Team A'Hearn

Thanks to our friends Pam and George for a fun Saturday evening at the Nissan Pavilion to see Rush in concert! Those guys have been playing since the 70s, but they can still put on one heck of a show. They went for about three hours total, with one break in the middle. Nissan is a pretty good venue, too – covered seating with a large lawn area for general admission.

The Onion, October 2002. The LA Times, May 2007. I guess it only took five years for the RIAA to get bored with suing old ladies and children. Way to go, guys; looking good.

Check out the latest video making its rounds across the web: Alanis Morissette covers Fergie’s “My Humps”. Ridicule is a wonderful thing.

It’s a sad day when Van Halen cancels the tour that never was. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by this, though, because we’ve been through this kind of thing before. It’s also fairly alarming when they take a group photo and David Lee Roth looks the best. It may be my 30th birthday, but those guys are old. And did anyone ever find out why they canned Michael Anthony?

There was a great article in the Washington Post earlier in the week about the world of commercial radio. While some of the details behind radio programming aren’t a secret, it’s nice to see a story like this get big press. Personally, I think I have uniquely broad musical interests, and am still able to enjoy the guilty pleasures of the latest pop or urban tunes. But the kind of ridiculousness we’re currently seeing and hearing teeters on inexcusable, especially in a major market like Washington, DC. We now have three identical classic rock stations, one inept classical, one weak jazz, no oldies, and tons of fluff. And corporate radio wonders why people are flocking to their iPods and satellite radio. Sure, even my XM is subject to similar screening and focus groups as commercial radio, but extensive variety (and lack of ads) is worth that twelve bucks a month.

Last night we started the Stephanie Birthday Week Spectacular, seeing Jamie Cullum at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was easily one of the best shows we’ve ever seen – just an incredible performance for the ticket price. He also strolled the audience during the encore, and Stephanie got all aflutter when he walked within reach. Jeez. Today we were planning on hitting the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival downtown, but many of the free performances have been cancelled due to rain. The paid shows are all later in the day, when we’ll be at dinner with some friends for day two of the Birthday Week. Festivities will continue over the next few days with family and friends, and Steph said she will gladly accept diamonds, a Z4, or “something cute from White & Black“. Ka-CHING.