Freaky Saturday

Park decided to take a break from the concert scene this week -- sorry Johnny Winter at BB's! -- and work an event purported to be a haven for music/movie/sport memorabilia called the "Gotham Super Collectors Show." Instead it was kind of a haven for the strange and unusual. If you weren't talking to yourself or making jokes to others that they weren't getting, you were apparently doing it wrong.

The show was tucked away at the Holiday Inn on the mid- to upper-West Side. And since 'ark said it once hosted a contingent of Clapton fans in town for a gig, it appears the establishment is used to having weirdness around. I should have known it right off the bat when the organizer, a not-too-distant relative of Cousin Itt, showed me to my table. And when the neighboring dealer came over to look at the stuff as we were putting it up, but sans the usual pleasantries and/or courtesies -- aka a smile or introduction.

But that's mild, baybee, compared to what came later. One of the first happeners-by hadn't washed his hair for at least a month and looked offended that we had no comic books. An introverted Rain Man-esque type in a Giants coat looked very uncomfortable until a woman in a veryyyyy mini Santa Baby skirt showed up. He sat by her for hours. I'm trying to figure out who that was now, since she looks nothing like "Scream Queen" Debbie D nor the "First Lady of Wrestling" Missy Hyatt, both of whom were on the bill.

No wonder the show tanked. Not that it was the fault of former "F-Troop" actor Larry Storch (cough, cough, mothballs!) nor Brutus Beefcake (the 'roided wrestler), because both gamely sat at quiet tables in the room all day. There was a Gandolph, OK, he wasn't Gandolph but he was dressed to the nines in some kind of wizardry wardrobe -- minus the hip sneakers. Of course he was speaking in "fantasy" world language. Near the end, Gandolph started peeling pieces of his costume away. You'd look back and one thing would be different. Look again, and one more thing and so on until he was almost normal. And late in the day, an orange werewolf showed up and kept trying to massage me with his lobster-claw gloves on. 'Ark laughed pretty heartily at that ... but as you can see by the photo, not so much when it was his turn.

Our first customer of the day was a very chatty, very bag-laden lady who had unfortunate scars across her forehead. She thinks people should marry animals to lower the divorce rate. That's just one of the gems we gleaned in her couple trips to our table. But hey, she bought stuff!

We had a pretty good mix of stuff -- DVDs and CDs, hockey and baseball cards, movie photos and vintage concert shirts. We sold enough to recoup our table fee, but I think we could have done really better at a stronger show.

Back to the freaks though. One of the ones who spent extensive time at our table ... and I'll at least give him that since many glanced and decided against checking it out before their eyes even saw everything on it. Hey people, you spent $10 to get in. It's a small show, do yourself a favor and get your money's worth!! Anyway, before I get too off-track like 'ark does ;), this gentleman was looking through movie photos when he said, "These are all from the 20th century. My work is from the 21st century." And "I'm not going to be around much anymore due to my financial situation. So I might not be here next time, except if I come here anyway."

Why the small turnout? Well one of the first things we learned that day was that an enemy of the promoter had emailed people telling them the show was canceled. We were advised to look out for someone who looks like a Green Beret because he has been banned from shows and there's no telling what he might do if he got into ours.

But I'm hesitant to give the Green Beret too much credit. For music and sport collectors who may have previously been to the Gotham, they probably didn't see a need to return. So that left well, what we got. Basically none of the dealers seemed to make out like bandits. So we took it as we got our money back, plus there was an entertainment component we hadn't been expecting.

Oh wait, I almost forgot to talk about the Yankees fan. A young man with a suitable amount of Yankees apparel on happened by, so I started pointing out different Yankees things I had. He seemed to like different things, but at one point he stated, "I'm not giving these guys any more of my money." And then boom! He just ran off. I can appreciate him sticking to his guns like that.

We'll still keep our stuff together and wait for a music or movie show to pop up in the future, then just try to hold us back! 'Ark was glad for the opportunity to have a "starter" show for us, but then again he didn't know about my years of sports card dealer experience as a young 'un. I think I impressed him ... again.

Picture-perfect holiday

The big holiday for my family has become Thanksgiving. My sis and I take pains to make sure we're off the day -- which usually include working Christmas Day. It's become a tradition to have a big dinner at Lorrie's house, which includes lots of food and laughter. This year, the tradition was extended to a weeklong whirlwind trip with car and plane travel, a special and long-awaited reunion, football, food, hockey, ice skating, shopping and again lots of laughs. Lots to be thankful for, to be sure.

A thousand words couldn't take the place of these individual moments. But I usually save the bulk of the actual pictures for another tradition, the family calendar. Although I'm not there to see it, I love hearing about everyone perusing it and enjoying the serious photos as well as the funny ones. And it's something that keeps on giving for a whole year -- well at least for my mom and myself, since we're the ones who use them.

Anyway back to the trip. It started in New York. Right after a hard night's work, I hopped the subway to JFK to catch a plane to Richmond. The plan -- and it worked to perfection -- was to meet Clapton buddy Susan in Savannah on Friday night, see my long-lost Little Sister Jessica on Saturday, go to my first USF home game on Sunday and then make our way to the other side of the state so Mark could finally meet the rest of the family.

We motored on down, sampling pecan rolls along the way and making a pitstop at South of the Border. As anyone who ever took the long summer car trips between the North and Florida knows, the Border billboard signs start out dozens of miles before the stop and grow more voluminous as you get near. There were a few less this year, and even fewer people at the stop. The employees outnumbered the customers. Talk about out of season!

We had arranged to meet Susan at Sam Snead's restaurant in Savannah. The late legendary golfer put together a nice shrine with a sharp menu. Even on an upset stomach, I couldn't help trying to pack away the prime rib special. And yes, for those in the know, Susan did spill her water! It's so endearing ... and wet!

The next day, Park ventured onward to Florida, arranging to meet Jessica -- I was a Big Sister to her Little Sister many MANY moons ago while on the West Coast of Florida. In fact, the age she is now is the age I was when we first met. Yikes! When I saw her striding around the corner, I started hopping up and down. Lots of squealing, lots of hugging and borderline tears. Mark (and the valets) were eating it up. Speaking of eating, more good grub!

Jess looked stupendously fabulous and we just talked and laughed. Which of course led Mark to wonder how we could have been apart so long if we're so in sync. My answer was that I just expected to see her again someday, to have these kind of moments again. She needed here time and space to become her own person. Guess what her own person is? A journalism major at the University of South Florida! Great choice, I say! Except her minor is Theater and mine was Dance. Black sheep!!

The next day we went to the Big Top Flea Market. Every time we thought we were done, another row or extension we hadn't been down popped up. Found lots of cool things, including some rocking additions to the lighter collection (a submarine, a grenade, a laster, a frog and an Oreo). We went to one of my old haunts, Vinyl Fever (OK, it's in a new location) and then met Jess and b/f Darnell for yet even more good food at the Columbia Restaurant, which opened in Tampa in 1905.

Then on to Raymond James Stadium to see our USF Bulls. They had struggled in recent weeks, so it was great to see them get off to a fast start. Three quarters went by before anything else happened. Jess seemed to like my derisive chant to UConn "Compass! Compass!" since they ran side to side more than up and down the field.

Next day it was on to the homefront. Mark had met my sis, but not my mom nor my bro. We went to Mom's where both were waiting and it quickly dissolved into boys vs. girls. In other words, he fit right in. "Did you just call me 'ark?" he inquired of Mom at one point. Mom made one of my childhood favorites for dinner, veal parmigiana, and we scarfed that down. Inside with Mom, I missed most of the fun when Mark and Jeff went outside to try the cigar he had bought at the Columbia "just to try it."

