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Post by Sharon W on Nov 15, 2009 8:04:25 GMT -8
29 songs and no "Lola"? - that's what's been running through the back of my mind since you posted about this show.
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Post by Jeanne on Nov 15, 2009 19:30:22 GMT -8
29 songs and no "Lola"? - that's what's been running through the back of my mind since you posted about this show. I saw the Kinks in Hartford in 1973 (I think) One of the brothers was drunk and the other one was mad at him for being so. Brian can probably tell me which was which. They "did" Lola and by that I mean they started it and then let the audience take it from there. And we weren't all that good. I can empathize with what I imagine is his saturation with that song. Have you ever eaten too much ice cream and cake? For forty years? The songs I recognize on that list are gems. Low Budget. That has held up well, hasn't it? So I am one of the 20,000. Both Preservation Acts albums are great commentaries on human nature and are lots of fun. I have to say that my politics have been informed by Davies, Dylan, and Prine, more than the newspaper. He's got such a sly, literary, musical, approach.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 16, 2009 0:00:34 GMT -8
29 songs and no "Lola"? - that's what's been running through the back of my mind since you posted about this show. Funny it didn't cross my mind until I read your post, Sharon. Ray closed the March 2008 show at the Wiltern with "Lola." But he didn't play it there in July 2006, which shocked me. And unlike both earlier visits to Los Angeles, Ray did not lead a cheer for his brother. He didn't say something like "Please give a round of applause to the founder and lead guitarist of the Kinks, Dave Davies!" Saturday night at the Orpheum. He hardly mentioned him. Ray's taken control of his legacy and his catalogue for both posterity and prosperity, defining which songs he wants us to consider, while Bill Shanley has provided the musical complement onstage and in the studio that he needs to function, replacing Dave more than adequately for years. Ray opened both Wiltern shows with the obscure B-side of "Sunny Afternoon" that he wrote for Dave, "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," reclaiming his song and acknowledging its universality and greatness, and he played it second last night, after "I Need You." Another obscure song in the States, and an endearing and naked statement from an artist who loves his audience as much as they adore him. This decade he's developed several other concert staples to replace the likes of "Lola," rarely heard gems from the 1960's like "Where Have All the Good Times Gone," "Sunny Afternoon," "Till the End of the Day" and "Apeman." Also "After the Fall" from his first solo album in 2006, one of my favorite Ray Davies songs of all time. Breaking down the rest of the setlist on the previous page of this thread, the biggest surprise was "Autumn Almanac," a hit in England in October 1967 but virtually unknown here. Except among the Orpheum audience, most of whom were in their 50's and 60's. Ray insisted on a robust singalong before the choir arrived and got one from us. I was eager hear everything on the "Kinks Choral Collection" for the first time and was astounded by the depth of the vocal arrangements, rendering the past in 3-D. "Shangri-La" was 30 years ahead of its time in addressing the Everyman's economy. This time I didn't want to get a beer during "Celluloid Heroes," a song I've heard at every one of my two dozen concerts. I bought the CD -- which I feared might be a sellout but found instead something like reincarnation -- at the venue from a guy older than me. We both should live so long to enjoy this old road Ray Davies is paving.
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anni
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Post by anni on Nov 17, 2009 18:40:31 GMT -8
I understand that our community is well known to Brian, and therefore his comments/reviews are for a known audience...but...I just read Steve Appleford's wonderful review, "Reinterpreting Ray Davies". It was good, but Brian's pieces are GREAT! IMHO. More flavor, stronger personality, never cloying or maudlin....Just right! IMHO!!!
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 29, 2010 0:29:39 GMT -8
Last week, Ticketmaster sent me an e-mail saying that Dave Davies' show at the El Rey on Feb. 5 was going to be rescheduled. According to Dave's website, the entire six-date U.S. tour was postponed indefinitely "on doctor's advice." More surprising was the news yesterday, courtesy of a Facebook friend of Anni who we've run into at Ray Davies' concerts, that Ray is coming back just four months after we saw him at the Orpheum with the big chorus. Tickets go on sale Saturday for the Canyon Club -- there's nothing on the home page or the schedule, so this is all they've put up so far: tickets.canyonclub.net/default.asp?SearchMonth=3/1/2010&MV=3/25/2010&sel=xWhen we saw Ian Hunter there in 2007, we made reservations for dinner and enjoyed the concert in plush armchairs only ten feet from the stage. We were pleased enough with the food, but ecstatic with the comfort and proximity after standing with our drinks in the cavernous back of the club the first time we drove up there for the Tubes. I've strained my brain -- and didn't bother to scroll through the hundreds of historical gigs on Dave Emlen's website -- but I think the only time Ray played a club in the Los Angeles area since the Whiskey in 1969, when the Kinks returned to the U.S. for the first time in four years, was the House of Blues in 2000, when Ray launched his solo career and Anni and I were in the middle of moving.
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Roberta
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Post by Roberta on Jan 31, 2010 19:46:23 GMT -8
Brian inspired me and John said that he would go see Ray Davies "if you want to" -- ok, not wild enthusiasm, but good enough for me. So on Saturday morning I booked us for the show w/dinner. No sooner had I finished ordering, I hadn't even gotten the tickets from the printer, when what do I hear coming out of John's personal Pandora profile of picks ... "And he's oh, so good, and he's oh, so fine, and he's oh, so healthy in his ... and you know the rest I'll bet!
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anni
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Post by anni on Feb 1, 2010 11:57:41 GMT -8
...in his body and his mind... WhooHoo. This is gonna be a major treat. Brian got our dinner tickets Saturday AM, too. Food is pretty tasty and we should be close to Mr. D. and the stage. Did I mention, "WWWWHOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH"?
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