Local H rocks Mercury Lounge 4/21/11

By the end of the night, we all forgot it was the “Early Show”..Hello people, What goes on as we enter the 45 installment of that ever so famous Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. Tonight we head back to the cozy confines of the Mercury Lounge to see one of my favorite bands still touring, Local H, who I've seen on two other occasions: first time they opened for Electric 6 (barf) and last time they rolled through Gramercy Theater the show was turned into an "early show" last minute to make way for Stone Temple Pilots to do a midnight showcase for their latest album, one of which I've already forgotten the name.

Tonight it's billed as the "Early Show", but at least this time that fact was clear months in advance. As a rock journalist blogger guy, early shows give me a chance to get home at a decent time and get to work. Doors open at 6:30 w/ the show starting at 7:30.. And I know there's an opener, one of which I'll fill you in on when I make it there-now it's 5:26 and I'm on the ferry headed into Manhattan-I guess no time for a stop a Tad's steakhouse before the show like we did on Tuesday, oh well- I can eat later, right now all that's on my mind is that spot leaning up against the stage that I hope to score...

The Dig is the opening act, as I perch myself against the stage as previously planed, to the far right. Made the mistake last time of being 2 feet from the drum kit-I was deaf for days. Anyway the Dig had vocalists taking turns on songs, although the bassist seemed more of the lead guy. They had 4 guys, drums guitar and bass with a keyboardist who had a guitar next to him and played it on some tracks.. Couldn't have played much, maybe 5 or 6 songs but as their set went on they intensified and got heavy. I can say I enjoyed them enough to have a look at their music when I get home. They went off about 7:30, leaving a half hour for Local H to set up- sign said they're on at 8PM..

The room has filled out as I'm pressed against a pillar up against the stage and the few feet of elbow room I had was gone. The pillar plays a role in tonight's video. Let's explain: The pillar I'm leaned against is at the front right corner of the stage, so at times I would lean on the steps getting on the other side of it capturing shots of the band from the side of the stage-actually on stage at one point. I keep saying this place is tiny, but I can't stress it enough. There are no “event staff”, this is basically a bar with a back room containing a stage. So on songs like “High Fiving MF”, and “Wolf Like Me” I sorta move back and forth weaving around this pillar depending on Scott's moves. No one could stop me-it was truly a situation that deserved a tag of #Winning.

First song in, I'm back in my rare Tuesday night form-just rolling tape. It was so loud in the I was able to scream along lyrics without worrying about it being heard on the videos(hopefully)... Kicked things off with "Fritz's Corner" and "All the Kids are Right" before "Cynic"- a song in which I thought I had recording until I looked at the screen and noticed it wasn't rolling. That would be one of my two slip ups of tonight.

You get into that "Okay, now I'm gonna rock out" mode when you hear a few awesome songs in a row- and that feeling was at a climax when we were in the middle of "24 Hour Break Up Session"- and then that's when a full cup came flying from mid-crowd towards my direction, hit me dumping beer all over me and the surrounding few people. Are you friggin kidding me? All over my blazer and white button down (I came straight from work)? If I wasn't enjoying myself so much trust me when I say that someones face was getting broken. Consider yourself lucky dude, lucky that self control prevailed , as I have a job to do here

Few songs later we move into, get this, a NEW Local H song! I know this is the "All the hits all night" tour, so safe to say I was delighted to hear a new number by the band called "Another February". Sounded freaking great-my camera rolling still. Then came to "High Fiving Mother Fucker", and it was at this time that I worked my way around the pillar and was sitting on the steps to the stage watching Scott throw his guitar towards the amp- feeding back that beautiful distortion we've all come to love. And of course I will be fooled again, as I stopped tape bout halfway through that song thinking it was over- something Reverend Justito and I discussed just two days ago; you'd think I'd be ready for that-but they tricked me! I woulda gotten the whole song too, "if I weren't for those meddling kids!".. Tricksters they are those Chicago folk.

Someone screamed "Lets hear it for Chicago!" and Scott stares up and is like "Okay".. Goes on to say “We're not really into anything, but one we're into regionalism. If there's one thing this bands not about it's regionalism. You won't hear a song by us like slamming another region- we feel that we are all equal” Just from that I figured "California Songs" was coming up sooner rather then later. Then Scott says “Here's another failed single” as this jumped into "Everyone Alive"- followed by my favorite song off their latest album 12 Angry Months- and that was "Michelle (Again)".

