The Corner Piece

It Might Get Loud

This has been out for a while. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

The looks on their faces say it all..........

 

Well Hello Again......

I finally have weekend off for the first time since the end of July. Not really, I ended up bringing work home. I said it before, I'm in the middle of a brutal stretch. Another month or so and things should calm down a bit.

One bit of cool news, I'm headed to Germany in a couple of weeks to install a bunch of stuff we fabricated at work. The area we are going to is a very industrial place in the northern reaches of the country. It would be nice to tour around and see some of the countryside. Fact is, I'll probably see the hotel and the install and that's about it. It will be a brutal couple of weeks. Next year there will be round two of this project so maybe I'll have more notice and take more advantage.

I'm pretty excited about some new music that's out! I've been waiting for this since it was announced. For a kid that grew up in the 80's this is just perfect!

 

 

http://www.bccommunion.com/

I hope they go on tour woohoo!!

Baseball Movies

I happened to catch most of A League of Their Own on TV yesterday. Then later in the afternoon there was a documentary, I think it was on HBO, called Reverse of the Curse of the Bambino about the Red Sox. Then last night The Bad News Bears was on. Not the Billy Bob Thorton crap, the real one with Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal.

I got me thinking about baseball..........When I was a kid I played Little League and absolutely loved it. I can recall playing pick-up games of Whiffle ball or whatever crazy version we came up with almost constantly. There really was no other sport for kids growing up in New England. Sure, we did play other sports particularly with the changing weather but it was always .....Baseball.

Growing up a Red sox fan, for me, meant Jim Rice, Dewey Evans, Freddie Lynn and Yaz. Later, it meant Roger Clemens, Mike Greenwell, and Wade Boggs. What about Mo Vaughn right up through Pedro, Papi, and Manny?  I don't remember '75. I vaguely remember '78. It was the '86 series that will live with me forever. How about Pedro in '99?  And of course '04 and '07! Talk about living and breathing through the highs and lows with my home town team.

I've said it before; "Baseball is my soundtrack to summer". Particularly Red Sox baseball. The broadcasts were just always on somewhere. Maybe that's why I got a little choked up watching that stuff yesterday. I guess there is a lot of emotion tied up in it for me. 

Anyway, for something to do........Here's my top 10 favorite baseball movies list:

1. Major League

2. The Bad News Bears

3. The Natural

4. A league of Their Own

5. Bull Durham

6. The Sandlot

7. Eight Men Out

8. The Rookie

9. The Fan

10. Field Of Dreams

Guitar Greats

I am finally in between big project stuff and taking a much needed temporary summer hiatus. I have a few small items kicking around but nothing pressing. I leave Friday for a week in NH and have been trying to get all my ducks in a row. Wifey and I spent some nice time off together last long weekend. We got to Clearwater beach again and just stayed local. Sometimes that is preferable to running all over trying to do everything.

Wifey got me a new I-Pod Touch for my birthday to replace my old click wheel version. The old one bit the dust big time. It would totally lock up and not play anymore despite every attempt at repair.  The new one is so cool. It's like an I-Phone without the phone........

I downloaded the new release "Road Songs" from The Derek Trucks Band. It's a live album from last years' tour which I went to out in Tampa. It's an excellent live album that brings back vivid memories of that show. I feel privileged to have seen him twice now. He and his wife Susan Tedeschi are working on new music together including a new release on Herbie Hancocks' new album.

 

Derek's playing, it has been said, is like listening to Duane Allman re-incarnated. There are definite similarities. They both use a slide. Both blues based rock. I think the comparisons are made easy by the fact that Derek plays Duane's part with The Allman Brother's Band. Derek is great in his own right and his music has stretched across different genres. Wonder where it'll go next.

 

People forget that Duane was only 24 when he died in 1971. When I go back and listen to that music what blows me away is that it was recorded 40 years ago! Talk about ahead of his time.

In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine had Duane Allman as the #2 all time greatest guitar player behind only Jimi Hendrix. Duane recorded with King Curtis, Otis Redding (listen to his version of Hey Jude w/ Duane sometime), Aretha Franklin, among others. His most famous collaboration , outside of The Allman Brothers Band, was with Eric Clapton on the "Layla" album. Stunning work that will hold up forever.

If you are a fan of Rock history, hell music history, read the biography Sky Dog about Duane's life.In the mean time listen to the DTB Live release. Who knows you might hear a little Duane in there.

Favorite Songs

I'm feeling like I need a diversion. If stranded on a desert island and you could only have 10 songs in your I-Pod ( I know, I know, how do you keep the thing charged Blah, Blah, Blah.....) What would they be?

Here are my 10 as of today:

1. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin.  Any Questions?

