vol. 40

tell it to me slow
tell me with your eyes
if anyone should know
how to let it slide
i swear i can see you
coming up the drive
and there ain't nothing like regret
to remind you you're alive...
-- sheryl crow

• i just saw gran torino and i must say that i left a little on the disappointed side -- eastwood directed and produced it (and of course starred in it) but it was as predictable as a third grade essay...it might be possible that the only movie i've ever seen more racist than this one was american history x... at any rate, the movie did leave me thinking about regret, hence the lyrics above...

• unfortunately i missed out on a great conversation friday night, but was let in on the topic after the fact -- the idea was to choose the concerts you could travel back in time to see -- mine, in order, are:
  

1. live aid at wembley stadium -- 1985 -- the whole day would have been incredible, for sure, but i provided a link to queen's performance there in an earlier entry dealing with control and this is the scene i would have loved to have been able to take part in (this is actually a different link and contains their entire set -- again, keep in mind -- no sound check!) -- beyond that, i would have also seen elvis costello, u2, phil collins, the who, the boomtown rats (think you don't know them? think again -- as in i don't like mondays or this is the world calling which was by bob geldof, their lead singer and organizer of the whole event...), the hooters (who were on top then for a brief period of time), bb king, run dmc, sting, howard jones, paul young with alison moyet, dire straits with sting, george thorogood with bo diddley, and the list goes on... (i'm not bolding all of those acts for your sake!)
2. simon and garfunkel -- the concert in central park -- 1981 -- my dad made me watch this on hbo when it was on -- i really didn't want to at the time, but i'm really glad that he made me -- completely turned me on to these two -- this was just momentous to me and i would have loved to have been there...estimates say there were over 500,000 people there -- that had to be incredible -- my favorite songs were april come she will and late in the evening
   
3. the beatles at shea stadium -- 1965 -- i would have loved to see the earlier beatles rather than the drug ravaged beatles of their later years...
4. jerry lee lewis, elvis presley, carl perkins and johnny cash -- 1956 -- i can't say as elvis does much for me or carl perkins for that matter, but i would have loved to have seen both jerry lee lewis and johnny cash early on in their careers -- jerry lee lewis just looks like he would have put on a beast of a show to me...
5. roy orbison -- black and white night -- 1988 -- i've always loved roy orbison's voice -- his songwriting is incredible as well -- he put on a great show and a couple of his friends joined in -- as in bruce springsteen, jackson browne, kd lang (great version of crying...), bonnie raitt, and the underrated jd souther -- it was a taped show, but it still would have been great to see...
6. bruce springsteen born in the usa tour -- 1984 -- for the record, i absolutely HATE born in the usa -- even then i did - but the rest of the album was incredible -- he was genuinely on top of the world then -- i've seen him twice since, and both shows were incredible, but this one had to have been great -- i was allowed to stay overnight outside kaufman's to try to get tickets with some older friends from swg -- for those of you old enough, remember how much of a pain in the butt it used to be to get concert tickets??? at any rate, we were about 5th in line when it sold out -- yeah, that bit... deal with it, switala...
   
7. michael jackson bad tour -- 1987 or 1988 -- and i'd want to see it in japan -- those people were all kinds of freaky for mj then -- it would have been incredible, providing that i wouldn't have been trampled to death -- but i'm time traveling, so what the heck??? the music on bad was still good -- i would have gotten that and all of thriller to boot -- and don't even try to say that you didn't love michael jackson back in the day...
8. the smiths the queen is dead tour -- 1986 -- unfortunately, they never toured for strangeways, here we come and this was their last tour -- i like morrissey on his own (although i still think his best offering post-smiths is viva hate, his first offering post-smiths) but what his solo stuff has shown me is just how good johnny marr was/is...
   

i'm going to prematurely end this right there -- i guarantee i missed some great ones -- and no, i didn't forget woodstock -- i just can't say as i really have a desire to have been there...

let's hear your picks...