I’m here at the Crash Mansion in L.A., waiting for Mike Peters of the Alarm to take the stage. I’m wearing my threadbare T-shirt from the Change tour, circa 1989. The room is packed with at least 16 expectant fans.

I’ll never understand why this guy isn’t more famous than Bono. That’s life for you.

UPDATE: Make that 23 fans!

UPDATE x2: There must be around 38 fans here now. It’s intermission.

Reminds me of when I saw one of the all-time great bands, Wasted Tape, in L.A. with about six other people.

UPDATE x3: What a great show. The man plays to 40 people with the same energy and intensity as if he were playing to 40,000.

He’s always done that.

And the backstory from the always-reliable Wikipedia:

Gilbert continued to work in television and movie soundtrack work as well as studio work and producing and eventually released his first solo album Thud (1995) as well as partially reforming Giraffe to perform the Genesis masterpiece The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway at Progfest ‘94. Gilbert’s manager sent a copy of the recording to Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford who were searching for a new Genesis front man to replace Phil Collins. His manager, Jon Rubin, had come to Gilbert’s home to tell him that he had managed to get him an audition and discovered his dead body.

If it’s true, it’s a terrible shame . . . that is, assuming Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford a) never saw the beginning of that video or b) had a really good sense of humor.

OK, due to the negative feedback from the quote quiz earlier this morning, here is a newer quote quiz. It’s easier than the one immediately below. In this one, I am using better-known songs.

No Googling. No peeking at other comments.

Here’s your first subject. Go!

1
It could be made into a monster

2
Get on with the fascination

3
Somebody told me
This is the place
Where everything’s better

4
Remember I’ll always be true

5
When I feel blue in the night
And I need you to hold me tight

6
They say the point demons guard is
An ocean grave, for all the brave

7
‘Cause you need to
Be back in the arms of a good friend

8
Drunk in the gardens and the graves

9
There’s a small boat made of china
Going nowhere on the mantelpiece

10
Listen you
Take your hands from her head

Good luck. You should do better on this one.

It’s been a while since we had one of these.

The rules are simple. Googling is cheating. Reading others’ comments before answering is cheating.

Whoever gets the most correct answers gets a virtual pat on the head from me.

1
And she passes the time at another man’s side
I pass the time with my pride

2
Into the crucifix night
The storm of a cross

3
But my dreams are for dreaming
And best left that way

4
And there are days, she said
The sunlight through the trees
Feels like my own creation

5
I got drunk with your brother
And we caught Jon Brion’s set

6
Droogie don’t crash here

7
I’d steal all the microphones
From all the masters of ceremony

8
A pretty girl to love me
With the same last name as mine

9
If there’s work to be done
There’s these two strong hands

10
Kept my heart in dark ruins

Good luck!

UPDATE: The feedback I’m getting is that this is too hard. Fine; I’ll make it easier next time.

Still, if you listen to what I listen to, you’d get ‘em.

UPDATE x2: OK, this one is easier.

So I got an Ipod for Christmas. I got the 160 GB version, which is perfect. I’ve been ripping my favorite albums, and have well over 300 albums on there now (160kbps AAC for rock music, 192kbps AAC for classical) and still have used only about 1/6 of the thing’s capacity. It’s amazing that I’ve avoided this device for so long, but I’m glad I waited until one came out with this capacity.

Fun stuff.

P.S. A post like this inevitably invites a slew of comments about how I did everything wrong — there are better players out there, I’m ripping CDs at the wrong rate, etc. etc. etc. I can’t stop you, so go ahead.

[posted by Justin Levine]

Here is some good news for the holidays.

Los Angeles is on track to record its lowest homicide rate since 1970, when 394 people were killed.

This mirrors recent trends in New York. As the NY Times pointed out in November -

But within the citys official crime statistics is a figure that may be even more striking: so far, with roughly half the killings analyzed, only 35 were found to be committed by strangers, a microscopic statistic in a city of more than 8.2 million.

As for L.A., “Police attribute the decline to a variety of factors, including more focused policing — and chance.”

Reporters might not be considering the classical music factor, which some California judges are taking notice of. More Mozart. Less Snoop.

[PDF link alert] Broken Windows theory is becoming more and more prescient as the years go by.

