Expressions, Impressions & Other Stuff
As I’m working off that turkey hangover, a couple of different topics occur to me. So what you get this week are leftovers. (I just thought the title in bold sounded a little more, well…classy? Besides I used Leftovers as a header last week.)
Let’s start with the beauty of the A-List. I know you have to regularly endure my lamentations about wanting to crassly sell-out this space to some kind of commercial behemoth who doesn’t know what a split infinitive is (more about that later), but I really do do it because I really enjoy enjoy it. The limits of my grammar and proofing have probably kept the Old Grey Lady from calling, but once I conquer the limits of my intellect and the intricacies of uploading software to a server atlantasalist.blogspot.com might yet one day resemble a real website.
Of course, none of that is the point of this section. Rather, I want to tell what I like best about the A-List and what you may be missing. I know I told all of you how to use the A-List a few weeks ago to find bands and venues using the glowing underlined letters (A-List Archive Sept. 28). (The webbys call them hyperlinks.) What I may not have emphasized is that the links are also where the other half of the fun is (for me anyway). If you read the A-List and don’t click through whenever you see those magic letters you could be missing out on fine literature (A-List Archive Oct. 26), local galleries (A-List Archive Sept. 14), or fun videos from Elvis Costello (A-List Archive Nov. 23), David Bowie (A-List Archive Nov. 9), and even Comic Book Guy (A-List Archive Nov. 20). I know it interrupts the flow of the lovely prose that you have all become accustomed to here at the A-List but do it anyway – if only to humor me.
So after one plate of warmed over bird, I am full again। I guess it will be at least another week before I go off on the importance of the merch table, the difference between loudness and fidelity, the alleged acoustic qualities of certain venues, the frustrations of a self-styled philosopher (with a degree no less) trying to become a tech savvy blogger, and the misbegotten perception that your author is some kind of stud instead of the (relatively) date desperate dork that he really is. If a teaser like that doesn’t make you want to unsubscribe, then nothing will. On to the shows.
This Week’s Music
I am only going to highlight two shows this week, both at the wonderful Variety Playhouse and both by men who are old enough to be my father. (There would normally be a link here but the CIA made dad take down his website. Sorry Ma, I know you didn’t want the neighbors to know that.)
The first show is Tuesday night and it comes from the frontman to the legendary British Invasion band The Kinks (who remarkably do not have an official website). The man in question is
Ray Davies (pronounced Davis not Dave-ees, for those who like to know such things). He is touring in support of his new solo effort Working Man’s Cafe, which is quite good, but the secret hope is that sometime during the evening he will treat us to a couple of bars of classic Kinks, like “You Really Got Me” or “All Day and All of the Night“. (OMG! Those songs are…so…cool.)
This week’s other classic show stopper will be in town on Saturday night. For my money, Delbert McClinton is one of the coolest bluesmen still making the rounds. His latest full length, Cost of Living, is outstanding and his style ranges from juke joint jumpin’ to smooth and sad. Always a storyteller, he has warbled such classic lines as “she took the blame / he took the money / and I took a bullet to the chest” and “I got a way with women that keeps ‘em comin’ around / that’s the kinda thing you don’t turn down”. If those are not incongruous enough to pique your interest, then I really don’t know how to get you off the couch. Not to be missed.
There are certainly other shows to see this week but you will have to find them somewhere else ‘cuz that’s all I’ve got.
That’s Atlanta’s A-list and Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
