I can die now

Brothers, I went and saw Ray Davies Saturday night at the Paramount (similar to the Orpheum). I hemmed and hawed about going, and had basically decided I wasn't, but then Jack and I were downtown Saturday afternoon, so I stopped by the box office to see what kinds of tickets were left. Turns out they had just released some tickets in the FOURTH ROW!! I was dead center, in the orchestra pit.

What was great was that he had a full-on rockin' band. I was kind of afraid he'd be doing the solo acoustic thing, but he let it rip. I think I'll be needing to get his solo album, because the stuff sounded great. Of course, he threw in a few Kinks songs (my favorites being 'Till the End of the Day' and 'Celluloid Heroes'). He's a real entertainer, with a lot of energy and he absolutely belts 'em out. He told a lot of stories about being in the Kinks and his brother coming up with the 'barking dog' guitar sound.

That show goes up near the top on my all-time list.

Set list here.

Alive!

Okay, okay. Jeez, I lie in the floor in the fetal position, crying and clutching a bottle of gin to my chest for a couple of weeks because my house isn't selling, and everybody's all "Where's Jay? Where's Jay?!"

It's called a nervous breakdown, mutherfockers! Look it up.

Dream Boogie

I just finished reading Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick (author of The Old and New Testaments, sometimes referred to as the Elvis biographies: Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love). I read it more as a fan of Guralnick than Sam Cooke , having loved the Elvis books and his Sweet Soul Music. I always thought Cooke's music was a little on the light side -- nice to listen to, but without the gravity of Ray Charles or Lou Rawls or some of the other soul greats. I have a new found respect for the singer and his songs now, though. He had an amazing talent not only for singing and performing, but also for recognizing trends in music. He was clearly ahead of the curve from both an artistic and business perspective.

Guralnick is obviously a fan, but he still gives Cooke an extensive, honest examination. The descriptions of the studio work and performances are amazing, as is the amount of, erm, action, that Cooke got. Which, I guess was ultimately his downfall.

It took me about a month to read, and it was funny that even though I knew how and when he died, when I finally got to that part of the book, I got kind of depressed. I guess the depth to which the book goes illustrating Cooke and his gifts drove home how senseless his death was. Even if it was more or less his own fault.

Great read.

I Did It, and You Can't Stop Me

I have created a 'My Space' music page! http://www.myspace.com/popheaddave

Figured I may as well have a way to share tunes with family and friends. I'm still working on it right now. Jay, I'm curious to know which Pophead numbers featuring you and Sean I should add. Two cents, or even three, please.

Its pretty cool connecting with lots of musician friends all over like this, and an easy way to share music with each other.

The Great Deluge

Just finished Doug Brinkley's The Great Deluge, the first full work to deal with the minutiae of Hurricane Katrina and its effect on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. A pretty cool read, although Brinkley being a resident of New Orleans can't help but write in a pretty subjective manner quite a lot of the time. The history guy in me says, "Uh.... you can't pass judgements like that." The New Orleanian in me says, "You Go Girl!" or something like that. Summary: Mayor Nagin: BAD! Gov. Blanco: OK. President Bush: BAD! FEMA and Sec. Chertoff: Really, really BAD! NOPD: THE WORST! Oh yeah, and local first responders and the Coast Guard are GOOD! REALLY, REALLY GOOD! Brinkley is pretty scathing towards Mayor Ray and Mssrs. Chertoff and Brown, but I have no problem with that. Pretty compelling stuff, but I doubt it will turn out to be the definitive version of events, as its come out just too damn fast.

While on the subject, I went to N.O. for a week or so last month. Let's just say there's a long way to go. My friends are making due, but they all have this glazed look about them. Services you once took for granted are not always there anymore (fried shrimp po' boy at 2 am on a Sunday? No problem! At least not in the past.....). I would say that 70% of the city is still mostly uninhabitable, and rebuilding is present, but not widespread. Don't forget about New Orleans guys, cause it still needs a lot of positive thoughts.