Watching Treme, see below. You need to read the Times-Picayune Treme blog which explains all the local references us outsides don't get. So now I have to buy Dr John's autobiography, after it quoted him talking about the making of "Wrong Time, Right Place."

"Bob Dylan started it off by laying a line on me - 'I'm on the right trip, but I'm in the wrong car,'" he writes. "Then Bette Midler gave me one: 'My head's in a bad place, I don't know what it's there for.' Doug Sahm also pitched in: 'I was in the right set, but it must have been the wrong sign.'"

There is a great quote on episode 3:

"Forget everything you've been told about Jesus, Buddha, Allah. There is only one God. And His name is Professor Longhair."

My new 8 Tracks mix (9 songs, 35 minutes) is pretty much inspired by Treme, the new show on HBO by David Simon, brains behind The Wire. I hagiographied The Wire here before. Treme is set in New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina, I've only seen 2 episodes so far but it's shaping up as not disappointing my sky high expectations. It's a very sad fact I think Channel Nein has the rights to it in Australia, y'all ain't never gonna get to see it if you wait for them.

I've seen Dr John a few times before and since this time of year is saturated with gigs I might have missed him this time round, except he was at The Basement and the chance to grab the show in such a small venue was too much to pass up. Lead guitarist from the Lower 911 John Fohl warmed up the place with some very impressive blues, which also set an appropriately old school tone. The album they released last year didn't impress me very much, so honestly I was pleased the show was three quarters classics. Iko Iko, I Walk on Gilded Splinters, When the Saints, Goodnight Irene. It was, as the young people say, awesome. Pure New Orleans. Dr John even busted out the guitar which I hadn't seen live before.

I live tumblr'd an audio snippet of Iko, Iko. Just recorded on my iPhone so its a bit fuzzy but gives you a flavour.

Speaking of New Orleans, Lil Band o' Gold are here for Byron. I have their first album and would love to see them but they're only sideshowing in Melbourne and ... Moruya. What the heck is in Moruya??

As any Australian music fan (our kind of music, anyhoo) knows late March and April is always a busy time as we enjoy the spillover of acts brought out for Byron Bay. Sometimes you have to make the choice of two rarely seen (on our shores) highly regarded acts whose only local shows clash with each other.

Not Byron-related but kicking off the season in style is Marianne Faithfull only the week after next. Playing the Concert Hall at the Opera House -- ugh, I have a prejudice against it for popular music -- and I only have a seat at the back of one of the mezzanine boxes but still I can't wait.

"Solitude"

Then, Dan Sultan at the Factory on February 27th -- for a measly $20. For realsm his recent album of late 2009 -- Get Out While You Can -- is a gem of soul, rock and country. For twenty bucks you can't afford not to go.

The above dodgy but illustrative video of Dan was taken by me at the Blue Mountains Music Fest the year before last and that will be my next port of call, in March. As well as seeing two of the Bluesfest drawcards for me Chris Smither and Nanci Griffith, the rest of the line-up is superb. My posts from my previous visit. I'm sure there will be a number of new discoveries but I'm also looking forward to revisiting with the boys from Genticorum, who do fabulous traditional Quebec music.

As for the rest of the Byron folk, well The Flatlanders top the list but they haven't announced any sideshows yet. I'll be there when they do (they have to, right?) I've lined up to see Dr John and the Lower 911 at the Basement; seen him a few times before (but not for yonks) and I might have wavered but the opportunity for a show at a joint that size (real small) cannot be passed up. And ... that might be me tapped out for another year ...

First Byron announcement. Here's who I'm excited about:

The Flatlanders -- YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr John & the Lower 911
Lyle Lovett
Béla Fleck and Oumou Sangaré
Buddy Guy
Jeff Beck
Robert Gordon
Peter Green & friends
Justin Townes Earle

I'll keep an eye out for the Sydney show/s of Orquestra Buena Vista Social Club too but they'll probably play somewhere horrible like the Opera House so I'll stay home and listen to Bebo Valdes records.

I've been listening to the audiobook of Michael Conolley's The Scarecrow and the moral is all about how easy it is for freaky serial killers to track your every move via the Internet. Like, you can know exactly what I'm listening to when via my lastfm page which updates what I'm playing live. Have at it, stalkers! Incidentally, this is the first novel I've read where people actually use the Internet the way I do -- not that I stalk people and hide them in the car boot, but I mean, look any and all things up in Google Image Search as second nature. Anyway.

