Right away there was something weird about this show. After all, it was happening at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. A great place to see and hear a show, but not really a spot known for it's dancing(?) capabilities. Both of these bands were bands with hit songs that were made to pogo to. Also kind of weird, the last time I saw Devo, Bow Wow Wow opened up for them.

Well, I pulled out some old stuff from a box and made Helena wear a " Pleasure Dome" (one of those red flowerpot hats) and I put on a radiation suit. As we walked through Oakland to the Paramount Helena was getting more and more worried about having to wear the the dome, but once we got inside and saw the variety of people dressed totally devo-id of fashion, she felt a little more comfortable. Me, with a current blonde and brown twotone mohawk, I tend to be a little more at ease in these situations. She'll get there.

So, a great crowd of all sorts, ready for fun.

Bow Wow Wow opened up their burundi drum rhythms at the forefront, as usual. I've never been a huge Bow Wow Wow fan, but liked several of their songs. They played their few hits (didn't play my favorite song - Sexy Eiffel Towers, though), a cover of Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walking (okay) and basically watched Annabella.

She is worth watching. Yes, she's still cute as a button. Yes, she still prances all over the stage. And, yes, she has gotten a lot older (that's a good thing) and, yes, she still barely sings. AND NONE of it matters, when you get to watch her dancing so hard, her pants fall off and you get to see her very cute butt in the buff (several times as a matter of fact).

I wish there was video footage.
http://www.myspace.com/bowwowwow
http://www.bowwowwow.org/

Devo came out after General Boy did his video welcome and the boys played a great set, with cool video and radiation suits. Unfortunately one of the guys (Bob Casale?) was due to have back surgery and was in this contraption to keep him upright. He looked like he was in pain, but the show must go on... He played great btw. I think the show was best described by Helena who said "they're pretty damn good for a bunch of nerds"

The house was rockin' (part of the orchestra area literally was) and we had an amazing time jumping up and down to Whip It and Mongoloid and Satisfaction and Jocko Homo and most of your other favorites (not Beautiful World this time, though)

The one comment I had to make that was just so lame at this show was they were definitely NOT ready for t-shirt and merchandise sales. They ran out BEFORE the opening band started! Talk about missing an opportunity. We saw tons of people wanting to get a pleasure dome or a t-shirt or CD's or anything that got zilch. Bad move.


PS: There are rumours of a new Devo CD in the works.

http://www.myspace.com/devo
http://clubdevo.com/

So it was an invitation to go to a boys night out for some hellraisin' and beer drinkin'. I put on my cheap sunglasses and headed to West Valley college to meet the guys. We waited for the bus, six sharp dressed men, looking for some tush.... okay, enough of that.

The shuttle to Villa Montalvo is the only way to go. No parking hassles, (and less to drive drunk) We got some pretty decent food, some good beer and less good wine and settled into our seats. The Montalvo Garden Theatre is a good place to see a show. It gets a bit cold later in the month, but it was still nice out tonight. Usually the shows I've seen here are more jazzy. Heck, I saw Liza Minelli here (yes she put on a good show). So it's not really the place you'd expect to see ZZ Top.

SInce it's pretty small (especially for a band that's filled stadiums) every seat was great and it felt fairly intimate. This threesome definitely felt like they were having fun. I hadn't seen them for years and last time I saw them they had a pretty fun looking stage. Well, it wasn't all that, but the stage was set up nice, good lights and cool speaker stacks. The drum kit looked like a motorcycle and mic stands like tail pipes.

They still have the beards ( how genius! If they ever quit, they will never get mobbed in private as long as they shave off the beards) These guys are old, but they look great. Billy still is one of the most under-rated guitar players. They have played together 35 years and it shows. They were tight. And they were having fun!

Since they really only have a couple of hits, I guess you could say they played all their hits, but they definitely didn't get to play near all the songs I'd have liked to heard. The ones they did play rocked. One of the guys I was with commented how much sound this band puts out with just three guys. Obviously the band is based around Billy Gibbons, but Dusty Hill plays a mean bass and Frank Beard (the only one with no beard) plays pretty damn good drums.These guys could probably play these songs in their sleep, but they weren't slacking tonight.

In addition to their favorites, they had a couple of Elvis covers, they played their fuzzy guitars, and plain just had fun. We danced and cavorted. And we, of course, had on our sunglasses. I wish they would have played longer (and I for sure wish I could see them in some place like JJ's Blues Cafe), but I left wanting to listen to all their albums again, just to re-appreciate how good they were (and to listen to the songs I wish they would have played, like Tube Snake Boogie).

