34 posts tagged “qotd”

What's the best music documentary or concert film you've seen?

Stop Making Sense.

Johnathan Demme does justice to what was an amazing performance by the Talking Heads.

Maybe it was that I saw the same show in Phoenix a few days before/after this was filmed in Los Angeles.

It wasn't just about the aural, but the visual spectacle makes this one huge dance party.

When was the last time you interacted with any sort of wildlife?
Submitted by warpedreality.

Yesterday in Albany, NY. In the parking lot of Home Depot, a momma duck and her clutch of ducklings.

We had to sort of usher them through the busy parking lot (Saturday morning!) to safety.

The curbstone represented a problem:

What are the 10 most memorable music performances you've seen? (Remember, "memorable" may not be good.) 
Submitted by Bill.

Ohboy...Only ten? i guess the challenge is the memory especially the dates :)

In no particular order-

1) REM opening for Gang of Four for a crowd of about 300 people in about 1982. Gang of Four was amazing. REM was incidental :)

2) Red Hot Chili Peppers in a small shit-kicker cowboy bar in Tucson (Boots?) around 1984. With Hillel Slovak.

3) Talking Heads during the Stop Making Sense tour that Johnathan Demme made a movie about. In Phoenix.

Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory

4) Johnny Thunders at Nino's Steakhouse in Tucson, about a year before he OD'd in New Orleans. During a bass/drum break, Johnny laid down on his back behind his amp (right in front of me) and proceeded to shoot up, before getting up and finishing the set.

5) The Minutemen at Wrex in Tucson. Shortly before d.boon died in a car wreck outside of Phoenix. I'd seen them before at Mad Gardens but this show was simply smokin'

6) Dead Kennedys around 1980. Phoenix. It was at this old square-dancing hall down on Buckeye Rd. My mug was figured prominently in the entertainment section of the Arizona Republic for the band photo from the gig. If I remember correctly, Frank Discussion and the Feederz and JFA opened. They played another show the next year at Madison Square Gardens in Phoenix with the Meat Puppets opening. 'Mad Gardens' was a fun place because it was this cheezeball big-time wrestling venue and the bands would play inside the ring.

7) Clash / English Beat. Mesa Community Ampitheater. 1981-ish. Mesa was a great place to see shows. relatively small, terraced with waterfalls on each side and a moat in front of the stage. great show.

8) Camper Van Beethooven w/ The Band of Blacky Ranchette, Nino's steakhouse, Tucson. Camper was/still is a fabulous band. But the local outfit from Tucson, Blacky, was a hootenanny. Blacky was a conglomeration of Tucson punks, a fabulous slide blues guitar player, a pedal-steeel recruit from the Benson Highway shitkicker bars, and some South Tucson Mariachi violinists all playing this unique Tucson sounding blend of rock, old country, blues and well...mexico. It was Blacky's finest hour. Look to Calexico (also from Tucson) to see what Blacky's greatness spawned.

9) Al Green, Circle Star theater in San Carlos (early 90's). We went to a few of his shows there. A friend once said that if church was like this, I'd go every day.

10) Prince (w Tamar), Jan 31 2006, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco. Amazing gig. Started at midnight on a Monday. He played about two hours. No Prince songs. Prince didn't sing. Just led the band and jammed on the guitar. It was the Parliament/Sly/Jimi meets Memphis soul night. all with Prince just 20 ft away.

And now the hour is late and my mind is starting to get rolling about all the unmentioned gigs. Odd how I've seen so many fewer here while living in SF. Part of it is time. part of it is the era. The early 80's was such a time of experimentation in music that it was easy to see amazing music in very small venues. Punk wasn't popular just look at the Billboard top 100 for 1980 and see that Christopher Cross' 'Sailing' made the list.  It made it easy not only to see amazing bands, but to see them multiple times. I think I saw the Ramones five times in a couple of years. Same with lots of these bands. That shit just don't happen anymore....or maybe I'm just getting old.

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?
Submitted by J.T.

It would probably to be able to read minds. Make it so I have to concentrate to do it, because the noise level would be deafening just wandering around town. But I figure that since my wife already expects me to be able to read hers, it would be nice to be able to meet that expectation once in a while :)

What is your pet peeve, the one thing which really drives you mad? 
Submitted by Beki.  

Oh geez...Can I only pick one?!?! ;)

I'd have to say it's people driving in the left lane of the freeway, not passing, and not moving to the right after they've overtaken someone slower. It's a really simple concept. If people to your right are overtaking you, you should move one lane to the right. Wash, rinse and repeat.

We keep building more freeways but adhering to this simple rule (it's the law in Germany!) would so much more effective and less expensive. No longer would you have clumps of cars all trying to weave in and out trying to get around blockages of people driving slow in the fast lane.

It's just another manifestation of selfishness generally displayed by people in this country.

If you came with a warning label, what would it say?
Submitted by chris.

Do not stick fingers in cage. Has been known to bite.

Do you believe in ghosts?  Have you ever seen a ghost? 
Submitted by Nancy.

I don't know if I believe in ghosts in any traditional sense. However, I lived in a place that had wierd stuff happening in it which most people would consider to be haunted...and I actually thing might have been something..ummm...ghostlike.

I blogged about it previously about being the coolest place I'd ever lived.

It was wierd...i used to get visual distortions in my peripheral vision all the time, like someone walking around, when I lived alone. I'd also have things happen there like doors opening as if they were pushed or kicked. I used to find that my stereo would get turned on while I was out. All these things happened too often for it to be explained by any sort of 'scientific' explanation. I kinda dug it. It was benign and was just sort of part of the apartment's charm.

Do you remember your first flight? Where did you go? Why?
Submitted by Laurel.

I'm not sure if I remember my first flight or not. Certainly wasn't a commercial flight though. The first one I remember was in a Cherokee 180 that my dad used to fly. We lived in Phoenix and my grandparents were visiting from New Jersey and we flew mostly just around Phoenix sightseeing. Phoenix was *much* smaller in those days

- much more desert.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? 
Submitted by Megan.

Wierdest, huh? I've eaten a few odd things. Rattlesnake, lizard, elk heart, frog legs, dried crickets and things like that. But probably the best story was when I worked at this fish restaurant in the middle of Tucson and some customer came in saying that they saw a javelina running across the parking lot. Odd, since javelina are extremely shy and wary of people, that one was running across some strip mall parking lot in the middle of Tucson was...well, doubtful.

So, I go back to the kitchen to steam some shrimp or something and one of the line cooks comes walking in the back door of the kitchen with a dead javelina hoisted over his shoulder.

Yes, it was road kill! And hot off the bumper, mind you.

We made road kill javelina carnitas burritos for dinner that night. It was a feast, and delicious :)

What food or drink do you love when it's cold out?  (Recipes and recommendations, please!)

Mmmmm...tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. Sushi with miso and hot sake  - yeah, I know...hot sake is so trailer trash, but what can I say :) . Nice homemade  beef stroganoff over noodles.