I have to address these two chicks down front. There were two girls leaning on the stage about 8-10 feet to my left. One of them was screaming stuff at Scott endlessly, at one point calling him over and whatever she said when he leaned over there he was not on board with. Who knows. Anyway, she was with a friend who may or may not have been her girlfriend(they were making out during “Hands on the Bible”, all over each other-forcing my camera to at times float in that direction). So the girlfriend is going with the no shirt just bra look. Like, just the bra rockin' like it was dead of summer time or something. A few times, the bra-only chick stood on stage and just fell back into the crowd getting surfed towards the back. I usually see shit like that go wrong, but not tonight. During one song she jumped up on stage hand around Scott singing along-breaking into laughter as he sorta nudges her away and says something to the effect of “go find your shirt”. I wanted to scream “Show me your tits!”-but again, tonight I wear a blazer-lets act the part.

The person I hate but the song I love, "Eddie Vedder" came up next. It's another one I haven't seen them do live. I had one hand on the camera and the other was slamming my hand against the pillar rocking out. I've mastered the art of one handed typing this week, and I must say I'm proud of myself.

We continued to plow through great songs.. “Mayonnaise and Malaise” , 'Hands on the Bible” came before we finally got to "California Songs" which before the song Scott says “Regionalism” and the five people who didn't get the "regional" joke earlier most certainly have gotten it now. The lyric for "California Dreamin' on the Radio" was changed to "Fucking Katy Perry on the radio”

I really don't know how I was able to record all this as I'm having the time of my life over here 3 feet away from Scott. I'm closer to the band then the speakers are. Then he walks to the other side of the stage during the song and steps down into the crowd and is just jammin' over there surrounded by people. Man, I wish I was over there.

Everyone is shouting out songs one dude catches Scott's attention. Scott says to the dude “I know-I'm gonna get to that-I've got it covered I'm a professional.. I'm up here-you're down there, there's a reason for it” as the crowd lets out a harmonious “OHHHH” then continues on “I don't come to where you work-do I really need to finish this?” before leading into a new song: “We usually do a cover here, but fuck it play here's new one. Song's called "Cold Matter".. Another awesome tune that fits right into my Local H playlist seamlessly. Following that came one of my top like 4 concert memories of all time happening right here tonight- they covered "Joey" by Concrete Blonde! Not that I'm huge into Concrete Blonde, but I frickin love that song and love Local H covering it on that “Local H's Awesome Mixtape” compilation of covers. I know they do it often, but to be right there- to not be watching it on YouTube for those 4 minutes. Epic.

In theme with All the hits all night- "Bound for the Floor" came next, and then to end the night classy, shouting out “RIP Gerard Smith!” before getting into the cover of TV On The Radio's “Wolf Like Me”. I mean, they had already covered Concrete Blonde's “Joey” and then went into “Bound for the Floor”. I figured on the 'All the Hits All Night' bill they wouldn't do any covers (or new music for that matter). More examples of why Local H are so awesome..

While playing, for the second time tonight Scott is headed towards the crowd- only this time he's headed down the stairs right towards me. What the hell do I do? Do I stop filming- is he gonna smash my camera with the neck of his guitar? So I back up as he's continuing towards me-finally stops and leans up against me as I tried to capture it on film but it's too dark to see on the video. Wow. I can't Scott Lucas was riffing inches from me! WHAT?!?! SERIOUSLY?! Amazing. And that was it- they went off like 9:30..

After the show I had to hit the merch table to catch Scott for an autograph and a tee shirt and to try to make this night more epic. As he's looking for an XL I leaned over and said “Dude I thought were coming to smash my camera!” he chuckled and said “Nah, not at all” as I got my shirt, ticket signed and tried to swim through dozens of people packing in trying to meet Scott and buy stuff. I squeezed through and grabbed hold of the door and popped outta the doorway Cosmo Kramer style out onto the New York City street. There I saw Pam, who sadly, was stuck in traffic and didn't make it to Mercury Lounge in time to grab her ticket at Will Call and see the show. I felt so bad for my friend, who loves this freakin band and the damn Holland Tunnel prevented her witnessing the awesomeness. I handed her my autographed ticket (having two more at home anyway), and we went on a hunt for the Pam-Van... what a night..

Thanks for reading, sorry I couldn't get this posted last night as my web was giving me trouble. Below is a full set list. Stay tuned to the site for more shows coming up, including back to Terminal 5 Friday May 6th for Bad Religion(for some reason Rise Against is headlining). See you all then hopefully, thanks again. LATE..


