June 18, 201412 yr Cher is awesome! I would love to see her in concert. His name is Chaz Bono now, TAC.
June 18, 201412 yr Cher puts on a great show. My mother and her brother were going to go. My mom, who was battling cancer at the time, was not up to going. So I went with my uncle. Learned a bit about Cher that night. Her daughter Cassidy Bono, or what ever his name is now, has a lot of friends that support Cher. I'll take your word for it. Me, I'd rather have a root canal.
June 19, 201412 yr 1. The Rolling Stones 3. Bruce Springsteen 6. Elton John 10. The Eagles 11. The Police 14. Billy Joel (4 times) 16. Neil Diamond 18. Aerosmith (5 times, once each decade starting in the 70's) 20. Jimmy Buffett (not really a concert, he just showed up at a party I was at on the beach with some people and started jamming with a bunch of guys just playing music at the party. The summer of 82. I miss being 24, single, and good looking...... OK, I was 24 and single.) 24. Fleetwood Mac 10 of the 25, but over a span of close to 40 years. Man am I getting old.
June 19, 201412 yr 1. The Rolling Stones 3. Bruce Springsteen 6. Elton John 10. The Eagles 11. The Police 14. Billy Joel (4 times) 16. Neil Diamond 18. Aerosmith (5 times, once each decade starting in the 70's) 20. Jimmy Buffett (not really a concert, he just showed up at a party I was at on the beach with some people and started jamming with a bunch of guys just playing music at the party. The summer of 82. I miss being 24, single, and good looking...... OK, I was 24 and single.) 24. Fleetwood Mac 10 of the 25, but over a span of close to 40 years. Man am I getting old. Wow... seriously??? What a cool memory!
June 19, 201412 yr I am amazed that I've seen 7 of the top 25. Amazed because I don't like concerts. However, I will go see "the stars" ... once ... in concert. Although at today's ticket prices I very rarely go to a concert even for "the stars".
June 19, 201412 yr I am amazed that I've seen 7 of the top 25. Amazed because I don't like concerts. However, I will go see "the stars" ... once ... in concert. Although at today's ticket prices I very rarely go to a concert even for "the stars". I hear ya about ticket prices. Outrageous! About 20 years ago, in general, I started only going to limited big ticket shows, opting mainly for the small club (free to $10 shows) with "up and coming bands", where on many occasions it proved to be a more memorable experience to be blown away up close, and then have the opportunity to chat up, or share a beer with the artists many times afterwards before they became untouchables a couple of years later, and all on the cheap. Even if they didn't become household names, they still might've been an incredible artist within the underground scene, or at least some of my favs. This happened so many times that it would take some digging in my memory banks to remember them all. It's even easier today to do the homework online of what unknown buzz bands are coming to town by sampling their tunes in advance and not having to purchase so many CD's to get up to speed on their sound. They all start somewhere, and with just a little bit of work you can easily treat yourself to some magnificent cheap shows, and many times with bands that go on to charge bigger prices down the road. Clubs like the Southgate House in Newport, MOTR in Cincy (always free shows), or The Taft Theatre Ballroom are great for this sort of thing. In the past there were countless "low dough shows" at places like Sudsy Malones & Top Cats (both now closed) up near the University of Cincinnati. I used to work a graveyard shift at UC while listening all night long to an underground college radio program on WVXU (Xavier Radio) called "Night Waves" where my co-workers and I had access to numerous work phones to simultaneously try our hand at being "caller number whatever" to win a pair of tickets to Bogarts, Top Cats, or Sudsy shows. Since it was in the middle of the night, it was absurd how many times we won, then we'd pair up to catch the show a couple of nights later before heading in to work. The radio DJ's unsurprisingly started recognizing us when we'd call, but never gave us guff about winning all the time, and kept the tickets coming. I think that they were just thrilled to know that somebody was out there listening. This all came to a crashing halt when WVXU did away with the program opting to run BBC News all night long instead. Probably the most memorable show that we won tickets to was "The Verve" at Bogarts with about 30 people in attendance (as grunge was in favor at the time) before they became famous. Incredible show with a barefoot Richard Ashcroft squatting down in dirty jeans at the foot of the stage looking all spaced out singing right into our faces. On a couple of crazy nights off, I even had a couple of bands end up