A WORK IN PROGRESS: LIVE BAND LIST

Several times in my life I have attempted to list all live concerts I've attended. Chronological order would be way too hard. Alphabetical is going to win. The line between rock stars and friends' bands is blurry sometimes. This will be a work in progress. Maybe 10-20 a day...


10,000 MANIACS
AIMEE MANN
ALANIS MORISETTE
(THE) ALARM
ARC ANGELS
ARETHA FRANKLIN*
(THE) B-52s
BARRY MANILOW*

BIG COUNTRY (with Mike Peters on lead vox)
BLONDIE
(THE) BO-DEANS
BRENT BOURGEOIS
CAEDMON'S CALL
BRUCE COCKBURN
CHRIS SUMMERHILL

COLIN HAY
CONCRETE BLONDE
CROWDED HOUSE
CYNDI LAUPER
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
DEL AMITRI
(THE) DIVINE COMEDY
(THE) DONNAS
DUKE SPECIAL
(THE) DUSTY 45'S

DONNY & MARIE OSMOND
DURAN DURAN
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
EDDI READER
EMMYLOU HARRIS
ENGLISH BEAT
ERIC JOHNSON
EXENE CERVENKA*
(THE) FEELIES
(THE) FIXX
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL
GLAD

GLEN MATLOCK & THE PHILISTINES

HEART
HOTHOUSE FLOWERS
HOUSE OF FREAKS
HOWARD JONES
HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
HUNTERS AND COLLECTORS
INDIGO GIRLS
INNOCENCE MISSION
JAMES HALL
JASON MRAZ
(THE) JAYHAWKS
JELLO BIAFRA
JESS KLEIN
JOE JACKSON
JOHN MELLENCAMP
JOHN WESLEY HARDING
JOSH CLAYTON FELT
JOSH ROUSE
JUSTIN CURRIE
KINGS OF LEON
KING'S X
KY-MANI MARLEY
LOVE TRACTOR
MARIA MCKEE
MATES OF STATE
MATTHEW PERRYMAN JONES
MICHAEL MCDONALD
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT
MIDNIGHT OIL
(THE) MIGHTY LEMONDROPS
MIKE PETERS
(THE) NYLONS
ONE BAD PIG
OVER THE RHINE
PADDY CASEY
PAT BENATAR
PAT METHENY
PETER MULVEY
PETRA
PFR
P.I.L.
(THE) PIXIES
(THE) POLICE
P.O.D.
(THE) PRETENDERS
RELIENT K
RICH MULLINS*
RICHARD THOMPSON
RON SEXSMITH
SAM PHILLIPS
SANDI PATTI*
SHAWN COLVIN
SHEILA WALSH
SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER
SOUL ASYLUM
STEVE TAYLOR
(THE) SUGARCUBES
SWITCHFOOT
TAKE 6
TEARS FOR FEARS
TEN OUT OF TENN
TERRORISTEN
TIM FINN
TOM JONES
TORI AMOS
TROUBLE
U2
VERBOW
VICTORIA WILLIAMS
VIGILANTES OF LOVE

WANDA JACKSON

WATERDEEP
ZIGGY MARLEY

*indicates an abbreviated performance,such as a television taping, movie set or festival pop-in.

BOLD indicates multiple times.

shared the bill

Car Trouble

Time to document the 2008/2009 saga of my car troubles--not really for your reading pleasure (though you are welcome to read) but because it is all adding up and I'm beginning to worry that I will lose track.

SUMMER 2008: Time to sell the Ford Crown Victoria. It has served us well. Time to get something with better gas mileage, better in snow, etc.

FALL 2008: A few bites but still no sale. Wonder how low we should go?

OCTOBER: I had a dream and awoke with this random thought:

GOD WANTS US TO GIVE OUR CAR TO A SUDANESE REFUGEE FAMILY.

There was nothing to prompt this thought. There was nothing in the dream overtly related to this thought, but I woke up with such a certainty that I immediately told Randy who has learned to believe my dreams.

SATURDAY...
Randy looked for a charity that could make it happen and did not find one. Instead he found one that catered to battered women starting a new life after leaving abusive situations. We decide this would also work. We will wait until Monday to make the call just in case something becomes clearer.

SUNDAY...
At church, small groups report on what they are doing. One is working with two refugee families from Burma to help them get established here in Denver. I ask the pastor if either family needs a reliable car. He will check. We will hold off on the other phone call.

LATER THAT WEEK...
A note from church says that neither Burmese family can use our car; however, would we mind terribly if the car went to another local charity helping a refugee family in desperate need of a car--the husband has just lost his job due to a lack of transportation and without a job, they may lose the house. They are from Sudan.

In November, our car became the property of this Sudanese family. We hope it serves them well and thank God for working in mysterious ways.

11.19.08
I fly out to South Carolina to purchase my aunt's Honda green CR-V "the Pickle." It is my favorite car yet. She made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

02.14.09
Someone hit & totaled the Pickle in front of our home, then fled the scene before I noticed that 3/4 of my car were in the front yard. A police report was filed. Details are scarce but all signs point to a neighbor.

03.11.09
After receiving insurance money for the Pickle and scouring ads for good deals, I settle on a silver 1999 Honda Civic, a great car which I love.

