Category: Everything Else

A year ago yesterday, life was different, but the good kind. Despite a shooting at a concert in Vegas, things were okay.

At 3:16 that day, one of my oldest and closest friends texted me the news that Tom Petty, a man I had just seen not five months before, was dead. Just like that, everything changed.

The first quarter of 2017, his music came into my life, and I began to dig deep into his extensive career and absolutely genius songwriting. Second quarter, I got the wonderful opportunity to attend one of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 40th Anniversary shows, the one in Tampa. That was the closest they were getting to their hometown of Gainesville, and this turned out to be their final show in their birth state. Third quarter, I began saving for his promised Wildflowers tour, where he’d play the whole album, and then some, in smaller venues. When October 2 rolled around, I had $75 saved for a ticket. All that was left was to wait for an announcement.

Tom, to me, was the definition of heartland rock. While Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp have all touched my soul in their own ways, no one changed me like he did. His music, documentary, and life story taught me the utter importance of authenticity, honesty, and standing up for what I believe in.

These days, if I ever look back and remember when I cheated my way through something major, or when I remember how uptight I was about every little thing when I was younger, I have regrets. That’s another thing Tom taught the world, just stay calm and fight through the pain, whether it’s emotional or physical.

With all that said, my heart has especially always gone out to the amazing Heartbreakers that backed him up for 40+ years. Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench III were on Tom’s side through everything. Ron Blair, Scott Thurston, Steve Ferrone, and Stan Lynch all were of breathtaking assistance in giving the band its sound. And the great thing is that even with their fearless leader no longer on this planet, they’re all still going. Mike just joined Fleetwood Mac and is about to hit the road with them. Steve Ferrone is also the drummer in the Dire Straits Legacy, which is currently on tour, and will actually roll into St. Pete this Friday. The other guys pop up many different places, for example, Benmont still plays occasional solo shows at Largo at the Coronet in California.

If only Tom had postponed that tour and gotten the help he needed in his hip. He would probably still be here today. We, his fans, would have wanted Tom to worry about himself before entertaining us. It’s understandable to hate canceling shows, but look how many artists, old and young, have to do it today, and they’re still with us. Michael Nesmith of The Monkees had to postpone his dates with Micky Dolenz so he could have quadruple bypass heart surgery. Quadruple. Had he continued on touring instead of getting help immediately, we’d almost certainly be down two Monkees now rather than one.

Tom, if you’re reading this somewhere in the great wide open, your music will be with me as long as I live, probably even after. My children will have a great idea of who you are, and so will their children. Finally, Tom, you’ve kicked off the soundtrack of my life.

And for that, I hope the last voice I ever hear is yours.

– – Josh Dezern, 10/3/2018

“Eh, he’s alright I guess. The Sound Of Silence is a good song.”

Close to everyone I have ever met have had that reaction whenever I’ve mentioned the genius of Paul Simon, one of the most overlooked, yet legendary songwriters of all time.

Hipsters, Gen-X’ers, and boomers love the other biggies. Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Joan Baez, and Bruce Springsteen, just to name a few. Don’t get me wrong, that’s great. Yet they seem to snub the fact that Paul wrote some of the most recognizable songs with some of the most touching, impeccable lyrics in music, and has a sense of creativity that no one else has. People also tend to throw aside the authentic African sounds of Graceland, and the fact that he’s been inducted to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame twice. And let’s not forget that he technically won the Grammy for Album Of The Year three times in his life.

His retirement isn’t a total surprise, as he’s been throwing it around for a few years now. That said, it feels far too soon to be saying goodbye to such a creative mind already, who has brought so much joy into so many lives. Even if he only worked as a solo artist for the 46 years he did, rather than making music in general for 60, he still would have made it in the biz the way he did.

To me, Paul is, creatively, one in a million. Yes, there is bitterness he has about certain things, mainly the beef between himself and his former partner Art Garfunkel. But as a man who has almost always stuck to his word, worked nonstop for over 60 years, and is a recent advocate for saving the planet, (E.O Wilson’s Half-Earth Project) I think it’s more than safe to say that the man has had an extraordinary life.

Tomorrow night in Queens, NY will be the last show of his last ever tour. If you never got to see him, chew on this: Whether you were a die-hard fan, or a rapper who was being dragged to a show by a spouse or parent, Paul live would just blow you away. From the stories he tells to the new arrangements he plays, every show had so much energy and love put into it.

As for me, I’m so glad I got to experience him live not once, but twice. I’ve loved him since I was six, and have been following him since I was 13. And though this is the end of the road, I’ll never stop being a fan.

From the bottom of my heart…

Thank you, Paul Simon, times a bajillion.

