When will they get it?

ESPN.com HNL - 12/14/05

ST. LOUIS -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman doesn't think Mario Lemieux was being pessimistic a few days ago when the player-owner said he thinks there is only "a slim chance" the Penguins will remain in Pittsburgh after their lease at Mellon Arena expires in 2007.

Rather, Bettman said before Tuesday's Penguins-Blues game in St. Louis that he thought Lemieux "very realistically" assessed the situation, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Lemieux, the Penguins' primary owner, and other team officials have said for years the team needs an up-to-date arena to be financially viable, and Bettman reiterated his support for that position.

"It's a situation that needs to be rectified," Bettman said in the Post-Gazette. "This team needs a new arena. Nobody can dispute that. Nobody has disputed that."

Bettman listed seven cities -- Houston; Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas; Portland, Ore.; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Quebec; and Hamilton, Ontario -- that have expressed interest in getting an NHL team, but he said the league is "not looking to relocate" any of its franchises. He allowed, though, that "circumstances may cause it."

The Penguins' lease expires in June 2007, and the deal allows them to begin soliciting offers for the franchise a year earlier. Bettman said Tuesday night that "at some point in the process," the Penguins "have to explore their alternatives."

The commissioner also mentioned several times that the Steelers and Pirates play in venues that were built, in part, with public money, and said that having new facilities "gives them a great advantage" over the Penguins in the competition for support from Pittsburgh fans and sponsors.

Bettman said he is in "constant contact" with Lemieux and team president Ken Sawyer about the state of the franchise, and that he thinks the Penguins can be a successful franchise.

"I believe Pittsburgh is a good hockey market," Bettman said in the Post-Gazette. "We belong there."

For the Penguins, it's ALL ABOUT the Pirates and Steelers geting new stadiums and the Pens NOT getting one. Why? I have said before, if a sports franchise is trying to hold up a city for a new arena, let the franchise move. The NHL is not the high dollar sport like football... but the football stadium also hosts U of Pitt football games and probably regional playoff high school [almost as big as Texas HS football]... basball stadium gets 80 games a year. Should the city of Pittsburgh pick up the tab for an arena for a team that can't get 16,000 people a night to see tham? What does the City get out of the deal that they aren't getting now? I am glad someone is taking a stand against sports team owners. Let the Penguins go to Kansas City or Winnepeg or Quebec City [three places the NHL failed before, and realistically, the Maple Leafs will never let them into Hamilton].

It's just like New Orleans worrying, of ALL things, about getting the damn Superdome repaired and operational. Of all the things that need fixed down there, this shows the most fucked up sense of priority that I can recall in a while... 'come to the Sugar Bowl or the New Orleans bowl... we don't have running water yet, but come spend your money!' What is wrong with people?

Eighties meets the New Millenium in My Hard Drive

I bought a program this weekend, since I was to have 4 days off in a row, to convert LPs and cassettes into WAVE/MP3s on my computer... the first 5 I did are the 4 priceless Road Tapes made for me by Jim Dunnigan and the famous 1987/88 that subconsciously tells the story....

Of course, I have only done tapes so far... recording LPs requires the signal to run through some sort of amp, and I am not about to unhook all 10,000 wires from the back of my ancient but honorable Pioneer... not again until I move... so I am looking for one of the family's old units... maybe Dana and Cory will have something...

It's wonderful to be able to preserve those memories on the less destructible digital of my hard drive and CD... the tapes are all between 12 and 8 years old and repeatedly played... of course I had to cut some things because they are 90 or 100 minute tapes, but I tried to preserve the original flow as much as possible, even leaving in the versions from Jim's or my collection when I could replace them with CD clean versions.... vinyl pops, clicks and noise forever preserved on my hard drive... whoda thunk it?

I don't remember all the road trips with those tapes, hours and miles around the metroplex and between here and Wichita and one made the trip to New Orleans... I am sure I have driven to the moon and back with those four tapes from Dunnigan; they introduced me to new things like the Damned, Smashing Pumpkins, Pere, Ubu, Southside Johnny, Television, Lou Reed, Stiff Little Fingers, Superchunk, Soul Asylum, Dream Syndicate, Camper Van Beethoven, Pogues, Bad Religion, Luna, Johnny Thunders, Supergrass, Rocket from the Crypt and the Gits... I found favorite songs like Ian Hunter's Cleveland Rocks, Jim Carroll's People Who Died, Danny Wilde's Who's Gonna Hold You Now, all of Television's Marquee Moon, the early Randy Newman catalog, ... Jim would also throw curve balls like following L7 with the J Geils Band, Izzy Stradlin followed by Sam Cooke followed by Kiss followed by Mary;'s Danish, or Percy Sledge wedged between Rev Horton Heat's Bales of Cocaine and Eleventh Day Dream's Rose of Jericho... the only thing I didn't like was the Social Distortion [never have] and a song called Circular Saw by Live Skull... but over five + hours of music, like three bad songs is a damn good track record...

The 1987 tape, I discovered after several listens tells a tale of premonition of the story of the Woman from Ohio. Well, I did reverse two tracks, then it told that tale, especially the run of Dylan’s Simple Twist of Fate, Meat Loaf’s Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad and Billy Joel’s Laura. But I know more than a couple of people like Joel’s Laura…

And maybe that’s the point of the mix tape after all, trying to provide the soundtrack to one’s own life. Certain tapes remind me of certain times or certain places. I know just about every note of International Chaz 2000 from the multiple drives up the QEW and from the Rainbow Bridge to the Zelienople exit off I-79 the summer I went to Laurinda’s wedding in Toronto. The Wichita 98 Cobweb Burner has some Keith Richards that reminds me of the curve that some engineer placed for no good reason on I-35 just outside of Moore, OK. There are two ‘Classic Rock’ tapes I made for driving that both have a sequence of Cream, Traffic and the Doors only because it amused me to do so… on the first, the sequence of Badge, Glad and LA Woman rocked me riding into Wichita one morning at 3 am, so I did it on the second tape. I have whole tapes of nothing but car and driving songs [Hot Rod Lincoln, Ramrod, Jesus Built My Hotrod, Rockin’ Down the Highway, Let It Roll, The Ballad of Uneasy Rider, etc], songs for cold nights, songs for summer nights, tapes of all first songs on albums, last songs, song that end side 1s, songs that start side 2s [just to challenge myself]…I've spent hours and hours, years and years out on the road with my tapes, not just long road trips but half hours between Burleson and everywhere, hour long rides to Oliver's apartments in Dallas and they've become burned in the folds of my brain.

One can take the random luck of a radio, but face it, you’re going to have to deal with a lot of CRAP, a lot of WORN OUT WARHORSES and a lot of commercials if you trust to radio. There are a few places it’s still worth it, like any time you can catch KATT out of Oklahoma City or the 93.3 out of Toronto [especially if you dig the Tragically Hip], but in the pigeonholed pre-programmed sterile safe for the masses that radio has become in the last 20 years, it is not really worth it most places.

I know, some people don’t get it. To some people it’s just background noise. But to some of it, it really IS that important. Can you imagine a movie with no sound track? To some of us, those tapes became a part of us, a soundtrack to road trips forever; to a few of us, they're really a part of us.

The 1988 Mix:

Crashing by Design - Pete Townshend
Ain't It A Shame - B-52s
Waterfall - Wendy & Lisa
Broken Arrow - Robbie Robertson
Runaway Trains - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
That Voice Again - Peter Gabriel
Simple Twist of Fate - Bob Dylan
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - Meat Loaf
Laura - Billy Joel
Water of Love - Dire Straits
Following - Bangles
Sweetheart Like You - Bob Dylan
Letter to LA - Joe Ely
Savannah Woman - Tommy Bolin
Like I've Never Been Gone - Robert Plant
Train In Vain - Clash
Positively Lost Me - Rave Ups
Can't Hardly Wait - Replacements
Back on the Chain Gang - Pretenders

For Betty Lou

My father’s mother passed away Saturday afternoon. Though she’d had a stroke earlier this year, and was in a nursing home because of that. And she had broken her hip recently and had surgery for that. Still, it was a little sudden. The reports she was not well were apparently understated. From what I understand now she had not been eating nor very talkative, and had some sort of an episode earlier this week, possibly another stroke and was just made comfortable as per her wishes. My Dad was up in Ohio Thursday and Friday and he said she was aware but not able to respond. We will never know, but I think when she lost her mobility and her freedom, she gave up. She liked being in her little apartment, though I have no idea what she did there all day besides smoke cigarettes, listen to the radio and watch TV, and she liked being able to walk down the couple blocks to the store. She always was an independent soul. And she looked good when I saw her last year.

I started drinking coffee in the morning with Betty Lou when I was about 6 or 7 because that’s what she did in the morning. I’d have coffee with sugar and milk and an ice cube to cool it down a little. And it apparently did not stunt my growth. Being at Grandma Galupi’s was a separate adventure than being at my Mom’s parents [the Sheets’, for the record]. Grandma lived in the city… well, in the community anyway. My cousins and I would play ball with the kids in the neighborhood at the playground. I used to love going down over the hill to PJ’s Newsstand for her cigarettes [Benson and Hedges 100s at the time] because I’d stand down there and flip through the comic book racks and baseball card packs… she would tell us kids to go play when she watched the soaps [‘her stories’]… once I remember riding the bus from Ambridge into Pittsburgh and going through downtown, especially the Horne’s department store downtown, and having lunch at a lunch counter.

