Seether @ Starland Ballroom 8/25/11

Saw Seether for the 5th time tonight and definitely confirmed them as one of my favorite bands.  I went with my friend Jeff and his girlfriend Tara.  Openers were some local NJ band called Empire Weekend (I think) and they kinda sucked.  Singer was not good and the musicians brought nothing original or noteworthy to the band.  Then Art of Dying came on.  They were much better.  I hadn't heard of them before but they were a pretty straightforward rock band.  Their single "Die Trying" was their closer and probably their best song.
When Shaun from Seether came out wearing a flannel shirt with black stretch sleeves underneath, I knew it was gonna be a good show.  They also had two monstrous amps that were each 6ft tall.  The guitar amp was Mesa and the bass amp was Hartke.  Shaun wasn't drinking and although he wasn't as connected to the audience as I've seen him, he really looked like he was into the music.  They're now playing as a three piece and you barely notice a difference. The lead parts that are lacking are more than made up for by their improved performance.  Seether played a lot of their more poppy/ballady songs in the middle of their set, but they also played some old school stuff from the first album, Disclaimer.  Of the new songs "Tonight" definitely stood out to me and the dancing chicks behind me.  I didn't get close enough for any pics this time cuz Starland was sold out and it was packed.  We stayed back in the bar area cuz we had a pretty good view of the stage.  They played for 1.5 hours straight with no encore.  Shaun threw his guitar into the mic stand at the end of the set and then picked it up and smashed it.  I never saw him do that before; it was pretty cool

Its the first time I wrote down a complete setlist too so here it is:

Seether @ Starland Ballroom 8/25/11
Fur Cue
Gasoline
Needles
Take Me Away
Fine Again
Driven Under
Broken
Gift (solo by Shaun Morgan)
Drum solo (John Humphrey)
Burrito
Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana cover)
Breakdown
Tonight
Country Song
Rise Above This
Fake It
Remedy

Skynyrd @PNC 8/21/11

Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Doobie Brothers @ PNC Bank Arts Center

Tailgated a bit with dad before heading in.  It poured right as we walked up the big hill.  We were drenched by the time we reached our seats, even though I had a large golf umbrella.
Tom Hambridge was the opener and he played snare drum & cymbal alongside a guitar player. His style is a blend of rock, pop, and country. His songs are often catchy and feel-good which was a nice start to the evening.
Doobie Brothers played next and were very impressive. Their songs really rock and they have wicked vocal harmonies. Songs included Jesus is Just Alright, Black Water, Listen to the Music, China Grove, Takin it to the Streets, Rockin Down the Highway, new song World Gone Crazy and Long Train Runnin' (Talkin bout LOOOOOOOOOOOVE)

Lynyrd Skynyrd sounded great once again and made everyone forget they were soaked at least for the time being. Songs included Workin' for MCA, What's Your Name, Simple Man, That Smell, Down South Jukin', Gimme Three Steps, They Call Me the Breeze, Tuesday's Gone, Sweet Home Alabama, and Free Bird. Surprisingly absent this time around was Gimme Back Your Bullets and Saturday Night Special.  Peter Keys was amazing on keyboards.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Floors 1-3)

So I've been wanting to go to the HOF for some time and I finally got my chance this summer.  It was extremely interesting and overwhelming at times how much music history was represented in one museum.  I'll detail here what I saw in each of the five levels and what stood out to me personally.  I would go again just to try to absorb even more and because some of the featured exhibits change.

1st Level: Evolution of Rock
Here I found pictures and listening stations for some of the early influences to rock including Woody Guthrie (This Land is Your Land), Hank Williams, and Bo Diddly.  The most interesting to me was Robert Johnson.  I had never heard of him before but as the museum guide explained he was the originator of two of rock's most notorious legends.  First, he supposedly made a deal with the devil and sold his soul to play guitar (which the devil himself tuned).  Second, this supposedly happened at a crossroad (intersection) and this has gone on to be a recurring symbol for not only decision making, but a threshold for celebrity.  Robert Johnson was definitely a blues artist, but it was not a big stretch from his music to early rock.

After the country, blues, and soul influences there was another computer station where you could look up modern artists and listen to a sample song of theirs and then view/listen to a song of their biggest influences.  Then came some monitors that showed historical clips about the negative portrayal of rock and roll in the media (devil's music, sexual, sexist, evil, deliquent, etc.)  That led right into the Elvis Presley hall.  There were numerous Elvis outfits on the wall - everything from pants/jacket to the notorious sequin jumpsuits.  Many were surprisingly small.  On display too was a large movie screen showing documentary style footage in front of which sat one of Elvis' cadillacs.  They even had his personal jukebox.

I then went into a series of halls that had rock music divided by geographical region.  East (NY), South, LA, SanFran, Central, Seattle, London.  Some of the areas had videos playing.  I, of course, was drawn most to the grunge section that featured Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Nirvana and the metal section that featured Angus Young's schoolboy outfit and Rob Halford's leather coat and handwritten lyrics from Judas is Rising.

The Beatles and Rolling Stones each had a whole wall.  The things that stuck out to me were John Lennon's piano and green card and handwritten lyrics for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  Old people were sitting in front of the monitor playing historical footage of the Beatles.
In the middle of the floor was a black ramp which led to displays of Michael Jackson - outfits from 70s-2000s including a glittery glove (museum lady said its one of only 10 left known to exist); David Bowie; Who (John Entwistle bass, Pete Townsend guitar and weathered amps); ZZ top (fuzzy drum kit and guitar and bass made from motorcycle parts and steel chains).  Outside this central room was Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith stuff.  They had original handwritten lyrics for Walk This Way!  Across from this was a wall for Hip-Hop which included Run DMC gear (Adidas shoes, chains, & black frame glasses) and info on Grandmaster Flash and Snoop Dogg.

2nd floor: History of Music
Sound music recording/playback was displayed from Edison's wax cylinders and phonographs to vinyl records, transistor radios, 8-tracks, cassettes, boom boxes, CDs, discmans, and iPods.  I didn't know the first walkman came out in the late 70s and the first discman came out in 1984!

Also featured on this floor was Les Paul and the story of his guitar making.  He once used iron railroad as a way to experiment with string tones.  He used a wooden 2x4 as the basis for the first solid-body guitar.  He finally convinced Gibson to make his style guitars and they remain among the most popular in rock today.
Guitars from the Allman Brothers and Gary Rosington from Lynyrd Skynyrd were showcased too, including Rossington's 1959 Gibson Les Paul "Berneice."

Radio mics, DJ equipment, mixers, and soundboards can also be seen here.
That would have been enough for most museums, but no, there are three more floors!  I eagerly took the escalator to the next floor.

3rd floor: Inductees
Wall info described the nomination and selection process and and video screens showed footage from some HOF induction ceremonies.  In another room a massive theater screen was showing more classic footage of some inductees.  When I walked in to the dark room "Sweet Home Alabama" was playing letting me know Blacky was there with me.  I then walked the dark corridor that had glow-in-the-dark signatures from all the inductees.  Out into the light again, a hallway showcased the 2011 inductees including Alice Cooper.  Having seen Alice not so long ago it was cool to see some of his old outfits and props.  The foam head in the case looked much more real than the rubber one he used at Mohegan Sun.