Check out: http://www.zztop.com

I was sitting around working on my computer, listening to Todd Rundgren (Nazz, Utopia, solo and the New Cars) thinking of all the songs I could that sounded like the Beatles. So here's the list I came up with so far. Here's the CD I'd make:

Klaatu                       Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
The Small Faces        My Mind's Eye
Remains                    Why Do I Cry
The Mascots              Words Enough To Tell You
The Hudson Brothers  So You Really Are A Star
Dave Clark Five          Because
The Gants                    I Wonder
Bee Gees                     In My Own Time
The 'E' Types               Put The Clock Back On The Wall
Cream                          Doing That Scrapyard Thing
The Byrds                    You Won't Have To Cry
Dovers                        What Am I Going To Do
The Beau Brummels     Laugh, Laugh
The Zombies                Tell Her No
The Rutles                   Cheese And Onions
The Knickerbockers    Lies
The Pretty Things         She Says Good Morning
Badfinger                     Come and Get It
Utopia                          I Just Want To Touch You
The Wonders               That Thing You Do!
Cheap Trick                 Had To Make You Mine
XTC                            I'd Like That
Matthew Sweet            I've Been Waiting
Electric Light Orchestra  Bluebird Is Dead
Radiohead                    Killer Cars
Nirvana                        About A Girl
Tears For Fears            Sowing The Seeds Of Love

What do you think is missing?

Well, this was a surprise! I probably should have known, since I usually say that Earth Wind and Fire is one of my top five bands. But I really wasn't expecting much. After All, Maurice White wasn't touring with them anymore. I had seen EWF many times before, but Helena had never seen them except on video.

Everytime I've seen them in concert, they've put on an amazing show. Great music, energy, lights, magic, you name it they've done it. I just figured this was cash in time for these guys - they're coasting. The albums in the past few years have been okay - nothing to get really excited about, though.

So we get to the Shoreline (which I usually try to avoid, BTW) and we're in seats about halfway back, somewhat center. Not too bad, but you still mostly just watch on the video screens, cuz you just can't really see. So the show starts and it's Chicago AND Earth Wind and Fire on stage together. They play a Chicago song, and EWF song trading back and forth. And, damn it, the Chicago songs sound amazing with Philip Bailey singing and wouldn't you know it the EWF songs sound great with the Chicago horns added in.

I should have known.

They end up playing a few songs together and then the respective bands take turns on stage. First EWF and then Chicago. Near the end both bands come up together again. Earth Chicago and Fire (get it? the windy city.) Between the two bands they have 50 or so hits and they play EVERY one - including the EWF/Ramsey Lewis somewhat-hit "Sun Goddess." Three and a half hours later I realize I am blown away.

Chicago, the kings of schlock rock, just rocked. Philip Bailey's voice (with EWF and the songs he did with Chicago) is in better shape than ever. He can still hit those amazingly high notes with seeming ease. Verdine White, original EWF member and brother of Maurice, is one of the only ones that's not gotten overweight and watching him on stage, you can't help wondering if he's not just some ADD kid who's had too much sugar. He and his bass are all over the place jumping and twitching - just the catalyst behind this band's energy.

I almost traveled to Sac to see the show again the next day. If you've never seen the band live before, go see them they STILL get you out of the chairs. Find someone young to take (old school is back in) they will remember it forever.

If you've seen them before, then you know how it used to be. They still have it.

Pol

PS: They (EWF) have a new album coming out. I hope it's good. They played one or two tracks and they seemed pretty decent.

PPS: It's decent - I've since got it. A couple good tracks, most okay.

http://www.myspace.com/earthwindandfire
http://www.ewffanclub.com/
http://www.chicagotheband.com/

I love the Mountain Winery. It is such a good place to see a show. They have good food, decent bathrooms, good beer and wine. Most of all the shows there sound good. The seats are all pretty good.

It does get cold though and the seats are hard and the shows start right on time. I came prepared for two out of the three. We brought jackets and seat pads.

We got tickets last minute from a friend who ended up not being able to make it, so we arrived a little late. That ended up being a real shame as the opening band was The Rippingtons. Helena and I had seen them before and they rocked! So we end up getting there in time to hear the last three songs. As always, the playing was superb. Eric Marienthal played as one of the guests. Made me wish, we could have made it there earlier.