When she moved out Ohio, near my aunt Beverly, there were no kids to hang out with, no playground, but we spent a week out there watching early HBO, drinking powdered Nestea and eating home made pizza; we found pre-made crust and pizza quick sauce and got some cheese and pepperoni and it was wonderful! Because I wasn’t around a lot, when she’d get mad at me she’d go through my other two cousins who were usually there before getting to me, and they said she’d do the same to them. I was JayKarlCharles… but that was okay.

When I was up a couple of years ago I had picked her up at her apartment and she asked me to stop at the store for some things as I was taking her back. She picked up a few things and was introducing me [showing me off] to all the help there, the cashier girls and the manager on duty… she’d introduce me as her ‘Grandson up from Texas.’ I’m glad she was in a little place where they knew her [20 years in a small Ohio town will do that] and they’d keep an eye on her. I know she liked just walking down there, keeping her feet moving some days.

I’d asked her about some family history when I was there last, about my grandfather, who I had never known; he died from Hodgekin's Disease when my Dad was a boy, and I am glad I did. She told me about taking the bus into Pittsburgh to see him at the VA hospital and a cabbie who told her the ropes about getting around and keeping people honest. It’s nice to know she had some angels in her life, because she’d had some bad things happen to her.

Still, I think she’d say she lived a good long life. Now she’s at peace. God rest her soul.

Once there was a way to get back homeward… said the voice on the radio.

I smiled at the thought and wondered “where is home?’

I was born in New Brighton PA. I still have relative in the area and often when I have vacation plans to see them I still find myself saying I am going ‘home,’ even though I have not lived in the area since I was a small child.

Thinking about the area, the words to Springsteen’s song about hometowns come to mind especially when I think about my Dad’s hometown, Aliquippa. [I still picture the area in black and white like Leave It to Beaver when I think about my parents being kids, though I know they had color.] By the time I can remember the area, the mills had begun closing and the town was beginning to die. To me it plays like a series of photos taken annually due to infrequent visiting, but one can fill in the blanks. One notices the fringes first, the small Mom and Pop shops empty, ‘Going Out of Business signs’ still in the windows, some of the bars changing names… people hanging out in the middle of the day when they’d otherwise be working… fewer new cars, more dull and rusting cars going by when they go by… the streets dull from dust and lack of use, in need of a good street sweeper… finally the GC Murphy’s and Woolworths and Rexall are closed and downtown becomes a ghost town, barren, quiet… all the activity moved to the fringes where the neighborhood strip mall and box stores off the freeway have taken over…

We lived in Charleston WV for a few years, bit Charleston is one of those stops on a lot of people’s career, much like Wichita KS. I remember a lot of the kids I was in school with had Dads in the chemical industry, Union Carbide and DuPont being in the area. WE were there because my Dad’s boss bought a franchise and built the first McDonald’s [at Capital and Quarrier] in 1974/75.

But through events over the head of a nine year old, we would up in Texas in 1977 and I have lived here ever since. I am not sure why Texas other than my Dad had a brother here. I have lived here almost 30 years now and it is ‘home’ unless I am talking about a trip to PA. But even here in Texas I have ‘home,’ my apartment and ‘home,’ my mother’s house where I lived for 17 years. One supposes it depend where I am staying for the weekend; when I was at the class reunion and stayed out there, that’s where we went when I said home….

For Grandpap

My Grandfather will be 86 on Friday. My niece just did a paper on her hero for a school project and I was just thinking about real heroes, not the baseball players or whoever we admired as kids, but the real people who had an impact on our lives and were true role models. And Grandpap Sheets is one of those people.

He’s never lived nor had any desire to live beyond the borders of Beaver Country in southwestern Pennsylvania [or ‘Pennsyltucky’ as he used to say] other than when he was over in France and Germany in WWII. I asked him the nicest place he’d seen in traveling the US after he retired, but he said he loved Beaver County. I guess it puts into perspective that some people just feel so at ease with where they’re from they never leave.

He’s a retired carpenter and one of the stories I’ve heard a zillion times is when he retired and came home with his tool chest. I guess I would have been about five or six and I helped him take the box into the shop, me at one end, he at the other and I just quipped “Now this is what I call cooperation!”

He built his own house on the hill there in Beaver County, getting a lot from my Grandmother’s Dad, Joe Vorderbrueggen in 1947 [he also acquired two more lots over the years before Grandpap died in 1976], living in the basement for about two years while the upstairs was constructed with a wife and 5 small children. They added on in the early 60s and still had 8 kids [‘seven in school at one time,’ he reminded me] sharing one bathtub, though they added a half bath in the addition. They still get water from a well and it is the sweetest tasting water in the world and makes excellent iced tea.

I think part of my love of music comes from him. I know my grandfather was a guitar player. During the war, he and some guys from his company would go around to other units in the area and play country music. [Remember, this was when there was “both kinds, country and Western.”] They were loosely known as the Ozark Mountaineers, Ozark being their company. I just asked for the clarification, as I thought he played in a band in the States, but he said, “No, other than some guys that used to come around once in a while.” [I called him a “Hootenanny Hippie” for this]. He used to play for me, up to about 1995 or so before his hands shook so much. Somewhere around 1999 or 2000 my cousin’s Melissa’s fiancée Milo was up and he had learned a couple of the songs played them for Grandpap and he said it “nearly brought the old man to tears, not being able to play anymore.” I know he always liked music and was always humming or whistling something and there was usually a radio on in the shop or when we’d drive into town. He was also a big Hee Haw fan, and there was no better way to clear a room of a bunch of little kids in 1974 than to turn on Hee Haw. Now I kind of wish I had paid more attention to the Hee Haw, but oh well. I know he was a fan of Johnny Cash and I know there are some albums somewhere in the house, but I’ve never gone looking for them. A few years back he was tickled when I sent him a tape of an album of Johnny’s called Ragged Old Flag that was one he’s asked about when I was working at Forever Young. He also always liked the funnier songs of Ray Stevens, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Reed and Louden Wainwright’s Dead Skunk.

He was always quick with a joke or a stunt like betting me a dollar he could jump higher than a fence post [Warning: fence posts do not jump]. He was always interested in how things worked and building things. I have several little knick-knacks like a sling shot he whittled for me and a little ‘road runner’ made out of scrap metal and a box for holding playing cards he made for me ‘on spec.’ I have the rolling pin he gave to all my cousins as wedding presents because I think he’s given up waiting for me to [or more accurately fears he’ll be gone when I do] get married. He also never lets me forget about getting the wrong oil filter and pouring 4.5 quarts of Penzoil out on the grass because I wouldn’t listen to him. He’s impressed pride in my work on me. Once at Sound Warehouse I was building crates for display and I’d just keep telling myself to ‘Do it like the old man would have.’

The only time I recall him being upset was when I ran over one of his trees while mowing the field down in front of the house. OOPS! I had been trying to see how close I could get to them and got a little too close to one. OOOPS! I was banned from the tractor for a while for that one. As kids we all loved riding on or driving the little Cub Cadet tractor. I know I spent hours on it pretending it was some WWII airplane I was flying or an X Wing fighter of the Millennium Falcon after Star Wars came out. I can still recall mornings in the kitchen of the house he built, you’d come in and kiss a face full of stubble, or if you can sneak up on him, kiss his bald head, which is a lot easier now that I am 6’2”.

I know he is proud of the fact they he and my Grandma Rose were able to raise 8 kids through sometimes trying times. Once, he says they had dinner and there was one pork chop left and he reached for it and got eight forks in the back of his hand. But the Sheets clan is pretty tight and there isn’t any infighting or name calling [that I am aware of]. Grandma and Grandpap have been married for 63 years and there is a special place in heaven for her that. As he’s gotten older he’s a little shorter on patience than he used to be. His hand shakes more trying to raise a cup of coffee and he’s a lot slower than he used to be, but steadfastly yearning to be independent even though his body is telling him that he cannot be.

But I talked to him today and I know there is a peace there that he’s lived a wonderful life with few, if any regrets. I asked if there was anything that he has wanted to try but never had and he answered ‘no,’ even though I know he’s never tried pizza. I know I have learned in the last 10 years or so to appreciate that time I have with my grandparents and to take the time and ask the questions now that someday I will not be able to get answers to.

Happy Birthday and love Grandpap!

Music Recommendation: Chris Whitley - Soft Dangerous Shores

In Nate's basement this weekend, he played me a couple of cuts from this and I bought it Weds [next Music Trivia Weds at CD Whse in Hurst, Nov 30th] and I am just knocked out by it.

It's kind of hard to describe, Chris' dobro and earthy vocals mixed in lots of rythym tracks and spacey sounds. The person that leaps to mind is something like Dan Lanois' For the Beauty of Winona meets U2's Achtung Baby/Zooropa.

If you're just loking for something unlike anything you've heard before, you have to check this out. Buy it for yourself for Christmas.

Chris Whitley 1960 - 2005

Chris passed Nov 20th of lung cancer...

Words from Trixie Whitley:

My father took his last breath last night the 20th of November. I would like to make it clear that the people he needed and loved the most were with him while and when he left in peace. Those were Dan, Susann, my beloved mother Helene and me.

I would also like to ask you guys to understand there is a very fine line between Chris Whitley the legendary musician and Chris Whitley the Father, Brother, and Lover.

This was my Dad's favorite line from the first song I ever wrote, this is for you Daddy:

"Like the feather we blow away, in the thoughtlessness of words others say."

