Shug

I just essentially broke up with many of my extended family members in a group email. I don't have time and space in my life for Trump supporters anymore.

I am not speaking to any family members at all anymore.  My Mom became a fundamentalist evangelical Christian and my only sibling an ultra-orthodox Catholic about 30 years ago, so our relationship has been hanging by a thread for decades.

They all voted Trump and its the last straw for me.  There is nothing there worth salvaging or working for.

My family is now my wife, my stepboys and my friends whom I have always liked to call my chosen family.

I've never seen anything like this, obviously, and I can't fucking believe this is happening.

This article by Chris Hedges is mostly terrifying but there is a glimmer of a strategy for maintaining sanity.  We must form communities with people who want to fight fascism and protect democracy and human rights and not isolate ourselves.  I think i need to go surfing more!

"To recover our mental balance we must respond to Trump the way victims of trauma respond to abuse. We must build communities where we can find understanding and solidarity. We must allow ourselves to mourn. We must name the psychosis that afflicts us. We must carry out acts of civil disobedience and steadfast defiance to re-empower others and ourselves. We must fend off the madness and engage in dialogues based on truth, literacy, empathy and reality. We must invest more time in activities such as finding solace in nature, or focusing on music, theater, literature, art and even worship—activities that hold the capacity for renewal and transcendence. This is the only way we will remain psychologically whole. Building an outer shell or attempting to hide will exacerbate our psychological distress and depression. We may not win, but we will have, if we create small, like-minded cells of defiance, the capacity not to go insane."

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/american_psychosis_20170129

And I'd encourage all fans of Sturgill and classic country to check out Courtney Granger from Louisianna.  Now this guy can sing some classic country!  Yeah, his album is all covers and he's sounding ALOT like George Jones to the point I can see many criticize him for mimicry, but I never buy into that originality argument.  George Jones and Merle Haggard are dead and you can't see them live any more.  Anyone who can do what Courtney can do is someone I want to listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI2lZUzNAa0

http://www.valcourrecords.com/cds/courtney-granger-beneath-still-waters

There is a lot to love about Sturgill with his classic country revival sound combined with his philosophical but grounded psychedelic point of view.  and I'm thrilled with the soul influence he's brought in with the horns and Hammond.   I'm not crazy about his overly clipped, choppy ennunciation in his singing, though.  I love a solid country drawl in the vocals of country music as much as anybody, but I think the style he's adopted is too much.  He didn't used to do it as much.  Check out the difference in this earlier video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNV16tz1NK0

https://www.yahoo.com/music/video-premiere-the-magpie-salute-performs-comin-home-live-173242207.html

And its going to get even better with John Hogg on vocals. He can sing the shit out of stuff like the Faces.  Eddie will be sorely missed, though.  Look at the way his fingers are just dancing over the keys.  He was an incredible talent all the way to the end, even with as much as he put his body through with drugs and his lifestyle.

Watched some Bad Company's Soundstage performance last night on PBS -- it was pretty painful, though I never really was much of a fan. 

 

I don't think they needed Robinson up there at all - I don' think he took one solo. He just to seemed there to fill in the sound.

 

Their reworked version of Shooting Star was dreadful.

I saw that tour, expecting that Rich would be the only guitarist and take all the solos and they'd do a bunch of Free songs.  I was sorely disappointed, none of that happened.  No Rich solo, the other guy who was not Mick Ralphs took all the solos and leads, not a single Free song was played and it was pretty lame.  Joe Walsh with Waddy Wachtel opened the show and that was far better to me.  Luckily, Rich started his solo tour soon after that and they killed it, playing their asses off with no repeats between two two-set shows in Austin and San Antonio.  Rich is both and tone- and riff-meister and when he composes a good one, which is far from every song he puts out, he can knock it out of the park.

Thanks for those desperately needed words of encouragement and optimism, Donna!  It'd didn't feel very happy at midnight last night, even out dancing to good music with my wife.  2016 sucked and 2017 is looking even worse.  Its a struggle to find the positives which are mostly of the "it could be worse" variety. 

