My turntable is long gone, but I found two boxes full of great 45s in the garage this weekend. Maybe someday I can buy a non-digital jukebox and load them all up again…

No, not the real Radiohead – Phil Callen, Kevin Dutcher, Adena Brumer and Molly Sue McDonald covering Radiohead songs (and others) last night in Minneapolis. I posted videos of two songs on Facebook (here and here). And here are a few audio clips I recorded on my phone:

High and Dry

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Karma Police

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Creep

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The show was a lot of fun – Phil’s wife was in town and I got to chat with Jim Cunningham again, which is always entertaining. Talked a little with Adena after the show (who performs with Phil and Jim at the Saint Paul Hotel’s version of It’s A Wonderful Life) and met Kevin Dutcher for the first time (who is the music director for the Minnesota Twins).

Two specific highlights for me from the show: 1) the medley that went from Psycho Killer into Fade Out and Adena’s cover of Creep towards the end of the show (see link above).

Never been to the Bedlam before either – super easy access from the Cedar-Riverside light rail station and a nice vibe inside. Also picked up a rare “this is what you get when you mess with us” T-shirt…

When my job at Northwest went away six years ago, I sold my first ten Cities 97 Samplers to help out with Christmas that year (and raised around $1400).

Yesterday I listed the last ten volumes (12 through 21) on eBay as one item. The auction closes on 12/23 and I’ll deliver them in person just in time for Christmas to anyone in the metro Twin Cities area.

More pictures of all ten CDs can be found in the 7MM Photo Gallery.

Happy bidding!

This past weekend Colleen and I visited the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant in Minneapolis for the first time to see Dan Wilson (of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare fame). Ben Kyle of Romantica was the opener. We parked in the Target ramp and walked down Nicollet Mall until we found the place (it’s right across the street was from where Let It Be Records used to be).

I didn’t really know how seating or tickets worked, but we had a 6PM dinner reservation and they seated us on the main floor about four tables from the small stage located in the middle of the room. Music was scheduled to start at 7:30PM, which is about when our dessert arrived.

The food choices ranged from simple bar menu items like chicken wings and cheeseburgers to a three-course tasting menu. Our waiter asked us when we first arrived if we would be eating or just drinking during the show, so they really seemed to offer a lot of economic choices – a sign of the times, to be sure, but nice to see.

Colleen ordered from the tasting menu, choosing several of the specials:

• Blue Hubbard Squash Soup – maple-cracked pepper croutons, brown butter, sage
• Pekin Duck with Duck Confit – swiss chard, wild rice, blue cheese
• Smokey Dark Chocolate Cake – earl grey, pecan praline, port
• Wine – Szeremley, Kekfrankos, Hungary
• Apple Cider with Apple and butterscotch schnapps and whipped cream

I ordered off of the club menu and had the Steak and Fries – a 10 ounce Sirloin steak poutine “Tall Colin Style,” with tabasco-molasses sauce. The fries had poutine-style cheese curds, but replaced the usual gravy with the tabasco-molasses sauce. It was good, but the tabasco really overpowered the molasses and was very spicy.

Ben Kyle did a nice solo acoustic set, which really worked well in the space because almost everyone was dead silent and paying rapt attention to the stage. There was about a ten minute intermission, then Dan Wilson came out to play with just his acoustic guitar (although he switched to piano for a few songs too).

I don’t have a set list, but he did say they were recording the show for a future album. Some highlights for me included FNT, Baby Doll and All Kinds (each with great audience interaction). Ben joined him back onstage during the encore to play the Gram Parsons song To Love Somebody, which was incredible. Dan also gave a shout out to Neil Young, saying he draws a lot of song-writing inspiration from him. That was followed by a lovely cover of Long May You Run on piano.

The show wrapped up around 11PM and both guys stayed to sign CDs. Dan was selling his new Live at the Pantages 2-CD set that was recorded last winter and attended by Colleen and our youngest daughter. I also got to talk to him about his support of ARC of Minnesota. He performed at their annual gala and his daughter is a recipient of their services. ARC is one of the primary benefitting charities of the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, which is a 7 Minute Miles client.

The cover charge for the show ($20 per person) was just added to our dinner bill. The service all night was wonderful, with our very knowledgeable waiter magically appearing whenever we needed him. I’m not sure how they assign tables when you make a reservation, but ours was in a perfect spot. My only regret was that I didn’t get down there a few weeks ago to see Suzanne Vega during her three-night stint.

Last night Colleen and I got to see something you don’t normally get to do – watch a masterful musician perform in a very small club. The Robert Cray Band was performing at the Cabooze in Minneapolis and we were up close and personal.

It only took me 40 years of living in the Twin Cities, but I finally made it to the Cabooze. It was smaller than I expected and the layout was sort of goofy for live music, but the sound was good. I thought parking was going to be a problem, but we read the sign about free parking at AIOIC and all was good.

We’ve now seen this band play at the Minnesota Zoo, the Minnesota State Fair, the Fitzgerald and maybe one or two other places. Last night’s concert included a few new songs from an album Mr. Cray said is coming in August. Two songs in particular, Chicken in the Kitchen and Love 2009, were great and fun to hear. Other highlights for me included Right Next Door (Because of Me), Back Door Slam, Time Makes Two and The One in the Middle. I don’t think he played anything from Twenty this time – sort of hoped to hear Poor Johnny.

Overall, though, it was a great show and this continues to be a group I’ll see whenever they come to town. One final note: Jim Pugh on the Hammond organ is a sight to behold. Go Jim, Go!

