If I can find the time, I might write something between now and Tuesday about my recent discovery — not rediscovery, just discovery — of just how many decent Counting Crows songs exist, somehow. And/or about how Adam Duritz makes me feel so … ambivalent. I don’t know. We’ll see. Time is not something I have in abundance right now, and I’m not sure I can dedicate myself to an analysis of how Counting Crows makes me feel in 2012, y’know?
Anyway, Counting Crows are playing at Les Schwab Amphitheater on Tuesday. My colleague David Jasper chatted with Duritz last week about all kinds of things, including his attitude toward playing the band’s hits. Here’s an excerpt:
“I don’t think you owe it to your audience to play any particular song, but I do think you owe it to your audience to play really well, passionately, and not to phone anything in. And I think the best way to never phone anything in is to always play songs you want to play.”
So does that mean they might conceivably leave “Mr. Jones” off a setlist?
“Oh, we do,” he said.
Are people bummed when they do?
“It’s not a vote. I mean, it’s not a popularity contest. I just want to play a great show for them. I think people probably are bummed sometimes. I think it’s silly for them to be bummed. If they just wanted to hear something they could sing along with, they could have the record.
“The truth is, it’s not like we don’t play ‘Mr. Jones,’” he said.
Elsewhere in this week’s music section: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Phenomenauts, Prima Donna, Lipbone Redding, Honey Island Swamp Island and The Calamity Cubes, plus local singer-songwriter Lindy Gravelle’s CD-release show and more.
Two spots on the guest list for Tuesday’s Counting Crows show are up for grabs. Today’s task: Leave a comment on this blog post and tell me your favorite Adam Duritz lyric/s.
Here’s a bunch of ‘em, in case you need a refresher course or just need to find a random line to post because you wanna go hang out on the grass and drink wine.
Leave your real email address, please. I’ll pick a winner at midnight!
Alright, folks, yer old friend Frequency has eight — EIGHT — tickets to give away that’ll get you in to see Counting Crows next Tuesday (Aug. 7) at Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend. I’m going to give them away in pairs over the next four days. (Please be aware that these are not paper tickets, but spots (+1) on the guest list at the box office.)
And yes, you’re going to have to work for ‘em, at least a little bit. Each pair would cost you more than $80 to buy yourself, so you’re going to have to do more than just click “like” or whatever.
First up: Today is Adam Duritz’s birthday. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post telling me which person on this list of people born on Aug. 1 is the coolest, and why. Bonus points for humor, creativity, and not picking Jerry Garcia. (No offense to Jerry, but y’know … it’s kinda obvious.)
Leave your comment right now, because I’ll pick a winner tonight at midnight. Be sure to enter an email address you check regularly so I can get in touch.
Happy Birthday Adam Duritz of Counting Crows! And also Vanessa Huxtable.
Les Schwab Amphitheater’s website has three new shows listed this morning. Tickets go on sale Friday (via the site and The Ticket Mill in the Old Mill District), though there is usually some kind of presale the day before, so watch the amphitheater’s Facebook and Twitter for a password, if there is one.
Click the band names for more on the bands, and the prices for more on the shows:
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