Watermelon with Seeds

Where did all the seeds go?

At one time, all watermelons had seeds.  They were also really large.

Somewhere along the line, the watermelons got small, and the seeds disappeared.

Did the watermelon also become really mushy?  It seems that way.

Apparently 90% of all watermelon sold in the US is now seedless.  In 2004, the number was around 50%.

I decided what I really wanted was a watermelon with seeds, if only because it just doesn't seem like a watermelon unless you have them.

I visited a few farmer's markets, but did not see any watermelons, seedless or seeded.

Then I spotted a cart at Whole Foods that prominently said "Watermelons WITH SEEDS."  They had capitalized the "with seeds" part.  I made a note to return the next day and pick one up.

Came back next day - and they were all gone.

Except one watermelon.  It was a huge one, shaped like a kidney bean.

I'll continue this riveting story on Monday....

Nerds Rejoice: Yes is the Answer

I was browsing through the LA Weekly today when I came across a book reading at Book Soup (which deserves its own blog entry actually.)  This was for a book called Yes is the Answer.  The "yes" in the title refers to the rock band Yes, and the book is all about the most maligned and loathed form of rock music, so-called "progressive rock."

While disliked by snooty rock critics and holier-than-thou hipsters, progressive rock is beloved by many music nerds.  Those same guys that loved Dungeons and Dragons and were captians of the chess team....they also loved bands like ELP, Rush, Yes, and the Peter Gabriel-era Genesis.   If you're unfamiliar, progressive rock was sort of a fusion of classical music with rock.  It featured long songs, lots of instrumental passages, a hefty amount of keyboard solos, and perhaps pretentious and/or inscrutable lyrics.  (Which were of course analyzed by many suburban teenagers with nothing else to do.)

This book looks to be a humorous ode to some outdated music the authors grew up listening to.

What really caught my eye with the LA Weekly article, though, was that they will be having a discussion of the book at Cinefamily (which is to nerd movies what progressive rock is to nerd music.)  Cinefamily is a program that runs at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, showing some really, and I mean really, eclectic and oddball stuff.

They are having the authors in person, and showing some rare footage, including a film I always wanted to see on a big screen: Genesis In Concert.

This is not the pop throwaway "Invisible Touch" Genesis you probably cringe at remembering.  (And that was famously lampooned in American Psycho.)  This is from the first year Phil Collins moved from simply drumming to singing.   Back when he had a beard and long hair:

The below photo is actually a still from the movie.  And perfect for this book title, Collins is "double drumming" here with the drummer from Yes, Bill Bruford.

At this point in time, the peak of a Genesis show was a 30 minute song called "Supper's Ready" (which is in the above movie.)

I am sure the old Genesis nerds will come out of the woodwork for this showing....

Before Sunrise / Before Sunset / Before Midnight

This series of movies combines two of my favorite film "gimmicks," for lack of a better word.

One is having a series where new editions of the movie don't come out for a long period. A good example of this is the 7UP series, which started in the 1950s.  It profiled a group of English kids at age 7.  Then seven years later, 14UP came out, which showed the group at age 14.  Then 21Up, 28UP...  I first saw the series when they hit 35UP.  I think they are now on 56UP, which is a little frightening.

The second gimmick is filming in real time, or in a confined time period.  Examples of this include the very first episode of Dragnet, which unfolds in real time and is exactly a half hour.  It's notable also because the plot involves a guy trying to blow up LA City Hall and it was actually filmed there.  (The bomb is set to go off in one half hour.)

Note City Hall in the opening credits.  By episode 2, it was no longer playing itself, but was supposed to be LAPD headquarters.

Another great "real time" movie was Rope.  Rope goes one step further - it is just one continuous shot.  (Sort of...)

On a lighter note, Seinfeld had a great episode, The Chinese Restaurant, which consists of one scene in real time.  (The plot is simply the four main characters waiting for a table.)

And on a heavier note, there is 12 Angry Men.

And of course Gene Siskel's favorite movie, My Dinner with Andre, which is simply two guys talking over a meal.

So back to Before Sunset.  This movie escaped my notice in 1995 when it first came out.

The sequel, Before Sunrise, came out in 2004, and it was then that I saw both back to back.

