a few of my favorite things from 2017

While I'd like to forget most of what happened in 2017, and still kind of feel like I'm living in some sort of whacked out alternative universe, there were a few things that happened that made me happy. They were mostly simple things -- music, well-written/acted/produced television, friends, family and cute little people starting to display their cute personalities :)

Favorite New Song: This just makes me happy every time I hear it :)

Favorite Moment of Television: DRACARYS!

Favorite Moment with My Favorite Little People: Cousin Swingtime

            

Speaking of my favorite little people, they dominated my "Jar of Joy" this year -- shocker ;)

• 1/1/17 - 4-mile walk to and from and all around Lake Balboa. Gorgeous day after New Year's Eve rain..
• 1/3/17 - Escape from Jury Duty after only 2 hours!
• 1/16/17 - Won $50 Amazon gift card from work for the 4th quarter FitBit challenge! 
• 1/20/17 - My niece Teegan is born! 
• 1/21/17 - Women's March LA.. I was one of 750,000 united for goodness vs. evil! And then, I went to meet Teegan in person! LOVE
• 1/22/17 - Facetime with Kaden
• 2/16/17 - Birthday at Burke Williams + yummy dinner with mom and dad
• 2/17/17 - Nieces day with Teegan and her big sisters 
• 2/18/17 - Bday dinner #2 at Buca de Beppo with VIPs
• 2/19/17 - Bday dinner #3 with BFFs
• 2/25/17 - Quickie unexpectedly returns to the lineup. Kings beat Sucky Ducks 4-1!
• 3/25/17 - Drive to Vegas early for Kaden Time (before CinemaCon)
• 3/31/17 - Auntie Kim and Kaden day playing and doing "the diggy"
• 4/8/17 - Walk MS in Thousand Oaks. Mom is named this year's "Most Inspirational Walker" in a surprise (to her!) announcement :) 
• 4/22/17 - Saw Dave Grohl and his mom talk about her new book "From Cradle to Stage" at the LA Times Festival of Books
• 4/27/17 - Business class cubbie to Australia!
• 4/29/17 - Land in the land down under and see the Opera House
• 5/5/17 - Meet a koala bear in Sydney
• 5/13/17 - Chevy Metal w/ Dave Grohl @ Conejo Valley Days
• 5/20/17 - U2's Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary concert at the Rose Bowl
• 5/27/17 - Kaden's 1st Birthday Party!
• 7/2/17 - Kari and Kaden at my 2nd of July BBQ! Kaden's first time in the bounce house is NOT a success ;)
• 8/12/17-8/13-17 - Listening to U2 in Joshua Tree and seeing the milky way in the clear night sky during the meteor shower
• 8/21/17 - Total solar eclipse in Oregon with JZ and RZ
• 8/23/17 - Buying baby Nikes for Kaden and Teegan at the Nike employee store
• 8/26/17 - #saturdayswithteegan start :)
• 8/30/17 - Hamilton at the Pantages! Finally!
• 10/7/17 - Cal Jam 17! Foo Fighters live!
• 10/14/17 - Gorgeous sunset on the way home from San Miguel Island
• 11/8/17 - Trip to Vegas to see Kari, Kaden and Aunt Gertie. Kaden's new thing is giggling whenever the dogs bark
• 12/9/17 - Collected 31 toys for tots at Christmas Cocktails. My friends rock! 
• 12/10/17 - Downtown Adventure day + The Nutcracker
• 12/17/17 - Holiday lights at the Venice Canals with Mo and Qball
• 12/23/17 - Kaden and Teegan meet in person and play and swing and open presents together!
• 12/27/17 - Took Kaden to the LA Zoo!

u2's joshua tree tour - the 2017 experience

Thirty-three years ago, I fell in love with an Irish band named U2 when I heard the songs "Bad" (still one of my two favorite U2 songs to this day!) and "Pride (In the Name of Love)." 

Two years after that, "Pride" earned me extra credit it 10th grade Social Studies as I played the song for my classmates and we discussed the political relevance of U2 and this song, focused on Martin Luther King Jr's fight for equality. 

