Gov't Mule at the Beacon last night

Alex and I had pretty good seats last night.  It was the first time both of us to see Gov't Mule and they played two sets totaling about 3 hours.

Hard to tell what songs were originals and which were covers but I do remember Billy Cobham's Stratus, Weather Report's Birdland, a reggae version of Steve Miller's The Joker into a Bob Marley tune, a tribute to Joe Cocker (Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire and the Boxtop's The Letter). There were two excellent girl backup singers for the Joe Cocker tribute.

Guest drummer Simon Kirke (Free and Bad Company) was on Bad Company's Mr. Big and another tune I forget.  The second set ended with Carmine Appice guest drumming to two Rod Stewart tunes -- Hot Legs and Stay with me...

A very satisfying night overall, in my opinion.  Too bad we are missing tonight's show with Myles Kennedy.

Jack Bruce

I found out somewhat belatedly that Jack Bruce had died of liver disease on Saturday October 25th at the age of 71.  One of members of the all-star power trio supergroup CREAM, Bruce was considered one of rock's top bass players and was actually classically trained and very much into jazz as well.

Bruce always had an explosive relationship with CREAM drummer and co-founder Ginger Baker, who he had played with in the Graham Bond Organization and several other bands prior to joining CREAM.  CREAM had a relatively short life span from 1966-1968 but they very much influenced bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I am reading a biography of Led Zeppelin that my stepdaughter had thrown in the garbage but I thought was worth a read...

Actually, it seems like the real founder of Cream was Ginger Baker and there is an excellent biography I read about him last year right after I saw him live at Iridium in Manhattan -- he played a jazz set with jazz players and was absolutely marvelous, although slightly off the wall as is his reputation.

Jack Bruce will be severely missed.

Alex's first blog post -- The Foo Fighter's HBO Documentary

After listening to the new Foo Fighter's album, Sonic Highways, I have never been more excited to see them live at Citi Field this upcoming July. The album appears to have much depth and concept to it (moving away from the typical hard and heavy sound produced by the Foo's). Tracks such as: "Something from Nothing," and "The Feast and the Famine," consist of strong, meaningful lyrics and great flows and riffs. 
A recent documentary about the album has been aired on HBO. It shows Dave Grohl and the other band members traveling through different locations (New York, Chicago, Nashville, etc) where there are prominent music scenes. "Sonic Highways," appears to be an album where the band truly discovers themselves as unique individuals seeking the priceless treasures of life: family, friends, compassion, and the aesthetics of nature.