The Train Ain't A-Rollin' but X-Fest Is!

According to the super Tweety Joe Perry, yet another two Aerosmith/ZZ Top shows have been rescheduled: Tampa (7/11) and Sunrise (7/13 near Fort Lauderdale). That brings the total number of shows unplayed in a row to seven. At least these folks got more than 24 hours notice.

These last two got rescheduled until October. I am still in ticket limbo (as are all the other Hershey ticketholders) as my date (7/3) is still postponed. I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around the notion that a leg injury (that still hasn't been confirmed as the "artist injury") could, would, or should affect a singer's voice. Has Stevie Wonder ever sang standing up since the days when he was Little Stevie Wonder it was a harmonica he was playing?

People go to see Aerosmith to rock. Nothing more, nothing less. Matter of fact, I saw them in 1977 on their infamous Rocks tour when they were at the height of their drug heyday, not too far from tipping over the edge into completely drugged out shittiness and personal differences that eventually broke them up. Nobody came expecting pitch perfect singing and textbook playing (and they were nowhere near the level of sobriety and dedication it takes to deliver such a performance even once...most performers cannot deliver a performance that is perfect even once...ya see, performers are made out of people and people cannot be perfect). People came to rock. People came for the experience. People came to say I heard it live. People came to see what they really looked like. People couldn't understand a word they slurred and people didn't give even the tiniest whiff from the world's tiniest shit about that.

They wanted to see Aerosmith—a band that was always about the groove and about the party, even when they stopped partying themselves (because it was either that or die). They wanted to sing along, so really there weren't very many of them acting as vocal coaches grading the performance. Generally speaking, most bands can't deliver a number of studio songs the same way in a live performance. Queen always looked at the two as separate media: recording and playing live. They did so because, being made out of people, it is totally unrealistic to expect perfection live. For that, you need editing and playback.

That mystery injury had bettered turn out to have something to do with his vocal chord problems that doctors ordered him to rest for in 2006. The vocal chords were also televised on National Geographic Channel (I do not lie. It was.) There are clips on YouTube, I'm sure.

But, I'm not focusing on the $600 questions: "Am I gonna get my money back? Am I gonna have to try to shell out more than that again to make the trip? Will I be lucky enough to sell the tix if they reschedule?" Instead, I wanted to mention that the whole line-up for X-Fest in good old Huntington, WV, on Saturday, September 12th (where I have no need for a room) is up at WAMX 106.3's website and Shinedown is the headliner this year! There are 11 other bands, including Chevelle, so you can click the link to see them all. Tickets are $35 and whatever Ticketbastard tacks on top, as usual. For people-watching, X-Fest cannot be beat no matter who is playing. School's in at Marshall, tickets are cheap, bands sign autographs on a schedule at an autograph table, and there's something for almost everyone, so this brings out the widest variety of people you can imagine piling into one riverfront park. And there are just scads and scads of people who are too hip for the weather, no matter the weather. If they're best "I'm hip" outfit is made of all leather with fir trim and a heavy coat to match, they'll wear the whole thing even if it's 100 degrees. If they like to wear Daisy Dukes so short a bit of pube hangs out and something for a top that wouldn't qualify as bra nor pasties and it's raining with the temperature to drop into the 60s after dark, they're wearing that outfit and they'll pay for the meds to get rid of pneumonia, all so they can look cool.

There's a wide variety of food stands from local restaurants, too, so if you haven't eaten at Hillbilly Hotdogs, this is your chance (at least they're usually there). I know this because I feast on kraut dogs and fart on strangers while I wait for the bands I like to come up.

So, in honor of WAMX's good taste in bringing Shinedown (who play rock and are from the south, so their music also has a hint of the Southern Rock that I grew up going to see). And, to thank them for bringing rock to a rock barren state famous for selling a type of rock (oh, the bitter irony), here's my favorite cut from their most recent CD "The Sound of Madness" called "Breaking Inside."


Though the song you'll be more familiar with from that CD is probably "Second Chance"


Sorry for the crap sound, but this song has been everywhere so much that even with crap sound on this bootleg you'll recognize it easily. Besides, even though it's a bit preachy in the beginning, I couldn't agree with every word more.

I love Shinedown. I have loved all three of their CDs and think they've gotten progressively better with each offering. So, you can expect a total Shinedownmania post in the future.

And, Mama Buzzardbilly is getting out of rehab on Sunday, so with any luck I'll be able to get her to the Unknown Hinson show at the V-Club on 7/24. And, I'm seriously considering going to the beauty shop to have the biggest Marlo Thomas in "That Girl" teased-to-death hairdo teased into my hair, pulling out the old clam diggers, and going to Goodwill for a shirt tacky enough to do the event justice.