crashing at my pad, one in particular, a touring band of German speaking Austrians from an indie/punk math rock band named "Valina" having their first touring experience through the States. My cat wasn't too happy about the invasion and went into hiding until they were gone. These guys' favorite new cheap, on the road American edible was Taco Bell Burritos, so we ended up having a late night chow fest at my place, and then jammed out acoustic tunes late in to the night. To shamelessly keep the name dropping in focus, I got the chance to hang out and share cake back stage at the Music Hall with Jack White when local band "The Greenhornes" were the warmup for the White Stripes (friend of mine was friends of the Greenhornes), and they were celebrating the bass player of the Greenhornes girlfriend's birthday. Never realized until then that Jack was whiter than Michael Jackson. Cool dude and very down to earth. Gained a ton of respect for him that evening as he was very approachable, and not all uppity about his fame. Did not see Meg... not sure where she was??? The San Francisco queer comical pop/punk band "Pansy Division" (sort of like the Ramones with stupid sophomoric lyrics) came rolling through town about a month after they warmed up a sold out "Green Day" show at Bogarts to see if they had garnered any fans. They had their rent-a-van busted into at Sudsy's, and had all their clothes stolen just after they had laundered them there as Sudsy's was also a laundromat. Amazingly their gear was left untouched. They needed a place to crash until morning so they could return the van to the airport for a replacement van. To avoid chancing having their gear stolen in my drive way, they hauled it all into my pad. It was sorta ridiculous with all the speakers cabinets, guitars, and drums scattered all around my little apartment. It felt like I was living inside a documentary about an independent band's crazy experiences on the road. Coincidentally, their band name was a play on the WW II Nazi German tank division named the "Panzer Division" which incidentally my mother's side of the family is the German name Ponzer which is a variant spelling of the name. Small world. Got to hang out with Karl Wallinger of World Party (and warmup Elvis Perkins - Anthony Perkins' son) because a friend of mine was a DJ at WNKU and was awarded the privilege of being his chauffeur for an in studio interview while he was in town for his Southgate House show. It's been fun reminiscing about all of this, and I'll undoubtedly remember a few more after I click "Post". Perhaps you've enjoyed it too if you've managed to plow through this chapter of my book. (sorry so wordy) Am I a little bit too proud of my rock n' roll roots? You better believe it. Long live Rock n' Roll man!!! Looking forward to more awesome shows in the future, and all on the cheap. Ticketmaster can stick it! There's more memorable exciting experiences to be had if you know where to look, and all the while much easier on your wallet. Years ago I had a T-shirt that I'd wear to bigger shows that had the "Tickmaster" logo on it, but instead it said (hopefully I can say this, as part of the word in question is actually a legitimate non-cussword word "Ticketbastard"... I got lots of double takes and chuckles from that T for sure.
June 19, 201412 yr Sure enough, just as I had thought... I just now remembered that I had the chance to chat up Jeff Buckley before his small club show that I by chance caught while in Miami. At the time I had no clue that he would go on to be famous, or that he even had a famous Folk Dad that had died years before. He actually was a bit standoffish and sort of full of himself. He was more aware of his fame than I was. I cut him some slack though because he went on to blow me away with an outstanding show.
June 19, 201412 yr Wow... seriously??? What a cool memory! It wasn't that unusual for Buffett to show up at a party on any beach unannounced, back in the day. Part of his persona, I guess, and it no doubt helped it to do that. In this case, it was a kind of large party. I didn't meet him or anything.
June 19, 201412 yr It wasn't that unusual for Buffett to show up at a party on any beach unannounced, back in the day. Part of his persona, I guess, and it no doubt helped it to do that. In this case, it was a kind of large party. I didn't meet him or anything. He used to hit Waterfront and/or the Blind Lemon when he was in Cincy as well.
June 19, 201412 yr I saw Buffett at Riverbend and was miserable with all the stupid floats and hats, etc... Could hardly hear Buffett singing with all the people in the crowd singing along. Annoying. Saw him again during a morning session at Bonnaroo and it was SO refreshing to not have to fight through the alligator and shark floats.
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