Had a great, great time at G-FEST. By all accounts, that is the general feeling from most attendees. The Guest of Honor, Akira Takarada, was received with great excitement and he elivered. A true professional, he treated the fans like they were the celebrities. A great man and a great guest.
Pictures and more info to follow soon.
Happy 234th Birthday United States of America. We hope it's a good one.
We went to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival on June 26th. We all had a fantastic time with the exception of Lillie, who was bored out of her skull. Tom loved it. Mary and I have had enough Blues for the rest of our lives so when Vince Gill came out with James Burton and Albert Lee we were thrilled. Hearing James Burton play Mystery Train was the thrill of a lifetime. Jeff Beck was great and easily stole the show. Clapton was boring until Winwood joined him. They played Glad, some Blind Faith song, Dear Mr Fantasy, Voodoo Chile which cooked and ended with Cocaine, which was hilarious with female backing vocals.
John Mayer was the big surprise, in a good way. He played with Pino Palladino (third time Mary and I have seen him) and Steve Jordan. They were second to Beck for best in show. I was ready to poo-poo his performance big time. Apparently he’s one of those musicians with the radio friendly songs to get airplay but live he kills with the other material. I’ve only heard the XRT songs and consider them lightweight.
ZZ Top were dependable and played exactly what you wanted (Have Mercy into Jesus Just Left Chicago, some song I don’t remember and La Grange). Robert Cray was okay. Ronnie Wood was a surprise with Buddy Guy and Johnnie Lang. They were enjoyable enough. Johnny Winter will not be with us much longer. He butchered Red House but given his health, he was completely forgiven. We left after Clapton/Winwood so we missed BB King and the Finale but from what I’ve read it was just as well.
Sonny Landreth was a great opener. Robert Randolph band was as good as they needed to be. Doyle Bramhall II and Sheryl Crow and the Derek Trucks and Susan Tadeski Band were yawn inducing. At least Trucks was a last minute fill in for the Allman Bros so he had an excuse.
Bill Murray was a great MC. Earl Klugh played a nice 15 minute set of what Lillie called Elevator Music. Given the time of day, we called it dinner music. It was also a treat to see Bert Jansch.
Clapton said he had so much fun that there will be another. We would go again, sans Lillie.
We were in the stands. Section 109 Row 5. Pretty far away from the stage but they would have been good soccer seats.
Very hot but tolerable once the sun went behind the roof.
So the week that saw several strong, damaging storms, a 10+ game win streak for the left for dead White Sox, wonderful Lillie's 11th birthday and the start of dismantling the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks because of the salary cap winds up with The Crossroads Guitar Festival. As June has been, there are storms forecasted for this afternoon and tonight. Argh.
Guitars and Lightning don't mix. We have the sunscreen and emergency ponchos so we're prepared for any weather event.
The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last week. The parade has come and gone. They were at Wrigley Field tonight to throw out the first pitch and sing the 7th Inning Stretch. Tomorrow they will be on the Tonight Show.
That leaves us with baseball until football starts in August. Baseball has been pretty depressing so far. The White Sox had won four straight games until tonight. Both pitchers had no hitters going into the 6th inning. Gavin Floyd lost his in the bottom of the 6th, Ted Lily in the top of the 9th. I was sure it was going to be the first game neither team would win but the Cubs somehow got one run to salvage the final game of the series.
It is no coincidence that the winner of the combined series receives a trinket called The BP Cup. That would make the less losing of two losing teams receiving a trophy from a loser company that is destroying the environment in the Gulf of Mexico.
It's all so sad.
It was a hard fought series but the Blackhawks triumphed over the Flyers tonight with a goal by Patrick Kane in overtime to bring Chicago it's first Stanley Cup since 1961.
And the fans in Philadelphia stayed through it all so they could boo the commissioner and throw orange shirts at the Blackhawks as they skated around with the Cup.
Parade back home in Chicago starts Friday morning at 10:30.
Congrats and thanks Hawks. Now go shave those playoff beards.
The Year project continues with the slightly delayed release of May's song Waterslide. The backing tracks were completed in May but we just recorded the vocals tonight. In continued "The family that plays together, stays together" fashion, another member of the family shines on this track.
Lillie takes the lead vocal on this tribute to one of our favorite summertime traditions, the waterslide. It's an upbeat little rocker with plenty of pogo-osity.
Enjoy.
The Blackhawks are not making it easy on their fans. After a sweep of the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference finals, some fans thought the Stanley Cup Final series would be a cake walk. Think again, misguided fans.
Each game as been a battle. The two games in Philadelphia were especially hard, for the team and the fans. Game Three was an overtime loss that was the result of a shift change at the wrong time. Mental lapse number one. Game Four was so aggravating I had to turn it off for a spell. Mental lapses were plentiful in this game as Hjalmarsson allowed a Flyer to steal the puck from behind his own net and put it right in. The absolute worst was Giroux getting behind the defense, around the goal and waiting by the right goal post, unseen by Niemi. The Flyers hit him with a pass, and he easily scored.
The 4-1 lead was the largest in the series. The Hawks fought back to 4-3 and pressured hard at the end of the game. Missed shots that were close scared the Flyer faithful but a bouncing puck over Duncan Keith's stick at the point led to an empty net goal and a 5-3 Flyers win.
The series is now tied at two games a piece with a return to the United Center set for Sunday night.
Hawks fans are scared and rightfully so. This team is having a hard time with with the Flyer's physical play and is giving up far too many easy goals on far too many mental lapses. Yes, Chris Crosscheck, er.. Pronger is a big guy and is getting away with murder but don't let him get in your heads. I know he has but hopefully some home cooking will erase a bit of that.
Last night, the Stanley Cup Finals got under way and it was not much of a defensive showcase at all. The score was tied at 5-5 after two periods. What would happen in the third? Finally some defense showed up for the Blackhawks. They held the Flyer scoreless and went ahead when Tomas Kopecky scored with 11:35 remaining in the third period.
I can't see the game tomorrow being played this way. Hopefully it was opening game jitters and things will settle in game two.
Some awesome Finals wallpapers are available at the official Blackhawks website.
It's official, the Blackhawks will be playing the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals starting Saturday at 7pm. The rest of the finals shakes out like this.
Game 1: Sat., 7 p.m., at Blackhawks, NBC
Game 2: Mon., 7 p.m., at Blackhawks, NBC
Game 3: Wed., 7 p.m., at Philadelphia, Versus
Game 4: Fri., 7 p.m. at Philadelphia, Versus
*Game 5: Sun., 7 p.m., at Blackhawks, NBC
*Game 6: Wed., 7 p.m. at Philadelphia, NBC
*Game 7: Fri., 7 p.m., at Blackhawks, NBC
*-if necessary
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