A year after that, I wasn't able to see U2 on their new "Joshua Tree" tour at The LA Sports Arena and I was very sad (about not seeing U2; NOT about not going to the suck-ass, now-finally demolished Sports Arena). I loved that album, especially "With or Without You" (duh), and "Running to Stand Still," and the trippy, harmonica-laden "Trip Through Your Wires." 

So in January, when it was announced U2 was going to tour in honor of the album's 30th anniversary AND would play the whole album in its entirety, I was in line online day one for the Rose Bowl show with my U2 Fan Club pre-sale code! 

(Sidenote: Being a U2.com member is, seriously, the best $50 a year you can spend as a U2 fan. Not only do you get first dibs at great concert seats [see my view from this show in photos and videos below, and see my view from the U2IE tour here, and my GA ticket access to be against the railing at the foot of one of the claws on the U2360 tour here] but you get awesome subscriber gifts... usually unreleased or exclusive recordings [Edge's Picks of the Top 22 Live performances from the 360 tour, The Joshua Tree singles on Vinyl] or gorgeous prints or photo books).   

Last night I finally got to use the ticket and hear the amazing Joshua Tree album live! 

Because of the amount of people in attendance, it was recommended we arrive early, and we did.. landing in our pre-paid parking spot at around 3:45pm. People in the lots were tail-gating and having an awesome time despite the 95-degree heat, cuz U2 fans are cool like that. 

Around 5:30 we decided to go inside the stadium. The lines in the front of the Rose Bowl were HUGE, so we went around the side to Gate B and got in the security line for "people with bags," which was going to take 15-20 minutes long from my guesstimate. But just as we were about to enter the windy part of the cue, an awesome HUGE security guard told me to drink my water (in a non-allowed cup size) quick and then ushered us into the "no-bags" security line. This was the equivalent of having TSA Pre-check at LAX on a summer Friday! We breezed through, swiped my credit card for the ticket verification and were inside the gates, in the land of cocktails and merchandise stands charging $45 for an almost plain white tee ;)  

At around 6:45, the Lumineers hit the stage. They were really excited to be there, noting this was the largest crowd they'd ever performed for.

They played all their hits you know, but don't know you know, until you hear them and sounded really good. (I like any band that has a cellist!)

Then as the sun went completely down, and the temperature dropped to like 80 degrees, the pre-recorded music got louder. "Black Hole Sun" from Soundgarden played and the audience lit up, in tribute to Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell who passed away earlier this week on May 17th in Detroit.

Then as The Pogues' "A Rainy Night in Soho" played, a hot drummer (that would be Larry Mullen Jr. for those of you who are blind) walked down the ramp to his drumset on the "B-Stage" (aka the stage at the end of the ramp leading down into the audience), and the show started with this...

This first mini-set consisted of four songs from the pre-Joshua Tree years.

I was really hoping that, like in Vancouver and Santa Clara, song #3 would be "Bad," but alas we got "A Sort of Homecoming" (which I still lovely, but is not "Bad.")

Then they all went up to the main stage for the main part of the show... The Joshua Tree, in its entirety.

The videos on the giant screen behind the band were beautiful, many similar to the photography from the album and its videos.

Then, after "Bullet the Blue Sky," Bono paid tribute to Chris Cornell, dedicating the beautiful and sad "Running to Stand Still" to him, and sending love and prayers to the Cornell family. 

After, that, he simply said "And now welcome to Side 2.." (Those of you not alive 30 years ago have no idea what that means. Le sigh..) and they moved onto "Red Hill Mining Town."

At the end of the album, a disco ball appeared at the top of the screen's giant joshua tree above the stage...

And then we were in the post-Joshua Tree era.... 

They played four songs, all eventually working their way back to the "B-Stage" right in front of my seats.

Then after they played "One," I thought that would be it. But they played "Miss Sarajevo" and then "BAD"!! I was so happy (even though the guido in front of me kept bopping his head [to "Bad." Yes, in case you're wondering, he was very drunk.] and raising his arm into my camera shot. I almost smacked his greasy head, but contained myself. ) They don't play this song a lot.. I think the last time I heard live was one of the "Elevation Tour" shows in 2001. Enjoy...