There were the heady days of 26-28 August where I listened to Nina Simone straight for two days. You can never have two much Nina, but this Philips box set is quite indispensable as the definitive collection of the Nina force, force of personality and force of musicianship. The peak of her vision realised (not that she had troughs) and a sublime listen from beginning to end.

More lately, I had a big raid on eMusic which I haven't done since the changes in July. But a few things showed up I particularly wanted and they started giving people 50 "loyalty" credits - more than a whiff of desperation about that move but I'll take 'em. I more or less get every new Afrobeat or Afrorock release that comes up, the latest is a really fabulous collection called The Legends of Benin. The label Analog Africa is always a solid bet. The first track "Dadje Von O Von Non" by Gnonnas Pedro & His Dadjes Band is pretty much the perfect (to me) family reunion between African and "western" funk. Here's Honoré Avolonto - Na Mi Do Gbé Hué Nu on YouTube. More such meetings are on Many Lessons: HipHop, Islam, West Africa from the "world" music specialists Piranha out of Germany (as so many of these labels are), I listen to a bit of hip hop but my tastes are quite narrow (so far) and lean towards the fusiony end of the spectrum and it's good if you like such things.

And then I got Town and Country by Humble Pie. Going through a 60s British blues/rock supergroup phase. Still chucking on Blind Faith a lot. Using this ripper music search engine an eMusic subscriber developed I discovered Humble Pie. You plug in an act and it spits back a heap of similar/related artists. It brings up a lot of artists I know which is good because you can see how well calibrated to the original name it is, but also heaps of new folk. It's optimised for eMusic (clicking on the photos takes you to their eMu page and greyed out photos means no albums on eMu) but it's great just to find people generally. Anyway, Humble Pie, apparently "hard rock" (70s performances on YT bear this out) although this is their acoustic blues-rock album. I don't really know anything about Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, apart from their names (years of reading Mojo and Uncut cover to cover) but this is pretty good in a generic late 60s British rock blues type way but it's one of the generic sounds I like.

Natural Born Boogie:

El Barrio: The Bad Boogaloo Nu Yorican Sounds 1966-1970 brings the music of Spanish Harlem to you. Features La Lupe, the Queen of Latin Soul.

Also features the track Happy Soul With a Hook by Dave Cortez which I seem to have on about five different compilations by now. For Latin but with a much deeper level of pure funk, try Si Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba. Waxing Deep is/was a great Latin soul/funk podcast, the podcast is in hiatus but they've branched out into being a label. Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Volume 1 was a great collection of 60s and 70s tracks, and so I immediately bought Volume 2 and even bought a hard copy. Having the liner notes is fine, and it's nicely put together all round.

I've got the new Allen Touissaint record Across The Bright Mississippi on order so I went revisiting his oeuvre, which basically means ... take your pick of any New Orleans music from the 1960s on. Super Bad by Don Covay is according to Herr Doktor Guugle a collection of the soulmeister's 70s cuts and its quite an intriguing mixture of styles from rock (one song sounds like mid 60s Stones), country ballad touches to varying flavours of soul and funk a la New Orleans. Allen Toussaint - Saint Of New Orleans is a compilation with a couple of songs sung by Touissaint and a stack of others written and produced by his. This Lee Dorsey/Toussaint track isn't on there but it's just too good.

And finally, a version of "Sea of Heartbreak" from Rosanne Cash's forthcoming album featuring Bruce Springsteen got released on iTunes this week. Sea of Heartbreak is one of my favourite songs. Cash slows it right down, for a song about how sad, lonely and adrift the singer is, it's usually done in a very bouncy way. Bruce might be trying too hard to croon in the background, let Bruce be Bruce and not Ray Price but I like it more each time I hear it. The chorus is still one of the most singalongable in history.

Country music death beats fear not because I have the new Delbert McClinton, the new Guy Clark, the new Kris Kristofferson and some others coming up in the rotation!

