Then to really seal my affection for him forever, David said he was “on his way to give blood in the KGON/Red Cross Let it Bleed Blood Drive” when he was listening to My 3 Songs, pulled over and made the call to win the tickets.  There’s so many reasons to love this guy in that statement.  He was listening to me.  He knew how to play the game.  He was on his way to his appointment to give blood during our blood drive.  He knew the answer and pulled over to be safe while he called to try and win the tickets.  My heart soars like an eagle.

Hey, I love just about everyone I’ve ever met who listens to KGON because you are amazing, loyal, intelligent and wonderful folks, but listener David just earned some extra stripes today.  Oh, and he couldn’t wait to get his KGON “Let It Bleed” shirt!

Join in the effort!  Make your appointment to GIVE BLOOD this week!  Here’s the link to find out more about it. 

The last time I saw him, was at the Roseland Grill.  It was packed, and we had to stand through the show, and he had his son, Teddy Jack and daughter, Sugaree Noel with him.  He also didn’t say much to the audience at that show.  Teddy Jack opened with an acoustic set, and he’s a very good writer and singer.  I bought his CD and he signed it for me that night.

But last night, Leon chatted with the audience after about 20 minutes of one song right into another.  He also told the story about meeting Gram Parsons in L.A.  Gram was wearing his beloved Nudie Suit, and told Leon that he should do a version of The Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses” which he also did last night.  I could just sit and listen to the man dole out the memories of his life.

He also talked about touring with Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and Gloria told me how she saw that show in Boston.  Delaney & Bonnie, Rita Coolidge and many other amazing musicians.  I’m still jealous about that.  What a show that must have been.

Leon started his career working as a musician at the ripe old age of 14 in the bars of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He’s played with just about everyone you could imagine George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, JJ Cale, The Band, Ringo Starr, Frank Sinatra, Glenn Campbell, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many MANY more.  Click here to link to Leon’s website.

One of my favorite lines of his, is “I love you in a place where there’s no space and time.”  Thanks for the music, Leon.  Thanks for still touring like you were just starting out 14 years old, and playing with kids who weren’t even born when the “Mad Dogs” tour or “Bangladesh” concert took place.  Next time you come to Portland, if you can, please bring Teddy Jack with you.

Oh, and just so I can RANT one more time about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Leon Russell is not in there.  Abba is, and Leon is not.  Run D.M.C. is in there and Leon is not.  Someone explain this to me, in a manner I can understand.  It makes no sense, is wrong and bad and I’m sure there’s artists who have been inducted who wonder the same thing.

Product names can be a disaster as well.  Especially if they are an export and someone didn’t check before labeling and sending.  Click here for 65 badly named products.

Then of course there’s just bad names, and they have been passed down for centuries.  Like one in my family…Butts.  Yeah.  I’m glad that was 3 generations before me.  Not that it’s a horrible thing, but the teasing you get as a kid is already more than a person needs to bear on the playground.  I’ve imagined all kinds of first names and initials to go with that last name that could have happened, very innocently, but that would have been so very very wrong.  I don’t have to spell it out for you, do I?

I went to school with a Sandy Beech.  Knew someone who named their child Peter Holder.  My friend, Franny Hogg, changed her middle name so that it truly was Frances A. Hogg.  She was quite proud of that name.  I went to an oral surgeon named Dr. Slaughter.  My mom knew a Dr. Fink when we lived in Louisiana.  I’m sure you have run across someone who has an interesting name and occupation to go with it.  Here’s a list of names that fit occupations that appeared in the column “Dear Abby.”  You’ll see that my Dr. Slaughter wasn’t the only doctor with that name.

Just to give you one more thing to look at, the Huffington Post has a bunch of bad realtor signs, and most have to do with the name of the person.  Click here for the link.

Enjoy!