The next day we went to a flea market in Boca Raton where the only thing we found was a compass lighter, blue to remind us of UConn. The most hilarious moment was when we were looking at one particular outfit with a longer shirt and a short-sleeve shirt under it. The woman kept changing the prices, and raising them, even though we were rapidly losing interest. "That's $32 ... no $42." I said "How about $52?" as we walked away. Not the right way to play it in this economy.

Wednesday was a day full of ice. In Florida, as 'ark likes to point out. We picked up my whirling dervish of a nephew, Shane, and took him ice skating. Even Mark was going to try it out. Shane and I zipped around the ice with his child bar, but they didn't have them for adults, so Mark mostly stood at the boards until a nice instructor showed him how to do a couple of basics. The boys wrapped up the morning by having a snowball fight with the snow that was piled outside the rink.

We met up with Sis and hubby Keith ... back to boys vs. girls ... and headed south NOT to Miami. Played games at Dave & Busters -- the funniest part was a trivia game that only gave prize tickets for the top three. When two more people joined us, they couldn't crack the top three. Completely shut out!

Speaking of that, the Devils had quite the shutout going on for most of their game against the Panthers later that night. But Florida scored twice in the final three minutes to tie up the game. Things got worst when Pinhead Salvador took a penalty for clearing a puck into the crowd, but that infraction was killed off and Johnny O. scored with less than a minute left to send us (and a sizable portion of the crowd in Sunrise) home happy.

Mark had to head back to Virginia on Thanksgiving Day (female co-workers wanted to shop Black Friday, of course!) but he left his cookies (literally!) behind. The Schectors and Benders had a great dinner with lots of laughs ... and extra salt. Mere hours later, me, Sis and Mom trudged off to the mall to start shopping. Yay, I got another rockin' Hendrix hoodie cheaply ... boo, the Lucky Brand watch I wanted wasn't on sale nor could we get either of the two salesladies we asked to part with the little sunburst guitar that was part of the display.

And then hours after that, I was on a plane and darn if I didn't just about fly over a week's worth of memories.

With or without you

Editor's Note: I had this headline picked out between the two days that appear in this blog because I went to one with 'ark and one solo. But after hearing the sad news that Jimi Hendrix's longtime drummer Mitch Mitchell passed, well it has taken on a different connotation. I just saw Mitchell out and about with the Experience Hendrix crew just a few weeks ago, and he looked as vibrant and enthused as the first go-around a year earlier. He got to do what he loved to the very end, and we couldn't have asked for much more than that for him. So I won't, and I'll just dedicate this week's entry to Mitch.

There were a lot of mid-week events going on this week, New York, baybee! Monday night, I found out that my fave celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver (no, he's not my fave because his name is Jamie! :P) was going to be doing a signing at Borders in early afternoon next day.

Takes a lot to get me up and about at that time of day, so Mr. Oliver apparently is a measuring stick in that regard. I've enjoyed his appearances on Letterman (which often end in the both of them wolfing down something you or I might find inedible -- such as olive oil from the bottle) and even tried one or two of his recipes over the years. I guess I would be the target audience for him on Dave, someone not into cooking who wanted to try it out.

So I dutifully bought my copy of his new book "Jamie at Home" (made with paper from 'sustainable managed forests') and got on the line. Not too long, the holiday might have kept people out of the city and he also was doing a couple of other appearances in times and places I couldn't get to the next two days.

He was running late and one of the girls I was chatting with on the line put it perfectly -- as soon as he gets here, we're going to forget all about the fact he made us wait. And it was totally true. He's got a very effusive personality and greeted us with "Hi guys!" when he finally made his entrance.

I had wanted to tell him something about my "target audience" theory or maybe that I had made my own variation of the sausage meatballs he made on Dave last year, but he distracted me by asking if I was a New Yorker. Now what do I always answer in that circumstance? Well usually, I say yes. But for some reason, I went "I'm a New Jerseyan." Had to think about the "Jerseyan" part. Same thing, he said. I guess it's about the same as someone living in a London suburb being deemed as someone from London. But he can say basically anything he wants with that personable English accent, and it certainly worked here.

One of the people on line took a picture for me, I had promised to do the same for him when we were buying our books since Majeed had taken my photo with Chris Trucks last weekend. Just paying it forward.

Fast forwarding... now 'ark is in tow for the back end of our "Ultimate Rock 'N' Roll Couple" bookend. We saw Derek Trucks and the Gang twice last weekend, now wife Susan Tedeschi and the Funky Bunch appear at Irving Plaza, now tabbed The Fillmore (why bother, since it's bogus and should just be the legendary Irving Plaza instead) I have to admit though, seeing the cool-ass posters from every concert medium is pretty impressive.

Speaking of that, opener James Hunter and his five-piece band did a great job of sending the wayback machine back to the '50s with guitar-driven style. I half-expected to turn back to the rest of the crowd like a scene out of Peggy Sue Got Married or meet my bobbysoxed mom as Michael J. Fox's character did in Back to the Future.

Even better though was Ms. Tedeschi, who manages to have one of the best female voices going and hittin' every note (Allman Brothers Band inside joke!) on the guitar. She has this little speaking voice and this great big beautiful singing style. Her chops on the guitar could slay many as well.

It's not a confrontational style, but it's certainly not a Grateful Dead vibe. It's kind of a soothing rock-out effect. "Back to the River" and "Just Won't Burn" were among the tracks that proved powerful in their ability to draw a mental picture, punctuated by the bluesy vocals and striking notes. The perfect way to wrap up a long summer/fall Park leg of concerts.

So next up, and this is expected to be a doozie. The big trip home for Thanksgiving, although 'ark's gotta depart on Turkey Day :( because of that neither rain, nor sleet, nor overstuffed bellies' mailman mantra. Among the stops Park will be making on a shorter tour almost shorter than Eric Clapton or Lindsey Buckingham's brief forages this year will be -- dinner with Sus, my first college football home game with my Big Bros/Big Sis little sister Jessica (jeez, I don't want to think about how old she is now!~~), Devils hockey with my sis (OK, the guys are coming too), a visit with my favorite -- and only -- nephew and 'ark meets the other two most important people to me, Mom and Jefe. 'ark will get his five minutes to schedule a visit with a friend as well. Back after the trip! Happy T-giving, everyone. :)

Detailing of the Trucks

I'll remember lots of little moments from the past weekend. Making a new friend from Palestine. Meeting Derek Trucks' dad, Chris. Being told by him that "he makes good babies." Paying less for a DTB show poster, but getting an autographed version. The actual blurring of Derek's hand during a song of the scorching first half of the Highline Ballroom show. Having Chris hold up the Derek head on a stick. Then being told that Derek has displayed the head on the stick in various places -- including the bathroom! An even better show at the Blender. Watching his brother, Duane, in the wings with a camera phone snapping pictures. Getting a double-take from opening act lead guitarist Eric Krasno after wailing on the harmonica. Getting a double-take smile from Derek after waving the infamous head on a stick.

As 'ark was making his way up to the Turnpike, I was at the Highline Ballroom -- around the corner from work, which is always slightly unsettling for some reason until I get in there and totally forget about an outside world. Lots of room up front for the opener Mocean Worker, a jammy jazzy band who introduced all the members as so-and-so Obama. That got the crowd going.

During this time, I met a nice guy (and new Facebook friend) from Palestine named Majeed. He had never seen Derek live before, and took time from his busy thesis schedule to finally catch the band.