– Justin Levine

Details here. Any DVDs available on eBay yet? It’s been hours already!

[Guest post by DRJ]

Yahoo notes that Michael Jackson’s album Thriller is 25-years-old this week and asks if it was the “Best Album Ever”:

“Thiller had just nine songs on it. Of those nine songs, seven reached the top 10. If you break down those seven top 10 tracks, five entered the top five, two of which even hit number one. Talk about getting your money’s worth.”

I’ll defer to our musically-inclined host but I think it might be.

– DRJ

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Music is, of course, a matter of taste, and people will have different reactions to the question: “Is Thriller the Best Album Ever?”

That said, the correct answer is “no.”

UPDATE BY DRJ: Heh. I knew you’d say that.

I went looking for the new Eagles album at the local Borders yesterday — the second time I had tried to buy it. I was informed it is a “Wal Mart exclusive.” Now that’s good marketing!

It’s at Walmart.com at this link.

I can’t imagine many of the songs are as good as the one you can see in this video, which can’t be embedded. It’s a laid-back Timothy B. Schmidt song with plenty of trademark Eagles harmonies. It doesn’t sound like 2007.

If you just aren’t the type to click on links, I’ll embed this video for you to give you your Sunday morning Eagles fix. It’s the Doolin’ Dalton/Desperado reprise, performed live, with some hokey video to go along with it.

So we went to see the Eagles concert Saturday night at the new Nokia Theater.

It was good.

The “Dixie Chicks” opened up. They were OK. I spent most of the show trying to figure out which one was the prettiest. (Answer: almost certainly the one on the left. But the one on the right wasn’t bad either.) Judge for yourself:

Apparently they do quite well living off their anti-Bush sentiments. (I’m ashamed that the Dixie Chicks are from Texas!) They sang a song that Mrs. P. told me had something to do with all that nonsense. I guess they won’t back down, or something. Whatever.

The Eagles were very good. There were a million songs they could have played but didn’t. Well-known ones they didn’t do included Take It to the Limit; Best of My Love; Saturday Night; or Tequila Sunrise. Lesser-known ones I would like to have heard include You Never Cry Like a Lover or Doolin’ Dalton.

Of those, I think I was most upset at not hearing Take It to the Limit. Timothy B. Schmidt sang lead vocals on only one song, and it was a newer one where he didn’t get to sing in his patented Pants-Are-Three-Sizes-Too-Tight range.

Still: hearing Don Henley sing “Desperado” live is a treat I never had before, and it was something. I also really enjoyed Joe Walsh’s rendition of “Life’s Been Good,” complete with new lyrics:

I have a mansion
Forget the price
Ain’t never been there
Glenn tells me it’s nice

. . . .

I have a limo
Ride in the back
I go to Lakers games
And sit next to Jack

I’m making records
My fans they can’t wait
They write me letters
Tell me Don’s great

Joe wore a “Helmet Cam” with panache. It filmed the audience. I have always loved Joe Walsh, and wonder exactly what his deal is. Is he perpetually drunk? Or is he really just like that? Any way you slice it, he’s entertaining.

The Nokia Theater is new and very roomy. We were at the back of the orchestra section, and it was like sitting in the exit row of an airplane. It had even more leg room than the other rows, which were already pretty good on the legroom front. With a pair of 17x binoculars, we could see the expressions on everyone’s face without needing to rely on the two large video screens.

I’d obviously have preferred to have seen these guys in a small setting, doing an acoustic show filled with lesser-known songs. But you can’t have everything.

Hey, I can’t complain. But sometimes I still do.

UPDATE: I deleted a gratuitous insult from the post.

Luciano Pavarotti is dead at 71, of pancreatic cancer.

Pavarotti has always had one of the most recognizable voices in opera, and along with Placido Domingo is (virtually) everyone’s favorite tenor.

I will be seeing Verdi’s Requiem this Sunday, the day that Pavarotti is laid to rest. Domingo will conduct. On the way home, I heard that Domingo will dedicate the Requiem to Pavarotti (as well as someone else whose name I didn’t catch). It will be a nice way to say goodbye.

[Guest post by DRJ]

Patterico’s Pontifications needs a theme song but it should be something better than the Nixon Peabody song.

Any suggestions?