A Large Slice of My Favorite Pumpkin Pie

                                                              “Shiny and Oh So Bright“

This type of imagery occurred a lot on stage

On Monday, August 13 my friend and I went to see the rock band, The Smashing Pumpkins at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. They were touring this year in celebration of their 30th anniversary as a band. There has been so much personal drama surrounding this music group ever since the mid-1990s.

 

Taken in the early 1990’s with D’arcy on the far left

The drummer (Chamberlain) gets fired from them in 1996 because of involvement with drugs and the death of a former keyboard player but then later returns. Their bass player (D’Arcy) is fired and permanently replaced in 2000. But I know one thing is for sure, the music sounds great in the studio and live.

I think Smashing Pumpkins were one of the greatest rock bands of the 1990’s, easily.

Billy Corgan has been one of my favorite guitarists. His work on the studio albums Gish, Siamese Dream and even Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) is brilliant, layering guitar upon guitar with brilliant riffs and awesome solos.

His lyrics are often depressed and angry, but they show hope and beauty too. Lyrics aren’t usually as important to me as music, but Billy Corgan writes good ones, in my opinion. For a rock star, he surprises me with that kind of songwriting talent.

When I first got into the Pumpkins back in 1991, I didn’t like Billy Corgan’s voice that much, but I grew to really appreciate it. The wall of sound created by Billy Corgan’s guitars combined with his original voice and songwriting is also backed up by the experienced drumming of Jimmy Chamberlain. He used to be in a jazz band apparently, and the guy definitely knows what he’s doing.

James Iha and D’arcy are respectively great rhythm and bass guitarists as well but they are unfortunately known more for their live contributions because Billy tended to prefer taking over in the studio. This was always the one controversial fact about the pumpkins.

But to see them live again for the first time since the fall of 96 was absolutely mind-blowing. This show lasted way past 3 hours but contained about 31 songs that spanned highlights from all of their studio albums. There were montage videos (D’arcy was unfortunately edited from some of the classic videos), bright and shiny lasers and colored spotlights that enhanced the already intense amplified sounds of guitars and drums just charging at you like a rocket!

I was quite satisfied seeing them again. This show was way better than the one I saw over 20 years ago. Much cleaner, tighter and I finally got to hear Jimmy’s fantastic and spot-on drumming since the last time I saw them, he was temporarily replaced by the drummer from the alternative band Filter. Yes there was no D’arcy but I’ll settle for 75% of the band.

Recent photo of the band. Obviously no signs of D’arcy but instead we have Jack Bates on the far right

Even on a Monday night with a wife and kid back at home and with my impending daily job still waiting for me at 8:00 am the next day, the wild and crazy concert was worth it.

The Beating Pulse of Music

The Story of My Pulse With Pink Floyd

Well I don’t know where to begin with the babble on Pink Floyd. I absolutely love this band. Ever since I was a kid in the 80’s, I was exposed to them. My dad played the records and I was awakened from whatever slumber I was trapped inside when I listened to their music. I just want to thank my father for opening up my mind to great music. We didn’t always have a lot of common ground but it was the notes coming from David Gilmour’s Fender Stratocaster that could potentially bring us both to tears. Any time the two of us took a drive in his pickup truck, it was almost a certainty that the band Pink Floyd would be emitting from the car stereo. Ever since I was about 10 years old; I UNDERSTOOD this unique, abstract, bizarre, spacey and progressive rock band. I was hooked.

Then just before I went into college, the 2 of us went to Soldier Field in Chicago and saw Pink Floyd perform one of their last live concerts ever! It was quite an awesome experience. In the summer of 1994, my dad surprised me and bought 2 tickets for us to go see Pink Floyd live. It was my first concert ever. I was 18 years old. I was so pumped. The band takes the stage. I am among a crowd of 50,000 people with my dad screaming and shouting. I have never been to a rock show as awesome as that one in my entire life…been chasing that high for 24 years…my dad raised the bar right out of the gate. I still have my ticket stub and I bought a T Shirt.

For me, the band became an obsession of mine. I never could ONLY be a casual observer and listener. “Another Brick In The Wall,” was my first encounter with the Floyd. Mom would take me to the grocery store with her when I was a small boy. I was probably five years old when I kept hearing that song on the radio. My imagination was quite vivid at that age of my youth. Sometimes you like what you are hearing without quite being aware of the meaning or having a complete understanding of its lyrics, structure and relevance to your own life

In high school, my dad bought this awesome Pink Floyd Box Set. When I gazed upon the cover, with nude figures soaring above the water, I surrendered to the abstract art which definitely made an enormous impression on me. 8 compact discs inside the box. A large book with stories, pictures, track listings and lyrics captivated my interest for several weeks. After school homework and on dull weekends as a teenager, I would gravitate towards the magic of Pink Floyd. The 8 cds consisted of 7 albums and a bonus cd from the early days when a man named Syd Barrett was their lead guitarist and singer. The others were chosen as highlights that represented the “FLOYD SOUND.”

A Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and Animals were the chosen ones for this box set. My father loved this kind of stuff! He was big into bands like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, CSNY and many others. But when it came to this artistic and experimental music from these four obscure British musicians, it was a whole new ball of wax. Moods were created. The atmosphere has that imagery of a street alley corner, an abandoned mountain peak, being lost in the desert and being inside a warm room looking outside at the cold neighborhood sort of feeling. Getting lost into that PINK noise.

Sometimes atmospheres and moods are hard to describe in detail. When I hear Roger Waters’ lyrics come to life in these Rock Operas, like THE WALL, I am left speechless because suddenly I have insane images in my head of worms, naked women in bathtubs, hammers marching, kids staring at airplanes up in the sky and getting thrown into a meat grinder by disgruntled teachers. The same holds true to all of their albums.

My dad and I would get into really long philosophical conversations about these guys, the meanings behind their politically charged and surreal lyrics and the imagination that they yielded. We would be working in the yard, painting the family room, or he would be helping me with my homework and have these awesome songs in the background.

While I was in college a couple of noteworthy things took place. One was that my dad met someone online that had a cassette tape of the Chicago performance we were at. It was a bootleg copy but still pretty cool. I swear there’s a part during the encore that I can hear my dad’s voice but one can only imagine. The second thing that happened was on Pay Per View, they were televising a live Pink Floyd concert during that “Pulse” tour. This guy paid for it and then charged everyone 5 bucks to hang out in his dorm room and watch the show. Some folks were tripping and others were stoned but everyone was having a good time.

Then came PULSE the CD in the summer of 1995. This live double disc set had a battery operated blinking light attached to the case to represent a pulse. The artwork on the packaging was stunning. Picture attached. Sound wise, it was a good representation of the music they played on the same tour as when we saw them. The only real difference was the second disc contained all of Dark Side of The Moon (they did not play all of the songs from this album at the show we were at). The encore was the same with “Comfortably Numb” and “Run Like Hell.”

PULSE is definitely on my list of favorite live albums. It takes me back to a memory of that experience where Mr Sight and Mr Sound hung out and played for two hours. They eventually released a DVD set for PULSE complete with special footage and awesome art. While I enjoy the live in Pompeii experience or the numerous other live recordings from the Wish You Were Here tour or even the mighty The Wall one, I still LOVE the PULSE double CD set most because it directly ties me to my experience going to see the band live.

Pink Floyd was always about the concept of Sight and Sound blending together. I think that folks who enjoy SOME of Pink Floyd’s music and not much of the more EXPERIMENTAL stuff should honestly hangout with my dad and I more often. It’s like unraveling a mystery. Solving a puzzle within an enigma. Exploring symbols, metaphors and digging deeper is part of the fun. There’s more to this music than what lies on the surface. Anyways, PULSE is so great because it’s extremely enjoyable and it isn’t really an acquired taste. Once you hear it then it becomes this emotional transposition from just appreciating their works to totally submerging yourself into the true genius behind David and the gang.

I owe it all to my dad! He solidified his coolness with me. Props to you papa! Shine On. I’m glad our special bond is timeless……

C-Note

 

She sure can shred!

I’ve seen a lot of concerts in my life and a few nights ago I saw one of the most amazing shows this year in fact this particular show was the BEST performance of the year 2014. It was a double feature at the historic Chicago Theater. The two bands were Future Islands and St. Vincent. I was quite pleased with the opening act, that being Future Islands. It was very energetic and any of those songs performed could’ve been pop singles. They had kind of an 80s pop, bluesy but yet fast paced moving performances. The lead singer liked to do a very unusual dance where he was kind of gyrating and doing this pelvic twists almost moving around like an animal.

St. Vincent was a completely different experience yet also interesting and strange. St. Vincent is the name of the band created by a woman named Annie Clark who comes from New York. She is a singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and beautiful singer. Her voice is angelic yet her brilliant guitar playing is raw and vibrant. In fact quite honestly I will say that Annie Clark (St. Vincent) is the most amazing female guitar player that I have ever witnessed in front of a stage audience in my entire life. She certainly is more avant-garde bazaar strange. Also she’s a recent pupil of David Byrne who is best known for his work with the Talking Heads. But she brings something new to this generation of music. She brings back the arts, the intensity, the performance that makes you stand up and cheer, that it breaks the mold. It’s not your everyday rock performance, it’s a dramatic show on stage. She moves and acts like a robot on stage on purpose but once that guitar is strapped to her body and her hands move around the strings plucking and sliding up and down the neck it’s like something monstrous has been unleashed and she just explodes all over the place as if you wonder “is this the same person who was just singing a sweet ballad only moments earlier?”

She is young, she is beautiful, her engagement with the crowd at a few times was very real and down-to-earth and then suddenly the lights go out and the strobe lights come on and the drums start pounding and it’s like she just goes right back into character. What kind of character? It’s hard to describe. Like an alien robot one minute and then the next minute just a normal New Yorker gal. Its more than a rock show, it’s art. She went so crazy at one point that she tumbled off the stage, climbed onto an audience members’ back and started to roam around the crowd while still jamming on her guitar. I snapped a photo of that moment. (see above) Go see her live! In the meantime, I have included a video that really demonstrates her awesomeness!!!

