My Faves Of 2009

So, the end of yet another year. Thought I better get my list of favorite albums,DVD's and concerts done before the start of a new year.
Overall I thought it was quite a good year for music, and am hoping 2010 is as good if not better. I already have tickets for some upcoming shows Steve Earle,Wilco and U2, so it's shaping up to be a good one for live music. The lists are in no particular order. Feel free to leave a comment with your lists of faves.

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009
* Wilco - The Album (another great album by a great band)
* Bob Dylan - Together Through Life (Bob just keeps getting better)
* Band Of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey (best album title of the year)
* Van Morrison - Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl (Van the Man still has a voice that send shivers through me)
* Flaming Lips - Embryonic (another great album from these freaks)
* Cornershop - Judy Sucks Lemon For Breakfast ( a great album title and a very groovy album)
* Mike Plume - MP830NFLD (one of my very favorite albums of the year,great great songwriter) Canadian from Edmonton
* Steel Panther - Feel The Steel (old school glam and so rude)
* William Elliot Whitmore - Animals In The Dark (great songwriter with a gritty voice,love this album)
* Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall (great punk rock,"Up To No Good" great song and time hey Earl,lol)
* Levon Helm - Electric Dirt (great follow up to last years album Dirt Farmer, and word is he may be playing the Folk Fest here this year)
* Black Crowes - Before The Frost... Until The Freeze (awesome double album recorded live at Levon Helms, best album they have done since Amorica, good times hey A-Bomb,lol)
* Frank Turner - Poetry Of The Deed (really had no idea about him til I saw him open for Gaslight Anthem, great songwriter and performer from England)
* Joel Plaskett - Three (by far my most fave of the year, triple album with a theme of 3 and not a bad song on it) Canadian Band from Halifax
* Grady - Good As Dead (some real rock n' roll with wicked guitaring, Gordie Johnson is so underrated) all Canadians based in Texas
* Marah - Angels Of Destruction (ya it was released in 08, but I only got it this year and love it)
* Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears - Tell'em What Your Name Is (fun funky band that my brother told me about after seeing them open for Lucero in Vancouver)
* Lucero - 1372 Overton And Park (great rock n' roll, digging the horns in this album, please come play Edmonton)
Honourable mentions to new albums by Weezer,Neil Young's Archives Volume One,Shout Out Out Out Out,Corb Lund,Eminem,Future Of The Left,Slayer,Leeroy Stagger,Derek Trucks Band,AC/DC and Ace Frehley.

FAVORITE DVD's OF 2009
Not that i bought a lot of DVD's, but these are my faves.
* Black Crowes - Cabin Fever (cool to see them play these songs at Levon's, great performance)
* Old Crow Medicine Show - Live at The Orange Peel and Tennessee Theatre (wow, this is such a fuckin' good DVD, I have watched this numerous times and love it everytime I watch it, wish they would come to Edmonton too)
* Neil Diamond - Hot August Night NYC (must be getting old here, as I love this show)
* Nirvana - Live At Reading Festival( Nirvana at their best)
* Wilco - Ashes Of American Flags (great performance, these guys can't go wrong)
* Rolling Stones - Shine A Light (for old fuckers, they still rock and put on a good show)

FAVORITE SHOWS OF 2009
I saw some awesome shows this year, it's hard to pick out the top ones, but here we go.
* David Byrne @ the Jube (wasn't really into going to this show, a friend of mine got me a ticket, am I ever glad I saw it, great show)
* Shout Out Out Out Out @ Starlite Room (Earl and I had a great time at this show and froze are fuckin' nuts off walking and falling home from this show)
* Gaslight Anthem @ Starlite Room (great rock n' roll show, good venue good times)
* Neil Young @ Rexall Place (best I have seen him)
* Leonard Cohen @ Rexall Place (good show, he made the coliseum feel like a smokey intimate venue)
* Joel Plaskett @ McDougall Church (ya, a church,great sound,awesome show)
* Social Distortion @ EEC (old school punk/rock)
* Mike Plume @ Myer Horowitz Theatre (just him and a guitar, small crowd but great show)
* The Hold Steady @ Starlite Room (first time seeing them, awesome show,great venue, good times)
* Gaslight Anthem @ EEC (great bill, 4 great bands, some real rock, excellent time had at this show)
* Grady @ The Pawn Shop (loud and rocking, my kind of show, good venue for this band)
* Mike Plume @ The Brixx (full band this time,small venue, good music, good times)
* King Khan and BBQ Show @ The Pawn Shop (fun fucking show, went to this show after reading about them and my bro recommending I go)

Happy New Year all, keep on rockin'!!!!!

