Happy freakin' Opening Day! Yes, there have been some games played already, but as @GeorgesGhost put it: "It's not Opening Day until the Yankees play," and yes, I do know that that rhymes. CC Sabathia makes his 4th straight opening day start. Only Whitey "Chairman of the Board" Ford (rhyming again) had more with 7. The Yanks are mostly healthy heading into the season, which with a veteran team is essential, and that bodes well to get off to a good start. Unlike those bosox, who looked like they were already missing having an actual closer (although Papelbon did a great job for the Phillies yesterday) and Ryan Sweeney is not going to make anyone forget Jim Rice out in right.

I just ordered the second set of proof copies for "Rose." It looks like it should be complete and available for purchase hopefully by this time next week. You want to get me a birthday present (4/13) -- buy yourself a copy, buy your wife & girlfriend one, too and keep me away from honest employment.

Here's my review of Wednesday night's Lucero show at First Avenue. It also appears here: http://musicscenempls.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/lucero-first-avenue-april-4-2012/

“Well, if we’re gonna fuck up someone else’s song,” drawled Lucero’s front-man, Ben Nichols, about an hour into their set Wednesday night, “it might as well be The Replacements.” And then in a moment that would have made the late Bob Stinson proud, Nichols wandered off stage and returned with a liter bottle of Jamesons, before launching into a honky-tonk version of “If Only You Were Lonely.” The crowd around me up-front and center who had been singing along with nearly every word, starting with opener, Iowan William Elliot Whitmore (or, “Willie!!” as the guy behind me had been screaming since before the screen rose) seemed not to recognize the local legend’s song, but it was a great tribute.

Lucero, headlining for the first time at First Avenue, seemed very enthused to be playing this stage and delivered a great set from open to close. The set – and they don’t work from a list – was heavy on the last two, major label releases, 2009’s 1372 Overton Park and Women and Work, which came out a few weeks ago and the way the band is set up now with 2 guys on horns supplementing the 2 guitars, keyboards, the pedal steel and your standard rhythm section, these songs play great live and fill a bigger venue such as First Avenue.

Personally, I miss their days of small bars and the stripped down, punk rock alt-country sound, but I can’t fault Lucero for finding a bigger sound and a bigger audience. And I suppose I miss the days when they were seriously drinking, but again: who wants to see Ben Nichols go the way of Shane MacGowan (The Pogues) or Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster) other than the aforementioned Stinson? And when Lucero send some of the extra musicians off-stage for a breather and, hopefully, a drink, the old sound and feel is still there. And how can I complain when they do play the four songs I was hoping for: “Drink ‘til We’re Gone,” “Tears Don’t Matter Much,” “Night Like These,” and my yelled request of, “My Best Girl.” Yeah, no complaints. Great band, great show.

My only complaint about opener Whitmore, who only needs his own gravelly voice, a banjo (that had its battery go out early on him), the guitar that replaced it for the rest of his set, a bass drum and his soul on his sleeve was that I wished I’d been seeing him at Palmer’s. Well, and the guy yelling behind me. Yeah, he could have been somewhere else, too.

Cheers,

Brian