Return if possible. Your fans aren’t going anywhere.

– – Josh Dezern, 9/21/2018

In the last few days, Bob Dylan, the only songwriter with a Nobel Prize, announced his first US tour dates of 2018. Last year, it felt like he covered everywhere in the US, except the southeast. But four out of the first five dates announced are in that area. The Carolinas, Oklahoma, and Georgia will get to hear Bob play a show that will most likely consist of covers, and a few of his semi-hits.

But here’s the thing:

Oklahoma is in mid-October, while the others are November 3 and 4 for the Carolinas, November 7 for Georgia, and November 9 for another North Carolina show.

The man is no stranger to Florida, especially the Tampa/Clearwater area. He’s played sold out shows at Ruth Eckerd Hall in 2016 and 2015, along with a less recent co-headlining show with Willie Nelson at Bright House Field (now Spectrum Field) in 2005. So there’s always a chance that he’ll drop by, knowing that shows on his “Never Ending Tour” are practically back-to-back. No venues in Florida have confirmed him showing up, but at the beginning of each week, Ruth Eckerd announces a handful of new shows.

Maybe this week, Dylan will make the list.

This is a shot I took from the very back of a concert at Epcot from R&B group, The Spinners. It’s of Henry Fambrough, the group’s last living original member who’s been around since the group’s formation about 60+ years ago. I only stood there for maybe five minutes. Why?

I’m not a fan.

This was a job from one of my friends who is a big Spinners fan, so it wasn’t entirely my decision to stop. But what if it were? You know something, I’d be cool with stopping.

There’s a (very) small list of people I wouldn’t cross the street to see. But when you cross those people out, photographing any big name, whether it’s someone I’ve never heard of, or Brian May, one of my photo bucket listers, it’s a great feeling.

Firstly, being in the presence of an entertainment icon, be it musician, comedian, or actor is amazing enough. Even though none of them know you exist, unless you sit in the front row, for some reason, you feel obligated to get that one perfect shot. The shot that in your dreams is being requested by the artist’s tour director to be used as an officially licensed photo of promotion.

The feeling of getting that perfect, crisp shot is even better. If you’re like me and your camera isn’t technically professional, you know this feeling. As stated before, I was all the way back, behind where the seats ended. Maybe about 70 feet from the Spinners. My arms were shaking because they were holding the camera up, and they get tired pretty easily. But I still managed it. Then about ten minutes later, I was waiting for the ferry to the other side of Epcot, and I got bored.

So, I fiddled with the zoom a bit, held it towards the theater in the distance, and…

I think you get the gist of it.

Point is, if someone tells you that it’s time to cut back on the shows, ignore them. Especially when you have a camera, (when it’s allowed anyway) it keeps your satisfaction going. Obviously, don’t film the entire thing because you want to remember the experience. Every move, every solo, every flub. But that the feeling of a freshly taken photo reappearing on your screen is satisfying to say the least.

If you want to buy a cheap frame and get it printed for cheap at Walgreens, it’ll even save you a buck or two at the merch tables.

Most people go to eBay for autographs, and a lot of the time, they’re unauthentic. But sometimes, if the person is still living, you get lucky.

The only autographs I’ve gotten were Chef Robert Irvine’s, and Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan’s. Here’s the story of how I got the autograph of perhaps the most famous ventriloquist of all time.

I saw Jeff Dunham and his suitcase posse on the Passively Aggressive Tour at Amalie Arena in Tampa. As if the show wasn’t great enough, I wanted to add onto my experience. So after making my way out of the venue, I couldn’t help but notice I took the exit on the other side of the arena, close to where the backstage area is. Maybe Jeff would come out and take some photos. I thought I’d give it a shot, although I felt in my bones that we’d get catfished.

My brother and I made our way towards that area, and obviously, there were gates guarding it. Of course, that’s totally fair. I’d want that as well if I were playing there. But anyway, there were three other fans waiting who weren’t scrounging for a quick buck to make off of his autograph. About fifteen minutes or so pass, and Jeff comes walking out the backstage door. One of the fans calls out “JEFF! Can we have a picture?!” He waved at us and held up his index finger. Clearly that meant, “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll let you guys know.”

Another ten-ish minutes pass, and one of Jeff’s roadies starts walking towards us with a marker and some sticky notes. “Hi guys, how are ya?” He asked. This guy knew that we were real fans. He then told us that Jeff would be happy to sign some things for us. Clearly, he wasn’t going to come out and take pictures, which of course is what any true fan would have wanted, but you know what? He was probably exhausted, since this was his last stop after being on the road all year long.

