Another Good Year In Music (2016)

(Black Sabbath @ Target Center 1/25/16)

(Dead & Company @ Alpine Valley 7/9/16)

Well 2016 is over with (thank god), 2017 is under way and I just went to my first concert of the year last weekend.  It is time to look back at my 2016 calendar and go over all the shows I went to last year…see what kind of a year it was for concerts.

 

2016 started off strong with a trip to New Orleans to see our beloved Radiators for their annual reunion shows at our beloved Tipitinas.  I have seen the Radiators far more than any other band, and I love and miss them every day.  Tons of Minnesota friends made the trek down to the other end of the Mississippi River and it was an incredibly fun weekend.  I am bummed that I had to miss out on 2017’s reunion shows last weekend, but I will be back down there next  year.

 

Then it was back home for a bittersweet concert with Black Sabbath on their ‘The End’ tour.  It was a great show with Ozzy’s voice still strong and foreboding, Tony Iommi’s classic chunky metal riffs piercing my soul, and Geezer Butler’s evil bass shaking my organs loose and standing my hairs on end…but it was also sad bidding farewell to my all-time favorite metal band…the guys who started it all.

 

Looking over the list, there was not a bad show in the bunch except maybe the Prince tribute show.  I am not a Prince fan and would not have gone except my friend Penny McCartney flew in from Boulder to go so I went too.  The reason I missed the boat on the whole Prince phenomenon was because when I first moved to Minneapolis from Wisconsin in 1984 my roommate got to the dorm room before me and sort of by default owned the room/stereo.  I was into high school metal like Van Halen/Judas Priest/Scorpions and had never even heard of Prince.  This guy had Prince posters covering every square inch of the walls and blared Prince music non-stop 24/7.  Within hours of moving to Minnesota I hated Prince and I never got over it.  The tribute concert was long (we left early), not well produced and an amateurish disappointment.

 

Other than that the year had a lot of highlights and incredible concerts, but my favorite show was probably Dead & Company…partly because it contained 3/6ths of my all-time favorite band, and partly because it was at Alpine Valley…hallowed grounds.  I had not been there in almost 20 years and it was like seeing a long-lost friend or putting on an old pair of comfortable jeans.  I grew up a 20-minute drive from Alpine Valley and saw countless incredible concerts there in high school (AC/DC, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Dio, Scorpions, Triumph, etc…) not to mention 14 Grateful Dead shows while in college.

 

On the drive from my hotel to Alpine Valley a strong sense déjà vu began setting in, and then pulling into the lot I got the biggest smile on my face that I could not get rid of if I wanted to…I was home again.  We found a spot fairly close to the front on the left side of the main road and set up camp.  It was just like old times…half-naked hippies playing Frisbee, hacky sack, drinking beers, passing joints, eating parking lot food, selling tee-shirts.  I ran into lots of friends and it was like going back thirty years to the mid-80’s.  Same good people and same good vibes everywhere.  And the concert was awesome too…this latest post-Jerry incarnation of the Dead is by far my favorite.  I am looking forward to seeing them again this summer, but I wish it was at Alpine Valley instead of Wrigley Field.

 

Another killer show was the Sammy Hagar concert.  A cool neighbor of mine had two VIP tickets ($150/each) and he could not go so he just gave them to me.  So my buddy Mitch and I used them, which got us right up to the stage, private bar/bathrooms and free food.  Before the show Mitch was hanging outside with our friend Thor Ekblom, so I went in to the Wayzata Beach VIP club to get some dinner and drinks.  There were a lot of rich yacht-type people in the swanky club.  I had a table all to myself and an incredibly nice, well-dressed couple named Mike and Wendy asked to sit at my table.  I chatted them up amicably and before long they were buying me drinks and laughing and I think we became friends…which is awesome because the guy is very connected in the musical world.  Mostly 80’s bands that I do not care much about like Survivor and .38 Special and Toto, but he also was friends with Bill Graham and is a Radiators fan.  So anyways, after trading stories and laughing it up for awhile he gave me his card and told me to call him anytime if I needed anything.  I gave him my card (Sneaky Sweets blog card) and he said we need to stay in touch, which we did for awhile by email.

