What's The Guru Listening To? --- November Edition

Welcome to the November Edition of What’s the Guru Listening To? I get asked this question a lot. What am I currently enjoying and what would I recommend? And since time is severely limited these days, it gets harder and harder to post a full review of the outstanding music that I am discovering (or re-discovering). Therefore, every month I will fill you in on the latest song, album, and/or band that I am obsessed with.

Here's what The Guru is listening to this month:

Brian Fallon – Forget Me Not

Brian Fallon, former lead singer for the band that is on indefinite hiatus, The Gaslight Anthem, is gearing up to release his second solo record Sleepwalkers. That record will be released in February of next year, but Fallon has gifted us with the first single, “Forget Me Not.” It is an amazing, hand clapping, foot stomping, bar rocking song that I can’t get enough of. The song is magnificent and I recommend that anyone reading this give the song a listen right now. You will not be disappointed and you may have just discovered your new favorite song. I cannot wait for the entire album to come out this February.

Pop Evil – Waking Lions

Like Brian Fallon, Pop Evil will also be releasing a brand-new record in February. Their fifth release is going to be a self-titled record and the lead single, “Waking Lions” is available now. I’m sure that I say this every time Pop Evil puts out something new, but “Waking Lions” could be their best song yet. It’s a heavy, hard rocking anthem that I absolutely love. Pop Evil has never let me down and each time I learn that they are coming out with new music I get extremely excited. Waking Lions is another masterpiece that is bound to climb to the top of the hard rock charts and be another gem for Pop Evil. 

Count On Me – Default

I was listening to Tune In Radio one evening (I don’t remember which station, but I know it was one from Canada) when this song came on. I had pretty much forgotten about Default after their debut album, so it was nice to realize that they released a few more records after that. “Count On Me” is a spectacular song that left me wondering why I hadn’t paid more attention to this band since their initial CD. I’m sure that will change now. I’ve listened to “Count On Me” quite a bit this month and I anticipate that I will be listening to all of Defaults’ releases over the next few weeks. They are a great band that I let slip away, but now I am ready to embrace them once again.

Iron Maiden – Book Of Souls: Live Chapter

Iron Maiden was kind enough to bless us with an early holiday treat this month, The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter. As has been the case with most of their previous albums since the return of Bruce Dickinson, Maiden released a live album from the tour of the previous studio album. In this case, it was the Book Of Souls Tour. The songs captured on the live album are taken from several stops on their world tour including Europe, North America, and South America. Sadly, there are no cuts from the USA stops, but that’s all right. It’s still live Maiden which means it’s good enough to add to the collection. This round of live material includes six songs from The Book Of Souls, an exceptional live version of “Children Of The Damned,” and an incredible “Fear Of The Dark,” which was recorded in Brazil. Those of you that prefer to see your Iron Maiden instead of hearing your Iron Maiden need not fear: there is also a Blu Ray release available. And either would make an awesome holiday gift for the metal lover in your life.

Classic Holiday Music

I will be the first to admit that it is a little early to break out the Christmas music, but I couldn’t seem to help myself! I love this time of the season when the year is coming to a close, the holidays are upon us, the Thanksgiving Feast is ready to be served and the joy of the Christmas season is all around. Normally I wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving to play the Christmas tunes, but I got bit early this year by the holiday song bug. And the classic holiday tracks also seem to relax me and fill me with joy. This month I’ve listened to Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” and “Good King Wenceslas,” “Must Be Santa” by Mitch Miller, “Home For The Holidays” by Perry Como, and “Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and “Silver Bells” by Andy Williams. I know that next month I will listen to Holiday songs almost exclusively, but they sound pretty grand in November too! 

Comments are open. Feel free to post some. 

Concert Review: Dave Matthews Band June 6 - 8, 2013 (Part One)

Have you ever stopped to wonder how such a wonderful thing as friendship occurs? What is it that places a connection between two people where they would have a level of trust and consideration to call themselves friends instead of acquaintances? Merriam-Webster defines a friend as “one attached to another by affection or esteem; a favored companion.” What needs to occur to transform a person from a stranger to a favored companion?

