Bruce Hornsby, live at the Sheldon

This is the part where it's all about me, me, me. Sorry, but no kids were present Sunday night when I went with my good friend Lisa Eisenhauer to see my musical hero, Bruce Hornsby, at the Sheldon Concert Hall in Grand Center. Man, is that place cool! I can't believe I'd never been there. Without a doubt, I'll be back. Steve and I may try to take in some bluegrass shows there. They say it's "acoustically perfect." And, for just a man and his piano, I'd have to say they're right.

http://sheldonconcerthall.org

Bruce was introduced by his pal, Cardinals' skipper Tony La Russa. The crowd gave Tony a standing-O... And he thanked them by saying, "It's good to see you all have such short memories..." That afternoon, the Cards got shellacked by the Cubs, 7-3. "I'll tell you, losing is bad," he said. "But losing to the Cubs is the worst."

So, that was funny. Lo and behold, right after Bruce comes out on stage, the usher shows Tony and his friends to their seats ... four rows in front
of us! And with him was Cardinals bench player Scott Spiezio (left). And an attractive young blonde, who we think was Scott's wife. She's a Playmate. (Later, at intermission, we had another sight-em in the lobby: Cards GM Walt Jocketty! As seen with Tony, at right. A star-studded event! But these are just pictures from the Web, I'm sad to say. I had no camera.)

So, the show was just Bruce and his piano. He said he does about five public solo shows a year, so this was a rare treat! Just as he sat down, somebody's cell phone went off... He said, loudly, "I hear a cell phone." Then, aside, laughingly, to the rest of the crowd, "Turn that damn thing off." We all went nuts. The phone owner must have been mortified! He played some notes that sounded like ringtones, then said it was a "dodecaphonic," or 12-tone, piece by Anton Webern. Wow, that was obscure, and he acknowledged that. Next time you have some time, Google ol' Anton. They say he encoded nuclear secrets in his music... Hmmm.

So, Bruce opened with "The Way It Is," which I think strayed into Mozart a little bit toward the middle. It was amazing. Then, he told us about the country club girls in his town getting "knocked up," so we knew it was time for "The Valley Road," which he played in a nice boogie-woogie style. Sometimes he plays it bluegrass. But either way, it's cool.

Next came "A Night on the Town," and that was neat because I noticed you could see his hands on the piano reflected in the polished wood wainscoting that is everywhere at the Sheldon. Next he played "The End of the Innocence," which he wrote with Don Henley... He joked that it was OK that it brought Henley all the fame, because he gets half the royalties anyway. During that piece, he mixed in a little of Song C, D, or F. I'm not sure which one it was.

He joked then about some Bob Dylan bootlegs, and said Tony was giving him moonshine backstage. Then he launched into "Hooray for Tom," which he said was Tony's favorite. He tweaked the lyrics a bit for the crowd. "Teach me long division, so I can figure out baseball stats. Batting average, fielding percentage and all that" became "... so I can figure out Cardinals stats. Pujols' batting average, Eckstein's fielding percentage and all that." It's a great song. Then he played a hilarious joke version, "Hooray for Tony," which he wrote for Tony's 60th birthday last year. I've got to find the lyrics for that... I think you can get the DVD of the whole party at mlb.com.

Then he joked again about playing bad hotel bars for bad hotel bar crowds. Ramadas and Sheratons. "Spider Fingers" is a song about that, and he broke into a disco medley whenever he thought he was losing the hotel crowd. "Shake Your Booty" and "Play that Funky Music, White Boy." It was hysterical.

Rounding out Act One was "The Dreaded Spoon," a nifty spoof of Bruce's dad and how he always used to steal the kids' desserts. I think that's coming out on the bluegrass CD with Ricky Skaggs.

At intermission we chatted with Nancy Miller, another friend from the Post, who had front row, center, seats. I told her I'd been listening to Bruce Hornsby since I was 14 -- 20 years! -- but yet she still didn't want to trade seats with us. I didn't understand that.

Bruce opened Act Two with another jab at the people who straggled in after intermission -- "Here come the drinkers!" -- and launched into "Country Doctor," another of my favorites. Then, with dispatch, came "Sticks and Stones," "Jacob's Ladder" and "Halcyon Days" (before which Bruce apologized that he couldn't sing as well as Sting). "Halcyon Days" bled into "Standing on the Moon," which was the lone Grateful Dead song of the evening. The Deadheads, by the way, cleaned up pretty nice for the Sheldon. They kept clamoring for Bruce to play more Dead tunes, but he put them in their place. "I already played a Grateful Dead song..." he said. "I came a long way..." And all the true Hornsby fans in the audience went wild! Yeah! Tell it, Bruce!

Lots of stuff from the "Halcyon Days" album. It's a great album. If you've actually
read this far, and you don't already own this album, buy it. Or you iPodders out
there, download some of it. Guest artists are Elton John, Sting and Eric Clapton. Every adult under 60 has to like at least one of those people, right?

Next, Bruce sang a new song, "The Low Country," which hasn't been recorded yet. It, too, was pretty funny. Then, a lady behind me yelled out "Rainbow's Cadillac!" And he played it right away. After that, he acknowledged selling out to corporate America, because Lowe's uses "Changes Made" as their new jingle. Next time you see a Lowe's commercial do listen for it. He said he'd even gotten some nasty e-mails. I say, gotta send Russell and Keith to college, right? He played that one, then added a funny new verse that he said was about "whoring for airplay." Neat.

People kept yelling out requests, which Bruce appreciated... So in short order came "I Will Walk With You," "Fields of Gray" and "Mandolin Rain," which he actually played twice. The new version, which is on the Skaggs record, sounds kind of dark and medieval. Can't wait to hear that on CD. Also, halfway through the first version, Bruce broke into a little "Scarborough Fair." Wild!

Then, Bruce left the stage, and we all called him back for an encore. I held out hope that he'd play "Resting Place," but instead he broke into "King of the Hill," which was almost as good! He played half that in the lotus position. He pacified the Deadheads a little by throwing in a little "Big Boss Man" in the middle. Then, he closed with the jazzy cover "We'll Be Together Again," after promising that he would be back to St. Louis soon. Can't wait!