Warren Haynes whom I have seen with Gov't Mule, Allman Bros., The Dead and Dave Matthews is always a pleasure to listen to. This time out Warren is flying with a little bit different type of band. This band is more geared for Rhythm and Blues. You have Ron Holloway on Sax, Ron Johnson On Bass, Terrance Higgins on Drums, a keyboard player who's name I did not catch and Alicia Shakur on heavenly vocals. And, of course, Warren Haynes on lead guitar and vocals.
Warren seems very relaxed with allowing the other musicians to take the front and center and show the crowd what they can do with their respective instruments. There are times through out the night when he matches licks with the sax player, keyboard player and bass player. Vocally Warren harmonizes with Ms. Shakur and the keyboard player very nicely. Warren also lets Ms. Shakur show off what her powerful set of pipes can do too.
The first five songs are off of the new album "Man In Motion", which is a risky move because you could lose the crowd, but they didn't, the new material was very well received. Funky and bluesy in a R&B fashion. Just superb. "Sick Of My Shadow", "Rivers Gonna Rise", "Man In Motion", "A Friend To You" and "On A Real Lonely Night". During "A Friend To You" Warren breaks a string but being the professional that he is he doesn't even stop, he just keeps playing. Farmer, Warren's guitar tech, finally gets a new guitar out on stage and seamlessly trades guitars and the band just keeps playing. Even though the new album has just come out most people new the words and were familiar with the music.
Then Warren and the Band go way back to pull two songs off of Warren Haynes first solo album "Tales of Ordinary Madness", "Fire In the Kitchen" and "Invisible". The band is smoking. The first set has the crowd rocking.
After the break Warren comes out solo and acoustic for "Real Thing". "Patchwork Quilt", one of my favorites, is played with Warren and Ron Johnson. Warren does a very nice job on John Lennon's "Working Class Hero". Warrren proves he can play slide with the best of them when he plays Elmore James' "Rollin and a Tumblin" with Mr. Higgins on drums.
The full band comes back out and they produce some great harmonies on "Change is Gonna Come". The crowd loves "What Is Hip" the old Tower Of Power song. There is an older woman back stage that is just dancing up a storm. "Hattiesburg Hustle" is off of the new album and a rocker to boot. "Tear Me Down" off of Gov't Mule's "Deep End" album finishes out the second set.
The encore is a killer version of "Soulshine". You had to be there. The vocals, the Sax, the Keyboards and Warren on guitar. WOW!
This is a five twirl show. If you weren't there, let me tell you, you should have paid the thirty dollars to see this. Excellent. I bought a ticket out side the venue for $25. best $25 I have spent in a long time.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Miami Heat Lose Playoffs
Yes the big three of the Miami Heat lost to the whole team of the Dallas Mavericks or like we like to call them the Mavaliers. Miami fans thought they were going to be like the Yankees of MLB and buy a championship. No matter how much money you spend on great players you still can't program what is between their ears. Wade, The Wanna Be and The Other Guy might be good players but their mind's and their ego's get in the way. They all want the ball at some time and if they don't get it I know one of them for sure will pout.
Yes, Lebaby does have a history of pouting. He also does not like to be coached. Back in High School Lebron was playing in a championship game and Drew Joyce the coach tried to tell Lebron how to close out the game. Lebron did not listen to the coach because he knew better and they lost the game. Mike Brown tried to coach Lebron during the Boston Cleveland finals and Lebron waved him off and did what he wanted. Rumor has it that Shaq then stepped in in the locker room and told Lebron that Mike Brown was the coach and that the team as a whole needed to listen to him. Lebron went out and stunk up the arena, pissed off the fans, his teammates and the coach ( yet in Cleveland we were willing to forgive him).
Then LeBron waits until after all of the good free agents were picked and announces that he is taking his talents to South Beach. A childish move. So he moves to Miami and all of the ESPN pundits trip over themselves telling anyone who will listen how great the three players are. Halfway through the season those same pundits started making excuses for the three great players who were only playing mediocre. Then they started to gel. But come playoff time there was something amiss they were winning but not huge like everyone thought they would.
Now here comes David to Goliath. A little hyped team who has failed before with some old guys who were good but never superstars like the Big Three. But what the Mav's had was heart, desire and an unselfish style of ball where if one man was down the others picked him up and carried him until he got back on track. Yes "Old School" Basketball, team play, move the ball, take good shots by anyone who is open not designated players. The whole team cheered each other on and did not worry about statistics. All they wanted to do was win, any way they can.
I knew that Dallas was going to win as soon as D Wade went into Lebron's room after game five and tried to tell Lebron how to play the game. As soon as Lebron needed to be coached he shut down and blew the game for Miami. He refuses to listen to anyone. He knows better. Lebron's name should not be mentioned in the same sentence with Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippin, he is no where near as good as either of them were.
Well Miami you are stuck with him now. The best you can hope for is that your front office trades Lebron for Dwight Howard straight up. Believe me you will be getting the better of the deal. And trust me as long as Lebron keeps his "I am better than everybody alive" attitude he will never have a ring unless someone else wins it for him.
Yes, Lebaby does have a history of pouting. He also does not like to be coached. Back in High School Lebron was playing in a championship game and Drew Joyce the coach tried to tell Lebron how to close out the game. Lebron did not listen to the coach because he knew better and they lost the game. Mike Brown tried to coach Lebron during the Boston Cleveland finals and Lebron waved him off and did what he wanted. Rumor has it that Shaq then stepped in in the locker room and told Lebron that Mike Brown was the coach and that the team as a whole needed to listen to him. Lebron went out and stunk up the arena, pissed off the fans, his teammates and the coach ( yet in Cleveland we were willing to forgive him).
Then LeBron waits until after all of the good free agents were picked and announces that he is taking his talents to South Beach. A childish move. So he moves to Miami and all of the ESPN pundits trip over themselves telling anyone who will listen how great the three players are. Halfway through the season those same pundits started making excuses for the three great players who were only playing mediocre. Then they started to gel. But come playoff time there was something amiss they were winning but not huge like everyone thought they would.
Now here comes David to Goliath. A little hyped team who has failed before with some old guys who were good but never superstars like the Big Three. But what the Mav's had was heart, desire and an unselfish style of ball where if one man was down the others picked him up and carried him until he got back on track. Yes "Old School" Basketball, team play, move the ball, take good shots by anyone who is open not designated players. The whole team cheered each other on and did not worry about statistics. All they wanted to do was win, any way they can.
I knew that Dallas was going to win as soon as D Wade went into Lebron's room after game five and tried to tell Lebron how to play the game. As soon as Lebron needed to be coached he shut down and blew the game for Miami. He refuses to listen to anyone. He knows better. Lebron's name should not be mentioned in the same sentence with Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippin, he is no where near as good as either of them were.
Well Miami you are stuck with him now. The best you can hope for is that your front office trades Lebron for Dwight Howard straight up. Believe me you will be getting the better of the deal. And trust me as long as Lebron keeps his "I am better than everybody alive" attitude he will never have a ring unless someone else wins it for him.
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