Oh, man, the St. Louis The Police show is Monday. We'd been thinking it was the following week, but I had it written on the calendar, and I happened to turn the page to peek - saw I'd written it, then checked the tickets. wowie. I'm not too excited about the opening act - Sting's son, for heaven's sake - but I might take off work an hour or two early to give us enough time to grab a breadstretcher's and make it through the traffic jam before the parking garage is full.
The Avett Bros are in town soon, but I saw an ad that said they'll be $20. I dunno. I'd pay $10 based on the spread in No Depression, but $20 for a band I've heard nothing of ...
After that, Bottle Rockets at the taste of downtown. (Someone tell me why the great downtown restaurants that have vegetarian choices pick Taste of Downtown to trot out their boring, meaty, state-fair type food. YAWN.)
End of July is the Crossroads festival. We have seats, lousy ones, but still.
AND my husband J's rescheduled gig got rescheduled again, so now we're apparently going to Joe Walsh. Which is great. I'd pay state fair ticket prices just to get beered up and shout along to "Funk #49." Am I right, people?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
The Police in L.A.
A friend provides the following setlist from the Police at Dodger Stadium last night:
message in a bottle
synchronicity II
walking on the moon
voices in my head/
when the world is running down
don't stand so close to me/
driven to tears
bed's too big without you
truth hits everybody
every little thing she does is magic
wrapped around your finger
de do do do, de da da da
invisible sun
walking in your footsteps
can't stand losing you
roxanne
++
king of pain
so lonely
++
every breath you take
++
next to you
Invisible Sun! Awesome. Our seats for the Police in St. Louis are horrible, but I'm still glad to be going to see them.
message in a bottle
synchronicity II
walking on the moon
voices in my head/
when the world is running down
don't stand so close to me/
driven to tears
bed's too big without you
truth hits everybody
every little thing she does is magic
wrapped around your finger
de do do do, de da da da
invisible sun
walking in your footsteps
can't stand losing you
roxanne
++
king of pain
so lonely
++
every breath you take
++
next to you
Invisible Sun! Awesome. Our seats for the Police in St. Louis are horrible, but I'm still glad to be going to see them.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Marty Robbins/Steve Martin mashup
Our conversation over dinner last night: Los Straightjackets led to Freddy Fender, Freddy Fender led to Marty Robbins, and a vague-but-hilarious childhood memory led me to the wikipedia and the imdb and, eventually, to the google and this video from Steve Martin's 1980 TV special. How I can possibly remember it I don't know, and truthfully I'd always envisioned Galapagos tortoises instead of a much larger animal, but here it is! I'm just glad to have its existence confirmed.
As when I was 12, I'm still not sure whether it's the most hilarious thing ever or not. But it's, well, different.
(also my first attempt to embed a youtube video, so good luck to us all.)
As when I was 12, I'm still not sure whether it's the most hilarious thing ever or not. But it's, well, different.
(also my first attempt to embed a youtube video, so good luck to us all.)
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Driveshaft
If you're a Lost fan at all, or if you're a fan of the band Driveshaft, do check out the website created by my insane friend marie siu and an equally insane friend of hers, driveshaftband.com.
From the beginning, they designed the site with complete straightforwardness, as though Charlie-from-Lost's band Driveshaft were real and he were a real rock star who'd gone missing in a real airplane accident. I love the idea of a site reflecting events around the TV show, but never seen on the show - just in the same universe, kind of, but as consistent as they could make it. As events unfolded in the TV series, they went back and recreated backstory to match. Which made things quite hectic for them sometimes! Shannon even got to meet hobbit-guy once and gave him a mix cd she'd made, and the site got a bit of national attention.
Particularly hilarious are guestbook entries insisting "it's just a TV show! What's the matter with you FREEKS!!!11".
Anyhow, due to recent events, the site has seen its last update. But what a brilliant, cracked, twisted, and totally mad idea.
From the beginning, they designed the site with complete straightforwardness, as though Charlie-from-Lost's band Driveshaft were real and he were a real rock star who'd gone missing in a real airplane accident. I love the idea of a site reflecting events around the TV show, but never seen on the show - just in the same universe, kind of, but as consistent as they could make it. As events unfolded in the TV series, they went back and recreated backstory to match. Which made things quite hectic for them sometimes! Shannon even got to meet hobbit-guy once and gave him a mix cd she'd made, and the site got a bit of national attention.
Particularly hilarious are guestbook entries insisting "it's just a TV show! What's the matter with you FREEKS!!!11".
Anyhow, due to recent events, the site has seen its last update. But what a brilliant, cracked, twisted, and totally mad idea.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
starved rock
Husband and I spent a couple of days at Starved Rock State Park at the beginning of the week. We'd never been there before; it was marvelous.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Still a gunslinger
Good news and bad news - Bo Diddley had a stroke recently, but this recent story indicates that he's already improving and apparently not dying.
Like the blues isn't depressing enough already without everybody dying, man.
Like the blues isn't depressing enough already without everybody dying, man.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
thornhill, wilco
The new Wilco album Sky Blue Sky dropped yesterday. I had time to pick it up at noon but haven't gotten to listen to it yet. I know that I will love it, though. It's also fun that a couple of the songs are already familiar from hearing them live (namely, "Impossible Germany" and "Walken"). I know I'll like the DVD, too. (If you haven't seen Jeff Tweedy's live solo acoustic dvd Sunken Treasure, check it out here, at amazon.
In other news, my husband J's band Thornhill's cd Center of Town is now available at cd baby right here.
In other news, my husband J's band Thornhill's cd Center of Town is now available at cd baby right here.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Son Volt, April 21, 2007
Obviously I have some catching up to do!
So that Saturday when we got to St. Louis for Son Volt, there'd been a horrid traffic jam and detour and everything. We finally made it to the hotel and checked in and relaxed for a minute. I called the venue to ask about cameras - it's a place that lets artists set the policy - and today was a "no camera" day. dammit. At that point, we didn't have enough time to skate back downtown and eat at one of the places we'd been considering, so we eventually just hit the venue's neighborhood, hoping to get lucky and get into Fitz's, but we could see people waiting outside, and the nearby big free parking lot was more than full, so I turned around and hit the small $3 parking garage nearby.
"Let's just see what's closest," I said.
In that neighborhood there are tons of little restaurants and bars and sidewalk dining in nice weather, which this was. We came across Riddle's; the sidewalk tables were packed, but there was space inside, and we got a booth immediately. Which was good, because it was pretty much time for doors to open over at the Pageant. ARGH. Well, if there's one thing I hate, it's being late to a GA show, especially when J had agreed to hit the floor for once instead of trying for a table, but there was nothing to be done but enjoy dinner and remember that we'd seen Son Volt a couple of times before and Jay Farrar a number of times - heck, met him, had him autograph our Trace liner notes, so if we had to get a seat like we did last October, well, it wouldn't actually be a tragedy.
So we enjoyed a nice dinner and then zipped over to the pageant, which has the awesomest parking of any venue ever, pretty much. Behind the venue and across the street, there's a parking lot for some kind of municipal transportation - buses, I guess, or shuttle, whatever - and concertgoers can park there. FREE. We picked up our tickets and got inside, and went in, and the place was humming, people filling up many of the tables -
and nobody on the floor.
I swear, you'd think I'd learn. It's a late crowd at the pageant, and for some reason it's an extra-late floor crowd. Unless it's Wilco, and then it's madness personified, but for most of the rest, it's just strange. I never get used to it. So we looked at merchandise and I bought a teeshirt, and J picked a table for us to loiter at while waiting - he was like, no hurry, we'll get on the floor as soon as we see people start to hit it. Good chance for a potty break and that kind of thing, and when I got back, it was starting, so we went ahead and got rail just to audience-left of Jay - which was awesome, so we were between him and the guitarist and could watch the guitarist, which we did. I don't even know who this guy is, he's new, but my god, he's good.
*checks son volt web site*
He's Chris Masterson.
I can't quite figure out who he is, apparently there's an actor by the same name (thanks for nothing, google!). He was a strange one, sporting a vivid white studio tan and weird hair and the kind of tattoos you get when you suddenly realize you'll be making your living as a musician, and scrawny. But cat could play a fucking guitar. J and I both felt that we watched him more than we watched Jay. I love applauding a solo.
Anyway. There we were at the rail, and who should join us, on my left, but the notorious Beatle Bob.
Beatle Bob is a guy from St. Louis who's known for going to concerts and "dancing." He ... well, just watch a video; it's hard to describe. I know a few of you encountered him at Lollapalooza last year and, frankly, I was surprised shannon and I didn't see him at Tallstacks last fall!
google results for Beatle Bob
Beatle Bob's myspace page!
Beatle Bob at wikipedia.
