Tag Archives: Music

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Come to Tulsa with Steve Winwood Opening

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came to the BOK Center in Tulsa for a concert last Sunday night.

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We were a little out of sorts when we got there but he put is in the mood right away. Heather is the Tom Petty fan in the house at least up till Sunday night, now I am also.

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There is something about seeing a band live that makes it all makes sense in a way that listening to the same music on radio doesn’t really bring. The personality of a performer comes out in a concert, for good or bad, and with Tom Petty it is for the good.

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The concert was a totally satisfying experience. Worth the late time getting home with an 8 am meeting the next morning and being tired all day.

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Steve Winwood opening up for Tom Petty was a big surprise to me, and nobody else. I had forgot all about this guy. He was big back in the day.

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He hasn’t slowed down a bit. He sang his old songs and some of his new songs. He was really bluesy. Steve Winwood was a great opening act.

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Plus I am entering this guy in the bearded stage security hall of fame.

Foto Fun Friday – Sting Edition

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This week’s number was 1414 and what came up for me was Sting. Heather and I found him in concert at an Indian casino in southern Oklahoma just north of Dallas. I took my good camera to the concert and endured numerous finger waving ushers to put my camera away. You kidding me dude, you charge this much for tickets, and no pictures. No way Ray!!

I put together a blog post and I got a tweet from Sting’s tour that they liked it and another tweet from the tribe that owned the casino that they liked my post also. So…. I’ll keep taking pics at concerts. I mean they are selling music not photos right!! Plus we had cocktails with Sting’s keyboard player David Sancious. He is a very nice and gracious guy who got his start in Bruce Springsteen’s E street band. This year he toured with Peter Gabriel in Europe and is now touring with Sting and Paul Simon on their tour “On Stage Together.” We spent a lot of time talking with Mr. Sancious  and I had my camera and I was not going to ask him for a photo. Sorry, it didn’t feel right.

Foto Friday Fun

Michael Buble in Concert in Tulsa

Last Friday night was date night. Heather and I went downtown to see Michael Buble at the BOK Center. But first things first, right. Dinner at the Vault.

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And some funky cocktails.

Pretty #michaelbuble #concert #cocktails at #thevault #igersok

And some carrot cake

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And then off to the show! I apologize for the photographs. They kind of suck because I didn’t want to take my “big camera” and it not be allowed and then have to take it back to the car. Turned out it would have been okay but oh well!!

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This is the third time we have seen him and he is quite the showman. He really connects with his audience.

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And he is very generous. He introduced all the members of the band and he had a little playful insult for each of them.

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He had a heck of a set also. I had never seen such a thing.

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And then here are the Tulsa Strings he had fun with them.

But you know, I’d go listen to him sing in an alley. He is incredibly talented and really connects with his audience. He has quite the raunchy sense of humor without being offensive.

 

He sang and sang and sang and then he sung some more. Everything from Daft Punk to Nat King Cole to The Beatles. You know the guy knows Tulsa is a big music town and he closed with a Leon Russell song and the audience loved it.

PS – His Opening Act, “Naturally Seven” was great also. They opened for Buble the last time we saw him. They are all voices, no instruments.

Being the obnoxious know it all that I am when I saw the below. I thought, “Ah okay, they gave in to a little percussion.” Gotcha!

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Yeah well gotcha me more like it. The curtain dropped and there were no drums. Just a guy doing drums with his voice.

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It was an amazing time!

Hey, have you heard any good music lately?

Taylor Swift – Fearless in Tulsa and the Hanson Brothers were in the House

Sweetie and I ventured downtwn to the new BOK Center to see Taylor Swift in concert as part of her Fearless Tour.

OK, what’s the deal? She is supposed to be a Country Western singer right? Where’s the hats? Not just hers but everybody elses. I only saw two cowboy hats all night, neither one of them hers and in fact none on the stage. Tim McGraw wore one in a video segment and I saw one other hat. The cowboy garb seems to be boots. She had several pairs. Lots of the girls (Yes, I mean girls, in a half dozen years half of them will be women the rest of them will still be girls.) wore boots with their short dresses. Kind of a strange look, but it has been around a few years and I guess that I’m used to it. I think the rule is that those who look good in short dresses can wear what they want. If they don’t look good in a short dress then the boots are not going to either help or hurt.

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OK, now the other thing, are not Country Western singers actually supposed to sing Country Western songs? I mean, have they changed the rules. There were no steel guitars, no blue jeans, no yee haws, no “heidy yall,” no flags, no horses, no salute to mommy and daddy. What up? Also, at the very end, she took a shower on the stage. Don’t get excited, she kept her clothes on, check out in the collage below. Are all Country singers going to start doing that?
All I know is that she put on a hell of a show. Tulsa loved her, they loved her a lot. I thought it was great. She got a bigger ovation than Oklahoma’s own Carrie Underwood last year and pretty close to Garth Brook’s shows at Driller’s Stadium back in the 90’s. For somebody so young she is so accomplished yet comes across as unspoiled and real. She is certainly talented. She writes the songs, she sings the songs, she plays the guitar and the piano. How can somebody be that talented?

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I’ll be watching young Ms. Swift. I hope that she can stay centered and grow and prosper in her career and develop as a person. She is off to a great start.

Check out her web site here.

Check out the Tulsa World review complete with slide show here.

Oh, by the way, Tulsa’s own Hanson Brothers were in the House sitting about 3 rows down from us. They had better than your average Tulsan’s haircuts but were just like regular people with wives and kids and all that. Sweetie noticed them right away. Nobody else  seemed to be paying them any attention until a plus sized gal flashed about six inches of butt crack clambering over seats to get to them to get a picture.

I have to say they were very gracious about her and the subsequent rush of female fans. They put their arms around each of the fans and posed and even took the camera and did the old self portrait thing a few times. All the while they looked very relaxed and friendly and eventually they were left alone. I was very impressed.