Quaker Brand is the Favorite Brand of Grits of the Charleston Riverdogs

**friday morning. i've definitely caught some kind of bug. sore throat, exhausted. eh. i'm still in the hotel, waiting for the food to arrive. my bags are all packed and waiting by the door, so as soon as i eat, i'll be back on the road, heading for raleigh.

here is the second half of my annotated show notes from wednesday's my morning jacket show in charleston sc. again, this is a cut and paste from the mmj forum.**


ok. in the interest of finishing what i started, but not being up until 2am, i'm going to list my set list notes as written. this might be comedy since the notes are not so clear. ;D

another great thing about seeing the show with Ruckus is that i could say to him, "there's only one bass in tom's guitar rack. you think their travelling light on this trip?" without him looking at me like i was speaking to him in a foreign language.

when the band came out carl sat at the pedal steel, so i had no idea what they were going to play. here begins the transcription...

--tonight i want to celebrate with you: IT'S ON.

--@ dawn! diff jim bit (i think this was referring to a really loud, or odd key start to the song by jim)

--gideon --diff outro. (i think this was an uptempo outro. i love when you're digging a song and it takes an unexpected turn. i was thinking "where are you going?!" it's exciting {i sound like an absolute dork, but it's been a loooong time since i've seen a show. so.})

--OTR: the sun is down now, but still dusk. tom & carl exchange a "ready?" type look. the eyes in back drop are lit red

--wonderful man!

--amazed: at end jim shoots pat w/toy gun as he falls

--touch me pt 1: enter drunken bargers

--golden: ok. side bar: overall the crowd was great. the people around me were having a great time without being creeps. but. the drunk chick contingent was strong. the "this is my song! let me tell you why while they play it!" girls were out in force.

--thank you too: jim's gretch beautiful! (i'm not a guitarist but i have a soft spot for the sound of these.) end of song patrick mimed shooting jim

--mags! mid-set mahgeetah. it's crazy to hear it coming out of such a slow groove like TYT. starts off a bit swingy. fucking brilliant.

--lay low

--low down!

--wonderful

--librarian: the girl to the left of me (non-drunken contingent) was miming some of the story of the song. kind of sweet, really. :)

--STEAM: NONE OF THIS IS PHYSICAL really beautiful. really. (this tour coincided with the end of a very demanding job. so, being outdoors, singing, hollering, dancing, being on the road, it's all part of a big joyous picture. and that is what i was thinking here.)
at the end ruckus tapped me on the shoulder and said, "best steam engine ever"

--smokin from shootin: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! soooo good to see mmj doing this again! at the top of the song the stage was bathed in read light, by the end it was glowing white. striking!

(crazy how they ride the momentum of smokin into...)

--end of run thru: carl leap! 3 guitars up front just badass (this is just rock show fucking badassery. i just kept shaking my head at the epic-ness of what was happening up there.)

--touch me pt 2: tom uses a pick on this song. who knew?

(here they tried something new...insteading of ending cold after TM pt2, they segued into OBH. they may have done it last week: i've kept myself in strict set-list black out since the tour started. ;) )

--OBH: big fun! carl came out to the edge of the stage, playing and dancing with the crowd
--------------
ok. nothing could have prepared us for this:
--over the rainbow: the sax player in PHJB, the man whose name i don't know, but is listed on the set list as Weenie, stepped into a spot and played this solo. fucking stunning. just heart breakingly beautiful.
soooo happy this call was made. (whoever suggested this in the set-list, this was an inspired move. cheers! )

--wordless: knee slide!

(phjb comes out...)

--evil urges! (not used to hearing this in the middle of a set!)

--DANCE: OUT OF CON... (this is what i scrawled as i was leaping around, grinning at ruckus and losing my shit. WHAT A GREAT TIME!! currently i am nursing a bit of a sore throat. all evidence points to my activity during this song. ;D )

--HIGHLY: continued mayhem with the band and PHJB

--carnival time: love watching many of the guys on stage singing along to this

--move on up: curtis mayfield. curtis mayfield. curtis mayfield. huge!

the sound was terrific! even up front. the mix coming thru the audience monitors on stage was so even. often bo's music gets lost amid the guitar amps close to the stage, but not last night.
as i was leaving the show i kept singing out loud the bright horn part from move on up. ;D and i realized that i was in such a hurry to get to the show (arrived in charleston just in time for rush hour) that i didn't make note of where i parked. since this wasn't the oakland coliseum, that was not an issue {like that roger waters show in 1985...}.

there were a few cars post-show tailgating as i left. the people behind me were playing james brown. fucking a.

it's been so long since i've (we've) seen mmj perform these songs live that everyone is a surprise.
and now it is 2am. and i intend to leave here at 9. so.
thanks for tolerating, and often encouraging my profanity-laced stream o' consciousness reviews. :D


damn. what a great fucking time!

