Page McConnell @ Pantages Theatre

Page McConnell palyed keyboards for Phish for 20 years, from the bands inception to its end in 2004. Known as 'the chairman of the boards', Page has always been the least visible and least vocal of the fellas, positioned on the left side of the stage and seldom contributing more than backup vocals. He recently released his first ever solo album, and reviews of his tour (the first leg of which ended in minneapolis) have been stellar, saying that this is about the closest any of the post phish projects have come to re-creating that magical sound. i doubt that is what page's intentions were on this tour, but he clearly flourishes in an environment where improvisation is not only welcome, but neccessary to fully engage his audience and showcase his talents.











the most intimate moments of the evening came when page came out by himself for an encore and did 'strange design', a lovely song that is one of the few phish songs that page wrote.

Dripping in this strange design
None is yours and far less mine
Hold the wheel, read the sign
Keep the tires off the line
Just relax, youre doing fine
Swimming in this real thing I call life
Can I bring a few companions on this ride?

Pert Near Ice-T

last friday, on a lovely early june afternoon, local bluegrass stars pert near sandstone had their chance to play for the downtown minneapolis business crowd at peavy plaza. the free show, part of the 'alive at five' concert series, drew a sizeable crowd, with many young music fans bringing their children out for a foot stompin good time. the band was in good form, churning out fast paced original tunes alongside bluegrass standards from the likes of bill monroe. recieving as much attention as the band were three toddlers who were dancing up a storm, and occasionally falling down from overdoing a risky dance move. the youngsters pranced around the open dancefloor and delighted the audience.
pert near sandstone, with one of their more adorable fans in the lower left corner:



the next night and mere blocks away, brianna and i were able to catch some classic jams of an entirely different genre.

Ice T has been a musical idol of mine since i was about 13 years old and picked up my first ice-t record, 'original gangster'. The original 'original gangster', or 'O.G.' came through minneapolis over the weekend as host of a dj premeire show at the foundation nightclub in downtown minneapolis.

This was my first time at the fairly new, fairly swanky club, and i made sure to wear appropriate attire, so as to comply with the dress code. so, no white t shirts, no gang colors, no baseball hats turned backward for me on this saturday night.

the lady and i gladly paid our $20 for VIP admission to a show which i was very excited about, the infamous cop killer turned tv cop, performing with the man on the turntables for the legendary rap duo Gang Starr.

the VIP treatment meant we could carouse around behind the stage freely. it was pretty surreal to be five feet behind DJ Premeiere as he spun records, and to think that my man Guru was no more than a speed dial away.

Ice T was a treat to see, up there on stage with his wife coco. the two 'hosted' the dj event, which apparently means the host gets onstage for a few minute at a time and does a verse from a song here and there, and makes requests from the dj. ice-t, by the way, instructed the dj to throw on some public enemy, epmd, nwa, etc...the real gansta shit, of course. anyway it was entertaining to watch ice-t and his wife. apparently the integrity of coco's ass was in question, and ice-t directed more than one (female) fan to grab it and verify that it was, in fact, real.

ice-t (my shitty photo):



ice-t and coco:



dj premeir (left) with Guru:



dj evil e, the old school dj for ice-t, pictured on the right for the cover of 1988's 'power', opened the show.



oh yeah, and the coolest thing about ice-t, in my opinion, is that when he and his record company eventually bowed to insurmountable pressure from police groups, and took the song 'cop killer' off the 'body count' record (Ice's decent attempt at forming a heavy metal band)he replaced it with this song, called 'freedom of speech', from an earlier album.


Freedom of Speech, that's some motherfuckin' bullshit
You say the wrong thing, they'll lock your ass up quick
The FCC says "Profanity - No Airplay"?
They can suck my dick while I take a shit all day
Think I give a fuck about some silly bitch named Gore?
Yo PMRC, here we go, raw
Yo Tip, what's the matter? You ain't gettin' no dick?
You're bitchin' about rock'n'roll, that's censorship, dumb bitch
The Constitution says we all got a right to speak
Say what we want Tip, your argument is weak
Censor records, TV, school books too
And who decides what's right to hear? You?
Hey PMRC, you stupid fuckin' assholes
The sticker on the record is what makes 'em sell gold
Can't you see, you alcoholic idiots
The more you try to suppress us, the larger we get



