It’s been a while now since I’ve written about any music stuff, but I wasn’t feeling terribly inspired for a particular “Flashback Friday” installment. Then out if the blue I heard a cover song done by a band – out of Romania of all places – that was pretty great, and it got me to thinking about some of the great cover songs that have been done over the years.
I’m case you’re not familiar with the term, a “cover” is a re-make of a song done by somebody else. You’ll often find cover bands in bars and at wedding receptions and such, where the paying customer wants the band playing music most everyone is familiar with. A true cover band will play all kinds of things, from a variety of artists, as opposed to a “tribute” band that will play only the songs of ONE artist, often dressing the part and doing their best to mimic the original band. From what I understand, tribute bands are where the money is at, but as a musician I can’t imagine doing such a thing. But I digress…
Now, I’ve been in cover bands and I’ve also been in bands that played 99% original music, with a cover or two thrown in the live set just for fun. In my case it was always a song from the past, something we as a group were inspired by, or just a song we really loved, not just some Top 40 hit for the sake of playing a hit song for an audience. And we always tried to put our own spin on it, it was never a straight up imitation. Did any of those bands play a cover that was better than the original? I couldn’t say. But for us it was just for fun and the love of a particular song.
All that being said, every now and again a known band will release a cover song that in my opinion outshines the original. The songs listed below meet that criteria, again in MY opinion.
Born to Run- Frankie Goes To Hollywood
I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years these guys would play a Bruce Springsteen song, but they did and it’s an awesome rendition!
Stop Your Sobbing – Pretenders
Originally released by the Kinks – another band I always loved – and produced by Nick Lowe, the Pretenders put their spin on it and knocked it out of the park!
Higher Ground – RHCP
It takes a lot of guts to cover a legendary musican like Stevie Wonder, but in my opinion the Peppers took a great song and made it 10x greater!
I’ve Done Everything For You – Rick Springfield
Written and originally recorded by Sammy Hagar, this version by Rick Springfield leaves Sammy’s version in the dust. Even Sammy himself liked Rick’s version better!
Only The Young – Scandal
I LOVED this song when it was released, it wasn’t until a few years later I learned it was actually written and released by Journey. I like the Journey version, but Patty and the boys took it to another level!
Sorry – the Three O’clock
I’ve been a fan of the Three O’clock since about 1982, and this was one of my favorite songs of theirs and it took me FOREVER to find a copy back in the day! Imagine my chagrin when I learned only ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO that it was a cover! Originally written and performed by Australian band the Easybeats, featuring George Young, older brother of Malcom and Angus Young of AC/DC
HONORABLE MENTION:
Wasted Years – Damone
Damone is (was?) a GREAT band and their debut album floored me. This wasn’t my favorite track on the album, but I liked it a lot. I later learned from a friend of mine more familiar with Heavy Metal that this was an Iron Maiden song! I can’t say Damone’s is better, it doesn’t really resemble the Maiden version at all. They certainly put their own spin on it and did a fantastic job of it.
Got the Time – Anthrax
I really, really like this version of the Joe Jackson classic. But is it BETTER than Joe’s version? Absolutely not. Just different and fun.
I think it’s a big deal to record a cover as opposed to recording a song simply written by someone else that’s never been out for public consumption. It’s a risky endeavor, especially if the song being covered was a hit when originally released. It takes an exceptional talent to take an already great song, and make it sound like your band rather than the band that originally wrote the song. No small feat! And don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of straight up CRINGE covers out there, but if you look and listen every once in a while a diamond shines through!
I could have easily added another half dozen covers to this list, if not more, I think are better than the original versions, but I’d love to hear from my readers. Tell me a song you think is better than the original version, I’m all ears.
I’m by no means a fan of The Donald, nor have I ever voted for him, but we as a country took a very bad turn today. While part of me is shocked and horrified at the actions in PA today, another part of me is surprised it took this long for an attempt to be made on his life. Between the 24/7 belligerence in the media and social media, combined with the large swathes of people seeming to have gone completely out of their minds these last 8 years or so, how could it have NOT happened?
I fear for my Country and my Countrymen.
I’m not what you’d consider a praying man, and I don’t know many who are these days, perhaps that’s part of the problem.
As renowned and revered blogger Ol’ Remus used to say, “avoid crowds”. Keep your head on a swivel and practice situational awareness. The house of cards is starting to tumble, and desperate people are dangerous people.
