Lindsey Buckingham Alive and Very Well

Music at its most basic raw form is about a man and a guitar. And tonight Lindsey Buckingham proved that you really don't need anymore than that. Just a man and his guitar.

You remember Lindsey, right? Lead singer and guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, the poster child for dysfunctional music groups of the 70s, 80s and 90s. He calls it "the big Machine". We know the hit albums, Rumors, Tusk, Mirage. Mic on drum, John and Christine fighting, Stevie Nicks twirling on stage. In 1976 their album and tour broke records and spawned a generation of light rock. Lindsey Buckingham was the engine of that machine and for the next 30 years has jumped in and out of the cauldron.

But take Lindsey out of the arena and away from the soap opera. He is just a man and a guitar,with three more very strong sidemen and this is where Lindsey shines. The "little machine" provided quite nicely in the intimate setting of the Gate Concert Hall at DU.

The measure of a great musician is his ability to just play. Pick-up the guitar and pull out a song stand in front of a mic and sing. Lindsey Buckingham does that best and he proved it in the first 30 minutes his show. Just a man and his guitar. He opened with his best known solo classics Shut Us Down, Go Insane and Trouble. A dash of the big machine with Never Going Back Again and Big Love before he was joined by his backing band.

Songs from his new album "Seeds we Sow" peppered the remainder of show along with more Fleetwood Mac gems including Second Hand News, Tusk, I'm So Afraid and the 70s anthem Go You Own Way. Filling the holes were selections from his other five solo efforts. A two song encore with the band and then a return to the basics. A man and his guitar for the title track of his new album.

This concert was more than just a music icon of the 70s and 80s hitting the road in support of his newest effort. This was a return to a man's roots. He acknowledge this at the opening. Mentioning how he taught himself to play while listening to the albums of his older brother (who by the way won a silver medal at the 64 Mexico City Olympics). Breaking down his classics to just a man and his guitar. Showing not just what the basics are, but also proving to the rest of the musician world that it takes more than just replaying your stuff the same old way. That may sell tickets and give people an opportunity to relive memories. But what Lindsey Buckingham accomplished tonight was more important. He gave new memories and fresh life to old songs, something we tend to miss when the bands of our youth come to town to play their hits.

Lindsey Buckingham may not make the lists of greatest guitarists and that ok because sometimes he is more than that. He proved that striping away all the extra stuff and just being a man and guitar is still a powerful message and more than enough to satisfy a crowd.

Surfing Buffaloes

I’m a traditional kind of a guy. I know that may be hard to believe for some people I know, but deep down inside I like the old ways. When life was simpler. No computers (Yeah, here I am blogging.), kids playing in the yards and parks and not on video games, big newspapers, double headers and looking forward to the Big 8, no Big 12 football season. But even the money grubbers had to ruin that.

Today marks the end of the Big 12 as my beloved Colorado Buffaloes and the despised Corn split from tradition and begin life in new conferences. Now in the big scheme of things this really doesn’t matter. In fact for the Buffs it is a good thing. Sure no more trips to Manhattan, KS, Stillwater, Norman or even Lincoln. Instead we are going west to LA, Tempe, Tucson, Berkley, Palo Alto and Seattle. The money will be better and perhaps this will renew a program that hasn’t had the best of years. So maybe this isn’t so bad. But it is still hard to swallow for a kid that was brought up on the toughest college football in the US. The Big 12 and before the Texas invasion, the Big 8 was the best football conference in the US.

Gone are the days of CU and Nebraska on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It may have been lopsided in Nebraska's favor, but in that rivalry there were some great games. CU and Oklahoma had some fun Saturday afternoons also. But no more. The all mighty dollar has won the war. Time to move on, I guess.

So here’s to new traditions. Instead of Eskimo Joes we’ll go the Hooters in Tempe, we’ll go to the beach instead of cow tipping, and we have to come up with new jokes for our opponents cheerleaders. (No more grazing jokes.)

But let’s face it. The mountains are better than the ocean, we we don’t have the heat or earthquakes and we still have the sheep to beat up on.

GO BUFFS!!!!!

The Geekiest Summer

By the name of this blog you know that I am a geek. A term I am proud to carry and this summer I am going to be carrying the banner loud and proud and with my children by my side. Well at least my son. My 13 year-old daughter is not following us, at least she is claiming she isn't. Now all this geekness is for what promises to be a great movie summer and very cool geek-like activities. It started this last Saturday with Thor, will continue with Pirates of the Caribbean and Kung Fu Panda later this month. June has X-Men First Class, Super 8, Green Lantern, and Bad Teacher (not for the kids). July is the biggie with Harry Potter, Captain America and COWBOYS & ALIENS. This looks like the star of the year.

But in all honesty the greatest three nights in the theatre this summer will be in June as I sit with my kids and watch the Lord of the Rings on consecutive Tuesday nights. I am just giddy with anticipation for these movies to return to the big screen. Its even better that I get to see it with my kids. This is a dream come true because on the big screen is how these movies should be seen, at least the first time, and in their full extended edition glory. This is GEEK HEAVEN.

Other additional geek activities this summer. Lego engineering camp and a junkyard wars camp for my son. So jealous am I on that one. They never had that for me and I know I would have been a much better person because of it. For my daughter it will be cheer leading and rock climbing. OK maybe not that geek like. But that is not the point.

The point is there are some great GEEK movies this summer and I can't wait. Also a ton of Geek books to read. But more on that later, off to read.

Shirts and the people that wear them

I have to admit this started off as a sappy blog about my wife getting a new job because I am failure BLAH BLAH BLAH. But then I got a package in the mail from our friends the Ballingers. They sent us cool things from Hawaii.

Now I am the first to admit I'm no Tom Selleck. The truth is I bare little resemblance to "The Mustache". In fact the only things we may have in common is copious amounts of chest hair, a love of beautiful woman and this very cool Hawaii Shirt.

According to my sources this brand new shirt I am wearing is an exact replica of the famous shirt Mr. Thomas Magnum, PI wore as he tore through the islands fighting bad guys and picking up the hottest chicks on 80's TV. These sources further claim the original shirt is now in the Smithsonian. This further proves my point that Hawaii shirt are the coolest shirts in the world. I love these kind of shirts. Big oversized shirts. I have a couple from the islands, several bought from Kohls, Costco, (I shop only the highest fashion retailers) and one very fancy bowling shirt. My favorite is my CU Hawaiian shirt.

When it comes to shirts I have one simple rule, The Uglier The Better. I love to wear them year round. I've been know to wear them in the middle of winter to brighten up the office. I have a couple I can get with wearing in the middle of week, not having to wait for "Casual Fridays" and nothing make me happier than people taking a second look just to make sure their eyes are not deceiving them. I wear them with nice slacks, sports coats, jeans, shorts, pajama bottoms, to meetings, ballgames... I think you get the picture. I love these kinds of shirts.

Mark Twain told us "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." So be happy that I have found clothes that I like to wear and really speak for who I am. Because the other option would be walking around naked. Not even Magnum would want to see that.