Better Than Spending A Night At The Opera!!!
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Is There A Rush In The House???
Sunday, August 15, 2004 10.45 PM ET
"Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme
All the world's indeed a stage and we are merely players:
Performers and portrayers,
Each another's audience outside the gilded cage"
And that’s how they closed the best concert I've been to - period. Limelight, that wonderfully famous track from their 1981 album, "Moving Pictures".
Errrr…, my mind has enough trouble moving forward, let alone in reverse… I thought I'd write in the style of QT's Pulp Fiction screenplay but didn't realize it needs a drunken muse on your shoulder and oodles of imagination and given that I can't seem to find the first right here and now and I lack the latter in spades , let me begin at the beginning as they say…
We'd decided to belt up at this concert ages ago, tickets booked as early as March of this year, courtesy Dave Haka (thanks dude, we owe you one) and excitement in the air as we began the countdown. Saturday evening saw Satish, Manu and me watching the Chronicles and Rush in Rio concerts. Brief interlude where Anu and Satish heralded my 34th year of existence on this pebble a.k.a earth with a song, a cake and a candle that I blew on. And back to the concerts, where we were prepping ourselves on the lyrics, liner notes, riffs, yada yada yada. Come Sunday evening, we was all gut tight in anticipation, the drive to Darien Lake PAC seemed to go on forever (though the point of a journey was not to arrive??). The fair grounds were packed with cars and people, all headed ostensibly to the concert and believe you me, nobody was disappointed (a crowd of over 40,000 people I was told.)
As Geddy Lee remarked at the start, "Thank you for celebrating our 30th birthday with us tonight." Oh well, happy birthday to me too!!! And folks, he can still hit the high notes without missing a beat leastways…
Rush opened their anniversary act with Finding My Way ("I've been gone so long, I've lost count of the years; Well, I sang some sad songs, oh yes, and cried some bad tears; I'm runnin', finding my way back home") and a medley/collage that traced their 30 year history, before moving onto tracks from their midlife albums including Time Stand Still, Subdivisions, Animate, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Roll The Bones interspersed with tracks from their more recent albums – Earthshine and Pay the Price. The first set was closed out with the Trees and a song written and performed originally by The Who, called The Seeker.
Almost forgot to mention, Rush have released a new compilation called Feedback, featuring their cover versions of songs written by bands that inspired them. We had seats 50 feet from stage and were directly dead center, so couldn't ask for more. Also made some friends there who could not believe "You folks from India have heard Rush? Aaaaaaawesum!!"
Come intermission, I went and picked myself a pair of commemorative 30th anniversary tees - tie dye rules - as well as a poster. What the heck, my “touristy-villager-in-the-big-city” instincts surfaced again.
The second set started off with a video featurette of the Rio Dragon theme set to One Little Victory and they then went onto play favorites, Tom Sawyer, Dreamline, Mystic Rhythms and Red Sector A, before branching off into a virtuoso solo by Neil Peart - what can I say, that dude is GOD!!! - his kit was just incredible and the way he sent it that evening was a tribute to skins everywhere. He just kept playing and rolling and playing and rolling like there's no tomorrow. This was followed by an "almost acoustic" performance by Geddy and Alex, after which they played the Yardbirds classic, Heart Full Of Soul, that just made me burst with happiness, what a rendition folks, it was simply AWESOME!!! Watching these three have such a blast together made my experience so much more enjoyable and I would like to believe the entire crowd just picked up on that raw feed.
Not content with closing so soon, they went onto play Temples of Syrinx interspersed with what I thought was a floydian segue inspired by Zappa (?) before closing with The Finale. I think the high point of this entire tour would have to be the showcase of tracks from their first through recent albums, capturing Rush's brilliant progression through the years, aided and abetted by the good songwriting and excellent compositions.
I passed out a couple of times owing to excesses of (editor's note: censored for content)- the crowd went wild listening to each track including Summertime Blues (originally written and performed by The Who) and Crossroads (Eric Clapton), before they finally closed out with Limelight.
This was truly a birthday to remember. THANK YOU NEIL, GEDDY AND ALEX!!! You guys really rock!!!
Peace
S
"Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme
All the world's indeed a stage and we are merely players:
Performers and portrayers,
Each another's audience outside the gilded cage"
And that’s how they closed the best concert I've been to - period. Limelight, that wonderfully famous track from their 1981 album, "Moving Pictures".
Errrr…, my mind has enough trouble moving forward, let alone in reverse… I thought I'd write in the style of QT's Pulp Fiction screenplay but didn't realize it needs a drunken muse on your shoulder and oodles of imagination and given that I can't seem to find the first right here and now and I lack the latter in spades , let me begin at the beginning as they say…
We'd decided to belt up at this concert ages ago, tickets booked as early as March of this year, courtesy Dave Haka (thanks dude, we owe you one) and excitement in the air as we began the countdown. Saturday evening saw Satish, Manu and me watching the Chronicles and Rush in Rio concerts. Brief interlude where Anu and Satish heralded my 34th year of existence on this pebble a.k.a earth with a song, a cake and a candle that I blew on. And back to the concerts, where we were prepping ourselves on the lyrics, liner notes, riffs, yada yada yada. Come Sunday evening, we was all gut tight in anticipation, the drive to Darien Lake PAC seemed to go on forever (though the point of a journey was not to arrive??). The fair grounds were packed with cars and people, all headed ostensibly to the concert and believe you me, nobody was disappointed (a crowd of over 40,000 people I was told.)
