Z is for Little SuZie

Posted on April 30, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Okay, here we are. The last letter in the A to Z challenge for 2024. It is unquestionably one of the hardest letters to fill in my opinion. My theme throughout this challenge has been to write about artists we have seen, scrapbooked or not, that I haven’t written about before. If I haven’t seen a group whose name starts with the letter, one of my steps has been to go to our friend Google and ask, “songs starting with the letter…” whatever letter I’m looking for. If there is no song starting with that letter by any of the artists that I have to work with then I go to the next step which is to pick a band and then search for their songs. If a song has that letter then I can use it!

As I wrote yesterday for Bonnie Raitt, I picked a song that she does sing but she didn’t sing it at the show we saw. Fortunately I made it work. I ran into that same situation here with the letter “Z.” My original title for this post was “EZ Come EZ Go” by Tesla. But when I looked at the setlists for the shows we saw, they didn’t sing that song. Good news for me is that they DID sing a song called “Little SuZi.” Therefore, my A to Z is complete for this year!

So Tesla. Not a band I was familiar with the first time we saw them as the opening act for Scorpions. And honestly, even after we saw them I wasn’t into adding them to my list of bands to follow. “Hair Metal Band” is how they are described. Definitely true. Lots of hair. I was too busy watching their lead singer (Jeff Keith) look off to stage right throughout the whole show. It was kind of distracting.

We next saw them as the opening act for Reo Speedwagon and Def Leppard. Since there were three bands performing they had a shorter set list.

  • Date: 6/9/2012
  • Venue: Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View CA
  • Artist/Tour: Tesla/Final Sting World Tour
  • Setlist:
  • Cumin’ Atcha Live
  • Edison’s Medicine (Man Out of Time)
  • I Wanna Live
  • Hang Tough
  • Signs
  • Love Song
  • Modern Day Cowboy
  • Little Suzie
  • Date: 9/25/2016
  • Venue: Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View
  • Artist/Tour: Tesla
  • Setlist:
  • Rock Me To The Top
  • Edison’s Medicine (Man Out of Time)
  • Little Suzi
  • Love Song
  • Modern Day Cowboy

They are still not a band I’d go see unless they were opening for someone else. I do like the song, “Love Song” though. The rest are too metal for me.

Well, I did it! I am not sure I’d be able to go through the alphabet again even though there are groups we have seen that I didn’t write about. If you think about it, I’ve been through the alphabet three times now doing this concert theme without repeating so that’s at least 78 different artists! Hope you enjoyed going to the concerts with me. I don’t know what I’m going to do for next year if my space on WP doesn’t hold out! Did you finish your A to Z challenge? Were you able to go visit other folks? I’m going to make that my goal for the upcoming weeks. For now, I’m resting!

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Y is for Need You Tonight

Posted on April 29, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

We had an opportunity to see James Taylor at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) and he is one of my hubby’s favorites so we went. Opening for him was Bonnie Raitt. As with Melissa Etheridge, we were surprised at how much we enjoyed this show. Blues is not really one of our go to genres but she adds enough rock to it to make it fun. Coincidentally, I used James Taylor for the letter “Y” when I did my concert themed A to Z in 2020!

It is always fun to be able to be on the baseball field at the beautiful home of our San Francisco Giants. We had decent seats too!

James Taylor came out and did a song with Bonnie and then later in the show she came out and did one with him.

I have to laugh, she talks in the very beginning about being cold and putting on her vest again. The coldest winter is a summer in SF, right? Also, sorry about the shaky video but I couldn’t keep from bopping during this song.

  • Date: 7/29/2017
  • Venue: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA (now Oracle)
  • Artist/Tour: Bonnie Raitt
  • Setlist:
  • Unintended Consequence of Love
  • Need You Tonight
  • Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy
  • Spit of Love
  • Love Me Like a Man
  • Have a Heart
  • Something to Talk About
  • Nick of Time
  • Angel from Montgomery
  • Burning Down the House
  • Thing Called Love

I had intended this post to be “Y is for You” because that is a song that Bonnie Raitt sings that I think is really pretty. However, she did not sing it that night and it’s too late for me to change letters around now! So I’m using the “You” in “Need You Tonight” which she did sing. One more letter to go in this year’s A to Z challenge! It’s not an eaZy one either!