All faith and peace,
Trixie Whitley

Words from Dan Whitley:

I just wanted to add Chris passed over surrounded by lots of love. The time we spent with Chris in these last days were something I'll never forget and these women whom I shared Chris's last moments with were just amazing.

Susann Buerger who was by his side nonstop (Chris planned to marry Susann) held him in his arms the moment he passed in absolute and total peace, the reason I mentioned this is I always felt being held by someone you love while you passed over was a truly special thing.
Trixie my niece is one of the strongest young woman I have ever met and Chris was always so proud of her whenever we spoke, Im also incredibly proud to be her uncle and love her beyond words.

I hope you all will mourn my brothers death but more important celebrate his life as Chris was all about life and living... I started the celebration by cranking up Dirt floor in his honor...crying still.

Chris Whitley's Legacy will no doubt transcend all time.

Love and Light,
Daniel

Say a prayer for a gifted soul tonight....

I don't know if anyone is interested in POLITICS anymore, but I have been keeping an eye on The West Wing repeats on Bravo... Most interesting one this evening called 'Isaac and Ishmial' about terrorism and they put out a few interesting observations:

1. 'That Islamic Extremists are to Islam what the KKK is to Christianity.'

2. 'Terrorism has never worked; it has never achieved its aims. It has a 100% failure rate.'

3. 'Why do they want to kill us? Becuase we have pluralism. We can entertain more than one train of thought.'

Keep an eye out for this one to pop up again, if your service offers an information button like Comcast does. And if you just want to watch Bravo, they're pushing their next season of Designing whatever and you can see Heidi Klum in a skirt that goes all the way up to her panties, if she's wearing any...

You think this is easy? or It's not easy being green...

aside from wondering why people put butter and/or syrup and/or powered sugar or whatever on their waffles or french toast or pancakes... is it something learned? my mother like Karo corn syrup and powdered sugar on pancakes and i like maple... why the difference? why am i the bookworm and my dad the jogger and my sister the strong steady ... 'why? why? WHY?' day.

i got a terse reply to an email which just set me off again, contemplating my understanding of myself and my tendancies and a stubborn unwillingness to change [or attempt to take that edge off or level that up & down wave by the chemical means SO MANY seem to readily embrace] ...

some people can't take the abrasiveness i put off. that's MY defense. and it works well. i am just as scared and bored and excitable and nervous [and even sometimes as happy and relaxed] as everyone else. and being no good at small chit-chat, i clam up, especially around people i don't know, which makes what is torture to me even MORE agonizing. at my own class reunion i just strung along behind marty and just chirped in occasionally. that's probably the real reason i didn't want to go: i don't have anything to say, which is hellacious as someone trying to masquerade as a writer like i do. but behind my uneasy smile, i am taking it ALL in and will be able to remind you of it years later, which is why i don't cotton, nor repeat myself, to those who cannot remember what i have told them.

everyone wants you to put off a 'nice, level, even' vibe and that's not me. i am not going to pretend to be something just to make everyone else happy. if that comes off as pig headed, narrow minded, anti-social, asshole-ish... yeah i can be all of those things. and sometimes i can be warm and down to earth and sweet as pie. but you're going to know what i am feeling.

i am looking for something the same as everyone else. not a day goes by that i don't second guess something in my life, be it big or small. some things i think 'thank godness i got away from/with that' and some things i think 'what if you had held on for five more minutes or one day or one week?'

i am deep but not very broad, the opposite of people who are a mile wide but only an inch deep. i know whatever IT is, IT has to come from inside me, and it took me a long time to learn THAT. i don't need someone to COMPLETE me, but someone to COMPLIMENT me.

does any of that make sense?

Paid Professional Solicitor?

For the last couple weeks I have been coming home to about four NON-messages a day on my machine-- you know the ones, there's about 15 seconds of silence and then the click? I know what they are, they are calls from people trying to get me to send them money. But I am not donating to ANY causes right now. But Sometimes I will get in a mood and I will actually pick up the phone and say hello. Because it might be someone I want to talk to. Like ED. ED called last night and it's always great to talk to Ed and try and get him to come into the city, which he never does... not to see me anyway.

So I am answering the phone last night and I get TWO calls from Cancer groups [it may have been the same group, I wasn't quick enough to catch the name twice] and one guy is some loud Cajun dude who was very nice, but I explained I was not making any donations at this time; the second guy is a pushier person who tried to get me on three different donation levels and I politely again explained I was not making any donations at this time, but he kept trying. [I am always as nice as I can be because I deal with people on the phone all day... It's better to be 'No, thank you' than 'F-OFF! They're people just trying to make a buck like you and me.] But the phrase that DID catch my ear twice was 'Paid Professional Solicitor.'

Now I have a PRETTY good idea that this means 'we're subcontracted by the organization to call you and ask for donations.' But I am curious if this ALSO means 'I get a bonus based on how many donations I get and/or the amount of dollars pledged.'

I am sure this is not a new thing. I know there are people manning phone banks all over the globe making these calls. [I love the ones from foreign countries calling and asking about my travel plans... 'Do you plan to take a vacation? Soonly?' But ID-ing oneself as a Paid Professional IS new. Is there some new law that these people HAVE to declare that they are PPS?

I posted a few weeks ago about a new glut of snail mail requests for donations [and GIFTS of return address labels which I use with NO GUILT because I NEVER ASKED FOR THEM, THEY JUST SENT THEM.]. I read somewhere that credit card companies [who are the second biggest mailers] get response on about 2% of their mail outs. Know what I like to do? Send their pre-paid envelopes back empty because they STILL have to pay the postage on them!!!

Just ranting a little. Damn it's hot! Isn't this supposed to be like FALL or something? Sweatshirts and hot cocoa and wood burning fireplace weather?

Random Notes Time Again:

1. Billy Squier

so I have the ol' clock radio set to ZPS again because I cannot get Jack on it any longer on... cosmic interference or whatever... and I wake up Saturday to Billy Squier's Lonely Is the Night, which I haven't heard in a while... and I think about this and the time it was released, like 1981 and it strikes me that it's no wonder this was huge back then: it sounds just like ZEPPELIN. A younger leaner more modern Zeppelin [no 'I come from the land of the ice and snow....'] but it sounds JUST LIKE ZEPPELIN, especially that drummer Bobby Chouinard. Yeah, he wore that stupid red jacket when I saw Squier open for Queen in 82, but he has that John Bonham plod and that sound down COLD. Said so at the time, too, I believe.

Poor Billy, he could've had it all if he hadn't gone DANCING AROUND IN A PINK TANK TOP AND TIGHTS in 83.

2. Rhythm Guitars and CCR

Been listening to two bands in which rhythm guitar players are critical, The Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival. And I don't just mean double tracking power chords to thicken up the sound. Bob's important for laying down nice full chords so Jerry can noodle around all over the place. And the GREAT TOM FOGERTY of Creedence. Wow. The guy is usually hanging in the left speaker buried under the inventive bass lines of the under-rated Stu Cook, usually holding one chord to the drummer Doug 'Cosmo' Clifford, in effect holding the rhythm, which is what you expect the bass player to do. But that frees John Fogarty to scream and howl and do the same with his great lead lines, knowing his bottom is covered.

The other thing about CCR [who never had a #1 single. Think about that! All those classic and enduring songs: Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, Fortunate Son, Down on the Corner, Who'll Stop the Rain, Travelin' Band and NOT ONE hit #1!] ... wow i just blew my own mind and lost my point. You can listen to the evolution of that band in a hurry. Think some more! This band put out 7 albums in 4 years. In 1969 alone they put out 3! [Bayou Country, Green River, Willy & the Poorboys] In 1970 they put out two classics: Cosmo's Factory and Pendulum. Now I have been enamored of Pendulum for a long, long time since my folks had it on 8-Track. Theme from Rude Awakening #2 may be their Revolution 9, but the rest of the album is SOLID. They're just getting tighter and tighter by this record, John stretching out on saxes and Tom playing organ, but it turned out to be their last gasp. Tom left after this record was released and the other three released Mardi Gras in 1972, but to say it was a disappointment doesn't scratch the surface, though it did have Sweet Hitch-Hiker and Someday Never Comes on it.

3. Reunion Aftermath

I guess I have gotten all this reunion angst out of my head, but I've had some weird dreams the last few nights with the members of the class of 85 [don't worry you look like your younger selves] and other people from my past of that period. Let's just say if several of us meet in a bar in Toronto, it's going to be a weird night!

4. Trace Adkins New Video/Song

Has anyone else seen the video for this or heard this Honky Tonk Bodonkadonk? I was flipping by CMT and caught an eyeful of this... While there was/is something to be said about Big & Rich blowing up the mold again and bringing country music up into the 1990s, this is just getting STUPID. Do we need 'Country Music' videos with guys with huge bling-bling rings and girls doing stripper ass bounces in hot pants, tight shorts and microskirts with their G stings hanging out? Does the new 'Country Outlaw Movement' have to resort to the crass lowest common denominator like this? I mean this isn't funny, like Toby Keith TRIES to be [missing more and more] nor does it strike me as tongue in cheek, it just strikes me as STUPID.

