Savage Distortion

A TASTE OF CROW, SIDE OF HUMBLE PIE












Rod was right.





I'm ashamed.





I will remember.......

NFL WEEK 4

Houston beats ATL
The Jets will beat Buffalo securing 2nd place behind the evil Patriots
Baltimore beats Cleveland
Dallas beats St. Louis
Detroit beats Chicago
Miami beats Oakland
Green Bay beats Minnesota
Tampa Bay beats Carolina
San Fran over Seattle
Pittsburgh over Arizona
Indy over Denver
San Diego over KC
Philly over the Giants
New England over Cincinnati

I suppose.........

A TALE OF THREE CONCERTS


In the past two weeks I've seen three shows. I enjoyed them all, but some were just better.

What makes better?

Entertainment.





The first was Kings of Leon at Radio City.





Radio City is a great venue, and I always enjoy seeing bands there. The Kings of Leon were no exception, though I must say I liked the support act - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - more than the Kings.








The Kings of Leon are very popular, the capacity crowd knew the songs, sang along, and everybody had a good time.

It wasn't very exciting though.

Maybe I'm old and curmudgeonly, but I want a band to do more than stand up and play the songs. I want action, or something, to lift the performance into an event.

I want to be entertained.

That's why I don't go for much of the folkie, singer-songwriter type stuff.

Blame Gene Simmons I guess, but I expect more.

The second show was The Chemical Brothers at Hammerstein Ballroom.




That shit was awesome.

I try not to use 'awesome' much, because I believe the meaning of the word has been diluted, but I mean it when I say that The Chemical Brothers put on an awesome show.

Jackson, you are saying, how can two guys with zero guitars impress me so?

It's simple, they put on a show........behind them.

The video/graphics displayed on a massive screen behind the banks of synths and samplers were mind blowingly good. I dare say even Tony Alva would have been entertained.

I'm not knocking the music either. Yes it's all machine driven, but it rocks, it's creative, it's live, and it has groove.

Groove is what the Kings of Leon lacked. It's all very straight eighth note mid tempo grid rock.

They are young though, maybe they'll grow into groove.

Last night was the capper, the apex, the Scorpions at the Beacon.





Holy fuck!

Rudy Schenker is my fucking hero.





He has an acoustic Flying V.

Who else would do that?

Those old fuckers hit that stage and tore it the fuck up for two fucking hours. They had to have had oxygen tanks backstage.

And Klaus? Fucking Klaus?




His voice is amazing - is it possible he's gotten better? His skills at tossing tambourines back stage, as well as his drum stick distribution are beyond reproach

Mathias, the new kid still after 27 years (think Ron Wood, but German and Metal), shredded skillfully and flawlessly, just like it was 1983.





Young pup rhythm section was great too. Fresh blood has kept this band going.

Generally bass solos are a bad idea, and I stick by that, but if you must, in order to give the nearly sixty year-old band members a breather, have a bass solo; do what this guy did, a medley of popular rock riffs. The audience likes familiarity, and let's face it, the bass isn't a solo instrument.

Really, it's not.

So, what have we learned?

Rock isn't dead, it's just getting on in years, it doesn't come 'round as often, but, while your waiting there's some other very cool stuff happening.

BIGOT, LIAR, OR MADMAN?

NFL WEEK 3 WRAP-UP

I did much better, thank you.

10/6

The Jets won.

The Giants won.

The Saints...........well, hell if anyone can handle an 0-3 start it's a Saints fan, right?

NFL WEEK 3

Arizona over Baltimore
San Diego over Green Bay
Tampa over St. Louis
Pittsburgh over San Fran
Philly over Detroit
Jets over Miami
New England over Buffalo
KC over Minnesota
Indy over Houston
Seattle over Cincinnati
Cleveland over Oakland
Denver over Jacksonville
Giants over Washington
Carolina over ATL
Chicago over Dallas
New Orleans over Tennessee

........maybe.........

BOOKS


I like books. I like to read. I took to reading in the eighth grade, reading for pleasure that is, leisure reading. I was living in Germany for the year with my Parents; my brothers were back home in college. I got sick at some point, and somehow got a hold of a copy of 'Carrie'. In one day I finished the first book I had ever chosen to read.


Although I would eventually find my way back to Stephen King, at first it was a genre thing. That year in Germany we travelled quite a bit, and I had time to kill. I read the books of all my favorite movies: The Exorcist, The Omen, The Amittyville Horror.


When I returned to West Point my neighbor Hutch turned me onto the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan series of novels.


There are 28 of them.


I read them all over the next two years.


The merit of those works lies in their ability to create a reader out of me.


Toward the end of high school I rediscovered Stephen King. I think it started with The Shining. I consumed his works in about another two years.


I didn't say I always read a lot, that comes and goes, still....

Anyway around the time I had caught up to Steve, my brothers got married, and their wives introduced me to new authors, which I clearly needed.


Karen gave me John Irving.


It started with Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, Cider House Rules, Owen Meany - OWEN MEANY....







A Prayer For Owen Meany is the greatest book ever written.







