Sunday, December 21, 2008

Oasis Set List Patriot Center Fairfax Virginia December 12 20 2008

For those that come over looking for the set list I thought I might as well post it although its the same set list as every other single show on this tour! ALso note that Bushes is really the band coming on as the song is played over the PA.

Oasis Set List:

Fuckin' In The Bushes
Rock 'n' Roll Star
Lyla
The Shock Of The Lightning
Cigarettes & Alcohol
The Meaning Of Soul
To Be Where There's Life
Waiting For The Rapture
The Masterplan
Songbird
Slide Away
Morning Glory
Ain't Got Nothin'
The Importance Of Being Idle
I'm Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic
Don't Look Back In Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am The Walrus

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Show and tell: Mose Allison Trio's "I love the life I live" Columbia CL 1565



Sometimes you find some neat stuff... This weekend I found a copy of this Mose Allison LP (albeit on the 2 eye label not the original 6 eye) and when I looked on the back I saw Mose looked like he'd autographed it... When I checked on the internet I saw that one of Mose's identifying characteristics is that when he autographs records he'll preface it with a "Hello 'fill in name'". In fact I found a record that had the same exact handwriting but instead said "Hello Pete" or something! The record itself is great stuff and in great shape... sounds much like all of Mose Allison's stuff: very laid back and jazz which those cool vocals. I read the review on the ALl Music Guide and they note this album came out early in his career (1960) before he was writing many of his own vocal songs.. this one has four instrumentals he wrote and the rest are covers sung by Mose.. but he really makes them his own! It must be said that the Columbia 2 eye's sound pretty killer...

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Now playing: Jimmy Smith- In A Plain Brown Wrapper (Verve V6-8800)


Lately I've been going through a bit of a late 60s/early 70s funk/soul/acid jazz kick again...You always hear about Jimmy Smith's Root Down album but you never hear about the one that came out right before it which seems to have just dissapeared from the radar.. Its an odd album with Jimmy Smith singing on all 8 tracks which were all written, produced and arranged by a Larry Williams.. By this point in Jimmy Smith's career one gets the sense that his sales/popularity had sort of peaked...The same could be said for Verve records which was really arguably on its last legs with the few 8800 series jazz lps that remained to be released (four by Smith, one or two by Getz and then a few reissues). This was released in 1971 and according to www.jazzdisco.org five of the eight tracks were probably cut July 16, 1971 with the other three unclear.. a year later his live performance of Root Down would be released an also generally ignored..It was only when cratediggers/dj's/beastie boys picked up on Root Down that it suddenly became a very hot item but its interesting that the two albums that sandwich root down are still largely ignored: in a plain brown wrapper and bluesmith which is also a great album.. Anyways In a Plain Brown Wrapper features some real funky jazz songs with some pretty good/appropriate vocals..they are almost speak sung but they work.. the first song is particularly fitting for the current times we live in ("Recession or Depression") if only slightly dated by Jimmy Smith singing about hanging out in the White House with (Spiro) Agnew (then Vice President) and there's even some great Jimmy Smith boasting on "Number One" and some cool female backing vocals in addition to the strings which do not detract from Jimmy Smith's workout...We don't know who the other funky cats where on this although it was probably some other Los Angeles cats as this was recorded at the MGM Recording Studios in Hollywood, California.. the packaging is minimal..so minimal this probably didn't make much of an impression but its a very enjoyable listen and there are few periods in Jimmy Smith's recording career where he managed to put together three consecutive solid albums as In a Plain Brown Wrapper/Root Down/Bluesmith.. in fact they would make a great soundtrack for a party in that order with Bluesmith being the chill out album.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Argentina and its government living on fantasy island