Making new friends seems to get harder the older a person gets, at least in my experience. There are les opportunities to make true “friends”. Yet, occasionally, the stars align, circumstances click into place, and two people get the chance to meet, bond, and ultimately become friends. Such a situation happened to me in the days leading up to my 40^th birthday.

The Tale of Ryo Turning 40

In the months before my 40^th birthday, I found myself listening to scads of songs by the Dave Matthews Band. I had established a real appreciation for their live shows in ways I never did before and the band was quickly rising to a top 5 favorite band status, which was huge. The top 5 was reserved for the best of the best, bands I had listened to and loved all my life. KISS, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen. How could Dave Matthews Band, a band that I had only recently begun to really love, take over a coveted top 5 spot? And yet, here they were, knocking on the door of all time most loved bands.

In 2012, I traveled to see DMB for the first time. I drove to SPAC and took my nephew to witness the band live and I journeyed to Bethel Woods to see DMB in concert. Granted these wee not journeys of thousands of miles, but they were the first road trips I had undertaken to see a band give a live representation of their music since migrating to Hartford, CT, to attend a Billy Joel outing. Setting out twice in the same summer to watch a band was huge for me.

With my 40^th birthday approaching and midlife crisis near full bloom, I wanted to do something completely out of the ordinary. I wanted to have my own little adventure complete with a road trip, music, and lots of fun that I would remember for years. I wanted to seize the moment and be completely unpredictable. I just wasn’t completely sure what I wanted that something to be.

When Dave Matthews Band announced tour dates for their 2013 tour, I knew I wanted to enjoy a show or two. And seeing the shows alone was not the best solution. My challenge with Dave Matthews Band is that I don’t have many friends who are into the band, and the ones that are won’t travel to see them. My wife can’t stand the band (I still love her though) and she will not go to a DMB concert, let alone travel to one. My other friends who like DMB will go to a local show, but that’s about it. And that summer, the only local show DMB would perform was at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. That show would be watched with my friend Rick, but any other show was going to be a solo venture at best.

Enter AntsMarching.org. For the unenlightened, antsmarching.org is the best fan site in existence for the Dave Matthews Band. They post band news, tour information, band bios, original podcasts about the group, and they have one of the best forum pages on the web. It is a fan’s euphoria website dedicated to everything Dave Matthews Band. The site has been around forever, but I joined the community in 2012 when my interest in DMB concerts, setlists, and happenings was at an all-time high.

As mentioned, the website has a forum page where like-minded fans can set up topics, leave messages, and interact with the rabid DMB community fan base. I continued to hem and haw about what to do for my 40^th birthday and tried to determine if it would ultimately be trip to multiple venues with an audience of one. It was my wife’s gentle suggestion that I post on the forum to see if anyone was interested in travelling from NJ to the shows in CT that changed my life forever.

I had concluded that I wanted to see the three shows happening the weekend of my birthday. On June 6^th, I would see the band in Holmdel. On June 7^th and 8^th, I would witness the band live in Hartford. On June 9^th, I would turn 40 and drive home. It sounded like a terrific celebration to 40 years of life. The problem of going alone still existed however, but I decided that was all right. This was an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss out on. How often was I going to be able to see Dave Matthews Band in concert for a milestone birthday?

At the urging of my wife, I did post on the forum to see if anyone was responsive to wandering from NJ to CT and back again. I put the post up and really didn’t think much of it. I figured that maybe one or two people may inquire, but most likely no one would. And I was okay with that. If going alone was the ultimate outcome, then so be it. I was still going to see Dave Matthews Band three nights in a row and would celebrate my birthday in style.

Can you imagine my surprise when there was an actual response to my post? Someone was interested in taking the ride with me? On top of that, the someone was female, travelling alone, and coming from Australia. I sat there in disbelief scratching my head. Was this for real? What woman from another country asks a complete stranger for a ride from one state to another? Was she some sort of psycho killer? Was I going to get murdered on the highway? Was I going to die before turning 40? This had to be some sort of a scam.