I won't spoil the movies by revealing the plot, but what makes it even cooler is that the amount of time that has passed between the end of Sunrise and the beginning of Sunset is equal to the time that's passed in real life, as in 1995 to 2004.

Now comes the third one, following again 9 years later.

Of course I write all this having not seen Before Midnight.  It just came out this week.  I try to avoid reviews as they always spoil the plot, but I did see a headline from Slate calling the movie "perfect."  So I guess expectations are high....

The World's Greatest Countdown

A few days ago, I talked about the A to Z Countdown on the Sound.  I am probably boring to death a hefty portion of you, but I mentioned the notion of airing every charting song from the beginning of recorded music until the present.  And how neat that would be to experience.

This was actually attempted, sort of, by XM, back before it was acquired by Sirius.

XM's calling card back then was diversity and depth.   Some of their flagship channels included 60s on 6 (which replicated the sound of 1960s radio with wacky DJs, sound effects, and a very deep playlist of old hits) and Deep Tracks (which played obscure rock songs from the days of 1970s FM.)  Both stations are still around on the merged "Sirius/XM," but are shadows of their former selves.

To perhaps emphasize this, the satellite station did an annual event called simply "It." "It" was playing every major (and even not major) song from the 1920s up to the present, in chronological order.  The early decades they did sort of a "greatest hits" summation.  But from the late 50s through the early 80s, they played literally every song to hit the top 40.

This took over a month to complete, and that is 24/7, no commercials.

I never heard "It," as I got a satellite radio about 2007, and that was the last year they did it.

Luckily, a few years ago, I was able to acquire the complete recording of the entire month plus of IT.

It sits, a pile of 15 DVDs, waiting to be listened to when I have more time....

What Country is this Cheese From?

Too Many Wires

How did I get so many wires?  What do I do with ones that no longer seem to go with anything?  And why, when I lay them carefully in a drawer, do I return to find they have become tangled by themselves?

Worst A to Z Ever

As reported yesterday, the Sound is off and running with another A to Z.

Sadly, they have returned to a very pedestrian list with few surprises.  It is basically boring.

So what are the best A to Zs out there?  (I know, you are very eager to know this information...)

A to Zs began to proliferate around the time that music went digital.  I don't mean CDs, I mean little files sitting on your computer.  So around 2006 or so.  Just like you can click a button and alphabetize your itunes, so, suddenly, could radio stations.

Obviously, I haven't heard every A to Z in the United States, but the best ROCK one is probably put on by KLOS.

KLOS, normally, is a godawful station, with an unlistenable, crass morning duo ("Heidi and Frank") followed by deadly dull, burned out classic rock tunes.  Listening to KLOS for more than a few hours would easily make someone suicidal.

Here's the old sticker from when KLOS wasn't "classic rock."  It was just "rock," because rock music was still new.  It was way less boring then, because every week there was new music to play.  Note the "1/2" rather than the decimal point, reflecting the tuner dials of the time.

Perhaps due to their longevity, the KLOS A to Z does a good job of reflecting all the various tunes they played since 1969.  Well, not all of them.  But they actually play stuff like April Wine, early 70s Genesis, and the full versions of Pink Floyd's Echoes and Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.   (Both of which take up an entire side of an album.)

I find it really compelling, so much so that I have my computer record it overnight to see what I missed.   (I know - major nerd alert here.)

The Sound?.....  Their trick to make their list long is to play overplayed songs from genres OTHER than rock.  Thus you hear Wang Chung.  Wang Chung?  Not rock, sorry.

Perhaps the greatest A to Z was done by a station in New York, CBS-FM.

CBS-FM is not a rock station, though.  It is an OLDIES station.  It's basically the New York equivalent of K-Earth, and both stations actually began around the same time. (Interestingly, K-Earth was named after the first Earth Day in the early 70s.)  Both stations were an outgrowth of the 50s nostalgia that came in the wake of American Graffiti.  We then had the resurgence of the Beach Boys, the Fonz on Happy Days, and Grease.  So Oldies became popular on the radio....all the way to the early 90s.

In New York, CBS-FM became something of an institution.  Wherever you went in NY, whether it was a pizza parlor, a taxi cab, the hotel lobby...you heard it.   Even when many stations abandoned the 50s and early 60s tunes in favor of exclusively post-Beatles oldies, CBS-FM kept playing lots of "old" oldies.