[You have the right to remain silent]
Fuck that right! I want the right to talk
I want the right to speak, I want the right to walk
Where I wanna, yell and I'm gonna
Tell and rebel every time I'm on a
Microphone on the stage cold illin'
The knowledge I drop will be heard by millions
We ain't the problems, we ain't the villains
It's the suckers deprivin' the truth from our children
You can't hide the fact, Jack
There's violence in the streets every day, any fool can recognise that
But you try to lie and lie
And say America's some motherfuckin' apple pie
Yo, you gotta be high to believe that
You're gonna change the world by a sticker on a record sleeve
Cos once you take away my right to speak
Everybody in the world's up shit creek


Let me tell you about down south
Where a motherfucker might as well not even have a mouth
Columbus, Georgia, said they'd lock me up
If I got on the stage in my show and said "Fuck"
So I thought for a minute and said "No,
I wasn't even gonna do a damned show"
Cos for me to change my words from my rhymes
Is never gonna happen cos there's no sell outs on mine
But I vowed to get those motherfuckers one day
They even arrested Bobby Brown and Cool J
Yo, they got their's comin', cos I'm mad and I'm gunnin'
Homeboys, and there's no runnin'
I'm gonna tell you how I feel about you
No bull, no lies, no slack, just straight fact
Columbus, Georgia, you can suck my dick
You ain't nothin' but a piece of fuckin' shit on the damned map


Freedom of Speech, let 'em take it from me
Next they'll take it from you, then what you gonna do?
Let 'em censor books, let 'em censor art
PMRC, this is where the witch hunt starts
You'll censor what we see, we read, we hear, we learn
The books will burn
You better think it out
We should be able to say anything, our lungs were meant to shout
Say what we feel, yell out what's real
Even though it may not bring mass appeal
Your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine
If you don't like what I'm sayin'? Fine
But don't close it, always keep an open mind
A man who fails to listen is blind
We only got one right left in the world today
Let me have it or throw The Constitution away

Outro - Jello Biafra

What they're trying to do with radio, with this, uh, McCarron-Walter
Act and a lot of other ways, is start by saying that they're
protecting the public from wicked rock bands, or girlie magazines, or
whatever. But, if you follow the chain of dominoes that falls down,
what they're really trying to do is shut off our access to information
itself.

If they can't do it by law they know there's other ways to do it.

Charlie Parr @ the Cedar 6/2

Charlie Parr has been a staple of the Duluth music scene for years, having been the anchor of the Wednesday night 'midweek blues bracer' at fitgers brewhouse for quite some time now. recently though, charlie has branched out and has been making a name for himself throughout minnesota. he was featured on 'a prairie home companion', giving him a national audience for a few minutes at a time, and has been on the cover of city pages as well. he is a brilliant guitarist and songwriter- i recall one writer remarking years ago that "most of charlies songs are about drinkin and killin". word.

because charlie works with homeless people in duluth, he has undoubtably seen some distressing things. obviously he spends a lot of time with people who are extermely down on their luck, and that can be heard in some of his lyrics, yet his songs are not miserable and depressing. there is something about him that is calming. his voice, mixed with his talents on the guitar and his good natured, lighthearted attitude that make him more entertaining and uplifting than one would expect someone who sings about 'drinkin and killin' to be.

charlie started off the show doing a song with his wife (who had their infant son strapped to her chest onstage) along with a washboard player. what a pretty voice she had, i had no idea she was a singer.

although i was initially a little disappointed to walk into the big gymnasium like venue that is the cedar cultural center and see it filled with people quietly occupying chairs, (i was hopin for a bit of a hoedown) it was a good set up afterall.

charlie has been a huge influence on one of my favorite bands of all time, trampled by turtles. more than once i have seen those four young musicians flank mr parr, two on either side, and watch on in admiration as those furiously fast forty fingers of tbt accentuate charlies own proficient guitar pickin.

charlie has clearly been impressed with the talents of trampled by turtles hiimself, and opening the show were dave simonett of TBT and ryan young, fiddle player for the outstanding minneapolis based blugrass band pert near sandstone. the two have been playing together (when neither of the two very much in demand bands have gigs) and they make a very subdued, intimate sound together. daves simple yet forceful lyrics are nicely complimented by the violin, but the two can also easily get peoples feet stomping when they get going on a quicker song.


a brief, sideways sample of how good charlie sounded:



still working out the details of the youtube thing, quality will be much better in the future with some new fancy equipment, i promise.

and here is charlie with dave s and ryan young and a dude rockin the washboards. the four finished out the show with a neil young cover