I spotted someone with a concert poster and remembering how 'ark didn't manage to get one in New Hampshire after waiting too long as well as the Squeeze/Black Coffee in Bed shirt debacle, I went over to get one from the merch table. And there was Chris Trucks sitting there, selling wares for his son. I brought up writing the article back when Derek's guitar was bigger than he was and Chris chortled "was I drunk at the time?" Due to my rather expensive purchase of one mere alcoholic beverage, I only had a $20 on my person and the posters were $25. Chris sold me one for $20 -- and not just a regular one at that, it had been signed by Derek and two other members of the band. Much joy in the land. We took a picture and those with long Pai history should recognize for its Luongo-like moment.

And then there was much embarrassment in the land... I brought Majeed over to meet him and introduced him as Butch, who of course is Derek's uncle. Chris took it in stride, "I mess up names all the time." He apparently didn't take it too badly, for he was flirty until 'ark got there. Chris: "Is he going to kick my ass? Oh well, it's been kicked before ... and it'll be kicked again."

In the meantime, hundreds of people kept swarming into the general admission room, I wasn't sure Park would be able to stick a big toe in there. But once he arrived we not only got in, but squoze our way all the way up to the front right side of the stage.

The band SCORCHED the first half of the set, beginning with the Bob Dylan cover so applicable in this day and age, "Down in the Flood" aka "Crash on the Levee." 'ark pointed out to me when Derek was playing a solo in which his hand literally was blurred with movement -- I had noticed the very same. The familiarity of a Derek and the Dominos favorite "Anyday," which reminded me of Clapton watching him play the same from offstage at Crossroads, was a treat.

Frankly there was no way to keep up this kind of pace, and -- I want to make sure this is clearly noted, 'cause it is not intended to show displeasure, just a difference of momentum -- the set kind of chilled out about halfway through. The play was still stellar, the vibe was just not as intense. DTB's cover of John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" exemplified that and the keel was evened out.

Now DTB likes to vary their setlist each night, but "My Favorite Things" did make a reappearance at the next show. I don't know if it was because they didn't quite get what they wanted out of the previous night, but it really took flight at the Blender Theater -- which managed to be even smaller and tightly packedier than the Highline.

I digress though, because there was definitely entertainment prior to that. Decided to copy and bring a copy of my early Derek article to Chris, particularly after he did me the solid with the signed poster. Also wanted to get a picture of him holding the infamous "Derek head on a stick" -- I had the idea of him holding it up at the height at which Derek comes up to his dad. After seeing the article, Chris was reminded of the couple of years of heartache his son suffered when Derek was told he could no longer play bars such as Gatorz (the place I first saw him) because of his age. But much more amusingly, the "head on a stick" has been fodder for laughter -- whether on the tour bus, hanging next to Jesus in the home or even right by the toilet in the bathroom.

This night's opener was the band Chapter 2, a great amalgamation of rock and soul. They got us primed and ready for the big event. Guitarist Eric Krasno looked surprised and bemused when heard the legendary Park $3 harmonica tooted during a quiet moment, thought I might have to go up and jam for a second there.

There was a great sit-down set ("Soul of a Man," "Chicken Robber" and "Meet Me at the Bottom") during this show that wasn't done the previous night. And Derek took time out from his busy guitar genius to doubletake for our camera. (It's at about 1:55 in "Meet Me" for those who can't wait that long -- basically everyone that reads this blog, I'm sure.) The head on a stick might have caught his attention, I'm not sure...


So back to "My Favorite Things," I'm not sure how to do either version justice because it didn't suck Thursday and it just went off to another stratosphere Friday. During this time caught a glimpse of another Facebook friend, Derek's brother Duane, standing off stage and watching the magic. At one point, he funnily tried to block out the noise and several times he whipped out the camera phone and recorded the moment just like the fans at the front of the stage.

A novel concept: members of Chapter 2 (get it? novel... chapter...) came back for the final two songs of the set and it was ignition and take off for "Get Out of My Life, Woman" and "Joyful Noise." It was great fun watching the keyboardists and the drummers switching places and not missing a beat. I was hoping Duane would get to join the party on drums, but I think the stage was in danger of being shut down by the fire department -- either for reaching capacity and/or dangerously raising room temperature levels. After a quick break, there was a third extended jam on "Freddie's Dead," which ordinarily I would have loved but well ... it felt OVERextended to me. But hey, if that's the only thing I have to complain about, well, there's absolutely nothing to complain about.

By the way, I was just FULL of Trucks faux pas this weekend, 'cause Duane messaged me this: "Sorry man, but i wish i was there in new york to see those guys play but that was somebody else. I got a good laugh though i actually thought it was me there for a second."

Blogging under the influence

You know how people turn off the light and go to sleep when it's dark out? Well, I've only been able to do that ONCE in the past THREE days. Feeling kinda out of sorts, so what better time could there be to blog? I was hoping it would up the blog interest level for a more sedate weekend, but so far I'm maintaining an even keel (sorry!).

So this weekend, Park wound up concertless, but that didn't mean there wasn't mayhem to follow. We planned to be part of a Halloween party taking place Nov. 1 in Virginia.

We got all tricked out... my original plan was for a lighter costume, but the colder temperatures from the past week made me do an audible to more weather-specific apparel. I geared up to be Patrik Elias, down to the red/white mouthguard and the black eye so familiar from his beach wedding photo. Had the knee pads, the shin guards, the jox sox, game-worn Mogilny sox to go over the pads, my Easton undershirt, Elias overshirt and a Devils-helmet shaped tuque my co-worker gave me last holiday. Even chopped one red and one white mouthguard in half to create the Elias' custom one.

Meanwhile, 'Ark went to a store, picked up at inmate costume and put it on. What a strain! Don't feel bad for him though, he won second prize in the adult costume competition!! (Personally I think it's because he runs the jail mail route through town -- delivering letters to and from those in local prisons. Well that AND there's no hockey team around!!)

There was a funny moment before getting to the party, when we went off to find 'ark's friend at a Civil War re-enactment. From the tents, we could hear young "soldiers" calling in our direction "Halloween was YESTERDAY!" Oh yeah?? Well, the Civil War was centuries ago!

Not wanting to wear out our welcome/nor start Civil War Part Deux we went off to the party. The adult/kid musical chair game definitely had its moments. I was able to make the group laugh by forcibly ejecting one man from his chair by spilling him out of it. The look on his face when he fell to the ground was priceless, and he slunk away. The rest of the night was fraught with warnings such as "Watch out for the hockey mom!" Guess I'm the most famous Democratic hockey mom now. ;)

Back to the big musical chairs contest, because I know you're falling out of your own proverbial one -- It wound up down to me and another kid... and with the competitive juices flowing... I of course took a dive by spinning dizzily out of control and falling to the ground. But seriously, how long could I walk around in circles?

The other moment that seemed to gain appreciation was during the hay ride. With the air dark and disorienting and a tractor seemingly pulling you in any direction, the remaining adults jump out and try to scare the kids on the ride. Which gave me the brilliant idea of sneaking up behind the scarers and scaring them. That was a lot of fun too.

There was also some fine eats, from stew and chili to Tootsie Rolls and toasted marshmallows. A lot of fun was had by all -- except maybe for the crying Spider-man, who wept when he was overly scared on the hay ride and then bawled again when he lost at musical chairs. I haven't seen so much unnecessary crying since Madden's kid at the 2003 Stanley Cup celebration.

Next week's gonna be a BIG music week. The early part of the schedule has us at two Derek Trucks Band shows in the big city and then in the middle of the week Derek's wife, Susan, is in town too. Not exactly the coveted Soul Stew Revival from earlier this year, but we'll take what we can get!! Hopefully I can even out the sleep ratio before that.

