Jeff Beck up close and personal.

Wow, I just got in from one of the most incredible evenings seeing Jeff Beck up close and personal from row 16.  As many of you know I seriously dig my rock and roll music.  As a matter of fact a trip to New York a few years ago The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts got me started on my blogging hobby.

Jeff Beck in Winnipeg

Sunday Journal – June 19, 2011

Happy Father’s Day Everyone.

First things first, let me add my voice to the growing throng who are pissed off as all hell at what happened in Vancouver this week.  To my mind it was a perfect storm of emotion and alcohol fuelled mayhem that only needed a spark to explode.  I believe that at the heart of the Vancouver riot there was a core element that was not there to celebrate game 7.

Vancouver Riot

Who in their right mind shows up to a street party with a baseball bat or Molotov cocktail? This was not a riot based on the win or the loss of a hockey game in my opinion. This was a deliberate act by a core group of hateful people who were determined to twist the drunken emotion of a hopeful crowd into a violent orgy of hate.  Mission accomplished.  I hope you were stupid enough to get your picture taken by one of the hundreds of cameras present at the event.

Water Polo player caught red handed.

May you feel the hot breath of your new butch cellmate on the nape of your neck as he introduces you to life in jail! Bitch.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…Finale

Looking at the playbill after Jeff Beck had left the stage I noticed that we only had two more headliners to go,  Metallica and U2.

With appropriate heavy metal bluster Metallica took the stage with ear-splitting prowess.  Originally the organizers of the event wanted Led Zeppelin to carry the hard rock part of the show and were pretty much turned down flat by the remaining members of the group.  Thus it came to be that metal’s chosen heirs came to New York representing  every thing that embodies teenage angst and rebellion.

Opening with For Whom the Bell Tolls, the heavy drumbeat thumping into my chest with some force. Then into One and Turn the Page, before bringing out New York Native Lou Reed.

By their own admission Metallica does not play well with others, and did not automatically grasp the “Jam” concept for the show.  However when they learned whom they were to be teamed up with it all made sense, claimed lead singer Lars Ulrich.  It was their job to become the backing band for their Rock and Roll Elders.

Lou Reed emerged onto the stage in a Deja Vu invoking cheer of “LOOOOO”, thinking back to the “BOOOO’s” that greeted Bruce Springsteen the night before.  He appeared totally at ease with Metallica and the crowd as he lead  off with Sweet Jane.  White Heat/White Light followed in a similar rocked up fashion.

Lou Reed leads Metallica

New York, New York… East Village and Alphabet City

Hey everyone!  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and a great break before the New Year.

Waking up to the greeting of a ringing phone was not the way I had wanted to start the morning after a marathon concert.  But our tab had to be paid, the sponsoring radio station 92.1 citi fm,  needed an interview for the morning show back home.   After Darlene gave a brief sleepy account of the night before, exclaiming that Bruce Springsteen was the highlight of the evening.  We got our tired bodies ready for another hurried day on the streets of New York.

As the day before, we shunned the hotel “Hot Breakfast” in favor of  bagel sandwiches from the corner shop.  Gaining familiarity with the streets we confidently picked our subway stop and headed south into Soho, bound for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex.  This stop on our trip almost got scratched due to time constraints but I am very glad that we managed to fit it in.  If you are a fan of New York based rock and roll do check it out before it closes early in the new year.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex

New York, New York

Hi there again… As you may or may not know my Significant Other and I, were fortunate enough to have won a trip to New York City and a chance to take in the concerts to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!

I have promised to post a tale of our trip for some time now so I will begin at the beginning.

Being a long time listener to 92.1 CITI fm here in Winnipeg I am used to hearing the big concert and trip announcements that the station gives away during ratings periods. But it really floored me to find out that they were giving away a once in a lifetime trip to see the gathered members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame perform “Jam Style” at Madison Square Garden.

I immediately had to get in on this opportunity, placing a number of entries into their VIP Club system.  As the weeks went by I had a “Lucky” feeling that we were going to win, and as it turned out we were picked to go into the last round of entries on my 40th Birthday in September.  That sealed it I figured we were a lock to win the big prize.

By coincidence the day of the draw I was home for work,  I told my Girlfriend Darlene to make sure her cell phone was charged and on ready for the inevitable call. She looked at me bemused, but I was unshakable we were going to win…  As promised her phone rang at the appointed time, she was sure that I was pulling her leg.  But when she answered my dream had come true. We had actually won an all expenses trip to New York.

Unbelievable…

We were put up scant blocks away from Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building.

Empire State Building from our Hotel Room