2. Up To The Mountain - Kelly Clarkson with Jeff Beck. Surprised? A live performance at an American Idol show. When Jeff Beck looks stunned by how amazing the vocals are, you know it's great. I'll admit it, it chokes me up every time I hear it. Absolutely perfect.

3. Flying In A Blue Dream - Joe Satriani. An awesome instrumental from the guitar god himself. The live version from 2006 is stunning.

4. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith. I don't ever recall not knowing this song. It has always just been there. From a time when the band was great. They, sadly, need to stop.

5. Midnight Rider - The Allman Brothers Band. Almost a country song. Beautifully haunting. Still great live after 30 years. 

6. Patience - Guns N' Roses. I remember being blown away when this first came out. I still am. It's a shame they didn't get their stuff together and make more music.

7. Lord Protect My Child - Susan Tedeschi. A really moving version of the Bob Dylan tune. Derek Trucks plays stunningly on this as well.

8. India/Mountain Time - Joe Bonamassa. From: Live From Nowhere In Particular. The guy plays a blistering blues guitar then you realize how great his vocals fit his playing.  

9. Beautiful - Christina Aguilera. Another surprise? Not really. I don't know a lot of her music but, when she sings like this, she is awesome.

10. Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Outstanding duet. Almost weird how good their voices fit together. Great songwriting from Page and Plant.

The Derek Trucks Band 2009

What a show! Last night KBud, Max, Bri, and I went out to The Ritz Ybor in Tampa to check out The Derek Trucks Band in concert. Last year KBud and I went to see Soul Stew Revival which in a way is a version of the band with Susan Tedeschi and others added. This was so different from that. That show featured almost no DTB songs. Last night was all DTB!

The evening actually got started for us a little early. We got to Ybor City a couple hours in advance of the show so we could get some food and drinks before hand . This was my first time to Ybor so I was excited. We got there in great time , located the venue, and parked nearby. We took a short stroll and decided on a restaurant that overlooked the main street with outside seating-it was a beautiful night. Like I said it was early and many of the establishments hadn't really gotten crowded yet.

So we got seated, ordered our food and drinks when Bri spotted a friend of ours from work walking by on the street below. We made a pretty loud ruckus getting his attention, I can only imagine what his date was thinking. They ended up joining us when we all got done making a scene. The funny part is no one had seen MZ in a long time since he works free-lance and hasn't been around. A funny coincidence that they were there for the concert also.

So the restaurant was nice. Evidently it was under new ownership and had only been open for a couple of weeks. The restrooms were impeccable. As time went by at the place we noticed some things there that were a little less than family oriented. You know, it's a party town and so you expect some off the wall behavior. Well, by the time we got our checks ......Yup no doubt about it, we had stumbled into YBor's newest gay bar. The checks arriving in red pumps sealed the deal......

I don't have to tell you how funny that whole episode was-I'm sure you can imagine.

The Ritz-Ybor venue is general admission so we were about 5 feet from the stage the whole night. The opening act was Col. Bruce and The Quark Alliance. They were very good. The best part was Susan Tedeschi joining them on stage for a couple of numbers. Her voice was shot so she just played guitar and very well I might add.

When Derek came on the place was just electric!

His slide work is tremendous!  

We were actually so close to the stage that we couldn't hear the vocals that well. It was fine. They played a ton of cool stuff both old and new. Susan finally joined them on stage for what I thought was the high light of the show.

These were the best pics I managed. Such a tough environment for getting good shots. Pretty good anyway.

What a huge treat this night was. (No, I'm not talking about the gay bar!) The show was everything I hoped for and we all had a great time. DTB is taking a 2010 hiatus so I'm happy we got this in under the wire!!

My 50 Favorite Movies

My list. These are all movies I have and will watch over and over. Feel free to agree or not.....

1. The Godfather.  Marlon Brando is the greatest. Perfect movie making.

2. Blade Runner. Harrison Ford's best, Rutger Hauer is scary. Best Sci-Fi movie. Period. 

3. The Empire Strikes Back. The best of the best trilogy ever.

4. Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan. Shatner at his cheesy best. KHAN!!!!!!!!!

5. The Shawshank Redemption. How did Morgan Freeman not win an Oscar for this?

6. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. I think of them as one movie, really.

7. Jaws. Spielberg's best. On TV every holiday weekend.

8. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielberg's second best. Best space ship coming to earth movie ever.

9. Goodfellas. Joe Pesci is perfect in this.

10. Godfather 2. "I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart."

11. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Jack is tremendous. "Throw me the ball Chief!"

12. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Started it all.

13. Silence of the Lambs. "Hello Clarice."

14. Revenge of the Pink Panther. LOL hilarious! Totally under rated.

15. Alien. Scariest space movie ever.

16. Enter the Dragon. Bruce Lee. Nuff' said.

17. Casino. Sharon Stone steals the movie.

18. Terms of Endearment. "You need lots of drinks."

19. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Best movie about high school ever.