The fortitude (and luck) of the Parkish

Park is nothing if not open to give and take. Mark's become a huge Lindsey Buckingham fan (Buckface? Buckhead?) over the past month or so, and this weekend it was time for me to see one of his idols -- Joe Bonamassa.

It was a bit of a game of chance, as Joe B's NYC show at BB King's was sold out, but it took us about 10 minutes in front of the venue to score single tickets from two different individuals. We set up shop at the ledge about a booth to the right of where the quartet took in Chuck Berry, so that led to some fond memories.

Joe B is a guitarist/sponge. You can tell that everything he's heard has been ingested and is literally waiting there for future use. Hearing that he has previously discreetly played a riff from "Edge of Darkness," a BBC series Eric Clapton provided music for, only heightens the impression. And leaves you wondering what riffs like that you're missing out on just because you don't know someone else's catalog to their deepest depths.

He tore the place down with slow blues ... with fast blues, just every kind of blues blues. A great time and obviously someone it would be easy to see over and over and over again.

Going to JB/BB's on Friday meant missing out on a couple of things I probably would have otherwise been doing that day -- 1. a Devils game (Didn't miss anything there. They played like crap and got shellacked) and 2. opening night of the WFMU Record Fair (a convention I had been waiting to go to since about February).


We did the latter on Saturday. And wow, it's pretty daunting to walk into that room. Even charting a course and following it, there's no way you can see everything. The overwhelming feeling dissipated when 'Ark made his trademark vinyl jokes. (Insert eye-rolling maneuver here).

But I fared pretty well, picking up some Hendrix and Fleetwood Mac bootlegs. The thing I was looking for the most -- Peter Green playing with Otis Spann in Chicago -- I wound up getting for free as part of a Hendrix deal. Best of all was a table that changed from 25 percent off to 40 percent off as we started scouring their collections (pictured here). Lots of cool additions to my collection were made there (including a Chuck Berry picture disc). And with a human shopping cart at my beck and call, we worked our way through the huge rooms in about four hours.

Oh, almost forgot! The buy of the day had to be a DVD of the Lindsey Buckingham Nokia show we were at not a week before. When we got home and watched it, we cracked up when we saw 1. us high-10ing at the left side of the stage and 2. the sound of the ol' three-dollar harmonica tooting away during a break in the encore. I swear we could tell when LB was looking over at us too, just from his eye angle.

Another successful weekend in the life of Park!

Personal upgrades

It was pretty hard to top the previous weekend in terms of -- well everything -- so we won't even try. But Lindsey Buckingham and company ventured to New York to wrap up their small tour at the Nokia Theatre.

While the show can't hope to rival Atlantic City for soul and spirit, it did sound tremendously amazing. The acoustics in the building are -- as 'ark likes to point out -- built for recording and so every note was clear as a bell and ringing just as sharply.

The setlist and even much of the chitchat was the same, but between the two shows I think 'ark's bubble of Fleetwood Mac as pure pop has been ... well, popped. And Lindsey Buckingham's finesse as a soul artist both with the guitar and vocally are a whole different story.

As he explains it, he works for the giant corporate machine known as Fleetwood Mac. But that enables him to do his side work and, as a result, both sides now feed off each other instead of taking him on a more destructive path. He definitely seems, not at all mellow, but just grounded.

The big Park game plan was to leave the mezzanine seats and dart for the stage once "Go Your Own Way" started and everyone started to go their own way and that's what we did, in time for me to pogo along with GYOW once again. And I thought I was tired. Apparently 'ark was having a visual conversation behind my back with a guy not irritated but amused by my antics.

I would swear both Lindsey and especially "Jessie's Girl" Brett made eye contact during a couple of the songs. (This isn't our photo though, it's courtesy of Pattie at The Ledge.)

But the piece de resistance -- the final song. Now we hoped for something special for the final show of the tour. That didn't mean different material, it just meant the most stirring version of "Time Precious Time" one could imagine. The pointed guitar movements and perfectly toned voice and the final word "Rememmmmmber" fading out ... well, let's just say, it won't be hard to not forget!

So 'ark had to reMiata and return home the next day. That meant me and good friend Liam were on our own for Experience Hendrix on Tuesday. Last year, we saw the show at the Beacon Theatre. This one was at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Kinda cramped if you are in a seat, but we just moved back to the final few rows of empty chairs and basically stood and jammed all night. Much better!

Among those on the bill: Eric Gales (was at first show), Doyle Bramhall II (sigh, yep, he did "Angel" again -- my first near tearjerker of the night), Eric Johnson (never saw him before, he really caught fire), Billy Cox (just smashing in red), Jonny Lang (didn't pull out all the stops but was solid), Kenny Wayne Shepherd (DID pull out all the stops again on Voodoo Chile and Voodoo Child Slight Return), Brad Whitford and son Graham (not bad, son), the effervescent Mitch Mitchell (frankly I'd pay just to watch him walk on and off stage), a couple of Los Lobos dudes (righteous! and nice take on "Little Wing"), Hubert Sumlin (dude was ON!) and Buddy Guy (not liquored up... thankfully since the crowd was about one-eighth of the energy of his show in the same venue just a couple months ago).

Got to meet and get CDs/picture/ticket signed by Eric Gales and Billy Cox after the show. Funny EG moment... a 20something fan went up to him right before me and said "you gave me a whole new perspective." Then when I went up I said "I already had perspective, but you were really great." So Eric tells me that I rock. And I must have had a brain freeze cause I went "I rock? Eric Gales [editor's note: he had just played the s out of his guitar] is telling me that I rock?" So that was pretty righteous.

Of course it would have been righteouser with 'ark in tow. But he'll be back this weekend. We have Joe Bonamassa at BB's (hopefully seeing journeycouple again!) and the WFMU Record Fair the next day.

Law of appreciating returns

This weekend was one of those with potential for disappointment, which causes one (well me anyway) to temper my enthusiasm just in case. Now that it's over and in hindsight, I can enjoy how everything played out.

It wound up being one of those in which you have three hours total sleep over a three-day period and in pictures it kind of looks like zombie nation, but enjoyment-wise it'll be tough to top.

Enough of the vague-irities. First sis was coming in from Florida, first for the Devils season opener (which 'ark told everyone who would listen -- and a few that probably didn't want to -- that he was benched and unable to attend.) As sis and I have been doing the Devils thing together since Nov. 23, 2001 (in-joke: Ellyosh and seeeee-kora), and this being the first game of the new season we planned it that way for sis time.

So the Devils have two scoring lines and two power-play lines now (something we haven't had for a few seasons), so that's great to see. Zachariah Parise scored the first Devils' goal of the new season and my boy Patrik (Patty) Elias had the game-winner. All good and lots of fun.

Mere hours later we were up and heading for the bus to Atlantic City to see Lindsey Buckingham and 'ark ... not necessarily in that order. After dumping the bus voucher credit in about half an hour, we did a lot of shopping and some eating. AC has better Devils merchandise, than the freakin' Devils Den.

Funny moment when I was buying something on the boardwalk when both Pook and 'ark saw each other before I did. I believe sis' quote was "It's either Mark or some pervert." Hey she was doubly right! ;)

More shopping and lots of joking and general frivolity ensued. Not sure sis took it as a compliment when 'Ark said we not only look alike but have the same method of reasoning. We played the water gun balloon arcade game. 'Ark won twice and the girls took the prizes, haha.