It was often the #1 station in New York.

Sadly, though, not enough people under 35 were listening to CBS-FM, the demographic advertisers covet.  The powers that be felt that the whole image of the station was too out of date.  The only solution?  "Blow up" the station.  (That is what they call it when a station's format is completely gutted.)

So one morning, New Yorkers awoke to find that their station had been "jacked." Literally. CBS-FM was no longer.  It was now JACK FM.  (Yes, the same JACK FM we have here.) Now, at the time, JACK FM was not the classic rock outlet it is now - it was a really weird hybrid of 70s and 80s pop, novelty tunes, and rock.  So Beastie Boys next to Madonna next to Tone Loc next to Led Zep.  The other gimmick was no DJs.

The reaction?  Not good.  Even Mayor Bloomberg famously said, "I'm never listening to that ________ station again," using colorful language like only a New York mayor would.

Ratings plummeted.

Two years later, CBS-FM returned.  It was a miracle.  The first song back was "Summer Wind" by Frank Sinatra, followed by "Do It Again" by the Beach Boys.  CBS-FM quickly returned to #1 in the ratings, where it typically remains.

Anyway, back to the A to Z.  About a year or two into the "new" CBS-FM, in 2008, they did an A to Z.  This was just a massive one.  It took two weeks to complete.  What made it really unique was that they were playing 50s tunes all the way through 80s tunes.  Of course, the genre is top 40, not rock.  So you're going to be hearing less Rush and Stone Temple Pilots, and more Bee Gees and Abba.

Actually, the diversity of the CBS-FM countdown was what made it fun.  They played everything from Fats Domino and Buddy Holly to.....Wang Chung!  (See, Wang Chung is OK in its place!)  Not too many places you will hear Rapper's Delight and Stairway to Heaven in the same countdown, but anything that hit the top 40 was fair game.

You also get fun juxtapositions like this:

Blackbird - Beatles (LP/1968)

Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band (1/1976) 

Blowin’ In The Wind - Peter Paul and Mary (2/1963)

Blue Bayou - Linda Rondstadt (3/1977)

Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley (LP/1957)

Blue Moon - Marcels (1/1961)

Blue Monday - Fats Domino (5/1957)

Blue On Blue - Bobby Vinton (3/1963)

Blue Velvet - Bobby Vinton (1/1963)

Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins (2/1956)

Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley (20/1956)

Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino (2/1957)

Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1/1955)

Bobby’s Girl - Marcie Blane (3/1962)

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (9/1976)

Bongo Rock - Preston Epps (14/1959)

Bony Maronie - Larry Williams (14/1957)

Boogaloo Down Broadway - Fantastic Jonny C (7/1967)

Boogie Down - Eddie Kendricks (2/1974)

Boogie Fever - Sylvers (1/1976)

Boogie Nights - Heatwave (2/1977) 

Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder (3/1975)

Boogie Oogie Oogie - Taste of Honey (1/1978)

Boogie Shoes - KC and the Sunshine Band (35/1978)

Boogie Wonderland - EWF with Emotions (6/1979)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - Bette Midler  (8/1973)

Book Of Love - Monotones (5/1958)

Or, consider the "rock" section of the countdown (which would be about a week later)

Rock And Roll Part Two - Gary Glitter (7/1972)

Rock And Roll All Nite - Kiss (12/1976)

Rock And Roll Heaven - Righteous Brothers (3/1974)

Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay - Danny and the Juniors (19/1958)

Rock And Roll Lullaby - BJ Thomas (15/1972)

Rock And Roll Music - Chuck Berry (8/1957)

Rock And Roll Music - Beatles (LP/1965)

Rock And Roll Music - Beach Boys (5/1976)

Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and the Comets (1/1955)

Rock Me Amadeus - Falco (1/1986)

Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim (1/1974)

Rock On - David Essex (5/1974)

Rock On - Michael Damian (1/1989)

Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin (9/1971)

Rock The Boat - Hues Corporation (1/1974)

Rock This Town - Stray Cats (9/1982)

Rock With You - Michael Jackson (1/1980)

Rock Your Baby - George McCrae (1/1974)

Rockin’ Me - Steve Miller (1/1976)

Rocket Man - Elton John (6/1972)

Rockin Down The Highway - Doobies

Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu - Johnny Rivers (6/1973)

Rockin’ Robin - Bobby Day (2/1958)

Rockin’ Robin - Michael Jackson (2/1972)

Rocky Mountain High - John Denver (9/1973)

Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh (23/1973)

Tell me those aren't interesting songs to hear next to each other!  I especially like hearing all the different versions back to back.  (Three Rock and Roll Musics, for instance.)

