The first concert I saw was The Rolling Stones back in 2005 for the bigger bang tour at the Xcel Energy center in St. Paul. My uncle plays with the band in the horn section on trumpet so went back stage to the Rattlesnake Inn. While I was there I met most of the back up band and they signed the large Tongue on my shirt. Then trombonist Michael Davis came up to me because my uncle had told him that I was learning the trombone in school. So he gave me a copy of Brass Buzz a  music book,CD and DVD he made for those learning the trombone. I thanked him. I drank lots and lots of coke that night. A few minutes later  I looked around and saw drummer Charlie Watts. My uncle brought him  over and I said my name and asked him to sign my shirt which he did. Then we shook hands and I thanked him.After that my uncle told us he knew someone who could get us good deals on shirts. When the guy came we picked out are shirts. Sadly I've  out grown mine. But the signed shirt sits on my wall but I had take it down because the sun was wrecking it. Then we said good by to my uncle after he handed us the set list and headed towards are seats.

I was just getting into music so I did not know many of their songs. They started out by playing Start Me Up then some more of there classics such as She's So Cold,Tumbling Dice and Beast Of Burden. They also played stuff from the new album like Infamy,Back of My Hand and Rough Justice. Then after the classic song Miss You they played one more new song Oh No, Not You Again. Then it was back to the classics Satisfaction,Honky Tonk Women,Sympathy For The Devil,Jumping Jack Flash,Brown Sugar,You Can't Always Get What You Want and they finished off the night with It's Only Rock'n Roll. This might be their last tour. Great show!!! They rocked!!!

I have been listing to Paul Revere and The Raiders album Kicks-(1963-1972) The Anthology. Before listing to this album I had only heard two of their songs Indian Reservation and there cover of Louie Louie. This song was covered  by many bands from the Northwest including The Kingsmen,The Sonics,The Wailers and many others. I think that they were trying to copy the sounds of the British Invasion because if you listen to some of there songs they sound like those of The Beatles,The Rolling Stones and The Animals. Some of the songs also have a bit of a Monkees, Steppenwolf and Beach Boys  sound to them. You can really hear the Beach Boys sound in the song Action. Most of their songs are cheerful and upbeat like The Beatles and Monkees. This album also has some very cheesy love songs like Birds Of A Feather,Cinderella Sunshine and Mo'reen. Some of the songs off this album I'd recommend are Kicks,Just Like Me,Ballad Of A Useless Man and Country Wine. Mainly because of the guitar riffs.

Rumors/Fleetwood Mac

The second album I listened to was Rumors by Fleetwood Mac it is a great album because it has many of there best songs such as "Go your own way","Don't Stop","Dreams" and "You make loving fun". All four of these songs made it in the top ten on the U.S. charts with go your own way at 10. don't stop at 3. You make loving fun at 9. and dreams at number 1. Say you love me off of there previous album Fleetwood Mac came in short of the top ten at number 11. Rumors would go on to win the Grammy for album of the year. This album has went on to become the 10th biggest selling album in America as well as the 10th biggest selling in the world. This album is one I would recommend to all music lovers.

CityToCity/GerryRafferty

Over the weekend I listened to 2 albums One was City to City by former Stealer's Wheel member Gerry Rafferty best known for there hit "stuck in the middle with you". The album features the hit Baker Street which has great sax played by Raphael Ravenscroft who has played with such artists as Abba,Pink Floyd and Robert Plant. Another Classic song and the other single from the album Right Down the Line. I found this at my mom's house mixed in with some other gems The smoker you drink the player you get by Joe Walsh and the best of America two really great albums. I would recommend all 3. Here is the original video for Baker Street.

RUSH AT THE FAIR!!!

