After attending a few concerts at Red Butte this summer, fellow SLCene blogger Dan Nailen and I have noticed a disconcerting escalation in personal transportation.
It used to be that people at the Butte hauled in a backpack containing a light supper, a bottle of wine or a six-pack and a blanket flop on to enjoy Utah’s premier outdoor venue and its magnificent sunsets.
But this year in particular, we’ve been noticing a gypsy caravan appearance to the waiting line. Pilgrims are pulling in conestoga wagon-like garden carts, 18-wheeler coolers (and warmers), piled high with umbrellas, Laz-E-Boy-sized lawn chairs and—new this year–titanium or bamboo snack tables on which foodies pile restaurant-grade stainless bowls and cutlery.
Half the grass is taken up with gear.
We respectfully say, Stop it! You’re creating “bourgeois sprawl” at the Butte and it’s getting creepy.
Here’s all you need for a concert the likes of Steve Earle:
- A supply of beer, wine and/or tequila in small, non-wheeled cooler.
- A sack of pork rinds, Cheez Whiz and a couple of those triangular plastic-encased sandwiches from Maverick. (Or, if you must, the Liberty Heights Fresh-equivalent in quinoa, artisan cheese, or whatever.)
- A blanket. (If it’s a good concert, you’re going to dance through it anyway.)
One more thing. What’s with the toddlers and infants with giant hearing protectors? If you don’t want your kids to get tinnitis—a necessary rite of passage as a rocker—don’t drag them up in front of the speakers.
I gathered with a bunch of friends for the Steve Earle/Los Lobos show at Red Butte Garden Sunday night. When Red Butte announced their schedule, this was a show that jumped out for sure–two of the best purveyors of rootsy rock, playing together at Utah’s best summertime concert venue.
Steve Earle and his band the Dukes were a blast, with Earle spinning yarns between songs, and trading instruments on virtually every tune; over the course of the night, Earle played guitar, banjo, mandolin and bouzouki as he led the band through a set including “Copperhead Road” and “The Revolution Starts Now.”
Steve Earle leading his band The Dukes at Red Butte Garden Sunday night.
Los Lobos started out all-acoustic and all Spanish for a few songs before slowly adding in some electric guitars over the course of their set. The band got the crowd on its feet early, and kept them up and dancing through cover like “West L.A. Fadeaway,” “Papa was a Rolling Stone” and “She’s About a Mover,” along with their own tunes like “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Kiko and the Lavender Moon,” “La Pistola y el Corazon” and “Mas y Mas.”
Los Lobos performing Sunday night at Red Butte Garden.
Stellar show all around, with two headliners sharing a bill. I could go for a Los Lobos/Steve Earle twin bill every summer.
Los Lobos’ Louie Perez (left) and David Hidalgo, performing at Red Butte Garden Sunday night.
No doubt some people left Al Green’s show at Red Butte Garden complaining that the 66-year-old soul legend only played for an hour, and didn’t bother with a ridiculous, predetermined encore.
But if you look at the hour of energetic music delivered by Green and his ace band, you quickly realize there is not a thing to complain about. The man delivered about 16 songs (including a medley of cover songs), his voice sounded great, and he moved around the stage like a man half his age. Throw in Green’s steady diet of “I love you!” announced to the crowd, and his never-ending supply of roses to hand out to the adoring ladies lining the Red Butte Garden stage, and you have a stellar night of great music AND great showmanship.
Taking the stage in a tux, complete with white gloves, Green and his band brought the funk, soul and gospel with style and incomparable skill. Classic songs like “Take Me to the River,” delivered early on, and the set-closing “Let’s Stay Together” sounded as good as any fan could hope for, turning the crowd filling the amphitheatre into a big mob of backup singers. The same goes for “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart” and “Love and Happiness,” both of which were highlights of Friday’s show.
“I’m a preacher,” Green announced after the second song of the night, “but I also want you to know that we kick ass everywhere we go.”
The good reverend wasn’t lying. The man knows how to put on a show, from the theatrical way he throws off his jacket, to his James Brown-style drop to his knees while gripping the microphone stand. A three-piece horn section and a crew of backup singers that included his daughters Ruby and Cora helped fill out the classic Memphis sounds all night. But Green’s voice was clearly the focus, and he hit some stratospheric highs and delivered some seriously sexy growls that could have come straight out of Green in the ’70s.
