I first discovered Balthvs in July of 2024 and was immediately hooked. So much so, that when Spotify sent me my “Year in Review” for 2024, Balthvs was my number one most-listened-to artist of the year and my Top 10 songs included 5 of theirs! And I’d only known of them for 5 months at the time.
Now, I love a lot of newer bands. I’m not none of those crotchety old coots that proclaims all new music is garbage and gets stuck on an ever-repeating playlist from my high school days. But it has been years, decades maybe since a band just completely turned my head inside out with their music. I’ve been telling anyone that would listen that they are the best band out there right now, insofar as their creativity, their musicianship and their unique sound and compositions.
At it turned out, the band – which hails from Bogota, Colombia – happened to be playing in my area about a week after I discovered them, but I had other commitments and couldn’t attend. Then a short while ago they were back in Menlo Park, CA but at the time I didn’t have two nickles to rub together and could not afford the tickets, so I missed them again. Then much to my surprise and delight I learned this past Tuesday that they were playing in Santa Cruz Thursday night! At the Catalyst no less, one of my favorite clubs EVER!
Being a “school night”, I couldn’t get the Mrs. to attend, but she encouraged me to go solo and boy am I glad I did!!
My fascination with Balthvs is primarily due to their guitarist, Balthazar Aguirre. I’m telling you right now, this young man is a legend in the making. The band is often labeled as a “psychedelic funk trio”, but that only (barely) scratches the surface. Balthazar plays everything, every genre you can imagine, magically intertwined to create something altogether unique. His playing is like water. It flows, it bubbles, it swirls, it rushes, occasionally it erupts! I’ve never seen or heard anyone like him. His playing is absolutely enthralling. And his tone, the actual sound of his guitar, is positively gorgeous. Just amazing. Seeing him play live, I felt like it was one of those moments you hear old geezers talking about – “I saw Jimi Hendrix back in 68” or seeing Stevie Ray Vaughn in some smokey bar before he hit it big. This wasn’t just a concert, a run of the mill club show, this was an EXPERIENCE. There are a handful of guitarists out there that you know who it is immediately when you hear them play, whether you recognize the song or not…Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Stevie Ray, David Glimour… Balthazar is in that class. Seriously. All its gonna take is one song to crack the shell, and the whole world will know this man. He is an exceptional talent. A vessel. One of those guys where it’s hard to tell where the man ends and the instrument begins, as they seem to be one in the same…
Yep, my camera still sucks. Balthazar Aguirre, a legend in the making!!
And for all the fan-boying I’m doing about the guitarist, let me tell you the rhythm section was pure fire! To be perfectly honest, I never paid much attention to the drums and bass while listening to their records. Sure, it was groovy and tasteful, but also pretty subdued on record, where the guitar certainly takes center stage. But live? WOW!!
Drummer Santiago Lizcano was a machine! He is not some off-the-shelf drum basher, just keeping a beat. There is absolute mastery of his instrument as well. Tight, solid grooves, killer rudiment-laden fills and percussive elements, and his flow from one style to the next was seamless and frankly, very impressive. I was honestly blown away but how good he was and astonished that I hadn’t picked up on his immense talent from the records. I have an entirely new perspective on his playing and a newly found deep respect for his talent!
Founding member and bassist Johanna is currently off the road on maternity leave, and her spot was filled by Vanessa Cejuo who was spectacular. She was so solid, so groovy and she kept throwing in just dashes of spice – not playing everything by the book – but adding just enough ‘extra’ without being flashy or trying to stand out. It was really impressive bass playing, just locked in and holding it all together. Exceptionally tasteful. Bathvs found a PERFECT fill in for Johanna. As someone that has struggled finding competent bassists for the past 40+ years, this too was an amazing feat!!
Their set was amazing, from start to finish. They played about an hour and ten minutes, playing all my favorite songs of theirs, a couple I hadn’t yet heard and even a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe”, which was both a bold choice and wonderfully executed.
Then they came back for a 20+ minute encore, which included a rendition of Pipeline, the classic surf rock tune by the Chantays. Very apropos for Santa Cruz!
