Jason Mraz @ Red Rocks

On the evening of Saturday 19.Sep.09, Julie and I made our first trip to Red Rocks Amphitheater to take in the Jason Mraz show.  We’ve lived in Colorado for 11 years, yet we’d never been to this world renowned venue.  Shame on us… it’s truly one of the coolest, most spectacular gathering places in the world.  More on that later.

Julie had bought the tickets off Craiglist for this sold-out show as a wedding anniversary gift for the pair of us.  At the time, I wondered: what the hell is she thinking?  They were expensive and my perception of Mraz was one of teenie bopper, highly produced, pop schlock (i.e. not really my thing).  The guy owns the record for most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 for the single “I’m Yours“.  If that isn’t an indictment, what is?  I began to wonder if I knew what I was talking about when I offered a Facebook update about my concert plans the morning of the show and promptly received some very positive responses from a number of unexpected sources.

Turns out, I was indeed wrong.  Mraz is a true talent.  I really enjoyed the show from the introductions by MC Billy “Bushwalla” Galewood through Somali / Canadian opening act K’Naan and on into the main event.  Mraz had a horn section, keyboards and a couple different percussionists in addition to a three man guitar section which includes himself.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the set that evening was pretty heavy in tunes from his current CD (I had listened to “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things” only once before going to the show).  But he mixed in some other stuff including a cool version of the Seals & Croft song “Summer Breeze” (I say cool because the original was pretty… umm… uncool).  Mraz kept the chit-chat with the crowd to a minimum and instead he and the band focused on cranking out great music.  I was thoroughly impressed and so was Julie.  It is supremely unusual for us to like the same sort of music. After all these years together, could it be we’re starting to rub-off on one another to create some sort of bilateral, mutually moderating influence?  Or something like that.

Julie sucking down a Starbucks & me grinning painfully

Maybe some of it was the location.  Red Rocks is really a special place.  From the natural surroundings to the great acoustics and the amazing views looking up at about 9,000 people from our great seats in the 20^th row. All of it was memorable and worth the expense and hassle of a live concert.  For years, I had been to very few shows and those I had attended were for smaller acts in smaller venues.  I’d grown tired of the traffic, the drunk kids and poor sound quality.  If I wanted the sound of live music, I’d buy a live recorded CD and skip the rest.  Getting old, I suppose, but I feel much the same way about live sports.  However, I will absolutely go to another show at Red Rocks and it certainly won’t take a decade for it to happen.

But, as tempting as it may seem, I would not take a kid to Red Rocks for their first (or even 10^th) live concert.  Not that they wouldn’t enjoy it.  No, I’d avoid it because the kid would be ruined for life when it comes to venues.  I’d grown up catching shows in sterile, boring places like the Bismarck Civic Center, the Bison Sports Arena on NDSU’s campus and the long departed Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, MN.  Red Rocks is spectacular and nothing short of a classic, mega arena (i.e. pro football stadium) could ever eclipse a show at Red Rocks.  And even then it might not beat Red Rocks.

fromanhole

While in Omaha, NE after Christmas spending time with Julie’s family, we did the usual things… ate, drank, acted merry, etc. One evening we played bingo with a whole pack of family members including Julie’s cousin JoAnne and her husband Doug. (Bingo is a family tradition with Julie’s folks and usually means about 20 people competing to win various white elephant gifts such as the Mr T bobble head doll and X-ray Spex that I won.) At the end of the evening, JoAnne invited us to their annual New Year’s Eve party. They live in an old house in the historic Dundee neighborhood of Omaha which they have been restoring over the past few years. Excited to check their progress, we agreed to attend.

Arriving at the appointed time, we learned there was to be a live band. Turns out Doug plays in a rock trio called fromanhole (I’ve met Doug a couple times but this detail did not come out previously). After mingling a while and tossing back a couple keg cups of American Wheat from Upstream Brewing Co, the band headed to the basement and began to play. fromanhole describe their music as “jazzy grindcore”. Their MySpace page lists a stack of influences, but when I heard them I decided they sound like a mix of Radiohead, Fates Warning, Rush and Tool (but not so dark). Or something like that. It’s not really worth trying to categorize them as they do have something unique going on. I believe they only play originals; no covers. Their songs also don’t have many, if any, lyrics. That’s not a bad thing, just different.

Since we had Julie’s Flip Ultra along, I decided to record a song:

Here’s another one someone else at the party made (at the beginning of the video note the good looking chap watching from behind Doug, the bassist):

I guess fromanhole tour occasionally and have done a few shows in Denver. If you see them pop-up in Westword, be sure to catch their show.

BTW… In case you’re wondering, the house is pretty much done and turned out very nice. Doug is a pretty handy guy. Be sure to check out his work at dKISER | design.construct.

2007: A Brief Year in Review

On the Eve of my 38th New Year, I find myself camped out in a Scooter’s Coffeehouse in Bellevue, NE catching up on e-mails and pondering what the next 365 days will bring. It’s been an interesting year with family time spent, a business venture built, new friends made, old friends found, soccer seasons played, frequent flyer miles accrued, road trips executed, coffee drank, XM radio enjoyed, pounds gained and lost, miles run, chores completed, more dark hair converted to gray and blogs written. And a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember right now (I was up until 2:00am last night enjoying a few barley pops with my father-in-law Bob).

What will happen in 2008? Hopefully, more of the same. I’ve enjoyed life in the last year tremendously and cannot wait to see what’s next. To my loyal readers (all 3 of you!), I’d like to wish the best of luck in 2008 and may one day always be better, at least in some little way, than the next.

And I leave you with this: JibJab’s usual irreverent compilation of recent events encapsulated in their short film entitled In 2007.

the tartanpodcast

Like a spotlight shining through the fog of Internet crap, the tartanpodcast is truly quality, thoughtful and thoroughly enjoyable musical content. I “discovered” this podcast in Jan’06 after getting an iPod nano for Christmas. It was prominently listed on iTunes and I checked it out. I’ve been addicted ever since.

The host is a Scotsman named Mark Hunter who lives in Glasgow. Unbeknownst to me prior to picking up my the tartanpodcast habit, Scotland (particularly Edinburgh and Glasgow) has become a musical hotbed with dozens of independent bands and solo performers pumping out some great music. Artists like Kasino, Gum and The Boy Lacks Patience are self-producing and self-distributing outstanding tunes with the tartanpodcast providing marketing drive.

The whole idea of “amateurs” cutting out the big music companies smells like the Open Source movement and is one of the powerful and wonderful things the Internet has done for world. And it’s a classic Internet entrepreneurship model. Visit the tartanpodcast. Download a show and enjoy. After you get a taste, support independent Scottish music by buying and downloading these artists’ full CDs! You won’t regret it.