Fritz's
All the kids are right

Cynic
Half Life
“Unreleased song”
24 Hour Break up Session
All Right, Oh yea
Another February(new song)
High Fiving MF
Everyone Alive
Michelle(Again)
Eddie Vedder
Mayonnaise and Malaise
Hands on the Bible
California Songs
Cold Matter( New song)
Joey (Concrete Blonde)
Bound For The Floor
Wolf Like Me (TV On The Radio)

PJ Harvey "LIVE @ Terminal 5!" 4/19/11 NYC

What goes on people? Sit down because this one is gonna be fun as the 44th installment takes us to Terminal 5 to see the one and only PJ Harvey.. Terminal 5 is a venue I used to hate but have come to love over the past few visits despite their overpriced tickets and booze.. It's located 610 West 56th street in NYC.. It's three floors, the third having video screens showing on stage proceedings, tons of bars everywhere and the "rooftop smoke deck" that I've enjoyed on my previous trips here...

Interesting to note that the 'Bowery Presents' website had no opening act listed, with doors opening at 7PM and show starting at 8:30PM.. now I don't mind opening acts, actually they could be fun to write about when they're good-better when they're terrible. What I mind is when I'm titillated with the notion that we're all going to enjoying strictly the sounds of PJ Harvey this evening only to have it snatched away upon arrival with a sheet of paper handwritten set times of several openers. Just don't lie to us- just list openers TBA and you'll save us all the anxiety. Now I'm headed out there early just to try and figure out what the deal is. Doors opening at 7, I'm slated to be there, to put it modestly, way before that time. Anyway, as with her music, this evening with PJ Harvey is going to be very interesting. Let's roll...

I was through through the door right when they opened-figured I'd scope out spots and all that. Looked up and saw people lined up along the railings on the second and third floors-made my way upstairs. The second floor side railing section is VIP, but the third floor. I pulled up a chair and grabbed my self an amazing spot- can't wait til the lights come on so I could start taking pics of this. And no event staffers in sight on this floor-let's let the bootlegging begin! And still, no signs of an opening act, as the stage seems set up for only one band. I guess we'll find out in about an hour and a half...

I didnt buy into the whole "no opening act" thing until about 8:49, when PJ Harvey and her band it the stage.. She's taken the spot of the stage to the far left- which is directly below where I stand. At times if she backs up the speaker blocks my view of her, but most of the night there she is- in that long white dress looking like Sarah Silverman meets Lady Gaga( it just popped into my head while watching. She was playing this inverted harp thing on some songs, including the one we kicked the night off with: "Let England Shake". And by the way, if I didn't get the concept of the record off the several listens I've had of it since it came out, the point is driven home now-despair, apathy and hopelessness.

Healthy transition to “The Words that Maketh Murder” and “All and Everyone”, beautifully dark tunes about death-I take a look to the ground floor to see what life down there is looking like. Man it is packed down there, looks like the standing room is also flooding out to the hallway by the merch table. Wish the place was lit up more so the crowds of fans leaning over the second and third floors could be seen in the shot.

Tonight I got drawn into a lot more PJ Harvey songs then I figured I would. I mean, my camera is perched on the ledge, so it's not very taxing. That left my mind time to drift away into the next few songs like “The Big Guns Call me Back Again” and “Written on the Forehead”. Then a snag in our proceedings, as during the next song “In the Dark Places” while attempting to zoom in on my camera I hit the stop button, thus ruining the perfect game I was pitching with the bootlegging (end up with 20 songs-the event staff over at Town Hall would go ballistic). I remember live-tweeting a pic at that moment because I had both hands free(most of the night was doing that one handed while recording mind you), and prepared for the next one.

The band is sort of in the middle of the stage not really near the front.. John Parish is playing guitar along with keys at times and other assortments, Mick Harvey is on keyboards, and Jean-Marc Butty is drumming. They're doin' their thing over there while the presence that Polly Jean Harvey commands on stage is some other worldly stuff (like Patti Smith without crappy poetry-no I kid, love Patti). She doesn't demand it, doesn't even seem to do it on purpose-but she's there in that white dress alone away from the band...in the spotlight belting out such dark lyrics mostly. Next up another day brightener called “The Devil” and people let me tell you that this is freakin' awesome, I mean she's like right down there! After our buddy the Reverend Justito tweeted that he'd pay me 3 $2 bills if I was able to spit on her and get it on YouTube. I honestly did survey the angle a bit, but with the speaker overhanging I wasn't sure if I could hock out a flem gem curve ball-so there goes journalism history tonight.