They then said goodnight... but played one more song after that. Don't leave until the lights come up people!

All in all, this show was worth both the 30 year wait, and the pretty penny I paid for those excellent fan club seats. The band sounded AMAZING!! And the production was beautiful -- both visually and audibly. 

Here's the Full Set List:

On Tape before band came out:

• Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) — the audience lit up with camera flashes in tribute to Chris Cornell
• A Rainy Night in Soho (The Pogues)

B-Stage 

• Sunday Bloody Sunday
• New Year's Day
• A Sort of Homecoming
• Pride (In the Name of Love)

The Joshua Tree

• Where the Streets Have No Name
• I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
• With or Without You
• Bullet the Blue Sky
• Running to Stand Still (dedicated to Chris Cornell and his family)
• Red Hill Mining Town
• In God's Country
• Trip Through Your Wires
• One Tree Hill
• Exit
• Mothers of the Disappeared

Encore:

• Beautiful Day (with "City of Stars" vocal interlude)
• Elevation
• Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
• One

B-Stage

• Miss Sarajevo (Passengers cover)
• Bad
• I Will Follow ('The Little Things That Give…)

my favorites of 2015

Quotes 

I'm sure this quote is not from 2015, but 2015 is when I saw it on the Word Porn Facebook feed, which I also love...



And for my new personal mantra... expanded this year as I've become of lover of more teas than just chai (shocker, I know, but "Mauritius is delicious" ;)

Memories of loved ones lost, in my happy place (aka my garden)

Lucky's painted rose

Granny's Cactus' Flowering

Entertainment: 

Music...

Truth. It's the thing this introvert goes to when I need something no one else can give... time with my thoughts.

... or when I need an amazing communal experience. I saw a lot of concerts this year. But these three by my two fave bands were the most amazing.

U2 i+e Tour live @ The Forum 

Foo Fighters #brokenlegtour + Love Ride 32

Adele "25" 
The new album I (and the world) had been waiting four years for made me feel happy, sad and sassy. It's amazing and has been on repeat in my car and office iTunes for weeks. And her promo appearances on SNL, her NBC special and this Tonight Show Classroom Instruments performance with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots made me love her and the album that much more.

Movies...

Brooklyn
I new very little about this film when I put the screener in the DVD player. It made me laugh, cry, swoon and cheer. Great performances. Great screenplay by Nick Hornby. A great emotional movie experience. 

The Martian
I didn't see this in the theater, but rather on my TV via screener on a sick day, months after everyone I know had already told me how great it was. I wish I had seen it on the big screen. It's big, bold, exciting and magnificent. Great performances. Great special effects. And a great STORY. I haven't seen everything yet, but right now I think this is my pick for Best Picture.

Most 

Most Pleasant Surprise ... (in that this was really good, but most definitely not pleasant)

The Revenant
I had no desire to see this movie. Every time the trailer came on in a theater I counted the minutes till it was over and a "better one" came on. But about week ago, I started to read the reviews. Then one night I decided to put the screener in to see if they were true. Wow. It's brutal, beautiful, sweeping, sad, enraging and excellent. Leonardo DiCaprio could finally win his Oscar for this amazing, heartbreaking performance (as long as the Academy refuses to give Eddie Redmayne two Best Actor Oscars in a row... he's Leo's only competition in my mind right now.)

TV...

This is the year I became a true binge-watching aficionado. I started the year finishing Breaking Bad, started summer with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and have spent the fall and winter with Mad Men -- I have four disks left with Don Draper. As f'ed up as he is, that makes me sad.

This is the year I also decided to no longer waste time watching shows I don't love... so I added exactly one half hour of new television this Fall, and deleted "How to Get Away with Murder," "Sleepy Hollow," Once Upon a Time" and "New Girl" from my Tivo season passes. My "Should I add a new show?" rule this TV season was: "Will I enjoy this as much as or more than another episode of Mad Men?" If not, then I didn't bother.

