Last week, I was at the epic Foo Fighters show here in Salt Lake. This was my third time seeing them live [1998, 2000 were the two previous years] and this show blew the previous shows out of the water. This is what rock and roll is, kids. Fucking kick ass and playing more than the standard 90 minutes most other bands play anymore.

Dave on guitar on the “jumbotron”

Opening band was Cage The Elephant. Their drummer has emergency appendicitis. So guess who filled in on drums? Yep.

Dave on drums for Cage The Elephant

The Foo Fighters played for just over 2.5 hours. And what a show. All of the hits. All of the funny smirks from Dave. Taylor, Chris, Pat and Nate were pretty quiet most of the show, just playing and being happy to have a crowd of over 12,000 on this October night.

“What you lookin at, kiddo?”

Of course, I’ve got to mention the other wild man of the night – Taylor, who while mostly stationed behind the drum kit, was amazing.

A blur most of the night, but such a kick ass drummer

This video [not captured by me but someone else who was there on the floor] is pretty cool and captures where Dave went to the stage in the middle of the arena. My seats were not that far from this center stage area.

Dave to the crowd

This easily became one of my top 10 concerts I’ve attended. And let me tell you, I’ve attended pretty close to 1,000 concerts since I started going in 1982. That’s almost 30 years. This is how great the Foo Fighters were.

And you can bet I will see them again.

Set List

• Bridges Burning
• Rope
• The Pretender
• My Hero
• Learn to Fly
• White Limo
• Arlandia
• Breakout
• Cold Day in the Sun
• Stacked Actors
• Walk
• Monkey Wrench
• Let It Die
• These Days
• Skin and Bones
• This Is a Call
• In the Flesh? – Pink Floyd cover
• All My Life

Encore

• Long Road to Ruin – Dave acoustic
• Best of You – acoustic
• Times Like These – acoustic then full band kicked in
• Dear Rosemary
• Breakdown – Tom Petty cover
• Everlong

This past weekend, local radio station X96 held their (mostly) annual Big Ass Show [also known as BaSH for those in the local media that hate to use the word "Ass"] with a line up of many bands that the kids love, including my daughter.[who I hung out with at this show]

As it turns out, I like some of these bands, too.

Grouplove playing to a large group

I’m not much of a fan of bands like Anberlin or Switchfoot, but I really like this Grouplove band, who played a rather fun set. Most of the bands were limited to 30 minute sets, but used the time well.

Steven Chen on guitar (photo taken by Tiffany)

Airborne Toxic Event, who I just saw this past summer, was able to draw the crowd into an sing-a-long with their music. Love this band and their sound.

Neon Trees signing CDs for their fans (photo taken by Tiffany)

Neon Trees, a native Utah band, is big… really big. They are currently on tour with Duran Duran, but managed to take a day to play for the Big Ass crowd. With only one album under their belt, the set time of 40 minutes was perfect.

Getting ready to take the stage

And then it was the final act of the day, Panic! At The Disco, who were missing their lead singer, Brenden Urie. But thanks to many other voices who stepped into the lead vocal role, the show went off great and was actually very cool to see.

The crowd stuck around for Panic! At The Disco

A great 7 hours of music. The only negative? It was cold… barely 50 degrees, which is damn cold for being early fall here in Utah. But that didn’t stop the crowd from enjoying the day.

Today is the first official day of fall – or autumn if you are kicking it calendar old school. Which means summer is over.

As most of you know, I love summer. It’s my favorite season of the year. Sometimes it can get really hot, but this year, the temps never really hit the triple digits like they usually do. Mostly 90′s for the last bit of July and most of August.

So far, most of September has been cold in the mornings but in the low 80′s during the day. I could thrive very well if it stayed like this all year. But alas, it doesn’t. And before you know it, the snow, ice and cold is here.

Surrounded by leaves – this photo from November 2008

Which means my scooter riding days will come to a close in just a few weeks. Even if it gets chilly, as long as there are no snow storms and icy roads, I will keep riding. Besides, I still have a few Scooter Sunday episodes to film and put together.

So thank you summer, for all of the warmth, travel, splotchy burn that turned to tan, drinks, parties, BBQs and many other joys I experienced. I am hoping for nice warm temps for fall before I start bitching about the cold.

The whole sign… nothing but the sign.

New Category

In my efforts to take more photos AND to post them publicly on my blogs, I decided to create a new category for random photos I take. I’ve had way too many missed photo ops and this is one attempt to help me resolve that.

The two photos I posted for this debut entry are a sign near the office building I work in. I’ve seen this knocked over sign on the ground for over three weeks now and each time I see it, I would remind myself that I needed to take a picture of this sign before someone takes the sign away [or puts it back up in it's original spot after some jackass ran it over]

I also mention a few others like KevinIL and KevinAZ that take many photos and post them on their respective blogs. There’s also Megan who changed her blog to be all photos. And Lisa, who shares her skilled efforts in photography with her readers. These and many others are an inspiration to get me going with some type of nudge to start posting my amateur snapshots I see in life. Maybe if I keep it up, I’ll expand. For now, it’s simply getting into the habit of taking and posting photos.