What can I say? I went in a fan of Balthvs and walked out a super fan! I’m so glad I went, it was the best show I’ve seen in years. I’m not kidding when I say Balthazar Aguirre is a legendary guitarist, he’s just not being recognized for it. Yet. It was a magical night and even though I’m facing a 10 hour work day on 5 hours of sleep, I have ZERO regrets about making the trip over the hill to see them. I hope it’s the first of MANY Balthvs shows for the Boring Old Man!
Do yourself a favor and go listen to Balthvs. If you have ears that work, you’ll find something to love about them!
Sorry, I’m a few days late with this one, but better late than never I suppose…
Last Thursday, December 5th, the Mrs. and I attended a LONG awaited show with Better Than Ezra. If you don’t know this band, you should.
We last saw Better Than Ezra sometime in the mid-00’s, I apologize my memory is a little fuzzy, let’s just say 2005. They absolutely KNOCKED OUR SOCKS OFF! So needless to say, as soon as I heard they were coming to town, I snatched up some tickets.
This is maybe the 5th or so visit to the Guild Theater, and as I’ve mentioned in other Concert Review posts, it’s a great place for music and I was happy to be going back again.
The opening band was Cool Water Canyon, whom we’d never heard of. 5 piece band – drums, bass, keys and 2 guitars, and several of the guys sang. The sound was a bit of Americana meets Jam-band, with a little dash of funkiness tossed in for some seasoning. It was a mixed bag if I’m being honest. They were clearly talented musicians, but it just didn’t do it for me. There were some great parts, but then they’d throw in a gruelingly long solo and just kill the flow… They had really nice, top of the line gear but nobody had a particularly great tone. Honestly sometimes that’s enough for me – “the songs were OK, but man that guitar sounded awesome!” is the kind of thing that can win me over. Not so with these guys unfortunately. Overall, I’d give them an A on musical skill, but a C- on the show as a whole. I’ll give props to the bassist though, he was absolutely the bright spot of the set for me. Not flashy or over the top, but solid as a rock from start to finish.
Better Than Ezra then took the stage and…it went down hill from there.
For some reason, who knows why, they ALL played acoustic instruments. Yes, electrified acoustics, but the sound, the tone, was of acoustic guitars and bass. There was NONE of the power that made this band so great.
I tried, I really tried to just get over it and enjoy it for what it was but I just felt it was missing something. Then they started playing “I Wanna Be Sedated”, the Ramones scorcher, on FREAKIN’ acoustics and I started thinking “this is bad…”. Thank goodness they didn’t play the whole song, just a verse and a chorus and then they transitioned into one of their songs. But it left a bad aftertaste in my ears, I’ll tell.you that.
A few songs later they did ANOTHER cover this time of Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta”, again on acoustics and that’s when the Mrs. and I looked at each other and said “let’s go”.
Better Than Ezra, we still love your records and look back fondly and the last last time we saw you, but the show at the Guild was not the business. Very, sadly, disappointing.
Better luck next time.
And to think, I grabbed these tickets instead of John 5, who was playing the very next night. D’oh!!
After a long pause with live music, this weekend was a “Two-fer”! Saturday night we saw the Sammy Hagar show (see previous post for the review) and Sunday night found us back at the iconic Fillmore Auditorium for another great show!
Unfortunately the Mrs. was feeling a little under the weather and opted out of this one, so it turned into a Dad & Daughter outing, which was nice in it’s own way.
As often happens at SF shows, we got in the doors a little late so we missed about half of the opening set by Nik West and her band, but what we did see was really impressive! They were funky as could be and the band was TIGHT! I had never heard of her before seeing her on stage, but I’ll definitely be searching out more from her. It’s not every day you see a female bassist, and even more rare to see a female bassist just tearing it up with all kinds of slappin’ and funky grooves, but to play bass like that AND sing lead?!?! And then her stage presence on top of all that?! Are you kidding me?!?! This lady is the real deal! I was really impressed and lamented our tardiness greatly. I would have loved to see the full set.
Nik West & band getting down to business!
This was our first time seeing Joss Stone, despite being fans of her since her very first record, and it was worth the wait!
