I'm so used to looking at the avatars that I forget there are people with real faces behind them! It's nice that some of you can finally meet each other.
The pleasure was ALL mine. Special props to Papa Joe Maneri’s widow Sonya who closed the night with Glory Hallelujah with Mat & Randy in support. As emotional a musical moment as I’ve ever experienced. Glorious beyond words. Of and from another world which is where Joe was from.
Paul & Linda McCartney 'Ram' (1971) Apple Records – PAS 10003 "Trick or treat !" " .. 911, what's your emergency ?"
I’m at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass because I’ve never seen Robert Plant live ever. I’m like 200 yards from the stage. Because of what happened at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, there are chain link fences everywhere here, and the setup is really restricting foot traffic and cutting people off from where they’re used to sitting. But people are opening up spaces between the fencing and sitting where they want to anyway. The police are just watching them do it. Also, they only check bags when you enter, not your person, so you could have who knows what stored in your cargo shorts. There’s no metal detection anywhere, so I don’t see the point in this “security” scheme. All they had to do was announce there would be x amount of police in the crowd and leave it at that.
Another Sat'd gone to seed, but not before some eclectia of music throughout the evening of a drearingly blitheringly gray day... including a gray day special, the Velvets 45th Anniversary Deluxe, great stuff.
I’m going to watch the webcast today. Stringdusters, Jackie Greene and Wood and Wire should be good. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Webcast
So I ended up moving during Robert Plant, because where I was the sound wasn't loud enough, and there was no good sound at all once you got out of the little valley the field was in, so I kept walking, kind of bummed out, and when I got to the next stage, they were using that PA also to broadcast Plant, so there was plenty of room to hang out and listen to it. He was really good. I was surprised how good he was. Except he plays Gallows Pole and at least one other as if it was a hoe-down on Hee Haw. But he does a semi-straight reading of other Zeppelin tunes.
Checking out Pacific Range. I think it was @trd who recommended them in the Dead thread. Mellow. Love it.
So I listened to Wilco's new record today. Liked it. Sounded like a blend of Tweedy and Wilco. Which is both good and bad I guess. More Wilco and less Tweedy next time please. The last song was my favorite. I'll give it another spin tomorrow.
I think it's the best album this lineup of Wilco has ever made. To me, it's better than Sky Blue Sky, The Album, The Whole Love, Star Wars and Schmilco, and I like all those records, but some more than others. My initial reaction to Sky Blue Sky was "So now they're Steely Dan meets the Allman Bros.' twin guitar attack? My first reaction to Wilco (The Album) was "Did I just listen to music? I can't remember if I pressed play." My first reaction to Star Wars was "This must be all the crap he cut from Sukarie." My initial reaction to this one was, "Eh, boring." But I knew I had to listen to it again, because this has always been my general experience with Wilco. These guys are like the opposite of The Cars' s/t for me. I liked it a lot more on the second listen, and by the fourth I was thinking, "Masterpiece."