one of my greatest regrets in a life full of amazing live music memories is not seeing pink floyd in their heyday. back in 1977, as an already-music-obsessed 13-year-old, i was living in atlanta, georgia. in the span of one week, both led zeppelin and pink floyd rolled through town, both playing at the omni. the pink floyd show, however, was on a school night. and as cool as my mom was back then, there were a few rules. and late-night concerts on school nights were generally verboten. led zeppelin, on the other hand, were playing on a saturday night. so i got to see the mighty zep, but missed out on floyd’s “in the flesh” tour in support of the album “animals.” in hindsight, i’d have to say i made the right choice. word on the street was that pink floyd got booed for not playing loud enough, and waters’ bitterness toward rowdy audiences was what inspired “the wall.”

all of which makes for a rather lengthy intro to the video posted below. last tuesday, i went to the beautiful fox theater in oakland to see the australian pink floyd show (TAPFS). now, i’m not normally one for ‘tribute’ bands. but after discovering the truly amazing dark star orchestra a couple of years ago, i’m no longer a dismissive snob. well, about tribute bands anyway. so after reading and hearing about TAPFS for a couple of years, i thought “what the hell.” sometimes a ‘have a cigar’ is just a ‘have a cigar’.

i have to say that i came away mightily impressed. i don’t think i’d go see them again; for my money, it’s not that kind of a band or show (though i met a few people there who had seen them multiple times). but for a one-off, it was an incredible night of music. a live greatest hits, if you will. highlights for me were the selections from “animals” (“pigs (three different ones)” and “sheep”), a stunning “shine on you crazy diamond (parts I-V),” and stirring versions of earlier works “set the controls for the heart of the sun,” and “one of these days.”

these days i’m carrying around a flip HD video camera to record small snippets of shows. i managed to keep the arm steady for the entire performance of “time,” and thought i’d share it with my faithful big micro readers. (all five of you.) enjoy.

why? because i said so. in this radio spot right here, actually.

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Posted via email from litmus’s posterous

why? because i said so. in this radio spot right here, actually.

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Posted via email from litmus’s posterous

(note: i’m going to be testing out the posterous-to-wordpress integration over the next few posts in an effort to jumpstart my rather dormant blogging efforts.)

posterous (www.posterous.com) is a pretty interesting proposition: post just about anything anywhere via email. now, wordpress is incredibly easy to use as is, but sometimes adding media files gets a bit cumbersome. posterous allows you to link your various social media accounts (e.g. facebook, flickr, tumblr, etc.)—as well as your blog—via their APIs, and then upload posts and files just by sending an email. cool stuff. so here’s the inaugural test from big microscope. i’m dipping back into my audio archives to a show i recorded in 2001.

old 97’s
2001-05-11
slim’s
san francisco, ca

i was right in the middle of a very dense, very drunk, very loud crowd. not ideal for recording, but hey, it was an old 97’s show. i should have been a human bobblehead, bouncing and careening to the overdriven twang lickfest. the old 97’s are always great, but this was a great period for a great band. "satellite rides" was going to be the big breakthrough after the crossover success of "Fight Songs," but somehow greater exposure/recognition never happened. rhett’s solo career also began around this time, so perhaps that contributed to the relative stall in the 97’s rise in popularity.

i’ve seen the old 97’s probably 10 times over the years and this stands out in my memory (and upon listening back) as one of the better performances. great set list too. here’s a sample track, "Big Brown Eyes." the full show can be downloaded over at DIME if you have an account: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=259565

ps. yes, it bothers me that the old 97’s insist on using the apostrophe in their name. no, i’m not that much of a grammar cop to copy edit the name of a band, no matter how much it galls me to type it that way. i guess i can justify it mentally by thinking to myself "well, the band is ‘possessive’ about their incorrect spelling, so i’m going to let this one pass."

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Posted via email from litmus’s posterous

• if cheney’s ticker would tick its last tock, we’d all be better off. #traitor #hypocrite #class-a-a-hole http://bit.ly/gVFub #


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