Don Henley Harrah's Rincon San Diego, September 25

My birthday's coming up and my wife scored some tickets. So, we'll be heading out on Sunday for Don Henley live, Open Sky Theater at Harrah's Rincon. Recall, my wife and I saw The Eagles April 25, 2010. At the clip is "Dirty Laundry," from the same tour:

And see "Don Henley extends solo trek of western U.S."

Boy, You're Gonna Carry That Weight...

I"m always good for another Beatles clip, via American Digest: "Something Wonderful: The Beatles in 5 Minutes and 3 Songs."

'Time Waits For No One'

It was another long commute yesterday morning. Construction continues on the 405 Fwy modernization, and the 22 Fwy interchange narrows down to two lanes when the freeways merge in Seal Beach. That, and it's just after 8:00am as I'm hitting the road to work, so it's "rush hour" --- except folks can't rush amid the crush. Anyway, blogging's light during the midweek. I watched movies on cable when I got home, caught the GOP debate, and helped my youngest work on his homework. The drive time playlist is below, from The Sound LA:

8:23 - Don't Stand So Close by Police

8:27 - Time Waits For No One by Rolling Stones

8:34 - Who Are You by Who

8:40 - Lookin' Out My Backdoor by CCR

8:50 - Rock 'n Me by Steve Miller

8:53 - Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love by Van Halen

8:57 - Alabama Song (whisky Bar) by Doors

9:00 - American Woman by Guess Who

9:05 - Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie

More blogging tonight.

'Time'

Heard this on the way home from "The Undefeated" the other night. And come to think of it, The Sound has been playing a lot of Pink Floyd:

P.S. I'll try to post my thoughts on The Undefeated later today.

'Hard to Handle'

It took an hour to get to work yesterday. I don't mind, as long as I'm not running late (ha!). I get to listen to the radio. The Sound's playlist is below. The Black Crowes came up just as I got rolling with a cup of coffee:

8:05 - Hard To Handle by Black Crowes

8:16 - Bodhisattva by Steely Dan

8:21 - White Room by Cream

8:27 - Come Together by Aerosmith

8:30 - Jane by Jefferson Starship

8:34 - Magic Man by Heart

8:40 - More Cowbell by Christopher Walken

8:40 - Mississippi Queen by Mountain

8:49 - In The Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett

8:51 - Move It On Over by George Thorogood

8:56 - White Wedding by Billy Idol

9:00 - Space Oddity by David Bowie

9:05 - We Just Disagree by Dave Mason

9:08 - You Really Got Me by Kinks

More blogging tonight!

FYF Festival

Off! is playing.



See L.A. Weekly, "FYF Preview: Keith Morris of OFF! Speaks on Friends and Foes."

And at LAT, "FYF addresses last year's problems so it can focus on the music."

'Highway Star'

I love this song. It's just perfect rock and roll.



From my afternoon drive time yesterday:

4:02 - Highway Star by Deep Purple



4:08 - Highway To Hell by Ac/dc



4:19 - Hip To Be Square by Huey Lewis & The News



4:23 - Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar



4:26 - Hitch A Ride by Boston



4:30 - Hocus Pocus by Focus



4:39 - Hold Me by Fleetwood Mac



4:43 - Hold On Loosely by .38 Special



4:48 - Hold The Line by Toto



4:52 - Hold Your Head Up by Argent



4:58 - Hole In My Life by Police

'Don't You (Forget About Me)'

Listened to Simple Minds during yesterday's drive time, on The Sound LA:

8:25 - Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac



8:29 - Don't Stop Believin' by Journey



8:33 - Don't Take Me Alive by Steely Dan



8:44 - Don't Tell Me You Love Me by Night Ranger



8:48 - Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds



8:53 - Don't You Worry 'bout A Thing by Stevie Wonder

I'll have more blogging tonight:

'For All We Know'

If you clicked through at the Sheri Donovan interview the other day, recall she confesses that she's got The Carpenters on her iPod, but "don't worry, I won't play them on The Sound."



Actually, I wouldn't mind hearing The Carpenters once in a while. I had a crush on Karen Carpenter when I was a kid:

'Take Me to the River'

Heard it during yesterday morning's drive time, at The Sound LA:

7:02 - She Talks To Angels by Black Crowes



7:08 - Who'll Stop The Rain by CCR



7:18 - Wonderous Stories by Yes



7:21 - Let 'em In by Paul Mccartney



7:26 - Take Me To The River by Talking Heads



7:32 - Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix



7:35 - In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins



7:49 - Space Oddity by David Bowie



7:53 - Black Dog by Led Zeppelin



7:58 - Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac

I'll be back for more blogging tonight!

Britney Spears at VMAs: The Modern-Pop Definition of 'Statuesque'

From Spencer Kornhaber, at The Atlantic, "Lady Gaga and Britney Spears Share a Surreal Moment at the MTV VMAs." Here's the kicker:

The two almost kissed, and then broke off at the last moment. But Gaga kept leering, standing uncomfortably close to Britney as she attempted to give a barely felt acceptance speech. What's more, Britney had to simultaneously thank the world and introduce the next performer, Beyonce Knowles. It was a moment of weird indignity for Spears: a younger star awkwardly hogging the spotlight, a roughly contemporary diva waiting in the wings to take the stage.



