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I’m Distracted By The Rare Act Of Purchasing Concert Tickets

November 12, 2012 By Jeff 36 Comments

Tickets have been purchased for the Graham Parker and the Rumour show in Philadelphia, later this month.  So, there you go.  I make it to about two shows per year at this point, and believe this will be the second or third of 2012.  So, I’m right on schedule.

Graham Parker hasn’t toured with the Rumour in more than 30 years, and I’m really looking forward to it.  They’re legends.  I’m going with Steve, and Surf Reporter Dr. Buford.  In fact, we’re having dinner and pre-show beers at the good doc’s house.

I don’t generally hobnob with readers of the site, on account of my mental illnesses, but I’m getting better.  I’m starting to come around a bit to the way normal folks behave.  In fact, I met Dr. Buford at the Banshee Bar in Scranton a couple of years ago, so we’re already acquainted.  He’s a good guy: a Jean Shepherd fan from Sissonville, WV.  Plus, he knows and appreciates Graham Parker.  Hell to the yes!

As unlikely as it might seem, GP apparently plays a sizable role in the upcoming Judd Apatow movie, This is 40.  As best as I can tell, the lead character has a mid-life crisis and decides to start his own independent record label — something he’s always wanted to do.  But he wants to sign REAL artists, like Graham Parker.  And everything goes downhill from there.  Heh.

Yeah, Graham never sold a lot of albums, but he made some great ones.  He blamed his original American label, Mercury, for his failure to break through.  In fact, he wrote and recorded a pissed-off song about it, called Mercury Poisoning.

I’ve got Mercury poisoning
It’s fatal and it don’t get better
I’ve got Mercury poisoning
The best kept secret in the west

So anyway… That all came together today.  And it’s the reason why this update ain’t much.

Our next concert will almost certainly be the Eels.  They have a new album coming out in February, and always tour.  I want to take my boys this time.  They’re 16 and 14, and are ready for a good club show.  Both of them have grown up listening to E, and are as familiar with his music as they are the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.  It’s always a great, rockin’ show, and I know they’d have a blast.

Did you ever go to any concerts with your folks?  Mine liked country, so we didn’t have too many memorable rock ‘n’ roll bonding moments.  It was mostly just my dad yelling for me to turn that shit down, and saying things like, “That is easily the worst thing I’ve ever heard.”  What about you?

Also, have you taken your own kids to any rock shows?  How did it go?  Please tell us about it in the comments.

And I promise to do better tomorrow.  I’m distracted today — in a full-on Graham Parker frenzy.

Have a great day!

Now playing in the bunker
Treat yourself to something cool at Amazon!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Swami Bologna says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    Yup.

    Reply
  2. Uncle_Wedgie says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    (Lifts chin) Sup?

    Reply
  3. knucklehead says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Whenever the Dead Kennedys hit the turntable at my house, my dad would invariably say “Oh, I’ll be humming THAT in the shower tomorrow morning” coupled with an eye roll.
    LOVE Graham Parker. Bummed I can’t see him. Will be looking forward to your full review after the show. I have to live vicariously through my friends in the states now. Live music here is few and far between and most of it is in Rome or Milan. One of the few things I miss about San Francisco.

    Reply
  4. Droogie RN says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    Never any concerts with my folks. They were into Swing and I was into KISS, so it wasn’t happening. We did take the kids to U2 and to RUSH and (and boy child/aspiring metal guitarist to Motörhead, Slayer and Slipknot). Good times!

    Reply
  5. mike says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    Still love his cover of the Jackson 5 – ‘I want you back’
    m.

    Reply
  6. Jason says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    I think the closer I get to death the more irritated I get with music that I used to love. I’ve never been a huge music snob, mind you, but things I used to like sound like a fucking seizure to me now.

    My dad and/or grandfather used to literally destroy my records and tapes when they found them. “Goddamn hippy rock star band!” he’d say, while snapping one of my records on the edge of the dining room table. The best I can tell my parents and grandparents liked no music whatsoever. They prefered absolute silence. Not even Bing Crosby was played.

    I think the last concert I went to was to see Guns N Roses – been a long time. I remember Axl Rose coming in above us on a cable thing, a zip cable or whatever. He was wearing a red jock strap and a black leather jacket.

    Reply
    • Uncle_Wedgie says

      November 12, 2012 at 4:48 pm

      Because you really want to see Axl from below while he is wearing a jockstrap

      Reply
      • Jason says

        November 12, 2012 at 7:33 pm

        I didn’t get a good look but I bet he could use an anal bleaching, ya know? And because he’s a redhead, his scrotum and ass are probably unusually repulsive and upsetting.

