Lots of shows..i need money..and time..

Man oh man..concert season is heating up in these parts. If there is one thing I really dig its a live show. There are just a lot of choices (I know..every night..many clubs/venues) but man it seems like they are coming in droves.

Currently I only have “hard tickets” for two things. Andrew WK doing his “I Get Wet” Album in full at the Paradise Rock Club(sold out) and Mogwai will try for a third time to get their show performed in boston after postponing the Paradise, moving to the House of Blues and to postpone that for this new date in June. The biggest plus there...the Red Sox are out of town.

Oh wait, I have a ticket for the Avett Brothers at Lupos in Providence.

Upcoming on sales that are VERY much on the radar are Mark Lanegan (TICKET SECURED!),who FINALLY is doing a solo show here in MA as well as Built To Spill

Otherwise lots of stuff I just am struggling with ticket price wise. I'd honestly really like to see Van Halen and I had the tickets “in my shopping cart” but 130.00 per ticket on the far end of the venue I just couldn't do. Mastodon plays with Opeth at the Orpheum and those tickets are not that expensive all things considered, but I looked for 2 and was in the balcony, looked for a single and was in the balcony further back?? Trying to get in to the Daryl Hall show. Odd as it may sound the clips (see that link and youtube) are awesome. This gig Sharon Jones (sans Dap Kings) will be on the bill as well.....soooooo.

Roger Waters is doing "The Wall" at Fenway Park. Hands down the WORST of the WORST places to see a show, but since I missed the indoor leg of this show, this might be my only chance. Again, had tickets in my “cart” but after fees for 2 tickets on the 1st base line I was looking at over 330.00??! WHAT??!! I realize its a “production” and all..but whoa.

Fiona Apple makes a rare appearance at Royale in Boston end of March...hmmmm..but I dropped the ball and tickets sold out before reacted. (also the venue link always gets me an AVG warning)

Summer concert season is, pardon the pun, heating up. Of all bands I sorta really want to make the effort to see Iron Maiden, who hit our local outdoor shed (Comcast Center) in June. (Tickets on sale this Saturday). Who knows if Phish will hit the road. On their site there is one date for Bonaroo and rumors of 2 shows in June at the DCU Center in Worcester (indoors?? in June? booo. Explosions in the Sky are starting out West and heading East but not sure if they will come back local on this leg. What about The Stone Roses and Refused reunion tour dates (local please). Get on that people!

Sigur Ros is slowly rolling out dates, but I don't think they will be stateside until the fall...October at the earliest (mid to late) is my earliest guess..which throws a kink in where they can play around here. The last time they were intown was the mid sized outdoor venue...but this and the other larger one will be closed for the season by this time. They are not really an “arena band”, not that they can't sell decent, its just their vibe is far more “concert hall”...so maybe 2 nights at the Citi Wang or something like that. I also don't think they've played Providence, so 2 nights at Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC)

Might sound like pretty “commercial” bands but there are a fair number of bands I hope make their way to Boston/Providence. If These Trees Could Talk and The End of the Ocean are two bands that may head this way. Caspian will be doing work on their new album so I figure at the VERY least a cd release party is in the cards. (fingers crossed).

Any PR folks want to send me to shows...i am always (well usually) game. You get me in and I'll promote before and do a review after....(insert grovel here).

Happy 13th Birthday

So, I am the dad of a teenager now.

She is a great kid and I hope it continues.

Check out here blog, remember..she is 13, but she'd love the traffic like any of us.

The Random Empire.

Happy Birthday kiddo..you make be proud every day.

So Van Halen has a new record out eh?

Lets put it this way, it probably is not going to be better than your favorite David Lee Roth era version of Van Halen, but is really not that bad.

The lead off single “Tattoo” is sort of silly, and I read one review that said "When loading to your iTunes playlist skip the song all together" but the second track “She's the Woman” is pretty awesome. You got the finger tapping guitars the love of a ride cymbal..its all here. Really. The brothers (and son) are fast and tight and seem to be really focused. “Honeybabysweetiedoll” takes a little to get rolling, but Eddie is quick to blow it up. Every time I think the bass is sort of buried there is a big bass riff that comes out of no where. Granted their could/should be more, but Wolfgang has plenty of time. (See “The Trouble with Never”)

Yeah people miss Michael Anthony and the high harmonies, and they are missed here but for big guitar and drum riffs the Van Halen brothers seem to be more than willing to help you out.

Does David Lee Roth “speak” the lyrics...sure..but he always did.

It is the same as if you saw Star Wars as a kid (the original in 3) and then saw the prequels. You love the franchise but you are going to find a flaw just because it didn't do to you, or for you what it did when you were 20 years+ younger. Keep in mind, Dave has been out of the band for something like 25 years...25 years!!!

Shared this with some music loving co-workers today as well regarding being sorta “ehh” on the whole idea of this record:

Star Wars came out in 1977..I was seven. I loved it. It was the greatest movie I had ever seen I had the toys..they released two more..I loved those and had the toys...then..it went away..only to come back. I was excited cuz heck..it was star wars. There were some misfires here and there, most of it was tolerable, some parts awful (Jar Jar) some parts awesome (the epic light saber battle in ep III) but I was 20+ years older now. The only reason to slag it hard is because it didn't make me feel like I was 7 again.

Its good, its fun, its harmless...and worth your time.

I was able to grab it for less than $10.00. Grab it, hop in your trans am and cruise the mall. It's all good.

Caspian - Live at Old South Church

Been meaning to post this for some time, but due to being sick for over a week and various other issues..oh well lets get to it.

Followers of this blog know I have a love affair with the band Caspian. The band has just released their first live ep called “Live At Old South Church”.

I wrote a long review of the show [here]

The band culled five songs from the show and have pressed to vinyl. The cool limited edition colors used for the vinyl sold out quickly but you can still order it [here]

Proceeds go to Amirah AND you get a code for a digital download.

You can stream the record [here] as well to be sure its for you.

Really..it is. Get on it.