5. Hockey Notes

I got my NHL package for cable, so you know where I am most nights.... I have decided I can't watch the Pens anymore. It's just too painful to watch. This also means I am not getting the new/old Pens logo tattooed on me anytime soon... maybe that Red Wings logo? I hope Mario is telling Sid the Kid how awful the team was when he arrived in Pittsburgh... oddly, I heard their minor league team is tops in the AHL at 8-0. Looks like we need some call ups! But then when Marc-Andre Fleury was up, he still didn't have any defencse in front of him and the Pens continue to get called for penalties in the last five minutes of the game and in overtime. ... okay, I am done with that for now.

I have also noticed a distinctive LACK of Central time zone teams. Only Dallas, Minnesota and Chicago [with the worst camera positions in the NHL] play in the Central time zone! [Bring back Winnipeg!] Colorado is close in the Moutain zone, everything is East Coast or West Coast.

Anyway, let me tell you who I am watching: the LA Kings. Yeah, it's west coast and they're on late, but damn they are playing good hockey right now. That team has been decimated by injuries the last couple of seasons and Jeremt Roenick is not playing well, but every one else is: Alexander Frolov, Pavol Demitra [ya think the Blues should have kept him and cut or bought out Keith Tkachuk?], Craig Conroy, Derek Armstrong, Brown... it remains to be seen how the two young netminders will hold up, but like Minnesota, running them every other night my work out. AND the Mighty Ducks of Anahiem WITHOUT Sergei Fedorov. Everyone else is picking up the pace, especially Joffery Lupol and Teemu Selanne.

On the east coast I am watching two teams for budding young stars: the Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin and the Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Staal. These two kids are lighting their teams lamps all over the place. Just Friday Staal had the hat trick to lead the Canes to a 8-6 victory over Philly and then Saturday he put up four assists against the Pens. Ovechkin is a wonder on a hapless Washington team. God help us when the Caps get some talent around him!

Tampa Bay is off to a slow start but look like they are turning the corner, Philly hanging around at .500? Jaromir Jagr is fun to watch again in NYC and they have a really good rookie goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist. And Detroit, despite losing Derian Hatcher, Darren McCartey and Ray Whitney, remain a MACHINE. I was watching the Avs/Canucks last night and it appears cast offs Pierre Turgeon and Patrice Brisboise have found second life under the new rules in Colorado. With Milan Hejduk back after missing the first three weeks, that team is suddenly dangerous again.

Disappointed in Calgary and Edmonton's seasons so far. Edmonton had their spark plug Ryan Smith out for a few games, but Calgary has no excuses.

Who Are Video Games Aimed At?

I'm watching the tube today and I see the commecrcials for Blitz [I am not sure it is NFL Blitz, I think the NFL would disapprove and distance from this] with Former NFL great turned cocaine snorter Lawrence Taylor talking about this new game. I saw a brief review in the paper too. This game is about injuring players on the other team, going out to clubs, getting in fights, etc. etc. Basically living the STEREOTYPICAL out of control athlete lifestyle. [I think anyone who wants to glorify this shit needs another good look at North Dallas Forty.] Then I sart paying attention to the rest of the commercials for video games, all the blow 'em up, shhot 'em ups, all rated M ['for Mature'] and I just start wondering who these games are really aimed at.

Don't get me wrong, when Atari was all we had, it was cool to get down with Uncle Rich and play Slot Racers and Asteroids and stuff. And Nintendo was cool, we'd get twelve packs onFriday night and do Techmo Bowl all night. When I started on Sega Hockey, it kept me entertained. I still have a hockey game on my computer and I am re-re considering Playstation 2 so I can get a hockey game NOT made by EA Sports. And I admit I had fun playing Halo. I am sure if I was a football of basketball guy I would get into those games, but I am not.

But I ask the question: What is the point of games like Blitz and Grand Theft Auto [the premise of which is to STEAL CARS and KILL COPS]? Will we find a connection between games that glorify violence for violence's sake and rises in violent crime by younger persons? Are we creating our own problems by further blurring lines between right and wrong and reality and fantasy in impressionable youth?

I am just curious. I am not coming out for outright banning something like this. I just wonder what is the point? I know - escapism. But what are you escaping from playing a criminal or a thug in a video game?

The Penguins SUCK [and Other Hockey Notes]

How can a team with John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Ziggy Palfy, Sergei Gonchar, the Next Great One Sidney Crosby and, oh yeah, Mario Lemieux suck THIS BAD? Easy. Same story as the Pens of the late 90s-early 00s: NO DEFENSE, SHAKY GOALTENDING. All the money under the cap and they got al these offensive players and the best defensive player you can get is a couple of Blackhawks cast offs in Steve Poapst [not bad, but not scaring anybody] and scrappy Lyle Odelin? The goalie you got to keep the kids out of the net [also from Chicago] is injury prone and - surprise! - all ready on the shelf with a knee injury. Hey guys, Chicago wasn't lighting up the league before the lockout, why are you taking their cast aways? But I could live with this if the team was playing smart... but they're not. I've watched three and a half of these debacles and these guys are taking BAD penalties and throwing passes right up the middle of the ice where the other team can intercept them. My friend Marty is coaching 10 and under this year and a bunch of 5-10 year old KIDS know you don't throw the puck up the middle of the ice!!! You use the boards to get the puck out! TWICE in about five minutes Friday night I watched the Pittsburgh D trying the long bomb pass and get intercepted and Philly's Simon Gagne and Peter Forsberg taking advantage and scoring. So what does this lead one to think? Pittsburgh coach Eddie Olczyk has got to go. OR he has to take the asylum back from the offense happy inmates and implement DISCIPLINE. But I don't think he will be able to do either. Tampa Bay [reigning Cup champs] coach is all ready tired of seeing his players floating waiting for the long bomb outlet pass at the red line or deeper and is forcing his player to play like the red line is still in the game. Take notes, Eddie!

Meanwhile, Marty's Nashville Predators are 5-0-0 with three shootout wins. I told Marty for years they were building a team right down there, on a five year plan [and he got to tell the GM at Fan Fest this year] and they are proving me right, that last season's playoff run was no fluke. Marty was right about Tomas Vokun being the goaltender of the future there, though... Frame that autographed jersey now, Marty.

In a surprise announcement Saturday, Brett Hull announced he's hanging them up... that's sad for the hockey world, but maybe god for the broadcast booth at OLN. Brett apparently was not having fun anymore and, true to his book, hung them up when the game stopped being fun. The League will miss The Mighty Mouth; now we only have Jeremy Roenick to give the league color and personality. Hull never lost the child in home that loved to play the game and I will miss that boyish grin. Personally, I was never a fan until he came to Dallas; the more I saw of him speaking his mind, the more I liked him, and I continued to cheer for him in Detroit. Thanks for the memories, Brett!

NHL on OLN

Yeah, like everyone else I said "Who?" when I heard OLN was going to be televising the NHL. But three games into this, I have to say they're doing it pretty well. They were smart enough to hire Bill Clement to anchor the whole deal, Kieth Jones and Neil Smith assisting at NHL central [missing John Bucciograss and Barry Melrose, but if OLN is smart they will go for them when their contracts are up] and get John Davidson to do color. I'd like more of Dr Mike Emerick and I was skeptical with Marv Albert's son Kenny, but he's been okay.... TONS less annoying than his old man. Aside from a few technical glitches [a/k/a getting th bugs out], OLN seems to have put a priority on the NHL, and not just Colorado/Detroit/Dallas/Philly.. last nights HEARTBREAKING Pittsburgh/Buffalo tilt was a great example of how the NHL can be if the refs keep calling the penalties and let the players adjust. The fact that Pittsburgh lost it in the last 30 seconds is [almost] meaningless.

Wabbit Season! Duck Season! HOCKEY SEASON!!!!

Finally, the NHL cranks back up! Watched the Stars/Kings and Rangers/Flyers last night. If they KEEP calling the rules book the way they are now, then I am 111% IN for the New Look NHL. Actually, it looks like the return of firewagon hockey from the 70s and 80s again. Lots of north-south/end to end play and the two line pass becomes a dangerous risk/reward weapon. Watch as goals against averages never get near 1.9 again. Jeremy Roenick looks good out there with Pavol Demitra in LA. And Jaromir Jagr shows some signs of fire in his belly. Defensemen better learn positioning again or get extra padding for sitting in the penalty box.

They'rw previewing NHL Center Ice on my cable, so I watched the Pens/ Devils the other night [as well as catching a bit of the Pens/Bruins Oct 8] ... how can you go sign a pile of offensive guys and the best free agent defenseman [face it - Gonchar is there because he KILLED the Pens with his shot from the point] is ex-Hawk Steve Poapst?

Dragnet in NYC

So peple are concerned that the 'Terroroist Threat' to the NYC subway is not credible and the extra security measures are a hassle... but think about this: IF something happened there like what happened in the London Underground, and the public found out that the government was aware of a threat and did nothing, they'd be screaming bloody murder again. Sometimes you just can't win.

Class Reunion

Well, I had my 20 year class reunion this weekend. It was an interesting experience. All I could think about going into this thing was Grosse Pointe Blank: "I freaked out, joined the Army and became a professional killer!" "TEN YEARS!!!" My All 80's tape [well, one of them] bit the dust on the way to Burleson... My friend Glenn ‘Marty’ Thompson came back into town, no wife and kids this trip. We went to the homecoming game Friday night wondering if we’d see anyone we knew and got spotted right at the front entrance. It took a few minutes for names to come back, which seems surreal to me. It’s like you’re looking at them and you recognize a face but the name just will not come forward. Well, Rob, Angela and Roy didn’t have tickets but had hooked up with one of the coaches and were getting passes to the press box, so Marty’s first Burleson High School football game ever and he gets to sit in the press box! We walked around at half time and spotted a gaggle of people, knowing we knew them. We waited to see if any names came to us before we were spotted and called over. Then you hear the names and it’s like “Ohhhhh yeah, I remember you…”

The reunion itself was a little better because we had name tags. We got there fairly early and were watching people drive up and guessing. Aside from people being a little heavier, little more grey or not as much hair, everyone seemed familiar. Marty tried to get around and talk to everyone. He was one of those people everyone in school knew; I was more of a background character, even at school, and mostly just listened. We were a little disappointed that none of the people WE really hung out with showed, [and there were little groups like the tennis team and the cosmetology girls who clustered at times] but it was interesting and I’m glad I went.