Before my trip I made sure to get three anticipated singer-songwriter countryesque records to spend some quality time with, Journeyman's Wager by Chuck Mead (singer of BR549), Everything you Love Will Be Taken Away by Slaid Cleaves and Beautiful Day by Charlie Robison. After listening to each of them about ten times over a month .... well, I don't have much to say. I can remember the song titles of about two tracks from each, and fewer lyrics or hooks. Journeyman's Wager is the one I feel I should give another shot, there are some catchy up tempo acoustic countrybilly tracks on that one -- such as I Wish it Was Friday. Can't argue with the sentiment anyhow.

I will recommend Dirt Town City Limits by Mat d and the Profane Saints. Jim Pipkin does a great job reviewing it at Hickory Wind, and I'm grateful he pointed out. I haven't got the CD yet -- I will when it gets added to CD Baby -- but I love the tracks on the website. i got Mat d.'s solo record Gasoline Rattle which i also enjoy but I really love the fullm on full band sound on this new one. Check it out!

Of other new records, I listened on rotation all weekend to Quantic and his Combo Barbaro's Traditions in Transition. Quantic is a ackshully a lad from Worcestershire named Will Holland who for many years has been exploring eclectic nooks and crannies of funk and soul under various names and combinations of musos. A few years ago the record the Quantic Soul Orchestra did with singer Spanky Wilson was scorching.

On Traditions in Transition he takes on Latin sounds, and it was recorded in Cali, Colombia with various big names of the genre. It traverses a lot of styles but I like his stuff because it never feels like a dilletante wunderkind dabbling in something exotic, even when there are some subtle hiphop beats under a track it all feels loved. Some are more funky, some dreamier, some more traditional ballroom style Latin, some vocals and some instrumentals, there is even an Indian (as in the sub continent) influence, but all pretty hot.

Apart from that my favourite record at the moment is the Blind Faith album, the one with the Bill Henson-esque cover! I went download shopping for Derek and the Dominoes (after watching this) but Blind Faith was cheaper. All those EC super groups sound the same anyway.

On this X, Elvis stood to record "That's All Right" at Sun Studios.

Sun Studios tour guide demonstrates how Johnny Cash got the scratchy guitar sound on "I Walk the Line" by putting a dollar bill through the strings.

And, Graceland.

Major gratitude to Tim for mentioning the Wolfgang's Vault iPhone (and iPod Touch) app.

I was dubious that the streaming would be more trouble that its worth -- watching YouTube on there is fine, but the buffering would get tedious over a concert length experience. Extremely surprised and delighted that on wifi flcking between songs and concerts was no slower than doing so in the iPod where the files are right there. Over 3G its noticebly slower changing songs but still quite alright. So I lay in bed and sampled some Delaney and Bonnie -- with Dominoes trio Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock and Carl Radle, as well as Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge, in the band -- some Bruce from 1977, some George Jones, some Booker T and the MGS. Of course presumably it is a bandwidth hog and so more suited to those unlimited plans Oz telcos decline to give us. But still, four hoofs up.

And of course if you don't have one of them gadgets, you can listen to them all online.

So in two short (but not, alas, sort enough) weeks I am tripping to the USA. Las Vegas (for The Amaz!ng Meeting), Flagstaff AZ where my sister has been exiled since that unfortunate incident in Canberra (don't fret darl, the statute of limitations ends in 2018), Chicago and Memphis (and one day waiting for a plane in Los Angeles.) Obvs the music possibilities in those few short words are, more or less literally, endless. I chucked 18 or so on an 8tracks:

It ends with "a Sydney song."

As a bonus here are some bits from Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour about Memphis and Chicago. The first two are under 1MB each (spoken word atmospherics only), the third about 4MB.

19 Sun Records.mp3
05 Tenessee BBQ.mp3
12 I Used To Work In Chicago.mp3

I was moved to confess the other day that I'd never seen The Blues Brothers (a sin of omission now remedied) because I was doing some reading on Naomi Shelton and Gospel Queens and someone on the Internet mentioned her music was in the movie. Further research suggests this is not true, but whatever.

She has an album (her first full length!) from Daptone called What Have You Done, My Brother? There's a mention of a son going to Iraq but apart from that everything about this glorious wonderment of a record, from the album cover to the harmonies to the sacred steel of embarrassing richness, could be straight from 1965.

I included "A Change is Gonna Come" on my last 8tracks. Check out the YouTube trailer ye sinners and melt:

I have never seen Blues Brothers.

