Had a really long day yesterday. It started at the Justice Center, where my burglary case was finally adjudicated. After only 14 months! I'll give the details in a future post. Oh, there's stories.

In the evening, Best Friend (in her crocodile hat. I guess she does snap at people a lot) and I (in my Boy Scout shirt and I have no idea what the hell I was supposed to be) headed over to Quicken Loans Arena on Halloween to see Red Hot Chili Peppers. She thought the show was "awesome", I thought it was "really good".

Tickets: We had tickets in the second row in Section 109. These were pretty good and I had no one next to me, so I didn't have to worry about blocking anyone's view. Or spilling anything. We did not see the opening act, Mars Volta. I can only describe them as a "Hard Listen" so I'm not sure we missed anything.

The Band: Well, they kinda sorta dressed up for Halloween. Flea was Nosferatu. Chad Smith was Ricky Bobby. John Frusciante was an old-timey football player, I guess. He had eye black on and an old football shirt. Anthony Kiedis (Happy Birthday, BTW) was Anthony Kiedis. Virtually no stage banter at all. Flea started saying things about three-fourths of the way in, but it was straight kickass rock. Surprisingly good sound at the Q. I'm starting to wonder if old Dan Gilbert has somehow improved the sound in that place. I'm not an acoustic engineer, but perhaps the new seating and other improvements have made a difference as the sound bounces around. I dunno.

The Crowd: As soon as the guy in front of us said he was 50, chaperone hat remained out of view. Not many costumes. Fairly tame crowd, not many drunks, a little bit of the hippy lettuce was there and overall a very pleasant experience.

Backdrop: Not much to report. Nothing in the way of "lasers", but a fairly large tower of lights behind the band, Seemed to have 6 or 8 large panels. They had the ubiquitous four screen setup. with the kicker being they may all line up next to each other horizontally for one song, then may have two in one row and two in another for the next one.

The Music: I thought they played most everything that you would want them to play. They were on for about 120 minutes. I'm telling you, John Frusciante is one of the best guitarists out there and I'm not sure he gets enough credit. He can really make some sweet sounds. Really stellar versions of "Higher Ground", "Give It Away", "Dani California" and a song I really like, "Snow (Hey Oh)". Sometimes, I do my own version and sub "Lame-O" in there, sort of an autobiographical touch. Other standouts were "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", "Can't Stop", "Tell Me Baby" and "Californication".

A side note, RHCP were in Columbus on Monday and I thought this was neat. They played a little bit of "Hail to the Victors" at one point and when Chad Allen came back at the end for his jam, he had a block "M" shirt on. Hahahahahahaha. Of course, they were booed on both counts and some people are complaining about them being "disrespectful". It's rock and roll, baby, loosen up.

Meal of Links

What happens when you wear a Halloween costume that might offend people? Ask Cory Lidle.

Everything you want to know about this year's SNL. Now if they could just get people to watch.

The start of a list of the best cover tunes ever. Really, this has some very good selections. Be sure to watch The Dickies version of "The Banana Splits Theme". And "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". "That's nobody's business but the Turks."

Exercise Yard

I love Robby Gordon. But he gets in trouble more than any other driver.

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57 Across: Hall of Fame '40s-'50s Browns quarterback (10 letters) Answer: Otto Graham