SHARING THE SHOWS
So I’m “GRATEFUL” for these streams. Maggie and I were supposed to dance to Full Moon Fever, a Tom Petty tribute band, at the Vanguard, but, well, ‘The Rona. So we got down to some Dead & Co instead. I logged in about 30 minutes late due to a writing group I was invited to by my good friend Lisa. The nice thing about these streams is I can rewind and fast forward at my leisure. So I came in on an awesome “Jack Straw.” My “groove” came out during “Cold Rain and Snow” and “New Minglewood Blues,” and it kicked into overdrive during “Next Time You See Me,” during which the sunglasses came on and the shirt came off (thanks, Mark!). The band slowed down during “Ramble On Rose” and “If I Had The World To Give,” which rocked my world on 6/20/19. During the latter, I fixated on Oteil’s voice. “Sugaree” closed the set. I skipped the five-minute setbreak and jammed out to “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider,” during which Chester stared at me. I tried to pick him up and dance while he was in my arms, but he wasn’t having it. “Dark Star” had a neat psychedelic light show, as well as a nice “Uncle John’s Band” tease. “The Other One” lit up the apartment. I skipped “Drums and Space” to get into the real “Uncle John’s Band.” Maggie got her “St. Stephen,” and the band closed with “Morning Dew,” at which point I was pretty mellowed out. I perked up again when the band encored with “One More Saturday Night.” These dance parties are a nice substitute for the gym.
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So the bands we love are hooking us up with these streams of shows. So for each one I go to, I’ll blog. On the first day of the vernal equinox, String Cheese Incident streamed their December 28, 2018 show from the First Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado (I saw Phish that night; check out that blog). As a tribute, I got some string cheese on my trip to Costco to stock up on food (it’s the apocalypse, people!). There was plenty of string cheese, so I inferred there was no widespread panic that potentially cause a string cheese incident. Eh? Bill Nershi, the guitarist, gave us an introduction with his good vibes. He described the second set of that show as the “palindrome set”. The group opened up with “Can’t Wait Another Day,” off my favorite SCI album, Colorado Bluebird Sky. Special guests Sam Bush & Daryl Acker came on after that song to play a bunch of bluegrass tunes. Some covers came as well, the Steve Miller Band’s “Take the Money and Run” and Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.” I felt the urge to dance around the room with Chester’s cat toy, and eventually, he wanted to play. The nice thing about live streaming is you can pause and go back whenever you want. So after “Colorado Blue Sky,” the first set closer, I watched an episode of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (thanks for the recommendation, Nicole!). I was tired, but I decided to tough it out through the second set. At one point, I went on shirtless and put on sunglasses, imitating Mark at the SCI show we saw in Portsmouth (that was the one where my car got towed from Mark’s parking lot). I spun around, but eventually, I had to tap out.
All in all, I’m thankful for these streams. As an introvert, I may start doing less actual concerts and more couch tours if/when we get back to normal. Nahhhhhhh!!! Okay, so I mentioned the previous blog would be the last one for a while. Well, thanks to Nicole, that’s simply not true now. She proposed the Cheesy String Trio reuniting virtually for a live stream of Dropkick Murphy’s annual St. Patrick’s Day show from Boston (telecast to the entire music-listening Internet, with no physical audience). After a day of online teaching, I logged onto the stream to be met with a rapidly moving chat screen and some static-y audio. Fortunately, that got fixed when the band came on. The only song I knew of this group was “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” but that would change (setlist here). During “Black Velvet Band,” my cat/son Chester came out, and as I danced around the room, Chester’s facial expression indicated he didn’t dig it too much: Me, however: I poured a ginger ale and “Cheered” to the screen: Before launching into “First Class Loser,” the singer, Ken Casey, dedicated this to “the old lady or the person in your house driving you nuts.” As a singleton and an introvert, I’m actually enjoying self-isolation for the most part (I actually call it self-solitude), especially since I saw a comment on the chat screen about how someone’s wife kept interrupting his show with updates about closings and cancellations due to “The ‘Rona” (as labeled by one of the students in my Blogging class). Casey (whose Boston accent brings to mind Cheers’ Cliff Clavin) also gave a speech about the “Quarantine 15,” in which referred to “lotta snackin’ goin’ on.” Dude, I am trying to fight that urge big time. At the supermarket, I saw people with stacks of junk food, but I resisted. Broccoli, steak, celery, lunch meats. And since I’m not going to the gym, I’m doing push-ups, crunches, and jumping jacks at home. I also read a “Home Workout” page that suggested having a dance party. As I write this, I’m going to have one on a weekly basis, set to DVDs I own (or streams suggested by Nicole) until things get back to “normal,” and I’m gonna blog about it here. All in all, it was a good workout, and it was nice being able to groove digitally with friends. Here’s Maggie! Stay safe, be healthy, and don’t forget to do the five (am I the only one who has a hard time not scratching my face when it itches?)!
