The Flip Side of Music

Greetings, Gentle Readers!

I come to you now with two sore fingers. Why? Because I changed the strings on my guitar last night and he didn't take to it kindly. Then today, when I picked up the guitar to practice today, I broke one of the new strings I'd just put on and had to replace it . . . and that's when I got whacked the second time. This post is about the flip side of music, the non-fun stuff. The struggles and the chores and the mental side, too. All the foundational crap that you go through in order to get to the fun.

But, to make up for all the pensiveness, there will be pictures :) Now that I have a good camera, I am able to take better pictures, and I've got some of Babe. By the way, I've been using my new camera (a Kodak Easy Share C182 12 mp point-and-shoot) for about 5 months in all sorts of lighting and so far, the only thing it chokes on is being in the dark without a flash. With a flash, it's still fab. So if anybody's in the market for a relatively cheap yet quite nice camera, try this one.

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Guitar strings, for those of you who are new to the recreational sport of creating welts on your fingers, are made of various metals or nylon (mine are steel, bronze and brass) and are under significant tension when they're properly placed on a guitar neck. 180 pounds minimum, to be precise, all the way up to 220, depending on what kind of strings you use. And so, Gentle Readers, 200 pounds of pressure divided by 6 strings means that each string is carrying 33.3 pounds of pressure. And when it releases unexpectedly . . . hence why I have two sore fingers.

My guitar fights back. Now I don't know if anybody else's guitars hate to have their strings changed, but it appears that in addition to being, as far as I know, literally the only completely acoustic lefty *blue* sunburst pattern 6-string Fender in the universe, it's also the only guitar in the universe that actively resists getting new strings. I can tell we're going to have a long, complicated relationship.

Here are some pictures of the culprit, below.

I bought Babe (it's a pun, 'cause Babe is a big blue axe, as opposed to being a big blue ox, you know, from the Paul Bunyan stories? No? Well, ok, here's the short version. Minnesota is supposedly the land where Paul Bunyan played and worked, the 10,000 lakes we have are supposedly due to him and his blue ox, Babe, leaving their footprints on our state. And as a Minnesotan, naming my guitar Babe seemed like a good thing to do. Get the pun now? Ok, good.)  from a music chain that is now defunct, although most of their music operations (and their luthiers, thank goodness) have merely moved to another chain (Minnesota has luthiers up the wazoo, which is good, keeps prices down!). I bought Babe 8 and a half years ago and since I play left handed (another long story involving my autism, arthritis, and strong natural if repressed -- thank you Catholic school -- tendencies towards left handedness) I had to have him modified so that I could play him. It's not enough, Gentle Readers, to merely switch the strings out. In order for a guitar to play properly, the strings need to fit their correct slots, among other things. You can see the modifications in this close up shot of his body:

I paid $50 to have a real bone (instead of plastic or resin) lefty bridge and saddle put on my guitar and had I thought of it I would have had them switch out the pick guard too (that big black thing on the body), although now that I can actually play my little blue bastard I'm glad I didn't. Instead, I will simply have them put another one on below. You can see in the closeup of my guitar's body where all my fingerprints and so on are. The pick guard that's on there now isn't useless -- when strumming, my left hand goes all the way up as well as all the way down -- but if I keep playing I'm eventually going to wear out the wood on the opposite side, so, time to get a pick guard that's properly placed. 

But I digress. As I said, I bought this guitar 8 years ago and at the time my . . . well, I don't know what you'd call it, my soul, my self, my self-esteem, whatever it was, I was totally unable to feel safe expressing myself through music and I just couldn't allow myself to learn to play. Besides, I didn't have the self-confidence chops. You really need to believe that you have something to give to the world and that people want to hear what you have to say, in order to play a musical instrument well, and I didn't have it back then. It was frustration piled on top of inability plus a good helping of defeatist thought. So, I put it away, believing that I just couldn't play the guitar.

Fast forward 8 years. You all know,Gentle Readers, if you read this blog, what happened this past August to me, how the music in me got rekindled (and I will forever be grateful to Great Big Sea for that), and how, finally, now, I've actually had enough growth and change and so on to be able to play.

But I came across a new challenge recently because it was time to change the strings. Even though they'd only been actively played for 8 weeks, they'd been on Babe for a full 8.5 years. I'm guessing he got used to them. And since I don't play in public or perform nightly or any of that, changing strings really hasn't been a priority but now, it was time. The strings were dull, they'd lost all of their texture, and they played pretty flat too. Even though, originally, the luthier had originally lowered the action of the guitar for me (I have small hands, Babe is a full sized dreadnought, in other words, HUGE, and I wouldn't be able to play a typically high rock action), these strings were practically resting on the fretboard, little life left.

As an aside, what does one do with old guitar strings? Tis a puzzlement. I'm sure they're good for something, but what?

I put on new guitar strings and holy cats, it was like trying to learn the guitar all over again. The new strings are as slippery as goose . . . well, really slippery things, and the action is higher (which means I have to learn all over again how much pressure they need) and the low E rings like a bell . . . and resonates . . . I love the new sound . . . I would have loved it better if the bronze phosphor strings hadn't broken . . . now there's a blend on there of regular 80/20 bronze and bronze phosphor strings, until I have money enough to replace the strings, again (and won't that be fun!). Also I would like to point out that the new strings, though I stretched them multiple times and tuned them multiple times and did everything right, are still losing their tuning every ten seconds. Gaah. I can't even play a song 1 time through without having to stop and retune. I've done so much re-tuning that I had to put another set of batteries in my tuner! Below, there's a closeup of the head, you can still see the new high E string in toto, I hadn't cut it off yet in the pictures.

It sucks, Gentle Readers, it really does.  It's part of why I'm writing this post --I just don't want to fight with my guitar anymore, at least, not for now. I needed a break. And I think there is something wonky about my A string, but I can't figure it out. Maybe that's the way lefthanded guitars wind up being strung, who knows. There aren't enough players out there that I know where I can check.

And hey, I said I was going to be honest in this blog . . . how many other musicians will tell you about the !(#&$#^!)!@&#*^$*(!!!!! that they go through with their instruments, huh? I mean, how many other people will actually admit that they want to go throw their instrument in the lake? I am, I do, I will. You don't get that kind of honesty other places on the Net, Gentle Readers, that's for sure.