Its going to take a determined effort to stay positive this year, so I can use all the encouragement I can get so thank you.  I will look to the thinkers and visionaries and role models who can see all these troubled times in a greater context to provide some calm and soothing perspective.  We gotta stick together, us humanists and I will try to be part of the solution as much as I can.

I get what you are saying, jw.  There is no hit, or watershed song or signature riff from Derek yet. There may never be.  You could say the same thing for SRV, too, perhaps and he is definitely one of the greats in my book. But for me, that doesn't really matter.  Its the emotional response i have to his playing that makes him so great to me.  He's a virtuoso in the true sense of the word, his blinding technique is there, but he uses it humbly and soulfully to give the listener and the other musicians an emotional an perhaps even transformative experience and he's a master at that, I think.

This does sound promising, but I'm still not holding my breath for a full on rarities tour.

While nothing is definite at the moment, Petty is into the idea of playing the title track to 1978's You're Gonna Get It (unplayed since New Year's Eve 1978) and the mournful "Room at the Top" from 1999's Echo, while Tench wants to play the title track to Echo, the Damn the Torpedoes classic "Louisiana Rain" and "Stories We Could Tell," an Everly Brothers song they released on their 1985 live album Pack Up the Plantation. Guitarist Mike Campbell, meanwhile, hopes to convince the group to break out break out "Fooled Again," "Luna" and "Hurt," all of which come from their first two albums.

^I hope he does the Wildflower tour still though as I am more interested in that then the 40th anniversary shows!

Me, too.  Or the Echo tour that Benmont mentioned!  Echo, No More, Lonesome Sundown, Room At The Top, Swingin', Free Girl Now, Billy The Kid, it was a really good album although kinda dark, but powerful. I think it has aged very well. They played very little of it when they toured around that time in 1999, probably because it was deemed too dark and depressing for live shows.

My biggest complaint about TP is that the setlists have basically not changed in 15 years!  That's an exaggeration, of course, but they have certainly been stagnant, in my view, especially for a songwriter of his calibre with a huge repertoire of amazing songs.  His "rarities" shows at the Fonda in LA a couple years ago were pathetic compared to what they could've been.  One or two nuggets does not make a show a rarities show, IMO.

Imagine what he could do, like a two set show with a true sit-down acoustic set playing stuff like The Wild One Forever, You Can Still Change Your Mind, The Best Of Everything, etc.  Mike Campbell can play any stringed instrument, it could be so great. 

But year after year, he plays it safe, so disappointing for all that wasted potential, in my view.

I think I've over-told it but here ya go:

 

Fall 88 mini deep-south tour ((Miami that we missed) 2St.Petes->New Orleans->Houston->Dallas. 

 

After the New Orleans show (at which The Bangles came out to play the encore with them) we, as was every other head) were bumbling along Bourbon St. after the show and one of my buddies pointed out Brent and some other dude walking across the street. Being a huge Brent guy, I followed. they walked into a bar and I was right behind and took the empty seat, at the bar, right next to Brent. It was pretty crowded so as we waited a few minuted for the bartender to get to us, I turned to him and asked "you get into the show tonight?" He got a kick out of that and laughed and it broke the ice for hanging out for a couple rounds (in which he asked ME to borrow a few dollars!!).

 

He got recognized pretty quickly but people left him alone for the most part.

 

Since he, technically, owed me money I went into the show early in Houston for the next show and he was fucking around on his keys with the house lights still on and I shouted out, behind him, something like "hey man, you got that 5 bucks??!" to which I got another friendly chuckle and smile and hand wave.

 

Not much of a story but it was fun for me and a night etched in my head. He was really pleasant to talk to, funny, and shy. He sat at the bar kinda slouched in his chair whith his knees touching the bar most of the time.

Thanks, Lammy.  Sounds like a fun time, I'd have enjoyed having a drink or two with Brent as well, I think.  And in New Orleans, no less!

