I've Decided I'm Givin' Up Food For Funk

Who's with me?

The Man On Top of Marilyn Monroe

A party from Japan withdraws a $4.6-million bid on EBay to take Richard Poncher's spot at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, directly above Marilyn Monroe. Other top bidders have 24 hours to submit new offers.

There's a great story about Richard "Freddie" Poncher was entombed face down per his dying request. According to a recent Los Angeles times article, Poncher's wife, Elsie, said that when her husband was dying, he made a request. "He said, 'If I croak, if you don't put me upside down over Marilyn, I'll haunt you the rest of my life.' "

After the funeral, Poncher said, she conveyed her husband's wish to the funeral director. "I was standing right there, and he turned him over," she said.

I wonder if the "lucky" person who is ultimately entombed will also follow Poncher's lead?

My Soundtrack (as of 08.23.09 8:14pm)

An old music buddy of mine, Steve Salkin, challenged me with "What's on you iPod." Here's the deal. Get your iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, iTunes or whatever you use to play your music digitally. Turn on the Shuffle and play. Put down the first song that comes up. Skip ahead 5 songs, write down that song. Skip ahead 5 songs, write down that song. And so on, and so on, until you reach 10, 15, 20 or 25 songs (whenever you want to stop).

Steve noted, "No cheating. The song that comes up is the song that gets listed -- no shaking your head "Nah" and skipping ahead because what came up isn't "cool." One caveat: I think you should allowed to skip a song if you've already listed one from the same album/show."

Fair enough, Steve. Here's my list:

1. Inner Meet Me - Beta Band (The Three E.P.'s)
   
2. Empty Space, Pt 1 (demo) - Pink Floyd (The Wall: Under Construction)
   
3. Lilywhite Lilith - Genesis (Lamb Lies Down on Broadway)
   
4. Family Tree - Loretta Lynn (Van Lear Rose)
   
5. Don't You Evah - Spoon (Tallahassee 11-8-2007)
   
6. Sho is Funky Down Here - The 8th Wonder of the World, James Brown
   
7. Magic Bus - THE WHO (The Kingdome, Seattle, 1982)
   
8. Kerry - Hall & Oates (Bigger Than the Both of Us) NOTE: Everyone should listen to this album.
   
9. Printemps Qui Commence - Maria Callas (Samson et Dalila, opera in 3 acts, Op. 47: Act 1: ) NOTE: If you never heard this then you've never lived. Beautiful, simply beautiful.
   
10. Unknown Caller - U2 (No Line on the Horizon)
    
11. Ram On - Paul McCartney (Ram [mono])
    
12. Morning Dew - Greateful Dead (Dick's Picks Vol. 7 - London, 1974)
    
13. Stornelli Fiorentini - Carlo Buti (Quando L'autore Canta)
    
14. Master Blaster - Stevie Wonder (Hotter Than July)
    
15. Lonesome Home Blues - Buddy Guy (Blues Singer)
    
16. Singin' Call - Stephen Stills (Stephen Stills 2)
    
17. Sunday Sun - Beck (Sea Change)
    
18. Do the Evolution - Pearl Jam (Camden 07/05/2003)
    
19. Cigarette and Chocolate Mike - Rufus Wainwright (Poses)
    
20. If You Love Me Baby - Little Milton (Sun Records: The Blues Years)
    
21. Down by the River - Neil Young (Everybody Knows this is Nowhere)
    
22. I'm a One Woman Man - George Jones
    
23. Under a Blanket of Blue - Ella and Louie (The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong)
    
24. Dreams - Black Crowes (Sheperd's Bush, 03/20/2006)
    
25. Bad, Bad Women - Shuflers (The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story)

I Ain't Hiding from the Black Crowes No More

I like the Black Crowes. I have since I first time I heard "Jealous Again" almost 20 years ago. Their music is very similar to that of the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and The Faces -- gritty, funky, raw, with a dash of southern charm and dirty bong water.

Last year, after a lengthy hiatus, the Black Crowes released Warpaint. What a disappointment. I said, to myself, why did they release this? I wanted this "comeback" album to be so good and it was so boring. It was after my third or fourth listen that I decided that the Black Crowes were dead to me and nothing could bring me back.

Yesterday, I listened to their new single, "I Ain't Hiding." At first listen, I was like, "what the hell is this? Are you kidding me?" I bet I had the same reaction to this song as I did the first time I heard "Emotional Rescue" from the Stones. But there was something "cool" about this record and I listened to it again. And again. And again. Twenty-four hours later I've listened to this song about 15 times. I can't get enough of it. Like "Emotional Rescue" it's got a disco-like groove but its a lot more funky. There's even some "oooh oooh" background vocals, a little wah wah and the guitar solo? Forget about it. Its excellent.