We were discussing one person who did not show and decided some people do want to disconnect from their pasts, trying to hide what they were from people now in their lives or something. But there was none of the posturing or bragging that seemed to go on at the 10 year reunion; we were just people sharing a common past coming together to relive a few memories and catch up.

If I had my time again
I would do it all the same
And not change a single thing
Even when I was the blind
For the heartache and the pain
Got a course throughout my years
How I learned to be a man
Through the laughter and the tears

Situation no win
Rush for the change of atmosphere
I can`t go on so I give in
Gotta get myself right outta here

Now I`m fully grown
And I know where it`s at
Somehow I stayed thin
While the other guys got fat
All the chances that are blown
And the times that I`ve been down
I didn`t get to high
Kept my feet on the ground

Situation no win
Rush for the change of atmosphere
I can`t go on so I give in
Gotta get myself right outta here

And of all my friends
You`ve been the best to me
Soon will be tha day
When I repay you handsomely
Broken hearts are hard to mend
I know I`ve had my share
But life just carries on
Even when I`m not there

Situation no win
Rush for the change of atmosphere
I can`t go on so I give in
Gotta get myself right outta here

  -Rush; Big Audio Dynamite II

Random Rants:

1. Roller Disco Returns? PLEASE, GOD NO!!!!

I am sure by now you have seen the commercials for Roll Bounce, a period piece movie about a group of young black youths who enter some sort of roller disco contest. Why someone in Hollywood thought THIS was a good idea is beyond me. It's got to be better than the Honeymooners movie, or a remake of Thank God It's Friday or Roller Boogie. All I ask is this does not start a disco revival. Anyone else remember the Roto-Disco at Six Flags, that indoor, backwards moving wave/hump roller coaster [sort of] with all the mirrors and disco lights that was back in the corner by the bumper cars and the parachute ride on the midway?

You know what's ready for a return? Rock and Roll, dammit!

2. Follow Up: Me vs the Ghost in the Machine

I put the Coral [The Invisible Invasion] in the CD player, very cool British psychedelic pop, kind of like what the Kinks MIGHT have done if they'd attempted a Sgt Pepper answer album. Still, the most under-rated album of that period has got to be The Who Sell Out. But the Coral is very nice.

3. Channel 13 Playing to Baby Boomers... AGAIN

On KERA in Dallas [if you're not in the area] they're doing something called Talkin' 'Bout My Generation Week, which is of course when they're going to run Marty Scorcese's thing on Bob Dylan, No Direction Home, on American Masters and something on the history of protest songs and probably show Woodstock AGAIN and a bunch of things so BLATANTLY geared for Baby Boomers it's going to make me throw up. How can this garnered be so egotistical to keep declaring themselves 'The Greatest Generation?' They act as if nothing has happened in the world since 1972 and all the music that was made back then was the Be All-End All. Now they plunk down $200 to see Elton John [who couldn't GIVE away concert tickets to between 1977 and 1987] and Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones and pretend that those artists still matter and that they're 16 or 21 again.

Part 1 of the Dylan last night was interesting, sort of. I read today that this only goes up to the 1966 tour, which is short in Dylan's career, but about the last time he was relevant in the 60s. Hearing Dylan actually TALK about that time is kind of cool... some radio interviews and bios he wrote at that time also showed his penchant for just bullshitting the unwary.

Part 2 is a sometimes un-nerving look at how people turned on Dylan for doing what HE wanted to do, how people can turn their backs on you when you don't fit into their 'little box' anymore. Some of the press conference footage is just priceless, the same stupid things the Beatles were going through and finally they cut to modern Dylan and he says 'Why did people think that an Entertainer (or Singer,or whatever he said) is going to have answers to all these questions?' And he's right, of course! Just because someone will go up on the stage and sing or act in a motion picture or play a game in front of 10 or 30 or 50 thousand people, does that ALSO automatically give them Magical Powers of Insight and/or Wisdom?

The show only covered Dylan's career from 1959 - 1966, his best known period, i.e. the Folk years and then the Electric Years, to the 1966 English tour and the motorcycle crash that took him out of the picture for a year or so. Personally, I prefer the electric years, even though I am sometimes fascinated by his use of words in the early years. Highway 61 Revisited is an all time classic album, Blonde on Blonde and Bringing It All Back Home have their moments.

4. Sweet!

Anybody else know the song on that damn Chevy commercial "Come join the revolution NOWWWWW!!!!" ? It's Sweet's Teenage Rampage! Ah, but me and Deb are probably the only two to name that one. I hope it brings a remastered Sweet Greatest comparable to the British Sweet 16. Heard Ballroom Blitz on the way home tonight, still a classic.

5. Snail Mail Dread

Is it just me or has everyone been getting PILES of charity solicitation by mail? I only have two groups I donate to [Cancer Society and USA Hockey], but I am getting something every other day! Yesterday was Leukemia Society Local Drive, the National Resources Defense [Tree Hugging Environmentalist Whacko] Council [with PERSONAL LETTER from Robert F Kennedy Jr!] and the US Olympic Committee...

I guess this is the inevitable fall out from all the No-Call list stuff, but I find it kind of IRONIC the National Resources Defense Fund sends out a two page flyer, my personal letter and pre-typed 'Petition' to President and the US Senate [but NOT Representatives], complete with my name and address needing only MY Charles A Galupi, to protest 'the Bush Administration's plans to weaken our environmental safeguards.' Here's a clue: SAVE A TREE!

RECORD COMPANY PRICKS! Alert

EW YORK (Reuters) - The love affair between record labels and Apple Computer Inc. could be headed for the rocks as they bicker over prices ahead of licensing renegotiations set for early next year.

The licensing agreements between Apple, maker of the wildly popular iPod digital music player and operator of the most widely used music download service, and the record labels are set to expire next spring.

Both sides, which have benefited enormously from music sales created by the iPod phenomenon, are jockeying for position.

Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs, believed by some to be the savior of the music industry, insists that prices should be uniform at 99 cents a song and $9.99 an album, saying that the buying experience for consumers should be simple.

Record executives, however, are seeking some flexibility in prices, including the ability to charge more for some songs and less for others, the way they do in the traditional retail world.

"There's no content in the world that has doesn't have some price flexibility," said Warner Music Group Corp. chief executive Edgar Bronfman at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia investor conference here. "Not all songs are created equal. Not all albums are created equal.

"That's not to say we want to raise prices across the board or that we don't believe in a 99-cent price point for most music," he said. "But there are some songs for which consumers would be willing to pay more. And some we'd be willing to sell for less."

Apple's Jobs blasted the record industry for mulling higher prices. "If they want to raise the prices, it means that they are getting greedy," he said at a press conference, adding that if the price goes up, the industry faces a higher risk of piracy.

See, give then an inch they want the whole yard. We take the hard part right out of the Record Conglomerate hands, marjeting, let the people pick and choose what they want, and now they want to jack you up for what you like. Take away the cost of making the little plastic and aluminium discs and paying for photo shots and rack space in Best Buy and they still want to find a way to stick you up....

Me Vs The Ghost In the Machine

I bought a CD by a band called the Corals on the recommendation of my CD guy Joey and I came home and I'm piddle-dicking around on the computer here so I decided to slide my CD in. BUT instead of my Musicmatch jukebox playing as normal, I got an End User License Agreement [a legal agreement between [me] and Sony BMG Music Entertainment... to agree to before I can listen to MY CD.

Basically buried in all the legalese, it says that I must agree to install 'a small propietary program' [now to be referred to as The Spy] ... intended to protect the audio files embodied on the CD.' Why I am not assured by the assurance that The Spy will not collect any personal information on me. It does not say that it will not review the contents of my hard drive nor not take notes when I burn a CD of the best of Superchunk or Uncle Tupelo or burn my box sets to CD for backup. Go ahead, call me a paranoid. Spider Jerusalem said 'A paranoid is just someone with all the facts.'

Further, it declares that I must use 'an approved media player program' to play MY CD on MY computer., and if I do not have 'an approved media player,' they will tell me where to get one.

What is this crap? Since when did a product provider get to declare a narrower band width of what I can and can't do with their product that I legally purchased? Even understanding this is an attempt to block the piracy and file sharing [' You may not distribute, share through any information network, transfer, sell, lease or rent any of the LICENSED MATERIALS to any other person, in whole or in part'] that I rant and rave about. Free music is not a RIGHT! [Still thorny on that used CD issue] On the other hand, I object entirely to giving the provider of said product any toehold into my devices. Who really knows what that piece of 'proprietary software' does? So I guess this only get payed in my home player. Assuming THAT is approved.

RNR Hall of Lame 2006 Edition: [From Yahoo Music News]

Apparently, 1980 just wasn't a rockin' year.