If I’m being honest, I’m not feeling all that celebratory about our dear country… Nonetheless I am not without hope for the future and gratitude for our past generations that created something special out of a vast wilderness. Enjoy your day. Reflect on where we are and where we’re going as a people…
Last night when I was nearly home, I noticed my “new” truck was running a little hot. Nothing crazy, but about 20 degrees (F) higher than what I’ve noticed as regular operating temps. Well, it was 90 degrees and I’d driven 25 miles in stop-and-go traffic, with the A/C blasting, so I didn’t give it too much concern.
This morning, I figured I’d play it safe and take my former SUV, that I haven’t gotten rid of yet, to work. BUT, since I haven’t driven it in the last month, the ol’ girl wouldn’t even THINK about starting, even with my jump-pack attached (which until now has had a 100% success rate!). So back to the pickup I go…
Again, playing it safe, I took the back-route, to avoid the highways and it’s a darn good thing I did!
About 7 miles in to the commute, I notice the temp gauge is nearly pegged at 250 degrees! Yikes! I cranked the heater on high, flipped a U-turn to limp her back home and a mile later lost all visibility due to the massive plume of steam pouring out from under the hood! D’oh!!
I pulled into the nearest parking lot, shut ‘er down and popped the hood. EVERYTHING under the hood was bathed in antifreeze.
Hello, AAA?
Long story short, had to get a tow home. I grabbed the Mrs.’ car for a run to the parts store, swapped out the upper radiator hose, and dropped in another 2 gallons of antifreeze. I also replaced the battery while I was under the hood. Supposedly it was “newish” when I bought the truck and it was dated 2/22 so I had no reason to think otherwise, but it’s been weak and I don’t need anymore “on the way to work” issues.
Then I cleaned up my greasy paws, took her on a quick test run, and made it to the “office” at 12:30 – enough to grab a half day’s hours.
So not exactly a banner day for the Boring Old Man! But it could have been a lot worse. I’m grateful that the Mrs. persuaded me to get AAA some time ago. I’m grateful that the parts store near home had the required part for a 25 year old truck ON THE SHELF. I’m grateful that it was just the radiator hose and not the radiator or waterpump! And I’m grateful that I have the tools and knowhow to fix stuff and not need a mechanic all the time! (Even if it had been the radiator or waterpump, that’s all well within my wheelhouse) And most of all, I’m exceptionally grateful this breakdown didn’t happen on the highway in morning rush hour traffic! That would have increased the stress levels ten-fold!
It was also a strong reminder to get my shizz together, vis-a-vis preparedness! I was so excited to start driving this new-old truck, that I just started daily-driving it without setting it up for emergencies. Dumb. Had I been properly prepared, I could’ve “McGuyver’d” it and not had to wait for the tow truck… Anyhow, lesson learned!
And now I’m back on the road with the first (albeit minor) repair to my new truck under my belt! All’s well that ends well, as they say.
Today I’m writing about my “new” truck, just purchased a few weeks ago, finally “officially legal” per California SMOG requirements (a bit of an ordeal!) with a transferred title and insurance coverage!
Fair warning, I’m gonna nerd-out a bit here… If you’re not a “car guy/gal” or a gearhead, you might wanna pass on this one…lest you be bored to tears.
OK, where to start… For the last few years I’ve been driving a pretty nice SUV, but it’s a little long in the tooth (model year 2000), expensive to maintain (if you’ve ever owned a European car, you know of what I speak!) and parts are becoming obsolete, making it even more expensive and difficult to maintain. But it fit the bill at the time, it was a steal actually, it drives great and still actually looks pretty darn good for being 24 years old with 142k on the odometer. However, it needs brakes, it needs tires, there is a weird electrical gremlin causing an intermittent tail light malfunction… and frankly it doesn’t fill my needs in my new job, not to mention I was looking for rooftop baskets to hold camping gear and such because it is lacking storage space. The bottom line is I don’t want to sink any more money into this old rig, knowing I wanted to replace it with something more suited to my current needs. The hunt began in earnest a few months ago.
I got a little methodical (and obsessive) after determining the criteria:
1. Pickup truck, minimum 6′ bed, 4×4
2. Capable of towing
3. Something common enough to have parts readily available and strong after-market support.
4. Cheap enough that I could pay cash, but could be driven away.
5. Something “simple” that I can work on myself.
After much searching on Craigslist, researching forums and YouTube, I decided to find myself a GM GMT400 model – Chevy and GMC trucks produced from 1988 – 1998. Currently known as an “OSB” (Old Body Style) amongst the rabble.