Last night Colleen and I went to see Morrissey at the State Theater in Minneapolis. This was our first time seeing him perform live, although we had seen him in person once before:

A few years ago, he was doing a show at the Las Vegas House of Blues that we almost attended. The next day as we were leaving town, he was in line in front of us at the airport Cinnabon! No one else was in there but us, Morrissey and his band. We sat at the table next to them and listened in until they left. We still stop at the “Morrissey Cinnabon” every time we go back to Vegas…

The show openers were the Manchester band The Courteeners, who played an entertaining, enjoyable set. I had to ask the guys behind us to please stop yelling back and forth and take their conversation out to the lobby – why does this happen at every show now? Shut the hell up, already, and listen to the music.

Damn I hate that.

As the roadies broke down the Courteeners gear, they played older videos of the New York Dolls and Shocking Blue, among others. Once the curtain was torn down, the stage opened up to a cool WWII-era photo of a sailor showing his guns and smoking a cigar. Here’s a crappy iPhone picture:

I don’t have a set list yet, but I think it was very similar to the Chicago show two nights ago:

• This Charming Man
• Something is Squeezing My Skull
• Billy Budd
• Black Cloud
• How Soon is Now
• Irish Blood, English Heart
• How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
• Ask
• I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
• The World is Full of Crashing Bores
• Death of a Disco Dancer
• The Loop
• I Keep Mine Hidden
• One Day Goodbye Will be Farewell
• Seasick, Yet Still Docked
• Best Friend on the Payroll
• Let Me Kiss You
• Sorry Doesn’t Help
• When Last I Spoke to Carol
• I’m OK by Myself
• – Encore –
• First of the Gang to Die

I’m not an ultra-Morrissey fan, so I don’t know all of the song titles by heart. I’ll revise this list when I see something posted elsewhere. I do know that he dedicated a song towards the end to “our friend Jill Smith who passed away in London today” and proceeded to play Life Is A Pigsty.

A few songs I was hoping to hear (but didn’t): Glamourous Glue, Redondo Beach and I Have Forgiven Jesus (which, if you ever used to watch the old Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, holds special meaning). I knew those were all long-shots, but otherwise really loved the show. The version of How Soon is Now? was amazing and I was glad he played my favorite song from the new album – When Last I Spoke to Carol (despite the lack of a trumpet and old western sound effects).

The 49-year-old Englishman took off his shirt twice during the show and a near riot broke out during the encore as people tried to jump up on the stage. The tall, young Lurch of a security man stage left seemed to enjoy his job a little too much, violently throwing people back into the crowd. You know it’s bad when the huge bald security guy has to restrain the tall, young security guy.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the evening, however, was the woman in the row in front of us. She really liked Morrissey and had more energy and dance moves than I’ve seen anywhere in a long time. And I’m about 95% sure she had multiple orgasms during the course of the evening.

Not a bad deal for $40, eh?

UPDATE: Here is the Minneapolis set list, according to the Star Tribune:

• This Charming Man
• Billy Budd
• Black Cloud
• How Soon Is Now?
• Irish Blood, English Heart
• When I Last Spoke to Carol
• How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
• I Keep Mine Hidden
• Let Me Kiss You
• Seasick, Yet Still Docked
• That’s How People Grow Up
• Death Of A Disco Dancer
• The Loop
• Something Is Squeezing My Skull
• The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
• I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
• Sorry Doesn’t Help
• Ask
• Life Is A Pigsty
• I’m OK By Myself
• – Encore –
• First Of The Gang To Die

Still way behind on posts, so here’s the most recent…

A week ago Saturday, Colleen and I went down to Roy Wilkins Auditorium (site of our high school graduation) to see Tenacious D, Ben Harper and the Beastie Boys for a Rock the Vote concert. We’ve never seen any of them before and tickets were only $35, so we decided to use the valuable tickets instead of selling them to a broker (the 6,000 ticket show sold out instantly).

I was just as excited to see the D as I was the Beastie Boys, seeing as how my work servers are named JB, KG, Lee and Sasquatch. They only played for about 45 minutes, but it was awesome:

• Kielbasa
• History
• Dude (I Totally Miss You)
• Kyle Quit
• Friendship
• Saxaboom
• The Government Totally Sucks
• Wonderboy
• City Hall
• F*ck Her Gently
• Tribute

The Ben Harper set was extremely loud. I didn’t really know much about him going in, but he played well and was enjoyable. JB and KG came out for some vocal contributions during a cover of Queen’s Under Pressure, which was one of the highlights of the night for me.

The Beastie Boys set was a total flashback to our high school days. 44-year-old MCA is still our favorite – such a cool, unique voice. He definitely has lost a step on Mike D and King Ad-Rock, though. Mix Master Mike shined during Three MC’s and One DJ and I loved the opening to No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn, which sent chills down my spine.

The sound in the auditorium wasn’t the greatest for their vocals, but it was plenty loud on everything else. The boys all played instruments during the encore, which was a trip to watch. I especially enjoyed seeing MCA play the distinctive riff from Gratitude. I was also happy to have Ad-Rock repeatedly correct Mike D about which city he was in. Maybe it was that Andy Samberg hair messin’ with his mind…

Here is the set list, as quoted by the Star Tribune:

• Super Disco Breakin’
• Flute Loop
• Alright Hear This
• Sure Shot
• Pass the Mic
• Check It Out
• Root Down
• Body Movin’
• No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn
• Right Now
• Three MC’s and One DJ
• So What ‘Cha Want
• Intergalactic
• – Encore –
• Biz Vs. Nuge
• Time For Livin’
• Gratitude
• Sabotage

Vote for Yo Mama!