I Got Blisters On My Fingers

Hey Soul Mates,
we had a smashing time at the Paul McCartney show at Staples last night. Sadly, the rest of the audience didn't seem to be feeling it. The setlist may have had a lot to do with it. Paul opened with Magical Mystery Tour, Flaming Pie, I'll Get You (the flip of She Loves You) and Jet. Not exactly a jump out of your seat hit parade. Regardless, the sound was crap and he was visibly perturbed about something. So it was a very slow start to the last night of the tour. Which is a shame. The crowd just didn't want to give back what the artists were giving. Macca's current backing band is a topnotch group, anchored by a vicious drummer who sang all of John's harmonies on the Beatle numbers. They really were better than last night's jaded LA audience deserved.

I roamed between two sections during the show, Bryan had waaaaaaaaay better seats than me. His were next to the stage, front row. So we got to see Paulie from about 50 feet away. He looks good at 63 and was in pretty good vocal shape til the end of the show. From below I could really get a sense of the house and what he sees from center stage. I knew that he could sense the disconnect with the audience. That must be frustrating, but he soldiered on.

In the 300 section where my seats actually were, the mix was unforgivably bad. Most of the concert-goers around us sat on their hands. They were polite, but by no means involved, except when Macca played the real chestnuts: Yesterday, Hey Jude. Some numbers like Band On The Run actually slowed the momentum to a stop. Which is strange for a song that is clearly a classic. The new songs from Chaos & Creation In The Backyard came across well, but were received poorly. An odd contrast to the recent Stones show at the Bowl, where the crowd was down with the new numbers. In fact, the LA Times called out the Stones a few days before for not including enough new material in their set. Suffice it to say, the new disc from the Rolling Stones is stronger than Paul's.

There were a number of wonderful musical surprises including I Will, For No One, I'll Follow The Sun (with multiple false endings), I'll Get You, and In Spite Of All The Danger. So for a hardcore McCartney fan like myself the setlist was a treat. The most blazing point of the evening was Helter Skelter. I'd seen Paul do it in the concert at Red Square, but man, that's the most intense Beatle performance, esp. since it came from the cute one. The band ripped the hell out of Helter Skelter. I wish my mates Mike & Mark could have been there. We must have attempted to play half the Beatles' catalog at some point including that one.

The second encore kicked in with Please, Please Me (another one of those songs I thought I would never hear performed live). Followed by Let It Be, Sgt. Pepper's (Reprise) and The End. The sound mix was so shitty you couldn't make out the dueling guitars during The End. A shame. At one point Paul said, "This is the last night of the tour. I just want to soak it in." He walked away from the mic and stood next to the stage scanning the audience and the venue. It was that bittersweet moment that it hit once again, what a singular talent he and the Beatles were. We are actually privileged to have had an audience with Sir Paul. You can never depend on seeing his like again.

Overall, the audience reaction, the pacing and the sound of the show were poor. The songs, the performance and the joy which Paul brings to the very difficult task of living up to his own legend: all aces.

Well, the car's in the shop and you don't need me to tell you "that's no fun." Fortunately all the credit cards are maxxed out so it almost doesn't make any difference. Don't worry, I'll still be at the show. That means you better be there, too! You only have a few more hours to pick out what you are wearing. In honor of Little Richard, I'm wearing my vintage, blue sharkskin jacket. Whoooooo! I'll be writing more about Richard and the Beatles this week. Richard is turning 75 and we're at the 25th anniversary of Lennon's assassination.

I just walked back from the KFC up the block. I know people are boycotting the Colonel and all, but KFC's popcorn chicken is crack. A few months ago, I actually raised hell at that franchise up the street because they said it was a seasonal item. I'm like, baby it's popcorn chicken season year 'round. Of course, I found a place in Pasadena where they looked at me like I was from Neptune when I told them my neighborhood KFC didn't carry it all the time. And then, we went into our local KFC a few weeks ago, when we saw the popcorn boxes on display. The girl behind the counter said, "Oh, we're out. More should be coming in tomorrow." I said don't advertise what you can't sell. I told her she needed to make a few calls and help a brother out. Anyway, I think I ate half the box before getting back to the apartment.

Time to chill out before the show. Had to do my own hair, because my girl, Monica broke her wrist. I did not cut my own hair, just put it into place. Get better soon, Monica. This mane is getting outta control!

Love, Power, Peace