The roadie had the sticky notes to label everything he was given by who had what. I bought Jeff’s book a few minutes earlier, but if he’s going to sign something, I want to keep it in a frame that anyone can see, not a closed book. So I gave him mine and my brother’s ticket stubs. (My brother wanted him to sign his new $45 talking Walter, but we had a ride waiting for us for an unexpectedly long amount of time.)

Within three minutes, the roadie comes back out of the tour bus. Everything has been personally signed with a blue Sharpie. Unfortunately, the “j” in my name got smeared a little bit by Jeff, but that means that I also have his fingerprint, so that’s always fun to archive. He also put my name on my brother’s stub, and my brother’s name on mine. But you know what? To quote Walter, who the hell cares?

I think it was out of sheer luck too, because one of the people standing with me said that normally, if there’s a lot of people waiting, (probably more than 10) he’ll just wave and leave. But either way, this is another object I’ll cherish forever.

Now, to find a frame…

Paul Simon will be embarking on his farewell tour in a matter of weeks. Of course, he can’t play every song in the book, but since this is probably the end, Paul will likely dig deep into his career. Maybe not terribly deep, like the stuff from his musical The Capeman, but maybe some of the non-radio hits. The album tracks, you may say. So here are ten songs I’d love Paul Simon to play, even though he probably won’t. I’m leaving out the hits, and the few deep cuts he does play normally, just for the sake of mixing things up.

1) American Tune

“Still, when I think of the road we’re traveling on, I wonder what went wrong. I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong.”

2) Slip Slidin’ Away

“She said a good day ain’t got no rain. She said a bad day’s when I lie in bed and think of things that might have been.”

3) My Little Town

“And after it rains, there’s a rainbow. And all of the colors are black. It’s not that the colors aren’t there, it’s just imagination they lack.”

4) A Most Peculiar Man

“He lived all alone within a house, within a room, within himself, a most peculiar man.”

5) Father and Daughter

“You don’t need to waste your time worryin’ about the marketplace, trying to help the human race, struggling to survive, it’s as harsh as night.”

6) So Beautiful Or So What

“You know life is what you make of it, so beautiful, or so what.”

7) Kodachrome

“They give us those nice bright colors, they gives us the greens of summers, makes you think all the world’s a sunny day.”

8) I Am A Rock

“Hiding in my room, safe within my womb, I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock, I am an island.”

9) Homeless

“Strong wind destroy our home, many dead, tonight it could be you.”

10) Hey Schoolgirl

“Hey schoolgirl in the second row, the teacher’s looking over so I gotta whisper way down low.” (Not really inspirational, but it was Simon’s first claim to fame.)

The year was 1973, and my grandpa was one of 56,800 people at Tampa Stadium attending what would for a time be the largest concert turnout in history. Led Zeppelin was playing the stadium for their critically acclaimed Houses of the Holy Tour. Take a guess at how much my grandpa’s front row center seat was. $10. One zero. Fast forward almost 45 years, and I’m at Amalie Arena, a few miles away from where Tampa Stadium used to be. I was attending an event that wasn’t as legendary but would be for the Tampa area. It was Paul McCartney, and I was seated in the top section, in the third to last row, directly across the stage. Paul looked, and sounded, like a Cocoa Pebble the whole night. My price? $86. Yes, concert tickets have gone up in price drastically, especially when the trusted seller site such as TicketMaster or LiveNation lists an event as sold out. There are resellers too, but nine times out of ten, they put up their purchase for double the price on StubHub or another site as such.

Currently, a pretty good number of big names of the last 60 years are still performing, but they have pretty expensive ideas. Since October, anti-throat clearing Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Bruce Springsteen has been doing intimate shows on Broadway where he tells stories of his life and plays his greatest hits without the E-Street Band behind him. Not only was there, for the longest time, a lottery system for tickets in place – the system was for a code to get the most expensive tickets of the year. Most of those tickets started in the late triple digits, and even went up to quadruple with the processing fees. Yes, it is a good show from what I’ve heard, but only A-listers are getting to experience it. Some just like to charge extra for egotistical reasons. In 2016, secretive Pixie King and lead singer of YES Jon Anderson reunited with Gandalf wannabe Rick Wakeman and obvious Neal Schon fan Trevor Rabin for a tour of the US, playing a two hour show of only 13 basic hits by YES. Many people went home disappointed, because they paid $25 more to get tickets printed and processed for a bunch of old guys who’ve still got it.