In 1992 or so, after he had sat in with the Dead a couple times, a lot of Deadheads went to see Branford Marsalis at Yoshi's in Berkeley.  He was doing two shows a night and in between shows he was hanging out at the bar meeting fans, about a dozen lined up to see him.  He talked with every fan lined up, one at a time, for several minutes each, what a cool guy.  He was very gracious in accepting the praise the Deadheads showered him with and was also happy to talk about what it was like to play with the Dead even at his own show.

 

Meeting Brent Mydland on Bourbon St after a show in New Orleans. Had a couple drinks sitting next to each other in some bar. Pretty funny deal, imo, but will spare you all the details.

 

You can't NOT tell us Deadheads now with a teaser like that!!!  Even if its not flattering to Brent I still wanna hear it.

1.   Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pueblo Colorado 1986
Out of all 9 times I was lucky to see SRV live, this was the best: a little rodeo grounds in an out of the way Colorado town, Gregg Allman Band opening on his I’m No Angel tour.  Standing in the dirt of the infield, we watched with our mouths hanging open in amazement as SRV came out and immediately ripped into several of his instrumentals at an absolutely blistering pace. Later he blew us away with Mary Had A Little Lamb, Texas Flood, Couldn’t Stand the Weather and Voodoo Child.  Not rare songs, but the intensity, mastery and inspiration with which they were played was jaw-dropping.  Still the greatest rock guitarist I’ve ever seen in person.

2.   Georgia Satellites – The Channel Club, Boston 1987
A hot summer night in this sweatbox of a dark dive, the Satellites brought a true and sincere 1980s version of turbo-charged Chuck Berry via the Stones and Faces three-chord rock ‘n roll: simple no frills barroom music without pretense for a packed crowd.  I’m not much into mosh pits and punk rock, but I left this show soaked to the skin in sweat and spilled beer (both mine and other people’s on both accounts) after being smashed in with a bunch of hooligan rock fans all night and I totally loved it.  Rock ‘n’ Roll nirvana for me.

3.   Page and Plant  San Jose 1998   
The closest I ever got to seeing Led Zeppelin.  The way the entire arena was rocking out to Hey Hey What Can I Do was one of those galvanizing ecstatic group-mind moments that are so powerful.

4.   Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan - Anaheim 1987
My first Grateful Dead show was one of the most overwhelming for me.  I was already a hardcore fan of Dylan whom I’d not even consider missing at any Southern California show AND I’d always wondered what those bumper stickers meant that said “There Is Nothing Like A Grateful Dead concert”.  Their records certainly hadn’t impressed me at that point, but I loved that they covered Dylan a lot in their shows.  I went with a couple of veteran Deadheads who seemed to be able to pull out of their bag anything that my stoned little head and heart desired at the exact moment I wanted it. Let’s just say I was in a “receptive” mood and time and place in my life for the Grateful Dead trip and I took it hook, line and sinker, thinking this experience had been waiting for me my entire life.  It felt like arriving back home to a place I didn’t even know I had originated at or had ever left, a shining golden palace with a bunch of friendly strangers welcoming the prodigal son.  And that was before my Deadhead hosts passed out the vitamin B12 pills for extra stamina right before Dylan took the stage for the third set to play a bunch of songs I’d never dreamed I’d get to hear live backed by The Dead.  The way the entire stadium was rocking out at the end of the night to a massive triumphant celebratory Touch Of Grey was a mind-blowing capper.  “Where’s the next show?!”

5.    Hard to pick #5.  Wilco in Aspen 2010, my first time seeing the Nels Cline lineup after discovering the Ashes Of American Flags concert film?  MMJ at the Wiltern 2012 night #1?  MMJ Red Rocks 2012? One of the great Allman Brothers Band shows with Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes in the early 90s where I thought the band was actually levitating the entire amphitheater in Blue Sky? Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers becoming legitimate contenders for the World’s Greatest Rock ‘n Roll Band during their 1997 20-night Fillmore run?  The Black Crowes doing a mid-week show at the Fillmore in 2008 opening the night with the incredible and incredibly rare Exit?  All contenders for me.

