Monday, August 16, 2004
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Last Tuesday I went to see Lucinda Williams at Summer Stage with my girlfriend, my brother, his wife, and (eeek!) my parents. It was a great show. Lucinda provided her special brand of country infused rock that even my folks could appreciate, even if it was a bit loud for them. When my mother asked me why does it have to be so loud, I replied "that's how we like it". Of course it wasn't that loud, and obviously my mother has never been to see AC/DC. Lucinda's guitar player was excelent, providing Stevie Ray Vaughn inspired leads to her legacy of truly american compositions. The only downer on the evening was when a woman asked me to move my conversation elsewhere, apparently Lucinda was there to perform solely for this woman's benefit. I'm sorry, I thought I was at a rock concert.
Last Tuesday I went to see Lucinda Williams at Summer Stage with my girlfriend, my brother, his wife, and (eeek!) my parents. It was a great show. Lucinda provided her special brand of country infused rock that even my folks could appreciate, even if it was a bit loud for them. When my mother asked me why does it have to be so loud, I replied "that's how we like it". Of course it wasn't that loud, and obviously my mother has never been to see AC/DC. Lucinda's guitar player was excelent, providing Stevie Ray Vaughn inspired leads to her legacy of truly american compositions. The only downer on the evening was when a woman asked me to move my conversation elsewhere, apparently Lucinda was there to perform solely for this woman's benefit. I'm sorry, I thought I was at a rock concert.
Comments:
I was just retelling a story to my brother, who was down for a visit this weekend, about an incident in which myself and my Atlanta crew were shushed and asked to leave a John Zorn show about eight years ago. The two of us attempted to beat Friday Atlanta traffic and catch David Garza at an in store record signing and performance downtown (David Garza is an amazing talent. See him if you get a chance). Anyhoo, I'm sure Theo is familiar with John Zorn's work, but for the benefit of those who aren't, JZ is a deconstructionist/fragmentist. His material is extremely random, void of melody or structure, and most importantly to this story, LOUD as all hell! I'm not a huge fan at all, but my buds were, so we went and paid $20 to see him. I knew I was in for a long night and convinced some of my compatriots to partake in a few Yager shots to get loosened up before the band came on. In the midst of Zorn's third song(?), a couple of us had an attack of the giggles. Since the DB level was so high even with earplugs in place I never would have expected to be tapped on the shoulder and told to keep it down by some patchouli oil smelling elitist. My crew and I ignored this gesture thinking it surely had to be a joke and went about our business when after a couple of minutes the doorman comes and taps us out. Now, I haven�t thrown a testosterone driven tantrum in a VERY long time, and since I wasn�t a JZ fan anyway, I was quietly relieved to be heading to a more accommodating joint. Just one last thing� �Be glad to leave sir, can I have my $20 back please?� I said. �Oh, and my buddies will be needing their money back as well.� The guy was dumbfounded and my friends commenced whispering like girliemen to me to cool it before the doorman called his gang to come pound us into the ground. I sternly, yet peaceably refused, and said that we would be glad to leave, we aren�t looking for trouble, but we wanted out collective eighty bucks back. The doorman was awestruck at my gall and after staring me down speechless for at least 45 seconds, quietly reached into his cigar box and pulled out four twenty-dollar bills.
I was treated to many rounds that night on my female inclined buddy�s for pulling a Seinfeld at the JZ show (i.e. Pez dispenser at the opera), but making up for it by heroically getting our money back. The whole incident only confirmed what I had already known for all of my adult musical life. That most, if not all, aficionados of the JZ type of music(?) are nothing but phony musical elitists. If that place that night didn�t fit the description of what Rodney Dangerfield refers to in �Caddyshack� as a �snobatorium� I don�t know what else would qualify. I�d rather go see an �AH HA� cover band and drink Milwaukee�s Best Light all night than pay a nickel to go see John Zorn again.
I was treated to many rounds that night on my female inclined buddy�s for pulling a Seinfeld at the JZ show (i.e. Pez dispenser at the opera), but making up for it by heroically getting our money back. The whole incident only confirmed what I had already known for all of my adult musical life. That most, if not all, aficionados of the JZ type of music(?) are nothing but phony musical elitists. If that place that night didn�t fit the description of what Rodney Dangerfield refers to in �Caddyshack� as a �snobatorium� I don�t know what else would qualify. I�d rather go see an �AH HA� cover band and drink Milwaukee�s Best Light all night than pay a nickel to go see John Zorn again.
Lucinda is a legend. Did Bo Ramsey play guitar? He played when I saw her in California a couple years ago. HAs a few solo albums and usually plays on all of Greg Brown's stuff. Check it out... Tim from mjm referred me - blog @ http://blog.digitaltavern.com -- I've got a couple John Zorn discs. Never saw him live, but he's interesting. And can be melodic... as for speaking at a concert. it's a no win situation. the shows you really want to listen to music, someone talks through the quiet points. the shows you want to share the experience with friends you find someone will turn around and bluntly shhhhh the shit out of you. oh well...
# posted by 
: 10:35 PM
: 10:35 PM
I like Digital Tavern, I apologise if you are the 'anonymous' that I said must be full of shit, if you are a freind of Tim's then you can't be all bad. Whoever that guitar player was ( I missed his name because I was talking) he was awesome!
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