People should be able to experience concerts stress-free. That is the point, after all, as Billy Joel once said, “to forget about life for awhile.” Well, how can one forget about life with TicketMaster and their bloody processing fees that are literally a quarter of the total? It shouldn’t matter how much an artist is charging to be seen in person, (if you’ve seen Foo Fighters, you’d know.) it’s just those fees causing an extra bit of stress, because you probably were not expecting such a disgrace to music. But if there’s one man who knows a thing or two about money, it’s Donald Trump. And no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, he’s about to fix everything.

The president tweeted late Saturday night that he will officially team up with Floridian cash grabber Jimmy Buffett and NRA president consideration Ted Nugent to establish a new ticketing company that will be, in his words anyway, “huger and greater than TicketBastard and all the other witch hunt sites.” This idea has been thrown around since August, but the site, StubCity, will launch Wednesday at midnight to support Kid Rock’s summer tour of water parks and golf tournaments announced yesterday. The works far differently from the dreaded TicketMaster. Once you create your account and enter all your credit card info and such, you select your event. Then, you are directed to a screen that confirms that you are willing to pay the required $250 for the ticket. After clicking “yes,” there are no surprise fees or anything. Your tickets are mailed out to you within days. Your seats in the venue are randomly chosen by a bot system. You never know where you will be. You could be having a VIP experience with Mike Love’s Beach Boys, or you could be seeing crooner Wayne Newton’s rear end from above.

This will not be the first time that this sort of ticketing system has been used. During The Rolling Stones’ most recent US tour in 2015, they had a method to completely dodge TicketMaster, and took to their own website to sell “lucky dip” tickets all at the same pathetic price of $45. “We don’t believe in scalpers and ripping off our fans.” Eight time father Mick Jagger fibbed following the tour. Many lucky dippers got seats all the way up or back, which was strongly disappointing. It was almost the same case on David Bowie’s last tour in 2004. All of the tickets were going to be lucky dip, but he changed his mind at the last minute, and all of his worldwide fans had to suffer through service fees.

I won’t lie, I hate music. I don’t own any CDs or memorabilia, I’ve never been to a concert for non-newspaper reasons, and it just holds zero interest for me. But you know what? For once in his life, the president has thought of something genius, and since I’m a normal journalist, I can often times get backstage to concerts and recording studios to ask the opinions of some of music’s biggest names. Again, not for my sake. The first name on my list was Gene Simmons of KISS. Simmons loves his money, in fact, if Jimmy Buffett backed out of this project, Gene would be an easy replacement. “I love the guy and the money you’re talking. Also, there’s really no such thing as a bad seat in venues anymore, so it really doesn’t matter where you’re seated. Even behind the stage, you’re still in my vicinities. I’m being paid over $200 to spend two and a half hours with people I’ve never met, some of which won’t even be able to physically see me. You bet I want in on that!” he told me. Following my meeting with him, I communicated with mainly conservative artists such as Kid Rock, Ted Nugent himself, (who ranted about guns more than answer my questions) and original rockabilly twinkler Jerry Lee Lewis. All of them are pumped to say the least, although the Killer, thought that “$250 is quite much for someone who doesn’t do more than ten [shows] a year, don’t’cha think?” Today, I got answers from some Hall Of Famers. Well, mostly their agents. Almost everyone I asked, from shock rocker Alice Cooper to guitar legend Joe Walsh, (I couldn’t get ahold of Don Henley) said no.

That’s the only issue. Everyone I asked would fit perfectly into what could be an epic change to ticketing, but most of them are against Trump himself. Never you mind where I stand, but these damn musicians just have to politicize everything. What if Trump never ran for office, and never became the man many Americans see him as? What if Bill Gates was running this? Only the ones who voted for Donald Trump, and Axl Rose, are in on this. But when it comes down to reality, most of the ones against an idea like this are either the age of retirement, or about to retire. Elton John and Paul Simon, both about to retire from touring, said no. Nugent and Kid, on the other hand, gloated about how they will never retire touring, because they love it so much.

Now, of course, Trump was not the only reason why I got mostly no’s. I brought up the at-the-time rumor in an exclusive interview with one of the very few musicians I do enjoy, the late Tom Petty, only a week before his death. Petty, in spite of his hatred towards our president, was never a fan of being supported by corporate sponsors. And if there’s anything that will be corporate, it’s this. That’s the only reason he shot it down. “I’m not on the Trump train at all, but even if someone I’m close to like Stevie [Nicks] was running it, I’d never give in. I’ll stick with LiveNation, though even they’re pretty iffy.” If one refused to be for sale on StubCity solely for that reason, I’m sure Trump and Buffett would find that perfectly understandable, but still an issue for business. It’s another artist not allowing to dedicate their ticket sales to this site, and until the day he died, Tom Petty was one of the most popular touring artists.