She hit the stage with a 10 piece band (!!!) and the band was just sizzling from the jump! Seriously, I don’t know what to say – every musician on the stage was top-notch and exciting to watch. The rhythm section was exceptional, the guitarist was versatile and outstanding, the horn section filled out the sound beautifully without being overbearing. Even the 3 backup singers sounded amazing!
Personally, I love a ‘power trio’ above just about all other bands, but there is something about seeing a big ensemble like this that is totally in sync and just killing it musically that really rocks my world. And honestly it seemed like the entire band was having the time of their lives on that stage. It was infectious and exciting, to say the least!
And Joss Stone, herself? Freakin’ FANTASTIC!! How so much soul can be packed into such a tiny package boggles the mind! Her voice is just magic. And she seemed like she was having every bit as much fun as the band!
All in all it was a great night of music. Great songs, outstanding musicianship and the great vibe of the bands and Fillmore itself.
If Joss comes to your neck of the woods, do yourself a favor and GO! If you love music, you won’t regret it!
Off the bat, I’ll say I was never really a big fan of Sammy Hagar during his heyday. And frankly when it was announced that he was replacing Diamond Dave in Van Halen, I was outraged and assumed that would be the end of Van Halen. However, despite my strong bias against Sammy fronting one of my favorite bands of all time, I freely admit that the “Van Hagar” era put out some great music.
In reality, my musical relationship with Sammy was complicated… the very first song I ever learned to play on the drumset was ‘Rock Candy’ by Montrose – a band fronted by Sammy Hagar (I was still in elementary school when I got turned on to Montrose, I wouldn’t make the connection with Sammy until years later!). In middle school, I was a big fan of the Heavy Metal soundtrack album, to which Sammy contributed the title track. My favorite Rick Springfield song – ‘I’ve Done Everything for You’ – during that same era, I found out decades later was written by Sammy… I was generally luke warm toward his solo music, although I LOVED ‘I’ll Fall in Love Again’. Then a bit later came his huge hit song ‘I Can’t Drive 55’ which I HATED… Then when he joined VH, it took me a while to get over the “betrayal” and actually listen… And while it will never match the David Lee Roth era to my ears, I cannot deny there were some great songs put out with Sammy and the VH crew.
Much to my surprise over the last few years I found myself becoming a fan of Sammy Hagar, the MAN, through interviews and his TV show, and the more I learned about him I realized a deep respect for him and his history, his work ethic and his overall outlook on life. So when I found out he was going on a summer tour, I decided I needed to take it in. I was NOT disappointed in this decision!
For starters, he assembled a world class, stellar band: Van Halen alumnus Michael Anthony on bass and vocals. Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, on drums. And guitar hero, The Alien himself, Joe Satriani on guitar! Keyboardist Rai Thistlethwayte rounded out the lineup. And let me say, these fellas were on top of their game!
What a band!
Their set was heavily skewed toward Van Halen songs – both the Sammy era songs AND the Diamond Dave songs, but there was also a smattering of solo Sammy songs as well as some Montrose and Chickenfoot (another Sammy off-shoot band) songs and it was a fantastic show!
They played for over two hours straight (no encore, I think they hit the time limit for the venue!) and it was high energy and spectacular musicianship the ENTIRE TIME! They never let up, it was remarkable!
Sammy himself was in great form – he outperforms musicians half his age! Jason was great on the kit – a huge Alex Van Halen-type of setup, which is not his usual thing. He beat that thing like it owed him money and was rock solid for the entire set. And while honestly the drums were a bit ‘muddy’ in the mix, the snare sounded almost exactly like Alex’s very distinct snare tone! Alex was one of my biggest influences as a drummer growing up and sadly I never got a chance to see him live, but this was dang near as exciting!
The cherry on top of the experience was witnessing Joe Satriani do his thing. His playing was beyond exceptional! It’s no wonder he’s a living legend on the guitar! He played Eddie’s parts nearly note-for-note, and the only times he strayed, he just added his own little flavor, nothing diminished whatsoever from the original. His performance alone was worth the price of admission and I’m really glad I finally got the opportunity to see him in a live setting. It was not something I’ll soon forget.
All in all, it was a fantastic night. I don’t know that I had any true expectations for this show, but whatever they may have been, Sammy and his boys far surpassed them. Some of the best musicianship I’ve seen in quite some time. I wouldn’t hesitate to see him again, and if you have the chance I highly recommend this show!