“The Sky Lit Up” is a great song, and a song called “the Glorious Land” was after that. Some more instant favorites of mine after tonight came 3 in a row, with “The Last Live Rose”, “England” and “The Pocket Knife”. Man I keep looking down,I can't believe this show(and tomorrow nights) are sold out-I thought there'd be five of us here. It is hot as hell I here. As I sweat like a pig (no Porks pun intended) on the third floor, I wonder what must it feel like to be down there with the only thing to lean on is other sweaty men. Again, it was stuffy, but at least I was surround by girls and had a ledge and shit-blackberry sitting on the ledge live-tweeting because that's how I roll-as we rolled into “Bitter Branches”, followed by the only PJ Harvey song I have on my iPod believe it or not, “Down By The Water”. What a great song, not to be confused with the Decemberists song by the same name. That was when the night went from awesome to epic-it was house money from there on.

The building continues to rock out to tunes going from “C'mon Billy”, “Hanging in the wire”, “On Battleship Hill” and “The Colour of the Earth” before placing their instruments down and giving bows as the lights turned on.. the place was going nuts as they walked off around 10:15 give or take a few minutes. As the lights shut off and the crowd didn't pipe down one bit, I kept rolling tape waiting for them to come back out. I timed it at about 4 minutes they were off stage before returning to play us three more tunes: “Big Exit”, “Angelene” and “Silence” before calling it an evening around 10:30..

So many things going right in this adventure we had tonight. Besides the great music, I got myself a good seat PLUS there was no opening act. It was an evening with PJ Harvey. You may look at the set time and think that 1030 is an early time to end a show, but most of her songs aren't 10 minute ballards, I had a few videos clocking in under three minutes. And anyway this wasn't bad at all considering a huge part of my decision upon making this purchase was frustration that QOTSA tickets sold out on me in minutes that day-but alas, the amazing PJ Harvey to the rescue as tickets to this show were on sale same day as that QOTSA show. Pretty awesome fall back plan when you think about it.

Oh well, hope we all had ourselves a fun journey-because I sure did. And this will be done and posted way before I'm finished uploading videos to YouTube, as 20 songs takes a while when your internet connection sucks as bad as mine does. Head over to the Jay Porks YouTube Channel to see everything when it's up

Anyway, quick turn around as this Thursday the 21^st one of my favorite bands comes back to town as Local H hits the Mercury Lounge! Pumped for that already, I'll still be humming PJ Harvey tunes(Full set list below). Well, thanks for participating everyone, and I hope I was able to make you feel like you were there. So until Thursday, I bid you farewell. LATE.

-Let England Shake

-The words that Maketh Murder

-All and Everyone

-The Big Guns call me back again

-Written on the Forehead

-In the dark places.....

-The Devil

-The Sky Lit Up

-The Glorious Land

-The Last Living Rose

-England

-The Pocket Knife

-Bitter Branches

-Down by the Water

-C'mon Billy

-Hanging in the wire

-On Battleship Hill

-The Colour of the Earth

--ENCORE--

-Big Exit

-Angelene

-Silence

Chris Cornell @ Town Hall, NYC 4/13/2011

Well I may never get a chance to see Sound garden, but this sure as hell is a start! What goes on in those heads of yours people? Well whatever it is put it on pause because tonight 43rd edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series takes us to Town Hall in the heart of NYC (West 43rd off Broadway) to witness a night of the 'Acoustic Songbook Tour' that Chris Cornell is currently on. There was a show here at this same venue last night too, we got lucky that this 2nd show got added because tickets sold out quickly.. I checked today on Stub Hub to see how much tickets were going for and the lowest cost I saw was like 180 bucks or something like that- my tickets were 35 plus the 9 dollars in fees. I got the balcony seats figuring Pam and I wouldn't need to be headbanging in the pit for a show like this- plus there's no way this place is bigger than Radio City Music Hall- so we should expect better pics( and hopefully video) from tonights proceedings as we did when we were #Winning on Sunday night.. I caught the 4:50 train to the ferry and the night officially got underway..