We've seen him around - at Son Volt in the past, and at the Jayhawks and Emmylou Harris and Springsteen and others I can't remember, but we've never met. I'm pretty sure he gave me a thumbs-up all my own, but otherwise we didn't really interact, except for inadvertantly doing the bump kind of often. However, this was my first up close and personal extended time as Beatle Bob's rail companion, and I must say:
Firstly, he seemed nicer and less of a freak than I expected. You hear so many terrible things about the guy. When people came up to greet him he was super-gracious and nice, made conversation with a guy who was in a band, talked about a party later for someone's birthday, really was normal. In retrospect I kind of wished I'd said hello or something, as we're bound to meet again, but I don't usually talk much to people in line or at the rail. After all, you're stuck together for hours, and once you start something, you're trapped. But if I'd had my camera I'd have asked him if he'd let J take our picture together. For posterity.
The opening band was Jason Molina's project. They didn't suck, they weren't bad, but they didn't grab us, either. Bob loved 'em, though. heh. I have to admit, it's kind of entertaining to see bands register him for the first time. He totally threw out some new moves I hadn't seen before, either. Very impressive.
Son Volt was great, just great.
Set list:
1. Satellite
2. Who
3. The Search
4. Circadian Rhythm
5. The Picture
6. Underground Dream
7. Beacon
8. Highway & cigarettes
9. Jet Pilot
10. Automatic Society
11. Exurbia
12. Methamphetamine
13. Damn Shame
14. Voodoo Candle
15. Medication
16. Medicine Hat
17. Tear Stained Eye
18. Action
19. Bandages & Scars
20. Drown
21. Afterglow 61
encore:
1. 2000 light years from home
2. Windfall
3. Life Worth Livin'
4. Chickamauga
Let the record show that it's very difficult to keep a list for Farrar; he loves to name a song NOT from the chorus. Let the record further show that I will never NOT freak out from happiness upon hearing "Medicine Hat," "Tear Stained Eye," "Windfall," and "Chickamauga." And (the one song some of you might have heard of) "Drown" was particularly kick ass this evening as well. That guitarist!! my GOD. "Drown" was HUGE.
"Jet Pilot" makes me happy too. Especially when a guy behind us yelled "Impeach the fucker!" at the end. har har.
Afterward, I held steady to try for a set list, and a couple of other guys drifted in to do the same. Competition!! I held tough, and when the roadie came out he went straight for the guitarist's list and turned and we all reached out. Usually I try "Could I please get a set list?" but he was clearly intending to give a set list, so I stuck with something like "Please, please!" and he came straight to me. He actually said something to the guys, some kind of NO!, and gave it to me as though we knew each other or something. Which, strangely, is exactly what happened in October, except that I hadn't been on the rail all night and the guys were a little grabby and he snatched it back away from them to make sure I got it safely. It's kind of funny. Maybe he just likes women? He'd been busy with guitar changes all night, we hadn't interacted, we don't know each other, but that's twice in a row I've been really lucky with him. so yay!! I don't know what to do with them once I get them, but I really do love the thrill of the chase. That's two son volt, one big head todd, and a security copy - not stage copy - from U2.
*shakes fist once more at memory of unfeeling allman bros crew*
Also, after I got the set list, the freelancer for the Post-Dispatch who was writing the review asked to look at it and made a few notes. Glad to help, guy!
I'm making my own Son Volt's Best compilation cd to introduce them to my friend Tenner, so if anyone else wants a copy, that's doable.
So that Saturday when we got to St. Louis for Son Volt, there'd been a horrid traffic jam and detour and everything. We finally made it to the hotel and checked in and relaxed for a minute. I called the venue to ask about cameras - it's a place that lets artists set the policy - and today was a "no camera" day. dammit. At that point, we didn't have enough time to skate back downtown and eat at one of the places we'd been considering, so we eventually just hit the venue's neighborhood, hoping to get lucky and get into Fitz's, but we could see people waiting outside, and the nearby big free parking lot was more than full, so I turned around and hit the small $3 parking garage nearby.
"Let's just see what's closest," I said.
In that neighborhood there are tons of little restaurants and bars and sidewalk dining in nice weather, which this was. We came across Riddle's; the sidewalk tables were packed, but there was space inside, and we got a booth immediately. Which was good, because it was pretty much time for doors to open over at the Pageant. ARGH. Well, if there's one thing I hate, it's being late to a GA show, especially when J had agreed to hit the floor for once instead of trying for a table, but there was nothing to be done but enjoy dinner and remember that we'd seen Son Volt a couple of times before and Jay Farrar a number of times - heck, met him, had him autograph our Trace liner notes, so if we had to get a seat like we did last October, well, it wouldn't actually be a tragedy.
So we enjoyed a nice dinner and then zipped over to the pageant, which has the awesomest parking of any venue ever, pretty much. Behind the venue and across the street, there's a parking lot for some kind of municipal transportation - buses, I guess, or shuttle, whatever - and concertgoers can park there. FREE. We picked up our tickets and got inside, and went in, and the place was humming, people filling up many of the tables -
and nobody on the floor.
I swear, you'd think I'd learn. It's a late crowd at the pageant, and for some reason it's an extra-late floor crowd. Unless it's Wilco, and then it's madness personified, but for most of the rest, it's just strange. I never get used to it. So we looked at merchandise and I bought a teeshirt, and J picked a table for us to loiter at while waiting - he was like, no hurry, we'll get on the floor as soon as we see people start to hit it. Good chance for a potty break and that kind of thing, and when I got back, it was starting, so we went ahead and got rail just to audience-left of Jay - which was awesome, so we were between him and the guitarist and could watch the guitarist, which we did. I don't even know who this guy is, he's new, but my god, he's good.
*checks son volt web site*
He's Chris Masterson.
I can't quite figure out who he is, apparently there's an actor by the same name (thanks for nothing, google!). He was a strange one, sporting a vivid white studio tan and weird hair and the kind of tattoos you get when you suddenly realize you'll be making your living as a musician, and scrawny. But cat could play a fucking guitar. J and I both felt that we watched him more than we watched Jay. I love applauding a solo.
Anyway. There we were at the rail, and who should join us, on my left, but the notorious Beatle Bob.
Beatle Bob is a guy from St. Louis who's known for going to concerts and "dancing." He ... well, just watch a video; it's hard to describe. I know a few of you encountered him at Lollapalooza last year and, frankly, I was surprised shannon and I didn't see him at Tallstacks last fall!
google results for Beatle Bob
Beatle Bob's myspace page!
Beatle Bob at wikipedia.
We've seen him around - at Son Volt in the past, and at the Jayhawks and Emmylou Harris and Springsteen and others I can't remember, but we've never met. I'm pretty sure he gave me a thumbs-up all my own, but otherwise we didn't really interact, except for inadvertantly doing the bump kind of often. However, this was my first up close and personal extended time as Beatle Bob's rail companion, and I must say:
Firstly, he seemed nicer and less of a freak than I expected. You hear so many terrible things about the guy. When people came up to greet him he was super-gracious and nice, made conversation with a guy who was in a band, talked about a party later for someone's birthday, really was normal. In retrospect I kind of wished I'd said hello or something, as we're bound to meet again, but I don't usually talk much to people in line or at the rail. After all, you're stuck together for hours, and once you start something, you're trapped. But if I'd had my camera I'd have asked him if he'd let J take our picture together. For posterity.
The opening band was Jason Molina's project. They didn't suck, they weren't bad, but they didn't grab us, either. Bob loved 'em, though. heh. I have to admit, it's kind of entertaining to see bands register him for the first time. He totally threw out some new moves I hadn't seen before, either. Very impressive.
Son Volt was great, just great.
Set list:
1. Satellite
2. Who
3. The Search
4. Circadian Rhythm
5. The Picture
6. Underground Dream
7. Beacon
8. Highway & cigarettes
9. Jet Pilot
10. Automatic Society
11. Exurbia
12. Methamphetamine
13. Damn Shame
14. Voodoo Candle
15. Medication
16. Medicine Hat
17. Tear Stained Eye
18. Action
19. Bandages & Scars
20. Drown
21. Afterglow 61
encore:
1. 2000 light years from home
2. Windfall
3. Life Worth Livin'
4. Chickamauga
Let the record show that it's very difficult to keep a list for Farrar; he loves to name a song NOT from the chorus. Let the record further show that I will never NOT freak out from happiness upon hearing "Medicine Hat," "Tear Stained Eye," "Windfall," and "Chickamauga." And (the one song some of you might have heard of) "Drown" was particularly kick ass this evening as well. That guitarist!! my GOD. "Drown" was HUGE.
"Jet Pilot" makes me happy too. Especially when a guy behind us yelled "Impeach the fucker!" at the end. har har.