Now, I have some experience with these trucks… My father owned a couple over the years, a company I once worked at as their fleet manager (amongst other titles!) had a several of them and I had a ’97 GMC Yukon for a while that was built on the same platform, just in an SUV format, rather than a pickup. So I knew these trucks pretty well and had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. I’d driven half a dozen of them, at least, and wrenched on as many, if not more. This was it, a decision was made. Now to find one!!
There are still a bunch of these trucks on the road, but surprisingly few for sale (make of that what you will). Of the ones for sale, they were either clapped out, beat up old work trucks OR exorbitantly expensive (I found a few asking between $17k – $25k!)
Then it happened, a UNICORN appeared! I found a 1999 Chevrolet K1500, Z71 package, extended cab with a short bed, in BLACK no less!
Now you might be saying, “you said from 1988-1998”, and you are correct. What I didn’t know going into this search, was that ’99 had “carryover” models. So it is essentially a 1998, but initially registered as a 1999.
I may have overpaid at $4k, but considering what was in the marketplace, I honestly don’t think I could have found a better base to build my “forever truck” from. My research tells me these “OSB” models are skyrocketing in value these days, so the same truck might have cost me another grand or two had I waited another year to pull the trigger. And it is loaded – all the creature comforts you could want in a truck, but it’s still an actual truck.
As an aside, my all-time favorite truck is the GM 1967-1972 model, and ten years ago you could pick them up for a few grand… Now I’ve seen guys asking $6k for one with NO motor, NO transmission and rusted out rocker panels and cab corners… A nicely restored one runs $25k-$40k. A fully customized rig could run you close to 6 figures… So not only can I not afford one of those, they are way more of a commitment than I can make for a full on restoration at this time of my life.
So the OSB it is! Honestly, after the ’67-’72s, the “OSB” models have been my second most favored truck since they were released. I do like the Ford F-series trucks from the early 2000’s too, but I think in the long run, I’ll be happier in the GM, it just suits me. I did have a 2001 F150 once upon a time, and I liked it, but even 6-7 years ago it was getting hard to find parts for it because there were so many changes made to the Fords every couple years.
My new truck has SUPER high mileage on it (301k!), BUT it had the transmission rebuilt about 100k back, the positraction rear-end was recently rebuilt, it’s got a new AC compressor, a new AGM battery and a newish high output alternator. It’s got an aftermarket stereo with Bluetooth, a lumber rack and a tow hitch with electric brake controller. There is even a hardwired DC/AC inverter installed in the cab, so I can charge my laptop or tool batteries from the comfort of the driver’s seat! And most importantly, it starts right up with no nonsense and runs like a top.
Now, it’s far from perfect… The steering is REALLY sloppy. Maybe it just needs a new steering shaft, maybe a new steering gear box… It has nearly new AT tires on the front, but the rears need replacement. The new tires are an odd size and not what I would have picked, but I’m going to throw on a pair of matching tires in the back and when they wear out in a year or two, replace the full set with the proper size. The brakes are a little “soft”… not horrible or dangerous, but they could be better. The body has a few dings and scratches, nothing major, but it’s clearly lived it’s life as a truck!
Other then that, it’s more or less good to go. Not that I’m gonna stop there. No-sir-ee!! I’ve got BIG plans for this rig!
A quick walk-around
I priced out a 2024 Silverado, similarly equipped and it was about $55k. I decided my budget for this build would be 50% of that cost. Minus the initial purchase price, that leaves me with a build budget of $23.5k. FWIW, the sales tax ALONE would have been more on the new truck than what I purchased th ’99 for. And my annual registration will be a tiny fraction of what a new one would be. I know several guys with new, expensive trucks that have to shell out over $1k annually for registration here in CA, mine should be between $200-$300 per year.
The puzzle is how to make this an “all-in-one”, does everything I need rig? I need this truck to be ready for:
Daily driving, construction materials hauling, off the beaten path surf destinations, camping trips and hauling musical gear around. Oh, and it must function as a mobile office. Off grid and self-contained. AND, I want it to look good while doing it! No small feat.
I’m a fair-to-middlin’ mechanic and pretty well equipped with tools and whatnot, but I live in an apartment with no garage (and a picky landlord!) so this is going to be a SLOW process. My B.I.L, Captain Karel, has been cool in the past letting me take over his driveway on weekends for mechanic work and I may be able to sneak in to my Pop’s shop on weekends for some of the necessary cleanup/cosmetic work, but there isn’t a whole lot I can do at home, unfortunately.