Got to Town Hall about 7pm, this massive brick building. Am I coming to vote for something, Town Hall? But actually when you walk in the place is pretty elegant- velvet ropes and all that stuff. Old style 1940's movie theater seating..

I met up with Pam and headed inside just in time to catch the last two songs of William Elliot Whitmore (whoever that is) was the opener on as we walked in....he got through by 8:30... Walked by all those signs in the hallways that said "no video/audio recording", device stuffed in my pocket behind an issue of the Village Voice and we were set-no pat downs or body scans.

Before Cornell came on Event staffers rolled in literally blowing whistles grabbing all our attention to shout out the following instructions: "NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!!! NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR CELL PHONE! YOU WILL BE EJECTED IF YOU ARE CAUGHT DOING SO!"

Okay then, if we're gonna be such Nazis about it I'll hold off on the video-just don't anally rape me like the tone of your voice suggests your going to do. I screamed out "Then how'd I see all that video of last nights show on YouTube?!" to no response.



So about 9:15 our man of the night Chris Cornell hits the stage as the place goes wild. The stage is set up with six guitars lined against an amp- four of them acoustic and two electric. Electric guitars? Acoustic songbook? Turns out they were just a decorative element to the stage setting.

From his first greetings to the crowd you could hear how awesome the sound is gonna be in this place. He asks if anyone was here from last night, then says he's gonna change things up a little bit tonight. Not sure if that's good or bad right now-because the set list I saw from last nights show was pretty epic. .. first song he jumps into is “Dark Globe ”, covering the late great Syd Barrett-the sound in this venue is something to be mentioned again, the strums of the acoustic felt like I was on stage with the guy-now my friends we've got ourselves a ballgame! Before playing a song called “Ground Zero” he mentions how it's about Hurricane Katrina, anyone else find that sort of odd?. But what I love about a show like this is the little stories that get told inbetween songs, like the origins of the song and such. For example before he jumped into “I Promise It's Not Goodbye” he explained how he has a fan who used to write him letters and emails and stuff and he had a daughter with brain cancer. He says “One day he sent me a poem written from the perspective of his daughter-probably wanted notes on it or something but I read it and had to put music to it right away” then went on to play the song. Little knowledge nuggets you pick up at shows, gotta love it. So the building is kinda quiet (or quieter than most crowds I've been in) listening to Chris speak and sing his songs... Well, most of us were quiet. A row in front of me, two seats to the right there was this cool chick who we were chatting with before the show started and she warned us that the song request she'd be screaming out all night is "Jesus Christ Pose".. Now just imagine an intimate quiet setting, everyone relaxing and then at every opportunity you hear a loud blistering fan scream "JESUS CHRIST POSE!!". I mean it was hilarious-this is a section I can roll with... I bet there were a minority of people in the building who found that annoying, but I actually thought it was quite humorous.. Rather that then “Freebird” right? I thought so.

So this show is chugging along, I'm loving being in a seat for all this-the whole atmosphere makes me feel like an adult seeing a play on Broadway-the only difference being that this DOESN'T suck. A song I could get on board with, “Can't Change Me” was followed by “You Know My Name”. Awesome already as we now begin to dig into the Audioslave catalog with “Wide Awake”. There were a lot of songs tonight I couldn't name off the top of my head-so I worked with the “write down lyrics and google it later” motto. Didn't really need it for “Call Me A Dog” though, that one sort of spelled itself out. And being a 'Temple of the Dog' song made it all make sense. I got myself lost in “Sunshower” while I was live tweeting pics and little comments all night long, but then my attention was grabbed by the sounds of that familiar riff and a roar from the crowd, as our first 'Soundgarden' of the night “Fell on Black Day” fell upon us. It's weird because I want to be screaming singing along to it but it's only Chris and his guitar up there so there's not a lot of “noise” too drown me out you know. I'd be heard, and if I was someone who had singing talents I wouldn't be here writing about it if you catch my drift. And are you freakin' kidding me we're jumping into “Blow Up The Outside World” next?! Little back to back 'Soundgarden' action-I can dig it. Chris you had me at hello!

