I know.
It sounds cheesy. A concert at the casino.
We listen to the Bob Rivers Show almost every morning on KZOK, which is the local classic rock station. The show plays in a cover band, which they've had for a few years now, but we've never seen. Nearly every member of the show plays some role in the band. I guess the past two years I have listened to Bob Rivers a lot more because I am actually up and running at that time in the morning, thanks to Maya being in school. Since I listen to him every weekday morning, I guess I have become more inclined to actually go to one of their shows. Plus, we had nothing else to do last night.
I hated the Emerald Queen. We had to walk through the whole damn casino just to get to the showroom. Casinos are icky places with a lot of icky people. Icky people who chain smoke and drink copious amounts of alcohol to the point of falling on ME drunk. I am no tea-totaler, but I hope that by the time I am in my 50's+ (actually, even now at 36) that I won't be stumbling-into-other-people drunk. There were a bunch of those people...stumbling into me.
Once we got into the showroom and took our choice seats at the next to back row (this is what happens when one buys tickets for a Saturday show on a Thursday night), I couldn't help but notice the glare in front of me. The glare that was coming from the sea of donut heads seated throughout the audience. I'm beginning to think balding is caused by environmental factors. There are just so many men losing their hair (and some women).
The concert started with Bob coming out and introducing Arik, the show's director, who spoke about WorldVision. I don't know if part of the proceeds from the show went to WorldVision or if they were simply taking the opportunity to promote a cause that they strongly support.
From there, they showed their Hey There Chlamydia video. It sounds like a weird segue, I know.
The show was really good, though. The band was really the best part. The vocalists were not as strong as the band.
Amazing parts of the band (hopefully I get all the names correct):
- the star-spangled banner performed by Mark Russell
- Dudley Taft
- Joe Shikany
- Lynn Sorensen, who by far was the best vocalist of the night. I wish he sang all the songs. He also played the violin (or viola, I couldn't tell from waaayyy in the back).
- Jeff Kathan, who played the most amazing drum solo I have ever seen or heard. Now, I've never really seen a drum solo other than Taylor Hawkins' solo with Foo a year ago. But this Jeff Kathan guy is, like, easily 20 or more years older than Taylor. He wore me out just watching him.
But the one person who really blew me away was Ian Crawford, a young guitarist from the Seattle area. Check out his music myspace and be prepared to be blown away. He, too, looked at ease on stage doing his thing. He is 18 or so. So young and just so damn talented.
One thing that drove me crazy was that NO ONE stood up during the show unless they were told to, and even then, they would sit back down right away. Wayne and I eventually got up from our seats and stood off to the side. Let me tell you, there is nothing like going to watch a band perform some good rock music only to stay seated as though we were at a freaking school performance. Maybe it was that the older audience isn't much into standing and rocking out. Who knows. It must drive the band nuts though. I mean, if I was busting my ass on-stage to play music for however many people were there, I would expect to see some energy in the audience. Lame-o.
December 13th is their next show, at the Paramount. I'd like to go again. Wayne didn't seem to enjoy the show as much as I did, but I think he'd be up to going again. If the same band is there. They all worked so well together and they seemed to have a really good time.
I did notice Bob's son, Keith, running around filming throughout the show. I'm hoping they put out a DVD-- that could be a good Christmas gift.
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