As Geddy Lee remarked at the start, "Thank you for celebrating our 30th birthday with us tonight." Oh well, happy birthday to me too!!! And folks, he can still hit the high notes without missing a beat leastways…
Rush opened their anniversary act with Finding My Way ("I've been gone so long, I've lost count of the years; Well, I sang some sad songs, oh yes, and cried some bad tears; I'm runnin', finding my way back home") and a medley/collage that traced their 30 year history, before moving onto tracks from their midlife albums including Time Stand Still, Subdivisions, Animate, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Roll The Bones interspersed with tracks from their more recent albums – Earthshine and Pay the Price. The first set was closed out with the Trees and a song written and performed originally by The Who, called The Seeker.
Almost forgot to mention, Rush have released a new compilation called Feedback, featuring their cover versions of songs written by bands that inspired them. We had seats 50 feet from stage and were directly dead center, so couldn't ask for more. Also made some friends there who could not believe "You folks from India have heard Rush? Aaaaaaawesum!!"
Come intermission, I went and picked myself a pair of commemorative 30th anniversary tees - tie dye rules - as well as a poster. What the heck, my “touristy-villager-in-the-big-city” instincts surfaced again.
The second set started off with a video featurette of the Rio Dragon theme set to One Little Victory and they then went onto play favorites, Tom Sawyer, Dreamline, Mystic Rhythms and Red Sector A, before branching off into a virtuoso solo by Neil Peart - what can I say, that dude is GOD!!! - his kit was just incredible and the way he sent it that evening was a tribute to skins everywhere. He just kept playing and rolling and playing and rolling like there's no tomorrow. This was followed by an "almost acoustic" performance by Geddy and Alex, after which they played the Yardbirds classic, Heart Full Of Soul, that just made me burst with happiness, what a rendition folks, it was simply AWESOME!!! Watching these three have such a blast together made my experience so much more enjoyable and I would like to believe the entire crowd just picked up on that raw feed.
Not content with closing so soon, they went onto play Temples of Syrinx interspersed with what I thought was a floydian segue inspired by Zappa (?) before closing with The Finale. I think the high point of this entire tour would have to be the showcase of tracks from their first through recent albums, capturing Rush's brilliant progression through the years, aided and abetted by the good songwriting and excellent compositions.
I passed out a couple of times owing to excesses of (editor's note: censored for content)
This was truly a birthday to remember. THANK YOU NEIL, GEDDY AND ALEX!!! You guys really rock!!!
Peace
S
Monday, July 19, 2004
Can't You Trip Like I Do
I've got the acumen of a seasoned pro
I've got the lack of say of a billion souls
I've got a world on my back but I don't seem to care
I've got the comprehension of a world unaware
Can't you trip like I do. . .
I've got the lack of say of a billion souls
I've got a world on my back but I don't seem to care
I've got the comprehension of a world unaware
Can't you trip like I do. . .
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
So Long And Thanks For All The Fish aka I Kept It Short and Simple
I ws rcntly tld by a frnd (?!?) tht I wrt mndlssly lng blgs 'n tht a blg shld b kpt shrt, so jst t' hmr hm, ths 1 sntnce s in tht vn... (ok, that was slightly painful, even for me!!)
All ye dudes and dudettes, it was super fun meeting and phreaking with you on my India trip this time around... and hopefully we can do this sometime soon next year too, if not earlier...
Lavanya/Deepak, Jyoti/Sushanth - wonderful time outside Bangalore city limits... thanks so much for having me over at your homes, I had a blast...
Furthermore, will quickgun339 nom-de-geuring as NannaHesaruInspectorGarudaIsMyName please simply own up... For the life of me, I canna figure out who you are... Nimme real life hesaru is so not Inspector Garuda... and hopefully, you're not one of those actors from some Kannadiga sitcom, I may have met at Reddys (aka c&b watering hole) or BGs (aka alternative discotheque) or similar fancy locales...
Finally, I also once read somewhere that a dedication is the best way to curry favor, so here we goes...
To Nair for all the Curries and to Anu and Vijay Homie for all the Favors*...
[Choke Choke, Sniff]...
Words fail me thereafter...
Cheers
S
*P.S - Or Wuz Dat Flavas?
All ye dudes and dudettes, it was super fun meeting and phreaking with you on my India trip this time around... and hopefully we can do this sometime soon next year too, if not earlier...
Lavanya/Deepak, Jyoti/Sushanth - wonderful time outside Bangalore city limits... thanks so much for having me over at your homes, I had a blast...
Furthermore, will quickgun339 nom-de-geuring as NannaHesaruInspectorGarudaIsMyName please simply own up... For the life of me, I canna figure out who you are... Nimme real life hesaru is so not Inspector Garuda... and hopefully, you're not one of those actors from some Kannadiga sitcom, I may have met at Reddys (aka c&b watering hole) or BGs (aka alternative discotheque) or similar fancy locales...
Finally, I also once read somewhere that a dedication is the best way to curry favor, so here we goes...
To Nair for all the Curries and to Anu and Vijay Homie for all the Favors*...
[Choke Choke, Sniff]...
Words fail me thereafter...
Cheers
S
*P.S - Or Wuz Dat Flavas?
Friday, July 09, 2004
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
How To Write A Chinese Poem
The usual Chinese poem, I am told, is four lines and the composition runs thus so...
The first line contains the initial phrase, the second line is the continuation of that phrase. The third line turns from this subject and begins an entirely new one. The fourth line brings the first three lines together...
My two Renmimbi Yuan (or is it two bits, nah, we'll stick with the Yuan) on this poetic style:
Been working a decade in book keeping and finances
Somehow managed to delineate GAAP* and CRAP**
Earthquakes destroy all in their wake
But I ain't no shattered accountant, yet!!!