Katy Restored My Innocence

Enormous stadium
Blasting
pounding
music

Thousands of flashlights
Emitting from smartphones
Gigantic colorful balloons
Glitter everywhere
Fireworks

Clapping hands
Dancing in place by our seats
Jumping up and down
Like giddy children

Wild outfits
Little girls with wings
Pizza and Abe Lincoln?
What’s Gluten?

Shiny guitar strumming

Glamorous costume changes
Everything is a prism
Camera phones
Coca cola
Intimacy
Love of her crowd

Told us how she went
For a bike ride around
“Our city of Chicago”

Selfies with Katy and the crowd
Birthday party with a member of the audience

Egyptian feel
Kitty cats
Glow in the dark
3D glasses
Moms & Daughters
Doing the WAVE
Chanting “Katy! Katy! Katy!”
Screaming
10 year old girls’
energy all over
me

“But What’s Gluten?”

Brightly connected
A thrill ride
Awesome sauce

Got home at 1:00 a.m.
And was
Still WIDE AWAKE!!!

Dum Dum Girls “filled” me with joy at the Empty Bottle

The Empty Bottle is simply a dive bar and a surprisingly relaxing and fun music venue located in Chicago, Illinois. This is one of the coolest venues for Chicago’s alternative music scene. The place hosts several kinds of music. There is plenty of indie-rock, punk, metal, rock’n’roll, hip-hop, electronic, experimental, ambience and jazz. This club/bar opened in 1992 and was originally a regular neighborhood bar. There’s plenty of CHEAP beer too! It’s like being in a large basement with brick walls and little coves that sneak around corners.

Pinball games, Ms Pac-Man arcade for only a quarter, a pool table and several water jugs strategically place all around the place with plastic cups stacked near them too. Its a nice gesture to offer free water to someone low on cash but just plain thirsty. They also just have a really nice space that’s conducive to having a lot of different experiences. It is hard to have a bad view of the stage where artists perform, whether you are early or late to the show. I definitely need to return.

Now let me cut right to the chase. My wife and I celebrated a special anniversary on this day of March 31st. We met on a train 7 years ago and celebrated by attending a Dum Dum Girls show. Who are they you ask? Dum Dum Girls are an American rock band, formed about six years ago. In the beginning, it was a bedroom recording project of lead singer and songwriter Dee Dee Penny in Los Angeles. She is currently living in New York City. I try to keep up with today’s music. These four talented females have very nice glossy melodies that you don’t hear from today’s bands. It rocks, it waves, it pounds through awesome songwriting!

This music they play is slick and focused. Post punk, garage punk, dreamy and pouty 80’s pop. That’s essentially how I would describe their music. Fuzzy guitar riffs, eyeliner distortion and 1960s girl-group sensibilities.Too True, their newest album, toggles between ethereal and punk, gothic and 80s dance party, and provides a strong and welcomed addition to the Dum Dum Girls catalog. The name pays homage to The Vaselines’ album Dum Dum and an Iggy Pop song called “Dum Dum Boys”. Dee Dee Penny’s stage name was not inspired by Dee Dee Ramone. It’s a coincidence.

Appearance-wise onstage they are quite a sight. Short skirts and long legs. Leather outfits. I am reminded of those imfamous Robert Palmer ADDICTED TO LOVE videos. You know? The ones with the sexy girls pretending to play guitars? Only these girls are most definitely playing vintage Silvertone guitars through glorious RAT amps. The stage is smokey blue with christmas lights dangling from the ceiling. A large BLUE lit up cut-out heart is draped in the background. Their microphones are donned with fiberoptic roses and spare red picks arranged all pretty-like. The whole thing was mesmorizing and a real nice trip back in time to that underground gothic-like and dreamy-like club.

Songs like “Too True To Be Good,” “Rimbaud Eyes,” “Lost Boys & Girls Club” and “Are you Ok” were intense highlights! DEE DEE and the ladies are obviously a big fan of the cooler music that came out of 80s/early 90s and it comes through in their music. Sometimes I am reminded of Chrissie Hynde (of the Pretenders) vocals. Penny’s voice is quite stellar. She opens up her sound on large and gorgeous ballads like “Coming Down.” The show hypnotized me and then I had to drive home at 1:00 a.m.

But I was left with incredible memories and hard rocking chicks! Here’s a video that gives you a better idea of their awesome sounds going down:

Top Ten of Ten: #2 Benny Goodman’s historic 1938 Carnegie Hall concert

In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman was a leader of one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critics as “the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz’s ‘coming out’ party to the world of ‘respectable’ music.” Benny Goodman’s January 1938 jazz concert at Carnegie Hall was important because it was actually one of the first rock ‘n’ roll concerts! If you are thinking “how this could be?”, you can either watch old clips of young folks at the concert that night, swaying and rocking in their seats, in an excitable manner… or you can just listen to the power exploding from your stereo speakers when you put this 2 CD-set into your player! This is an amazing album; a small slice of American music history. The fact that this kind of madness could be wonderfully caught in a single night just before WWII America simply amazes me. I also enjoyed the crackles.