Old School Album For The Week Of Dec.14th - 18th

This week I pulled out an old cassette released in 1981 called There Goes The Neighbourhood by Joe Walsh,what a great album this is. This is the first album by Joe I ever got into and is still my favorite album of his.
My favorite tracks on this album are Made Your Mind Up,Bones,Things,A Life Of Illusion and my all time favorite song of his Down On The Farm.
My favorite memories of the song Down On The Farm are when my buddies Nerraw,A-Bomb and Scotty and I lived together in a house on 99th street behind a Caribbean restaurant. The place was a freakin' zoo, basically an after hours club,lol. The parties we used to have there are still talked about to this very day. Well the song Down On The Farm was our theme song for that house. Here are the lyrics for that song, my god, we used to sing this song at the top of our lungs,lol.
Out in the middle of nowhere
Gathered around in the barn
Animals all in agreement, they was down on the farm

There was talk of all the boring hours
Standin' around with nothin' to do
It was just another boring evening
With a pail of boring things to chew

There was cows and horses and sheeps and pigs
They was tired of the daily routine
They was plannin' on havin' themselves a bash
Gonna throw a great big wing-ding

So they said 'let's do it, play some rock and roll'
And they got all loose and had a few
And before they knew it, they was out of control
Turned into a regular zoo...
They was tired of the daily routine
Havin' themselves a great big bash
And they was gathering steam

And the pig grabbed a chicken, said
Come on over, let's do-si-do a few
And the chick said 'no, you're covered with mud'
Called him a pig and it was true

And every gol' dang one o'their tails was a waggin'
Under the old horse-shoe
That night the animals fell off the wagon
And a tractor or two

Well they was out in the middle of nowhere
They was rockin' out in the barn
They was tearin' it up in the hayloft
Gettin' down on the farm

This song sums up pretty much what that place was like. Good times!!!!
My favorite memories of Joe Walsh was seeing him play with The Ringo All-Starr Band in August of 1989 and with The Eagles in March of 1995. Joe Walsh stole the show both times I saw him play live. Now If I could only see him perform solo, I would go out of my way to see that.
"Sometimes I Can't Help But Feelin' That I'm Living A Life Of Illusion"

Old School Album Of The Week For Dec.7th-11th

This week I picked an album that came out in 1991 by the Four Horsemen called Nobody Said It Was Easy released on Def American Recording produced by Rick Rubin. It's funny how many albums I have been picking that are produced by Rick Rubin.
Anyways, this fuckin' album kicks ass, straight up rock n' roll. Good party music, songs of boozing and girls, those subjects always make for a party album. This album is some gritty rock n' roll with song titles like Rockin' Is Ma' Business, Can't Stop Rockin',Moonshine,Let It Rock, 75 Again and Lookin' For Trouble. There isn't really a bad song on this classic, sad thing is, this album never really got the recognition it deserved. Lead singer Frank Starr was an awesome front man that had his problems with the law and drugs and such but could belt out the songs like a motherfucker he had a cool raw whiskey gruff sounding vocals, drummer Ken(Dimwit)Montgomery who played in all kinds of punk bands previous to this recording(DOA,Pointed Sticks) was an animal on drums and guitar player Haggis was awesome too, he previously had played with Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction as well as The Cult. Them all together made for a kick ass rock n' roll band.
A great memory of mine about the Four Horsemen was seeing them play at Dinwoodie Lounge on the UofA campus(Apr.4th 1992 with local band Wheat Chiefs opening) at a bar that held about 700 people.During the day the band did an autograph session at Sam The Record Man at West Edmonton Mall, it was cool to meet the guys, whom were all really nice guys. This was the day after having lined up outside Bonnie Doon Mall all night for Metallica tickets, it was a night of lots of drinking and carrying on, then that night seeing the band live in concert. It was a weekend of debauchery to say the least. They put on a kick ass show that was some true rock n' roll.

