Stuck in My Head 3.23.2012

Gunslinger
by John Fogerty

Lookin’ out across this town,
Kind o’ makes me wonder how,
All the things that made us great,
Got left so far behind.

This used to be a peaceful place:
Decent folks, hard working ways.
Now they hide behind locked doors,
Afraid to speak their mind.

I think we need a gunslinger,
Somebody tough to tame this town.
I think we need a gunslinger,
There’ll be justice all around.

Someone let the fences go,
Wild-eyed bunch moved in, ya know,
Shootin’ up the streets shoutin’, “Everybody down,”
The dogs all runnin’ loose.

Wrecked the paper, closed the school,
Tired old judge got roughed up too.
No one left to make a stand;
They whisper, “What’s the use?”

I think we need a gunslinger,
Somebody tough to tame this town.
I think we need a gunslinger,
There’ll be justice all around.

I think we need a gunslinger,
Somebody tough to tame this town.
I think we need a gunslinger,
There’ll be justice all around.

 I think we need a gunslinger,
Somebody tough to tame this town.
I think we need a gunslinger,
There’ll be justice all around.

Stuck in My Head - 4.7.2011

A little Creedence for final dress, which somehow seems appropriate.




Who'll Stop The Rain

By John Fogerty
As Performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Long as I remember the rain been comin' down
Clouds of myst'ry pourin' confusion on the ground
Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain

I went down Virginia seekin' shelter from the storm
Caught up in the fable I watched the tower grow
Five year plans and new deals wrapped in golden chains
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain

Heard the singers playin', how we cheered for more
The crowd had rushed together tryin' to keep warm
Still the rain kept pourin', fallin' on my ears
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain

Dreary week...

So, my weekend was hardly "relaxing." It was packed full of commitments and tasks to be checked off.

Saturday from 9-2, I had a callback. It was a long day of auditioning. Compounded by the fact that I really wanted this show and this role. I've had a pretty long "dry-spell" audition-wise, at least for me. (Side note - I am 100% aware that I have been VERY lucky here in Chicago, and really have no room to complain about a 6-9 month period wherein I was not getting cast.) So, I went into this callback very much wanting to perform well.

Not the best way to approach an audition, as I've said in other blogs.

I still very much feel that you have to be able to let each audition go, pretty much immediately after you walk out, and accept a "what will be, will be," attitude. It's the only way to keep sane and stop torturing yourself over "failures" in the audition room. That being said, we're all human, and there's always "those shows," that you feel more than others. Shows that you, flat out, just want to have a shot at.

Well, this show on Saturday...it was one of those shows for me.

I still am in the dark. Waiting. I've worked with this director before, and he's always been quite good about letting me know, "sorry, next time," if need be. Still, it's hard. I'm almost to the point where I can say, "if it was yes, I'd have heard."

But not yet. I'm still holding some hope.

After the audition, we had a lovely meal at Wishbone, and then off to the Auditorium Theatre for the John Fogerty show. Great show, high energy, and, by God, that man's voice is better preserved than any singer I can think of. He still sounds EXACTLY like the records. He also has the most amazing hair, ever...like, Ronald Regan black hair. The man has to be sixty-five, at least, I wonder if his preserved voice and hair are connected?

I do have to say, I'm certain I'm spoiled by Springsteen, but an "evening with" show that only runs 1:45 seems a little slight. On a certain level I understand it, because those CCR tunes, well, none of them is over 3 minutes long, but...I dunno. He played nothing off Blue Moon Swamp or Revival, which is a damn shame. You could easily mine another 3o minutes out of those two excellent albums. Other than that I was extremely happy with the setlist;

AUDITORIUM THEATRE
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 21, 2009

