David and I attended the Yes concert tonight at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford CT. The opening band (also from the UK), Porcupine Tree, was inspired by Yes, and a handful of other 70s art-rock bands like Rush and ELP. They wandered on stage at 7:25 pm, and played for about 40 minutes.

Yes walked on stage around 8:40 or so, and played a solid two hour set. The crowd was mostly over-35s, many of whom bought a lot of beer, and screamed their lungs out, trying not to embarrass their kids in many cases. Sitting two seats from us was a guy with his 17-year old kid. The kid told us he was seeing Yes for the 12th time, and his dad was attending his 44th concert. When Porcupine Tree would finish a song, he'd scream, "WHERE THE HELL IS YES??", and after the second time, someone a few rows down yelled, "PUT A CORK IN IT!". We sat in the second balcony, and the seats were fine. Mostly older people surrounded us (yes, I include myself in the definition of "old"), so no one stood up and danced through the 11 songs the band performed. (The set list is below).

Surprisingly, the band rocked through their set. Chris Squire appeared to be having the most fun, walking about the stage with his cordless bass guitar. He offered the audience a 10-minute solo piece with Alan White, which was a much longer version of The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus), from the album Fragile. He received an deserved extended ovation when the song ended.

Rick Wakeman was surrounded by four keyboards, and would often run between two of them so as to not miss a beat. Jon Anderson sang, played guitar on a few tunes, and various percussive instruments on others. Steve Howe stood his ground, alternating between a number of guitars, including one mounted on a unit on wheels that could be moved away from him when he wasn't playing. Howe is one of my favorite guitarists, and after 35+ years, he still has his chops. Both he and Wakeman seemed subdued at times - I think age has taken a toll. But they both worked hard and made great sounds. Alan White sat behind the four and provided solid rhythm throughout.

Set list:

1. Magnification (album: Magnification)
2. Don't Kill the Whale (album: Tormato)
3. In The Presence Of (album: Magnification)
4. We Have Heaven (album: Fragile)
5. South Side of the Sky (album: Fragile)
6. Close to the Edge (album: Close to the Edge)
7. Heart of the Sunrise (album: (album: Fragile)
8. Long Distance Runaround (album: Fragile)
9. The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) (album: Fragile)
10. Starship Troopers (album: The Yes Album)
ENCORE
11. Roundabout (album: Fragile)

Quibbles: When the technicians were setting up the stage and doing final sound checks, one of them played the opening chords to Yours is No Disgrace, perhaps my favorite Yes song. As you can see from above, the band didn't play it, nor did they play Owner of a Lonely Heart, Your Move, or And You And I. But I digress. It was a great show, and I still have my hearing.

David, Susan and I are on the Quinnipiac University campus, in the library where Susan works. The campus sits at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park, a local mountain covered in trees that are all changing colours as I type. The campus is a private institution, and has lots of money (and Canada geese). The library building is two years old, and is, frankly, gorgeous. The PAC stations are black, with flat screens, and the campus is about to go ubiquitously wireless. (U of Alberta, just watching...)

We are off shortly to take more photos of the breathtaking scenery (not the geese). Then into New Haven for more fun and lattes. Later tonight: Yes.

I arrived yesterday afternoon in New Haven on the train, from Grand Central Terminal. Earlier in the morning, I wandered to the Strand, and picked up a few books. Some of the titles I want are not in stock, no big deal. I realized when I landed that I left my NYC maps and guide book in Edmonton. Perhaps my subconcious is getting cocky in its old age, assuming I know my way around well enough now. Admittedly, when I went to see the Halloween Parade, and then to Strand, it was on automatic pilot. Still, I bought another fold out map which I do need for downtown, beyond the numbered streets and avenues.

In New Haven, David, Susan and I relaxed and visited, and scouted the papers for things to do. I noticed that Yes is playing here tonight, so David called and secured two tix for us to see the concert (Susan passed). We went for Chinese food, then rented the movie, Last Orders, starring Michael Caine, David Hemmings, Bob Hoskins, Tom Courtenay, Ray Winstone, and Helen Mirren. Great movie, hard to understand the heavy English accents in parts. In a while, we are going out to see the gorgeous fall colours here, lots of reds and oranges and yellows.

I am in NYC tonight. The flights from Edm-Mpls and Mpls-La Guardia were uneventful and on time, early even. Had a nice ride into Manhattan on a shuttle, comparing notes with other passengers. One of them was running in the NYC Marathon on Sunday. I arrived at Anthony and Barbara's place around 6:15 pm, visited briefly, and walked to 6th Ave and 21st St to see the Halloween Parade. The crowd was 2-3 deep by the time I made it, so my viewpoint wasn't great. Some nice people around me however, which made it more enjoyable. Many of the costumes were run-of-the-mill, but there were a few gems, some of them puppets controlled by sticks handled by the person walking underneath the skeleton, etc. There was a marching band playing Rock Lobster! Afterwards, I wandered 21st Street and took a photos of a few of the costumed participants. Sorry that I can't share them with you while I'm here, but will do so when I return.

