Jim's Guts

Concerts...

Back before Facebook made their big change, one of the common things was to make lists (or notes) containing various random facts. I was "tagged" by one of these quite some time ago and just never got around to finishing it on FB, so I thought I'd post it here. The "list" was concerts, feel free to play along in the comments or your own blog...

What was the first show/concert you went to?
Cars at Cal Expo. Tom Petty opened and was boo'd off stage

What was the last show/concert ?
Cake at The Paramount!
 
List your top five favorite shows/concerts.

• Oingo Boingo / Madness / Police (San Diego) – Labor Day weekend, the show was hosted by MTV’s Martha Quinn. What a great day
• Bangles (Las Vegas) – The Beach Stage at Mandalay Bay, there’s nothing quite like sitting on a beach or standing in 2 feet of water listening to music from your youth. By far the best venue I’ve ever been at…
• Men At Work (Las Vegas) – We had tickets for 2nd row, center, it’s the closest I’ve ever been to the stage.
• Crowded House (Bumbershoot, Seattle) – Several of The Gang got together for breakfast then headed over to Bumbershoot for the concert. It was a blast just hanging out with everyone, catching up and enjoying the sun. It was also my first trip to the quintessential Seattle music festival
• Harry Connick Jr. (Chateau Ste. Michelle) – It was a beautiful night, the L&T and I had a wonderful picnic, it was just an excellent way to spend an evening.

Honorable Mentions:
B-52's at Chateau Ste. Michelle; Moby at the Paramount; Duran Duran at the Everett Event Center; Missy Higgens in Ballard; The Beat Farmers in San Diego; Gypsy Kings at Chateau Ste. Michelle; Devo at "Run Hit Wonder 5k" in Portland; The English Beat at the Ballard Fire House; INXS in Hollywood; Go-Go's in Manteca; Cake at The Paramount

What was the worst show/concert you ever saw?
Samantha Fox, Grad Night at Disneyland 1989. I was working and it was painful beyond description...

What show/concert was way better than you thought it might be?
Weird Al Yankovic - I figured it would be a fun show but I was unprepared for how good it was. The band was TIGHT, the music was fun, and it was incredibly well produced. Definitely surpassed my expectations

Who have you seen play live the most?
Oingo Boingo, I think the number is at 16 or 17...

What show/concert do you most regret missing the most?
Barenaked Ladies - We had tickets to their last tour and it snowed several inches on the afternoon/evening of the show. We decided to bail, which was definitely the safe play, but now that they've sort of broken up, I'll always regret never having seen them live.

What's the most embarrassing show/concert you've been to?
Honestly, I've either blocked this out or I can't come up with one. I can tell you the worst - REM at the San Diego County Fair.  This was back in the early 80’s when their music really relied on harmony, and the sound was so bad that we left after a couple of songs.

If you could travel back in time, what bands would you want to see and when?
The Rat Pack (Frank, Sammy, Dean, Joey, and Peter) - The Sands, 60's
Frank Sinatra - Both the 1940's and 1960's versions
Talking Heads - 80's

Before you die, (or they die) who would you most like to see live?

• Cat Empire
• An Oingo Boingo reunion tour (please, oh please, let this happen)
• Reel Big Fish

Friday morning pick-me-up...

Another "special edition" FMPMU, this time it's a band I've been listening to a lot lately, Zero 7. The group was started by two recording studio engineers (who do most of the instrumentals) and features an amazing array of vocal talent, including Sia Furler and Tina Dico. It's a little challenging to describe their music, but I personally put it in the "Chill" category.

Not to get overly sappy, but whenever I travel (as I will be tomorrow) I always think about this song and the L&T;

"When I'm weak I draw strength from you
"And when you're lost I know how to change your mood
"And when I'm down you breathe life over me
"Even though we're miles apart we are each other's destiny"

Here is "Destiny"

This next one is an active listening song, really pay attention to the lyrics while you're watching the video (and be sure to stay for the end), this is "Distractions"...

