Classic Night
So, it’s 4:43am and I’m up… hit the hay super early (like 9:30pm or so) last night after an absolutely killer mountain bike ride in the Marin Headlands with my buddy Aaron and, building dust/particulate matter be damned, I’m up… In any case, might as well be productive, right? That said, I thought I’d share some cool shots from this crazy event I randomly attended the other night over on Treasure Island, here in San Francisco, CA.
View of the ridge line we rode up to, around and down from the dirt parking lot in the Marin Headlands. Sick!
So, I had spent a half day in the studio with producer, Cookie Marenco, working on my arrangements and charts for this new record. I thought I was going to be in there for maybe an hour to two hours or so, but five hours later, we wrapped up and called it a night. On the drive back north to San Francisco, I got a call from my buddy Tom from Charlotte, NC with an invitation to join him at this wild event that Oracle was putting on over at Treasure Island. I jumped at the opportunity and within about an hour or so, I found myself eating more corn dogs, popcorn, soda, cotton candy and other carnival junk food than you could shake a stick at. Seriously… I went a little nuts on the food.
So, in addition to all this carnival food, Oracle brought in a ferris wheel, a gravitron, a gravity drop ride of some sort, swings (remember the cover of DMB’s “Under The Table And Dreaming”?) and a ton of crazy carnival games where you could win stuffed animals and other prizes… awesome! Plus, what was really cool, was that they had also set up two massive stages. The inside stage first featured Don Henley, pictured below.
Don Henley: getting up there and STILL crushing it.
I have no idea how long Don Henley has been playing music, but it seems like a really long time. He’s probably older than my dad but he sounds just like he did however many years ago when all those classic recordings were done with The Eagles. I mean, this guy hasn’t missed a single beat. Insane. Plus, his band for the night was totally pro. They flawlessly ran through a bunch of Henley solo career tracks, and closed the night out with some unforgettable songs from his time with The Eagles like “Hotel California”, “The Long Run”, and more. Really cool to see and hear it live!
Close your eyes and Steve Miller sounds as good as he ever did.
Who doesn’t love “Take The Money and Run”, “The Joker”, “Keep On Rocking Me”, “Fly Like An Eagle” and just about every other classic Steve Miller tune? Well, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who had a problem with any of the tracks Steve Miller and his band performed the other night. They were awesome. While he has definitely gotten on in years in appearance, you wouldn’t know it by listening to him play. The guy has chops out of nowhere on the guitar, his voice is still spot on, and his band was really tight. In the end, he brought out some chick who had sung with The Black Eyed Peas earlier in the evening who had a great voice, fun stage presence, and all but made out with Steve Miller on stage while they sang duet after duet. Pretty cool… It’s good to be the king!
Montgomery Gentry closing with their current radio hit "Gone".
Later on that evening during one of Steve Miller’s slower tunes, I went back to the inside stage and checked out the “new” country act, Montgomery Gentry. These guys were all rock and roll and closed with their current country radio hit “Gone”. With three electric guitars ON TOP of the lead singer’s guitar, this was an unabashed nod to some of the great guitar rock days gone by. It was a fun set by these guys, but I was itching to get back outside to see Steve Miller wrap it up (and grab another corn dog), so I did!
Overall, it was a killer night. I mean, you can’t go wrong with carnie food, rides, and some good old classic rock (for FREE, no less!). Plus, a night out on Treasure Island is pretty slick. Anyway, it’s back to getting some of these charts and arrangements finalized as today is the last day I want to spend on this stuff before hitting the studio on Monday afternoon to start recording my second record. Can’t wait! Stay tuned here for updates and more information on that project.
In the mean time, if you’re in the Bay Area tonight, be sure to swing by The Union Room TONIGHT, September 24th for my solo acoustic set from 9:00-10:00pm. It’s just $10.00 and it’s all-ages. Plus, the venue serves some killer BBQ. Definitely a cool spot for a show. Hope to see ya soon!