Now for the sad part of the history of the Four Horsemen. Two years later after seeing the band, they played People's Pub in Edmonton in September of 1994. They were booked for a two night stand Sept. 2nd and 3rd, I was very stoked about seeing them again and had told a bunch of friends about having to see this band play live.Well what a disappointment it was, I don't know what happened to them but they were playing cover songs, mind you they weren't terrible cover songs,Thin Lizzy and such, but what the fuck, they had more then enough songs themselves to not have to do cover songs.The band seemed to be going through the motions and just put on a very lack lustre show. The show was a big let down for me and the friends I had dragged out to see this band.

Less then a month later (Sept.27th), drummer Dimwit overdosed on heroin in Vancouver and died, and then in 1995 lead singer Frank Starr was hit by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle in Hollywood,CA., he was in a coma til June of 1999 and passed away. A shitty ending to what should have been a classic rock n' roll band.

To this day I still think the album Nobody Said It Was Easy stands the test of time and should get more airplay on classic rock stations. There really isn't a bad song on the album. And from what I understand, the band has just released a new album with a new lead singer. I have not seen or heard it yet and am not sure I wanna. To me Frank Starr was the voice of The Four Horsemen.

Now, not to confuse anyone with the November date on one of the posters, the band was booked to play People's Pub Nov. of 1991 before the Dinwoodie date in 1992, unfortunately that show was cancelled and I had a poster for that gig, that they were nice enough to autograph for me.

Favorite Shows Of 2005

The year 2005 was outstanding for concerts here in Edmonton. I got out to a lot of shows this year, and these are the ones that really stood out for me.
The year got off to a good start with Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar playing his first show here with his new band Grady from Austin, Texas on March 9th. They played Cook County Saloon of all places, considering Cook County is a country bar, but the place was a rocking this night with Grady.I went to this show with my cousin Jay.

April 2nd my Cousin Jay and I went and saw Motley Crue on their Better Live Than Dead reunion tour. I hadn't seen the Crue since their 1989 Dr. Feelgood tour, so this show was going to make me feel like a teen again, and ya it worked. This was actually quite a good show, while Vince didn't sound quite as good as he used to, they still put on a great show,although I have to say Mick Mars looked like the walking dead, but can still play a mean guitar.The concert had a big circus like feel to it,the stage was set up like a circus tent with midgets,dancing girls, women blowing fire all kinds of stuff to watch while rocking out to the Crue. They played all their old hits that I grew up with in my teens. We had row 9 on the floor for this show. They are still touring these days, but think they are getting kind of boring again, glad I saw them on this tour. Good time was had by all, the show was sold out and can't see them selling out the Coliseum again anytime in the near future.It sure doesn't stop them from coming through town though, as they play here again January 27th 2010, this has got to be the 5th time they have played here since 2005.


On April 18th I went to see Motorhead play at Red's on a freakin' Monday night. This was my fourth time seeing Motorhead play, and was probably one of my favorite performances I have seen them play. They never let you down, you know what your getting when you go to see Motorhead, some raw fucking rock n' roll. What did surprise me was the encore when Lemmy came out with an acoustic guitar and played Whorehouse Blues, that was fucking cool. What Motorhead actually are is a raw blues band deep down. I missed 2 of the 3 opening acts. I saw Corrosion Of Conformity they were quite good, but missed 3 Inches Of Blood and Damn 13. I went to this show with my Cousin.


Another show I saw at the dreaded venue Red's was ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead with opening act The(International)Noise Conspiracy from Sweden this was an excellent double bill. Trail Of Dead were trippy and loud, I really enjoyed them and Noise Conspiracy were quite good but not as good as i was expecting, all and all though a great double bill.



