My U2 360 Degree Review for Vegas and Vancouver B.C.

I attended the U2 360 Tour in Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on October 23rd and Vancouver BC October 28th. Since they were both virtually the same shows this one review will accurately cover both shows. I've read MANY concert reviews on this tour and seen many pictures of the stage. I will say that seeing it in person is quite something else. The huge Claw stage does many things; it blows smoke from many spots, it has moving ramps that allow Bono to interact with the audience from many angles, and it has a huge 360 degree video screen that is capable of stretching from ceiling to floor (entirely engulfing poor Larry Mullen, Jr!) when they so desired. This was my 9th time seeing U2 in concert and I will say they did a VERY good job of creating a seemingly "intimate" environment in a 50,000 seat stadium.

As for the music? Well....I'm not a fan of the No Line on the Horizon album...in my perspective it's an "ok" album, but nothing special and they do 7 songs from this album. I had hoped some of those songs I was luke warm on would have a better presence live. Actually, a few did. I thought Magnificent might be great live...I was wrong...it's exactly the same as listening to the album. Get On Your Boots is still not all that exciting either...I had higher hopes for that...HOWEVER, Unknown Caller had a video that played along with it and was VERY good. The boys did a disco beat and a video with I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight that made it very interesting...They ended the show with Moment of Surrender, which also was much better live than on the album. NLOTH is not my favorite album by any means, but I think a few of the songs may survive past this tour...

Amidst the new material there were a LOT of the standards; all the Joshua Tree giants, the high points off Achtung Baby, and of course Sunday Bloody Sunday. This was the first time I've ever seen them in concert that they DID NOT play Pride (in the Name of Love) though...curious. Bono and Edge did an accoustic version of Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Our Of, and in honor of Vegas, Bono threw some Elvis hits in there...

This was a huge, larger than life show...even Bill Clinton was in attendance. We never saw him, but Bono announced his presence and his motorcade nearly ran over me on my way out of the tadium parking lot! I'll take Bono's word for it. I will say I attended 5 shows on the last tour, which I felt was a PERFECT show: Great album, great show, intimate venue. I think because I enjoyed the last tour SO much it made me more critical of this one. My friend who was with me hadn't seen the band since Pop Mart and she LOVED the show...if they come back she has stated she would like to go again. I believe based on her reaction I will say that U2 knocked it out of
the park in finding a way to give as many fans as possible an "intimate" experience without having to play a 220 show tour. I'll give U2 360 two thumbs up!

And All the New Moon Trailers Mashed Together!!!

Wow, it's not too much longer until November 20!!! Gone by quickly. Here's a fan mix of all the trailers spliced together I found on YouTube.

Denise:-)

And Another New Moon Trailer...

I don't think this one is as good as the first one, but it gives you a lot better look...

Danyl Johnson Audition....Wow!

This is pretty great! They have embedding turned off on YouTube, but click the link and go watch this. Both humorous and talented.

Danyl Johnson Audition

While we're at it I'll add the Stavros Flatley Audition which is pretty danged funny as well. Bet you can't watch it just once.

New Moon Trailer, Part 2!!!

I am SOOOOO glad I wasn't into Twilight a year before the movie came out. This waiting for New Moon is a long, long haul. LOL! BUT, here is the 2nd trailer, and this one is a little better than the first one. Can't WAIT to see this movie. Can't wait to see how many folks who think the Twilight thing is stupid will jump on the bandwagon after this one comes out. :-)

36 Hour Cialis

Again, funny, funny shit!!!

Weird Al Takes on Craigslist

This is so incredibly unique and weird and all that, I just had to put it up. They have embedding disabled so all I can do is link to it...This is wonderful in so many ways I don't even know where to start talking about it. LOL!

Click here

3rd Race at Honeymoon Downs

Pretty funny stuff! Enjoy!

New Moon Trailer!!!!!!!