Off to New Haven tomorrow afternoon. Love to all.

Tomorrow I'm off to NYC for my 11th visit to the area since 1990. I'm also visiting friends in New Haven on the weekend. I'm looking forward to a break from reality in New York, a city I've grown to admire considerably since my first visit. Confirmed plans include seeing the Hallowe'en Parade, the play Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune, starring Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci, and a return visit to the WTC area. I will hang with friends, walk a lot, see Jessica, see new movies, visit The Strand, and whatever else happens, happens. I hope to take many pictures, digital and film.

I'm planning to post comments here while I'm away, so please check back when you can. There's a nifty 'net cafe on 42nd Street that I'll frequent while in Manhattan.

The subject of overload be it pop culture overload, media overload, information overload, whatever, is a topic of regular discussion among friends and family. Each year I swear I will limit, drastically, the number of television shows I will watch, in order to free up more time (to do other pop culture stuff?) Anyway, this fall I decided to continue to watch the 3 Law and Orders, West Wing, SNL, MAD-TV, Ebert & Roper, 24, and The Sopranos, and Sports Centre, as well as various sporting shows, bits of late night talk shows like Charlie Rose, The Daily Show, etc. (Aside: I lament the demise of the shows of Dennis Miller, Bill Maher and Tom Snyder (warning: bubble machine sounds), but life goes on.)

New shows I'd give a shot would be Robbery Homicide Division, Without A Trace, CSI: Miami, Presidio Med, Boomtown. Now, totalling up these shows w/o adding in the sports and talk shows, and you've got 13 hours of television. OK, add in more, and it's probably up to 20 hours. I realized this, and immediately dumped Boomtown, CSI: Miami, and reluctantly, Presidio Med (I have an immense crush on Julianne Nicholson).

Still...that's a lot of tv. Life is short. And I'm about to take another trip to NYC. Historically, I would leave and program my two VCRs to tape 12 shows while I was away. Now I'm thinking, what does it matter? So I'm setting up to tape The Sopranos, 24, and a few Law and Orders. Will pass on everthing else.

But this is just a small sample of the larger issue of total and complete pop culture overload.

Up till the mid-70s, if you were interested in one aspect of said pop culture, be it one genre of music, movies, fiction, drama, television, whatever, you could follow it, with a concerted effort at best. In the past 25-30 years, everything in the media has exploded geometrically. We've gone from a few tv stations to hundreds. Same with music, movies, pop culture in general. Pick a genre of music and try to keep tabs on more than a handful of bands and artists - it's not easy. Pick a genre of fiction (for me, it used to be sf), and the challenge is to try to stay abreast of the field for year. Unless you can speed read and don't have to work, I doubt you can do it.

Add to that equation All Things Internet, and your brain shuts down unless you filter. The only unchanging factor in the equation is the number of hours in the day: it's still 24. I try to balance my pop culture interests, and at different times, some overtake others. My balancing equation also includes musicianship, which as some of you, has been backburning now for a few months.

In any event, it's a challenge to maintain multiple interests. We have more to choose from, and even when Sturgeon's Law applies, and you can weed out that 90%, you're still left with an enormous bounty of new pleasures to be discovered. How can we ever be bored? Maybe never, and when we appear to be, it's probably our systems trying to shut down and reboot.

Then again that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. (Nod to Dennis Miller.)

It seems headlines from The Onion are being taken seriously, once again. (You might have heard about the Beijing Evening News in China reporting an Onion headline as real?)

Now the Branch County Michigan sherrif's department has advised its residents that Al-Qaeda in involved in telemarketing schemes. Apparently they were responding to recent complaints of telemarketing scams in the area, especially targeting the elderly. During the course of their investigations they found the link to the Onion article which described members of Al-Qaeda involved in telemarketing to raise money, thought magazine subscriptions, vacation home rentals, etc.

The detective involved said he wasn't aware that The Onion was a humor publication, but that he believes a link to the Onion's web site was available on the Michigan Attorney General's web site, which of course, was denied by that office.

This certainly increases my confidence in local law enforcement.

I've spent the last 30 minutes browsing through NYC Bloggers, as I'm in a New York state of mind. There are a few gems out there. Check out Jay L Zilber's Mind Over What Matters, "commentary on political, social and cultural fringe matters." Within he offers a list of pundit sites, including Bitch Pundit, Music-Pundit, and more. There's even Punditwatch.

In one of the few negative reviews of Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore's brilliant and disturbing new documentary on American gun culture, Desson Howe of the Washington Post writes: "A lot of this is amusing and somehow telling. But what does it all add up to?" I'm not sure Moore knows the answer himself, but I don't see that as a reason to slag this movie. After the Columbine massacre in 1999, Moore went to Littleton CO to learn more about life there and to meet some of the surviving students. Along the way, he introduces us to a number of individuals, displays statistics, and shares graphic images, some at times incredibly disturbing. For me, this is where the power of the film lies.

