Hello, It's not me!

"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains

And we never even know we have the key"

The Eagles

As I picked out today's music quote it occurred to me that maybe I had used this exact quote before. I'm certainly way too lazy to read through my previous 70 or so posts to find out if I have used it. So I figured I would make this offer to my loyal reader (s). If I ever duplicate a song lyric, and I will no doubt do it one day, the first person who posts a comment saying I repeated the lyric gets a free Sunshine Daydream t-shirt.

Speaking of music I saw two concerts this week that really epitomized most everything that is
both great and bad with live shows today. The first show was rock legend Todd Rundgren. He played in a 1,000 seat venue, $26 ticket price, maybe 350 fans. He had a full band, no opening act, and played 19 songs. Of the 19 songs 12 were his entire new cd called arena. 2 were covers of other artists songs and of the 7 remaining tunes one was a mainstream hit. He chided the audience for requesting songs and told them they would need anger management classes when he was done. These are his fans and he is talking down to them. His signature hit "Hello, it's me" was nowhere to be found and it seemed he took pleasure in denying his audience what they wanted. Shame on you Todd Rundgren. Easily one of the most disappointing shows of the year.

The next night I got to see young singer songwriter Matt Wertz. He played to a crowd of maybe 200 in a venue built for about that number. Ticket prices were $16 and he had an opening act, and a full supporting band. I was easily the oldest person at the show as at least 80% of the audience looked to be UW students. Matt Wertz had a lot of fun, completely engaged his audience, talked about Madison, let his audience choose songs, and played snippets of Bob Marley, Cheap Trick, Colbie Collait, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson. He was genuinely excited to be performing and regenerated the faith in live music I had lost the night before. Go buy his new cd Under Summer Sun or bug me and I'll burn a copy if you promise to buy one of his other cds when you realize how good it is.

Some other tidbits from this week. I went back to Weight Watchers this week and it seems that somewhere between Ivins, Utah and Madison, WI. I swallowed a cinder block. I get to spend the next couple weeks getting rid of the last week. Oh well, I didn't expect the number on the scale to be the same number I left in Utah but I'll get it back. I played indoor volleyball for 2.5 hours Wednesday afternoon. It is a different game than the sand version. You move so much quicker and jump much easier. I think it had been over a decade since I had last played indoors and that part about jumping, well it was a new thing landing on the hard ground and my knees reminded me of that for the next two days. Undefeated Penn St, and their legion of crazy Pennsylvania people and one really old coach come to Madison this weekend and I am tailgating most of Saturday for only my second tailgate in my time in Madison. Should be fun and the temperature is expected to be in the mid-70's. Perfect fall day. And I hope it's perfect wherever you are. Peace, Jim