Since that first countdown, CBS-FM has watered down their A to Z every year, but it's still fun to listen to.  They usually do it around the 4th of July.

Now, what would it be like if a station tried to play EVERY song, and they went back to the 1920s, and went up to the present day?  Well, no regular radio station has.  But it WAS done for a few years annually, in the 00s, but it wasn't an over-the-air station....

The Sound A to Z

Major nerd alert.  I will be glued to the radio over the next week and a half, as 100.3 The Sound unveils another A to Z countdown.

You might think, "Who actually listens to the radio anymore, never mind is actually interested in a "countdown?"

Well, you are probably right that most people no longer get excited by radio.  And for good reason - most stations have become very conservative, playing only the most "well-tested" songs over and over, until you cannot stand them any longer.  That explains why you feel like you've been hearing Brown Eyed Girl and Hotel California nonstop for the last three decades; it's because you have.

Much of this is due to radio being deregulated during the Clinton era, meaning giant corporations can now own multiple stations.  In the old days, radio was a local Mom and Pop deal, and few big companies could get involved.  That kept things fresh.   Now, these big companies are so worried about "increasing shareholder value" that they are afraid to take chances...plus the local flavor is lost with consolidation.  For instance, if you listen to JACK FM, K-Earth, The Wave, AMP radio, KROQ, KNX, or KFWB....all of those stations are run by CBS.  (Yes, the same CBS that does 60 Minutes.)

But enough on that topic...

"The Sound" promotes itself as the "variety" rock station, as opposed to the long-time rock station in town, KLOS, which amazingly has been playing rock music since 1969.   The truth is that, much like KLOS, they don't really mix it up that much.

But, apparently their A to Z is popular.  They sent me this email that showed the A to Z is their second most favorite feature.

They certainly try to make it personal, don't they?  How did I get on this email list! (Though, to be honest, the Sound is so boring most of the time, I hardly listen, and would not have known about the A to Z without the email.)

Both stations have "A to Z" countdowns.  What are they?   It's when they start playing a huge list of songs in alphabetical order.  In the early days, they would say, "we're playing our whole library," but it was pretty obvious they weren't, so it's no longer promoted as such.

Either way, you usually get a definitive list of the "rock canon," if there is such a thing.

KLOS actually has the best A to Z countdown - it usually takes place over Christmas. (Stations run these things over holidays usually.)   Their countdown is about 2500 songs, and spans a wider variety of styles KLOS has played over the years: everything from hair metal to the Beatles.

The Sound's is not as good, though they have made it longer recently, mainly copping from KLOS' list.

What is better about the Sound's countdown is you don't have to suffer through KLOS' annoying promotional IDs - you know, the ones where some guy is screaming the call letters in your ear along with canned explosions and digital sound effects.  Who likes these effects anyway?

(Of course, on the Sound, you have to endure this sort of smug, "we are the Sound" promotion voice.  Someone needs to start a station that just plays the songs and doesn't try too hard.)

What makes an A to Z interesting?  Three things:  1) They play songs you haven't heard in a long time, which in the radio industry is called an "Oh, Wow" song.  (No, I'm not kidding.)   2)  Trying to guess what the next song will be.  3)  Annoying people near you by naming the song faster than others.

A cool thing to do someday would be to try and play EVERY song that has ever been played on rock radio over the years.  (Actually, it's been done...more on that tomorrow.)

The A to Z runs 24/7, and it starts at 10am!

Rolling Stones Roulette

The Rolling Stones, as you know if you read the last post, are charging $600 for most of their seats.  Or $1200 for two.

That's about 30 bucks a song, per person.

