Shut Out

So my dreams of seeing Leonard Cohen suffered a setback this morning. While I focused on my job, my trusted surrogate attempted to secure three tickets to his now-sold-out show at the Beacon Theatre on February 19. Sadly, no go. Whatever tickets had survived the fan club presale were long gone within 10 minutes. Bummer.

Now, I'm generally a free market guy and I put a decent amount of trust in capitalism. That probably makes me a rare specimen among music bloggers. At the same time, if you want to expand this discussion for a brief moment to our larger economic woes, I'll be the first guy to tell you that loosened regulations are partially to blame. Anyway, I don't want to expand that conversation because it has nothing to do with Leonard Cohen.

Sadly, as has been well documented, Cohen was horribly robbed by his old manager and has been in financial trouble ever since. That's why this 74 year-old is back on tour. Hell, he's even older than the Allmans and the Stones. So, when I know that he's using these shows to make money that he desperately needs, it's a little sad to see the resale market on StubHub asking $800+ for his tickets. Even he, for all his need, was willing to price these tickets with a modicum of fairness. He hasn't played this country in 15 years and, at his age, its certainly possible that he won't be going on any sort of extended tour.

Wouldn't it be nice, for once, if his actual fans bought the tickets and enjoyed the show? Rather than a bunch of brokers (or wannabe brokers) who are just looking to make a quick buck on a special show?

I'm not typically one to complain about scalpers. They are the people who facilitate getting tickets out to those most willing to pay a lot for them. In a sense, they protect the folks who's lives don't put them in front of a computer all moments of the day. But, occasionally, wouldn't it be nice if they didn't get in the way of some good fans getting to see a performer they love at a reasonable price?

It Goes Like This, the Fourth, the Fifth...

It should surprise no one that when I picked the graphic that adorns the top of this page, I did not do so at random. It's just not my style.

If you look closely, you'll see that the notes and underlying lyrics are from the opening verse of Leonard Cohen's masterpiece, "Hallelujah." The oft-covered beauty is a study in simplicity. And unlike Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," it didn't need a radical reworking to become as famous as it is. Rather, it needed only the plaintive voice of Jeff Buckley. If you need evidence, listen to the nearly-equal versions by Rufus Wainwright, KD Lang and John Cale. (Oh, and I think some dude from American Idol did it, too.)

Now interestingly, I just learned, Cale decided to record Hallelujah after hearing Cohen perform the song at the Beacon Theatre in New York. That recording came out for the first time in 1991. Just two years later, Cohen performed his final show in the United States.

That is, until next month!!!

Leonard Cohen is coming back to the Beacon. Apparently fan club members already have access to buy tickets, but the general on sale is Friday morning at 9 a.m. If I can get the cheap seats in the back, I intend to go, but I can't afford to contribute $250 to the My-Business-Manager-Blew-My-Retirement-Fund Fund.

Anyway, assuming I get tickets, I'm going to have to start listening to all my Leonard Cohen again. I have a lot of it, but I've probably never paid as much attention to it all as I should have. That said, readers, if anyone would like to leave their top 3 albums in order in the comments section, I wouldn't mind the guidance.

Dead Success - Miracle Edition

Too much of everything is just enough... One more thing I just got to say, I need a miracle every day.

Wow. That was painful. I don't know that it's ever taken me 40 minutes to get concert tickets. Honestly, after about 20 I usually give up, assuming the show has sold out. This time, thanks to my faith in the degree to which the ticketing servers were overwhelmed, I had a hunch that tickets might still be out there. So at a snail's pace, I creeped towards the promised land.

First, they assigned me seats, that was a good start. But I know well enough that one server crash or page load failure and those seats could be back in the nether. So from there, I had to plug in my info. I did it as quickly as possible and pressed go, but alas, errors abounded. Despite inputting my zip code, they needed me to click on the city/state button to tell them whether their zip code database was accurate. Specifically, I had to choose between Manhattan, NY and New York, NY. Essentially, that one asshole years ago who put it in his address as Manhattan screwed it up for the rest of us. So, with each page load taking 2-3 minutes, I had to confirm my city and state for both my shipping and mailing addresses. What a pain in the ass?!

So when I finally got through that, as I was putting in my CC info, I got a call from my brother-in-law Erik. He'd gotten that far, plugged in all his info and then had it fall apart on him. They'd told him he timed out... thanks only to the Pinto-pace of their servers. Still, I forged ahead, hoping my luck would arbitrarily be better. I hit go and watched it process. And process. And process until the final screen came up and success was achieved.

Through two browsers, four windows and about a hundred reloads, I managed to score 4 floor seats to The Dead at the Izod Center in Jersey on April 29th. Exhale.

Allmans and Phish and The Dead... Oh my!!

Well 2009 could not be off to a faster start on the concert front. In the first six months of this year, the New York area has a chance at jam-trifecta! I'm just hoping to bear witness.

