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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

TOP TEN TIME AGAIN







Top Ten Movies Tony Alva And I Watched In Endless Rotation In The Mid Eighties



1) Apocalypse Now

2) The Man With Two Brains

3) The Road Warrior

4) The Killing Fields

5) Trading Places

6) Apocalypse Now

7) The Road Warrior

8) The Man With Two Brains

9) Apocalypse Now

10) Apocalypse Now




Top Ten Television Shows Tony Alva And I Watched In 1985-6



1-10) The Rockford Files



Top Eleven Concerts Jackson Has Attended


1) UFO - Limelight, NYC, 1995

2) U2 - Capital Center, Md, 1985

3) Bowie - Roseland, NYC, 1996

4) Peter Gabriel - Capital Center, 1986

5) Kiss - Madison Square Garden, NYC, 1979

6) Stevie Ray Vaughn - Mid Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie NY, 1989

7) Keith Richards & The Replacements - Meadowlands, 1989

8) Aerosmith - Orange County Fairgrounds, NY, 1984

9) Kix - Hammerjacks, Baltimore Md, 1986

10) Van Halen - Boston Garden, 1980

11) The Georgia Satellites - The Chance, Poughkeepsie NY, 1988



That was tough. Yes, I've seen the Stones, twice, yes they were great. Just not as great as these. I've seen the Ramones five times, but they always seemed to be trying to get through the set as fast as possible. REM at the Meadowlands on the 'Green' tour was a great show. Maiden at the Mid Hudson Civic Center in 1984 was notable. Rod took me to see Dylan with Dead and Tom Petty. I saw the Dead again at MSG with Gulo and they did 'Terrapin'. The Scorpions at MSG in '83 was mindblowing, but they opened for Rainbow who blew ass farts and thusly compromised the event. (Mathdude? Crunch-mobile?) Fred took me to see John Lee Hooker in the late eighties, and it had a profound effect on me. Buddy Guy on his birthday at his club in Chicago was indescribable, but it wasn't so much of a concert as a jam session. Every Alice Cooper Halloween show I saw (5) was beyond compare. It would be unfair to all other acts to do so. He is simply in a class of his own.


There have been many memorable concerts. Tony Alva and I, on a whim, went to see Nazareth and Foghat at the Chance. When we got there we found out that Nazareth had cancelled and we got Hot Tuna instead. Hot Tuna was not a suitable replacement in our eyes, and to make matters worse, the drummer was the only original Foghat member on stage that night. I got bounced out of a Ramones show at the Bayou in DC for po-going by a jar head. Milkyum and I lost our hearing at a Blackfoot show at the Mid Hudson Civic Center. We stood right in front of the PA. Also at the Mid Hudson Civic Center Milkyum and I got beat by a 'scalper' and were forced to sell our studded wrist bands and belts in orer to come up with 20 bucks to bribe the backstage door guard. We made the show.


There is one show that ranks above all others in it's impact. It might not have been the greatest performance, but at the time you could not have persuaded me otherwise. It wasn't the first, that was Atlanta Rhythm Section earlier that same year (1979), but it was the first arena show, and more importantly I think, it was the first show I saw outside the restrictive society of the military. I lived at West Point, and though it was great to have a venue like Ike Hall where notable rock bands played (REO, UFO, The Kinks, Joan Jett, The Pretenders....), it was still West Point, and the place was filled with Cadets. Not a great many joints got passed around at Ike Hall shows.


In the summer of 1979, after dropping our brother Rod off at the Citadel for the famous $900.00 haircut, the family stopped off in the DC area to visit friends. Parental friends. Fred must have been bored stiff. He looked in the local paper for something to do and found that Nazareth and Frank Marino (Mahagony Rush) were playing at the Capital Center that night. I suppose my folks had been drinking because he conned them into letting him take the car, and me, to the show.



This is where life went color for me. My eyes had been opened. Life would never be the same.


Thanks Fred.


Thank you too Rod, you took one for the team, AND you beat us home.

Comments:
I'll have to give some thought to my best shows ever. You certainly nailed the movies and tv shows.

Man, was that Naz show cancellation a bummer. From anticipating 'Expect No Mercy' and 'Beggers Day' to a bunch of loser Deadheads doing that stupid hippy dance thing they do to the strains of Jourma and Jack. Went intending to rock, got bummed instead.

I'm glad the Satellites made your list. It was one of those shows that we knew was going to be fun, but ended up being so much more. All due to the band being totally on and rocking hard. Good mix of familar and new tunes, great room, great crowd. I yearn for a show like that now.
 
No Ozzy/Motorhead at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center? Were you in a coma?
 
I wasn't in a coma, I think I was in Boston. At any rate I wasn't at that show. Had I been, I'm sure it would have made the list.
 
it was tough to compete with Rod for bad influences on you. i am glad i won one!
 
trading places is in my top ten

thos two old geezers remind me of milton and bliss, the guys who taught me the venture business
 
do you know how we got tix to that naz/frank show?
 
I seem to remember we just showed up and bought them at the venue.
 
That was me, not her. I must have been signed in as my better half.
 
great post. if only 'Keith Richards and the Replacements' were a solitary band.
 
You could tell that the Replacements were enjoying the bill, they fought very little and completed most of their songs. They had to start 'Can't Hardly Wait' twice before abandoning it altogether in favor of 'Happy Birthday' for Keith.
 
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