August 17, 2024

 Howdy folks. Sorry for the delay in posting, it's been a busy week, but let's get caught up, starting with last night's Jon Anderson concert, which Grimsley and I attended at the Fred Kavli Theater in Thousand Oaks. T.O. doesn't usually spring to mind when one thinks of rock shows, but the Kavli is a very nice, intimate venue, similar inside to a classical concert hall with stacked balconies and side boxes, and the sound and sightlines are excellent. I also love Thousand Oaks, a beautiful town with a laid-back, clean and quiet vibe that reminds you of the Valley in the 1970s. It's not unlike Santa Clarita in that respect, and it's a piece of cake to get to. Grim drove. We took the 118 to the 23 with zero traffic on a Friday evening, imagine that. Free street parking at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Cunningham Road, with a half-mile walk to the theater.

"Okay, Ad, but how was the show?" Since you dare to ask, I will answer. It was so far off the charts that it's unreviewable. You kind of had to be there. First of all, Jon Anderson will be 80 in two months. That, in itself, is astonishing, because he's lost nothing vocally, except maybe 5% of his lung power, but he's still got the other 95% and he remains note-perfect. Then there was his backing group. Have you ever heard of The Band Geeks? I hadn't either, nor likely had anyone else until this tour was announced. They  are an amalgamation of high-level musicians led by bass player Ritchie Castellano, who plays full-time for Blue Oyster Cult. He can duplicate Chris Squire's parts, and that goes for everyone in the group on their respective instruments. Most impressive was guitarist Andy Graziano's replication of Steve Howe. Howe is such an ideosyncratic player; I never thought anyone could play his licks but this guy did it effortlessly, and that goes for the whole band. It was like Yes on steroids. They played from 8:10 to 10:52 with a 22 minute intermission, so it was 2 hours and 20 minutes of music. They opened with "Yours Is No Disgrace", closed with "Roundabout". You can go to setlist.com to check the rest. The whole thing was outstanding, it was like seeing Yes in 1973 if they were The Band Geeks and Jon was 80, with an awesome light show of the current stripped-down, AI variety. The audience were all between 60 and 80, except for a few 8 to10 year olds with their grandparents. Lucky kids. 

Grim and I were initially going to go to see Alice Cooper on this night (August 16). We had tickets, which included free passes to the Orange County Fair. But then, about two months ago, I started seeing Facebook reviews for this Jon Anderson tour, describing the power of The Band Geeks. Though I've been to over 800 concerts, I never saw the classic Yes lineup (how the hell did I screw that up?), but I was fortunate enough to catch Jon with ARW (Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman) twice, in 2016 and 2018, so I knew he could still deliver the goods, but I wasn't as revved about seeing him without Rabin and Wakeman, and when I first heard that his band was called The Band Geeks...well, that didn't help. But then, after reading all these rave reviews, I found a concert video on Youtube. "Holy smokes!" I called Grim. "Man, I hate to say it, but Jon Anderson is playing the same night as Alice Cooper. They're playing all Yes material and his band is incredible. It's gonna kill me to miss this show." Grim said, "Let's sell the Alice Cooper tickets. The drive to Costa Mesa on a Friday night would be hellish, anyway." He was right. Costa Mesa (where Alice was playing), is 65 miles down the 405, which is slow at any given time but becomes a parking lot on weekend nights. In 2008, it took me almost three hours to get there for a Hilary Hahn concert at the Segerstrom Theater, so I wasn't looking forward to the drive, either. Long story short, I sold our Alice tickets on Stubhub, and we bought Jon Anderson tix instead. We hated to miss Alice Cooper, but he tours every year. We'll catch him in 2025, hopefully at a closer venue. And, we made the right choice with Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks. The next time they tour, absolutely do not miss them.

Let's see, what else have we got? No Montgomery Clift, but I did watch "Carousel", one of the great Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. It's also one of my favorite movies. Shirley Jones is so beautiful and wholesome in her role as "Julie", a factory girl in a New England mill town who loses her job when she falls for carnival barker "Billy Bigelow", played by the great Gordon McRea. He soon gets fired also (by his jealous boss "Mrs. Mullin") and the two hastily marry. Julie gets pregnant, but Billy is put upon by her relatives for having no way to support his young wife and child. Ashamed of himself and desperate, he takes an offer from hoodlum "Jigger Craigin" (Cameron Mitchell), to rob mill owner "Mr. Bascombe" (John Dehner), but things go awry and the plot turns. "Carousel" features the classic showtunes "If I Loved You" (which you'll recognize), "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Gordon McRea and Shirley Jones also starred in Rogers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma", one of the greatest musicals ever made. Both films are highly recommended.  

I listened to part of Trump's interview on X (formerly Twitter) with Elon Musk, something I never could've imagined myself doing one month ago, but that was before George Clooney unleashed the communist coup that brought us Queen Kamala, the most dangerous politician in American history, not to mention the worst. Now, every day I am on the Trump Train, though I won't pull the voting lever for him (if I was in a swing state, I would). I watch Megyn Kelly and Fox News, along with Sky News in Australia, anything to get an anti-Harris viewpoint. I check realclearpolling.com every day, usually more than once. It's driving me to distraction. Fortunately right now, even with the free ride given to Harris by the media and her "joy" (i.e. policy-free) offensive winning over eager Dems, Trump is still ahead in the current Electoral College assessment. Let us pray he wins. If he doesn't, we won't have a country. I said to Grim, "Imagine me, the guy who was scientifically verified as the #1 Anti-Trumper of all time, rooting for Trump to win. How is that even possible?" Grim thought about it but I answered for him: "What would it take for me, of all people, to actually root for Donald Trump? He'd have to be running against somebody who was even worse. I didn't think that was possible, but it's happened." 

Last Sunday (August 11) I went wih my sister Vickie to the Ahmanson Theater at the Music Center to see a matinee performance of "Clue", which was based on the 1985 movie. It was a total blast, completely madcap with a great, Disney-ish stage set and lighting effects all remeniscent of The Haunted Mansion. The acting was farcical and almost cartoonish in places, with a lead who reminded me of Jim Carrey. Great stuff and not an empty seat in the house. Vickie picked me up at Whole Foods by the Ventura Boulevard/101 Freeway exit. I took the 240 bus down there (one bus the whole way) because my car is leaking coolant (gotta get it repaired, Ad, don't dawdle.) All in all, a great trip downtown, we even got free street parking because it was Sunday. It was my first time at a play since "The Exorcist" at the Geffen Theater in 2012, an awesome show that starred Richard Chamberlain and Brooke Shields. 

That's about all I've got this time. Not much music this week, because I'm so nervous about the election, as I'm sure you are the other way around. I've gotta get my mojo back. I mean, I was worried we wouldn't survive Trump after the 2016 election, but we did and now I'm rooting for him because I don't believe we'll survive Harris. Hey Washington? Can we please have our normal, moderate politicians back? Where are the Clintons and Bushes of today? ("Stay! Out! Da Bushes!" - Jesse Jackson). Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how the Dems deal with the mass of anti-Israel protesters that are sure to be at their convention in Chicago, not to mention all the various Wokester groups. Good luck with all that, Kamala. Maybe you can sic Nancy Pelosi on 'em. Me, I'll be at Sammy Hagar's Best of Both Worlds concert on Monday night at the Forum. That's the Red Rocker's tribute to Van Halen. It'll be my first time seeing original VH bassist Michael Anthony since the "1984" tour, forty years ago. I'll review it in the next blog, and I'll have a Monty movie for you. Stay tuned.