As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Monday, November 6, 2017

Jesse Colin Young – Rams Head On Stage, 11/4/2017


Table 102, Row A, Seats 3-4 – front and center, with my seat only about a foot away from the stage 

This was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. Jesse, who remains an excellent acoustic guitarist after all these years, began with a seven-song solo set, which started with “Sugar Babe” and included my two all-time favorites of his, “Songbird” and “Sunlight”. After a break, he brought out his band, consisting of his son Tristan on bass and 6 other recent Berklee College of Music graduates. The musicianship was stellar, particularly on electric guitar and sax, and Jesse was obviously enjoying himself throughout. The band portion of the show featured some material that I wasn’t familiar with, although it also included “Ridgetop”, “Darkness Darkness”, a great medley of “What’s Going On” and “Mercy Mercy Me”, and the obligatory audience sing-along on “Get Together” to end the set (with “T-Bone Shuffle” as the encore).

 
Setlist

Hey, Dems, a better tax plan isn’t going to write itself


The title of this Steven Pearlstein column is pretty self-explanatory.