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!
Last night we had a new experience. The Mrs. found out about this thing called “Candlelight Concerts” and got tickets for us and the kids to attend “A Tribute to Queen” in San Francisco.
I kept asking her questions about it and she didn’t know really anything about the event other than music in a candlelit setting. I asked, “where did you find out about this?” and her reply was “I dunno, on the interwebz somewhere?!?” So we went in totally blind, but it turned out to be a really cool experience!
The event wasn’t in a musical venue, in fact it was in some weird art gallery on Market Street, the “International Art Museum of America”.
Long story short, it was just what they said it was, a concert by candlelight. Maybe 100 or so people in the audience. A string quartet played essentially Queen’s greatest hits along with a few classical pieces thrown in for good measure. It was pretty mesmerizing. The arrangements of Queen’s songs for the quartet (2 violins, a viola and cello) were outstanding and the musicians were top notch.
I don’t think I’ve ever ventured outside “rock concerts” on this blog, but I am actually more musically diverse than you might think… I’ve seen a number of symphony performances, some opera (which honestly was for the Mrs., it’s not really my thing), a bunch of jazz shows… my tastes run wild and free! But I do absolutely LOVE a string quartet. We even had one play at our wedding nearly 35 years ago. I understand that is a popular thing now, but back then people thought we were weird for doing it! Bottom line, I love music like I love air and water. A talented musician on pretty much any instrument (aside from the accordian and bagpipes) makes my soul sing!
They didn’t allow pictures or video during the performance so I don’t have any to post, but since it was so dark they wouldn’t have come out on my crummy phone camera anyhow…
Overall, I would say it was a GREAT experience and I would certainly do it again. If this sounds interesting to you, go check out https://candlelightexperience.com/ and see if the have an event near you. They claim to have performances in over 100 cities, so you might just find something up your alley in your neck of the woods. I can think of a thousand worse ways to spend an evening!
One last thing I must add… I know I’ve talked a lot of smack about San Francisco in these pages, but I have to say IT HAS BECOME EXPONENTIALLY WORSE over the last few years. Last night was the most disgusting, vile, trip down SF streets yet. We were parked only about 4 blocks from the venue and in those four blocks were were dodging crap on the sidewalks – literally every 50 feet or so – and running a gauntlet of feral “humans”, the likes of which I’ve never seen. I’ve been disgusted many a time in San Francisco, but this was the first time I felt both disgusted AND unsafe. It is really a tragedy of “progressive policies” and those policies have turned a once great city into an urban wasteland. But that’s a story for another day…
Anyhow, disgusting human element aside, we really had a great time and I can wholeheartedly recommend #CandlelightConcerts!
Alright, once again we’re off to see Magic City Hippies! This is (I believe) our 9th time seeing them. They’ve become sort of an annual Birthday tradition for our daughter, as they always seem to be in the Bay Area on the week of her birthday, and we’ve been to every Bay Area show they’ve done. As my constant visitors may have gathered, we go to a LOT of shows, it is hands down our #1 form of entertainment, and MCH are our favorite live band so we do everything we can to see them when they are in town.
Tonight they played the Regency Ballroom, a venue we’ve been to numerous times. It’s really a great place, aside from the fact that it’s in San Francisco… (Seriously, any bands or managers or promoters out there reading this – for the love of God, STOP booking everything in San Francisco! There ARE other cities in the Bay Area you know!?!)
Anyhow, my loathing of SF aside, we were all super excited to see the guys again, as their shows are just pure magic (no pun intended!). The musicianship, the songs, the energy, the vibe…there is nobody like them!
The trip into the city was the usual mania. The people up there drive like they don’t want to live!! I always, ALWAYS get stressed out driving in SF, but for the Hippies I’ll still do it, even on a “school night”.
The opening act tonight was a young man by the name of Josh Fudge. We got there after he started his set, so we only got the last portion of it, but what we saw was really good. It was just him and a drummer, so not a lot visually, but the songs were good and his enthusiasm was infectious. He really seemed to be enjoying his moment on the stage. I’d certainly be interested in seeing more.
