Graham Nash performed two of his solo albums in their entirety, “Songs for Beginners” and “Wild Tales”, with a full band this past Friday at New York City’s Town Hall. I was tracking the ticket sales for a couple of days and was surprised to see that although reasonably priced, Nash’s show failed to sell out and ticket prices as listed on StubHub were dropping throughout the day right up until showtime. I had purchased my tickets months ago, but for those who passed on the last minute bargains, they missed a fascinating concert performed by a still vibrant artist who provided insightful anecdotes throughout with an excellent backing band in accompaniment.

And, news flash, the self proclaimed hippie abandoned his bare feet on stage policy by wearing shoes for this performance.

The 77 year old Nash played the two great solo albums one after another with a shott intermission in between, “Songs for Beginners” had been performed in its entirety by a variety of artists this past summer at the Newport Folk Festival when the committee had trouble filling a slot on the second stage this year. While the Folk Festival set was good, it could not match the legendary Nash performing the song cycle himself. He referenced that several of the albums songs were inspired by his then former girlfriend Joni Mitchell and he completed the evening’s performance with a few of his better known “hit” songs, “Just a Song Before I Go”, the mind bending trip “Cathedral”, Graham’s “My Way” AKA the timeless “Our House” and ended with CSNY’s “Teach Your Children”.

I am one who does not have to necessarily agree with the politics of an artist to enjoy the music; Nash’s liberal leanings and anti-Trump references did not faze me, and in fact are expected at a Nash concert. Graham Nash has been outspoken and political throughout his entire career so one should expect that his viewpoint and societal commentary will be interspersed with the great music to be enjoyed. With that being said, however, when Mr. Nash introduced “Prison Song” by making a statement that the NYPD “murdered” Eric Garner it made me downright angry, even furious, and put a damper, for me, on the remainder of the performance. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if in this case it is an outrageously wrong and a simplistic portrayal of the extraordinarily unfortunate circumstances culminating in Mr. Garner’s death. As I write this now, last night an NYPD police officer was killed while performing his sworn duty to protect the citizens of New York City. Mr. Garner’s death was most certainly a tragedy but it was not a “murder” as Mr. Nash so boldly and emphatically proclaimed. Graham Nash has enjoyed the protection of the New York City Police Department throughout his long and storied career, I believe he currently resides in New York City, and he indeed has been, and continues to be, a generational voice for many of us, I believe he owes the women and men of this great law enforcement agency a public apology.

And that is my opinion, for what it’s worth.

May God bless the members of the NYPD and all law enforcement officers who help make it possible to enjoy our freedom and endeavors safely.

Find the Cost of Freedom

GQ

The first time I saw The Who was a huge multi-night event at Madison Square Garden in September, 1979. Kenny Jones was the new drummer, Daltry had cut his hair and John Entwistle was still alive and well playing bass guitar. I can still remember Entwistle singing “Boris the Spider” and “My Wife”. The band was still relevant, vibrant and dynamic with Townshend on a furious mission to rock and Daltry in fine voice spinning that microphone with passion.

Who Are You

Rock on!

GQ

With Ric Ocasek’s passing this week, I figured I would dig deep into the archives for The Cars concert in Central Park that took place on August 24, 1979. My friends and I would attend every Central Park concert that we could back in the late 70’s. The tickets only cost $4.50 for the orchestra and $2.50 for the balcony and if you did not want to spend any money at all you could hang out on the large boulders beyond the fences and hear the shows just fine. As I recall, The Cars concert was one of those we spent on the rocks within sight of the outdoor venue and, on a side note, where we did the same for a headlining Greg Kuhn Band the following night.

Years later The Cars with Todd Rundgren, and not Ocasek, played at Jones Beach with Blondie opening. Ocasek had stuck to his guns right to the end about not touring with The Cars and only rejoined the band for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony held in Brooklin recently.

Moving in Stereo

Rock on!

GQ

I’m sitting at JFK airport for a flight to Indianapolis to see Neil Young and the Promise of the Real who are on the road to Farm Aid in Milwaukee Saturday. My flight is delayed so I figured I’d check in and tell you what I did on my summer vacation. It has been a busy concert season with a trip to London, England and Kilkenny, Ireland to catch Neil and the Real with Bob Dylan at two incredible outdoor festivals. Neil and Bob took the stage together at beautiful Kilkenny for the first time since Bobfest at Madison Square Garden which I was fortunate to have attended also. Neil Young and Dylan’s European tours converged for these final two dates and it was an extraordinary finale for the two legends. After my London adventure, I stayed above a pub in Kilkenny, which was just down the road from the hurling field where the event was held, and where I had an incredible no frills whirlwind stay which ended in Dublin where I played tourist for a couple of days.

Upon my return it was on to Newport, Rhode Island for a family trip to the Newport Folk Festival which is always a blast. The weather was perfect, as it was for the two European festivals, and the three day folk festival with three stages and non stop music at scenic Fort Adams on the water was fantastic as usual. As long as the rain stays away it is a great venue. My wife and I had gone to the Newport Jazz Festival years ago during a three day monsoon, leaving us like drowned rats and a tough few days, so anytime you can get a good weather weekend in Newport it is a home run. The wide variety of acts satisfied the whole family and the perfect weather made for a great vacation.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullett Band started off the summer concert season at Northwell at Jones Beach Theatre back on a rainy night in May for his farewell tour. Despite the rain, the sold out amphitheatre was rocking with Seger playing many of the big hit songs from his great rock and roll albums that dominated 1980’s FM radio.

Smashing Pumpkins with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds was a surprising good show. I’ve never been a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan but they have many familiar hits, and Gallagher was a really strong opening act and he threw in some great Oasis tunes at the end of his set.

Just this week, I was supposed to see Peter Frampton’s finale show at Madison Square Garden Friday but due to a Groupon app snafu I was unable to pull up my tickets on my phone. Saturday night was a surprisingly great Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary Concert at Forest Hills Stadium. Jethro Tull was my favorite band freshman year in high school before I discovered Yes then Neil Young and the first album I ever bought with my own money was Jethro Tull’s “ Warchild”. In recent years and tours, Ian Anderson’s voice has been disappointing and the shows left you wondering if he maybe should have hung up his flute and retired but somehow this tour, with its audiovisual enhancements, was a huge success in my eyes. The limber Anderson balanced himself on one leg and pranced and strutted and entertained under a late summer sky.

The Who’s latest farewell incarnation with orchestra on the other hand was an utter disappointment. While 75 year old Roger Daltry looked and sounded fine, a crowded stage, power outages, and with Pete Townshend’s windmills feeling forced, after the opening “Tommy” excitement, we found ourselves feeling bored and somewhat disappointed. The orchestra tours were better done when Daltry toured solo with “Tommy” and Townshend played st the Metropolitan Opera House with “Quadrophenia”. The farewell 50th Anniversary Show at Forest Hills a couple of years ago was a rollicking good time and how I would prefer to remember the band, along with many of the great arena tours they did through the years.

There was also two nights of Chicago st the NYCB Theatre at Westbury at some point and I’m sure a few other shows I’m not recalling at the moment. The gate to my delayed flight has been changed again so I hope to be wheels up shortly.

Keep on rockin’ In the Indiana world

Rock on!

GQ