Just for fun, here's a close up of the sticker on the inside of Babe's soundboard :)

Just for S&G's! It's got his model # and everything on there. And despite that the fact that he was born in Korea, apparently, Babe has got a truly lovely tone. When I bought him 8 years ago, he was more than a little bright, and quite loud, (really, truly, the kind of LOOK AT ME, LISTEN TO ME I'M A ROCK GUITAR and I am IN YOUR FACE that Fender is known for) but now he's mellowed nicely. Still loud, but with very little brightness and, thanks to the new strings, some lovely harmonic resonance. I can hardly wait to really get out there and play. But hours and hours and hours of study and practice and so on come first. I know that. Doesn't make it any easier, though, I am still impatient, even as I understand the need to do the work. Even as I actually *do* the work (and one of these days, I *will* remember where Bminor is, I promise . . . ). I still want to get out there and show off.

Now, if I could just get over my phobia about playing in front of other, real, people . . . .

Sick

Well, Gentle Readers, it had to happen sometime, I suppose. I managed to get through all spring and summer and most of fall without getting a single illness, but it's all caught up to me now!

I got sick at the Great Big Sea concert in Minneapolis. There's no question. And the most likely culprit (if the grapevine is accurate) is The Shantyman, McGoo, The Goat Banger himself, Sean McCann.

I'd like to put an awesome spin on it -- Sean McCann gave me his cold! But there is no awesomeness to this. And it wasn't even like I was anywhere near him, but the Pantages is a small place. And with him busting a lung to sing, obviously his Newfoundland germs were in the air.

And if he wasn't sick, somebody else was, the Pantages was a pretty full house. Might have even been somebody around me. See, this is one of the reasons I hate being an audience member. You never know who you're sitting next to. At least in the stage manager's ivory tower, you are all alone (well, most of the time, sometimes you have a lighting tech with you) and you can kind of control for germs in your environment. And backstage, of course, people are rabid about not getting exposed, so even if one of your talent is sick, there's so much anti-bacterial stuff back there that you probably won't get it. But in the vast throng of audience members . . . ugh. I hate other people's germs! 

Yesterday I had a wretched sore throat. Today, I am feeling that logy tiredness and I'm coughing 'cause it's all gone into my lungs. My throat isn't nearly as sore, though, almost feels normal. Here's hoping it passes quickly, it's almost time for me to get my flu shot.

And I don't mean to bore you silly, Gentle Readers, with my own health-related issues. But this is better than a 140 character Tweet or a brief Facebook status update.

I think I'm going to go take a nap.

Great Big Sea At Minneapolis, The Review

Well, Gentle Readers, here it is, the one you've all been waiting for, the review of Great Big Sea's show in my home town of the Twin Cities. Now, technically, they were in Minneapolis (which for those of you who don't know is on the west side of the Mississippi) and I live in Saint Paul (which is on the east side of the Mississippi, more or less), but we are all The Twin Cities, MN, and I have no problems going into Minneapolis for to support my friends. In fact, next week if the stars align, I'll be back in downtown Minneapolis to cheer on my friends as they play roller derby. I mention the details about the Cities because Alan mentioned the bridge across the Mississippi, the Hennepin Ave bridge, which was built in 1855, and that didn't get quite the response he expected, mostly because despite the twin thing, it's an uneasy sibling relationship. He figured, I think, that we were all one big happy family, when in fact socially Minneapolis hasn't spoken to Saint Paul in years. Only those of us bold enough to cross the streams go into both cities. As a matter of fact, I know people in Minneapolis who refuse to cross the border.

So when Alan tried to compliment us on building bridges and so on, it kind of went over like a lead balloon. I'm surprised Andrea McCann, who is Sean's wife and from Saint Paul, didn't put the good word to him about the culture via her husband. Alan also doesn't know who Garrison Keillor is and when Sean made a joke at the beginning of Paddy Murphy ("And Garrison Keillor was feeling gay"), Alan gave Sean a look like, "What?" and Sean said the classic "I will explain later". They then finished the song.

I am going to try to intersperse pictures in amongst the text, to break it up a little. As per usual, Gentle Readers, this review is going to be very long, please bear with me, I'm used to writing incredibly detailed show reports for producers and directors!

First, let me say that the night actually begun with dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery, which was very loud and very crowded and if we hadn't made plans in advance to meet up, I don't think we would have gotten in. As it was, the GBS folks had to sit just outside the bar area, because there were no tables!

And here is a picture of the group at Rock Bottom. We met Mecchie and Yvonne and Mike and his wife (I want to say, Donna?) and another couple whose names I forget, but it went VERY well and by the end of the night I felt like I was well on the way to making friends.

From L to Right that's the woman who's name I forgot, Donna(?) the husband whose name I forgot, Mike, Fish, Yvonne and Mecchie. As per usual, I am behind the camera.

At the Pantages I met ChiTownKim for the first time (Hi, Kim!) and that was great, I've been looking forward to meeting all y'all for a while now, and everybody we met today was Good People. We had some great conversations and it was quite lovely to get to know the folks behind the screen names.

To start things off, here's a picture I took outside the Pantages and while I don't like the inside, I like the old-fashioned lighted marquee.

I was pleased they had Great Big Sea mentioned on the marquee -- the Michigan Theatre did NOT, they forgot to change their letters! I was disappointed, so the fact that the Pantages did, makes me happy. Mecchie was not taking the shot, I was, he just looks like he is :)

This was my first time in the Pantages and I have to say, I was disappointed by the decor. Alan said it was great (did he even look around at the Michigan???) and beautiful, and I just had to shake my head. Horses for courses, I guess. I personally found it bland and uninspiring, mostly white with blue velvet seats and just a little gilded plaster work. But then, my favorite decorating periods are Renaissance and Edwardian, so I guess the King is more of a modernist!

Unlike the Ann Arbor show they came on and started with Ordinary Day (I think, I am not sure, I was so surprised, somebody correct me if I got it wrong) and The Chemical Worker's Song was second in line. Now, I have to preface all my comments about the sound by saying that we were WELL under the balcony (yuck) and almost up against the back wall (double yuck, so far as acoustics go, generally), back in row S. We could see pretty well -- the Pantages is TINY, relatively speaking, only 1000 seats total -- but the sound was nowhere near as phenomenal as it was at the Michigan.