The Tale of Ryo and Snaz

Snaz was interested in experiencing a round trip from Jersey to Connecticut.  She also proclaimed that she might need a ride to the NJ venue if possible. I was more than happy to give her a lift to the Jersey venue and delighted to have a fellow DMB fan take a trip to Hartford with me. I did explain to her that the Holmdel show would include another friend, so she was going to be hanging with two guys she didn’t know before the show. She seemed totally fine with that which made me laugh. How crazy was this woman?

I don’t recall the exact nuances of our initial exchange, but know that the first occurred approximately four months before the shows. We exchanged pleasantries and introductions and a little information about ourselves. She told me her name, but that she was referred to as Snaz by her friends. She explained that she was a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band and was taking a trip to America to see them in concert at several venues across the USA. I thought that was tremendous and the sign of a devoted fan. Who goes to other countries to see their favorite band?

Over the next few months, we exchanged several emails, feeling each other out and confirming our comfort level with one another to take this kind of trip. She friended my wife on Facebook and confirmed that Mrs. Vie was okay with me taking a long road trip on the weekend of my 40^th birthday with an unknown foreign woman. My wife was totally fine with it because she is one of the best women in the world and our relationship of trust is that solid.

Over the course of email exchanges, Snaz and I connected and got to know each other. We told each other stories of how we became fans of DMB, and I told her about my wife’s hatred for the band. We bonded through the power of internet email and by the time the concerts arrived the first twinges of friendship were in bloom.

The Tale of Night One

On the evening of the New Jersey concert, Rick and I met Snaz in the parking lot of her hotel and headed toward the show. There was barely any awkward silence as we talked and laughed and looked forward to seeing Dave Matthews Band in concert. Snaz had a good seat in the front of the venue, while Rick and I were delegated to the lawn. We tailgated with beer and submarine sandwiches and listened to tales of Snaz’ American travels. Rick and I also shared stories of our friendship and how we met and remained friends. By show time we were all filled with delight. 

The opening act for all three nights was a band I did not know at the time, The Head and The Heart. Having never heard their music, I was in no particular rush to see their set, a decision I would come to regret later. We stayed in the parking lot a little longer and then slowly made out way inside the venue. Snaz went for her seat and Rick and I picked our spots on the lawn.

DMB took the stage not long after we staked our claim on the lawn and the night was off and running. Highlights from night one included a “Tripping Billies” opener, a fantastic version of “Recently,” an amazing version of “Cry Freedom,” and a spectacular “So Right” in the encore. Rick wanted to hear “Satellite” in the worst way, and I told him that the chances were slim. It certainly wasn’t a song that they played at every concert. He was disappointed but still had a great time overall.

“Cry Freedom” was one of those DMB songs that I never really appreciated until I saw it live. Prior to that June night, “Cry Freedom” was a song that I skipped over a lot whenever listening to Crash. It’s not that I thought it was a terrible song, it’s just that it was far from one of my favorites---definitely lower third on the most enjoyed songs by DMB list.

And that’s one of the magnificent enjoyments of seeing live concerts. As an audience member, you can come away with an appreciation for a certain song that may not have been there prior. There was no choice that night, I had to listen to “Cry Freedom.” This was a live concert. I couldn’t just skip over the song. So, I leaned back and really listened to the song probably for the first time in my life. Halfway through it I was mesmerized. Why hadn’t I given this song more love before that moment? Since then, “Cry Freedom” has become one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs and I yearn to hear it when I see them in concert.

Night one was a success and a stupendous way to start my birthday weekend.

Setlist From Night One:

June 6, 2013 (PNC Bank Arts Center)

Tripping Billies

Save Me

Rooftop

Don’t Drink The Water

Mercy

The Idea Of You

#41

Spaceman

Cornbread

Recently

Grey Street

Captain

Belly Belly Nice

Cry Freedom

Crash Into Me

Drive In Drive Out

Jimi Thing

Encore:

So Right
Ants Marching

Concert Review: The Allman Brothers Band - March 10, 2012

The first time that I ever saw the Allman Brothers Band in concert was also the first time that I ever entered the Beacon Theater in New York City. I was anxious to see the famed room and hear what a concert sounded like in the theater. I was also anxious to hear the Allman Brothers Band perform “Midnight Rider” and “Blue Sky.” Those were the only two songs that I wanted to hear and anything else that they played would be fine with me. I knew that there was no guarantee those two songs would be performed, but I was hopeful.