Back to the 'Audioslave' with “I am the Highway” before he puts his guitar down and turns to a phonograph set up to his right. He says “I'm going to perform this as it was meant to be done” as he pulls out the vinyl and starts to play the track which is the piano part to “When I'm Down” while not playing guitar to anything to it.. pretty cool.. I start to smell pot and see a dubey being passed along the row in front of me.. I mean, if you take flash photography we'll kill you but do all the drugs you want I guess. The only crime there was me not getting in on that as . “Sweet Euphoria” and “Heaven's Dead” followed. Damn, I wish every night was like this-good music plus being comfortable make the night life as a “rock journalist” a lot less taxing. Back into Temple of the Dog mode with “Say Hello to Heaven” (one of Pam's highlights of the evening) followed by “Seasons”... Then, I didn't realize we we're into the Led Zeppelin cover of “Thank You” until a few lines in..

Then, and you got me on this one, he plays “Sad Sad City” by a band called 'Ghostland Observatory'.. he explains something to the effect of: “I wanted to translate this song from the electric stuff they use to guitar”. After that, he says “Okay everyone now lets stretch a little bit-stand up”.. so like half the place stands, I guess that wasn't good enough as he jokingly says “okay now I'm telling you to stand up-everybody stretch it out”.. so we did-everyone in the building on their feet as we ran through two more from the Audioslave songbook- “Be Yourself” and “Doesn't Remind Me” before he said thank you and went off at about 10:50....People are screaming “One more song!” chants.. people who've been to as many shows as I have-you know there's an encore coming. And if there isn't one you'd know before they turned the lights on. You get a feel for the shows after a while.

So of course, back out comes Mr. Cornell for a few more songs. All of a sudden the girl in the row in front of me like jumps out of her seat almost into the ceiling with exuberance as Cornell starts the riff for “Jesus Christ Pose”-but then stops abruptly while saying something that I couldn't hear over the screaming crowd. That was some effed up shit for that chick screaming out “Jesus Christ Pose” all night(which people seated downstairs said they heard loud and clear all night) to be teased like that. Maybe he did it just to mess with her-wouldn't that be cruel and awesome at the same time? Interesting moment to say the least before we broke into “Black Hole Sun”-started thinking of the memorable music video. Then the token Beatles cover “A Day in the Life” followed by some solo Lennon action with “Imagine” before playing another 'Audioslave'-“Like a Stone”... While listening to it in its raw acoustic form, I turned to Pam and said “You know I really love this song” and she agreed as we got back to listening to it being the final song of the evening, with Cornell getting a stand ovation and heading off at about 11:15PM..

Incredible evening all around. I mean, besides the show being unique and highly entertaining-the commute(via Public Transportation) to this venue from my house is about as easy as it gets for me AND the rain tapered off and I didn't feel a drop. Smooth as the red velvet seats at Town Hall, a place I will hopefully be visiting again.

Well, that's it for me as it's reaching 5AM and I'm due for a nap before work at 12.. Thanks you all for participating if you made it this far down, and I leave you with tonight's set list in more readable form below, plus a reminder that I'll meet all of you back here on Tuesday the 19^th as we'll head out to Terminal 5 to see PJ Harvey! Thanks again people- LATE!

Set List:

-Dark Globe(Syd Barrett)
-Ground Zero
-I promise it's not goodbye
-Can't change me
-You know my name
-Wide Awake (Audioslave)
-Call me a dog (Temple of the Dog)
-Sunshower
-Fell on black days (Soundgarden)
-Blow up the Outside World (Soundgarden)
-I am the Highway (Audioslave)
-When I'm Down (sings along to phonograph)
-Sweet Euphoria
"heavens dead"
-Say Hello to Heaven (Temple of the Dog)
-Seasons
-Thank You (Led Zeppelin)
- Sad Sad City (Ghostland Observatory)
::At this point we were instructed to stand and stretch
-Be Yourself(Audioslave)
-Doesn't Remind Me (Audioslave)
Encore
-Black Hole Sun(Soundgarden)
-A Day in the Life (Beatles)
-Imagine (John Lennon)
-Like a Stone (Audioslave)

Charlie Sheen @ Radio City Music Hall 4/10/11

So the day has finally come upon us- Charlie Sheen on his "Violent Torpedo of Truth/ Defeat is not an option tour as it embarks on it's second night at Radio City Music Hall(1^st night was Friday before a Saturday night stop in Washington, DC). Also bare with me, as this is not a rock concert yet I'm posting here, at a site devoted to sharing experiences with you from rock concerts. Simple math, if I put the words CHARLIE and SHEEN next to each other in a sentence, any sentence-this piece(and this site) will get that many more views. Just throw a #Winning in here and there and you're all hooked. Robert Patterson (of Filter) was on guitar all night-so we're not too far from the realm of music anyway; Eff that- I'm going with it.