Here are some pics (taken by others, these are not mine) of Paddy Murphy, Ordinary Day, Good People, etc. I don't have many pictures -- if any at all -- from the 2nd set they did.

I I believe this is at the very beginning of the show when Alan was looking around him and talking to the audience, about the bridge and how great it felt to be back and all that, the standard spiel he always does.

And this shot is Alan making nice with Sean's family, who were in the audience that night. They were Stage Murray, right down in front.

This is Alan, Murray, and Sean discussing Alan's trip to the 24 hour strip joint, which apparently he did sometime in the morning when they got here. Now, he told us that all he wanted to do was stick his head in because he was curious about "what goes on in there at 10am" and "what sort of people frequent a 24 hour place" (without, apparently, figuring out that by doing so, he became one of them! LOL!) Well, immediately after Sean figured out what Alan was going to tell, Sean jumped in with "Dude, it's a 24 hour LIBRARY. A LIBRARY. I've got my family here, man!" The picture above is of the exact moment after Sean jumped on Alan and Alan was like, 'wait, what?' But then he got it and for the rest of the night they were making jokes about libraries. Alan did look surprised and abashed when he finally noticed that there were indeed small Aragons (his wife's maiden name) in the first row. Very cutely, he hid his head in his hair and messed unnecessarily with his pickups until he got his composure back. And I just went 'awwwww'.

Now, if those of you, Gentle Readers, are as surprised as I am to hear that Alan, of all people, visited a strip club, well, in the way of Fate sometimes, what they woke up to in the morning when they got to Minneapolis sort of decreed it would be that kind of day. Below is a picture of what they were greeted with:

 And for guys who haven't been able to touch their wives for a solid 5 days, with 10 days to go, this view must have just been crazy making. You can see Alan's face to the right of the pic (Sean actually took this one) and I suspect he's in the middle of a 'God damn' type head shake.

Anyway, getting back to the rest of the concert, the sound was pretty good. A little muddy, but I could hear all the lyrics and the instrumental mix was well done (the melodion was hot -- again -- but they didn't ratchet it down here like they did immediately in Ann Arbor), so I guess I'm only bitching because I've been spoiled by the acoustics of the Michigan, which as I said in that review (which I'll post as soon as I finish here, got to get all the details down before I forget!) are absolutely spectacular.  If I'd done this show first I'd likely be writing a glowing review, even if we were all the way the hell in the back of beyond, theatrically speaking.

We were definitely back in with the cheap seats, too, which was unfortunate. A bunch of drunk young hipsters were in front of us and to our left side, while to my right and in the row in front of me were a bunch of newbies. Now, the new folk weren't bad, they were a little overwhelmed (and one couple came late 'cause they weren't interested in the cover band . . . little did they know there was no opener!) but soldiered gamely on, I even saw one dancing by the time Fortune Set came around.

But one of my pet peeves at a concert is people who talk so loudly that you cannot hear the talent perform, and boy, was there a lot of that going on. *Particularly* when they do so at a quiet moment in the show . . . such as the verses of Safe Upon The Shore. DAMMIT. The stage manager in me wanted to throw them out of the theatre. The concert-goer part of me wanted to 'accidentally' spill something on them, so that they'd have to get up and leave. I was really irritated. And then one of them had the nerve to ask Fish why they were getting shushed by the folks in the row behind us. "It's a rock concert", they said, with bewilderment, "what's wrong with talking at a rock concert?" He tried to explain it, but failed. I was gone getting some water at the time and when I came back, I said, politely but loud enough for them to hear over the crowd noise, that Great Big Sea is different because they actually care about what they sing, and that the music is actually worth listening to.

They did shut up for the second half and I heard one of them actually singing along (badly) to Helmethead, which Bob navigated successfully tonight, by the way.  Speaking of Bob, I am really enjoying the Bob that smiles on stage and is learning how to loosen up. Go Bob! He talked, again, about the genesis of Yankee Sailor and that was cool. One of the encores was Follow Me Back, with Bob going solo and Murray on the guitar, providing a voiceless harmony, which was really nice. As a matter of fact, Follow Me Back was the only time in almost 3 hours that the audience shut up and actually listened.

And speaking of Helmethead, we had another crazy audience adventure. It seemed that two GBS fans had come to the show with hockey helmets, just generic black ones, and had gotten seats right about where we were in the back of beyond but on the house R side of things. Well, as soon as Bob started into Helmethead, these two guys put on their hockey helments and came dancing down to the front of the stage. Then they boogied across the front passthrough between the stage and the 1st row of seats, boogied for a bit at the other side of the stage, then danced their way back across the front pass through and back up to their seats. It happened through almost the whole song. Bob never even cracked a smile while he sang but I suspect his eyes were dancing. Sean flat out quit singing (though he kept playing) the harmony for a moment to laugh while the rest of the guys managed to get through it, even though Alan just about died laughing immediately afterwards. He also asked for a round of applause for the dancers. Let's just say, it took a few moments before audience and band got it together enough to continue. It was wacky and awesome, the sort of unexpected thing that occasionally happens at Great Big Sea.

I have found something else to admire in Alan (and the rest of the boys, but this is primarily a front man's responsibility) -- the ability to control a rambunctious crowd. Tonight in Minneapolis, the audience had all mainlined caffeine, or something, they were crazy. And there were very few times -- in direct contrast with Ann Arbor -- when the audience was in tune with the band. The audience made GBS work for it tonight! Which I don't know if I like. Personally I like working *with* the talent, not against them. They have a hard enough job as it is, the audience can really help things along by being polite, attentive, and responsive instead of rebellious, independent, and bloody minded. I think it was just really high spirits tonight, and Alan said at the end of the show, essentially, that their record of good shows here remains unbroken, but for my money I would have liked a crowd with more inclination to go along with Alan, instead of trying to make him go along with them.

So the audience was a big issue for me tonight. Sorry, folks. And I don't think it was any of the OKP, either, if it was, I apologize, but from where I sat (waaaaaaay back in the boonies), the audience just wasn't as in tune with everything as they could have been.

