Concert Review: Bob Seger with Special Guest Joe Walsh

Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
April 2, 2013

The incomparable Joe Walsh opened the show to a packed house. What’s not to love about Joe? Dressed in a dark red leather jacket and black pants, his hair down to his shoulders, he looked great. He sounded great. My only criticism was that he didn’t play long enough!

Being a fan since his James Gang days, I loved “Walk Away” and “Funk #49” but the first big cheer from the audience came during “In the City.” The entire crowd was on its feet and singing along to “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way.” Walsh quipped that if he were president, he’d make that the new National Anthem. When Bob Seger took the stage, he said what a treat it was to hear Walsh perform “Rocky Mountain Way” in Denver. Indeed. Hearing and watching Walsh perform is always a treat for me. “I used to live here,” Joe said as he introduced the song. “But I don’t remember much about it. They tell me I had a good time.” I personally recall those days—hearing about how Walsh recorded and lived at Caribou Ranch and wishing I would have been able to drive up there and hang out with the masters as they worked their magic. If I’m not mistaken, both “Barnstorm” and “The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get” were recorded there. Superb albums. I’d love to hear Walsh perform “Turn to Stone” again. In any case, Walsh never disappoints and I’ve seen him live many times.

Come back again, Joe, and next time, play longer!

Joe’s Setlist:                                                                                                                 Walk Away                                                                                                                 Analog Man                                                                                                                 Funk #49                                                                                                                            In the City                                                                                                                    Life’s Been Good                                                                                                       Rocky Mountain Way

(There was one more song in there, but I didn’t write it down!)

 

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

I love many different types of music, but there are times when nothing else will do but the familiar arms of good old rock ‘n’ roll.

The one and only Mr. Bob Seger. You know how great musicians have the ability to make time go in reverse for a few hours? Bob did that the other night. As he sang, his gentle melodies and beautiful voice transported me instantly back to my late teens/early twenties and held me there for the duration of the concert. Seger has a touch that reassures my soul, even when he’s screaming “Rock and roll never forgets!”

My first impression was that if I were to run ito him on the street, I wouldn’t have recognized him. That’s probably because I haven’t seen him in concert since the ‘80s. Back then, he still had dark hair. Now his hair and beard are completely white (or grey) and he wore rectangular-shaped glasses. “I’ll be 68 in May,” he said, explaining why he needed to sit down for a few of his songs. Hard to believe, because although he didn’t look like the Bob Seger I remembered, when he opened his mouth and sang, he was STILL the Bob Seger I knew. I hate that great musicians like Bob, who have brought so much joy and enriched the lives of so many, have to get old. People with that much talent ought to live forever. I guess in a way they do, through their music, but it just seems so unfair. I got the impression that there was a bit of a farewell tone in his stage presence but he still kicked it like there was no tomorrow, so I hope he never quits.

One of my favorite moments was during “Main Street,” when several white spotlights lit up Alto Reed and his silver saxophone. I felt like stars were leaping from his horn, gently bouncing off the walls and entering my heart, and I asked my husband to take a picture, but all he had was his cell phone, and the picture doesn’t do it justice. I noticed that even while I was there, when I watched the large screens on either side of the stage, it felt surreal–it was somehow so removed from what was really going on live.

There many were extraordinary performances that night, and the Silver Bullet Band was just as outstanding as they’ve always been, but the song that really stood out for me was “Like a Rock.” There was so much emotion in Seger’s voice that it brought me to tears and forced me to step back from my ordinary self—out of myself almost—and I breathed in the vibration surrounding me with all my senses—the purple, green and blue lights, the fantastic music and vocals. “These are the moments that make me a wealthy soul…” Bob sang and I felt it and believed it with all my soul.

“Roll Me Away” was so magnificent that I never wanted it to end. Sometimes there are no words to describe music, and all I managed to jot in my tiny notebook was “FREAKING MAGNIFICENT!” I couldn’t even tear myself away from the experience long enough to put my feelings into words. Anyway, it seemed like a travesty to waste time taking notes when there was so much great stuff happening.