Afterward, I held steady to try for a set list, and a couple of other guys drifted in to do the same. Competition!! I held tough, and when the roadie came out he went straight for the guitarist's list and turned and we all reached out. Usually I try "Could I please get a set list?" but he was clearly intending to give a set list, so I stuck with something like "Please, please!" and he came straight to me. He actually said something to the guys, some kind of NO!, and gave it to me as though we knew each other or something. Which, strangely, is exactly what happened in October, except that I hadn't been on the rail all night and the guys were a little grabby and he snatched it back away from them to make sure I got it safely. It's kind of funny. Maybe he just likes women? He'd been busy with guitar changes all night, we hadn't interacted, we don't know each other, but that's twice in a row I've been really lucky with him. so yay!! I don't know what to do with them once I get them, but I really do love the thrill of the chase. That's two son volt, one big head todd, and a security copy - not stage copy - from U2.
*shakes fist once more at memory of unfeeling allman bros crew*
Also, after I got the set list, the freelancer for the Post-Dispatch who was writing the review asked to look at it and made a few notes. Glad to help, guy!
I'm making my own Son Volt's Best compilation cd to introduce them to my friend Tenner, so if anyone else wants a copy, that's doable.
U2 memories - two years ago
Two years ago I hit my first two Vertigo shows in Chicago. I took the train up May 10 and met a bunch of my online friends for the first time at the United Center. It was a beautiful warm day to spend in line. After a day off, the 12th was cold and rainy, but we persevered.
A few pictures.
May 10, 2005:
Larry
adam
bono
bono and edge
And May 12.
cold!
stalking edge
larry
adam
everything
A few pictures.
May 10, 2005:
Larry
adam
bono
bono and edge
And May 12.
cold!
stalking edge
larry
adam
everything
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
U2 odds, ends
Here's a billboard.com article about the U2 3D movie.
Also some in-depth interviews and stuff with The Edge's guitar tech Dallas Schoo, including some youtube links I haven't tried out because I have dialup. Quit laughing. Do you think it's easy, being a cheapskate?
Here's a brief: The Edge will receive an honorary degree from Berklee this spring.
At @u2.com, check out the U2 cartoon achtoon baby.
Also some in-depth interviews and stuff with The Edge's guitar tech Dallas Schoo, including some youtube links I haven't tried out because I have dialup. Quit laughing. Do you think it's easy, being a cheapskate?
Here's a brief: The Edge will receive an honorary degree from Berklee this spring.
At @u2.com, check out the U2 cartoon achtoon baby.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Jason Isbell and the DBT
Drive By Truckers land brims with trepidation and disappointment as it is announced at the DBT site and at Jason Isbell's myspace page that guitarist/songwriter Jason Isbell and the Drive By Truckers have parted ways.
Discussions are ongoing at the Nine Bullets talkboards.
I've always said that the great thing about the Truckers is that theyhave had three killer songwriter-guitarists. I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to hear all of them more. The next DBT album will have more songs by Cooley and Patterson, and Jason Isbell's forthcoming solo album will be all him, obviously. But I'm very sad. I love the Truckers in their previous incarnations, but their albums with Isbell have really been on the next level.
They'll keep on Truckin' - they've had lineup changes before. And I'm glad I got to see them with him a couple of times. But I'm really disappointed that it happened.
By and large, though, I agree with posts at this blog. If the comment thing would ever load, I'd comment.
Discussions are ongoing at the Nine Bullets talkboards.
I've always said that the great thing about the Truckers is that they
They'll keep on Truckin' - they've had lineup changes before. And I'm glad I got to see them with him a couple of times. But I'm really disappointed that it happened.
By and large, though, I agree with posts at this blog. If the comment thing would ever load, I'd comment.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Obama announcement
There were a lot of rumors flying around Friday before the Obama announcement. The official word – the only official word – was that tickets were not needed for entry to the free event. There was some buzz about free ‘souvenir’ tickets being given out by ‘some groups.’
In the afternoon, my sidekick at work, JP, was on the phone to a friend or two and to her mother, and there were rumors and rumbles that there was some kind of VIP section or “A-level” ticketing. Later she gleaned that a friend of hers was working on getting said tickets just in case and she would try to get me an extra one and would leave me a message about it that night (while I was at gig with J). She did – her message was that tickets were in fact necessary so *whew* she’d gotten some.
The next morning I got up about the usual time I’d go to work and got out of the house a bit before 8:00. I figured I’d park in a nearby garage if I could, and if it was full, I could drive four blocks or so more and park in the lot at work and walk. Although a lot of streets were closed, oddly there was a lot of space left in the $3 garage. I had jeans, two long-sleeved tee shirts, one short-sleeved tee shirt, and a sweater, along with a scarf, my leather coat with liner, earmuffs, and two pairs of gloves. And those hand warmer packet things – one (uncomfortably) in each shoe, one in each glove, and the rest in my jean pockets (one nestled alongside my camera). I started walking the two blocks; first I came to the street that was closed to auto traffic, but then the next block was closed to foot traffic as well (except credentialed media, I think).
Street full of satellite trucks and such:
Anyway, I did walk around the block to find the end of the line, and … I thought the line would be long, but dude. It was like down the block, around the corner, to the end of that block, around the corner again, and on to a point a block or two north of the starting point. HOLY CRAP.
I called JP to try to hook up, and she and her friend A. (who I quite liked, and who reminded me of another friend) were two or three blocks away and just getting there on foot. Meanwhile I was overhearing confused murmuring about tickets, this is the yellow and red ticket line, that’s the white ticket and no ticket line, and JP said she had red, which was the end of the line I had found. Yes, there were about three of those lines. Holy crap. I walked JP to where I was (“I’m at the corner of fifth and adams, I’m at the, I’m between the library and museum!” “Which side of the street?” “I’m at the southeast corner … wait, there’s a cop car in the middle of the street, I’m just gonna go stand by that!” “We see the cop car!” “I’m waving my earmuffs!” “We’re in the bank parking lot!” Etc. etc.!). I met her friend and they gave me a ticket and we got in line behind an older woman who’d brought rather a lot of homemade stuff.
She was very nice. We’d heard that you couldn’t bring signs in, which turned out to be true – they had a bunch of signs they passed out later, for uniformity, I suppose. It certainly wasn’t for safety; more about that later!
Although the gates weren’t supposed to open for like 45 minutes, the line was moving the entire time – I think because it was so long, there was just that much scrunching together to do. Sen. Durbin’s office had free donuts and coffee at certain points, but I didn’t want to have to pee!! That’s for sure. The hot pads in my shoes didn’t work very well. They’re supposed to be air-activated, and if they stop working you’re supposed to take them out and give them a shake, so that was really the problem. Plus they got compressed from being walked on, of course. The ones in my hands very probably saved my life, and I could cradle my camera and keep it from freezing too. Jesus freaking H. Christ on a pogo stick, was it cold.
We shuffled and shuffled and shuffled, people streaming past us toward the end of the line the whole time, people hawking buttons, and media, media, media. Cameras walking up and down the lines, people taking photos, print media trying to get their frozen pens to work, many of them gravitating to the woman in front of us. Hundreds of press people, all getting the person-on-the-street, what is it about obama, why are you out on such a cold day, etc. You know when you see a live news report and there are people walking past in the background? We walked past TEN THOUSAND interviews. I’ve never seen anything like it. This might sound pretty lame to those of you from bigger cities – which I think is all of you – but I’m a farm kid who went to a small college and lives in a small town where nothing ever happens, yo. This was huge. Huge to me and to this town.
When we got close to the gates at last, there were long tables set up where we were supposed to leave our coffee. And signs, large bags, etc. There were a lot of coffee cups left there, but lots of people just ignored the directives. You were supposed to have bags searched, too, but people just kind of held up their empty bags in the direction of the staffers, who peeked and nodded. No patdowns. I’m not a big fan of being patted down, but seriously, as bundled up as we were, I seriously could have taken in a machine gun or a machete. It was really kind of worrisome. There was security of the “don’t rush the stage” variety, and the “FBI on the roof” variety
… but not so much the “don’t bring in a pistol” variety.
Turns out the grounds were divided into standing sections, color-coded by tickets. Ours really were like the second-best section. Looks like the official word was correct in that tickets were not needed for entry, but if you didn’t have a ticket, I’m pretty sure you’d be on the opposite side of the building (that is, the building between you and the podium), and there weren’t any video screens up, either.
We were, from the podium, straight away from the speaker’s left hand, and halfway back, if that makes any sense.
I was surprised to see that the podium was in the middle of the grounds instead of on the steps, but I suppose more people could see him that way.
We stood around and froze for a while. Here are some of us.