Segue:

Here is my latest 8tracks, a semi-late Friday night and RIP Koko eight songs which clocks in at just over 30 minutes. There are a few mournful eMusic references tucked away in the lyrics too. ;-(

Queen of the Chicago Blues. Sorry to learn she has passed away. R.I.P Koko.

1. Keith Richards on the blues (h/t TimMason on the eMusic message boards)
2. 8tracks update. recently instead of deeply thought out opii based on theme or whatever I've just been grabbing eight songs that grabbed me that day or week. They're generally only about 30 mins long or something so not much to commit for either of us. But I uploaded today an uploaded version of my Country and Soul playlist, which is country songs done by soul/funk/jazz artists. I did a muxtape on this theme but I never get tired of it, and I've added some new ones.

3.Tom Russell. I have mentioned his blog many times, but too much is never enough. Especially as he is doing a series of posts on the stories behind the songs on his upcoming record. He has never been to Australia. I will be in the US in July, which is naturally his cue to be in freaking Europe. Again. Here is a video concerning the new record, Blood and Candle Smoke.

4. Since The Wire, and then the somewhat disappointing conclusion to Battlestar Galactica, the new show on TV is "Breaking Bad." It just is.

Countryesque/Folkish/Rawk
Hogtied Revisited by The White Buffalo
I bought The White Buffalo's first and only EP off iTunes in 2007 after reading about him in, of all places, MX (the freebie "newspaper" they give you on the train at peak hour) and this is his only recorded output since. So, prolific he is not. But he has an attention grabbing voice and and a nice sound and sometimes weird songs.
The Last Pale Light In The West by Ben Nichols
Lucky One by Raul Malo
A little bit country, a little bit croony, very pleasant listening.
Desert Rose by Chris Hillman
Brossa D'ahir by Pep Laguarda
Long lost Catalan 70s psych-folk. With harmonica! Five stars.
Dans les airs by Le Vent du Nord
I saw Genticorum at the Blue Mountains music fest last year and enjoyed their traditional Quebec thig very much, Dans les airs do something similar and so I like them a lot too. I'm not at all into Celtic music generally in its more pure forms, and Quebec folk has a lot in common with that but has something else that makes it listenable and indeed compelling. I think it might be the tickity tackity tick percussion thing (technical term.)
Dengue Fever Presents: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong by Jean-Marie Riachi
Jean-Marie Riachi is actually the director of Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, a doco about the band Dengue Fever and all the music on the album is by them and some other ungooglable Cambodian acts. Dengue Fever is a Californian band with singer Chhom Nimol who plays surf psych garage rock sung in Khmer. Me love. The new Dengue Fever songs on this are great, particularly "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" which has a more greasy funked up type sound than previous records. AND it still makes me crave green chicken curry whenever I hear it.

Jazz/Soul
Greatest Hits by Al Green
Call Me by Al Green
Shakti by David S. Ware
Bad! Bossa Nova by Gene Ammons
Afirika with Angelique Kidjo by Christian McBride
7 X 7" = Funk by Various Artists - P&P Records
Five Peace Band Live by Chick Corea & John McLaughlin
I saw these guys at the Opera House, except with Brian Blade on drums instead of. (Brian Blade incidentally is the brother of Brady Blade, also a drummer, familiar from frequent work in the studio and touring bands of Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and others.) I don't really get it but I like it. Like, when I read a pop sci book on physics and I sort of barely grasp what the sentence is saying while ever my eyes are locked on that sentence, but as soon as I blink, no hope.
Good News From Africa by Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim
Henry Stone's Hidden Treasures by Various Artists
Night Hawk by Coleman Hawkins
Soul in the Hole by Shawn Lee

African/Latin
Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79 by Various Artists
Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-rock & Fuzz Funk In 1970's Nigeria by Various Artists
Panama! - Latin, Calypso And Funk On The Isthmus 1965-75 by Various Artists
These three are new addtions from Soundways Records and they are musical NOMNOMNOMNOM.
African Carnival by Fred Fisher Atalobhor & His Ogiza Dance Band

May add some words later. Now with words. In any event, pictures.

A further update: Here is video I took of "Green Onions." It's all over the shop shaky. This is because I was "groove-ing." And here is "Time is Tight."