Oh, yeah, U2 on the Joshua Tree tour, two nights at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and then again in the Boston Garden the night the power went out and they had to play acoustic for awhile with just the house lights on.  ZOO TV tour when Achtung Baby first came out was pretty damn excellent, too.  I saw it indoors in Sacramento and then outdoors in Oakland.

i have ticket stubs in shoeboxes, too, got about 3 stuffed to overflowing now.  And that doesn't inlcude all the club shows that there weren't printed tickets for.

The Grateful Dead ~100 shows

The Mother Hips ~ 75 shows

The Black Crowes ~ 35 shows

Jerry Garcia Band ~ 30 shows (many at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco)

Wilco ~ 15 shows

Richard Thompson ~ 15 shows

The Allman Brothers ~ 15 shows

Tom Petty ~ 15 shows

My Morning Jacket ~15 shows

The Jayhawks ~10 shows

Bob Dylan ~ 10 shows

U2 ~ 11 shows

Stevie Ray Vaughan - 9 shows (just missed the cut for 10 times, but still notable to me)

I'll get close to 10 shows for Tedeschi Trucks pretty soon if I get to one of their multi-night runs.

It just hit me that the new run of shows announced yesterday are billed as part of the Schmilco tour, as opposed to the four night run in Chicago being billed as Winterlude. I guess what I'm thinking is that even though the newly announced dates include multiple consecutive nights at one theater, we shouldn't expect as much set list variation at Schmilco shows as at Winterlude shows. I don't think the difference in the names of the shows is accidental.

That could well be the case as a general matter, but i am pretty confident that they will really mix up the setlist during a 4 night run at the same venue in NYC. Time will tell and only wish we didn't have to wait 4 months for an answer!

I would agree that the Winterlude shows could have more variation than the Beacon run.  Take a look at the variation between the three Los Angeles shows earlier this year on the Schmilco tour.  My guess is it'll be about the same for the Beacon, about 6-8 songs different each night, but plenty of repeats and a good number of songs played at all 4 shows.  Hopefully there will be fewer repeats for Winterlude!

I think you already sold these, correct?  I really need two together anyways, thanks though!

If anybody has a pair of tix to unload for the Saturday show of Winterlude at Chicago Theatre, I'd happily buy them from you!

Its our first time seeing Wilco in Chicago and my wife's birthday the night before, so we'd be extra thrilled and appreciative if you do.

shug909@yahoo.com

covered, thx

https://twitter.com/ChicagoTheatre/status/798952010875863045

 

and

 

https://twitter.com/Wilco/status/798937310167519233

 

Good luck! I was fortunate enough to get a pair in the 6th row for Saturday night. Now to arrange travel!

Thank you, kind sir!

only got a pair of far back floor tix for Wed.  

Anybody get the Ticketmaster presale code?  Gotta try tomorrow and Fri for the other two nights....

20 year old kid from South Carolina, a Warren Haynes protoge, he can play his ass off!

Allman Brothers and Tedeschi Trucks Band fans will most likely love this.

I'm going to see him live in 10 days, I can't frickin' wait!!!

http://www.marcuskingband.com/bio/

I wonder if Rich asked Gorman.

The "two drummers" comment Rich made in his press release would indicate that he wants Steve and has probably asked him.  i would guess that Steve has not committed yet.  He might show up as  special guest or join the band later, like he did for the 2005 reunion.

For those that know, this speaks volumes.  I knew this was coming, hallelujah!

Rich Robinson—singer-songwriter-guitarist and co-founding member of The Black Crowes—has announced the formation of THE MAGPIE SALUTE. It’s an exciting new band that brings together four key members of The Black Crowes—Rich, guitarist/vocalist, guitarist Marc Ford, keyboardist Eddie Harsch, and bassist Sven Pipien—with members of Rich’s own band: drummer Joe Magistro, keyboardist Matt Slocum, and backing vocalists Adrien Reju and Katrine Ottosen, along with some other friends.

