Gord's Golden voice has lost its luster.

Last night I attended the Gordon Lightfoot concert here in Kansas City. I won the tickets through a radio station contest and had a few of Gord's songs in my collection, so I thought it would be a decent concert to see - especially for free. I was wrong.

It's not that I hated the concert. I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to stand up, clap along, or sing with the crowd. I especially enjoyed that my ears weren't ringing when I left the theatre (and we were only 5 rows away from the speakers on the stage). But it was apparent from the first song that the 68 year-old Lightfoot should have hung up the touring boots a long time ago.

Anytime a song called for a high note or even a forceful inflection in the voice, Gordon got that look on his face that you get when you are sitting on the toilet trying to relieve yourself of some constipation. Singing shouldn't be that hard.

I have 5 of Lightfoot's songs on my iPod and those were the only 5 I knew at the concert last night. (I'm still not sure there is a better story-telling song than Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald) I was hoping to hear some new songs that I would want to add to my collection, and I think I did. But they will be added only because they sound infinitely better in their original recording than they did last night.

I don't know if Gord is out there touring because he squandered the money he made in his heyday and has no choice or if he just loves being on the road and singing. Only if it's the former do I feel sorry for him, but in either case, I feel sorry for his audience.

The 1st Entry

Well, here I am - in the blogosphere. It doesn't seem that special to me. But, I'll see if it grows on me.

I suppose the first thing I should do is explain why I am here. I think it is a simple matter of envy. You see, one of my best friends has a blog (feel free to visit it here). And I guess I liked the idea of being able to talk about whatever you want, whenever you want, to nobody in particular.

Basically, I got tired of only reading what he wanted to talk about and having to limit my blog participation to comments on his posts. So, I have decided to level the playing field, and balance the blog universe.

You see, Chris is a Cardinals fan and I am a Cubs fan. I am a Republican and Chris is something else - I'm not sure he knows exactly what he is. I work in the investment world, so I tend to side with big business, while he is for the little man. I am married with child(soon to be children) and he is enjoying the simplicities of the single life. Yes, he is the Yin to my Yang.

The desire to actually start my own blog came on a whim. I'm not sure what I was doing, but the idea struck me and I have decided to follow through. I don't know if this whim will be the "passing fancy" type like when I decided to learn how to play the piano (twice have had that whim and neither time did it last more than a week). Or maybe it will be one of those addictive whims like when I decided to try golf my senior year of high school just because I didn't want to go through all those long track & field practices. Time will tell.

As the title intimates, the blog will focus on baseball (and probably a lot about the Cubs), politics (but probably only a limited amount - I am not that into politics), and business. I will also venture into entertainment (TV, movies, music, hot celebrity gossip), family life (houses, children, school), and whatever else I decide to talk about. After all, that is why I am doing this - so I can talk about whatever I want, whenever I want, to nobody in particular.

So blogosphere - Here I Am!