Thank God I'm a Zombie Boy

In case you didn't realize, John Denver is now a zombie.

I love John Denver.  A lot of people think that is weird since I am mostly known as a heavy metal guy.  Admittedly, it was a little strange seeing both a John Denver concert and a Megadeth concert within the span of a month or so.  However, I have liked John Denver since I was a kid.  I am not sure when I first came across JD but I know I was young.  I know my mom had Take me Home, Country Roads 45 record and I am sure I listened to that (I still have it actually), and I remember him being on The Muppet Show several times.  But, I think I was familiar with him even before The Muppet Show appearances...and of course there was the movie Oh, God, and of course the John Denver Christmas Specials.  I'm not sure which influenced me to enjoy John Denver but I have for as long as I can remember.

I saw John Denver in concert 4 times...and one of those concerts probably ranks in my Top 10 concerts (maybe if I ever get around to writing that list sometime I will know for sure).  To me, John Denver just has this pureness to his sound.  I loved his voice and his guitar work.  I think he was a talented songwriter with songs that could be haunting, or beautiful, or both.  John Denver had more variety than most people gave him credit for ranging from his well known folk and country to jazzy bluesy work to children's music to comedy (seriously the Ballad of Spiro Agnew and his stuff with the Chad Mitchell Trio is hilarious).  I find his music uplifting and peaceful and still listen to it when I am looking to relax.

When John Denver died, I was sad that the world lost a musical talent, but also that it lost someone that really cared for the Earth.  

However, Ticketmast sent me an email last night alerting me to a John Denver: Rocky Mountain High Concert.  What?  It was the middle of the night and I was half asleep and just deleted it (as I do), so when I woke I wondered if I had dreamed the whole thing.  No, it has to be a tribute or something and I just missed that part of it right?  I hit up ticketmaster.com and searched for John Denver.

What?  John Denver has a concert on Feb 12th, 2013?

Who is in that picture?  John Denver really changed when he became zombie.  After looking into it, I figured out that this picture is a band called the John Adams Band.  They are pretty famous for doing a John Denver tribute.  I've listened to them before on youtube...they are OK, but for me there is something missing.  I think the John Adams Band plays everything a little slow, while John Denver often tended to play it a little fast live. (And the peculiar thing is this my friends,The song we sang on that fateful night,It didn't actually sound anything like this song!).  So you messed that up too Ticketmaster...this is not what is happening at this show.

Doing more digging, I found out that these Rocky Mountain High Concert is actually video of John Denver singing on big screens while some members of his original touring bands play live.  Not a bad idea, pretty cool actually and I would probably go if it was a little bit closer.  However, I strongly disagree with the way that they have it listed...and $50 (minimum) seems a little steep.

Dear Ticketmaster, 

This is not John Denver.  JD died in 1997 (unlike Elvis who is with the aliens).  Really this is not how you should advertise a show.  Are you really trying convince us that this is John Denver live?  Because the comparison isn't even close.  Think if you bought tickets to a live show and they set you down in front of a TV and said enjoy.  It could be good...but it is not what you expected.  Video is not a live concert.  You really need to say tribute.  Obviously, it is a tribute since John Denver is dead...a little clarity on this event is in order.  Please correct this in the future...otherwise I damn well expect to see the reanimated corpse of John Denver up there on stage performing.

Thanks,
People Who Care About Semantics