Oh yeah, we still had Lindsey to see. It was a small venue, Xanadu at the Trump Taj Mahal, and there were a ton of empty front seats at the beginning, but the diehard fans started moving forward. It turned a staid early show into an incredibly vibrant meeting of the minds. The band (particularly Lindsey and guitarist/keyboardist Brett Tuggle) really seemed to appreciate it.



Here's a great vid of "Go Your Own Way." I don't know how 'Ark stood still, me personally, I was pogoing around not of my own free will. It doesn't have quite the energy level we experience, but I just love the fans playing the guitar with Lindsey near the end.

I made a small nuisance of myself during band intros with the ol' harmonica ... and by yelling "Play Jessie's Girl, Brett" to Mr. Tuggle -- two decades ago he used to play backup for Rick Springfield. The girls my age seemed to get it.

One of my fave parts was the encore "Second Hand News." I was standing on two front-row chairs by then and there was some kind of go-go dancing going on. This is not yet up to full go-go strength at the beginning of the song...


And akin to Pook's Clapton experience back in 1990 ... "Tusk" is the new "Cocaine"!

It took us forever and a day (plus a bus, two trains, a cab) to get back to Newark and another two trains (one broken) and a plane to get Pook home, but I'm still flying high on all of it. Thanks Pook and 'ark!

The good, the bad and the ugly

This past weekend was momentous in the annals of Park history, as three events were accomplished in just two days' time. There was an inconvenience that threatened to muddy up the proceedings and give us the blues, but since 'ark didn't let it get to him -- and he was the one majorly discomforted -- we will bypass that and get to the good stuff.

Now over the past weeks, I've gotten to introduce 'ark to people, places and things he hadn't experienced before. This week, it was going to happen twice to me. First on the docket was Popa Chubby, who I think should deem himself Pop A. Chubby if he doesn't want people to call him Pope-a Chubby as much!


But frankly who cares what a guy's name is when he can play guitar like that. But first thing's first. There were special guest Parkies for the show -- namely lovely Ellen and hubby Carmen. Ellen's known as journeygirl in Eric Clapton Access circles, so I deemed them journeycouple. We found out that all of us were already planning to see Zucchero at Carnegie Hall the next day -- small world.

As we were seeing the show at the famed Mexicali in Teaneck, N.J., we thought we'd meet up for dinner there. Wasn't quite as impressed by the food as we thought we might be ... but the banana chimichanga was a delight, despite its visage on arrival. Flowing chocolate will do that to a dish.

Less of a delight was the opening band. I had my doubts about them when they opened with "How Sweet It Is," but totally lost interest after that. As did Ellen. At one point, we accidentally bonked heads and thought that to be more infinitely interesting. The cover band definitely had some Grateful Dead leanings, and as we do not, their set left us at least comatose en route to the flat line.

But none of that mattered, cause Popa came out and plugged his guitar right into our souls. The result was a couple of hours of searing rock blues. When it comes to Hendrix covers, I'm as discriminating as a few thousand Fab Four fans at a Beatles convention, but I was totally knocked out by "Hey Joe." The solos were strong and not repetitive and it seemed like he and his crew coulda gone on forever. I know dozens of us would have stayed.


But after a couple endings and then a final finale, the show did end. We waited to meet Popa and his wife, Galea -- who had not only held her own when she came on stage for a few songs but even added more to the night by doing so. They were both as cool as they could be and we posed for the first Park-band photo.

When 'ark first brought up Saturday's Zucchero show, I said uhhhh we were going to Devils-Rangers at the Garden. Turned out the preseason hockey tilt was at 1 p.m., so we were able to do both. This marked 'ark's first time at an NHL game and I gave him the whole afternoon to ask all the stupid questions that he won't be able to query when the games mean something.

The Devs quickly took it to their rivals, with my man Patrik Elias potting the first goal within 90 seconds and another one by Dainius Zubrus a couple minutes later. Elias got another one later and I thought I might FINALLY see my first "hatrik" but nope, another two-goal Patty game for P.

And how did 'ark hold up? Well he seemed to getting into it and gaining some understanding, even sitting on the edge of his seat at some point. And then the funny thing... the third period ended and I got up to celebrate and, well, 'ark sat there waiting for a fourth period. Hahaha. He was wondering why all the Rangers fans would leave with 20 minutes to go.

I usually stick to the entertainment portion of the program but the visit to the legendary Ruth's Chris Steak House should get some mention, just 'cause the meal was so damn good!



And then the capper, Zucchero. Two days after his birthday, the Italian rock/blues/the kitchen sink singer drove the crowd into a frenzy with his passion, verve and talent. There was rockin' at Carnegie Hall that probably hasn't even been seen at the Garden in some time. People getting into the music and just enjoying it without stepping on each others' toes. And you don't even have to understand every word to feel it down to your own digits. (Editor's note: Will add photos for this ASAP.)

So due to those circumstances beyond our control, we may be Parkless this coming weekend, but in two weeks, we'll have a verrrry special guest and the first of two Lindsey Buckingham shows that I'm just racing my motor about as we speak.

Embracing pop music

It's kind of fun tracing your musical lineage. For instance, I'm sort of known for the early Rick Springfield affinity, but as 'ark has pointed out repeatedly -- including this past weekend -- the man can play the guitar. Which explains why I spent hours air guitaring various Working Class Dog/Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet/Living in Oz/Hard to Hold riffs.

Of late, I've been listening a ton to Fleetwood Mac and their various solo projects. I consider the band to be a manifestation of several of my Sybil-like personalities (Stevie is the mystical moon lover side and Lindsey is the obsessive compulsive and Christine is the sweet side and Mick/John are the rocks.) This is an even better analogy than my old "Star Wars" personality test. Plus I can get my pop AND blues rocks off with the different manifestations of a band that's been in existence as long as I've been alive.

So we have two Lindsey Buckingham gigs coming up -- one in Atlantic City on Oct. 11 and then another a week later at Nokia in the city. In the meantime, there's plenty of music to be digested.

This week Park only had one mere gig (what??!! slippage!!) But it was a doozie -- the recently reunited Squeeze at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. Not being a child of the '80s nor MTV, 'ark was a little taken aback by the electrono aspects of the greatest hits CD I prepared for him. But I knew that 1.) Glenn Tilbrook's ability with the guitar and 2.) the working-class catchy lyrics and music penned by Chris Difford and Glenn would impress him.

Another great obsession has also arisen in recent weeks, the notion of playing guitar again. I only played for a few weeks back in the 'pequa Park days, but the bug's been biting of late. 'ark's guitar collection might have something to do with that.

The great question has been about my penchant for playing left-handed (like the biggest and best hero, Jimi). Should I play a righty upside down (while I show off my butt like butt hero Doyle) or should I play a guitar specifically made for a lefty? We looked through some of the legendary shops on 48th before heading for the gig.


At which I made one of the most bone-headed mistakes possible. I will say it now here in hopes that NO ONE ELSE REPEATS such a faux pas. No I'm not talking about the way my blue-lit swizzle stick kept falling out of my drink. I saw a shirt I wanted -- a women's Black Coffee in Bed shirt. And I thought, oh, I'll just wait until after the show and get it then. Big mistake. Don't know if they had like two because it was the last show of the tour, but they were gone by the time I got back. My heart was broken, in a I didn't get a shirt-no biggie-but that's a bummer-kinda way.

The show itself was a lot of fun. Since the reunion show I saw last year, the solos have gotten looser and made the songs more breezy. The great fun in a Squeeze show is it's sort of like a live jukebox. As Casey Kasem used to say, the hits just keep on coming! One familiar song after another, and they're short and to the point and just fun.

