Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton – 6/26 Jobbing.com Arena Glendale Arizona.

To start, my wife and I were amused while watching the audience file into the show. It seemed as though we were immersed in a Cialis commercial, plenty of well groomed graying couples smiling excitedly about their night out. I suppose we were no exception.

The band hit the stage about fifteen minutes late, no warm up act, and stuck to the set list they’ve played to date at previous shows on the tour. The set list really works. It flows so well while mixing up great variety. The Traffic instrumental “Glad” following the classic blues of “ Sleeping in the Ground” for example. I quickly found myself struck by the amazing tones of Clapton’s black Strats in a live setting. He produces a simply wonderful range of warm sustaining goodness in many flavors. It sounded incredible. Overall the sound was excellent, though there were times I wished it were louder. The excellent video work on the big screens had me wishing for a DVD of this show. In fact, this band and show was so much better than the Madison Square Garden recording that I’d go nuts for another live DVD release.

My only small disappointment was that Winwood’s solo number remained “Georgia” which got a great audience response, but I was really hoping for “Low spark of high heeled boys” as was reported to have taken Georgia’s place in the Texas shows.

The middle acoustic set was sweet even though the sound up in the nosebleeds was a bit too quiet to really give the dynamics of Eric’s work justice. And while the acoustic “Layla” is very jazzy smooth-groove fine, I missed the keyboard ending section of the original. Considering that along with Winwood the band includes the very talented Chris Stainton (who’s played with every British rocker), the electric long version trailing off into that beautiful keyboard finale would’ve been something to experience.

The closing “Voodoo Child” was a treat, primarily for Winwood’s organ and vocal work which invoked the original Hendrix recording. Clapton and Stainton solos were outstanding as well with Clapton displaying his range of styles beautifully in the context of a song known more for flat out bombastic power guitar. The encore struck me as scripted until the really fun keyboard solo surprise during “Cocaine” and was followed by Dear Mr. Fantasy.

Although somewhat short and very controlled (no chance of a second encore here) the show set the bar for pure musicianship and professionalism, quite extraordinary. The rhythm section was knockout powerful and the background vocalists completed the mix very well, something I’ll certainly miss when I next view the MSG DVD.

In closing, there was the young lady next to me, loving the show, who jumped up and screamed “I love Cream!” during a Traffic song. This made me smile and feel a bit old. You know, “I’m a man” from Winwood’s days with the Spencer Davis Group would’ve been a great number to close the show. The Cialis set would’ve been complete!

Click for a few AZ news pics
Edit: A well written review of the show can be found on whereseric.com.

Set List
01. Had To Cry Today
02. Low Down
03. After Midnight
04. Presence of The Lord
05. Sleeping in the Ground
06. Glad
07. Well Alright
08. Tough Luck Blues
09. Pearly Queen
10. There’s A River
11. Forever Man
12. Georgia On My Mind – Steve Winwood solo
13. Driftin’ – acoustic
14. How Long Blues
15. Layla – acoustic version
16. Can’t Find My Way Home
17. Split Decision
18. Voodoo Chile
Encore:
19. Cocaine
20. Dear Mr. Fantasy

Band Lineup:
Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals
Steve Winwood – vocals, Hammond B3, piano, guitar
Chris Stainton – keyboards
Willie Weeks – bass
Abe Laboriel, Jr. – drums
Michelle John – backing vocals
Sharon White – backing vocals

What do you do when you’ve been laid off and are waiting to start your next job? Hit the road Jack. We recently took advantage of a short hiatus for Val and spent a few delightful days in Southeastern Arizona. I had to have a book along and was fortunate to find Going back to Bisbee by Richard Shelton. We more or less traced the authors route while gaining historical and natural tidbits from his book. The drive from Phoenix to Tuscon is flat out ugly, but from scenic state route 83 onwards is a treat.

We stopped by several wineries in Sonoita. Quite a contrast to Sonoma/Napa of course but this wide open range land on gently rolling hills surrounded by bedrock mountains is just as pretty in it’s own way. Full size pics are available from links on each pic page. 

In Bisbee we stayed at a funky restored miners shack called The Sleepy Dog Guest House. This was the first road trip for Maynard, the funky stub-legged dog whose been with us for about 6 months now. We spent a good deal of time hiking the hills north of the old town as well as the hills and stairways in town. The miners homes were built on terraces interconnected by a complex network of concrete steps. It’s still tricky to navigate among some of the vacation homes clustered about the hills. Makes you wonder how people get the bigger stuff moved about.

Here’s a bit of what the house we stayed in looks like:

I’ve scattered some pics through the gallery in my “unorganized by event or place” fashion. You’ll find a couple of fun macros and some graffiti. Plus an art car shot and one of the long stairways to nowhere. Most notably to our family, I’ve included the first online shots of Maynard, who’s turned out to be a real cool fool of a dog. Here he is doing Rin Tin Tin on the lookout for the ghost of Geronimo…

Ain’t that cute. Gotta love it man, yep.

And the night sky is freaking incredible down there

Cheers

Ok, I’ve lost 40 lbs over the last six months, and one of my dietary mainstays has been homemade hummus. It’s so simple and quick to make, and so satisfying with raw veggies or whole grain crackers/pita/tortilla. Here’s my perfected recipe, spicy, creamy, and full of healthy flavor. It’s got a big kick from plenty of jalapenos and HOT Hungarian paprika. Click the pics to see full size shots of the ingredients I’ve come to like best:

Drain and rinse:
1 – 16 oz. can of garbanzo beans (chick peas).
1 – 4 oz. can of jalapenos.

Put them into a food processor or blender and add:
3 tablespoons of your favorite olive oil (I like a good flavorful virgin first cold press).
2 and 1/2 tablespoons of tahini (ground sesame seed. Can be expensive but goes a long way).
2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt (look for strained without pectin and stuff, like Voskos brand, it’s so creamy).
1 tablespoon water.
Juice of 1 lime.
3 cloves of garlic, minced.
1 teaspoon HOT Hungarian paprika.
1/4 teaspoon salt.

Blend until smooth and enjoy. Best after the flavors meld in the refrigerator overday.

For lunch I frequently pack a mini Ziploc container with a 2-3 tablespoons of hummus, and use some veggies and/or a small whole grain something-or-other to scoop it up with.

There are so many variations on hummus, and a bazillion on the internet, this is the one that I’m happy to make again and again.

I like “somewhat quite very very spicy” — it’s “mo betta” than most recipes that weasel out with “a taste” of heat. Enjoy in good health, and please let me know if you like it!

Here’s this years pool template, quick and dirty in Excel or PDF formats, prints in landscape on letter paper (with number cutouts). And if all goes well Phoenix may be taking even greater interest in the game this year than when we hosted last year!

super-bowl-xliii-pool (Excel)
super-bowl-xliii-pool (PDF)

EDIT!!!!
1/19 – We did it! Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl!

Finally got a photo of the Black Capped Night Heron that roosts in a carob tree nearby. We’d seen him flying out in the evening and back in the morning but here he was parked on the fence. Didn’t seem at all bothered by us on the patio either. The pics are noising because it was getting dark, and I missed a shot of him extending hie white crest (like a skinny cockatoo crest). These aren’t small birds, stocky with bodies the size of footballs!