In the New Year (after Don and I say farewell), I will be focused on reading the pile of unread books I've accumulated in the last two years. (Anyone want to start a Book Club so I'm forced to do this? ;)

things that make me smile

So I've been lazily cleaning out my personal emails today and following up on random things I need to do (print Groupons so I remember to use Groupons, making reservations, organizing bills, etc) and I found an email from U2.com with a 25% off coupon that I get every year when I renew my subscription (to guarantee awesome pre-sale concert ticket priority and therefore seats.. example below..)

I never use the coupon because I don't need more concert t-shirts. But out of boredom, I decided to go check out the online store today.

They have a lot of expensive lithographs, one of which is from the 360 Tour show at the Rose Bowl on October 25, 2009.... a.k.a. the concert they filmed for YouTube and a DVD release. Oh, and also a.k.a the concert where I was one person away from the barricade at the foot of the front left stage "leg" and had the most awesome (if not painful) concert experience of my life. 

Here's the lithograph image... Bono and Edge reaching out to each other across the bridges:

photograph by Otto Kitsinger

So as I'm looking at that, I think to myself, "That image seems very familiar... I wonder if my hand is one of those hands below them." But as I'm thinking that, I don't remember there being two bridges near me.. just one. They kind of flew out from each corner / leg, into the middle where the main stage was.

So I go back to my rather large collection of photos from that night and -- low and behold -- it's familiar alright, just from another not-so-great angle (unless you like looking at The Edge's butt.. LOL).

Photogragh by Me :)

If I can't be a professional photographer, at least I know I have a professional photographer's eye for capturing amazing concert moments... from hilarious angles :)

Now I might actually have to buy that lithograph, and print my photo out the same size to hang next to it, just because this thoroughly cracks me up.

the u2 experience 2015

I don't know how many times I've seen U2 in concert over the years, but I do know that they just get better and better every time I do experience them live. Saturday night at the LA Forum (which I hate) was no exception (despite its location). 

I knew going in I was about to see a visually stunning, technologically amazing show. And I'd heard that what I'd hear was also going to be amazing thanks to a new sound system the band has installed around the arena, instead of just blaring from the stage. (That was well documented in the reviews of earlier stops on the still-young tour.) But as amazing as all that was, the "innocence+experience tour" is still -- at its core -- about four guys from the North side of Dublin who write beautiful music and make every one of the 20,000 people crammed into the arena feel like every note is meant just for them. 

Their latest album "Songs of Innocence" is now one of my all-time favorites, and it features one of my new all-time favorite songs, "Song for Someone." That was the first song on the album that struck a chord with me. And that was one song I truly wanted to hear live... just for me, and, well... 

love.

I was happy...and I didn't even have to wait that long :)

Here are the 22 other songs Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry also played during the two(ish) hour set....

They started out rocking on the main stage, near my awesome seats. (Paying $40 a year to be a member of U2.com has its privileges!) Then Bono, followed by The Edge and eventually Adam and Larry made their way down the ramp to the small stage at the other end of the arena. There truly wasn't a bad seat in the house.

They also made their way into the massive projection screen that is the centerpiece of the "visually stunning, technologically amazing" part of the show. Here are some of the coolest and/or funniest shots I took (imho): 

Edge inside the screen, and Bono being filmed on the small stage.
(After squirting him down, Bono held Edge in the palm of his hand ;) 

The whole band inside the screen

I loved the whole show. And I am so happy it actually happened. I bought the tickets back in December and it's taken forever to arrive. And just as it did, bad things started happening.  I kind of fear this tour is cursed. First, the whole start of the tour was postponed by Bono's catastrophic bicycle accident in Central Park back in November. Then a few nights before the first show in Vancouver, Larry's father passed away. Then on opening night in Vancouver, Edge walked right off the edge of the stage and luckily wasn't hurt. Then this past Wednesday, the band's tour manager Dennis Sheehan was found dead in his hotel room. 

