Shay’s Blog

If you have been reading my blog or if you know me then you know that I love concerts. I like a lot of different types of music like alternative, techo (EBM mainly), industrial, americano, etc. One person that I have never seen that I have always wanted to see is Seal. He is playing May 30. Alicia and I are going to see him. I am very excited to finally see him. On June 1, we are going with my sister to see Chris Isaak and Stevie Nicks. Yesterday, I got an email announcement for Interpol. They are playing on May 31. Three concerts in three days is a bit much. I am debating if I want to go to Interpol. I saw them around a year and a half ago. They were good, but I am not sure if I want to do a three shows in a row. Today I saw that Skinny Puppy is coming back on June 17. They are playing at the new House of Blues here in Dallas. I am not sure if HOB is going to be ready for Skinny Puppy. I will probably go see them. It has been a while since I have seen them.

Peter Gabriel is one of my favorite musicians.  He is celebrating his birthday 57th birthday today, February 13.  Happy Birthday Peter!  His music is absolutely brilliant.  His live shows are even better.  If you ever get a chance to see him perform, I would highly recommend going to him.  Unfortunately his tour schedule is like is album releases which are spaced very far apart.

Alicia and I are going to have a Texas music filled weekend.  It starts tonight with Lyle Lovett.  He is playing at Bass Concert Hall in Fort Worth which is a great venue.  We are meeting Alicia’s sister and brother-in-law to go to the show.  Then on Saturday, we are driving down to Waxahachie to do see Ray Wylie Hubbard.  I am looking forward to both shows a lot.  It’s been over two years since I have Lyle.  This will make the 3rd time seeing him.  It’s been around four months since I have seen Ray Wylie Hubbard though the last time I saw him, he was with a band.  This time he is just him playing which I prefer.  (more…)

Gaelic Storm is a very good band. This was my second time seeing them. I saw them for the first time last December. They were scheduled to play at Gypsy Tea Room in the ballroom, but when we got there was a sign saying that they were playing in the tearoom which is on the other side of the block from the ballroom. I was confused about the actual start time. The tickets listed the doors opening at 9. (more…)

Alicia and I went to see Covenant in San Antonio at The White Rabbit on St Mary’s street.  This was my first time to see Covenant and to go The White Rabbit.  The club has been around a long time.  Covenant is an EBM (Electronic Body Music) band out of Sweden.
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I should prefix this review with some qualifications.  I love Cowboy Mouth’s live shows.  Their albums unfortunately do not capture the energy of their live shows.  The energy level is simply amazing.  I read somewhere that on a bad night Cowboy Mouth will blow the roof off and on a good night they will save your soul.  You can always count on feeling a lot better after the show when you got there.
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What a long week.  Alicia and I went to see Cowboy Mouth on Wednesday.  On Thursday night, we drove down to Seguin to my Dad’s house.  I had lunch Friday afternoon with the guys I used to work with in Seguin.  They seemed to be doing well.  It was interesting that none of them wanted to see Print Online (the application that we just launched).  Then on Friday night we went to see Covenant in San Antonio at The White Rabbit.  Before the show, I talked to one of the guys in Imperative Reaction.  (more…)

I know times change, but it is sad to see to see an institution like CBGB’s close.  Bands like Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Blondie, and The Ramone’s got their start there.  Patti Smith played the final show there on October 15, 2006.

Alicia and I went to go see Cary Pierce performing at Bend Studio.  For those who are unfamiliar with Bend, it is a yoga studio in Dallas that also hosts live music.  It is a nice intimate venue.  Just a word of warning, be prepared to lose your shoes upon entrance.  It is a BYOB place which is nice to be able to bring the exact beer you want to drink.  Most places do not carry my favorite, Maredsous 8.  Anyway, the show started about 20 minutes after the listed start time.  The venue is general admission so you have to get there before the show starts.  Cary started off playing some songs and then solicited requests from the audience.  I enjoyed the show.  Cary has got a great voice and plays the guitar very well.  About halfway to two thirds through the show, he brings up Patrick Ryan Clark formerly of Surviving August and Jon Abel.  Patrick starts talking about how he could not deal with being on a major record label, and he reached a saturation point in his career which caused him to cry out mercy.  The trio then started to play this song that mirrored his saying.  At this point, the show seemed to take a religious turn.  A little while later, Patrick sang another song.  I could not help thinking about Demetri Martin song on the Daily Show called “I’ve Got 6000 Friends”.  It was kind of strange association, but it made me laugh a lot during the show.

Alicia and I went to see Muse last night. It was the second show in three days at Nextstage for us. We went to see Massive Attack on Sunday night. Here’s my review on that show. As I have said before I like the venue, but hate the parking fees (12 bucks) and very high drink prices. Anyway back to the subject at the hand. The Muse crowd was younger than I thought it was going to be. There were a lot of older high schoolers and college-age kids. I have one of their albums, Absolution. Muse has a total of five albums. (more…)