Josh Fudge & unknown drummer
Up next in the middle support slot was The Palms from Los Angeles. I was vaguely familiar with them having heard a few of their songs, which I liked. I had a feeling they might be better live than on record, and I was right!
They are what you’d call a proper band – drums, bass, a keyboard player that doubled up on guitar and lap steel (!!), a lead guitarist and a vocalist that also played acoustic guitar on about half the tunes. Refreshing!
Don’t know what happened to my pics of the Palms… I took them, but they’ve gone missing…
For me, the shining star of the show was their lead guitarist, he was really impressive. He incorporated a number of styles in his playing as well as a full pallette of tones, and he was just fantastic. And if I’m being honest, he himself had about 70% of the charisma of the band. Don’t get me wrong, the band was solid as a rock. They’re playing was darn near perfect, they just didn’t give much of a “performance” on stage. Which is fine, not everyone is a showman. It just took the excitement level down a couple of notches. I’d give them a solid B+ on the set. If they keep it up they could be something to behold with a few more tours under their belts.
The Hippies opened up with Body Like a Weapon, which is a mid-tempo number, and the set opened with a slow burn. It didn’t take long before they were just tearing it up on stage.
Guitarist John was his usual extraordinary self. His playing is so fluid and he’s an absolute wonder to watch when he’s in the zone. I still miss the growl of his hollowbody guitar, which I haven’t seen him use in several years now and it appears the guys have traded in the Fender tube amps for digital pre-amps going straight to the PA, so there is a certain grittiness that is missing from the overall sound. BUT, I must admit the tones are much more true to the sounds on the records… A trade-off I can accept and most people that aren’t tone-snobs like myself would likely not even notice.
The greatest guitarist nobody knows about!
Robbie Hunter I still consider one of the best front men in modern music, and I was again reminded of what a stellar guitarist he is too!
Bassist Guillermo Belisario just keeps getting better and better. His bass playing has always been excellent, but he’s been taking on more duties on stage, playing some keyboards and singing harmonies. Clearly an outstanding musician and he really holds it all together when the other guys are really going off.
Drummer Pat… What can I say? He’s a true force behind the kit. Watching him play reminds me of Keith Moon – not the parts he’s playing, but the WAY he plays. It’s a straight up attack, and yet he never loses that deep Hippies groove. I’m a fan. I consider myself a better than average drummer and I’ve played a bunch of Hippies songs over the years, but I CANNOT play them like Pat. He’s one if a kind.
Jake Pinto really has gelled with the boys now that he’s been on the road with them for a couple tours. It’s almost like he was always there… And when he, John and Robbie play 3 part harmonies on guitar? Holy smokes! It’s really special and frankly unheard of in modern bands.
There was also a new element to the show this time around that turned out to be an excellent addition. I didn’t catch his name unfortunately, but MCH had added another player on stage playing trumpet and percussion. Let me tell you, this guy was off the charts impressive. His horn playing was excellent, his percussion playing very tasteful and in the pocket and his stage presence and style was super high energy and fun to watch. A really pleasant surprise and a great addition to the world’s best live band!
All in all, it was was an outstanding show. Not that I expected anything less. The Magic City Hippies are a shiny, gleaming needle in a haystack when it come to live music. They have great songs, exceptional musicianship and it’s obvious to everyone in the room that they’re having a great time on stage, doing what they do best.
A big thanks to everyone involved, it was a GREAT night and a great way to end what turned into a Birthday Week for our daughter’s 30th!
This was a last-minute decision…the Mrs. and our daughter are on a girl’s overnighter so I had to decide if I wanted to go bad enough to go alone, and since the venue is right up the road from my workplace and I was going to be alone anyway, I decided to pull the trigger on a single ticket.
Now, I am a longtime, HUGE fan of Missing Persons and have been since the first time I heard “Mental Hopscotch” on KFJC back in middle school. The next year as a freshman in high school I got a copy of their “Spring Session M” album and DEVOURED it. I seriously could not get enough. I loved all of it, but it was drummer Terry Bozzio that got me obsessed with the band and he would become my #1 influence as a drummer for the next… well, he’s STILL my #1 influence some 40 years later!