The only false note was not hit on the stage but in the row next to us in the second mezzanine as several people left, mid-set, right after "Tempted" was played. I wondered why they just didn't stay home and play the single. Then a couple more people would have been able to get into the sold-out show.

Being in the second mezz kept me and my bad knee in my seat longer than it normally would have, but I still had to pop up for the encore songs -- Hourglass and Pulling Mussels from a Shell. 'ark chose to proactively try and support my frame so that I wouldn't cause myself any further damage. I will pause for a moment to give you time to "awwwwwwww."

Just a note about the opener, the band James, before I go. You suck! I soooooooo would have preferred the southern tour opener, Fastball. If I wanted to listen to you, James, I would cut U2 and Coldplay CDs in half and then tape them together. Then they obviously would skip and repeat the same words ad nauseum ... you know, like you do.

Next up: Park joins the journeycouple for Popa Chubby in Teaneck and then journeys to Carnegie Hall for Zuccheroo. Sorry, Zucchero, someone I know used to call to pronounce it zuck-eroo. I'm sure I'll be over that next Saturday.

Getting our religious groove on

This weekend was all about religion as most soulfully and heartfully expressed through music -- from an unexpected Christian bill in Virginia at which Robert Randolph was the opening (and only listenable act) to the soul-baring belting of Dana Fuchs around the corner from where I work. As 'ark often says and I concur, that's one church I can get into.

It was 'ark's premise for me to train down to Virginia after work Thursday at 3 a.m. and then we'd go on to Virginia Beach for the Robert Randolph show, at which he had third-row seats. So off we went. We arrived just as the set was beginning and wound up seated three rows back from center stage, right in his sights.

So out came the RR head on a stick that as creator Steve said I "really worked for" at the Jones Beach Eric Clapton show, shaking and pounding on my Yankees cozee fist through the entire version of "Motherless Children" without missing a beat. And no joke, three seconds after I had it up, RR was flashing his trademark ear-to-ear toothy grin. Is that a record for fastest reaction to head on a stick?



As 'ark hasn't yet loaded photos from the show, here is an example of head-on-as-stick with EC wearing RR's detachable doo-rag.

It was a rousing set, and even as an opener, RR was able to get the crowd somewhat energized. Sampling "When the Saints Go Marching In," certainly helped out in that regard, although Park certainly didn't need it to be revitalized.

And this is pretty close to our view:


In previous tours, RR would wear a different football jersey every night, so I had my Giants' Eli Manning jersey in tow just for that purpose. And although it was too hot for one, I dutifully wore it to jam for the whole set. It was a short set though, with three more acts having to come on and the religious contingent needing to be in bed by 8:30, it was understandable.

After going off for grub, we didn't exactly hurry back and when the next of the three acts -- either Jars of Clay, Switchfoot or Third Day -- started to play, we were very unspiritualized. Expecting it to get worse instead of better, and preferring to get ourselves home at a reasonable time instead of people-watching with heavy-handed background music, we departed. (We did get home in time to see my alma mater South Florida jump out to a big lead in the fourth quarter, only to lose it and then win with a final-second field goal.)

And then the second part of the journey. Back on the train to NYC to see the inimitable Ms. Fuchs. For those of you who don't know her, she once starred in "Love, Janis" and then Fab Four-inspired "Across the Universe," culminating in the mesmerization of thousands of hard-to-impress Beatles fans at their annual convention last year. But saying that sells her short, because her own lyrics are dry, witty and soulful and she belts every one last one of them out for you.

I swear I could watch her every day and as each show comes to a close, I'm already thinking about the next one. Here's why:

I couldn't understand why an audience who saw Dana perform "Misery" during April's show at the same venue would vote for that when given the choice between that and "Bad Seed," which we didn't get ... but they did, and no "Bad Seed." But "Misery" is no hardship ... well it is as Dana's atypical love song, but it is still amazing.

Dana also took us to her personal church via "Bible Baby" and a fabulous cover of Randy Newman's "God's Song," the latter of which apparently had landed her in hot water during previous shows.



I snagged another setlist post-show, that's becoming a bit of an obsession ... and it was signed by her longtime guitarist Jon Diamond -- who reached a couple feet in the air to write on it on a speaker in the air -- and later Dana herself.



Then we waited for Dana and I wasn't expecting her to remember me much beyond me being on her "hair totem pole" (for those who haven't seen it)...

But then she came out and there was like a five-second "ohhhhhhhh Paige" and an apology for not getting her acoustic CD out to me. She added that her manager had recently been let go and they were focusing on a new studio album instead of that acoustic release. She added that bits of the bio I did on her were used during their recent European tour! That was an unexpected treat. I introduced her to Mark, she thanked me for bringing out another convert and a friendly photog took our picture together.

What can I say, another fab-o Park weekend. We definitely got some religion ... and I'm not talking about all the cursing I did after making it through the whirlwind weekend, only to sprain my knee back in my own bathroom!



Up next: 'ark's first trip to Radio City Music Hall will be my second show with the recently reunited Squeeze. Hope the knee's up to it.

Lots of firsts ... and one last

Park was busy this past weekend. Food, baseball, music, 15 seconds of fame ... what else could a hip happenin' couple want?

Let's see, let's start at the very beginning ... a very good place to start. Before heading to Yankee Stadium for the last time in the REAL Yankee Stadium's history, gotta eat. Now in NYC, there is a tourist trap known as Dallas BBQ. Now I ask you, why would you go to Dal-las BBQ in New-Yawk? (Seriously the food there is OK, and they do deliver to work so I can't belabor it too much.)



But where you really should go ... and this is just mere storefronts away from one of the franchise Dallasees, is the Rub! Aye, that's the Rub! BBQ that'll blow your mind while hopefully keeping your colon intact.



Now on to the game. Ark had never been to a game, let alone Yankee Stadium. So I got him ready by watching 61*, Billy Crystal's charmer of a film about Maris and Mantle's home run race in 1961. Then we went off to the ballpark. It really is amazing, you can still feel the history. The stands have changed, but you can see the short porch into which Maris delivered that record-contested homer. You can look at the area behind home plate and remember Thurman Munson sacrificing his body to make a play. You can look at shortstop and see slim, trim Derek Jeter. (I digress.)

For the ladies and the metrosexual men:


I was hoping that the game would stay close so that Ark could have the Mo experience. Meaning Rivera's run in from the bullpen to the strains of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and a rousing standing ovation from the crowd. And that's just what happened. The game got a little tooooo close, but future Hall-of-Fame Iceman handled it.



And the Yankees win! (For a change.) I admit leaving that ballpark for the last time was a sad moment. Our next trip to Yankee Stadium, the field will be facing some other (wrong) way.



So one might think that Park would take it a little easy on Saturday. Not quite so... The plan was to see The Dark Knight in Imax, but thanks to some computer subterfuge and a packed house in the regular-screen version, Park decided to go elsewhere. After a quick peruse of Tkts (the half-price same-day Broadway ticket sale line), we decided to go to BB King's to see The Motels!

Ark kept confusing The Motels' 80s hit "Only the Lonely" with Roy Orbison's classic "Only the Lonely," so he pretty much went into the show without any expectations. I was a little wary but grew more and more excited. Puppethead (OK, Fun Puppet actually, but either way a really dumb name) opened and they were serviceable. And then The Motels. Now VH-1 got the 80s band back together for Bands Reunited, but this incarnation is just Martha Davis and a bunch of kids. Still they rocked it!