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X is for StyX

Posted on April 27, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

“X” can be a really tricky letter and I did a lot of research about song names that start with it hoping to find one that one of our groups did but I couldn’t. I have written about Styx in a previous challenge so I couldn’t use them again. Fortunately we did see Dennis DeYoung who was one of the founding members of the group. He was the opening act for…Pat Benatar…and sang mostly Styx songs so I’m going with that!

Our seats were in one of the upper sections so the pictures didn’t turn out that great but I used one of my scrapbooking templates to fit in some of the better ones. I included one that gives you a little view of the seating at the Winery. Most of the time we are down in the section right in front of the stage – LOL.

  • Date: 08/06/2011
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Dennis DeYoung of Styx
  • Setlist:
  • The Grand Illusion
  • Lady
  • Lorelei
  • Blue Collar Man
  • Show Me The Way
  • Mr. Roboto
  • Fooling Yourself
  • Babe
  • Best of Times
  • Renegade
  • Come Sail Away

Because this is such a short one I thought I’d throw in an eXtra, a look at the scrapbook albums I’m in the process of making. You can see that they are still a work in progress. Only the first two are complete. The rest have missing shows as I work my way through the process of scrapbooking them all.

I decorated the covers and painted the dark teal ones.

I was going to add some pictures of one or two of my favorite pages but, you know, space!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! See you on Monday for the last 2 letters in our A to Z this year. Any ideas who I can come up with for Y and Z?

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W is for John Waite

Posted on April 26, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

So John Waite is a surprise favorite. I knew some songs but didn’t realize he was the singer. He was with The Babys and Bad English, both bands that I wasn’t really familiar with but I did like a few of their songs. We’ve seen him 4 times now. He travels a lot with Pat Benatar.

The first time was in 2015 when he opened for her. We had seats a little off to the side but in the front row and at one point my husband yelled out his name and he looked straight at us! Perfect for me to get a picture, since most of the other ones had him facing front and center.

The next time was at the San Jose Civic Center where he was again opening for Pat Benatar. This was in September of 2021 and things were just opening up again after the pandemic. We felt comfortable attending since masks were still a requirement. This was a little less of a “rock” style although he sang most of the same songs.

Back at the Mountain Winery for show number three. This time he was with Rick Springfield and Men At Work so his setlist was quite small.

The last time was again at the Winery where he opened for Pat Benatar once more. This time he was selling signed copies of his new CD so we had to get one. It has his hits and then some but in acoustic versions. While I like it, I prefer the regular style. I had to take a picture of the drummer. He looked so funny sitting behind that small drum kit on his little stool.

There was no setlist given for the last show but you can see that most of the songs have been the same, just in different order. I have a video but, you know, space!

  • Date: 7/29/2015
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: John Waite
  • Setlist:
  • Change
  • Back on My Feet Again
  • Every Time I Think of You
  • Midnight Rendezvous
  • Whenever You Come Around
  • Best of What I Got
  • Drum solo
  • Missing You
  • Head First
  • Whole Lotta Love
  • Date: 9/8/2021
  • Venue: San Jose Civic Auditorium, San Jose, CA
  • Artist/Tour: John Waite
  • Setlist:
  • Change
  • When I See You Smile
  • Whenever You Come Around
  • Bluebird Cafe
  • All Along the Watchtower
  • Downtown
  • Missing You
  • Head First 
  • Date: 09/1/2022
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: John Waite
  • Setlist:
  • Change
  • When I See You Smile
  • Bluebird Cafe
  • Missing You
  • Midnight Rendezvous
  • Whole Lotta Love

One more letter tomorrow and then the grand finale of our A to Z next week.

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V is for Vanilla Fudge

Posted on April 25, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Well this is certainly a band I would not have seen on their own. I was never really into “psychedelic rock.” Vanilla Fudge was part of a show called “Hippiefest” that the Mountain Winery put together. The other groups that night were Badfinger, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and Rick Derringer.

I knew a few songs by each group but wasn’t really a fan of any of them. It was interesting as well that there were a few band members that switched from band to band so I have no clue how many of these guys were from the original Vanilla Fudge. In looking at some old pictures and reading on Wikipedia, I think the guy on the organ and the lead guitarist/main singer are. They did do a good job of using the lights on the background wall to make it look more psychedelic.