Bob talked candidly about the origins of some of his songs, including a new song he’s recording called “California Stars” which he said was written by Woody Guthrie. “We’ve Got Tonight” was inspired by the movie “The Sting” and was originally titled “This Old House.” Seger played piano as he sang “We’ve Got Tonight”, as well as “Turn the Page,” another of my favorite Seger hits.

If I had to sum up the evening using Bob’s lyrics, it would be: “We’ve got tonight. Who needs tomorrow? We’ve got tonight babe, why don’t you stay?”

Thank you, Bob. I hope you’re not planning on going anywhere for a long, long time… (Why do I have a lump in my throat just writing this?) Love ya, Bob.

Silver Bullet Band Musicians:
Bob McMillan – guitar
Chris Campbell – bass
Don Brewer – drums
Jim Moose Brown – guitar and piano
Craig Frost – piano
Alto Reed – saxophone
Horns: Motor City Horns: Keith Kaminski-sax, John Rutherford-trombone, Mark Byerly-trumpet, and Bob Jensen-trumpet

Setlist:
Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You
Fire Down Below
Main Street
Old Time Rock and Roll
All the Roads (New song)
Like A Rock
Travelin’ Man
Beautiful Loser
Roll Me Away
Come to Poppa
New song
We’ve Got Tonight
Turn the Page
Sunspot Baby
Katmandu

Encore:
Against the Wind
Hollywood Nights

2nd Encore:
Night Moves
Rock and Roll Never Forgets

New Interviews Posted

A sincere THANK YOU to Tara Sutphen and Tim Northburg for recently featuring me in their online and podcast interviews. It was an honor and a pleasure to have been invited to do these guest spots with you!

The interview I did on “Transformations with Tara”, with the lovely and talented Tara Sutphen is now available here: http://contacttalkradio.net/CTR/tarasutphen022213.mp3. Tara and I discuss my unexpected and incredible spiritual awakening and its effects on my life.

I also did a short interview for Tim Northburg’s “Otterocity Blog” here: http://www.otterocity.com/apps/blog/show/25376574-otterview-pat-walker. This blog is dedicated to finding more joy in life, and who can’t use more joy? Tim is also an excellent writer and has several books published. Please visit his website for more information.

Voyage into the Mind and Limitless Possibilities

My heart is beating fast with anticipation, frustration and excitement because I’m so inspired I want to climb out of my skin. My next book is swirling in my mind like a mad tornado, ripping up everything in its path: ideas are bouncing around in my head, in the pages of my notebook, scribbled on scraps of paper that get scattered all over the house, and saved in dozens of computer files. In other words, the story is still working itself out but not fast enough to catch up with my emotions. That’s often what happens to me. I don’t write the story, or the poetry that comes out of my hands—they write themselves. But it’s coming. I still need to do some research though, and that takes time.

As a means of better understanding the revelations I’ve been shown about the power of the body, mind, and spirit, and in order to more effectively relate what I’ve learned through my books, in a few weeks, I’m attending the 6-day Gateway Voyage program at The Monroe Institute (TMI) in Virginia. TMI is dedicated to educating people from all walks of life and from over the world about peak human performance under the premise that human beings are much more than their physical bodies and they use sound to induce altered states of consciousness. That’s exactly how my out-of-body experience (OBE) happened to me—sound waves (in my case through live music) lifted me out of my body and showed me my definition of self, God, truth, and the meaning of my life, so TMI seemed like the next logical step.

In retrospect, it’s no surprise that TMI came to me in the serendipitous manner in which it did. When I first had my OBE during Sammy Hagar’s concert in Mexico in 2003, I had no idea what had happened to me. I thought it was my imagination. Or the heat. Or the tequila. But things changed instantly in my life as a result, and I knew that heat or tequila or my imagination were not enough to maintain the ongoing and exceedingly incredible things that I soon found taking place in my life.