But the optics of the things were the most striking. Britney, at 29, remains sturdily, conventionally beautiful. Outfitted in boots and a short but glamorous black dress, she appeared the modern-pop definition of "statuesque." And then there was Gaga as Calderone: blonde hair replaced by dark mop, her features elfin and unspectacular, her get-up shapeless and drab, her stature tiny. By pairing the two for a kind of lifetime achievement award, MTV was necessarily asking us to contrast the women. Gaga, it seemed, had picked out her shtick for the night in part to play up that contrast. And why not? With her endless parade of costume changes and her guilt-free lyrical message, Gaga's obsessed with remaking standards of beauty and achievement so that they're set by individuals, not establishments. She's the incredible, cross-dressing, anti-Britney.

Video at the link, in case this one gets yanked.



RELATED: At London's Daily Mail, "What a difference four years makes: Britney Spears gets her sparkle back as she returns to scene of THAT awful MTV performance."

'A Million Miles Away'

From Sheri Donovan, at The Sound LA, "Sheri's iPod Pick o' The Day":

And previously, from May 2009: "And There Was Nothing Left to Bring Me Back..."



RELATED: At OC Register, "A ‘Sound’ move: Sheri Donovan joins Larry Morgan on 100.3."

George Harrison Documentary

Longtime readers will recall that before my new found infatuation with The Beatles, I've long been intrigued by George Harrison, and I was sad when he died so young. So you can bet I'm excited about the new documentary coming out from Martin Scorsese, "George Harrison: Living in a Material World."

See Rolling Stone, "George Harrison Hits the Big Screen in Scorsese Doc."



The schedule is here.

Progressives Go Nazi on Katy Perry After She Tweeted 'Pray for Israel' in Support of Jewish State

At Hot Air, "Twitterverse couldn’t take it when Katy Perry tweeted, “Pray for Israel”." And at The Blaze, "POP STAR KATY PERRY ATTACKED AFTER TWEETING AN APPEAL FOR HER FOLLOWERS TO ‘PRAY FOR ISRAEL’."



And see especially Michelle, "What happened when Katy Perry tweeted “Pray for Israel”."

Progressivism is an ideology of hate and death. Same satanism, different day.

'Under Pressure'

Well, I'm back to my weekday commute and tuning into The Sound LA regularly. And that's good. I had Foster the People on the brain there for a while.



Anyway, this should hold readers over until tonight when I'm back home and can blog. That Queen concert is something else, by the way, and David Bowie's live version is below. Until then...

'Till the World Ends'

Britney will hold you over until I'm back online later this afternoon:

Pianist Yuja Wang's Sexy Dress Rocks the Hollywood Bowl

Except she wasn't there to rock the house.



At LAT, "Classical gasp: Yuja Wang's dress at the Bowl causes a crescendo":

Pianist Yuja Wang struck a chord at the Hollywood Bowl this month and not just with her performance of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. The 24-year-old Chinese soloist had necks craning, tongues wagging and flashbulbs popping when she walked on wearing an orange, thigh-grazing, body-hugging dress atop sparkly gold strappy stiletto sandals.



In particular, Wang's outfit was a hot topic at the concert and continued after Times music critic Mark Swed's review appeared in print and online. While Swed praised her delicacy, speed and grace at the piano, his fashion comments — including the observation: "Her dress Tuesday was so short and tight that had there been any less of it, the Bowl might have been forced to restrict admission to any music lover under 18 not accompanied by an adult" — have touched off a spirited debate among music critics and bloggers about what constitutes appropriate concert attire and conversely, whether a critique of a performer's clothes has any place in a music review.



It should be noted that while the Los Angeles Philharmonic has a very specific dress code for members of its orchestra (several ones, actually, depending on the time of day and season), it does not apply to soloists. They, according to an L.A. Phil representative, are informed what the orchestra will be wearing and can choose whatever they feel is most appropriate. "For women that's traditionally an evening gown," the rep said, "but that's not always the case."

God, that staid. Bunch of poofters.



More pics at the link. (And Cameron Carpenter's cool.)

'Smile'

Avril Lavigne is punky:

You know that I'm a crazy bitch

[voice] I do what I want when I feel like it

All I wanna do is lose control

But you don't really give a shit

[voice] you don't let it go let it go with it

cause you're fucking crazy rock'n'roll ...

'All You Need Is Love'

I've been out all night. It's just after Midnight. Normally I'd have a few scheduled posts going live, but I've been partying. The family had a blast at the Beatles LOVE. I'll look for some LOVE videos I haven't posted and update later. The second time around is different, but the first is, well, the first time. Nothing like it. That said, I could see it again and again. It's so fun. I kept checking over at my kids and my oldest's (sorta) girlfriend. They loved it. And my youngest just turned 10 and he's already a HUGE Beatles fan. The Beatles are the great generational unifier

On the Road to Vegas for Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil

I imentioned it a week or so back. As this post goes live, I'm heading out the I-15 to catch up with my family at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. My oldest boy invited his (sorta) girlfriend along, so it's a big deal. A couple of weekends ago my wife and I went over to talk with (sorta) girlfriend's mom for a couple of hours. We shared stories and (sorta) girlfriend's mom laid down the line. She said she trusted her daughter. It was everybody else she was worried about. We assured her that we don't give our son too much free rein, that he's only allowed to walk across to the New York New York Hotel to ride the roller coaster there. All the hotels are connected by walkways so it's not like you're being accosted by a bunch of drunks or beggars down on the Strip. Anyway, girlfriend's mom loves my son so much permission for her daughter to go with us was a foregone conclusion.



The show's tomorrow night. I'll have regular blogging tonight, once I get set up in Vegas.



PREVIOUSLY: "The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil." Plus, "'A Day in the Life'," and "Impressions: The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil."