Glenn Frey
When I was at High School he seemed like the coolest guy on the whole planet.
Already Gone – A Natural Progressions Update
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The New York Yankees – Off-season Update – November/December 2015 – “Ludicrous”
“Ludicrous”
How else to explain the moves that the Yankees have made since the season ended in October?
The Yankees might have listed their goals for the off-season as follows:
a) To strengthen their 25 man roster
b) To reduce the average age of players on their 25-man roster
c) To make themselves more competitive for 2016
d) To achieve the first three without majorly increasing their payroll for 2016 from its 2015 level.
As we are now halfway through that off-season period, it is fair to say that they have failed in the first three categories and, therefore, in the 4th.
Harping on…
Who: Serafina Steer and BAS JAN
Where: King’s Place, King’s Cross, London
When: Friday 11th December 2015
It’s not often I’m lost for words. It’s about 33 years since I had my first article published in a newspaper and since then there have been many thousands of words – in books, in magazines, in newspapers and, in recent years, on the internet.
I’m not often lost for vocabulary.
But then I don’t often go to see concerts by one of my favourite contemporary artists and find that she has committed the first half of the show to a harp recital.
A Cracker for Christmas
What: A Christmas Cracker
Who: Riding Lights Theatre Company
Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith, London
When: December 9 & 10th 2015
This was the second annual Christmas play / pantomime at the Ravenscourt Arts theatre in Hammersmith and saw the theatre once again join forces with the Riding Lights Theatre Company from York to bring joy to the lives of an audience who were mostly between the ages of 4 and 11 with a smattering of teachers and parents.
Cracker the Dog
Steely Dan – The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever
About a lifetime ago, my friend, Andrew, and I went to Leeds for the day and in the course of our shopping I brought home every Steely Dan album that had been released to that point, that I didn’t already own. By the time I had worked through albums like Pretzel Logic I was a fan for life. Indeed, Katy Lied joined Van Morrison and Bob Dylan in seeing me almost single-handed through some very tortured teenage years.
Flash forward to 2015 and my wonderful opportunity as I was invited to fly out to the U.S. and cover their residency at the Beacon in New York. I’d seen them a number of times but to see them on home territory playing with imagination and verve — well, this is the stuff that dreams are made of. So let’s take a look at their final night:
Who: Steely Dan
What: rockabye gollie angel tour 2015: “The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever – Featuring Spectacular Musical Guests, Glorious Tunes and Riffage, and Whatever the Party Calls for! “
When: October 17th, 2015
Where: Beacon Theatre, New York, New York, USA
The Greatest Damn Steely Dan Band to Ever Come Down the Pipe
Who: Steely Dan
What: rockabye gollie angel tour 2015: “By Popular Demand” night
When: October 16th, 2015
Where: Beacon Theatre, New York, New York, USA
“The greatest damn Steely Dan band ever to come down the pipe”. So said Walter Becker on this “By Popular Demand” night at the Beacon. And you know what – in terms of live performance, – I think he is just about right. This was an outstanding night of music. The “By Popular Demand” thing might just have been a cool cover-up: I’m not really sure what was so different from some other nights on the tour – but slightly dodgy promotional tools aside, this was a very, very good performance indeed.
The Steely Dan Show
What could be better than New York in the Fall? Well, some things… Special reasons for being there. As it worked out, the Yankees went down in the first round of the playoffs and that meant no more live baseball for me for this year. Someone tried to persuade that a trip to Citi Field would be worthwhile but we all have our loyalties and so I passed on the Mets. Something else to do. And with me that usually means if not baseball then music.
The New York Yankees – The Pitchers in September and October (2015)
One of the interesting factors for the New York Yankees over the last several seasons is how they handle the roster expansion in September. This year, as in the past, Joe Girardi seemed to feel under an obligation to try to use everybody, almost as though the season was already over and it was just a case of giving people game time. But this wasn’t Spring Training, it was a crucial chase to catch the Blue Jays and watching players like Chasen Shreve, and Bryan Mitchell coming apart at the seams wasn’t helpful to them or to the cause. Let’s see what happened:
The New York Yankees – The Batters in September and October (2015)
Well, that is in the little bit of October the Yankees were actually involved in this year. They made it to the playoffs but only by wildcard qualification. And then in the one-game wildcard playoff, they failed to produce a single run in their game against the Houston Astros. Let’s look at what went wrong… and one or two things that went right and look bright for the future.
Hackett Ascending
Who: Steve Hackett
What: From Acolyte to Wolflight with a sprinkling of Genesis
Where: Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
When: October 7th 2015
Last year, I was asked to review Steve Hackett’s “Genesis Revisited” project when it visited Hammersmith. I have to say that I was, initially, not that enthusiastic at the prospect. Hackett had been off my listening radar for quite a long time and I’m not a huge one for nostalgia and sentimentality. However, I had caught up with the former Genesis guitarist via his “Beyond the Shrouded Horizon” a little time before, which I had enjoyed and listening to “Genesis Revisited II” suggested he was been faithful to earlier versions of those songs so I accepted the commission and went along to spend an evening revisiting some past pleasures. After all, it couldn’t hurt, could it?
Well, I was suitably impressed and produced a quite exuberant review which also reflect on my personal journey with Genesis’ music which can be found here: https://twilightdawning.com/2014/11/04/time-lapse-in-hammersmith/
After the new tour was announced I was asked to once again go see the show when it came to my neighbourhood (this time to the slightly smaller Shepherd’s Bush Empire). I thought it would be an interesting contrast. The emphasis this time would be on Hackett’s solo career – both recent and early (he has a boxset of his early solo albums about to drop into the marketplace) and it would be interesting to see if he could cut it without relying too much on the songs of that old band he used to be in.
twilightdawning 