On Tuesday, March 10, I had my blogging class go to the Student Center on campus and write down everything they saw, heard, smell, felt, and tasted (if applicable). This was meant to help them apply the concept of “showing, not telling” to their blogging. I then told them I’d be writing along with him, so here goes.
The image that stood out to me was two students participating in a video chat (Facetime, I presume). It got me thinking about how attached we are to our technology. It’s ironic that I’m giving a critique of this through a digital medium, but it got me thinking about how annoyed I get at concerts when people are just on their phones. Granted, in some cases, they’re streaming video as a service to those who can’t see the show, and in others, they’re posting. I typically take a minute-long video of the first song and post to my Facebook. My phone then stays off for the remainder of the show because I want to be “in the moment.” I wish more people could do that. Another stand-out: a poster for a student advocacy group. I’m big into advocacy, so I thought, right on! When I walk through the Student Center, it’s usually to do an errand, so I’m too preoccupied to look around. It was nice being able to do this. In the wake of COVID, I’m seeing all these concerts being cancelled, and while I’m a little bummed out, I understand the old adage, “better safe than sorry.” So this may very likely be my last blog here for a while, which is why I post this exercise here (and I promised my students I would). I’ll pray that while we’re in a state of emergency, the virus can be contained, and our medical experts can develop and spread these vaccines. Fear of the unknown is a major culprit of this panic, so hopefully, as we know more, our need to distance socially can reduce, and we can return to our normal lives, albeit a little wiser about shots and hand washing (20 seconds!). So congestion and a cough entered my body to balance out the gradual disappearance of my stomach bug. But I was determined to rally it together for Spring Break Concert #3. I continued my love affair with the New York City subway system when catching the L train to Graham Street, a quiet, residential neighborhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It bummed me out that nobody would give up a seat for a young woman with a plant and a dog. Instead, they were all just staring at the phone. Sigh… I was happy to meet up with Kelly, a friend from my college years, at the 18th Ward Brewing Company, a brewery/restaurant right across from Brooklyn Steel. This was the first restaurant I’ve ever been to where you make your order on your phone. An interesting development, though I do still like the human touch. And when we got our check, which included tip, Kelly remarked, “Thank you for making us order online, dropping our plate, no silverware or napkins, and you included tip!” Amen, Kelly; my grilled cheese was good, but they should really reexamine their method of service. Three-star Yelp review. Kelly and I had some good conversation: people we knew from college, politics, travel/professional plans. After we parted ways, I headed to the venue.
I LOVE Brooklyn Steel’s exterior! The building was originally a steel manufacturing plant, but was made into a music venue in 2017. The bouncer, after feeling my pockets, commented, “You got snacks!” I replied they were cough drops, and that I was fighting through my illness. “Oh you gotta do that!” I said. “Yolo, right?” was my response, to which she smiled and said, “That’s right!” I walked into see Special Guest (aka The New Regime) busting out what sounded like metal chords. They played a song called “You Can Be Whoever you Wanna Be”. They also had the crowd chant their name. If Maggie, Mark, Drew, or Gary had been there, I would have chanted, “Special Guest” just to be goofy. But, having ridden solo to this one, nobody would’ve gotten it. Silversun Pickups took the stage at 9:15. I first heard “Panic Switch” on the radio in 2009, and I was in love. For some reason, I associate this group with the first composition class I ever taught, a themed course on music. I remember being intimidated by that experience at first, but it went quite well, and the students enjoyed it. The crowd was a nice mixture of young and middle-aged, and I saw a few fellow solo concertgoers as well (gotta love the anonymity in New York). I’ve described this band as “Smashing Pumpkins with a psychedelic twist,” so even though they’re contemporary, I felt I was being transported back to 1994, what with my grungy flannel shirts. A young lady in front of me wore a necklace that read “CUNT” and had a teddy bear for a backpack. A bunch of people were pogo dancing, a la the punks. Swoon is the only album I really know of the group’s repertoire; they played “Panic Switch, “Growing Old is Getting Old,” and I got my skingasm through “Royal We” (the break at 2:12). But I dug all their other songs. Another highlight: the singer, Brian Aubert, is very charismatic with the audience. He loves to interact. During one tune, he instructed the audience to snap their fingers. “If you know how to snap, but aren’t doing it, then fuck you!” he exclaimed in jest. “If you can’t snap, I’m sorry; just get with someone that does.” Love it. The show ended very quickly; we were out at about 10:50. I have been spoiled by the two-set format of jam bands; most concerts don’t go quite as long. The Pixies and The Shins (seen with Drew/Brometheus) were also short. The subway ride was a nice visual buffet of punk hairdos and hipster fashions. I seriously miss New York; if academe doesn’t pan out, I may just have to move back here to do freelance writing. I feel a total connection with this urban landscape. Three concerts in six days while battling illness; if that’s not badassery, I don’t know what is. Spring Break Concert #2: because one was not enough. My stomach bug was on and off, but missing this show would have been one of my greatest life regrets, probably even more than missing the last Rush tour. After grading some essays and generally taking it easy in order to work up my strength for the show, I took a train into Manhattan, where I decided to ingest some protein into my system in the form of a chicken kebab. A little spicier than one with a stomach bug should probably eat, but fuck it, I was on vacation. The New York City subway is a thing of beauty to me. I love that feeling of being anonymous it provides, and it’s a great opportunity to people-watch. This is also the first time I’ve taken a subway to get to a show, and it’s an excuse for this clip (the most exciting subway ride in recorded cinema, IMO). I can DIG IT, Cyrus! The 1 line let me off at 72nd Street, two blocks from the Beacon Theatre. The last time I went there was the Allmans’s annual Peakin’ at the Beacon residency in March 2010, with my ex, Nancy, along with Rob and Kara (congrats on your newborns!), as well as an old friend Mark and his wife (whose name I can’t recall). The coziness of the venue, as well as its rustic design, makes it one of my favorites. Moving to El Paso for my Ph.D. kept me from seeing the Allmans whenever they came in March, but hey, one has to make the choices that are right for him (and they were).