In the way of the music world, acts that have seen 25 years elapse since the release of their first record become eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

However, the Rock Hall nominating committee snubbed the newly eligible class of 1980 entirely, seemingly unable to find a band worthy of putting on the ballot sent out to voters this week.

That left room for perennial nominees such as Black Sabbath (now on their eighth bid), Lynyd Skynyrd (seventh bid), the Sex Pistols and the Stooges (five bids apiece).

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, which last year became the first rap act nominated to the Rock Hall, has another chance this year to become the first rap act inducted.

Other holdovers from previous years include the J. Geils Band, John Mellencamp, the Patti Smith Group, Chic and Joe Tex.

First-time nominees to the eclectic ballot include Miles Davis, Cat Stevens, Blondie, the Paul Butterfield Band, the Dave Clark Five and the Sir Douglas Quintet.

First of all, I am having trouble remembering 1980 debuts, which is the criteria, but looking at the list of nominees just makes my stomach turn. Probably Sabbath, the Pistols and Skynyrd finally get in, but that should probably the only inductees. Those bands were the most influential of anybody. Geils, Mellencamp, Patti Smith had some successes and a couple great albums each, but they're not really what I call Hall of Fame, or even Hall of Lame worthy. Why do I even still care? Really, probably just to piss Jan Wenner off...

IPOD vs The Snob Revisited

I got some fine emails on the subject and I think the conclusion I have reached is this: The IPOD and the Hard Drive are replacing the CD and the album as the means for storing music.

I understand the logic, have a portable device you can load 300 of your favorites on and hit random and groove on for weeks at a time. You can load your music collection onto your hard drive and never have to pack boxes full of CDs ever again when you move! [Marty's friend Kendall suggests, having an external 40 or 60 Gig drive just for music]

But I am old fashioned. I still like album cover art and reading the booklets while I listen to the music, ingraining the minutiae of who played guitar on what song or that Lindsey Buckingham sang harmony vocals on Warren Zevon's Poor Poor Pitiful Me... that's just me.

My argument was supposed to be that people who just load up other people's collections and never get beyond the stuff they know are just wasting space on their hard drive. But it was pointed out that somewhere in there, that person may find that gem that puts them onto the road of their next love, like finding the Damned or Generation X on some punk collection or Love and Rockets or Minutemen on the 80s box and moving beyond what they were and finding something NEW and becoming a music snob themselves.

IPOD vs MUSIC SNOBS

Found this on a link from the Rock and Roll Report:

WASHINGTON DIARIST Remastered
by Michael Crowley

ince the dawn of rock, there have been individuals, usually young men, of argumentative tendencies who have lorded their encyclopedic musical knowledge over others." So states the introduction of the recent Rock Snob's Dictionary, compiled by David Kamp and Steven Daly. I like to believe I'm not the insufferable dweeb suggested by this definition. Certainly, much of the dictionary's obscure trivia (former Television bassist Richard Hell is now a novelist; Norwegian death metal stars actually murder one another) is news to me. But I do place an unusual, perhaps irrational, value on rock music. I take considerable pride in my huge collection and carefully refined taste. And I consider bad rock taste--or, worse, no rock taste at all--clear evidence of a fallow soul. I am, in other words, a certified Rock Snob. But I fear that Rock Snobs are in grave danger. We are being ruined by the iPod.

While the term "Rock Snob" has a pejorative ring, the label also implies real social advantages. The Rock Snob presides as a musical wise man to whom friends and relatives turn for opinions and recommendations; he can judiciously distribute access to various rare and exotic prizes in his collection. "Oh my God, where did you find this?" are a Rock Snob's favorite words to hear. His highest calling is the creation of lovingly compiled mix CDs designed to dazzle their recipients with a blend of erudition, obscurity, and pure melodic dolomite. Recently, I unearthed a little-known cover of the gentle Gram Parsons country classic "Hickory Wind," bellowed out by Bob Mould and Vic Chestnutt, which moved two different friends to tears. It was Rock Snob bliss.

In some ways, then, the iPod revolution is a Rock Snob's dream. Now, nearly all rock music is easily and almost instantly attainable, either via our friends' computers or through online file-sharing networks. "Music swapping" on a mass scale allows my music collection to grow larger and faster than I'd ever imagined. And I can now summon any rare track from the online ether.

But there's a dark side to the iPod era. Snobbery subsists on exclusivity. And the ownership of a huge and eclectic music collection has become ordinary. Thanks to the iPod, and digital music generally, anyone can milk various friends, acquaintances, and the Internet to quickly build a glorious 10,000-song collection. Adding insult to injury, this process often comes directly at the Rock Snob's expense. We are suddenly plagued by musical parasites. For instance, a friend of middling taste recently leeched 700 songs from my computer. He offered his own library in return, but it wasn't much. Never mind my vague sense that he should pay me some money. In Rock Snob terms, I was a Boston Brahmin and he was a Beverly Hillbilly--one who certainly hadn't earned that highly obscure album of AC/DC songs performed as tender acoustic ballads but was sure to go bragging to all his friends about it. Even worse was the girlfriend to whom I gave an iPod. She promptly plugged it into my computer and was soon holding in her hand a duplicate version of my 5,000-song library--a library that had taken some 20 years, thousands of dollars, and about as many hours to accumulate. She'd downloaded it all within five minutes. And, a few months later, she was gone, taking my intimate musical DNA with her.

I'm not alone in these frustrations. "Even for a recovering Rock Snob, such as myself," Steven Daly told me, "it's a little disturbing to hear a civilian music fan boast that he has the complete set of Trojan reggae box-sets on his iPod sitting alongside 9,000 other tracks that he probably neither needs nor deserves." It's true: Even if music leeches don't fully appreciate, or even listen to, some of the gems they so effortlessly acquire, we resent them anyway. One friend even confessed to me in an e-mail that "I have been known to strip the iTunes song information off mix CDs just to keep the Knowledge secret."

But resistance is futile. Even the Rock Snob's habitat, the record shop, is under siege. Say farewell to places like Championship Vinyl, the archetypal record store featured in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. "The shop smells of stale smoke, damp, and plastic dust-covers, and it's narrow and dingy and overcrowded, partly because that's what I wanted--this is what record shops should look like," explains Hornby's proprietor, Rob. Like great used bookstores, the Championship Vinyls of the world are destinations where the browsing and people-watching is half the fun. (A certain kind of young man will forever cling to the fantasy of meeting his soul mate as they simultaneously reach for the same early-era Superchunk disc.) Equally gratifying is the hunt for elusive albums in a store's musty bins, a quest that demands time, persistence, and cunning, and whose serendipitous payoffs are nearly as rewarding as the music itself. Speaking of book-collecting, the philosopher Walter Benjamin spoke of "the thrill of acquisition." But, when everything's instantly available online, the thrill is gone.

Benjamin also savored the physical element of building a collection--gazing at his trophies, reminiscing about where he acquired them, unfurling memories from his ownership. "The most profound enchantment for the collector is the locking of individual items within a magic circle in which they are fixed," he said. But there's nothing magic about a formless digital file. I even find myself nostalgic for the tape-trading culture of Grateful Dead fans--generally scorned in the Rock Snob world--who used to drive for hours in their VW vans to swap bootleg concert tapes. My older brother still has a set of bootleg tapes he copied from a friend some 20 years ago during a California bike trip. Having survived global travels from Thailand to Mexico, the tapes have acquired an almost totemic quality in his mind. I feel the same way about certain old CDs, whose cases have become pleasantly scuffed and weathered during travels through multiple dorm rooms and city apartments but still smile out at me from their shelves like old friends. Soon our collections will be all ones and zeroes stored deep in hard drives, instantly transferable and completely unsatisfying as possessions. And we Rock Snobs will have become as obsolete as CDs themselves.

Let me just say this about all this IPOD nonsense: yeah, you can have a 'great music collection' instantanly, but if you don't know what it is, you don't appreciate it and love it, you're still nobody. You're just nobody with a lot of tunes but you listen to the same 300 over and over and you might as well be listening to the radio. You're the person who puts Sgt Pepper and Pet Sounds and the 1st Velvet Underground album as your faves because they're supposed to be great. I talk about Michael Leone and roll my eyes when I hear he's collecting the re-mastered Monkees, but he knows what he likes and tells me why I should like it too. [Though I still think he's throwing away money getting all those collection CDs of the Beatles and Stones when he HAS all the originals: burn your own for the road, dude!]

Taste isn't MADE by what you own, but in how you can define yourself by what you own. I had a lot of 80's hair bands at one time, but I sold them because I didn't listen to them... throwing them on once every five years didn't justify me having it in the pile any longer. I hope someone else went into Half Price and went 'Man, that's JUST WHAT I was looking for!' I wish everyone had a Rory Gallagher or Johnny Winter or some Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac, but some people are contented being spoon fed trend following cows and buying the top 40 and accepting music is only what got played on the radio and 'classic rock' is Elton John, Styx, Journey, and Eric Clapton and that all blues is Stevie Ray Vaughn. They're not impressed by, oh the Warren Zevon collection Genius [except that 'Werewolfs' song] and would not understand what I would find appealing in an old black man playing slide guitar on an acoustic 12 string like Mississippi Fred McDowell's Long Way From Home, which are my pickups from this weekend.

So you can have your IPOD and you can have your 10,000 songs; like anything else, it's just a possession to you. "I have ALL these albums and songs." Give me my whittled down 900 albums or so, [what is that about 9000 songs?] because about 99% of them really MEAN SOMETHING to me.

today's moral: This is ME the music snob, like it or lump it. I type better when I am not drinking though.