That loss is still very raw. Bono spoke of him while discussing friendship, and the sanctity of it. And how friends can fight and speak their minds and still be okay.... and how that's so important to do. He said he regrets not saying things to Dennis. And he also regrets not saying things to Michael Hutchence, which lead into the song he wrote after Hutchence died... and it too was beautiful, with Edge on piano and backing vocals. 

I've leave you stuck in that moment, sung with words of experience after the innocence has gone... enjoy:

thoughts on songs of innocence

A little over a week ago, Apple held one of their big press conferences and announced they have new products you need to pay hundreds of dollars for that I will never buy because #iluvmydroid. Snooze. Yawn.

But then they introduced my favorite band (now that Bon Jovi is minus a Sambora) and announced that every iTunes user in the world was getting a gift in their account -- a free copy of the long-awaited new U2 album "Songs of Innocence."

That woke me up. I knew the album was almost ready. They'd been working on it for years. It was supposed to come out last year. Then it didn't. Then it was going to come out before the end of this year. But no date was announced. I kept waiting. Then I got distracted and all excited about the new Foos album coming out in November.

Never did I guess U2 would go from zero to a thousand and give it away to everyone (whether they wanted it or not) at the exact moment it was announced. I was so excited!

Then I got home to check my iTunes (since #ihaveadroid) and became perturbed. It wasn't easy to find. (Thanks to the peeps on the Apple message boards who also felt my pain and shared the secret of going to iTunes Preferences -> Store and checking the friggin' "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases" box.)

I finally got it downloaded and started listening. My immediate favorite song was "Song for Someone"... a sweet, lyrical Bono love song with Edge singing harmony that builds up like a classic U2 hit a'la "With or Without You" or "Walk On."

Then the next day, Bono posted this.

Then I really started listening... trying to figure the "very, very personal" songs out, because one of the things I love and miss most about buying albums is reading the liner notes and analyzing the little poems put to music known as song lyrics.

I started loving "Every Breaking Wave." Then "Iris" .... classic Edge strum, strum, strum... Larry bang, bang, banging beat, building up, with the music traveling in circles as Bono tells a story over it.. this time about his mom, Iris, who died when he was 14. It reminds me of pre-Unforgettable Fire U2. And I can already see that song in concert with bright flashing lights traveling the stage as Bono runs around and Edge stands there strum, strum, strumming in one spot. It's very different from the song Bono wrote when his dad died, ("Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" from one of my favorite albums, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.") but he had a lot more history with his dad...

Then two days ago I read this on RollingStone.com. Thank you for not making me figure it all out anymore. For those that don't want to click, based on an interview with Bono, the songs chronicle their young, innocent, pre-super band days.

Today I was connecting with the haunting "The Troubles" and "Volcano" -- they fit my mood this week at work. Volcano is also very '80s to me, which is a good thing ;)

Overall, I think I will like and listen to this album a lot. It's definitely more on the Achtung Baby/All That You Can't Leave Behind side of the collection (where I love listening to the whole album, no skipping) than the Zooropa/Pop side (where I listen to "If God Will Send His Angels" and "Staring at the Sun" and ... that's about it).

It was definitely worth way more than I paid for it (ha) and I will probably be one of the suckers that actually buys the album when it's physically released on October 15 so I can get the book that comes with it (see liner notes comment above ;) and the acoustic versions of four songs... because I'm also a sucker for anything played unplugged.

What do you think of your free gift? (That Apple actually paid $100 million for... nice promotional budget!) And who wants to go to a U2 concert with me next year to hear it live? :)

random thoughts during the 2014 oscars

Who knew Lupita Nyongo’s brother was in Kid-n-Play?

Ellen just said what everyone has been thinking about Lisa Minnelli for years by calling her a man (aka a drag queen). Burn.

And now it's time for the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars to win his Oscar.

Will be hard to beat Jared Leto for best speech of the night. Love to his mom, dreamers and victims of AIDS and injustice.

American Hustle did not win Best Costume. That was honestly the best shot they had unless there is a major acting category upset. Some woman wearing a sequined Hawaiian mumu won for Best Costume... for The Great Gatsby. Oh she's married to Baz Luhrmann. That explains it. Oh she's the woman who showed up in the American Express gold card dress long ago. She's old now.