Getting in was easy (arriving early helps one avoid those long lines), and I found my seat in the Upper Balcony (my favorite seating area; I love being able to see the crowd in addition to the band). I also ran into Aaron of 52 Shows a Year (congrats on your upcoming talk!), and we had a good conversation. Once I grabbed my seat, I talked to Paul, a cool dude and fellow solo traveler from Charlotte who’s seen 160 Panic shows, way more than my measly thirteen (counting this one). I also talked to him about my other blog, The Happy Bachelor, and my upcoming book, One nice thing about traveling to shows solo is that you get all kinds of flexibility to meet cool, interesting people; I love going with my crew, but it’s easy to stay insular in that regard. The band came on at 8:08 and opened with the Ramones’s “I Wanna Be Sedated,” which brought me back to Halloween 2003 at the Garden, the night before my first Panic show. “Travelin’ Light” and “Old Neighborhood” were next, which spoke to me because I brought my carry-on bag for the week in New York, and didn’t take my bookbag to the city, as I typically do, mostly because I didn’t want the extra weight (“travelin’ light is the only way to fly”). New York is my “old neighborhood,” one that I do get nostalgic for. My first skingasm of the night came when “Imitation Leather Shoe” graced the stage. I had a nice aisle seat, so I found myself dancing right in the aisle, along with a lot of other folks. They slowed down with “Last Straw,” and then came Skingasm #2 with “Pleas” (my first time seeing that one performed live). “Rock” is always good, and “Jack” gave me Skingasm #3. “Love Tractor” closed the next. At setbreak, the line for the Men’s Room just seemed to pop up. A redhead dude from Alabama and I commented on how it didn’t even form; it just popped up. I got to tell him about the feat known as the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, through which traffic doesn’t seem to form; it just is. After hanging with Aaron for a bit, I grabbed a water and a pretzel before heading back to my seat. The second set opened with “The Waker,” the highlight of the Red Rocks run for me (wassup, Bob!). Paul said, “that’s the first song to turn me onto Panic!” “Pigeons” and “Hatfield” (skingasm #4 followed). This group of drunk early 20-something women were dancing in the aisles. Normally, I wouldn’t hang with them, but their energy was infectious. “Impossible” was a good jam, and I sat down for “Saint Ex.” During “Tie Your Shoes,” I felt compelled to leave my seat and go down to the walkway just below the balcony to join the real hardcore dancers (who, I suspect, might have indulged in some treats of the psychedelic family preshow). No judgments, of course, but, for me, the music is a natural toxin. The slow “Nobody’s Loss” brought me back to my seat, and “North” was a rockin second-set closer (I was bummed about missing it 3/16/19, so I’m glad I got it). The encores had meanings for me: New York is definitely a “City of Dreams” for a lot of people, and I’ve had a fantasy about leaving the academic game behind and re-establishing myself as a writer/coach here. We’ll see how it goes when my book comes out. For now, though, I have to “keep my dayyyyyy job and not give it away.” And I do love most of the aspects of my day job, too, without which I would not have this book deal, so gratitude is key. The Talking Heads’s “Life During Wartime” had me bouncing around too. The lyrics could also apply to the verbal bloodshed that’s happening right now in the political landscape, particularly as Super Tuesday will play a huge factor in who goes up against that Cheeto Guy for the Presidential office. All-in-all, killer show! And I love these intense New York crowds. Paul’s assessment of the Beacon shows was correct, though: they went by very quickly. Short intermissions, and the 11:15 curfew was tight. No matter, though. Still a lot of fun, and my introverted side doesn’t mind when a show ends early. Eventually, my tolerance of crowds does wear out. I can definitely relate to some of these on the list. After the show, I headed back to 34th Street to catch the Path, but of course, I had to have a “street dog.” After finishing it up, I had “Street Dogs” in my head. I got back to Suffern at 2 a.m., and my head immediately hit the pillow. It was worth it. So after the “widespread panic” that pervaded campus during Midterm week, it was time for spring break. The plan, as it stands at this moment, is four concerts over eight days (not enough, of course). I was unfortunate enough to catch a stomach bug, but I wasn’t going to let a little thing like that