Sunday, July 13, 2008

Usana beckoned... What a "Journey"!!!

Well... I don't even know where to start.... but it has been one fantastic weekend...
We had a really good time last Friday night celebrating our daughter's birthdays (Betsy and Heidi) on July 11th at the Usana Amphitheatre...

Oh by the way, Happy Birthday girls!!! They weren't there... Heidi was in St. George at a softball tournament and Betsy was being pampered by some "maid" named Daveed.... see her blog for details... it is in my list here in my blog...
Anywho.... We went with some friends (Phil and Karen Zobell) to go see a really great concert that featured...















and.....







Can I just tell you what a great concert that really was??? Other that it was really loud, it was a real treat to see these bands... And as I mentioned in my last blog... I will report on this using my new good buddy.... yes.... youtube..

The first band was Cheap Trick... and I have to admit that I remember them but wasn't too sure what some of their songs were... so I looked up some of there music on the Internet and wow... I remembered some of the songs but never was a real fan...

During the concert, the lead guitarist, (on the left) blew two amps and boy was he loud!!! They played hard and long and occasionally I even recognized some of the songs.... For example... this one was probably there most famous...


The lead singer was very entertaining and the the lead guitarist was really a clown... and boy did he have some cool guitars!!!

Well, I waited patiently for my new favorite song and lo and behold... here it came... It was entitled, "The Flame" and other than it was too damned loud, it was still a treat.... Well here... you listen to it!!! Lord knows, I've wore it out!!!







Then here they come... One of my favorite bands was next.... Yep.... Heart.... Growing up, I was really a big fan of them because they had such a variety of hard driving stuff and great ballads. These ballad were often the creation of some even better music videos which resulted in my falling in love with Nancy Wilson, the red-headed guitarist (especially 12 sting) and singer!!! She was a looker with a even better chassy!!! Whoops, my inner self slipping out there.... my apologies. The lead singer, her sister, Ann Wilson had put on about a 100 pounds but she still had a great voicea and belted out those old time favorites... like this one the someone turned in to youtube from the Salt Lake concert... Listen!!! It's called "Alone".

And then they got into classics like "Magic Man"...


And then they played my favorite... "These Dreams"... I wonder why??? I pull up the original "ballad video" for this one...


And what would this blog be without noting one of my favorites...

Barracuda...


Whew! I am exhausted!!! We really need to move on!!! We still have to talk about the creme de la creme... Yes the next feature on this night of rock bands and good music...


The feature band was Journey... But where was Steve Perry, the salty tenor voice who sang all of the those beatiful ballads and great songs??? My brothers and sisters of the blog world, and family and friends... He has been replaced!!! His name is Armel Pineda... a 40 year old Phillipino lad... Let's listen to his story as was shown on CBS's Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood...







There... now that you have mopped up your pride, lets listen to some of the new star's sound... Hmmm... sounds alot like Steve Perry, eh??? Don't get me wrong, I AM A STEVE PERRY FAN... I love his voice... but Armel may have taken over....
It was amazing to watch the energy he had throughout the 1 1/2 hour concert... he sang his heart out, he ran ALL over the stage, jumped from the drum platform, spun piroettes on the stage and on and on and on... he was amazing...

Let's check out a few things by the New Journey... who coincidently now have a new album... entitled "Revelation".



This video came from the Salt Lake concert again...


And then there were the ballads.... how about a little bit of Lights followed by Open Arms and Only the Young.... oh yea....


And then I was nearly moved to tears by the last encore song... He was incredible and was so full of passion... ya know... like Steve Perry...

You will see what I mean from this video from Chile again... Here is the last one.... Enjoy... Tonite I told Marty Knowles (him being a tenor and from the famous May Day Barbershop Quartet) that I wanted him to sing at my funeral... The Flame by Cheap Trick and this song...


Good night all!!! Enjoy the music again... Journey is back!!! What a "Revelation"!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi,
Since you enjoyed "The Flame" and "Faithfully" so much, thought you might want to check out Arnel singning "The Flame" in a Manila club : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiGITj1pZXw

Mommason Hillary said...

Eric - this is dang good - loved the video of the new lead singer - bring on Steve Miller.....