Now, to the important stuff, haha. Sean was wearing the silver striped blazer 'cause he had people in the audience, his hair is still short and still looks great, Bob of course was in unrelieved black, Murray was wearing a long sleeved faded black henley which I suspect he might have been wearing for Ann Arbor too (I hope they've had time to do laundry!), Kris was looking dapper in a button down shirt (I think) and no hat -- it was far too warm, and Alan was wearing that psuedo-army shirt of his, the button down one with the patches on the upper sleeves. I have no idea what kind of shoes they were wearing! Or, in Sean's case, if he was even wearing shoes, but I think he was. It's starting to get a little too cold for bare feet, although the theatre was REALLY warm. I can't imagine how warm it must have been on stage. I was wearing one of those shirts made for women that aren't see through but are still barely there, and jeans, and I was sweating by intermission. Almost 2 hours after the concert ended, my leather eye patch was still soaked with sweat. Ugh.

Run time was almost exactly to the minute the same as in Ann Arbor, 2:52/3, or thereabouts, but they took a shorter intermission.

Sean was not in as good a voice, quite, as the lead off show in AA, but he still sounded good, and delivered an impressively embellished General Taylor. Bob, of course, was fabulous on everything and I have now, truly, fallen in love with Follow Me Back. It's a lovely little song. I'm pretty irritated that the audience wouldn't shut up during the low whistle part of England, and I suspect the band was also, there was a brief switch in the atmosphere of the evening when that happened, which came from onstage.

Murray produced some impressive bass vocal harmonies (oh, and the electric guitar work on Long Life makes me weak at the knees) and delivered his verse of Scolding Wife with humor and panache, and Kris once again played the melodion in Good People *while* still handing out a beat, which always impresses the hell out of me, because I can't even sing and play the guitar at the same time! I had a hard time hearing the verses of Safe Upon The Shore because of the loud conversations going on around me but the harmonies in the chorus were very pretty. The entire show just didn't have the depth of sound as in the Michigan, but like I said, I'm totally spoiled now :) Although I suspect GBS would sound great in the middle of a windy field while getting rained on, so . . . Oh, I almost forgot. Alan gave us a beautiful Yankee Sailor, with a lot of emotion behind it, that song is quickly growing on me now that I've heard it live a few times.

Yes, Kris brought the little hand-held camera and there was much attempted avoidance of it by Alan which of course just made Kris more determined, lol. Sean leaned into it literally and we got an extreme close up of eyes, nostrils, and other assorted from-the-chest-up body parts. Murray, on the other hand, just kept playing, following Kris closely with his eyes. I don't think a bomb going off would disturb Murray in a performance! Kris also got a few good shots of the whole audience (like I said, the Pantages is tiny) and eventually put the camera away.

We got Run, Run Away and a singalong for an encore, also a verse and a chorus of Rant and Roar. I am sure it was Rant and Roar despite what the City Page fluffyheaded reviewer thinks, she thought it was Old Brown's Daughter. It wasn't. They sound completely different.  I'm starting to wonder if the guys ever resist the audience and don't come out for the encore. I've seen 4 shows now, and each time, they've been overly generous and done multiple encores.

Went out to the bus while Fish made post-show plans with everybody, and hung out for a while. Murray showed up first and I watched people swarm him, then Bob showed up briefly (and the swarm, so fickle, lol, deserted Murray for Bob. I would have gone up to Murray once there were no people, but he slipped away in the general melee), signed a couple things, had a couple pics, then he went home to the bus also. I gave my Happy Birthday card to Britt to hand off to the bus for Kris (it's his birthday tomorrow and they're playing in Winnipeg), which he did, and I think he might have talked to me (you can always recognize a fellow tech) some, 'cause by then the trailer was all but loaded, but Fish was getting tired and dragged me away.

Turns out that if we'd stayed, we would have been able to party with Murray and Britt and their sound and light techs, I want to call them Jerry and  . . . somebody else. Which would have been FINE with me, I am starting to learn that I am a thousand percent more comfortable with the techs than with the talent, which given my background is hardly surprising.


Something small but nice that happened at the bus was that Bob did NOT run into me when he returned to the bus. He very easily could have. He *should* have, according to the ancient laws that govern interactions between techs and talent. One of the rules is that the talent never gets touched. Ever. It's a security thing. The only exception is if *they* want to interact, like, for a picture. But if they don't, you need to leave them the hell alone, and his trajectory, when he was going home, would have taken him right by me on my blind side in a very narrow space.  He walked by me on my blind side because to my right was filled with people, and instead of making me move (which wasn't going to happen because I couldn't go anywhere anyway), he actually stepped out to his right to avoid hitting me. Instinctively, I think, he knew I wasn't going to be able to see him very well, and I couldn't get out of his way. What a nice guy. I was in the mood to be grateful for him too because throughout the concert, people were knocking into my left side like nobody's business, perhaps assuming that I was wearing the eye patch for swank and not in real need. I have developed many little bruises.

But Bob didn't bruise me. He very carefully stepped aside so as not to whack me on my blind side. Say what you will, that was a nice gesture.

The best part, though, even with everything else going on, was that Glenn recognized me from Ann Arbor and since there weren't a lot of people at the swag table (well, relatively), we were able to chat for a bit, which was nice. I do like him a lot and wish I could spend more time with him. I wound up purchasing a 2010 Tour tee-shirt (the red and navy one) and one of the little black and white collar buttons, since I collect buttons. I didn't get CD's or The Book because I figure I can get those any time!

Here are some of the rest of my pics:

Here we have Bob, totally rocking his verse of Scolding Wife. I mean, he's even gesturing and everything!!

Here we have Murray, Alan and Sean singing their hearts out during what I believe is the chorus of The Night That Paddy Murphy Died.

Here is Sean at the end of Good People. I know because he always gets that funny little look on his face, where the eyebrows come together and there's a half smile. And no, I am not a creepy stalker, he just does it *every* time and they always play Good People for promos, in videos, etc etc etc. GBS has really pushed Good People and since Sean always makes that face, well, I see it a lot. 

It was a good night with Great Big Sea, and I am looking forward to this summer, when I hope they'll come around again, either here or within spitting distance (which for me is an 8 hour drive, one way).