Hands down.










These days I read a lot more non-fiction, but I still dig a good story.



I love a well written one.

IN THE NEWS

Shut up already!






Isiah Thomas and the new double standard, bitch.










Thug 4 Life.

NFL WEEK 2 WRAP-UP

How shitty can it get?

3 teams, 2 weeks, 0 wins.

My picks got even worse in week two: 5/10

Overall: 12/19

The sole consolation I have is that the Bills and the Dolphins are winless as well.

NHL

Go Canucks!

As usual, Hue's Wild, and Tony's Thrashers will bear watching.

STOMPBOXES

CONSPIRACY OF HOPE

My Biko post had me perusing the wealth of YouTube video of the Conspiracy of Hope Tour concert video from 1986.

I remember taping the show at my friend Henry's house.

I couldn't have cared less about the Police 'reunion', hell it had only been two years since they were last annoying me.

I was a huge U2 fan at the time, and it was a great time to be a U2 fan. It was just prior to the onslaught of success that came in the form of 'The Joshua Tree'. Bono's hair was good, the mullet had grown out - the band was shit-hot, and the songs were timeless, even then.

It was the same with Gabriel. 'So' had just been released, but 'Sledgehammer' had yet to push his career over the edge, it's not even in his set.

Jackson recommends:

MLK/Pride - the opening is cut off, but otherwise the quality is fairly good. Damn they were good then, Bono's spontaneity was still spontaneous. Larry's kick is louder then the Edge, but hey, I'm sure it sounded decent in the house....Giants Stadium, that's a big house.

I love the Edge's reel machine - how many guitar players employ a reel machine in their back line?

Bad/Sunday Bloody Sunday - Here you have a band working seamlessly, propelling a song past it's trajectory, into the half light, through the flame......Uh, it's great, okay, watch it.

Help is interesting, I think John would have liked it.

Maggie's Farm/Cold Turkey - Love Larry's massive conga, or whatever it is. The Edge.........play the blues. If you listen real close you can hear 'Bullet the Blue Sky' being born. "Turn off the lights mister!"

Here we hear the fruit of the Edge's tape machine.

Gabriel's Family Snapshot is amazing. Tony Levin, Rick Moratta......it's gonna be.

SEPTEMBER '77, PORT ELIZABETH - WEATHER FINE

'The Bronx Is Burning' is everywhere. Indeed, it was an interesting year for NYC, but The Bronx wasn't the only thing burning at the time.

Thirty years ago Steve Biko gave his life for the emancipation of his people.

Like many others, I was first exposed to his story by Peter Gabriel's song 'Biko' from his third solo record. I must give props to Fred for the exposure to the exposure.


September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja-The man is dead

When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja-The man is dead

You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja-The man is dead
And the eyes of the world are watching now
watching now"

Powerful stuff.

When I get down about something, when I'm feeling troubled, I think about Steve.

Shit, .............I got no troubles.

NFL WEEK 2

After my dismal performance last week I can only improve.

Carolina over Houston
Cincinnati over Cleveland
Indy over Tennessee
New Orleans over Tampa
San Fran over St. Louis
Pittsburgh over Buffalo
Giants over Green Bay
Jacksonville over ATL
Seattle over Arizona
Dallas over Miami
Minnesota over Detroit
Denver over Oakland
KC over Chicago
Jets over Baltimore
San Diego over New England
Philly over Washington

SCORPIONS - IN THE FLESH

This, my friends, is the shiznitiest.

"Drop it on 'em!"

NEW ENGLAND CHEATS

Aha! I knew it! Those bastards cheated! The Patriots have shown their true colors by cheating. A Patriots employee was caught videotaping the Jets Offensive Coordinator during the game.

I've always known that the Pats were linked to the Bush administration, and this use of 'Homeland Security' type spying seals the deal.

I feel a little bit better, just a little.......

NFL - WEEK ONE WRAP UP

Can you smell that? That horrific odor is my picks. My worst week ever.

I went 7/9, AND, all my teams lost, ALL of them.

Saints? Embarrasing.

Jets? Almost as embarrasing.

Giants? I don't want to think about it.......

Until next week my friends..........

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

DA BRONX ZOO

We went to the zoo.




Captivity is depressing after a couple hours.

PARTY TIME

The Legal Diva and I had our first party. It went very well.

We came at it from different places, but we met in the middle, and had great success.

We used our new grill to fire up some flank steak, and twenty chicken legs.

I soaked that shit for twenty-four hours.

It was yummy.

The Legal Diva did up some superb tater salad, tomatoes and mozz, a massive plate of prosciutto, cheese, and baguette, and sliced melon and fig.





Many spirits were consumed: beer, wine, sake, tequila, vodka, whiskey....





I played a lot of records. Peter picked out a few as well, and I must say his choices were held in high regard by yours truly. When he pulled out the Frankie, the joint fired up.




I was playing it fast and loose, sometimes just grabbing a record at random. I had my moments of triumph.





In an act of the truest love, The Legal Diva played Risk with me at the end of the night.





I'm a lucky man.