It was firstly very nice to meetup with Dangerbird of High Noon Saloon (who has written up the night) for the gig.

The new Booker T record Potato Hole with the DBTs (and Neil Young) is not I thought out until the end of April but they had them for sale at the gig, which was mostly a run through of those songs plus the inevitable "Green Onions." I like Potato Hole, it's basically the MGs done rockier. I was, as you see from the pics, right infront of Booker's Hammond B3 and the sound was supreme. Perfect, every feather of his magic fingers came through. He is a connection to a whole musical world that means a lot to me (and I'm visiting Memphis in July) so it was a great pleasure to be there. Surprisingly when I bumped into my friend Austin at the bar in the break he said they could barely hear Booker back there. Which is weird, usually it is the other way round and you trade off sound quality for proximity. When the DBTs came on for their solo set, I was at the back for the most and also found the sound back there was much less easy on the ears than towards the stage. Backwardass acoustics at the Factory! But anyway I went up the front for the last couple of songs and the encore which was cool because "Let There Be Rock" rocked, verily. I will be back there tomorrow night for Rodney Crowell.

One record I have been digging a lot lately is Shemekia Copeland's Never Going Back, new on Telarc. As Johnny Copeland's daughter she has the immersion in blues heritage, this album has a couple of extra strengths. The rich bluesy soul band comprises producer Oliver Wood and not just Marc Ribot but guest spots from two members (Colin Wood on bass and John Medeski on organ) of Medeski, Martin & Wood. They're a contemporary jazz outfit and I just downloaded Notes from the Undergound the other month. I do like it but their improvisation teeters just on the edge of my limit for experimentation so it was quite odd at first to associate them with what's basically a fairly traditional blues outing. Nothing experimental about the music here, but the arrangements are refreshing and exquisitely played.

The other big strengh is the songwriting, which Copeland has a lot of credits on, in addition to well chosen covers from the likes of Percy Mayfield and Joni Mitchell. There's a good mix of styles and themes, some rigteous smiting on the topics of politics and religion as well as the usual blues shouter emotional fare.

Some samples on MySpace and

Here she is on Letterman last month. "Never Going Back to Memphis" is ahighlight of the album:

All of thee are good some of them are really great but I'm not in the groove right now so I'll come back later with notes.

Country/Folk/Blues/Rock/Dylanalia/Cohenalia
Nancy & Lee 3 by Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazlewood
Down In The Boondocks & Other Favorites by Billy Joe Royal
Comes In Twos by The Webb Sisters
Roger The Engineer / Over Under Sideways Down by The Yardbirds
Delta Blues by Son House
Live On Breeze Hill by Rick Danko
Broadside Ballads, Vol. 6: Broadside Reunion by Various Artists - Smithsonian Folkways
Live From Austin, TX by Eliza Gilkyson
Havilah by The Drones
Gala Mill by The Drones
Custom Made by The Drones
South Austin Sessions by Jesse Dayton
Country Soul Brother by Jesse Dayton
Boxer by The National
Never Going Back by Shemekia Copeland
Teasin' You by Snooks Eaglin
Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips by Various Artists - Righteous Babe Records

Jazz
Notes From The Underground by Medeski Martin & Wood
The Dial Masters - Original Choice Takes by Charlie Parker
Soul Pools by Babatunde Lea
A Night At The Jazz Rooms - Compiled by Russ Dewbury by Various Artists
Dig by Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins
Nothin' But Soul by Gene Ammons
Reincarnation Of A Love Bird by Charles Mingus
Chet Baker & The Boto Brasilian Quartet by Chet Baker
West Coast - A Nice Day by Various Artists
Duet by Chick Corea & Hiromi

These three records were Grammy winners
Song For Chico by Arturo O'farrill & The Afro-latin Jazz Orchestra
Monday Night Live At The Village Vanguard by Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
Randy in Brasil by Randy Brecker

RnB/Funk/"World"
Rise Up! by Lonnie Smith
Texas Funk by Various Artists
A Promise by Myriam Makeba
The World's Rarest Funk 45s by Various
Senegal 70 - Musical Effervescence by Various Artists
People Sure Act Funny by Lee Dorsey
The Hard Way by James Hunter
Afro-Jaws by Eddie Lockjaw Davis

To harmonise the themes of the last few days. They play their last Aust show in Melbourne tonight.