Thank god Bad Grandpa did not win for Hair and Makeup. I'm now 2 for 3 in the Oscar pool.

I guess Harrison Ford isn't presenting Best Picture like he normally does...

Matthew McConaughey deserves the Oscar just for making it thru that award presentation with Kim Novak.

Kind of ironic that Kim Novak and her frozen face were chosen to present the Best Animated Short and Feature awards.

Visual Effects goes to Gravity… as it should.

Shorts, documentaries... the hit or miss categories in the Oscar pool. Entertainment Weekly you've failed me.

Darlene Love is singing really loud, which the Academy producers obviously weren’t prepared for. There goes their Sound Mixing Emmy. And does the Academy have clearance for that song?

Yay Italy wins… as it should... just because it's Italy.

It won't win Best Picture, but Nebraska wins in my book as best surprise film of the year. I had no expectations going in and loved it. Sweet, loving family drama that in many ways reminds me of the men on my dad’s side of the family.

Brad intros U2, who's performing acoustically... Highlight of the show thus far. And they get a standing ovation. Too bad they won't win.

Ellen just broke twitter. I can't retweet the celeb group shot.

Best Supporting Actress. Great category. June Squibb was awesome. JLaw was hilariously over the top. Julia held her own with Meryl. Too bad they can't all win. But Lupita Nyongo’s performance was too heartbreaking. The soap scene stole the film.

Thank you Brad Pitt from saving poor Lupita from that drag queen Liza Minnelli.

Okay. The pizza bit looked like it was going to bomb, but was actually pretty funny. I hope Harrison Ford made Calista eat part of his piece. And the owner of Big Mama and Papa's pizza just started crying tears of joy.

Great callout to Harold Ramis from Bill Murray during his and Amy Adams' presenting bit. Nice to get him into the broadcast in the event they weren’t able to edit him into the “In Memorium” in time.

Train wreck approaching. Here comes the Wizard of Oz/Judy Garland tribute. Don't let Liza talk. Don't let Liza talk. Oh good. Pink is going to sing instead. Phew. Actual entertainment.

Great dress on Jennifer Garner! Sassy fringe flapper dress. Love!

Great ad for the Pepsi mini cans with famous movie lines. "Show me the mini!"

Ellen's celeb selfie just broke the Twitter record and passed one million retweets*. That makes me one in a million :) (And shout out to Lupita's brother from Kid-n-Play for being more visible in the photo that three of the people who actually won Oscars this year!)

Harold Ramis made it into the “In Memoriam.” “Slates for Sarah” sort of did (after the fact).

I knew Bette Milder would be singing the sad Beaches song during the “In Memorium” the moment they announced her as a performer. See, I could produce the Oscars :p

The bubble people Oscars at the back of the stage are starting to freak me out. They look like the casts for the people stacked in the pod holding bay in The Matrix.

Hey John Travolta, her name is Idina Menzel. Ass.

"Let It Go" wins best original song, which Bono called on The Tonight Show two weeks ago. Robert Lopez is now an EGOT winner thanks to a Disney movie and....The Book of Mormon. And U2 is NOT an Oscar winner.... yet.

And the Let It Go winners’ speech is the most entertaining of the night...all rhyming. But Jared's is still the most heartwarming, followed closely by Lupita's.

Alfonso Cuaron is Best Director. Duh. Gravity was amazing. So was Sandra Bullock, but she won't win because of that crappy Woody Allen movie. (No offense to Cate Blanchett.)

Best Actress goes to Cate Blanchett. Yeah. Whatever.

Alright, alright, alright. And Matthew McConaughey is rewarded for putting up with Kim Novack. And playing a devastatingly heartbreaking role in Dallas Buyers Club. Whoever thought the stoner in Dazed & Confused and Ed TV would win a Best Actor Oscar? I can believe the lawyer in A Time to Kill one day would though.

Really like the graphics for Best Picture nominees.

And 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture. Brad Pitt is now an Oscar winner too. Take THAT George Clooney and Matt Damon!