First, the Allmans will be back at the Beacon this March, after a one-year hiatus. Gregg is fully recovered from hepatitis C and the brothers are ready to rock the Upper West Side for another 10 nights. I've seen the Allmans in a bunch of different venues and let me tell you, they're always better at the Beacon. I've seen them sound sleepy and lackluster, but when they take up their yearly residency in my neighborhood, they're wide awake. I'll be there Saturday, March 14th. Yogi's will be missed.

Next up, the Dead in April. The boys are back together, joined by Ratdog's Jeff Chimenti on keys and the hardest working man in show business, Warren Haynes, on vocals and guitar. Warren, of course, will have just been here with the Allmans and will be joining the Dead tour just three weeks after the Beacon shows wrap up. This is the first tour to reunite Bobby, Billy, Mickey and Phil since 2004 and was brought about by a successful one-time effort last year on behalf of Barack Obama. Presale Dead tickets go up today at noon. I'm nervous and excited. It's not a cheap ticket, but it's a show I can't miss.

Finally (phinally?), Phish is back and will make their way through the area in June. This is their first tour together since before Trey's drug DWI up in Vermont. Fortunately, his fans weren't bound by the same conditions of his probation. The great news, they're playing Jones Beach! I've always felt they're more of a club band than a stadium band, despite their outsized fan-base. Granted, the shitty news is exactly the same. I have my ticket requests in for both shows, but I'm not particularly hopeful. A lot of folks are hoping to cram into that amphitheater. We'll see how it goes.

So that's the morning word. I'll be sure to let you know how I do on the Dead seats. And of course, if you find yourself with an extra, you know how to find me!

Catching Up...

So the thing I was most sad to miss while traveling abroad was My Morning Jacket ringing in the New Year at Madison Square Garden. I'd purchased my tickets for the show the moment they went on sale months ago. I was all set to stand in the pit and watch up close as these music idols rocked the world's most famous arena. I mean, what better way to kick off 2009?

Well, it wasn't to be. My plans changed and I was fortunate enough to spend those very hours taking in the beautiful weather of Panaji, Goa, India. Meanwhile, some guy from upstate New York was enjoying my tickets at the Garden.

I couldn't complain then and I certainly can't complain now, knowing that the show is very much available for me to download and enjoy, via the folks at archive.org. And if you want a taste of the show without downloading the whole thing, feel free to hang out here and listen:

Hello from London

What better place to blog from than the city that helped bring the Stones, Cream, Beatles and the Who to the world? Sitting in the heart of London, waiting for my iPhone to charge up enough that I can have some music for the flight home, I sit in recollection of a tremendous week-plus abroad. To cap it off, I'm pledging to have a beer in Mumbai, London and New York within one extended day. Two cities down, one to go. Kingfisher, Guinness... Blue Point?

Myusic-wise, it has been an interesting trip. I've learned a bit about the Indian music scene and how tied it is to Bollywood. About 90% of music videos are strait out of films. I also learned that "Pappu Can't Dance" is one of the most infectious songs imaginable. I dare you to track it down and give it a listen.

Expect regular postings to resume shortly after I return. This vacation has been a retreat from Western society and, therefore, has not afforded me the opportunity to review much music. Once I have something interesting to say, I'll be back on the blog offering up my opinion again.

Off to India

Folks,

Heading out to India today until well after the new year. I don't expect to post during that time, but you never know. Have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration, in the meantime. May it be filled with love, booze and lots of great myusic!

Jon

My Year in Music

I didn’t hear every album this year. That’s a 30-year streak I have intact. Same for seeing every concert, even the ones in my town/city/region. It’s a shame. There were so many albums and shows that I missed. Good ones, even. For instance, I’ve still never heard Deerhunter. I also didn’t see the Fleet Foxes when they came though town.

But this post is not my occasion to lament. The fact is, between 23 shows and 36 albums, I’ve had a year filled with music. So without further ado, here’s my list of bests.

5 Best Albums:

1. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song
4. Counting Crows – Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
5. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges

5 Tracks:

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band w. Tom Morello – “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
2. The Ting Tings – “That’s Not My Name”
3. Fleet Foxes – “Oliver James”
4. Jamey Johnson – “In Color”
5. Old Crow Medicine Show – "Methanphetamine"

5 Best Shows:

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – Giants Stadium – 7/27
2. My Morning Jacket – Radio City Music Hall – 6/20
3. Okkervil River – Webster Hall – 10/6
4. Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s Revue – Avery Fisher Hall – 7/12
5. David Crosby and Graham Nash – William Paterson University – 10/11

5 Memorable Live Experiences:

1. Hearing Crosby & Nash sing “Cathedral,” while sitting next to my parents
2. Standing in the first row for Bruce Springsteen
3. Death Cab for Cutie fleeing the stage during a crazy lightning storm
4. Jim James climbing to the rafters at Radio City
5. The communal spirit of Damon Albarn’s Revue, where eight groups sat on stage and played along with each other, regardless of whether they came from London, Mali or Chicago.