Concert #511 - Graham Parker at McCabe's Guitar Shop (May 29, 2009)

I have never been one of Graham Parker's true fans, but it's hard to be an avid music listener without hearing his songs, sooner or later. A few of them - "Bad Chardonnay" and "The Madness Of Love", the Richard Thompson composition - had been on heavy rotation on my iPod, so just before the show sold out, I jumped on the bandwagon and got myself a ticket to see him live at McCabe's. I sat in the front row.

The show was OK, but not great - Graham did well, but simply put, there were just too many songs I didn't know - all of them, to be precise. There were plenty of connoisseurs around me, so at times I felt a bit out of place there.

The show was opened by Tom Freund, he was OK, but for me it was yet more songs I didn't know ...

Tom Freund

 

 

Concert #58 - The Smithereens at the Universal Amphitheater (February 16, 1990)

With songs like "Only A Memory", "A Girl Like You", "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" and Blood And Roses", the Smithereens caught the ears of many music fans, myself included. Together with my friend Ron C, I went to see the Smithereens at the Universal Amphitheater, on a cold and rainy night.

The show was nothing special, I was soon to find out. Simply put, their studio recordings sound better than their live act. Pat DiNizio was a great songwriter and I liked his voice, but live on stage they were rather bland. But I got to hear all of the above-mentioned songs.

Here's a great song written by Pat DiNizio, recorded in 1989:

Graham Parker opened the show. At the time, I wasn't familiar with his music and I can't say that I walked away thoroughly impressed. Today, I'm just a tad more knowledgeable when it comes to his music.