Sorry Joe, they flamed you again. (Page 5 of 5)

Joe Bonamassa wrote:

Don't worry about the reviewers. They write for papers that mean nothing. The fans in central New York are so cool that I will take the jealous beat down every time. It's not about the haters who prey on the kid from Campbell Ave it's about you all.  Bring on their best minds as writers I will take it all. Doesn't change the fact that I love my Mom and Dad .. Love the place I'm from and the fact I happen to be smarter and more successful than any of the writers from the Post Standard and New Times ever thought of being is a mere side  bar to the more prevailing issue of the fact I actually comp these morons a ticket!! What an embarrassment it was for the latest reviewer dude to attend my concert..?? I hope his credibility is still intact visa vie the wanna bees, USTA- bees or never-Beens  he hangs with. Stay home or pay full face value next time.  PS... All of this doesn't put a damper on the enthusiasm in the way that  upstate New York media take my money to advertise the show then send the goons to review it poorly. I hope the latest goon has fun at the Pitbull show. ( for he is a true connoisseur of the arts )    It's astounding how vitriolic they come off but with a furrowed brow then dig their heels in like they've ever traveled or have seen the world outside the confines of their little village.    Welcome to the greatest place to grow up and the worst. I hope they are proud of themselves for trying to discourage me. But not gonna happen. You gotta bring better than two cub reporters to try my resolve.
Love you mom and dad and will always play for you in and near my home town.
Joe B

Well, I do'nt know if you are well-read in the Scriptures, but I do hope so (" The Whale That Swallowed Jonah"). Remember: A prophet has no honour in his own country! It seems to be quite normal... Nevertheless and just for that very reason too regarding your own family roots keep on playing there where you're coming from, Joe B.
Just do your very best no matter what other reviewers write afterwards there or somewhere else...
Anna Laura

Wooders wrote:

History is littered with examples of dumb reviewers who are out of touch with the real world - Uriah Heep in the early 70s is just one example (Google what happened, if you don't know the story).

Well I have to say, this is the last place I ever expected to see Uriah Heep referenced. Uriah Heep Live was my very first LP. Still have it. Still play it. I saw them in 1976. Mick Box had a cast on his right wrist. Didn't miss a note. Blue Oyster Cult was 2nd back up band. Atlanta Rhythm Section was first. I was 16. BTW, it was also my first concert.

Joe's Hartford show is my most recent. Lot's of music in between, but I must say I haven't been that charged up at a concert in a long time. Every note just resonated.

I really had no idea what to expect and, unlike the critic cited above, arrived at the show with no preconceived notions.

My previous awareness of JB was solely from a PBS fundraiser where they were offering the Beacon Theater DVDs. That was a couple of years ago. Then, by happenstance, I saw the gear truck parked in Clinton, NJ on May 11th and I thought, hum, the JB show must be in the area. I looked online and found the Hartford show had a few single seats left. I pondered the decision of whether a 3 hour drive to see a 2 hour show (3 as it turned out) and then have a 3 hour ride home was not just a bit too crazy. It's not like I'm 20. But I went for it, and had so much fun I would have made the drive again the next night if there was another show.

I've played guitar off and on for most of my life. I had lots of desire, but little ability. I keep trying, but I'm just not a musician. My 16 year old son, on the other hand, is a borderline sax prodigy. He plays very little, listens very little, but plays great for the limited effort. He's in every band in HS and plays alto, tenor and bari. He's a natural. But where I lack the ability, he lacks the desire. It kills me to see him wasting his talent. How many people are there like myself that want to do it, but just can't.

What I saw at my first Joe show is what happens when natural talent and desire coexist in the same person. Maybe in another lifetime, if things zigged instead of zagging, it would be me up there commanding 135dB of sonic transformative power & energy. But what I took from the show is the knowledge, gratitude and appreciation that at least someone is doing it, and doing as well or better than I could have ever imagined me doing it.

So that's my review. And I paid for my ticket. As a matter of fact I now have tickets for the Baltimore and DC gigs as well and have started my JB music collection with From Nowhere in Particular. I'd buy more but it's taking longer than expected to digest the guitar solo in Mountain Time. I could listen to that forever...just sayin'.

And I should add:

The sax player is son#2.

Son#1, who coincidently is heading upstate NY this fall to attend Rensselaer, made an interesting comment while "I" was listening to From Nowhere in Particular on the way to the movies the other night.

To fully appreciate the comment, you have to understand that Son#1 is completely entrenched in today's world and shuns anything, especially music, from the past. Not that he is claiming is it not good, but it's old. It's yesterday's news. He wants to hitch his wagon in the present. His brother will gladly sport an old Bob Dylan shirt, he would not be caught dead in same.

So Mountain Time is playing. No one is talking. But they're teenagers, and lack of talking does not equate to listening. As the solo starts, the car seems to get quieter than quiet. I feel it, but it's not clear any one else does. As the solo winds down, and the song comes to an end, I hear it: A voice from the back seat and apparently another dimension, "Well, I must say, he sure can make a guitar sing". Boom.

So Joe, you might have some more support up there soon.