To perhaps counter the negativity, they offered $85 seats, but with restrictions: you could not scalp them, as you had to show up, show ID, and then walk right in.  Plus, you did not know where these seats would be.  Front row, or last.

Well, I got one of the 500 pairs they offered.

We arrived fairly close to showtime, and I could see the remnants of a big line for the $85 tickets entry.

Up front, they had about 10 people at little tables outdoors, like a county fair or something.

The $85 tickets were all in envelopes, pre-sorted according to everyone's name.  They literally crossed your name off a printed list on a clipboard.  Really low-tech!

Once I received the tickets I was really curious to see where they were, of course.

They were.....wow...Section 442.  That does not sound good.  That sound like the 4th level.

Well, it was.  And in fact, they were at the BACK.  These were the worst seats in the house.  Could not BE worse.  (Look at the first photo above to see where they were.)

But of course, who would actually sit in such bad seats?  Not us.  Here is where we actually sat.

There's always an extra seat or two floating around.  ;)

So how was this show?

Well, firstly, I was curious to see if they had sold all the crazily overpriced seats.  At first, I thought not. Tons of empties.

But this was because the Honda Center did not have its act together letting people in. Though the $85 ticket line had been taken care of by this point, the main line was MASSIVE.  Blocks long.  Everyone was stuck outside.

The place did, though, get totally full.  So although they had to really promote these shows with loads of ads, free ticket giveaways on radio, and maybe even some fire sale $85 sales, ultimately, they sold it out, with the lowest ticket still $85, and probably a ton of $600 tickets.  Bad PR for sure, but they earned a load of cash.  There were, though, a few empties in the rafters, so I imagine some stubhub seats went unclaimed.  (Rafter seats were $350, which is ridiculous.)

Place totally full, just prior to the start.  The show started an hour late as it took so long to get everyone in.  The Honda Center gets low marks for efficiency and how the staff treats patrons.  Everyone was kind of a potential criminal - lots of yelling at people, bossing around, etc.  Especially outside, it was really unclear which line was which, and if you got in the wrong line, you got a "WHERE ARE YOU GOING SIR!" kind of deal.

How was the show?

The crowd, despite many being, shall we say, "experienced concert goers," still stood up for most of the duration.  Often when you see a "vintage" band like this, people sit down a lot.  So that was good.  (The higher sections, though, were sitting.)

Here were some people in luxury suites.  So NOT rock and roll, folks, to sit in a little suite with a TV like this.  I shudder to think how much these seats cost, if the regular seats were $600.

The lights went down and a video montage started showing various celebrities and musicians talking about the Stones, interspersed with a few historical clips.  I always think this kills the mood - the band should just come roaring out.

After this, some kind of tape played with little teases of various songs, like Sympathy for the Devil.  Again, this killed the momentum.

But finally the band came out and went into Get Off My Cloud.  The audience was very excited; seeing the actual Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at relatively close range gave one a pretty strong "star struck" feeling.  Like seeing a president or something.

The band seemed a little rusty to start.  The sound was also very muddy and distorted. The tour has just started, so I think they will probably sound more energetic on these opening tunes further down the road.  Jagger made a few weak jokes about Orange County.  "Orange County is the same as Los Angeles, but everyone has jobs."  Well, sort of.  At least he was trying to make it local.

(Richards later said something like, "So we're in Orange County.  Like I always say, it doesn't really matter from up here.  We could be anywhere."  Which seemed more sincere.  Richards still mumbles and sounds borderline incoherent when he talks, which I think the crowd found endearing at this point.)

They played a few more big hits like It's Only Rock and Roll and Paint It Black.  The band clearly did not have its mojo yet.  It was hard not to think of how much everyone had paid for this, and whether it was worth even 85 bucks.

Fifth or sixth song was the opening track from Exile - the first tune that was not a massive hit.  Here the hardcore fans got excited, and the band started to jam and loosen up.

Following this, a fairly dull version of Waiting on a Friend, with Mick on acoustic guitar.

But then, John Mayer came out.  They proceeded to have an amazing fourway jam between Mayer, Ron Wood, Richards, and Jagger (on harmonica) that suddenly elevated the concert from good to mind-blowingly amazing.  The sound quality, by now, had been tweaked a bit, and quite quickly the concert took off.  It was just a blazing rock concert, and all thoughts of what you paid, or the drive to Orange County, or the fact that you were IN Orange County....all was forgotten because everyone was in the moment, experiencing this amazing jam amongst legends.