For the uninformed reader
*GAAP - Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
**CRAP - Cleverly Rigged Accounting Ploys
And with apologies to D Adams, I may just win a galactic award for worst poetry yet (finishing behind the Vogons and that lady in Sussex, of course)...
The first line contains the initial phrase, the second line is the continuation of that phrase. The third line turns from this subject and begins an entirely new one. The fourth line brings the first three lines together...
My two Renmimbi Yuan (or is it two bits, nah, we'll stick with the Yuan) on this poetic style:
Been working a decade in book keeping and finances
Somehow managed to delineate GAAP* and CRAP**
Earthquakes destroy all in their wake
But I ain't no shattered accountant, yet!!!
For the uninformed reader
*GAAP - Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
**CRAP - Cleverly Rigged Accounting Ploys
And with apologies to D Adams, I may just win a galactic award for worst poetry yet (finishing behind the Vogons and that lady in Sussex, of course)...
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Journey Into God's Own Country aka A Brief Kerala Road Trip
Hmmmm...
Been planning to attend Jyoti and Sushanth's wedding right off the bat for almost three weeks now but last minute meetings at work and a whole host of other factors (including my insufferable laziness to change my ticket bookings) saw me on the road to Kottayam, through Bangalore... The cast of characters this time had potentially included Sandeep "The Hunter" Menon, Nikesh "Where Am I Today" Pereira, Monseiur Rajesh Le Nair and me... Sandy did one numbers Shikhari Shambu vanishing act and had to excuse himself from the travails of travelling into God's Own Country whilst Nikesh had to work the weekend, so that left the remaining two little Indians... The agenda was very simple - attend Jyoti-Sushanth wedding and also sample the culinary delights of Kerala - Karimeen and Kallu or was it vice versa, I suddenly can't seem to remember... Anyways we dinna bother with any of those insufferable technicalities... After all, you don’t need an excuse to have a good time do you???
Nair and I, accompanied by his brother headed out from Bangalore to Kottayam, through Palakkad... Beautiful, gorgeous, idyllic, picturesque, scenic and all the other usual yada yada yada adjectivals to be applied here… what made the drive even better was the good roads, the NH7 all the way from Bangalore through Hosur, Krishagiri, Salem and Coimbatore and then the leap into Kerala state through the NH47... That took my breath away completely... The scrub and bush land of Tamizhl Nadu replaced by lush and verdant greenery... Paddy fields, banana and coconut plantations, semi-tropical jungle growth, the monsoons had done their turn and everything looked greener after the turn of the state border... We reached Nair's family home in Pallakad and stopped for lunch there... Good ersheri with rice topped off with payasam... Post a small siesta, Nair and I headed off down south towards Kottayam, passing Thrissur, Angamally and a few other back-of-the-bush towns... The best part was the drive on the ridge of the Western Ghats, quite steep and winding, with the attendant "watch out - dangerous curve ahead" every 200 meters or so... We were driving peacefully in most places and enjoying the view around us, the point of the journey being not to arrive... And reached Kottayam post 9 pm and met the other junta at some place "downtown" that served plenty of sea food, and liquor at ridiculously low prices, I suspect they must have been brewing some of that stuff inhouse - illegal stills, shhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Anyways we made merry till the almost wee hours of the next morning, when we remembered we had a wedding to attend... That got us all shook up, having been told tales since our childhood by the family equivalent of Aesop or the Brothers Grimm on how quick and short the marital ceremonies of the Nairs are compared to the other procrastinating castes and creeds in India... Almost legendary enough to warrant a reverse quote "Don’t Look Left Or Right, or You May Miss The Actual Wedding"... Ya, well we made it to the wedding on time, which finished on time, though some wise arse did have to make a mention that "Sushant's wedding took longer than most Mallu weddings I have attended"... I then realised the poor sod used to keep a stop watch and timer beside him on such occasions... Definitely has a part time career during any track and field olympics or similar event...
After a hearty kalyana sappad (read as Calories - ~100,000, here's to Talwalkars India!!!), we headed back from Kottayam... On the way back, we managed to stop at one of Nair's haunts from yesteryears - Kalyan Hotel for an excellent repast of Karimeen, Kalamakai and Kallu... Super Stuff, Super Stuff...
Fully sated, we headed back on the road wishing we did not have to leave... Well, there's always next weekend...
Peace
S
Been planning to attend Jyoti and Sushanth's wedding right off the bat for almost three weeks now but last minute meetings at work and a whole host of other factors (including my insufferable laziness to change my ticket bookings) saw me on the road to Kottayam, through Bangalore... The cast of characters this time had potentially included Sandeep "The Hunter" Menon, Nikesh "Where Am I Today" Pereira, Monseiur Rajesh Le Nair and me... Sandy did one numbers Shikhari Shambu vanishing act and had to excuse himself from the travails of travelling into God's Own Country whilst Nikesh had to work the weekend, so that left the remaining two little Indians... The agenda was very simple - attend Jyoti-Sushanth wedding and also sample the culinary delights of Kerala - Karimeen and Kallu or was it vice versa, I suddenly can't seem to remember... Anyways we dinna bother with any of those insufferable technicalities... After all, you don’t need an excuse to have a good time do you???
