s “Make it
Happen.” The setlist was predictable yet respectable for a show
of this type (4 songs), although I would have replaced “Breathe” with
“Time.” Here is a more detailed review:
David Gilmour: Man, he’s still
got it. The most captivating voice in the history of rock and
roll, and he can still play guitar like few others. If he was a
young woman instead of an old man, I’d be attracted to him.
Roger Waters: I must say, it
was just nice to see these two on the same stage, and that makes it
hard to criticize him. His bass playing was typically Floydian,
technically simple yet exactly what should be played, he looked
healthier than he probably ever has and I think those were genuine
smiles. But whoever decided to let him sing the second verse of
“Wish You Were Here” needs to be fired. My only thought was
“Mommy, make the bad man stop.”
Nick Mason: He was always a
pretty second-tier drummer, and he still is. Pretty much the same
as in 1972. Not bad I guess.
Rick Wright: Well, he sounded
fine, but the chick singing backups on “Comfortably Numb” got more
camera time that he did, so it’s hard to say. But he was standing
up, so I guess that’s good.

The only question that remains is will they get back together for a
tour? I really hope so and I really hope not. I hope
so because I would pay serious cash for a nosebleed seat to one of
those shows. I hope not because that would be a sellout (the bad
kind). They don’t need the money and that would negate the
altruistic rationale for getting back together for this little
tease. What does anyone think? Does anyone care?

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Announcing…

July 1, 2005 at 12:04 am (Music)

The Safeway Waterfont Blues Fest brought to you by First Tech Credit Union. Ok, this looks pretty cool, but give me a break. When will corporate sponsors realize how ridiculous their overzealous efforts look? How can the SAFEWAY Waterfront Blues Fest be brought to you by someone other than Safeway (a second-tier quality grocery chain)? Moreover, if the Fest is brought to you by First Tech Credit Union, how is it Safeway’s Blues Fest? I’ll go, dammit, but I won’t like it (except for the blues fest part).

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