Butch Walker: Set List for December 30 and 31

Butch tweeted today that he was rehearsing the set list for the upcoming shows!!!!  Bon Scott scream here!  Such welcome, highly anticipated news!   Completely unsolicited, here are my suggestions:

Bodegas and Blood
Sweethearts--still think a duet with a lucky fan would be a great idea and huge crowd pleaser
Summer of '89
Synthesizers
Closest Thing
Sucker Punched
Maybe It's Just Me
Don't Move
Canyons
Hot Girls in Good Moods
Bethamphetamine
Ships in a Bottle
The Weight of Her
Ponce de Leon Ave.
Passed Your Place, Saw Your Car
She Likes Hair Bands
Say It Isn't So
Even the Losers

Not sure how long the show will be, one constraint limiting the number of songs to make the cut. However, AC/DC's set list was 18 songs, including the two encores and my more astute readers may note, the list above has 18 suggestions.  And, no, didn't include some of Butch's standards, like The Best Thing You Never Had, Joan, 3 Kids from Brooklyn, Pretty Melody.  Hope some of the new album will be heard and that would also cut down possibilities from my suggestions. We will see, but hope a good number of these make it.  Paws crossed!

The winter holidays for a university employee are such that it's tough to remember what day it is. Trying to stay current, though, since I leave for Chicago on Friday.  (another Bon Scott scream here!)  In some ways, though, there's a regularity to the daily activities.  Early in the holidays, breakfast at the House of Pies one day was enriched by T, the assistant manager, coming by to let me know he's really been enjoying the Butch Walker Mixtape II.2 that Bibi gave him a couple of weeks ago.  Makes a fan's work all worth it to hear those words.

Once Sarita got here on the 23rd, the holiday craziness faded into the background, where it belonged, and the holidays truly began for Bibi.  Bibi evinces a cynical, seen-it-all façade, 

but is actually a sentimental mess, especially with the Neartown events so recent.  Have even been unexpectedly indulgent toward families with rowdy children in restaurants!  Christmas Eve at Raul's and Christmas Day at Nana's were really enjoyable with all the kids around.  Nana's was particularly memorable--we played a few rounds of Loteria.  Bibi came out the big winner in the last round--so surprizing!

 Lots of fun and the kids were a big part of it, all the kids from age 4 to 85!  Hope your Christmas was a great one!

Butch Walker's Birthday at Petty Fest in LA and lessons in how to drink wisely

Looks like an excellent time was had by all at Petty Fest--and why not?   You knew the music was going to be great: Tom Petty's stuff is the epitome of classic rock n roll, resonating for so many of us, no matter the background or age, with its far-ranging emotions and experiences set in a rocking, must-enjoy again and again blend, guitar band best, often magical in its intensity and effect.  When we saw him back in the early '90s, or maybe that was the really late '80s--ah, les neiges d'antan, right?--what a show it was!  Still have the t shirt, somewhere.  The stars of Petty Fest, including the surprize guests, were some of the best of the best musicians.  Maybe some desperate wannabes were there, too.  No names and no judgment here. (Can't stop you from checking out YouTube on your own, though.) 

Of course, Butch was the best one: kick-ass rocker talent and professionalism on full-out display, total class act.  If I had been there, would I have left after he played? 

First night, Butch did Breakdown--excellent, ever so delightfully sinister version.  He shaded it with just a soupcon of bitter experience and lots of self-assured confidence.  Goes down so good n tantalizingly tasty!  
Butch Hancock, er Walker, Tom Petty's Breakdown,

Bibi wonders, though, what was the person filming this thinking?  Me, I would focus on Butch Walker--he's the featured musician, he's singing lead, he's playing the rock star role completely--yet, the camera meanders around, filming the other musicians, Butch is often just out of camera range or kind of fuzzy.  Why? Anyway, here's a still of the stage while Butch is playing:  Butch at Pettyfest 2012)

and an even better photo:

Butch (looked and) sounded fantastic on his birthday AND his hair was perfect!  Loved the whole look!  (Bibi never claimed to be profound.) He took being introduced by the wrong name like a man, shrugged it off with a jab at Rolling Stone.  (The guy doing the introductions is an editor/writer at RS.)   Cool for Butch!  Jameson's was one of the event sponsors and understand there was a lot of free range drinking going on, so some flubs were to be expected. 

I know when I unexpectedly went out to a wine tasting on Thursday--what? Bibi went drinking on a school night?!?!  Bibi doesn't EVEN drink--then we moved on to not one, but two more bars, there were probably many mots inattendus sprinkled in the lively converations that, hopefully, promptly wafted into the alcohol-induced ether.  Probably, each of the people I was with (M, J, S, and wow! can't even remember the other guy's name) just remembers a quite enjoyable evening.  No hangover either!  So, Bibi 's recommendation:  if you're going to drink when you have to go to work the next morning, drink sparingly of the wine, eat as many of the exotic hors d'oervres as you can nonchalantly quaff (a nod to Butch's sage advice:  ‘Cause we’re hotter when we don’t give a damn) and then switch to good, mid-level Champagne for the rest of the evening.  End the evening with a few bites of food, take a shower and go to bed.  Worked for me.

Haven't seen a video of the second night of Petty Fest, when Butch played "Even the Losers", but heard he brought the house down.  No less than a Butch Walker aficionada would expect.  Will keep checking YouTube and report later.

Today's tweets from Butch signal a move from LA to Georgia (should watch the stock market for the butterfly effect from this announcement) and a renewed sense of purpose in terms of new material for an album.  Whatever it takes, Butch!  The fans are solidly behind you on this and are fervently awaiting the songs AND the tour!