Whitewater

14 Hours Back Home

Well, Gentle Readers, when last we met I was describing the last full day of my vacation, complete with a windy shore and an angry lake. Also chocolate! But I didn't have any so I can't comment on that part.

Today's post is going to discuss the trip back, all 14 long hours of it. It's true. I got up at 8am, was at the train station by 9am to sort out the ticket issue (luckily, it was pretty easy even though I had to pay for my tickets again, which like I said in an earlier post, I think is wrong, wrong, wrong) and was on the train by 10:15. It left the station on time at 10:23 and was surprisingly full, but then, it had come from Detroit and was going to Chicago, so since it was a Friday and all, I supposed a full train was reasonable.

As per usual the entire time I was traveling, all eyes in the compartment (and at the stations, and in Chicago in Union Station) were on me -- and my guitar. I must have fielded a hundred questions because of that damn guitar case, and the only answers I have are insipid, because I've just started playing. Requests for songs (which I couldn't give, if I'd known more, I probably *would* have done a song or two but), questions about what band I was in (!?), political discourse because of the bumper stickers on the case -- I have a sticker that says 'Jesus didn't teach me to hate gay people', one advertisement for a local bastion of the tattoo artist's trade, and a large sticker that says 'Christian, not closed-minded', which made for some interesting queries, in the Chinese curse sort of way. Most people couldn't understand how I could be a Christian and yet proudly display 'that other stuff', which I thought was a sad commentary on where Christianity has gone, so far from where it began.

But this post is not about political or religious discourse, sorry for the tangent. I had a very quiet seatmate on the way to Chicago, she looked like the typical wealthy white woman of a certain age that I met a lot on the train, who doesn't want to drive and doesn't have a whole lot of options she likes for flying. And considering that I was wearing black jeans, a teeshirt that had a picture of the Ireland soccer team, and my black leather biker's jacket, I'm not surprised that she didn't want to have anything to do with me. Appearances can be so deceiving, can't they? You and I, Gentle Readers, know that I'm not really a cold-blooded barbarian biker bitch, but I do rather look the part, what with the short hair and the tattoos and so on. Not that you can see the ink when I'm wearing a shirt with sleeves, but still.

Anyhow, the trip from Kalamazoo to Union Station in Chicago is a very pretty one, there are a lot of woods (and at that time the wood were on fire with fall color), and it even goes by a large lakeside community. I don't know whether it's Lake Michigan or some other lake, but the town was very pretty, and looked quite like a seaside town on the East Coast.

However, the actual travel took considerably more time than they had planned because we were constantly running into freight traffic. As a result, we pulled into Chicago a full hour late, and while my connection to Minneapolis via the Empire Builder was ok, my lunch plans were shot. Thankfully the Chief Fool, a veteran of many an Amtrak trip, gave me some protein bars in case the worst should happen, so I was able to have at least a little something in the station while waiting for the Empire builder to board. These bars were Clif Bars and they were really pretty good.

Through some serendipity due to my Asperger's (guess it is good for something after all!) I was able to board the train first with the rest of the elderly, the crippled (I did say I'm not PC, when I started this blog) and my fellow freaks. The Amtrak employees kept asking me if I wanted help with my baggage, or if I wanted Red Cap service (which means they load your luggage and drive you to the train in a golf cart thing, a lot like what they have at airports) and finally I snapped. I didn't yell, but I did say somewhat sarcastically, "You know, just because I'm autistic doesn't mean my legs are broken. Save your resources for those who really need them . . . I can handle my own luggage."

But that was the worst of it. I paid an extra $7 for a lower level seat and I'm glad I did, they are a LOT less crowded, they have a lot more room, and they're very much quieter, all of which things worked well for my asperger's issues. They're also much darker, which is nice, I like the dark and it really felt comfy, like being in my own little personal cave. I did go up to the lounge to explore and liked what little view there was (the more north we got, the more drab it became, our fall color peaked up here ages ago and now we're just waiting for winter). The wrap around windows are cool, I did not expect that. Also checked out the cafe (tiny) and the lounge (nice for playing board games or working on a laptop).

At 5:15 I was summoned for my dinner reservation in the dining car, and I admit it, I splurged. I was hungry, having all but missed lunch, and breakfast was a long time ago. They sat me with three other women who were all related (Person A, her sister, and daughter in law) and I was relieved of the burden of trying to make conversation with strangers, NOT one of my skills. I said something every once in a while, if it was relevant, but for the most part they were happy to leave me alone and I was happy to get left alone.

Dinner itself was surprisingly good for having been put together on a train, and reasonably cost-effective. It was $20 for a non-alcoholic drink (I chose ginger ale), a 'salad' which like most salads nowadays was lettuce with two cherry tomatoes, some croutons and a slice of cucumber, bread in the form of rolls almost like parker house but not as fluffy (they were really good) and dessert. I had their 'oven-roasted chicken' which was actually fried, but was still good, some yummy green beans, and a baked potato which for once wasn't undercooked. The apple pie for dessert was a bit, well, limp (obviously the crust wasn't standing up to the rigors of Amtrak kitchens!) but it still tasted pretty good and the apples within retained some of their crunch, always nice.

By the time dinner arrived we were in the Wisconsin Dells, near the famous gorge, and it was light enough to still see, so that was an unexpected good time, getting to eat while looking at the lovely scenery. After dinner I made my way back to my little cave and thought about the fact that I was missing Great Big Sea's Chicago show. I comforted myself with the knowledge that I'd be seeing them again in Minneapolis the next day, and that they tend to regularly hit Chicago, so with any luck, it wouldn't be long before I would be able to make a show there in the future. I am still hoping that they'll come around somewhere within spitting distance this summer. 4 shows in about 10 weeks really spoiled me for them, I know there are people out there who only get to see them once a year if that.

Wrote some lyrics on my ITouch as it got darker, listened to music, tried to nap and failed, and watched some of the television episodes I'd uploaded as we headed ever closer to home. By the last hour of the trip I was like a Mexican Jumping Bean, I could not *wait* to get off the train and into the arms of my husband, and to get back to the house and our dogs and all the rest of it.