There was a ‘fluffer’ tossing hats and things out into the crowd and warming us up beforehand. A church choir sang a song or two. “America the beautiful,” I think. Then there was a very long pause of like twenty minutes before Debbie Ross, a well-known local singer, did the national anthem. It was really nice; I always think of her as kind of an oversinger in the Hazel Miller mode, but she did a very pretty rendition, and everyone hushed right up (unlike for the church choir). Then another long pause, more fluffing and hats being thrown out (good distance on some of them, but nowhere near me!) There was music, and they handed out piles of signs from the front of the crowd to take one and pass them back.
Finally our state’s senior senator Dick Durbin came out to introduce Obama. I’m a big huge fan of Durbin; he’s teriffic.
He kept it surprisingly short. I think the activities were less, and less continuous, just because of the cold. Then he introduced Obama, and “City of Blinding Lights” started up. (I hope he makes that his campaign song!) We couldn’t see very well, and we didn’t see him at first; he, well, he kind of did a Bono and came from the side of the building rather than down the steps. OOH! WE SEE HIM! He did a lot of smiling and waving and some hand shaking and went to the podium. Even though there’d been staff fluffers, the cheering and chanting during the speech were spontaneous. O! Bam! A! from the far side of the yard until he laughed at us. Then he speechified, and if you’re interested, you’ve probably seen and/or heard the speech itself already. We couldn’t really see all the time, but once in a while we could get a glimpse.
We cheered at the appropriate places. The sound system could’ve been a little louder. Every time we cheered, we missed the next few words or half sentence. Couldn’t be helped. We were all holding our cameras over our heads, and people agreeing and amending and nodding and hell yeah and WOO WOO WOO WOO. It was only about a 20-minute speech, very considerate in the cold. He sounded just a little hoarse. What I liked was hearing him find his rhythm, like at the convention, and getting into his tempo and everything. He really gives good speech.
Afterward he waded down into the crowd to shake hands and press the flesh for quite a while. We craned, trying to decide whether he’d gone. When he’d gone closer to the building, we squeezed through a barricade into the main section from our secondary section. He wasn’t there anymore, but you know. I saw that his kids had come out onto the steps of the old capitol and were waiting for him there for the family goodbye wave stuff.
They were cute, all bundled up, the little one looking like her gloves were far too large, the big one helping fix her hat. Obama went and stood with them and waved for a while, then went toward the building (ducking behind those pillars out of sight), to fetch his wife, Michelle, and they all posed and waved to the crowd for a minute.
It was funny because “I Got You” was playing and it was kind of a James Brown moment, he’s gone, no, he’s coming back.
Then we started to shuffle out. The grounds are enclosed by an iron fence, with just a few gates. I’m so glad nothing happened. Seriously, it took twenty minutes to get out of the gates, and if there’d been a scare, or a health emergency, or someone had burst into flames, we could have all been killed. It was kind of a clusterfuck in many ways, from the security going in to the disorderly departure.
At one point I glanced over and saw that the governor was out shaking hands and talking to people, but there weren’t many people looking; nearly nobody even noticed. Who’s the governor next to His Obamaness? (That’s Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the right, walking away.)
There were anti-abortion protestors on a side street, the “bloody fetus sign waving” type, and one could just hear them chanting during the speech, but when I watched it on TV you couldn’t hear them on the broadcast; they weren’t much of a distraction.
My favorite sign was one that said “Lemmings for Obama.” I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a supporter.
I staggered back to my car and called J and came home. He turned on the electric blanket so the bed was warm when I got there. We usually sleep with the blanket set on one or two if it’s really cold, but on 5, I still couldn’t get warm. Finally J turned it up to like 8 and I took a nap and got my equilibrium back. Toward the end, my face had been so painful, I was worried about frostbite. I held a hand with the hot pack in the glove over my face. Later I was pooped, from shivering and from being so tensed up against the cold; I felt like I’d been mountain climbing!
It was really a fun, awesome event. I’m glad I went. I hear a lot of people say they’ve never felt this way about a candidate before. I felt very similar about Clinton, who motivated me to become a voter. The campaign’s just begun, and I also very much like John Edwards, not to mention Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but Obama, he’s something very special.
I realize belatedly that my pictures made the crowd look more overwhelmingly white than it was. I think I just happened to be standing in a section that was pretty white, but the crowd generally was a mix – race, age, gender.
Thanks for reading all this.
In the afternoon, my sidekick at work, JP, was on the phone to a friend or two and to her mother, and there were rumors and rumbles that there was some kind of VIP section or “A-level” ticketing. Later she gleaned that a friend of hers was working on getting said tickets just in case and she would try to get me an extra one and would leave me a message about it that night (while I was at gig with J). She did – her message was that tickets were in fact necessary so *whew* she’d gotten some.
The next morning I got up about the usual time I’d go to work and got out of the house a bit before 8:00. I figured I’d park in a nearby garage if I could, and if it was full, I could drive four blocks or so more and park in the lot at work and walk. Although a lot of streets were closed, oddly there was a lot of space left in the $3 garage. I had jeans, two long-sleeved tee shirts, one short-sleeved tee shirt, and a sweater, along with a scarf, my leather coat with liner, earmuffs, and two pairs of gloves. And those hand warmer packet things – one (uncomfortably) in each shoe, one in each glove, and the rest in my jean pockets (one nestled alongside my camera). I started walking the two blocks; first I came to the street that was closed to auto traffic, but then the next block was closed to foot traffic as well (except credentialed media, I think).
Street full of satellite trucks and such:
Anyway, I did walk around the block to find the end of the line, and … I thought the line would be long, but dude. It was like down the block, around the corner, to the end of that block, around the corner again, and on to a point a block or two north of the starting point. HOLY CRAP.
I called JP to try to hook up, and she and her friend A. (who I quite liked, and who reminded me of another friend) were two or three blocks away and just getting there on foot. Meanwhile I was overhearing confused murmuring about tickets, this is the yellow and red ticket line, that’s the white ticket and no ticket line, and JP said she had red, which was the end of the line I had found. Yes, there were about three of those lines. Holy crap. I walked JP to where I was (“I’m at the corner of fifth and adams, I’m at the, I’m between the library and museum!” “Which side of the street?” “I’m at the southeast corner … wait, there’s a cop car in the middle of the street, I’m just gonna go stand by that!” “We see the cop car!” “I’m waving my earmuffs!” “We’re in the bank parking lot!” Etc. etc.!). I met her friend and they gave me a ticket and we got in line behind an older woman who’d brought rather a lot of homemade stuff.
She was very nice. We’d heard that you couldn’t bring signs in, which turned out to be true – they had a bunch of signs they passed out later, for uniformity, I suppose. It certainly wasn’t for safety; more about that later!
Although the gates weren’t supposed to open for like 45 minutes, the line was moving the entire time – I think because it was so long, there was just that much scrunching together to do. Sen. Durbin’s office had free donuts and coffee at certain points, but I didn’t want to have to pee!! That’s for sure. The hot pads in my shoes didn’t work very well. They’re supposed to be air-activated, and if they stop working you’re supposed to take them out and give them a shake, so that was really the problem. Plus they got compressed from being walked on, of course. The ones in my hands very probably saved my life, and I could cradle my camera and keep it from freezing too. Jesus freaking H. Christ on a pogo stick, was it cold.
We shuffled and shuffled and shuffled, people streaming past us toward the end of the line the whole time, people hawking buttons, and media, media, media. Cameras walking up and down the lines, people taking photos, print media trying to get their frozen pens to work, many of them gravitating to the woman in front of us. Hundreds of press people, all getting the person-on-the-street, what is it about obama, why are you out on such a cold day, etc. You know when you see a live news report and there are people walking past in the background? We walked past TEN THOUSAND interviews. I’ve never seen anything like it. This might sound pretty lame to those of you from bigger cities – which I think is all of you – but I’m a farm kid who went to a small college and lives in a small town where nothing ever happens, yo. This was huge. Huge to me and to this town.
When we got close to the gates at last, there were long tables set up where we were supposed to leave our coffee. And signs, large bags, etc. There were a lot of coffee cups left there, but lots of people just ignored the directives. You were supposed to have bags searched, too, but people just kind of held up their empty bags in the direction of the staffers, who peeked and nodded. No patdowns. I’m not a big fan of being patted down, but seriously, as bundled up as we were, I seriously could have taken in a machine gun or a machete. It was really kind of worrisome. There was security of the “don’t rush the stage” variety, and the “FBI on the roof” variety
… but not so much the “don’t bring in a pistol” variety.
Turns out the grounds were divided into standing sections, color-coded by tickets. Ours really were like the second-best section. Looks like the official word was correct in that tickets were not needed for entry, but if you didn’t have a ticket, I’m pretty sure you’d be on the opposite side of the building (that is, the building between you and the podium), and there weren’t any video screens up, either.
We were, from the podium, straight away from the speaker’s left hand, and halfway back, if that makes any sense.
I was surprised to see that the podium was in the middle of the grounds instead of on the steps, but I suppose more people could see him that way.