Now while I’d love to go, I have run out of time for the year and need to do other things with the vacation time I do have, so if you go and attend the birthday bash, take lots of pictures, and call me when you come back.  Oh, and don’t dance on the tables in Cabo Wabo.  We almost got thrown out for doing just that.  Gee, I thought it was a great Mexican tradition.  Apparently not everywhere.

It’s not that I don’t admire body ink on others.  I do.  If it’s something really wonderful and beautiful and you feel compelled to have that art permanently added to your skin, then by all means, have at it.  I know people who are tattoo artists, and others who have designed their own tattoos…using their own art pieces.  Now that’s a cool statement.  Of course there’s the practice of adding names of loved ones you want to honor permanently written on your heart, or whatever body part serves you best. 

I love art, and artists of all kinds, but I’ve never been tattooed because of several reasons.  First, I avoid pain.  I’ve had enough dances with the doctors and such in my life, that I just don’t have any reason to look for pain with adding colors to my skin.  That leads to my second reason…I bruise like a banana, thus adding colors to my skin all the time without wanting to.  The third reason is that I can’t think of ONE THING that would be a statement that I would want to have indelibly stamped on my body for the rest of my life.  I’m sort of a chameleon in that respect (and a chameleon tattoo that would actually change colors would be cool as it gets…but I don’t think that exists…yet).  Change is part of growth, and what serves me now may not in the future.  I realize that you can have body art re-worked, but go back to my number one reason, and I stop right there.   

There was one time when I was way over my alcohol limit and an illustrated friend of mine almost talked me into getting an iris flower tattoo on my arm.  I asked if it would hurt as much as it did when I got my ears pierced and she said “more, and longer” like it was a good thing.  That stopped every possible reason for me to want a tattoo. 

I guess this makes me completely uncool and nerdy as all get out, but I do have some pretty gnarly scars.  That’s all I need really, and if I hadn’t had to get them for medical reasons, I wouldn’t have them either. 

So, I invite you to send me any and all pictures of your ultra cool tattoos that I will enjoy looking at, but will never have applied to my person. 

I also found this website of tattoos that should have never happened.  Be warned, it shows body parts and art that are offensive to those who are of a more delicate nature.  To the rest of you, enjoy!

I also had to include this picture of Jack Nicholson from The Shining that someone had tattooed on themselves.  It’s just so…..scary!  In so many ways.

Oh, and let me know when that chameleon tattoo that actually changes colors is available.

The new project is a dramatic mini series for HBO tentatively called “The History of Music” which will follow two friends through 40 years in the music business.  I wonder if Mick will be acting in the show, or if he’s just a money man and creative mind behind the project.  I guess we’ll be finding out in the weeks to come.

Amy blogged about The Stones upcoming world tour to commemorate their 50th anniversary.  It kicks off in 2011, and goes through 2012, when the world is supposed to end or something.  I wonder what they had to do to get Charlie Watts to agree to touring again?  Before the last tour, he said he wouldn’t do another one.  Money talks.

Meanwhile, happy 67th birthday, Mick.  I can’t believe that man is 67.  Dead sexy, and he still moves like a feline on stage.  He defies time.  I think there must be a picture of Mick somewhere in one of his mansions that is getting  old and ugly, like in the Oscar Wilde book “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”  I love this quote from the book:  “How sad it is that I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful.  But this picture will remain always young.  It will never be older than this particular day of June…If it were only the other way.  If it were I who was to be always young and the picture that was to grow old!  For that-for that- I would give everything!  Yes, there is nothing in the whole world that I would not give!  I would give my soul for that!” 

Does “Sympathy for the Devil” come to mind when you read that passage? 

Happy Birthday Mick!  Stay well and beautiful and keep rockin’ because Portland would sure love to see you in the Rose Garden again!!

Well, as we know, they mended fences, got back to what they do best, and started out on another tour.  The second swing of the U.S. is going on now, and right before the kick off, Joe Perry was involved in a motorcycle accident.  He was rear-ended by a car.  In Joe’s words after the accident and before the kick off in Oakland today, he Twittered: “Finding all kinds of new places to be sore after Ducati flight time.  I play better when I’m pissed off.  One look at my bike and you’d be pissed too.”  He and Steven both ride.  Okay, that’s cool…but not while you’re on tour.  Please.