Nair and I, accompanied by his brother headed out from Bangalore to Kottayam, through Palakkad... Beautiful, gorgeous, idyllic, picturesque, scenic and all the other usual yada yada yada adjectivals to be applied here… what made the drive even better was the good roads, the NH7 all the way from Bangalore through Hosur, Krishagiri, Salem and Coimbatore and then the leap into Kerala state through the NH47... That took my breath away completely... The scrub and bush land of Tamizhl Nadu replaced by lush and verdant greenery... Paddy fields, banana and coconut plantations, semi-tropical jungle growth, the monsoons had done their turn and everything looked greener after the turn of the state border... We reached Nair's family home in Pallakad and stopped for lunch there... Good ersheri with rice topped off with payasam... Post a small siesta, Nair and I headed off down south towards Kottayam, passing Thrissur, Angamally and a few other back-of-the-bush towns... The best part was the drive on the ridge of the Western Ghats, quite steep and winding, with the attendant "watch out - dangerous curve ahead" every 200 meters or so... We were driving peacefully in most places and enjoying the view around us, the point of the journey being not to arrive... And reached Kottayam post 9 pm and met the other junta at some place "downtown" that served plenty of sea food, and liquor at ridiculously low prices, I suspect they must have been brewing some of that stuff inhouse - illegal stills, shhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Anyways we made merry till the almost wee hours of the next morning, when we remembered we had a wedding to attend... That got us all shook up, having been told tales since our childhood by the family equivalent of Aesop or the Brothers Grimm on how quick and short the marital ceremonies of the Nairs are compared to the other procrastinating castes and creeds in India... Almost legendary enough to warrant a reverse quote "Don’t Look Left Or Right, or You May Miss The Actual Wedding"... Ya, well we made it to the wedding on time, which finished on time, though some wise arse did have to make a mention that "Sushant's wedding took longer than most Mallu weddings I have attended"... I then realised the poor sod used to keep a stop watch and timer beside him on such occasions... Definitely has a part time career during any track and field olympics or similar event...
After a hearty kalyana sappad (read as Calories - ~100,000, here's to Talwalkars India!!!), we headed back from Kottayam... On the way back, we managed to stop at one of Nair's haunts from yesteryears - Kalyan Hotel for an excellent repast of Karimeen, Kalamakai and Kallu... Super Stuff, Super Stuff...
Fully sated, we headed back on the road wishing we did not have to leave... Well, there's always next weekend...
Peace
S
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Sexually Aroused Gas Mask
hmmm, thought i'd garner some cheap attention with that one!!!
was listening to zappa sunday, while reading poe and for some strange reason was reminded of punky's whips, latex solar beef and pygmy twylyte... and was also aurally reminded by fransesco zappa (fl. 1743 - 1763?) that yuppies too go to hell... and chantilly, orion, dr. nichols, epicurus, stereotomy, the street stones, the fruiterer... that's how the entire chain runs in the rue morgue, if i'm not mistaken...
see you all soon at the upcoming garage acts, ii and iii, ii being the prelude and iii being the actual afternoon, and loads of prizes for guessing who the gas masks are...and please add corrupting impressionable youth to my endless list of offenses as general mayhem and poor manners amongst others, are permitted at most dos including these ones... yea, well... you are what you is, as the grand wazoo remarked... anyways, watch your mails for more d-tales...
cheers
s
P.S. Wherever I Should Have Used Capital Letters And Didn’t, It’s Because I'm On A Budget And Usually Conserve Them...
was listening to zappa sunday, while reading poe and for some strange reason was reminded of punky's whips, latex solar beef and pygmy twylyte... and was also aurally reminded by fransesco zappa (fl. 1743 - 1763?) that yuppies too go to hell... and chantilly, orion, dr. nichols, epicurus, stereotomy, the street stones, the fruiterer... that's how the entire chain runs in the rue morgue, if i'm not mistaken...
see you all soon at the upcoming garage acts, ii and iii, ii being the prelude and iii being the actual afternoon, and loads of prizes for guessing who the gas masks are...and please add corrupting impressionable youth to my endless list of offenses as general mayhem and poor manners amongst others, are permitted at most dos including these ones... yea, well... you are what you is, as the grand wazoo remarked... anyways, watch your mails for more d-tales...
cheers
s
P.S. Wherever I Should Have Used Capital Letters And Didn’t, It’s Because I'm On A Budget And Usually Conserve Them...
Friday, April 23, 2004
Kill Bill Deux
Well, the wait’s finally over and it seemed worth it after all!!!
Post Volume 1, arguably, the longest opening act in the history of cinema, Volume 2 served up Acts Deux and Trois in one convenient sitting…
I enjoyed the good cinematography, though it was excruciatingly slow during the first half and lacked the lustful bloodthirsty action of volume 1… there are a couple of super scenes though – Uma’s duel with Daryl Hannah, it was so much better than watching that other chick flick, you know the one where they mud wrestle and skydive… but a word of advice, if you are of a faint heart, you may want to close your eyes and ears during the duel … and the lonely grave of Paula Schulz, where Uma comes back from the dead, literal Poe-style horror!!!
Volumes 1 and 2 both go to prove that you don’t need a good storyline to make a great movie, you just need good writing and a great screenplay – the loaded references to pop-culture as well as the cunningly crafted take-off on the 70’s martial art flicks… for a brief moment, I was almost expecting Jet Li to pop out of the stonework… the opening scenes were shot pretty much in black and white, giving viewers the flashback feeling and to also provide some explanation of why volume 1 happened in the first place… the cinematography strangely reminiscent of Akira Kurasawa's panning… I did miss the fantastic hentai set from Volume 1, thought I'd get to see more of that... ah, well...