Now that the smog check thing is done (it was an ordeal, but thankfully now complete for only $120) and it is registered and insured I’ve started shaking it down to see what’s what and what the priority of needs is. Then the FUN starts!
After some initial preventative maintenance and a good scrubbing inside and out, the first big project I want to tackle is removing the rear seat and building in a custom storage box that matches the interior (part of the mobile office setup), and then some cosmetic stuff. The truck is lousy with chrome plating and I’m not a fan… A new black grill is in order, removing the wheel arch trim, etc. The chrome bumpers will go when I’m a little more flush with cash.
But yeah, I’m really excited about this new adventure. I hope to build the truck of my dreams and drive it ’til I can’t drive anymore! Wish me luck!
I’ve been in a deeply introspective zone lately, searching for “something” lost within me over the last decade or so, and amongst other things that has had me reminiscing about better days gone by, and that lead me to old music, since when I was what I consider the “real” me, my life essentially revolved around music. If I wasn’t at band practice or playing a gig, I was out at shows watching other bands. If I wasn’t playing music or watching others play, I was out dancing. If not there, I was listening to the radio or my vast record collection. The first thing I did in the morning was turn on the radio (they used to play music in the mornings, can you imagine?!?). When I went to bed I always put a record on to fall asleep to. I was OBSESSED.
Any of you that have read my blog for any time will note that music still has a big place in my life even if severely reduced from what it used to be.
Anyhow, during this introspection I found myself looking back at my early days and the things I took for granted or simply didn’t appreciate at the time. Which kinda sprang forth in a comments section over at Dave’s place https://soundday.wordpress.com/2024/05/27/may-27-goths-leading-lady
I started flowing from within all the great opportunities I had to experience music as a Bay Area native and the more I wrote the more I realized I have seen so many great bands in my lifetime and I never thought to keep track of all the shows over the years. My home town seemed so dull back in the 80’s and we yearned for the action of places like San Francisco and Los Angeles… But had I grown up in say rural Iowa or the Louisiana swamps, my exposure would have been so much more limited and I likely would be a completely different and unrecognizable person. Of course, the dull South Bay 10 years later turned into Silicon Valley, which did bring “excitement” to town, just not anything I was excited about!
Anyhow, I figured I should try to reach way, way back and put up a list of all the bands I’ve had the good luck to see. There is no possible way to put this in order, far too many years under the bridge, and I’m sure no matter how long this list gets, I’m going to forget someone. Likely multiple someones. But as I’m getting “long in the tooth” and my memory isn’t getting any better, I’ll put it down for posterity and if anything it will give me something fun to look back on as I continue down the golden path of age.
How I envision myself in my Golden Years!
A lot of these bands will be a little obscure since that’s where most of my love lies within musical realms, and a lot of them you will have NEVER heard of, since they were local bands that never made a big splash outside our local scene. Nonetheless, it’s all part of my heart and soul, ingrained in my DNA.
An old, dear friend recently said to me in a text “You just touched on what I think is one of the best things about music–at its best, it’s like a Time Machine that immediately transports you to a time and place. We had some great times driving around, shooting the shit, and listening to what I think has to be the golden age of college radio.” Amen!
So without further blathering, here is a somewhat complete, but random-ordered list of that bands I’ve been lucky enough to see with my own eyes, to hear live and in-person. A lot of the people that helped make me who I am. I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum, lest this become a novel…
The earliest concert I remember, I must have been 10-12 years old, was Paul Revere & the Raiders at Great America, an amusement park in Santa Clara. It was a July 4th celebration and as a kid, it was the greatest thing I had ever seen. Little did I know what the next 45 years would bring!
Around that era I also saw Papa Do Run Run, a local surf band, ala the Beach Boys, performing at a car show. I LOVED surf music as a kid (and all the Beach Blanket movies!) and I was officially hooked on live music!
In 6th grade I saw my first real Rock & Roll cover band play. (back then 6th graders weren’t allowed to attend dances, so the band played a concert the night before the dance for us youngsters.) To this day I can remember them playing “Hold the Line” by Toto, which was one of my favorite songs at the time, and I was absolutely blown away by the sheer power of the sound. I had already been playing the drums for a few years by this time, and after that night I didn’t want to do anything else! One of those literal life-changing events.
The next one I remember was a fairgrounds show with the Steve Miller band and Quarterflash (remember them?!?) I believe that was the summer between 8th and 9th grade.