I’ll admit, when I first went to see The Allman Brothers, I was pretty much going just to say I saw the Allman Brothers Band. I wasn’t well versed in their catalog and only knew their staples. I owned two Allman Brothers Band records and one was their greatest hits collection. But it was The Allman Brothers and I wanted to see them. This was also during the height of the March Madness tours that they played every year. The Allman Brothers would take over the beacon theater for several days throughout the month of March.

The Beacon Theater is absolutely breathtaking! A magnificent work of art that is also a fabulous place to witness a concert. The theater opened in 1929 as a movie palace and vaudeville. The architecture in the theater is amazing---really a sight to behold. Our seats for the night were in the lower balcony, but it didn’t matter where we sat. There isn’t a bad seat in the cozy theater. The Beacon Theater holds just under 3,000 people at max capacity. With such little seating, every seat is a magnificent one.

After finding my seat, looking around, and taking in all the scenery, I settled in to wait for the Allman Brothers. I talked with my uncle about the songs I really wanted to hear and expressed my desire for “Blue Sky” and “Midnight Rider.” My uncle was hoping to hear “Jessica.” A short time later the house lights went out and the Allman Brothers Band approached the stage with a loud roar of approval. The band ripped into “Statesboro Blues” and the night had begun. “Statesboro Blues” sounded incredible and I thought it was a great opener to the evening. It was a grand way to start the show.

After “Statesboro Blues” I realized that I may have been in over my head. I didn’t know another song until “One Way Out” which came seven songs later. And after that it would be another 6 songs until one I recognized was played. And that was “Dreams” which was the second to last song of the night (not counting the encore). I’m not saying that the song selection was terrible, it was just that they were songs I was unfamiliar with. I knew this was a risk when I agreed to see the show, but the reality of it hit hard. I couldn’t sing along with songs I didn’t know, so I would have to find a different way to appreciate these songs. One of those ways was watching Warren Haynes.

Warren Haynes is an absolute genius with a guitar in his hands. Just watching him perform all night long was worth the price of admission. His guitar playing is up there with the greatest of the greats. He makes the guitar sing and produces notes that are just mind blowing. It’s hard to believe that so much power can come out of one man with a guitar in his hand. When Haynes would break into solos I would just close my eyes and let the music wash all over me. It was mesmerizing. It also made me wish even harder to hear “Blue Sky” as I wanted to know what Warren Haynes could do to that solo in the live setting.

A lot of great songs were played but not a lot of the huge hits were played. Granted, they played Revivial and Dreams and Mountain Jam, which was incredible, but most of the songs I just didn’t know. Sadly, I would not get “Blue Sky” or “Midnight Rider” that evening. I told myself that if I was going to see this band in concert again, I would have to immerse myself deeper into their catalog.

The encore was a bit of a disappointment in that only one song was played. And while it was a great one, “Southbound,” I was hoping for more. Unfortunately, there was no more to come. At the end of my inaugural Allman Brothers experience I decided that I would return to see them again. I certainly was not disappointed with my first Allman Brothers experience, it’s just that I hadn’t prepared myself with their music enough to fully really enjoy the concert in a way that I am accustomed to. That happens sometimes. I loved the music and I loved listening to the music, but I just didn’t know most of it. That knowledge would come later.

Setlist

Statesboro Blues

Come And Go Blues

Down Along The Cove

Stand Back

Sailin’ Cross the Devil’s Sea

Blind Willie McTell

Bag End

One Way Out

Old Friend

Dark End of the Street

Done Somebody Wrong

Revival

Hot ‘Lanta>>>

All Along The Watchtower>>>

Hot ‘Lanta

Dreams

Mountain Jam

Encore