I didn't take this picture, but it shows Mayer so here you go:

This was followed by Emotional Rescue, a song dismissed as a joke at the time, but which has gained favor over the years, and which was a nice surprise to hear live.

A couple new songs (that sounded great,) followed by Honky Tonk Women, and the concert continued to pick up steam.

The absolute highlight, though, came with Mick Taylor.  He was in the band in the 70s as an extra guitarist, and rejoined this evening for one song: Midnight Rambler.  This was an absolute blowout - just an incredible extended jam.  Taylor pushed the "regular" Stones to elevate their game - you could see it.  This song alone was worth $600!   (Actually, it wasn't, but definitely $85.)

Here's another picture I didn't take -this one shows Taylor:

From there, sadly, the band returned to overplayed hits, which were fun but lacked the raw power of what they'd done.  I felt the show kind of retreated to where it had begun.

What the Stones should probably do is play a few less hits and some more surprises. And of course play for LONGER.  They also just can't charge $600 for a 2 hour show in an arena.  But for 85 bucks, it was time and money well spent.

We left during the last song, Satisfaction, to beat the crowd.  Normally, I am appalled at people that do this, but given how long it took to get INTO the parking lot, and the late-night drive, it seemed worth it. On the way out, we passed what looked like the Stones' vans, doors open, waiting to whisk them away to the Doubletree.  (Actually, where WOULD the Stones stay near Anaheim?)

Here is the setlist someone posted online.

Rolling Stones Jump the Ticket Price Shark?

I remember the first concert I saw that broke the $20 barrier.  It was Genesis in 1987 at Giants Stadium.  It was a full $20 per ticket.  Printed on the ticket, the big fat "20.00," without even any change, just "twenty," looked like such a huge amount.

(For reference, the last time I had seen them, in 1983, the tickets cost $12.50, which at the time I also thought was a lot!)

Well much has changed since then.  Scalping has become essentially legal, bands have figured out they can charge a lot more, and concerts have switched from ways to promote your new album to the only way to make money (because everyone is stealing your album for free online.)

Bottom line, tickets are way more expensive, even adjusting for inflation.

I saw Genesis again in 2007.  Price for most of the tickets was $250.

Now enter the Rolling Stones.  They have seen tickets scalped on Stubhub and ebay for figures in the thousands.

Well, why not get in on the act?

So the tickets for the Stones tour are:

 - $250 for the worst seats
 - $350 for slightly worse seats
 - $600 for all other seats.  This means both superb seats and mediocre seats.

While some high rollers might spring for $600 seats in the front row, or even the front section, nobody is going to pay that much for seats that are merely "decent."

The result is that the world's greatest (living) rock band (arguably) is having to go begging for seats:

 - There are tons of free tickets being given away on radio to the shows.
 - A number of tickets were released at $85, like a special fire sale.  (I actually got a pair of these, which sold out instantly.  The catch is you don't know where the seats will be, you can't resell them, you can only buy two, and you have to show your ID and credit card at the door.)
 - They will most likely sell all the remaining overpriced seats for $85 at the door in this same fashion.

Just look at the Staples Center show, which is next week.  If you go to buy tickets right now, this is what you will find:

The colored sections still have tickets.  The gray ones don't.  You can see the nosebleeds are all gone, as are the primo seats.  But there are a LOT of those $600 seats left on the floor and the loge.

Most bands of this stature would sell out Staples in a manner of minutes.....if tickets were say $150 or whatnot.  Depeche Mode just sold out 4 nights at Staples just that way.

How can the Rolling Stones be playing a show next week and there are still tickets?

Anyway it will be interesting to see how full the Anaheim show is.  That is the one I am attending tomorrow.

I also wonder both where the $85 tickets will be, and of course how good the Stones are.

In my opinion, they really blew it.  They have plenty of money - they could have done what might be their final tour playing to big stadiums of people at a low cost - cementing their legacy.  Play 4 nights at the Coliseum and charge $50.  Now you look like heroes serving the common man (whether it's true or not.)