If this doesn't get you Twilighters pumped, I don't know what will. This is totally badass!!!

Who Will Win Idol????

I know the story has been that Adam Lambert would have to get arrested for pedophilia in order to lose this year...whether you like him or not, you have to admit he's got talent. HOWEVER, what has me sort of stoked? I think Kris Allen could actually win...I've liked him since he sang Man in the Mirror very early on in the season. That boy, win or lose, is going to have some sort of a music career and do well in the future....The thing he has going for him is the Bible Belt A.I. fans are most likely NOT Adam Lambert fans...Kris is right up their alley. (See W's second elected term to see just how powerful that area of the country IS when it comes to voting!!!!). Tuesday's show is Country Night, Keith Urban is the mentor...Good stuff! I repeat, Kris might win...that would be the biggest upset EVER!!!! Yes, I admit I am a dork for caring....

Derek and Julianne Hough

Okay, I fell to the Dark Side and I will admit I got sort of obsessed with DWTS last year and this year I'm completely into it. Going to have to admit that Derek Hough is my absolute favorite pro. I dug this video of Derek and Julianne dancing last year in the Pro Spotlight. Very impressive.

Colonscopy??? Very funny!!!

U2 Does Letterman's Top 10

Sony's Latest Gadget Release

This pretty much says it all regarding "the latest rage in electronics" that's always coming out.

Eloquent U2 Review from the Oregonian...

I've read 100's of reviews lately on the new U2 album. I've listened to the whole thing several times on My Space (it's good...I need a copy in my car before I can say for sure though). Of all the reviews I've read so far, this is my favorite:

The Oregonian
March 02, 2009

By D.K. Row

Let me diverge a bit away from the art world.

On Tuesday, U2 releases its latest, "No Line on the Horizon." Hard to believe that Bono and the lads have been around for more than three
decades stirring up some incredible music and always looking to
reinvent. There's a lesson there for every creative person.

I confess I can't listen to them terribly objectively; I'm a fan. A
mad one. But the always insightful Ann Powers over at the Los Angeles
Times can. And she did, right here.

After the jump, however, is a story I wrote NINE years ago about the
band, on the eve of "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Like the band,
I was in the midst of transition at that time, one that would take me
back to the New York of my college years and then back to Portland.
Such are the nutty ways of love.

By the way, Hiroshi Sugimoto contributed the cover photograph for the
new disc.

There are some things in life you can never let go right away. The
beloved baseball glove, the well-worn shirt and, not to equate the
three, even an old girlfriend. And there are some bands you never
stop listening to, even when you think you should have outgrown them.

But even rarer is the band that grows up with you, shedding, like
you, its youth, and reinventing its music into something fuller and
more alive.

I've been listening to U2 for 20 years, when its propulsive guitar-
based sound and passionately sincere lyrics first gripped me in a way
that I knew wasn't merely "of the moment."

Ever since, I've blindly followed singer Bono, guitarist The Edge,
bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen wherever their music
has traveled, from the political anthems of "War" to the industrial
glam-rock of "Achtung Baby" to their latest, "All That You Can't
Leave Behind," which hits the street Tuesday.

I'm not a casual U2 fan, but I don't belong to a fan club or avidly
follow their whereabouts. I don't know much about them personally,
and because I hate crowds, I've seen them live only once. To me, it's
about buying the music and listening to it -- over and over. I've had
to replace a couple of CDs because I've worn them down to the last.

Now, the quartet -- with the same lineup since they began -- is no
longer young. Like the rest of their earliest fans, most of the four
lads from Dublin are now men with wives or serious companions and
families. But the music is still powerful, evocative. And as I listen
to the advance copy of "All That You Can't Leave Behind," I feel the
band's history and my own entwining.

