Nick Lowe NickLowe Nick Lowe I Read a Lot

I guess this is one of those times when my post is not gonna be about General Aviation. I simply have to review and debrief the concert I saw the other night in Easton. It was at the Avalon. It was kind of a last minute thing. I had heard that Bill Kirchen was to be there performing as a warm-up act for Nick Lowe. I'm a huge Kirchen fan as you guys know. We were lucky to get the last couple of tickets. My friend Clark and his wife came also. I had only just barely heard of Nick Lowe. So before the show I had Googled him up. He's an aging Geezer rocker like Kirchen. He's my age. He is from the late British Invasion era. He was in a band with Dave Edmunds called Rockpile. He writes really amazing songs. In the States he is best known for a song called "I Knew the Bride" , which was covered by everyone. Another hit was "Cruel to be Kind". But I was going to the Avalon to see Kirchen, the "second" act. So we get there and I notice on the stage while we wait for the show to start that there is Kirchen's ancient Telecaster and an amp or two and that's it. No drum set, no bass, no keyboards etc. Clark and I are thinking what the heck is this. Neither of these guys is a solo act. These are not folk singers. But I like solo guitar stuff so I'm thinking this is good. And it was good. Really good. Kirchen came out and played by himself and did all the wicked runs and licks and crazy effects that he's so respected for. My wife had never seen him before. So I was happy and knew I had gotten my money's worth. Clark and I got to talk to Kirchen during the intermission and of course we were star struck and he was nice like he always is. Then the house lights came up and down and it was time to wander back to our seats with our beverages. Nick Lowe came out and just started playing and singing. He was solo. He had a head of silver hair, not too long. He had a voice of pure gold, like Nat King Cole. He had phrasing and timing like Sinatra. He had choppy, hooky, lyrics like Zevon. He had an acoustic guitar. He played it cleanly with 40 years of rhythm built in. I had a wonderful time being out of myself for about an hour and was a new forever fan of Nick Lowe. Damn he was good. I got double my money's worth. Can I pick em or what? Toward the end of his set he sang "Cruel to be Kind" and it brought the house down. With the audience in the palm of his hand he segued into "I Knew the Bride" and Bill Kirchen snuck out on the stage behind him and picked up his Telecaster and we got to see the two old pros who had toured together so well and so often. So now every night I pull up my YouTube channel. I have favorited about a dozen Nick Lowe songs. But my favorite of those is a tune about a guy who has lost his love somehow and is bewailing his fate. "I read a lot, not just magazines. Blue doesn't describe it somehow. You'll find me in a world of fantasy, population one, that's me. If you ask me how I stop, contemplating what I now have not....... I'll reply... I read a lot"