John Mayer / Ben Folds Show Review
Last week Seda and I went to see John Mayer at Riverport, with Ben Folds as the opening act. My review of the show:
Ben Folds was good, but seemed a little out of his element in front of such a large crowd. He strikes me as more of a Pageant guy vs. Riverport guy. He had drums and electric bass as accompaniment, and played mostly solo stuff, mostly from the Rockin’ The Suburbs album, with only a couple Ben Folds Five tunes that I recognized. He did, however, do a version of the (I’m assuming) late 80’s/early 90’s gansta rap “b*tchs ain’t sh#t”, complete with ALL original profanity – and I mean ALL of it. Hilarious to me, probably offensive to the parents in the audience.
At one point he tried getting the audience to do 3-part harmony, which was met with mixed results. At Mississippi Nights (RIP) or The Pageant, probably the entire crowd would be doing it. Here, not so much.
Speaking of the crowd, it was a pretty diverse and large enough to pack Riverport (okay, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre), but I must say I haven’t seen that many college girls all dolled up in one place since, well, probably since I as in college, and I don’t remember them being all dolled up back then. But there were quite a few older people (like us) and others even older than that. Apparently John Mayer has Mass Appeal.
The easiest way to summize the gig was this: We don’t own any John Mayer CDs, but I want to go out and buy every one of them now. He was that good. He was awesome, actually – I’d say in the Top 5 Gigs I’ve seen in the last few years easily.
First, the dude does not miss a single note vocally. All the high, falsetto-ish stuff he does on his radio tunes – not once did he cop out and sing a 3rd or an octave lower – he hit every note. Second, the guy is a seriously good guitar player. You don’t hear much of it on his radio stuff, but the boy clearly loves his Blues, and plays a Fender Strat very, very well – lots of guitar solos, and a really good tone – think cleaner bluesy, with no distortion at all. For those interested in such things, he alternated between 3 Strats and one acoustic, but did play a Gibson on one tune. He also played a couple of tunes with cool electric guitar riffs, stuff I’ve heard on XM Radio but never on STL radio.
Third, he did what John Mellencamp does – surrounded himself with a top-shelf band that sounds awesome, with a very good sound man. He had 2 backup guitarists, bass, keys, sax, trumpet, and drums. The sound mix was great, and the band was Solid. I think they were chosen as much for the background vocal ability as much as their musicianship – the harmonies were spot-on.
He did one encore (2 tunes – one acoustic with just him and other 2 guitar players, the second w/ the full band), and the finale had what may be one of the best musical transitions I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was a slow, mellow tune, and he was doing a slow, mellow guitar solo. Then it just starts building, and suddenly the entire mood has changed and the whole band is louder, more forceful, and John is just wailing on the Strat – I mean just making it scream in a great bluesy solo. Almost gave me goosebumps when they shifted gears. It was awesome.
So to sum up – Terrific show, if he came back next week we’d go. If you’ve only heard his radio stuff, that’s not even 1/2 of what the boy can do.
For The Good of The Sport (or, Why I didn’t sell my bike for the sake of Karma)
Having recently decided that we would get a new streetbike this year, the TL1000S has officially been put into the For Sale category. This is the story of why it’s still in the garage (for now).
I was emailing a couple riding buddies regarding an asking price for the TL, and one of them mentioned that an acquaintence of his was looking for a bike in that price range. Email addresses were exchanged, pics of the bike were sent, and we (the friend of a friend and I) set up a time to meet so I could show him my bike in person.
My riding buddy had been under the impression that the potential buyer had owned bikes previously and was getting back into the sport. He was apparently pumped by the pics and was very interested in my bike. I’d met him briefly at a party a few weeks before and he seemed like a solid guy, so it was looking good…
So we meet up at a neutral place in IL, the guy and his wife and me and my TL. He’s looking at the bike (which of course I had super clean and shiny) and mentions that he’s never owned a bike before, but that he’d ridden some friends’ 600cc bikes back in the day (early 90s). My bike is really clean, he’s pretty excited. But my Ambassador For The Sport voice immediately kicked in…
I asked (to clarify) if he’d really never owned a bike before – he had not. I looked at my bike, looked at him and his wife, and said “Honestly, if you’ve never owned a bike before and don’t have much experience, this is not the bike for you”, of course killing the sale.