The second half had the potential to be a fitting finale to volume 1 though Tarantino introduced an emotional twist towards the end that pretty much didn’t behoove this sort of a flick, come on folks, I was expecting action and gore all the way and I mean the really blood splattered kind… That lops points off in my charts…
And lest i forget, a good enough backing sound track … each song, handpicked to background the mood and the melodrama…I was blown listening to a cover version of Santana’s “She’s Not There” sung to a very R&B-ish tune, the outtakes based on the scores from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns and the RZA, as well as Shivaree singing "Goodnight Moon'
Afterthought – David Carradine’s character, Bill reminds me of a lisping Sylvester, out after Tweety… no other noticeable trait, i thought i thaw a puddy tat
All told, if you liked the first one or are searching for the answers as to why she roared and she rampaged, try the second helping, who knows, you may even walk away realizing there really are no good people in QT’s decadent universe… I personally give it a 7.5 on 10…
Cheers…
S
Post Volume 1, arguably, the longest opening act in the history of cinema, Volume 2 served up Acts Deux and Trois in one convenient sitting…
I enjoyed the good cinematography, though it was excruciatingly slow during the first half and lacked the lustful bloodthirsty action of volume 1… there are a couple of super scenes though – Uma’s duel with Daryl Hannah, it was so much better than watching that other chick flick, you know the one where they mud wrestle and skydive… but a word of advice, if you are of a faint heart, you may want to close your eyes and ears during the duel … and the lonely grave of Paula Schulz, where Uma comes back from the dead, literal Poe-style horror!!!
Volumes 1 and 2 both go to prove that you don’t need a good storyline to make a great movie, you just need good writing and a great screenplay – the loaded references to pop-culture as well as the cunningly crafted take-off on the 70’s martial art flicks… for a brief moment, I was almost expecting Jet Li to pop out of the stonework… the opening scenes were shot pretty much in black and white, giving viewers the flashback feeling and to also provide some explanation of why volume 1 happened in the first place… the cinematography strangely reminiscent of Akira Kurasawa's panning… I did miss the fantastic hentai set from Volume 1, thought I'd get to see more of that... ah, well...
The second half had the potential to be a fitting finale to volume 1 though Tarantino introduced an emotional twist towards the end that pretty much didn’t behoove this sort of a flick, come on folks, I was expecting action and gore all the way and I mean the really blood splattered kind… That lops points off in my charts…
And lest i forget, a good enough backing sound track … each song, handpicked to background the mood and the melodrama…I was blown listening to a cover version of Santana’s “She’s Not There” sung to a very R&B-ish tune, the outtakes based on the scores from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns and the RZA, as well as Shivaree singing "Goodnight Moon'
Afterthought – David Carradine’s character, Bill reminds me of a lisping Sylvester, out after Tweety… no other noticeable trait, i thought i thaw a puddy tat
All told, if you liked the first one or are searching for the answers as to why she roared and she rampaged, try the second helping, who knows, you may even walk away realizing there really are no good people in QT’s decadent universe… I personally give it a 7.5 on 10…
Cheers…
S
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
An Evening With Dream Theater
“It's been a long time comin’; it's goin' to be a long time gone
And it appears to be a long, appears to be a long; appears to be a long time
Yes, a long, long, long, long time before the dawn”
No worries, that wasn’t me at Woodstock 1969, listening to CSN, more like me less than a week ago upto my ears jammed with Dream Theater… and here it comes at last… I just had to get off my butt and write this up before there was some sort of an involuntary memory lapse on this one – the DT “Train of Thought” concert tour in NYC’s Madison Square Garden. I was watching them live for the first time, the last I had seen them in concert was on the DVD of the Scenes from a Memory tour way back in 2001. The usual gang of suspects – Satish, Shanky and me and accompanied by Megs who was traveling through NYC at that time – landed up at the garden on time for the show and what a set it was.
The lads started of with a video collage that traced their history of 18 odd years all the way through their Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album; fortunately we managed to watch most parts of it as we were seated in a place where we could not see the center screens.
And then hell broke loose for the next three and a half hours – opening act of “As I Am” from their most recent ToT album, followed by “This Dying Soul”, also from ToT before they just did an about face and reached back into days of future passed (with apologies to the Moody Blues). Mike Portnoy’s drum kit was huge, we managed to snatch glimpses of it through the set, the most impressive piece being the triple bass and bell set he had constructed for the show.
The play was essentially spread through 2 sets totaling over three hours and featured all of their 8 studio albums, with ToT taking limelight. There were performances of very rarely heard live ones through the set and I was almost sent into intensive care, a’la that retro chick from the Outkast video of Hey Ya, when they played an EP of “Beyond This Life” from 1999’s Scenes From a Memory album.
There was an superb instrumental jam featuring Rudess and Petrucci conducted through video by Frank Zappa, hey what the… don’t hold your noses, no BS here, they were actually showing a montage of Zappa from the Baby Snakes DVD conducting the jam and I believe we all went berserk, more because the jam was eerily reminiscent of Zappa’s compositions/music!!!
Myung remained his usual reserved self and didn’t hog the camera eye but what the FCUK, what a phenomenal display of “fret”ful dexterity – he just PHREAKED out on the Chapman Stick, just 2 handed finger tapping, the sound at the garden comprised 2 rows of speaker arrays, I think that’s the latest and the greatest in industrial audio technology these days and packing quite the punch, almost blew our ears off.
First set tracks included “Trial of Tears” and “Hollow Years”, from the Falling Into Infinity album, both crowd faves/raves as well as The Great Debate, one of the songs that they wrote up on genome research, though I personally preferred the sheet music to the lyrical content.