I kept a journal, because the things that were happening to me were so hard for me to believe and so wonderful. These things didn’t happen to ordinary people like me! But they were. Fearing for my sanity while at the same time, feeling in complete awe at all the events taking place, I sought concrete explanations. After my Internet search of the words “altered states of consciousness” brought up a book titled Muddy Tracks by Frank DeMarco, I checked the book out of my local library and eventually bought it.

As I read the first few chapters of Frank’s book, I became disgusted with myself for harboring the ridiculous notion that I could ever write a book about what was happening to me. “There’s no reason for me to try to write a book about all this,” I told myself. “Frank already wrote it!” DeMarco was saying the exact same things that I was going to say–and although I initially felt discouraged as far as the writing of my own book, it was such a relief to discover that I wasn’t losing my mind because obviously, these things happened to other people too. But Frank’s story also differed from mine in a lot of ways, one of which was his mentioning of a place in Virginia called The Monroe Institute and how it helped him travel out of his body to places all over the world and to other dimensions.

The more I read Muddy Tracks, the more I got the feeling that I was supposed to contact Mr. DeMarco, but I kept pushing the thought away, telling myself that it was ridiculous. What would I say to him? And the moment I had these thoughts, I read in Muddy Tracks, how Frank was considering writing to the author of a book he was reading. The title was something about a praying mantis, I think. One day as he was pondering all this, he noticed a praying mantis clinging to the outside of his screen door, and he took it as a sign that he should indeed contact that author. But like me, he told himself he was being ridiculous and he didn’t know what to say to her, so he talked himself out of it. A year later, he finally decided to reach out to that author but when he did, he discovered that she had recently passed away. He would never know the impact that author would have had on his life.

When I read this in Frank’s book, I nearly fell out of my chair. It was as if he had read my mind and was telling me not to make the same mistake he did. So with trepidation, I emailed him, telling myself, “He’s a famous writer. He’ll never answer me.”

Days later, I received an email from him.

We exchanged emails for a little while and he was very encouraging and kind. At the time I was still unsure of where my experiences were leading me and I was afraid, so I was rather vague about whom the famous celebrity was that was involved in my story and other details.

Years passed. I wrote my book, got an official endorsement from Sammy, then proceeded to try and find an agent. After countless rejection letters, I decided to self-publish. I knew I had a good book. I knew it was well-written. But something told me to contact Mr. DeMarco again. Maybe he’d be interested in hearing what became of my experiences. Maybe he’d even write me a blurb of endorsement! I almost talked myself out of it again because I didn’t want to bother him, but something within me insisted, so I emailed him once more.

Not only did he write a blurb for my book, but he gave me the name of his publisher and told me he would recommend me to him because he thought his publisher might be interested in my story since he specialized in New Age books.

I contacted Frank’s publisher and he asked for my book proposal, which I sent. Then I held my breath. I’d been through this process before, but something about this time felt different. Within a week, the publisher told me that he loved my book and wanted to publish it.

I later learned that my publisher too, had participated in several workshops at The Monroe Institute, and when the opportunity recently presented itself for me to go, I jumped on it without giving it much thought. Part of me scolded, “It’s too expensive! Think of all the other things you could do with that money!” But, as is now typical of the serendipity and synchronicity that has poured into my life since my OBE in 2003 at Sammy’s concert, it all just fell into my lap and I felt nudged by an unseen force, so I’m doing it! I’ve learned over the years that when something happens so effortlessly like that, whether I understand its significance at the time or not, it’s always in my  best interest to see it through.

I will keep a journal while I’m there to record my experiences. From what I hear, I’m sure they will be vast. And although I’m going there with no expectations other than to gain a better understanding of the power of my mind and spirit, since I’ve already had an OBE, I’m curious to find out what will happen during my Gateway Voyage.

Stay tuned.

(For more information on The Monroe Institute, please click here: The Monroe Institute)