Some fans had the gall to protest the reworking of classic Motels songs (uh, go home and listen to the albums if that's all you want) and even though I had trouble digesting the reconstituted "Take the L," I still appreciated the effort. After the show, I snagged a copy of the setlist and Martha and a couple members of the band signed it!





and the piece de resistance...


And the best part... as you can see by the setlist -- Martha signed it to "Park" and even required an explanation as to what that meant. So I pointed out Ark and she said "Hi Ark!" to our favorite camera-wielding man. Way cool, the first celebrity recognition of Park. We'll have to work on that.

Got some great and tiring things planned for September. In a couple weeks there's a Robert Randolph show in Virginia followed the next day by a Dana Fuchs show in NYC. Also on the calendar: Squeeze at Radio City Music Hall the next week and Popa Chubby and ... all hail the return of hockey! ... Ark's first Devils game -- throwing him right into the fire with a preseason contest between the Devs and the most valiantly hated Rangers.

Coney Island, old and new memories...

This week Park takes a break from the music ... or the music takes a break from Park and the duo heads out to Coney Island, land of the legendary Nathan's hot dog. Naturally, Nathan's is the first thing hit upon arrival. The dogs are cooked perfectly (attention Jersey Square Mall, study the training video or talk to your friends on the cell phones while they are cooking so that they are cooked thoroughly!) And the fries are fresh and ever so tasty.

Then it's time for a little healthy competition. First up, the Kentucky Derby. Roll your ball into a one, two or three-point slot and your horse moves across the top board accordingly. Boy, ark must have put in some time practicing with the balls or something, 'cause I got my butt whipped twice. Woe is me... But it was perhaps meant to be, 'cause ark's prize is a stuffed Husky.

For a couple of minutes anyway, cause now it's shoot the watergun into a balloon until it pops time. I assume the No. 4 spot, put on my best Devils' Hall of Famer Scott Stevens' face and open a can of whoopass on ark. My prize: A cross-eyed Devil with a diaper.

So how to break this tie? Well we try the balloon darts thing, and as Mark gets sidetracked by a phone call, I take home the lime green snake. But then it's unbroken again, cause we're at another one that combines the watergun with the ball-rolling and ark scores a Target dog. Enough competition, we're hungry! Well first we stop for a veeeeeeery long sketch done by a voicetronic "Leonardo Rembrandt." See here...



And now we're on the boardwalk. It's a beautiful day... not too hot (for ark), not too cold (for me), perfect Park temperatures. Blue skies, light breeze. We're out on the pier watching the waves... Walk down the shore, avoiding broken shells ... and broken glass. The water is cool at first touch and then perfectly comfortable.

Up we go to the New York Aquarium, a place I went to many times with my GREAT late great Aunt Ruthy. It's donation day, so tons of families with shrieking kids and shrieking moms are in there, but we do see many cool fishies and an otter and a walrus. Not one particular fish that is yellow at the top and blue at the bottom and burrows into the surface, but maybe he "retired" since it was many many moons ago since I last saw him.

Then it's back up on the boardwalk for a final stroll and some melt-in-your-mouth cotton candy.

The decision is made to go to Lombardi's for dinner. According to Zagat, "best pizza on the planet." And I'll have to admit it's very very good, but didn't do the tangy tastebud tantalizing dance that John's Brick Oven has. I will afford it this much, since I prefer my John's as a plain cheese pizza, Lombardi's can own the title of "best pepperoni pizza," cause the 'roni is quite tasty and has a nice lasting flavor to it. Park shakes on the deal. And we'll see you next week from Yankee Stadium!

Soaked/blue to the bone

Park is in different states this weekend for two wildly different concerts.

Mine was tonight. It was originally billed as Buddy Guy and George Thorogood, but a look at the ticket with GT's name only told the real story. During the 11-block-or-so walk from fabulous dinner to Hammerstein Ballroom, the skies started to open. Result: some soaking wet concertgoers. It took Buddy's scorching riffs to eventually dry everyone off!

But first things first. Opening was the fabulous slide master Elvin Bishop -- who somehow rose above the aura created by his hot pink, hot green and white shirt -- to play some tremendous blues and New Orleans grooves. Highlight: "What the Hell Is Going On?" Lowlight: Fish-fish-fishin'. Surprise highlight: "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" -- then again if I realized that was his song in the first place I wouldn't have been so shocked. No, I would have, cause the slide killed! See for yourself:

Around 8, Buddy appears -- and he looks like Samuel L. Jackson's twin. As it is 8, he's not even one sheet to the wind yet... and for the second time this year one of Chicago's legends tells New York that he was expecting NY to be his favorite gig. (First was Liz Phair during her Exile in Guyville show.) Poor Chitown, really taking it on the chin.

He delivers a fabulous rendition of "Best Damn Fool" and "Out in the Woods" from the new album, Skin Deep. And with the downpour outside creating the pre-show mood for him, "Feels Like Rain" was particularly sweet and soulful. And, much to ark's expected dismay, "Who's Gonna Fill These Shoes" proved to be a real crowd please -- I'll admit myself to shrieking when Muddy and B.B. and Stevie Ray are name-checked in the song.

Buddy really got the crowd on his side (well those who were, let's say, paying less attention to him than the guy who took their tickets) when he made his way through the crowd as a medley paid homage to BB King and Muddy Waters. Not just the front half, mind you but through the entire venue -- including right past me and Liam. Even blew on the $3 harmonica as he went by, got the slimmest of smiles at that from him. He went up to the second floor, frightened a little kid by playing in his face and had the cell phones tracing his moves throughout.

And then he drove the audience even madder! There was a joyful "Boom Boom" for John Lee Hooker... But then ... I couldn't have even fathomed this one. The unique take on "Strange Brew." LOVED IT! This should be released!!!! (The below doesn't pay it justice at all, but it's on the right path.) And then a step further, Buddy wailed on some riffs by "Voodoo Chile." Topped off by ... I've seen Buddy play "Sunshine of Your Love" with a drumstick ... BUT NOT BY SLAPPING A TOWEL AGAINST HIS GUITAR. And it still sounds like it should... don't know how it's even possible.

As all great concerts do, it left me wanting to see Buddy again tomorrow! Oh well, whenever he does come back... there I will be. Oh, and just try following THAT Georgie.

P-

Paying the cost to see the boss...

Not The Boss, "the boss" aka "Love" in "When Love Comes to Town." The reigning King of blues. BB. Took an eight-hour train right after work to get to Virginia and thanks to the weather and the fabulous people at US Airways, it took 10-plus hours to get back. I was way late for work and had plenty of reason to sing the blues.

But back to the good stuff. Had spectacular 10th row seats at a very nice venue at the Ferguson Center in Newport News. I had seen BB earlier in the year and much of the stage patter was the same, but damn if it all wasn't as funny the second time around. His voice -- both on guitar and vocals -- is sounding strong, but he only plays/sings about 30 percent of the show, so he keeps one a-wantin'.

The blog photographer aka "ark" should be around at some point with some really awesome shots to share. After seeing B from several levels back a few months ago, it was cool to catch all the facial expressions from up close this time.

Oh, I meant to share the greatness of a tiny harmonica I got in Cape Cod last weekend. I jammed on the Soul Stew Revival's version of "The Weight"!!! At BB, I didn't jam, but I did use it to make myself known as an appreciator of the blues!

Forgive the BLUNTness of this blog. I'm still wiped, but I just wanted to let everyone know where in the F'n world Park was this weekend.

Coming up next? It's Splitsville for Park. Don't worry! Just two people in two different places. When not mailing in another day on the job (heehee), ark will be at Busch Gardens for not one but two Frampton concerts (wahhhhhwahhhhwahhhhhwahhhhhhh -- supposed to be the Geico commercial) and I'll be buddying it up with friend Liam at the Buddy Guy/George Thorogood show in NYC.