HEY TONIGHT
GREEN RIVER
SUSIE Q
WHEN WILL I BE LOVED
WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN
LOOKIN’ OUT MY BACKDOOR
LODI
RAMBLE TAMBLE
BACK HOME AGAIN
I PUT A SPELL ON YOU
BIG TRAIN FROM MEMPHIS
KEEP ON CHOOGLIN’
HAVE YOU EVR SEEN THE RAIN
GARDEN PARTY
BORN ON THE BAYOU
HAUNTED HOUSE
NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
COMIN’ DOWN THE ROAD
ROCK AND ROLL GIRLS
DOWN ON THE CORNER
CENTERFIELD
BAD MOON RISING
OLD MAN DOWN THE ROAD
FORTUNATE SON
GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY
PROUD MARY

Fogerty seemed in very good spirits and really seemed to be having a great time with the crowd. I did wish we could've been a little closer in, but don't you always? The band was fantastic, especially fiddle/guitar/bongo/mandolin player Jason Mowery. Just a fantastic time, I would totally see him again.

Sunday consisted of a whole day at Stage Left. Rehearsal for a reading in the AM, then back for rehearsal for our winter show Here Where It's Safe by M.E.H. Lewis, and directed by Scott Bishop. I've agreed to assistant direct the show, so I'm excited about that. Ought to be fun to have some hand in my company's only full production this year.

I also spent some time going over a script, and writing a short, quick directing proposal for it, for another company. That's in for their consideration, so we shall see. That would be, primarily, a summer project.

Shane is still on a burner, somewhere...waiting.

The week starts with me insanely frustrated with Amazon. My Them Crooked Vultures CD and Star Trek Blu-Ray have still not arrived.

Sloooooow Burrrrrn....

**sigh**

Mark's Listening Post 10.19.2009

Well, new music for me, anyway...

I've got tickets to see John Fogerty next month. Very excited about this, as I've always loved Creedence, and I was a huge fan of his 2004 album, Blue Moon Swamp. Well, despite my intentions to keep up with his records after that wonderful album, I fell behind. I've been trying to catch up a bit before the show.



Revival is John Fogerty's latest non-cover album release, from 2007. It was marketed as a "return" to the CCR sound. I find this a little silly, as I have always found Fogerty's voice and songwriting the core of the "Creedence sound," so, to my ears, it was all over his solo releases. It is clear that Fogerty decided to mine some of this nostalgia right off the bat, from the title of the album, to track 3 "Creedence Song," he's obviously aiming to take back his legacy after years of legal manuvering with Fantasy Records over ownership of his catalog, and then settling and re-signing with them.

I'm a fan, and this album does capture the range of Fogerty's skill, from 60's-style acid rock ("Summer of Love") to straight-up country ("Don't You Wish it Was True"). He's also off on a political tear, and I have to be blunt, it's just as pointed and damning, but without the sly pop showmanship of Springsteen's Magic. (My pick for the most artistically satisfying attack on the Bush administration put to record.)



Pearl Jam is now without a record label, and the result is Backspacer, released exclusively via Target stores. Now I can hear you out there, all you 90's flannel-wearers who hated Ticketmaster because Eddie Vedder told you to, the calls of "sell out" are starting to come. Check out the very first comment in response to Rolling Stone's Review. Yet again, I'm struck with this new hatered for anyone who simply tries to make a living via their art.

This is, of course, incidental to the album itself.

Backspacer is a really, really fun album. I've been on and off the Pearl Jam train about a dozen times. I loved Ten far more than Nevermind, or any other 90's "grunge" album, except maybe the Soundgarden catalog. I kinda fell off after that, I remember ejoying Vs., but then slipping away. I'd hear singles and really enjoy them, but would only fitfully get re-connected with the band.

All that being said, I think "The Fixer" may be my favorite Pearl Jam track ever. This is a powerful, driving album. Eddie and the boys came to rock, and just get down to business. Hell, at first I thought "Gonna See My Friend" was about a sexual encounter...Upon reviewing the lyrics, nope, drugs. The music is so bouyant, I actually thought they'd finally got around to a song that was simply about meeting up with a girl for a little horizontal mambo (Sorry, Eddie). Not that I think that music is better if it's "fun," but it's nice to see the band crank for 37 minutes, and leave you feeling exhilerated.