Even though I let go of MOST of my vinyl records (READ: sold them ‘cuz I was damn poor and needed to make ends meet!), I never let go of my Missing Persons collection – all 3 studio albums, their first EP ( which took nearly a decade to source!) and 12″ singles are still proudly in my collection.
I LOVE all the MP albums, but this one in my favorite! Criminally underrated!!
As I was only 12 when they first broke out and the band only lasted (in it’s original lineup) until 1986, I never got a chance to see them live. Until about 2001 that is, when they (mostly) reunited and played a club show in LA. That was the first and only time in my life that I actually took a flight to go to a show!
I had “friends in high places” back then and actually got to go backstage before the gig and met Terry, his (by then ex-) wife, vocalist Dale Bozzio, and guitarist Warren Cuccarillo, who were all very nice and gracious to the blithering idiot that was I, telling them all how much they’d shaped my musical life for the last (at the time) 20 years. Then they went out and played one of the most phenomenal sets I’ve ever experienced!
I only tell you all this to get around to saying that I was iffy on this show because for the last 20 years or so, Missing Persons is really just Dale Bozzio with a bunch of hired hands, not the band I was obsessive about. Now, Dale is a GREAT performer and was undoubtedly a big part of why the band got the attention it did back in the day, but she was always the least interesting part of the band to me. They had the best drummer I’d ever heard in my life, an unbelievable bassist and an absolutely amazing guitarist, so the weird squeaky vocals to me were just sprinkles on the icing of the world’s greatest cake!
However, when I saw the opening act was Bow Wow Wow?!?! Ok, I was sold.
I was also a fan of BWW back in the day, though not nearly to the level of Missing Persons. I was actually a massive Adam and the Ants fan BEFORE I ever heard of Missing Persons, and Bow Wow Wow was an offshoot of the Ants, so naturally I was interested when I first heard about them. I still have their “Last of the Mohicans” album in my collection too, but this band was so short lived and I was so young when they hit that I never got the opportunity to see them in their heyday. So when I saw it was them playing with Dale and MP, I just couldn’t say no! Of course, similar to Missing Persons, Bow Wow Wow is now working under the name “Annabaella’s Bow Wow Wow”, after the singer, so I can only assume it’s the same sort of deal – the original vocalist with a bunch of hired hands. Nonetheless, both bands have great songs so I figured if nothing else it will be some fun nostalgia.
Well first things first, Bow Wow Wow exceeded all expectations, by a mile! Annabella sounded great after all these years and still had that spunky energy she had back in the early days. Her band though, holy smokes! These guys were OUTSTANDING! Their guitarist nailed not only the original parts, but his tone was spot on too. His musicianship was excellent and he was fun to watch as well, just exceptional. The bassist was rock solid, groovy as hell and didn’t miss a thing the entire set. The drummer was on fire all night and just tore it up. The man got a serious workout up there with all those tribal-type of drum beats, just a pulsating rhythm, driving song after song, it was a very impressive.
They played all their hits, some deep cuts, some newer tunes and even a Bob Marley cover. It was great fun, highly entertaining and well worth the wait!
Missing Persons opened their set with Mental Hopscotch which was exciting for me as it was the first song I ever heard from them. But here’s where things go weird… You’ll recall a couple paragraphs back how impressed I was with the Bow Wow Wow drummer? Well, Missing Persons used the SAME drummer and it was (in my incredibly biased opinion) a disaster. His drum parts were just the beats with none of the amazing drum parts that made Missing Persons music so unique and special in the world of “New Wave”.
They followed up with Noticeable One, another one of my faves. I will give credit to the guitarist- he did an excellent job recreating Warren’s spacey guitar tone and his playing was really excellent. And Dale sounded as good as ever. But it all just sounded wrong because of the drums. I just couldn’t get past it. The songs are so ingrained in my head that I “hear” the music that is missing and it was like an itch I couldn’t scratch. Up next was Words, one of their biggest hits, and despite the outstanding guitar work it just sounded all wrong.
Imagine, say Jack White – an amazing guitarist in his own right – filling in for Eddie Van Halen… No matter the talent, it just wouldn’t sound right in that context.
I’m not gonna lie, I was getting bummed out.
