I was watching another of the music videotapes I made, this one circa 1992. It didn't hold up as well as the others. There was a lot of footage from the all-star Freddie Mercury tribute. Outside of Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm not a big fan of Queen. The most interesting part of the show was trying to figure out what was going on in Axl Rose's head when he and Elton John had an arm around each other's shoulders. He did not look comfortable. Robert Plant, Annie Lennox, David Bowie all were solid but nothing more. Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi played along on a couple of songs, eying Brian May intently, following the chord changes. Mott the Hoople showed, doing not a Queen song but "All the young dudes carry their ludes...." The highlight for me was Liza Minnelli headlining the finale, We Are the Champions. A lot of people in the press thought she had no business being there. Silly.
The best performances on that tape were, surprisingly, by Skid Row, tearing it up on Saturday Night Live, despite the obvious choreography. Pretty boy front man Sebastian Bach is a good singer, as he proved by doing the lead in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, the big leagues. He is no longer with the band, which is still touring and making records.
The most disappointing part was U2 performing End of the World. The performance was good, but the sound wasn't up to par. It is one of my favorite songs by this great band, telling the story of a relationship, not the apocalyptic vision the title implies. Here's a link to another version, done the night of their induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. I'm not a fan of the idea of such an institution. Rock is about non-conformity and there is nothing more conforming than a HOF. One good thing can be said about it, some darn good live performances came from it. This clip shows Bono was born to be a front man. He's had it since I saw them at the Ritz in the '80's just before the band broke big. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_PIqx8J71Y
I picked my own pocket today. A young woman approached the floating book shop and immediately reached for A Hitch in Twilight. I told her what it was about and she decided to take a shot. Just as I was about to sign it, she said hadn't bought a print copy in a long time, as she now has a Kindle. I told her Hitch and Killing were available in that format, and she reneged. I wrote down the information for her. I would have felt I was deceiving her by not saying anything. Well, I just checked the ranking for each book, and they haven't budged. As Mrs. Gump would have said: "Stupid is as stupid does." I'd hoped the good deed would create good karma, but, unlike yesterday, people were not interested in purchasing books. I sold only one, a self help volume, to a young man. Thank you, sir.
I could kick myself.
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