05.14.09
I wake up and notice that my car has been stolen. Police reports are filed. Insurance claims are started.

Random: I find myself thinking of the house we almost bought at 1100 S Xavier. We won the HUD lottery for an Officer Next Door home but were denied on a technicality--long story. Anyway, I don't know why I am thinking of this home, but remind myself I am much better off where we are and it's foolish to be thinking of it since the car was far more likely to be stolen from that home!

05.15.09
This evening the police found my car abandoned in an alley at the 1200 South block of Utica, 3 blocks from the house we nearly bought. It is in the city impound now and I can pick up tomorrow.

05.16.09
Josh took me to the impound and the car doesn't look as bad as I had expected. It will be assessed but should be repairable. I am concerned about what papers may have been in the car at the time of the theft since all contents were stolen. Goodbye Patty Griffin CD, Goodbye new Sam Phillips CD. Goodbye $500 deductible.

SHORTLY THEREAFTER...
My car will be fixed by a local body shop that I found when I had a fender bender due to a stupid incident that we aren't discussing. (Notice it went completely unmentioned above.)

After it arrives, I get a call from the body shop. suggesting I come down to the shop with a digital camera. After removing the fender, they have iscovered that despite a clean Carfax report, this car is a "rebuilt wreck." Bondo everywhere in the back end. I'm too tired to do anything about anything. Randy takes some pictures. We aren't sure what recourse we have.

JUNE 2009
Well, I got my car back but it took 3-4 weeks by the time all is said and done.

Despite my turning down rental coverage, in the case of theft, USAA covers me for up to $30 a day for a rental car. What a lifesaver. I had no idea that I was covered, or that it would take so long to get my car back. I almost bonded with the red rental Chevy Cobalt. I tried to get the rust colored Kia Rio at first because I figured it would be the least desirable thing to steal, but alas, someone had smoked in it. In the end, no one really wanted the Cobalt either.

ME & THE HONDA NOW:

They left a scratch or two on one panel--barely noticeable and did not replace the cloth in the trunk. This saved me a few hundred dollars. Also, in a bizarre twist of fate, the pink pillows that Randy has wanted me to throw away for ages and that I kept forgetting to bring in after Melanie's birthday party turned out to have a ridiculous replacement value, which further offset the deductible. Thank you Urban Outfitters for having obscene prices on floor pillows.

Somewhere along the way, I got a postcard from our local police telling me that they were closing the case with no suspects. I am pretty sure I know who totalled my CRV and that there are telltale fingerprints on my Civic's steering wheel which might reveal the thieves' identity, but of course, there are bigger fish to fry in the city of Denver.

LESSONS LEARNED:

-DPD doesn't really care who stole my car, but eventually, and sadly, these kids will probably find their way to Randy for some other reason.
-Always leave something of high replacement value that you might have thrown out anyway in your trunk to offset your deductible in the event of accident or theft.
-Do not trust Carfax alone. Take a potential car purchase to your local body shop for further investigation.
-A car is just stuff, after all, so don't get too attached.
-NEVER forget to put the club on the car!

Rainbow Music Hall...RIP

I had to laugh when I read this quote by a concert-goer in a newspaper article. To set it up, Bob Dylan had recently converted to Christianity. The year was 1980 and this was his first tour post-conversion. Dylan was only doing his new Christian songs when one frustrated fan yelled:

"Hey Bob, Jesus likes the hits too!"

I saw Dylan once, and he didn't speak one word to the audience. It was at Fiddler's Green amphitheater in the suburbs of Denver and the only reason I went was because the Alarm was opening. Have I mentioned that I love the Alarm? Well, now Fiddler's Green, like so many other corporately named venues is called Coors Amphitheater, and as Dylan himself said, "the times they are a changin'"

I missed the article in the Rocky Mountain News, which ran right before that paper went belly-up, which tells of the end of the Rainbow Music Hall. The Rainbow Music Hall has been a Walgreens for about 20 years now, but in the 1980s it was the best place to see a show in Denver, and despite the sadness of it being a Walgreens, at least the building was there, thesign remained, and when I drove past, I could smile and wave at the stripey concrete dated design and remember the good times there.

Yesterday, as I was driving to Melanie's to watch American Idol, I was dismayed by this sight:



Yep, that's what has become of my beloved Rainbow Music Hall...My first moshpit...the place where I caught Steve Taylor's drummer's drumstick, then later joined a band with the guy who caught the match...the place where I caught the 10 of diamonds at the Alarm show, then dated the guy who caught the nine of diamonds in San Francisco, where I nearly got smothered to death at a Midnight Oil show...the place where I camped on the sidewalk for good seats, skipping college classes for my music education, where I bribed fellow fans who camped on the sidewalk with pizza from my college waitress job so I could be smashed against the stage alongside them when my work hours didn't allow me to sleep side by side with them.

Check out all of this rock and roll history made at the Rainbow--maybe you were there for some of it. If so, please share.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/11/the-last-waltz-for-site-of-rock-history/

I don't know how to wrap it up except to say that driving past the corner of Evans and Monaco will always be a bittersweet thing for me. Good times. Rest in peace, Rainbow Music Hall.