Got home a little after 11pm, and I was so tired by then that after having a bowl of cereal and skimming through my email to see if anything important had happened in my absence, I was literally light-headed and dizzy with fatigue. It was like that feeling you have when you're about to pass out. A week of sleep deprivation plus a 14 hour travel day all caught up to me in one fell swoop.

I slept as late as I could the next day, Saturday, but there was a Great Big Sea concert that night . . . which I will tell you all about in the next post!! Stay tuned!

Michigan Vacation, The Last Day

Well, Gentle Readers, as you might expect after such a momentous day on Wed Oct 20th, what with the Great Big Sea concert and all, I'd deliberately scheduled Thursday to be a quiet day full of downtime. I was hoping to have a full night's sleep (first one since the previous Friday!!) and to just hang about the Chief Fool's apartment, not doing much.

Unfortunately Fate had other ideas. We got home on (technically) Thursday morning to find a note from her apartment manager saying that they were coming to take the air conditioners (that they provide, nice that they install and uninstall, but only a few hours notice? really?) and would start at 9am. Remember how I said that we'd gotten to bed at 5am? You do the math.

Not only that, but CF also had an important PhD related meeting (an early lunch) that day . . . so my vision of a relaxing morning, sleeping in, was gone forever. Since she had to go to that meeting, I got to stay up and greet the apartment guy, oh joy. But, before she'd left, she'd put a note on her door asking them not to show up before 11am, so I at least got about 6  hours sleep, which is fine for a lot of people but not for me. I'm one of those folks who needs more, and usually sleeps between 8-9 hours a day. While I was waiting for them to come and remove the air conditioners, I used the time to write my concert review (they serve not only as information for others who couldn't be there, but also as memory providers for me, when I start to forget what I saw and heard, in a few weeks or months) and then dozed, waiting for either the air conditioner guys or the Fool to come back.

Turns out, the Fool showed up first! Argh. Apartment life, go figure.

We left the apartment and went to a pretty little town called Seahaven, MI, heavy on the tourism factor since they're literally right on Lake Michigan and are still a busy port. However, it being mid-October, there weren't any tourists at all, only locals, and a lot of the shops had reduced hours, including the italian place we wanted to go for lunch! We hit a small diner instead that was actually open. Their food was good, the ambiance could have used a little work, but for half the year it's crowded with visitors and you can't even see the walls, so I suppose decor becomes less important in that sort of situation.

We went to Lake Michigan too and you have to understand, this lake is one of the BIG ones, one of the chain of lakes that separates Canada from the US, and it's so huge that A) you can't see across it, B) it acts like the ocean, even has minor tide action, C) also acts like the ocean when its angry, and D) has actually had sharks living in it at one point. It is also deep enough at some points to host rumors of a Nessie-like creature, albeit a small one. Most of the Michigan side of Lake Michigan is sandy beaches, though as you get farther north, the sand turns to gravel, and then to big rocks.

The day we went it was exceptionally windy, and on the shore even more so. I took this video hanging on to the camera with one hand and my hat with the other hand! Sorry about the camera shake, there wasn't anything I could do -- yes, my hands shake a little but in this case, 95% of the shake on the vid is because the wind was trying to pull my camera out of my hands.

(still figuring out this whole video thing . . . please bear with me . . .sorry this one is so small!)

Next On The StewPot: Traveling Home

Great Big Sea At Ann Arbor, The Review

Greetings, Gentle Readers.

As promised, here is the review of the Great Big Sea show in Ann Arbor. Please note that this will be VERY long, the review was 4 pages in Word and I'm going to be adding pics and video to it too.

First up, we had dinner at Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub in Ann Arbor, and we met up with a bunch of folks from the Great Big Sea online community, known as the Online Kitchen Party, or OKP. I got a picture of all of us, and here it is:

From left to right, that's John, Phoebe's husband, me (in the purple shirt), Maura (on the lap!) and Phoebe in the front row. In the back, L to R, that's Brianna, the daughter of the woman in the middle, Marianne, and last but not least, the Chief Fool. Doesn't Maura have the prettiest blue eyes? They were the first thing I noticed about her.

Then, we went on to the concert, where I saw ChiTownKim but didn't have the chance to introduce myself, and met a few other folks from the OKP, who hadn't come from the forum. Everybody seems either pleased or surprised, sometimes both, when I introduce myself. I am not sure whether this is good or bad, but at least nobody's drawn away in horror yet! I didn't see Lynda, nor get a chance to introduce myself (and had a repeat at the Minneapolis show too, by the way).

At the concert we were joined by Theresa, the Chief Fool's friend from her PhD program. The pic below is of the two of them waiting (in the rain, and the cold, for a solid hour . . . I didn't mention this elsewhere because it was just too public, but here I can. I don't want to make anybody feel guilty, hence the enormous discretion. But we didn't learn the b'y's were asleep in the tour bus until we'd waited for them half an hour. In the rain. In the cold. In the dark. I've been charged with writing the lyrics to a song about Super Fans, who do this sort of thing. We stayed an exact hour out there, I'm surprised none of us have pneumonia!! Granted, the last half hour was us having fun on our own -- we don't need no stinkin' Newfoundlanders! but still. You just know certain people, if they ever find out about this, will never be able to let it go. So, discretion.).

Anyway, here's the Chief Fool and Theresa. As per usual, I am behind the camera.

Felt kind of bad for them both, really. CF had brought Robin Hood and a CD to get signed, and Theresa was hoping to get the CD signed that she'd bought during intermission. Oh well.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Here is the actual show review, with pics and so on interspersed:

           How was the show? In a word, astounding. If somebody came to me right now and said, ‘How was the show last night? But I haven’t got all day, so can you sum it up in one word?’ that’s what I would say. Astounding. 

