Blood & Bath Concert reviews
Johnny Winter played Portland OR. A week or 2 ago. Looking frail and thin (and of course extremely white) he sat down in a chair and played his heart out. There are very few living legends left out there and using his skill and artistic ability Johnny showed why he's the iconic legend that he is. Johnny's playing style is smooth and seemingly effortless. He played pure blues like it was a gift from Heaven. I saw Johnny play one time before in 1973 during his rock star days and in my opinion he has gotten better since those early days, if that's possible. Johnny's got a new CD out titled "Bluesman" and it's is on my list of CDs to make Tracy buy. http://johnnywinter.net/welcome/ Be sure to check out Johnny's web site.
Review – Johnny Winter
When I saw Johnny Winter a few years ago it was the first show I’d seen at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon (Yes, it’s the same theater that showed the movie Deep Throat for eight consecutive years). At that time I was familiar with his reputation as a brilliant guitar player and looked forward to seeing him for the first time live.
That night, however; was a bit of a disappointment as the crowd waited for hours for Johnny to take the stage. When he finally did come out he was walking very slowly with a cane and had a person on each side of him to keep him from falling. Although he played fairly well that night I knew that something was missing. I wasn’t the only one that noticed that something was wrong with Johnny. As I left the theater that night the most repeated comments I heard were “Albinos are very fragile.”
Fast forward to June 4th, 2006. I had read that Johnny had hip surgery and I realized that a bad hip could certainly affect the way a man walks and painkillers can certainly affect how a man plays a guitar. Paul had finally convinced me to give Johnny another chance, and the results of the hip surgery were obvious.
Johnny Winter walked out on stage under his own power that night. No cane, no human training wheels. He looked good for somebody that looks 175 years old, and he obviously felt good. From the first note Johnny played he was out of the gate at full gallop and he never let up for one second. Ladies and gentlemen, the real Johnny Winter stood up that night, and he played the way he was expected to play and better! And although the set list he played was nearly identical to the one he played the last time, the quality between the two performances were as different as night and day.
When it was finally over my ears were ringing loud and clear and everything sounded muffled; I love that feeling. I knew that I had just seen one of the greatest living guitar players give one hell of an incredible performance, and I wasn’t the only one that noticed. That night as I walked out of the theater the most repeated comments I heard were “Oh my God!” and “That was incredible!” That night Johnny kicked ass, took names, and then he kicked ass again. And then for an encore he came out and took names again. Make no mistake folks, Johnny Winter is back in the saddle again.
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Review – Don Rickles
On Saturday, June 10th, 2006 the local members of The Paulie Family loaded themselves into the tour bus and traveled to the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon to attend a performance and learn a few pointers from the Godfather of Insult Comedy – Don Rickles. The Paulie Family pride themselves on their offensive humor, but it was soon obvious that we were truly outclassed in that area of entertainment.
The legendary Mr. Warmth himself walked out onto the stage and before he even said one word to the audience he bitched out the piano player up one side and down the other, declared that the whole show was ruined, walked off the stage and could be heard bitching out one of the stage hands before he came back out on stage and bitched out the piano player again before he finally turned to the audience, insulted everyone including the Native Americans that own and operate the casino and then broke into a song called I’m A Nice Guy. And that was only the first 15 minutes.
Yes folks, at the ripe old age of 80 Don Rickles hasn’t mellowed one bit in over half a century of comedy, and it’s not likely that he’ll mellow any very soon. He was very energetic for his age and one can only imagine what he’d be like if he actually didn’t like you. He was great.
Since I had never seen Don Rickles in person before my only knowledge of his act was from TV appearances on shows like The Tonight Show and the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as well as an appearance in an episode of Gilligan’s Island, and of course he also played the character Crap Game in the movie Kelly’s Heroes. After seeing Don live I now realize just how much he had to tone things down for television, but in his live act there are no holds barred as he lambastes everything and everyone with absolute and total disregard for anybody’s feelings, and he does it extremely well.
One thing that surprised me was his singing. You just don’t think about a guy who makes a living insulting the audience and anybody who gets within eyesight of him on stage as being a singer, but that old man actually has a good, strong singing voice and he can really belt out a tune.
I’d also like to point out that for a living legend the tickets only cost $18.00 a piece, a pretty good deal to see a true master at work.
