Lend me your ear and I'll sing you a song

Jack and I continued our rock and roll tour last night with a Ringo (do I really need to say his last name?) and his All-Starr Band show.

These days, Ringo is mostly a peace and love caricature – singing mostly the songs he sang lead on as a Beatle, along with two of his solo hits – the wonderful “Photograph” and “It Don’t Come Easy.” So, it was a “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Act Naturally,” and “With a Little Help From My Friends” nostalgia trip.

Which is exactly, for better or worse, what we expected.

And Ringo was A FREAKING BEATLE, so just seeing him do that was just fine.

Unfortunately, we missed the previous All-Star Band incarnations that featured Joe Walsh, Nils Lofgren, Levon Helm, John Entwistle, Dave Edmunds, Clarence Clemons, Ian Hunter, Edgar Winter (the list goes on and on…)

Instead, we got Todd Rundgren, Steve Lukather of Toto, Greg Rolie of Santana and Journey, and Richard Page of Mr. Mister.

Well, all fine musicians, but that meant we were treated to “Hold the Line,” “Broken Wings,” Bang on the Drum All Day” and “Oye Como Va,” and each one seemed as though Lukather jammed 57 notes where there should have been about a dozen.

Unfortunately, Lukather did the same to the Carl Perkins cover below; unlike George Harrison, who aptly demonstrated that less is more. Taste always trumps virtuosity.

All in all, Jack still thought it was great.

And that’s all that matters.

Time passes slowly when you're lost in a dream

With Richard Thompson on the horizon, and tickets in hand, I have begun getting ready by watching old videos and listening to various tracks. A somewhat-recent BBC documentary featured a comment that described Thompson as the British Bob Dylan and that maybe a better description would be that Dylan is an American Richard Thompson.

I won't get into that as both are obviously certifiable giants. But that comparison has me listening to Dylan's new/old "Another Self-Portrait." It's yet another reminder of his prodigious talents, especially this collaboration with George Harrison. Love this video too:

Little darlin,' it's been a long, cold, lonely winter

Got to thinking today, that to commemorate Yoko's birthday while ignoring what would have been George Harrison's 70th birthday couple of days ago, is just plain sad -- and wrong.

So here is a clip of my favorite Harrison song. This rendition, with the late Pete Ham from Badfinger, is wonderful in its simplicity, not to mention extraordinarily beautiful. And it's especially moving to see this performance and hear the song performed with such clarity and honesty. A gem.

But I would be remiss not to post The Beatles version as well, which is a monumental piece of studio magic.

Happy birthday George, and thanks.