It is remarkable watching the Argentine government under the Kirchner government... Lets review some of their actions over the past few years: 1) decision to offer argentine debtholders (i.e. creditors) lowball repayment offer on take it or leave its all you're going to get terms, 2) what essentially amounts to a confiscation of a private company with the argentine flagship carrier, 3) what essentially amounts to a forcible conversion of private pension plans into a public pension program, 4) increasing confiscation of rents derived from agricultural exports (to call these taxes seems a bit rich given that the money actually is taken before it even makes it into the pocket of the farmers). Against this backdrop and with a historical context wherein the argentine government has repeatedly not honored its obligations with respect to creditors (this is a story that goes back to the 19th century), and has confiscated people's bank deposits as in the case of the famous 2001 "corralito" (corral) where people were suddenly told they could not take out their dollar bank deposits which were forcibly converted to argentine pesos rendered worthless by the accompanying loss of faith in the local currency. With this backdrop and in this context the government is now encouraging people to bring their money- which people took out of the country to protect themselves from what in essence is outright theft- back to argentina. It is unbelievable that with the one hand the government is busy stealing the private property of its citizens and corporations and with the other its telling people to bring their money back. It remains to be seen but one really has to question whether people are going to in effect repatriate their capital in this scenario. I don't see it..

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tina Turner Washington DC Verizon Center November 24 2008 set list

It was pretty much identical to this except Lets Stay together was switched up one spot and played after "Help."
Set list

Steamy Windows
Typical Male
River Deep, Mountain High
What You Get Is What You See
Better Be Good To Me
The Acid Queen
What's Love Got To Do With It?
Private Dancer
We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
Help
Lets Stay Together
Undercover Agent For the Blues
I Can't Stand The Rain
Rolling Stones Medley:
Jumpin Jack Flash
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
Goldeneye
Addicted To Love
The Best
Proud Mary
Encore:
Nutbush City Limits
Be Tender With Me Baby

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Congratulations to Guillermo Barros Schelotto: A winner.

Winner. That is the word that comes to mind when I think of Guillermo "El Mellizo" (i.e., "the twin") Barros Schelotto.

Being a huge supporter of Argentine club Boca Juniors I watched him for over a decade win games, league cups, and international competitions. You name it and Barros Schelotto won them. Now it is true that he was surrounded by other great players including Riquelme and Palermo but when they left for spells in the more profitable european leagues he remained and he kept on winning. And whenever Boca played its bitter rival River Plate in what is the equivalent of Argentina's Super Bowl Guillermo Barros Schelotto always it seemed found a way to score a goal or deliver a timely and key pass. Another word that comes to mind when I think of Barros Schelotto is "clutch."

I remember him first coming up through Argentine first division club Gimnasia y Esgrima de la Plata, along with his brother Gustavo who also excelled those first years before dropping off and out, and how Boca bought the both of them. From 1996 to 2007 as pretty much every other name player in the league left to go play elsewhere in the world- including the really tough period of Argentina's economic depression in 2001-2002- Guillermo stayed and I often wondered why. I suppose Boca knew just how valuable he was as they were always willing to get rid of any of the other pieces of their winning teams but not Guillermo and I also think he just wasn't ready to leave Boca. When I heard that he was coming to Columbus I understood that by that point in his career (he was either 33 or 34) Boca was letting him go partly because he had fallen out of favor with Boca's new coach but also partly as a way to let him go cash in and earn some money abroad before he retired. I'm also sure that Guillermo was attracted to the idea of living in the US. He didn't have to play for Columbus he wanted to play for them and look at what he's done for them and how its all worked out in his favor with him now being called the new "poster boy of the MLS".

At the same time because he didn't play abroad while in Argentina with Boca Juniors it seemed to me that he wasn't given much of a chance with the national team whose coaches always had a bias for the players that played in the sexier international leagues the feeling being that if an international club bought you for millions of dollars you must be good. These coaches always forgot or failed to account for Guillermo Barros Schelotto's intangibles which include a total commitment to win regardless and an uncanny knack for making things happen or for being at the right place at the right time or for taking advantage of a little tiny window opened up to you. Guillermo was always the guy who would initiate that quick restart and catch the opposition flat footed or steal the ball and run into open space to score or set up that quick unexpected goal. A very opportunistic player if there ever was one. He wasn't and isn't the most naturally gifted player but when he darted down the right wing crossing towards the center and lofting a ball to the center of the box for say a Martin Palermo's header well boy was he effective and in his prime he was incredibly quick or rather he had a quick acceleration rate. The Guillermo/Palermo tandem is legendary in Argentine soccer and he's been pretty much setting up goals in Columbus the same way. He just knows how to loft a ball to find that open header in front of the goal. Well Guillermo never got to play on any of Argentina's World Cup teams but seeing the paltry results Argentina has obtained in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups one has to wonder if maybe some of Guillermo's winning pixie dust was just what the team needed to compensate for the loss of that other great argentine soccer "winner" Diego Armando Maradona. We'll never know but when a guy is always winning it does make you wonder.