Last night I went to see Rush at the Minnesota state fair grandstand. It was one hell of a show. All though out the night they played stuff from there new album Clockwork Angels and also stuff from the 1981 classic Moving Pictures such as Limelight and Tom Sawyer. They had amazing videos for most of the songs and awesome pyrotechnics. I wish they would have played my favorite song Fly by Night. But they did play some of my other favorites such as Freewill and a weird version Working Man where it started out more relaxed and mellow but then midway though they burst back into the original version which was really cool. It was also Alex Lifeson's 57th Birthday and as a present the crew and band go him a very long corndog and a porkchop on a stick. The drum solo by the greatest living drummer Neil Pert was incredible because it was 8 minutes long it had a cool video to go along with it and in that video I could see pictures of Big band drummer Gene Krupa. I liked the jazzy solo alot to bad that when I recorded it it did not turn out to well.Then at the end we decided to wait for the fire works because we were not in any rush to leave. During the fireworks I released the Tom Emmer for Governor balloon with the hope of it getting destroyed by the fireworks but sadly it just floated the other way. Here is Geddy early on in the show.

Crossroads

On Tuesday I went to Eden Praire AMC theather to see Eric Clapton's Crossroads guitar festival from Chicago. It had every blues and rock preformer you could think of.Buddy Guy,Sonny Landreth,Ronnie Wood,Jeff Beck,Johnny Lang, ZZtop and of course B.B King. The first act was Eric Clapton and one of my favorite guitar players Sonny Landreth. I can tell about all the acts but I will tell you about my favorites.ZZtop played some stuff from Tres Hombres such as Waitin' for the Bus. There was also Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow plus a few others doing Eric's classic lay down sally which was good. Eric doing Voodoo Child with former Blind Faith band member Steve Winwood was awesome as well. Then Wood,Guy and Lang all did a song on stage which was good.
Then at the end they played Sweet home Chicago with Lang,King,Wood,Guy,Cray,Beck and Winter who is very sick. Here is a picture of ZZtops Bass player Dusty Hill when they were showing still pictures of the festival before the show .

Famous Daves Blues Fest

On Saturday June 12 I went to Peavey Plaza in downtown to go the 6th annual Famous Dave’s BBQ & Blues Festival to see Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and guitar shorty.It had been raining the whole day but it did not rain during the concert which was a good thing. The cool thing was that Pinetop Perkins was 96 years old and it was his 97th birthday so they brought a cake on stage and we all sang happy birthday it was lots of fun. Then after the show I went to get autographs from the blues legends. There was a line to see Perkins. when I got there he signed a pamphlet I picked up from the Minnesota Blues Foundation. Then I saw Sumlin off to the side and I asked him to sign and he did. I told what an honor it was to meet him and then I thanked him and left. Then about 5 minutes later I went over to Willie "Big Eyes" to get his autograph I said to him that it was an honor to meet him and he signed the pamphlet. Then I went back to ware my mom was sitting so I could get ready for the next act which was Guitar Shorty. Shorty came out on stage and then played for a little bit. Then he came down off the stage and walked through the crowd well playing and I followed him for a little bit with my mom's blackberry. I picked up one his guitar picks that I found on the ground. Then he went back on stage and he played a cover of Jimmi Hendrix's classic song Hey Joe which was good. Then after that we went home.

IOWA Arts fest. The Sonnydogs

On Saturday June 5th I went down to Iowa City to the Iowa arts fest to slide guitar great Sonny Landreth perform live. While I was there I got to see Minneapolis band The Honeydogs who are pictured above. On top is guitarist Brain Hanson and in the middle is the leader of the band Adam Levy. I had seen Levy before at a park near my house but the show was canceled part way through due to tornado sirens and lighting. This time the show was postponed for about 10 to 15 minutes due to a heavy down pore. Then they kept on playing. I had not really heard much of there music before but I liked the show. After the show I went over and got a Cd signed by Adam Levy and he and my mom talked about last summer's show.
Then I made my way up to the front of the stage so I could get a good view of Sonny and also get some good pictures. Landreth’s picture is on the bottom. Sonny played lots of songs from his most recent album From the Reach that features Dr. John, Eirc Clapton, Jimmy Buffet and Dire Straits guitar player Mark Knopfler and many others. Since I have that album on my I pod I knew most of the songs he played. One of the songs he played was a song he wrote about New Orleans after the hurricane called Blue Tarp Blues since he is from Louisiana. At the end of the show I wanted to get a picture with him. Finally I did but when I looked at it later it was blurry I was really pissed. But the concert was fantastic.

Gene Vincent - Long Tall Sally

Here is Gene Vincent in 1963 doing a cover of Little Richard's Long Tall Sally.You can see what the crash did too him.

