Ringo And Bob In 72 Hours!

First of all. Happy %$%# Birthday to Max's Mom. Without her, there's no Max and some would argue, no me.

Second of all, I dont think I can actually write my feelings on the child, gay, innocent people at a Christmas party, student, movie goer, and anybody else murder advocates in our Congress. I feel myself grinding my teeth already so I'll let it go with this. Those motherfuckers deserve a fiery after life which of course there is none so they deserve to be voted out, recalled, thrown off a boat, whatever to get rid of their soulless asses. Pfew! Breathe, Max's Dad, breathe.......E mail or write to every one of these worthless pieces of donkey shit. I have and You have no idea how difficult it was to not type the words "fuck" and "you".

Ok now, to something I actually love. Music.

To see two legends in a period of 72 hours at a hot and humid outdoor venue I have grown to love, The Pinewood Bowl in Lincoln, is beyond the dreams of a Midwestern kid who has the musical talent of a crazed chimp.

Bob Dylan and his band came to town on Wednesday evening in front of a gaggle of broken down old geezers like me. Now if you've never seen Bob Dylan and I cant imagine how anybody has missed the guy since his tour is named the Never Ending Tour, you may expect the old guy to sit on a stool and belt out Like a Rolling Stone, or Knockin on Heaven's Door, or Shelter From The Sky, or Tangled up in Blue, well actually he DID do that one, I think, but it aint happenin. Bob Dylan does whatever the fuck he wants and once you see it, you know whether you ever want to see him again. I've seen him 6 times now and nothing has been the same, ever. He's kind of into Sinatra now so expect 4 or 5 Sinatra covers, an Irving Berlin cover or two and whole lotta stuff you never ever heard before. And you like it, cuz he's Dylan, or you don't and you tell everyone how much he sucks cuz he didn't play The Times They Are A Changin.

Bob Dylan has been defying you for over 50 years now. It's who he is. You want this? He's bored with it. So he plays a song about a train off his latest album you won't give a chance to. I admit the first time I saw him, no the first time I saw him I loved it cuz he was into a boogie woogie style of music and had the Kings of Leon opening for him before they were Kings of anything and they were great. So was Bob. Ok, I admit the second time I saw him, no wait, I loved that too cuz he was into a country swing type of music and had Elvis Costello open for him. The third time I saw him, no wait....there was The Pretenders and that blues stuff. Then well ok the 5th time I saw him was with Max. And Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame opened for him and thought he was on some sort of Dylan type pedestal and refused to play any Dire Straits songs except that funeral dirge I actually like, Brothers in Arms. And the Dylan came out and boogie woogied again and played a couple of songs that nobody recognized until halfway through, anyway, my point is this. Expect a Greatest Hits tour, you are not getting it from perhaps the greatest musical genius of the rock n roll era. So if you don't want to hear a bunch of stuff you have no loyalty to from Bob, do not go. Let those of us who appreciate our belief that the man can do no wrong drink it up. And hell, he had a legend open for him this time too. Mavis Staples can bring it, y'all. She is freakin awesome. Old, white people giving witness to a gospel concert is proof positive of her power.

Now to last night where one Ringo Starr brought a band of "All Starrs" to the Pinewood Bowl. Unlike Dylan, who I admit listening to is a bit like work, Ringo just brings fun. Peace and Love.'

Ringo brought along the same band I saw last year in Omaha that included Greg Rolie of Santana, Steve Lukather of Toto, Todd Rundgren, Richard Page of Mister Mister, Warren Ham of Toto, and a drummer extraordinaire, Gregg Bissonette who showed what a real drummer can do. Wow, this dude, who once played with Spinal Tap for godsakes, was the best.

Now this, my friends, is a Greatest Hits Tour, and you will be smiling and swaying and woo hooing like crazy cuz dammit, this band has so much talent its almost overwhelming.

Ringo starts with his solo stuff, including a very sax oriented It Dont Come Easy and then its time for the band members to shine.

Greg Rolie is so good singing the Santana stuff it makes you wish it did start pouring rain and you can imagine it's Woodstock and 1969 again. This guy hasn't changed a bit. He hits the notes, the band jams, oh my it was wonderful to listen to.

Steve Lukather plays the Toto hits he's probably sick of and Warren Ham hits the high notes in Africa, Hold The Line and Rosanna. Again, Lukather is such a great guitar player and affable dude onstage that it just makes those tunes you thought you were sick of come back to life. Damn, that guy can play and Ham can play that sax so well it just adds to the fun.

Todd Rundgren and Richard Page sing their hits and even though I'm not that much of fan of either, hey they won me over. Who doesn't want to bang on the drum all day?

It all ends with Ringo center stage as it should singing With A Little Help From My Friends and then you leave. Of course you do because you have now seen it all.

I love this show. It's like 5 concerts in one.

So there ya have it.

Dylan is a bit of a chore. Great band. Great opening act. Its Bob Dylan doing what he wants and not giving a rip what you want. You either appreciate it or you don't. He did talk to the crowd just once and said what I believe was "tunkou the ban take a brut now see ya licker" and then he left the stage for like 20 minutes. A lot of the crowd took a break too. Right to their cars. Oh well.

Ringo is just plain fun. I am usually against this fun thing. It's just my inner Bob Dylan. But to see this old Beatle seem to be having fun makes me happy. Happy that two of them are still here and kicking ass.

Both nights made me stress free for hours. Trust me, thats good.