Time to say goodbye after nine years

Time to get all Boyz II Men on you.

Cue “End of the Road.”

Or maybe the Jesus Lizard’s “Good Riddance” is an more apt song for the occasion, depending on your perspective, for after nine years covering music at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, I’m moving on to pursue other writing ventures.

And so this is the obligatory farewell column.

A brief recap of the past 3,305 days:

Favorite shows:

1. Prince, Empire Ballroom, May 2006. Every Prince show is an event, but this three-hour performance was a classic. A woman in front of me danced so hard, her wig fell off.

2. Matador at 21, The Pearl, October 2010. An unforgettable three days for anyone who came of age on ’90s alt-rock: Pavement, Sonic Youth, Liz Phair, Superchunk. It was a weekend full of highlights.

3. Vegoose, Sam Boyd Stadium, October 2007. Vegoose’s best year was also its last, but man, did it go with a bang thanks to Daft Punk, Rage Against the Machine, Muse, The Stooges and so many more.

4. Fire Fest, Fort Cheyenne Casino, June 2007. Total, unchecked chaos. That’s what this gone-but-not-forgotten fest delivered in 2007, when Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation and dozens more soundtracked pure mayhem around flustered security guards.

5. Phish, MGM Grand Garden arena, October 2014. Phish’s most recent Halloween show was one for the ages, a bunch of grown-ups acting like kids again, be it the audience or the band onstage.

Favorite interviews:

1. Paul McCartney. Such a down-to-earth man. We talked about everything from desert road trips to the joys of walking one’s kids to school.

2. Stevie Wonder. An incredible moment that turned into a potentially disastrous one: After speaking with Wonder, who’s every bit as engaging and brilliant as you’d imagine, I discovered that my cassette recorder had malfunctioned, taping nothing. Graciously, Wonder called right back and did another interview.

3. Merle Haggard. The Hag had just gotten over a serious health scare when we spoke. And yet he was right back at it, a legend distilling wisdom with total nonchalance.

4. Maynard James Keenan. The rare in-person interview with a non-Las Vegas performer. We spoke in an empty Pearl, where Keenan would perform live with his Puscifer project for the first time in 2008. He was funny and intense at once.

5. Iggy Pop. Wow, the stories. Pop was an open book. I could have talked to him for hours. Bummer that the interview was in advance of a Stooges gig at the Hard Rock that got canceled, hence the story never made it into print.

Best of all, though, was all the great Las Vegas musicians I got to know over the years.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.