CollisionWorks

Berit & I got back from a concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center just about an hour ago -- Bob Dylan, with opening acts Amos Lee (never heard of him before, s'okay enough) and Elvis Costello (doing a solo acoustic set). I've seen Costello twice before (Spike and Mighty Like a Rose tours, first one - at The Palladium - amazing, second one - at Madison Square Garden - pretty good), and wouldn't have been so interested in seeing him again, especially solo acoustic, except that he was opening for Dylan, and having Costello there gave me the push to see Dylan, as I've wanted to for a long time. Being at the moderately small and relatively cheap CCCC was another plus.

So, we saw Dylan on the latest installment of "The Never-Ending Tour." I was wary, as I'd heard he can vary night-to-night from being great to being awful, and you have a 50/50 chance as to what you get. We got a good Dylan doing a great set, pretty close to the one LISTED HERE at a Dylan page, with a two or three different songs (no "Stuck inside of Mobile..." but we got "Tangled Up in Blue" for example) -- and I kinda wish I hadn't looked at that site, as I saw that back on August 26 he played a concert in New Zealand containing all four of the songs that I really wanted to hear tonight but had resigned myself to probably not getting (and didn't). I wish Dylan had played guitar some more - he just did the first three songs, playing some surprisingly (to me at least) fine leads, then stuck to organ the rest of the show, where he did bop and dance around with some unexpected abandon.

Okay, so I've seen Bob Dylan live. Tick that off the list.

Costello did a nice short (40-minute) opening set with a few "hit" numbers, some lesser-known, but fun ones (a nice singalong medley of "Radio Sweetheart" and "Jackie Wilson Said" just like he did HERE), and a whole bunch of brand new songs that I think frustrated some of the crowd. When he called out, "You seem like a friendly crowd, would you like to hear another new one?" there was a big "YEAH!" from the house followed by several clear, individual statements of "No!" So he premiered a song he hadn't done in public yet, co-written with Loretta Lynn, from the point of view of a first wife to her ex's new wife - and as it goes along you realize that the first wife is The First Wife, Eve. Good one.

Anyway, since I'll be on the road in the morning, and busy all day, a very early Friday Random Ten, from an iPod now to stuffed to add anything else into:


1. "Maria Maria" - Santana & The Project G&B - Supernatural
2. "Some of Your Lovin'" - Dusty Springfield - Dusty Volume 2
3. "Pulled Up" - Talking Heads - Talking Heads 77
4. "My Mistake Was to Love You" - Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross - Diana & Marvin
5. "Ebb Tide" - The Righteous Brothers - Anthology (1962-1974)
6. "Farmer's Daughter" - The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA
7. "The Real Thing" - Betty Everett - Let It Be Me - Best Of Betty Everett
8. "Josie" - Steely Dan - Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story
9. "Let's Talk About Girls" - The Chocolate Watchband - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
10. "We're Outta Here" - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Alligator Records 25th Anniversary Collection

And indeed, Berit and I are outta here early tomorrow morning, heading back to NYC to be there for the start of the Second International Clown Theater Festival at The Brick, which opens tomorrow evening with a parade and pie fight. Then B & I are on design and tech running for a good deal of the Fest. Busy busy busy.