Suckered At The Bob Dylan Show.....(11/13/16)....

Hmm...pretty cool that I got to see Bob Dylan in concert last night in Asheville given his status in the folk/rock n roll pantheon ....takeaways are that his voice was actually pretty strong (surprisingly so)....his band is really tight....those are the good things....now for the less favorable part of the show....as you can see below, unless you are a huge Dylan particularly of his 10 yrs or so the set list is unrecognizable...I guess if you know Sinatra you would know more of his stuff than the Bob Dylan songs...lol...it is the first time that I have seen ushers physically grab people that tried to take a picture at a concert...these ushers were of white and blue haired age and literally grabbing people's arms...it was truly surreal to see...there was zero attempt to connect to the audience...not a single "hey Asheville", "here's a new one", "here's an old one" or even a "thank you".....first concert ever that not a word was uttered by the artist or the band....NOT A WORD....I like to call Asheville a hippie town....our Woodstock of the South...well the 'Woodstockians" last night were not very happy....the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium was sold out but midway through the set people were leaving...it was great for me as it afforded me some leg room...lol..I think all told fees and all the show cost me $112...not 100% sure as I usually buy tickets in bunches and dollar amounts get lumped in...well I feel suckered for spending that kind of money....I don't mind spending money...I guess some would say I waste some but I usually have a positive coming back my way for spending that money...aside from Highway 61 Revisited there weren't many positives.....the other classic Dylan numbers he played were unrecognizable...I was like wtf...that isn't "Tangled Up In Blue"...don't get me started with "Blowin' In The Wind"...seriously that was a huge disappointment....It was like a piss poor Harry Connick Jr. piano version of the song with a croaky karaoke singer on lead vocal....the answer my friend was not blowin' in the wind....the answer is BBG got hoovered!

The Set List

Things Have Changed
She Belongs to Me
Highway 61 Revisited
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
What’ll I Do (Irving Berlin cover)
Pay in Blood
Melancholy Mood (Frank Sinatra cover)
Duquesne Whistle
I’m a Fool to Want You (Frank Sinatra cover)
Tangled Up in Blue (with some new lyrics)
High Water (for Charley Patton)
Why Try to Change Me Now (Cy Coleman cover)
Early Roman Kings
I Could Have Told You (Frank Sinatra cover)
Spirit on the Water
Scarlet Town
All or Nothing at All (Frank Sinatra cover)
Long and Wasted Years
Autumn Leaves (Yves Montand cover)
Blowin’ in the Wind
Love Sick

Loss Of Civility (10/30/16)

So I was at a local laundromat drying shirts as one year later I still have not had my dryer looked at or replaced when I met up once again with someone so racist that I am still shaking my head in disgust at what this person shared with me.

I was sitting outside while waiting for my clothes to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame and enjoying the mid 80s sunny weather that we have had for almost the last six weeks when a gentleman around my age sat down next to me on the bench outside and started some small talk. I guess I have that kind of demeanor at times that total strangers just start talking to me.

Inside of 2-3 minutes he told me that he has been living in Greenville almost all of his life though he was born in Dover, DE. He was the youngest child of a military Dad that had been stationed at Donaldson when it was active. He then proceeded to tell me that his father (using the term loosely) disappeared when he was two years old leaving him and his three older siblings with their single Mom. She never remarried. He then told me that his Dad committed suicide when he was 10 yrs old. Not something that gets shared with you every day especially within moments of meeting someone in such an innocuous setting.

He then told me that he has a son that is in the Navy stationed in San Diego. Here's where it gets weird real quick. I told him that I spent a few days in San Diego and found it to be a pretty cool place. I did mention that I was on an expense account so I probably didn't really see much of San Diego as I had meetings and dinners to attend. That's when he tells me and I quote "well you didn't miss much, San Diego is filled with homosexuals." I was like OMG WTF. Do I have a sign on me that says "hey racist asshole tell me what is wrong with the world from your brain-damaged viewpoint?" I looked at him and said well I think my dryer cycle is done. Gotta run. Guess what candidate he is supporting?

I am disillusioned! What happened to civility?

America (the Band) in Atlanta (04/01/16)....

Disclaimer: I wrote this thing on April 2nd. Just forget to post it. LOL. So it was 4 weeks ago tonight. LOL.

Last night was another one of BBG's concert road trip nights. I had the opportunity to finally see America (the band) in concert. If memory serves me correctly I wrote about their music a couple of years ago and now the circle is complete with this blog. I bought a great seat for this show on one of my concert buying search and buy soirees. You know one of those nights where I've had the opportunity to indulge in my liking of hops and I am looking for concerts in my backyard. LOL. Atlanta is my backyard. I only drove 300 miles round trip for this show. It's like going to the grocery store for regular humanoids.