THE MAGPIE SALUTE will be unveiled January 19 when they headline the Gramercy Theatre in New York, performing songs from The Black Crowes catalog, solo material from Rich and Marc plus “whatever else may materialize,” says Rich. Pre-sale tickets will be available October 19, followed by the general on-sale October 21: See link below and watch the video trailer here.

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00005150D3CD36D9

“The name The Magpie Salute comes from a superstition based in the UK,” explains Rich about the band’s moniker. “There are many variations, but the version I’m drawn to is the belief that if you see a Magpie, you would do well to salute it “to ward off negativity, or to have a good day.” The way you salute the Magpie, based on some traditions is to say ‘Good Mornin' Captain.’ The reason we salute is to show we're unarmed, or what I like to say is ‘we come in peace.’ The Magpie falls within the Crowe umbrella of species, figuratively and literally. Magpies can be black and white which represents the light and the dark. I figured all of these things touch on many aspects of my life and this experience.”

Asked about THE MAGPIE SALUTE’s multiple players and singers, Rich says, “I wanted to try something different. I wanted to hear this music with two drummers, two keyboard players, and multiple singers. I, and everyone involved, love playing music. Not only on our own, in The Crowes and in my band, but playing music in general. We want to make music again together with a fresh perspective. To present this music I wrote in a different light with these amazing players is going to be really special to me.”

Will the Gramercy Theatre show have the songs and improvisational flights that The Black Crowes were famous for? “Absolutely, that's what we do when we get together,” says Marc. “Now the vocal position will obviously be different... it opens other places to go with different singers. The bottom line for me is that we love playing together; we have a respect for what we've done together and for all of the people that want to hear it.”

THE MAGPIE SALUTE marks the reunion of the Robinson and Ford guitar team. (Ford left The Black Crowes after their fourth album and 1997 Further Festival tour.) “The Crowes have had their share of guitar players,” says Rich. “Each one has been really cool to play with and each one has brought their own unique playing to the band. That being said, I personally feel that Marc and I have a very deep musical connection. The way he and I played together on those records really showcases that musical bond. As I get older I realize what a gift it is to play with people with whom you share that language of music.” Reflecting about their deep musical connection, Marc says: “It's one of those things that was there before we met. Musically we were already family.”

The seeds were planted for THE MAGPIE SALUTE in August 2016 when Rich performed in Woodstock (New York) at Applehead Studio where he’s recorded his last three albums. “Sven Pipien has been playing with me on my current tour. So for fun I decided to invite Marc and Eddie from the original Crowes lineup to join us. It turned out to be such a cool, cathartic, and inspirational experience for us all. We all have such a strong musical connection from that band. Most importantly we all have a life's worth of family experience together. We've travelled the world together, seen a lot of far out experiences, playing with our heroes, emotional ups and downs, all wrapped within a very unique life experience, which is the thread that has always kept the connection together.” Marc says about the show at Applehead Studios: “The playing was an amazing second to seeing their faces.”

THE MAGPIE SALUTE chose NYC for their first show because, says Rich, “New York has always been really supportive of me and the Crowes. I thought it would be a great place to unveil this.”

I noticed it at the show and I'm hearing it again on the recording of Los Angeles night 3, but when did Theologians become a balls out rocker with those dirty guitars and killer Stones-y groove?  I'm loving it!

I had a chance to listen to September 3rd. You can somewhat hear the woman screaming during Company In My Back, the song ends, crowd cheers and it gets faded with the crowd cheering with the band coming back onstage. I felt a little uncomfortable after the incident (I probably should have just got a drink) and got a little annoyed with a group of loud mouths in front of me, so it's nice to be able to properly enjoy this show now 

 

I'm definitely biased because I was there and it was the best Wilco show I've seen, but September 2nd might be the best roadcase I've heard. If you're only going to pick up one of the two, that's the one I'd recommend. 

Either Way - War On War - Reservations - Impossible Germany looks really good, as does  Wishful Thinking - Misunderstood - Company In My Back from Sept 2nd.