Tom Petty

Happy Birthday Tom!!!!



My favorite aging hippy, 60 years young today.

Lots of New Stuff to Buy in November (Christmas Gifts???)

(I took this info from Dave White's wondreful site:  About Classic Rock)

Creedence Clearwater Revival - 'Singles Collection' CD/DVD box set

Release date: November 3, 2009
Creedence Clearwater Revival managed a feat few bands attained. Through the late '60s and early '70s their singles were all over Top 40 AM radio at the same time that progressive FM stations were playing their non-single (or B-side) album tracks. It is those familiar singles that are highlighted in this two-CD set. A bonus DVD contains four CCR videos.
John Fogerty - 'Comin' Down The Road: The Concert At Royal Albert Hall' DVD

Release date: November 3, 2009
The timing of the release of this 2004 concert video probably has less to do with the CCR box set released on the same day than with Fogerty's Live By Request appearance on PBS a few days later. This performance at Royal Albert Hall came 37 years after Fogerty and CCR performed there in 1971. The set drew from the artist's CCR and solo catalogs.
'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum: Live' DVD box set

Release date: November 3, 2009
No, these are not the just-staged Rock Hall 25th anniversary concerts at Madison Square Garden. No doubt, that will come sometime after they are telecast on HBO. This three-DVD set consists of performances and speeches from the Rock Hall induction ceremonies of the past 24 years. The package might best be summed up by Mick Jagger's observation as Rolling Stones were inducted at the 1989 ceremony. "Tonight you see us on our best behavior. But we re being rewarded for 25 years of bad behavior."
AC/DC - 'Backtracks' CD/DVD box set

Release date: November 10, 2009
AC/DC's Backtracks: The Ultimate AC/DC Experience is a box set of "studio and live rarities" on three CDs, two DVDs, and a vinyl album, accompanied by a coffee table book and fistful of reproductions of posters, flyers and stickers. A limited edition (for serious collectors and very generous gift-givers only, at $200+) comes packaged in an actual working guitar amp.

'The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 - Let It Rock' CD

Release date: November 10, 2009
Jerry Garcia is remembered as much for his work ethic as his musicianship. In 1975, Grateful Dead were recording Blues For Allah, The Grateful Dead Movie was in production, and still Garcia found time for one of his many side projects, Jerry Garcia Band. In November 1975, JGB played The Keystone Berkeley, in the shadow of the University of California campus. This two-CD set was recorded during that performance.
Vendor's Site
Ray Davies - 'The Kinks Choral Collection' CD

Release date: November 10, 2009

As lead singer and principal songwriter, Ray Davies had much to do with The Kinks' distinctive (and highly successful) style. He also has much to do with keeping the band's music alive and fresh. In 2007, he enlisted the Crouch End Festival Chorus to collaborate in recording choral arrangements of Kinks classics like "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night" and "Waterloo Sunset."

Paul McCartney - 'Good Evening, New York City' CD/DVD

Release date: November 17, 2009

Good Evening, New York City is a two-CD, one-DVD set recorded during Paul McCartney's July 2009 performance at the new Citi Field (formerly Shea Stadium.) Macca performs a mix of material from his solo, Wings and Beatles catalogs.

The Doors - 'Live In New York' box set

Release date: November 17, 2009
Nearly 40 years after The Doors played four shows at the Felt Forum theater at New York's Madison Square Garden, those performances, in their entirety, are being released in this six-CD set. Most of the material on Live In New York is being released for the first time. These were the band's last New York performances with Jim Morrison, who died just a few months later.

Steve Morse Band - 'Out Standing In Their Field' CD

Release date: November 17, 2009

The former Deep Purple guitarist is back with Steve Morse Band's 12th studio release. Morse's virtuosity is front and center -- all 11 tracks are instrumentals. Out Standing In Their Field is a fusion of rock, jazz, funk, and country, in keeping with the range of styles the artist has sampled over the years.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - 'Live Anthology' box set

Release date: November 24, 2009
Compiling this four-CD set was no small feat when you consider the sheer volume of performances by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers between 1978 and 2007. Engineer Ryan Ulyate compiled more than 400 titles from more than 3,500 concerts. Producers (Ulyate, Petty and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell) promise a realistic mix -- no fixes or overdubs -- to accurately reproduce the live experience.

Free Songs

Hmm, the title of this post could be misleading, I don't have any songs for free. I got the idea of "free" songs from Jim Ladd of KLOS (LA classic rock radio).

Each Friday night Jim has a show called Theme of Consciousness where he suggests a word then the listeners come up with songs that have that word in the title and those song make up his set list for the evening. Jim is known for playing some very deep cuts that are rarely played on mainstream radio.

So, for fun, lets see what we can come up with to create our own "Free" playlist. I will start off with a couple obvious ones, it can be the word free or any word that contains free:

Free Falling, Tom Petty
Free Bird, Lynrd Skynrd
Freedom, Rage Against the Machine
Philadelphia Freedom, Elton John
Free Man in Paris, Joni Mitchell
Freewill, Rush

NEWS FLASH!

Image via WikipediaBruce Springsteen may perform at the Super Bowl this year!  I saw it hear first, Real Rock News

The question is:

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? 

The only way it can be a bad thing is if the people that know I LOVE BRUCE decide to watch and then have the audacity to make even a slightly negative comment like "yeah, he's ok" I will have to kick some serious ass.

Live Review of Tom Petty at Halftime

I like Tom. In fact back in the day when I was in a band we covered every single song on his first album.