If you get chance and you a have a few minutes to listen to this song a few times in a row I promise you won't regret it.

Welcome back Black Crowes. I missed you.

Listen / Download:
I Ain't Hiding - The Black Crowes
Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones

Rock Show's I've Seen Over the Years

I've seen a lot of FaceBook people listing their concerts over the last few days and I'd thought I'd share mine too. The above Don Henley concert was a show Jeff Haessler I saw 24 years ago today. As you might guess, it was boring as hell. I would rather go to a dentist than see another Don Henley show.

Most of the concerts I saw took took place at the Philadelphia Spectrum. I saw so many concerts there and I'm just elated to be going to the Spectrum's final curtain call with Pearl Jam in October.

My favorite venue to see a show, however, is The Tower Theatre. Some of my favorite shows there include David Gilmour in 1984; The Rolling Stones in 2002; Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Lou Reed, Tangerine Dream, The Kinks, CSN (acoustic) and just recently I saw Eddie Vedder with Steve Oakley.

My favorite concert of all time, however, was Live Aid. Chris DeFranco, Jay Friel and I sat in 90+ degree temperatures that day soaking in the sun and tunes. Stupid me, I wore jeans and at one point I tried to use a pen to rip a hole in them so that I could make shorts. I was unsuccessful. So, as I sat and listened to the music I watched the shade move across the stadium towards me. Just about the time we were finally sitting in shade Led Zeppelin took the stage. Stairway to Heaven never sounded cooler.

Below represents most of the shows I've seen. The * represents artists I've seen multiple times. The + classifies this artist as an opening act.

To see my ticket stubs and set-lists visit http://budurl.com/concerts

A Flock of Seagulls
AC/DC
Aerosmith*
Alice in Chains+
Amnesty International
Anvil+
BB King
Billy Joel
Billy Squire+
Black Crowes
Blue Oyster Cult+
Blues Traveler+
Bo Diddley+
Bonnie Raitt
Bob Dylan
Bob Seger
Bruce Springsteen*
BTO+
Cars
Cheap Trick
Cinderella+
Clash+
Coors+
Crosby, Stills & Nash*
Dave Edmunds
David Bowie*
David Gilmour
David Lee Roth
Deep Purple*
Def Leppard
Del Fuegos+
Disposable Hero's+
Don Henley
Eddie Vedder
Ellen Foley+
Elton John
ELO
El Vez
Elvis Costello
Eric Clapton*
Firm
Foreigner*
Frank Sinatra (w/Sammy Davis Jr. and Liza)
Frank Zappa
Genesis*
George Thorogood*
Georgia Satellites
Gomez
Grateful Dead*
Guns & Roses+
Huey Lewis+
Icicle Works+
Iggy Pop+
INXS
James Taylor
Janet Jackson
Jeff Beck
Jimmy Cliff+
Joan Jett & Blackhearts*
Joe Cocker
John Cougar Mellencamp
John Lee Hooker+
Journey*
Katrina & Waves+
Keith Richards*
Kinks*
Live Aid
Living Colour+
Lone Justice+
Lou Reed*
Loverboy+
Lyle Lovett+
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Madness+
Madonna
Monsters of Rock Festival
Motels+
Nick Lowe (w/Paul Carrack)+
Nona Hendryx+
Outlaws+
Paul McCartney*
Paul Young+
Pearl Jam*
Pete Townshend*
Peter Gabriel*
Pink Floyd*
Police
Pretenders*
Primus+
Prince*
Ramones+
Ray Davies
Red Ryder+
REM+
Ringo Starr
Robert Cray
Robert Palmer
Robert Plant*
Rod Stewart*
Roger Daltrey*
Roger Waters*
Rolling Stones*
Rush
Santana
Smithereens+
Soul Asylum+
Squeeze*
Stanley Jordan+
Steve Miller
Steve Winwood
Stevie Ray Vaughn*
Stevie Wonder
Styx
Supertramp
Tangerine Dream
Ted Nugent+
Tom Petty & Heartbreakers
U2*
UFO+
Van Hagar*
Van Halen
Who*
Wynton Marsalis
Yes*
ZZ Top

Genesis, Duke Tour was the first show I ever saw. I saw them with Tom Hartman and Ronnie Hooker. Hard to believe that was 29 years ago.

Rolling Stones, Tower, 2002 (with Rich Masterson)

Rolling Stones, JFK Stadium, 1981 (with Jeff Haessler)