1980 I hear, for the first time, "Boy." Growing up in Southern
California listening to Journey and spending most of my life in the
library, I experienced this as not simply music but some kind of
Rosetta stone in the form of heavenly sound. Authentic power-rock
songs about young love and growing up -- "Out of Control," "Stories
for Boys" -- transport me into that world beyond the imagination:
real life. The record isn't close to being a chartbuster, but Bono's
unabashed emotion and the band's refreshing sound create word-of-
mouth groundswell -- and personal solace of sorts. I've never been
out on a date, and a pretty girl actually asks me out. I turn her
down out of shyness.

1983 The band follows the disappointing "October" -- hastily
assembled after Bono reportedly lost some of the lyrics --
with "War." The Olympian call for peace in Northern Ireland, "Sunday
Bloody Sunday," will become one of U2's signature songs. As will "New
Year's Day," which features The Edge's most blistering guitar solo
ever. While Duran Duran and other fop-haired bands dominate the
charts, U2 becomes a critic's darling, making idealists out of us
all. I'm a dutiful student with a passion for sports. Although I grew
up in the seductive world of swimming pools, sun and Los Angeles-area
beaches, I move to New York to fight my own good fight: getting an
education.

1984 I spend my first Thanksgiving away from home. I barely know how
to cook, so I eat a slice of cheese pizza the size of a Frisbee.
Somehow, I don't mind that I saw a rat running through the pizzeria's
kitchen, either. In New York, coping mechanisms -- called denial --
are everything. The band teams up with ambient sound masters Brian
Eno and Daniel Lanois for "The Unforgettable Fire." The music is more
sophisticated, but also muddled and diffuse. Bono's lyrics are even
more emotionally abstract and The Edge subsumes his ego. The once-
blistering ax is now layers of jangly, melodic echo.

At the time, I'm not sure Eno is the right producer for the band, but
in retrospect, this is U2's breakthrough record, intimating the grand
sonic landscapes ahead. I triumph with my own breakthrough. I get my
first girlfriend, a smarty-pants Ivy League girl who speaks English
like one of Lord Chesterfield's daughters. She thinks little of U2 --
"The spy plane shot down by those Russians?" We will not last.

1987 "The Joshua Tree" comes out. From the beginning track, "Where
the Streets Have No Name," there is no question this album will be a
masterpiece. Singles are plentiful: "With or Without You," "I Still
Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." I try to write a novel and spend
a year working demoralizing part-time jobs. I listen obsessively to
U2 to procrastinate, carried away by Bono's reach-for-the stars
cliches and The Edge's spiraling arpeggios. I write a grand total of
20 pages for the year, and get mugged for the first time ever on East
90th Street by seven kids. U2, though, becomes a certified mega-band.

1988 The '80s are winding down. That means yellow ties are out of
style, thank heaven. U2 follows up "The Joshua Tree" with "Rattle &
Hum," a buffet of fake blues and overblown anthems. It's all
hysterical polemic with the band's lowest moment: During "Silver and
Gold," Bono gives his famous Bishop Tutu speech, which asks the
question, "Am I buggin' you?" Has success spoiled the once-earnest
four lads? Of course. But that's OK. They still make the most
beautiful noise. As a musician friend tells me, "Listening to U2 is
every musician's secret bad habit." I stop writing and take a well-
paying job as a researcher at a law firm. Twenty floors up in the sky
in Manhattan's midtown, I spend many long days and nights reading and
researching legal documents, wishing I could play the guitar like The
Edge.