I’m not trying to sound like an arrogant jerk here, I’m not he saying he wasn’t a good drummer, he just wasn’t playing the songs as written and to me it seriously diminished the music.
After Words, Dale went into a really long rambling talk that didn’t really go anywhere and I was getting a little perplexed…and then they started up “Simon”, from a late 80’s solo album and that was my cue to leave…
I have such strong memories of Missing Persons and their reunion show is still in the Top 10 of the hundreds of shows I’ve been to. I didn’t want to stay any longer and have my love of the band’s music tainted in any way, so it was best that I left early.
When all is said and done, I’m glad I went because Bow Wow Wow was great and I really enjoyed their set. And both of the bands had extraordinary guitarists which was a real treat. But unless all the stars align and there is another Missing Persons reunion with the original cast, I believe that will be my last MP show.
Are they still one of my all-time favorites? Yes. But it simply wasn’t the same…
I will say, if you’re not a hard core MP fan and you just remember them from MTV or the radio and you want some nostalgia, you’d probably be OK with their new sound. But if you’re like me and their entire catalog is committed to memory and ingrained into your soul I cannot recommend. To each their own, as they say…
NYE was a busy day! Got up and hit the gym, came home and whipped up some healthy smoothies, then set about doing some chorin’ around the house, including taking down the Christmas tree. Then it was packing bags, feeding the critters, gassing up the ride and hitting the road 2 hours north to Napa.
Our first stop was the hotel. We stayed at the Westin Verasa this time around. Swanky place, let me tell ya! Check-in was super smooth and afterwards we met up with our daughter and her fiance, who’d arrived about an hour prior, to grab a bite. We stumbled into a place called Gott’s Roadside and had a great dinner – the gents dined on bacon cheeseburgers, while the ladies went for the poke tacos, and we split some sweet potato fries and onion rings. Healthy eating? Not today, my friends!
Gott’s Roadside. Delicious!
We then walked back to the hotel and split up to our different rooms so the ladies could get ready for the night’s festivities.
The main event took place at the Uptown Theater – a NYE celebration with Dogstar. Yes, I know, this is the 5th Dogstar show in 13 months, it may seem I’m a bit obsessed. But this was a chance to spend NYE with my lovely wife, and the kids and my best friend AND it’s the last show of the tour and who knows when/if they’ll ever play a live show in these parts again? Get while the gettin’s good as my Pops likes to say.
Archer Oh was the opening act- you may remember my raving about them in my review of the Menlo Park show this past summer. Well, once again, the band brought their A-game and left it all on stage! I’m still incredibly impressed with these guys, particularly their lead guitarist. He’s a stellar talent with a very unique style. Which is not to diminish the rest of the band, far from it! They are one of those bands that I believe is far greater than the sum of their parts. Their chemistry as a BAND just works and it’s delightful to experience them live!
Dogstar hit the stage to a nearly sold-out audience and played a longer then normal set, which included a couple older songs from previous records that I hadn’t heard them play on the tour, as well as a couple cover tunes – something they don’t usually do. When they charged into “Just like Heaven”, the mid 90’s gem by The Cure, the crowd was on their feet and going wild!
The band’s signature beer, with the Mrs’ “formal sneakers” in the background!
A little later in the set they tackled the Ramones classic “I Wanna be Sedated” which was a super fun flashback for many of us old geezers in the crowd!
Bret’s playing was on fire – even better than just a few weeks ago in SF. It just goes to show how much practice and playing shows can improve one’s craft. It was really a standout performance, no question. I cant help but to think back on the days in his mother’s living room when we were all of 14-15 years old, trying to figure all this rock band stuff out. To see how far he’s come as an artist is really special and inspiring.
Bret, delivering the performance of a lifetime!
The other thing that really grabbed my attention was that Keanu actually seemed to be HAVING FUN on stage! Generally he looks very serious and he’s “all business”, but that night, his sense of joy was palpable. It was an absolutely perfect way to end the tour and I’m grateful that I got to experience it with my family in tow.
Keanu, loving every minute of it!