**for the record, i was up until 2am writing this. it never goes as quickly as i'd like to think.**

pop stand: blown! my snowy egret count is OFF THE CHARTS!

so, after years of no summer vacation, i am on the road! this afternoon i am sitting on the 5th floor of a holiday inn in charleston, sc. i made the drive up from st. augustine, fl yesterday. i'm doing a little road tripping, seeing some my morning jacket shows and minor league baseball. i took the pic above somewhere between savannah & charleston. i thought to watch out for fire ants as i walked up to the sign, b/c last time i was in nc i got bitten by one. and there was a fire ant hill right by the sign! i avoided it/them and am feeling pretty good about that. :)

you may know i'm an armchair birder. comes from living next to the bird sanctuary in arcata. i started counting birds when in got to FL. heron: 1, snowy egrets: 2. on the drive yesterday, my egret count went off the charts. this territory is ALL marshes, creeks, swamps and rivers: water fowl turf, so i am all agog. it's a wonder i didn't drive off the road.

the bit below is what from what i posted on the mmj forum (blogs, forums. really? lord.) about the show in charleston last night. so far, it's just about the preservation hall jazz band. i've got to go outside, so more on the show later.

**pic of me before waiting for the show to start.**
just slept 10 hours, showered and have ordered up room service coffee.

got to see the show last night with ruckus and his pal, jordan! it's always great to be around people in the crowd who are there to see the show. sounds like a no-brainer, but you know, there are those who go to a concert as an event, and those that go to see the performers. i just find the peeps there to see the show make better company. :)

i left st. augustine at about 11:15. turns out the hwys between FLA and SC run through a lot of little towns, so the trip took a lot longer than i'd expected. add to that a the street i wanted to use to get from one hwy to another in one of those towns (speed limit 25mph) was shut for a bike race/street fair/butter churning. i don't know, but it made finding my way out of there challenging.

anywhoo.

i got to charleston, checked into my hotel (populated by 175 teens, a youth group or something. apparently the room next to mine was party central. oof)

the venue was lovely. who knew? i expected it to be much bigger, but it didn't seem massive. the light & sound boards were on the ground level at the end of the court.

there was not a cloud in the sky. really, just beautiful. the crowd was really slow to file in. it's such a funny thing about when an act tours with a supporting act. everyone is in the lot or lobby until just before the headliner takes the stage. i've done this, but when you're inside seeing it happen, it's just weird.

bear antics: when pooch & denise came out stan* (name changed for discretion) put them with denise stage left, pooch stage right. but before the show started, someone else came out and swaped them. what cracks me up is that there is a particular arrangement of who goes where.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band:

--jelly roll
--short dressed gal
--a bad ass song that reminds me of "sing sing sing". it's just drums and trumpet for most of the song. cannot convey the swing of this song.
--ole man mose
here, mark braud introduces the band, then brings out jim for...
--tennessee hustler (when jim came out the girl next to me said to her boyfriend, "he's cute!")
--a jimmie rodgers sounding song that may have been blue yodel...jim was yodeling, some of the phjb were singing along. wonderful!
then patrick, carl, bo and tom come out to play percussion (lots of shakers!) for...
--st. james infirmary sung by clint maedgen

i think this was the last song. my end of set notes are always spotty b/c i get in the momentum of the show. at the end of the song, clint m. sat down. there were a couple of looks exchanged among the band and they ended the set. they probably had another song or two to play, but cut it short. either b/c of the late start or b/c st. james was such a blow-out.

the crowd for the start of these PHJB sets has been SMALL. small enough that as the band takes the stage you can see them marvelling and shaking their heads at the hilarity of it all. and when they start playing some of the crowd seems not sure what is happening, but two songs in and the crowd loooooooves them. which is fantastic.

i watching them last night i kept thinking that this tour is really special. that we're getting a chance to see PHJB like this, outdoors, small crowds, swinging, swinging, swinging. fucking brilliant.


snack note: room service coffee, fruit salad
groovy tunes: wilco "theologians" on the shuffle

finished!

in brief: after much languishing, i've finished the 50's dress in fish fabric! this is a pic from the inaugral wearing. taken used photobooth in my dark office, so not the most flattering.
but you can see there are pockets. (!)

the keen-eyed office supply aficionado will spot the heavy duty 3-hole punch on the table.
bonus points if you can pick out the pic of Pee-Wee Herman & Cowboy Curtis sitting on Chairey.

don't you need zoning for a day care?

