Concert: James Taylor, Tweeter Center

James Taylor's music was threaded into my brain at an obscenely early age by my mother. As a result, I spent most of my life publicly mocking JT while inwardly enjoying his music, as any good teenage son should. It was only in the last few years that I dropped the "James Taylor is pretty lame" routine and admitted to loving his music. So when a free ticket to last night's concert fell into my lap (thanks again, Brandi), I was pretty pumped.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that the crowd was younger than I expected. Don't get me wrong: the place was drenched in drunken women in their forties (more on them later). But there was also a very strong representation from the mid-twenties set, which was great. My second realization: amphitheater shows for quieter bands are weird. You can hear EVERYBODY. All the time. For some reason, at the 311 shows, the crowd noise is a lot less noticeable. Odd.

My third realization: James Taylor kicks ass in concert. It's true. The first set was fairly slow and gentle, with the exception of a cool rendition of "Mexico". But the second set... wow. Specifically this three song run he did of "Country Road", "Steamroller", and "How Sweet It Is". Unbelievable. "Country Road" got dialed up a few notches, and I don't know how I never heard what a cool rock song it is before. The drummer got so into the song, there were some G'n'R tom hits that popped him right off his stool. They went right into "Steamroller", which was amazing. 12 bar blues really pops out at you live, and this was no exception. It was more of a jam session than a song, with Taylor not bothering to articulate most of the words in favor of jazzy vocal nonsense that was a whole lot of fun. When the perfectly orchestrated "How Sweet It Is" started, it was the home stretch of some of the most impeccably performed music I've ever heard live. I couldn't have been more happy when I left. Bravo.

CD: Smoosh, "She Like Electric"

My brother recently introduced me to The Believer, which is rapidly gaining on The Economist as the magazine that I most wish I could afford a subscription to. Nick Hornby's column on his reading exploits alone would be worth the price, but for now I am sadly left perusing their website for whatever free morsels they leave for financially-challenged folks like myself. Last month they published their annual Music Issue, which was even more of a tease. My eye was immediately drawn to an excellent interview by Steve Almond (here) with two young girls, Asya and Chloe, who are the sole members of a band called Smoosh. I was so intrigued by the concept of a band whose combined age makes me seem like an old bastard, let alone one that opens for Pearl Jam and Sleater-Kinney, that I found myself buying their album from their label's website within 10 minutes, without ever hearing a single note.

The CD arrived in the mail the day before I purchased the latest White Stripes masterpiece, and I was so enthralled by these young girls that it took 5 days before I even bothered to give Jack White's disc a listen. You can read my short review of the CD at 75 Or Less (eventually; it will be up before anyone starts reading this site), but suffice it to say I remain as mesmerized as I was when I wrote that. I can't listen to these songs without remembering my time as the lead singer of a local band in high school. It was the most fun experience of my entire life. Even at 17, the first party we ever played was a complete eye-opener for me. The whole rock-star fantasy was instantly demystified, and if I was a big music nerd before then... wow. I became insufferable after that day. I can't even imagine the feeling of producing a collection of songs of this quality at the age of 11 or 13. Good for them. If they continue to have this much fun with music, we are in for some real treats with their future releases.

Rededicated

And so begins my second attempt at consistently writing updates for the least read blog in cyberspace. I am going to intersperse comments about movies, CDs, television, work, and life in general, and see if I can maybe, someday, get my first comment ever! Here goes nothing...