1991 Redemption. The band returns with its finest effort. Recording
in Berlin and Dublin, the band reinvents itself with "Achtung Baby,"
a hybrid of arena rock, industrial soundscapes and ambient touches
that also presages the techno movement to come later in the decade. I
leave the big city and end up in Nepal, the most beautiful place on
Earth. What you don't see in those picture-perfect postcards is the
filth of Third World life. So after four weeks of not bathing and
ingesting what was probably a smidgen of cow dung by accident, I'm
felled by some terrible stomach disorder. In my dark tent, I lie
down, turn on my Walkman, block out the chatter of the sherpas, and
mend my intestines with beautiful sound: U2's sweet, soothing and
sad "One." 1994 I break up with my girlfriend -- someone I thought
was the love of my life. On a lark, I relocate to Portland. I know no
one. I don't have a job. I've never even been to this city. It is
quiet, clean, beautiful, with tons of creative young people. I take
to riding my bike late at night in the Northwest industrial section
of town and then across the Hawthorne Bridge, listening to the band's
1993 release, "Zooropa." U2, I believe, is not popular in the
Northwest, though slightly whiny alternative bands like Pavement and
Nirvana and the "alternative sound" are. What I also realize is this:
The last thing the world needs is another angst-ridden
hipster. "Zooropa," along with another fabulous record, Jane
Siberry's "When I Was a Boy," are my best friends as I fall in love
with the Northwest's own lushly ambient atmosphere: constant dappling
rain, good beer and strong coffee. 1997 "Pop" comes out. The band is
in full self-mockery mode -- the parodic PopMart tour seems just pure
spectacle. Although U2 has outlasted every band from the '80s, and
constantly challenged itself musically and influenced the likes of
Radiohead and a bunch of other alternative bands, "Pop" seems a
disappointment. Sonically, there are moments of gorgeousness, namely
The Edge's guitar work, which often replicates the sound of a
synthesizer. The band, though, seems to try too hard to be current
and cutting, when, in fact, the lads are old men -- in rock 'n' roll
years, that is. But so am I, as I put my art background and love of
writing to use as a local art reviewer.

2000 Older, grayer and, in the case of The Edge, balder, the band
comes out with "All That You Can't Leave Behind," a stripped-down
version of its early guitar-based, powerhook-laden songs. The first
single, "Beautiful Day," announces that U2 is back on its home turf
of emotional directness and grand sound-making. I thumb through the
liner notes that feature, again, the band's pleas to join Amnesty
International. Then it dawns on me, for some reason, that Ronald
Reagan was president when I first heard the band. Post-punk, all that
bad '80's music, grunge, those regrettable revivals of the '70s
and '80s have all come and gone. So, too, have I. Today I write about
art for this newspaper and I have a wonderful girlfriend who has
shown me how to take the right things seriously. The law firm, Nepal,
a failed attempt at writing a novel, and so many other things seem as
far away as "Boy." She tolerates my U2 obsession only because her
best friend, Matt, a former musician, is a bigger U2 freak than I am.
Last week Matt and his wife visited Portland, and we spent a night
drinking beer, talking about U2 and his about-to-be-born first child.

"I know this is not goodbye," Bono sings in one of the songs from the
new disc. I don't know which song it is -- I've just been listening
to the music over and over. And it also dawns on me: If Bono and the
boys decided to hang up their instruments and call it a day, I know
they'd be fine. And I know they'd never get together again, either.
That's how it should be.

And I would be fine, too, even though my favorite band would stop
making music. Because there are some things you never let go of, even
after they're gone.

© The Oregonian, 2009.

Meltdown or Hoax? The Saga of Joaquin Phoenix.

I'm still not convinced Joaquin isn't doing a Borat and pulling an elaborate hoax that goes along with his "documentary" he's filming about his morph into a hip-hop star. If you've missed the infamous Letterman appearance, here it is. I haven't seen a train wreck this fun to watch since The Anna Nicole Show was still on the air...



And, to put a little icing on the cake, Ben Stiller NAILED this on the Oscars this year. If he's truly melting down in the public eye and I'm enjoying the downfall of yet another celebrity, then I'm sorry...I'll apologize later. But for now, this is some funny, funny, shit.

The Boys Are Back In Town!!!

Well, I know I previously wrote I was a little pissed at Bono...I wondered how I'd feel about the new album, next tour...maybe I'd stay mad. Then I saw them sing again, nope, not mad. Check out the video for Get On Your Boots. Not the best radio song, but it's going to be fantastic in concert...I feel it will grow on me as time goes by! See for yourself!