I explained the difference in power/acceleration/engine character between my 1000cc bike and a 600cc or 650cc bike. I explained that my bike (or any 1000cc) needs more commitment, more skill, and more input to ride quickly. I commented that, in my time as a Control Rider for MCRA track days, the guys and gals on 600s tend to progress faster than their 1000cc-riding counterparts. And I told him that he’d probably get a lot more confidence by riding a smaller bike vs. an intimidating (power-wise) 1000cc. Basically, I said that in my opinion as a rider of 26 years, racer for 7, and instructor for 3, I’d recommend a 600cc 4-cylinder or an SV650 v-twin as a starter bike for him, and that I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling him my 115hp beast as a first bike. I also told him he could call or email me with any questions he came up with as he continued his search.
I did this for a couple reasons. First – this is a friend of a friend, so for me to sell him my bike only to hear weeks later that it wheelied over or highsided him off or something would not be good Karma. But more than that, cheesy as it may sound, I really try to be a good ambassador for the sport. I always try to talk it up to non-riders, try to explain that we’re not all stunters scaring soccer moms, that racing isn’t about adenaline as much as it is about precision and mental analysis, etc. And I always, ALWAYS preach to whoever will listen that newbies should NOT ride 1000cc bikes – they are truly accidents waiting to happen in my professional opinion.
Every newbie who’s ever asked me about a potential sportbike purchase has gotten the same story – Start on an SV650 or few-year-old 600, buy all the riding gear and wear it all the time, build/hone your skills, and enjoy the ride. Only after you have a year or two or several thousand miles under your belt should you even CONSIDER a sportbike larger than 600cc. Until you’ve ridden a 1000 you can’t imagine/understand the difference in acceleration….
So, after years of preaching this mantra, I wasn’t about to change lanes just to take this guy’s money. I’ll find a suitable buyer or I’ll trade it in, but I won’t sell it to a newbie. Here’s hoping that Karma comes back around.
As a brief follow up, props go out to this potential buyer. After our meeting, he did indeed start looking at smaller bikes, and called me to ask my thoughts on a SV650 he was looking at. Full marks to him to listening to advice and going the smart route, not the testosterone route. Hopefully he’ll enjoy the sport more this way and stay in it!
Beer Book Review – Tom Schlafly’s Memoires
I recently read Tom Schlafly’s book, “A New Religion in Mecca – Memoires of a Renegade Brewery in St. Louis” and thought I’d post a review.
This is definetely a good read for the Schlafly fan. Those who know me know my well-documented affection for nearly all things St. Louis Brewery-related (www.schlafly.com), including The Tap Room, The Bottle Works, and nearly all of the 40-odd styles of beer they brew every year (which, incidently, you can sample at the annual Hop In The City festival in September). So I may be biased a bit, but I liked the book. It’s a nice snapshot of the history of The Saint Louis Brewery, Schlafly beer, and an interesting look inside a functioning Microbrewery.
One thing the book does, which Mr. Schlafly points out immediately, is wander from topic to topic. He says this follows the path of The Saint Louis Brewery – they never had a concrete, super-well-developed plan, they really had an outline and then flew by the seat of their pants and learned as they went. The book does the same. Thus all topics are not necessarily in chronological order – they are more in topical order, if you will. It doesn’t really disrupt the flow, it’s really very conversational.
In every chapter it is apparent that Mr. Schlafly has an excellent knowledge of many historical topics, not just beer history. Throught the book there are quick references to historical persons, events, or places that add to the current topic. The guy is incredibly well-rounded – no wonder his beers are so good.
One of the highlights of the book is a 24-page section of photos – sort of a photographical history of The Saint Louis Brewery the company and Tom Schlafly the person. There are some really great photos of both the business and the man. Good stuff.
This book is not long (102 pages) and a quick read – I read it entirely on the flight from STL to NYC this week. Nothing too deep or philisophical, but an enlightening and entertaining look at my favorite brewing company. It definetely gets the Cleezmo Stamp of Approval.
