(Quick comment on Family Guy tonight. Two quick gags that had me on the ground laughing. First off was the triumphant return of Soundwave, the coolest Transformer ever. The second was the full minute spent on the “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time.” That was off the charts funny. Seriously, I hope I didn’t imagine that sketch because if I did then it means I really, really, really out to lay off the absinthe.)
So, I went to see Blues Traveler on Friday night. Ok, technically I went to see Carbon Leaf, who was opening for Blues Traveler. Carbon Leaf put on their classic, extremely sufficient show. I do like these guys, I’ve seen them three times this year and they’ve never disappointed. I’m just not sure if they’ve ever appointed, either. They just put on a really solid show with really solid songs and when they leave the stage you go, “Those guys were really good” and then you immediately forget about them. Not sure if I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.
Anyway, before I even got to see the bands I had to make it to the venue, which was the Voodoo Lounge at Harrah’s Casino. For those of you who were witness to my two week long rant about the venue that didn’t exist and how that was proof that the universe is against me, this is that venue. So, that was a bad sign to begin with. But the bigger problem is that this is in a casino and I’m just not a casino person. Especially when it means that I have to walk past the dinner buffet to get to where I need to go. I’m walking to the show and looking around at the crowd going, “Wow, this is like the saddest thing that I have ever seen.”
Which is probably a very arrogant statement on my part. I mean, everyone there was there for a good time or a cheap meal. It’s just that from my perspective, casinos and lotteries are simply taxes on people who are bad at math. Doesn’t matter how you spin, how much you say, “But you have to factor in the entertainment value”, all I ever see are people losing money they really don’t have to lose. And I have a real hatred of buffets for deep seated psychological reasons that no one other than my therapist would care about (and even in that interest he tends to go, “Oh no, not this again.”) Let’s just say that this doesn’t put me in the best of moods when I actually got inside the venue.
And couldn’t get a drink to save my life. Seriously, I think they had three bartenders for five hundred people. Other than that, it was a pretty nice place. It is built like the House of Blues, which means that it has a really nice stage and a good soundsystem. It lacks all of those little interesting touches that House of Blues puts on the side of the stage to make it feel like you’re in a roadhouse. On the plus side, you get rid of that fake feeling you get in HOB where you know that you are in a place owned by a multinational comglomerate. On the other hand, now it is just a stage, reinforcing in your mind that “I’m watching a band in a casino and if I wanted to do this I would have just gone to Vegas.”
Blues Traveler put on their usual show. John Popper just isn’t the same now that he has lost all that weight. Sure it probably saved his life but part of the fun of the band a decade ago was that they had this big fat guy playing harmonica. Now it’s a slightly overweight guy who doesn’t even wear that ammo vest holding his harmonicas anymore. It was a good show, don’t get me wrong, but the entire night just felt off to me.
All I can take from this is that I may be so accustomed to seeing bands in small venues where half the time I know the owners of the place that I am completely spoiled when it comes to seeing music. Maybe I’ve just become so much of a music snob that even the hint of corporate influence sends me off the deep end. Or maybe the thought that I had during the encore sums it up best, “You know, I’ve got a Kasey Chambers CD in my car right now and I’d much rather listen to that.”
The five random CDs of the week:
1) Jimmy Buffett “Off to See the Lizard”
2) Jump, Little Children “Magazine”
3) The Polyphonic Spree “Together We’re Heavy”
4) The Juliana Hatfield Three “Become What You Are”
5) Cowboy Junkies “Studio”
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