Concert Shirt/Poster Of The Day May 31st (Rocket From The Crypt)

Today's t-shirt is from the Rocket From The Crypt concert I saw in 2003 at a club in Edmonton called New City Suburbs. This was an incredibly good show with opening bands The Spits and The Bronx.

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Old School Album Of The Week For May 17th-21st

This weeks album is an album and band my friend Buzzard turned me onto while sitting around his place swilling beers in the early 90's. It's the double live album "Waiting For Columbus" by the band Little Feat released in 1978 on Warner Records. They play a fusion of styles of soul/funk/blues/southern rock kind of music. This was a great album to pick to be introduced to the band Little Feat. I have found after listening to their live albums and studio ones, they were a band that had to be seen and heard in concert. Their studio albums are good but don't do them any justice compared to the live experience. The album comprised from seven shows, four in London and three in Washington.

The band is lead by the late Lowell George on guitar/vocals, Paul Barrere on guitar/vocals, Richard Hayward drums/vocals and Bill Payne on keyboards. The whole band shared in writing and singing duties as you would notice listening to the album.

While I like the whole album, my favorite songs on the album is the humorously titled song "Fat Man In The Bathtub", I love these lyrics in the song.

"Don't want nobody who won't dive for dimes
Don't want no speedballs 'cause I might die tryin
Throw me a line, throw me a line
Cause there's a fat man in the bathtub with the blues"

"Oh Atlanta" is another great song with some good boogie piano in it and a good bass groove through out.

"Spanish Moon" is a song that is about a bar called Spanish Room, sounds like it was an interesting bar. Lyrics like this, make you wish you could be there, well sorta kinda,lol.

"Well I Stepped Inside, and Stood By the Door
While a Dark Girl Sang, and Played the Guitar
There Was Hookers, and Hustlers, Filled Up the Room
I Heard About This Place They Call the Spanish Moon"

"Whiskey, and Bad Cocaine
Poison Get You Just the Same
And If That, That Don't, Kill You Soon
The Women Will Down At the Spanish Moon"
It's a good blues song with The Tower Of Power on the horn section, good stuff!!!

Side three of the album consists of only three songs, but not a bad song on this side. Starting with "Dixie Chicken"
"Yeah well, we made all the hot spots
My money flowed like wine
And then that low-down Southern whiskey
Began to fog my mind"

Next is the song "Tripe Face Boogie" a good blues boogie song with some weird, yet cool keyboard shit going on, that turns into a bit of a jam band kind of thing.
"You bring your guitar and I'll bring the wine
We'll blow out our speakers, just one more time"

The last song on side three is "Rocket In My Pocket", no guessing here what he has in his pocket.
"I Put On My Dancin' Shoes
We Headed Straight For the Rhythm and Blues
The Music Was Hot, But My Baby Was Not

I've Got a Rocket in My Pocket, I Said Rocket
Ya Fingers in the Socket
Fingers in the Socket, Fingers in the Socket"

Side four is actually awesome too, the album gets stronger as it goes on.It opens with the truck driver song "Willin", a slow moving blues song with some great lyrics by Lowell George.
"I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
and you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'

I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet
Had my head stoved in, but I'm still on my feet and I'm still... willin'
Now I smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico
baked by the sun, every time I go to Mexico, and I'm still"

"Sailin' Shoes" is yet another great song.
"Lady in a turban, cocaine tree
Does a dance so rhythmically
She's cryin', and a singin' and having a time
and gee that cocaine tree look fine"

"You've got to put on your sailin shoes
Put on your sailing shoes
Everyone will start to cheer
When you put on your sailin' shoes"
Hmm, wonder if it's the shoes or the blow that make them Sailin' Shoes.

The album ends with the song "Feats Don't Fail Me Now" an all out boogie rock n' roll song. What an awesome live album. And the album cover art, wow, that's one sexy looking tomato,lol. Another really good Little Feat album worth checking out is Feats Don't Fail me Now. I am sure that will come up sometime as old school album of the week.

Concert Shirt Of The Day May 29th (Everclear)

Today's t-shirt is from the Everclear concert I saw in Edmonton at The Shaw Conference Centre in 2001 with Nickelback opening (god I hate that band). This was back when Everclear were a pretty decent band.

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The Sadies w/ The Pack A.D. 05/27/10

Last night at The Starlite Room in Edmonton was The Sadies with The Pack A.D. concert which I was lucky enough to see, as I won tickets for this show through Vue Weekly magazine. Thanks Vue!!!