Second set saw them start with Metropolis Part I, from the 1992 killer album, Images and Words and moving onto the lengthy “A Mind Beside Itself”. The great treat was the video featurette from the “Dead Poets Society” for the Change of Seasons track, oh freak, that sent me over the edge. Listen, you hear it? Carpe, hear it? Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys; make your lives extraordinary… I think that was the track where I must have screamed myself voiceless…
And Guess Who or more appropriately what, Portnoy, not be “undun” invites a couple of guys, one from the mosh pit and one from the arena equivalent of the “back benchers” to play on set with him… more an exercise in crowd agitation, if you ask me, but whew!!! I think he went into a jam with Rudess that lasted close to 10-15 minutes and had most of us in the audience turning tricks. Final closure was to Pull Me Under, again from the IAW album.
Afterthought – these blokes are slowly turning into the progressive rock version of Garcia and the Grateful Dead with incredible jams, shuffling set lists across evenings and concerts and performing EP improv versions on their smaller songs.
Post that mindfk experience, all we could do was head out to the Village at 1 am, to the Bitter End, a pub that serves ridiculously overpriced single malt – we drank to the accompaniment of the house band, Dog Eatz Dawg, I think it was, playing an extremely good cover of Neil Young’s “Keep On Rocking In The Free World”… Fitting Finale!!!!
Peace out y’all
S
And it appears to be a long, appears to be a long; appears to be a long time
Yes, a long, long, long, long time before the dawn”
No worries, that wasn’t me at Woodstock 1969, listening to CSN, more like me less than a week ago upto my ears jammed with Dream Theater… and here it comes at last… I just had to get off my butt and write this up before there was some sort of an involuntary memory lapse on this one – the DT “Train of Thought” concert tour in NYC’s Madison Square Garden. I was watching them live for the first time, the last I had seen them in concert was on the DVD of the Scenes from a Memory tour way back in 2001. The usual gang of suspects – Satish, Shanky and me and accompanied by Megs who was traveling through NYC at that time – landed up at the garden on time for the show and what a set it was.
The lads started of with a video collage that traced their history of 18 odd years all the way through their Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album; fortunately we managed to watch most parts of it as we were seated in a place where we could not see the center screens.
And then hell broke loose for the next three and a half hours – opening act of “As I Am” from their most recent ToT album, followed by “This Dying Soul”, also from ToT before they just did an about face and reached back into days of future passed (with apologies to the Moody Blues). Mike Portnoy’s drum kit was huge, we managed to snatch glimpses of it through the set, the most impressive piece being the triple bass and bell set he had constructed for the show.
The play was essentially spread through 2 sets totaling over three hours and featured all of their 8 studio albums, with ToT taking limelight. There were performances of very rarely heard live ones through the set and I was almost sent into intensive care, a’la that retro chick from the Outkast video of Hey Ya, when they played an EP of “Beyond This Life” from 1999’s Scenes From a Memory album.
There was an superb instrumental jam featuring Rudess and Petrucci conducted through video by Frank Zappa, hey what the… don’t hold your noses, no BS here, they were actually showing a montage of Zappa from the Baby Snakes DVD conducting the jam and I believe we all went berserk, more because the jam was eerily reminiscent of Zappa’s compositions/music!!!
Myung remained his usual reserved self and didn’t hog the camera eye but what the FCUK, what a phenomenal display of “fret”ful dexterity – he just PHREAKED out on the Chapman Stick, just 2 handed finger tapping, the sound at the garden comprised 2 rows of speaker arrays, I think that’s the latest and the greatest in industrial audio technology these days and packing quite the punch, almost blew our ears off.
First set tracks included “Trial of Tears” and “Hollow Years”, from the Falling Into Infinity album, both crowd faves/raves as well as The Great Debate, one of the songs that they wrote up on genome research, though I personally preferred the sheet music to the lyrical content.
Second set saw them start with Metropolis Part I, from the 1992 killer album, Images and Words and moving onto the lengthy “A Mind Beside Itself”. The great treat was the video featurette from the “Dead Poets Society” for the Change of Seasons track, oh freak, that sent me over the edge. Listen, you hear it? Carpe, hear it? Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys; make your lives extraordinary… I think that was the track where I must have screamed myself voiceless…
And Guess Who or more appropriately what, Portnoy, not be “undun” invites a couple of guys, one from the mosh pit and one from the arena equivalent of the “back benchers” to play on set with him… more an exercise in crowd agitation, if you ask me, but whew!!! I think he went into a jam with Rudess that lasted close to 10-15 minutes and had most of us in the audience turning tricks. Final closure was to Pull Me Under, again from the IAW album.
Afterthought – these blokes are slowly turning into the progressive rock version of Garcia and the Grateful Dead with incredible jams, shuffling set lists across evenings and concerts and performing EP improv versions on their smaller songs.
Post that mindfk experience, all we could do was head out to the Village at 1 am, to the Bitter End, a pub that serves ridiculously overpriced single malt – we drank to the accompaniment of the house band, Dog Eatz Dawg, I think it was, playing an extremely good cover of Neil Young’s “Keep On Rocking In The Free World”… Fitting Finale!!!!
Peace out y’all
S
Thursday, November 13, 2003
The G3 2004 Show. . . A K A Timbersports Inside The Beacon Theater
Well, well well… what can I say, Beacon Theater on November 10, 2003 definitely rocked with strange beautiful music… Yes, it was G3 live in concert, featuring Yngwie, Steve and Joe. Yngwie who? Yngwie J. fcuking Malmsteen, that’s who!!!