**this from an unfinished letter to my sister. it's on what is possibly the most adorable stationery i've ever used.
after more than 2 weeks of it sitting unfinished in my back pack, i'm putting it in the post tomorrow.**


4.2.10 Friday, 1pm

Today is a union holiday: Good Friday. I decided to spend some time @ a cafe that I usually visit on the weekend. It's in an old residential neighborhood in Echo Park. I have to drive here.
On the weekend it's pretty quiet. The patio out front has a tall bamboo hedge along the sidewalk which helps temper the bus noise & stuff. The week days, however, are proving to be a different story...something i'd not noticed before: there is a pre-school across the street. or maybe it's just day care. (some of those kids are at least 7 yrs. old.) They are all running, playing and HOLLERING. In the house next to the cafe (directly behind me) there is a small dog who has been barking for at least 20 min, and who shows no signs of stopping.
Usually in this situation I have headphones on, but i've been reading a book. (oh my god, one of the kids actually just said this, "nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah." i'm going in for a coffee refill, then coming out to put my headphones on.)
{ok, i'm back w-a fresh hot cuppa joe. and as if by miracle, the children have gone indoors! hooray! also, the little dog is quiet. perhaps the two were linked.}

There is a young guy working in the cafe, I've not seen him here before. When i went in for my 1st cup I ordered drip coffee and asked him what the difference is between the 2 they have brewed. When I chose the one he described as "lighter but stronger" he actually had a "yes!" reaction that was really funny. It felt good that the cafe guy thought i'd made the right choice. ha! i'm a dork. but he is cute.
I'm in a bit of a weird state today. I blame 3 things:
1. this is a holiday wknd but i may have to work tomorrow, but don't know yet.
2. I'm starting to get crampy
3. i'm doing a dance with fed-ex to receive a pkg. I paid for 2 day shipping, but it will be 4 days before I can get it. it's my fault: i thought the pkg was being sent via US Post, so i gave them our mail room address @ work, not the office address.
Also, my job ends in a few weeks and i haven't made an effort to find my next one. This is b/c i've got a short road trip planned at the end of April. I don't want to back to work right away.
I am really hoping that "Mercy" gets picked up for another season, or my old boss' pilot gets picked up for series. Either way I could take a couple months off knowing I have a job to come back to. Next week i'll whip up an "i'm looking for a gig" email and send it out. That will do for now. :)
(wow, the temperature has dropped about 10˚ since I got here. And the clouds are rolling in. am now lamenting my decision to wear flip-flops, not sneakers. hmmm. I'm also learning that trying to write a letter w/o wearing my headphones is difficult b/c i am easily distracted by other peoples' conversations.)
How are things in Yuba City? Are you feeling settled? I'm hoping that since you've been there for awhile drama and newness are starting to taper off. :)
i've been loosely formulating a road trip up north to see family. I don't have any dates yet, but would like to hit the Bay Area, Sacramento, Yuba City, see some baseball...Again, i'm hoping to have some time off this summer. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
now 4.18.10, sunday night-- i never got back to finish this letter. thought i'd send on what i'd written. 3+ pages and i feel like i was just ramping up...

**if all goes well, i will have this in the post tomorrow.
beer of note: rogue dead guy
radio: gary calamar just played "white girl" by X**

choice of self expression

finished! over the summer break i'll find a frame for this. i plan to put it up in my next office.

in between working days i've been working steadily on the Endless Stripey. i am now knitting the Last Ball of Yarn on this blanket. it's been cooking since january 3, 2003. cannot wait to get it out of the "in progress" stack and onto my bed.

also: last weekend i FINISHED the 50's style shirt dress! i had to do some damage control where the front pleats and facing meet, but am happy with the result. i laundered it. it needs pressing. the ironing is the true test. once it's pressed i'll post a pic.

i could use an iced coffee. anyone?