We stood around and froze for a while. Here are some of us.
There was a ‘fluffer’ tossing hats and things out into the crowd and warming us up beforehand. A church choir sang a song or two. “America the beautiful,” I think. Then there was a very long pause of like twenty minutes before Debbie Ross, a well-known local singer, did the national anthem. It was really nice; I always think of her as kind of an oversinger in the Hazel Miller mode, but she did a very pretty rendition, and everyone hushed right up (unlike for the church choir). Then another long pause, more fluffing and hats being thrown out (good distance on some of them, but nowhere near me!) There was music, and they handed out piles of signs from the front of the crowd to take one and pass them back.
Finally our state’s senior senator Dick Durbin came out to introduce Obama. I’m a big huge fan of Durbin; he’s teriffic.
He kept it surprisingly short. I think the activities were less, and less continuous, just because of the cold. Then he introduced Obama, and “City of Blinding Lights” started up. (I hope he makes that his campaign song!) We couldn’t see very well, and we didn’t see him at first; he, well, he kind of did a Bono and came from the side of the building rather than down the steps. OOH! WE SEE HIM! He did a lot of smiling and waving and some hand shaking and went to the podium. Even though there’d been staff fluffers, the cheering and chanting during the speech were spontaneous. O! Bam! A! from the far side of the yard until he laughed at us. Then he speechified, and if you’re interested, you’ve probably seen and/or heard the speech itself already. We couldn’t really see all the time, but once in a while we could get a glimpse.
We cheered at the appropriate places. The sound system could’ve been a little louder. Every time we cheered, we missed the next few words or half sentence. Couldn’t be helped. We were all holding our cameras over our heads, and people agreeing and amending and nodding and hell yeah and WOO WOO WOO WOO. It was only about a 20-minute speech, very considerate in the cold. He sounded just a little hoarse. What I liked was hearing him find his rhythm, like at the convention, and getting into his tempo and everything. He really gives good speech.
Afterward he waded down into the crowd to shake hands and press the flesh for quite a while. We craned, trying to decide whether he’d gone. When he’d gone closer to the building, we squeezed through a barricade into the main section from our secondary section. He wasn’t there anymore, but you know. I saw that his kids had come out onto the steps of the old capitol and were waiting for him there for the family goodbye wave stuff.
They were cute, all bundled up, the little one looking like her gloves were far too large, the big one helping fix her hat. Obama went and stood with them and waved for a while, then went toward the building (ducking behind those pillars out of sight), to fetch his wife, Michelle, and they all posed and waved to the crowd for a minute.
It was funny because “I Got You” was playing and it was kind of a James Brown moment, he’s gone, no, he’s coming back.
Then we started to shuffle out. The grounds are enclosed by an iron fence, with just a few gates. I’m so glad nothing happened. Seriously, it took twenty minutes to get out of the gates, and if there’d been a scare, or a health emergency, or someone had burst into flames, we could have all been killed. It was kind of a clusterfuck in many ways, from the security going in to the disorderly departure.
At one point I glanced over and saw that the governor was out shaking hands and talking to people, but there weren’t many people looking; nearly nobody even noticed. Who’s the governor next to His Obamaness? (That’s Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the right, walking away.)
There were anti-abortion protestors on a side street, the “bloody fetus sign waving” type, and one could just hear them chanting during the speech, but when I watched it on TV you couldn’t hear them on the broadcast; they weren’t much of a distraction.
My favorite sign was one that said “Lemmings for Obama.” I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a supporter.
I staggered back to my car and called J and came home. He turned on the electric blanket so the bed was warm when I got there. We usually sleep with the blanket set on one or two if it’s really cold, but on 5, I still couldn’t get warm. Finally J turned it up to like 8 and I took a nap and got my equilibrium back. Toward the end, my face had been so painful, I was worried about frostbite. I held a hand with the hot pack in the glove over my face. Later I was pooped, from shivering and from being so tensed up against the cold; I felt like I’d been mountain climbing!
It was really a fun, awesome event. I’m glad I went. I hear a lot of people say they’ve never felt this way about a candidate before. I felt very similar about Clinton, who motivated me to become a voter. The campaign’s just begun, and I also very much like John Edwards, not to mention Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but Obama, he’s something very special.
I realize belatedly that my pictures made the crowd look more overwhelmingly white than it was. I think I just happened to be standing in a section that was pretty white, but the crowd generally was a mix – race, age, gender.
Thanks for reading all this.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
This; That
It's flattering when someone clicks through just to set me straight.
Just to be clear, though, allowing comments, moderating comments, replying to comments, and deleting comments are all at the discretion of the blogger. You're free to say what you wish, and I'm free to do with comments as I wish. Make of that what you will; I promise not to poison your sushi with a chemical element I never heard of before a couple of weeks ago.
Actually, it's kind of like giving someone a present they don't want. You go to a lot of trouble to pick out a knick-knack, but if Aunt Sophie doesn't like it, well, she's just not obligated to put it on the mantle.
I guess five-packs of Cardinals tickets go on sale this weekend, but I think we're going to pass this year. Used to be four-packs, and we always bought them, but it's harder and harder to go to Cardinals games. It's tough to love baseball and hate the regional team, although there's no logical reason to like a team because of geographical coincidence, either. Anyway, even hating the Cardinals, at least the ugly old stadium felt like home. Now we're seeing a team we hate in an unfamiliar stadium, so that's even less fun. I miss being able to walk all the way around the perimeter at the old place - although it was nice having a large sheltered area to cower in during The Big Huge Wind Storm last summer.
Anyway, I think this time we'll focus our effort on spending more for better tickets to fewer games that we really want to attend instead of buying a pack that includes a couple of teams we really want to see and a couple we don't really care for either way.
Gov't Mule Friday! I know I should stay in town and attend a high school band performance instead, but I'm not.
Just to be clear, though, allowing comments, moderating comments, replying to comments, and deleting comments are all at the discretion of the blogger. You're free to say what you wish, and I'm free to do with comments as I wish. Make of that what you will; I promise not to poison your sushi with a chemical element I never heard of before a couple of weeks ago.
Actually, it's kind of like giving someone a present they don't want. You go to a lot of trouble to pick out a knick-knack, but if Aunt Sophie doesn't like it, well, she's just not obligated to put it on the mantle.
I guess five-packs of Cardinals tickets go on sale this weekend, but I think we're going to pass this year. Used to be four-packs, and we always bought them, but it's harder and harder to go to Cardinals games. It's tough to love baseball and hate the regional team, although there's no logical reason to like a team because of geographical coincidence, either. Anyway, even hating the Cardinals, at least the ugly old stadium felt like home. Now we're seeing a team we hate in an unfamiliar stadium, so that's even less fun. I miss being able to walk all the way around the perimeter at the old place - although it was nice having a large sheltered area to cower in during The Big Huge Wind Storm last summer.
Anyway, I think this time we'll focus our effort on spending more for better tickets to fewer games that we really want to attend instead of buying a pack that includes a couple of teams we really want to see and a couple we don't really care for either way.
Gov't Mule Friday! I know I should stay in town and attend a high school band performance instead, but I'm not.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Drive By Truckers, Mississippi Nights, Oct. 25, 2006
I don’t know why I’ve been putting this off – maybe if I write the review, I’ll have to move on, and the show was so great that I don’t want to forget about it.
J and I had taken the afternoon off work and gotten a hotel room in a smaller town on the Illinois side (cheaper!), so we had a leisurely drive and time to check in to the room and relax before time to drive into town for the show. Despite the world series (and the game ended up being cancelled because of rain anyway), we had no hassles – took the easy bridge and were nice and early. The lot we usually park in was pretty empty, and it was drizzley, so we parked where we could see the venue and waited in the car for a few minutes to keep warm. The tour buses were parked right outside. (If you’re early, you can often see band members going in and out the door where you’re lined up at – apparently there’s no convenient back way for the band.) We saw a few people pass, and eventually saw that someone was in line, and I can’t stand to be early and NOT be in line, so we went ahead.
We bought tickets through the Truckers web site that were will-call only, so we went into the little foyer and picked them up. After us, the shutter went down and everyone else had to wait till the doors opened and get their tickets on the way in, I think. Anyway, there weren’t that many people in line, so there was room for us to wait inside – double doors with windows on either side, so we could peer at the stage and watch the staff eat dinner while we waited. J and I tend not to gab much in line because we’re shy and it seems like we always regret joining the conversation – it always turns into some kind of ‘I’m a bigger fan than you’ kind of subtle bragging match. How many times have you seen them, oh, I’ve seen them five. Not that interested. We didn’t talk much there either but the people around us were cool, and (like us) all from out of town.