After the initial toe-dipping of those early shows, things really took off and after that it’s all a blur…
During my high school years (’82-’86), I saw Adam Ant, the Police, Oingo Boingo, the Fixx, Thompson Twins, Madness, Red Rockers, U2, the Tubes, Pablo Cruise, Bonnie Hayes & the Wild Combo, INXS, Wire Train, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Belouis Some, and the Church. Probably a few others, it’s all a bit fuzzy…
In my Senior year, I was in a truly serious band and we played our first nightclub gig 5 days before my 18th birthday and that club – the Laundryworks in San Jose – became my home away from home. I was down there 2 or 3 nights a week seeing every local band I could, and there were some GREAT bands in San Jose back then… A usual night would have 3 bands – a 30 minute set from the opener, a 45 minute middle set and then a headliner that played until last call. It was glorious, and felt like a place just for us and all our fellow misfits.
Some of the bands I can still recall from back then, that stand out after all these years, were Grey Matter, Swing Party, Daddy in His Deep Sleep, Juliet Slip, Never Say Never, London Down, the Kingpins (the most entertaining Rockabilly band I’ve EVER witnessed!) and the absolute cream of the crop Epic Rumors. EVERYONE in the scene thought Epic Rumors were going to be “the next big thing” but alas, it never came to pass. It should have, they were fantastic! Along with all those great local bands, they had a number of “national” touring bands come through, such as Game Theory, Dinosaur Jr., Robert Seidler (of “Christian Boy” fame), Camper Van Beethoven, Firehose… I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones that stick out. The Laundryworks is also where I first met Brian “Brain” Mantilla, drummer extraordinaire. He was playing with a great band called Big City, and would later go on to help form Funk/Punk pioneers Limbomaniacs (who I saw COUNTLESS times!), he played with Ted Zeppelin, a Ted Nugent/Led Zeppelin “tribute” band (only nobody was calling them tribute bands back then) and later for both Primus and Guns & Roses with Buckethead. One of the most nerve racking shows I ever played was when we opened for Ted Zeppelin and I knew Brain was in the audience…He was sooo good, even back then, that all my self-confidence and baravdo went right out the door!
Around that general time I saw Wire Train a few more times and got to meet and hang out with the band backstage at a few gigs. Great guys, AWESOME band. A Top 10 list band for me, no question! A new club had opened up in Santa Clara called One Step Beyond and that place was like a dream come true. I played a bunch of gigs there, went dancing there a couple hundred times and saw so many great concerts there! Where to start… Wire Train, of course, CONCRETE BLONDE – 3 times(another Top 10 band for me and AMAZING live!) the Ramones, the Replacements, Screaming Trees, Flesh for Lulu, Aztec Camera, Erasure, Unforgiven, Cheap Trick, Nina Hagen, Book of Love, Fishbone, the afore-mentioned Limbomaniacs, House of Schock (drummer Gina Schock’s post- GoGo’s band), Mission U.K., Sisters of Mercy, the Bolshoi, Ministry… That club also holds the distinct honor (?) of having hosted the only two concerts I ever walked out of because the bands were So. Completely. Awful. First was Doctor and the Medics, just embarrassingly bad. The next one was Gene Loves Jezebel. I liked their records a lot, but live they were excruciating! So bad it hurt my ears AND my feelings!
In other places in generally that same era I got to see Squeeze with the Hooters and the Truth opening – awesome show at the Berkeley Greek Theater, a spectacular outdoor venue. I saw the Church again, Peter Murphy, Echo & the Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cult (Guns & Roses were the opener, but we got there late and only caught the last song! We had NO idea who they were at the time, nobody outside of LA did). R.E.M. with the Three O’clock opening, I saw U2 again, I saw Adam Ant again, the Pretenders twice, the Bodeans, Let’s Active, Kid Creole and the Coconuts(AWESOME!), Lone Justice, Primus a dozen times in assorted club venues, before the Seas of Cheese album dropped… Psychefunkipus (probably spelling that wrong), Wire Train again…
Then I went through a short phase of jazz shows – Fatburger stands out as the best of them. I was 5 feet from the stage in a place that held maybe 200 people, it was astounding. I saw the Yellowjackets, Michael Franks, Dave Weckyl, Steve Smith, Vinnie Colliuta… a few others I can’t name. What can I say, I tried. I fully admit that I admire the musicianship of top notch jazz players, but I just could never get too into the music. I like it OK, I’m just not well versed in it and just kinda prefer my jazz in the background.
Oh, I completely forgot about my “jam band” phase – I saw the Grateful Dead at least 6 times, maybe 7, we saw Dave Matthew’s Band I think 3 times. And to top it off, one show with Phish. Of all of ’em, DMB was the most fun and musically impressive of all of them in my opinion. His later music puts me to sleep though, haven’t been to one of his shows in close to 20 years.