Ike Reilly is a fucking badass

Dig this: apparently Ike and Tom Morello (the man behind that unmistakable powerful and raw guitar sound of rage against the machine) grew up together in Libertyville Illinois (ike was also in the same high school class as Chris Farley, according to one sexy fan who is in the know). They have played together on occasion for years and the two will embark on a brief tour together in July. Unfortunately the closest they will be to the 612 is Detroit, but us minnesotans can catch Ike with the Assassanation at the cabooze June 29th. says Morello, aka The Nightwatchman, of the upcoming shows:

"When two Illinois rogues hit the road together anything can happen, and anything will. We are on a mission. It's like a Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger combo for the new millennium. Fathers, hide your Republican daughters."

Reilly adds, "Hide ALL of your daughters."

Hells yeah.

no trey @ 10K

the car is the thing on the road that takes you back to your abode...

unfortunately, Trey Anastasio will be unable to perform at July's 10,000 lakes festival in Detroit Lakes Minnesota. It would have been his 4th appearance at the phenomenal festival, which is held at the soo pass ranch, where the infamous we fest is held each august. it is a spectacular venue and an outstanding lineup, even without Trey, yet he will be missed due to 'circumstances beyond control'. those circumstances are that he was stopped on a mid december night as he was driving and was found to be in possession of percocet and hydrocodone, which were not prescribed to him, as well as hashish and heroin. he also admitted to smoking hashish and was charged with DWI. in lieu of jailtime, trey will be required to complete a 12 month treatment program and, if he fails it, may do 1-3 years in state prison. it sounds like trey is committed to getting help for what he has himself called an addiction, and hopefully trey will be all good for next summers festival season. thankfully, he has already stated that he plans to be at next year's 10K. coming nowhere near filling the shoes of the guitar hero at the festival will be the techno/jamgrass outfit the string cheese incident, of colorado.

American Idol : The Finale Part 2

Well here we are folks, this is what the last five months has been leading up to. Who will be the victor in what the commercials billed as the 'ultimate showdown'?

first we get to see our two finalists (the best final two ever in my ever so humble opinion) sing 'when i saw her standing there'. perhaps we are being prepped for a paul mccartney appearance tonight with this song and randys jacket from last night, right off the cover of sergant peppers lonely hearts club band album cover. a cute little performance, there is definitely some chemistry between jordin and blake. they both seem like really nice people who could get along with anyone, but they look like they have genuinely grown quite fond of eachother.

seacrest kicks it over to gwen stefani who is on tour somewhere and is wearing a hideous puffy pink outfit that vaguely resembles a designer beachball. something about 4 in the morning, and i am not rushing out to see her in concert.

next is the spectacular kelly clarkson. ryan seacrest warns us 'shes a little ticked in this song...' boy is she ever. she sings with sharpness and conviction and i think she has one of the most distinctive (and cool) voices in pop music today. this song is fucking intense. her backing band sounds like it could be daughtry, and this is an exciting, emotional performance. wow. i would love to see daughtry do a song featuring k clark.

golden idol awards will not be covered in this blog.

they bring back all of the top six boys to do a smokey robinson song, and ladies and gentlemen, smokey robinson! wow, that is sweet but he has clearly had too much botox and plastic surgery over the years. his face looks like the skin has been streched one time too many or something, and it is fairly gruesome to look at. still he sounds good and it is a nice little medly where we get to rememebr the chris slighs and brandon rogerses of this season, like why did they go so early on when sanjaya malakar stayed so long??

next, after a breif explanation that some people expressed concern over the lack of beatboxing form blake in the first part of the finale, we are treated to doug e fresh and blake together onstage for a hot beatboxing match. blake can actaully hang with the old school great onstage, and it is a hip, flashy, and entertaining performance. blake is a really talented vocal turntablist and beatboxer, moreso than we have really had a chance to see all season.

top six girls are up and they bring gladys knight out and it is fucking awesome. she looks fantastic and rally happy to be there, especially when melinda and lakisha are on either side of her, looking on in admiration and taking turns singing, and i would buy a record put out by the three of them right now. i want that record right now! man that was sweet. fabulous guest stars already.

next is tony bennett, who couldnt perform when he was a guest mentor earlier in the season due to illness. he magically still sounds like a pro, and i am not sure if this finale could get any more star studded.

