PSoTD

Sometimes a line reminds you of a song.

How many will fall victim?

Although Mercury Poisoning is a damn good tune.

I'd go see Los Lobos at the Alameda County Fair in July. Looks like I'm going to have to wait before they're out here again.

So what was the first concert you attended? I'm not talking about things your parents dragged you to, or some band in the park, but a professional show that you paid to see.

The first one I ever paid for was:

Rush and UFO
Memorial Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California
September 29, 1977

At the time I didn't know that much about Rush, but was a big UFO fan. That evening made me more of a fan of UFO, and I'd end up seeing them two more times. Maybe one of these days I'll see them again. And Rush was great, even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Geddy Lee's voice.

Speaking of Geddy Lee, here's a cool story about him, except for the part of cluelessness of who and who are not punk rockers:

A Canadian punk rocker with shoulder-length hair dressed in a brown leather jacket with sunglasses stood in the middle of the Coors Field of Legends next to boxes full of more than 200 autographed baseballs.

Bob Kendrick stated the obvious about what seemed like a strange situation.

"It probably surprised a lot of folks that a white, Canadian rock star would have this wonderful collection of Negro Leagues stuff to make available to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum," said Kendrick, director of marketing for the museum.

Geddy Lee of the group Rush is that Canadian rocker. He formally donated his collection of autographed baseballs to the Negro Leagues Museum on Friday.

"To me," Kendrick said, "it means even more because of where it's coming from. If Geddy can come here and do this, then other people are going to think, 'I can come here.'"

Lee's a self-professed baseball lover, and has been since he was a kid. As his fame in the music world grew, Rush could start collecting baseball memorabilia. During the past 20 years, he's bought his fair share of balls. His favorite is one that's autographed by Christy Mathewson. He also has one that John F. Kennedy threw out for the first pitch of the 1961 baseball season.

About a year ago, on that same Field of Legends, Lee got the motivation to start a greater collection. He saw the statues of Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell. He read all the exhibits about the teams and the stories about the players' lives.

"I was just so impressed and so emotional about the stories this museum tells," Lee said, "and it just stayed with me. I thought so many baseball fans around the country had no idea how incredible this place was."

Soon after his visit, he learned that a collection of autographed baseballs from Negro Leagues players was available. He purchased them immediately with the intent of donating them to the museum.

Catchy tune that the kids are listening to.

A little Molly Hatchet. I surprise myself.

Balloon Juice has a post up about the worst concert attended, and it seemed like a fun run for a Monday.

Mine was partially based on bad judgment - I've always liked Cheap Trick, but hadn't seen them, and sometime in 1980 they were part of the mix of a Day on the Green at Oakland Coliseum. Even better, Angel City was also scheduled, which is another band I really like. The downside: Journey was the headliner (and by that time I detested them), Molly Hatchett was also in the lineup, and if there was ever a song I was sick of, it was Flirtin' with Disaster. But a bunch of us from Sac State went, for various reasons.

Well, Angel City was scratched from the show for some reason. And Cheap Trick came out, was entirely pissed off about their sound set up, played 2 and a half songs or something like that, and then Rick Nielsen smashed his guitar, told the crowd he couldn't play with the sound, the fans booed, he flipped off the crowd, the fans booed more, and they were done. Just like that. Pissed me off.

We left midway through Journey's performance. We just couldn't take it any longer. We had no mood enhancing substances that could successfully fight the horridness that was Steve Perry.

The only real highlight - Molly Hatchett rocked. They were pretty damn good. But not worth the price of a Day on the Green ticket spent baking in the late July sun.

So what's your worst concert experience?

He passed away today. RIP.