Once Again: VH1 is STOO-PID

If you happen to be flipping by VH1 CLASSIC this weekend, no you're not having a flashback... yes they are showing the Woodstock movie [ As James Earl Jones said in Field of Dreams: "Oh my God, you're from the 60's! Peace Love Dope!"].

BUT the idiots at VH1 didn't get the WIDE SCREEN version so you can see the whole shot, they have the EDITED FOR TV version where you see the middle of the screen and a sliver of the left and right side action. Now I am no fan of the movie, but for crying out loud, you have to have the widescreen because Marty Scorcese [yes, that Martin Scorcese] had it cut with a central shot and the peripheral shots... That's like a burger with no fries and a coke or a steak with no potato... I hope someone at VH1 is getting fired for this.

And why is it EVERY TIME I come across Woodstock I see Alvin Lee and Ten Years After doing I'm Going Home [by Helicopter]?

So I changed the channel, my God given right as an American Cable Subsciber and I come across Kieth Urban, the pretty boy of country music these days. And I watched all these girls singing along with his songs and Keith playing his twanger and I wondered who he reminds me of. That mane of blonde hair makes me think of Tom Petty, but his songs ain't THAT good. Then I though Bryan Adams, but there's not enough dudes in blue jean jackets...

WORSE TELEVISION [If you can believe it] ON MONDAY

Two part Oprah with Lisa Marie Presley [and with 'Miss Priscilla' tomorrow] and 15 minutes into this, it's all about growing up in Graceland and being a child of celebrity and those fools in the audience are eating this up. All because she has a new album coming out.

This is going to be the 'softball toss up ' interview of all time. This isn't about a person, what they think, who they are, their 'art'; it's about our fascination with celebrity to the max.

Post Lockout Wrap Up

What a week it has been for the National Hockey League. One week into free agency after the Collective Bargaining Agreement Debacle of 2004/05 [a/k/a The Lock Out, The Contract Squabble and/or the Lost Season] and we've seen more turnover than the previous ten years. Teams trying to get under the $ 39 million cap have been buying people out and allowing free agents to get away, quite a few of them big name players.

Yeah, I think the New NHL will probably have a lot more parity than ever before, but it will allow your small market teams to get or keep some people of the 'star/superstar' status. All ready we have seen Edmonton bring in big Chris Pronger [in a trade from St Louis for Eric Brewer and a couple prospects, but still] and trade for Michael Peca, a 'heart and guts' guy from the New York Islanders.Calgary re-signed superstar Jerome Iginla, whose salary is now capped under the cap. It probably doesn't hurt that Jerome like Calgary and what that team appears capable of. Nashville has made their second ever big name grab by signing Paul Kariya to a two year deal. Injury plagued last term, he will add skill and continue to be a power play threat. Conversely, the big ticket Colorado Avalanche tried to lowball two key guys and lost them, Peter Forsberg to the Philadelphia Flyers [more in a sec] and the under-rated Adam Foote to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Detroit, to clear cap room, bought out Derian Hatcher, Darren McCarty and Ray Whitney. The Flyers also cleared some space to add players by buying out Tony Amonte and John LeClair and subsequently sent Jeremy Roenick to LA for a song and Danny Markov to Nashville for a draft pick. The New York Hockey Rangers surprised no one by buying out Bobby Holik, who never played like he had for the Devils in NY's ever changing systems. If Jaromir Jagr turns out to be very serious about playing in Europe or Russia again this season, the Rangers may find they have LOTS of cap room. No one was really surprised by Dallas buying out Pierre Turgeon, but they did raise a few eyebrows by keeping Bill Guerin, but he is a goal scorer and that's what Dallas needs. Montreal dumped Patrice Brisbois, much to the delight of their fans. I am puzzled though by Toronto buying out Owen Nolan and then trading for Jeff O'Neil, but I am sure they know what they're doing... well, no I am not.

So far, several teams have made issued of keeping big ticket free agent, the story all week in Dallas being whether the Stars owner would let the man who IS the face of the Dallas Stars get away. Mike Modano, though offered more money [21 mil/4 yrs vs 17.5/5yrs] by Boston, agreed to stay in Dallas, probably against his agent's advice. The Stars also re-signed super offensive defenseman Sergei Zubov, probably allowing him to retire as a Star. Detroit tied up aging defenseman Chris Chelios and Mathieu Schnieder and return Steve Yzerman.Calgary, as mentioned, signed their future in Jerome Iginla, Colorado was able to tie up Milan Hejduk to a five year deal and Columbus inked their scoring machine, Rick Nash, to a five year plan also. Boston ties up scoring winger Glen Murray for four years and adding defenseman Brian Leetch, winger Shawn McEchern and centers Dave Scatchard and Alexei Zhamnov while losing high scoring defenseman Sergei Gonchar to the Pittsburgh Penguins.Vancouver re-upped their high scoring first liners Markus Naslund and Bredan Morrison.But some free agents have been left to walk: Miro Satan and Alexei Zhitnik were left hanging by Buffalo and now join the NY Islanders.High coring center Pavol Demitra jumps from St Louis to the LA Kings. Ziggy Palfy decided against returning to the LA Kings, even with the addition of Roenick and Demitra to play with Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh. The Florida Panthers add veterans leadership in Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts and Martin Gelinais to teach their young core basics like face offs and going to the net [and the importance of off-ice training]. Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin leaves the defending Stanley Cup champ Tampa Bay Lightning for the Chicago Blackhawks, who now, with Nik and Jocelyn Thibault, have a goaltending tandem unseen since Osgood and Vernon in Detroit or Barasso and Wreggett in Pittsburgh's Cup years.The underachieving Hawks also welcome Jaroslav Spacek back the their blue line after losing Stephane Robidas [back] to Dallas and Brian Berrard to Columbus, and bring in Montreal journeyman center Jim Dowd and big winger Marty Lapointe from Boston. Previously mentioned buyout victims Tony Amonte and Darren McCarty join the Calgary Flames, holes goes to Atlanta and Brisbois and Turgeon go to the Colorado Avalanche. And the New Jersey Devils lost their # 1 defenseman in Scott Neidermeyer, who joins brother Rob in Anaheim. And there's lots more roles players and minor leaguers, this is just a sample of the big shake up going on. And remember, THIS IS ALL IN ONE WEEK AND IT'S ONLY THE FIRST WEEK OF FREE AGENCY!!!

While it's too early to call and remembering almost every team looks good on paper, we can call a few things:

1. The Philadelphia Flyers have made themselves the team to beat. Adding Forsberg [though oft injured] and hulking 6'5" defensemen Derian Hatcher, Mike Rathje [ex-San Jose Shark] and Chris Therrien [back from Dallas] and making room for their young guys who just won the AHL Calder Cup, Bobby Clarke has declared that the Flyers MUST win the Cup in the next 2 years before re-tooling and has given Ken Hitchcock the players to do it with.

2. Colorado and Detroit and St Louis are no longer the teams to beat in the West. Dallas, by maintaining the Status Quo is probably best positioned of the 'Old Guard' in the West. St Louis is in turmoil with the team up for sale and the Red Wings continue signing aging vets. Colorado tries to replace two irreplacables with cast off veterans. Sure, they have a killer line in Sakic, Tanguay and Hejduk, but Pierre Turgeon, unless a miracle happens, is not going to replace Forberg's hard hitting style, though he can replace those pretty passes. The West is now wide open for the younger teams like Calgary, Nashville, Vancouver and retooling Phoenix and Chicago teams.

3. Teams who anticipated the Cap or last round expansion teams operating under self imposed caps are in great shape to add and work the system. Pittsburgh, Chicago and Boston all had low low payrolls going into the 2005/06 window, now they are in a position to add good talented players at reduced rates and make themselves very competitive very fast. Minnesota, Nashville, Pittsburgh and, to an extent, Columbus who had been working within their own limits now have a few extra dollars to add a reasonably priced 'star' player to their very well built franchises.

4. Some teams remain very quiet and off the radar, but expect them to start making some noise. Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadians, NY Rangers, Washington Capitals, I mean YOU. The Phoenix Coyotes had all ready anticipated all of this and signed a great core to 2 year deals in 2004... This opens them up for picking up people next year.

Finally, it is being reported again that Wayne Gretzky will be named coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. I say again, DON'T do it, Wayne! You have 0 minutes coaching experience. Don't spoil your legacy by trying to be a coach, remain an owner and behind the scenes player. Take the commissioners job in another decade. Say NO to coaching.

That's what I've got as far as the NHL... my fiend Marty and his son Spencer are off to Chi-town for the State Wars roller hockey tournament. The two older boys teams got blown out this weekend, but it is Tennessee's first trip to this kind of thing. Go get 'em, boys! Check out the standings, root for your home state HERE.

REVIEW: Rich Robinson - Paper [2004 - Keyhole Records]

So you were disappointed by Chris Robinson's solo albums? They seemed interesting, but not ... complete? Like Chris needed a band that understood him? Well friends I have the antidote and the cure and the acorn did not fall far from the tree...

From the first stuttering riffs of Yesterday I Saw You on Rich Robinson's Paper, it's as clear who is the soul of the Black Crowes. As clear as the difference in the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards solo records.