On July 15 my Cousin and my friend Zap and I went to see Grady again, second time in 2005, this time at a bar called Cowboy's. What's with Grady playing country bars,lol, fuck, the guy is more rock then most metal bands, nonetheless this too was another great show by Grady. We had an awesome time at this show with lots of debauchery, it was a late night, I think we called it a night at about 7am. Good times!!!!


The day after seeing Grady it was time to see the ultimate outlaw in concert Willie Nelson with Kathleen Edwards opening. I took my Dad to this show as a Father's Day present. This was both our first time seeing him play live, we had row 2 on the floor for this show too, the best seats my dad has ever had for a concert. And what a great fucking show this was too. I never realized what a good guitar player Willie actually is. It was some fucking cool seeing him play his old beat up acoustic guitar. The show rocked from start to finish with no slow parts, way more rocking them I was actually anticipating. For 72 year old outlaw, he put on one hell of a show.


On July 29th at the exhibition here in Edmonton (Klondike Days) Twisted (Fucking) Sister played on the free stage on the grounds. The area for the concert held about 5000 people, with the show starting at 9pm, it was full by 7 with several thousand more people outside the gates. This was the second time seeing twisted Sister for me, having seen them when they opened for Iron Maiden back in 1984. It was the original line up all done up in their make up and 80's costumes, they hadn't changed a bit. What a great fucking time and show this was. While lead singer Dee Snider kept the his usual cursing to a minimum, he had no problem getting the rest of the crowd to say it for him. They played all the old classics from Stay Hungry,You Can't Stop Rock N' Roll and Under The Blade albums. I went to this show with my girl friend Janis, one of her best friends Lois her boyfriend Kenny, Lois' son Drayson,Janis' son Stephen and my Cousin. The beers were a flowing at this show. What an awesome throw back concert, and for free, good time was had by all.

On September 5th Janis and I went to the Pearl Jam and Supersuckers show. I won tickets for this show from The Edmonton Sun. I hadn't seen Pearl Jam since 1993 and that was at The Convention Centre to 4000 people, this time it was a sold out show at The Coliseum in front of 16,000 people.I was looking forward to seeing the Supersuckers play again, but have to say they let me down. But Pearl Jam more then made up for it. They played for over 2 hours and put on a rocking show.


On September 19th Janis and I went to see Robert Plant with opening band The Trews play Rexall Place (the coliseum). This was my fourth time seeing Plant solo in concert and Janis' first time seeing him. Robert Plant is one of Janis' very favorite singers, so she was quite stoked to be seeing him live in concert finally. I was hoping to get good seats for this show, so I held out til the last minute and managed to get row 1 on the floor for this show. We caught the last couple of songs from The Trews and have to say, again I wasn't all that impressed with them. As for Plant and his band The Strange Sensations were excellent. He mixed it up good with an equal amount of Zeppelin songs and his solo stuff. What surprised me about this show was how small the crowd was for a rock icon like Plant. There were only maybe 4500 people in attendance. For all those that missed out, you missed one hell of a show.


On September 20th, I went to see System Of A Down with opening band Mars Volta at Rexall Place. This was a great night of some heavy weird psychedelic music. What really impressed me this evening was Mars Volta. I thought they were amazing in concert. At times it reminded me of what seeing Zeppelin in their prime must have been like and the guitar player for Mars Volta (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez) reminded me of Jimi Hendrix. I liked their weird jams and psychedelicness in their music, but them maybe it was just all the pot in the air,lol.
System Of A Down were good as well, this was my second time seeing them, and they have come a long way since seeing them in 1999 at Ozzfest in Vancouver. Their music is on the wacked side, reminds me a bit of Zappa if Zappa played heavy metal music.Overall a great night of metal.


On October 14th my Dad,Cousin and I went to The Sidetrack Cafe for an intimate show with Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans. The Sidetrack only holds a couple of hundred people, so this was a cool show to be at. This is also probably the most drunk I have ever got with my Dad, we had an excellent night of music,drinks and good times, Cuz even bailed on us that night as he had too much of a buzz on,lol,light weight.