The show started with openers The Pack A.D. from Vancouver who are a two piece band consisting of Maya Miller on drums and Becky Black on guitar and vocals. I wasn't really expecting much from this band as I have heard a few songs from their myspace site and can't say I really much cared for what I had heard. I was at the show early so I ended up catching their set. I was pleasantly surprised by how good they were, not excellent by any means, but way better live then on album. I thought Maya on drums was quite good as she wails on them drums like there is no tomorrow. They aren't all that original, but am glad I finally did get to see them. I have a friend in Vancouver (Scotty) who has been hyping them for quite sometime now and had been urging me to check them out. The crowd seemed to be into them a lot as well. I would give The pack A.D. a 7 out of 10.







Next up was the headliners The Sadies a four piece band from Toronto who play a psychedelic/countrified/surfabilly kind of music. This was my seventh time seeing them play live and once again they didn't let me down. They are on tour for their newest album that just came out in the past few weeks, the album is called Darker Circles and I highly recommend picking it up. The band is lead by the Good Brothers. Dallas Good on guitar and Travis Good also on guitar and fiddle.

This band never ceases to amaze me in concert. I was only able to catch an hour and twenty minutes of their set as I had to catch a bus home and damn work the following day. I hate when work gets in the way of a good time. The Sadies are known to put on 3 hour shows and by the time I left it seemed like they were just starting to get rolling. What I did see was pure magic playing lots of songs from their new album such as Postcards,Whispering Circles, Another Day Again a very Pink Floyd like song and they also played one of my favorite Sadies songs Higher Power in which Travis breaks out the ol' fiddle and fuckin' gives er', that song always gets the crowd dancing and shaking what they got. I know I was!!!

I am always impressed with how Travis and Dallas feed off each other and take turns singing. And drummer Mike Belitsky and stand up bass player Sean Dean sounded good as usual. Another amazing Sadies show, just wish I could have stayed for the whole show. Oh why couldn't this show be on a weekend damn it.

Anyways, I give The Sadies live performance a 10 out of 10.

Concert Shirt/Poster Of The Day May 27th (Aerosmith)

Today's t-shirt is from the first time I saw Aerosmith in concert. That was back in 1988 with White Lion opening at Northlands Coliseum. This was Aerosmith's big comeback tour (Permanent Vacation) which was a really good show, they only had the one sappy ballad back then (Angel). I went to this show with Hurl.

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Concert Shirt Of The Day May 25th (Tesla)

Today's t-shirt is from the first time I saw Tesla in concert, the show was in Vancouver at Pacific Coliseum with Tesla opening for Def Leppard in 1988. I went to this show with my buddy Big Head (I'm not drunk,I'm stoned!!!). I sure the hell wasn't there for Def Leppard that's for sure.

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Old School Album Of The Week For May 10th - 14th

This weeks album is from an old school thrash band from Arizona called Flotsam and Jetsam, the debut album they released in 1986 called "Doomsday For The Deceiver" on Metal Blade Records. I forgot how damn good this album actually is. The band is lead by bass player Jason Newsted who later went on to join Metallica after Cliff Burton's passing. I didn't realize that all the lyrics on this album were wrote by Jason. Why the hell didn't Metallica let Jason contribute more to them. The two guitarists Edward Carlson and Michael Gilbert can sure shred as well. Overall a really good tight band.

The album opens with a real good scream starting with the song "Iron Tears" which is a love song if you can believe it, ya, a thrash love/relationship song, good shit,lol. The song is three minutes of four to the floor all out thrash, great head banging stuff. Other good tracks on side one are "Fade To Black" and "Hammerhead", the song Hammerhead made me laugh, as it is a song about picking up a metal chick. Checkout these lyrics,

"Come on now lady, show me how you rock,
I wanna get to know you.
I'm hot, so give me what you've got,
My turn to go you.
Faster than the speed of light,
Wham bam! I thank you, or...
All night pounding away, with more ways to please me.

[CHORUS]
Love for the taking, she talks with her eyes,
Wants me to give her a ride.
Spellbound she takes me way deep inside,
Hammerhead baby tonight...Hold tight"



At least Flotsam has a sense of humour in some of their lyrics which is something you didn't see in the thrash scene back in the 80's.
Side one closes with the nine minute epic title song "Doomsday For The Deceiver"

Side two opens with the song "Metalshock" another song with a sense of humour. The song being about the end of time, but when people do start to come around they are all metal heads. The chorus goes as such,

"Pounding Metal across the land,
Life-giving magic in his hands,
The power chords raise the dead,
People come alive banging their heads"

Next is the song "She Took An Axe" a song about the Lizzy Borden murders another great all out thrash song. The album closes out with the songs "U.L.S.W." and "Der Fuhrer" all and all a pretty damn good album in the thrash metal scene of the 80's.