  • Date: 8/9/2018
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Vanilla Fudge/Hippiefest
  • Setlist: Note: There was no setlist for the show at the Winery but this is a list of songs they performed around that time at other venues with this tour
  • I’m a Believer
  • Take Me for a Little While
  • People Get Ready
  • Gimme Some Lovin’
  • Shotgun
  • Drum solo
  • You Keep Me Hanging On

Pretty sure I wouldn’t pay to see this bunch again. I think this is one of the years we were hard pressed to find four shows to see in order to keep our “loyalty” status at the Mountain Winery, something that gets us early access to tickets for the following year. Not really sure how much of a perk that is anymore since I haven’t been able to get seats as close as we like lately. I might have better luck just waiting until the day of sale.

Anyway, as our A to Z winds down, I believe I will make it without having to pay for an upgrade. I realized that up until a couple years ago I was posting on Blogger and simulcasting to WP so a lot of those older posts I can delete from here because they are still on Blogger, if that makes sense. Thanks for coming along!

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U is for Down Under

Posted on April 24, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

We are heading down under for today’s performance. Not literally – LOL. We are at our favorite Mountain Winery to see Men at Work. They were the opening act for Rick Springfield and it was another great show.

Adele’s Garden is a small area on the winery grounds and because we are Wells Fargo customers we get early access to this area, free water and a snack. They usually have a warm up band there and this one was pretty good.

Men at Work is a special band to us because when we were dating we drove up to Reno for a couple of days and listened to their music on the way up. We had never seen them in person before so we were excited to see that they were opening for Rick Springfield.

I managed to add this video before I started losing space on WP. Enjoy “Who Can It Be Now.”

  • Date: 9/1/2022
  • Venue: Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Men at Work
  • Setlist:
  • Touching the Untouchables
  • No Restrictions
  • Down by the Sea
  • I Can See it In Your Eyes
  • Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive
  • No Sign of Yesterday
  • Overkill
  • It’s a Mistake
  • Who Can It Be Now
  • Down Under
  • Be Good Johnny

I just found out that the Mountain Winery does not have a Wells Fargo sponsorship this year so no free water or snacks for us. That’s a bummer. Five more shows to go!

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T is for Tower of Power

Posted on April 23, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Tower of Power is another local band, starting across the Bay in Oakland. We’ve seen them twice, both times they were the opening act on a 3 band bill. The first time was in 2014 where they were on the ticket with Steve Miller and Journey. It was at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. We went with a couple friends and had a great time.

The second time they started the San Francisco Fest huge concert that was reminiscent of the Day on the Green style of the 70’s.

I don’t have a setlist for the first show but here’s what they sang for the second.

  • Date: 9/4/2016
  • Venue: (AT&T) Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Tower of Power/San Francisco Fest
  • Setlist:
  • We Came to Play
  • Soul with a Capital “S”
  • Get Yo’ Feet Back on the Ground
  • So Very Hard To Go
  • Soul Vaccination
  • You’re Still a Young Man
  • What is Hip

Six to go! Still with me? I’ve been able to get rid of some old stuff so I just might have room to make it without paying for extra space! I’m trying to visit some of the other A to Zers but of course I’m not doing too well.

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S is for Stop In The Name of Love

Posted on April 22, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Diana Ross came to the Mountain Winery a few years ago but we didn’t add her to our list at that time. When I saw she was coming again I told my hubby we really had to go. She’s one of those icons that is getting up there in age and who knows how long she’ll be able to tour. Watching her perform, it seems like she hasn’t lost much and can keep on for a while!

I actually saw Diana Ross at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos when I was just out of high school (dare I say 40 years ago!). That was a great venue because the performers were on a circular stage which rotated so every seat was a good one. I went with a bunch of my girlfriends and we had seats pretty close to the stage. Her opening act? The Jackson Five!

We didn’t have our usual up close and personal seats this time but as I have said, the Winery is another venue where almost every seat is a good one. They started playing, “I’m Coming Out,” and then she appeared from behind a curtain on stage.

She changed clothes several times during the show and I tried to get a few pictures of each outfit. Lots of glitter and sparkle. It was a really good performance and I’m glad we went.

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

As you can see she sang a ton of hits.

  • Date: June 15, 2023
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery
  • Artist/Tour: Diana Ross/The Music Legacy Tour 2023
  • Setlist:
  •  I’m Coming Out
  • More Today Than Yesterday
  • My World is Empty Without You
  • Baby Love
  • Stop! In the Name of Love
  • You Can’t Hurry Love
  • Love Child
  • The Boss
  • Upside Down
  • Touch Me in the Morning
  • It’s My House
  • Endless Love
  • Love Hangover/Take Me Higher/Ease on Down
  • Tomorrow
  • Why Do Fools Fall In Love
  • Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know…)
  • Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
  • I Will Survive
  • Thank You

Okay folks, we are starting the home stretch of this years A to Z. Just a week left. Can I make it?

