Reviews
It’s been four years since I have seen Reverend Horton Heat. The last show I witnessed the magic that this band projects was at the Wakarusa Music Festival in 2006. Coincidentally, it was the first review that I ever wrote. I was anticipating the same amount of energy, if not more since the show was in Boulder, and they always have a great cult following here. One notable pre-show note that I made was about the ticket prices.
The anticipation outside San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Center was at an all time peak! Dead Heads everywhere with their long hair, dread locks, beards, hemp necklaces and tie-dyed clothing were lined up outside the venue either in line or holding up their pointer finger praying for a miracle ticket. This was the kind of atmosphere I had dreamt about for years! It was beyond a rock n’ roll concert! It was the indescribable coming together of thousands of Dead Heads, who are a tribe, who become joined into one strong force once they step a foot through those auditorium doors.
When I first heard the word remix I was a bit skeptical. Many of the remixes I have listed to over the years have been nothing more than a cheap and easy way for the record companies to make money. Throw down some new backgrounds and you have yourself a remix. My Brightest Diamond’s Shark Remixes are the furthest thing from sounding budget.
Catching hometown jamgrass legends Yonder Mountain String Band has become a Denver holiday tradition, as the band has performed New Year's Eve concerts here every year for the better part of the last decade. From electric performances at the Paramount Theater, a supporting/collaborative effort last year with Widespread Panic at the Pepsi Center, to multiple showings at the Fillmore Auditorium the band has routinely and successfully rung in each New Year with the Colorado faithful.
There have been a number of fantastic albums over the past decade. Take this list at face value. The title sums it up perfectly. Here are simply 10 of the many albums I have enjoyed over the past 10 years. I have not bothered to number them. That would be foolish. I hate sources that number their lists. They are too absolute and definitive. If you have not had a chance to listen to these, I cannot urge you enough to go to your local record store and check them out.
Enjoy,
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Ah yes it is that time of year again. It is the time of year when critics put out their best of lists. There will be more lists this year with the new decade thing going on (shameless plug for my next article). Here is what I came up with for this year, enjoy.
Top 5 Albums that I listened to in 2009
1. Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
2. Modest Mouse – No One is First and You’re Next
3. Peter Bjorn and John – Living Things
4. Gomez – A New Tide
While Phish was ending its musically-epic fall tour at John Paul Jones Arena, in Charlottesville, and while the world was being introduced to The Naked Guy, a new music venue prepared to greet guests for the ‘Official Phish Aftershow, with Toubab Krewe.”
Thanksgiving is a glorious time, here in Central Virginia. The tourist-laden leaf season is over, yet plenty of post-peak autumnal glory hangs around to be enjoyed, for a little while longer. Days can still be quite warm, and nights are deliciously cool and refreshing. Thanksgiving, football, and the coming Christmas season beckon. And suddenly there are also lots of indoor bluegrass shows, especially in Charlottesville.