Satish and I arrived in NYC on Saturday afternoon, well in advance for the event. We each had our own plans for Sunday and went through the motions. Come, late Monday morning, we met at the NASDAQ market site on Times Square and were roaming NYC through late evening, including a quick stop at the Village.
7:10 p.m. saw us both outside the Beacon Theater waiting for Shanky (yeah Shanky) and Manu (one of Satish’ friends). Both arrived within minutes of each other and the Indian line-up of the Explorer’s Club was ready to roll.
The Beacon Theater on 74th and Broadway has a seating capacity of 12,000 and boasts a fantastic acoustic design, sound literally hitting you from all sides!!!
And enter the performers… First set was Yngwie J M, leading the pack with a smoke and lights show and some crafty guitar work. Gave the Beacon a weird Halloweeny effect that was quite the order of the season. He did play his usual tunes including Trilogy Suite, which I personally thought was bloody brilliant… the music just kept flowing and I was almost numb when the nine odd minute piece ended. His backing musician was a chappie called Tony McAlpine, keyboardist and guitars who performed just oh-so right to keep pace.
Y then went on to play some bizarre stuff including screeches, wa-waas and some arbit strumming, which almost ate my head off and made me wish for a strong dosage of Tylenol. He salvaged that one with a fugue for almost 15 minutes, the piece originally composed by Johann Sr himself – I later learnt from Satish that he played Bach’s Air on G String, Violin concerto in E Major, Jesu, Joy of Man’s desiring and the Brandenburg concerto – could recognize the first one and at least make out the tonal on the second but pieces 3 and 4 have me stumped. Reminded me a bit about ELP’s Trilogy album with the Endless Enigma, now that I think of it. Funnily enough he also kept throwing his guitar pick away every 5 minutes as well as changing guitars after every 10 minutes. The roadie sure had a tough time practicing catch. Y closed with his version of the American national anthem, hmmmm – patriotic, moi?
First break time and whisky and pop corn both keep your butt from freezing in the NY chill. We literally ran back inside to listen to Steve Vai. Two letters to describe him – F A (a.k.a fucking awesome). One number that I really liked and found out about later was “For the love of God” and “Juice”. Imagine a three stem guitar, each stem tuned to a different pitch, well man, that’s what he was playing for two tracks and he had Billy Sheehan paralleling him on bass, it was pure ecstasy to listen to that combo. At one point his guitar strings cut and he just continued through the riff without a fuss. He finished the piece and sort of joked about it, quite the cool cucumber, huh!! I liked his finishing line the most, the piece where he asked, “How am I doing now, Ma?”… given that he is from Little Italy, NYC. Ma sure wudja bin proud, Vai-man!!!
Last break of the evening only for the road crew to set up Joe Sat’s set and wow, the light show was amazing. Sat started off with the Satch Boogie and went on to Flying in a Blue Dream, one oldie favorite from the album of the same name. What was the mindfuck was his accompaniment – dig this, John Petrucci (Niki, I BS you not) – JP himself, who happened to be in NYC for the release of the new DT album, was visiting the Beacon that evening and offered to jam with Satchie and G3. Am not sure about the audience but I had a slight skull bust without any assistance … JP and Sat played Summer Song, with the former matching Sat, note for note – totally cool!!!
And finally the G3 jam – three tracks – Voodoo Child and Little Wing (both originally Jimi Hendrix numbers) and “Keeping on Rockin’ in the Free World” (by Neil Young). And sur-fuckin’-prise number 2, also coming on stage (and yeah, he too happened to be visiting NYC) was Neil Schon of Journey, playing lead with G3 and John Petrucci. I once read that a pig’s orgasm lasts close to 30 minutes…well, I believe I collectively took all the pigs on the planet earth head-on 3 quarters of an hour later.
The best part of the jam was when all of the guitarists playing rhythm got quiet, and each of the five guys playing lead got to play a little solo. Yngwie actually didn't bump in during this time, and it was an awesome sight. They would stand in a row, play a small solo, and point to the next guy to continue the chain. Really neat.
The crowd just went berserk at the last track – Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World, a tribute to music lovers everywhere. What a night to remember.
Cheers
S
Satish and I arrived in NYC on Saturday afternoon, well in advance for the event. We each had our own plans for Sunday and went through the motions. Come, late Monday morning, we met at the NASDAQ market site on Times Square and were roaming NYC through late evening, including a quick stop at the Village.
7:10 p.m. saw us both outside the Beacon Theater waiting for Shanky (yeah Shanky) and Manu (one of Satish’ friends). Both arrived within minutes of each other and the Indian line-up of the Explorer’s Club was ready to roll.
The Beacon Theater on 74th and Broadway has a seating capacity of 12,000 and boasts a fantastic acoustic design, sound literally hitting you from all sides!!!
And enter the performers… First set was Yngwie J M, leading the pack with a smoke and lights show and some crafty guitar work. Gave the Beacon a weird Halloweeny effect that was quite the order of the season. He did play his usual tunes including Trilogy Suite, which I personally thought was bloody brilliant… the music just kept flowing and I was almost numb when the nine odd minute piece ended. His backing musician was a chappie called Tony McAlpine, keyboardist and guitars who performed just oh-so right to keep pace.
