Well, Heaven and Hell we're just great.
That was Friday at the Meadowbrook Theatre in Michigan. Nice place - much better than DTE.
We got there a little late since the U.S. Border's still a little much because of "security" but we had time enough to get t-shirts and find our seats which were surprisingly close (a little over 10 rows back - we had row K).
The show opened with Mob Rules and was nice and loud. Geezer was stellar all night, Dio was much better than the DVD that was released, and Tony (my hero) was predictably outstanding. Vinny was good - I appreciated him more after watching him.
3 new songs Fear, Bible Black and Follow The Tears were nice to hear live after playing them almost daily in my car since the CD came out. Die Young ended up being probably the most energetic thing they played. I couldn't believe how many kids enjoyed that one. Heaven and Hell was a treat, especially with the long jam and Dio made me laugh pretty good during I when he embellished on one of the lines in the song.
So money well spent. I have the unfortunate feeling this will be the last time those guys hit the States so I'm glad I got to see my heroes one last time.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Sad Day Today
Well, it's a sad day today. Les Paul died. At 94. But you'll probably read that somewhere else with the whole inventor of mulit-tracking and electric guitar stuff, but I feel bad because I consider him a big influence on my playing. OK, more accurately, I "borrowed" from him quite a bit. Well, quite a lot.
The first I really got to hear him was back in 1996 (see, stuff like that sticks out) when my Mom brought home a Les Paul Trio CD, the "Laserlight" one if you want to look it up. Before that, I had heard the Mary Ford stuff and I liked it but I wasn't dazzled until I heard the Trio stuff. It reminded me of proto-Deep Purple. At that time, I never heard anything that early where the guitar is doing unison/harmony lines with a speedy piano.
Les Paul was that good.
I appreciate him from doing home recording - if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made this website. Also, my left shoulder wouldn't be sore from playing Les Pauls for the past 20 years. Still, I loved him as a guitar player first.
Even a couple of years ago when I hacked on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Guitarist List, I placed Les at #2 (Django was 1st and even Les would agree)
So, Kids, you probably had no idea what you missed.
The first I really got to hear him was back in 1996 (see, stuff like that sticks out) when my Mom brought home a Les Paul Trio CD, the "Laserlight" one if you want to look it up. Before that, I had heard the Mary Ford stuff and I liked it but I wasn't dazzled until I heard the Trio stuff. It reminded me of proto-Deep Purple. At that time, I never heard anything that early where the guitar is doing unison/harmony lines with a speedy piano.
Les Paul was that good.
I appreciate him from doing home recording - if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made this website. Also, my left shoulder wouldn't be sore from playing Les Pauls for the past 20 years. Still, I loved him as a guitar player first.
Even a couple of years ago when I hacked on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Guitarist List, I placed Les at #2 (Django was 1st and even Les would agree)
So, Kids, you probably had no idea what you missed.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Upgrading
Well, last night I upgraded the hard drive on my PS3.
Why? Well, I only bought the 60GB version about 2 years ago. Best one too, as I found out later. Since my friends were buying theirs I noticed that their PS3s were missing 2 USB slots, SD/Compact Flash slots and probably wouldn't play SACDs. The amazing thing about the PS3 is that it plays SACDs through the optical out. That's not normally supposed to happen. Even my 5 disc SACD player won't output digitally.
So I was running out of space on the 60 GB drive, and after a bit of reading how simple it was, I thought I'd try it. Last night I went out and bought a 250GB drive.
The install and format was painless. Absolutely painless. And it kept all the system settings too. I didn't have to re-setup the network configurations or reapply a System Update or anything. Nice.
Speaking of nice, and I forgot to mention it last post, was a shining glimmer of hope and normalicy (I know, it's not a real word) when I went to Toronto. I stayed in a smoking room; ashtrays and everything. If I ever have to get a room again, it'll be at the Holiday Inn Express.
On other fronts, I think Blind Date made it to CD Baby. Usually, for all the other CDs I sent there, I'd get an e-mail saying "your discs are in; give us a couple days to set it up". Anyways, the stock says I have them in there. I guess I'll have to check everyday to see if it's up. Something I really shouldn't have to do. CD Baby used to be pretty great but I noticed a slide since Derek Sivers left. He started the company way back when and recently resigned. His own website has too much useful information though.
So it's hard to say, "OK, the CD's available" when I don't really know myself.
Also, thanks to everyone that listen to Dirty Tricks on SoundClick. I was really surprised when I looked at the stats. Makes me feel like I'm on to something.
Why? Well, I only bought the 60GB version about 2 years ago. Best one too, as I found out later. Since my friends were buying theirs I noticed that their PS3s were missing 2 USB slots, SD/Compact Flash slots and probably wouldn't play SACDs. The amazing thing about the PS3 is that it plays SACDs through the optical out. That's not normally supposed to happen. Even my 5 disc SACD player won't output digitally.
So I was running out of space on the 60 GB drive, and after a bit of reading how simple it was, I thought I'd try it. Last night I went out and bought a 250GB drive.
The install and format was painless. Absolutely painless. And it kept all the system settings too. I didn't have to re-setup the network configurations or reapply a System Update or anything. Nice.
Speaking of nice, and I forgot to mention it last post, was a shining glimmer of hope and normalicy (I know, it's not a real word) when I went to Toronto. I stayed in a smoking room; ashtrays and everything. If I ever have to get a room again, it'll be at the Holiday Inn Express.
On other fronts, I think Blind Date made it to CD Baby. Usually, for all the other CDs I sent there, I'd get an e-mail saying "your discs are in; give us a couple days to set it up". Anyways, the stock says I have them in there. I guess I'll have to check everyday to see if it's up. Something I really shouldn't have to do. CD Baby used to be pretty great but I noticed a slide since Derek Sivers left. He started the company way back when and recently resigned. His own website has too much useful information though.
So it's hard to say, "OK, the CD's available" when I don't really know myself.
Also, thanks to everyone that listen to Dirty Tricks on SoundClick. I was really surprised when I looked at the stats. Makes me feel like I'm on to something.
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