[Rick and Roll]

Steve Vai at the Birchmere (Northern VA) on Wednesday: I left work at 3PM, 15 minutes later cannot get on 95 South. Ramp is closed. Take an alternate route, and after getting to the south side of Baltimore, find out 95 South is closed. Accident. Take the Parkway all the way past DC, get caught in a backup for an hour. Go two miles. Listened to the entire Salem Hill "Not Everybody's Gold" CD. After repeated cell phone calls, I was able to have my sister find my friend. (We all came from very different places). So when I got there at 6:30 (90 min trip takes 210 grrrr) we had a table. A bit off to the side, usually dead center for shows there. But it was closer than I thought we'd get. LOTS of kids. Young ones, too. Place was more packed than I'd ever seen.

Opening act (Eric Sardinas) well....he can play but it was all the same. At his best, reminded me of old ZZ Top. Some smoking blues tunes, too. Had this thing he did where he cut the power off and played a solo. Did that three times, the first time a neat gimmick but got old fast. His parents must have told him to turn it down when he was young. For the last tune he decided to take his shirt off and play so everyone can see his tattoo. OOOHHHH...

For the most part, Vai was great. I'd seen him back in 92 on the Sex and Religion tour, and remember him being overshadowed by Devin Townsend (who annoyed me greatly). Not really Vai's best effort. He is so fast. The only annoying thing was his high notes. Too much, and it detracted from the show. Some highlights were an acoustic set and some gems such as "For The Love of God" (closing tune), "The Crying Machine", and a big "Flexable" medley (he said he'd recently reheard that record).

He's quite funny, and continually had fun with the fact that the Birchmere is a "dinner club". I think he's expecting a concert hall. So he introduced his acoustic songs by pretending to take orders like a waiter.

Evidence of his technical prowess was the amazing band he assembled, and his ability to shine. Billy Sheehan by himself is able to intimdate most other musicians. I can't believe this is the same guy I saw in the 80's with Mr. Big! What a player. He was doing solos in step with Vai, and I could have watched him play all night. My friend called him "The Abominable Showman". But there was this McAlpine guy who also caught my attention. Tony played much more keyboard, but when he picked up the guitar he was great. His keyboard solo was wonderful.

The drummer was awesome. Non-stop power and hit everything right. Jeremy Colson, thanks fremder, that's his name. Vai alluded to the drummer's welcome on his birthday in New Orleans, where he got a lap dance......from a transvestite! Had another guitarist (Dave Weiner) who was outstanding also.

The last tune before the encore was "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Momma". Sardinas came out and with Sheehan out front, had 5 guitars back and forth on leads. Move over BOC!

I couldn't stick around to meet Vai. I was zonked, had a long ride home, got up in 5 hours and worked 10 yesterday. My sister was not happy I left but that's life. She got to talk to him, but he moved everyone through quick and I'm glad I didn't stay.

After work, Ozrics! I was set to go and found out I was going solo. Decided to get to the club as late as I could and timed it well, except for the 1/2 hour trying to park. I sold the tickets quickly (the guy at the venue was very cool, let me sell them) and noticed Ed Wynne walk by me with his new keys player (Harry Waters out, his sister in). I chose not to bug him he looked either focused or high (or both).

Caught the last 15 minutes of Lotus (not bad, a Philly jam band). Grabbed a beer a took a floor spot in the center. Knew I had an hour before Ozrics. Didn't know anyone, just looked around, taking it all in. I was so tired. I'd seen Gamalon, Santana and Hackett under similar circumstances and knew that I had to conserve energy. After all, I had to get up at 6 again this morning!

There were some reallllllly drunk-ass people there. I expect the stoner crowd at Ozrics, and actually find them harmless, except for the dancers. But whatever some of these people took was affecting them greatly. There was this one dude who looked like a midget Ben Stiller. Shirt undone, smelled like well....bad. Then a big guy and his equally big woman necking profusely. ANd my (least) favorite, and guy who turned dangerous when the music came on. He just wanted to slam around and raise hell. There's always one guy at an Ozrics show who is just a total ass. Had a waitress go through the crowd to take orders so people didn't have to give up their spot (she should have got battle pay for that).

Opened up with "Jurassic Shift". Love that tune - it's got all of the pieces that make their songs so great. When they played Sunscape "fake Ben" was laughing when Generator John announced it as "Soundscape". Such coherency for a total wasteoid.

Pretty much the same set as I'd seen them the past two times. Kick Muck, Astrocortex. My favorite thing about the, is the bass/drums beat. They never ever stop. Ozric drummers are demanded to be powerhouses. Be ready for 2+ hours of propulsion. Ed Wynne is always fantastic. He's very talented, and drives the band. John is just very goofy. he plays the hell out his flute, but you can't hear him sometimes for the other sounds. He's a lot of fun, and always has a nice drug reference or two.

See them if you can. Always. But stay away from the weirdos. They won't hurt you, but they are incredibly annoying.