It wouldn't fair to speak of Guillermo Barros Schelotto without at least a mention to his other characteristic that I and anyone who is a fan of a team he plays for will chuckle at while most everyone else will be driven insane by: his constant complaining, protestations and canny working of the referees! Watching a game with Barros Schelotto you will see a master complainer who constantly throws up his hands in disbelief when just about anything goes against him, wildly gestures the referee as if to say "Didn't you see that??? Are you blind??".. But in the end after one has watched him play a few years one understands that this is nothing more than the incredible INTENSITY (and that is another word that comes to mind when I think of Barros Schelotto) he brings to the pitch and that often times he is standing up for his team mates.. This guy wants to win badly and is wound very tightly and he can go off easily which can lead to the occasional red card or issues with the referees here or there... But to those that watch him week in week out its just another endearing quality like winning, and his penchant for the clutch and opportunistic play.

Winning is of course exactly what he's been doing for Columbus leading the league in assists this year and it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. Fresh off winning the MLS MVP award this week and leading the Crew to victory over the New York Red Bulls today just minutes ago in the 2008 MLS Cup with three assists to three different Crew players for the 3-1 scoreline its hard to imagine the Crew not exercising the option which will mean he'll make a nice chunk of change next year. Often when I think of David Beckham I laugh at the thought that there is a much better player in fact a much better number 7 in the MLS that doesn't grab all the fanfare but gets the job done. While David Beckham is off filming his television commercials Guillermo Barros Schelotto is winning trophies.

There are two club teams in Argentina which can't wait for him to return: Gimnasia and Boca the former would like him to play and lead him out of the doldrums they've been in as their city rivals Estudiantes have been winning the past few years while the latter will surely some day soon count with him on the sidelines as their manager. People in Argentina appreciate Guillermo for his tremendous ability to win and get results. Its nice to see him getting the recognition he's getting in the United States. By all accounts the Crew will retain his services for another year or two. They'd be crazy not to as the guy even at the age of 35 is a winner through and through!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Eagles of Death Metal at the 930 Club in Washington DC Concert Set List



Note they added quite a few songs including Bag O'Miracles/Cherry Cola and a stomping cover of the Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar... rocking show and a great time!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

David Byrne Warner Theatre November 9 2008 set list?

For the people that keep coming here for the set list.. while I don't have it I really think this set list lifted from Wikipedia for the first night of the tour comes pretty close with the exception that Burning down the house was played next to last.


The set list for the first night:[6]
Set
"Strange Overtones" (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
"I Zimbra"* (originally from Fear of Music)
"One Fine Day" (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
"Help Me Somebody" (originally from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts)
"Houses in Motion"* (originally from Remain in Light)
"My Big Nurse" (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
"My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)"* (originally from The Catherine Wheel)
"Heaven" (originally from Fear of Music)
"Home" (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
"The River" (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
"Crosseyed and Painless" (originally from Remain in Light)
"Life Is Long"* (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
"Once In a Lifetime"* (originally from Remain in Light)
"Life During Wartime" (originally from Fear of Music)
"I Feel My Stuff"* (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)
Encore
"Take Me to the River" (recorded by Talking Heads for More Songs About Buildings and Food)
"The Great Curve"* (originally from Remain in Light)
Second encore
"Everything That Happens" (originally from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)

Friday, November 07, 2008

Barack Obama art on U Street and about 8th NW Washington DC


I saw this one October 26th 2008... Just gorgeous street art rendering with religious overtones...Of course U Street has an incredible heritage for african americans.. this street art was but a block or two from the remains of the Howard Theater and Howard University not to mention where Duke Ellington grew up... I see many parallels between Duke Ellington and Barack Obama actually...

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States

I have a peaceful easy feeling...........