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We knew some of Chris Isaak’s songs, and knew who he was, and knew he put on a great show.  Now, we know all of this from first hand experience.

Part of what made this event fun was that the band has played together for 20 years or so, and had that tremendous tightness that only comes about from knowing each other well and trying to get to the same place musically.  There were very spontaneous moments that only come about when the band can look at each other and do something that is not on a controlled script.  Whether faked or not, it felt very real for Chris to walk out into the audience with a radio mike, finish the song before he got back, and call out “do an Elvis tune” and continue to wade through the audience.

A lot of his material is dark – sad – melancholy.  But well written and well performed and highlighted with a pretty slick light show.  There was a retro looking TV screen behind the band that played images through some kind of LED display, and those automated lights up top that can do so many things with color and lenses.

We walked away very impressed, and would go see Chris Isaak again when he comes to town.  And, downloaded a dozen or so songs from iTunes the next day.

(Sorry the picture is bad.  Taken with the cell phone camera which is easily fooled by stage lighting)

Tags: Chris Isaak, music
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We ended up in second row center for Randy Travis in Baltimore last week.  Believe it or not, this isn’t necessarily the best vantage point when the stage is higher off the ground.  Kind of like the front row at a movie theater.

Randy Travis signs our CD Case at Pier 6 in Baltimore

But, it has the obvious advantages of being close to the action.  Randy’s band was a collection of aces (some from Nashville, no doubt), including some who have been with him a long time.  And, when you’re this close and the artist is this nice about getting close to the crowd it turns out you can get close enough for an autograph! He’s signing our CD case in this picture.

He played a nice full set with material from all across his career.  This is the second time we’ve seen him – we saw him a few years ago at Wolf Trap and we were so impressed with his stage presence that we wanted to see him again.  He really is a great act to see in person, he seems to work hard to please the crowd, and I really enjoy the more traditional approach to Country & Western music.

He did seem to be getting over a cold a little bit, which was noticable when he talked between songs.  The sound was a little muddy too for the vocals, but this might be another “minus” to sitting close – you’re in front of the sweet spot for the sound system.

Weather was great for an outdoor concert as well.  While Pier 6 isn’t the best venue in how the seats are laid out (long and narrow, so most of the seats seem far from the stage), you can’t beat the location on a nice night watching the sun go down over Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  And, lots of dining choices near by including Little Italy. Also, camera friendly policy for this performance.

A nice night. The only negative – took forever to get out of town because of some event at the nearby stadium. Detected too late to head out the other side of the harbor.

Tags: concerts, music, Randy Travis
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Boz Scaggs Ticket Stub

Second event at Wolf Trap for the season.  The weather was a little more typical for June in Washington, but very much on the pleasant side.  Not quite sold out, but a good crowd.  Boz Scaggs was the first act, and we really enjoyed it.  He went through most of the hits, but the surprise was a nice number of bluesey, New Orleans inspired songs with some great guitar playing.

Michael McDonald was the second act – a rapid fire collection of a large number of songs everyone knows well.  The highlight for me was Michael playing You Don’t Know Me (the Eddie Arnold tune) accompanied by just himself on piano.  A nice surprise.

First time seeing both performers.

Tags: music, Wolf Trap
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A dollar too short.

The greed of the music industry continues to amaze. I thought the popular stuff was always cheaper in the stores…

read more | digg story

Tags: iTunes, music
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