Posts Tagged ‘houston’
Winger Concert Review, June 6, 2014, Houston, TX
It’s cool. Go ahead and make the jokes. I’ve heard them all. Whatever. Winger is a great live band. I first saw them in 1991 with Tangier and Extreme. To this day I still can’t remember why I went to that show, but it was probably to watch Rod Morgenstein play drums. I’ve been a big fan ever since seeing his drum clinic in 90/91. He was also a partial reason why I bought a Premier drum kit in the early 90s, although I didn’t get a white one. That 91 show was great and I was shown that everyone in that band were top notch musicians. Kip caught a lot of grief over the years for being “pretty”, but that dude can play bass and piano very well. He played on 2 Alice Cooper records in the 80s, that speaks volumes about his abilities. I saw them years later with some other hair bands and again, they were great. Oddly I’ve never owned any of their albums, it’s just a live thing for me.
When I saw that they were playing the Concert Pub North in Houston on a Friday, I decided to go. I had no plans that night anyway. I listened to some of the stuff from the new album and was quite impressed. After looking at the band lineup I saw that John Roth was in the band. His name wasn’t familiar but I check The Book just to see if he was in there. Boom! He played on the Medieval Steel debut EP. That solidified me going and for buying the VIP to make sure I got him in there as well as the other guys in Winger.
I got to the show and ran into my buddy, John, who does security for a lot of shows in the Houston area. I first met John through a mutual friends a few years back when he was working with Motorhead here in Austin. Through that meeting I got to have a few drinks with Mikkey Dee. John walks me right by the lines and gets me to the booth to get my VIP creds. Easy peasy.
I sat at one of the VIP tables with 2 cool girls that I met right when I walked in. One of them had just moved to Austin this week and the other was a Houston local. I sat there through both of the openers but neither band caught my ear. Mid-set of the second band the meet and greet happened and I got in towards the end of the line. The band was very nice and personable with each person that came through the line. They signed whatever anyone put in front of them. Kip was inquisitive about the book as most folks are when they see it. Kip, Rod and Reb signed it and I flipped over to the Medieval Steel page and said to John, “You’re not off the hook. You’re in here, too.” “Really?!” He said he was surprised that anyone remembered that band. I didn’t realize that Roth has been a part of Winger for almost 20 years. Reb looked at Kip and said, “What’s Paul (Young) doing now?”
I then pulled out a photo of Rod and me from 1990/91 taken at a drum clinic. He laughed and just said, “Wow! Long time ago.” He signed the photo. For the photo op, I chose to stand next to Rod to try and create the then and now photo below. All of the guys thanked me more coming and that was that. So very worth it. Off to the car to put the book away and enjoy the show.
Shortly after, the band comes on and opens with a new song called “Midnight Driver of a Love Machine.” They were tight and pretty much played all the hits. I’ve always liked Heading for a Heartbreak. Watching Rod play was enjoyable. He’s so damned good. The whole band was great. Kip’s voice sounded great and he had no problem hitting the high notes. Roth and Beach also had great backing vocals.
One cool thing happened at the end of the show. Kip asked if there were any bass players in the crowd and they brought some dude up on stage. “It’s 2 notes, you can do it. Unless you suck. Do you suck?” They closed with Van Halen’s Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love. It was pretty damned cool to do that. The guy was OK, I could have done better. ;)
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- 24 years later…fewer curls and more forehead
Faster Pussycat Concert Review, Houston TX, 3/7/2013
I’m on temporary work assignment in Houston and saw last week that Faster Pussycat was playing right up the street from my hotel. I’d seen them a couple of times before including being able to open for them in 2003 when they were on tour with Pretty Boy Floyd and Enuff z’Nuff. That was a fun night for sure. On to last night…I had been sick all day and laid up in my hotel room from diverticulosis. Lucky me. By dinner time, I was feeling a little bit better and had enough energy to go and grab a bite to eat. I drove up the road to find the venue after dinner and hung out in my truck for a little while trying to decide whether I was going to go in or not. Ultimately (and obviously) I went in. Quite an interesting crowd at this north Houston venue. The groupie girls were definitely in full effect, most of whom are really past their prime. Sorry ladies, you’re looking rough these days.
While sitting there wading through some opening bands who were so horrid that they shall remain nameless, Danny Nordahl, bassist for Faster Pussycat, walked in. When we played with them in ’03, he and I talked for a long time, mostly about Thin Lizzy. The custom guitar picks I was using at the time had Phil Lynott on them and I gave him one, since he said he was out of picks. Last night I mentioned to him about that show and he said something to the effect of ‘you’re the dude that gave me that guitar pick with Phil on it. I still have that!’ Sweet! We hung out for a few while the last opener was clearing the stage and then it was showtime.
They were slated to go on at 10:30 but ended up being closer to 11. I was getting really tired but I stuck around for for about half of the set. Taime was his typical self. His voice sounded pretty good and the band was pretty solid. I think my favorite thing about the show was that Taime held an unlit cigarette in his hand the whole night. It was quite funny.
Faster Pussycat is one of the few “hair bands” that I like and their first 3 albums are pretty good.
I stayed for 6 songs, but could only recall 5.
Tyton – Mind Over Metal
So back in the day there was this great music store at Military Circle Mall called The Music Man. That’s pretty much 
where we spent our allowances and paychecks in the 80s as thy typically had the coolest selection of metal. The Music Man was pretty cool and had a really cool staff. They also offered a replacement guarantee on their cassettes and CDs if they became defective. We knew the staff there pretty well and if we bought something we didn’t like, they would typically let us trade it in for something else. I was fortunate to work there for a year or so, an experience that I will never forget.
One of the cassettes I bought in 1987 was Tyton’s Mind Over Metal. I didn’t know anything about them but they were on an Enigma sub-label which usually meant you had a pretty good chance of buying something listenable. I played this cassette quite a bit. They weren’t over the top awesome but this album had some pretty good songs on it like Destiny Calls, Will You Follow Me (wimpy ballad but not too bad), and the title track. They were sort of mid-paced swords and shields style metal. I listen to it about once or twice a year still. It takes me back to some fun times with some former friends riding around Churchland trying to find a party or someone to buy us beer. Those were fun days and I am amazed that the 3 of us are even still alive. Come to find out years later that they hailed from Houston, TX and some people I know here in Austin knew those guys and even did a show or 2 with them. Living here in Austin and getting to spend time with guys that are metal legends (to me) is pretty incredible. Our metal round table discussions are pretty amazing.
I’ve attached the download to the album. It was never officially released on CD but some Euro label bootlegged it a few years back and I ripped the tracks from the CD.
The Metal Files 
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