I've seen him in concert a few times over the years and he seems to have a good time performing live and sounds good. I think he's probably a great guy in his "real life" and I love the fact that The Heartbreakers have stuck together.

But....

This performance that I am watching right now is....dull. So far. He just started "Free Falling" since its a slower song, maybe it will come off better than American Girl and the other one he played (I can't even remember what it was...and it was only a few seconds ago).

My personal opinion, and this is nothing against TP, he was a poor choice for the halftime. They needed someone a little more exciting. Sorry, Tom.

I still think this was his best album of all time, and I still know every word to all these songs:

1. "Rockin' Around (With You)"
2. "Breakdown"
3. "H0metown Blues"
4. "The Wild One, Forever"
5. "Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll"
   
6. "Strangered In The Night"
7. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)"
   
8. "Mystery Man"
   
9. "Luna"
   
10. "American Girl"

Attention Tom Petty Fans:

I suppose if you really are a TP fan, you would already know about this, but if not, there is a one night only screening of the documentary about Tom and the HB's. It's going to be one night only, Monday the 15th, at theaters across the nation. Apparently its pretty great, took two years to film and contains rare footage.

Question: What is your favorite Tom Petty song?

This is a hard one for me but I will have to go with "The Wild One Forever" off the very first album. The band I was in covered that song back in the 80's and it brings back good memories :)

Ticket Scalping

I am in a grouchy mood so I am going to write about something that really ticks me off. Ticket scalping. It's been going on for years, but it seems like these days its almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a ticket for face value. Most of us are forced to go through a "ticket agency" or bid for tickets on-line (I just saw Clapton tickets on eBay for $250 each - face value, $85).

A friend of mine started a "ticket agency" back in the 80's so I know the inside scoop. He will pay loads of people (usually high school kids or people desperate for cash) to stand in line and buy the maximum number of tickets allowed. So, he will pay some kid to stand in line for five hours, lets say he gives the kid $50. To the kid, $10 an hour for standing around in a party like atmosphere is great money. So for every one fan you see standing in line (or these days calling or going on-line) there are hundreds of paid people buying tickets for various ticket brokers across the country.

Lets say the tickets are for Eric Clapton and sell for $55 - 85 per seat. If a broker paid fifty people to buy six tickets each, he now has 350 tickets which he can turn around and sell for double or triple face value. So it cost him $500 but he just made a profit of $3000.00.

But who PAYS for this? WE DO. It cracks me up to hear someone say "buy from a reputable ticket broker..." That's an oxy-moron!

One year I decided to use my friend's "agency" for tickets to Bruce because typically his tickets sell out so fast that I am forced to go through an agency to buy them. So when I showed up, hoping to get a decent ticket from this guy, he he took full advantage of the fact that he knows how much I love Bruce and tried to gouge me for even MORE than he would a "regular" customer. I had known this dude for years and even dated him for awhile! Greed does ugly things to people.

Long story short - I did not buy the tickets from him I saw through his scheme and never did business with him again. Sure, I still had to pay way over face value for good seats, but at least I knew I wasn't being played for a fool and taken advantage of.

I miss the days when I would spend 8 hours in line to get the best ticket possible. It was fair game - if you wanted them bad enough you got your ass to the Ticketron or Ticketmaster at 2 am and sat there until 10 am the next morning when they opened.

It's not right. Its so unfair. I went into debt to see U2 last year (I paid $400 per ticket for 2 seats - $800!! I had NO CHOICE, they were sold out and that was the best deal I could get with a decent seat).

I appreciate performers like Tom Petty who are actively fighting ticket scalping to insure that their fans can see a concert at a fair price.

Ok, I am done bitching. I feel better now.

Happy Birthday, Tom Petty!

Spoken like a true rocker, a quote from TP:

"It's better to burn out, then to fade away."

TP & Jackson B

Just got home from Tom Petty & Jackson Browne...great show, will report tomorrow.

Okay here is the review:

Musically, both bands were great. I didn't recognize most of Jackson's songs until he got to the old favorites, "The Pretender", "Running on Empty", "Doctor My Eyes", "I am a Patriot". I admire him because he's an activist that does not shove his views down your throat with hostility like some actors/singers like to do (Linda Rondstat for example). He sounded great, was humble, sweet and still good looking for an older guy (same exact haircut he's always had!)

Tom was excellent and did all the expected faves. I've seen him several times and my sister and I both agreed that he seemed a bit...cocky. I have never noticed him acting arrogant before so it was unsettling. But he is a "rock star" so I guess he's entitled.

The most interesting thing about the evening was the crowd. I am used to growing old right along with my fellow fans of all these older bands. In fact, I feel pretty young at some concerts! But Tom Petty appeals to the 20's crowd as well as the 40's crowd. In front of me sat a couple in their 50's and next to them four guys between I'd guess 19 - 22. I love the fact that a whole generation of people has discovered that the best music was recorded before they were even born!

The only negative for me was all the smoke from cigarettes, pot and cloves which made me feel SICK. This was an outdoor event, but for some reason the smoke still got to me.

The bottom line: the music was great, we had good seats, the visuals for Petty were very cool but I think that will be my last visit to one of his concerts. I am saving my money to go to LESS concerts but get BETTER seats at the one's I really LOVE (U2, Bruce, Bowie, Heart, Train and a few others)

Tom Petty

TP

When Tom and The Heartbreakers first LP came out in 1976, they were "fresh enough to almost be considered punk. They weren't as reckless or visionary as the Ramones, but they shared a similar love for pure '60s rock and, for the Heartbreakers, that meant embracing the Byrds as much as the Stones..." Read More

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