Or they could have done what U2 and Springsteen do, which is keep the tickets low, and in U2's case, the area in front of the stage is only for people who camp out over night to stand there, and those tickets are $50.

The Stones instead look greedy and foolish.  And everyone attending will be thinking, "is this show really worth what we paid?"

But of course I will still attend.

The Pinata District

If you drive down Olympic Boulevard, past Beverly Hills, past Koreatown, past the Staples Center, you arrive in....the Pinata District.  Some of the pinatas are over 10 feet tall.  I bought a giant basketball pinata there....for 15 bucks.

What Concerts Are Like in Heaven

Prince came to town recently to play 4 shows, 2 per night, at the very small Grove in Anaheim.

Prince can be revelatory, even transcendent, when he plays live.  Or, he can be distant and even tedious.  You never know if you'll get a guy strutting around posing, letting the backup singers do all the work, or a guy rocking out and playing as if his life depended on it.

One side of Prince that people forget about is the guitar side.  Most of his songs were funk-based or quite poppy, but occasionally he let a hard rock tune out, maybe even featuring a blistering solo.

So imagine a concert that was almost entirely like the ending solo in Let's Go Crazy. That was the show in Anaheim.

Prince came out with his big Jimi Hendrix 'do and his guitar ablaze.  In fact, he opened with the aforementioned Let's Go Crazy, but it was a slow, sludgy, heavy metal version, which eventually morphed into Edgar Winter's Frankenstein.  Very cool re-working of a tune that can sound old.

When I say the show was like a show in heaven, there are a number of reasons.

Firstly, Prince is anti cell phone.  That means no taking pictures or movies during the show.  If you do, you're kicked out of the concert.  They tell you when you go to park: no cameras tonight, be warned.  Then they pass you a flyer in line: again, no cell phones. And once more when you hand over the ticket: you're warned.  And finally on stage, just before the show begins, the drummer (part of Prince's current all female band of 20somethings) comes out and reminds you: no cell phones.

What this means is that everyone in the audience focuses on listening, and you don't have 100 people around you with their iphones up.  It's what concerts used to be like. People are in the moment.

So when the concert began, a rather annoying fellow elbowed his way forward and planted himself right in front of me.   Pretty uncool to basically cut in front of everyone to get a closer view.

This guy then pulled out his cell phone and began fairly brazenly filming.  Just a handful of seconds at a time.

About 3 songs in, two beefy security guys materialized.  They grabbed our cell phone rule flaunter by each arm, and escorted him out.  I was very happy to see him leave!

So that made it heaven, as did the being able to show up right before the show and stand quite close to the stage.

As did the songs Prince chose to play, which, though I recognized very few, were all hard rock.  Prince played the guitar on every song; rare for him.

(No, Tom Petty wasn't there, but this is what Prince looks like playing a guitar; it's a still from George Harrison's induction ceremony.  In fact look for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on youtube and watch Prince's solo at the end to see how he plays.  He basically blows all the other guitarists off the stage.)

So back to the concert at hand:  The sound was perfect, the visuals amazing (Prince and his band played in front of a huge screen that provided very impressive background images.  Unlike most screens which distract or are cornball, this really worked.)    Here's a picture I found to give somewhat of an idea.  This is from his show in Vancouver, the only one where he allowed press photos.

But most amazing was this guitar playing.  Prince plays the guitar so effortlessly; it looks as easy for him as walking down the street or driving a car.  Some of the songs were so heavy, it was hard to believe you were at a Prince concert; it was like Iron Butterfly or Black Sabbath or something at times.

The only downside to this show was with another show at 11:30, it ended after only 90 minutes.  Pretty short given the price tag.

Knowing Prince, the next time he rolls through town he will be in another guise.  Hopefully he will put on as good a show as this one.

First Jacaranda of the Season

One annual startling moment (which is especially startling the very first time) is the first time you spot a wildly, almost ridiculously purple Jacaranda tree in bloom.  Each time, you are suddenly reminded:

 - that Jacaranda trees exist
 - that it is ridiculous that they are purple
 - that they are all over the place, but will soon go right back to being invisible
 - and that summer is around the corner

Today was that day when I first saw one.  It was a rather unlikely spot: in the industrial section east of downtown LA, where I was looking for a pinata.  (More on that another time.)