Wow, just wow...

There's nothing I can add to this (though Sadly, No! does a nice snark about it) except maybe that it's the worst argument against same-sex marriage. Ever. Oh, and I'm not surprised that the guy who wrote it has been married 3 times...

Friday morning pick-me-up...

It's the unofficial start to summer this weekend so let's bust out the Pork pie hats again and get "Into Action" with Tim Armstrong;

And let's keep that Ska beat going with this classic from Bad Manners, here is "Samson & Delilah"

Friday morning pick-me-up...

Double Classic today in honor of this year's Blue Lake Top 10 CD and my theme for this year is Top Ten 80's Soundtrack songs. My criteria was that the song had to be an important part of the movie, not necessarily the theme or title song, but definitely not something you only hear 10 seconds of. With that in mind here on the 8 I don't have videos for;

Eurythmics - "Would I Lie To You" ("One Crazy Summer" 1986)
Jimmy Buffett - I Don't Know ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High" 1982)
Nik Kershaw - Wouldn't It Be Good ("Pretty In Pink" 1986)
Oingo Boingo - Happy ("Summer School" 1987)
Paul Kelly - Dumb Things ("Young Einstein" 1988)
Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away ("Valley Girl" 1983)
Thompson Twins - If You Were Here ("Sixteen Candles" 1984)
Van Halen - Everybody Wants Some ("Better Off Dead" 1985)

Now for the videos, first up is from the 1985 Val Kilmer classic "Real Genius",here is Chaz Jankel with "Number 1"

Finally is the title track to a fun but pretty obscure movie (it's the only one on the list not on DVD), from 1984's "Up The Creek" here is Cheap Trick and "Up The Creek"

Friday morning pick-me-up...

You've no doubt heard part of this song during iPod commercials, but don't hold that against the band or the song, it's well worth a listen. Here are The Submarines with "You, Me and the Bourgeoisie"

Oh, I've been sitting on this one for a while now - The newest Star Trek movie opens today, so in honor of that how about a video featuring one of the original cast members? Here is "Going Down To Liverpool" by The Bangles featuring Leonard Nimoy! Apparently his daughter was friends with someone in the band and he agreed to appear in the video. Ahhhh,the 80's...

MY NAME IS...

I haven't followed the NBA much since the Sonic went to Hijack City but I usually watch the playoffs, so I was surprised that I missed the news that one of my favorite players suffered a career ending injury on Tuesday. Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo (that's his full name) blew out his left knee in Portland that night bringing to an end to 17 years in the NBA.

In 1994 I had every reason to hate Mutombo, the picture of him laying on the floor of Key Arena clutching the ball as his Denver Nuggets came into Seattle and beat the team with the best record in the NBA (and probably killing the Sups best chance at a Championship - For a great [if painful] video review of the series click here) is still fresh in my mind. Still, Dikembe always makes me smile.

Maybe it's his accent, maybe it's his infectious smile when he's off the court, maybe it was his reactions at the NBA dunk contests, but probably it's because even though he was a pretty good basketball player, he is a very good person - He holds a degree in diplomacy and linguistics, and he speaks 9 languages. He's done extensive work with the United Nations and has given millions to his native Democratic Republic of Congo, including building a hospital in the capital (how many other NBA players have built a hospital?).

Here's wishing Deke a quick recovery!

BTW - The post title is a little inside joke amongst some of the Old Guys.

Friday morning pick-me-up...

While it's a tenuous connection these two are slightly related in that they're both very good songs with slightly bizarre videos. First up is The Young Punx with, we'll I'll let them describe it - "Two hikers get drawn into a mysterious and surreal coastal world where the power of the Shipping Forecast summons the demon metal guitarist from the depths and possesses the locals with the spirit of ROCK! Will they survive the encounter?" here is "Rockall"

If you're old enough to remember MTV when this song first came out you remember the pot of beans, here is Wall of Voodoo with "Mexican Radio"