Don't misunderstand, I love Chris Robinson's lyrics, but Rich is a capable singer, and the music carries this record far. I don't mean that as a swipe; Chris was probably trying to move beyond or away from the Black Crowes sound, where as Rich embraces and expands it a little, and that familiarity draws you right into this record. Rich has none of Chris' yelp or strut in his singing voice, but that's okay.

What can you expect? Well the first three cuts are walls of swirling guitars; Yesterday I Saw You, Enemy and Leave It Alone picking up where the Crowes Lions left off. Know Me and it's slide and lower production value harken back earlier days sounding like a lost late era Zeppelin track, something cut at the same time as Wearing and Tearing and Ozone Baby that came out on Coda. Forgiven Song and it's slow funeral speed, pedal steel and fiddles play like Jerry Jeff Walker's Lost Gonzo Band doing the Stones Moonlight Mile. Veil and When You Will are cousins of the Crowes' Evil Eye and Non Fiction.

But with Places Rich explores an evil feedback drenched overdriven riff unlike anything ever heard on his other band's records. Not Black Sabbath heavy, not CCR swampy, it's just a plodding and insistant groove that just drags you under with it. The mood is lightened by Begin and it's pre-Joker Steve Miller sound with nice keyboards by Crowes mainstay Eddie Hawrsch. Falling Away is a great slow acoustic ballad over which Rich lays some of his signature blues bending. The keyboard driven Baby and Oh No allow Rich some open tuning slide time. Answers with a string quartet in the background and It's Over are rhythym driven tracks, Answers being a bouncing rhythym and It's Over following a turnaround waltz !?!.

I say again, Rich is no singer, but his voice is as passable as anything. I want to use Steve Miller as an example, but he's even more deadpan than that. But that's not the point. This is a GREAT album that you may have missed.

Game On !!!! [Finally]

I know y'all have been waiting for this one, my take on the return of the NHL.

Well it's about time.

I know a lot is going to be made about who 'won' and who 'lost' in all this. I'm not worried about that. I believe that player salaries were escalating out of control and needed to be in check. I think owners spent unwisely and needed to be slapped for it. But ultimately, I think the players and owners needed to be tied together in the same boat, hence, a partnership with salaries tied to revenues. Now the players have incentive [continue] to be some of the most available and down to Earth athletes in professional sports, to be ambassadors of the game of hockey and help the sport grow south of the Mason-Dixon line. Grow the game, increase revenues, increase salary caps. Ownership gets a chance to stand on level ground, knowing labor costs and not having to worry AS MUCH about Detroit, Colorado, Dallas, NY Rangers buying up all the prized free agents. Smaller markets can compete, if the numbers fall right, for a superstar like Peter Forsberg, Jaromir Jagr, Keith Tzchuk, Tony Amonte, Joe Thornton and build their market. In Edmonton, Carolina, Calgary and Nashville, they are doing cartwheels. Bill Wirz, the penny pinching owner of the Chicago Blackhawks and Jeremy Jacobs in Boston are smiling at a salary minimum and are doing everything in their power to exceed it by only $ 1.00. The players gain younger free agency and a higher minimum salary. Arbitration is revamped, but not a way I'd like to see it.

So now it's game on with and emphasis on 'offensive flow,' meaning [stop me if we've heard this before] a real emphasis on 'cutting down on obstruction especially in the neutral zone,' removing the red line for passing to allow 'the bomb,' and the shootout. I like the shootout. One thinks it favors the offensive player, but the goal wins more than he loses.

Also, for the first time, there's going to be a real shake-up in rosters. With almost 400 players available as free agents, plus an unprecedented buy-out period [Tony Amonte and John LeClair are just the first; expect Pierre Turgeon to be axed by the Stars and possibly Bobby Holik and/or Jaromir Jagr by the NY Hockey Rangers] which will free up some more folks. Will teams pass on borderline/aging veterans to bring up youngsters who will play for the new minimum? Have we seen the last faceoffs for Mark Messier, Chris Chelios, Steve Yzerman, Al McIness, Ron Francis, Marc Bergevin? Where will players like LeClair, Amonte, Turgeon, et al wind up? All of us who played fantasy hockey with salary caps may be in better position to be GMs than the guys there now. Will there be more movement in restricted free agents like Martin St. Louis and Jerome Iginla to teams that have room under the cap?

But the important thing is, it's game on again. It's time to get back out on the ice and play the game. We can get a meaningful TV contract, especially with the shootout providing 'instant highlights' for local news and Sportscenter. Let's put the bitter pills behind us and prove how great this game is again.

Can Sidney Crosby Save Hockey in Pittsburgh?

The Pittsburgh Pengiuns won the NHL's draft lottery today, guaranteeing them first pick in the upcoming NHL draft and 17 year old phoneme Sidney Crosby. [Nashville drafts 18th, Marty. Colorado 27th the rest of you.] This is akin to Pittsburgh drafting Mario Lemieux again. This kid is supposed to be the second coming. Even Wayne Gretzky has said something like 'this kid could give my records a chase.'

But the question remains: does anybody in Pittsburgh CARE?

The Pens have been begging for a new arena since about 1996. They haven't gotten one. The Pirates [13 straight losing seasons] have a great new park. Heinz Field is shared by Pitt [University of Pittsburgh] and the Steelers. One might think that an arena that was 29 years old and had just hosted 2 Stanley Cup championships [and an Eastern conference final - anyone ELSE remember the Pens took the Florida Panthers to 7 games before they fell in 4 to the Avs? How exciting would a Mario /Jagr /Francis /Nedved Pens vs Sakic /Forsberg /Roy Avs been?] would qualify for rebuilding before the destruction of Three Rivers stadium built three years later. But no...

So now Mario takes his deferred salary by taking over ownership of the team who desperately needed rebuilding and revenue sharing. The Pens traded Jaromir Jagr because he was locker room poison and made too much money. The Pens traded Alexei Kovalev because he made too much money. They had a 30 million dollar budget BEFORE the cap and revenue sharing. Of course now they are set up for a cap. They have a franchise goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury and should be able to get last year's #2 overall pick Evengi Malkin to come over from Russia with the addition of Crosby and Mario committed to playing this year and youngsters Ric Jackman and Brooks Orpik on the blueline, plenty of young veterans like Rico Fata, Milan Kraft, Konstantine Koltsov and Ryan Malone... this team should be GREAT in two-three years.

But again, will anyone in Pittsburgh care?

Mario is selling the majority of the team to a group of west coast investors. The team has 'cost certainty,' now they need to figure out a way to get people interested again. No one is kidding themselves saying the Pens will knock the Steelers off as favorite sons, but they only play football one day a week and the Pirates [unless Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban DOES buy them, a rumor I have heard] aren't going to be playing in October. The rules changes, especially removing the red line for passing will allow an offensively aggressive group to play firewagon hockey again. The Pens weakness, since Kjell Samuelsson retired anyway, had been defense and goaltending. [And OH BOY, Duane Sutter could cure those defensive lapses, but Mario's buddy Ed Olczyk is in as coach. Maybe new ownership will bring in a discipline guy again!] There were no changes in the size of the net and no significant changes in goalie equipment, so the athletic goaltenders still have rule of the roost. The shootout may help TV ratings, but a young goaltender is going to have trouble... or maybe the older ones who didn't play in the AHL or ECHL and have to face that. And the thought of facing Mario in a shootout probably isn't exciting any goalies... Anyway, this is a team that will need to win games 7-5. That may be exciting, but any team with a disciplined defense [NJ Devils] can shut that down.

Will anyone in Pittsburgh be watching? Or will we be looking at the Portland or Seattle Penguins be hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2008?

Eye Candy

I have been seeing Sara Evans on CMT again lately... lordy, if anyone meets her twin, send her my way. That woman is stacked like the proverbial brick 'outhouse'.' Can't listen to her sing much ... she goes for long drawn out 'MEEEEEE' that sounds like 'MEAAAAAAYYYYYY,' but I can watch that video for Perfect all day long.

I've been saying that today's country is just slightly watered down 80s pop with fiddles instead of Yngwie/Biff guitar solos, but it appears the women of country have discovered the push up bra and the spiked heel. Nuthin' wrong with that.

Crowes of Black are Back

The Black Crowes are coming to town - Nokia in Grand Prairie, of the $ 12.00 parking out in the middle of nowhere [thought to be fair, they are getting 8.00-10.00 in Deep Ellum and at the stadiums]. I am torn. It's still Chris and Rich and Marc Ford [Southern Harmony-Three Snakes] is clean and back in the fold, Sven Pipen is sufficient on bass, 'old weird Ed' on keys [hopefullt higher in the mix this tour] but I don't know who is drumming. And I always thought Steve Gorman's inventive drumming was a key to that band. It might be like seeing the Stones with somone other than Charlie Watts behind the tubs.

Of course I can't afford a ticket right now, but when my raise kicks in I might consider one.

UPDATE: Billboard reported May 6th that "Original Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman has rejoined the band, after opting out of the initial dates on the band's reunion tour." I guess this ensures I will be travelling to Grand Prarie to relive some of my youth. Last time I saw the Crowes was Sept 2001, about 1 week after the 9/11 trgedy. They played a good set of rock and roll even though guitarist Audley Freed was WAY too loud in the mix and Ed was way way buried. That was also my last show at Bronco Bowl. The BEST Crowes show I saw was at the old Bomb Factory, 1st of two nights that they just rip-raored through a HOT HOT set. Worst was the Sportatorium about three weeks after the Stones in 96. Marc Ford was WAY WAY out of it that night.