stop me from making my shows. After all, I don’t go to enough! Maggie picked me up at 7 this morning to take me to the train station (trains are my favorite mode of transportation, by far; it’s just so relaxing). After a couple of delays (damn freight trains), I got into DC at about 2:30, and met up with Nicole in Arlington for lunch at Asia Bistro & Bar. A chicken and rice bowl was able to soothe my stomach. We had some very deep, philosophical conversation, and I played with her cats Boba and Lando (he's the dude with the tie) before taking a nap. From there, we Ubered it to the 9:30 Club while enjoying a chat with our Tupac-loving driver. Side note: congrats to Nicole on her upcoming bundles of joy! Twin boys! Due to her pregnancy, we were able to get VIP seats. Well, a stool was more like it. A bar stool for her (and me, occasionally) in the balcony. Space was tight, but that’s an urban rock club for you. I definitely dig the fast-paced city vibe that comes from fans who aren’t quite as “traditional” as I’m used to in the South (I’m hoping my DC or surrounding area in the next couple of years). A duo named Buffalo Nichols opened up (and they were greeted by my “Special Guest!” yell): one on guitar, the other on drums. One concertgoer commented, “Bluegrass White Stripes?” I heard a Stevie Ray Vaughn influence in the guitar’s blues riffs. The rockheads (my term of endearment for urban rock fans) seemed to like one. One 50ish bearded dude, who referred to himself as a “headbanger” (my kinda guy!) talked with his friends about the Silversun Pickups playing at the 9:30 Club next weekend. For me, it’ll be Show #3 on the trip (in Brooklyn, NY). The city vibe brought out my extroverted side, and I became part of that conversation, as his friends appeared never to have heard of them. I describe them as “Smashing Pumpkins on acid.” I’m not super-familiar with Drive-By Truckers’s (DBT) repertoire; I first heard “Rebels” on an episode of Mike Judge’s King of the Hill, used in a motif to highlight the descent of Khan uptight, arrogant, upwardly mobile neighbor of Hank, into the world of “cat fisting,” drag-racing, and other stereotypical hillbilly antics. I couldn’t find a video to use, so I include the episode description here. The band did grace us with the song toward the end of the show. Nicole enlightened me on some of their repertoire. “Three Great Alabama Icons”, part of which was a huge fuck you to former Alabama governor George Wallace. In Nicole’s words, “they’re not afraid to take it there.” I salute them for that as well. “Thoughts and Prayers,” a song I just downloaded onto my Spotify and one that Nicole had been listening to all week, was the highlight for me. The chorus, “Stick it up your ass with your useless thoughts and prayers,” appealed to my primal Trump-hater and gave me a nice skingasm. Side note #2: Nicole and I theorized as to why concerts have encores, but no prologues. Books have “epilogues” and “prologues”; why not concerts? I figured fans might get pissed off but Nicole theorized if it became a regular thing, fans would eventually come to accept it. I think I agree. At any rate, although I only knew two of the songs, this show was one of the best I’ve ever been to. Two straight hours of high-energy rock; very few bands can pull that up. Even bands like Phish, the Grateful Dead, and Widespread Panic, take breaks to play slow songs. Needless to say, I was floored. I may have to do what Nicole did and start listening to all of their songs. I did resist the temptation to buy a CD; after all, their music is all online. We closed out the night by grabbing a two-slice-in-one concoction at the pizza place a block over. The atmosphere there (as well as throughout downtown DC) also reminded me of painting Manhattan red in my 20s, club-hopping till 4 a.m. and then capping off the night with greasy NY-style pizza. Good times indeed. Pizza’s not the best food for a stomach bug, but as I told Christina when she inquired about me going to a concert sick, “I’ll accept the consequences.” And dealing with them, I am. Fortunately, Nicole and I grabbed waffles at a kiosk called Bread and Water, and the combination of waffle batter, apple, cinnamon, and chamomile tea helped to settle my stomach for a bit.
Between Nicole’s pregnancy and my stomach bug, I have to say we qualify for True Badassery. And we exposed Nicole’s future kids to good music, politically-charged lyrics and all. Gotta start ‘em young! And help them stay young in spirit through good music, like we are! |
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May 2024
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