When the doors opened there still wasn’t a big huge line. Late crowd, I guess? We sauntered straight down to the floor and parked ourselves square in the middle. Awesome Canadian couple (P.J. and Maria) landed next to us. Their first show, and practically our first, because we just saw them last summer opening for Black Crowes.
Opener was The Drams, three fifths of whom used to be Slobberbone. I regretted not checking out Slobberbone before, so this was redemption night, and we’d gotten the Drams album, which I’d listened to across Indiana on my way home from my Ohio Tour. It was pretty good. They were loud (duh, we were stage-side, on top of the monitors and with the amps pointed at us – I don’t mean to imply that the mix was loud, just that we were standing in a loud place) but enjoyable. I’d brought earplugs, but they make me feel strange and kind of disassociated. I think we’ll have to look into getting some more expensive ones out of a musician’s supply catalog and see if they work better; these were just foam cheapies.
After the Drams they moved the center pair of monitors apart so that Patterson (singer/guitarist) was just to our left and Shonna (bass) was a bit to our right. It was a bit too far, though; during the show he moved his stuff (yanking up tape and prompting a roadie to come help) because he was kind of jammed together on the left half of the stage.
I heard the people next to me talking about Beatle Bob: "I bet he gets onstage, he was onstage at the Flaming Lips." I knew it had to be him. I peered around but didn't see him ... but ten minutes later there he was, five people further down on the left, the one and only. Didn't get onstage, but he did have a good time.
Anyway, the Truckers were amazing. We were so close, we grinned the whole time, and they had so much energy and played so well (even though, as I said, we weren’t in the optimal place for sound; that’s the ‘being really close to the stage’ tradeoff). LOUD! So much enthusiasm. Their stage includes a velvet elvis and a velvet Jesus hovering over a semi truck. What’s not to love? Along with a big bottle of Jack Daniels that they share during the show. Especially Patterson. By the end they were all lit and Patterson was holding the bottle for the other band members. There were so many moments, eye contact, smiles, hand touches, practically moshing down there, screaming and singing even though I wasn’t supposed to because I need my lungs to live. I don’t know when I’ve seen J have such a good time, either. It was great. I’m happy when he’s happy. Great set list. Patterson at the end like if Bono were an unpretentious six-foot-fiver from Alabama all drunk and sweaty standing over us singing to the back of the house, with us leaning back away looking straight up at him and hoping he didn’t swing the mike stand and accidentally kill us. I actually ducked away from kicks. During the encore on his knees, yanking the mike cord and us all helping tilt the monitors to free it, screaming, holding the mike out for Canada Maria, and J, and then I, to scream back at him. J said later “Nobody’s ever screamed in my face like that; it was kind of weird.” But awesome. Screaming back at the top of my voice, feeling as sweaty and bold as he was. The kind of crowd interaction that just feeds the band, and the band feeds it back to the crowd, and the crowd gives it back again, and everything gets hotter and louder and drunker and bigger. Here’s a picture J found on flicker featuring the back of my head.
Set list:
1. Marry Me
2. Ronnie & Neil
3. Never Gonna Change
4. Feb. 14
5. Gravity’s Gone
6. Sinkhole (“damned if I wouldn’t go to church on Sunday and look the preacher in the eye”)
7. Goddamn Lonely Love
8. Do It Yourself
9. When the Pin Hits the Shell ("you can't lie to nobody with that cold steel in your face")
10. The Living Bubba
11. Moonlight Mile
12. Steve McQueen (“the baddest motherfucker on the silver screen”)
13. Dead, Drunk and Naked
14. Guitar Man Upstairs (“Think I’m gonna call the po-lice”)
15. The Day John Henry Died
16. Puttin’ People on the Moon (“Goddamned Bush is in the white house”)
17. Space City
18. Hell No, I Ain’t Happy (“but I ain’t too crappy!”)
19. Lookout Mountain
-encore-
20. Dress Blues
21. Let There Be Rock
22. Shut Up and Get On The Plane
23. Buttholeville (“never going back never going back never going”)
24. People Who Died (“they were my friends, and they fucking died! They fucking died!”)
They don’t make an actual set list (though I was in prime position to get one, if they did), they decide on the fly (although many of their shows do feature many of the same songs, so they have it in mind) without a lot of wasted time in between.
At the end when Patterson introduced Mike Cooley, Cooley just stood there drinking from the bottle and giving the room the finger while we applauded. One of the funniest damned things I’ve ever seen. Awesome.
Afterward, as I said, the venue doesn’t have the greatest floor plan for the band, but it’s great for the audience. The dressing room’s in a corner and its wall on one side and the edge of the stage on the other side make a kind of hallway. They have a security guy sit at the audience end, and if you want to meet the band you hang around there and hope they come out. But you’re so close, if the dressing room door opens you can call to them and see them and hopefully persuade them. That’s what we did, and they came out one at a time, Shonna first, she was so cute and sweet and totally held her own up there with the guys and why ever not? Go Shonna. EZB the drummer, Jason, then a pause. A couple of chicks had squeezed in ahead of us, but it wasn’t a line, it was like a circle. One of them kept telling the band it was her birthday would they PLEASE sign something? J brought the only sharpie anyone had, so birthday chick then would say “And it’s their sharpie so could you please sign for them too???” and we let everyone use the sharpie and it worked out well. Then I saw Patterson come out and I made eye contact and he saw us all and came over. He didn’t look so gigantic when he wasn’t towering over me on a three-foot stage. Hee. Something made him laugh, I forget, oh, J had a liner booklet and I was just having them sign my ticket, and it was so full when I handed it to Patterson that he just kind of looked at it, bemused, and I said, “You could initial it,” and he laughed a little and scrawled at it. Cooley was last and he turned it over to sign on the back because it was so full.
Also here’s the DBT fan message boards.
I think I’m kind of in love. But I don’t know with what, or whom. It was the best show I’d seen in so long, and J and I were just wrung-out exhausted after. After all the autographs and everything we limped back to the car and got to the hotel in minutes.
Next day we went back into the city and had lunch at Duff’s, my favorite restaurant in the whole world, then went window-shopping at a ‘centre’ we hadn’t been to before (high-end! Yikes!) and then came home.
My only regret really is that I didn't take a camera. I wasn't sure of the venue policy and they returned my e-mail too late. But it would've been a big distraction anyway. I was already keeping a set list, singing, moshing, standing, keeping track of our jackets and junk on the stage, breathing, yelling. I could've gotten some good ones, but me taking them with my camera, they wouldn't have been that good anyway. I'm just trying not to think about it so I'm not really pissed that I didn't take it. I said to J, next time I'm on the fence, just tell me to take it. sigh. Could've gotten a picture of me with Patterson!!
J and I had taken the afternoon off work and gotten a hotel room in a smaller town on the Illinois side (cheaper!), so we had a leisurely drive and time to check in to the room and relax before time to drive into town for the show. Despite the world series (and the game ended up being cancelled because of rain anyway), we had no hassles – took the easy bridge and were nice and early. The lot we usually park in was pretty empty, and it was drizzley, so we parked where we could see the venue and waited in the car for a few minutes to keep warm. The tour buses were parked right outside. (If you’re early, you can often see band members going in and out the door where you’re lined up at – apparently there’s no convenient back way for the band.) We saw a few people pass, and eventually saw that someone was in line, and I can’t stand to be early and NOT be in line, so we went ahead.
We bought tickets through the Truckers web site that were will-call only, so we went into the little foyer and picked them up. After us, the shutter went down and everyone else had to wait till the doors opened and get their tickets on the way in, I think. Anyway, there weren’t that many people in line, so there was room for us to wait inside – double doors with windows on either side, so we could peer at the stage and watch the staff eat dinner while we waited. J and I tend not to gab much in line because we’re shy and it seems like we always regret joining the conversation – it always turns into some kind of ‘I’m a bigger fan than you’ kind of subtle bragging match. How many times have you seen them, oh, I’ve seen them five. Not that interested. We didn’t talk much there either but the people around us were cool, and (like us) all from out of town.
When the doors opened there still wasn’t a big huge line. Late crowd, I guess? We sauntered straight down to the floor and parked ourselves square in the middle. Awesome Canadian couple (P.J. and Maria) landed next to us. Their first show, and practically our first, because we just saw them last summer opening for Black Crowes.
Opener was The Drams, three fifths of whom used to be Slobberbone. I regretted not checking out Slobberbone before, so this was redemption night, and we’d gotten the Drams album, which I’d listened to across Indiana on my way home from my Ohio Tour. It was pretty good. They were loud (duh, we were stage-side, on top of the monitors and with the amps pointed at us – I don’t mean to imply that the mix was loud, just that we were standing in a loud place) but enjoyable. I’d brought earplugs, but they make me feel strange and kind of disassociated. I think we’ll have to look into getting some more expensive ones out of a musician’s supply catalog and see if they work better; these were just foam cheapies.
