After the WFPK Listener Appreciation debacle a month or so ago, I think Ryan Adams' management pretty much agreed they had to get him and The Cardinals back in Louisville on the next tour. Well Easy Tiger hit stores and the toured started with a date at The Brown Theatre in Louisville. Sarah, Aaron, Sara and I got tickets to the Wednesday night show that featured no opener (GREAT SUCCESS!) and assigned seats. Ryan gets high acclaim for being what music writers call a "songwriters songwriter." That basically means that he has his act together and should be mentioned in conversations with Bob Dylan and Neil Young. He is that good. As for the show, it was rocking. Much better and more normal than the WFPK show. A recent interview I heard with Ryan said that he plans for the band to morph from being Ryan Adams & The Cardinals to just being The Cardinals, with him being one of 2 singers. I think that is very evident that this would be a distinct possibility in the not to distant future. The band plays well together. There was more of a set break than an encore. The show lasted 2+ hours. They didn't play any music previous to The Cardinals joining Ryan. Sadly, they didn't play The Hardest Part off the Jacksonville City Nights album (one of my all-time favorite album covers). Overall, a great show.
That wasn't the only show I went to this week though. Ryan Shaw played at the WFPK live lunch on Friday and I took a long lunch to go check it out. If you haven't heard of Ryan Shaw or his debut album This Is Ryan Shaw, you need to check it out soon. He is a soul singer from Georgia who plays and sings in the same style as if someone picked him up from the 60's and put him in 2007. The WKPK studio is tiny with only about 100 people in the room. People were going wild. 50 year old ladies were standing up dancing and 20 year old dudes were grooving. His music has great crossover appeal because he is so talented and innocent. After the show, I met Ryan and his band. Then picked up a signed set list (Me Rikey).
Song Recommendation - I Found The Love by Ryan Shaw
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
4th of July, Whatever, Etc.
The 4th of July was supposed to be a monumentous day of boating galore. We had the participants lined up, the boat ready, the tubes aired up, and plans made. That all changed when we woke up on the 4th only to find a text message with participants claiming they partied too hard and too long (6 AM) to send the day on the boat. This left us with only 4 for the boat. If you have ever went tubing with the Maymon clan you are sure to realize that 4 is definitely not enough. 1 at the wheel, 1 watching the tubes, and 2 battling on the tubes means that no one gets to rest. After 2 hours we would have all been spent and wanting to take a nap.
What are John, Scott, and I to do? Triple 4th of July party. We headed out to my apartment complex to an intern affair hosted by Marissa and Laura. Delicious. Headed back to Nikki and Brandons jungle juice-fueled family affair. Over to Staci's for a little bags action. Then back over to Nikki and Brandons for the fireworks. My sister had been talking for a week about Thunder over Plum Creek and it didn't disappoint. How could a 200 fish fish fry with pitch-in meal and a truckbed of professional fireworks disappoint? The fireworks kept everyone on the edge of their sit (especially after a box of mortars feel over shooting fireworks into the crowd and scattering everyone but the kids, who stoically didn't budge....we all felt like jerks for not saving them). It was a great time, one that could only have been made better by a day on the lake.
Last night, my family and I went to see The Lion King. I think before I provide any review, it should be known that I hate musicals and plays for the most part. I can never really place my finger on why that is, except that everything seems so exaggerated (movies seem much more real life). Well, that and they sing instead of talking. That's just annoying. Imagine if the real world was like that. I think the suicide rate would be through the roof. Anyway, about the play. My dad said it best at the intermission when he said, "Whoever designed those costumes must have been on acid." The costumes were crazy and incredible at the same time. They had life-sized elephants, giraffes, and rhinos and marching through the crowd in the opening scene (the ushers freaked out when a guy walked out into the aisle right before the the show started). As expected the actors were talented and the show was entertaining. But, I think I liked the JTT and James Earl Jones version better. I mean, in the end we are talking about talking lions here.
Three weeks are left in the internship and things are starting to get really interesting. I have been getting some good compliments from various directors, as well as, working on some real projects. So things are good in that front. I'm trying to plan a trip or two to spend a little of my money before school starts, but the trip gets incrementally shorter when you get 33% of your paycheck taking out for taxes and social security. It's not my fault I have no dependents. I'm still in college. Come on federal government, help a brother out. Word on the street is I will get some of that back in May which is just in time for next summer, but I would rather have it now.
Sara gets back from her Hawaii/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji trip tomorrow, so I have to be jealous for a few days. There is also a Ryan Adams concert on Wednesday. This should be a fun week. I'm finishing a book by Ted Conover about his experiences as a prison guard at Sing Sing. It won a bunch of awards and is a good read. It's called NewJack, you should check it out.
Song Recommendation - Laid A Highway by Tift Merritt
What are John, Scott, and I to do? Triple 4th of July party. We headed out to my apartment complex to an intern affair hosted by Marissa and Laura. Delicious. Headed back to Nikki and Brandons jungle juice-fueled family affair. Over to Staci's for a little bags action. Then back over to Nikki and Brandons for the fireworks. My sister had been talking for a week about Thunder over Plum Creek and it didn't disappoint. How could a 200 fish fish fry with pitch-in meal and a truckbed of professional fireworks disappoint? The fireworks kept everyone on the edge of their sit (especially after a box of mortars feel over shooting fireworks into the crowd and scattering everyone but the kids, who stoically didn't budge....we all felt like jerks for not saving them). It was a great time, one that could only have been made better by a day on the lake.
Last night, my family and I went to see The Lion King. I think before I provide any review, it should be known that I hate musicals and plays for the most part. I can never really place my finger on why that is, except that everything seems so exaggerated (movies seem much more real life). Well, that and they sing instead of talking. That's just annoying. Imagine if the real world was like that. I think the suicide rate would be through the roof. Anyway, about the play. My dad said it best at the intermission when he said, "Whoever designed those costumes must have been on acid." The costumes were crazy and incredible at the same time. They had life-sized elephants, giraffes, and rhinos and marching through the crowd in the opening scene (the ushers freaked out when a guy walked out into the aisle right before the the show started). As expected the actors were talented and the show was entertaining. But, I think I liked the JTT and James Earl Jones version better. I mean, in the end we are talking about talking lions here.
Three weeks are left in the internship and things are starting to get really interesting. I have been getting some good compliments from various directors, as well as, working on some real projects. So things are good in that front. I'm trying to plan a trip or two to spend a little of my money before school starts, but the trip gets incrementally shorter when you get 33% of your paycheck taking out for taxes and social security. It's not my fault I have no dependents. I'm still in college. Come on federal government, help a brother out. Word on the street is I will get some of that back in May which is just in time for next summer, but I would rather have it now.
Sara gets back from her Hawaii/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji trip tomorrow, so I have to be jealous for a few days. There is also a Ryan Adams concert on Wednesday. This should be a fun week. I'm finishing a book by Ted Conover about his experiences as a prison guard at Sing Sing. It won a bunch of awards and is a good read. It's called NewJack, you should check it out.
Song Recommendation - Laid A Highway by Tift Merritt
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