Posts Tagged ‘Dire Straits’
A little late posting this but most of it is still fresh in my mind. On Wednesday February 10th the family, some friends and I packed into the Jeep Cherokee and headed out on a 3 hour drive to Knoxville. We ignored the snow warnings and were pleasantly surprised with the weather during the trip up. We missed a turn that cost us about 15 minutes but we made it just in time to meet Brandi and the band at the Disc Exchange in Knoxville at 6:30pm.
If you live in Knoxville or pass through stop in because the people at the Disc Exchange are extremely friendly and they have VINYL! It is a throw-back to the old days. It reminded me of the seventies when my dad, mom and sister would head down to the record store on a Saturday and browse the latest releases for an hour or so. Funny thing, Brandi loves Elton John and I would have been looking through the Elton albums back in the seventies. I was a big fan but I do give a portion of the credit to Bernie Taupin, I love great lyrics. Where was I? OK, so Brandi plays 3 or 4 songs for the crowd of 100 or so all crammed in the corner of the record store for this up-close and personal mini performance. Just about the time everyone started realizing it wasn’t a dream she was whisked away, after all, she had a concert to do at 8pm. I’m not sure how we got lucky enough to attend this special performance but I thank the Disc Exchange and anyone else who was responsible, thank you Brandi Carlile, it was a treat. After she left, we browsed the Vinyl and a few of us purchased some CDs. I already had Give Up The Ghost on Vinyl so I bought the CD. The store had some autographed lithographs they gave away with the purchase so that was a bonus.
At this point we just barely had an hour to eat so we drove toward the Bijou Theatre where the concert was being held. A couple of laps around the city and we decided to park by the theater and eat across the street at Dazzo’s Italian Castle Pizzeria. We were really pushing it for time so we ordered meatball subs and a pizza. As 8pm approached we knew we weren’t going to make it. Both the waitress and the Chef apologized because they knew we were going to the Bijou for the concert but it was our fault for cutting it so close, not theirs. The food was great, I had not had NY style Italian food for some time, since 1993. (Maybe some day I will tell the story about moving from Miami to the back-woods of North Georgia)
So we missed quite a bit of the opening act, Amy Ray (1/2 of the Indigo Girls). The tickets didn’t say anything about an opening band and let me tell you, for those that know Amy from the Indigo Girls, forget-about-it. I think she was doing “Bus Bus” when we walked in and hearing it live makes the recorded version sound bad (it’s not). It was wall-to-wall rock-n-roll from the heart. I didn’t know much about Amy because I was not a fan of the Indigo Girls. The little I had heard from the Girls back in the day made me think of Joan Jett meets James Taylor and that’s not an Ice Cream flavor I prefer. I can tell you I have ordered Amy Ray’s latest from Amazon and I will review it soon because she was smokin’ at the Brandi Carlile gig. It might be hard to be objective though because I just read that she used to cover Dire Straits in the early years of her career so she already gets a big thumbs up. My hats off to the kid on the drums too because he was beating the hell out of them. Visit the Amy Ray website.
So now to the main event, Brandi Carlile. She has so much to give and she does. The twins, Tim and Phil are a great complement to her unique voice and gift for words and music, the songs. I have always been drawn to artists who write their own songs and have very unique voices, a voice that makes them try harder, from the heart. Great voices that require effort always felt better to me than the ones that flow naturally. I love to hear Janice Joplin, Mark Knopfler, Ricki Lee Jones, Tom Petty, Deana Carter, Will Hoge, to name a few. Back to Brandi, the first time I heard Brandi was on the Pat Monahan (Train) album “Last of Seven”. She sings on “Pirate on the Run” and steals the show (sorry Pat). I admit I was late to the Brandi party but I’m catching up.
Back to the concert, Brandi proved to be quite the entertainer, some humor, some “angry” Dylan, talk about mom and niece, she let us all in and she stole our hearts by giving her own, it was a fair swap. The theater is so intimate that we got to hear her unplugged, completely, I mean she did a song without a mic and it resonated all the way to the back of the theater. I kept thinking selfishly “don’t strain those vocal cords this early in” but she pulled it off and it was an experience you can’t get from a recording. As they played song after song time went faster and faster, to the point where you are thinking, man this is almost over, but it kept going and then we get some more personal time. Brandi does some Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn. Joking about bad country in a good way and making the whole experience even more personal, it was great. If you haven’t seen Brandi Carlile live then I encourage you to find out when she is touring near you and get your tickets because this is one performance you don’t want to miss. Visit the Brandi Carlile website.
…and then we drove home in the snow.
So I decided I needed to get rid of the default wordpress theme and I started thinking about things that would be on my mind at any given time. We have flashbacks to my teenage years, movies, music, actors, and two of my favorite inventors. So let me explain my header image from left to right.
R. Buckminster Fuller: The Dymaxion Theory was my term paper for the gifted program in the 9th grade. I was the kid that could get by in just about any class without much effort. That was true in an average class but my lack of effort showed in that paper. I received a B on it but the teacher really hated giving me a B, she knew I didn’t put forth much effort. I loved to learn and create but writing papers was a hard sell for any of my teachers. I did learn quite a bit from my research about Richard Fuller’s inventions and that’s was all that mattered to me, I had no interest in writing about it, only learning, feed me.