Then there are the “classic rock” shows, oh my goodness… The Rolling Stones (at the time the most expensive tickets I’d ever purchased BY FAR, and one of the worst stadium shows I’ve ever seen. Never. Again. The Who twice. OUTSTANDING!!! Rush three times and every time was unbelievably great. Steve Winwood, Steve Miller again, the Doobie Brothers (twice), Peter Gabriel, Bon Jovi (technically, I was working on their tour with the opening band, I never actually bought tickets and went to a Bon Jovi show, but I saw a lot of them and they were a LOT better than I thought they’d be – VERY professional, I’m just not a fan of their songs. Except “Runaway”, that’s a killer), and also Pat Travers. That show holds the distincion of being the LOUDEST show I’ve ever attended. My ears were ringing for 2 days afterwards, no kidding. But he was great… And for a while in the late 80’s my band was a top pick opener for “oldies” bands coming through town and we opened for the Guess Who, Elvin Bishop, Tommy Tutone, the Tubes, the Bay City Rollers, amongst others so I saw at least bits and pieces of those band’s sets.
In the more recent past, we’ve seen Sting (amazing band, amazing talent!) with Squeeze opening, Better Than Ezra, Lenny Kravitz, 311 – three times now (the first time was on their “Grassroots” tour at a club in Palo Alto, mid 90’s… KORN was the opening band and they were horrible. If I weren’t so hyped to see 311 for the first time, KORN would’ve been the 3rd band I walked out on in my life. Ironically, a few years later I heard them on the radio and really liked them. I would have NEVER guessed they would have amounted to anything, much less world wide stardom!)
Most recently, and a lot of these are already written about in this here blog, in no particular order we have Jack White (MESMERIZING!!), Foreigner, Loverboy, HooDoo Gurus, Des Rocs, Grandson, Magic City Hippies (about seven times), Dogstar (about 5 times in the last year, and over a dozen times their first time around in the 90’s), Lettuce, Steve Vai, Steely Dan, Steve Winwood (a LEGENDARY performance!),Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Weezer, Cage the Elephant (OUTSTANDING!!), Night Ranger, the Offspring, Polyphia, X, Bow Wow Wow, Royal Blood, Missing Persons (twice now, but I try to forget the second time!), Ashe, K.Flay, Lyrics Born, the Dip, Qveen Herby, Young the Giant (GREAT SHOW!), Chic with Nile Rogers, Duran Duran, Parliament Funkadelic… I know I’m forgetting a few just from the last couple years. Just check my previous posts!
A co-worker recently asked if there was anyone I hadn’t seen that I still want to, and I honestly couldn’t think of anything. Though there are certainly a few that I wish I’d seen before it was too late. The CLASH is my all-time favorite band and I never got to see them. I would have loved to see a Diamond Dave- era Van Halen show. Stevie Ray Vaughn. Jeff Beck. King Crimson’s 80’s lineup with Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Tony Levin and one of my favorite drummers of all time, Bill Bruford. I wish I’d seen the B-52s in their early 80’s prime… I’d love to see Sade, but I don’t believe she’s done a tour in close to 20 years, so I’m not holding my breath on that one. But honestly, if I could never see another concert, I believe I’ve been truly blessed to see as many as I have. Live music has been one of my greatest joys for over 4 decades and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of absorbing as much as I could!
Reading through all this, if I had to make a Top 5 list of shows I think it would be the following:
#1 Missing Persons reunion show in Los Angeles- late 90’s (?). Unbelievable. And I got to meet the band before the show. Terry Bozzio is my biggest inspiration as a drummer BY FAR, so that one holds the number #1 slot from here to eternity.
#2 Concrete Blonde, first tour ’86(?). Powerful, heartfelt, dangerous, all wrapped up into an amazing set.
#3 311 at the Keystone Palo Alto, Grassroots tour ’93ish. Unbelievable energy AND technical prowess.
#4 Jack White at Shoreline Amphitheater, 2022, +/- I STILL cannot describe what I witnessed that night. The closest thing to a religious experience I’ve had as an adult.
#5… I dunno, now it’s getting hard! Cage the Elephant was amazing, the first times we saw Des Rocs and Grandson were both mind-blowing.. Every Magic City Hippies show has been off the hook… Nikka Costa, whom I forgot to mention above – seen her twice and both times were awesome! Too many to choose from! Suffice it to say I’ve seen a LOT of spectacular shows!