So anyways I left work a little bit early as the show had a start time of 730pm. At the best of times the drive into Atlanta from the Upstate can be a dicey timing adventure. I'd say about 60% of the drive is on a portion of I85 that is only two lanes wide in both directions. It's truly hit or miss whether or not it will be a smooth drive. Tons of truck traffic on this 225 mile stretch of highway between Charlotte and Atlanta. I kind of lucked out as the weather was pretty much overcast with no rain and miracles of miracles there was not a single wreck or stalled car on the drive south. My trusty Google Maps app was bang on giving me an ETA of around 645pm to cover the 149 miles from HNA. I ended up at Atlanta Symphony Hall as planned and had no issues finding parking. Harrison had given me a heads up on where to park as he had been to the same place for a comedy show a couple weeks prior. Jeune Homme and I both have a penchant for taking semi-long drives to see shows. LOL. We don't only share the height thing it seems. Cool thing was parking was only $10 in one of those mega parking structures that they have in Atlanta. I am used to the usual $20 rate when in the big city.

So I made my way into Symphony Hall which as the name describes it is not a typical concert barn. Jeepers the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is the main tenant of this venue. No frozen margarita concoctions or Fireball shots are to be had at this venue. LOL. I had to settle for a $6 bottle of Beck's beer being served to me by someone dressed as an usher at a formal black tie wedding. Me in my standard canvas cargo shorts was an anomaly here. LOL. There were more than a few blue-haired ladies and yellow pants wearing men that maybe thought that tonight's performance was going to be all about Neil Diamond's song "Coming To America" as opposed to a performance of two of the three original voices of the the 2nd most popular 3-part harmony acts of the early 70s. The 1st band I guess was Crosby, Stills and Nash but for the 4 year period starting in '72 and ending in '75, America had 11 Top 100 hits of which 6 songs hit the Top 10 and 2 of them hit #1 and they could lay claim to being the top American folk rock band of the land.

As I mentioned I had a seat 4 rows from the stage which was totally awesome. I was ready to be entertained and I was not disappointed. America formed in 1970 when three sons of Americans stationed near London met in university. The original band was the triumvirate of Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and the late Dan Peek. Dan Peek was an integral part of the band from 1970 to 1977. He co-wrote and sang lead on 4 of America's hits. These being "Don't Cross The River", "Woman Tonight", "Today's The Day" and the beautiful "Lonely People". Dan left the band in 1977 after going through some health and addiction issues. Gerry and Dewey have been performing together for 46 years. Yikes. That's amazing. You can see and sense their friendship and camaraderie even after all this time as they gently teased each other throughout the evening about the types of music they perform. Gerry does the mushy love stuff ("I Need You" and "Daisy Jane") as Dewey mentioned and Dewey does the spacier druggy songs ("Sandman" and "Green Monkey") as Gerry mentioned. Dewey did mention that his daughter and grandchild were sitting exit stage left as they live in the Atlanta area. He said it was a bit like a homecoming for him visiting his daughter and family.

The setlist contained 19 songs from 8 albums and 1 soundtrack. It featured all of their popular hits throughout the years except for "Muskrat Love". I never did get that song. I for one always thought it was a Captain and Tennile song. LOL. I never got a good vibe just from the title of the song. Muskrats really? Throughout the evening Gerry and Dewey talked about their songs and where they were when they were writing them and what they meant to them. They also talked about the 3 covers that they performed ("California Dreaming", "Woodstock" and "Til I Hear It Again"). The story about being on a triple bill with the Mamas and the Papas and the Beach Boys and all bands performing "California Dreaming" was amusing. America was the first act to hit the stage and as they said they set the bar pretty high with their version of the song. LOL. Dewey and Gerry tour with the bass player Richard Campbell formerly of Three Dog Night who joined the band in 2003 and two relatively new additions since 2014 being drummer Ryland Steen formerly from Reel Big Fish and lead guitarist Bill Worrell who as Gerry put it is in the band to attract cougars to the shows. LOL. Bill is in early to mid-30s and is a great rock guitarist. Dewey and Gerry are very generous and let their band do some solos and have some fun on stage.

Anyways here's the setlist:
1. Tin Man
2. You Can Do Magic
3. Don't Cross The River
4. Daisy Jane
5. Riverside
6. I Need You
7. Ventura Highway
8. Woodstock (Joni Mitchell cover)
9. Cornwall Blank
10. Til I Hear It From You (Gin Blossoms cover)
11. The Border
12. Green Monkey
13. Woman Tonight
14. Only In Your Heart
15. California Dreamin' (The Mamas and the Papas cover)
16. Lonely People
17. Sandman
18. Sister Goldenhair
19. Horse With No Name (encore)

All in all it was a super enjoyable show and a trip down memory lane. Definitely would see them again and again in concert. As Gerry mentioned "we have been doing a 100 shows a year for 46 years and as long as you continue coming to our shows, we will continue to visit your towns". The Kinks released a live album in the early 80s called "Give The People What They Want". America definitely does that!