The closest date I see so far for the tour is Thursday, September 19th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC.  I hope they add some dates.  Like one in Portland at the Rose Garden.   Or even better, Sleep Country Amphitheater.  Just wishing.  Really hard.

So, in the meantime let’s hope they all stay healthy and don’t fall off of anything.  Any more injuries and Tyler and Perry won’t be known as the Toxic Twins…they’ll be the Torn up Twins…Good Lord.

I want to design my own shirts for women going to concerts.  ”The show was so good, there wasn’t a dry seat in the house”  is what it would say.  I think I said that after seeing Led Zeppelin, or Sting, or Springsteen.  Not sure when it started.  It’s my retirement plan.  That and the lottery.

Speaking of the lottery…there’s an HBO documentary titled “Lucky” that is the best I’ve ever seen about people who win the lottery.  I think I’ve watched them all because I find it riveting to see what happens when people get boatloads of money.  There’s comedy and tragedy.  Hey, that’s life!  This documentary was different because it not only followed the ones who did great, or the ones who became paranoid miserable and penniless in a short amount of time, but also a group of guys who played perhaps the worst practical joke on a friend EVER!  Also a group of teachers who won, not the big pot of gold, but a considerable amount and after splitting the winnings, it didn’t change their life.  So it was a varied thing.

I’m also fascinated by the lottery because I actually know 3 people who won.  Yeah, millions.  Seriously.  This means that I probably never will have a hope in hell of winning, but that doesn’t stop me from buying a dollar’s worth of dreams, and it’s kind of cool to actually know someone who won. Oh, and the people I know who won did good things, and didn’t get paranoid and weird.  No, I didn’t get any money from them, but they did give to causes that are near and dear to my heart like CCA, Marjie’s Fund, and other great organizations that are doing great work. Excellent Karma.  Kind of like “My Name is Earl” only they were smart and enlightened to begin with.

So, to sum up the point of all this blathering….oh, there isn’t one really.  Have a good night and good luck with that lottery ticket.

This Friday, he brings the beloved Sons of Champlin to the Aladdin.  The band now truly has a “son” in it, because his son Will is in the band too.  His lovely and talented wife Tamara is with them as well.  She’s a singer-songwriter and brings new vocal heights to the sound of the Sons.

Bill Champlin called me last week to tell me about the tour, the new line up, and I think invited me to make sandwiches for the band.

Click here to listen to the conversation and let Bill Champlin himself tell you more!

One band that I adore, but have only seen one time, is Roxy Music, and that was about 30 years ago.  They go on tour every now and then, and mostly do dates in the UK, or on the East Coast.  About 5 years ago, they did a show in Vancouver, BC, but for some reason I couldn’t go, and it bugged me to no end.  Now, they are on tour again, and I just sort of wrote it off because the dates were all in the UK.  This morning however, I saw a story about their tour and they are going to add some dates in the states.  It will probably be on the East Coast again, but I’m holding hope for at least Vancouver.  If so, I’ll travel gladly to see them.

Roxy Music reunited in the studio to record a track for Bryan Ferry’s upcoming solo album and decided to do a tour.  Next year is their 40th Anniversary, and joining Bryan Ferry will be guitarist Phil Manzanera, drummer Paul Thomson, and mulit-instrumentalist Andy Mackay.  Brian Eno won’t be part of the tour, but when I saw them before, he wasn’t with them either.  Does Brian Eno ever come out of the studio anymore?  Probably not.  Oh well.

So, I need to save some vacation time to go see them again.  Unless they don’t get anywhere near us.  Or maybe I should just plan to travel to the UK to see them there.  Wouldn’t that be cool?  I have a passport and I’m not afraid to use it!!