The site launches at 10:00am on Wednesday. Here are some of the legendary names being permanently removed from TicketMaster and LiveNation, to be sold only here from now on.

Kid Rock

Jimmy Buffett

Ted Nugent

KISS

The Beach Boys (with Mike Love)

Kanye West

Wayne Newton

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Guns N’ Roses

Toby Keith

It has now been a month since we lost the frontman of my favorite American rock band.

When I learned that Tom Petty had gone into cardiac arrest, I was absolutely inconsolable. But I didn’t take it like losing a celebrity. I took it like losing a close friend or a family member. Being a member of the amazing Tom Petty Nation! on Facebook (which he was VERY aware of) helped me really get to know Tom. I originally joined a week before my only concert of his, just to find out what to expect as for merchandise, setlists, etc. Long story short, I decided not to leave. Moving on.

Though I never met him, Tom had a personality unlike any other. A breathtaking, but sometimes questionable, sense of storytelling and songwriting got me through some rough times in my life. His often times twisted sense of humor on his SiriusXM show made me see the best in him and really feel close to him. Though he most likely never knew of my personal existence, (unless he saw a photo of Tiny Tom) he knew that all of us were out there. He just loved his fans with a passion.

I hate to say it, but because of his chain smoking, I knew from the beginning that we would lose Tom in the not too distant future. However, never in a million years did I think that he would pass a week after wrapping up the biggest tour of his career.

Mike, Benmont, Ron, Scott, Steve.. Hard as it is, I really hope you keep your fearless leader’s music alive for the rest of time. While we don’t know for sure what the future holds for The Heartbreakers, nobody is pushing anything right now. I’m still numb from this loss myself. Everybody needs to take their time. Whether your favorite song is Free Fallin’ or Crawling Back To You, whether you’re a fan or a Heartbreaker, we’re all in this together.

– Josh Dezern, 11/2/2017

Ah, Disney. The happiest place on Earth. Where you can take your kids to do nothing but ride rides, see an occasional (VERY occasional) show, and eat a burger and apple slices for $10.
Not this time of year.

Since 1995, Epcot has held the annual Food And Wine Festival, a fall event with kiosks around the world showcase. Each kiosk is labeled by country, and will serve small portions of three or four meals from that country. They also have celebrity chefs, special events, and concerts that you can attend for free.

The Food

Food being served during this festival are not but limited to innovative and amazing. Some of the meals being served belong to a certain country, while others belong to themed cuisine. Not all of it is necessarily American, but regardless of its nationality, this is not a year to be forgotten.

With Epcot’s brand new Light Lab, which made its debut this year, you can order alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, including vanilla tonic water and cotton candy, all under blue lights. There is also, for a limited time, the Glownut, which is, you guessed it, a donut that glows in the lab.

I think the highlights of this whole festival, however, was the Sausage Wrapped Scotch Eggs, (you heard me) and the Chocolate Picante, which is literally spicy dark chocolate mousse.

The Music

Epcot has its famed World Showcase with pavilions of various countries worldwide. One of them just so happens to be the United States, which involves a mini amphitheater. Usually, the American Music Machine, which is literally Disney’s edition of Pentatonix, comes out to do a show on the stage. But not always.

Since the 90s, the theater has had 35 minute long free concerts of many big names (to an extent) during their festivals. 9.9 times out of 10, you won’t see any Hall Of Famers, and if you do, they will more times than not, be on an Art Garfunkel level there. However, Little Richard (one of the few Hall of Famers to play), Simple Plan, Howard Jones, and a Monkees reunion featuring Micky Dolenz and the late Davy Jones (who was a regular at Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival) in 2011 have been on the stage at one point or another. Then there are regulars who have been coming to the festivals since the beginning, such as Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone, Dennis DeYoung of Styx, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. 

But last year, they added some new acts. One of them was alternative 90s rock band, Toad The Wet Sprocket.

The All I Want performers have been on the road all year, and rocked Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre on Thursday night. “I can’t wait to get outta here so I can go ride Pirates of the Caribbean again, make up some lost time.” frontman Glen Phillips joked during their third set Saturday night.

The group flew right through six or seven hits per set, as their time was limited. But the entire lineup wasn’t present. Randy Guss, their longtime drummer, has been home with a few cracked ribs for awhile. Due to this, Josh Daubin from Beta Play, one of Toad’s many opening acts, is filling in for him this tour.

The third and final set did not involve the “grand fireworks finale” that Phillips promised, but it did feature the recent Architect Of The Ruin, and their hit Walk On The Ocean to cap it off.

Celebrity Chefs

I’ve met Restaurant: Impossible‘s Robert Irvine twice now, thanks to this festival. Nuff said.