October 17th, my Cousin and I went to Red's to see Tesla play an all acoustic show. I hadn't seen Tesla since they opened for Motley Crue back in the late eighties. It was the original line up and they put one hell of s show, playing for 2 hours.Another great show.


October 28th myself along with A-Bomb,Cousin,A-Bombs bro Ryan,and Janis went to see Grady play Red's this time. This was my third time seeing Grady play in the year 2005. And yet again, another great fucking rock n' roll show. I have never been disappointed by a show of Gordie Johnson's wether it be Big Sugar or his new band Grady. If you get the chance to see them, do it, you will not be let down. A big memory of this show was actually after the show, with all of us having a good buzz on and taking a cab home. I recall my Cousin talking like Bubble's from Trailer Park Boys and cracking us up to the point where we were in tears.Probably the funniest cab ride have ever taken. What a fun night of music and laughs.


October 31st A-Bomb and I went to see a band called Heavy Trash led by Jon Spencer of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion band, this was his new band which is kind of a rock a billy/punk blues band. The opening band was a band called The Sadies who also backed up Heavy Trash on this night. I had never heard of The Sadies before, but holy fuck, I sure am a huge fan of them now. They put on a rockin' opening set that had Heavy Trash having to follow up with an even better set. Well, it was nice surprise to see The Sadies as the back up band for them. This was an awesome night again of music.The show was at The Sidetrack Cafe which was an excellent venue for this kind of music.


Other shows I saw in 2005 that didn't make the best of list. Strapping Young Lad with The Agony Scene and Misery Signals at The Starlite Room, Queens Of The Stone Age with Throw rag at Red's, The Doors Of The 20th Century with Vanilla Fudge and Pat Travers at Rexall Place, Sounds Of The Underground which included Lamb Of God,Clutch,Madball,Strapping Young Lad,Terror,High On Fire,Throwdown, headliners Gwar and many other acts this show was at Rexall Place, Foo Fighters with Sloan and The Constantines at Rexall Place, Maximum Rock N' Roll at The Sidetrack Cafe (this too was an awesome show), Gigantour which included Megadeath,Anthrax,Fear Factory and others at The Shaw Conference Centre.
I would have to say the year 2005 was one of the best years in concerts for me, as I was able to attend a lot of them, and the majority of them were great shows.Good times!!!!

Alice Cooper - Golf Monster Book Review

This book by Alice Cooper, Golf Monster a Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to becoming a Golf Addict is a nice quick easy read. Which is good for me, I hate when I can't get into a book and takes me a month to read it. This book by Alice I read within a week.
Alice talks a lot about his addiction to golf, which probably saved his life, as he used to be a major alcoholic up til the late 80's. I would have preferred to read a little more about his drinking days. But there is a few stories of his drinking, with the likes of Keith Moon,Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon although he never really gets into too much details about them drinking days.
He does write a lot about golf stories, and the many dollars he has raised through the golf tournaments and charities he has helped.
If you are a fan of Alice or even just a golf fan, this is a good book to checkout.

Old School Album Of The Week For Nov.30th - Dec.4th

This week I picked an album that an old friend I used to work with years ago (Burn Out Bernie) had told me about, and made a tape of it for me back in the early 90's. At the time I was really getting into Bob Dylan (still like Dylan to this day,of course) and he brought me this album by Dylan called The Basement Tapes. This album had been bootlegged for many years before the record company finally officially released it back in 1975 as a double album. The Basement Tapes were actually recorded in 1967 with Bob Dylan and The Band as his back up band. It was recorded in The Bands house called the Big Pink. Oh,to have been a fly on the wall while this was being recorded. What an awesome raw recording of some blues,folk rock n' roll. Bob and The Band just sound like they are having a lot of fun jamming out, some of the songs have some humorous lyrics, it sound like a really good time just hanging out and playing off each other. Everyone gets their time at the mic and share in the song writing.
My favorite tracks on this double album are Odds And Ends,Million Dollar Bash,Yazoo Street Scandal,Lo And Behold,Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread (love that song title),Apple Suckling Tree and Please Mrs. Henry, hell they are all good songs, can't forget Tears Of Rage, all and all a wicked album.