When I talk to folks about shows I’ve been to, I know to most it sounds unbelievable, or exaggerated at the very least, but I swear if anything I’m leaving a bunch out! By contrast, I’ve been to exactly ONE NFL game in my entire life (and it was a work outing, not something I chose to do) and I went to ONE MLB game when I was about 10 years old. I went to a few San Jose Sharks hockey games, cuz free tickets. The ONLY sport I like and have invested any time in watching is soccer, and I only do that in person, I haven’t watched sports on TV, including the Super Bowl, since Michael Jordan was playing for the Chicago Bulls. And honestly, I don’t even remember exactly when that was…early 90’s? Late 80’s? I haven’t stepped foot in a movie theater in 5 years, and before that MAYBE once a year. Maybe. My point being, everybody’s got their something. Some people love sports. Some people love movies. I’m ALL about music, especially LIVE music!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a trip down memory lane with me!
Friday night was finally time for a long-awaited comedy show, and it was certainly worth the wait!
Ann Miller from Oakland CA opened the show and she was pretty good. A little cringy with some of the gags, but there were more than a few LOLz in her short set.
Ryan Sickler was up next. Evidently (judging by crowd response) he’s well known, but this was our first time seeing his act, and he was darn funny. I’d definitely be happy to see him perform again.
Tom Segura was the headliner and he was AWESOME. We’ve seen all his comedy specials and got to see him live once before, and he never fails to entertain. Honestly, I don’t know of any other comedian that is as consistently funny as this guy. More than a few times I found myself gasping for air as tears ran down my face from laughing so hard. The kind of non-stop laughing that leaves your guts hurting afterwards. Just a stellar show. Dare I say, the best comedian since ol’ George Carlin?
Not much else to say. Laughs on laughs on laughs! It was a great way to kick off the weekend. And the fact that it was in San Jose was icing on the cake – I’ll take SJ over San Francisco ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!!
Yesterday was a new kind of adventure for me, the Mrs. and I went on a “field trip” with our daughter and her 5th grade class to Portola Redwoods State Park in La Honda, CA.
The school the wife and daughter teach at is big on what they call “Outdoor Ed.” and they do lots of camping trips and such for all the classes but all that got derailed during the Plague Years (our daughter’s first year of teaching was the year /they/ shut everything down), so this was her first overnight camping trip with a classroom of kids.
We (the Mrs. and I) didn’t go for the overnight – both of us are working today – but more as logistics support. The Mrs. volunteered us to cook dinner for the troops, so we headed up the mountain with a ton of food, firewood and all the accouterments to throw down a nice dinner. And of course S’mores! What camping trip with kids would be complete without those?!?
As you might imagine, this wasn’t exactly a quiet, peaceful trip to the woods – not with roughly 20 5th grade kids running amok, some for the first time in the woods.
You can hear the wild 5th grade varmints in the background, swimming in the creek and having a blast!
Nonetheless, the park is beautiful, and the drive in was spectacular. The kids were happy and our kid managed to make the trip a success for her kids, so mission accomplished!
Some babies sprouting up…Our great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will still be watching these beasts grow!
I’ve spent more time in the woods in 2024 than in the past decade and it is doing me a WORLD of good. I highly recommend it, ESPECIALLY if, like me, you spend most of your time glued to a desk and/or computer screen!
Thankfully my new job gets me a ton of outside time now, and that’s been great. But making a conscious effort to embrace the outdoor world as well as making it part of our fitness routine, has been life changing.
Spring is in the air, summer is right around the corner, get out there and hug a tree! Watch some birds. Laugh at squirrels gettin’ squirrely! Your body and soul will thank you!!
Thanks for stopping by!
The creek is still running, a rarity for late Spring in California!!
My new job is VERY different from my old one, although there are a great many similarities. In an odd way, it was the skills I learned as a youth and young man working in “the Trades” that got me several Director titles, but the higher I went up the ladder, the further away I got from the very things that put me there in the first place!
When I took my first facility manager job, back in the late 90’s, the entire crew was me. Sure, I had HVAC contractors and electricians come in from time to time for big jobs, but the day to day work was very hands-on. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, drywall and painting, roof repairs, data systems – you name it, I did it. From there, every new place I worked had an in-house crew for me to manage and while I still did some actual hands-on “real” work, my time was spent more and more on accounting and payroll, HR issues, ordering materials, dealing with bureaucrats from all levels of government, permits and performance reviews… blah, blah, blah. I had no ambition, desire or frankly, talent for any of that stuff. No love for it, certainly. At my last job, I don’t think I picked up a tool more than once or twice in 6 YEARS!!