Y then went on to play some bizarre stuff including screeches, wa-waas and some arbit strumming, which almost ate my head off and made me wish for a strong dosage of Tylenol. He salvaged that one with a fugue for almost 15 minutes, the piece originally composed by Johann Sr himself – I later learnt from Satish that he played Bach’s Air on G String, Violin concerto in E Major, Jesu, Joy of Man’s desiring and the Brandenburg concerto – could recognize the first one and at least make out the tonal on the second but pieces 3 and 4 have me stumped. Reminded me a bit about ELP’s Trilogy album with the Endless Enigma, now that I think of it. Funnily enough he also kept throwing his guitar pick away every 5 minutes as well as changing guitars after every 10 minutes. The roadie sure had a tough time practicing catch. Y closed with his version of the American national anthem, hmmmm – patriotic, moi?
First break time and whisky and pop corn both keep your butt from freezing in the NY chill. We literally ran back inside to listen to Steve Vai. Two letters to describe him – F A (a.k.a fucking awesome). One number that I really liked and found out about later was “For the love of God” and “Juice”. Imagine a three stem guitar, each stem tuned to a different pitch, well man, that’s what he was playing for two tracks and he had Billy Sheehan paralleling him on bass, it was pure ecstasy to listen to that combo. At one point his guitar strings cut and he just continued through the riff without a fuss. He finished the piece and sort of joked about it, quite the cool cucumber, huh!! I liked his finishing line the most, the piece where he asked, “How am I doing now, Ma?”… given that he is from Little Italy, NYC. Ma sure wudja bin proud, Vai-man!!!
Last break of the evening only for the road crew to set up Joe Sat’s set and wow, the light show was amazing. Sat started off with the Satch Boogie and went on to Flying in a Blue Dream, one oldie favorite from the album of the same name. What was the mindfuck was his accompaniment – dig this, John Petrucci (Niki, I BS you not) – JP himself, who happened to be in NYC for the release of the new DT album, was visiting the Beacon that evening and offered to jam with Satchie and G3. Am not sure about the audience but I had a slight skull bust without any assistance … JP and Sat played Summer Song, with the former matching Sat, note for note – totally cool!!!
And finally the G3 jam – three tracks – Voodoo Child and Little Wing (both originally Jimi Hendrix numbers) and “Keeping on Rockin’ in the Free World” (by Neil Young). And sur-fuckin’-prise number 2, also coming on stage (and yeah, he too happened to be visiting NYC) was Neil Schon of Journey, playing lead with G3 and John Petrucci. I once read that a pig’s orgasm lasts close to 30 minutes…well, I believe I collectively took all the pigs on the planet earth head-on 3 quarters of an hour later.
The best part of the jam was when all of the guitarists playing rhythm got quiet, and each of the five guys playing lead got to play a little solo. Yngwie actually didn't bump in during this time, and it was an awesome sight. They would stand in a row, play a small solo, and point to the next guy to continue the chain. Really neat.
The crowd just went berserk at the last track – Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World, a tribute to music lovers everywhere. What a night to remember.
Cheers
S
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
As 2002 Closes...
Ladies and gentlemen…
At the risk of sounding risque… during the year that has almost passed, we've all been busy, doing something or the other… woke up with a hangover from 2001!!... checked out the state of our nations… caught most of the names on the telly or the radio… heard the news / were in the news... voted on polls... looked at long range market forecasts… watched stock market up and downs... exploited tragedies / participated in community services… cheered / booed our leaders... learnt something on environmental blues and green peace… saved the whales... contributed to charities… become religious / turned atheist... started businesses / shut shops... made mistakes and hopefully mended any messes made... managed to find the cures to some poisons / saved lives... watched the rise, and fall , of empires… won lotteries / lost bets... saw winners and losers... changed lives, met new people… caught up with friends and family… just hung out... played a game... crawled pubs / climbed mountains... celebrated festivals… travelled places / saw new sights… changed jobs… changed lanes... worked / played... loved / lost... fought / made up… got married / moved on… attended births / passings… fell sick / recuperated... got stressed / chilled... sang / danced… cried / laughed (including at ourselves!!)... played an instrument / fell flat… listened to music... read a book… wrote a poem… caught a movie... and did all of the other stuff that I just can't suddenly seem to remember or have the patience to write about but made the time we spent worth so much to us… and hopefully did not tire of it being run-of-the-mill… so here's wishing you all more of the same and an out of the ordinary 2003…
Seasons greeting and best wishes for the new year ahead...
Cheers...
S
At the risk of sounding risque… during the year that has almost passed, we've all been busy, doing something or the other… woke up with a hangover from 2001!!... checked out the state of our nations… caught most of the names on the telly or the radio… heard the news / were in the news... voted on polls... looked at long range market forecasts… watched stock market up and downs... exploited tragedies / participated in community services… cheered / booed our leaders... learnt something on environmental blues and green peace… saved the whales... contributed to charities… become religious / turned atheist... started businesses / shut shops... made mistakes and hopefully mended any messes made... managed to find the cures to some poisons / saved lives... watched the rise, and fall , of empires… won lotteries / lost bets... saw winners and losers... changed lives, met new people… caught up with friends and family… just hung out... played a game... crawled pubs / climbed mountains... celebrated festivals… travelled places / saw new sights… changed jobs… changed lanes... worked / played... loved / lost... fought / made up… got married / moved on… attended births / passings… fell sick / recuperated... got stressed / chilled... sang / danced… cried / laughed (including at ourselves!!)... played an instrument / fell flat… listened to music... read a book… wrote a poem… caught a movie... and did all of the other stuff that I just can't suddenly seem to remember or have the patience to write about but made the time we spent worth so much to us… and hopefully did not tire of it being run-of-the-mill… so here's wishing you all more of the same and an out of the ordinary 2003…
Seasons greeting and best wishes for the new year ahead...
Cheers...
S
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