The news from Saturday
The Jolie Holland show last night was really good. Shes definitely worth seeing live if shes in your area. Her voice is just as amazing live as on CD, and shes got a really charming stage presence. There were some technical difficulties (equipment problems for the poor guitarist, who couldnt figure out exactly what was going wrong, only that it WAS going wrong) but they took it all in stride and it didnt detract at all from the show. Some swapped out cables and everything worked just fine for the second half, anyway, whatever it was that had been wrong.
We missed the first opening act because we had to fortify ourselves with coffee and carrot cake at Teany first (priorities, you know). We arrived toward the end of the second acts set. Maybe three songs away from the end? I use the term song loosely. They were inexplicably awful. Godawful. Most of the crowd was looking at these guys with mouths half open in disbelief (Um, who are these people and what exactly might be living in those beards?) but like twenty kids down front were sitting on the damn floor. Sold out show, and everyone got there early (early meaning before both opening acts were done. Its hard to be an opening act round here.) to get a good spot to stand, and there were people taking up room by sitting and watching this truly awful act do something that flirted with the idea of being music. There were a few moments there where a structure appeared to be emerging, but theyd soon dump that in favor of more nonsense. Im all for experimentation, but this just sucked. Xina said Phish fans would probably like that crap, by way of explanation. I certainly wouldnt know. By the time Jolie hit the stage, everyone was standing and the Phish-listening types had either left or faded back into the crowd. Or maybe people were just standing on them. Whatever. I think it may have been oversold, rather than just sold out, because we were packed in TIGHT. Of course, we still managed to wiggle our little ways up toward the front. Were small and we cant see otherwise, dammit.
In other weekend news, the Kehinde Wiley exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum was really strong. I wish Id seen it before the last day, so I could tell all the NYC kids to get their butts over there to see it, but alas, too late. If the show travels elsewhere and I hear about it, Ill let you know.
Eggplant hat and booties were gifted yesterday. No photossorrybut Im happy to report that the baby is gorgeous, as babies tend to be.
That was yesterday. Today Ive started revising the novel-type beast. I think I found a fix for something thatd been bugging me about the second chapter all along. Hopefully next week it will still read like a good change. Hard to see these things clearly when you first do them… And with that, my break is over. Back to the revisions. I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend.
Last week Bill and I went to see Josh Ritter in this teeny tiny venue, and we got there early, got a good spot. Right before he came on, three people pulled chairs over right in front of the stage, in front of other people who had also gotten there early to get good spots. We’re Canadian, so the people who formerly had the best spots didn’t even say anything. As for me, it just meant I couldn’t really see Josh’s shoes, but I was OK with that.
OK, now imagine the following in cheerleader cadence:
Make! Revisions! May-ache revisions!
Posted by: alison
hot dang!!! – just missed her playing at schuba’s (tiny tiny venue right by my apartment!) on jan 25th. i’ll have to cross my fingers she comes back!
Posted by: carolyn
Oy! I feel your pain with the sitting-on-the-floor people. A couple of my fav. bands lean toward the folkier side of rock and have a fair amount of sit-down fans. It’s always a bit tense at the beginning of the show, as we wait to see who will outnumber whom — the sitters or standers. I’m thinking, if there ain’t chairs lined up in front of the stage, then get up already! 🙂
Posted by: jena
Having a “duh” moment — the Be Good Tanyas! That’s why her voice is so dang familiar…. Ah. Yay.
Posted by: Rachael
man, i’m sorry i didn’t get to that exhibit in time! thinking good thoughts for your revision process…
Posted by: mrspilkington
Thanks for the Jolie Holland Link!
Oooh – and gotta LOVE Teany!!! Cheers!
Posted by: Kimberli
Last week Bill and I went to see Josh Ritter in this teeny tiny venue, and we got there early, got a good spot. Right before he came on, three people pulled chairs over right in front of the stage, in front of other people who had also gotten there early to get good spots. We’re Canadian, so the people who formerly had the best spots didn’t even say anything. As for me, it just meant I couldn’t really see Josh’s shoes, but I was OK with that.
OK, now imagine the following in cheerleader cadence:
Make! Revisions! May-ache revisions!
Posted by: alison
hot dang!!! – just missed her playing at schuba’s (tiny tiny venue right by my apartment!) on jan 25th. i’ll have to cross my fingers she comes back!
Posted by: carolyn
Oy! I feel your pain with the sitting-on-the-floor people. A couple of my fav. bands lean toward the folkier side of rock and have a fair amount of sit-down fans. It’s always a bit tense at the beginning of the show, as we wait to see who will outnumber whom — the sitters or standers. I’m thinking, if there ain’t chairs lined up in front of the stage, then get up already! 🙂
Posted by: jena
Having a “duh” moment — the Be Good Tanyas! That’s why her voice is so dang familiar…. Ah. Yay.
Posted by: Rachael
man, i’m sorry i didn’t get to that exhibit in time! thinking good thoughts for your revision process…
Posted by: mrspilkington
Thanks for the Jolie Holland Link!
Oooh – and gotta LOVE Teany!!! Cheers!
Posted by: Kimberli