After the show there was quite the gathering backstage, all friends and family of the band(s) and crew(s) and we had a really. nice time chatting with folks. We shared a New Year’s toast with Keanu, and I got to talk to 3 of the 4 members of Archer Oh, which was cool. Very nice young men. Humble and grateful for the opportunity to do this tour. I wish them nothing but continued success!
After the After Show party, it was back to the hotel around 2am… A couple light snacks and it was lights out for the Mrs. and I.
Before we knew it, the next morning was upon us. Time for showering, packing up, checking out and meeting up with the kids for brunch a few miles away at Olive & Hay.
This place? WOW!!!
Brunch was terrific. I ordered French Toast with berries which was delicious, and everyone else was equally pleased with their selections. This is most definitely a place to return to!
After brunch it was back on the road to home. Talk about a whirlwind trip! Less than 24 hours and we combined outstanding food, excellent entertainment, catching up with old friends AND celebrating the rolling in of the New Year!
As I look back on 2023, mostly I see a dark and grim year, but for all it’s doom and gloom, Dogstar stands out as a shining point of brightness. They had a great year in 2023, and I hope they can keep that train rolling throughout 2024 and into their European summer tour that is already in the works.
All in all, this was an exceptional New Year celebration for us and I’m thrilled that the new year is off to a great start.
I can vividly remember the first time I heard X. It was the summer of 1982, right before the start of my freshman year of high school. A music show on TV back in the day debuted their new song “The Hungry Wolf” and I was completely blown away – I’d never seen or heard anything like them in my life.
Back then, pre-interwebz days, it was MUCH harder to find out about bands and in the case of X, hard to find their records in shops, but I became more aware of them thanks to college radio putting them in regular rotation.
Over the next few years their first 3 albums became part of my collection and a big part of the soundtrack of my life. To this day there is nobody in music that sounds like X, they are utterly unique unto themselves. To me, they are an American treasure, wholly underrated, and there will never be another band like them.
That being said, for some reason I’d never had the chance to see them live… Part of that I’m sure is because I was all of 12 years old when their first album came out, but I digress. Anyhow, our chance finally came – an early Christmas present for the Mrs and I, and we were thrilled!
Dead Rock West was the opening act. Never heard them before, which is not all that surprising as their type of music isn’t exactly on my radar or my cup of tea. That being said, they kinda won me over! They are a duo consisting of a female vocalist who also plays tambourine and maracas and a male vocalist/guitarist. Their opening song had me settling in for a yawn-fest, but the 2nd tune snapped me right out of it. What I will say about them is this; they had voices that blended exceptionally well with each other, and the vocal arrangements were very well done. The guitar work, while simple, was solid. The songwriting was good pretty much all around. But to me, this isn’t the kind of music I go to a live show for. It’s the stuff you put on in the background when you have friends over, or that is playing in the corner of your local coffee shop… I can say honestly that I did like them – much to my surprise – but they didn’t exactly get us fired up for the main event.
When X hit the stage, they didn’t waste any time, they just let ‘er rip! Hearing John Doe and Exene harmonize for the first time in the first song brought a huge smile to my face! And finally seeing guitarist Billy Zoom in a live setting was spectacular!! He was one of my favorite guitarists of the 80’s, and let me tell you, he is still a force to be reckoned with!
Billy Zoom, on fire!!
The band played about an hour and fifteen minute set, covering their entire history, from the first album all the way to a brand new, unreleased song. And they were firing on all cylinders. The set would have been impressive by any band, but when you stop to consider John Doe and Billy Zoom are 70 and 75 years old, respectively?!?! That they were able to still crank out such a high energy show at this stage of their lives, gives credence to the power of music!
John Doe, DJ Bonebrake and Exene!
All in all, it was an outstanding show and frankly I’m still a bit flabbergasted by what we witnessed! My only “gripe” is they didn’t play “The Hungry Wolf”, which is STILL my favorite song by them. But hey, they played a great many other legendary songs and put on an excellent show. The Mrs. and I left grinning ear to ear and just ecstatic over the show. I don’t know if we’ll every get the chance to see them again, but I am truly grateful for catching them this time around. If you’re a fan and you get the chance, go see them, you won’t be disappointed!!!
And since I didn’t get to hear it last night, I’m going to post up my all time favorite song from these guys, enjoy!
The Boring Old Man 