Foster & Lloyd Stun Audience at the Bluebird

Having met him back in the nineties, and followed his career to date, I’d be the first to say that John Rich is a dooshbag.

And I know that this song has been torn apart on these very pages and I agree with a lot of it.

But having been shown the door this year from my civil engineering job (with 2 other guys totalling 78 years served between us) I find that this video is right on the money.

That’s my two cents out of this week’s unemployment check.

Speaking of Old Californio, this Sunday’s free afternoon show at the Grand Ole Echo in Echo Park is the Los Angeles “CD Release Party for Westering Again”! I’ll get to hear a bunch of these new songs live, so that should be cool.
Link: http://www.myspace.com/thegrandoleecho

Forget the Foster & Lloyd days, Radney needs to hook up again with Kim Richey and crank out more “Del Rio, Texas” era style music!

Off Topic: Last night I blew off the Justin Townes Earle concert and headed to Downtown Disney and the House of Blues located there. The KKGO FM sponsored “ACM Kick-Off” show featured 35-40 minute sets from Kate & Kacey Coppola, Jessica Harp, Love & Theft, and Gloriana all for a $ 14 admission. These folks are all very talented and proved it since this was basically an acoustic showcase with no drums nor electrified bass guitars to muck it up. Not much of what I heard qualifies as “real country”, but the pop country offered was enjoyable and mostly melodic. Love & Theft did sneak in “Ring of Fire” and Gloriana kicked off their set with Pure Prairie League’s “Amy”, so some true country was offered as a token. (I’ll take what I can get.) The song that got the largest audience reaction was when Jessica Harp sang “Leave The Pieces” which wasn’t surprising. Kate and Kasey had a six song EP CD for sale ($10) but none of the other acts had any merchandise apart from some 8×10′s. I would gladly make an effort to hear any of these artists again but ONLY in an acoustic setting like this.
(PS – I think Toby Keith wrote a song about Gloriana’s Cheyenne Kimball. Remember “She’s a Hottie”? lol)

The biggest problem with the “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” video is that it is totally unrealistic in virtually every sense. I get the whole “escapism” argument, but when a song and concept is so closely tied to the real world, wouldnt it make sense to actually make a semi-realistic scenario for the video?

I agree Mike. I’ve been turned off to Jon Rich, but “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” hits the mark as a song. Then comes the video.

What makes the song is that it speaks to the here and now in just the way common folks see it.

The video, on the other hand, goes off in a direction that suggests that Rich and the rest don’t get reality. The character is most likely a union guy and wouldn’t get cut before the others with half “the go#%$mn” years. Then, a guy who is probably making a good wage loses his home the same day he is let go? Finally, the heart attack is over the top.

In all, a good song that touches a nerve is turned into a video that insults the intelligence of the people it is trying to reach. Leaving off with Kristofferson sitting at the bar watching the news would have been much more powerful. As an aside, why in the heck is Dennis Kucinich the member of congress that they put on the screen? Is Rich not aware that our current woes come from the policies pushed by the other side of the aisle? How can you sing for the common man and cover for the folks that are shafting him?

If you guys have ever watched videos, NONE of them are realistic in time. It does not say it was the same day as he got fired, it went to the bar to show, time has gone by. It was to make a point. As far as the guy with the most time getting it first, I just worked for a company that got rid of the older ones because they made more.(it was union) It is being done all over the country(unfortunately) I personally love the video where the guy chases his girlfriend with two cups of coffee, flys over cars and gets her the coffee, that is realistic, not

While I agree with what Reba says about women having to do some more act/performance compared to men on award shows, she can’t deny Keith Urban’s ability to entertain. The man was a born entertainer and it’d be hard to not like watching his performance from time to time…even if you’ve seen it all. But of course, if one opines that fiery fretworks along behind-the-microphone singing is an indication of performance then we’re like-minded, otherwise I guess the grace of walking across the stage and using your hands/arms to gesture towards the audience in relation to the lyrics can be considered entertaining too. Dang…I got myself in a rut here? What are y’all’s take on entertaining on stage?