What two things do Paul Simon and Train have in common?

A) We saw them both this week, separately, at outdoor concert venues.
B) They both played "Call Me Al".

We got Train tickets from one of the guys in the band, a long-time friend of Mrs C's. We also got to go backstage after the show and hang out with (some of) the band - drink their beer, eat their snacks, listen to rock star stories. Our seats were in the guests-of-the-band section, so we had the owner of a golf course where the band had spent their afternoon on one side. On the other side was ... a guy in a hat. After the show we learned that he is a well-known guitar tech who current works for AC/DC and Aerosmith (among others). Ain't we special. Train's music is mostly not my cup of tea. Their first album was pretty good, but their recent stuff doesn't really click with me. Still, they're a good band and they put on a good show. They even played a fine version of Chris Cornell's "Black Hole Sun"! So, it was a good time.

There was no backstage loafing with Paul Simon for us. But, we did get to see him play and that was plenty good enough. He's surprisingly animated and fun to watch. His voice still has that fantastic tone, though he's lost a bit of his range. But best of all, he has that amazing Paul Simon song catalog to choose from! He played a solid two hours but I'm sure he could have played another two hours without having to play a bad song. He didn't play "Kodachrome" or "Slip Sliding Away" or "One Trick Pony" or "Mrs Robinson" or "Something So Right" or "Cecilia" or the other half of the "Graceland" album! And, this might be a first, but I would have even liked to hear more of his newer stuff - his recent two records are both very good! Very glad I got to see him.

The Adrian Belew Power Trio stopped at the Cat's Cradle last weekend, and we went to see them, as we always do. And he was good, as he always is. It was the usual blend of mind-bending instrumental math rock and poppy Beatlesque numbers, including an actual Beatles' song ("Free As A Bird"), a bit of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" (on which Belew originally played) and several King Crimson classics.

He was notably more active and lively this time around. Last time he was here, he spent a lot of time on his very fancy bouncy stool. Regardless, he always seems so dang happy to be playing - like he's constantly surprised that he just made his guitar do that!

Our view of Belew was partially obscured by people. But we got a good view of bassist Julie Slick doing her stuff. And she's fantastic at it.

So, a good time.

Friday night, we saw Duran Duran in Wilmington NC. The show was literally in a large parking lot down by the river. It was on a nicely-sloped parking hillside, so there wasn't a bad space in the lot. And even in such an unglamorous setting, the band is still slick and fun to watch. Don't know how many people were there, but it felt like a pretty big crowd.

They played most of their old hits, of course.

Several times I found myself trying to figure out who was playing the music I was hearing. Something was playing the basic low bass stuff, somewhere, while John Taylor smiled and waved at the audience in between his signature slap-n-pop riffs. Probably the keyboard player? The drummer seemed to be playing along with drum machine/taped drum tracks. Pre-recorded vocal tracks backed-up the back-up singers. Once I started noticing the other stuff, I couldn't help but watch Simon LeBon like hawk, to see if he was lip-syncing or not - I don't think he was. His voice still sounds good.

They did a quick Bowie tribute as part of 'Planet Earth', which was nice.

We saw The Pretenders open for Stevie Nicks, last night. I was a little wary of seeing them, so long after their heyday - could they still play, could Chrissie Hynde still sing? Yes, and emphatically yes! She actually sounds as good as she ever has, and she seemed to be in good spirits. They played a few newer songs at the front of their set, and then went on to play most of their hits and great early songs. Their set was pretty long, for an opening band; but they could've played three times as long and I wouldn't have minded.

I was pleased to see that their steel guitar player was using a Carr amp. They're made in our little town of Pittsboro, NC. I'd have one, if I could justify the (considerable) expense.

The show was at our local 20,000-seat NHL stadium, so the sound was atrocious: huge drums, sizzling highs, and everything else smashed into a roaring and reverberating mid-range miasma.