Ta-da! That's the end. ;)
P-

Park: The Early Works

Thought an email from ark covered many bases not touched in the initial entry, so I include it here for historical (and humorous) purposes.

Weekend last was Mark Knopfler at NJPAC in Newark, NJ. Beautiful venue, and perhaps the best sound I've ever encountered. I did pull the gig (2nd row, 2nd balcony) with a new set of Church Audio cards / Church 9100+ preamp. Haven't had time to work on it yet, this may be stellar. Next night, out to Oyster Bay on Long Island for Rick Springfield, who is the most well preserved 59 year old man I have ever seen. This goes beyond even Dick Clark standards. Puts on a good, fun show. Plus he picked on me. I'll be forever scarred by the words "Sir ... you DON'T want to do that".

This past weekend we packed up and headed to Hampton Beach, NH and Hyannis, Cape Cod, for 2 back to back Trucks / Tedeschi Soul Stew shows. Pai summed them up well:

http://whereinthefnworldispark.blogspot.com/2008/08/stewing-in-our-juices.html

I did not pull either show but the Hampton Beach show is up on archive.org for easy downloading:

http://www.archive.org/details/dtb2008-08-01.earthworks.flac16f

I got the camera unloaded fully today (it hasn't been getting along with my PC), and the photos from the trip are up, from the 2nd show at the Cape Cod Melody Tent:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AlmightyGeetarz/2008_08_02

It's a cool (well not cool, actually a little warm inside) venue with a slowly rotating stage, so every seat is fantastic. One has to wonder ... if they built the same thing in the southern hemisphere, would it rotate in the other direction? Enquiring minds and all that.

There are also selected clips from the Hyannis show up on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sLI0aB1kpQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1PM72DH9jc

Not sure what is going on with my camera, this is the 2nd time I have shot video and it's "disappeared" in the days between when it was shot and when I got home. Last time I had been fidding with the camera, this time I didn't touch it! Going to try and format the card, but there were several videos on there that have disappeared into the aether.

Last but not least, be sure to check out more of the Soul Stew shows, they are no where near as fun as they are in person but still a blast:

http://bt.etree.org/index.php?cat=60

This weekend: 3rd row for B.B. King @ the Ferguson Center in Newport News, Tuesday is Robert Randolph and the Family Band (and a bunch of bands I know nothing about), and next weekend, 2 back to back Peter Frampton shows at Busch Gardens. See y'all on the road!

Stewing in our juices

The inaugural road trip for Park took place this past weekend, starting Friday and venturing from Jersey (once the GPS would allow it) to New Hampshire and Massachusetts for Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi's Soul Stew Revival shows and back to Jersey before my shift started Sunday.

Here are some of the highlights:

--For those who know of the Derek Trucks Band, drummer Yonrico Scott is known for making artwork for each night's setlist. Like this: http://www.dtbsetlists.com/stagelists/20071005.jpg I've actually saved images of the various setlists over the years and made a screensaver of them at Webshots. And as I missed out on getting the setlist because the guitar tech got distracted by someone who said "Hey!" I was anxious to get one on this trip. Well, the good news is I got one of each! The bad news ... Yonrico didn't do his famous artwork. Oh well, they're setlists, right??
Here's the first show's: http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii234/devsjunkie/Music/08-08-01%20Hampton%20Beach%20Casino/?action=view&current=0800801dtbnh.jpg
--As you can see on the setlist, a few Derek and the Dominos' tracks sprinkled in there. I think they really REALLY kicked on Anyday both nights.
--Backtracking to tell you about the little bit of luck involved in getting our tickets. Both shows were long sold out by the time we decided to go, and not in that we-will-put-tickets-on-sale-on-the-morning-of-the-show kinda way. So I wound up scoring New Hampshire from a guy on Craig's List from Boston. And was feeling kinda discouraged about the chance of getting the Cape Cod tix. But last day before we left, someone at the Allman Brothers board put up a post and I was able to put in for them.
--So the only dampening of the trip enthusiasm was the massive traffic we happened upon in Connecticut and because of the delays we wound up in rush hour in New Hampshire. We still got to the venue in time for the show though, even though I missed meeting up with ABB girl, Sue. More on her later, again...
--Mark gave a description of the feel of Soul Stew that I agree with. So I'll paraphrase here... It really is a very enjoyable show, there are no real lulls and even the slow songs motor right on. It's almost over before you realize it. Obviously the musicians really enjoy each other's company and you can see that. More on this right now...
--So Derek's younger brother Duane (age 19) was playing drums with Yonrico Scott! (This family does a good job of naming their boys!) He totally looks like Derek too, just with brown hair instead of blond. With the lights down, people mistook him for Derek we think.
--As usual Derek head-on-a-stick was a hit. (Thanks Steve!) It's really night and day with that thing, ain't it? People either think it's the coolest thing ever or look at you like you're an escaped lunatic. (Everyone watch your step here...)
--After being unable to reach Sue after the show, we took off for Cape Cod to avoid the traffic. That turned out to be a very good decision and gave us time to do other things before the show too. We went to a huge flea market out on the island and found a myriad of fabulous things, including Biofreeze (which I mentioned needing because my neck hurt), a rockin' floppy hat for $2, a gorgeous ring I keep misplacing and the piece de resistance, a mini harmonica on a chain for $3!
--So anyway we feared we couldn't get into the show but then I got a voicemail from Sue. She hadn't sold my tickets to someone else after all! We were back in the game. Good thing too, because it's a rather small venue and I didn't see one person selling outside.
--It's a great little venue. The stage is in the center under a big tent and it rotates slooooowly one way for two or three songs, then the other way. Everyone gets a great view at some point. Which reminds me... Doyle SOOOO needs to book at this venue. ;)
--The first show seemed more powerful and the second show was more laid-back, I think. They were both great in their own way though. And it's good to have the complementary experience.
--It was really nice to be able to watch band dynamics with the revolving stage. Like Derek is rather emphatic about taking songs where they need to go, giving nods and that sort of thing. And the drummers were just communicating by eye contact all night. Until Derek said it was Duane's 18th birthday (which it wasn't! he'll be 20 in december) and Yonrico came over and squeezed the stuffing out of him. And seeing our favorite stage couple relate was also pretty cool. Susan is from the area so she had a TON of friends and family. And oh, when they came back out for the encore, someone put their arm on Susan and Derek like pushed the person away and led his wife to safety. Awwwww.
--Again I thought Anyday was a real highlight. There were a lot of them in this show though. I hope Mark will pass along the second setlist and some of the great pix I know he took.
--Lest everyone think that Mark managed not to get hurt ... he walked into a glass door at my building and suffered a pretty gushy nosebleed. In true Mark fashion, he was cracking up for two or three minutes before he could manage to tell me what he did. Silly rabbit.

Next up: Virginia-bound for some righteous seats for B.B. King! And some much-needed organizational work on M's collection.

The intro to Park

So my other half has been jonesing for me to start a blog and commit our adventures to non-paper. It seemed like a good enough idea, although my natural tendency would be to try and clean it up and make it more editorial style. I'm going to make a conscious effort to go against that style here and stay more ramblin' and laid-back.

So what's up with Park, right? It'll be tough to follow in the footsteps of history's great couples -- Brangelina, TomKat, Bennifer -- especially since Tom's footsteps are so freakin' tiny ... but Paige + Mark = ... an easier way to say Paige and Mark.