melinda doolittle takes the stage with bebe and cece wyans, who she used to sing backup vocals for. 'wont you please america...hold up the light, save the world from darkness...' they sing. yikes, these people are incredibly hopped up on jesus.

next is a montage of higlights from this seasons ford commercials, set to 'time after time', and what a season of ford commercials it was.

carrie underwood is back with 'i'll stand by you' that great song from the pretenders. but why carrie, are you singing this song again, after singing it to the african children on the idol gives back special? dont you have some of melinda's god people writing songs for you? still, she sounds great and its hard not to like her.

clive davis comes out to toot his own horn about how many records the american idol franchise has sold, and encourages us to remember the talented people who actually write the songs that the idols sing. daughtry is given a shout out for being the #1 selling band in the last year, and carrie underwood is presented a plaque (thanks a lot) for selling six million records and making a whole lot of money for the producers of this show. i bet simon is feeling pretty good about himself right now for predicting early on in season 4 that not only would she win the competition, but she would sell more records than any other idol before her.

next is the african childrens choir and they are the happiest group of children i have ever seen and it is an absolutley touching performance. fucking spectacular.

now for the inevitable sanjaya malakar/joe perry of aerosmith/wind machine combination. too bad sanjaya couldnt learn a new song and does the one 'rocking' song he knows, 'you really got me' i swear its the exact same routine of running into the crowd and gving audience members high fives as he did before. only this time he gets to hover around joe perry like a groupie and joe looks a bit uncomfortable.

here is a surprise: green day singing 'working class hero' by john lennon. this is about the last band i would expect to see on american idol (remember that song american idot?) and the last song i would EVER expect to see on the fox network, let alone american idol. dig these lyrics yo:

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and class less and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me


that, folks, is the coolest thing i have ever seen on american idol, and quite possibly the coolest thing i have ever seen on television. fuck yeah. i cannot believe it but billy jo actually sang all of them brilliant lyrics, minus the curse words of course.

after a commercial break, taylor hicks comes out of nowhere and runs around the stage as he is inclined to do while singing, and does a nice harmonica solo at the end of the song, as if to plead with america, "look, i can do something special with my mouth too! palying a harmonica is like beatboxing into an instrument!"

Jordin's duet is next, and who does she get to sing with....ruben studdard! wow they are really taking advantage of those contracts that they make the idol winners sign, that presumably say 'you will perform whenever we want on our show'. where is fantasia? last i heard she is on broadway. anywhooo ruben sounds great and they do a mean duet.

taking over for celine dion after five years at ceasars palace in las vegas will be bette midler, and we get to hear her sing 'the wind beneath my wings'. splendid. this has to be one of the most annoying songs ever that everyone in america subconciously knows every word to. it is as bette is singing that i realize that the las vegas mafia has the children of one of the american idol producers tied up in a basement somewhere in the desert and that is why she is on the show right now promoting her upcoming casino gig. i wonder how many times she has sung that song and how many more times she will sing it during her in 10 shows a week at her endless ceasars palace show. as we check in on jerry springer for the 8th time tonight in the audience, we can see that he is truly inspired by this song.

a tribute to sgt pepper is next, with joe perry and kelly clarkson returning to the stage to perform. quasi pshycahdelic muticolored lights flash about, and taylor is back into the mix, who passes the mic to carrie underwood, who passes the mic to ruben studdard, and if green day singing 'working class hero' was not quite surreal enough, i am almost certain that i am on acid when i hear ruben studdard singing 'lucy in the sky with diamonds'. wait, now i am positive that i am on something powerful as i witness the top twelve american idols singing in unison 'i get high with a little help from my friends'. whew that was intense.

with 74 million votes cast after the first part of the finale, and 609 million cast all season, seacrest asks the judges who they expect will take home the american idol challenge. randy, without hesitation, says that jordin outperformed her competitor last night, and simon concurs. paula, clearly still on the painkillers she was prescribed when she 'accidentally' tripped over her dog, cannot commit to putting one contestant over the other and bumbles on at length about how they are 'both winners'.

both winners they are not tho, and one of them will have to come in second. that person is blake lewis as jordin sparks, the mighty j-sparks, is announced as the winner of the sixth season of americn idol.



best finale ever, (even without prince or paul mccartney) best final two ever, and although i was a little skeptical of the top 24, best fucking season ever.

good luck jordin and i am sure blake will do just fine too. james out.