Veteran Canadian songsmith Leonard Cohen and his Australian touring party have thrown their support behind victims of the deadly bushfires currently raging through the Victorian state of Australia.

Contributions will also be collected at the Leonard Cohen with Paul Kelly concert at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne tomorrow night (Feb. 10).

I can't add much to my ramblings about the Sydney show. Bowral was a bit different in being a semi-festival event and outdoors, it's a bit without the environmental intensity of even a barn like the SEC. There's more to distract you, a bit of rain, sundry insects, the darkening skies, the people around you sitting crossed-armed the whole time without even clapping who you suspect are there because they are southern highland worthies and this is An Event To Be At (there was some dancing from this quarter towards the end but that may have just been the chards kicking in. OR THE POWER OF LEONARD. YOU DECIDE.) But we were in the second row centre this time so any hothouse atmosphere which fizzled off into the eucalypts was more than made up for with the golden halo of PROXIMITY to the authentic object which is the dragon I keep desperately chasing. (that is a really terrible sentence, but conveys ultimate truthiness and do I look like a poet?)

All those things I loved about the Sydney gig, I loved doubly seeing up close. It was magic to get "Sisters of Mercy" for the first time. And I enjoyed "Closing Time", I think it and "Anthem" (from the same record, The Future) have really benefitted from being liberated in the live form. Pavlov's Cat spoke beautifully about "The Partisan" in her notes, and I should single it out too. He is playing the guitar for it, so that's the functional reason he is standing straight up at the mike rather than galloping around like a 10 year old Romanian gymnast like he does on most of the other songs. But form follows function (or the other way round ...?), and his suddenly grave and dedicated bearing, looking steadily straight ahead, or upwards a little but either way into the past/future transports you to the world of the song. Seconds before the suit and hat was that of a rakish ladies man, whose pick up line is "oh won't you let me see your naked body?" And then instantly he's the partisan, in a black and white reel. The lighting was great in the shows, evocative but not obtrusive and I think it did a particularly superb job on the emotion here.

I did joke in the car back though that The Partisan himself may not have worn a bolo tie, unless he was liberating Albuquerque. I love that tie. He didn't do "Memories" of course -- the song the naked body line is from -- but how cool would it have been if he had? IMHO, très.

(UPDATE: Just found awesome and awesomely weird live "Memories" on YouTube. That's Sharon Robinson on backup who is still doing an amazing job today. Or maybe you prefer a drunk version with lots of hawt young Len pics in slideshow? Got you covered too.)

I did get teary when at the end he said "thank you for keeping my songs alive all these years." I don't believe he said it in Sydney, although the patter is substantially the same, and I know he says it to everyone but still ... *sniff.* That bit and the rest of the beautiful 'Wither Thou Goest" ending to the show is recorded here. Thanks Irene for taking the footage. Shivers.

True nerds might like to know he did the "Thousand Kisses Deep" recitation after "Democracy". I've only ever seen it in the setlists after "I'm Your Man", we did give him a standing O after that one though so maybe he decided to go straight into a song rather than wait for the tumult to die down enough to bless us with his verse.

I did a quick vid of "Dance Me to the End of Love", only 2 mins because I wanted a personal keepsake but didn't want to be fussing with the camera long. Excuse the wobbliyness, it is merely my raging hormones causing my hands to shake uncontrollably. And excuse my, um, "singing." I put it on YouTube but the image quality is better viewed at my MobileMe gallery.

They were all rapturously received again. We were in the "gold class' sealed off area at the front but I was pleased to see enterprising General Admission folks get up about as close as us, just on the other side of the fence as it tapered towards the stage. Lots of them had Len shirts and knew the words. And the security dudes handed Len a couple of love notes from them ... I don't think security are supposed to do that? But still, I like to see chutzpah like that pay off. I'm a cheap seats type at heart, just masquerading for a night with the pukka ladies in the pashminas, and their excitable presence added to the atmosphere up front so bravo! sneaky general admission people.

It is over (for me), which is sad. But who can be sad after being a part of this. "Forget your perfect offering" is truly profound advice, but this was a perfect offering and I won't forget it.

Some random artlessly taken and artlessly edited pics, starting with the view of the crowd from my spot.