The Dive Bomber: Now on Thursdays!One night last year, my husband and I stopped by Rick's Place, our favorite bar, to find a new sign with a new name. We peered in the window long enough to notice a new jukebox and far too many people. Overcome with grief, we left without setting foot in the renamed Haney's Place.I learned of Rick's from several Metro East friends who told me Rick had the best jukebox in the world. Rick had loaded it with the usual bar suspects, but also the Clash, Wilco, Doug
Fellow RFT writer Christian Schaeffer made a salient observation about Wilco during its Farm Aid set: Seeing the band in a festival setting is an entirely different experience than seeing it in a club. Compared to the band's three-night Pageant stand last year, this was certainly the case. Those shows had no shortage of raucous moments, but yesterday's set was loose and raw - more like the tightest jam session you'll ever see than a well-orchestrated gig.
Now, this isn't to say that the six-so
It's not a stretch to call Jason Mraz the hottest act at Farm Aid 2009. He may not have the legacy of Willie or the hipster cachet of Wilco, but Mraz's star is still on the rise and seems to show no sign of dimming.
Mraz's continued climb to the top, however, is accompanied by a healthy dose of maturity. His songs are always upbeat, but there's a communal consciousness and a holistic spirituality just beneath the good-time vibes. Mraz made his intentions known with his first song, a slightly d
The 24th annual Farm Aid started with the old-school gospel quartet harmonies of the Blackwood Brothers and enough warm sunshine to persuade all the family farms in Missouri -- the Show Me State has the second highest number of farms in the Union -- that their summer work is far from over. What Willie says, goes -- as much for the weather as for the capacity crowd of old-timers, outlaw-wannabes, fraternal DMB dudes, free-range hippies, redneck women, corporate weasels and children regaled in ant
