Yes!!  Thank You!!!!

Why Smile?

I took the camera out yesterday and got this little gem.

I was reading over what I wrote about being a true fan of an artist yesterday and I thought to myself, “You need to chill out.” Greatest hits fan or otherwise, it is all about supporting the artist so who cares. Lets put our false sense of pride behind us and dance.

When I was younger I used to watch The Kids In The Hall.  It is funny how the littlest thing can change the world view of a child. I saw this skit when I was probably 10 years old, but I still remember its message til this day.

After watching this I made the decision that if someone is familiar with only the greatest hits of an artist, they are not a real fan. A real fan knows every song a band plays during their set.  To be a real fan, your knowledge has to go beyond the greatest hits. There is nothing wrong with being a greatest hits fan, just admit it. This happens two different ways. Either you just never got around to listening to anything else or you just dislike the other material. I mean I LOVE the Band’s greatest hits, but I haven’t check out any of their studio albums.  Their greatest hits is all I need and therefore I am not a real fan.  I am a greatest hits fan for plenty of bands and I find they are more often bands from the 1960′s, 70s, and 80s. To name a few Queen, The Band, Prince, Cream, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cat Stevens, The Doors, Elton John, Hall n’ Oats, Stevie Wonder, and Wham!.

There are those times when someone makes the leap of faith from on type of fan to another. That happened to me today.  I have been a greatest hits fan of Leonard Cohen for a very long time.  Last week I got two of his studio albums Songs of Leonard Cohen and Recent Songs. I am finding that all songs are equal (at least so far).  So, I am on my way.

The point of all this is that Leonard Cohen is a genius and everyone should listen to his music.

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A couple of days ago I was record shopping and I came across this little gem.  I was unfamiliar with the album but I knew I liked Stan Getz and for 50 cents I couldn’t really go wrong. I put it on my LP player and immediately I was the classiest guy in town. Literally.

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Isn’t that wonderful? After listening to this I started to research Laurindo Almeida.  Check out his rendition of “One Note Samaba”

I bought tickets to go see these guys in San Rafael, CA in September.  I got an email yesterday telling me that the concert is canceled. God Damnit!!!! What does a man have to do to see someone perform live before they die? And I am NOT talking about David Holt (who I am sure is a swell guy). I did see Doc Watson at Hardly Strickly Bluegrass, but I was 200 feet away in a sea of people. I need something more intimate.  The worst part about it is that the venue gave no reason for the cancellation. Watson and Holt are still playing all the surrounding areas as planned. Not happy about this one.