Rush - Mansfield, MA 6/27/07

It was a relatively boring show. It started off strong with Limelight and then an older obscure song or two and Free Will several songs later. That was followed by some new songs that didn't really go over very well and a few more obscure things.

About an hour into the show was intermission, after intermission was five or six more brand new songs. Ugh. All slow or midtempo. A few of them kinda grooved but not many people seemed extremely interested.

Then came Subdivisions which got everyone screaming and jumping for joy...I think probably because it was the first familiar song in almost an hour. Then more slow songs. People started leaving.

My buddies wanted to leave so I went online and looked up some recent setlists to see what would be ahead: a drum solo, more new stuff, Tom Sawyer, and YYZ for the encore. But that was another forty-five minutes away and not really compelling enough to want to sit through the other shit in between so they left. I held out another ten minutes to confirm the setlist was similar to the ones I had looked up. I left around 10:20 during the drum solo. It just wasn't worth it. And it was a boring drum solo from what I saw and heard on the way out.

A total of nine new songs was a bit much. Especially so many of them all in a row. That was just stupid IMHO. If it wasn't for that I would have enjoyed it more. I would have also enjoyed stuff like Working Man and 2112 and Distant Early Warning.

Here is a tip for the band: when the drummer looks like he is so unhappy to be there, don't aim close-up cameras on him. As fans we like to think that our favorite bands are having some kind of fun up there on stage, we don't want to see the guys looking like they're ready to cry or bored with us or whatever his problem was. Just don't bother showing them at all if they're going to be like that.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad - the sound mix was pretty much perfect and I was very happy to see Geddy playing way more bass than keyboards as opposed to other times I've seen him play keys most of the show. There is never a substitute for him plucking the strings and rocking out. So at least I was happy about that.

RIP Hooters

Bankruptcy has claimed the life of all of the Hooters locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Rhode Island. They were killed by some upstate NY locations that drowned the franchisee in debt.

I am extremely saddened by the news. The closest location to me is now 111 miles away from me in CT.

Another Movie, Airplanes, Another Play, Motorcycles, and a Helicopter

Three weeks ago I went to Providence ago for a scene in an upcoming movie called 27 Dresses. It stars Katherine Heigl from Grey's Anatomy and it should be out early next year. This is my fourth film in the post ten months and the second film in a row in which my car was used - my role in this is "Pedestrian With Car" which pretty much meant that I won't be seen at all because I drove around the block for about 3. 5 hours between a few other cars and several NYC taxis. At one point I wondered about those cabs - were they actually real NYC cabs or something created by the props department? If they were real cabs, how did they get up to Providence? Were they driven up separately or on a car carrier? I would think that a car carrier would have raised a few eyebrows along the way since it's not every day that you see a car carrier full of NYC taxis.

The Tuesday after that I went flying for the first time since November 2005. I flew down to the Cape and along the South Coast. I hope to get myself back into flying more often.


Last Wednesday I was in a play - an episode of "Duffy's Tavern". I was funny. This is our promo pic...

Last Saturday I went to Motorcycle Week in Laconia and saw some awesome bikes and rode in a helicopter around Weirs Beach. The first real standout was this Jägermeister bike. It has a Jägermeister machine on the back and Jägermeister stuff all over it. There were the typical assortments of Harley's and rice-rockets as well as a prototype of a bike that has a 10-cylinder Dodge Viper engine that supposedly get up to 400-something MPH! SICK! NO thanks! But this bike shaped like the back of a hot chick was cool:


Last Sunday I took my parents to the casino in RI for Father's Day. The slot machines were pretty stingy but my mom won $77 betting a simulcast horse race which almost didn't get bet because I had to use an electronic wagering system that I had never seen before with less than a minute to post time. I would have gotten so much shit if I blew the bet. We ate at the buffet which was plentiful and looked great, but aside from just a few items, pretty much everything was bland and almost tasteless. Even my parents felt the same way, and they never complain about eating in restaurants. But compared the full-service restaurants that had chicken wing appetizers for $11.50 and pasta with clam sauce for $21.50 and an Italian cold-cut sandwich for $11.50, the price was right I guess.

Yesterday started with a cooking contest at All Things Sicilian. After that I went to a ribfest in NH where I ate a few ribs and deep-fried Oreos, sampled some BBQ sauces, and saw an aerial stunt show. From there I went to a poker party. That was the second night in a row that I didn't get home until about four in the morning.

Today I am tired.