cryptique

Typical paranoid horseshit.

I've seen Elvis Costello more than any other artist. It's weird to think that I once panicked, thinking I'd missed my only chance to ever see him.

I've gone solo to dozens of shows over the years. The size of the venue doesn't matter -- I go to shows at the Blind Pig by myself (tiny club that holds a few hundred), and I've also been to basketball-arena and large-outdoor-amphitheatre shows by myself. If I can't find anyone else interested in going to a particular show, that doesn't necessarily stop me. I'm the same way with movies. The last four or five movies I saw in the theatre were solo. I'm a raving introvert, so flying solo really doesn't bother me.

It was named "Comiskey Park" when it opened in 1991. The name was even chiseled into the stone face of the building.

David Rawlings Machine

Did you check the poll on the same page as the article?

Yeah, good luck with that. And the name "Willis" came to be forever mocked and despised in Chicago...

Would love to have seen them.

They didn't keep very good records. I probably signed up as a "new" subscriber four or five times and got their 12-CDs-for-a-penny deal (or whatever it was) every time. There are still a whole bunch of discs in my collection that bear their annoying little imprint. Can't say I'm too broken up to see that they're headed out the door, but this does bring back a memory or two.

I'm not wrong. I really did read that. Evidently what I read was wrong.

I was reading somewhere this morning that Norris is not from Texas and has never lived in Texas. So he better move there and establish residency if he wants to become its president. Oh, and: he's a fucktard.

The first Rocky was really good. Maybe not Academy Award for Best Picture good, but really good.

Bigbootay!

Not so rare recently. They've been through here on two separate tours in the past 2-3 years.

Not even free tickets could interest me in seeing Leno. Everything I've seen about him away from the Tonight Show suggests he's a hell of a nice guy, but I don't think he's funny.

If the Pixies can do it...

Yeah, Pixies circa Bossa Nova were pretty amazing too.

Or maybe they'll change the caption below his avatar to something embarrassing.

Hell, Buddy puts on a great show now. I saw him last month at a huge venue and he was amazing. (It helped that I was in the front row.)

I had tickets to a couple of WXRT free summer concerts down at the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park (what do they call that thing now ... the Tweeter Center?). One was Santana, I think (meh), but the other was Richard Thompson / Crowded House / The Smithereens, and I'm really pissed that I missed that show. I didn't have a car and none of my friends could go (I was offering a free ticket for anyone who could give me a ride).

I just have them come to my office. They call me when I arrive, and I run down and talk to them for a couple of minutes. Then they call me when they're done. Never posed much of a problem for me. Now, that's windshield replacement. Cable TV or the power company ... totally different story, because then I'm pinned down at home.

Another one I forgot: Shannon Wright. Absolutely putrid. I saw her at Schuba's. I'd loved her band Crowsdell, and was hoping her solo show would be something like that, but it wasn't. It was filled with tuneless songs and pointless screaming -- really painful to watch. Her drummer (the only other musician onstage) seemed completely confused ... I felt sorry for him. However, the opening band was fantastic (The Waxwings).

Nice. I never had the chance. I'm holding out hope that they'll decide to cash in with a reunion tour -- that'd be one reunion tour I'd pay good money to see.

I forgot one that would have made my list: Ben Folds Five. Man, they sucked. I did like the way they ended their set, though -- everyone wanted them to play "Brick," which was kinda big at the time, and as they finished the show there was a weird techno-dancebeat version of "Brick" playing over the P.A. as they walked offstage. That was the first part of the show that I enjoyed -- watching everyone get pissed off that they weren't going to play their big "hit."

Smash Mouth (they opened for U2 and sucked ass) Smashing Pumpkins (at Lollapalooza '94) The Boredoms (also at Lolla '94)