The end. 3 hours and 30 minutes exactly.

The only real surprise of the night was that American Hustle was totally shut out. Oh well. Yay for Gravity!

P.S. I won the Oscar party pool with 20 correct. Yay me!

PPS: By an hour after the show ended, Ellen's celeb selfie has ready 2.1 million retweets... a 7-digit number that Twitter designers apparently never thought about how to display (see screengrab above). So that one tweet has actually broken Twitter in two different ways tonight.

your "big game" sunday "to do" list

There's only one thing on the list. And for those of you (like me) who could care less about football, it's really easy.

1. Click this iTunes link and download U2's new song "Invisible" for FREE in the next 24 hours. 

Bank of America will then give $1 for every download to The Global Fund to fight AIDS.

That's it. You're done... except for then enjoying the musical genius of Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry.

As someone who lost someone I love to this awful disease 22 years ago, I thank you!

enjoy the musical moment

So I'm once again sitting on the sofa watching stuff on TiVo. My current selection is the Jimmy Kimmel Live After Oscar special, which featured this year's celeb-studded viral wannabe Movie: The Movie (sorry Jimmy, it's no Handsome Men's Club) and a skit where Oprah actually allows herself to be made fun of. The show also featured a live performance from Coldplay, which is why I'm typing...

All throughout the crowd, there are hundreds of digital cameras and cell phones pointed at the stage, all with human beings attached, whose focus is clearly on the screen of their device, NOT the actual Grammy-Award winning band performing mere feet away from them for free.

I'm all for recording things for posterity and saving memories, but this practice has become far too common and addicting...especially when you are in the audience of a concert that is already being recorded... like for a national TV show you can watch and relive online whenever you want!

I'm totally guilty of it too. I spent most of U2's concert at the Rose Bowl in 2009 -- where I was lucky enough to have had a general admission floor ticket that enabled me to end up right in front of the catwalk surrounding the stage AND that was recorded for their 360 Tour Live DVD, btw -- with my camera out, recording video of my fave songs and trying to get perfect photos of Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. But I'm kinda bummed that I didn't experience more of the actual experience of being there... "stuck in a moment," if you will... in the FRONT ROW!

Luckily, the most recent concerts I've gone to -- specifically Foo Fighters at the not-so-fabulous-anymore-Forum in October -- have required that I focus on the music, not my camera. See, my camera broke at some point over the summer and refused to focus on anything. So any footage I would have attempted to film would have looked like a super-fuzzy mess. And while I wish I had clear video of Dave Grohl performing Everlong, I am kind of glad I don't. That concert was awesome and I remember huge chunks of the performances and how great the music sounded. I'm not sure that would have happened if I'd been too busy recording the show to actually enjoy the show.

sadness on e street

Saturday was a sad day for music fans. Clarence Clemons, the sax player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, passed away from complications of a stroke.

I learned of his passing as I was waiting in a massive line to get into Angels Stadium in Anaheim for my third U2 concert of their 360 Tour Saturday night. Bono made me love him even more by paying tribute to "The Big Man" before the final song of the evening...



I first saw Bruce Springsteen in concert in 2005 -- minus the E Street Band -- on his acoustic Devils & Dust tour. The show was at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and was, in a word, AMAZING. But I felt like I hadn't had the full Springsteen experience because the E Street Band wasn't backing him up, and decided as I was leaving the theater that I had to see him play with the band the next time they toured.

That opportunity finally came on April 16, 2009. Unfortunately, it required going to the LA Sports Arena, the only arena in Southern California that is quite possibly a bigger dump than the Forum. But I told myself, suck it up and go... who knows how many more opportunities you'll get to see Bruce with the E Street Band. In retrospect, I'm so glad I went. It was a great show, and part of what made it so great was "The Big Man." The playful on-stage camaraderie between Springsteen and Clemons is what made watching and listening to that band so fun. And now, half of that duo is gone. And there is sadness on E Street, and for all those who loved visiting it musically.

RIP Big Man. The solo below, starting at 2:10, is how I'll always remember you...