And for those interested, here is the actual studio version:

Get On Your Boots

Is Twilight Ruining America?

LOL! Nice deceptive title, huh? I'm a little on the late freight and I just read the book Twilight on Thanksgiving Day. I picked it up in the morning and really never put it down until the evening when I was finished with it. I was doing some Googling to see if they were planning on making the next 3 books into films or not (they are: click here) and as it goes with blogs sometimes, I kept clicking links that led to other discussions. I went from "Are they to make the next 3 movies" to "Is this series harmful to today's youth". PLEASE!!! I read a little of the discussion board and most reading the blog begged to differ as well (thank God).

I'm 43, and not a teenage girl anymore (yes, I am aware of that)...And here's what I walked away with from the book and the film: It was absolutely giddily romantic. Have none of these critical people never been hopelessly head-over-heels in love where you feel like that person is human heroin and you'll die if you don't get another hit soon? :-) If they haven't ever felt that, then I feel sorry for them. I'll admit, it's a horrible, out of control terrifying feeling when you're in it, but it's also the most wonderful thing EVER!!! Anybody who's never felt that probably feels a lot more in control, but they've also missed out on what it feels like to be completely emotionally out of control (in a good way...not a "Better go find Gil Grissom to catch this bitch" psychotic).

Would I find a way to make it work with Edward the Vampire if he was blowing such hard pheromones at me that I just couldn't get enough of it? Absolutely!!! If that makes me mentally ill, then print me the tee shirt and I'll wear it every day!

Great books, great story, VERY romantic. Ladies, read it with head held high and don't berrate yourself for totally loving the latest greatest thing in hot teen literature. Speaking of that, how come "teen literature" has all these fat books in huge series, eg Harry Potter and Twilight? When I was a kid we got Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and the best series we had was The Black Stallion. Good series, but each book was less than 200 pages...These Twilight books are 500-600 pages!!! What the HELL??? I feel as an avid teen reader I may have been gipped. That said, if I want to read the Twilight Books and I think the vampires are the sexiest thing ever, then that's my God given American Right. :-)

Why Is Enzyte Bob Getting So Many Hits?

Okay, somebody has to tell me: Why is my Enzyte Bob page getting hit so much? I monitor my blog, and what locations are hitting which pages. My Enzyte Bob article gets many hits per day! Tell me WHY somebody???? Next person who navigates onto my blog via the Enzyte Bob article, please leave me a comment to explain "why"? Did these commercials just start airing in the UK, does the stuff really work or what is the deal? LOL! Somebody put me out of my misery and let me know!!!

Melissa Etheridge Tells California, "You Can Forget My Taxes!"

I've been a BIG fan of Melissa, since the first time I saw her on the American Music Awards (or was it the Grammies?) the year she was nominated for Best New Artist, along with Tracy Chapman, KD Lang and somebody else who's name alludes me. Anyway, it's been great watching her change from a lady who could play an acoustic guitar and sing like nobody's business, to out of the closet lebian activist, to Academy Award winning singer/songwriter. I got a kick out of this article I read on the KINK radio site. Classic Melissa. What I like about this the best is that I'm not a lesbian, or Black, or Hispanic, or Asian, any of the "them" classes she is talking about. I'm a pretty average heterosexual white girl. Anyway, what I like the best about this is that whether I'm one of "them" or not, I'm tired of the fact that a "them" group exists at all. Let's get rid of the whole "you people" concept for anybody and just all be "people". She has a point: one of "them" has been elected President of the United States. Maybe that means that finally we are one step closer to "them" being just "us".

Singer Melissa Etheridge rails against the passage of the gay-marriage ban in California—and she won't be paying the state a dime.

Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

Okay, cool I don't mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We're gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that's not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won't have to pay their taxes either. Full Story