        Reply
        • Uncle_Wedgie says

          November 12, 2012 at 8:33 pm

          That dude needs a full body bleaching

          Reply
  7. madz1962 says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:37 pm

    Took my parents and my aunt to see Neil Diamond. It was actually a pretty fun concert. What also sweetened the pot was we had tickets in the press boxes of the old Madison Square Garden. Nobody in front of us, nobody behind and there was a little table where we could put our beers!

    I alos took my Mom to see the Irish crooner Frank Patterson. It was around St. Patrick’s day so I treated the old crow.

    I don’t have kids, but I distinctly remember my niece’s first concert was Hootie and the Blowfish.

    My very own first concert was “The New Barbarians” which were Keith Richards and Ron Wood. In 1979. At the old Madison Square Garden!

    Reply
  8. Laina says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    We took our oldest to see REM when she was 9. She is 26 now, and to my knowledge, still wears the t-shirt.

    Reply
    • johnthebasket says

      November 12, 2012 at 9:03 pm

      I don’t know whether to offer condolences for the slow growth curve or beg for a recent pic of her in the shirt, but I’m leaning toward the latter.

      John

      Reply
      • Craigbob says

        November 13, 2012 at 12:31 am

        Post a link, jtb. Post a link.

        Reply
  9. Henderson says

    November 12, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    My parents were way too old to teach me about rock-n-roll, so I had to learn about it the same place I learned about sex… from Aunt Ralph.

    Reply
  10. Dr Buford says

    November 12, 2012 at 3:03 pm

    If anybody has anything they’d like to ask Mr. Kay in person (no, he looks nothing like the picture he purports is him. He’s actually 4’11” with a shock of red hair, a hump, and abnormally long arms…kinda like Carrot Top and Olive Oyl had a baby. Really weird, man.

    Reply
    • Bill in WV says

      November 12, 2012 at 4:15 pm

      Doc, that hump was a direct result of his bout with the ricketts back in Jr High School.

      Reply
      • Dr Buford says

        November 12, 2012 at 5:29 pm

        Ah, the great Dunbar ricketts bout of 77… We had polio 80s back in my day in the Ville…

        Reply
  11. chill says

    November 12, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    Looking at the Christgau link, I see that I bought numbers 4, 7, 28 and 29 that year; picked up 30, 31 and 35 a few years later. At the time I was exposed to most mainstream new music via working at the college radio station, so I’m familiar with most of RC’s list, but for some reason I never “got into” GP.

    ‘Einstein on the Beach’ in particular was a big expensive multi-disc set, so I did not purchase it. Will it get some wind for the sailboat? Will it get some cash for the album?

    I recall my dad taking us kids to movies and ball games now and then, but never concerts. My parents mostly listened to classical, and we lived in Brooklyn, just a subway ride away from any number of symphony orchestras and opera houses, but I guess tickets were expensive.

    The first “real” concert I attended was Loggins and Messina in the summer of 1976 at Tanglewood, Mass.
    .

    Reply
    • DaveF says

      November 12, 2012 at 8:36 pm

      Saw Bob Marley at the Music Inn which I think was associated with Tanglewood. Best show ever.

      Reply
      • chill says

        November 12, 2012 at 8:46 pm

        Bob Marley! One of many artists I would have liked to see, and could have, but I didn’t and now they’re dead. Other examples: Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Ramones, Ray Charles, the B-52’s. (Only one B-52 is dead AFAIK, but it counts.)
        .

        Reply
        • madz1962 says

          November 13, 2012 at 8:45 am

          I wish I could have seen Sinatra in his heyday. I did see Tony Bennett a few years ago and the man’s pipes are still pretty damn pristine.

          Reply
        • Fancy Pants Maguire says

          November 13, 2012 at 12:12 pm

          I can remember seeing Johnny cash once with my dad at the county fair. It was a surprise appearance. He just came out on stage during a set by some relative of his (I think it was Tommy Cash), and played about a half dozen songs. All this in a rickety little tent in front of about 50-60 people. Wow, I just remembered that!

          I am glad that I got to see the Ramones a half dozen times or so while they were an active band. I have since visited Joey’s grave in NJ, and am going to go visit Johnny’s and Dee Dee’s graves next week in L.A. The Ramones were the reason I got through my teenage years intact. The way I saw it, they made it cool to be a freak.

