There's Always Someone Cooler Than You: October 2008

So last Friday night, Rach and I were fortunate enough to catch Richard Thompson at South Portland High School (?!?) where he was playing a rescheduled show. This was after his unfortunate run-in with a scorpion last spring. We'd just seen him do his "1,000 Years of Popular Music" show at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield about two months previous, so we didn't spring for tickets at the time. Rach wasn't all that excited about the show because he didn't play one of her all-time favorite songs, "'52 Vincent Black Lightning". There was good reason for disappointment, as it is an amazing song, with some of the craziest finger-style playing you're likely to ever see or hear. But RT put on an amazing show that night, and I was totally blown away by his versatility and the power of his playing. He didn't play the tune below that night either, but man, he makes even Britney Spears look good. He did do a brutal version of Nellie Furtado's "Maneater" that night, and an amazing cover of the Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind", which, if I'd had my eyes closed, I would have sworn had him playing three different guitars simultaneously.

His show last Friday was the one Rach hoped for: solo RT for about two solid hours, and three encores. The ONLY drawback was the boomers in the audience (sorry if any of my boomer readers take offense) hollering out requests a la "FREEBIRD". And he dropped "'52 Vincent" on us. Simply amazing.

This Friday night we are making the trip to Brownfield again, kids in tow, to catch Peter Mulvey. He is not as famous as RT, but is a great guy, a fantastic songwriter and story teller, and he can shred an acoustic guitar pretty well, too. (NB: see what he does from about 2:20-2:40...if you've ever tried to play guitar, your jaw will likely drop...the only similar thing about my guitar playing to Peter's is that we use the same capo.) Last I knew there are still tickets available for this amazing show, at a pretty cool venue. $20. C'mon, what else would you be doing on a Friday night?

So, on successive Friday nights, we'll be hitting paydirt, hence the "Quinella" I mentioned in the title. But there was a fleeting chance that I was going to hit the Trifecta this week. I was listening to my iTunes last week, and Billy Bragg's "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" came on. I wondered to myself if Billy was on tour anytime soon. I checked out his website, and OH MY GOD!!!!, he is playing tomorrow night (Thursday) in Lebanon, NH. Billy Bragg is one of my rock 'n roll idols, described in some circles as "a one-man Clash". He and John Doe of X are the two guys I'd most like to have been if I'd been a "rock star" (so, yeah, I'd like to be more of a "cult rock star").

Suffice to say, this week has been hell, and I decided to hold off and make a game-time decision as to whether I'd drive the three hours out-and-back to Lebanon. I just can't do it. I have a feeling I wouldn't see Peru alive again. So I'm kinda glad I didn't bet the Trifecta, but I'm providing it here for you on There's Always Someone Cooler Than You. It's my pledge week gift to my loyal readers. Henry Rollins says "1(800)866-1475...that's the number to call to keep this great resource coming to you. It couldn't happen without you. 1(800)866-1475. And this is a matching pledge break, so your money will do double duty."

Anyway, Billy is not the great guitarist that the other two guys on here are, but he is one of my panoply. The lyrics to this updated version of "Waiting" are quite different from when the Soviet Union was still intact, but even more salient today. Rock on, Billy...without me.