After “Here I Am (Come and Take Me),” Green launched into a medley of songs that helped “make Al Green who he is,” a stellar mini-suite that included brief forays into “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” and “My Girl” before he went into “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and “Tired of Being Alone.”
After an extended workout on “Let’s Stay Together,” Green was gone, disappearing into the darkness backstage while his band finished off the song. The crowd cheered a while for an encore, but the PA music came on, and soon after, so did the lights. After the hot hour of music Green delivered, it was natural to leave wanting more. Here’s hoping another visit in the near future will be just as satisfying.
Wow. When Mitt decides go all in on a gaffe, it’s an Olympic performance.
As even the blind sea lion at the Hogle Zoo can tell you, Mitt f’d up big time in London Town and made a major “wazzock” of himself in the eyes of the world. (More on what the hell a wazzock is later.)
Basically Mitt Romney traveled to England on a grip-and-grin trip to show his diplomatic mettle and get some photos for future foreign-policy campaign ads.
I know. What was his campaign thinking? It’s always a risk to allow Mitt to interact with humans.
They must have figured that because saving the Salt Lake Olympics and passing healthcare in Massachussetts are is Mitt’s only claim to fame, London was an opportunity to shine.
Instead it turned into a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week for Mittens.
- Mitt foreign-policy aide tries to suck up to the British by saying Mitt is more sensitive to their shared “Anglo-Saxon heritage” than Barack Obama. As that is a euphemism for “former Klan member” in some parts of the U.S., the comment was not well received.
- Mitt refers to Labor Party leader David Miliband as “Mr. Leader,” at a press conference because he either forgot the minister of Parliament’s name or never knew it.
- But of course, the topper was when Mitt wanted to sound like the intergalactic Olympic expert and proclaimed he was “disconcerted” by London’s security preparations shortly before meeting England’s top Anglo-Saxon chieftains.
- Prime Minister James Cameron points out that its easy to hold an Olympics “in the middle of nowhere,” i.e. Utah.
Before you could say wanker, the British press had annointed Mitt a “wannabe President”, “twit,” and—the best— “wazzock.” Running out of insults, the tabloids resorted to an Americanism, calling Mitt a “flip-flopper” after he tried to weasel out of his Olympic gaffe.
As for wazzock, not even the British are sure of its etymology, but it roughly translates into American slang as “douche.”
Beats “Saturday’s Voyeur.” The best they could come up with is “Mittbot.”
Regulars to the Twilight Concert Series summertime concerts know that the shows are visual feasts just as much as musical ones. Between the bands on stage and the fans who have filled Pioneer Park, the Gallivan Center and the hillside next to what is now the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, there is plenty of fodder for photographers with keen eyes.
Friday night, the SLC Photo Collective celebrates its one-year anniversary with a show celebrating the first 25 years of the Twilight Concert Series. Visit the Collective’s space at 561 W. 200 South to take in 25 years of images–like the shot of M. Ward above–taken at one of the signature events of the Salt Lake City music scene. The show starts at 7 p.m., and you need to RSVP on the SLC Photo Collective Facebook page to get on the guest list.
Good ol’ Mitt — pitch underhand to him and he still manages to strike out.
What could be a better platform for Mitt Romney, than an Olympic Games for a platform to market his international organizational skills?
Yet, Mitt quickly turned his trip to the London games this week into a disaster, both in diplomatically and for his presidential campaign.
Shortly before being honored with a visit to No. 10 Downing Street, Romney blathered to NBC that he saw “disconcerting” signs in London’s Olympic plans. The Brits said the bald statement left them “speechless.”
Not for long—Prime Minister David Cameron had a snappy comeback for Mittens:
“We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”
By “nowhere,” Cameron meant Utah, of course. The British described the PM’s comment as a light-hearted “jab.” How droll. Ha. Uh. Ha.
OK, it could have been worse. They could have burned Washington again.
But wait! It gets better! Mitt closed out his stumble with an Olympic-class flip-flop! After meeting with the British, Mitt to reporters:
“I am very delighted with the prospects of a highly successful Olympic Games.”
It’s a record even for Romney: “Disconcerting” to “highly successful” in a couple hours.
Daniel Nailen 