Infinity RSb Speakers: As a teenager I was crazy about hifi stereo equipment. I used to hang around at the local Sound Advice store for hours every week. I loved the sound room where I could play with equipment I could never afford. I still remember their catchy ad tune on the radio “don’t think twice get sound advice”. I remember the radio stations in Miami where I grew up, Waxy-106 had oldies, SHE-103 played rock, and Y100 was pop. I even recall as a boy I would sneak a radio under my blanket at night and at midnight I would listen to a talk show called “Reality Ranch”. Oops, their I go drifting off, where was I? Oh yeah Infinity speakers, so I wanted the big boys the RS1 speakers I don’t remember the price tag in 1978 but probably more than my parents home. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen so my first pair of Infinity speakers was the RSb. Sometime after I was married I upgraded to the RS1.5 with those honkin’ 12 inch Watkins Woofers. I have a pair of RSa speakers in my home office but I still wish I had those Infinity RSb speakers.
The Duke: Marion Michael Morrison – John Wayne. When I was a boy I couldn’t get enough of John Wayne on the big screen. Big Jake, Hellfighters, Rio Lobo, The War Wagon, if youngsters are influenced by movies then you could do worse. John Wayne was an icon for courage and honor.
The Matrix: How can you not like an action/sci-fi that has a deep story? The greatest thing about The Matrix is that you can’t prove you aren’t in it, for real! So try to imagine this, you might be hooked up to the matrix and you imagined the movie to combat your suspicions that reality is not real. It’s like looking in a mirror with a mirror behind you, your head starts to hurt.
Heat: Al Pacino, Robert Dinero, and Val Kilmer in an action movie with the greatest shootout ever, how could I leave it out? “Don’t waste my…”
Blu-ray Logo: I admit I went with Beta rather than VHS and I got burned. Beta video and audio quality was superior to VHS and I was too young to understand that that doesn’t always matter. This time around I bet on HD-DVD, Blu-ray looked like it was lagging behind. HD-DVD appeared, in the beginning, to have better video quality, better interactive content, and they were regionless and had the ability to offer HD on one side and DVD on the other which looked like a great sales tactic. You could buy dual format HD disks and watch them before you bought an HD player. Well, Sony won this one and I wasn’t on board, I just can’t win. Well, I’m on board now and putting up the Blu-ray logo is my apology.
Clint Eastwood: I loved High Plains Drifter and even though Eastwood did that same character over and over for some time I just couldn’t get enough as a kid. In 1976 he stared in and directed the Outlaw Josie Wales and it was a new era with Eastwood the director. With an Indian sidekick and a little laughter here and there I was reminded of John Wayne’s Big Jake. I almost put a picture from Kelly’s Heroes in the header too and I still might because I couldn’t live without that movie in My collection either. Woof! Woof!
Dire Straits Alchemy: Life without Dire Straits would not be my life. Dire Straits music has played a big part since 1977 when I was 16. They set a new standard for lyrics and music that was hard to match and was a driving force in my never ending quest for great music. I chose the Alchemy album cover for it’s art, similar in style to my choice for Elton John.
Marantz 2238B: What a receiver, although it was out of my price range and I settled for the Pioneer SX-780 as a teenager I always wanted one. The looks were superior to the Pioneer and it had a midrange control too. Make no mistake the Pioneer SX-780 is a good receiver and I’m listening to one as I type this but we always dream of what we don’t have.
Honda TR-250: They sold me with the ads in the dirt bike magazines. When I was 16 I wanted this bike more than anything. I had to settle for a CB100 that I converted to a dirt bike but hey this is about dreams and memories.
Ferrari 308: The 308 GTB struck some nerve with me, it was eye candy with muscle. I had posters on my bedroom wall as well as centerfolds from hot rod magazines. There was something about a red Ferrari 308 that made my day. I was a fan of the Pantera which was similar but oh that Ferrari.
Pensa Custom Guitars: The way it looks and the way Mark Knopfler makes it “cry and sing” makes it a true object of beauty.
Captain Fantastic: Elton John was my music from 1970 – 1976. I love the raw stuff on Empty Sky, if you have only heard the hits from EJ then try the Album Empty Sky, you won’t regret it. Captain Fantastic is a journey through the early years of EJ and Bernie Taupin’s partnership and the lyrics are great. I chose the album cover for the artwork.
Nikola Tesla: If I could bring back any one man it would be Tesla. I’m not sure he was of this world but his ideas and inventions are still baffling scientists today. I chose his Wardenclyff Tower for the collage because it looks menacing and spectacular. I often wonder what Tesla marvels the government has locked away as top secret.
Well, that’s it, a quick look inside the mind of David Blizzard.
I have had this CD for a while but I just recently got around to listening to it all the way through without any distractions. When I was growing up Tony had a big hit with “Polk Salad Annie” (1969) I remember playing the 45 over and over again. You may not know it but he wrote “Rainy Night in Georgia” which was made popular by Brook Benton. I was surprised it was included on this CD, it was a great choice whoever was responsible. There is always some added feeling of emotion that comes through on a song when the writer plays and sings his own song. If you like southern blues – rock or what some call swamp rock then you will love this album. If you like good riffs and songs that let the guitar do some of the singing then don’t miss this one. The guest lineup is exceptional with Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Eric Clapton, J.J. Cale, Waylon Jennings and Michael McDonald. This LP won’t be playing on the mainstream radio, it’s just too real. Visit Tony’s Website
Buy it now!John Illsley of Dire Straits fame has released a new album titled Beautiful You. He has teamed up with an Irish singer – song writer named Greg Pearle. Check out John’s Illsley’s website and you can hear some of the songs. I couldn’t turn it off.
Fired up the Pioneer SX-780, Beogram 1602 turntable and my copy of Spin-It-Again and resumed my project of converting my vinyl to Windows Media Audio files. I forget how great some of Mark Knopfler’s soundtrack work was. Everyone knows Local Hero but the music he did for the movie Cal is mystic and peaceful as well. There are hints of this music in A Shot at Glory but make no mistake the two albums are very different.