Now it’s a whole new world for me and I found that I had to re-gear. My new role is a big mix – I still “manage” and I do a lot of customer service type stuff – meeting with clients, working with the sales people and such, but I also get to be hands-on again, which has been fun. I’m not actually building, but I’m the guy to go in “after the fact” and take care of the little detail things that may have been missed during construction.
The tools are basic, BUT since I’m going into high end, finished homes, I need to be neat, organized and clean. At the same time, I need to be very mobile, and more-or-less self contained. And still be able to carry my laptop and some hard-copy files with me… An unusual situation for me!
This was the only tool bag I found that had a laptop sleeve in it, decent reviews and didn’t (completely) break the bank. I’ll run it for a few months to check it’s performance and do a product review down the road if warranted.
First, I did a necessary mod to the bag. I do this with just about everything – I don’t believe I was born to be a billboard… If companies started making QUALITY products with NO visible labels, I’d be a customer for life, but I digress…
Now that the bag was ready, I needed to get my tools easily identifiable, since I work with a dozen tradesmen and things tend to disappear in those type of environments. Not that they’re dishonest, tools just have a way of getting mixed up and disappearing on job sites – ask me how I know! I used to engrave my initials on all my tools, but this is hard to see from across the room, or if something gets dropped into the bottom of the wrong tool box…
Once the paint dried, it was time to get loaded up! The paint isn’t pretty, it’s for positive ID purposes only. I just made sure to mask off all moving parts and anything that might mar a finish if it rubbed up against something.
Those are gonna be hard to miss!
Now, as an aside, this here would make a pretty good “homeowners” tool kit. Nothing fancy or complicated or expensive. A few of these items I had lying around (and if I’m being honest, I could have filled out this entire kit from what I already had, but I didn’t want to spend half a day digging through my ministorage unit to find it all!) and there are a few items not yet in the bag (battery drill and bits and a few other odds & ends) but what you see in the pic will take care of the vast majority of “simple fixes” around the house and excluding the bag, I don’t think I spent more than $200… And honestly, I probably won’t use more than 50% of the contents the majority of the time. I believe in being prepared, but I also don’t want to lug 40 pounds of unnecessary tools around with me all day, so I may scale this back once I get into the swing of things.
In my old life I was used to having a large toolbox at my side or a fully loaded van and a massive tool bag of specialty tools for whatever trade I was in at the time, so this is a little weird to me!
But in this new life, I think this is gonna be just what I needed!
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself…
Now I just need to figure out the whole “mobile office” thing… While I never liked being “tied to a desk”, not having one at all (or power or wifi or the usual accouterments of office life) is another challenge in and of itself!
The Mrs. and I turned lemons into lemonade today when we couldn’t take our planned camping trip.
We hit Hwy 17 to Felton, CA and took a trip to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Only 40 minutes away from home, yet it’s like stepping into another world. Stunning, just stunning.
The pics do it no justice!
The feel of the air in the Redwood Grove just feels different. You can breath better in there, I swear. You can feel it in your lungs, on your skin… It smells better. It smells like the real world in there. Pictures can do it no justice, and neither do my meager words.
We hiked around a bit, it was by no means a strenuous, adrenaline inducing hike. We walked around 2 miles through these magnificent, ancient trees and then parked it for a while on a little bench and just ABSORBED the atmosphere. Not to sound like some dirty hippie, but places like that are just transformative to me.
After our time in the woods, we continued south to Santa Cruz, our old stompin’ grounds. We had a nice lunch at Ideal Bar & Grill, right between the Boardwalk and the Santa Cruz Wharf. Don’t let the tourist trap location fool you, the food is fantastic there. Not terribly expensive, especially considering it’s right on the beach. AND you get to watch a nonstop parade of weirdos strolling by while you dine! What’s not to love?!?
After a slow, leisurely lunch, we took a stroll down the Wharf. We dipped into Marini’s to satisfy the Mrs’ sweet tooth after lunch which is always nice. This candyshop has been there since 1915 and is always fun to visit. I’ve only been going there since about 1972, but it never disappoints!
Below are some other fun sights from the Wharf…
This one is for my buddy Dio!
The famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Sure, it’s no campout, but it’s been a great day and it sure beat hanging around the house watching movies or some such.
So glad Spring is upon us and the outdoors are inviting once again!
The Boring Old Man 