 

The show itself was a blast.  Don Felder’s long Eagles set was awesome, but almost too awesome…was he lip synching?  I hope not.  But Sammy…holy moly he rocked out and I loved it.  I used to be pissed at him for daring to replace David Lee Roth in Van Halen, but now I dig him.  And the band was loose and tight…what a great lineup with Michael Anthony from Van Halen on bass and Jason Bonham of Zeppelin heritage on drums.  Sammy and Michael were drinking plenty of tequila onstage and just having a blast.  ‘When The Levee Breaks’ was incredible, and he played some old Montrose stuff which was cool.  I am glad I finally got to see Sammy.  It was a killer night, and I even got an electric glo-light sword that Sammy was playing with onstage which I gave to my son Jake.

 

Special mention goes to AC/DC with Angus and Brian still rocking hard but hopefully not for the last time, to Springsteen for always putting on a great epic show, to The Who, McCartney and Paul Simon for proving that old guys can still bring it at a high level, to Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde for proving that old girls can still bring it at a high level, and to the two house parties with the NOLA Suspects and Raw Oyster Cult…Ted Booker always knows how to throw a killer party.

 

Anyways, here is what I managed to see last year:

 

1/15 & 1/16/16 – The Radiators @ Tipitinas – New Orleans, LA

1/25/16 – Black Sabbath @ Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
1/29/16 – Blue Oyster Cult/Jefferson Starship @ Medina Ballroom – Medina, MN
2/14/16 – AC/DC @ Xcel Center – St. Paul, MN
2/23/16 – Warren Haynes @ Fitzgerald Theatre – St. Paul, MN
2/28/16 – Disney On Ice @ Target Center
2/29/16 – Bruce Springsteen @ Xcel Center
4/9/16 – Marvel Universe Live @ Target Center
4/13/16 – Taj Mahal @ The Dakota – Minneapolis, MN
4/22/16 – The Fab Four @ Medina Ballroom
5/1/16 – The Who @ Target Center
5/4 & 5/5/16 – Paul McCartney @ Target Center
5/14/16 – New Orleans Suspects @ Bunkers – Minneapolis, MN
5/15/16 – New Orleans Suspects @ Ted Booker’s house, MN
5/21/16 – Prairie Home Companion @ State Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
6/14/16 – Paul Simon @ Orpheum Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
6/25/16 – Bad Company/Winery Dogs @ Hinckley Casino – Hinckley, MN
7/9/16 – Dead & Company @ Alpine Valley – East Troy, WI
7/13/16 – Camile Baudoin & Curt Obeda @ Viking Bar – Minneapolis, MN
8/20/16 – Metallica/Avenged Sevenfold/Volbeat @ US Bank Stadium – Mpls, MN
9/2/16 – Garrison Keillor @ State Fair – St. Paul, MN
9/8/16 – Australian Pink Floyd @ State Theatre
9/10/16 – Sammy Hagar/Don Felder @ Wayzata Beach Club – Wayzata, MN
9/29/16 – Dark Star Orchestra @ Skyway Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
10/5/16 – Def Leppard/REO Speedwagon/Tesla @ Xcel Center
10/13/16 – Prince Tribute Concert (w/Stevie Wonder) @ Xcel Center
10/28/16 – Raw Oyster Cult @ house party – Minneapolis, MN
10/29/16 – Raw Oyster Cult @ Bunkers
12/1/16 – Mofro/Parker Millsap @ First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
12/3/16 – Disney On Ice @ Xcel Center
12/6/16 – Stevie Nicks/The Pretenders @ Xcel Center
12/22/16 – Dumpstaphunk @ Hook & Ladder – Minneapolis, MN

 

And looking forward to 2017, besides the Kris Kristofferson concert I just saw over the weekend I also have tickets for:  Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tesla, Subdudes, Def Leppard/Poison/Tesla, Burton Cummings, Three Dog Night, Neil Diamond, Iron Maiden, Dead & Company, Roger Waters, Billy Joel, and Guns N’ Roses.
 

