My fellow Vinyl friends, it is a good day here at the Vinyl Empire.

If a tree falls…

After nearly a month, the tree that fell in my back yard is being removed, no thanks to my neighbor (whose yard this tree was formerly in.) After he went AWOL, I decided to pursue my original gameplan, and put an ad on Craigslist on Friday morning, offering up the tree’s wood in exchange for removal of the tree.

I posted the following in the “barter” section:

You have a chainsaw and a truck? The wood is yours to keep. I have a large tree currently occupying a large portion of my back yard that fell during a recent storm.

Please contact me if interested – would appreciate the help, greatly!

Within a day, I had a message from someone who said he would bring his sons and chainsaws and take care of it. Right now, they are doing exactly that.

So if you aren’t taking advantage of Craigslist, do yourself a favor and explore it – In the past few years, I’ve gotten a great computer for about 200 bucks, a computer desk (from a guy that builds them in his garage) for about 30 bucks, and when I was moving to the east side, Craigslist was a godsend for getting rid of various items – you can’t beat the age old concept of “cash and carry” – they come to my house, give me cash, and boom, the item is GONE.

Back to music:

Wednesday night, I made a return trip to Dayton, OH (the neighboring suburb of Kettering, to be precise,) to see former Dire Straits mainman Mark Knopfler for the second time in the past few years, again at Fraze Pavilion.

His 2005 appearance at Fraze is one of my all-time favorite shows. Seeing someone like Knopfler for the first time in the intimate confines of Fraze, which always has great sound, was a mind-blowing experience. Fraze is a beautiful outdoor amphitheater (uncovered, with a capacity of roughly 4300) that really delivers a wonderful experience for both the artist and people in attendance.

It’s no surprise that artists like Knopfler, who only do a short run (10-12 shows) of North America dates when touring, choose to return to Fraze when booking their next round of touring.

In these times where everything is booked on a national level by giants like Live Nation, Fraze again veers off the beaten path, with a schedule that is locally booked, which allows for a unique summer schedule of shows that often feature musically pleasing one-off dates for artists (and sometimes 2-3 artists on the same show) that might otherwise bypass Ohio, because they aren’t part of a large Live Nation-driven package tour. Fraze continues to deliver a show experience that still feels homemade, and for someone in Cleveland, that’s well worth the drive to get there.

As for Knopfler, it was a show that didn’t disappoint, yet it wasn’t quite as satisfying overall as the show that I saw in 2005. Touring in support of his latest album Kill to Get Crimson, the setlist of course featured a number of tracks from the new album, including the opening track “Cannibals.” While Knopfler was musically excellent as always, I didn’t feel like the material from the new album went over as well as the new material from Shangri-La did on the last tour.

Knopfler also seemed like he might have been struggling a tad vocally, but persevered with his longtime band (including former Dire Straits keyboard player Guy Fletcher,) the bulk of whom have been playing with Knopfler since the 1996 sessions for Golden Heart, longer than any Dire Straits lineup. Knopfler himself has said that the band “plays Dire Straits better than Dire Straits did.”

And let’s face it, Mark Knopfler basically WAS Dire Straits, hence why he has been making albums since the mid-90s under his own name, instead of the Dire Straits banner.

One of the many things that impresses me about Knopfler, is that the Dire Straits material included in his solo setlist is not the typical songs you would expect, with the possible exception of “Sultans of Swing.”

There was no “Walk of Life,” no “Money For Nothing.” Instead of coasting on the proven hits, Knopfler mixes solo material like the excellent “Sailing to Philadelphia,” with Straits cuts like “Romeo and Juliet,” and once again, another mesmerizing version of “Telegraph Road.”

To be fair, both cuts (and Sailing as well) are often in Knopfler’s touring setlist, and I don’t think you’ll see many protesting their continued inclusion. I’d love to see Knopfler stretch out a bit and throw some different Straits material into the setlist….perhaps “Love over Gold” and “Skateaway” for example.

Overall, watching and hearing Knopfler play guitar is enough of an enjoyable experience for me, that I won’t quibble too much over the setlist, and anytime he wants to throw out “Telegraph Road” in all of its 13 minute glory, I’m down.

Knopfler is one of the underrated guitar greats of our time, and I’d put him right up there with Clapton. In fact, have you heard any of the live stuff from the tours that he did playing second guitar for Clapton?

Crazy.

Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler – Badge (live 1988)

All you need to know:

Knopfler tours infrequently, and is a great musician that you should get out to see live, while you still can. If you’ve got him on your list of artists you would like to see someday – make it happen, you won’t regret it.

Dire Straits – Telegraph Road (live)

Relevant Links:

Mark Knopfler official site

Guy Fletcher’s official site

Purchase the latest Mark Knopfler CD Kill To Get Crimson from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase Mark Knopfler – Shangri-La from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase – Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All The Roadrunning from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase – Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – Real Live Roadrunning from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing (Greatest Hits) from Amazon – CD

Purchase – Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms from Amazon – CD or MP3