20. Wizard of Oz. The gold standard.

21. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Greatest action movie ever.

22. A Bronx Tale. The scene with the bikers at the bar is unbelievable.

23. Rocky. Everyone roots for the underdog.

24. Braveheart. Epic.

25. The Lion King. Animated epic.

26. Apocalypse Now. Brando is chilling.

27. The Birdcage. Nathan Lane is way too funny.

28. The Outlaw Josey Wales. Clint will always be a cowboy.

29. Good Will Hunting. I didn't know Robin Williams could act.

30. Goldfinger. The best Bond ever.

31. Terminator. AHHNOLD!

32. Animal House. The best movie about college ever.

33. Scarface. The chainsaw in the shower.....

34. Caddyshack. Rodney Dangerfield is a classic.

35. Heat. DeNiro and Pacino. 'Nuff said.

36. The Breakfast Club. Reminds me of high school.

37. Predator. All Testosterone.

38. The Red Violin. A great story.

39. Stripes. All star cast. Hilarious.

40. Excalibur. Early 80's epic.

41. The Deer Hunter. The best movie about Vietnam ever.

42. Gladiator. Best movie about gladiators ever.

43. Bachelor Party. Tom Hanks' greatest role ever.

44. Death Wish. Charles Bronson is a bad ass.

45. Dirty Harry. Classic 70's cop movie.

46. Bloodsport. Jean Claude Van Damme's best.

47. Above the Law. Steven Seagal's best.

48. The Longest Yard. The Burt Reynolds version, of course.

49. Sergeant York. Gary Cooper the strong silent type.

50. Superbad. Absolutely cracks me up! Will be a classic.

Honorable mention:

1. Taxi Driver. Robert DeNiro is scary good in this.

2. Driving Miss Daisy. Old Bitch.

3. The Little Mermaid. Animated greatness.

4. Young Guns. New generation western.

5. Trainspotting. Why I will never do heroin.

6. Smokey and the Bandit. Jackie Gleason, Burt Reynolds, Sally Field. Fun.

7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A comedy version of Excalibur.

8. Vision Quest. A wrestling Rocky.

9. The Hustler. Jackie Gleason, Paul Newman. A classic.

10. Ben Hur. Charleton Heston in the mother of all epics.

Joe Bonamassa

UNFREAKIN' BELIEVABLE CONCERT!!!! K Bud and I went to see Joe Bonamassa last night at The Plaza Theater in Orlando. He is a guitar prodigy who plays heavy blues laden rock like you wouldn't believe. He's been performing professionally since he was like 11 years old. It was a sold out show in a 1000 seat venue. Not bad considering he gets no radio airplay.

I've been listening to Joe for a couple of years now. I have almost all his music with a few early releases as the exception. I would never have found him if it weren't for searching around on I-Tunes-Lucky!

Next up is The Derek Trucks Band show over in Tampa Dec. 6. How cool!!!

Soul Stew Revival

Last night KBud and I went out to the Tampa Theater to see The Susan Tedeschi-Derek Trucks Soul Stew Revival. I still have goosebumps. I don't know how to accurately relate how unbelievable that show was for me.

I found Derek Trucks' music kinda by accident. I have always been an Allman Brothers fan but never really kept up with them. Through ITunes I found the latest Allman Brothers release, "Hittin' The Note". I had heard the name but couldn't identify any of Derek's playing until I listened to that album. Trucks along with Warren Haynes are the second generation guitarists for the legendary outfit. The new music blew me away. I bought "One Way Out" a live album from the "Hittin' The Note" time period. The live stuff was even better than the studio release. The natural progression of things led me to The Derek Trucks Band album "Songlines".
"Songlines" wasn't like anything I had ever heard before. It was familiar but fresh and new. Derek Trucks is definitely a once in a generation talent. Totally off the charts guitar playing. The music is impossible to pigeon hole. The blues is definitely there. Rock&Roll based jazz and world influences as well. This album features Mike Mattison as the full-time vocalist. A really unique voice.

Susan Tedeschi is a Massachusetts native. I can recall hearing her name from radio and newspaper stuff back when I was still living up there. I think she played locally a lot in those days. It took me all this time to find her music. Comparisons with Bonnie Raitt are easy to make. I think Tedeschi is a stronger singer. Last night she tore the roof off that place. I'm not sure what was more impressive-her voice or Trucks' playing. Oh yeah, she plays a pretty mean guitar herself. I have her last two albums-both are excellent.
Trucks and Tedeschi are married and have a son and a daughter. Can't even imagine how talented those kids could be!!
The Derek Trucks Band's new album "Already Free" is set to be released Jan. 13, 2009. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

-Later