Foiled!

...in my attempt to go paper cup-less!

No sooner had I written the below article about using a mug instead of a paper cup...and succeeding...did I....not succeed.

As I entered Peet's today, the aforementioned cheery barista (did I say barista again?) asked, "Small coffee again?" as I walked in.  But it was a rhetorical question as she already had a small coffee ready. 

I went to the counter and literally hid my big mug so as to avoid an awkward moment.  The barista (sorry again) was so busy she did not notice my mug.  Crisis averted.

So now you see why I was so hesitant....

Took the Mug Leap

I have a pretty strong coffee addiction, and basically never miss a day.  My go-to is Peet's, which has the most powerful coffee of the major chains (and the most tasty.)

This is the one I go to (back when it had a Koo Koo Roo next to it.  It's now the vastly superior Brooklyn Bagel.)

I visit this Peet's often enough that they begin making my order as I walk through the door: small coffee, black, no room, to go.

Feeling very somewhat guilty about wasting all those paper cups and plastic lids, I always promise myself I will begin bringing in a thermos or ceramic mug to use.  But the problem is that since they always make the coffee before I get to the counter, it will already be in the paper cup.  So there would be this inevitable awkward moment where I have to explain that I'm now a "mug guy," and they will toss aside the unneeded paper cup.

Plus I wonder if they don't like us mug guys.  Or do they like us more?

Anyway last week I decided it was time.  I prepared my mug:

Of course the other issue is going into Peet's with a Starbucks mug, but I really like this mug!  Plus they obviously know I always go to Peet's so it shouldn't be an issue.  I did expect a few sarcastic remarks though.

I set off for....

Approaching the counter, I was worried they'd already have the coffee made.  One barista (did I just use the word "barista" ???)  in particular is VERY fast and will have my drink ready before the cashier even knows it.  I was hoping she wasn't there; luckily she was facing the other direction, so I had my chance.

I walked to the counter, holding the mug clearly in front of me.  I proactively apologized for the Starbucks aspect, thus preventing any comments in that regard.

Now the next question was: how do they know how much a "small" is for my mug? Would I get less, or more?

Well, I had done some research by pouring a "small" into my mug on a previous day.  It came up to halfway, maybe 2/3 full.

When my Starbucks mug was handed back to me on my inaugural mug guy day, though, it was full all the way to the top.

I had inadvertently stumbled on a secret; a terrible secret actually, as now I risked overdosing on this stuff.

(Note - I've gone to Peet's for about a week since my new mug adventure, and every time, it gets filled to the top when I ask for a small.)

So.....if you're a "paper cup person"....and I know that's almost everyone based on what I see being purchased..... don't be afraid to make the switch.  Just imagine 365 cups in a huge pile: every single one used once, by you, then tossed aside.   In fact over the last 20 years, I guess I've used 6000 cups, give or take a couple thousand.

Mail Order Piano

I never really thought I'd order a piano in the mail, but I recently did.  Granted, it is a digital piano, but still, it's a bit strange.

I wanted a piano that was small but sounded reasonably like a piano.  One of my piano students had the Kawai CL25 and it felt remarkably like an actual piano in terms of its looks, its feel, and its sound.  They do a good job of simulating the weight of a spring that you feel when playing an acoustic.  Many digital pianos feel like those little plastic Casio keyboards, or something similar, we've all played at one time or another.

The CL25 is no longer made, so I bought the CL26.

I was surprised that they just left the piano on the doorstep.  Not that anyone could have just picked it up and taken it away, but still - it's kind of an expensive item.

Like everything big that comes in the mail it came in a ton of packaging.

They keyboard is made out of particle board, but really looks like an actual wood keyboard.  It still weighs a ton, probably because of all the electronic gadgetry inside.

You actually have to screw it together like something from IKEA.  I was surprised, because the CL25 I played at the student's house felt very sturdy and permanent.  (But when I looked the next time, I could see it, too, had been screwed together fairly simplistically.)

Anyway, once set up, it looks like fairly respectable.  If you're just trying to move beyond novice level, as I am, it's perfectly fine.  In fact 30 years ago, this would have been an amazing feat: to have a piano feel and sound this authentic, and yet totally inauthentic.