Sunflowers!

I love this time of year because my sunflowers are in full bloom. I just thought I would share some of this beauty with you.

Concert for NY DVD

Since it is the anniversary of 9/11, I thought I would watch a couple of my favorite performers from CFNY tonight. It's way too long to watch the whole thing, so I just watched a couple of highlights, David Bowie and The Who.

Bowie opened the show solo, and I just love his rendition of Simon and Garfunkels America. How very beautiful and fitting. I dig the little keyboard thing he was playing too. And nothing could be more suitable for the event than Heroes. Wow, what a great performance!

The highlight of the whole evening was the Who though, of course! I can't believe how tight they were that night. Pete just nailed the ending of Baba, with a nice little leap right on the note! Zak was so awesome, and it was so nice to see John playing. I really miss that guy! Roger and Pete were in absolute top form. They are really mesmerizing to watch in this one! I think everyone agrees that The Who stole the show that night!

Watching this DVD makes me wish and hope that the Who will get together for a benefit for Katrina. As horrendous as 9/11 was, I think what has happened in the Gulf Coast recently is even worse. I think they should pull everyone together for at least one show this year. Wouldn't this be a good reason?

Tori Amos at the Chateau Ste Michelle Winery, Woodinville Washington

I went and saw Tori play last night, which was the second time I saw her this year. She played at the Benaroya Hall in April, which is the home of the Seattle Symphony. I must say, I much prefer the Benaroya. The crowds at the winery are really annoying. They promote heavy drinking there, by only selling bottles of wine to drink. No glasses of wine, or even, heaven forbid, beer. Just whole bottles. And you can't take half bottles with you on the road. Open container law and all that. Therefore, every concert I go to there is the same. People get blasted on wine, and yap there heads off throughout the concert. This happened again last night. Even with a Tori audience, who are famous for worshipping the ground she walks on, and are generally very polite and listen to her music, were blabby and annoying last night.

Well, we aren't big wine drinkers, so before the concert we took a short hike to the Red Hook Brewery that is across the street, and next to the Columbia Winery. Lot's of booze in Woodinville apparently. Anyway, we ordered our customary IPAs, and some great pub grub. The IPAs at Red Hook are notorious for their lack of hopiness, but I think they are improving, and I actually quite enjoyed mine. We hiked back to the venue, and got there just in time for the first of 2 opening acts. She had a very young looking all girl band called The Like, who I thought were super cool. I liked the Like. She also had a sorta hip bebop band called the dediddy bop, or something like that (I wasn't paying that close attention). They were fun too.

Tori came on in a pink flowing dress, the usual Tori fare. She looked marvelous, if not a bit road worn. This is, as I said, the second time this year, and she has had many, many shows in between. I mentioned to Tom that she looked kinda serious and intense looking, as she belted out the second song, "crucify myself, why do I, crucify myself". She had a look on her face like she really meant it. Tom, who has just read Tori's new book, and so now feels he is the expert in all things Tori replied, "she just has her game face on. She always does this. She'll loosen up after a couple songs". Tori had her game on alright. And yes, she did loosen up. She put on a hell of a show, and really changed the set a bunch since played in April. I think she changes it every night though, so you could see her play all year and not get bored. She also really changes the phrasing and style of her songs, and they sound fresh and different every time she performs them. She played a lot of songs from her new album, as well as her past catalog. I'd say half of them she didn't play last time she came. She has such a huge catalog of songs now, that she could easily play a few shows and never repeat herself.

I really love the Beekeeper CD. I'm a bit pissed off that it got such a slagging in the press. This is a brilliant piece of art, and I have been loving it all summer long. I can't believe how stupid reviewers can be. And the songs off of it are even better when performed live. The highlight at the Benaroya show was her song The Beekeeper. With her organ and beautiful voice in that hall playing that incredible song, you could hear a pin drop. It was completely mesmerizing. I was hoping for the same magic last night, but alas, some stupid woman 2 rows back blabbed her mouth through the whole thing and ruined it. Oh well, I will be seeing Robert Plant there in a couple weeks. I hope it doesn't rain, and I hope people will shut up!

Carrie

First blog entry

Giving this blog thing a whirl. Is anyone listening?