After the Drams they moved the center pair of monitors apart so that Patterson (singer/guitarist) was just to our left and Shonna (bass) was a bit to our right. It was a bit too far, though; during the show he moved his stuff (yanking up tape and prompting a roadie to come help) because he was kind of jammed together on the left half of the stage.
I heard the people next to me talking about Beatle Bob: "I bet he gets onstage, he was onstage at the Flaming Lips." I knew it had to be him. I peered around but didn't see him ... but ten minutes later there he was, five people further down on the left, the one and only. Didn't get onstage, but he did have a good time.
Anyway, the Truckers were amazing. We were so close, we grinned the whole time, and they had so much energy and played so well (even though, as I said, we weren’t in the optimal place for sound; that’s the ‘being really close to the stage’ tradeoff). LOUD! So much enthusiasm. Their stage includes a velvet elvis and a velvet Jesus hovering over a semi truck. What’s not to love? Along with a big bottle of Jack Daniels that they share during the show. Especially Patterson. By the end they were all lit and Patterson was holding the bottle for the other band members. There were so many moments, eye contact, smiles, hand touches, practically moshing down there, screaming and singing even though I wasn’t supposed to because I need my lungs to live. I don’t know when I’ve seen J have such a good time, either. It was great. I’m happy when he’s happy. Great set list. Patterson at the end like if Bono were an unpretentious six-foot-fiver from Alabama all drunk and sweaty standing over us singing to the back of the house, with us leaning back away looking straight up at him and hoping he didn’t swing the mike stand and accidentally kill us. I actually ducked away from kicks. During the encore on his knees, yanking the mike cord and us all helping tilt the monitors to free it, screaming, holding the mike out for Canada Maria, and J, and then I, to scream back at him. J said later “Nobody’s ever screamed in my face like that; it was kind of weird.” But awesome. Screaming back at the top of my voice, feeling as sweaty and bold as he was. The kind of crowd interaction that just feeds the band, and the band feeds it back to the crowd, and the crowd gives it back again, and everything gets hotter and louder and drunker and bigger. Here’s a picture J found on flicker featuring the back of my head.
Set list:
1. Marry Me
2. Ronnie & Neil
3. Never Gonna Change
4. Feb. 14
5. Gravity’s Gone
6. Sinkhole (“damned if I wouldn’t go to church on Sunday and look the preacher in the eye”)
7. Goddamn Lonely Love
8. Do It Yourself
9. When the Pin Hits the Shell ("you can't lie to nobody with that cold steel in your face")
10. The Living Bubba
11. Moonlight Mile
12. Steve McQueen (“the baddest motherfucker on the silver screen”)
13. Dead, Drunk and Naked
14. Guitar Man Upstairs (“Think I’m gonna call the po-lice”)
15. The Day John Henry Died
16. Puttin’ People on the Moon (“Goddamned Bush is in the white house”)
17. Space City
18. Hell No, I Ain’t Happy (“but I ain’t too crappy!”)
19. Lookout Mountain
-encore-
20. Dress Blues
21. Let There Be Rock
22. Shut Up and Get On The Plane
23. Buttholeville (“never going back never going back never going”)
24. People Who Died (“they were my friends, and they fucking died! They fucking died!”)
They don’t make an actual set list (though I was in prime position to get one, if they did), they decide on the fly (although many of their shows do feature many of the same songs, so they have it in mind) without a lot of wasted time in between.
At the end when Patterson introduced Mike Cooley, Cooley just stood there drinking from the bottle and giving the room the finger while we applauded. One of the funniest damned things I’ve ever seen. Awesome.
Afterward, as I said, the venue doesn’t have the greatest floor plan for the band, but it’s great for the audience. The dressing room’s in a corner and its wall on one side and the edge of the stage on the other side make a kind of hallway. They have a security guy sit at the audience end, and if you want to meet the band you hang around there and hope they come out. But you’re so close, if the dressing room door opens you can call to them and see them and hopefully persuade them. That’s what we did, and they came out one at a time, Shonna first, she was so cute and sweet and totally held her own up there with the guys and why ever not? Go Shonna. EZB the drummer, Jason, then a pause. A couple of chicks had squeezed in ahead of us, but it wasn’t a line, it was like a circle. One of them kept telling the band it was her birthday would they PLEASE sign something? J brought the only sharpie anyone had, so birthday chick then would say “And it’s their sharpie so could you please sign for them too???” and we let everyone use the sharpie and it worked out well. Then I saw Patterson come out and I made eye contact and he saw us all and came over. He didn’t look so gigantic when he wasn’t towering over me on a three-foot stage. Hee. Something made him laugh, I forget, oh, J had a liner booklet and I was just having them sign my ticket, and it was so full when I handed it to Patterson that he just kind of looked at it, bemused, and I said, “You could initial it,” and he laughed a little and scrawled at it. Cooley was last and he turned it over to sign on the back because it was so full.
Also here’s the DBT fan message boards.
I think I’m kind of in love. But I don’t know with what, or whom. It was the best show I’d seen in so long, and J and I were just wrung-out exhausted after. After all the autographs and everything we limped back to the car and got to the hotel in minutes.
Next day we went back into the city and had lunch at Duff’s, my favorite restaurant in the whole world, then went window-shopping at a ‘centre’ we hadn’t been to before (high-end! Yikes!) and then came home.
My only regret really is that I didn't take a camera. I wasn't sure of the venue policy and they returned my e-mail too late. But it would've been a big distraction anyway. I was already keeping a set list, singing, moshing, standing, keeping track of our jackets and junk on the stage, breathing, yelling. I could've gotten some good ones, but me taking them with my camera, they wouldn't have been that good anyway. I'm just trying not to think about it so I'm not really pissed that I didn't take it. I said to J, next time I'm on the fence, just tell me to take it. sigh. Could've gotten a picture of me with Patterson!!
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Halloweenfest
Friday night husband J and I went to the Jack-o'-the-Lantern event at Washington Park, a fundraiser for the Carillon Society. Here are some pictures:
scary face!
I never would have thought of this. loved it.
I loved this one too.
This one was a lot more impressive before we saw two others just like it and figured it must've been a pattern sold somewhere. But we respected it a lot before that.
This one cracked my shit up.
scary face!
I never would have thought of this. loved it.
I loved this one too.
This one was a lot more impressive before we saw two others just like it and figured it must've been a pattern sold somewhere. But we respected it a lot before that.
This one cracked my shit up.
Ruthie Foster, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Bo Diddley, Oct. 17, 2006
The first opener was Ruthie Foster. Someone had given me a burned copy of one of her cds to prep with, but I didn't really love it. She had a good voice, but it was kind of soul gospel, which doesn't really trip me. (J called this the Keb' Mo' syndrome.) But in person, it was just her and an acoustic guitar. First of all, she could really play; she wasn't just someone who thinks of herself as a singer but has to accompany herself. Secondly, I loved her stage presence; she gave off a great, personable vibe with good, conversational rapport. Thirdly, great voice. And fourthly, her song choices were much more bluesy than I'd anticipated. She had me at Sister Rosetta Tharpe, really, but Brownie McGhee? Get outta town. Very nice. I wish her set had been longer, really.
Second was Alvin Youngblood Hart.
here's a picture:
J and I saw him open for B.B. King several years ago, but then he was doing an acoustic thing. This time he was electrified. I don't know whether he played with The Bo Diddley Band or whether his band also backed Bo, but it was the same band (including him). He was, again, really good. J and I both prefer his bluesier stuff to when he goes for a more straightforward rock sound. In particular, he did a mean version of "In My Time of Dying" dedicated to the late Freddy Fender. Good stuff.
After the break, Bo Diddley.
He began inauspiciously with pedal trouble. Strangely, it looked like he didn't have a guitar tech; the guy who came out to help is a local sound guy we know. (The place was crawling with local sound guys, actually.) He was funny, though. "I think it broke," he said, then shook his head. "A hundred and forty dollars."
Anyway, I try to cut an 80-year-old blues legend some slack. And for me the point was really to be in the same room with Bo Diddley while he's alive. The only comparable artists I've seen are B.B. King and Buddy Guy. B.B., I'd say, is physically more comparable to Bo; while obese rather than slim, he likewise sits the whole time, and his band carries a lot of the show. He does play more than Bo did, but his show is a big time kind of vegas production in some ways, very choreographed, including banter. Buddy Guy was physically vigorous and still able to play well, but he was ... instead of playing a bunch of songs, he'd play a song, then do a thing where he played and talked and made a medley and screwed around. Well, bo was like that, only much more so. If I'd really expected a lot of killer guitar playing, I'd have been sorely disappointed. He hardly played at all. He did talk a lot. From a non-legend perspective, it wasn't worth it at all. But I did 'see' Bo Diddley, and, well, I have a greatest hits cd when I need to really hear him. I just felt very sad afterward, and so did J. He seemed so old. I know he is old, but he really seemed like he should be retired. I hate to say that. sigh. stupid blues.