Harmony In The Hot Tub

It was a normal spring night in the mid-1990’s in Madison, WI.  After dinner I decided to head over to my favorite neighborhood pub, the Harmony Bar.  While living in Madison from 1991-1997 I spent countless hours and dollars in that cool little place hanging out after work with our crew:  Lauren, Mitch, Daddy, Erin & Brad, Bonnie & Clyde, Eric & Cherie, Glenn, and yes…painfully-drunk-in-love-with-Lauren-insecure-annoying-but-occasionally-amusing Marshall.  It is a great local bar with live music on the weekends and it always felt like home.  Besides taking turns buying pitchers of beer into the wee hours of the night, we also spent the time playing pool, shooting darts, filling the juke-box with quarters and talking about the all-important things that twenty-something’s have on their minds like relationships, music, sports and work.  We would get a few hours of sleep, drag ourselves out of bed in the morning and head to WPS, the crappy insurance company that we all worked for.

 

In addition to all the great nights hanging there with my WPS friends, the Harmony has been the backdrop for many other important times in my life.  The night of my first wedding to Lona we went there with my best (wo)man Debbie Hentges to celebrate with a few drinks.  The night before my second wedding to Lona I went there with my buddies Sean and Gary to celebrate with a few too many drinks.  And on August 9^th, 1995 when I heard that Jerry Garcia had died…in a state of shock I walked over to my bosses desk, told her I was leaving for the day and drove straight to the Harmony to try and get some semblance of comfort on a horrible day.

 

On this particular night I went alone.  None of my WPS friends happened to be going out that night which was fine because I knew the bartenders well and many of the local clientele.  I liked to refer to the Harmony as my ‘Cheers’, because it’s where “everybody knows your name”.  My favorite waitress Terre Roddy was married to Doc Roddy and the two of them sometimes played music on the small Harmony stage and eventually put out a cd.  Terre wasn’t working that night and their old drunken roommate Bob was absent as well.  The night was relatively young though and I was practicing pool by myself when a nice looking girl walked in with another couple.  I kept playing pool and staring at the single girl.  After ordering drinks and noticing I was alone they came over and asked if they could join me in pool.

 

Sure!  I racked up the balls, told the single girl that we could be partners, and then got introductions.  My new partner was named Mary, and the couple was her sister and her sister’s boyfriend.  We played pool, drank beer and laughed it up for a few hours until close to midnight when I mentioned it was getting late and I had to get up early for work.  Mary and I seemed to be hitting it off and I was trying to come up with a plan to get her back to my house without the other two.  The girls whispered something to each other, and then turned to me and proposed that we move the party over to their house.  It was actually their parent’s house but as per usual they were out of town on business and the house was fully stocked with booze.  Oh yeah, and they also had a hot tub.  “Yes!” I shouted.

 

So we got into our cars and I followed them back to their place, a nice large house a good 15-20 minutes drive away.  I was excited and pulled into the big driveway full of anticipation over what may come.  After hanging out in the living room for a bit the sister jumped up and said we should hit the hot tub!  I remarked that I did not have a bathing suit and she just laughed and proceeded to strip down naked.  Her dude and Mary quickly did the same and ran out the back screen door.  Awesome!  I whipped off my clothes, grabbed my drink and hurried out after them to the hot tub.

 

Before long the other two started making out and Mary grabbed me for the same.  After a bit the couple left hand-in-hand and disappeared into the house.  I told Mary she should show me her bedroom and we headed in as well.  We kissed for awhile but she seemed a bit hesitant, and despite both of us wearing nothing but towels she would not let it go past kissing.  I asked her what was wrong, and nervously looking at the clock (just past 2:00 a.m.) she said that her boyfriend was getting off work shortly and would be coming over.  What?!  Her BOYFRIEND?!!

