Instrumental Thinking
Most readers of my blog certainly know this, but in case a random search for “cleezmo” has brought a stranger here, I’ll state it matter of factly: My name is Cleezmo, and I play bass. And, more importantly for this particular post, my current arsenal includes a 1990 Peavey Dyna-Bass 4-string, and a 2000 Modulus Quantum-5 (five strings, as the -5 implies).
Now, for those not in the know, a Modulus is an amazing instrument; it’s not cheap, but it’s worth every penny. In auto terms, it’s a Porsche 911 Turbo with new tires. My old-school Peavey, by auto metaphor comparison, is an extremely-clean, low-miles Miata. It’s a fine sports car, but it’s no Porsche. I’ve used this car analogy numerous times since I bought my Modulus in early 2002. People would ask me “So, do you ever play your Peavey anymore?” all the time. My reply would be: “If you have a Porsche and a Miata in the garage, and it’s a beautiful day outside, which one would you drive?” The German car, of course. (more…)
VH/DLR Tour Announced
Van Halen held a press conference this week announcing a new tour. Eddie, Alex, Dave, and Eddie’s son Wolfgang on bass. They have 25 dates planned in the U.S., and envision playing in Europe after that and then recording. And yet, I’m not sure that I care. Wait, yeah, I don’t really.
Now of course, Back In The Day, I was a HUGE VH fan. Still am, really. I have the CDs, and I’ve seen them live probably 5 or 6 times. I saw them when they toured with Gary Charone, for cryin’ out loud. I’ve always given VH, specifically EVH, the benefit of the doubt.
But I was always more of a fan of Sammy vs. Dave. And the last time I saw them, with Bill K. at Scottrade Center a few years ago, Eddie was clearly drunk, the show was pretty sloppy, and Sammy and Mike looked like they just wanted to finish the show and get out of there. It sucks to see your heros flail about like that – really bummed me out.
And now they have reunited, again, with DLR. I just don’t feel it, I guess. I actually have no real desire to see the show. If someone handed me tickets and said “Yo Cleez, check out the show”, of course I would, but I don’t see shelling out $50-ish for a nosebleed seat for this tour. Sorry homies, you lost me. All I can see in this tour is a lackluster performance and one last pay check for the guys. And don’t even get me started on the whole “I’m really a guitar player, I’m just playing bass in this band for now” issue. If Wolf plays with a pick, I just can’t go..
Maybe I’ll be wrong. Maybe Ed is cleaned up, is playing like his old self, and the band just kills it live. That would be cool, but until I hear or read something to that effect I’m not buying a ticket.
I love Van Halen. I’ve loved them since I was 15. But I think most of us who love VH actually love what VH used to be, not what it has become. So if an STL date is announced, and I never thought I’d say this, I’ll most likely pass.
John Mayer / Ben Folds Show Review
Last week Seda and I went to see John Mayer at Riverport, with Ben Folds as the opening act. My review of the show:
Ben Folds was good, but seemed a little out of his element in front of such a large crowd. He strikes me as more of a Pageant guy vs. Riverport guy. He had drums and electric bass as accompaniment, and played mostly solo stuff, mostly from the Rockin’ The Suburbs album, with only a couple Ben Folds Five tunes that I recognized. He did, however, do a version of the (I’m assuming) late 80’s/early 90’s gansta rap “b*tchs ain’t sh#t”, complete with ALL original profanity – and I mean ALL of it. Hilarious to me, probably offensive to the parents in the audience.
At one point he tried getting the audience to do 3-part harmony, which was met with mixed results. At Mississippi Nights (RIP) or The Pageant, probably the entire crowd would be doing it. Here, not so much.
Speaking of the crowd, it was a pretty diverse and large enough to pack Riverport (okay, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre), but I must say I haven’t seen that many college girls all dolled up in one place since, well, probably since I as in college, and I don’t remember them being all dolled up back then. But there were quite a few older people (like us) and others even older than that. Apparently John Mayer has Mass Appeal.
The easiest way to summize the gig was this: We don’t own any John Mayer CDs, but I want to go out and buy every one of them now. He was that good. He was awesome, actually – I’d say in the Top 5 Gigs I’ve seen in the last few years easily.
First, the dude does not miss a single note vocally. All the high, falsetto-ish stuff he does on his radio tunes – not once did he cop out and sing a 3rd or an octave lower – he hit every note. Second, the guy is a seriously good guitar player. You don’t hear much of it on his radio stuff, but the boy clearly loves his Blues, and plays a Fender Strat very, very well – lots of guitar solos, and a really good tone – think cleaner bluesy, with no distortion at all. For those interested in such things, he alternated between 3 Strats and one acoustic, but did play a Gibson on one tune. He also played a couple of tunes with cool electric guitar riffs, stuff I’ve heard on XM Radio but never on STL radio.
Third, he did what John Mellencamp does – surrounded himself with a top-shelf band that sounds awesome, with a very good sound man. He had 2 backup guitarists, bass, keys, sax, trumpet, and drums. The sound mix was great, and the band was Solid. I think they were chosen as much for the background vocal ability as much as their musicianship – the harmonies were spot-on.
He did one encore (2 tunes – one acoustic with just him and other 2 guitar players, the second w/ the full band), and the finale had what may be one of the best musical transitions I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was a slow, mellow tune, and he was doing a slow, mellow guitar solo. Then it just starts building, and suddenly the entire mood has changed and the whole band is louder, more forceful, and John is just wailing on the Strat – I mean just making it scream in a great bluesy solo. Almost gave me goosebumps when they shifted gears. It was awesome.
So to sum up – Terrific show, if he came back next week we’d go. If you’ve only heard his radio stuff, that’s not even 1/2 of what the boy can do.
