The Mountain Winery has announced this year’s Summer Concert Series, in conjunction with AXS, all kicking off May 28th with Gary Allan and running through October 3rd with Larry The Cable Guy closing out the season. With a few pre-sales having happened this week, the general sale of tickets starts April 28th on AXS.com.
“It’s not my instrument; for the last time…” Not very talkative during a concert, a funny line blurted out by Robert Smith, front man for The Cure, after returning a cowbell to the side of the stage, during a sprawling set that ran continuous for nearly four hours, with no less than three full encores. The second of two nights playing to benefit Teenage Cancer Trust, The Cure played sans opener, coming on a about 7:30 and performing 29 songs… then the came back for a six song encore… then another seven song encore…. and finally a last three song encore. The sound was amazing, and the band was brilliant. An amazing evening with a stellar crowd, at a historic venue, all for a very worthy cause – it doesn’t get much better than this show…
“…I thought, ‘you know, there’s no better translator of Black American Blues than a middle-class, 16 year old Australian white child’.” Part of Rick Springfield’s storytelling in-between songs, it was apparent early on that not only has he led an interesting life, but he has real depth as well as a self-deprecating sense of humor. Though he is best known for that one big 80s hit (“Jessie’s Girl”) and acting on General Hospital as Dr. Noah Drake, he is a great storyteller and certainly a real artist with some great music and a knack for bringing it alive in a special way in an intimate venue. The highlight of the night for me was his very personal rendition of “My Father’s Chair”, a song about the loss of his dad many years ago. It’s rare to see an artist connect with such a powerful song on stage, and present such vulnerability to an audience. This set of solo shows is definitely well worth checking out, and in many ways more compelling than the traditional, full band rock show, as Rick Springfield has a lot of storytelling in him, in both personal accounts from his life as well as his music.
2014 is shaping up to be a great year for fans of Rick Springfield, as he is kicking things off with his solo “Stripped Down” shows currently, and plans to take on Summer with a co-headling tour with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. The former should be an opportunity to hear his classic songs in a different style and at more intimate venues, while the latter will team him up with one of the true female rock and roll icons of the 80s, Pat Benatar, as well as her husband, phenomenal guitarist Neil Giraldo, who famously recorded “Jessie’s Girl” with Rick Springfield at Sound City Studios, as recounted in the documentary put out by Dave Grohl last year (and in concert as Sound City Players). [Read more…]
Teenage Cancer Trust, who “lead the world in the care of young people with cancer”, in partnership with The Body Shop, is holding their 2014 concert series at The Royal Albert Hall at the end of March in London. This year, headliners include Ed Sheeran (March 24th), an evening of comedy featuring Micky Flanagan and John Bishop as hosted by Jason Manford (March 25th), Paolo Nutini (March 26th), OneRepublic (March 27th), The Cure (March 28th and March 29th), and Suede (March 30). This year marks the 35th anniversary of The Cure’s debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, and they are expected to put out three hour sets each night for these special shows. [Read more…]
The Mountain Winery has announced this year’s Summer Concert Series, in conjunction with AXS, all kicking off May 24th with Juanes and running through October 6th with Bonnie Raitt closing out the season. With a few pre-sales having happened this week, the general sale of tickets starts April 22nd on AXS.com.
I met up with some friends of mine who live in Las Vegas, who, like me, collect original artifacts from film, television, and music. I became acquainted with them years ago through my Original Prop Blog, and they have been huge supporters of my efforts. The History Channel series Pawn Stars has been a topic of discussion on the Original Prop Blog for years (see original article), so who could pass up the opportunity to check out the store where it all happens? So we visited Gold and Silver Pawn.