On my last visit to the Pacific Northwest, I stopped by the Fred Meyer to pick up some Mike’s Harder Lemonades. It’s 8% alcohol content and everyone that’s a regular reader here knows I love these higher-content alcoholic beverages.

So finding two new flavors, of course I had to try them. I expected the Blueberry Lemonade to be much sweeter, but it turned out to be very smooth. There was no after taste or oddness. It went down very well and it may become a regular purchase the next time I find myself in Oregon or Washington again.

And a new Limeade flavor, too

Now Limeade is one of my favorite flavors for non-soda like drinks. Cherry Limeades at the Sonic Drive-In are very good and most limeades I’ve had are always refreshing. Well, add some alcohol and you have a really great drink in this version. I really, really like this flavor. It’s shooting up to the number one position for all of the Mike’s Harder brand of canned malt beverages. Refreshing, tasty and a nice way to get the party started.

It really sucks they do not sell these in Utah. When’s that next road trip again?

Last Friday night, Black Francis came to town. You know who he is, right? For those of you that already know, let the newbies have their two minutes to catch up.

Black Francis, born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, is the lead singer of a band called The Pixies. After the Pixies broke up in 1993, he went solo where he went by the name of Frank Black [a reverse play on his stage name]. Since 2004, The Pixies have reunited and play live shows every so often. In between those shows, Mr. Francis takes the stage solo, performing music he’s made outside of the Pixies [as well as some Pixies songs, too].

the “of the Pixies” is important

The show started at 9pm with an opening act [a hippie guitarist named Dave Williams]. Once Black Francis took the stage, he started off with some stage banter about how grateful he was to be here again. Someone from the audience yelled “Urban Lounge” when Black asked how long ago it was he had been to Utah.

This particular tour is a moving tour. For the last 20 years, Black Francis and his family have lived in Oregon. He’s making his way cross country back to his home of Massachusetts, stopping every so often and playing a club date.

Black Francis – all by himself

He talked about playing some Pixies songs first… “to get them out of the way, well not really… but you know what I mean, right?” Yes, we do.

Eric Drew Feldman and Black Francis

While by himself for a couple of songs, most of the night, Black Francis had some bass and keyboard help from Eric Drew Feldman, who is a producer and has worked with him on several of his solo albums. Quite accomplished himself, Eric added the background sound for various songs like “Where Is My Mind“ and “Velouria“, not to mention Frank Black tunes like “Ten Percenter“, “Los Angeles“ and “I Hear Ramona Sing“

Strumming Along

He pretty much pulled from most of his catalog of songs all night. I was hoping to hear “Headache“ a rousing song from his album “Teenager Of The Year”, but alas, it was not to be. But no complaints. All three solo entities were represented here, including a couple tracks from his stint with the short-lived backing band, The Catholics.

Center Stage

And a bit after midnight, Black strummed that final chord and left the stage. No encore needed. If you are a Pixies fan and Black Francis (or Frank Black) comes to town and plays a small club (The State Room holds 300 people), go treat yourself. I’ve seen him three times solo now and it’s worth it.

Of course, a Pixies show is the ultimate experience for anyone [which I've experienced only once in 2004]. Biased much? Why yes I am.

About three weeks ago, I posted a review of several new albums, Foster The People’s “Torches” being one of them. For me, it’s an instant favorite and one of the best albums of 2011 (so far).

Acoustic

What cha lookin’ at, Willis?

So when I heard they were coming to town, I had to go. But imagine my excitement when they did two shows. That’s right… an acoustic in-store and a full set later in the evening at a local club.

part of “Pumped Up Kicks” acoustic

Signing for the fans

The acoustic show was held at the Taylorsville location of Graywhale Records. They played a short set of four songs (“Houdini”, “Helena Beat”, “Pumped Up Kicks” and “Don’t Stop”) to a crowd of about 60 or so fans. I even got to meet them and have them sign my ticket for the show later on.

Plugged In

Just a few hours later, the band made it’s way to the Urban Lounge for a full loud and plugged in set. This place was packed [it was a sold out show] and their set included their entire album plus a new song [didn't catch the name of it].

Jamming

Most of the songs were mixed a bit different. Lead band member Mark Foster switched from keyboard to guitar, all the while handling his lead vocal duties.

“I pity the fool that isn’t signing along with me”

Towards the end of the show, the crowd moved closer to the stage, wanting to take in all that Foster The People was giving. Musically, they sounded very good for this medium sized bar-turned-music-club.

If they come back around, I’ll go see them again for sure. Great energy, catchy songs and entertaining to their new found fan base.

Last Wednesday, I went with my daughter to see The Airborne Toxic Event. Those of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook were asking who this band was and that they hadn’t really heard of them.