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R is for Rock, Paper, Scissors

Posted on April 20, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

I had an issue with this show. It featured Peter Gabriel and Sting and I wanted to do Peter Gabriel for “G” and Sting for “S” but when I started writing it, everything was so intermingled that I really couldn’t break it apart neatly. I decided to put it here under “R” because it was the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” Tour. As you might imagine, it then required lots of moving around of other artists as I needed to switch 3 letters! All this AFTER the A to Z started! Good thing I had a weekend to figure it out.

Anyway, back to the business at hand, we started the night at that cute little place called the Louisiana Bistro. We have to find a new place to go before concerts at the SAP Center. There was one we were looking into recently but we couldn’t find parking and then decided just to go to the show and get something to eat there. Maybe next time.

Peter Gabriel is a little weird sometimes but it wasn’t too bad. I don’t know many of his songs except the ones from the album “So.” I don’t even know that many from when he was with Genesis since I only really became a fan when Phil Collins was in the group.

Same with Sting solo. Most of his songs I know from the Police times.

They did a kind of combination show and both performers were on the stage at the same time for the most part. They sang each other’s songs and songs from the groups they were in. There was a little banter back and forth.

  • Date: 7/14/2016
  • Venue: SAP Center, San Jose, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Peter Gabriel and Sting/Rock Paper Scissors
  • Setlist:
  •  The Rhythm of the Heat
  • If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
  • No Self Control
  • Invisible Sun
  • Games Without Frontiers
  • Shock The Monkey
  • Secret World
  • Driven to Tears
  • Fragile
  • Red Rain
  • Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
  • Message in a Bottle
  • Darkness
  • Walking in Your Footsteps
  • Kiss That Frog
  • Don’t Give Up
  • The Hounds of Winter
  • Big Time
  • Englishman in New York
  • Solsbury Hill
  • Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
  • If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
  • Roxanne
  • Love Can Heal
  • Desert Rose
  • In Your Eyes
  • Every Breath You Take
  • Sledgehammer

It proved to be a very interesting show but I don’t think I’d add it to the top 20. In reality, we were walking out to beat the crowd before Sledgehammer was finished. Another week down in this A to Z challenge. Eight letters left. Can I make it? Have a great weekend.

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Q is for One Night of Queen

Posted on April 19, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Unfortunately we never saw Freddie Mercury with Queen. We have seen Queen with Adam Lambert twice and thought they were great.

One of the offerings at the Mountain Winery was “One Night of Queen,” a tribute band. We love the music so we decided to check it out and honestly Gary Mullen and The Works do a really good job. While Gary does not 100% look like Freddie, he is almost spot on with his mannerisms and singing style. The crowd was really into it.

As I mentioned yesterday I am running out of space here so I am not including as many pictures but I wanted to add this video to show you why we love the Winery so much. A lot of the performers are like this where they go out into the crowd and sing with us. High fives are given all around and the venue is really so nice.

There was an intermission between Hammer to Fall and Flash. Gotta have time to get refreshments, right?

  • Date: 7/24/2022
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery
  • Artist/Tour: One Night of Queen
  • Setlist: – Note, there was no actual setlist printed for the date we saw them but this is from a couple of nights later and is typical of the songs they were singing on the tour.
  • One Vision
  • Tie Your Mother Down
  • Somebody to Love
  • Under Pressure
  • Now I’m Here
  • Killer Queen
  • I’m In Love With My Car
  • I Want to Break Free
  • Ay-Oh
  • You’re My Best Friend
  • Hamer to Fall
  • Flash
  • Another One Bites the Dust
  • Don’t Stop Me Now
  • Seven Seas of Rhye
  • I want it All
  • Keep Yourself Alive
  • Fat Bottomed Girls
  • Bohemian Rhapsody
  • Radio Ga Ga
  • Back in Black
  • Mony Mony
  • Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Okay. One more day to squeak through and then I have Sunday to try to figure out how to finish this A to Z without paying for more space. Also, my views are looking kind of wonky. I’m wondering if that’s part of the problem too.Hope you hang in there with me!

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