          Reply
          • Max says

            November 13, 2012 at 12:47 pm

            Would love to have seen Stevie Ray Vaughan.

            Reply
  12. Jorge says

    November 12, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    I went to a Kenny Rogers Christmas show with my folks. I’ve already told the story, but it was a great time.

    Went to see Madonna last week. That sucked. I need to go see Toby Keith now just to get back in balance.

    Reply
    • bikerchick says

      November 13, 2012 at 8:27 am

      A friend of mine went to see the Madonna concert last week. She said the concert was to start at 7:30. Madonna didn’t come on stage until 10:45. No opening act. When she did make it out she was wearing an Obama T-shirt, singing his praises. Everyone said she didn’t want to come on stage until she could announce the election results. She injected comments about Obama during her whole concert, making it a political statement the entire night. My friend paid $200 for her tickets. She said it was one of the worst shows she had ever seen.

      Reply
      • madz1962 says

        November 13, 2012 at 8:48 am

        I took my younger sister to see Madonna around 1987. Back then, it wasn’t so bad. Now? no friggin way.

        Reply
  13. johnthebasket says

    November 12, 2012 at 9:14 pm

    Dad took me to see the Three Stooges, which technically wasn’t a music concert unless I contrast it with the Arlo Guthrie concert I saw a decade later. Arlo was a dick, while Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe seemed like nice old gentlemen still capable of cracking up a ten-year-old fan.

    John

    Reply
  14. Bum says

    November 12, 2012 at 9:59 pm

    My late father was 44 years older than me, so it’s no surprise that our musical tastes didn’t overlap in any way shape or form. In the mid-to-late 70’s, he dragged my pre-teen ass, kicking and screaming, to Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh see the following in concert: Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Les Brown, Harry James, and others that I can’t remember right now. I hated it then, but now I’m thankful; as my musical tastes have expanded, and as I came to realize what legends those people were, I learned to take pride in bragging to people that I saw these legendary big band leaders in their waning years. Ironically, back then I viewed those guys as washed-up corny old men, and doing the math now, some of them were a good ten years younger than the Stones are now!!! As a postscript, in the 80’s I finally got my dad to realize that not all rock music was noise; he actually developed a slight liking to some of the jazz/classical- influenced progressive rockers like ELP and some of Rick Wakeman’s solo stuff.
    Thanks for taking me to Basie, dad! R.I.P.

    Reply
    • Gordion Knott says

      November 13, 2012 at 11:18 am

      >Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Les Brown, Harry James, and others that I can’t remember right now.

      I love rock, but I’d give up VIP-seating tickets to any currently performing act for a lineup like that. F’ing unreal.

      Reply
  15. Kelly from Iowa says

    November 12, 2012 at 10:31 pm

    My first concert: my folks took my brother and I to see Olivia Newton John (waaay before Grease). Paul Williams opened up for her and told dirty jokes. I was nearly scarred for life by the diminutive Dr. Zaius. I think i was about 10.

    Reply
  16. Lee Harvey Ramone says

    November 12, 2012 at 11:24 pm

    Wanna know what I like? I likes me some balogna, that’s what I like.

    Reply
    • johnthebasket says

      November 13, 2012 at 4:29 am

      Are you talkin’ bout Jerry Bologna, the guy with the mustache?

      Reply
  17. Heather B says

    November 13, 2012 at 7:22 am

    My mother took me to see Arlo in 1986 (still have the shirt, it still fits) and I just took her and my daughter to see him a few weeks ago. Circle of life or something.

    Reply
  18. bikerchick says

    November 13, 2012 at 8:38 am

    I was born when my parents were almost 40, so by the time I cared about attending concert, they were going for the early bird special at the local diner. Even if we had gone to a show, it would have been Connie Francis or Johnny Mathis or something like that.

    Reply
  19. Gordion Knott says

    November 13, 2012 at 11:14 am

    >Did you ever go to any concerts with your folks?

    Hah! Don’t get me started. To my ‘rents, also members of the Swing generation like the above poster, rock-n-roll — always referred to as “rock music,” or “that rock music,” never just rock — is earsplitting, mindless, cacophonous noise. It’s the stuff “kids these days listen to” — never mind the fact that most kids today listen to electronic music, like dubstep and EDM.

    Reply
  20. Max says

    November 13, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    First concert ever was The Menus at a rib cookoff I believe.

    However, I still consider my first real concert to be Metallica back in 2004 down in Cincinnati. It was an awesome show.

    Reply

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