Here's a little departure from our usual fare. This is a shout out to any Flaming Nose fans who love a) Blues, b) Classic rock and roll, c) Eric Clapton d) PBS television (God bless it in all it's glory) or e) all of the above.
If you fit into any of these categories, please do yourself an enormous favor and seek out the incredible...absolutely glorious Great Performances feature of Eric Clapton's Crossroads 2007 tour video. Whether you catch it as a repeat on your local PBS station (in my case KCET-Los Angeles), make a donation to PBS and get the DVD (highly recommended), download it off of the Internet, watch it on your iPod....the pipeline is irrelevant, the content is everything. This is one of the best rock concert videos I have ever witnessed, and I've seen plenty. The good news: stars, contents, camera angles, all superb. The TV broadcast sound could have been better, but I'm hoping they will correct tracts and levels in the studio for the DVD release.
Bill Murray, Saturday Night Live alumni and all around comic genius, hosted this concert special which featured some of the most luminary, rock-out, transplendant guitar Gods still left alive on the planet. I watched it in HDTV and my head is still vibrating from: Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood, Los Lobos, John Mayer, Buddy Guy and...(older, heavier, but still for my money the sexiest and only Native American Mohawk guitar God on the planet, Robbie Robertson!) Dispersed among these seasoned blues-rock legends, were some amazing young talent. My hat is off to Dereck Trucks, relative of Butch Trucks from the one and only Allman Bros Band. This young guy (who bears a remarkable resemblance to Greg Allman, and similar slide guitar sound to the late Duane Allman) is an absolute wonder. Another don't miss prodigy was the young girl playing bass with Jeff Beck on two songs. New and old all rocked together magnificently. Not that anyone cares, I had a really crappy day today, toiling away on my real life Internet job. I have to admit, coming home to this PBS gem after a long hard day, really made my heart soar. Check out this amazing special, and yours will do the same.