Concert Shirt/Poster Of The Day May 23rd (Metallica)

Today's t-shirt is from the first time I saw Metallica in concert, that was back in December of 1986 at The Convention Centre in Edmonton. This show was just 3 months after Cliff Burton had been killed in a bus accident in Switzerland. The opening band for this show was Metal Church, what a great double bill of thrash metal. This leg of the Metallica tour was called the Damage Inc. tour. They played to a crowd of about 700 people, hard to believe it was that small of a turn out. Nonetheless this was an awesome show. I went tot his show with Eor,Nerraw, and Monica.

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Concert Shirt/Poster Of The Day May 21st (Black Crowes)

Today's t-shirt is from the Black Crowes concert Hurl and I went to in 1990 when they opened for Heart. And I sure as hell wasn't there for the headliner believe me. I have never been a fan of Heart but was stoked to be able to see The Crowes for the first of many times over the years. The Crowes had just released there debut album "Shake Your Money Maker" and no one in the crowd seemed to know who they were or cared, as they played to an empty arena for the most part. By the end of the set, The Crowes finished with the song "Hard To Handle" (which was the single at the time) and just trashed the song, played it super fast, with lead singer Chris Robinson throwing his mic on the stage and walking off. They were not impressed with the very lame reaction they got. Hurl and I mean while rocked the fuck out to them and left right after they were done. We then went outside and were lucky enough to meet the band and tell them how much we enjoyed the show. They were very appreciative and thanked us for coming out. Cool guys they were.

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Thorogood In Concert

Last night May 19th, my buddy Hurl and I went to the George Thorogood concert at The Jubilee Auditorium here in Edmonton. This was my seventh time seeing him play live and first time since 1999 at Red's.

Thorogood no longer has Delaware Destroyers as his back up band, now they are just called the Destroyers. George played to a sold out crowd, which kind of surprised me, as tickets were a bit on the pricey side. But again, I got to see this show for free. Thanks to my girlfriend Janis whom won tickets to the show from The Edmonton Sun, thanks Sweetie :)

As for the show itself, well, if you have seen him once you know what you are in store for. His show hasn't changed one iota from the first time I saw him(1988). He played what you would expect, Bad To The Bone, One Bourbon,One Scotch, Who Do You Love, get A Haircut, Born To be Bad nothing out of the ordinary. George still plays the guitar good, sounds good, but man, change up the between song banter, shit, you have been saying the same things for how many years now.

To me Thorogood should be seen in a bar or at an outdoor fest to really get a good feel for what his show is about. It's hard to have a good time, when you can't dance or even have a drink in your hands when you are sitting in a soft seat venue. Not that really stopped most of the crowd from dancing, they were standing pretty much right from the get go.


I did checkout the merchandise at the show, not that I really wanted another Thorogood t-shirt, but had to have a look. What I did get though, was an autographed album, his latest release The Dirty Dozen on vinyl.

What I would like to see at a George concert is him play the acoustic guitar for a change and maybe some new songs, but from what I understand he is no longer going to put out any more new music. So if you haven't seen him play live before, I recommend checking him out, if you have seen him before, well you know what your going to get.


I would give this show a 6 out of 10.

Concert Shirt/Poster Of The Day May 18th (Corb Lund)

Today's concert shirt is a long sleeve Corb Lund shirt I got when I saw him perform at The Dinwoodie Lounge on the U of A campus. This show was in 2002 for the Five Dollar Bill album release party. I like the logo on the front of this shirt and the cows down the sleeve, very nice long sleeve shirt I must say.

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R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio

Today's t-shirt is in tribute to Ronnie James Dio who passed away this morning May 16th after a battle with stomach cancer.Ronnie was 67 years of age.

I was lucky enough to have seen Ronnie in concert a few times, once solo in 1986 on his Sacred Heart Tour (which was an incredible show by the way) and then in 2007 with Heaven And Hell (Black Sabbath).

Condolences to Ronnie's family and to all his fans worldwide. You will be missed Ronnie "Long Live Rock N' Roll"!!!

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Back in 1985 to 1987, I was part of the Dio fan club. I was lucky enough to receive an autographed picture from his band. I have and always will treasure this.