Life In The BBG World (03/19/2016)

Well it's been a while since I have hunted and pecked at the keyboard but I have an amusing story that happened today which has many similarities to an event that happened with my Mom back in the late '70s. Typically I would just post to Facebook and write a mini-novel there but I decided I should post here as it is much easier to find on my blog page than on my Facebook page. Goodness gracious I post so much there that I lose patience looking for something that I posted about way back in mid-February. LOL.

So anyways as I am typing right now the original plan was for me to be at The Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta with a couple of friends having a craft beer or two and mangling the lyrics to Vance Joy songs.

That was the plan! LOL. Instead I am in my messy bedroom with BooBoo Dammit staring at me as only she can trying to get me to feed her yet again even though she was fed hmm like 13m48s ago. Not going to work BooBoo! I am in the typing zone.

So let's head back in the time travel machine in Marc's aka BBG's world to sometime in the latter 70s. Okay it may have been the real early 80s. Memories get a little jumbled when you go back ohemgee 35 years. Geezus I am old. LOL. Okay back to point BBG.

So my stepdad Gene (my youngest brother's father) used to work for CNR (Canadian National Railway) as their head photographer I guess in what was their PR department when CNR was a huge important cog of the Canadian economy. He used to have to travel for trade shows and take pics of trains, planes and automobiles. Okay ixnay the last two modes of transportation it was really trains and the scenery you would see if you took a train and the people you would see along the way. Remember back then we humans actually stopped and smelled the roses in our interactions with other humanoids. So my stepdad was in Washington, DC on some PR junket and he called my Mom back in Chomedey and asked her to join him for a weekend in DC. I was in my late teens then and my sister Shawnie was a year and half behind me in age and we were more than capable to take care of our younger brothers Randolf and Rene while our Mom went to join our stepdad in Washington, DC.

This is when it gets funny. My stepdad tells my Mom to book a flight to Dulles and he will pick her up or arrange for a taxi/limo service to pick her up and bring her to wherever the festivities were in DC. Well my Mom booked her flight to meet my stepdad but my Mom being French Canadian may have misheard my Canadian American stepdad's instruction to book a flight to Dulles. Mom booked a flight to Dallas. As in Texas. LOL. Remember back then there were no cellphones. No computers. Good Gawd you would get busy dial tones when you would call people back then and there was no such thing as voicemail. So Dad spent a weekend near Dulles and Mom spent a weekend in Dallas. That story has been shared in the family and with friends for years and years.

Sadly the protagonists in this part of the blog are no longer with us. That's where I come in to continue what we can now call a family tradition. Hmm is it a German thing or a French Canadian family tradition. I'll let others decide.

As many of my friends know and can ascertain I am a total live music junkie. I think nothing of driving hundreds and hundreds of miles to go see concerts. I consider Atlanta and Charlotte my backyard almost and those destinations are what 140 miles and 100 miles away. Sheesh I have meandered to Raleigh NC, Tampa FL, Macon GA and Salem VA to see shows in the last year. Often these decisions are made after a trivia night or some cooking adventure in my kitchen. This implies that BBG may or may not have had a beer, a shot or a glass of wine and perhaps the decision making process is a little more liberal than if I was stone cold sober. Note I said one beer or shot or glass of wine. LOL. As if.

So this year's goal is 60 concerts. Not 60 acts. 60 concerts from 01/01 to 12/31. My musical tastes pretty much run the gamut except for maybe hip hop and what passes for music on Hit Radio in the 2010s. One of the joys of owning my VW Passat is that it came with SiriusXM radio and that has opened my musical world to artists like the Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, Nathaniel Rateliff and Vance Joy.Not exactly artists you hear on the radio or see on TV covered on the mindless talent shows like American Idol, The Voice, etc etc.

So back in late December I booked a ticket for Vance Joy in my backyard of Atlanta. I see an artist on tour and I immediately book a ticket if they are in my backyard. I regret missing Rush last year in Atlanta on their 40th anniversary tour because I hemmed and hawed. I swore then and there, I see an act I want to see I buy a ticket.

I have had it on my concert calendar for months. March 19th, 8 pm Atlanta, The Tabernacle. I told friends I was going. I told friends I would see them there. So around 430pm today I head out the door on my way to Atlanta to see Vance Joy. I stopped for a coffee around 6pm in Commerce, GA which is kind of the halfway point and then I look up on my Ticketmaster app the address for the Tabernacle in Atlanta as I have never been there and I was going to imput into my GPS. This is when I discover I had a ticket for Vance Joy alright but my ticket was for last night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville TN. Let's say that my favorite F word escaped my lips several times in a row. LOL.

Immediately I rechecked my Ticketmaster app to make sure that I am a doofus which it did confirm so I thought hmm I guess I need to get another ticket. LOL. Well eff that idea the dang show is sold out. Yay me in Commerce GA not. An hour later I am finishing this blog. LOL.

I am my Mom's son.