I'm not really familiar with Stevie Nicks' solo stuff other than the big radio hits, and she played all of those, and some Fleetwood Mac classics. But she also played a lot of stuff that was unreleased or forgotten or stuff that she wanted to improve on the original recording - a deep tracks set for true fans, I guess. So, I was lost for most of the set. Mrs knows Nicks' solo records, but there were a few songs even she didn't recognize. Helpfully, Nicks introduced nearly every song with a long story about how it came to be. She still sounded remarkably good, though.

Saw Norah Jones this past Tuesday. She was exactly as you'd expect: very mellow and low-key, even on her more upbeat songs. But, she sounded great and the band was really good. Most importantly, they played everything I wanted to hear them play. So, success.

The encores were done acoustic, in front of a single microphone that might not have even been on - it certainly wasn't doing much. Still, that was a nice way to hear "Creepin In" and "Sunrise".

The band, less Jones, opened with a set of instrumentals.

We sat next to a bunch of drunk people, they were loud and annoying. And in front of us was a guy who was incredibly excited to see her - he was literally shaking with joy at times.

Just got Paul Simon tix! Sunday we go see the Pretenders & Stevie Nicks. Trying to talk myself into going to see Tortoise tomorrow night. Also have tix for : Duran Duran, Robyn Hitchcock, Adrian Belew, Silversun Pickups and Green Day. Next few months will be busy!

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Saw an old favorite, Blonde Redhead, at Duke this past weekend. I love their first three records, which are all pretty and noisy like a more-melodic Sonic Youth. On those early records, they were fairly minimalist: guitars, bass, drums, with vocals shared by the Japanese Kazu Makino and Italian Amedeo Pace. They sing in English, but their accents and distinctive (non-native?) phrasing give the songs an other-worldly vibe.

On this current tour, they're playing their sixth record, Misery Is a Butterfly, start to finish. It's a much mellower record than those early ones; songs are all slow, minor key, dream-like. And it's much more lushly produced; instead of drums and angry dissonant guitars, there are strings and keyboards and drum machines. And so, to make this work live, they're touring with a string quintet (ACME). It worked really well. Sounded great.

They played the full album as advertised, almost; they skipped my favorite song on the record, the last song, Equus. That's the only song on the record that rocks very much. Instead, they played a few very new songs.

So, I'm glad I finally got to see them. But I wish I hadn't skipped seeing them a decade ago.

Saw The Mavericks this past weekend. Today's a friend's birthday and she chose to have her party out on the lawn at the lovely NC Art Museum where they were playing. So we went!

I only knew them from one song they did on the great 1999 Gram Parsons tribute album, "Return of the Grievous Angel". They did "Hot Burrito #1" on that:

I've always liked the way they did that tune, but I never picked up anything else by them. So, this show was my first real taste of what they do. For marketing purposes, I guess they're in the "country" category, but in reality they're a mixture of old-style country swing, rockabilly, Tex-Mex and traditional Cuban music. They even have touches of ska here and there - I swear they were starting a cover of Madness' "One Step Beyond" at one point, but it turned into something else. They did do a very pretty version of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" - under a bright full moon on a late-August night.

Tons of fun. A great live band.

Last Friday night, the Dave Rawlings Machine announced a micro tour: just three stops, including one in the little nearby town of Saxapahaw. So Thursday or not, one's gotta see Gil and Dave. We assume they were in the deep south last week and wanted to make some spending money on their trip north for this weekend's Merlefest in west NC ? Regardless...

No John Paul Jones this time. They were just a four piece - Gil and Dave and Willie Watson and the bass player whose name I can never catch.

The Machine has released but one album (2009's A Friend Of A Friend), so they've been playing those songs for quite a while. They always do a lot of standards and obscure covers, along with a few Gillian Welch-fronted songs and a couple that Willie Watson sang on, to keep things interesting.

Started at nearly ten and lasted just past midnight. Which makes for a miserable Friday AM. But here I am!

Here's The Bells Of Harlem.