In the most startling and unnerving sequence, Moore splits the screen into a quad, and in each section plays video from one of four surveillance cameras at Columbine High. Sitting in a packed theatre, no one could move in their seats. I could barely breathe. Thinking about it now, I'm at a loss for words to describe how I felt.

Moore likes to get in the face of some of his subjects, including Dick Clark (who slams a van door on him) and Charlton Heston, leader of the NRA. Heston walks away from Moore in mid-interview, when Moore (foolishly in my estimation) asks Heston if he'd apologize to residents of Littleton and Flint MI (also Moore's hometown) for staging NRA rallies in those cities after school shootings. In Flint's case, a 6-year old boy killed a 6-year old girl. I think Moore could do better, but he is relentless in his drive, and I admire him for that. Moore also interviews Marilyn Manson, and James Nichols, the brother of Terry Nichols, who with Timothy McVeigh, conspired to bomb the building in Oklahoma City in April 1995.

The film leaves you with the unanswered question: why do Americans kill so frequently with guns. I don't know if we'll ever learn the answer(s). ****1/2

One of my (many) annoyances is the trend that began, oh, who knows, in the early 80s perhaps, of parents naming their kids last names that are less than conventional. (Meaning names that are traditionally last names only, unlike my own, Randall, or my brother, Christopher, etc - names that function as first or last names). Or just strange and bizarre names. Or changing one letter to make the name look "cool" (usually means replacing an "i" with a "y", like Madyson or something equally childish.) Contractions of two names. Whatever. Have you even been shopping somewhere, and you hear a yuppie mom yell something like, "Tyler, Tyson, Mckenzie, we're leaving now!". When that happens, I want to slap the parent upside the head and ask them why they decided to inflict such cruelty on their children. (If your name is Tyler, Tyson or Mckenzie, no offense!) I was in Costco once, and the woman behind me had two beautiful little girls - their names were Kennedy and McKinley, after dead presidents or something.

From Rebecca's site I found "Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing - A Primer on Parent Cruelty" (Bow towards Chris Issak.) Here you will find not lists of names, but "naming questions and suggestions posted on two different baby naming bulletin boards going back as far as early 2001" Read it, and you will cringe. Would you name your child Denver Kade Lional, Xev Chiana Louise, Vashara Rashea, Kakinston? Speaking of contractions, one woman wants to name her girl Thazel, which is a contraction of Thelma and Hazel. AAGHHHHH! But wait, there's more.

Derryl recently moved back to Canadaland from Logan, Utah. He found this site many moons ago, and I share it with you now. It's called The Utah Baby Namer, and it is really scary. Cut to the chase and examine "The Cream of the Crop". Read it, wince, cringe again, and give thanks for your name, whatever it might be. After all, you could be named LaVoice, Nazhalena, Crayon, Pictorianna, D'Asia, L'orL, Thermos, Dianarea, Jennyfivetina, NaLa'DeLuhRay, Vyquetoriya (changing the letters again, get it?), and yes - wait for it - Clitoris.

BTW, what names would I like to give my kids? Laura, Katie (Kate and all variations of Catherine/Katherine), Annie, Erin, Sara, Rachel, Loren, Michael, Daniel...and so it goes. Call me old fashioned. Just don't call me late for dinner.

I saw The Ring last night, and was generally disappointed. The film stars Naomi Watts (from Mulholland Drive) as a reporter for the Seattle Times-Intelligence, whose 16-year old niece passes away from heart failure. Watts' sister, her niece's mother, cannot find any record of a 16-year old girl dying this way, and asks Watts to investigate. She learns that her niece had watched a videotape with three other teenagers at a cabin, and soon discovers that all four of them died at the same hour on the same night. The word is, you watch the tape, you have seven days to live.

The film is marketed as a psychological thriller, and it works in parts, but not in others. I confess that I went to the film hoping to be scared sh*tless, and it didn't happen, not even close. Dozens of giggling teenagers in the theatre, however, were scared as such. I kept waiting for the movie to kick into second gear, with heightened tension, keeping you on the edge of your seat, but this never happens. Watts gets her ex-husband involved, after she watches the tape. He also watches it (of course), and comes to believe in her fear. They begin tracking down the origin of the tape, which leads them to ... never mind!

Watts is credible in her role, as are the supporting cast, featuring solid cameos from Jane Alexander and Brian "I Was The Original Hannibal Lecter" Cox. But the movie never takes off in a logical direction. Watts' son, Aidan, seems to be possessed with a sixth sense (hmm, sound familiar?), and of course, he too sees the videotape. His connection to the solution, and why he has a telepathic power of sorts, is never explained. I'd say more, but I'd be going into serious spoiler territory. **1/2