Since the day I got these tickets, I've been kept up to date by people telling me things like "oh, I heard he got booed off stage".. Yea, in Detroit- a town full of angry unemployed people expecting to see Charlie Sheen turn into Bill Hicks right before their eyes. This is not a magic act- there's no rabbits being pulled out of hats here and I understand this-too bad the “real” media doesn't get it. My mother busted out the “But Jay, he hasn't been winning” line earlier this week really annoyed the crap out of me. This is just an actor who was fired from his job for being himself-he's now out to make attempts at telling the world his story, tell some epic tales of epic times. I saw video clips of the show from Friday night and people are like screaming stuff out during his sentences and I'm thinking like: dude- can you shut up so I can hear this Nick Cage story?

Rolled with a posse for this one, with my friends In the pic left to right it's Me, Jon,:Chach, Taylor and Pinky. Running a little late, but after burning down several blunts on the ride over from Staten to the City-we were in a parking garage a block or so away at 8PM exactly(costing us 42 bucks to park in the garage, I'm in the wrong business!). My first time at Radio City Music Hall-this place is mammoth to epic proportions . The lobby when you walk in with the 100 feet long chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, carpeted floor, some of the sexiest women I've ever seen in one place-now we are talking! And it's not like I'm alone and don't want to get caught staring at some dude's chick-I have muscle tonight, my eyes are on every single tittie in that building. We walk up three flights of stairs (3^rd mezzanine balcony) and are shown to our seats which are primo to say the least. First row overlooking the entire nights proceedings. Had my cup on the ledge until we were viciously scolded by an usher “HEY! NO CUPS ON THE LEDGE!! GET IT OFF!” I've had cameras confiscated in nicer tones of voice then that dude gave us.. sure dude- no problem, cups off.

So Charlie Sheen sits in a chair aside with another dude, and the other guy is basically keeping things on track topic wise, prompting Sheen with questions and stuff. One of the first things Sheen is preaching on is to the effect of : “You know I always say to Plan Better (#planbetter), so tonight we planned better by throwing out the script and just saying fuck it”..

Robert Patterson from Filter(a band I saw in the 1^st ever Jay Porks Concert Experience!) was a few feet away from them holding his guitar playing along to zingers and such. For example, Sheen says “Can I smoke in here” and as he's lighting up Patterson plays the “Smoke on the Water” riff-awesome. I actually dragged my friend Chach to that STP/Filter concert back in May 08, so he's seen Patterson twice now. Anyway, the moderator dude was like going through this $20 booklet they were selling that had a bunch of stuff in it, including a list of the “20 best Charlie Sheen quotes”.. A rant about what being bi polar actually means ensued-with a Doctor being brought up on stage only to find out he was lying about being a doctor..

We got a light “7 gram rocks” chant going, then He asked us to pick it up saying- “that's be awesome lets have a 7 gram rocks chant ”. Then went on to explain how we got ourselves to this magical number of seven gram rocks. Sheen states “I was jamming this huge rock into my crack pipe and it wouldn't fit it was impossible”-we're all already dying in laughter here as he says something to the effect of: “So I took it out and banged it on the scale broke it in two. While smoking a 3 gram rock I noticed the other one was 4 grams, so I finished it all up right there”

But Charlie has supporters he tells us, gazing into the crowd. “Where's Daryl? I know you're here Daryl stand up take a bow” and I notice floor seats middle/right section the spot light finds him I look on the big screen and it's actually frickin' Daryl Strawberry, there in the crowd trying to be incognito wearing army fatigues. A few minutes later he'd be forced by Charlie to come on stage to take a bow- “Just take a bow for the people”. Besides the massive chants of “Daaaaaaaarrrrrryllllllll!” when he walked off some fans shouted out “Lets Go Yankees”, to which Charlie replied “He played for the Yankees?”(Obviously we know Daryl actually did play for the Yankees in the late 90's as a role player on those championship teams). Do you understand how hard it was to avoid a “Strawberry's the only dude who's smoked more crack then this guy” line? Oops.

