"This is one from the new album"

People at concerts all over the world shutter at those words. I enjoy seeing live music, but sometimes you have to wonder what the artist(s) are thinking. With more and more "retrospect" and "comeback" tours in circulation you are able to catch performers that you had all but forgotten about. Just recently, I took a time machine back to my High School days and saw the triple bill of Iron Maiden, Motorhead and Dio. Dio had no right to be there, but what can you do? Iron Maiden has always one of my favorite bands. Granted, they are a lot older now and all of the stage props don't look as cool as they once did, but they played most of the songs I wanted to hear and musically they were on top of their game.

But what happens when you go to hear the hits and you get a mix of new stuff and songs that sound like Spinal Tap's "Jazz Odyssey?"

Hearing some "new" songs live can sometimes change your mind. I was not a big fan of U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" until I heard them play some of these songs in concert. Usually though, when the band launches into the new stuff people make for the bathroom or take a seat. New songs during a concert become like commercials. You know they have to promote the new album so you tolerate it.

I remember seeing The Black Crows at UNH and they did not play any of their hit songs. It was a good show. I will give them credit for having the stones to do that, but just because they did not want to play "Hard to Handle" for the 10,000th time does not mean I did not want to hear it.

On the flip side, my wife recalls a show with Buster Pointdexter (he does not get a free pass just because he was in the New York Dolls, I'm sorry) in which he played "Hot, Hot, Hot" like ten times and then left.

You just have to pick your spots with the set list and know your crowd. If you are playing an outdoor venue and it is a Saturday night, please just stick with the ones everyone knows. Save the new stuff and rare covers for a smaller, more intimate setting.

As a member of the audience, you do not even realize when a set list works. You are simply captured by the songs and allow yourself to be lead by the performer. You may not know all of the words or even like the new songs, but maybe you will hear the one you want during the encore.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

A very important date is right around the corner.

April 11th, is my my mom's birthday, and to celebrate, the Red Sox have decided to have their Home Opener that day. Baseball's Opening Day is the actually April 4th, but the season really does not begin, in my mind, until the Sox play at home.

I am not a romantic when it comes to baseball, I do not hold the game sacred and I do not despise the Designated Hitter. I just like it. It has not been easy. Over the years, as a Red Sox fan, I have been angry, miserable, joyous, physically sick, shocked, and elated beyond belief. And that was just during the 2004 Playoffs!

There are many reasons to dislike the game. It is slow, the season is too long, the difference between the good teams and the bad, free agency, the Players Union, Barry Bonds, The All Star Game, the cost to see a game (both live and on TV), Bud Selig, steroids, The Yankees, but at its core, it is just a game that I enjoy watching. I may not pay really close attention all of the time and I forget stats and names all of the time, but so what? I am fan.

I usually take the Opening Day off from work even though I never have tickets to the actual game. So I will call my mom in the morning, wish her a happy birthday and start my Summer off in style. By sitting in a bar watching TV. Play Ball!!

iAddiction

My iPod broke the other day and I am entering withdrawal. I did not realize that I depended on it so much, but I feel lost with out it. It was 2gen 20gig click wheel and it has served me well for the last 4 years. Compared to the NANO, it is like a brick. It freezes all of the time, it lists all of my albums twice and likes to skip the first song of every record I play, but hey it is an Apple product. It does not have work perfectly as long as it is looks cool.

The other night it stopped playing and displayed all sorts of bad icons that the Apple site says you should never see unless there is a nuclear war. What bothers me is that it is going to probably cost me more to have it fixed than if I just by a new one. This has always been the case with consumer electronics. Apple told me that if it had any "visible dents" on it that they would not even look at it. Well, mine is dented like a '73 Dodge Dart so I had to send it to a place I found on the web called "The iPodMechanic."

I have had enough experience trying to get things fixed that the news is almost always bad. Have you ever gotten away from the auto shop for under $500?

The verdict is a bad hard drive. It will cost me $129.97 for a new one. Now I have to decide if $250 is better for only 4GB, but get the Nano or get the 30GB for $300.

I am going to take the weekend and decide what to do. Would I be shallow if I compared this situation to "Sophie's Choice?"

Ya, I thought so.

I see nothing

I hope not to simply write about my commute to work everyday, but I take public transportation and it is a constant source of humor, anger, and head-shaking disbelief.

There are many blogs dedicated to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA or the "T" for short) and all of it's short-comings. This hopefully will not be one of them, but this week started off with a new initiative from the MBTA.

I take a bus and then the subway to get to work. This affords me the full experience of mass transit every single day. The sights, the sounds and the smells. I can honestly say that it is not that bad when it works, but when things are screwed up, say when the temperature varies by 1 or 2 degrees in either direction, it is horrible. And just when you thought "America's first Subway" could not get any worse, along come the terrorists.

The MBTA, acting quickly from the events of 9-11, started a new campaign this week to help combat terrorism. This campaign consists of handing out "If you see something, say something" pamphlets that basically say, "You find the bad guys, because we can't." I feel that I have been deputized and asked to thwart terrorism. Here is some further information directly from the T:

"...you may witness something suspicious, such as a passenger behaving oddly."

Describe "oddly."

They also ask you to be on the look out for:

"suspicious clouds, mists, gases, vapors, odors or seeping fluid."

I am pretty sure I have seen all of these things on more than one occasion while riding the subway. So now instead of reading the Metro, I must pull watch over my fellow riders. If that is the case I am turning everyone in. People eating McDonalds, taking up 2 seats, wearing a backpack in a crowded train. They are all getting reported. It may not be terrorism, but these offenses are certainly crimes against humanity. Or I could just mind my own business and go on my way.

If a blog falls in the forest, does anyone care?

If you read enough blogs you start to realize that most people are pretty self-absorbed jerks who blather on and on simply to listen to their own keystrokes. But who am I to judge? Of course it has taken me this long to actually type something, so by the time I get going on this, the blog fad will be over and I will have to do something else while at work. So here it is, in all its glory, my blog.

Please be patient as I get some content posted. It shouldn't take too long as weird shit and bad things happen to me on a daily basis.

This is a Test

This is a test of the Emergency Blog Network.

If this was a real emergency, this message would be followed by stupid observations and trivial banter.