The history of the band that I know is from my daughter sharing their music with her dad and from their Wiki page. Basically, it started with Mikel, a writer of stories, realizing that he was writing a collection of songs and from there, added musicians and band mates. But after seeing them live, I added my own bit of history that sparked a deeper appreciation for this group.

Mikel

I’ve listened to both of their albums many times over and their music is a nice mix of guitar, rock, raspy vocals and viola. Very symphonic in sound. All members of the band are highly talented and between Daren, Steven, Anna and Noah, the bulk of the rhythm section is nothing short of great. Noah would occasionally replace his bass with a cello. Steven would take Anna’s place on keyboards… the diversity spoke loudly as they played each song.

Then add to that the searing and deep vocals of Mikel Jollett and you have a band that must be seen live. My daughter has seen them live four times now and each time, she tells me how great the show was. She was right.

Playing just a hair over two hours, the band pulled out all the stops. Each song becoming more familiar than the last. Of note was the title track to “All At Once”, which has Mikel channeling Neil Diamond. Take a listen to the song below and see if you can hear the similar vocal style.

“All At Once“

While the song was the final number for the night, everything before it was performed with so much energy and it was obvious to the almost packed crowd at In The Venue, a club in Downtown Salt Lake City.

During the second encore, the band went into a set of covers: “I’m On Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, The Clash’s cover version of “I Fought The Law” and a riff of Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues.” But it was mid-way through the show that one of my favorite songs from the band started, with the familiar string talent of Anna.

“Sometime Around Midnight“

Mikel meeting with fans after the show

After the show, all of the band members came out to meet everyone [breaking the trend of so many other bands that make die-hard fans wait till the wee hours of the morning before coming out of their tour bus]. I heaped praise on all of them and told them that I was glad my daughter introduced me to their music.

Take a spin of their music and you might also get hooked.

To see larger versions of the photos, just click on each image.

Yellow

Many Yellows

Vibrant

Not the cars honking

Wallflowers of a different kind

That was me in October of 2010, test driving the Nissan LEAF, more than 6 months after I put my name and $99 to be one of the first 20,000 on the reserved list.

Today is one year since I’ve reserved my LEAF and nothing in the way of updates of when I can expect to get one. While I understand the priority given to the launch markets combined with the incredible task of rolling out a consumer vehicle that doesn’t run on gasoline, it’s still a bit frustrating to still be waiting.

Then I read today’s news release, which got me more frustrated. They are opening up the reservation list again, with only 500 of the 20,000 LEAFs delivered to their owners so far. That’s another 19,500 owners that paid $99 still waiting arrival of their electric car.

The part of the press release that’s frustrating is here:

“More markets will follow, with market availability in the southeastern United States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia) this fall, and nationwide ordering in 2012.”

No detailed mention of when those of us remaining 19,500 will see our LEAF. I was hoping that an August or September delivery date would happen, but given today’s news, it sounds like I will be waiting even longer to go electric.

I’m holding out hope that delivery will happen this year, but at this point, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Stay tuned.

I’m being extra lazy today and using the same photo on two different blogs Cooper gave his permission – awfully nice of him

July 3rd

Hope everyone has a safe and sane holiday today. Here in Utah, most of the celebrating happened yesterday, which was July 3rd. Since July 4th fell on a Sunday this year, and due to a sizable amount of the population here in Utah that belong to a single organized religion, shooting off fireworks and having parades gets moved up a day.

I’ve always wondered how something like celebrating the birth of our nation gets trumped by religious mindsets. Sure, those that observe the modern sabbath day are being respectful. And yes, it only happens once every six years. But still, it has puzzled me for years why something so important has to adjust it’s celebration schedule as not to disrupt a religious practice.

Regardless of any ritual, today is the day that we celebrate our independence. And with that, I’m going to go cook some hot dogs and burgers, light some fireworks and throw back a few beverages.

Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate it.

———————————————————–

Shannon, Marty, Reba and Shannon’s Dad

Back in April of this year [I'm not that far behind], we had a couple of visitors to our fine state of Utah. Shannon, who is more famously known as Bubblewench [Blog, Twitter] and her dad spent a few days in Park City to golf, ski and just hang out. Since Shannon knew my wife and I lived here in Utah, she gave me a heads up and we planned a meet up.

Jumping back to October 2009, I met Shannon at Avitaween. Shannon was nothing but a fun and cool person, not only fixing me some wonderful pasta, but also making me a couple of drinks before the costumed-festivities started. Both my wife and I connected with her and had a blast. So imagine my excitement when we had the chance to meet up with her again – without having to travel [BONUS!]

We met at Market Street Grill, which is a local restaurant that serves great food and drinks. We all ate so well and shared some great wine and awesome company. Shannon’s dad [who's name I cannot recall] was such a nice gentleman and I can see why Shannon is the great person she is.

If you have a chance to meet Shannon, please do. Make every effort to do so. She’s fun and full of energy and just good people. I know I’m looking forward to my next meet up with her [and her dad, too].

To read Shannon’s post [which was posted back in April], go here.