“Where's James?” Sheen says gazing into the crowd again- “C'mon James I know you're here take a bow”. So on the big screen we then see a shot of James fucking Lipton, host of “Inside the Actors Studio” in the crowd watching the onstage goings on. Really? This dude seems like the most serious guy in the world with all his thespianism speak and such, I can't believe he's here to win tonight. “Want to come up and ask me some questions James?” to a resounding cheer from the crowd-he's not really into to at all Charlie continues to coax him “I know I promised I wouldn't but just come up to take a bow at least” so finally he comes up on stage and hugs Charlie and then is asked if he had one question to ask Charlie what would it be and he replies with “Well(in his all deep, serious voice he has), it would have to be what I ask all the actor I have on-What's you're favorite curse word?” Easy answer for Sheen, who said it's “Fuck...or Denise-either one” to a huge harmonic roar from the crowd. Lipton heads back to his seat. Damn-is there anyone else in here I should know of?

For the seven minute intermission they've decided to show a short little flick, which was described as the “real” interview ABC should have aired. It contained the questions asked by Andrea Canning and Sheen's responses edited to much funnier things. Like at one point every shot on Sheen had him with most cigarettes inserted in each hole of his face-first his nostrils then to the point where he had cigs in his ears and about 5-6 in his mouth until finally it just cut to a giant cigarette sitting there in the chair burning. Also clips of Sheen and 3 friends in his house arguing in the kitchen-but they're speaking Spanish. I am far from disappointed with this night so far this shit is hilarious!

We come back from break and Sheen is in the balcony right below us all the way across the room making his way towards the stage. He sits and someone screamed out some sentence containing “Lorre”. He came to admit that Chuck Lorre “doesn't completely suck” and he went on to call Jon Cryer a “Rock Star” and apologized for calling him a troll in earlier interviews. He continues on topic, stating that he'll eventually write an apology and “I will be back on that fucking show” while prompting everyone to write in letters demanding his return.

So we're still jiving along, and he takes a few questions from the audience(wish someone could muster up something good).. Some women had a photo album in her hand and said when handed the mic : “Charlie, do you remember the Tyson/Holyfield fight in 1996? You spilled you're drink on me I have the pictures”-he's like “really let me see that..what year again?” she says “1996” So Sheen explains that you gotta understand when you party with him “drinks get spilled” and went on to say “Look how epic that is-she remembers that 30 years later and I have no recollection of even being there”

Another audience member asked him if he had any money left, which prompted Sheen to reach in his bag and say “I got 100 bucks, here you want 100 bucks? Take it” and just hands it to dude(sitting in 700 dollar orchestra seats mind you). Other people were handed the mic, one asking how he can become a warlock... Sheen looked at him, sort of knighted him in a way and said “You are one”..

We took one more senseless question, before Charlie left us with this “You can't live in the past. Unless you can bring me a souvenir from said event then it doesn't exist-and the only souvenir I brought back her from Friday night was ME! Goodnight, Love you guys!”

As the lights came on we all got to hear and view Snoop Dogg on the big screen doing a song I could only imagine could be called “Winning”, featuring lines like “Sheen with Tiger Blood like Snoop and Gin&Juice”. Tried to tape it, but the audio quality was an absolute abortion via Blackberry video camera. I only have one SD card, so I figured I'd test run it using the phone's camera tonight, unaware that I wasn't even going to be patted down whatsoever.

And As we exited we noticed that everyone had, you know, stayed til the end. Went to about 9:30, after coming on about 8ish.. No booing, no one walking out-everyone in the building having a blast. Take that conservative America!

So to tie things up here, I got what I expected and more. And I'm so glad too-just to shove it in the face of all you non-believers. All the people out there who look at me like I'm a satanist for supporting a #Winning cause yet tune in religiously to eMTpyV to keep up with all the latest happenings on the Jersey Shore. Not to rant or anything, but all those people could seriously suck it-two standing ovations tonight! Me and four of my friends sitting at Planet Hollywood after the show running up a 170 dollar bill all in agreement of the epic night. I even spotted a Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen's character in the movie Major League, starring Charlie Sheen) jersey hanging up on the wall I got a pic of myself next too with Taylor. Our waiter was on board with the whole scene, actually writing at the top of our check “The Tiger Blood Was Free”. Complete awesomeness from all ends. And just for you Robert Patterson I'm going to blast Filter as I write this up just because you kicked ass riffing all night...

Anyway, I'm done folks-I still have two school assignments to do that are due tomorrow but this was more important. Needed to let the internet know what a genius Charlie Sheen is. And we'll meet again soon right here, as I head out to Town Hall this Wednesday 4/13 to see Chris Cornell on his “Acoustic Songbook Tour”. So til then, thanks for participating and I hope it was as good for you as it was for me. LATE...