Then Al's bass player came out and sang one song, before another guest of Al's came out. Cassandra Wilson would have been okay if she just sang one or two songs, but she just kept on singing on and on. Some people really liked her. I did not. She might have been okay in a small blues club with a dirtier band.

Finally Al came out. I know a few of his "hits" and was hoping he'd play them. I was not too disappointed - he played some. This guy has got to be in his sixties or seventies, but he has a bit of energy. It was great to hear a really good vocalist using his craft to the utmost. You could tell he was having a blast.

I especially liked the comment he made about not having to grab your crotch, sing about "ho's and bitch's". It's too bad we can't hear more stuff like this on the airwaves.

BTW Al's backup singer had a great voice (and was cute) and his band was tight.

http://www.myspace.com/2aljarreaucom

Helena and I just saw Zappa plays Zappa. It was the last show on the tour, but let me urge you to go see them when they go out again in October. I am tempted to see as many shows as possible across the country. This was a fantastic band in the typical Zappa tradition. Dweezil always has been a pretty good guitar player, but he went all out to do his dad justice (heck he was doing stuff his dad never did)

Drummer and vault-meister Joe Travers was the regular drummer and obviously knows Frank's work and the usual suspects: Terry Bozzio (minus one hand improvising as a lead singer and banging on the drums), Steve Vai (ouch! He can play), Napolean Murphy Brown (vocals, sax and crazy dancing), Warren Cuccarillo (a walk on playing beautiful guitar) were all great, but I think the idea was to get some new, younger players to play with Dweezil to showcase Frank's music (and style) to a new audience. The other band members must have been the best of the best. Aaron Arntz playing keyboards and trumpet (as well as the usual Zappa toys and noises - same as everybody in the band), Scheila Gonzalez sax and keyboards and the occaisional flute (I'd like to hear her more) Pete Griffon on bass, Billy Hulting on percussion and marimba, and Jamie Kime on guitar. Playing as a whole they sounded great. If you closed your eyes you could imagine Frank conducting (heck on one song if you opened your eyes you didn't need to imagine - they got a video of a Frank solo and played with him) but on the improvisational parts (with Dweezil supplying hand signals) and the "solo" spots these guys were great.

I've seen a ton of shows, but I can't ever remember a show where the band got a standing ovation - for every song. They played three and a half hours and it seemed like minutes. This wasn't just some bogus let's play the hits either. These guys were playing stuff throughout the years from the first album on. Stuff like Hungry Freaks, to Inca Roads. Jazz from Hell to Waka Jawaka. Rock, jazz, punk, big band, Zappa wrote all kinds and this band covered the gamut. And they played amazingly well.

At the end we got to see the Zappa family (including Gail) come out from backstage (man, has Diva grown up!). I haven't even covered the rare video footage of Frank and band (playing Montana) that started the show. Let's just say it was a good show... Even the Warfield which normally has such regular shitty sound only screwed up a couple of times.

I will be going back to watch them on the next tour. You should go.

http://www.myspace.com/frankzappa
http://www.myspace.com/dweezilzappa
http://www.zappa.com/

by Pol Inate on Sat 04 Jun 2005 11:59 PM PDT
Someone told me about a year ago to buy the first Fischerspooner CD - that I would like it. I did. Mostly I liked the accompanying video showing them in all their mistakes and glory in concert. Later I bought the second CD and they had a couple songs that reminded me of the first album, but nothing that new or great. I'd rather listen to the first hits.

So, when we had the chance to see the show at the Warfield we decided to go. A bit before the show the change the venue to the Fillmore on another date. I could just barely make it. I set up some equipment earlier that day, then got ready to go.

The opening band West Indian Girl was pretty good. Good enough that I bought the CD and Helena got their shirt. Good band (with a cute girl singer - I'd like to meet her sometime) with some great sounds. A worldly Radiohead with a great beat. I'd see them again. Defintely watch out for this band, they have good potential.

Fischerspooner was pretty much like I expected. They put on a good show. Casey knows how to manipulate an audience (and I mean that in the nicest way) There's a little hint of sex (okay a big hint) and the songs mostly sound pretty good live. The SHOW is the thing here, though. It is a show.

If you come to be entertained, to enjoy some songs of now, you'll have a great time. Don't come expecting anything of lasting meaning.

Pol

PS Next time when they say that someones going to get naked, they should follow through, though.... what a tease!

http://www.myspace.com/westindiangirl
http://www.myspace.com/fischerspooner

by Pol Inate on Tue 31 May 2005 01:36 PM PDT