            1^st of all, I would like to state for the record that my ears were ringing until I finally went to bed at 5am. (And also for the record, they had quit ringing by the time I woke up 6 hours later). 5am!? Well, yeah. After the concert self and the Chief Fool (and the Chief Fool’s friend, who was a Great Big Virgin at last night’s concert but no more, by the way, at intermission she was buying CD’s and she has fallen in love with the music, score one for the Newfoundlanders!) went out for coffee and met up with some of the CF’s friends that live in Ann Arbor. I don’t suppose that we would have gone out save for two things: 1) The King, towards the end of the concert, ordered the audience to go ye and party hearty after the show, because Ann Arbor truly is a party town with bars, taverns, and places to stop and get a bite of something on every corner (and he wouldn’t be able to do it himself, what with their schedule and all, so we were lifting a glass in their stead), and 2) we’d waited for a bit after the show by the tour bus for autographs and whatnot and the weather turned while the b’y’s were playing and it was cold and very wet while waiting, raining heavily. So the Chief Fool, the Chief Fool’s friend and myself were re-enacting the beginning of The Rover (‘let me in, love, it’s raining out there and my hair is dripping with cold rain’), so it was coffee, chili, and cheese fries for afters instead of beer, whisky and pub grub. That’s what you get after a show in late October up here, you never know when the weather is going to turn at last. The day was gorgeous, sunny but not bright and almost spring-like temps, but the night, after about 10:30pm, decided that it couldn’t be having any of that! We found ourselves hoping that the Fabulous Five had sweaters and rain slickers in their luggage. It was still raining when I got up the next morning. 

            After going out we had a 2 hour drive home, but in between we had to look for my wedding band and engagement ring, which (due to my weight loss) would have been dangerous to wear during the show (flying diamonds, anybody?) – they are that loose right now, and I haven’t had time to get them re-sized, so I put them on my necklace. Unfortunately for me, when getting out of my concert-going attire in the parking ramp after the show, the necklace came undone and while itself managed to stay around my neck, nevertheless the rings slid off and, unnoticed, fell to the concrete. And there they stayed until we were able to go back for them! They’re not heavy or ornate and I didn’t notice the loss until we’d gone to eat.

            (Thankfully, my wedding band etc fell off in the parking ramp near the Michigan, and thankfully we did indeed find them there, otherwise I was perfectly prepared to start combing the area around the tour bus, where we were hoping for some personal interaction -- if you remember the beginning of this tale . . . which was where we last saw my wedding band and engagement rings.  . .  and I can’t imagine that the b’y’s would have been too pleased to see a couple of fans grubbing about in the dirt and shrubberies outside of their tour bus at almost 2am. And I’m sure they would not have believed our explanation! But if it had meant getting my wedding rings back, I’d face any wrath . . .I live in Minnesota, remember, on no account was I willing to leave them lie in Ann Arbor somewhere!!! But all’s well that ends well. I got my rings back and we did not, in point of fact, ever have to disturb those hard-working Newfoundlanders. Another fan did, knocking on the tour bus door, but we were already walking away by then, we had nothing to do with that.) 

            As for the show itself, well, t’was astounding. The Michigan Theatre venue, for one thing, is gorgeous, beautifully restored and really worth taking a second and third look. I am a bit of a historic theatre buff (just a bit . . . ) and so the Chief Fool and I had gone out there round about lunch time on Tuesday, the day before, to spend the day in Ann Arbor and to look at the theatre – and boy, am I glad we did. We got a tour by one of the gents there who was working on it, the Fool got to play their organ (she being of a musical persuasion), and I got about a dozen pictures of the plaster work and the restored wood panels and so on. We got to get backstage, as far as the back wall of the stage itself – we did not go in the dressing rooms or any of that – and they showed us their fly systems and the rows of lights hanging on the battens and so on. They were able to do this because the GBS stuff hadn’t yet loaded in, a nice circumstance. We were able to see some of the historic old back stage communication devices and that was fricking amazing too. Not only what they were, but that the Michigan had kept them around in situ all these years. I mean, I’ve only seen this stuff in black and white drawings in books until yesterday. . . 

            Because of the restoration of the theatre, which so far has taken about 30 years, the sound in that place is phenomenal. The acoustics of the live music were  . . . spectacular. Twice during the b’y’s show I put my hand up on the wall (that’s where our seats were, on the outside aisles, so I could do that) and I could feel the resonances thrumming, just incredible. You could also feel them through the floor, and I found it fascinating that the floor was vibrating at a different rate than the walls. 

         
The sound itself, once it had seeped into the plaster walls, eventually began to roll back and forth between the two side walls of the house, something I have heard about but never personally experienced until last night. Naturally, this enhanced what the gents were doing and they sounded astonishingly good. So good, in fact, that I seriously think that they ought to fly all their audiences from this point on to the Michigan so that everybody can hear what we heard last night, it was that good.

The above is a video of the end of Long Life and the very beginning of Love Me Tonight, the second video had problems uploading, so here's the link --  you can watch it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6fRgRgfXZY

            Sean was in fine form – in every way -- last night (and I like the new very short haircut, it gives his eyes and face more emphasis), helped along by the fact that here in Michigan there is actually a candidate running for the state legislature who really is named Sean McCann, so one of the folks in the front row (or possibly the 2^nd or 3^rd rows back, but close, anyway) brought along a campaign yard sign for GBS’ Sean, who seemed delighted with it. Later we saw it being loaded onto the bus, lol! He sang quite a lot of songs but the one I remember – and will never forget – is Safe Upon The Shore. All y’all who don’t like it really needed to be here for this rendering, because it was extraordinary. His voice sounded lovely and the harmonies on the chorus were SO GOOD. I mean, I keep saying that, but it’s that true. The harmonics of the house gave some significant depth to the bottom voices and they also rounded and lifted the top notes. Combined, well, I just sat down, closed my eye and listened. And got goosebumps. It was the first moment of the night that was a religious experience, but not the last. 

            The guys gave us quite a lot of new music from SAFE, including Wandering Ways in the encore, which I enjoyed tremendously. I don’t remember all of the set list but things started off with The Chemical Worker’s Song (which I usually hate, it doesn’t matter who sings it – I’ve heard close to a dozen different versions but never GBS until this night)  . . . and I actually liked it enough to not wince, which is huge for me. It’s my husband’s favorite, though, and he’s very excited to hear it when we go to the Minneapolis show on Saturday. He is so pleased that it’s in the line-up, and I am pleased for him! 