Here's a web site that's on tripod but looks like it wants to be his official site:
click and here's his wikipedia entry.
Here are a coupla pictures of him:
Second was Alvin Youngblood Hart.
here's a picture:
J and I saw him open for B.B. King several years ago, but then he was doing an acoustic thing. This time he was electrified. I don't know whether he played with The Bo Diddley Band or whether his band also backed Bo, but it was the same band (including him). He was, again, really good. J and I both prefer his bluesier stuff to when he goes for a more straightforward rock sound. In particular, he did a mean version of "In My Time of Dying" dedicated to the late Freddy Fender. Good stuff.
After the break, Bo Diddley.
He began inauspiciously with pedal trouble. Strangely, it looked like he didn't have a guitar tech; the guy who came out to help is a local sound guy we know. (The place was crawling with local sound guys, actually.) He was funny, though. "I think it broke," he said, then shook his head. "A hundred and forty dollars."
Anyway, I try to cut an 80-year-old blues legend some slack. And for me the point was really to be in the same room with Bo Diddley while he's alive. The only comparable artists I've seen are B.B. King and Buddy Guy. B.B., I'd say, is physically more comparable to Bo; while obese rather than slim, he likewise sits the whole time, and his band carries a lot of the show. He does play more than Bo did, but his show is a big time kind of vegas production in some ways, very choreographed, including banter. Buddy Guy was physically vigorous and still able to play well, but he was ... instead of playing a bunch of songs, he'd play a song, then do a thing where he played and talked and made a medley and screwed around. Well, bo was like that, only much more so. If I'd really expected a lot of killer guitar playing, I'd have been sorely disappointed. He hardly played at all. He did talk a lot. From a non-legend perspective, it wasn't worth it at all. But I did 'see' Bo Diddley, and, well, I have a greatest hits cd when I need to really hear him. I just felt very sad afterward, and so did J. He seemed so old. I know he is old, but he really seemed like he should be retired. I hate to say that. sigh. stupid blues.
Here's a web site that's on tripod but looks like it wants to be his official site:
click and here's his wikipedia entry.
Here are a coupla pictures of him:
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Old Crow Medicine Show and Wilco at Cincinnati's Tall Stacks Festival
I went on an Ohio road trip last weekend, and on Saturday my friend Shannon, her husband, and I went to OCMS and Wilco at festival last Saturday.
We got there and got a space not five minutes before the band before Wilco started. We were there for Wilco, but I rather like OCMS, so it worked well for me.
OCMS setlist (best I could do):
1. Cocaine Habit (aka Woody Guthrie's "Take a Whiff On Me")
2. (Johnny got your gun? unsure)
3. Down Home Girl
4. Big Time in the Jungle
5. Poor Man
6. Union Maid
7. (eastbound train? unsure)
8. God's Got It
9. I Hear Them All
10. Bobcat Tracks
11. Minglewood Blues
12. Wagon Wheel
13. Hard to Tell
14. Tear It Down
15. Band Intros/Tell It To Me
encore
16. (mother earth? unsure)
17. Hard to Love
Here's how far away we were:
J and I saw OCMS in St. Louis a couple of years ago opening for Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. We had their first - only, at the time - CD, which (like the new one) was produced by David Rawlings, and he sat in with their whole set when we saw them before, which was great. In St. Louis when they did band intros he introduced them by names of well-known St. Louis Cardinals past (baseball team), and I'd forgotten all about that until, in Cincinnati, he introduced them as great 70s Cincinnati Reds players and manager. hah. Anyway, they were as frenetic as ever, but their mellower stuff held up pretty well too. I couldn't listen to them every day, but I find that I'm more tolerant of some kinds of country music as long as it's not mainstream radio country ("hat music"). If it's alt.country or bluegrass or classic old monaural or folk-thrash, I can dig it. I think it's about the authenticity. Popular country music today is the suckiest of the most unauthentic music ever.
For Wilco we squirmed half again as close, I suppose. Visibility varied, but later I got a better view when things shifted around.
Wilco set list:
1. The Late Greats
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. (I know you're not listening? unsure.bad fan!)
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
5. War on War
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Jesus etc.
8. Walken
9. Airline to Heaven
10. Theologians
11. I'm the Man Who Loves You
12. Misunderstood
13. Forget the Flowers
14. Hummingbird
(encore)
15. Heavy Metal Drummer
16. (Carried Away? unsure/new?)
17. Kingpin
Or, if you're keeping score:
Four from A Ghost is Born
Five from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Three from Being There
A shocking mere one from Summerteeth
One from the Mermaid Avenue sessions (not California Stars, either!)
And possibly three new. Walken is definitely new (although they played it last time we saw them).
Anyway, despite our difficulties seeing, they were really on, and the older stuff and the brand new stuff all got as good responses as the last couple of albums stuff, so it's good. Crowd was really into it, musicianship was smoking. Wilco just does not disappoint. I dont' know how many times I've seen them now, must be going on half a dozen, and each time I'm reminded what a really, really great band they are. They're still doing that really huge thing at the end of "Misunderstood" - if you've seen them, you know. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! It's awesome. And I always love "Kingpin." They didn't do any truly old stuff - I like when they do New Madrid, and Casino Queen is always fun, but at a festival, short set, etc. Boy, now I want to see a whole night again soon.
Some bad, distant photos:
At the end, the crew was slow to come out, so I went down to try for a set list, thinking I'd still have a chance. No such luck, it was not to be, so I tried to get a picture of pedal board instead. No luck there either - couldn't get over the monitor.
We got there and got a space not five minutes before the band before Wilco started. We were there for Wilco, but I rather like OCMS, so it worked well for me.
OCMS setlist (best I could do):
1. Cocaine Habit (aka Woody Guthrie's "Take a Whiff On Me")
2. (Johnny got your gun? unsure)
3. Down Home Girl
4. Big Time in the Jungle
5. Poor Man
6. Union Maid
7. (eastbound train? unsure)
8. God's Got It
9. I Hear Them All
10. Bobcat Tracks
11. Minglewood Blues
12. Wagon Wheel
13. Hard to Tell
14. Tear It Down
15. Band Intros/Tell It To Me
encore
16. (mother earth? unsure)
17. Hard to Love
Here's how far away we were:
J and I saw OCMS in St. Louis a couple of years ago opening for Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. We had their first - only, at the time - CD, which (like the new one) was produced by David Rawlings, and he sat in with their whole set when we saw them before, which was great. In St. Louis when they did band intros he introduced them by names of well-known St. Louis Cardinals past (baseball team), and I'd forgotten all about that until, in Cincinnati, he introduced them as great 70s Cincinnati Reds players and manager. hah. Anyway, they were as frenetic as ever, but their mellower stuff held up pretty well too. I couldn't listen to them every day, but I find that I'm more tolerant of some kinds of country music as long as it's not mainstream radio country ("hat music"). If it's alt.country or bluegrass or classic old monaural or folk-thrash, I can dig it. I think it's about the authenticity. Popular country music today is the suckiest of the most unauthentic music ever.
For Wilco we squirmed half again as close, I suppose. Visibility varied, but later I got a better view when things shifted around.
Wilco set list:
1. The Late Greats
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. (I know you're not listening? unsure.bad fan!)
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
5. War on War
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Jesus etc.
8. Walken
9. Airline to Heaven
10. Theologians
11. I'm the Man Who Loves You
12. Misunderstood
13. Forget the Flowers
14. Hummingbird
(encore)
15. Heavy Metal Drummer
16. (Carried Away? unsure/new?)
17. Kingpin
Or, if you're keeping score:
Four from A Ghost is Born
Five from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Three from Being There
A shocking mere one from Summerteeth
One from the Mermaid Avenue sessions (not California Stars, either!)
And possibly three new. Walken is definitely new (although they played it last time we saw them).
Anyway, despite our difficulties seeing, they were really on, and the older stuff and the brand new stuff all got as good responses as the last couple of albums stuff, so it's good. Crowd was really into it, musicianship was smoking. Wilco just does not disappoint. I dont' know how many times I've seen them now, must be going on half a dozen, and each time I'm reminded what a really, really great band they are. They're still doing that really huge thing at the end of "Misunderstood" - if you've seen them, you know. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! It's awesome. And I always love "Kingpin." They didn't do any truly old stuff - I like when they do New Madrid, and Casino Queen is always fun, but at a festival, short set, etc. Boy, now I want to see a whole night again soon.
Some bad, distant photos:
At the end, the crew was slow to come out, so I went down to try for a set list, thinking I'd still have a chance. No such luck, it was not to be, so I tried to get a picture of pedal board instead. No luck there either - couldn't get over the monitor.
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