Like many of us, I was introduced to lots of new music from my older sister. She received the very first Bob Dylan album for her Sweet 16. Considering he only sold about 2500 copies of his first album I came in on the ground floor of his career.
One of the first concerts I ever attended was a Dylan show in 1965! It was in October at Carnegie Hall. My birthday was ten days later and I asked my parents for tickets to the concert instead of a party. I took my kid brother Michael and my cousin Michelle. I was so excited to see him I could hardly contain myself! We had seats in the very back of the orchestra. The first set was acoustic and the crowd loved it. However, when he plugged in for the second set, people left in droves. This was just a few months after he got booed at the Newport Folk Festival for doing the same thing. Well, their loss was our gain and we ended up moving to about the 10th row for the remainder of the show. I remember it as if it were yesterday.
As a birthday present my cousin gave me 3 Dylan albums, where I proceeded to put a check mark next to each song he had sung that night. I still have the albums.
Here's what he sounded like at the Newport Folk Festival!
Wow wow wow! Thatâs my review of Phish at Alpine valley on Saturday night.
This marked my 16th year of going to Phish concerts and if I say this was one of THE BEST Iâm not exaggerating.
First step to enjoying Alpine was the VIP parking pass I purchased for $30, which is the only way to handle that parking lot hassle at the end. I was pretty excited to bring my friend Scott along with us for his first Phish concert. I head to Will Call and we started walking down to our sets⦠and down⦠and down until we are on the freakinâ floor, maybe ten rows from the stage, way over on the side.
Iâm stoked and ready to see âmy boysâ. The show started off with Tube ,which happens to be the very first song I ever saw Phish perform live back in 1994. It started strong and they never let up that first set. I donât think I have ever heard the band sound so tight. I guess growing up and getting sober is a good thing.Â
A high point for me was Page taking center stage and singing his jazzy âLawn Boyâ and âSparkleâ which took us to heights of rock ecstasy.
Now, Iâm not getting any younger and Iâm not in the best physical shape and it was hot, but I danced and boogied more than I have in, well since the last Phish concert!
Second set included some of my favorite songs, âDown with Diseaseâ, Â âWeekapaug Grooveâ and their cool cover of â Sneakinâ Sally Through the Alleyâ.
We were close enough to be bathed by the lights of the stage, which was cool and finally, I was in the middle of the glow stick âwarâ. I was lucky enough to catch this lovely necklace.
An encore while short and only one song, âQuinn the Eskimoâ, was a prefect end to this totally rocking show.
Then, of course, we had to get out of the parking lot. VIP only took 30 minutes rather than 90, so all in all and perfect evening.
I canât wait for next summer.
Saturday night John Hiatt came back to the Barrymore Theater. He always puts on a great show, whether he's solo like last time, or with a 3 piece combo like the one he had on Saturday. If you've ever seen Hiatt in person, you how much fun it is.
This week you would have had even MORE fun if you were lucky enough to pay attention to the opening act, John Sieger from Milwaukee.
I got a chance to meet this songwriter before his set and was totally charmed by his dry wit and self deprecating humor. When he strummed a few chords backstage, I was taken by the pure sound of the guitar and was stoked to hear his short set. But from my seat at the rear of the theater, I couldn't hardly hear him due to all the talking around me. Well, I thought, this IS the next to last row and at least there are tons of people pushed up against the stage that were listening to John Sieger and HAD to be enjoying themselves.
Much to my dismay, I spoke with him after his set and he said people up against the stage were chattering away with their friends and not listening to him at all. This really bugs me. I wish people would show respect to the opening acts. Many times they have been personally invited by the headliner. Sometimes, it's a band's first appearance in Madison and we should welcome them warmly.I have been to many shows where the opening act was so good, I didn't care if the headliners even came out! Â Remember, at one time John Hiatt was someone's opening act.
So, for those of you who were there and missed him, this is John Sieger, a very good friend of Public radio's Michael Feldman, with whom he's written an album of songs together.
Enjoy:
If you believe the hashtag, #johnmayerisback!
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His first tour since his vocal cord troubles cleared up kicks off on the 4th of July, and includes a stop at Milwaukee's Summerfest on July 6th.
In addition to preparing for a tour, he's been...
Are kids today over-photographed?
Now that everybody has a camera on their phone, and now that Facebook is a greedy beast that must be fed, it seems parents take WAY more pictures of their kids than was the case back in the 1960s and 1970s. It...
People have been wondering why Billie Joe jumped off the bridge since this song came out and made it to number 1 in 1967. Singer Bobby Gentry says people always asked what was thrown over the bridge and why did Billie Joe jump. She never would give a...
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One of the rules for Beatles fans is that you must memorize tidbits of Beatle trivia to try and impress other Beatle fans. This is not that easy to do....as things like...
In 1968, Jeannie C. Riley topped both the pop and country charts with "Harper Valley PTA". She was the first female singer to accomplish that feat and it wasn't repeated until Dolly Parton did it in 1981 with the song "9 to 5". The song was...
This week we're doing story songs on the World's Worst iPod. We start with the story of Billy who really wanted to be a hero. He was a hero, but didn't live to see it and his girlfriend was pretty angry. The song was originally done by...
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