I Seem To Recognize Your Face. Haunting, Familiar...But I Can't Seem To Place It

Ah yes, Vegas Baby! Locked and loaded, booked and ready steady go! I can't wait! For the last three years I have taken one big, out of the city of MPLS trip. Two years ago, it was Chicago. Last years was Milwaukee. Now onto Vegas. I am so excited, and I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control, and you know what? I think I like it.

My big weekend news number two is that I finally got Pearl Jam tickets. I have never seen my favorite band live, so this is going to be an interesting experience. The fact that they are playing with Tom Petty only makes it that much cooler. Not to say I'm a HUGE fan of Tom Petty, but I do like the man's singles. I hope PJ puts on an experience like I have heard on one of the many live CDs I have. I would go nuts if they busted out a rare cover, like "I Got You" by Split Endz. I would also go equally nuts if they played some rare old song, or a B-side. I don't think that they ever play "Oceans" in concert. Or, say, "Dirty Frank." Yes, that would be mint.

I was listening to "Born In The U.S.A" today in my car, and I marvelled that Springsteen had seven top 10 hits off that CD. I don't think that there would be any chance in hell today of a singer/songwriter having more than three hits off of one album. I guess it just shows the quality of the songs that Bruce was churning out at that time. Hell, even the non-singles like "Bobby Jean" and "No Surrender" are fantastic. The best part of this is the fact that "Born In The U.S.A" was recorded after he did "Nebraska," which is easily the most fucked-up major label album by a star ever.

"Nebraska" is just Bruce, his guitar and a harmonica. The music is sparse, but the songs are some of the scariest shit I have ever heard on disc. Songs about being broke, murder, family and cars go on without much hope whatsoever. Legend has it that "Nebraska" is based on a 17 year old who left Nebraska in the late 50s with his girl and killed a dozen people nationwide. The line that this comes from says "I killed everything in sight." Seriously, the album is un-classifiable. It leans toward folk, I guess. An album not for the faint of heart.