 

“Later!!” I shouted and ran out of her bedroom, got on my clothes, raced to my car and peeled out of there.  Christ, I did not want another scene like when Heather’s dad walked in on her and I back in high school (see my July 13, 2012 blog entitled ‘Those Mysterious Little Creatures’).  As I drove home I reflected on the night and how totally completely cool it had been, until it had totally completely sucked all of a sudden.  It almost did not seem real and it was a bummer that it ended that way.  It was still a pretty good story to tell the gang the next day at work though, which was only a few short hours away.

 

Now we move forward to almost exactly one year later to the day.  It was a normal spring night and not much had changed in my life.  Once again I found myself alone, in the wonderful Harmony Bar having a beer and shooting pool by myself.  Suddenly in walks a girl with her boyfriend, and another nice looking girl with them.  I stared at the first girl, sure I knew her somehow but not sure why.  She looked at me with the same quizzical face when it hit us at the same time…it was Mary!  I had not seen her since that night!  With the sudden mutual recognition she gave me a big smile and then a quick frown while giving a sideways nod towards her boyfriend.  Was this the same dude who was about to come home and catch us a year ago?

 

I gave a quick nod of understanding and played it cool.  They ordered drinks and then the dude came over and asked if they could shoot pool with me.  Sure!  This would be interesting.  I racked up the balls and told the other girl that we would be partners.  Déjà vu began setting in.  During our introductions and for the rest of the evening I had to pretend I did not know Mary, because yes indeed her dude was the same damn guy from a year ago.  He was okay, but he kept trying to give off the appearance that he was a tough guy, which translated into the fact that he was really just insecure with himself and his relationship.  I suppose that was understandable though given that fact that his girlfriend was obviously a bit slutty.

 

The friend’s name was Sarah.  She was single and really cool and we got along great.  After a few hours of playing pool, drinking and laughing it up until close to midnight I mentioned it was getting late and I had to get up early for work.  My new pool-partner Sarah said maybe we should move the party to Mary’s house.  I had played it pretty cool most of the night without giving away our secret to the dude, but then without thinking I agreed with Sarah and made an enthusiastic remark that we should use the hot tub!  The dude quickly turned to me and asked how I knew about the hot tub??  I fumbled for a second and then said that Mary must have mentioned it last time he was in the bathroom.  He looked at me strangely, but had no choice but to accept my answer.

 

Mary agreed we should head to her place so we got into our cars and I followed them back to her place.  As usual her parents were out of town and her sister was not there either.  It was very strange walking into this same cool house almost exactly a year later.  Obviously the dynamics had changed a bit though and it was weird but fun trying to pretend I had never been there before.  After hanging out for a bit in the living room Mary suddenly stood up and said it was hot tub time.  She took off all her clothes, and the rest of us quickly stripped down as well and followed her out the back door into the tub.

 

More déjà vu.  I was sitting in the exact same spot as I was a year ago, but the girl I had been with then was now across from me instead of next to me.  After a minute or two Sarah starting kissing me and before I knew what was happening she had jumped on top of me and we were having sex.  My eyes slowly closed, dizzy from the beer, the hot water and the excitement from what was happening on my lap.  I opened my eyes just in time to see the annoyed boyfriend grab Mary’s hand and yank her out of the hot tub. As she was being led away she looked over her shoulders and I gave her a wry grin.  She smiled back, somewhat sadly, and then disappeared into the house.

 

After awhile it was again around 2:00 a.m. and again I had get up and go to work in a few hours.  I thanked Sarah for the great night and as I drove home I was now completely bathed in that total feeling of déjà vu.  The whole night had been like a do-over…I’d had almost the exact same night two years in a row.  I reflected on how it had turned out and the absurdity of it all…absurd but awesome.  I credit the magic of the Harmony Bar.  About a year later I started making sure I was at the Harmony every night hoping that lightning would strike again for the third time (maybe just Mary and Sarah would walk in?)…but I never saw Mary or Sarah again.  Ah well…life is good.