Halloween!

Man, Halloween in NYC! Always a hoot. This year I planned on spending it taking my boy trick-or-treating and then seeing the Stones at the Beacon Theater...not to be tonight...will still get the trick-or-treating in but Sir Mick has fallen ill and the show is rescheduled for tomorrow night...that's ok, still living off the glow from Sunday's show...more on that to come...in the meantime, I will spend tonight in the way-back machine visiting the ghosts of Halloween past, hop in!

Jerry Garcia Band: Shining Star
from Meadowland Arena, East Rutherford, NY, October 31, 1996

Beck with the Flaming Lips: Do You Realize? - The Golden Years
from Beacon Theater, New York, NY, October 31, 2002

Paul Stanley in NYC

Paul Stanley at Irving Plaza, October 18, 2006

I'm never ashamed to go out for some big dumb rock, and it doesn't get bigger or dumber than Kiss. I saw Paul Stanley twice on the other solo tour he did in 1989...those shows were definitely better, but mainly because he didn't have a record to push at the time so there were no new songs to sit through, it was all hits. This was a fun night, though, with Paul dusting off some Kiss gems. The photo here says "Atlanta" but it was the same set here in NYC.

The crowd was old-school, with lots of old dudes and quite a few who reminded me of comic book store guy from the Simpsons...Is that what I've become? Is that what I've always been?!

A buddy already has a recording of the show which he's sending over...in the meantime here are original versions of some of the cuts he played:

Kiss: Got to Choose
from Hotter Than Hell
Kiss: I Want You
from Rock and Roll Over
Paul Stanley: Tonight You Belong To Me
from his KISS solo album

Is it live or is it Memorex?

On this date in 1984 the Grateful Dead played their first show with an officially-sanctioned taper's section, thus triggering the largest single outbreak of obsessive-compulsive disorder known to man.

Today's MP3 is the first song, from the first set, from the first taper's section.

Grateful Dead: Hell in a Bucket
from Community Theater, Berkeley, CA, October 27, 1984

Alice Coltrane

...has been fairly active recently, releasing an album in 2004 and actually performing live a few times a year. The occasion of what would have been John Coltrane's 80th birthday has drawn her back to the stage as well.

There is a nice online exclusive with Alice on the Way Poetics site - part interview, part profile, part tribute.

You don't have to love her music or even jazz in general to groove on her message. And yes, she has one: "...music heals...The mind is really the ruler; it controls everything that we do. We have to appreciate the power of the mind and know that it can do greater things than just the external things that we perceive. If the mind will embrace music in a pure way, it can heal."

A coupla numbers from Leon...

Every once in a while I think to check in with the CREEM Magazine website...I will get around to posting about those folks another day...Anyway, I popped by this morning to see that they had a review of Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen – 36th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.

Now I love this record for what it is - Joe, live, with a swinging backing band led by Leon Russell - but stumbling across this article also reminded me of how great Leon is. I first heard him around this time of year my freshman year of high school, walking to a keg party on a cool autumn night, a buddy of mine toting a boombox cranking out The Concert for Bangla Desh...Leon's take on Jumpin Jack Flash made my hair stand up - and still does.

Today's MP3s are one Leon song covered by someone else and Leon covering someone else's song! I wanted to include B.B. King's version of Leon's Hummingbird, too, but realize I only have that one on vinyl. Sorry, for another day...

Dig:

Joe Cocker, Delta Lady
from Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Leon Russell: Medley: Jumpin' Jack Flash/Young Blood
from The Concert for Bangla Desh

way-back machine v40: The Lazenbys

...at the Tune Inn, in New Haven, CT on this date in 1997...

The Lazenbys were an experimental musician's collective based in New Haven. Though the core of the ensemble remained consistent, nearly every performance featured a different line-up. Due to the total improvisational nature of the music made by The Lazenbys, the group only performed together on-stage, in front of an audience. There has never been a Lazenbys rehearsal.

The Lazenbys were voted one of the top three instrumental bands in the New Haven Advocate readers poll in 1998. They have not performed since the show featured here.

The Lazenbys: Part Three and Part Four
from The Tune Inn, New Haven, CT, October 20, 1997

Chuck Berry

...turns 80 today!

Chuck Berry means a lot of things to rock and roll. Here are some of the things he means to me:

Maybelline

Promised Land

Johnny B. Goode

Chuck videotaping women peeing

Fighting with Keith Richards

The Stones' version of Carol from Get Yer Ya-Yas Out

Not to mention covers by the Beatles, the Dead, jamming with Lennon on the Mike Douglas show, etc etc etc...

Long live Chuck!

Bob Weir

...is 59 today - happy birthday, Bob!

So many people find Bob hard to like, others hard to hate. He must be doing something right - at least people can get riled up about him! And hey, at least he isn't Mickey Hart (who you may remember from at least one previous post I have no use for). I don't know if the world could stand two of that guy.

Bob's alright in my book for the only reason that matters to me - he has written some great songs over the years. He could have written nothing other than the Weather Report Suite and Lost Sailor/Saint and it would have been all good...Nevermind the fact that he put out the best solo album of any of the members (so what if they were all on it!), Ace, AND that the band played one of their best sets on his birthday in 1989...

Rummage through your tapes, your CDRs, your .SHN files or whatever it is you use to keep your jams on, dig out some Bob and give the old guy a little love.

Bob Weir: Playing in the Band
from Ace
Ratdog: Black Throated Wind
from Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL, November 4, 2003

Diamond Dave is 51!

I would have assumed he is much older, actually...man, he was out of Van Halen before he was thirty, wild...

YouTube comes through once again, with a great video called, "david lee roth drunk"...Happy Birthday, Diamond Dave!

way-back machine v38: Radiohead

...at Madison Square Garden in New York City on this date in 2003...

This is not one of my favorite shows of all time and I really had the expectation that it would be on the way in - maybe that's why it turned out not to be!

Of course, to prove how subjective it all can be, check out these reviews from the Radiohead fan site Green Plastic.

With that said, I would definitely go again. Thom Yorke is a wildman one stage and I can see they have the potential to put on transcendent live shows. I just hope, if I catch them again, they don't become like Phish always was for me: I somewhat enjoyed seeing them live, hated the crowd, but loved their records and live recordings...

Radiohead: Paranoid Android
from Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, October 9, 2003

way-back machine v37: Wilco

...at Radio City Music Hall on this date in 2004...

2004 was the Year of Wilco as far as I am concerned. A Ghost Is Born is one of my favorite records of the last several years and I caught them a few times supporting it. I have really dug these guys for ages but that record just really bowled me over. I listened to it endlessly on my iPod and it seemed like regardless of what else I loaded in there, Ghost was the record I kept going back to...

I'm just back from vacation and feeling a little crispy so I will get right to the MP3...enjoy...

Wilco: Handshake Drugs
from Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY, October 6, 2004

way-back machine v36: Rolling Stones

...at Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro, MA, on this date in 1989...

This was my first Stones show, and while I have seen them a bazillion times since for business and pleasure, the first time stands out...Living Colour was the opening act at the show I and I remember being so angry at them for being the last thing standing between me and seeing the Stones!

We got to the show much too early, tailgated for hours. I saw so many people who trekked up from Connecticut, too. It was a blast.

Personally, I really believe that the band only got better over the next few tours but I am always going to remember that cool fall night I sat in the nosebleeds and rocked out!

The Rolling Stones: You Can't Always Get What You Want
from, Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA, October 1, 1989