            We also got Captain Kidd second,  -- here's the YouTube link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYeyCveR6MI (the last 17 seconds of Process Man too, sorry about the picture quality, just listen to it, it's about the sound, not the visuals)

Hit The Ground and Run in the 2^nd half (another religious experience, but in a totally different way!) and last, but not least – literally, it was the 3^rd and final encore – Straight to Hell. All of them in the same concert? I can die a happy woman.

I am ashamed to relate that I yipped in excitement when I heard the opening chords to Straight to Hell and did so loudly enough (we were in the 5^th row, I’ve never been that close!) to throw the King, just for a split second. Oops. Sorry, your Majesty! I didn’t realize how loud I was. That one and Road to Ruin vy for the top spot in my personal favorite song line-up. If you ever hear a female voice squealing ‘Yay!’ at the beginning of Straight to Hell, it will be me. I can’t help it, I yip every time. Normally I yip pretty much with the first actual chord, but I was tired too, it was at the end of virtually 3 whole hours of music, and my brain wasn’t running quite at 100%. I didn’t recognize Straight to Hell right away, it took a few measures, hence the odd placement of the yip. Mea culpa. 

            Murray laid down some lovely bass during Lukey’s Boat and also during the first encore, working with Kris to provide a really nice groove, driven but not overwhelming. Alan remarked that it sounded like a slow 70’s tune, ‘like something Barry White might do’ and that was it, we were off to the races. Murray gave us his best Barry impersonation and things went from there. I thought for sure we were going to get Run, Runaway but they chose something else and now I can’t remember what. Surely somebody else will know!

            During the show Sean and Alan were having some minor cable issues and made some slightly bawdy remarks about it, but nothing too raunchy. Just at the beginning of the second half Alan had guitar issues (it –looked- as though he was having a catastrophic amp. fail) and had to have Britt come out to fix the problem, busking the entire time – he didn’t know what was going on, or at least, it seemed that way. The house held their collective breath, ‘cause like I said, it looked like it could have been very bad, but the other 4 guys knew better and did not look at all alarmed. 

            Britt pushed the ‘on’ button on Alan’s pedal board and the show continued. I did snicker at that, not at Alan, but because I have made the same stupid mistake (and it felt familiar), except in my case I was stage managing a show and the house and show lights were on two different boards, well, the house manager said their little speech, the house lights went down . . . and the actors began to come on stage in total darkness, which wasn’t supposed to happen, saying their lines in the dark and all. I had forgotten to turn the other board on during my pre-show check. So, when I pushed the button for the first cue, nothing. I nochalantly turned the board on and went directly to the second lighting cue as though nothing had happened. I don’t think anybody noticed, haha. ‘On’ buttons can be pesky little things. You’d think that as adults who have been turning things on and off our whole lives, we’d be able to do it, but sometimes . . . otherwise Alan was in a very good mood and showed up onstage looking dashing in jeans, that dark blue and black striped button down shirt he has and his black blazer. The blazer came off for the second half, lol. He did a beautiful rendition of River Driver, enhanced by the Michigan’s acoustics, and never really slowed down, because the energy was still high even through Yankee Sailor and River Driver and so on. 

            Bob’s low whistle during England always makes the hair on my arms and neck stand up (in the best of ways!!!) and last night was no exception. I was actually shivering, yeah, it was that good. Ooohh. Yikes. And I was very pleased to see him actually open his mouth more than a few times and talk here and there, we’ll have him cracking jokes yet! He gave an interesting little historical anecdote about where Yankee Sailor came from (“my grandmother had 6 daughters, by the end of the war, 5 had gone away with Americans”). He was smiling quite a lot too, always nice to see, he’s got a great one. Alan mentioned the book, but only in passing, and they did have it for sale at the merch table (nice swag, too, by the by . . .even if we’re still waiting on bumper stickers . . . The Chief Fool got a gbs pin and a copy of Bob’s book) though by the end of the night I didn’t see any copies of Writing Out The Notes left, so if you want one, best to get it either before the show or at intermission. 

            Bob sang Helmethead and he decided that he liked the verse that starts ‘Nancy couldn’t watch me fight’ so well that he sang it twice. But that was completely ok, everybody went with it, it was that kind of night. I did see a look or two exchanged on stage, but it seemed more along the lines of ‘Oh, ok’ rather than ‘uh-oh’, so, not a big deal. Anyhow Bob could sing the phone book and I’d listen, so there you go! 

            Seats were fabulous, very nice for my eye, though I still had to stand in the aisle to get the right angle for watching, and we made it behind the theatre and out to the tour bus in record time, we got there even before Murray and Kris did! But the b’y’s, having been going like bats out of hell for the previous 48 hours straight, traveling and doing promos and whatnot, had gone straight to the bus and fallen on their faces in their bunks, so no pics or autographs, which was fine by us. The Chief Fool and I do not feel slighted in the least. They have to sleep sometime!!! Actually, we would have been more concerned if they hadn’t gone and done what they needed to do. 

We were, however, disgusted to see fans taking pictures in the front of the bus while using the flash with their cameras. Honestly. Nothing like lighting up the interior of the bus – where people are trying to sleep!!! – in order to get your pictures. How very rude. Even worse was the female fan with her boyfriend/husband who actually came up to the bus considerably later in the night and, despite us telling her that they were in bed and to go away (we were polite but firm), actually KNOCKED ON THE TOUR BUS DOOR. Damn. Rude, rude, rude. We couldn’t believe it, but we all saw it. We also saw Murray open the door, stick his head out and politely tell her to bugger off, too. He shouldn’t have had to do that. Holy crap. I was, quite frankly, appalled at some of the fan behavior I saw, and would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. It’s a wonder to me that the gents put up with it. 

            We had to go by the tour bus on our way out of town to get back to Kalamazoo and to our surprise it was still there at 2am, so I suppose they were taking advantage of the fact that Kent was only a 4ish hour drive from Ann Arbor, allowing it to stay put so that nobody had to sleep on a moving vehicle for a while.

            We all had a great time, the band included! It was a great night in Ann Arbor. 

I have two pictures that turned out, here they are. The first was taken during intermission, the second, with a flash (oops, the Chief Fool didn't know how to use my camera and flashed the b'y's by mistake) during the opening of Straight To Hell. 

The guy on the stage is one of the techs. Not one of the band. I didn't recognize him, probably a local, it wasn't Britt either.