American Idol : The Finale Pt. 1

vs.



yall know where i stand.

our fianle is live at the kodak theatre, home of the academy awards, and it is a magnificent looking joint in hollywood with 3400 american idol fans.

my prediction remains that j-spark will win the whole thing. Of course we won't find out for sure until tonight, but I am confident that things went the way of Jordin Sparks last night.

Three songs each, one favorite, one they have not performed on the show, and the last song of the season for each of the two finalists is 'this is my now' the winning entry in the songwriting competition, written by two fellas from Seattle.

Speaking of Seattle, what a season of American Idol for that fantastic city I had the pleasure to visit in February! Not only did the two fianlists audition there, but the misfit sanjaya came from there as well, and this winning song, which we can only assume will be a winner.

ok on to performances:

last night at the end of the show blake won the coin toss to determine who gets to decide who goes first, and instead of making the decision himself, he asks jordin 'do you wanna go first?' she quickly and wisely said no, meaning blake is up first tonight and jordin will have the fortunate opportunity to close out the show and give the last performance of the finale. blake is probably regretting being such a gentleman already.

blakes first song is a remix of his remix of 'you give love a bad name', probably his best performance of the season, and definitely his best beatboxing ever on the show. he really made the vocal turntables fit into the song nicely and that little call and response thing with the drummer was brilliant. the crowd absolutely loves this performance again, it sounded better than the first time around, more rehearsed and refined, and he is off to an excellent start.

j-spark goes with 'fighter', from christina aguilera. i didnt recognize the song at first and wondered why she chose it, but then came the tough lyrics, and the sultry attitude and i think it was a wise choice. possibly directed at all the criticism she has faced through the season, when the judges thought she didnt have the chops to outlast melinda and/or lakisha:

'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do
I wouldn't know just how capable I am to pull through
So I wanna say thank you

'Cause it makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
Makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
It makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter.

word, jordin may be young and sweet and innocent, but she is fuckin tough as nails too. thats my girl. she showed everyone she could do it and will do so again one last time before becoming the most popular person in america.

judges seem to concur that the first round goes to jordin, although at this point, everyones mind is made up and it doesnt much matter who sings what or what the judges say, the fans are not going to be persuaded to vote for anyone but their favorite. still the judges, and espescially simon, like to think they have some sway over the voters.

blakes second song, one he has not done on the show before, is maroon 5's 'she will be loved' blake, my man, what is this all about?! this has to be one of the most inapporpriate choices all season for blake. havent we had enough maroon 5 lately? he did maroon 5 last week, and although it sounded better than the lame ass radio version and maroon 5's lead singer's annoying high voice, why go back to the same lame pop band? the blaker girls are already voting for you, there no need to make the tweens cry anymore. again, blakes rendition was a better vocal than the original, but so what? this is the last chance to freaking DAZZLE the audience, and i dont think it worked. randy likes the lack of beatboxing, how he sang it 'natural and pure' like a good little popstar, but that aint blake yo! blake has more personality and more flavor that that song ever could and i think he really sold himself short with that one.

jordin's second song, her favorite performance of the season, is 'broken wing' that martina mcbride song she did a few weeks back. man she is phenomenal. really nails the last long note, and the whole place is as excited as i am for what jordin will inevitably become. she earns an extended standing ovation from the audience and unanimous praise from the judges. randy jackson even says it was better than the original version. haha i bet martina loved to hear that.

ricky schroeder is in the crowd tonight, on his feet for jordin of course, and unlike his foolish character on 24 who lost his sight because he didnt listen to jack, he can see that jodin shall become a superstar idol.

last song is 'this is my now' and blake looks mortified that he has to sing it. right from the beginning he looks as if he knows this song was not meant for him. he pushes through it tho, and i think this is embarrassing for blake, it is just not his kind of song and he knows it.

jordin on the other hand, absolutely wails on the song and even tho it is cheesy and the lyrics are dripping with sap, she makes it sound like it could (and probably will) be a #1 hit song. its like jordin understood the point anf the nature of the song, and she chokes up a bit at the very end of the song, as if she knows how much her performance blew everyone away. randy and simon concur that she has shown she is the best snger in what is, afterall, a singing competition. simon says jordin 'wiped the floor with blake' tonight and there is little doubt about who the judges think should win this thing. i am certain that her performance of that song sealed the deal. all three of jordins songs were flawless.

blake did allright tonight, but this competition belongs to j-sparks.

can tonights finale top last years when prince made a surprise last minute appearance?