Summertime Blues- Eddie Cochran

Eddie Cochran

Last weekend at an antique store near my cabin,I got a record from Rockabilly star Eddie Cochran.The album is called Summer Time Blues.His career only lasted a few years due to his death in a car crash in England in 1960. Also in the car was Gene Vincent and songwriter Sharon Sheeley they both survived but suffered serious injuries. Eddie Cochran was also from Albert Lea Minnesota RIP Eddie.

Heaven and Hell RIP Ronnie James Dio

RIP Ronnie James Dio.

In Memory of the great Ronnie James Dio. I'm listening to the Live Rainbow record I got from my uncle. Rainbow On Stage. The cover has a giant rainbow that spans 40ft across the stage and 29ft high in the middle. It is a good live album with many of Rainbow's classic songs like Kill the King,Man on a silver mountain and Sixteen century greensleeves. It is also one of my favorite live albums.

Today I just finished a book about John Mellencamp called Born In a Small Town. It was written by Heather Johnson. And it talks about John's interesting life from Farm Aid to growing up in Indiana. The one thing that surprised me was the fact that he has to this day he has only won one Grammy for Best Male Rock Performer for Hurts So Good in 1983.

It Might Get Loud

I just finished watching documentary It Might Get Loud. It was Directed by Davis Guggenheim and features Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin and The Yardbirds. The Edge of U2 and Jack White of the white Stripes. In the Movie Davis goes into the early days of Page,Edge and White. It also has Page's Gibson double neck guitar. I liked when they played The Band's song The Weight. I loved the film very much.

On I Sunday I got some CD's at the library. One of them was Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen. This is Bruce's fourth album. I think it is his third best album after the two Born's. It did good on U.S. Billboard Pop Albums in 1978 reaching number 5. "Prove It All Night" and "Badlands" only reached 33 and 42 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles. "The Promised Land" is also a good song on this album. This album is much better then Don't Look Back by Boston and city to city by Gerry Rafferty formerly of Stealers Wheel.

I got an autobiography called The Grand Illusion: Love, Lies, and My Life With Styx. It was written by Styx bass player Chuck Panozzo and he talked about how he had to hide the fact that he was gay and had AIDS and how it affected his work with Styx. He also lost his brother. I liked the book it was good but sad.

I just recently started listening on Last FM to a band called Quietdrive. Although I can only listen too one song "Rise from the Ashes" I really like this song. It did not do so good on the hot 100 in 2006. This song is much better Irreplaceable by Beyonce(no talent)Knowles. And it is also better then Nickelback's Savin'Me. It is my top track on Last FM. Plus they are from my hometown of Minneapolis which makes them even better.

Tonight I got some CD's at the library. One of which was Ozzy Ozbourne's latest album Black Rain. It had maybe one or two good songs. One of those songs was I Don't Wanna Stop. It featured Black Label society guitar player Zakk wylde. It will still never be the same as the Randy Rhoads years 1979-1982.RIP R R.

Another album I got was Live Alive by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble It consisted of 4 live shows one of which was at the montreux Jazz Festival in 1986. The songs on Live Alive were songs by artists that influenced Vaughan Such as Wonder,Hendrix and Buddy Guy. I like the covers this a really good live album.

This weekend I got a new album for my I pod called Silk Degrees. It is by Ohio native Boz Scaggs. Silk Degrees was his seventh album and it reached number two on the U.S pop album chart. He earned a Grammy Award for Lowdown for best r&b song at the 1976 Grammy Awards. Scaggs also received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year. The winner for Album of the year went to Paul simon's " Still Crazy After All These Years". Although Still Crazy is a good album I think Silk Degrees is the better album. Lido Shuffle probably his most well known song fell short of the top ten only reaching 11. I thought it would have been higher on the the charts. It is much better than that.

The Day the music died.

The Grammy Awards 1958-2010 RIP

21st Century Breakdown Green Day

Black Ice AC/DC

Live From Madison Square Garden Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood

Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King Dave Matthews Band

No Line On The Horizon U2

All these great albums and Green day wins Just one of many upsets at the Grammys.
Rest in peace Grammy Awards we will miss you very much