On a side note: Although we were in a casino I didn’t actually gamble because none of the Black Jack tables were open, and I don’t play cards against machines; however, I lost $9.00 on a service charge for using the friggin ATM. Those casinos can really screw you. For me, it was the only bad part of the whole evening.
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Review – Johnny Winter
When I saw Johnny Winter a few years ago it was the first show I’d seen at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon (Yes, it’s the same theater that showed the movie Deep Throat for eight consecutive years). At that time I was familiar with his reputation as a brilliant guitar player and looked forward to seeing him for the first time live.
That night, however; was a bit of a disappointment as the crowd waited for hours for Johnny to take the stage. When he finally did come out he was walking very slowly with a cane and had a person on each side of him to keep him from falling. Although he played fairly well that night I knew that something was missing. I wasn’t the only one that noticed that something was wrong with Johnny. As I left the theater that night the most repeated comments I heard were “Albinos are very fragile.”
Fast forward to June 4th, 2006. I had read that Johnny had hip surgery and I realized that a bad hip could certainly affect the way a man walks and painkillers can certainly affect how a man plays a guitar. Paul had finally convinced me to give Johnny another chance, and the results of the hip surgery were obvious.
Johnny Winter walked out on stage under his own power that night. No cane, no human training wheels. He looked good for somebody that looks 175 years old, and he obviously felt good. From the first note Johnny played he was out of the gate at full gallop and he never let up for one second. Ladies and gentlemen, the real Johnny Winter stood up that night, and he played the way he was expected to play and better! And although the set list he played was nearly identical to the one he played the last time, the quality between the two performances were as different as night and day.
When it was finally over my ears were ringing loud and clear and everything sounded muffled; I love that feeling. I knew that I had just seen one of the greatest living guitar players give one hell of an incredible performance, and I wasn’t the only one that noticed. That night as I walked out of the theater the most repeated comments I heard were “Oh my God!” and “That was incredible!” That night Johnny kicked ass, took names, and then he kicked ass again. And then for an encore he came out and took names again. Make no mistake folks, Johnny Winter is back in the saddle again.
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Review – Don Rickles
On Saturday, June 10th, 2006 the local members of The Paulie Family loaded themselves into the tour bus and traveled to the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon to attend a performance and learn a few pointers from the Godfather of Insult Comedy – Don Rickles. The Paulie Family pride themselves on their offensive humor, but it was soon obvious that we were truly outclassed in that area of entertainment.
The legendary Mr. Warmth himself walked out onto the stage and before he even said one word to the audience he bitched out the piano player up one side and down the other, declared that the whole show was ruined, walked off the stage and could be heard bitching out one of the stage hands before he came back out on stage and bitched out the piano player again before he finally turned to the audience, insulted everyone including the Native Americans that own and operate the casino and then broke into a song called I’m A Nice Guy. And that was only the first 15 minutes.
Yes folks, at the ripe old age of 80 Don Rickles hasn’t mellowed one bit in over half a century of comedy, and it’s not likely that he’ll mellow any very soon. He was very energetic for his age and one can only imagine what he’d be like if he actually didn’t like you. He was great.
Since I had never seen Don Rickles in person before my only knowledge of his act was from TV appearances on shows like The Tonight Show and the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as well as an appearance in an episode of Gilligan’s Island, and of course he also played the character Crap Game in the movie Kelly’s Heroes. After seeing Don live I now realize just how much he had to tone things down for television, but in his live act there are no holds barred as he lambastes everything and everyone with absolute and total disregard for anybody’s feelings, and he does it extremely well.
One thing that surprised me was his singing. You just don’t think about a guy who makes a living insulting the audience and anybody who gets within eyesight of him on stage as being a singer, but that old man actually has a good, strong singing voice and he can really belt out a tune.
I’d also like to point out that for a living legend the tickets only cost $18.00 a piece, a pretty good deal to see a true master at work.
On a side note: Although we were in a casino I didn’t actually gamble because none of the Black Jack tables were open, and I don’t play cards against machines; however, I lost $9.00 on a service charge for using the friggin ATM. Those casinos can really screw you. For me, it was the only bad part of the whole evening.
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
posted by The Paulie Family at 11:10 PM
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